Cirque des Anges
Awaken
For weeks, it seemed, she watched her body wither away to nothingness, but the blank, impassive nature of her features confirmed her ideas that, though she could see herself in pain, she could not physically feel it. With not a body to occupy, Isabella grew tired of the senseless boredom of watching her limp body as it would suddenly seize up and fall into convulsions of pain. The only scene she could see was the tree, branches curling like fingers into the green sky, the moon, still as if painted into the sky with a brush and oils, and herself. Everything else was black or white, sometimes fading to gray.
Her thoughts lingered in the farthest reaches of human comprehension, and as the number of hours since the bite increased, she found her mental capacity increasing. She could comprehend and evaluate things mortal minds could never dream of accessing. Suddenly, the meaning of immortality was clear as day and things like the essential necessities of life floated farther and farther from her mind. Vampires almost always intruded upon her thoughts, as much as she tried to keep the idea at bay.
*
Soft hands grasped her sweater-clad shoulders, shook almost violently. Isabella pleaded silently for the insistent voice, clear as bells, to go away and leave her to her mindless wanderings forever, but the silvery vocals penetrated the darkest corner of her brain. She had no will to open her eyes, hadn’t even thought about it until her mind had fully awoken, the blissful weeks suddenly very far from her mind.
As soon as the red light of the candles had met her gray eyes, a wave of pain struck her body with force that would belittle a tsunami. Lids flickered over pained gray eyes as she grasped at her abdomen as if trying to keep together two parts of her that wanted so desperately to part from each other. She cried out in pain, a noise so otherworldly that even the vampires in her immediate surroundings covered their ears and cringed. Her breathing was ragged and shallow as she clutched even more violently at her midsection.
The human part in her and the new vampiric blood that traveled her veins were opposing each other and every fiber of her being felt like it was on fire as it threatened to rip her into oblivion. Isabella writhed in pain on the dirt ground, the injured shriek issuing again from white lips tinged blue. Mercy’s steady, rock hard hands found her shoulders and pinned her to the ground, Isabella’s ever-increasing struggles not even straining Mercy’s muscles. Mercy made a small, cooing sound to Isabella; started singing an only lullaby. Isabella’s seizures gradually lessened until she was still under Mercy’s cool grasp, though her perfect features were still twisted in a gruesome gesture of pain beyond comprehension.
“Hush, now, Isabella,” Mercy continued soothing, her twinkling voice calming the racing current of Isabella’s mind. Isabella’s form collapsed into Mercy’s arms and Mercy wrapped her arms around Isabella and hugged her. The pain rippling through Isabella’s body lessened till it was a mere throb, though the aftermath was almost as unbearable as the initial suffering. “Sleep, child,” Mercy sang, “the time will come to awaken.”
*
Days passed while Isabella slept; her aching body repairing itself. The agony of a body breaking in two dulling till it was the mere torture of a body digesting venom and ridding itself of all other humanly elements. The flickering of red, orange, and yellow shining through the thin skin of her eyelids was the first sight, Mercy’s worried violaceous eyes peering down was the second. Isabella pushed herself up on her elbows, wearily blinking sleep blurs from her vision. “Welcome to the world of Vampires,” Mercy said, thought the slight taste of contempt on her lips at the word, as though she regretted the Vampiric ways entirely.
Welcome to the world of Vampires is an understatement, Isabella thought dryly, looking around. Along with the new, already-explored mind, her vision was bright and clearer than ever before, she had a nose more powerful than a bloodhound, which she smelled not one hundred yards away, ears that could pick up a mouse in a haystack from miles away, and all the vampiric beauties allotted to one body alone. Her hands glistened, white and marbled like polished stones, and her eyes, once a light gray color, were clear as if bottomless and penetrating. Mortal life compared to this is not living at all, how could I have endured the dullness of everything before?
“Four days ago you were bitten by Peris. Two hours after the bite, you awoke screaming in pain. Today, three days later, you are not over the pain, but you’ve seen the worst of it,” Mercy explained, setting the timeline straight. Her voice had lost all magical characteristics and her beauty now, even, was less apparitional than before, as if being a vampire made other vampires average and mortals less than average.
“About Peris…” Isabella started, eager to know whether the boy’s face she’d seen had been an illusion accredited to the firelight or the real thing.
“Later,” Mercy’s said quickly, eager to avoid that subject for the time being. Isabella managed a nod.
An empty, hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach suddenly attracted her attention and she focused on soothing the gnawing coming from within. Her stomach seemed to threaten to digest itself soon if it was not fed. The first thing Isabella thought of was mortal food, but the thought made her nauseous and her stomach turn. A grin alighted on Mercy’s face as she recognized the anguished look of hunger of Isabella’s face. “Time to feed, I assume,” she grinned wickedly, violet orbs flashing.
Her thoughts lingered in the farthest reaches of human comprehension, and as the number of hours since the bite increased, she found her mental capacity increasing. She could comprehend and evaluate things mortal minds could never dream of accessing. Suddenly, the meaning of immortality was clear as day and things like the essential necessities of life floated farther and farther from her mind. Vampires almost always intruded upon her thoughts, as much as she tried to keep the idea at bay.
*
Soft hands grasped her sweater-clad shoulders, shook almost violently. Isabella pleaded silently for the insistent voice, clear as bells, to go away and leave her to her mindless wanderings forever, but the silvery vocals penetrated the darkest corner of her brain. She had no will to open her eyes, hadn’t even thought about it until her mind had fully awoken, the blissful weeks suddenly very far from her mind.
As soon as the red light of the candles had met her gray eyes, a wave of pain struck her body with force that would belittle a tsunami. Lids flickered over pained gray eyes as she grasped at her abdomen as if trying to keep together two parts of her that wanted so desperately to part from each other. She cried out in pain, a noise so otherworldly that even the vampires in her immediate surroundings covered their ears and cringed. Her breathing was ragged and shallow as she clutched even more violently at her midsection.
The human part in her and the new vampiric blood that traveled her veins were opposing each other and every fiber of her being felt like it was on fire as it threatened to rip her into oblivion. Isabella writhed in pain on the dirt ground, the injured shriek issuing again from white lips tinged blue. Mercy’s steady, rock hard hands found her shoulders and pinned her to the ground, Isabella’s ever-increasing struggles not even straining Mercy’s muscles. Mercy made a small, cooing sound to Isabella; started singing an only lullaby. Isabella’s seizures gradually lessened until she was still under Mercy’s cool grasp, though her perfect features were still twisted in a gruesome gesture of pain beyond comprehension.
“Hush, now, Isabella,” Mercy continued soothing, her twinkling voice calming the racing current of Isabella’s mind. Isabella’s form collapsed into Mercy’s arms and Mercy wrapped her arms around Isabella and hugged her. The pain rippling through Isabella’s body lessened till it was a mere throb, though the aftermath was almost as unbearable as the initial suffering. “Sleep, child,” Mercy sang, “the time will come to awaken.”
*
Days passed while Isabella slept; her aching body repairing itself. The agony of a body breaking in two dulling till it was the mere torture of a body digesting venom and ridding itself of all other humanly elements. The flickering of red, orange, and yellow shining through the thin skin of her eyelids was the first sight, Mercy’s worried violaceous eyes peering down was the second. Isabella pushed herself up on her elbows, wearily blinking sleep blurs from her vision. “Welcome to the world of Vampires,” Mercy said, thought the slight taste of contempt on her lips at the word, as though she regretted the Vampiric ways entirely.
Welcome to the world of Vampires is an understatement, Isabella thought dryly, looking around. Along with the new, already-explored mind, her vision was bright and clearer than ever before, she had a nose more powerful than a bloodhound, which she smelled not one hundred yards away, ears that could pick up a mouse in a haystack from miles away, and all the vampiric beauties allotted to one body alone. Her hands glistened, white and marbled like polished stones, and her eyes, once a light gray color, were clear as if bottomless and penetrating. Mortal life compared to this is not living at all, how could I have endured the dullness of everything before?
“Four days ago you were bitten by Peris. Two hours after the bite, you awoke screaming in pain. Today, three days later, you are not over the pain, but you’ve seen the worst of it,” Mercy explained, setting the timeline straight. Her voice had lost all magical characteristics and her beauty now, even, was less apparitional than before, as if being a vampire made other vampires average and mortals less than average.
“About Peris…” Isabella started, eager to know whether the boy’s face she’d seen had been an illusion accredited to the firelight or the real thing.
“Later,” Mercy’s said quickly, eager to avoid that subject for the time being. Isabella managed a nod.
An empty, hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach suddenly attracted her attention and she focused on soothing the gnawing coming from within. Her stomach seemed to threaten to digest itself soon if it was not fed. The first thing Isabella thought of was mortal food, but the thought made her nauseous and her stomach turn. A grin alighted on Mercy’s face as she recognized the anguished look of hunger of Isabella’s face. “Time to feed, I assume,” she grinned wickedly, violet orbs flashing.