Awakening (new chapters added)

Part 3 - chapter one

One

White out of black, black out of white, swirling worms of neon white, circling, prowling, waiting for her to wake.

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Her throat hurt, someone was squeezing her throat; she tried to brush away their hand, to remove the pain. There was no hand; no fingers burning her flesh, yet it hurt so much. She coughed and pain seared through her body. It was inside her, the pain was inside her throat.

Evie fumbled at her mouth, her lips were forced apart, folded back on themselves. Her fingers hooked around the tube in her mouth and pulled up, she felt it bite into her.

She wretched as pain filled her brain; she rested for a second whilst it retreated, then pulled again. Her ears recognised the grating sound as the tube clipping her teeth on exit; she felt the warm viscous fluid gush onto her tongue and slide down her chin as she pushed it away.

She coughed out the liquid as her brain shut out the pain; she sank down allowing the swirling void to embrace her.

Joseph heard the alarm beep at the same time he heard Jess blaspheme. His legs stretched out as he ran along the corridor; her haste meant she slammed into the wall as she slid in behind him.

“I just left her for a minute; I just went to get…”

Joseph didn’t turn to see the bag of blood Jess waved, he had to reach Evie before anyone else, it was imperative she see him first.

He knew his fear was irrational, that there was no such thing as imprinting. Evie wasn’t a chick; she wouldn’t just latch onto the first person she saw. Joseph had sired her, she had his blood.

He was also aware that he couldn’t think logically, he never could at this stage. This theory about imprinting was just a silly urban myth, but just in case.

The metallic smell of the blood leaked through the closed door. Joseph rested his right palm on the panel waiting; he tried to sense what the scene would be like behind the wooden door. Jess looked up at his serene expression, exasperated by his inability to act.

“Open the door Joe.”

He turned slowly and glared at her, his pale grey eyes searing into hers. She hoped that the scene didn’t involve any damage, he would be so furious with her; this one was physically perfect.

Jess reached for the bronze door handle, the cold metal trembled in her hand. As the door swung open, they waited on the threshold and tried to comprehend the scene.

Evie was unconscious, her arm hung over the bed and blood covered her right arm and shoulder, a small pool of blood had gathered in her cupped palm. The feeding pipe lay on the floor, surrounded now by a soft red slick; the machine had automatically stopped forcing the blood into her stomach when the tube had been removed and that event had triggered the alarm.

“Evie?” Joseph whispered from the door.

He leant into the room not daring to enter. Darkness. No light was apparent beyond that which bled around the now partially closed door. Joseph and Jess could see everything clearly, their eyes had adapted over millennia to see in no light situations.

Evie fidgeted slightly. They listened to the sound of her skin slowly sliding against itself as it echoed in the silence. To Jess it was similar to the sound of raw silk, that lyrical decadent sound that she loved, she grinned at the back of his head. Joseph was aware that it was the sound of her feet rubbing together, the soft whisper of her heel bones against the bottom of her foot; this was her usual prelude to consciousness.