Chapter 4
1473 Words
4
I found the party in full swing, and I fell into the rhythm as much as I could considering I was the odd mortal out. It was hard to dance with a vampire who could literally dance rings around me before I got two steps. Mostly I amused Leilah by keeping a part of her crowd. As the night wore on the guests began to depart one by one to their state rooms.
Miss Leilah finally called it quits an hour before sunrise. She looped an arm through mine and grinned up at me. Her breath smelled of blood laced with alcohol. Not a pleasant mix, but she had a pleasant smile on her face as she leaned her cheek on my arm.
“I think it’s time for some nappy-poo, don’t you?”
I suppressed a snort and nodded. “Sure thing, but one problem.” I looked to and fro at the half dozen exits out of the ballroom. “Which way is our room?”
Our host himself strode up and bowed his head to us. “Allow me to show you to your rooms.”
“Oh darling!” Leilah hiccupped as she latched her other arm onto him and placed herself between us. “You are so cute when you’re undead!”
Basileus cast a mischievous eye at me over the top of Leilah’s head. “A blessing that I find myself in that state right now.”
I grinned as he led us out of the ballroom and into the maze of rooms that occupied the two full floors of the villa. I was glad when he showed us into an apartment with two bedrooms and a view of the gardens. Our luggage had been brought up ahead of us, and a coffin had been provided for Leilah.
We set her down inside the cushioned coffin and I eased the lid shut. She gave us a goofy grin and a wave before she disappeared out of sight. I breathed a sigh of relief with a touch of exhaustion.
“You should get some rest, as well,” Basileus advised me.
I continued to stare at the coffin lid as I nodded. “Yeah.”
He tilted his head to one side and studied me. “You have something on your mind.” I cast a look of suspicion at him, and he smiled at me. “One doesn’t always need the ability to see into minds to know when another’s eyes are full of inquiry. Is there any way I can be of assistance?”
I folded my arms and debated the question I wanted to ask, but finally I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
He chuckled as he turned away from me and toward the door. “I recall a time four hundred years before when a woman said those very same words to me.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “What happened?”
Basileus paused in the open doorway and looked over his shoulder at me. “She turned me into a vampire that night.” He bowed his head to me with his eyes a twinkle. “A good day to you, Miss Adi.” He slipped away, leaving me with my mouth agape.
I shook off my surprise and glared at the shut door. “Vampires. Can’t live with ‘em and can’t stake ‘em…”
I’d been on ‘monster’ schedule for long enough that sleep wasn’t coming to me quite yet, so I ventured out onto the veranda. The lovely evening was nearing its end. In a half hour the sun would rise, and all the ghouls would slip into slumber.
I set my hands on the stone railing and leaned over to inhale the scent of one of the nearby flowers. That’s when I heard it, a deep groan. The sound wasn’t the amicable call of sleep, but the cry of someone in pain. I looked over my shoulder at the open doors into the apartment. Basileus was gone and Leilah would be impossible to wake from her drunken stupor.
I hurried over to the nearest flight of stairs and rushed down the tiers with my ears and eyes searching for the source of the noise. At the second lowest tier the angry sea sprinkled me with water from the crashing waves. I paused at the bottom of the steps, and movement to my left caught my attention. An arbor led into one of the private gardens.
“Hello?” I called out as I inched my way over to the arch. “Is someone there?”
A horrible growl was the reply, and a pair of shadows appeared, framed by the archway. One of the things was tall and lithe, and the other appeared to be human. They grappled, and the human was tossed away.
The taller shadow turned its long, narrow face toward me, and the moonlight cast its light on its features. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle the gasp as I beheld a huge snake-like thing, but with arms. Its long fingers ended in talons so sharp the moonlight reflected off their deadly points. There were no legs, only a slithering limb that trailed out behind it. Its hideous red eyes glowed in the dim light as it crawled toward me.
Fear gripped my heart as I stumbled back. The creature let out a horrible hiss before it lunged at me. It swiped a claw across my middle, and my attempts to dodge the quick blow came to nothing. A blistering pain shot through my body. My legs buckled and I fell onto my back, hitting my head hard on the stones.
My vision blurred, but I could make out the snake’s shadow as it loomed over me. It raised a hand above itself for one final strike.
The second shadow slammed into it from behind, sending them both toppling out of my weakened vision. I could hear the horrible crunch of bone breaking and something squishing, and then there was silence.
A blurry face came into view but it wasn’t that of the snake. After a moment of straining my eyes, I recognized Eric’s wide, horrified face. “Hold still,” he whispered as he spread the tattered remains of my shirt apart and looked at the wound. The color left his face. I didn’t need a second opinion to know it wasn’t good.
“Just… my… luck,” I wheezed out. Every word took as much energy as climbing a steep hill.
A strange faintness tickled the edges of my mind and my vision blurred again. Eric lifted me into his arms and shook me. “Come on! Stay with me!”
I blinked against the coming fogginess, but the darkness kept on its march over my mind. A strange, desperate look slipped into Eric’s eyes. He held me closer and lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Listen, Adi. Just listen to my voice. There’s one way I can save you, but it’s-” He paused and pursed his lips. “You won’t be the same, do you understand? You won’t be as you are.”
I blinked at him. My fuzzy mind couldn’t quite comprehend what he was trying to tell me.
“You’ll be you… and someone else.”
I couldn’t find the strength to speak, but I managed to move my head a little from side to side.
A bitter laugh came from his lips. “No, I suppose that doesn’t make any sense, does it?”
A stabbing pain shot through me. My eyes widened and I let out a soundless scream. The darkness at the corners of my vision invaded my sight. The world threatened to go black as the fog smothered my mind. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. My limbs fell limp at my sides.
Through it all I heard Eric’s voice. “Forgive me.”
My eyes shot open as I felt long sharp teeth bite into the side of my throat. The pain was quickly replaced by a cold chill that raced from the point of union and down the entire length of my body. The drumbeat of my heart quickened as the unnatural cold spread into the very tips of my fingers. I felt like I was drowning in frigid air.
I felt Eric remove his teeth from me, but the cold didn’t vanish with the pain. On the contrary, the chill worsened until my body began to shake. I gritted my teeth and tried to will myself still.
“Don’t fight it, Adi! Let it take you!”
I didn’t have much choice as the cold stiffened my body. The darkness that had taken my vision took my mind, and I slipped into its chilly embrace.
- Writer
