Eternal Damnation

Chapter 10

 -Aurora POV- 

“It hurts! It hurts, it hurts!” I scream unable to control my movement.  

Before I went to bed, it had calmed down but now... my body is reacting to the pain that is now all around my body. 

I can hear Ezekiel and Wolf talking to me but in no way I can make out what they are saying. When the pain is too much, I lose consciousness. 

I wake to hear Ezekiel talking. 

“Is she still asleep?” 

“Yes, did you get it?” Wolf asks. 

“Yes.” 

I slowly open my eyes to see Ezekiel walk over to me. 

“You’re awake!” 

I try to get up but my body hurts. 

“No don’t move. Lie down and rest.” He says. 

I take a deep breath. “That was not pleasant.”  

“I got something that will help next time.” He lifts a bag with something inside. “It’s called morphine. It will help you with the pain but you have to tell me when it starts.” 

I nod. “Do you think that it is strong enough?” 

“Morphine is one of the strongest pain medications there are now.” Wolf says. “It will help. Now come and eat. You’ve been out all day yesterday and night.  

I am about to get up but Ezekiel leans down then puts his hands on my waist and under my legs. He lifts me up and carries me. I hold on to him and feel his muscles over his shirt.  

I quickly look away stopping my train of thought because I know I am blushing. My face betrays me. 

Wolf has food set up for us while Ezekiel sits me on the sofa and then he sits next to me. 

We quietly start eating but then Ezekiel's phone thing starts ringing, startling me. 

“Marco wants to video chat.” Ezekiel says. 

(Video chat?) 

Ezekiel puts the phone upright on the table and then Wolf sits next to me on my other side. 

Suddenly, from the small phone, a face appears. I am thinking that this is like the TV where images of things that have already happen appear but Ezekiel starts talking to the man on the phone and the man talks back. I am looking at all of them as if they are from another world. 

“This is Aurora. Aurora, this is Marco.” 

“Hello, Aurora.” The man on the phone says. 

I nod. “He... hello.”  

(This is like no magic I have ever seen.) 

“Is this... magic?” I ask. 

They all laugh and I pout. 

(I’m going to stop asking questions if they keep laughing at me.) 

“No, technology.” Marco says. 

(Technology?) 

“So, what have you found?” Ezekiel asks. 

Marco smiles. “It was tough but I was able to find records of Mathew and Andrew Bishop. Two years after the Sibyl sister's deaths, Mathew got married. Andrew as well a few years later.” 

I look down remembering their faces. They are as fresh to me as Ezekiel and Wolf are right now.  

“A few years later, Mathew and his family died tragically in a house fire.” My eyes widen and my heart breaks. I had known him and Andrew for a long time. The moment he and Beatrice became engaged, he became like a brother to me. 

I can’t hide the grief feel to know this. Ezekiel notices and gives me a sympathetic look along with a hand squeeze. 

Marco continues talking. “There are records of Andrew and his family later relocating to Birmingham where he started a company that later turned into a small family fortune. Now, this is where it gets tricky. I had to read throughout the family history that came after to see if there was anything odd that would tell me something about the book. Well, in the nineteen twenties, Belinda Bishop, one of Andrew's descendants, inherited the family fortune. She died of old age and had no children to pass the fortune to. Upon her death, she auctioned all her belongings, and all those items were cataloged in a ledger.” 

“For god's sake, Marco cut to the chase!” Wolf says irritated. 

“Fine, fine! I found records of an old book that was sold in an auction. There! Happy!” Marco sounds salty. 

“Yes!” Wolf says. “So where is it now?” 

“After that, it had three new owners, and now... Dimitrios Popov owns it.” 

“What?” Ezekiel asks with surprise written all over his face.

“Yea... he seems to be a collector... amongst other things.” Marco says. 

“Who is this man?” Wolf asks. 

Ezekiel groans. “A Russian mob boss and a vampire.” 

“I assume he doesn’t like you?” Wolf says lifting an eyebrow up at Ezekiel. 

Ezekiel shakes his head. “Not one bit.” 

“Just great.” Wolf mumbles. 

“I’ll send you the address, it is a day away from where you are.” 

“Alright, thanks.”  

Before Marco hangs up, he adds “I’ll be sending you some help too.” 

Before Ezekiel can ask, he is gone from the phone. 

I quickly take the phone—not being able to resist the curiosity anymore— and look at it. 

“After you two finish eating, we’ll get ready and leave.” Ezekiel says. 

I hand him his phone back and he takes it with a smile. “I’ll show you some new things later.” 

Hearing him say that makes me so happy. He never makes me feel like I am a burden. I figure most people would be annoyed at me like Wolf always is. But I also think that is part of his nature, being a werewolf and all. 

We start eating what Wolf called tacos and burritos. Something I have never tasted before. 

I can feel Ezekiel’s eyes on me and so I turn to him. 

“Aurora, learning all that you just did about the people you knew, how do you feel?” He asks. “That couldn’t have been easy for you.” 

I stare at my food, trying to make out my feelings.  

“It wasn’t...” I stop for a second, still thinking. “... I do not think that it has set in yet that everyone I know... knew, is gone. Maybe nothing at all has set in yet. It all almost feels like a dream where I have no control over anything that happens.  I almost feel like I will wake up at any moment in my bed with my sister Beatrice shouting at me to get up as she used to do.” 

“Is that what you want? Do you want all this to be a dream? To wake up?” He asks. 

Not once do his eyes leave mine. It is as if he is searching for something. 

I stare at him for a while before answering him. “I... don’t know. If I did, I would be with my family, friends and that would really make me happy... but then... you would have been a dream... and I don’t want you to be a dream.” 

Our eyes are locked together. We both stare at each other as if we can feel the other through the stare... as if no words need to be said between us to know what the other is feeling. This is when I know that he knows exactly how I feel, what I am going through. Two kindred souls lost in a life of eternity. Eternal loneliness, eternally lost, eternity... in whichever way it is said, it now has the same meaning to me... to be damned. I now see the irony of the name Eternal Damnation. It is exactly that. 

As I look at Ezekiel—knowing that we understand each other—this feeling sets deep inside of me. 

(It is as if we belong together. As if our souls match and we are what the other needs. Him to show me the way. Me, to make him feel alive again, that he is not really dead.) 

And I can see the same look in his eyes. He knows it too. We are each other's lifeline. The light at the end of a lonely tunnel. 

Wolf clears his throat reminding us that we are not alone. When my eyes avert from Ezekiel towards Wolf, Wolf has an awkward expression on his face.  

“The food is going to get cold.” He says. 

I internally groan, feeling embarrassed. The next few minutes, my eyes are focused on my food and an uncomfortable silence falls between all of us. 

After we eat, Wolf heads out for a quick run. Ezekiel stays in the living area preparing a route for when we leave and I decide to go take a shower. 

 I get lost in the nice hot water as it hits my back. 

"I have to say, I really like the technology people have now. It makes life easier. This feels so good." 

After I am satisfied, I get out and dry myself. Then I look around and notice that I forgot my clothes. 

I sigh. "Of course I did." 

I go to the door and slightly open it. Ezekiel’s back is towards me. I look towards the end table next to the bed where I see the clothes that I had put together. I close the door again and take a deep breath before I run out.  

“No, I need to be quiet and stealthy.” I mumble. 

I now panic and decide to just run in. I open the door and start running only to crash into him. He twirls us around in between the doorway and now he is the one in the bathroom and I am in the room while he holds me. 

"Whoa, are you okay?" He asks holding me and steadying me. 

I panic. "Yes!" I shout, startling even myself. 

What's worst is that he doesn't let me go. 

He gives a smile with a small laugh looking at me while I look everywhere else that is not him, panicking. 

"Uhm... I need to get my clothes." I say when he continues to just stare. 

"Why?" He whispers. "You look beautiful like this." 

(Poof!... it feels like my head exploded.) 

And there it is, heat. The heat that rises inside of me every time he talks to me like this and the problem is, that I am dying to have a taste of him but he scares me a little. 

One of his hands goes up to my burned cheek and he moves my wet hair to the side, then his hand drifts down to my neck where his thumb caresses while his other hand still holds me by the waist. I can still feel, but the sensation is not as strong as if it was on my normal skin. 

All this time I have been looking away but now, I dare myself and look up at him. His eyes hold such intensity that I start to unconsciously lean in my body to his as if I am being drawn to him. 

His hand on my neck starts to drifts down to the edge of my towel. His finger hooks inside the towel in between my breasts and as he looks at me with burning eyes, he pulls and the towel falls. What is surprising is that I don't even flinch. I don't bother to cover myself because I really don't want to. I want him to look at me and he does. His eyes drift down to my body and excitement bursts inside of me. 

My chest rises up and down as breathing becomes harder.  

After he takes me in, his eyes go up, meeting mine. I take deep breaths as I wait to see what he does next. 

He subtlety licks his lips and then bites his bottom lip. 

Fire grows inside of me at that gesture and I can feel the place in between my thighs getting wet, my n*****s tighten and rise up to the cause. 

(I want him to touch me.) It is all that comes to my mind.  

But with much disappointment, I have to inform that at that moment, the front door opens. 

I almost jump out of my skin. I quickly pick up the towel while Ezekiel steps back but his eyes never leave me. 

"That was a much-needed run." Wolf says walking in with a water bottle in hand and his eyes set on the leftover food on the table. 

Ezekiel finally looks away from me and now I feel like I can finally move.  

"You could have stayed a bit longer." Ezekiel says with a hint of irritation but not enough that Wolf notices. 

I step back and turn to the end table where I grab my clothes. Ezekiel steps out of the bathroom and I rush in. I can feel his eyes on me as I close the door. Once the door is closed, I almost collapse to the ground with my body still burning. 

(This man is fire and I am ice. He easily melts me.)