'Til Death Do Us Part (93 page)

I wished I could kill her here, right now, but I also felt a deep pity, her life had been nothing but a cesspool of slavery and deprivation. A man who I had not noticed earlier swept passed me on the left on an intercept course for her. For a moment I wondered if he was also
‘
outside
’
of this time and knew that she had to be destroyed. He was a destroyer alright
,
but not just of bodies, souls were included.

I watched as he latched on to her arm much like her father had
five
maybe
six
years previous. Her eyes ratcheted up defiantly to look at him
,
then I watched as the will was sapped out of her and was replaced with rabid fear. She was petrified, but did not struggle as the stranger spoke.

His words were clear and of a higher origin than the rabble strewn around him, who I noticed tried their best to ignore him completely.

“
I can give you the world,
”
h
e promised her.
“
I can take you away from this filth of humanity. Do you want that?
”

Eliza alternated between nodding and shaking her head back and forth. Who wouldn
’
t want out of the shit hole she was in, but she was thinking the cost might be steeper than she was prepared to pay.

“
Answer me correctly
, girl,
”
s
he stranger said angrily.
“
Either I will dine and you will die, or I will show you a world you never knew existed.
”

She was trapped
. W
hat were her options? I wonder now, if an Eliza with a soul was able to look back on her life if she would have stayed human. She had spent the last
five hundred
years making mankind pay for her rotten childhood, think of how many psychiatrists off-spring college tuitions she could have funded in that time. The thought of Eliza on a couch explaining all her problems brought a small smile to my face.

Eliza nodded as the stranger led her into an alleyway much like the one that had first enlisted her into the ranks of slavery, this was slavery but of another sort.

“
I am going to feed on you slightly.
”
Eliza
’
s eyes grew wide.
“
If you live, you will be changed forever. You w
ill be beautiful forever,
”
h
e said
,
stroking some stray hair that had fallen across her eyes. Eliza winced but did not move.
“
When you are strong enough
,
I want you to meet me in London.
There
is a pub down by the docks called the Dragoon, I will be there to
morrow night only.
If
you do not show
,
it will be because the vampirism did not take.
”
Eliza backed away at that word.

Vampire was still a scary word today
.
I can
’
t imagine the connotations it held back in these dark ages.

“
It would be a pity if you died,
”
h
e said as he leaned in and bit deeply. Eliza
’
s head tilted back as her eyes rolled up inside her head. Her ruddy cheeks began to drain of all color.

The stranger took his measure and seemed to take a cruel dose of pleasure when Tomas ran up to his sister. He moved swiftly and silently away as Tomas cradled his sister i
n his arms. I wept at the sight.
I figured this was as about as safe as it was ever going to get for me to cry and nobody to actually witness it. What little part of her was still left when the vampire came was stripped away like rotten bark on a dead tree.

***

Her eye
’
s fluttered open as Tomas
cascaded her face with his tears.
“
Tomas? Is that really you
,
Tomas?
”
Eliza asked.

“
It
’
s me
,
Lizzie, it
’
s me!
”
h
e cried.
“
We
’
re finally together again! How I
’
ve missed you! Now we can be together again forever!
”

“
Tomas,
”
Lizzie said
sadly, stroking his face gently,
“
i
t
’
s too late for me.
”

“
What are you talking about
,
Lizzie? I
’
m here you
’
re here, we
’
re together.
”
I wept
even as Tomas uttered the words. H
e had been minutes from finding his sister still human. But she was not intact, her life thus far had twisted and gnarled her, she would be distrustful and bitter until the day she died, unfortunately the stranger had now extended that indefinitely.

Even as he wept for joy, it was not difficult to tell that he sensed something else happening something evil beyond even his extraordinary sense of empathy.

“
What is the matter Lizzie? You are burning up.
”
Tomas asked the question but even from my vantage point I could see the snow around her melting at an alarming rate as if she were a mini sun going nova.

“
You should go
, Tomas,
”
s
he said
,
closing her eyes.

“
I can
’
t leave you
,
Lizzie. We
’
re all we have, you and me. You told me you would always look out for me. You were the only one that told me I didn
’
t have witches living in my head.
”

I had no idea what the boy
was referring to, but in these Middle A
ges it was never goo
d to be associated with witches.
His
life had most likely only been spared because he had left home to find his sister.

“
I love you
,
Lizzie.
”

I wanted to turn away this was worse than watching the Hallmark channel.

“
I love you too
,
Tomas. And that is why you should go.
”

“
Why won
’
t you open your eyes
,
Lizzie? Please, please look at me.
”

Tears pushed through her closed lids.
“
Please
,
Tomas
,
don
’
t look at me this way. I
’
m not the sister you used to know. Unspeakable things have been done to me and I found a way to right those wrongs and I took it. I will exact my revenge.
”

“
That
’
s not how my Lizzie talk
s,
”
Tomas said as he wiped at his blurring eyes.

“
GO!
”
She
pushed
him away. Her eyes seemed to produce their own light
as she looked at him menacingly.
I backed up an extra step. This was more of the Eliza I knew, unbridled power and a deep wish to unleash it on all those around her.

“
I will not!
”
h
e screamed, but to me it looked like he was tensing to spring away from her.

Eliza sat up.
I could see Tomas
’
window of opportunity to make a clean get away closing rapidly on exposed fingers. Tomas finally seemed to be getting it as he stood and started backing up, it would have been impossible to miss her cross over from love to predatory awareness. He kept shaking his head in denial but I knew that wasn
’
t going to help him at all. The field mouse can continue to eat its
seed even in the talons of the h
awk
,
but that isn
’
t going to change the outcome:
flesh rending and bone crunching.

With an ungodly speed
,
Eliza wrapped her hand around Tomas
’
neck. He was at least
six
inches off the
ground;
I knew that feeling well enough.

“
Lizzie, please,
”
h
e begged.

Eliza didn
’
t waste any time as she bit down hard on his neck. Tomas screamed in pain.

“
Lizzie please, I love you!
”
H
is tears splash
ed
down on her upturned face.

Some last remnant of Lizzie rose to the surface. She pulled her extended canines out of his neck.
“
GO!
”
s
he screamed again.
“
I won
’
t be able to stop next time.
”
She looked defeated, with her head bowed. Tomas dropped to the ground as she released her grip.

He scurried away
.
I would imagine scarcely believing the turn of events.
“
I love you
, Lizzie.
I will follow you until I find a way to fix whatever has happened here tonight.
”

I watched for a moment as Eliza hesitated, she looked like she
had regretted her last decision.
If
I hadn
’
t already met Tommie
,
I would have assumed she finished him off right there and then. She warred within herself for long minutes fighting the urge to hunt him down, the only thing that might have saved Tomas was an unfortunate boy who had just bought a loaf of bread and was most likely taking a short cut to get home. The bread soaked in the melting snow as Eliza drained the boy dry. She discarded his husk much like a smoker would a used cigarette, she flicked him away with no regard for who he was or had been.

He was a meal plain a
nd simple.
I mean
, I guess it makes sense.
Lions don
’
t sit there and think about the gazelle
’
s hopes and dreams as they r
ip chunks of meat from its hind
quarters
,
why would she? We whooshed again, the journeys through the ripples of her mind were causing no small amounts of vertigo but since I was fairly certain I didn
’
t have a stomach which to throw up with I should be fine.

Through a thick glassy haze I watched her meeting with The Stranger in the tavern in London, but her memory of it must have been skewed from the affects of the cross over, she was having a difficult time keeping her head up as long dirty stringy strands of her hair kept pooling up on the rough wooden table.

The Stranger smiled as Eliza staggered in, though she was the only female, lithe and beautiful in form and almost most assuredly drunk beyond awareness, the men in the tavern fell over themselves trying to get away from her. The Stranger did not stand to help her but merely smiled slightly as she fell into her seat.

“
I did not think you would make the transition, and I
’
m still not so sure,
”
h
e said as he tightly gripped her chin and thrust her face up so that he could look in her eyes.
“
You have eaten? Impressive, most die in these first few hours because they cannot overcome their human weaknesses. But you
’
re a survivor aren
’
t you? I think I chose wisely.
”
He let go of her and her forehead almost bounced off the table.

“
Come,
”
h
e said
,
standing and whisking quickly towards the door. He did not help her or wait, she struggled to stand and lurched out into the murky light to try and keep pace. We whooshed quickly from scene to scene, most consisted of her severe beatings at the hands of her
‘
savior
.
’
He had saved her from one hell only to be thrust into a different layer. The only time he seemed even remotely
‘
human
’
was when they would go on feeding frenzies in some of the more outlying areas of
Britannia
, if that
was
what it was even called back then. I got the sense we were still on English speaking soil, but mostly all I was hearing from the peasant populations was crying and screaming as the vampire duo tore through them like hyenas at an orphanage.