-Chapter 14: Truths Revealed-
Outside, the sun left the horizon behind, disguising the world in black, unaware of the turmoil within a windowless house upon the edge of Corona.
A week had gone by and Elsa wasn't any better. In fact, she was getting worse. Much worse. Anna was worried sick as she paced the room where Elsa lay in bed. The blonde woman was practically catatonic. The only assurance that Anna received that she was, in fact, still alive, was the labored breathing that reminded the red head of sandpaper grating sandpaper, and the tired voice that would accompany her in conversation.
Just looking at Elsa's miserable form made the auburn haired girl feel sick herself. It was like Elsa's weakness was a highly communicable disease, effortlessly drifting from one unfortunate host to the next.
Succumbing to said infection, Anna sighed and sat down on the bed next to Elsa. She ran her fingers through her bangs, as if to brush the stress of the situation away. Anxiety lay in wait in the pit of her stomach like a hunter for his dinner. She couldn't think straight, or see passed her own panic for that matter. She was sure that Elsa would be better by now, but the woman's condition had only declined. She was even starting to appear a little emaciated. She looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. Anna didn't know that she hit the nail on the head.
As the thundering of her heart boomed on, the tornado in her mind raged along. This isn't going to kill Elsa, right? I mean, she said the- the weak-thingy was the only thing that could kill her, right? But what if she's wrong, she can't know everything... right? The thought knocked the wind out of Anna like a club to the chest. She gasped for air as her throat constricted. This must be how my parents felt when their ship went down, she grimly thought. She was partially right; what she was feeling was as close to drowning as one could get without actually having their lungs filled with water.
When she spoke, the words came out in quick bursts, ripping away all of the remaining oxygen in her lungs. She felt the room start to spin around her. "Elsa- what- I- you're not getting better! Please, is there anything, anything at all I can do to help? You- you're just getting worse!" She practically shrieked the tail end of her statement.
Dainty, cool fingers rested themselves upon Anna's arm. The touch calmed the storm within her mind somewhat. In a strained voice, the older woman talked, though not without her own internal struggle. She had to tell Anna the truth, soon. Elsa had no idea what would happen if she continued to starve. She might die, she might lay unconscious until revived by blood or Anna's death. She was embarking on a journey to the unknown. Her eyes rested on her companion's neck. Her mouth watered. She wanted nothing more than to drink from the spring that was Anna's body. If she was stronger, she would have, but her body was too frail to put up a fight. Her primal self was gaining control. "I... don't know."
Anna pleaded. "Elsa! I can't lose you! There has to be something, think!"
There was a solution. Her blood. She'd- maybe she'd- no- but maybe she would let me feed. And there it was. The truth. It had made a full circle and was once again knocking at her door. It was unavoidable. She didn't want to say anything, she didn't want to make Anna hate her, as the truth surely would. The dilemma ate away at her stomach like a rat under a flame. Anna hasn't started a blood-lust. The spell didn't work. But Anna didn't know that. She would start there.
Finally, Elsa said something. It made her dizzy, but she started the process of finally revealing the truth to Anna. "Anna, I- I owe you some answers."
The statement just solidified the very real possibility of Elsa's demise. The red head was sobbing quietly now, murmuring through her sniffles and letting tears dribble from overactive ducts in her eyes. "No! Don't talk like that, you're- you're gonna be okay- you're- you're-" She buried her face in Elsa's dress and held tight. "You can tell me after you're all better," she managed to sloppily mumble.
Elsa gently kissed the girl on the top of her head. "I'm ready to tell you when you're ready to hear it." She wasn't actually ready to betray her secrets. Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she stayed as strong as possible for Anna, who's neck was right there. Elsa's canines sharpened. She tried not to eat, but every second Anna spent on her etched away at her willpower.
It was two painful hours later that Anna finally said she was ready. She sat up. Emotionally, she didn't feel any better. Dread had cast its intimidating shadow upon her and she realized that this might be her last chance for answers. She rested herself against the headboard, next to Elsa. "I'm ready."
Elsa took a moment to collect herself. A swell of emotion so powerful that it filled her heart to bursting with unassailable loneliness rushed through her. The deep aquamarine of Anna's eyes filled her vision. She's going to hate me after this. Elsa bit back the longing for a life with Anna and grated some words out. "Th-there's something I haven't told you about the spell." The air was getting awfully thin.
Thankfully, interest began to part the seas of grief in Anna's mind. She shot a quizzical look at the other woman. "Like what?" She was a little scared of what Elsa was about to say.
"Like, well... have you felt... different in any way since I tried the spell on you?"
A little annoyed at Elsa's roundabout way of telling the truth, the red head played along. "Different like how, Elsa?"
With a deep, unsteady breath failing to calm her nerves, the vrykolakas carried on. "Different... different like- wait, did you hear that?"
That was it. Even now, during what might be Elsa's last chance to finally fess up whatever it was she had been hiding, she avoided truth like the plague. Anna grunted angrily. "Hear what? Elsa, don't change the subject again! You always do this, why? What are you so afraid of!?"
"No, I mean it." She sat up and honed in her hearing, listening closely to her surroundings. Her vision lagged behind her body and she became lightheaded.
"Elsa-"
"Shh!" A sharp hand was held to the strawberry blonde's mouth.
Anna let out an aggravated squeak. She was about to object farther when she heard what she swore were muffled voices. One eyebrow raised in wonder and-
BANG
The door burst open. Anna instantly jumped up from her spot on the bed. It took her a minute to process everything, and by the time she had caught up, Elsa was already growling in a voice as putrid as the pits of Hell. "Hans."
"Well don't stop on account of me. I believe you were just going to tell Anna about what ways she'd feel different if the spell worked." The tone of Hans' voice sounded confident, like he knew much more about this than a prince should.
"Get out!" Anna roared, positioning herself between the royal and Elsa, and pointing at the doorway.
Hans laughed. "What's this, you're protecting her? I've never known a vrykolakas to need protection."
The red head's arm turned into a wet noodle. She stammered. "A- a what? What's that? What are you talking about!" She more demanded than asked.
The prince feigned amazement. "She hasn't even told you what she is? Wow, she really must not trust you."
"Stay out of this!" Elsa tried to lunge forward, but collapsed on the floor. Everything was sore.
Seeing the ancient woman's poor condition, Hans whispered to his guards "leave us, I'll take care of this."
"Are you sure, m'lord?"
"Go!"
They scattered, not wishing to be near Elsa any longer than they had to.
Anna stood between them, unsure of what to do. Hans had answers that Elsa herself hadn't given her. But she was about to, right? She wanted to help Elsa up, but was entranced by Hans' flaunted knowledge. Elsa's objections reminded Anna of when she met Hans. He'd been correct then, so why not now, too? But there was also more to the story than Hans gave me.
"Well, I suppose it's not so surprising," the brown haired man continued, casually strolling towards Elsa. "Not many predatorstend to trust their prey."
Prey!? Anna's head was whirling, there was no way Hans was telling the truth. It wasn't possible. Elsa... Elsa trusts me... right? I mean, she cares about me... I think. Her heart was beating itself to death. I'm not prey... am I?
"Anna," came a weak, familiar voice. "Don't listen to him, he's trying to tear us apart."
"I mean, come on. She gave that necklace to you, right? Free of charge?"
The auburn haired girl's heart stopped in its tracks. Her lungs froze and mind was reset. She slowly picked up the silver crocus and looked at it. How could he possibly know that? What's going on? She was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe Hans knew what he was talking about. What business would he have for knowing this stuff anyway? He has to be bluffing! Anna was faintly aware of Elsa's begging in the background.
As if reading her mind, Hans pulled out the dagger. On its hilt, a crocus.
Just.
Like.
Her.
Necklace.
Suddenly, it all clicked, the gears in her mind finally fit properly and started to power the machinery of logic hidden within. She flashed back.
The warrant.
"Execution- what- she... for... murder?"
"The victim was a prince nonetheless. My own brother."
The so called "weak link."
"It's a dagger created by the hag... when the royal family of The Southern Isles took power over five hundred years ago, it fell into their hands."
Anna realized Hans' business in all of this, why he knew so much. Revenge. Elsa had murdered Hans' brother, she remembered that. Things were coming together, finally beginning to make sense, and she was certain that the last little bit of truth, the last crumb that Elsa could not bear to spare, would finish the cogs in Anna's mind. The necklace. "What do you mean 'prey'?"
Elsa's voice was painfully hoarse now, she was using all of her remaining energy to plead with Anna to ignore Hans. After all, she wasn't strong enough to take him out. "No! Anna! He's gonna contort everything! He's tricking you-" and so her whines went on unanswered.
With an evil, lopsided grin, the prince turned to Anna. "When you first met Elsa, did you begin to feel a little... under the weather?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah, I did."
"And you had... strange dreams about her, too, I'm betting."
Now, the red head was a little scared. She gulped as a chill ran down her spine. "Y-yes."
Hans reached for the necklace, snatching it off Anna's neck. She made no move to retreat. "This necklace... she bonded herself to you with it-"
"No! Don't listen, please Anna!" Elsa was now sobbing. She could feel her throat physically tearing and taste blood spurt into her mouth from her persistent yelling.
Hans continued. "She feeds off of you, for as long as you live."
Even though she was absolutely terrified to ask, she did. Like an adventurer into a dark forest of untold terrors, she pushed on. "W-what do y-you mean by 'feed'?"
"Blood," the pathetic sack of bones on the floor whimpered. Elsa was curled into the fetal position, her eyes set afire by liquid despair welling within them. She sniffled, and, not strong enough to get up, looked at Anna.
It all felt like a dream. Like Anna was watching herself from outside her own body, assessing the situation from a god's perspective. It was so surreal that she didn't know which emotions to exhibit, so she became completely devoid of any. She was just... there. "S-so when I was getting sick, th-that was because you w-were... drinking m-my blood!?"
Betrayal. That's what the strawberry blonde was to be feeling at that moment. Once she realized this, she let it hit her full force. She had worn her heart on her sleeve for Elsa, exposed her most vulnerable self, and gotten it crushed. She almost couldn't support her own weight. The dwindling candle of a heart within her pleaded for mercy, but it was slowly extinguished. Is it possible to die of a broken heart? In that moment, Anna presumed it was.
Elsa's eyes appeared glossy, as if the admission would actually kill her. "Yes." Elsa had resigned.
Her fears realized, Anna started hyperventilating. She caught herself on her knee before completely losing control of her faculties.
"And what's more," Hans added, softening his voice to continue playing the red head, "is that when you're drained of blood, which only takes a few weeks, she'll eat the remainder of your corpse. She's nothing but a monster who needs to be stopped. A heartless, evil, monstrosity who, because of these qualities, doesn't deserve to live-"
Eat me!? Anna almost let him go on. Almost let Hans convince her. She almost let him win. That is, until a benevolent realization exploded within her mind with all the speed and glory of a shooting star. But I got better. I got better! That means she- Elsa stopped drinking my blood, she stopped eating so she wouldn't harm me! She does care about me! She's not a monster, she's- she's- she's Elsa. Now, Anna understood why her companion was sick. Now, Anna knew why the tea wasn't working. Now, Anna figured out why, even though Elsa was immortal, this illness was so dangerous. Now, Anna understood why Elsa so vehemently refused to explain the necklace. She's starving- possibly to death- for me. The red head couldn't help but let each moment that she fell asleep on Elsa, every instant she was vulnerable, pass through her mind, including just minutes before. How easy it would have been for Elsa to give in. And she fought her hunger, for me.
All of the piled up guilt within her boiled over, smelting into fury. The blazing steam directed itself at Hans and only Hans, it's scalding nature torching Anna's vision, turning it blood red. "Don't you dare talk about Elsa that way!" Quick as a cat and with much less grace, she pounced forward, intent on dealing maximum damage to the prince.
But he was trained, Anna was not. Hans saw the move coming and retaliated, striking her hard across the jaw with his fist.
With a thud, the blow knocked the red head clean onto the floor in a daze. Her mind buzzed and ears rung. Anna could see tiny stars dancing around her retinas, and she could barely move her mouth as crimson drool pooled into it.
"Anna!" Elsa screamed and crawled as quickly as she could, collapsing among the red head. "Anna, you're okay, don't worry, we're gonna be okay," she huffed out.
"That's not entirely true," Hans spat. "I am fully intent on ending it all here, tonight." He raised the dagger. Elsa closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. "This is for my brother!"
There was a dry, dark chuckle from the vrykolakas. It stopped Hans dead in his tracks. "You think your brother is your only family member I've killed?" The temperature of the room dropped with the icy words.
"I.." At last, Hans' smart mouth was at a loss for words.
Another taunting laugh. "I've been feeding off of your family for hundreds of years, I've killed at least one member in each generation."
The news seemed to strike the royal in the chest like an iron fist.
Anna looked at Elsa. The older woman's eyes, inches from hers, betrayed no light, no mercy. They were as stark as a hungry lion's, and even more volatile. She considered what Elsa told her before they left for Corona, what the royal family had done to her mother. She decided that she could vicariously agree with tormenting Hans. Maybe she had become colder than she was a few months ago, but Anna didn't care. She decided to act.
After a few moments of silence and dealing with the pain of this news, Hans shouted. "That's it! You're going to die tonight, you- you fucking murderer!" He raised his weapon once again and ran towards them.
While Hans was stunned momentarily, the auburn haired girl had made a move. Not at him, but at Elsa. She pressed hard against Elsa's chapped lips, letting every last sensation, every last rush of emotion burn itself a permanent place in her memory to be cherished forever, no matter the outcome of their predicament. The salt from tears, mixing in juxtaposition with the sweetened brew of tea the sickly woman had consumed earlier that night. The heat from her breath, the chill from her skin. Her soft, textured tongue and the smooth, hard surfaces of her teeth. It all poured together to make the most memorable kiss that Anna could muster. And it all happened in a split second.
Their last kiss.
Anna's last hope.
Elsa was caught by surprise when Anna spat an entire mouthful into her mouth in the midst of their embrace. The older woman furrowed her brows for just a split second, wondering what had gotten into Anna. Then, the taste set in. Metallic.
Meanwhile, Hans rapidly approached the two. Elsa swallowed the blood at the very same moment the sound of metal parting skin filled the room.
Anna started choking, convulsing with her heartbeat, falling away from Elsa. The prince's action was so swift, so sudden that the red head didn't feel it at first. Then she did. It was worse than when she was a kid. After all, a knife cuts much deeper than a stick. It went right through her kidney, into her lung. An unthinkable, sharp pain quenched her mind as vital fluid stained her dress. Anna had to focus all of her energy on staying conscious.
Just a split second too late, Elsa jumped up, rigor from the blood supplied by Anna and adrenaline working in conjunction, amplifying each other. With her bare hand and inhuman speed, she carved a chunk out of Hans' neck. Gore spurted across the room, painting the walls grim. The dagger crashed to the floor, swiftly followed by the prince.
"Anna!" Elsa dove at the ground, picking up the now blood-stained girl. Blood spattered from her mouth with each abrupt, shallow breath. She hugged her tightly and put pressure on the wound. Anna gasped in pain.
The vrykolakas tried every healing spell she knew through a scattered mind and unseeing eyes. She frantically repeated the phrases in her mind as she could feel the life slowly slipping away from Anna. With every passing second, she lost hope. With every breath gone by, her heart withered a little more. Her insides felt like a wilted rose, once vibrant, now a wasted husk. She muttered in frenzy through loud, painful sobs. Nothing in the world mattered except Anna. She had to fix Anna.
But she couldn't heal her fast enough, it wasn't working. Elsa panicked. She didn't know what to do. She moved the girl's head back to look into her eyes. They were glazing over. She watched as the life within swam away, letting death himself take residence in Anna's body. It reminded her of when her mother passed away. Inexorably painful, wrought with denial. "No no no, Anna no! No," she whaled. "A-Anna, I- I love you, A-Anna. Don't go! Don't go! I love you! Anna!" Her cries were pitiful enough to break the heart of Hades himself.
But it didn't work. Even as she screamed, the girl's spirit was whisked away once and for all, her once teal eyes now gray chaff. Elsa clutched the lifeless body, her one true love, and shrieked like a banshee into the night.
-To Be Continued-