Eternally Dark

chapter 10: Did I die?

“So,” James said. He was lying next to me on my bed, hands behind his head. I tried to roll onto my side and reply but I couldn’t move, I was stuck laying there James cluelessly next to me. All of a sudden everything was too loud, too bright, my room looked like it was under a microscope, I could feel every piece of dust in the air touching me and the smell. It smelt like the air had been filled with the scent of pure heaven, nothing like I’d ever smelt before, and I wanted it with every atom in my being. I felt like my whole body was on fire, like I was gasping for air while my lungs were full. I wanted to scream, at the agony that spread through my body with no relent. My heart pounded in my ears, screaming at me with each passing moment.

“James,” I gasped, barely being able to get out the single word. I tried to say his name again but when I opened my mouth only the whisper of a scream escaped my lips.

“Hey what's wrong?” James asked, immediately sitting up. “Liz? Hey! Liz!” I could hear the panic in his voice, the fear and worry. I wanted to scream my reply to curl up in his arms and for the pain to go away.

“Help,” I breathed, the shots of agony pelted through me, and I screamed.

“No,” James was saying, “No, no, no,” The pain increased, and I screamed again, then it just stopped. The world still seemed out of place, but the pain was gone.

“James,” I whispered, it was no more than a ghost of a sound, but still he heard me.

“Hey, It’s okay. It’ll be okay,” He said, pulling me up and into a hug. I tried to bring in air, but none came, I tried again, none. I can’t breathe! I tried once more, air! I sucked in more air, sweet precious air.

My bedroom door slammed open, and over James' shoulder I could see Lieya. She ran in the room and tried to pull me from James, but he held onto me.

“What happened?” She asked. The smell, the one that imitated heaven, it surrounded me now and I needed it. I came from Lieya. I felt my entire body tense, and my mouth regained its prior agony. I let out another scream of agony.

“Leiya, back up,” James sounded serious now, his voice held an authority that I’d never heard before, “Now,” The smell though it still filled me and drove me, it got further away. I tried to yank free of James, but he held on tight, not letting me go.

“Liz,” His voice sounded drowned out, it didn’t matter, I needed whatever held that smell, “Liz, calm down! Lieya get out of here, lock yourself in the basement, don’t come out for anyone but me. Okay?”

“Okay,” As Lieya left the room at a run the need to follow her consumed me.

“No!” I screamed, and pulled against James again “No!” James shifted and I heard him pull his phone from his pocket, again I again tried to pull free and failed.

“Maria!” James had the phone on speaker and Maria’s voice flowed out of the phone,

“James?”

“Maria, I need you down here, and I need you to bring blood, a lot of it,”

“What’s happening James?” I screamed again, this time not of pain but anger and desperation. “James?” There were muffled noises coming from the phone as Maria move around,

“Just hurry!” James called and hung up the phone. I relaxed my body against him and deliberately slowed my breathing,

“James?” I forced my words to sound scared and confused, “James you're hurting me!” He shook his head,

“Not going to work,” I gave up on that idea, and pulled against him again, putting everything I had into it. I knew it took great effort for James not to let go of me. The front door opened, slamming into the wall and echoing a thud down the hall.

“Maria!” I called, seeing the opportunity, “Maria help!” Within the second there she was standing in the doorway, holding a shopping bag that radiated the same heavenly smell. I snarled. I hadn't meant to but it made Maria take a step back. I again pushed against James trying to break free.

“Maria,” James sounded way to calm all of a sudden, Maria moved into the room, bringing the shopping bag with her. My mouth almost watered at the intensity of the smell. Maria pulled what looked to be a blood bag out and handed it to James, who let go of me and shoved the blood into my hands. It smelt so good, but it was blood. What the hell! I didn’t have time to stop myself, I ripped the bag open and drained the entire thing, not leaving a single drop. Maria pulled another out of the shopping bag and handed it to me. Again I tore it open and gulped down the contents. I did that to another twelve bags -fourteen in total- before my brain caught up to what I was doing. I shrieked and threw the empty bag away from me. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my head into them, tears suddenly poured down my face, damping my shirt and pants. You drank blood! Monster!

“No,” I heard myself repeating “No, no, no,” I ran my tongue over my teeth, now feeling the two fangs. A hand touched my shoulder, and I instantly pulled away.

“Did you?” Maria’s voice cut through the silence, her half question was directed at James.

“No,” It was clear to me he was just as distressed as I was.

“Anyone in the house?”

“Yeah, her older sister, she's hiding in the basement,”

“Alright, you go let her know she can come out now. I’ll get Elizabeth to the clan,” I felt James as left, a show of how much stronger our bond had gotten throughout the day.

“Elizabeth,” Maria’s tone had gone gentle and comforting,

“No,” I continued to whisper, shaking my head. “I-I,” More tears flowed down my face. Maria placed her hand on my shoulder,

“It’s okay,” I looked up at her and shook my head again, “If you don’t trust me trust James, he called me here to help you, so let me help you,” She let her hand slide of my shoulder and offered it to me, I hesitated for a moment before taking it. She pulled me to my feet and took hold of my other hand. I closed my eyes just as Maria had and the world around me dropped to freezing temperatures for a second then went back to normal. I opened my eyes to see that I was back in the side office we’d been in during the clan party. There was a strange ache that spread through my body, one that called for James. Maria had me sit down on one of the lounges, and a few minutes later James appeared across the room and the ache faded away. He sped across the room at inhuman speed and knelt down next to me. We were again back in the party clothes, but my bruises were gone. I ran my tongue over my teeth again feeling the fangs that now inhabited my mouth.

“I know,” James said, “You’ll get used to them,” I still didn’t quite understand what happened so I asked the obvious question,

“What’s going on?” There was a sad expression that now blanketed both James’ and Maria’s faces.

“You’re a destined,” Maria said, which only confused me further,

“You turned on your own, instead of being turned,” James added in. Then it finally clicked, I’m a vampire. I shook my head, and brought my hands up to my face and dragged them back across my hair. No, I’m not a vampire!

“No, I-I can’t be,” James took my hand in his, which helped hide how badly they were shaking now. “No, no. Oh god, no,” It was clear that I was worrying James a tremendous amount, but I didn’t know how else to react or how to help him.

“It is however curious that your heart still beats,” Maria said, talking both to me and herself -mostly herself- “Though the only other known destined to have ever existed, never came near any other vampires unless completely necessary, so there isn’t much information on destained. Your heart beating could be completely normal for you, which indicates that perhaps you have other abilities that differ from us,” She was no longer truly talking to us, instead just hypothesising with herself.

“Kenric,” I didn’t know why I’d said it but it immediately drew the attention of the room to me.

“What did you say?” Maria flashed across the room taking a seat in the armchair near me.

“Kenric,” I repeated, not sure why the one word had drawn so much attention, the two exchanged a look of surprise and curiosity.

“Kenric, was the other destined’s name,” James was staying silent, reverting to simply studying me, full of curiosity and that mysterious emotion. “How do you know that name?” I shrugged,

“I don’t really, just kind of said it,” But as I was talking more information about this Kenric guy fell into place for me, “He was born in the second century, the youngest to a family of seven. When he first turned he killed his mother and two of his siblings, he then spent the remaining time of his family's lives watching over them ashamed of what he’d done, waiting for the day he would suffer for his actions. He avoided everyone including other vampires not wanting to hurt anyone else. Exactly three-hundred years, four months and two days after he first turned, the leader of the nearest clan killed him, because he couldn’t be controlled in the same way the others could be meaning if he truly wanted Kenric could have overthrown the clan leader.” The three of us sat in silence once I’d finished. The other two were staring at me not knowing what to do with the overflow of information I’d just given them.

“Sorry, I don’t know how I know that,” I said eventually, breaking the silence.

“Fascinating!” Maria called, just as she had when she learnt that I was bound to James as a human.

“You say that like I’m a science experiment,” Maria shook her head,

“No, my dear. You’re simply so unique. Bound to a vampire while still human, having visions, being a Destined. Having just one of those in your collection is impossibly rare but having all three, is imposable,” That still made me feel like some mutant freak being studied.

“Someones coming,” James said suddenly, and took my hand.