Chapter 2

The pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced. It was like feeling the loss of her brother, ten times as hard, physically. She screamed. Savage, pained, ear-splitting sounds that, had she done it before this, would've hurt her throat. Now, that pain was like a drop of water in a wide, bottomless ocean.

All throughout, her brother Aro sat in front of her, watching. After he'd gone for her neck, him and the other man, Caius, had carried her to a room and strapped her to a bed with inhuman speed. A minute later, the horrible burning had started where her brother had bitten her and had spread quickly over her body.

That had been almost three days ago.

Didyme had begged him to do something, had pleaded with him to kill her, to make it stop. He'd sat motionless, staring at her with sad eyes, the color of red roses. She would've been angry at him, would've hated him, would've felt abandoned, if she had been able to concentrate on anything that wasn't the flames she couldn't see, eating her body from within.

Let it be over soon!

She thought whatever was happening could be coming to an end. At last, the pain had left her limbs, but it was moving more intensely to her heart. It had beaten rhythmically until now. Now it felt like it was going to crash out of her chest, like it was literally pushing at her ribcage trying to get out. With a sudden, final hit, the pain made her arch up her body and it felt like whatever had been inside her had left, taking her beating heart with it.

There was no more burning, no more pain. She lay there, breathing and wondering why so much information came at her with a breath, and why that intake of air felt unnecessary. It was welcomed with no reaction whatsoever. She stopped her breathing altogether, waiting for that moment where her head would start spinning with lack of oxygen and her lungs would ache with need, like that time when she was little and she had sunk to the bottom of the bathtub.

Didyme had smiled at her mother's distortioned face when she'd seen her. But her mother had reached down quickly, lifting her by the shoulders to the surface, slapping her across the face while she scolded her daughter with a worried voice. Later in her life, looking back on that moment, Didyme had been able to link her mother's tone with the fact that her brother was missing, good as gone.

But now, the moment didn't come and not needing to breathe again, Didyme focused on the ceiling.

Why was everything so clear and… sharp? She could see even the tiniest crack in the paint. Even those that shouldn't be able to be seen from the distance where she lay. In fact, she could see the dust floating around her, and all the colors were denser, and…

"Didyme", a whisper came. To her it sounded as if Aro had spoken right next to her ear. "You can hear me?"

She found she did need air to reply. With the air, came a scent that her mind assimilated as her brother's. "Aro. Why… What—What is happening?"

In a faster motion than she knew was possible, his face was hovering over her, a delighted smile plastered giddily across his face. Now she could see every detail on the planes of his face, could see his crimson irises with every wine-colored fleck they had.

"I shall explain everything in a moment, Didyme. I imagine your thirst is not letting you think straight." He commented as he undid the straps that held her to the bed in swift, precise motions. Her eyes were beginning to get used to the fact that that was how it was normal to move.

"My thirst?" She asked. She noticed then her voice sounded like a soft wind chime, so soft and melodic, yet somehow strong, firm.

He smirked. "For blood. That ache in your throat."

As soon as she thought about it she realized it was there, real and painful, although the pain seemed nothing compared to what she had just experienced. It could only be described as thirst, but… for blood?

"Why would I want blood?" She asked, trying to wrap her mind around that completely bogus idea.

Aro looked at her steadily, waiting alertly for her reaction.

"Because, Didyme, you are now a vampire."