Sweet Blooded

Eleven: Unwell

“Sir Gaaaaabriel, your laaaaate.”

My eyes widened to an impossible size at the sound of the high pitched, feminine voice. He must have been stunned, he just stood there as a small, pixie-like woman stormed into the study, her arms crossed over her chest, and her bright green eyes surveying the room obsessively.

What startled me most of all was that she was human, and her shoulder and neck were decorated with bite marks that had not been healed. She held her shoulders back, her long, sunkissed hair tied back in a high ponytail, as though she were displaying them proudly.

I pushed myself to my feet in confusion as Gabriel crossed the study to her, taking her arms and trying to turn her back into the hallway. But her eyes had narrowed in on me before widening as though she were delighted.

“The cattle!” she squealed, dodging Gabriel. He had to have let her bypass him, I knew he could have stopped her from the number of times he’d contained me. But he stepped back as she went around him, stopping a few paces away from me.

“Oh how cute, Sir Gabriel, you dressed her!”

My eyebrows drawn together, I looked down at the dress/shirt combination I’d thrown on, then looked back to her. She was in a skin tight, sleeveless black dress that stopped just above her knees. She was the one who looked dressed.

“Talia…” Gabriel warned impatiently. 

“Oh I’m sorry,” she gushed, looking from me back to Gabriel, then back to me. She then turned her attention back to Gabriel. “I don’t mean to be a bother, but I was worried. It’s Christmas Eve! You always spend Christmas Eve with me, and I haven’t seen you in days. I was worried, and Sir Lukas and Sir Markus wouldn’t answer my call either.” She was outright pouting. The more she spoke, the whinier she got.

I stepped back, not even trying to hide the distaste on my face. This human spoke to Gabriel so...sweetly and familiarly. It was disgusting. And she was covered in his bites! But something she said had me glancing back to the fire, unsure. I knew I’d lost track of time long ago. But the tree had just appeared that night, hadn’t it? 

“Is it really Christmas Eve?” I asked, my voice quiet.

“It’s the day before Christmas Eve, Talia,” Gabriel corrected her. “I’ll still spend time with you tomorrow. Go back with Lukas, you know you shouldn’t be using doors that aren’t meant for you.”

When I looked away from the fire, I saw that Lukas had appeared in the doorway, appearing rather vexed. He stood sideways, waiting for the girl… Talia. 

Talia turned to Gabriel, and from my angle, I could see she was sticking her bottom lip out slightly. “Won’t you come back with me?” she asked him pitifully.

“Just go, Talia,” Gabriel repeated. I could tell he was beginning to lose patience.

Talie let out a breath, a few stray bangs flying up as she did so. She threw me one last glance, and I had to blink, as this one seemed almost accusatory, then she finally left.

The door closed behind them, and I stared at Gabriel, dozens of questions on the tip of my tongue. A few moments of silence later, Gabriel let out a long breath, running his hand through his onyx hair. 

“I didn’t know there were other humans here,” I began indirectly, my voice quiet but steady.

“There aren’t,” Gabriel replied cryptically. 

I narrowed my eyes at him, wanting to scoff but deciding not to.Without another word, Gabriel turned and left, signaling that I would not get any answers.

I laid in my bed that night, staring at the ceiling. My thoughts were a mess of questions. One question I’d had for a while now had been answered. The date… December 23rd. I rolled onto my side and stared at the wall, hugging my chest, wishing I still didn’t know. 

I opened my eyes the next night, but I didn’t move. After a couple hours, I heard my door open. Somehow, I could tell either Lukas or Markus were standing behind me. I waited, my eyes closed, until they spoke.

“I know that you’re awake,” Markus informed me.

“I wasn’t pretending to be asleep,” I murmured.

“You haven’t eaten your breakfast,” he observed.

I shrugged half heartedly. “I don’t feel well,” I replied, honestly. 

He was silent for a moment. When I turned my head, I found that he’d left. After some time, Lukas suddenly spoke from behind me. 

“Markus says that you are refusing food.”

“I don’t feel well,” I repeated, beginning to feel irritated. “I’m not hungry.”

Lukas hummed, but then he too was gone. I scowled at the wall, closing my eyes tightly. At least a few hours passed when my door opened once more. This time, I could tell there were two pairs of shoes.

“We’ve made lunch- it’s midnight, officially Christmas Eve!” Lukas declared.

“Come and eat,” Markus invited.

I opened my eyes angrily. Christmas Eve. 

“We have ham-”

“And cookies-”

“And yams-”

“And brownies-”

“And rice-”

“We have hot cocoa…”

“And if you don’t like cocoa, I have apple cider-”

I sat up violently. At my motion the twins finally stopped talking. I didn’t turn to face them because the tears had already started falling. 

“I’m. Not. Hungry. Please, I really don’t feel well,” I spoke to the wall, willing for my words to sound like truth. I knew full well that vampires could almost always tell when we were lying.

“Come now, Evelyn,” Markus spoke, dropping all familial pretenses. “We’re no longer asking. You will come and eat with us.”

I laid back down, covering my face with the blanket so I could discreetly wipe away the tears. “No,” I whispered, my voice muffled.

“These are Sir Gabriel’s orders,” Lukas told me, his voice a clear warning.

But I remembered the vixen from the night before, Talia. I felt safe, knowing full well he’d be preoccupied with her. And she seemed like a handful. If I could survive this night, and most of the next, I could survive anything Gabriel had to say.

And I wasn’t sure why, but I knew Lukas and Markus wouldn’t lay hands on me to force me out of bed. They never had before, and when words never worked, they just ran and told Gabriel.

“I said I’m not hungry,” I called out, a little more steadily.

Several seconds of silence passed, and they left me alone once more.

I folded the pillow in half over my face, a near silent whine escaping my lips as the walls I’d spent over a decade maintaining began to crumble slowly. The silent sobs rocked me to sleep sometime after the sconce went dark.

“Evey! Wait for me!” 

I giggled breathlessly, racing my sister down the stairs, my fingers trailing the banister lightly, and I imagined I were gliding the way they did in the fairy tale movies. I screeched to a halt in the foyer, staring in awe at the large tree. 

A small burst of freckles and mousy hair raced past me, diving into the small pile of presents, squealing. 

“Stop, Meri!” I called in alarm, “Wait for mom and dad!” 

But trying to convince my much younger sister not to open her gifts was pointless. She ripped them open, and danced toe to toe for all of ten seconds before I finally joined her. When we were done, we looked up to see our parents on the stairs, steaming cups of coffee in each of their hands. 

I held up the book to my mother, grinning ear to ear. “Look! A big book!”

“Yes, Evey,” she responded, her smile shining bright. “You should be ready for chapter books any day now.”

I grinned down at the beautiful cover, tracing the embossed title gently with my fingers. It was a fairytale book, the cover graced by a beautiful princess in a poofy pink dress, and a grand castle behind her.

“One day soon, you’ll have a prince of your own,” my father told me thoughtfully, his hand running through my hair.

I grinned up at him. “I don’t want a prince,” I told him proudly.

“Oh, you don’t?”

“No. I want to marry you, daddy.”

“You can’t marry daddy,” Meri interrupted loudly, not glancing up from her new doll. “I’m going to marry daddy.”

My mother laughed from her spot on the stairs. 

“Well,” I mused, fanning the pages of my new book thoughtfully, “I suppose a prince would be okay. But only if he loves me as much as daddy.”

The room turned red a moment later. I looked up, confused, to find the walls suddenly dripping with blood. 

“Eve!” I turned, to find my sister, much older now, hiding underneath the coffee table in the living room. “Eve, look out! Behind you!”

I spun back around toward the entryway and froze. The door was open, and in it towered a demon with glowing red eyes. In his hands, he held the neck of my father, his toes barely grazing the floor. 

“Daddy!”

The monster dropped my father, and his body crumpled like a rag doll’s. I cried out, shrinking away as the monster crept closer toward me.

“Get away from her!”

I turned to see my mother barreling down the stairs. She ran to stand in front of me, but she wasn’t there long. Her body soon flew back up the stairs, and she crashed into the upstairs railing with a sickening crunch. 

Before I could scream, Meri did. She ran out from her hiding place, and straight into my arms. I held her tightly, staring up at the monster who now towered over the two of us.

“Evey, I’m scared,” my sister whispered directly into my ear.

I gasped loudly, sitting up in the dark, my racing heart hammering away at my chest. I rubbed my cheeks furiously, scrubbing away the tears that had escaped.

“That didn’t even happen on Christmas,” I whispered to myself as though to bring comfort. I bent my knees and wrapped my arms around them, resting my head. Before I knew what I was doing, I was rocking back and forth, trying to comfort myself. As though I were rocking Meri, like she had begged me to do. Over and over.