He stares at the inscription. “She was human.”
I turn toward him, not sure I heard correctly. “Human?”
“Yes. Before you ask, yes, she knew what I was.” I don’t even know how to ask the millions of questions flying through my mind. “Thank you for the consolation, but it was many years ago.” He looks up, making eye contact with me. “Ask,” he says with a smirk.
“What happened to her?” I ask the number one question in my mind.
“Officially, consumption,” he answers. “I tried to save her.”
“You didn’t…You didn’t turn her?”
“I offered. She refused.” He latches my arm through his again, leading me away from the cemetery.
“What did she think about vampires?”
Cyrus laughs. “She wasn’t a fan. Our marriage wasn’t conventional. We weren’t head over heels in love, wanting to spend the rest of our lives together. It was a marriage of convenience and money. Her family was rich and owned land in the area.”
“Land that you wanted.” I begin to put the puzzle pieces together.
“It wasn’t one-sided. Isabella and her family gained quite a bit of wealth and prestige through our connection.” He shrugs slightly. “There was love there, but not the kind of love that lasts lifetimes. I was able to offerher peace and comfort during her sickness.” He looks toward her headstone. “She was a beautiful soul.”
“What did she unofficially die from?” I ask.
Pale-blue eyes look into mine. “What do you mean?”
“You said earlier, she officially died from consumption. What did she unofficially die from?”
He sighs, deep in thought. “Did you know that a vampire can slowly bleed a person until there’s nothing left of them?” I shake my head, not sure what he’s talking about. Cyrus scoffs. “If a human is fed from, especially one that is unaware of what is happening to them, they begin to lose aspects of themselves. It’s as if when the blood is taken, it’s replaced with something else. Something that slowly bleeds the life from them. We call them strigoi. Not quite vampire, and not quite human.”
“Is that what happened to Isabella? Did she become a strigoi?”
“Yes,” he answers simply.
“Did you…Did you turn her into a…?” I stumble, not sure I want to complete the sentence.
“No,” he answers quickly. “Aurora.”
“Why would she do that?”
Cyrus looks around, as if he’s expecting his maker to be lurking behind a tree. “Because she’s evil incarnate.”
I turn toward my buyer. “Cyrus, I don’t want to go with her.”
“I know.” He walks a few steps away. “I’m working on that.”
“Working on that? How are…”
“Do you trust me, Violet?” he interrupts.
I stare at him longer than necessary. Truthfully, I don’t have any reason to trust him. Yes, he’s taught me, given me clothes, but other than purchasing me from Harrison, he’s given me no reason to trust him. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.
“That’s fair.” Something gnaws at the back of my neck. Something I have no name for. A knowing from somewhere other than here. I glance at Cyrus. His eyes are larger than before, and he’s frozen in place. He feels it, too.
“What?” I whisper. A long finger covers his lips. I focus on finding the energy. Whatever or whoever the energy belongs to is powerful and familiar. My stomach begins to turn as the feeling intensifies. If I were still human, I’d compare this to a stomach virus. As a vampire, I have no idea how to describe what I’m feeling. Cyrus closes his eyes and mumbles a curse word just as the source appears.
“Hello, Violet,” a familiar voice says with a sickening smile. “Fancy meeting the two of you here.”
“Hello, Chamberlin,” Cyrus greets my maker. “What do you want?”
