‹ Prequel: What You Deserve
Forever, Your Dearest
Rosi
I watched the woman stand up, flitting across the small gap between the chairs. When she placed her badly scarred hand on the back of my hand, I gasped in shock. An odd feeling surged through my hand, tingling up my arm. It almost felt like she was frozen, yet burning at the same time, as if alternating the feeling every second with a tiny shock between.
Trying not to be rude, I fought the instinctive urge to rip my hand away from her's. Luckily, my body hadn't already done this.
"Jade, Honey, don't beat yourself up about this," Rosi murmured, looking sympathetic. "But you can't go looking for them. Just don't," she patted my hand, "do you want something to drink?" Rosi paused, "they told me about you... you must be hungry..."
A shiver ran down my spine, as she pulled away. I couldn't fully understand what she was saying, and felt myself slip into my mind.
"Jade? What are you doing?" I could hear Jamia questioning, "it's fine. She's fine... Trust her." With that, I felt a strange tingling in my arm that brought me back to reality. It felt almost as if something cold had run itself across my arm, however, Rosi hadn't touched more than my hand.
"I... I guess," I murmured, looking at Rosi's back, as she had already begun to walk away. The back of her white wrapping outfit dropped just past the base of her neck - which I caught a glimpse of as her hair bounced with her steps. It, too, was littered with little puncture wounds.
Soon, she returned with a plastic cup, holding a gray cover and a straw. "I always found it better to teach people to get used to blood by keeping it in a container where you can only see it through the straw." To this, I nodded, and took a sip.
"Rosi?" I pulled my lips away from the straw, "why did everyone leave?" I paused, looking down at the cup, "I mean... why did they leave me?"
The room grew quiet, aside from the sound of the flame licking at the candle and it's wick. I watched as she bit her lip, staring at the cup that I held for a moment. "I, honestly, can't talk about it. You'll have to ask someone else on the list. If you can't find them, they'll find you... Or at least, the only ones that can safely say."
I sighed, taking another drink of the blood, fighting the urge to savagely drain it from the cup. To this resistance, my body twitched slightly. "Who?"
"I can't tell you that, either," she shifted, "they have excellent hearing - both of them. If one doesn't hear me, the other probably will, and they'll come here. I just finished cleaning this place up from last time... It's hard when I can't call someone to help me," she pointed out.
It took a moment to think about this, deciding not to press the questions. Assuming that the marks were the cause of her not being able to call, I tried to shrug it off, while practically inhaling my drink.
After a moment of only getting air from the cup, I realized it was gone. "Could I ask you a question, Rosi?" I murmured, staring at her face. It seemed so flawless in comparison to the remainder of her body. My mind could almost picture her without all the horrible marks - a truly beautiful woman.
She nodded, shifting as if she knew. The words that emitted from her lips confirmed that she did, "what happened to me?" she gave a weak smile as I nodded. "I was a test," she looked towards the drapes, which hid the sunlight from our bodies. "Have you ever read in a book, where a person is born half alive and half dead?" Rosi paused, "half human, and half vampire? If so, what was it about?"
I tilted my head, thinking about it for a moment, before nodding. It had been a long time since I had read a book that I wanted to. "Yes," I thought for a moment, "it was about some boy who's mother died after he was born because she birthed a monster and her father couldn't accept having a monster grandchild."
Brushing her hair aside, Rosi lightly began pulling away the wrapping around her neck, revealing far more marks than my eyes had caught. "It's impossible to be born that way," she paused, possibly realizing that she had repeated herself, as the cloth fell around her shoulders, and she unraveled her sleeves, revealing that the cloth, as it was removed, had hidden multiple severe burns and puncture wounds varying from pin-sized to the size of a quarter. Just below her shoulder was a large scar, where she stopped removing the cloth.
Silence filled the room again, as I watched her stare at her strange wounds. Gaining the courage to speak, I interrupted using a small voice, "why did you let anyone do this to you?"
"I didn't," the scarred woman's smile had long disappeared. "I was an unwilling test subject. Nobody else has - or can have - my genetics. I wasn't born this way," she looked up, toward a ceiling fixture that held no light bulbs.
Part of me wanted to question her. Was she saying that she was stuck in between?
"I suffered long , painful experiments. Part of one to turn vampires back into humans. Their experiments could only go so far with what little knowledge they had. When I failed to be what they wanted - I was almost killed."
Trying not to be rude, I fought the instinctive urge to rip my hand away from her's. Luckily, my body hadn't already done this.
"Jade, Honey, don't beat yourself up about this," Rosi murmured, looking sympathetic. "But you can't go looking for them. Just don't," she patted my hand, "do you want something to drink?" Rosi paused, "they told me about you... you must be hungry..."
A shiver ran down my spine, as she pulled away. I couldn't fully understand what she was saying, and felt myself slip into my mind.
"Jade? What are you doing?" I could hear Jamia questioning, "it's fine. She's fine... Trust her." With that, I felt a strange tingling in my arm that brought me back to reality. It felt almost as if something cold had run itself across my arm, however, Rosi hadn't touched more than my hand.
"I... I guess," I murmured, looking at Rosi's back, as she had already begun to walk away. The back of her white wrapping outfit dropped just past the base of her neck - which I caught a glimpse of as her hair bounced with her steps. It, too, was littered with little puncture wounds.
Soon, she returned with a plastic cup, holding a gray cover and a straw. "I always found it better to teach people to get used to blood by keeping it in a container where you can only see it through the straw." To this, I nodded, and took a sip.
"Rosi?" I pulled my lips away from the straw, "why did everyone leave?" I paused, looking down at the cup, "I mean... why did they leave me?"
The room grew quiet, aside from the sound of the flame licking at the candle and it's wick. I watched as she bit her lip, staring at the cup that I held for a moment. "I, honestly, can't talk about it. You'll have to ask someone else on the list. If you can't find them, they'll find you... Or at least, the only ones that can safely say."
I sighed, taking another drink of the blood, fighting the urge to savagely drain it from the cup. To this resistance, my body twitched slightly. "Who?"
"I can't tell you that, either," she shifted, "they have excellent hearing - both of them. If one doesn't hear me, the other probably will, and they'll come here. I just finished cleaning this place up from last time... It's hard when I can't call someone to help me," she pointed out.
It took a moment to think about this, deciding not to press the questions. Assuming that the marks were the cause of her not being able to call, I tried to shrug it off, while practically inhaling my drink.
After a moment of only getting air from the cup, I realized it was gone. "Could I ask you a question, Rosi?" I murmured, staring at her face. It seemed so flawless in comparison to the remainder of her body. My mind could almost picture her without all the horrible marks - a truly beautiful woman.
She nodded, shifting as if she knew. The words that emitted from her lips confirmed that she did, "what happened to me?" she gave a weak smile as I nodded. "I was a test," she looked towards the drapes, which hid the sunlight from our bodies. "Have you ever read in a book, where a person is born half alive and half dead?" Rosi paused, "half human, and half vampire? If so, what was it about?"
I tilted my head, thinking about it for a moment, before nodding. It had been a long time since I had read a book that I wanted to. "Yes," I thought for a moment, "it was about some boy who's mother died after he was born because she birthed a monster and her father couldn't accept having a monster grandchild."
Brushing her hair aside, Rosi lightly began pulling away the wrapping around her neck, revealing far more marks than my eyes had caught. "It's impossible to be born that way," she paused, possibly realizing that she had repeated herself, as the cloth fell around her shoulders, and she unraveled her sleeves, revealing that the cloth, as it was removed, had hidden multiple severe burns and puncture wounds varying from pin-sized to the size of a quarter. Just below her shoulder was a large scar, where she stopped removing the cloth.
Silence filled the room again, as I watched her stare at her strange wounds. Gaining the courage to speak, I interrupted using a small voice, "why did you let anyone do this to you?"
"I didn't," the scarred woman's smile had long disappeared. "I was an unwilling test subject. Nobody else has - or can have - my genetics. I wasn't born this way," she looked up, toward a ceiling fixture that held no light bulbs.
Part of me wanted to question her. Was she saying that she was stuck in between?
"I suffered long , painful experiments. Part of one to turn vampires back into humans. Their experiments could only go so far with what little knowledge they had. When I failed to be what they wanted - I was almost killed."