Wrapped in the water, Athenais kept her eyes closed. One thing she both appreciated yet missed was the ability to breathe. It didn't feel the same anymore. She could fill her lungs with air, but it didn't feel the same as letting oxygen get through, as taking a deep breath like a human and feeling a lot better afterward.
This was only a very, very small part of all the things she missed about being human. A vampire was nothing but the empty shell of what the being inside had once been. At least, in her worst days Athenais felt like this. She was contemplating death like a pool of ice. So close, so easy to get in and let numb her senses, yet it felt hard to walk in. She had survived several wars and pandemics, many deaths, she really felt like a simple suicide would have been meaningless.
