Come In

Chapter Eight

Elios sauntered in, an evil smile decorating his face, which was different. It was no longer marred by the demonic mask that I saw the other night.
I realised that his face was handsome, but small scars trickled up from his neck to the tops of his cheeks. His eyes were a bright, golden brown. His eyebrows were a deep black, unruly and thick.
"Good afternoon, Cameron." He said, his voice pleasant but scratchy. My heart was in my throat, and I was unable to move. I realised that Elios was talking to Cameron, who was now crouching down, snarling angrily. He had his arm held out in front of me, trying to protect me.
"You owe me your head, friend." Elios continued, lowering himself into the same crouch as Cam. They began to move, circling around the living room, like a pair of wolves preparing for a fight. I found it very hard to breath. Cam managed to keep his arm held out in front of me whilst moving around the room, mirroring every movement that Elios made. Cam's low snarls rumbled out of him in one uninterrupted, terrifying sound. Suddenly I was flying through the air. I could see the treetops whipping past me in streaks of green. Cold air sliced at my face, and I couldn't get any of it into my lungs.

A second passed, and I was set on the ground. I was winded and dizzy, which caused me to slump to the floor. I felt that I was on a patch of grass. The blades were cold and wet, and oddly comforting. Everything shifted into focus, and I realised that we were in a little clearing in the woods that were situated a ten minute walk from my house. It took Cam a second.

I looked up, and my eyes encountered a face. His face. Suddenly, I was calm. His lips, so perfect and full were inches from mine. His eyes shimmered in the dull glow of the sun, and his eyebrows were raised in worry.

"Anna, I am so sorry. I didn't think he'd come back. Christ, are you okay?" He said, speaking almost too fast for me to understand. I nodded, not able to talk yet. I knew enough about vampires now to know that it wouldn't take Elios long to track us though, so I wondered why Cam was standing in this clearing as if we were fine.
"Cam, what if Elios finds us?" I breathed. He gently moved a strand of my hair from my face, and tucked it behind my ear, sending tingles down my spine.
"He won't look for us. Not yet. He's planned this out. I'm more worried about how he got into your house." He said, frowning.
"You were there- he kicked the door in. Oh god, that's gonna cost a lot of money." I said, covering my eyes with my hand. I never normally had money troubles, but when vampires start playing tag in your living room, you have to expect repercussions.
Cam shook his head, still frowning.
"No. What I mean is, a vampire can only enter a house that it's been invited into. And that invitation must be clear and obvious. It can't just be a nod or a gesture. You have to say the words 'come in' or something along those lines. So how did Elios get in?" I began to feel cold, and as I looked up, I realised that the sun was beginning its descent. Another day finished. And what a day it was.
"Why is that?" I asked. Where did all of these rules come from? They all seemed a bit specific to me.
"Its quite a long story," he said, sitting down on the grass. The clearing was beautiful- more like a meadow. It was encircled by the trees of the forest, and you could just barely see the sky, but the little holes in the canopy of leaves above let little beams of light down to the ground. I sat down next to him, closer than I would have anyone else. His black hair fluttered in the light breeze.
"Did you know that technically, vampirism is a curse?" he began, arching an eyebrow, and looking at me with a beautiful smirk. I shook my head. Did this mean magic?
"Let me tell you how vampirism came to be. Now, vampires haven't been around for as long as you'd expect. Probably only two hundred years or so.  At the beginning of those two hundred years, there was a witch. This witch was called Abrella. She was around your age, and she was beautiful. Her family spearheaded a small clan of witches and warlocks around the south of England. They lived in a place called Cornwall. Abrella, as girls your age tend to, fell in love.
"Much to her family's horror, however, she had fallen in love with another girl. A human girl. Her father was outraged. Abrella and her father started an argument that went on for days, until her father threw a punch of sorts. He found Abrella and the girl she had fallen in love with, asleep in some stables in the countryside. First, he murdered Abrella's lover in cold blood. He slit her throat. Using her blood, he placed a curse on Abrella. She was to live for eternity without her love, and her only sustenance would be blood. Abrella's father hadn't realised what this blood would do to Abrella, though, because it made her strong and fast. And smart. It gave her brain the capacity to house all types of information, and to recall it perfectly. She gained use of almost all of her brain. Abrella killed her father as revenge, but spared her mother, giving her a choice- join her in her eternal life, or stay and forget about her all together. Her mother chose to join her daughter, so Abrella turned her, purely going by instinct. Luckily, instinct was correct, because Abrella's mother awoke with an abundance of beauty, strength, speed and smarts, just as Abrella had.
"They now rule over the vampires of the world- they enforce the rules of vampirism- protect the secret, do not feed off of any of Abrella's family line, and do not feed off of other vampires.
"These rules, however, had to be enforced- the humans had to be protected in some way, so Abrella ordered a warlock to place a spell on the curse. One must be invited into a home, if they wish to enter it. Crosses shall repel us. Holy water shall burn us, and direct sunlight shall weaken us."
I was so engrossed in his story, I hadn't realised that the sun had hidden itself on the other side of the world. I realised that I was exhausted. As if to prove my point, an embarrassingly loud yawn escaped from my mouth. Cam smiled down at me, laying his arm across my shoulder, and pulling me down so that my head rested against his marble chest. Although his skin was ice cold, it warmed me up somehow.
"You can sleep now, if you'd like. I'll protect you, and I'll carry you home. I just want to wait to make sure that Elios has gone." He whispered so quietly, he had to be close enough to my ears for his lips to brush up against my skin. Because of this, any fear rising inside of me at the mention of Elios, dissipated.

I drifted off into a heavenly deep sleep, encircled in Cam's arms.