The Greatest Obsession

Chapter Sixteen: Selfish Visit

It had been hours and Elijah had a difficult time trying to sleep. He'd come into his room after saying goodnight to Irina and knew not what to do next, so Elijah decided it best to write to Arthur, who he missed incredibly during these dark times he was in. He wouldn't tell him about Haydn or divulge in his recent disagreements with his fiancée, but in person, he might. Arthur was open-minded, but the dark haired man had too much to tell the curly blond. He might not believe Elijah's tale of vampires, but Arthur was the kind of man who thought not to judge anyone, no matter how wild they sounded. He'd love a good story and would praise Elijah as a master in storytelling, but if he believed the tale he wouldn't tell a soul if his favorite cousin said not to. He was blessed to have Arthur.

Sweet Arthur,

Come early, just before the wedding. There is so much I must tell you that I haven't the time nor the ambition to sit and put on paper. Strange happenings are afoot, and that is all I can really say. I am looking forward to your visit with Mary and the girls. I'm sure Abraham wouldn't mind having you all over for supper one evening, in fact, he would love it very much. Then, and only then, I shall confide in you the horrors and spectacles I've witnessed and participated in this past month or three months by the time of your arrival. Do not be alarmed by that previous statement, because I'm in no harm. Lack of physical pain does not strip me of emotional stress. I do wish you all the best in the world. Stay out of trouble, you unfaithful brat.

All my love, your dearest cousin,

Elijah B. Marks

After he'd written the letter, Elijah sealed it and tucked it away in his drawer. He wrote a little note on his bedside table to have the letter sent to the post office the next morning. With that finished, he really thought of trying to sleep, but for the second time, he failed.

Elijah, then, decided he would get a head start on the day and lay out the clothes he wanted to wear. He was wise to not put much thought into it as the task would have proved tiresome if he really wanted to get technical, so he stuck with a dark brown vest and black trousers. To spruce things up, Elijah added a mint green ascot, and handkerchief to match.

The exhausted man set the clothes on the writing desk chair before he plopped onto the edge of his bed and rubbed his eyes, roughly. Elijah thought about the long, productive, but anxiety-filled day he had. Just when I thought my life couldn't become any more interesting, Elijah thought, shaking his head with a smirk.

The young wealth wondered how mundane his existence would have been without his loved ones in his life, what without Arthur and their wild teenaged shenanigans or meeting Irina and falling for her instantly. She tried so hard not to fall for him. Irina had been seeing another man at the time who was so drab and lackluster. The fellow had no personality, and Elijah distinctly remembered how he parted his black hair down the middle and it was greasy to the touch.

Elijah knew Irina was tired of the chap but she didn't have the heart to let him go, and so he devised a plan with an old friend of his to make it look like he'd been fooling around, but to their surprise he was. Irina was actually happy when she found out. By that time, she and Elijah were only friends. She'd been seventeen and he'd been nineteen, and for three months they kept their relationship a secret, but the redhead wanted Elijah to meet Abraham, who liked him immediately, but he wouldn't have let Elijah know this. The phrase, "keep them on their toes," comes to mind.

Four years later, Elijah was sitting where he was now, in a guest room on the Snow property with a fiancée, dead parents, and a strange yet charming vampire yearning for his blood. Even Haydn seemed to rustle the patterns of everyday life. Even one day, he will become mundane, Elijah sighed in his mind. It was a terrible thought, to think that a vampire taking his blood would become normal or routine.