My Immortal Beloved

My Immortal Beloved (Chapter 10)

Aurelia stared in horror at her sister, who showed no signs of remorse whatsoever; only hatred blazed in her eyes as she watched Lisette expectantly. Elizabeth came flying down the stairs, stopping short to gasp in horror as she attempted to absorb the scene in her kitchen.

"Cadence, what have you done?" Elizabeth asked, finally rushing forward and grabbing her youngest daughter by the arm.

"She's the reason daddy is gone, if she hadn't come here then the vampire would have never killed him. He wanted her, I heard people saying that there was a bounty on her head. Why can't we just kill her? Then maybe he'll go away and leave the rest of us alone." She was hysterical and in tears, looking very much like a small child rather than the teenager she was. Elizabeth looked exasperated for a split second before she raised her arm and slapped her daughter with all the strength she could muster.

Momentarily forgetting Lisette's wound, she and Aurelia both stared at the other two in shock. Elizabeth seemed to be the only one with her head on straight for the moment, calling over her shoulder as she hauled her daughter upstairs for what was sure to be an unpleasant talking-to.

"Don't just stand there, get that knife out of her chest!" It had been plain as day on her face as she'd processed what Cadence had done. She now expected nothing less than for Lisette to completely go back on her promise to protect their family after what had just happened, but she knew that Aurelia was, at least, safe with her. Lisette slowly made her way over to the dining room table while Aurelia gently held on to her arm and helped her to lower herself into a chair.

"I don't know what to do, should I just pull it out?" She was starting to panic, and was looking slightly pale. Lisette was afraid that Aurelia was going to pass out and reached over to pull another chair out for her to sit down.

"Just try to pull it straight out please," she asked, feeling slightly sick as she braced herself. Aurelia took a deep breath and shook out her arms before putting both hands on the knife handle.

"Are you sure you can do this? I can do it if it's a problem for you." Lisette suggested gently. Aurelia had a determined expression on her face.

"No, my sister did this to you and I love you so I'm going to do it." It seemed to take forever as she slowly pulled out the blade, afraid to hurt Lisette any further. They both breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally out and Aurelia stared in fascination as Lisette's skin began to heal itself back together before her eyes.

"Before your mother beats your sister to death, will you please go and assure her that I will uphold my promise to keep your family safe, despite your sister's actions. She'll come around eventually."

"We hope," Aurelia muttered and Lisette smiled wryly, taking her hands in her own.

"I think that right now she's just a frightened little girl who has lost her father in a tragically horrifying way and she needs to lash out at someone. I'm sure she's not the only one in this town who has had the idea to try to kill me and hand me over. Hopefully by tomorrow the whole town will know that he is dead and won't be hurting any of them again." Aurelia nodded hopefully and pressed her lips to Lisette's before turning to walk up the stairs.

"We should just be thankful that Cadence isn't well versed in vampire lore. If it had been a stake rather than the knife, it would have been the end of me." Aurelia didn't respond, but Lisette could see and hear her swallow hard as she walked purposefully up to the second floor.

As soon as she heard a door close, Lisette slumped in her seat and finally gave into the exhaustion that was taking over her body. Just because the knife wound hadn't been fatal didn't mean that it hadn't weakened her for the time being.