In Dreams: Bleed Out

Family

Trying to rebuild my strength was exhausting.  The baby seemed to sap it from me as quickly as I regained it.  I was gaining weight rapidly, or rather, she was, and my body was struggling just to keep up.  Worse, her strength increased and several of her kicks put my recovery time back as she rebroke a rib or did some serious internal damage.  Alexandre was beginning to push for an early delivery again, but Cornelius calmed him down by saying that in another week or two, she would probably be too big to do much more than stretch.  I sided with Cornelius and bore the new pain as silently as I could, and hid the swiftly disappearing bruises from Alexandre whenever possible.  Cornelius increased my blood rations, but carefully, watching me for signs of overfeeding.

About a week after they could let me walk again on my own, I discovered Luc.  I was actually outside in the garden when the strong smell of Alexandre and Cornelius distracted me.  It seemed like they had made many trips...somewhere.  So I followed the scent around the back of the house to the stables.  Cornelius' and Alexandre's trails overlapped here many times and ended at a locked door with a keypad beside it.  Hazarding a guess I entered the date Alexandre discovered me.  The door emitted an angry sound but stayed locked.  I rubbed my stomach absentmindedly and then grinned wryly.  I entered the date of our first ultrasound.  The door buzzed and cracked open slightly.  Sentimental fool.

The smell of blood hit me immediately when I pushed open the door.  A slightly floral scent.  I jerked and hesitated in the doorway.

"You...!  I thought I'd killed you!"  Rasped Alexandre's brother.  With determination, I stepped into the dark room, letting my eyes adjust.

"Not quite."  I replied.  I found my arms wrapped protectively around my swollen midriff and tried to relax them.  Luc's gaze was examining my abdomen too.

"How..how is this still possible?  How is Alexandre still getting everything while I have lost it all?"  Luc screamed, straining against the chains holding him upright against the concrete wall.  I stepped closer and recoiled, seeing what they had done to him.

"Yes, look well girl.  This is the monster that lies beneath the surface of your beloved.  The child within you is an abomination, the seed of Satan himself."  Luc yelled and then began coughing as blood dribbled down his chin.  I backed up swiftly, unsettled.

Alexandre and Cornelius had chained Luc against the wall, yes, but they had also seriously crippled him.  I didn't think he could stand if not for the chains.  In addition, there were IV lines and open wounds with stents on his body, draining the blood from him continuously.  His skin was shriveled and his hair had thinned and begun to fall out.  He was standing in a child's plastic kiddie pool of his own blood and bodily excretions and I was suddenly very ill.  Somebody had been taking lessons from the Nurse.  I turned, holding a hand to my mouth.

"Carys."  Alexandre's soft voice came from the door.  I looked at him wide-eyed.

"Come back and visit me some time!  Let me tell you what he did to our sister!"  Luc yelled as I pushed passed Alexandre out of the door.  He shut it with a snap behind me.

"Why did you come here?"  Alexandre caught me in a gentle hug.  I resisted for a second but then melted into his embrace.

"Well you know what they say 'curiosity killed the cat' and all that."  I choked.

"Carys look at me love."  Alexandre tugged my chin upwards so I would face him.  "Are you ok?"

"I...don't know how to..process..that."  I waved a hand towards the closed door.  Alexandre looked away.

"I didn't know what to do with him.  I couldn't kill him, but I couldn't just let him go for him to try to again, so Cornelius suggested keeping him in a weakened state until I made up my mind or we made peace."  His expression hardened and his lips thinned.  "Obviously we've reached neither.  But, he's my brother..."  He said helplessly.  I laid my hand on the side of his face. 

"I think I understand."  I murmured, leaning my head against his chest.  "Why is he so angry with you that he would try to kill us?"  I felt Alexandre's hands clench against my back.

"That was...a long time ago."  Alexandre replied evasively.

"Obviously not long enough for Luc."  I pointed out and Alexandre sighed.  He turned, with a hand still on my back, to lead me towards the gardens.

"This is.. very painful Carys."  Alexandre said quietly and I looked at him.  The tone of his voice had changed, even his body language had changed.  He was stiff and distant suddenly and I reached out a hand with worry to wrap around his waist.

"Maybe I'm pushing too hard.  I'm sorry."  I apologized.  I was already thinking of ways to sneak back out to ask Luc.  As if sensing this Alexandre sighed.

"No, I'd much rather you hear it from me.  If I wait, you'll ask Luc, and though memories get distorted with time, his have become warped with hate as well.  I want you to hear my side first, so that you can judge for yourself when you hear his."  Alexandre answered me, and I once again reminded myself not to try to out-think him.  I noticed the flowers were out in full force again, the scent a beautiful compliment to Alexandre's own, and I leaned against him, inhaling deeply, waiting for him to begin.  He was quiet as he walked with me out to the gazebo, and then sat down beside me with a soft sigh.  He ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled.  I wasn't used to seeing nervous gestures from him, so I quickly captured his hands and looked him urgently in the eyes.

"You don't have to tell me.."  I said.

"No, I need you to understand."  He replied and blew out another breath.

"I told you when I was turned I spent some time wandering around trying to figure out who or what I was.  What I left out what the brief period of time that I returned home, which is one reason I was so adamant that you did not..."

"I woke up in the street, and realized I no longer had a fever, no longer felt ill.  In fact, I felt fine, except things were a little strange, like my body had suddenly gained extra clarity.  Figuring it was just because I had been ill for so long and was finally recovering, I got up and started on my way home.  Surely my parents wouldn't refuse me entrance when they saw how well I looked?  I didn't realize by that point I had been lying in the street for several days, presumed dead, and was awaiting the city to round up my corpse."

"When my mother saw me standing at the door, she nearly fainted, and my family was terrified to let me in, for good reason.  My father and brother chased me away that first night, while my mother screamed.  But I kept returning.  My mother begged them to let me in, saying 'look, he has survived!'  But my father would hear nothing of it.  He was trying to protect his family, you see, but I could already tell, my brother was ill.  I could smell it on him, and my parents wouldn't be far behind.  I warned them of this and this time, when my brother's eyes grew wide, they turned to me in fear.  How could I know?  Meanwhile, I was growing hungrier, but realized I had no appetite for food, and no money, even if I did.  I wasn't sure exactly what I was craving, until the night my sister left the window open for me."

Alexandre paused, sighing again.  I gripped his hand tightly and he smiled at me weakly.

"I wonder what you'll think of me once I tell you this, Carys."  He said quietly and I tried to object but he just shook his head.

"My sister had left the window to her bedroom open on the second story when she heard me return that night.  When my parents refused me entrance once again, she whispered my name and I saw her waving to me to come up.  I wasn't sure how, but I managed to scale the outside of the building with ease and she giggled at me and said I looked like a lizard.  She was only about twelve at the time, and still so small for her age, like a little doll..."  Alexandre's voice grew wistful.  "I miss her dearly Carys."  He whispered before continuing his tale.

"She was the only one who still smelled healthy, somehow..  She had thrown a quilt and pillow on the floor for me and whispered I could spend the night in her room if I was extra, extra quiet.  It was the most adorable thing ever, so I sat on the floor, and she on her bed as she sewed clothes for her doll by a small gas lamp and chatted quietly to me and giggled about the things she was saying."  Alexandre gulped and tensed and I knew this was it.

"And then she pricked her finger.  Such an innocent little thing, that drop of blood, but it immediately awakened my vampiric instincts, and before I was quite aware of what I was doing, I was...standing over her..the scent of her blood making me lose my mind.  She squealed and I had her neck in my teeth in the next instant."  Alexandre was steadily avoiding my gaze now.

"Then Luc burst through the door, he had heard her squeal.  I had her body clutched in my arms, teeth still buried in her neck.  She was moaning and Luc lost his mind.  He charged into the room, yelling for father, and began to struggle with me.  But I was so much stronger.  In the process, he ripped our sister away from me, severing her jugular and knocking the oil lamp to the floor.  It immediately caught the quilt on the floor on fire, and incensed, I jumped across the room at my brother.  He had killed our sister!  I could hear her heart slowing even now as the room started to catch flame around us.  I sank my teeth into him and drank deeply, then tossed him from the window in a rage.  The house had begun to burn around me, but I didn't care, I was lost to my vampire instincts.  I wanted to get my sister's body and save my parents if I could.  But the fire was already taking her little body, and I had fought and hesitated too long.  The smoke got to my parents and was quickly getting to me.  I had to get out.  So I ran faster than I thought possible into the night and never looked back, never realizing that my bite had actually transferred the virus to Luc, because he was already ill, and the fall outside the window had nearly killed him.  He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, but awoke in a few days, turned, and then came looking for me."

"We have fought many times over the years, but I have never had the heart to kill him.  He blames me for what happened to our family.  He blames me that his fiance was inside that night too.  I...never meant.."  Alexandre choked and then took a steadying breath.

"I had not heard from him in so long, I thought he was dead, or had perhaps given up his grudge.  Or maybe even found happiness in the end.  I had no idea he would come after you and our child, and he's never come with such strength before.  I don't know if the jealousy fueled his rage, or if he's found another way, but I am afraid Carys..."

"I am afraid he will try to kill you if given the chance."