Chapter 6: Death
1207 Words
Erevus stood on the outskirts of Elithor helping Stefen and the villagers to build a watchtower, one that was angled in such a way that they would be protected by the sun.
Another scream erupted into the sky. He paused, looking into the forest. It was closer this time. Something didn’t feel right. Had another vampire been attacked? It didn’t sit well with him.
“Stefen, with me.”
Together, they ran into the trees. Erevus paused when he searched for a noise or smell that could direct him. What he did smell made his stomach clench and his heart miss a beat. He knew that smell, knew that mixture of blood. The innocent girl with black hair.
“It’s her.”
“Who?” He heard Stefen call.
He ran faster, becoming a blur of motion in the night. The smell grew stronger. He knew it was no longer in her veins but was dripping from her. Why was she so close to Elithor? Had he not warned her?
A vampire sat over her sucking down on her neck. Her eyes were open, but glazed over as her skin began to turn a bluish color.
Erevus pulled the vampire off, grabbing him by the neck and threw him into a tree. He gripped the man’s neck as he saw her blood trickle from his mouth.
“You know our laws,” Erevus growled.
“Trespasser. Traitorous living trespasser,” The man gasped.
Not her. The one living soul who actually saw beyond the dark. Who, in his experience, was the first living to be curious and believe there was more to the Dark Kingdom. He threw the man across the grass. His body cracked against a tree, and he slumped to the ground unconscious.
Erevus knelt beside the girl with beautiful black hair. Her breathing was raspy, and her skin was blue and gray. She blinked a few times as she was coming to. He cradled her head in his arm.
“It’s you.” She whispered. Her eyes closed slightly. “Guess-guess you were right.”
“Keep your eyes open.”
She blinked again. “I don’t-don’t think I can much longer. I don’t think…” her breathing turned shallower. “I am dying. I can… feel it.”
Erevus clutched her against him.
“Keep your eyes open,” he demanded.
“At least-at least,” her voice quieted, “I’m with you, here.”
Her eyes shut. Erevus shook her gently.
“Open your eyes.”
She did, but only partly. “It’s okay,” she murmured, “With you- I’m safe.”
Her eyes closed and her body slumped. The time between breaths grew longer apart. Erevus gripped her, his heart twisting and pounding. He felt a pain shred over him. He had spent the last two days unable to stop thinking about her, and now she laid in his arms dying. For some reason, she had stirred his heart and awakened it. Something he hadn’t felt in hundreds of years. He shook in rage at that man for touching her.
Stefen entered the clearing.
“Is she?”
“Not yet.” Erevus shook his head as he looked up. “I can’t let her die.”
“What are you saying?”
“She’s dying. I can’t let her soul disappear.”
Stefen’s eyes widened. “My King, you can’t possibly be thinking of turning her into a vampire.”
“She’ll die if I don’t.”
“It’s forbidden. You’re a purebred, you will be creating another…”
“I know.”
“The Coven. It’s forbidden. If they find out-“
“I know!”
What he was debating about doing was treasonous. The vampire coven could kill him for such an act. He looked down at her. Her skin was growing cold, her heart was slowing, and minutes were beginning to pass before the next breath. She was on death’s doorstep. A moment away from slipping forever from his grasps, never to understand her vision and dreams, never to know the mysteries that lay in her mind. Never to see her again with her arms outstretched staring in wonder and curiosity into the glittering dark sky.
“I can’t Stefen. I can’t let her go.”
“My King… she would never be able to go back to her world.”
It was true. Once he brought her into this one, she could never return. But didn’t she give the impression that she didn’t feel safe in her home? She was reluctant to go back to it. She had told him she felt most at peace under the night sky. Perhaps she was more suited to this world than her own.
Erevus closed his eyes. What he was debating about doing was changing the course of everything. He was taking a big risk, doing something that had been forbidden hundreds of years ago and for good reason. Wasn’t he the one that helped make that law? And now, because a girl with black hair and passion in her eyes was making him ignore something he had helped set into place for protection.
He heard her last words echo in the night breeze, with you- I’m safe.
He couldn’t save his village, but he could save her. He could keep her safe.
She took another breath, but it was shallow and quick. He was running out of time.
Erevus looked up to Stefen. “I have to. I can’t…”
Stefen’s eyes widened as if he had now caught on. Erevus cared for this living girl.
Erevus lowered onto her neck, drinking the sweetness of her blood, pulling the last of it from her body. He could feel her soul within the blood. The pureness, the innocence, the beauty. He pulled away, more determined than ever to have her be reborn. He quickly cut his wrist and allowed her blood mixed with his dead cells to drip into her mouth and glide down her throat.
Her body convulsed. Erevus knew how this would go. Knew what she would be feeling. She gasped as her heart began to beat in a much slower but rhythmic way. Her hands clenched against his skin and his shirt as her face contorted in pain. Her breathing quickened as he knew her body’s chemistry was changing.
No longer would she feel the sun against her skin.
No longer would she taste the sweetness of food.
No longer would she be able to be with her family.
No longer would she be able to live among the living.
She was now a creature of the night. A vampire.
Her body went limp in his arms, but he could hear her strong heartbeat and see the rise and fall of her chest. He stood and glanced at Stefen who stared wide-eyed.
“Speak of this to no one.”
Stefen quickly shook his head.
Erevus turned away and carried her to his castle, lying her on his bed. She rolled onto her side as he pulled the blanket up over her shoulder. He moved her hair from her face, his fingers gliding over her soft skin.
“Sleep now, you’re safe here.”
- Writer
