Til' Death Do Us Part

Chapter Ten

[Rome's Pov]

    I slipped the blood tablet into the water bottle in my car as I put the cap on, turning into a turn that led to the woods. I shook up the bottle, heading out of my car and into the familiar clearing in the woods. Once there, I set down a blanket to lay there. I put the bottle of artificial blood down before I layed down, staring at the sky. It looked the same as it had a hundred and two years ago. When Martha had found me, in 1920. I'd lost my mother, my sister Emelia, and Victoria and our unborn son two years prior and hadn't gotten over it. They were all that haunted me and I'd lost everything. My house had been burned aflame by protesters, claiming I was cursed since everyone I'd known had died. Yet I was unharmed.

    I'd been walking with no destination and with no help, was nearly starved out. No one would hire and the war was then over since it had ended in 1918. There was nothing I could go to, but then Martha had appeared. It was like magic, she'd helped me get out of my husk and I was doing amazing until one night. I'd even almost brung up the topic of if there was a future for us because in my mind then, there was.

    We'd only been trudging through the mud for a few minutes but my boots and pants were coated in layers of mud already. I looked to Martha with a slight smile, though it was one of unease, "Are we lost, Martha? It's going to be dark soon and I wouldn't want to be without light. There would be no light to lead us back out." I tried to make it as a joking manner. It wasn't that I was scared because I wasn't but there had always been an air around my lover. I was grateful for everything she'd blessed me with but there was something about her. Something so alluring yet threatening. It lured me in.

    "We're not far off, Romulus. I've been here a dozen of times, I wouldn't lose my way." Martha's brown eyes glowed with ease as she grabbed my hand, running us through the thorns. I could feel them scraping at my limbs and prying at me like there was something else they could take. I barely winced but let a cheeky smile as she led us.

    "Ah." I nodded as I could see through the rest of the branches, a small clearing extended through the shade.

    Martha's smile beamed from ear to ear as we reached the clearing. It was beautiful like this. There were few trees and because of autumn, the leaves were red, brown, orange and shades of yellow. The grass was littered with them but some of the trees still had them and displayed them proudly. There was a small stream on the other side of the clearing and as the water trickled over, the grass around it withered. I glanced at Martha as she pulled a red blanket out of the basket she'd been carrying.

    "I can do that for you if you'd like." I offered with a small smile and she let me. I glanced at Martha with admiration, "What did you put in the basket?"

    "I put in some sandwiches and some soup. They're still warm so you should like them but afterwards, we can gaze at the stars together."

    Unease. That wretched feeling spread through me to the pit of my stomach but I smiled nevertheless, "If that's what you'd like. Though I'd rather not be in the middle of the woods so late. We are young and I'd like you to get off home early." It wouldn't look good if anyone learned that we were alone in the woods past dark or even at all. We were two unwed people and townsmen could tend to get the wrong idea.

    "Oh, you're always so daft. We'll be fine as long as you don't fess. Now come and eat." Martha sat on the blanket, smoothing her dress out as she set out the contents of the picnic. After we'd eaten, we indeed gazed at the stars for what felt like hours before I could feel strain with each blink. I looked over at Martha who looked like she'd been entertained. I shrugged my shoulders and supposed that if she could be this joyful looking at the stars, I would show her the constellations and so I did.

    Martha scooted closer to me and I, in the same spot. I thought I'd only imagined it until she was less than an inch away. I went to scoot away but she stopped me with a small protest.

    "I'm cold, Romulus. Could I borrow your jacket?" Indeed she was, her skin felt horribly cold due to the weather and so I took off my jacket, though it was thin I had a long sleeve underneath. It was the only thing that covered my neck, the jacket.

    "Is that, at the very least a little better?" I was worried and foolishly so.

    "Yes, it's much better." She insisted with a smile. That was the second time I'd gotten that uneasy feeling in my stomach. She leaned closer before I slightly nudged her away.

    "Martha, you misunderstand me. I'm only here to stargaze, I'm not that ty-" In a matter of seconds, she'd pressed her mouth against my neck and with the blink of my eye, I was no longer sitting up. I was on the ground in shock as my neck had been sliced apart. She'd sliced a line through with her nail and in the process, had opened the vein in my neck. I could only see in a haze before she'd slit her own wrist, squeezing the blood of it into my neck. I convulsed, both at the sight of her bloody arm and then at the searing feeling that spread through my body. It felt like I was being burned but with cold ice or needles. It felt like death. No. Death would have been kinder than this. I could hear Martha saying something, I couldn't hear what it was. I almost couldn't see the illusion of the trees. What on Earth was happening to me? I didn't know and if this pain could end, I wouldn't dare question it.

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