The Last Corvus (completed)

Ch. 30 Isadora

Chapter 30

Isadora

After a few hours of sitting and talking with them Janet dismisses Demetrius and we sit in companionable silence as I munch on more of the delicious little finger sandwiches. At first I tried one just to make sure I actually could still eat human food, and then my body realized just how hungry it was, even if it wasn't blood.

Once I've finally eaten my fill she leads me to her room. It has the same overall appearance as the sitting room- pillows strewn everywhere, almond walls- except for two major differences: a king sized canopy bed and three large antique leather traveling trunks.

I can't restrain from asking any longer, "excuse my intrusion, but how old are you?" I don't know what it is about her, but I always seem to speak better when talking to her.

"Why, that's no intrusion at all, lovely. I'm sixteen, or at least I was when I was turned. I suppose I'm nearly, what? Two hundred now? There abouts." She shrugs, "old enough that I was to be married before I had to run away, I had just met my betrothed on the night that..." She breaks off and hands me the shirt Bernhardt had fetched earlier, quickly wiping away a rogue tear from her cheek as she remembers her past.

"So... so how did you come to America? Or were you already here; which I doubt. Your accent seems, what, eastern European?"

"Yes, quite right. I'm German, Bernhardt also. I came over on the Titoria, one of the world's greatest cruise ships of its time, or would have, if it hadn't sank during its maiden voyage. That's where I met Dimca. I was young, in both the human and vampire sense of the word, and he was charming. Warm." She licks her teeth, fangs extended, and I hold my breath, trying not to succumb to the Craze, as I realize what she means by warm.

She breaks out of her reverie and continues, "I hid him in the servant's quarters while he changed, much better than the garden shed I was put in at the back of my family's estates. Luckily, when the ship sank, he was close enough to the escape ladder and mature enough to be able to escape with me onto the nearest land. Here, it turns out. Our first night here someone dared to try to rob me."

She gets a steely glint in her eye and I wonder if that's why the gang does what it does; their leader was mugged? She must've heard what I was thinking, because she nods and continues, "quite right. But don't fret, I was fine. Dimca finished him before I had to lift a finger. Ah, his first kill. In my defense. Is it not enough to make one's heart quicken?" She puts her delicate hand to her pale chest, a sweet smile on her face as she remembers it; all the while I'm still trying not to slip into the Craze. Don't think of the blood. Don't think of the blood.

That's not working, if anything I'm only making it worse. I'm sure if I weren't full off the sandwiches I'd be Crazing by now.

"Yes, well. I have a meeting I must attend now. Pleasant dreams. You begin training in the morning," and with that she closes the door behind her, leaving me staring after her in confusion. Begin training? For what? I haven't even told anyone if I've decided to stay or not. Even though I already kind of know that I will.

Running my hand along the pillow, I lie down on the soft silk duvet. I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.

I dream of running around the world (like Superman, when he flies so fast against earth's rotation that he turns back time, only running instead of flying.)

I go back to when I woke up after being bitten. Only this time, instead of running away when Linden kisses me, I kiss him back (so deeply that even my dream-self blushes.) Right before it starts to get too serious I start biting him, and not like the cutesy little love nibbles, either. I start chewing his face off, licking his sweet blood away from the pulverized tissue.

All the while he screams (but then again, who wouldn't?) and I don't notice someone walking by in the hall until I can smell them. They smell somewhat different from Linden; somehow less... what's a good word? Spicy? There abouts.

Licking off one last blood trickle off of his spasming neck, I leave him groaning to meet the intruder.

It's Walter, the human I almost ate when I first turned. Hard to believe that wasn't even two days ago. I take him by surprise as he wheels the freezer cart down the hall. Pushing him from behind, I hold him down as I press his face into the top of the cold metal box. Practically climbing his back, my bare feet slipping on his loose scrubs, I sink my fangs into the warmth at the base of his neck, enjoying the blood gushing down my throat, the way his tightened muscles snap and snag against my teeth as I slowly gnaw.

Before I even fully comprehend what I've done, I've already drained every last life-sustaining drop from his body. I push away, revolted by what I've just done, and stare down at his mutilated body. His arms and legs are splayed helplessly from where he slumped, a gaping hole where the back of his neck should be.

I've nearly decapitated him.

Breathing in deeply through my nose, his blood's smell reaches my nose and I wipe at my mouth frantically, trying to escape the smell.

My stomach lurches and my whole body feels slushy as I hurry over to the wall just in time to puke blood all over the floor, spattering it up the wall in a macabre mural of death.

I wake with a start, my stomach growling with hunger and my teeth throbbing from the urge to sink into something fleshy. Indulging them, I sink my fangs so deeply into my tongue that I feel my teeth rub together. The excruciating pain helps clear my mind of what I just dreamed.

There's no way I'll be able to sleep again for at least a week, if not more.