The air was cool, crisp and clean. The night smelled of rotting leaves and old paper. There was no moon out. I was walking to clear my head and think of thing that were to come.
Like my marriage, and how I despised the man that was my betrothed. I didn't care about titles or land or "conveniences". I wanted desperately to be in love before I married. But a lady of my station never married for love.
As I walked and listened to the leaves crunch beneath my slippers, I thought of my mother, she was 17 when she married my father, just a year older than I am now. And my father had already been married, but his wives died mysteriously when they couldn't bear him sons. My mother's fate was no different. After she had me, she was told that if she was to bear another child, it would surely be the end of her.
Well, father was most displeased. He decided she was no longer of use to him and had her poisoned. Then he married Desmonda and she bore him a son. Well as you can imagine, my sisters and I were all but forgotten by him and his whore. But, we looked after each other.
When my eldest sister, Francsica, turned 14, she was given away to the Count of Buckingham. Then 2 years later, she died in childbirth, along with her infant son and daughter. The Count killed himself that night as well. My father laughed.
Then, my favorite sister, Bianca, turned 15 and she refused to marry. My father said that she was sent to live in a convent; I don't believe it at all. I remember hearing screams the night she told our father that she wouldn't marry and the next day my Bianca was gone.
I am all that's left. Well, and my pig of a brother, Lucius. He's 15 and as mean and sly as a snake.
My father, Marius, dotes upon him. As does his whore of a mother.
I hate the lot of them.
That's why I was talking my nightly stroll through the family resting ground. I walked to the crypt was resting. I sat on the bench and sighed. Tears started rolling my face. I was beginning to think that my situation was hopless. There was only one option. I shuddered at the thought playing through my head.I pulled a bottle out of my cloak. I tilted it back towards my lips and was about to except the sweet death that it contained when I heard a voice.
" Don't do it, love, it's not worth it." said the voice.
" Who are you," I snapped "What are you doing one my father's land?"
The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows. He was pale, tall, and wore the clothes of an aristocrat. His hair stood up in spikes. His eyes were crimson and he had long eyelashes.
My heart skipped a beat.
"My name is Gregory, and I dwell here as well" he replied in his smooth as silk voice that sent shivers up my spine.
" Where, I don't ever recall seeing you amongst the noblity that rally around my father?" I inquired
He pointed to a mausolem. "I live there, with my family." he replied.
I laughed, "What an excellent jest, but, truthfully, where do you reside?"
He stepped closer to me and I could tell that he was not lying.
"You live- why-how-you?" I started, and all at once I knew. The paleness, the crimson eyes, the odd smell of the night. He was one of the undead.
I clutched the crucifix at my breast and gasped in fear. "Stay away, you unholy beast!" He stepped closer, a smile playing on his lips.
"Believe me,love, if I had wanted to hurt you, I would have the first night you ventured, unknowingly, into my realm." he sneered.
Pride welled up in me. " Your realm?" I screeched. "Last I recalled, this land belonged solely to my father, you insolent twit!"
He chuckled, he actually had the nerve to chuckle at me? I was fuming! I raised my hand to strike the chuckling bastard, but before I even had a chance to register what was happening, he grabbed my wist and spun me so my back was pressed up against his front.
He hissed in my ear, " Listen to me, I know what troubles you, and I merely offer you a way out, a way to see the world, a way to fall in love, I can offer you eternity, a family that cares, eternal youth, and power over your enemies."I relaxed against his grip and he released me. I whirled around stared him in the eye.
"I'll never join you and your family of bloodsucking ingrates, so leave me well alone!" I cried. Then I fled back up the path to my manor, shaking uncontrollably. When I made it to my bedchamber, I collapsed on my bed, sobbing. How could this boy know the thoughts that were flowing through my mind? How did he know everything I wanted? Everything I longed for? Everything I- my thoughts were suddenly shattered as my brother crashed through my door.
" YOU BLOODY WHORE!" he screamed at me. His pale blue eyes were alive with hate, his dark hair in a mess atop his fat head. " HOW DARE YOU PASS MY BEDCHAMBER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SCREAMING? ARE YOU TRYING TO DISTURB MY DELICATE HEALTH?" he raged at me, his hands balled into fists, his face going an unpleasant shade of purple. " I'LL TEACH YOU, YOU BLOODY WENCH!" He pummeled one very large fist right into my stomach, I doubled over. He pushed me down on the chamber floor. He grabbed my skirts and ripped them away. I cried out for him to stop, but he wouldn't listen.
"LUCIUS, PLEASE, NO!" I cried.
" SHUT UP, YOUR A WHORE, JUST LIKE YOUR FILTHY MOTHER, THIS IS ALL YOUR GOOD FOR!" he cried as he undid his trousers. I looked behind me and my eyes went wide with horror. He was really going to violate me, his own sister! I cried out once more as he ripped into me.
I felt as if my body was being ripped in two. I was sobbing and he just kept pounding into me. I felt something warm run down my leg.
My blood.
I screamed again and again. I screamed until my voice left. And then I felt warm wetness fill me. Lucius grunted and pulled out of my aching cavity. He hit me in the face pulled up his trousers and left.
I felt the world go dark, and prayed to God, that I was dying.
I awoke the next morning, to dazziling sun and freezing wind. I got up, closed my window, and went and curled up in my bed. I felt so alone and dirty. Now, my father would surely kill me. He wouldn't be able to marry off a spoiled girl. I turned my face into my pillow and cried. Eventually, I drifted off into a troubled, fitful, sleep.
When I awoke it was night. I got up and dressed. Then, I walked down to the courtyard and out towards the cematary.
I found my bench and sat there and cried. Soon, I knew I wasn't alone.
"Gregory?" I whispered.
" Yes, love." he replied.
"I'm sorry that I was so rude to you yestereve."
" I understand" he said. I started crying again. He came over to the bench and sat down beside me.
" Shhh, love, what troubles you?" he asked in the softest voice.
I sobbed even more.
He lifted my chin with the tip of his fnger. He saw the bruise forming around my eye and growled.
"Who did this to you?" he snapped.
"Luc-Lucius, he ruined me." I wailed.
He stiffened. I cried harder. He got up to leave.
"Don't leave me, please." I whimpered.He sat down and put his arms around me as I sobbed.
"Don't cry, love, don't cry." he crooned in my ear. I swallowed my sobs and sat up.
" I apoligize for my unseemly behaviour." I said as I got up to leave. Gregory grabbed my hand and spun me to face him. He looked me in the eyes, and they were no longer crimson, but a beautiful shade of emerald green. He kissed my forehead before retreating a few steps. He took my hand and brought it to his lips.
"No apology necessary, milady." he said with a smile.
I smiled and turned to leave, but then I paused and turned back.
" My name is Isabella. Just Isabella." I said with a smile.
He bowed.
"As you wish, Isabella"
I turned and began walking. When I looked back, he had vanished.
As I made my way up to my bedchamber, I felt a whisper of wind at my back. I turned and he was there.
"Don't go back, Isabella." he said as he held his hand out to me.
" I have to." I said, trying to convince myself, more than him.
" Don't go back to that, to the hate, the pain, the despair." he pleaded.
"Why, why do you care so much?" I asked.
" Because, I hate seeing one so lovely as you, suffer so much, come with me and I'll end it and you can be happy." he replied. I smiled.
" Ok." I said. He took my hand and pulled me close to him.
" I love you, Isabella Maria Geneva" he whispered in my ear. I gasped as he kissed his way down to my neck. He stopped at my pulse point and whispered, " One moment of pain, for an eternity of happiness." He opened his mouth and bit down, hard. I gasped and fainted.