It's a rare moment when I don't fear for my life. Lovely, wonderful, but rare.
I apologize for the melodrama. My father always said I made mountains out of molehills. I'm beginning to think 'vague and maudlin' is no way to start a memoir.
But how else would I begin a story like mine? 'You see, it all started before I was born…'
Actually…
That's probably not a bad place to start.
Before I was born, my parents found themselves in the unenviable position of 'about to be eaten by vampires.' Like all people who didn't have a death wish, they were willing to cut a deal. And like all monstrous and supernatural creatures, the vampires asked for their first born child.
You can guess how well that worked out for me.
When I was eleven, the vampires came for their prize. They were delighted to find me - you see, I have O- blood. The universal donor. Vampires can drink any kind of blood, of course, but O- is the easiest for them to digest.
Any other blood type would have gotten me torn apart and devoured that first night. But thanks to my valuable blood, Rider and Vanessa restrained themselves.
I'm nineteen now, and I've spent the last eight years being bitten and drained but never given the release of death.
My name is Jane, and I'm a human in a world of vampires.
x
x
Rider and Vanessa had lost their minds.
I had thought this before, of course. But I was pretty sure they actually had, this time.
Rider was manically fluffing throw pillows, and Vanessa was trying to wrestle my long black hair into a braid. I didn't understand how she was failing. My hair wasn't exactly troublesome.
"What's going - ow!" I yelped when Vanessa nearly yanked a fistful of hair out of my scalp.
"Quit complaining, or I'll give you something to complain about," she growled, clawing her fingers through my hair. She settled for a high ponytail, wrapping a cheap purple band around it to keep it in place.
"What's going on?" I managed to ask.
"We're having company!" Rider announced, standing up straight when he was satisfied the pillow had achieved maximum fluff. Another pillow caught his eye, and he hurried to fiddle with it.
Company. They have had company over before. It always resulted in Rider carefully sliding a blade across my arm, directing my blood into a cheap plastic cup, urging his friends to try, isn't it just marvelous? I was trembling and the room was spinning and try, isn't it just-?
"Vanessa, how does the table look?" Rider asked, taking a step back and examining the couch with a critical eye. "Tell me it's clean."
Vanessa looked over at the battered old table in the living room. It was stacked with magazines and unpaid bills. She rushed over to dispose of them.
Yes, Rider and Vanessa had hosted parties before, inviting other crass and low-ranking vampires like themselves. I carefully put the memories out of my mind, because my hands had started shaking and I just could not deal with that right now.
They had never, in my memory, went insane trying to clean their hovel like this. The room was always filthy, and when they kicked me away I landed in dirty laundry and curled into myself and shuddered at the rank stench of socks and cheap cigars and my own blood-
I reached up to press my fingertips against my eyes. Can't deal with that right now.
Someone worth impressing was coming over. A chance for them to move up was coming over. If I was good... if I made them look good, if I didn't make any trouble...
Maybe they wouldn't hurt me tonight.
x
x
As I had suspected, our guests were vampire aristocrats. They were not happy to be in Rider and Vanessa's house.
One of them, a woman with bright red curls who Vanessa greeted as Cassandra, took one look around the house and wrinkled her nose. "Oh, I should have stayed home."
Vanessa didn't let her smile falter, but I had spent the last eight years studying her face. Devastation, humiliation, fury.
"I heard Master Chasecroft is coming to this... affair," another vampire said, casting a distasteful look over the living room. Master...?
"Ah, yes, he was invited, Kane," Rider said eagerly.
The name was so familiar...
"But is he coming?" Kane pressed. He peered at Cassandra, who was clearly having some sort of internal conflict over whether she could stand to sit on the couch. "I'm surprised he didn't accompany you, Cassandra."
"Oh, how presumptuous of you, darling," she said, finally steeling her resolve and lowering herself onto the stained cushions. "I thought you had better things to do than start scandals and pass around rumors."
"You know that's not true," Kane said, taking a seat in Rider's recliner. He pushed his pale brown hair out of his eyes and gave Cassandra a radiant smile. "I firmly believe that gossip and drama are the only things that make life worth living."
"Of course," Cassandra said, examining the rings on her own fingers as if making sure they weren't out of place. "I suppose I was being kind in implying you had any sort of integrity. Let me assure you that I wouldn't dare to imply I've tarnished dear Benedikt's honor."
Master Benedikt Chasecroft, I realized, the half-breed aristocrat who refused to act like a dhampir should.
"Saying you won't kiss and tell does imply that one has partaken of a kiss."
Rider, Vanessa, and their friends frequently complained about owing their fealty to a half-human whelp who didn't know his place.
"Oh, Kane," Cassandra said, exasperated. "Don't bother trying to be clever. It doesn't suit you."
I had never met him, but I suppose I couldn't help but admire someone who didn't let their humanity make them powerless.
The aristocrats continued baiting each other, occasionally pausing to make some snide comment to Rider and Vanessa. I stayed in the corner of the small kitchen, sitting on the counter and making sure my heels didn't bump the cupboards too loudly. This was customary for Rider and Vanessa's parties - I was easy to see from there, on display but out of the way. If they could afford it I was certain they would have gotten a pedestal for me and placed me right next to the television.
Kane and Cassandra ignored me. Rider kept glancing at me, as if urging them to look in my direction. It didn't seem to be working.
There was a knock at the door.
"Finally," Cassandra sighed as Vanessa jumped up to answer.
"A vampire slayer to put us out of our misery, hopefully," Kane said.
"A vampire slayer," Cassandra scoffed. "Did your sire tell you slayer tales so you wouldn't be naughty?"
"If she did, it never worked," Kane said as Vanessa opened the door.
"Oh - Master Chasecroft - we're so glad you could make it!" Vanessa said.
A moment of silence, then a small figure stepped in and peered around. It was a pale-haired boy, sizing up everyone in the room with a critical eye. He looked very disgruntled. "This is it?"
"Nathan," a measured voice replied, and a man dressed in black stepped into the house. "Don't be rude."
"Put a tarp down before you sit anywhere," the boy continued. "And the ghoul in the corner, what's that about?"
"The human?" Kane asked, finally looking at me. "I assumed we were going to eat later in the evening...?"
The man in black, who could only be Benedikt Chasecroft, looked at me. His hair was black and carefully pushed back, and from where I was seated on the counter I could see the slight point to his ears. "Who is she?"
Is this what a dhampir looked like? He didn't look too different from any other vampire I had seen, except for the ears. From everything I'd heard, I had assumed half-breeds were abominations that were pathetic to behold.
"Oh, this?" Rider asked, trying too hard to sound casual. "This is our stock. Jane."
Benedikt Chasecroft's back was straight, his gaze sure and unflinching, his expression controlled. I couldn't maintain eye contact with him.
"Your stock?" Cassandra asked. She batted her lashes and held up a hand to barely cover her smirk. "Oh, I didn't know you could afford stock, dears."
The boy, Nathan, scoffed, picking at a loose string on Rider's recliner. "Clearly they can't, look at how terrible she looks."
"I had no idea you had such luxuries," Kane said coldly, his fingernails lighting scratching at the armrests of the recliner.
Rider and Vanessa answered to Kane, and Kane and Cassandra answered to Benedikt, who was still watching me.
"We've paid our tithes and taxes to you on time," Vanessa said, trying to hide her fear.
"But clearly not in full," Kane replied.
"As if you're one to judge," Benedikt cut in mildly, and Cassandra laughed, and Benedikt looked away from me to smile at her.
"You can't imagine how much it warms my heart to see someone else refuse to accommodate him," Cassandra said warmly, beckoning for Benedikt to sit beside her. He did, to Nathan's vocal disapproval. "Benedikt, we were just talking about Kane's irrational fear of vampire slayers."
"I was joking," Kane protested.
"Vampire secrecy laws mean humans don't know about us, which means no more vampire slayers," Benedikt said.
"I heard the old queen disapproved of the secrecy laws vigorously," Kane said, leaning forward with a smile. "Any truth to those rumors?"
Benedikt gave Kane that level stare, but didn't answer before Cassandra cut in. "Kane, you could always pay her a visit and ask her for her politics yourself."
Kane recoiled. "I-"
"Millecent's focus is on helping me run Chasecroft Manor," Benedikt said, leaning back on the couch in a careful display of relaxation. "It requires her full attention."
"Of course, Master Benedikt," Kane said, the picture of humility.
Nathan was stalking around the house, occasionally picking up random items and sniffing them. His eyes kept going to me, suspicious and critical.
"Do you feed her?" he demanded of Rider.
"We - of course we feed her," Rider said. "It's much cheaper to give her vitamin and mineral supplements, but we also make sure she gets a bit of red meat every week."
"Every week?" Nathan asked. "How much do you feed her every day?"
"Bread, milk, red meat on weekends," Rider sputtered.
"That's it?" Nathan cried.
"Oh, that can't be good for the poor thing," Cassandra said. "No wonder she's so skinny."
"Why bother keeping her, if you won't keep her in good condition?" Kane asked.
"She's O negative," Vanessa said stiffly.
Silence, and they were all staring at me.
Benedikt was the first to look away, looking back at Rider with his head tilted slightly. "I believe we came for cards?"
x
x
Benedikt Chasecroft was terrible at cards. I watched him win a little and lose a lot, his frustration obvious as Cassandra encouraged him and Nathan criticized him.
"Damned game," he swore, raking one hand through his hair.
"Don't blame the game for your own shortcomings," Nathan scolded.
"Oh, precious, there's no shame in having a bad luck streak," Cassandra insisted.
"Maybe you've played it out," said Kane, who had stopped playing an hour ago. He was watching Benedikt with barely restrained glee. "You'll get the next round, I'm sure of it."
"I agree, Master Benedikt," said Rider, who had won over a thousand dollars that evening. "One more round before morning couldn't hurt, could it?"
Vanessa giggled, hid her face in Rider's shoulder, and I couldn't help but be relieved. They had a good night. They would be gentle - maybe not kind, but they wouldn't lash out at me the way they did when the nights were bad.
Benedikt scrutinized Rider's cheerful face, then nodded. "I'm out of cash, but there is something I wanted to bet when I thought I had a better chance."
"Oh?" Rider asked. "What's that?"
Benedikt looked at me, fingers tapping on the living room table. "Her."
Rider's good mood vanished, and I ducked my head. "You said yourself you're out of cash. You have nothing to match her value."
The dhampir grimaced, then glanced at Nathan. The boy flinched. "No."
"What about a veteran of the child rings?" Benedikt offered. "Vampirelings aren't so common, these days - he's a good icebreaker, if nothing else."
"You are dead to me," Nathan spat.
"Benedikt - precious - I don't think-" Cassandra stammered.
"Take him up on it, Rider," Kane said, uncharacteristically serious. His eyes were glittering with anticipation.
The connections linked up quickly in my mind - Kane knew about me now, and he'd obviously know about Nathan, and with Rider and Vanessa as his vassals he was entitled to any of their possessions. Of course, the same could be said of Benedikt, but he didn't seem inclined to abuse his barely maintained rank.
Rider looked from Kane, to Vanessa, to me - then back at Benedikt with a hard expression. "Alright. The girl for the boy."
"Dead to me," Nathan repeated.
The cards were dealt, and I tried to focus on not imagining what Chasecroft Manor was like.
I had spent all night watching Benedikt lose. It was stupid to think he'd suddenly become a master card player, to think he'd take me away from the hovel I've lived in since I was eleven. It was even more stupid to think my life would be better with him. He'd have more people to entertain than Rider and Vanessa had ever had. More people to impress with the richness of my blood. And if he was so willing to abandon Nathan - someone he had seemed to consider a friend - how would I ever feel secure in his home? When would he find another human he'd be willing to gamble me away for?
The images of a fine estate wouldn't leave my head. Maybe he'd give me clothes that fit, that hid the scars my current masters had left all over my body. Maybe he'd give me real meals and I wouldn't go to sleep hungry.
Maybe he'd feel sympathy, being half human himself. Maybe he'd free me.
I couldn't stop my disappointment when Rider threw down his hand with a victorious grin. "Four nines!"
Benedikt grimaced, peering down at his cards. "So, wait... that's worse than a royal flush, right?"
"What?" Rider asked, and Benedikt tipped his hand to reveal a series of five heart cards, and my own heart started racing.
"Royal flush... right?" Benedikt asked. Nathan threw his hands up dramatically.
"What a turn of events!" he exclaimed, and Cassandra laughed so hard she was breathless.
Rider shot up so fast his folding chair was knocked down. "You cheated!"
The room was absolutely silent, and Benedikt stared incredulously up at Rider. "I cheated? I cheated? As soon as you got the girl she should have been sent as a tithe to Kane, and then to me. Now I have what I should have had, and you are a thousand dollars richer. So I cheated? By pretending to be bad at cards? I cheated."
Kane was watching Rider with no small degree of amusement. Vanessa was red-faced, furious, her nails digging into Rider's arm.
"You-"
"Quit while you're ahead, dickhead," Nathan sneered. He jerked his chin in my direction. "Grab your stuff, kid, we're leaving."
I slid off the counter, gripping the edge when my knees buckled beneath me. All coherent thought was washed out of my mind, and I was left only with equal parts disbelief and terrible, foolish excitement.
"I don't - have any stuff," I managed thickly.
I saw Benedikt grimace, saw him turn to hide it, and Nathan shrugged. "Easier to get out of here quick, then. Let's go."
I stumbled forward, eager and terrified of this being a trick, or a dream, or my mind finally snapping.
"You had me, Benedikt, you had me! I thought for sure you'd lost your mind, tossing poor sweet Nathan aside like that!" Cassandra said as I tripped and fell into Benedikt's arms. I looked up, horrified by my blunder, and saw that his eyes were red shot through with gold.
"I'm so sorry!" I gasped, but Benedikt just put me back on my feet and placed a steadying hand on my back.
"I would never," he said to Cassandra. "Nathan's far too useful to throw away like that."
"Oh, sure, I'm just useful," Nathan sniffed, leading us to the door. "No comment about my boundless charm or perfect hair. No! Just useful."
"Your suffering is truly noble," Cassandra assured him.
"Of course it is! It's noble, and slightly brooding, and very sexy," Nathan insisted, opening the front door and casting a final look at the filthy house and its seething occupants.
"Kane, dear, are you coming?" Cassandra asked over her shoulder.
"My car should be here soon," he called, finger tapping against his lips as he watched Rider and Vanessa seethe. "Don't wait up."
"Fair enough, darling," she called before looking forward again with a smirk and one eyebrow raised. "As if I'd bother waiting for him."
"It's terrifying to think of what you say about me when I'm not around," Benedikt said. His hand was still on my back, and I tried not to lean back into the firm but gentle touch. It was so comforting, but I couldn't risk testing his patience - couldn't risk him deciding I wasn't worth the effort...
"Oh, it would curdle your blood, certainly," she replied lightly. "I'm very cruel, you know."
"I wouldn't say-" Benedikt stopped, and I ducked my head, but he didn't address me. "Did James really just sleep in the car all night?"
Nathan peered at the fine car on the curb, and laughed. "Well, he said he would."
"Why?" Benedikt demanded, clearly baffled.
"Old men like him need their rest, precious," Cassandra said. She pulled Benedikt to face her, then leaned forward to brush her lips against his cheek. His fingers twitched against my back.
Then Cassandra looked at me, took my face in her hands and peered into my eyes. I froze, tried to look away, but she held firm.
"Oh, you poor sweet thing," she murmured, brushing her thumb over my gaunt cheek. She looked at Benedikt. "I hope to see this poor creature in much better health the next time I visit."
"Of course," Benedikt said.
Cassandra smiled, her face softer than it had been all night, and seemed ready to say something else before a car horn rang out in the early morning. "Oh - Rebecca! I'm sorry, precious, my ride is here, and she lacks your dear James's patience."
"Many do, to be fair," Benedikt said, and Cassandra chuckled, blew him a kiss, then turned to hurry to the car.
Benedikt watched her for a moment, but Nathan grabbed his free hand and dragged him towards our own car. "Come on, kiddo, time to move."
Nathan opened the rear door for us, and Benedikt ushered me in before sliding in himself. Nathan closed the door, then clambered into the passenger seat. "James. James! Hey, James! Wake up!"
The man at the wheel jerked, shook himself, straightened up. "Huh?"
"Time to go," Nathan said in a persistent, needling voice. "You're our wheels, buddy, you've gotta get moving, I can't reach the pedals, it's all up to you-"
"Yes, yes, I get it," James said, a bit surly. He looked in the rear view mirror, and I saw dark green eyes peering curiously at me. "I could have sworn I only brought two people here."
"Picked up a stray," Nathan said.
"Hmph." James turned his gaze back to the road. "She looks terrible."
"An opinion I neither wanted nor asked for," Benedikt replied lightly.
"As you say," James said as he started the car.
"It's Jane, right?"
I looked at my new master, startled, then quickly averted my eyes. "Yes, master."
The car coasted through the streets that I hadn't seen since I was a child. Benedikt didn't seem as impressed about it as I felt. "How long did they have you?"
"Eight years, master."
He glanced up to see Nathan staring back at us, and I flinched when I saw the hard look on Nathan's face. "Eight years? How old are you now?"
"Nineteen," I managed before Nathan hissed and whipped around to face forward in his seat. "I - I'm sorry, I-"
Benedikt took a deep breath and didn't look at me. "He's not mad at you, Jane. Don't be sorry."
I didn't speak for the rest of the car ride. James asked Benedikt what else he won in the card game, and was amused to hear that he was a thousand dollars poorer. "You realize the point of cheating is to win, yes?"
"What? No. You'd think someone would have told me. Now I'm just embarrassed."
"Where were you when this one was giving money away, Nathan?" James asked.
Nathan didn't answer, staring out his passenger window with his chin propped up on his hand.
"Nathan?"
"Fuck off," Nathan replied absently.
"Well then," James said, glancing back to raise his eyebrows at Benedikt.
"Nathan, are you still mad about the gambling you away thing? Because that was a bluff."
"What part of 'fuck off' is so goddamn alien to you people?" Nathan demanded. "I'm contemplating shit. Leave me alone."
"I'm just saying. I wouldn't have let them take you."
"Christ!" Nathan shouted, twisting around to snarl at Benedikt. I cringed, frightened by the manic gleam in his blue eyes. "It's not always about you! I've moved on to bigger and better things to brood about!"
Benedikt shrugged. "Just making sure."
"Dickhead," Nathan growled before turning back to brood in silence. I glanced at Benedikt and was shocked to see him trying to contain a smirk.
I stared out the window until the car came to a stop.
"Alright, inside, everyone," James said. Nathan was already climbing out of the car and pulling open the back door. "I'll join you shortly."
"Thank you, James," Benedikt said, stepping out and then holding a hand out to me. I took it eagerly, feeling drunk on the gentleness of his touch, and let him guide me out of the car.
I was able to see a bit of Chasecroft Manor before I was ushered inside, dark and imposing and overlooking the community in the valley. It was so much bigger than Rider and Vanessa's rundown house, and despite the harsh and foreboding exterior of the building I was enchanted.
Benedikt didn't let go of my hand as he brought me inside. I had to consciously keep my grip on him from tightening.
"Do you want to eat? Are you tired?" he asked me. I was completely baffled.
"I - I don't-"
"You should probably eat," he said. "The human servants should be able to get you something. They probably haven't eaten yet..."
"They wouldn't even be up yet," Nathan said, slipping past us towards a spiral staircase that went both above our heads and below our feet. Rider and Vanessa slept in the basement of their house - apparently upper class vampires weren't too different. Nathan hurried downstairs, disappearing from view.
"I don't want to be any trouble," I said, a bit helplessly. I was already too much of a burden on him, already not worth the effort he had spent winning me...
Benedikt scowled, and I ducked my head. "Feeding you isn't trouble, Jane. It's basic care."
"I'm sorry," I managed.
"Don't... you don't have to..." He sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "It's alright. Maybe you can sleep first, and-"
"-and she was just a little kid, and you made it a law that vampires can't have little kids anymore, so what's the deal, Millie? What's the fucking deal?"
Benedikt and I both looked up to see Nathan storming back upstairs, a tall woman with steel-grey hair following him in a much calmer manner. "You know I have no bearing on our customs anymore, Nathan."
"Yeah, but you can do something about it," Nathan said. "Right? You pretend you're a humble seneschal or whatever, but deep down you're still a murder-grandma who does murders."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Were it up to me, we would have found this out sooner and dealt with it harshly."
"... But?"
"But it's not up to me." She turned, nodded at Benedikt in greeting. "Nathan told me you acquired stock. I disapprove of your methods."
"Gambling?" Benedikt asked. "You love gambling, Millecent."
"Not gambling, boy. Lowering yourself to bartering and haggling with your vassals over what they should give to you freely." Millecent's voice was hard and unforgiving. "It can and will be interpreted as weakness. Which you can ill afford."
"And if I just took her, I'd be the half-breed throwing his weight around," Benedikt said, scowling. "There's no right way for me to do anything, remember?"
"If this is some sort of rebellious phase, I'm already tired of it." She turned to me, caught my chin in her hand so she could look at my face from different angles. "Ugh. Malnutrition, neglect... Is that a bruise on her shoulder? Needless abuse. Yes, I would have dealt with this quite harshly. What's your name, girl?"
Her question was sudden and direct, and I barely stammered out my answer. "It - it's Jane."
Her eyes narrowed as she analyzed me. "Jane. I would suggest you sleep before eating. Going to bed on a full stomach causes indigestion in humans, and I dislike the idea of you being subjected to further discomfort."
"I don't want to be any trouble," I said.
"She keeps saying that," Benedikt said. "And apologizing. I don't know how to make her stop."
"I doubt she ever will," Millecent said, letting me go and turning to go back downstairs. Benedikt led me after her, Nathan a ghost on our heels. "She was raised with subservience being her only means of survival. Such habits are difficult to break."
"Just say fuck a lot," Nathan suggested. "Makes you feel way more in control."
"Is that why you do it?" Benedikt asked lightly.
"Don't fucking psychoanalyze me."
"I'll wait up for James to come inside," Millecent said once she reached the foot of the stairs. "I suggest you put her in the guest room closest to yours, Benedikt."
"You don't have to wait up," Benedikt said, even as he led me down a thickly carpeted hallway. Millecent ignored him, standing with one foot on the last step, looking up the stairs.
"Well, I'm gonna go let a single tear roll down my cheek before bed, because I'm troubled in a really cool way," Nathan announced.
"Why do you always have to say weird shit like that?" Benedikt demanded, but Nathan was already walking into a room and slamming the door shut behind him. Benedikt rolled his eyes, and a moment later pushed open another door, flipped a light switch, and led me into a bedroom.
It was as big as Rider and Vanessa's living room. I hesitated at the door, awed by the simple, dark wood furniture and the pristine and unruffled bedclothes. There were no windows, but there were paintings of the outdoors: one a moonsoaked beach, another a misty pine forest at night. "Um... where will I sleep?"
Benedikt looked at me, brow furrowed. "What?"
"Is - is this your room? Should I sleep on the floor?" I asked.
"You - Jane, this is the guest bedroom," he said. He pointed to the bed, which had possibly the cleanest blanket I had ever seen on it. "That's where you sleep."
"I - I'm sorry, I - I get a bed?" I asked.
"Of course you get-" He stopped himself, reached up to rub his face with one hand.
"I'm sorry," I repeated, horrified at making him so distressed.
"It's... fine. You get a bed." He gestured towards it. "Feel free to try it out."
I watched his face, waiting for signs of a trick - I wouldn't really be able to muss up the covers, would I? - but I barely knew him and couldn't find any hints of deceit on his face. Besides, even if I did, what would I do about it?
What the hell.
I hurried over to the bed, clambering onto it and delighting in the softness of the fabric and the way the mattress gave slightly under my weight. It was soft! It was mine! But it couldn't be mine, couldn't possibly... but he said it was mine! I ended up rolling around on top of the covers, burying my face in the plush pillows.
I finally sat up to see Benedikt smiling at me, amused. I flushed, crawled over to the bedpost closest to the door, and used it to prop myself up. "This is amazing! Thank you, master. I love it."
He looked startled, and I chided myself for being too excited, too annoying, but then his expression softened. He nodded, then turned to walk out of the room.
"Get some sleep, Jane. I'll talk to you again at nightfall," he said before closing the door behind him.
As soon as he left, all my stress and excitement seemed to melt away. Was this my first time being in a room of my own? I tried to remember living with my parents - did I have my own room then? Or had I always shared with another person? Had I always slept fitfully, knowing at any moment I could be snatched up and bitten into?
That wasn't happening here. All the vampires were in other rooms, leaving me comfortably out of their reach. Benedikt didn't seem like he'd slip into my room while I slept. And oh, the bed - my bed! - was so soft, so comfortable.
I turned out the lights, crawled under the covers, and slept soundly for the first time in eight years.
x
author's note
woo! finally finished the first chapter of HMBRedux! very exciting. i hope you enjoyed it! i love comments and constructive criticism so feel free to leave some reviews!
i've also got a tumblr account for this story, (helpmebreathe-redux tumblr com), where i post inspiration pictures, artwork, and updates relating to this story! if you're interested in that, feel free to follow me there!
