Bela

His Whispers

Bela

She sat there silently as the rain was crashing down just behind the bare protection of the bus stop. Her fine dress was torn and barely resembled the finery of her house. The air was bitter and cold on the lungs, heavy with moisture. She felt her insides buzz in frustration and fear of the chill. Her golden hair was covered in oil and grime of a thrown dinner pot, and her make up was practically as thickly running as the tears on her face.

Yet all she could feel in herself was the heat. The aching pain as tears rolled down her cheeks. The way her heart burned was nearly as unbearable as the first time she had died. Her right hand shook slightly at the feeling, and she clutched it with her left to try and still it. Her broken nails only worsened the pain as it refreshed her thoughts of the hours prior.

Broken glasses and constant screams as she begged him to stop. Begged and pleaded for his words to cease. The bruise on her cheek made her wince as another tear rolled down across it. She could tear people apart with her bare hands.

So why had she just taken it from him? Because 7 years of bliss and romance had blinded her to all his red flags. The drinking. The dodging questions. Always late to get home or to text her on days they had planned for months. Then, one day, he snapped.

A drunken rage and a pair of brass knuckles he had kept in the freezer had resulted in her endless agony for the last five months. She knew she should have stopped him. She knew it was wrong.

His whispers had burrowed too deep now.

She slowly pulled her cracked phone from her wet pocket, sniffling shamefully as she considered how disappointed Mother would be. How she would have to convince Mamma not to go out on a blood hunt. How Cassandra would mock her for loving a human. How Dani would cast sickened glances at her. She hadn't seen any of them in so long. Another red flag she should have noticed.

She gulped, debating quietly as she looked at her bruised ankle and knew walking any further wasn't viable tonight. She knew the buses would take her as far as the border towns near their castle, but she wasn't even sure she had the stomach to face them. She was hoping the drivers would take pity, and not charge her either. The one gift of this horrible pain. Not even a promised gift, either.

She shook a little, hugging her frigid form as the cold air began to bite at her more. She was only glad it hadn't snowed, or she would surely be dead for the second, and likely final time.

She opened her phone, frowning at the near dead percentage it held. He had unplugged it while she had been out today...

She hurled it against the ground, the already cracked device exploding in a mist of metal and plastics. She shook, unwilling to even look at it after what had so long been her wallpaper.

A hand gripped to her heart, and the tears soon began to overwhelm her again. She fell from the bus stall into the puddle of pooling water and simply started to weep. She felt so powerless. So weak. So defenseless. She couldn't face her family like this. She couldn't go back to him. For a flicker of her life, she considered the bridge only thirty feet away.

Then, the cold rain stopped crashing over her. The soft step of wedged heels clattering into water interrupted her choked sobs.

Bela turned, looking up quietly with a brief look of confusion. She saw a brunette of college age with a big, warm smile. Large green eyes, and a trench coat overtop of a tucked in tye dye halter and white knee length skirt. Her feet were clad in simple cream wedges.

"Hey, ya look mighty upset," the girl calmly said as she kneeled down to a squatting stance and offered her hand, "Ah can fix that."

"Hey.. that's from a movie." She said softly, sniffling as she slowly took the hand with a cautious look.

"Certainly is." The girl very gently helped Bela to her feet, before quickly moving to catch her on her shoulder as Bela's ankle felt like it was going to explode.

"Hey now, ah gotcha girl." Her thick accent assured Bela she was certainly an American, yet she didn't have the energy of one. If anything, the girl's smile didn't even strike her right away as human.

Her questioning tone died within a minute, however, as this strange american felt like she was pressed into a heater or a fireplace. She nestled tighter as the shivers began to rock her body so much worse.

"Name's Lua, Sugah. Now, hows'bout you tell me where ya live, n ah'll see ya to it." Another big smile formed, her eyes closing and her whole face aglow. It was so goofy, so dorky, so enthusiastic. So... Kind.

"Castle Dimitrescu..." She whispered, worried that would quickly kill the enthusiasm of her new friend, but she couldn't think of another answer right now. Her head ached brutally, her body was shaking terribly, and this girl felt so very warm. "You don't sound like..."

"Nope, ain't from round here ah'm afraid. Ya caught me." She giggled as Bela heard the bus come. The girl quickly ushered the driver out who looked like his eyes were going to pop from his head when he saw Bela, and she swore she heard a mutter of prayer that Mother wouldn't butcher him as he very carefully aided Lua in bringing Bela onto the bus.

They opened up the extra seats, before the girl draped her trench coat over them and had the two lay her down slowly. "Anything we can get you?" The driver asked, as did a few passengers. She didn't recognize anyone in this strange red bus, or even that she had ever seen a double decker this far from England. She swore someone was muttering in a jamaican accent, but she couldn't find the source as she felt her vision fading. She was safe, and the flies inside had run out of adrenaline.

She needed to rest...

Lua

The strange girl knelt down beside the now sleeping Bela, placing a hand to her forehead and getting a strange look at what she felt. The girl buzzed like a hive just beneath the skin. She had met folks who became hives, but this was as if she was the whole swarm.

A gentle hand rested overtop of Bela's as she made sure to tuck her in with a spare blanket she kept in her messenger bag. It wasn't much, but the shaggy faced driver gave a nod of approval.

"Ya did good Lunie."
"Ta her, it's Lua."
"Somethin special bout this one, ay? You and yet bloody hurties."
"Ain't bout that old pal. Just can't stand seein such a beaut be treated like she's the dung side of a rodeo."
"Heh, well, I'll just add that to ya tab, Old Friend."

Lua smiled at that, nodding gently as she made sure Bela was good and settled into the blanket. She looked over her, thinking deeply. She was a vampire, a very unstable form of one. Lua had made a promise to herself that she wouldn't interfere much when it was a personal trip, but this was risky to let continue. Another hour out there, and she may wl have died where she sat.

"Whatcha cookin up?" The driver asked as he got back behind rhe wheel, his partner laughing from his hanging seat.

"Callin in a favor from mah favorite goblin alchemist. See if we can't make this beaut a good n proper pyre. Fer now, though, ta Castle Dimitrescu." She said with an almost puppy like energy.

"Ay!"
"Gonna be a bumpay ride! Haaaa hahahaha!"

And the bus disappeared in a rush of wind.