Chapter 8: Corpse?
1238 Words
I sucked in my breath. Not understanding, but understanding all the same. I stood. My hand went to my neck and down to where I felt two different yet distinct bite marks on my shoulder. The man that attacked me was a vampire, like Torrin had said, they sucked the life out of the living until it was a shriveled up body.
I looked down at my hands and arms. They were pale, no longer did I see the pink hints of my skin. My skin gleamed in the small light streaming from the window. My skin appeared to be like Erevus’s.
“You’re a vampire?” I exclaimed.
He stood, taller than I was but not as tall as Torrin.
“I am and have been for hundreds of years.”
“You’ve been a vampire this whole time?” I still wasn’t able to wrap my mind around this.
“I tried to warn you that it wasn’t safe.”
“So did everyone else,” I murmured. Everyone had been trying to tell me not to go to the ocean.
I looked again at my hands and arms. The paleness of my skin contrasted against the darkened room.
“I’m a vampire?” I spun towards Erevus. My heart pounded. My eyes grew wide. I knew the answer, but I feared it all the same.
“Yes, Isadora. You are now.”
I turned around, shocked and stunned. Was this real? Was this a joke?
A small light beam gleamed off the glass with remnants of a red liquid.
“What was in that?”
“A blood cocktail.”
I covered my mouth as I dry heaved. Falling to my knees, I ran my hands over my hair, then dug my fingers into it. I am a vampire. I am a vampire. In one moment, my whole world had changed and I couldn’t comprehend it. I should have died last night, but now I am a vampire.
Again, I ran my hands up my pale arms, feeling the coldness of it. I now knew what was taken from inside of me; life- life as a living person. Now I needed blood to live, to keep myself from deteriorating.
I rubbed my hand over my skin, now panicking about Torrin’s description.
“Is my skin going to fall off?” I twisted towards Erevus.
“What?”
“My skin.” Panic filled my voice. “Is it going to fall off?”
“Where have you heard that?”
“I was told you were rotting corpses. Is my skin going to rot off?”
Erevus laughed. I didn’t find this a laughing matter. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just never heard of that before.” Erevus knelt beside me. “Your skin will not fall off. You will not rot or smell like you are.”
I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. I am a vampire now. I should have died, but instead I am a vampire. I am a vampire. I kept repeating that to myself over and over hoping that it would somehow sink in. But the shock would not subside. The disbelief and denial was still very dominant. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, leaning over myself, searching for some type of comfort.
“Wait, you said you’ve been a vampire for hundreds of years? How long do vampires live?”
Erevus rubbed the back of his neck. “Well that’s a complicated answer, but in your case… you are now immortal. You will never age again.”
I was to be eighteen forever? I was to be like this forever.
Why couldn’t my brain catch up, everything seemed to swirl in non-conformed ways.
“I’ll be eighteen forever?”
“You will look eighteen forever. You will still mature.”
I glanced down at myself. I didn’t even feel like I was maturely developed yet. “It would have been nice to have filled out more before this happened.”
Erevus sputtered and coughed, and quickly turned his head away.
I was still too much in shock to be able to comprehend the full embarrassment of my words.
I should have died last night, but now I am a vampire. I will look eighteen forever, and my skin will not rot away. I need blood to live.
“Will I have to kill to get blood?”
Erevus put his arm around me. “You do not have to kill for blood. You are not doing this alone. I will help you, I will teach you.”
I am not alone. I am a vampire, but I am not alone. My skin will stay on me.
“This is real, right? This is my reality? You’re not making this up?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you, Isadora. You are now a vampire. Your life is now here, in the Dark Kingdom.”
Dark Kingdom.
I gasped and peered out the window, but it was impossible to tell what time it was. Torrin! Miralia! No slip-ups.
“I have to go!”
I staggered to my feet and I ran to the door. Erevus somehow beat me to the door, blocking it.
“Isadora, you can’t go back to your home. They won’t accept you anymore.”
“You don’t understand. No slip-ups, no loopholes.” My kingdom was in danger of Torrin. If I didn’t return, then what would happen to Miralia?
“You can’t go back. There is still so much you don’t understand about yourself, about vampires.”
I tried to reach for the doorknob. Panic stricken me. I didn’t care.
“I was supposed to be back by morning.”
“But then you died.”
“You don’t understand! The consequences.”
In my frantic panic, I shoved Erevus out of the way of the door. I didn’t even know I was capable of that strength. I grabbed the doorknob, pulling open the door.
Erevus wrapped his arm around me, lifting me up and over his shoulder. He set me down on the bed.
He said, “You’re not thinking straight. What will happen if you show back up to your house as a vampire?”
“You don’t understand. If I don’t go back, King Torrin will take out my betrayal onto my family and my kingdom.”
Erevus’s arms fell to his side.
“Isadora. High Princess Isadora of Fildira?”
I looked up and nodded. “I am the High Princess.”
He clenched his jaw. “Torrin is…”
“My betrothed. Yes.”
“He is a vampire hunter. What will he do to you if you go back?”
I knew of his hatred for vampires and the Dark Kingdom. I was supposed to marry him to help in the alliance to eliminate the Dark Kingdom and now, because of one stupid mistake to prove to Torrin I was my own person, I am now a part of the Dark Kingdom.
“What will he do to everyone else if I don’t? What won’t he do to find me?”
Erevus clenched his hands. His eyes blazed a violent furry. He had appeared kind, but now he seemed dangerous. That put me on edge. I suddenly was wondering what kind of vampire Erevus was and if I should feel safe with him.
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