- XXXII -

When Amelia's heart began to beat again, an explosion of life expanded every cell of her body, causing her muscles to work again. The first thing her mind registered was a well-known both sweet and coppery taste, then a memory slowly rose from somewhere deep within her brain: This was the taste of life. She needed more. Now. And so her hands held onto the nearest breathing being they could find and her fangs sank into what she instinctively knew would give that life to her.

It took some moments and some swallows before Amelia realised where she was: In her bedroom, with Viktor, whose blood she had just consumed, sitting on the edge of her bed in full armour and with Marcus, standing to her right and looking at Viktor, a sneer on his lips.

"What... happened to me?" she asked, her voice awfully raspy and fragile.

As the female Elder emerged from her bath of bull's blood, she didn't need to wash any remainders of the red liquid away. Her body had absorbed every drop. Only now she felt really alive again, completely regenerated, rejuvenated.

Oh, how she had looked in that first night after her awakening! Like a skeleton, a mere ghost, like her body would resolve into dust every moment. Then, when she had drunk goblet after goblet, her cheeks had gained flesh, but she had still appeared appallingly wrinkled, as old as if her body hadn't stopped ageing after she had become an immortal.

Now Amelia admired her reflection in the mirror. Finally she was herself again. It had taken all the blood of a strong bull to restore her beauty. Unlike before her strange hibernation, the animal's life had helped her gathering her strength. But if it hadn't, she would of course not have hesitated to kill and drain as many humans – men, women and children – as would have been necessary to become young again.

A new servant girl helped her into a violet dress, for Amelia had her former maids arrested for their incompetence. She had been in that deathlike state for five days, motionless and without a pulse! How could it be that none of the two women had noticed it prior to the night when Viktor had returned?! The maids would stay in the dungeons and starve until they knew how it felt to slowly become weaker and more emaciated every night. The cruelest of smiles distorted her now again beautiful lips.

A knock on the door, however, interrupted her vengeful thoughts. Amelia already knew it was Viktor. He had promised to look after her from time to time until she would have gained her full strength again. When the new maid opened the door for him, she curtsied lower than low and left without raising her head.

"You look lovely!" Viktor complimented his lover. "Are you feeling well, my dear?"

"I am much better now, thank you," Amelia answered cooly.

He approached her and gently cupped her cheek with his hand.

"Ah, your skin is soft again and your eyes are sparkling more beautiful than ever," he observed, his voice only a whisper. "And your lips... full and red."

Viktor leaned down to kiss her, but Amelia slightly turned her head, allowing him only a peck on her cheek.

Since her awakening, her feelings for Viktor were quite mixed. Of course he deeply cared for her, he had proved that when he had given her a share of his life while she had been ill. On the other hand, she had seen his memories of the moments before she had woken up. At first Viktor had thought that she had been dead. He wouldn't have attempted to wake her, had Marcus not suggested to give her blood. Then, the fight he had with Corvinus hadn't been about forcing the original vampire to help her. It had been about defending Viktor's pride, his dominance. And when he had had the idea to give her Marcus's blood, he hadn't been excited about the effect it had on her – he hadn't even noticed that she was healing. No, he had only been elated about the fact that he had won, that he had shown Corvinus his place beneath him, Viktor, the most powerful immortal and their true ruler. Did that mean power was so much more important to him than she was?

Furthermore, he had visited her before, when she still had looked like a skeleton, and asked about her wellbeing, but had never touched her, never even come near her. Only now did he compliment and caress her again. Didn't he care for her enough to disregard her appearance? Couldn't he show her affection when she wasn't beautiful?

When his fingers travelled up her sides and she felt his heavy breath on her ear, she put her hands on his chest and slightly pushed him back.

"Viktor, don't..." she said. "I still feel a bit tired."

He raised an eyebrow, a puzzled look on his features, like he wasn't sure if he should believe her.

"Well... goodnight, then," he eventually bid her farewell and left the room.