by N. M. Howell
“Adrian,” I whispered.
I could still smell his cologne. The sandalwood and sage mixed with the faint taste of ginger. He had given me a piece of his candy to settle my stomach, and it had worked, but I had fallen right to sleep after my nausea spell had passed. He must have left when I passed out.
“Well, that’s embarrassing,” I said to the empty room. I rubbed my eyes harder as I tried to remember our final conversation, but the night before had been a blur. My memory was getting weaker, just like the rest of my body. It didn’t stop me from grinning like an idiot at the memory of him, though, no matter how fuzzy it might be.
Though his kindness confused me, it felt relatively genuine, and I smiled at the thought. My eyes closed, I pictured his gentle smile in my mind. Deep down I knew he was a dangerous man, but it was hard for me to care when he smiled at me the way he did. Something about the rumors of his dark past made the game all the more fun. I felt like a stupid teenage girl by the giddiness I felt that Adrian, one of the ancients, had taken a liking to me.
A knock came from the door and I startled in bed as it pulled me from my reverie. I looked over at the dark crimson wood and swung my feet over the bed, tossing the satin sheets aside.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“A humble servant, madam,” replied a husky voice.
Timidly, I approached the door and fixed my blouse. I looked down at my crooked clothing. I hadn't even had time to change before climbing into bed. Had I felt that sick?
I reached for the knob while eying the wood suspiciously, wondering who was knocking on my door first thing in the evening. As the door creaked open, I found one of the house servants who held out a silver platter with a card. His eyes remained fixed on the ground.
“For you, madam,” he said.
I took the card and held it up to the dim light. Black embossed letters stood out from the thick, white parchment. It read Lady Serenity requests your company in her office on the third floor. I gulped, tucked the stiff card into my pocket, and then bowed my head.
“Thank you, Marcus,” I whispered.
“You're welcome, Miss Riley,” he replied.
As he turned to leave, I shut the door.
Lady Serenity, I thought. That's Adrian's maker. Will he be there?
I twitched with excitement. A shy grin crossed my lips as I walked over to the vanity and sat down. There was a medley of make-up laying out on the desk—multicolored brushes, colorful palettes, a variety of red lipstick, and plenty of eyeliner. None of it was particularly familiar to me except the eyeliner, which I tentatively lifted to my face. I smoothed some black around my eyes, plumped my lashes with mascara, and then combed out my long black hair.
As a human, I would always get complimented on my eyes. They were large and heavily lashed with thick black eyelashes that hardly needed mascara. They shone a pale lavender, almost gray, circled by a thick band of midnight blue around the outer edges of my irises. As a child, people would pull my mother and I over in the grocery store to gush about my pretty eyes. As a young adult, they were the perfect tool to attract men. I blinked and looked back at my reflection in the mirror, a small smile creeping its way across my face.
Since being turned, my eyes shone even brighter than they had as a human. They positively glowed in the dim light, the radiant blues and purples a sharp contrast to my pale skin and long black hair. Even I had to admit they were stunning. Too bad that radiance couldn’t have been shared throughout the rest of my being. I felt duller with each passing day, the only thing keeping me going was the knowledge that my mentor was working on an elixir that could potentially negate the need for vampires to feed on humans. It made this whole thing almost worst it. Almost.
The clock on the wall chimed, revealing that it was 8:30 PM. I sighed and gave myself one last look in the mirror. I still looked tired. I was due for a treatment soon. With another sigh, I smoothed my hair one last time and stood to fix my clothes. I wasn't sure where Lady Serenity's office was located, but I was sure I could easily find it. Many of the rooms here were labeled, the names of the occupants carved into the heavy wood doorways. Considering that most of the occupants would be here eternally, it made sense.
I looked myself over one last time and then checked my left pocket. My dagger was still safely tucked away inside. I turned and headed for the door, poking my head out first to check the hallway. It was empty. I carefully shut my bedroom door and walked the length of the hall to the set of stairs towards the east side of the house. It was much quieter than the main stairway and would safely lead me up to the third floor without much interaction with the rest of the coven.
I climbed the stairs slowly with my hand firmly over the wooden banister. I could feel my stomach dropping the higher I climbed, overwhelmed by the anticipation of meeting Lady Serenity. Was she a kind fang? Was she stern? I imagined her as a Victorian woman, proper in manner and in speech. It was intimidating to picture, and I found my palms sweating as I made my way down the winding hall. I wiped them on my skirt.
After passing a few doors, I found one labeled Lady Serenity and took a deep breath before knocking. The door creaked open and revealed a tall, sensual woman with her hair pulled up into a formal bun. Yellow curls hung in ringlets on either side of her long face, tickling her high cheekbones. Her round green eyes positively sparkled as she greeted me.
“We finally meet!” she cried while opening her arms.
“Good evening,” I whispered while bowing.
She immediately pulled me into a hug and tugged me into her oval-shaped office, setting me down gently in a chair across from her desk. She leaned against the desk and held my hands in hers.
“I have heard so much about you, Riley,” she said. “And it's such a delight to have you here at last. I've been preparing your party for the past week. It’s all everyone’s been talking about.”
I blinked up at her, confused and moderately shocked. This was not at all what I expected one of the older makers to look and act like, and from the smirk that formed on her face I could tell she found the dumb look on my face amusing. “I don't understand,” I said finally said, my voice timid.
“Well, we want everything to be perfect!” she exclaimed.
A giggle erupted from her red lips, and she bounced around the desk to sit in her chair, the cushions wheezing as she relaxed into the leather. She moved the mouse of her computer and focused on the screen.
“So, we have everything chosen according to Sirus, but I wanted to make sure your demands were met as well. What are your favorite colors?” she asked.
I sat stunned in silence. My thin fingers wound around the red cloth hanging from my belt as I stammered over a response.
“Are you alright, my dear?” she asked.
“Yes, I'm fine. I just…” I trailed off as a chuckle replace my words. “I suppose I wasn't expecting you to be so...so…”
Lady Serenity laughed, her fangs gleaming in the light from the chandelier above.
“So fabulous? Oh, darling!” she exclaimed. “I am the least intimidating fang you'll ever meet.”
“I just assumed,” I began, but I came up short. I simply shrugged and offered her a small smile.
“You know what happens when you assume, my dear,” began.
I chewed my lip and began to laugh. “Your name sounds so proper.”
“I suppose it does, doesn't it?” she asked rhetorically.
I nodded with a shy smile and looked down at my hands that were still busy messing with the red cloth.
“I'll let you in on a little secret about this coven, sweet heart. We are full of surprises. And many of us tend to change over the years. It just comes with the territory,” she explained.
“Then, why hasn't Sirus changed?” I asked.
She remained quiet for a moment, pursing her red lips in thought. After a moment, she offered a shrug.
“Sirus does what is best for the coven. Our customs remain sacred because it's who we are. It's
why he appointed me to be in charge of planning the events,” she replied. “That doesn't mean it can't be an extravagant and memorable event. We'll have plenty of fun.”
“I'm sure,” I whispered timidly.
“Don't worry. I'll walk you through the appropriate steps for the ritual,” she assured me.
“I still don't want to do this,” I admitted.
“I know, dear, but I'm positive we can encourage you to move forward. It's better for you to participate than to be killed at the stake in the middle of the forest,” she said as casually as one would announce what was for dinner.
“Stake?” I asked.
“Oh, did Sirus not mention it?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“If a vampling fails to complete the ritual within a week of their twenty-first birthday, they are set aflame at a stake in the middle of the woods. It's a warning to other vampires that our customs are sacred,” she explained.
I gulped as Lady Serenity continued to grin. I knew we were killed, but I had no idea it was so violent.
“But you don't have to worry about that. We'll make this nice and easy,” she practically sang.
Her green eyes sparkled and I gave her a polite smile before returning my eyes back to my fingers. They were trembling now. It didn't matter how much I voiced my concern against killing. This ritual was going to happen, whether I liked it or not.
And it was going to be the worst night of my life.
Chapter Five
While my encounter with Lady Serenity was nothing short of pleasant, I found myself stunned silent straight through my synthetic feeding with Draven. I didn't want to kill an innocent human. I still stood by my decision to be as moral as possible and to remain connected to my human roots. What was so wrong with that?
As I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, I felt a familiar presence.
“What vexes you, little one?” asked a husky voice.
Wide-eyed, I turned around to find Adrian leaning against the wall with an apple fixed between his fingers. He raised it to his lips, opened his mouth wide, and took a sizable bite.
“Oh, I just...I just came from a feeding,” I replied, eyeing his apple. Vampires didn’t eat human food. He would have a fun time purging that from his system later.
The juice from the fresh apple trickled down his chin, and I licked my lips. I was still hungry. Seeing him chew the apple made me want it. At least as a vampling I could still digest human food. It didn’t provide any sustenance, but I wouldn’t have to spew it up like he would later.
I grimaced and pushed that thought from my mind. It wasn’t a particularly sexy one, and I’d prefer to picture him bent over my porcelain body than over a porcelain bowl.
“I heard you were planning your party with my maker,” he commented.
“I was,” I replied. A could feel my cheeks flush as our eyes met.
“She's a lovely woman, isn't she?” he asked.
I nodded slowly and looked down at the ground, my hand frozen on the door knob.
“I admittedly thought she would be more proper than she was. Not that she wasn't a perfect lady. She was very open and sweet,” I said.
“She's been that way for the past few hundred years,” he commented. “I suppose, really, that she's always been like that.”
“When were you born?” I asked.
“The same year my maker was born,” he replied.
“No, I meant...when you were a human.”
“Oh, that,” he whispered. “Well, I believe it was some time before the fall of the Roman empire.”
I paused. Shit, that’s so long ago, I thought. When he grinned at me, I realized he was probably still reading my thoughts. At least he had the grace to pretend he wasn’t. I sighed, and repeated out loud, “that's so long ago.”
“It is,” he agreed. “It feels like just yesterday for me.”
“I can imagine,” I lied.
“Sometimes I forget,” he went on.
His eyes lowered to the ground and dimmed, the apple teetering from his fingers. I caught it with ease. As I raised it up, he smiled and accepted the apple.
“Thank you,” he said. “Would you care to go for a walk through the maze tonight?”
“Actually, I'd like that. I could use some air after my feeding,” I replied.
“Did you make any progress to weaning off the synthetic stuff?” he asked.
I shook my head and mournfully stared at the apple, licking my lips again. He noticed me staring and held it out to me. I took it gratefully and took a bite, savoring the delicious juice that filled my mouth. It tasted like humanity. It tasted like waking up early and running through the park as the sun beat mercilessly against my sweating forehead. It tasted like days spent lazing around the pool with a book between my fingers, flipping through pages to get to the best parts of my favorite story.
“Feeling nostalgic?” Adrian asked.
I looked up to greet those beautiful blue eyes that glimmered in the dim hallway light.
“Oh, a bit,” I replied. “I was just thinking about the sun.”
“I don't often remember the sun's rays, but it's amazing when I do,” he said. “Shall we?”
He gestured towards the stairs and extended his arm. I nodded, took his arm, and flushed again as we walked towards the carpeted steps. As we descended, we placed his free hand gently over our intertwined arms. It was a comforting gesture. I smiled and took another bite of the apple, relishing the acidic taste as the juices excited my tongue. Yet another thing I’d be giving up once I fully turned.
“Do you have any fond memories of it? All I can recall is sweating,” I said.
“I remember one summer visiting the ocean with my family. We sat along the edge of the beach and stuck our toes in the moist sand, waiting for the waves to lap at our toes and drag away the sand that covered our feet,” he explained. “I don't remember it feeling warm.”
“Why's that?” I asked.
“I suppose because it was ages ago,” he replied. “I just can't seem to summon the memory.”
“I'm sorry,” I whispered.
“There's no need for that when we have film,” he said with a grin.
“I can't believe you're so positive for someone who lost everything that comes with the daylight,” I said.
He held out his arm to push open the doors, and we walked through the crowded courtyard to the other side. I stepped on the worn dirt path for the maze and glanced behind us briefly. No one was looking in our direction, but I could feel that their eyes were watching. A small grin crossed my lips as we descended towards the substantial bushes that loomed overhead like dark clouds. Small garden lamps dotted the path like little white fairies, illuminating the forest green leaves with pure light.
It wasn't sunlight, but it was beautiful regardless. I found myself radiating with warmth as we meandered between the bushes. Adrian took my hand again and squeezed it gently, inspiring another smile. I bit my lower lip.
“This is nice,” I whispered.
“I agree,” he replied in a low voice. “And it's even nicer to have you at my side.”
I flushed immediately and raised my free hand to my lips, stifling the nervous laugh that threatened to break the beautiful silence. It wrapped us in a safe blanket surrounded by the gentle bushes and guarded us from the onlookers up in the courtyard. How could I threaten that with a laugh?
“It's no threat to me,” he whispered.
“Adrian,” I groaned.
“My sincerest apologies!” he exclaimed quickly. “Really, I do apologize. I don't mean to do it. I just end up listening when I let my guard down.”
“Why did you let your guard down?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Because I feel comfortable around you.”
My stomach did a somersault at his words. I smiled warmly.
“I think I do, too,” I whispered. “To be honest, it feels nice having someone to talk to.”
“You know, there are always whis
pers in the coven about eternal companionship. I never listened to them much. I always thought it was total hogwash,” he explained.
I took a timid step back and cocked my head, my voice catching slightly in my throat. “Whoa now, no one’s talking about anything eternal here.”
Adrian laughed suddenly, causing the nearby crowd to quiet. “Of course not, Riley. I’m just saying, I think it’s ridiculous. I’ve lived far too long and witnessed far too many relationships fizzle and die to believe in eternal love.
“That’s fairly depressing, though. Isn’t it?” I asked.
“Not to me. It just sounds superfluous. Finding a mate who will last for eternity is an overwhelming expectation,” he replied.
“I can't imagine even trying. How would you last that long with the same person?” I asked.
“I suppose love could find a way. Vampires are monogamous by nature, unlike other paranormal creatures. The werewolves, for example. They share their lovers.”
“Werewolves?” I asked. Until the day I was turned, paranormal creatures were limited to books and movies. There were of course many groups who spoke of them, but normal society just brushed them off as druggies or lunatics. My best friend growing up insisted vampires were real, and her stupidity was ultimately what ended our friendship. I guess I was the stupid one, after all.
“They're nothing to worry about.”
“Sorry, what?” I had gotten lost in my thoughts again, my mind pulled back to attention by Adrian’s hand that raised to my cheek.
“The werewolves, Riley. Shifters. Just don't venture through the forest too far, and you’ll be fine,” he advised. “I wouldn't want to lose you to a pack of hungry wolves.”
I grinned as he winked at me.
“I have to tell you, Adrian. It feels really nice being out here with you. I think have been growing pretty lonely here,” I admitted.
“Surely you have made friends these past few months?”
I shook my head. “Not apart from Draven. And even there, I think his relationship with me stems more from duty than anything else.”