Fated Fangs

Chapter 7: A Change of Scenery

The world spun wildly as Eleni tried to understand what had just happened. One second, they were standing in the kitchen of her small apartment in front of an open window. The next second, they weren't even solid beings anymore. Eleni tried to look at her hands, but there weren't even eyes to look with.

She sensed more than saw that they were moving rapidly through the city she had grown to love in a mist like form. They may have looked like a gust of sparse clouds to anyone who cared to look up and observe them. Eleni couldn't feel her body at all, but it didn't feel wrong or like she was gone. She somehow knew she still existed, but not feeling her body was terrifying. She tried to scream but couldn't. Maybe she was dead?

She wanted this terrifying dream to be done with, but she knew it wasn't a dream. If she could have pinched herself and woken up in her bed and with the last two days disappearing into a fog of barely remembering like dreams are apt to do, she would have cried with relief. But as it was, she wasn't even sure if she could cry.

It wasn't a long journey, but Eleni felt that they had left the city far behind them. She couldn't explain how, but she sensed they had traveled over a great expanse of trees and fields. It was still night. It felt like it would always be night, at this rate. Too much was happening in such a short span of time.

She wasn't fully aware that they had arrived for a few seconds after the fact. The first thing she noticed was her fingers gripping onto a soft, plushy rug. All of her senses came back to her at once after she realized that she could see and feel the red, extravagant threads. Her head felt like it was still spinning in the mist as she shakily stood up and began to look around.

She was in a big, dimly lit hall. It looked like it had been built in the height of the art deco movement and not maintained much since. There were signs of extravagant purchases, like the lavish runner she was standing on, several pieces of art, and the heavy curtains covering the very tall windows, but there was almost a mustiness to the place.

She caught movement ahead of her at the end of the hall and saw Bram sitting on an ornately carved throne at the top of a set of stairs. The runner on the floor suddenly made sense, and it all gave a sort of throne room vibe, minus it being dark and gloomy. Bram was once again flanked by Cassandra, who stood straight and tall behind him. The speed of travel didn't seem to have rustled her at all, as every strand of hair was perfectly in place.

A misty form passed Eleni. She felt a chill rolling off of it as it passed and proceded to materialize before Bram at the foot of the steps. It was strange to watch, and Eleni found herself staring as Tuer appeared, kneeling. She couldn't distinguish the exact moment that mist became man, but there he suddenly was. His hands were stretched out and up before him in an offering pose before Bram. Eleni started walking forward to get a better look at what he had, but she quickly stopped in her steps, fear sending shivers down her spine and rooting her feet to the ground.

A trickle of blood was running down Tuer's arm, making dull dripping sounds as it hit the carpet. A heart. He was holding Athan's heart in his bloody hands. Bram was smiling in satisfaction, his meaty hands gripping the carved arms of his chosen throne. He was praising Tuer for a job well done, his voice slow and satisfied, but the words began to jumple and turn into a thudding noise in Eleni's mind. Thump-thump, like a heartbeat. She thought she could see the heart beating as her eyes became wider and wider.

Eleni's vision became blurry as she became unable to blink. It was all too much. Nothing made sense anymore. She had known Athan. He had been so kind and cute. They had worked together and laughed together. And now she was staring at his heart.

The musty smell and the chill and the sound of oozing blood took over as Eleni's limbs began to tingle. Her world began to fade to grey, and her legs gave out beneath her as her body finally rejected the reality she had been forced into.

***

Eleni felt safe and warm. She felt like she was floating through a river of light. She nestled into a soft fabric and breathed in the floral scent of the arms that were carrying her.

Arms. Being carried. Being safe.

Eleni woke up with a jolt. Her heart was racing in her chest as she looked around her. All feelings of safety and serenity left her as she remembered where she had been last. She calmed slightly when she saw that she was no longer in the throne room, but she definitely wasn't in her apartment. It had been home for so long now, and she found herself missing it, but she pushed that out of her mind for the time being.

Light was pouring in through a tall, narrow window next to the four-poster bed she was in. The room she was in was quite large, large enough that the queen sized bed didn't take up much room. Eleni rubbed her eyes sleepily as she looked around the brightly lit room.

It was day, at least, and for that, she was grateful. Weren't vampires allergic to the sun or something? She felt reasured that they wouldn't be able to survive in this room. Unless, she thought darkly, windows stopped whatever effect the sun had on them. Eleni shivered despite the warmth of the sun rays and plushy blankets.

There was a set of french doors across from the bed, and Eleni curiously got out of bed to further explore her new surroundings. The doors opened into a small sitting room with an en suite on the other side. Eleni happily made use of it while she tried to get her bearings. The decor continued to be styled in the jumpled art deco arcitecture with furnishings from all times scattered about.

The rooms she had access to were much tidier and cleaner than the throne room had been. It seemed as if more care was put into the living spaces than that gloomy room. There was another door off of the sitting room, but try as she might, it remained locked.

Eleni gave up on exploring and turned her attention back to the sitting room. She noticed, for the first time, that the small coffee table in the center of the room had dishes on it. With a little hope, she approached the table as if she expected something to jump out at her. Instead, she stared blankly at the strange assortment of food.

There were nuts, beef jerky, a sleeve of very stale crackers, m'n'm's, and so many pitchers of water that she feared how long they meant to keep her prisoner. Her stomach growled as she looked at the food, so she decided to sit down and make the best of it. There was a folded note in front of the water that simply read: Eat. You will be attended to at sunset.

She wasn't excited about whatever being attended to implied, but she did need to eat. She thought about all that had happened to her since she had first been attacked, but it was all still so much to process. She didn't feel any differently, physically, so she assumed she hadn't already been turned into a vampire.

They would be turning her into one, though she supposed. Bram had said that she couldn't remain free now that she knew about vampires, so they were either going to keep her as a prisoner until she died or turn her into one of their kind, right?

Something didn't add up, though. Shouldn't she be a vampire already? The vampire who had bitten her and sucked her blood had turned to ash, sure, but he had sucked her blood. She cursed herself for not paying more attention to vampire movies and literature.

There was always plenty of it around in pop culture, but it had always seemed so silly to her. It didn't seem so silly anymore. As far as she knew, though, having your blood sucked by a vampire was a sure way to turn into one. It continued to puzzle her late into the day.