Young Writers Society

The hot water drummed against Evie’s back as she played with the temperature knob of the shower numbly. She squinted as she twisted the knob slowly towards the red dot, raising the temperature higher and higher until she winced at the pain.

No. Get off me! I can’t leave him! Let me go!

Her pale back was scorched an ugly red as the almost boiling water hit between her shoulder blades. Her tears were lost in the jet of water and she found herself gasping when she forgot to breathe.

He’s nothing to you, Evie!

So much had changed in so little time. Her pulse sang in her ears almost piercingly loud as her blood temperature rose. The sound was like a physical pain after a hundred years of dead silence. She could feel everything. The throbbing of her back as the hot water pummelled against her. Her thumping heart inside her chest. The cold breeze that hit her side where the water couldn’t reach. And yet…she had never felt so empty in her life.

She sucked in a shuddering breath and hastily knocked off the water, making her skin prickle with goosebumps. Her head felt foggy when she spun around too quickly and her knees gave way under her causing her to stumble out of the shower and drop against the cold tiled floor. There she lay with her knees tucked up against her sobbing so much it made her brain hurt. The cold washed over her like a blanket, making her shiver so much that her teeth clattered together. I’m human now, she thought numbly, this is what it’s like to be human. Weak, sore and vulnerable all the time.

But that wasn’t the worst part. Evie could have dealt with the starburst of pain that made her burning back itch against the cold tile floor. She could have dealt with the sudden head-rush from spinning around too quickly. She could have dealt with the bruise ripening on her knee where it collided with the side of the shower. But what she couldn’t deal with was what losing her vampirism really meant. Losing Caius.

He’s not your Maker anymore. He’s nothing to you.

She gasped and threw herself up into a sitting position after forgetting to breathe again. It was something she was still getting used to. She grabbed the warm towel that hung over the radiator, wrapped it around her dripping naked body and she wobbled to her feet. Her temples still pulsated and the bones in her legs felt like jelly as she made her way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Her clothes had gone and a new outfit had replaced it, folded neatly in the centre of the double bed.

Nico is spoiling me, she thought bitterly as she lifted the plain black vest top he had given her. A pair of simple blue jeans lay folded in a square underneath and a set of black underwear. The boots by the foot of the bed, she noticed, were nicer than hers had been but still looked tough and durable.

She wrapped the towel that was around her body, around her hair as she dressed and then sank her back onto the bed, feeling the plush, soft duvet under her like a cloud. A human’s senses were heightened when they were turned, yet Evie felt more connected to everything around her since she had got her humanity back. It was as if there had been an invisible wall around her before which she had finally broken free of. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t miss her vampire hearing, sight and speed. She figured the loss of those would become a real chore when she got out of here. Which she would, despite what Nico had told her as he showed her to her new room in his mansion. She was going to get out of here, with Caius. She just needed to figure out how.

Her hands flew to her throat as she gagged herself awake, choking on air after she yet again, forgot to breathe. Her heart was crashing against her ribcage as she inhaled large gulps of air to fill her lungs.

A knock at the door made her start. It was a soft, tentative knock, yet she still flinched.

“Evie, it’s me. Nico. Are you okay?” the voice was soft and tentative too, which made rage burn deep inside her. Now he was worried about her? After what he’d done?

“I’m fine.” She snarled at the door.

“Can I come in?” Oh, he had manners now? What had happened to the man that had thrown silver over her and shoved her in the basement?

“It’s your house. Whatever.”

The door opened without a creak and Nico swooped in with his usual easy fashion, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He looked to the drawn curtains and crossed the room. “It’s morning,” he said and threw them open. Evie cringed on the bed, throwing her arms up to shield her eyes from the sunlight that painted the cream room a vibrant yellow. A sinking feeling hit her hard when she didn’t burn. Did she want to burn? It was what she was used to. It was the whole idea that she had changed that she didn’t like.

“Don’t cower,” said Nico. He had his hands clasped behind his back as he was looking out of the large panoramic window. Either he had seen her reaction to the sunlight in the reflection of the glass or it was a good guess, because he hadn’t turned around.

Evie lowered her arms and squinted at him. He was wearing suit pants, dress shoes, a white shirt and a grey cardigan. From the back, he looked like a schoolboy. She guessed from the front he did too. Yet there was so much evil brewing behind that innocent façade. The fact that he looked so normal seemed to frighten her more than if he did actually look like a criminal mastermind with the slick, gelled back hair and maybe a scar across his face.

She pushed herself off the bed and joined him at the window. She stood beside him and gasped at the view. It was the first time she had seen the grounds of the mansion. Two stone stairways ran down from the front door to the left of them, creating a gracious half circle. Stylish BMW’s were parked along the front on the paved entryway. The road in and out of the mansion also ran in a semicircle around the large lawn that seemed to go on forever. Evie squinted in the light and was just able to make out the large gates at the edge of the compound, locked and guarded. It was an extraordinary place, Evie had to admit. But to her, it was still a prison.

Even through the glass, Evie felt the warmth of the sun. Warm. She hadn’t actually felt warm in a hundred years. That’s why she had done that little experiment in the shower earlier, to test her new body. To know where her new boundaries were.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Nico asked, smiling out at the view.

“What?” Evie’s voice was soft and barely audible.

“The morning sun. You haven’t seen it for a while. I bet you’ve forgotten what it looks like.”

“It doesn’t make up for what you did.” She clasped the tops of her arms, the warmth feelings too strange for her to feel comfortable.

Nico exhaled a tired sigh. “You will learn that what I did to you was for the best. Your humanity isn’t a curse, Evie. Your vampirism was the curse.”

She gave him a sideways quelling look but said nothing. His eyes, reflecting the sun, looked like two silver coins. She wondered, with a sudden emptiness, if Caius’ eyes would look like that in the sunlight. Not that she’d ever know.

Nico brushed her damp hair from her neck and she flinched. When she looked up at him, he was frowning. “You took off your bandage.”

She slapped his hand away and let her hair fall back over her exposed wound. “I had to so I could shower,” she replied. After Nico had dragged her away from Caius, he had cleaned her neck and covered the puncture wounds with a square bandage.

“I’ll patch it back up. C’mon, breakfast is on the table.” He spun on his heel and began heading towards the door, his hands still clasped behind his back.

Evie’s brows furrowed. “What do you want with me? Why am I still here? I’m cured, you can let me go.”

“I’m not done with you yet,” he said and disappeared out the door.

Evie let out an irritated huff and went after him. “What do you mean?”

She followed him as he swept through the mansion like a shadow, only managing to catch a glimpse just before he rounded each corner. Her boots clunked across the wood floor yet Nico seemed to move with such grace that he hardly made a sound at all. It unnerved her. Silent but deadly like a predator.

Finally, Evie caught up with him when he stopped at an open pair of white double doors. Inside was a long wooden table that seated ten yet there was only two plates, one set at either end. A bowl of assorted bread sat in the middle with a choice of jams and butter. There were also several boxes of multipack cereals and fruit.

Nico gestured into the room. “Have a seat.”

Evie arched an eyebrow at him, shrugged and sat down on the nearest seat. Nico strolled down the long room and sat on the opposite side. Silently, she grabbed a bowl, a packet of cereal and the bottle of milk from the centre while Nico grabbed several slices of bread.

In her early years of being a vampire, Evie had tried to vary her meals with human food. Caius kept telling her that she was kidding herself. Blood was everything to her now, anything else was insignificant. But Evie had been determined and would spend her afternoon slaving away in the kitchen, preparing a meal that she used to find delicious. Then she’d eat it and realise that Caius had been right. No matter what it was, if it wasn’t blood, it just tasted plain and pointless.

After she had everything ready and was spooning the cornflakes into her mouth, she started the conversation, frowning to herself. It turned out cornflakes actually did just taste plain and pointless anyway.

“So, what exactly am I still doing here? Why haven’t you tossed me out into the street?” She covered her mouth as she spoke, as she was still chewing.

Nico smiled down at his plate as he smeared strawberry jam onto a piece of white toast. “You are very special, Evie. You are the first to be cured. I tried that very same serum on other vampires. It did not work.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying-” He locked eyes with her from across the table and took a bite out of his toast, “-I need to keep you around to see why it affected you differently.”

“So you want to experiment on me?” A chill crawled up her back.

He seemed to notice the fear in her soft, hazel eyes. “Not in the way I was before. You are a guest in this house now, Evie. I will merely ask for the occasional blood sample and in exchange, you will live in luxury.”

She studied the room pensively. Paintings were hung all over the walls in big, eccentric, heavy-looking frames. She figured the paintings themselves must be rather impressive to someone who cared about art. Whereas, to Evie, they were just fancy drawings. And those fancy drawing brought up bittersweet memories that she liked to keep a lid on. A chandelier hung over the table that looked like it would be better suited in a ballroom than a dining room. The crystal tear drops made tinkling sounds like raindrops when they clicked together.

“And when I find a way to make a cure that is universally successful, I will share it with the world with you by my side.”

Evie’s attention shifted back to the man opposite her. “By your side?”

He smiled. He looked even younger when he smiled, she thought. The way his eyes crinkled at the sides made him look almost sweet. “Of course.”

She looked down at her bowl. Her cornflakes had turned into orange mush and she stabbed at it with her spoon half-heartedly. “I’m never leaving here, am I?”

“Why would you want to?”

That was a good question. Why would she want to if Caius was still locked up down there waiting to die? What life did she have now?

“Will you let me see him?” she asked quietly.

“Who?-oh” Her eyes flickered up and caught Nico clench his jaw with irritation. He leaned back in his chair and curled his hands into fists on either side of his plate. “I thought I told you, he is nothing to you now.”

“I love him,” she said. The admittance almost sounded shameful.

“You’re human now, Evie. He is a vampire. What you had is over. Got it?”

Tears burned the backs of her eyes as she stared down at her bowl. “You’re going to kill him?”

“Not intentionally. But it is a possibility that he may die.”

She felt like all the energy had been sucked right out of her. “You have to let me see him.”

“I had already granted you that wish, and look what happened.”

Her hand subconsciously slipped to the naked wound on her neck. She winced when her fingertips brushed it. “He didn’t mean it. You were starving him. He was out of control.”

“And if you go down there again, you will be met by the same monster. Because that is who he is, Evie. That is what all vampires are. Monsters.”

She shook her head and clenched her eyes shut. “Caius is not a monster. Since the Rage, he hasn’t drank from a human. Always blood bags. Not even from the Dial-a-bite service.”

Nico sneered. “Blood whores.”

Evie glanced up at him. “He’s a good person, Nico.”

He held her gaze and his expression softened. His hands had unclenched and lay flat on the table. He seemed calm, resigned. “I will think about it. It is clear that you have not come to terms with your change. You are still clinging onto how things used to be. If you are good, I will let you see him, only so that you can make peace with the fact that things will never be the same again and you must leave the past behind you.”

She nodded, fearing that if she spoke, she might say something that will make him withdraw his offer. She looked back down to her bowl and spooned up a lump of orange mush.

You must leave the past behind you. And yet the future looked bleak at best.