Sanguine Malediction - The crossbow and the silver bullet

Chapter 2

Alice Richards

My body felt so weird, it didn't even feel like mine. My head was pounding in the bedroom, my throat was uncomfortable as hell and my body was out of control. Everything happened so fast that it felt like a dream ; or a nightmare in this case. It was all too much to process. It was too much to take in that I had experienced my death for a second time, but this time my body had stayed dead. I sat upright as the Josephine and Henry appeared in the living room. Josephine sat down on the opposite chaise lounge as Henry hovered behind her. They looked amazed, I didn't know why. I was so confused with this new vampirism, it was all so confusing. I had flung myself over the banister and landed on the hallway below harshly, not knowing what the hell I was doing. I just needed to get away from Noah before I killed him. The thought of knowing I had felt an urge to kill someone, someone I care about, was making me grimace to myself.

"That was impressive." Josephine finally said quietly, narrowing her eyes and smirking slightly. "Such control you have for a new vampire...is unheard of."

I suppose that makes me feel a little better about myself...

"Yes. I must agree." Said Henry. "How on earth did you find the will to fight the blood-lust?"

I swung my legs over the edge of the chaise lounge and looked down at the floor. "I don't know. I just don't want to hurt Noah." I mumbled, looking up at Josephine. "Is Noah okay? I'm so sorry..."

"He's fine." Josephine interrupted. "He's a little shaken up. Elias told him to come back tomorrow." The front door slammed shut and Josephine acknowledged that I heard it, not taking her eyes from mine, the blueness of her lovely eyes seeming more appealing than ever. "That was Noah leaving."

Elias appeared in the living room and lowered himself next to Josephine, running his fingers through his slicked back hair. He smiled gently at me, his downturned brown eyes not seeming as sad as they usually did, despite the situation. I didn't know whether he was trying to hide disappointment from me because he didn't want me to feel worse about myself, or if he was genuinely okay with everything. Elias had been there for Josephine and Leo when they had turned into vampires, he had been their guide, so it could be from experience or just his personality. 

"Don't worry Alice, Noah understands. He was more afraid of harming you with magic than you feeding from him, that's why he declined to defend himself against you." Elias leant forward, a gentle grin now present. "But it was most impressive how you resisted the urge to feed from Noah. Well done...it's very rare for such a thing to happen with new vampires, if not impossible."

"And how strong and fast she was before she even completed her transition...now that was very strange." Said Henry suspiciously, his eyes narrowed at me in complete curiosity and his head cocked to the side.

All the confusion and sadness I felt was being overshadowed by a brewing anger as I thought more deeply about how I was a vampire, how I was dead, how I was killed by the amount of smoke in my lungs. The reality of my death was becoming all the more real by the minute. As a human, I wasn't looked at the way everyone was looking at me now. The way they looked at me know was different. Their eyes were saddened, curious and above all ; fearful. I was losing my patience, I could feel my body become unsettled the more the anger inside me rattled in its cage, demanding to escape.

"Who killed me?" I burst out, leaping onto my feet and my whole body tensing. "Was it Estelle? Did she do this to me? Where is she? I'm going to rip her head off!" I shouted, feeling my eyes tickle ; which I presumed to them turning bloodshot.

"Yes, we think she was the one to kill you." Elias answered calmly to my anger. "But we don't think she was counting on you waking back up...especially as a vampire. We have greater worries to deal with for now."