Elrea
I gently moved the lid once I felt the lid give under my palm, moving it to the side, and it dropped to the floor with a loud thud. I slowly sat up, hearing my bones crack and pop with each movement I hadn't felt in such a long time. My eyes moved to the candlelight, and a short, petite woman stood with wide green eyes staring straight at me in horror. I watched her as she slowly started to back away from me and the coffin towards the stairs. I caught glimpses of a blade on her wrist, ready to strike if I went near her.
My throat began to burn hot, images of tearing into her neck danced in my mind, making me lick my dry, cracked lips. I move to raise myself out of the coffin, my movements still very stiff, causing me to lose balance, and I go tumbling out of the coffin. Just as I move to try and stand up from the fall, a rat runs directly in front of me, and without a thought, my arms move to grab it. I bring it to my lips and bite down on its body; it squirms and squeals loudly before falling silent.
The blood quickly fills my mouth, coating my tongue and throat, the horrid constant thirst finally dissipates, and I feel almost full. The rat is completely drained; nothing was left but meat and bones. I let its body fall to the ground. Breaking from the trance, I realize the woman had taken the chance to flee back up the stairs, and I hear the door close.
I instantly went into a panic at the thought of being trapped down here again, so I raced up the stairs with my newfound energy. I push the door open and bound into the hallway. I turn to start down the hall and head toward the foyer where I saw sunlight. I felt a smile form as I stepped into the light, only to shrink back after feeling as if I were being set on fire.
I bring my hand up slowly and move it forward into the light, and just as before, I pull my hand back. It felt as if I had just placed my finger in a flame.
Why can't I step into the sunlight? I thought. Is it because all that time I was trapped in darkness?
I fell to the ground as I gazed out the open front door. The events that just happened start to catch up with me, along with the thirst. The manor had been left to rot just as I had, with water stains and mold in the air. Dust and cobwebs were covering the ceiling to the floor, vines and weeds poked in where they could break through the flooring.
The woman then steps into the front door, staying in the sunlight, and she only stares at me with her green eyes that were much brighter in the sun. A delicious scent hits my nose, making my mouth salivate, and the thirst starts to grow stronger. I realize she has a rabbit dangling from her hand, and she takes a step forward, but still keeps a distance.
"Do you know what you are?" She then asks me.
The question swirled around in my mind. So I just shake my head no.
She moves a few steps closer but remains in the light, away from me; she was wary of me.
"If I help you will you promise to keep your fangs to yourself?" Her next question once again had me more confused, and with even more questions I wanted the answer to.
Fangs? I don't have fangs… I touched my tongue to my teeth, and my eyes widened. How had I not realized the new sharp points in my mouth, biting into the rat had felt too easy?
The woman then sits down and tosses the rabbit over to me. Once it was in my hands, I brought it to my lips and bit down; its blood immediately started to rush down my throat. Everything in the moment seemed to disappear again as I could only think of the warmth and energy I got with each mouthful of blood I took. Once the rabbit was empty, I placed its limp body gently in front of me.
As I look up, I see the woman watching me with a curious look. I realized then I must look like a mess. I started to worry that I might smell as bad as I looked. The nightgown I had been wearing was torn and falling apart from my body, and some of the once white fabric was a dirty brown, and blood stains. I go to push my hair back and find it was no longer the black it once was, but a shiny silver. My skin seemed to bounce back into place after taking the blood from the rat and rabbit; my hands didn't look like a decomposing corpse anymore. I felt as though I was alive, but I knew I wasn't, not completely. I stopped hearing my heartbeat long ago.
I take a moment before trying to answer her, trying to find my voice I hadn't used in a long time. I go to speak, but first, only a croak comes out. The woman's eyes went from curious to worried, her brow furrowing as she continued to watch me.
"Yes," I managed to croak out. The woman seemed to relax just a bit, but I could still tell she was ready to use the knives on her wrists if needed.
"What am I?" I then asked her. I felt I was getting a hold of my voice and seemed to be getting better, but it was still raspy.
"A vampire," she answers me. Though I didn't know what that was.
"Why were you locked in the coffin?" Another question, but one I knew the answer to, at least I thought I did.
"My brother wanted my inheritance. He forced me to drink something that caused me to go unconscious. I thought I would have died eventually, but I never did." With each word I spoke, my voice started to become clearer.
The thoughts of that night start to flood back into my mind as if it all had just happened the night before. I quickly stand, startling the woman, who jumps back, her daggers out and ready. I give her an apologetic look and hold up my hands in surrender. I had jumped at the thought of going to Maria's room to see if anything was left of her, but the risk of being hit by the sun caused me to pause.
I walked to the door that was just across the hall from the basement door and placed my hand on it. It was Maria's room, and one of the ways I had spoiled her was by giving her a large room. Servants normally stayed in the smaller room near the kitchen, but I had sweet-talked my way into getting Maria her quarters. I leaned my head to the door as I hoped she wasn't somewhere trapped like I had been. Thinking of her alone in that same darkness made me sick, and tears started to flow down my face.
"How long has it been?" I didn't realize I had spoken the question aloud until the woman began to speak.
"Possibly a couple of hundred years since you don't seem to know what you are." By the state of the manor, I could only trust that it was true. So I decided to ask even more questions.