His Bloody Bride

Chapter 13: In fact, two. Screw. You.

CHAPTER 13: In fact, two. Screw. You.


I bring my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly. The slow, uneasy sound of my beating hearts pounds into my temples, and I rotate my head into my legs, the pain unbearable. It would be simple to say I hurt. I’m not sure if it’s possible to get headaches when you’re a vampire because you’re technically dead, and the dead don’t get sick but my head hurts--a lot. It feels like my head is a balloon, being pumped with air and pressure all of which has begun settling at the base of my neck and temples.

Yes. It hurts that badly. Being a blood sucking creature doesn’t mean I am immune to pain.

Confusion. Terror. Anger. Nausea. Joy. The miscellaneous of emotions battling for dominance within me, badly twisting my insides, then integrating inside my head to create confusion and physical negligence are terrible. Dominating me are three main emotions: anger, happiness, and lust. Happiness reigns within me. So much has happened in such a short, brief period of time; with Maria, with Frost, with the thing where I had been turned away from my parents; and it gives me a smidge of hope to be in my own body, free and in control. I glance at Maria, who sits besides me, and my hands balls underneath my knees. The fact she is here, tangible and breathing, after putting Frost, Eva, Isabelle, Tybalt and everyone through so much pain, burns me. I feel myself build with anger, my legs shaking from that, but also from something completely different. I tremble, for Frost.

I chastise myself for allowing myself to be so dependent and needy. I will not be like this. Now that I don’t have a family or home to fall back upon, I have to realize that every decision I make depicts the future and alters the length of my life substantially. Something I know I need to improve upon is my control. The burning sensation in my stomach is due to a physical attraction lingering within me from Maria. Sure, being physically intimate with a men is something I have lacked in--and Maria excelled in, many, many, many times--in the past, but just because my doppelganger has been able to satisfy Frost in those type of ways doesn’t mean I have to as well. For me, the connection between us has to strengthen. Yes, I love him. But I need to know more about him before anything besides lips and tongue can be exchanged. Before I can fully be with him . . . that way.

I let my eyes scan the entire room. Rhea and Matt are the two people in our circle to be missing. The people who are present though seem to be the only people that want Maria dead more than I do. Surrounding Maria and I are Tybalt, Eva, Isabelle, Frost, Dante and Erebus. All who stare at Maria with confusion and a lighting anger that lights the room with a dark aura, causing me to feel tiny compared to her.

There are three people capable of killing Maria, and if tested, would end her life quickly, as if it were a reflex. Tybalt, Eva and Frost. I don’t know about Dante because I don’t recall having any flashbacks of Maria even speaking to Dante. That then leaves Isabelle, Erebus and I. I don’t want to kill, only if it’s necessary.  

Erebus extinguishes a throaty groan, running a hand through his fair hair. I glance at Maria, watching as she pays extra attention to his many movements. Confusion twists his muscles, and under his tunic--which he changed into after taking a bath earlier--I notice the misshapen lumps between his shoulder blades where his wings cripple and bend into his skin. The thought of possibly comforting him binds my head. I scold myself. I shouldn’t be worrying about him. I should be worrying about Frost. He still seems off from the rejected vampire bite. He is still physically recovering from his fever and illness. I glance at Maria as she seductively licks her lips.

I roll my eyes. This is basically a life or death situation and she wants to flirt. Great. Just great.

I stand up and look at Frost. “I need to feed.” I don’t list off the heaviness in my jaw, how dry my throat has become, because of Maria. I don’t want to sound too whiny in front of Frost, because I remember how she whined for him before he realized she held my body. I don’t want to give him any more reason to dislike me and choose her than the fact she was his first love.

Maria runs a hand through her hair. She points a finger in Isabelle’s direction, who standing near Dante. “She’s human, is she not. Why not feed from her?”