by Emma Mills
on her; pushing her down into the soft mattress as a quick, sharp stabbing pain exploded through her neck. She gasped and cried out a little, but it didn’t last long. Soon the stinging pain was replaced with a rush of hot, intoxicating bliss. His hand raked down her body, sending her further into nirvana. She bucked and squirmed beneath him, his clothes rubbing against her soft skin, enticing her further.
As the minutes passed everything became hazy. She wasn’t sure what was real and what was not. The low moans of desire sounded far away; in fact she wasn’t sure who they belonged to anymore. Her ears began to ring a little and gradually the room faded away and she found herself floating in the deep inky night, surrounded by sparkling stars. Was this what death felt like? She wasn’t sure. Everything was silent, and peaceful. There was a dull, throbbing noise somewhat like an exceptionally slow heartbeat; but it was far away and lulled her further into her dreams. Her childhood memories floated past, displayed like flickering tableaux… a little girl in full petticoats playing hide and seek with Alfred in the gardens of Versailles; her first ball at Court, the grand chandeliers twinkling above her like the stars which now surrounded her.
‘Evie, Evie… my love…’ the words sounded so far away; so easy to ignore. Death was blissful in its serenity.
‘Evie, you must drink this now… drink… drink…’ the words faded away again, but this time were not so easy to ignore, as she became aware of damp moisture at her lips. She licked at it and the stars began to fade, replaced by a new thrilling thirst.
The room came back into focus, and as she bit further into Sebastian’s skin a pain so acute burst forth that it sent starbursts dancing in front of her eyes. The blood fed the pain, fed the furnace inside her… killing her, changing her, hardening her… transforming her. Death was sudden and paralysis stiffened her limbs, sealed her eyelids and momentarily stopped her heart. The warmth dissipated as what felt like ice crystals formed in her veins, slowly transforming her into a frozen angel, floating in a starry space.
Ͼ
Sebastian sat back and stroked her face softly. When he’d first seen her, introduced at court he’d stood rooted to the marble floor as her gaze passed over him, unaware of the memories she triggered, memories of a strikingly similar young girl. A girl called Alba, the girl he’d promised to protect a hundred years earlier; the same girl that had given her life to save his. It had been an easy decision, when he met Genevieve again at her engagement ball and saw the terrified, trapped girl hiding behind a mask of breeding, to save her, free her. The revolution had changed everything and he had watched and manipulated, changing her future, saving her from a marriage and a subsequent death as the wife of the Marquis. He had done what he could, watched and waited, and now she would live on for an eternity. Now her future would be secure.
He would have to lie low for the rest of the week. The next few days would be crucial and he couldn’t risk their exposure whilst Evie was still paralysed. He would close all the shutters, lock the doors. Entomb them from the world and wait for her awakening.
Ͼ
Time passed and Genevieve remained paralysed… floating in a dream world filled with stars. Her dreams fluctuated between happy memories and dark, twisted nightmares with a side helping of earth shattering, bone splitting pain. Sebastian hadn’t told her how much it would hurt. He told her she would forget, he told her she would become stronger than any human; yet the memories continued to torture her and in addition to the faces of murderers emblazoned in her mind, she had to deal with a pain so acute at times it even distracted her from her dark recollections.
She could physically feel her bones strengthening, hardening. It felt like someone was pouring molten iron onto her bare, frozen flesh, melting the ice crystals and jump-starting her heart. The sensation of slowly creeping lava inched its way up her body, and by the time it reached her shoulders she knew she could take no more. Yet as the fire scorched her mouth she simultaneously became aware of it subsiding in her feet and the new, heavenly cooling sensation was what she focused on, as it felt like every follicle on her head was being seared from her scalp.
Her heartbeat had revived and was beating steadily now, slowly… slower than a human’s; a strong, calming thump as the cooling tidal wave submerged it and flowed higher towards her parched throat. The stars began to fade away, her ears stopped ringing and just as if they had popped, everything sounded ten times clearer; maybe a hundred times. She could hear everything.
Her lips opened and she sucked in the stale air, the sudden gasping sound startling her as she realised she could move. She opened her eyes and instantly saw Sebastian. She knew him; she remembered every single thing he had ever told her, all his promises. He had lied! He said she would forget and yet she remembered it all; every little thing that had ever happened to her, her entire past.
‘You said I’d forget,’ were the first words that passed her parched lips.
‘You will…’
‘Ahhh! I’m thirsty. It hurts… Sebastian, it hurts. I need something. I need…’ she interrupted suddenly.
‘Shhhh! Evie you can wait. Be calm,’ Sebastian urged, leaning forwards and looking directly into her eyes.
The sudden burning hunger subsided and became slightly more bearable.
‘How did you…?’
‘Are you sure you want to forget, Evie?’
‘I’m Eva now… and yes, everything,’ she whispered.
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘You will forget, forget it all, Eva. Forget your family. Forget your brothers. Forget your mother. You never saw what happened to her, you do not know her. All you know is you now have a new life with me. Anything you wish to forget will be forgotten.’
Eva lay still for a moment, her eyes slightly glazed, staring up at the ceiling and out to space. Something niggled at the back of her mind, a memory, a task to complete, a nightmare; but it seemed less important than the gnawing hunger and persistent burning in her throat. She sat up and rolled her head to each side. She felt stiff, as if she’d been asleep for a hundred years. Her eyes darted to the serious looking man at her side and she grinned wolfishly. Was he the prince that had woken her from her dreams? Dreams that were now evaporating as fast as the morning dew.
A dim light was creeping under the heavy curtains which were drawn and Eva turned her head to the side, suddenly aware that she could hear monotonous chatter from the street outside. She could hear individual voices… and something else. Something interesting; she strained her ears further and listened, aware that the pensive man called Sebastian was watching her, silently. Beneath the chatter, beneath the sound of the creaking wooden carts and horses hooves there was a beating sound. No, not one beat, but many different drumming noises, all far away and almost indistinguishable from each other. But some were faster and some louder. They increased as the footsteps and chatter got louder and people passed the house.
Instinct told her to leap from the bed, and in one lithe movement she was at the window, dragging the material away from its frame, eager to find the source of the beating noise that was drawing her in.
‘Eva, no!’ Sebastian’s voice carried across the room and simultaneously pulled at something deep inside. She took a glance at the dying day on the street below, her eyes squinting in the dim light, before pulling her gaze back to the man by the bed. She knew where the noise came from now and her mouth watered pleasantly at the thought, but even as every emotion in her body willed her to smash the window, leap out and sink her teeth into those warm, pulsating creatures that wandered past obliviously, she could not. An iron leash held her tight and pulled her back to the man by the bed.
‘I need one,’ she pleaded, her eyes darting back to the window.
‘I know. Come here. You’re still naked. I had some clothes made up whilst you were asleep,’ he said.
‘I don’t need clothes. I need food,’ she said, looking down at her body. It looked little different to her body of old, but it felt very different. Even though it was early winte
r and she could see a dusting of snow on the ground outside, she felt warm. Her limbs felt strong, her muscles felt like stretched elastic bands ready to spring.
‘Eva, you will stay here. Get dressed and I will hunt for you,’ Sebastian said, standing and walking over to her. ‘You are beautiful,’ he whispered in her ear, as he trailed a finger down her neck, over her collar bone and between her breasts. Desire surged through her body, adding more urgency to the hunger within. She wanted this man. She wanted to bite him all over, taste him, kiss him and do things she had never dreamt of before. She launched herself across the tiny space between their bodies and pressed herself against him, her new strength throwing him back slightly as they collided. She pulled at his shirt and, with a quick sharp pain in her gums, found she was running her tongue over her newly formed fangs. The throbbing coming from his chest was so much slower than those outside her window, and it didn’t appeal in the same way, but it would do. She opened her mouth wide and leaned in.
‘Evie, stop that,’ he said smiling and pushed her back slightly.
‘It’s Eva… not Evie,’ she growled and flung herself back into his arms reaching her mouth up to him, unsure if she wanted to kiss him or bite him.
‘Shhh! I’ll be back