Amnesia

Chapter Fourteen

The Transformation

Maeryn sighed once more as she placed the brush back down onto the small table with mirror. Alec looked up from his book, his eyebrow slightly arched. "What is bothering you, amore mio?" he asked. "Nothing. Just slightly nervous for tomorrow I guess."Maeryn said as she braided her hair. "Hmm." Alec said before placing a bookmarker in between the pages of his book and closing it. He laid it onto the nightstand before opening his arms. "Come here, amore mio." He said. Maeryn smiled gently and made her way towards him. Once she was close enough, Alec pulled her on top of him, her head resting on his chest, one of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist while the other hand played with her hair. Maeryn relaxed almost immediately. Alec just seemed to have that effect on her. He gently placed a kiss on her head. "Mia innocente la tua cantante." He whispered softly against her hair. Maeryn smiled as she gently moved her head up and pecked his lips. Alec smirked as he pulled her head back and kissed her hungrily. Neither of them could get enough from each other's touch, and their hunger grew more intense every day. But the two lovers restrained themselves, knowing it would be way too dangerous for Maeryn if Alec let his emotions go completely. And therefore, he pulled away leaving one more kiss on her lips before Maeryn placed her head back onto his chest.
"How will tomorrow go, Alec?" she asked as she started to play with his Volturi necklace. Alec remained quiet for a while, while continuing to play with her hair. "It won't be pleasant, amore mio." "Tell me, please. I cannot seem to find any sleep and I would like to be prepared." Alec sighed softly, contemplating whether or not he should tell his mate, as it might frighten her for the change. But, on the other hand, he had told her so much already of his world and nothing had scared her away yet. Not even the screams of the humans they would feast on once a week.
"Very well then. As you know humans can be changed into vampires from another vampire's venomous bite, and vampire venom is nothing more than a deadly poison to animals.
The transformation from human to vampire is the sharpest memory we have of our human life. Once a human is bitten, the venom from glands inside the vampire's mouth is injected into the bloodstream and will travel throughout the body to change every living cell.
Depending upon how much venom is in the bloodstream, and how close the venom enters to the heart, the transformation could last anywhere from two to five days. During this time, the human will endure indescribable pain. Once the venom is injected, the best way I can describe the feeling is to it feeling like you are being burned alive. The venom will then make its way throughout the body. Next through the heart, and it will pump again and again in the heart until it starts meeting itself in the veins. Then it will burn all the veins until the heart stops beating. It moves slower than blood because it is thicker, which makes the transformation long-lasting. Each beat of the heart can only push it so far. The changing process is slow. The venom has to saturate every cell in the body before the process can be completed. But I promise, I will be with you through it all. I won't leave your side, not even once. I want to be the first thing you see." He finished as he send Maeryn a playful wink. Maeryn chuckled but was also back in her thoughts. She knew it would be painful, but it was a bitter pill to swallow for her new and eternal life.
As her thoughts drifted further away, and Alec's soothing hand played with her hair, Maeryn finally drifted off into a deep sleep. Her last sleep.

Maeryn looked at herself in the mirror as Jane braided her hair in a difficult yet seemingly simple braid that laid ontop of her curly and loose hair. Maeryn's heart had been beating a lot quicker than usual today, as if it knew that it's days were over. As if her heart knew that the venom of a vampire would soon consume it. Forcing it to pump vampire venom through her veins instead of blood. Her heart was preparing for the fight it and Maeryn would fight soon. Oh, how brave her heart was, even though Maeryn knew it would lose.
"There, all ready." Jane said, breaking through Maeryn's train of thoughts. Maeryn smiled at Jane, but her smile was unsteady and nervous. "Everything will be fine, I promise. It will be over before you know it." She said as she carefully embraced Maeryn in a sisterly way. Maeryn returned the embrace before Jane pulled away, eyes slightly darker. "Now, go on. Alec is waiting in his room. His bed is a lot bigger, so hopefully it will make the experience a lot more comfortable." Jane said. Maeryn nodded her head in agreement and walked towards the door. "I guess I will see you in my new life." Maeryn said, kinda joking. Jane smiled reassuring. "I cannot wait." Maeryn returned the smiled and made her way towards Alec's room.
She gently knocked on his door and he opened quickly. Alec smiled but seemed as nervous as she was. He pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her neck and placing his lips against her beating vein in her neck. Maeryn closed her eyes and took in his coldness. The coldness of his skin she would soon crave to feel once more. Alec smiled gently. "Are you ready, amore mio?" he asked. "Yes." Maeryn whispered. She was so nervous, and was afraid if she said anything else, she might vomit. Alec guided her towards his bed and gently laid her down. He carefully crawled ontop of her, making sure none of his weight would push down onto her. His cold lips found her warm ones, claiming them in a loving kiss, and a hungry kiss. Slowly, Alec's lips left hers and they left a trail of soft kisses down to her neck. He gently sucked on her soft spot, earning him a small sigh in loving agony. Alec smirked before nibbling, his fangs grazing her flawless skin. "Forgive me once more, amore mio. As I am a selfish man." He whispered against her neck, but Maeryn barely registered what he had said as her head felt empty, as if she was high. But soon, reality hit her hard. Alec slowly sunk his fangs into her neck, letting the venom flow into her veins. Maeryn gasped. It felt quite warm actually. A nice and cosy warmth, like a fireplace you warm yourself up to after a long day in the coldness of winter. 
However, the warmth in Maeryn's neck got more and more real, warmer and warmer. Hotter. The heat was so real it was hard to believe that she was imagining it. Hotter. Uncomfortable now. Too hot. Much, much too hot. Instead of warming up by the warm and cozy fireplace, she felt like she was trapped inside of one. Maeryn's automatic reaction would be to crawl and fight her way away from the flames, but the heat wasn't on the outside. The heat was inside her. The burning grew, rose and peaked and rose again until it surpassed anything she had ever felt. Maeryn felt the pulse behind the fire raging now in her chest and realized that the venom was flowing through her heart, into her veins. Maeryn wanted to raise her arms and claw her chest open and rip the heart from it, anything to get rid of this torture. But strong arms held hers down. "Don't, amore mio. You can do it." The soft voice of Alec could be heard, but even his soothing voice couldn't relieve the pain she was feeling right now. The fire blazed hotter and Maeryn wanted to scream. To beg for someone to kill her right now, before she had to live one more second in this pain. But she couldn't move my lips. There was a weight pressing down on her. The weight of her body, she soon realized. So heavy. Burying her in the flames that were chewing their way out from Maeryn's heart now, spreading with impossible pain through her shoulders and stomach, scalding their way up her throat, licking at her face. She wanted to scream more than ever, but she had to remain strong, for Alec.
Maeryn's mind was unbearably clear, sharpened by the fierce pain. All she wanted was to die. To never have been born. The whole of her existence did not outweigh this pain. Wasn't worth living through it for one more heartbeat. Let me die, let me die, let me die. That all that was on her mind. Please let me die. But she didn't dare to say it outloud. She kept her mouth shut, apart from some sharp breaths she took, no sound came from her mouth.
And, for a never-ending space, that was all there was. Just the fiery torture, and Maeryn's soundless shrieks, pleading for death to come. Nothing else, not even time. So that made it infinite, with no beginning and no end. One infinite moment of pain. The only change came when suddenly, impossibly, Maeryn's pain was doubled. The lower half of her body, was suddenly on fire, too. Maeryn could no longer hold it back as a scream escaped from her lips. "Shh. It's alright, amore mio. It's alright." Alec said, he sounded pleading. He sounded guilty. But why would be guilty? It wasn't his fault. It was the fire's fault. The fire made her in pain, made her want to die. Not him.
The endless burn raged on. It could have been seconds or days, weeks or years, but, eventually, time came to mean something again. Two things happened together, grew from each other so that she didn't know which came first: time restarted and Maeryn got stronger. Though the fire did not decrease one tiny degree - in fact, Maeryn began to develop a new capacity for experiencing it, a new sensitivity to appreciate, separately, each blistering tongue of flame that licked through her veins, Maeryn discovered that she could think around it. She could remember why she was going through this pain. Why she would endure this agony of flames. She could remember, even though it felt impossible, there was a reason, a reward at the end of this ocean of flames. But right now, she had no clue what her reward might be. All she hoped for, was death.
To anyone who was watching Maeryn, there would be no change. But for Maeryn, as she struggled to keep the screams and thrashing locked up inside her body, where they couldn't hurt anyone else, it felt like she had gone from being tied to the stake while she burned, to gripping that stake to hold herself in the fire. She had just enough strength to lie there unmoving while she was charred alive. However, Maeryn did notice the many changes that happened while her body was turning to ash from the inside. Her hearing got clearer and clearer, and she could count the frantic, pounding beats of her heart to mark the time. She could count the sharp breaths that gasped through her teeth as she hissed, yes hissed, in pain. She could count the low, even breaths that came from somewhere close beside her. Alec! Those where Alec's breaths. Maeryn concentrated on them, as his breath was much slower than hers. They meant the most time passing. More even than a clock's pendulum, those breaths pulled her through the burning seconds toward the end.
Maeryn's strength continued to increase, her thoughts became clearer by the second. When new noises came, she could listen and registrate them. There were light footsteps, the whisper of air stirred by an opening door. The footsteps got closer, and Maeryn felt pressure against the inside of her wrist. However, she couldn't feel the coolness of the fingers. The fire blistered away every memory of cool that she had. "She is doing quite well. She has only screamed about ten times so far." The soft voice of Jane said. "Hm." Was all Alec said. "Everything will be alright brother. You knew this had to be done." Jane said as she gently placed a hand onto her brother's shoulder. Alec placed a hand over his sisters' "I know. But it still pains me to hear her scream in pain." He replied softly. Maeryn frowned but didn't dare to open her mouth, knowing another scream would surely escape from her lips.
"Listen to her heart, brother. Concentrate on that, everything will be over soon. It's quite strong, isn't it? She will be perfect." Jane said. "I know. She always has been, I wouldn't have expected anything else now." Alec said. Jane giggled. "She must be in agony." Alec said slightly sad once more. "But she is strong, so she will be fine." Jane reminded him. "Ti amo da impazzire, amore mio." Alec whispered in Maeryn's ear as he gently stroked her hair.
Through all this, the racking fire went right on burning her from the inside. But there was so much space in her head now. Room to ponder their conversation, room to remember what had happened, room to look ahead to the future, with still endless room left over to suffer in. Also room to worry. How would she react to her own reflection? Will she be ruthless in her search for blood as a newborn? Ten thousand, nine hundred forty-three breaths later. How long? Couldn't someone atleast tell her for how much longer she had to lay in this ocean of flesh eating flames. Was that too much to ask? How many more seconds would she had burn? Ten thousand? Twenty? Another day - eighty-six thousand, four hundred? More than that?
"She's going to be dazzling." Jane said. Alec growled quietly. "She always has been." Jane snorted. "You know what I mean. Look at her." Alec, however, didn't answer, but Jane's words gave Maeryn hope that maybe she didn't resemble the charcoal briquette she felt like. It seemed as if Maeryn must be just a pile of charred bones by now. Every cell in her body had been razed to ash. Maeryn heard Jane skip out of the room. She heard the swish of the fabric she moved, rubbing against itself. She heard the quiet buzz of the light hanging from the ceiling. She heard the faint wind brushing against the outside of the castle. She could hear the villagers of Volterra happily talking to eachother in Italian. She could hear everything. Downstairs, someone, Felix and Demetri, where playing a video game. She listened for more, but there was nothing but the game. The video game was not interesting enough to distract her from the pain, so she once more listened to Alec's breathing again, counting the seconds.
Twenty-one thousand, nine hundred seventeen and a half seconds later, the pain changed. On the good-news side of things, it started to fade from her fingertips and toes. Fading slowly, but at least it was doing something new. This had to be it. The pain was on its way out... And then the bad news. The fire in her throat wasn't the same as before. She wasn't only on fire, but she was now parched, too. Dry as bone. So thirsty. Burning fire, and burning thirst... And the worst part of this all. The fire inside her heart had gotten even hotter. How was that possible? Her heartbeat, which had been already too fast, picked up - the fire drove its rhythm to a new frantic pace. "Master Aro?" Alec called. His voice was low but clear. Maeryn knew that Aro would hear it, if he were in or near the castle. As a matter of fact, she knew the whole castle from the inside could hear it. And she too could hear them.
The fire retreated from her palms, leaving them blissfully pain-free and cool. But it retreated to her heart, which blazed hot as the sun and beat at a furious new speed. Aro entered the room, Jane and Caius at his side. Their footsteps were so distinct, that Maeryn could even tell that Caius was on the right of Aro and Jane on his left, and Aro was a foot ahead of them both. "Listen." Alec told them. The loudest sound in the room was Maeryn's frenzied heart, pounding to the rhythm of the fire. "Ah," Aro said. "It's almost over." Maeryn felt relieved at his words and was overshadowed by the excruciating pain in her heart. Her wrists were now free, though, and so where her ankles. The fire was totally extinguished there. "Soon," Jane agreed eagerly. "She is quite lovely. Immortality becomes her." Aro said "Hopefully she can control her thirst quickly." Caius said as he examined the girl. "I am sure she will, brother. Alec and Jane will take good care of her, as will the rest of the guard." Aro said. The room went silent besides the jack-hammering of Maeryn's heart as they all stopped breathing for a second in response. A hand squeezed her wayward fingers. "Maeryn? Amore mio?" Could she answer him without screaming? She considered it for a moment, and then the fire ripped hotter still through her chest, draining in from my elbows and knees. A scream once more escaped from her lips. And then - oh! Her heart took off, beating like helicopter blades, the sound almost a single sustained note; it felt like it would grind through her ribs. The fire flared up in the center of Maeryn's chest, sucking the last remnants of the flames from the rest of her body to fuel the most scorching blaze yet. The pain was enough to stun her, to break through her iron grip on the stake. She screamed once more. Her back arched, bowed as if the fire was dragging her upward by her heart. She allowed no other piece of her body to break rank as her torso slumped back to the bed. Maeryn tightly gripped the sheets and bit her lip hard, making sure to keep her screams locked behind her lips. It became a battle inside of her: her sprinting heart racing against the attacking fire. Both were losing. The fire was doomed, having consumed everything that was combustible; her heart galloped toward its last beat. The fire constricted, concentrating inside that one remaining human organ with a final, unbearable surge. The surge was answered by a deep, hollow-sounding thud.
Maeryn's heart stuttered twice, and then thudded quietly again just once more. There was no sound. No breathing. Not even Maeryn's. For a moment, the absence of pain was all she could comprehend.
And then Maeryn opened her now bright crimson eyes and gazed above her in wonder.