Okay so I got my one review (thanks Kitty Curtis!) so here is the next chapter. I really like how this story is progressing and I hope you do to! Don't forget to review.
As I stood with my head in my hands I could garner no sense from what was happening. I did not know what strange force kept me from killing her but that same force, I knew, would make me kill any who threatened her. It made no sense.
"Though I do not understand you," the girl said tentatively, "I am very thankful that you mean me no harm. I believe I owe you my gratitude… you saved my life."
As she said those words I realised how much I had changed since the instant, only minutes ago, that I laid eyes on her. I Alec, the taker of lives, had now spared this girl hers in addition to rescuing her from certain death. I knew it was a terrible idea to make the girl seem more an individual but I felt the desperate need to ask her a certain question.
"What is your name?" I whispered.
"Evelyn," she replied quietly.
"Evelyn…" I repeated, testing the name on my lips. It was as perfect as she herself was.
I knew I owed her an explanation of what had happened and even though I knew it might scare her further, I offered it none the less.
"I assume you have figured out by now what I am?" I asked her in the softest and most assuring tone I could summon.
"Vampire…" she spoke in a tone so low that it may have just been meant as a verbal realisation for her alone.
"Yes, I am a vampire. I have been this way for centuries and yet nothing has happened in my long… existence that comes close to what happened when I first saw you."
I looked at Evelyn to see how she was reacting to my words but her face remained impassive.
"I am a monster. I have killed before without thought and yet I could not kill you. I could not witness your death. I had to protect you. The feelings that I didn't even know I could feel burst to the surface the second I saw you. I don't understand…"
"Nor do I", she said as her voice gave away the confusion and apprehension she was trying so hard to keep from showing in her face. "What feelings?"
I let my eyes drop to the floor. How could I tell her what she made me feel? She was a stranger to me. I could not have these feelings for a stranger and yet I felt them dwelling deep in the pit of my stomach.
"Protectiveness…" I tested, unsure if I should be divulging such personal thoughts, "fear that you would be hurt, astonishment that…"
I raised my eyes to meet hers once more.
"…that someone so beautiful could exist in a world as dark as mine."
I heard her breath hitch in her throat and the confusion she had fought so hard against became apparent on her face.
"I'm sorry?" she stammered. "You think me beautiful?"
"Yes and it makes no sense. You are merely human!" I let the last statement slip from my mouth before I could fathom its ramifications.
"Just human?" Evelyn inquired, somewhat indignant.
"Yes," I said softly, "You are my prey. I should not find you in any way attractive."
"I am by no means lesser than you!" she hissed.
Did she not understand that she was in a secluded room with a vampire? Did she not realise that she was standing face to face with death and daring to challenge him?
"If legend is correct you were once as human as I!" she spat with rising volume. "Was it so long ago that you have forgotten what it is to be human, to feel a shred of humanity?"
All at once I understood the source of her anger. It was not only because of my callous comments but a much more primal instinct was at work; fight or flight. The shock of what had happened in the grand chamber had worn off enough for her to be capable of thought once more and now she was taking the first of her two choices. I could not help but admire her bravery. She had not once tried to run.
"It was a long time ago." I replied shortly to her question. "I have lived for three centuries among only vampires who care nothing of human life, merely their own and that is how I live."
My words took on an air of tension as I began to see the life I led from her eyes. Why was she forcing my mind to consider these things?
Suddenly the smell of her blood made the burning in my throat rise again to a painful level.
"Stop!" I shouted to halt her as she had strangely begun walking towards me.
"What are you doing?" I hissed at her. "You know what I am, how tempted I am and yet you stride toward me? Do you wish to die?"
I could tell that her words made her fear rise again but she quickly fought away those emotions. She looked me in the eye with a conviction and courage that made it hard to believe that she was a human standing before a monster like me.
"If you wanted me dead you would have already killed me," and with those words she closed the distance between us and placed her left hand on my shoulder and her right on the side of my face. I was stunned that the bloodlust did not overtake in that instance and equally perplexed that a shocking electricity coursed through my granite body.
"Are you so damaged that you have not retained any of your humanity?" She whispered as she stared deep into my eyes. "You were human once… try to remember."
I stood speechless as she spoke then suddenly I was brought back to reality by the fast footfalls from the other side of my locked door. I knew a thin piece of wood would do little to hold back one of my kind as I quickly set my powers to work on Evelyn while throwing her into large trunk at the side of my chambers. I flipped the lock closed and turned to face to door in one fluid motion.
I had to protect her.
Okay, bit of a cliffie but don't worry I am writing the next chapter right now and if I get another review from another person I will post it tonight! (Or in the next couple of hours for those of you who live in a totally different time zone to me : p)
