It started off as a bitter and burning cold. I could not hear, see, or speak. I was just trapped in a cocoon of frostbite and in complete silence. I was to scream, to have someone release me from this incredible pain. Then, suddenly there was light. I was wrapped in a cocoon of light and warmth, like the sun had its arms wrapped around me. It was comforting, and I felt safe. I could hear someone's soft voice, no wait it sounded like three. Two sounded so familiar to me, and one was soothing but unknown to me. I tried to pry my eyes open but it felt like my eyes were glued shut. The voices were becoming clearer, but my consciousness was slipping in and out. I wanted to reach out for some sort of contact, but I felt like my soul was separated from my body. With one final strong push I managed to pull my eyes open, expecting the three voices to still be there. Instead I was staring at a strange picture above me. The ceiling was a renaissance painting of a magnolia tree in front of the ocean. There were chubby cherubs floating around, tooting their little trumpets and making various other colourful flowers bloom. Deer and rabbits danced around them happily, and crystals were embedded in their eyes and on the ocean to make it seem like they had a lifelike gleam in their eyes. Was I in a hospital? What kind of hospital had this meral on the ceiling? Not only that, but the sheets felt like satin and I felt like I was being sucked into the bed. It was the most comfortable thing I had ever been on, and every time I had been in a hospital the beds felt like a rock. I almost felt myself slip back into sleep because of the beautiful ceiling and the comfy bed, before I heard someone clear their throat.
"How are you feeling, miss?" A soft feminine voice called out, drawing me back to reality. I managed to sit myself up on my elbows, only to see a woman standing at the foot of my bed. She had a kind face, but a stern air around her and there was something eerie about her. She had dull blond hair, but she did not look older than her early thirties. With olive clear skin, and thin furrowed browns framing her severe and sharp brown eyes. She was willowy and wore a black shift with a white apron tied around her waist, with her hair pulled back into a tight bun.
"Um… I'm feeling okay?" My eyes began to dart around the extravagant room in awe. The windows were shut slightly with a deep red lace curtain, and the marble floor shone from the sunlight pooling on it. The furniture was extravagant as well, with a snowy rococo style couch and a glass coffee table lined with gold. These objects were placed in front of a silver and gold fireplace, with metal work around the opening shaped like dolphins as if they were jumping into the flames that flickered weakly. The right wall was completely a mirror, with a dresser and a vanity in the farthest corner. There were two doors, one to the right of me and one directly in front of me. Two nightstands made of marble protruded from the walls to frame the king sized bed I was in, with the left hand one holding my glasses and a goblet of water.
"Where am I?" I squealed weakly, my head spinning wildly. The woman looked amused and slightly annoyed by my question.
"The Master brought you home with him, and we don't question him." She bowed her head towards me and I was confused as to what the gesture was for.
"Who's you Mas--" All of a sudden I went into a coughing fit, my throat feeling like it was burning. The woman rushed forward just as I was about to collapse and grabbed my shoulders to keep me upright. She was surprisingly very strong as she single handedly kept me up, while also grabbing the crystalline goblet of water.
"Drink Miss, you are not well." She said as I hacked up a lung and brought the shimmering glass to my lips. I managed to take a sip before my throat constricted again and rejected the water. I choked a little bit, eyes bulging out of my skull as I spat up the water and gasped for air. Worry etched the woman's face as I began to flail a bit, my chest tightening and my diaphragm constricting. She pulled up her apron and began to wipe up my face as my coughing became harder and I had a metallic taste in my mouth.
"It's going to be okay, Miss." She whispered softly as I saw her apron was stained red, indicating that I was coughing up blood. I weakly grabbed her shoulder as my body wracked up with fear, eyes focused on the red stain as my coughing subsided but my breath remained ragged.
"Oh God…" I muttered, realizing what was happening to my body. She pulled my head to cradle on her chest, humming a strange and yet soothing song. I quickly went limp in her arms, looking at the dancing fairy lights across the ceiling being reflected from the gems. I gradually became weak, and my eyes closed on their own as I could not hold them open anymore.
"Isa, what happened?" Elijah and Luca ran through the door after being informed by a servant sent by the head maid Isa that Suri had woken up and had a severe coughing fit. Isa was still cradling her head against her chest, humming an old lullaby sung by her people generations prior. Suri looked so vulnerable in her arms, with spots of blood staining her face and her blue veins more prominent around her eyes and collarbone. Isa's apron had a massive bloodstain on it, and her eyes glittered with an emotion Elijah could not quiet place. Luca and Elijah rushed to her side, and Isa gently put her down so Luca could check her vitals. It was scary how her skin was nearly the same colour as the pure white sheets that almost swallowed her. Elijah leaned over her like a lion claiming its kill as Luca gently checked how she was doing.
"Kevin was right, she's weakening and rapidly." Luca looked up to Elijah, as if asking for permission.
"We are not doing what you are thinking about doing. I've already sent some servants to the areas Kevin mentioned to find someone to help her." Elijah growled, furrowing his brow at his own blood. Isa took a step back before things escalated further.
"She is going to die before they get back." Elijah opened his mouth to make a counter argument when Isa cleared her throat. Both vampires turned to the woman, one with a look of hope and her Master with one of anger.
"Master, if I may interject, Luca is right. I would be surprised if she lasted by the end of the week." Luca gave him a look of triumph but Isa shot him a warning look.
"However, turning her is not your only option to prolong her life until they get back." This time they both cocked their heads to the side in confusion, a strange quirk that most of the Romano's shared.
"You could put her under contract until a witch is found," Elijah bared his teeth at the idea but Isa raised her hand, "Or, you could start the changing process but not finish. Then when she is healed, we just detox her." This idea seemed to unsettle Elijah, but not more than the prospect of her dying, changing her, or putting her under contract. Luca looked to the torn man and shrugged his shoulders as he pulled the sheets over Suri's unconscious form. The old vampire looked down at her, and her image blurred in front of his eyes. Her light brown almost blond hair shifted to a dark brown. Her face was lined with an exorbitant amount of freckles, with her complexion deeper than the snow she called her skin. He went to go reach out to gently touch her cheek but the image shattered. Now the skeletal girl with sunken eyes and nearly translucent skin laid beneath him. He nodded towards Luca as he steeled his nerves and dropped his head. Luca raised his wrist to his mouth but Elijah raised his hand to make him halt.
"I'll do it." Isa and Luca watched the shadowy man in awe, the shimmering light in the air seeming to change around him in seconds. In a sentence he went from an empty shadow of a man, to the old and caring Elijah they used to know. His eyes were softer than what they had been in five to six hundred years. Gingerly he pulled down his dress shirt sleeve to see his blue veins on his wrist. Without any hesitation he sank his fangs into his wrist, feeling the slight pinch as he tore the skin aggressively. He barely felt pain after centuries of war wounds and brutal assaults. The black liquid spilled from his wound and down his chin as he led the wound so it trickled over Suri. The liquid spilled onto her lips, staining her snow white purity with black poison. Everyone sat there in silence as the black liquid spilled into her slightly parted lips, causing a red light to glow from it. She coughed ever so slightly, but did not stir. After a few seconds of silence and the black liquid staining her face, neck and the pillows around her he retracted his wrist. The wound had fully closed up, only leaving four puncturing scars where he tore in.
"Isa, please clean her up and call me when she wakes up." Elijah said with a shaky breath before his image blurred and then disappeared.