Page 34 of These Eternal Bones
My olive branch only seems to harden him. “I do not require your fr–”
His words cut off, making me frown until I spot movement from my peripheral vision. One of Elric’s tendrils takes on a shape I’ve yet to see from them. Instead of the hardened, yet silky soft texture they hold against me, this one is sharpened to a deadly point. Poised and rigid like a blade ready to strike, aimed at the lanky man.
I sigh, casting Elric a disapproving look before glancing back at Cartiel. “We’re meant to work in the same establishment. And we are both adults, yes? No doubt you can manage as well as me, without huffing and puffing all day long.”
He doesn’t respond, but I suppose I wouldn't either with Elric glowering at me like that. He doesn’t waste time stalking back inside when Elric changes the tendrils’ form, making it a soft, silky thing again.
I wiggle, suddenly wishing to be free from his arms. He relents after a few, setting me on the ground, but I don’t miss the way one of his tendrils wraps around my ankle like a gentle, lazy rope. Something they have taken to doing more and more often. I assume it’s much like a pet you’re worried will stray too far outside your yard, so I don’t complain.
“Must you threaten everyone?”
“Yes, I must. Go little human, play in the snow. I will not set off toward the cottage when you are cold and the hour is growing late...unless you intend to stay the night.”
My lips part, my stomach doing an odd little flip before I shake his tendril from around my ankle, clasping my hands in front of me and heading off to watch the snow gather on the pine trees.
17
The Vampire of Port Clyde
Molly
Elric was right; the snow wasn’t stopping anytime soon. As soon as my head left my pillow this morning, I’d slammed my face into the window, another squeal of excitement leaving my chest, seeing my world going from bitter gray to blankets of pristine white. My sheer nightdress clinging to my legs, tangling them as I bolted for the door, my fingers fumbling with the latch before swinging it wide. The smile that broke over my face made my cheeks ache as the pile that had fallen against the outside of the door fell into the cabin, dusting my toes. I didn’t think twice before bounding outside, flinging myself into the pillowy, cold substance. My entire body let out a deep shiver, but it was only when the touch of the snow burned that I peeled myself from it.
For a moment, the world didn’t seem so harsh.
When I was eight, I’d fallen from the loft of the barn, breaking my finger. My teeth had gritted so hard, choking on my own sobs as Mother Elina explained to me it needed to be set. That it would hurt, but it wouldn’t heal properly otherwise. The Tabot, Captain Faine, and the journey through the woods are all necessary breaks. I’ll keep going, keep finding the little reasons to smile. Letting Elric dote on me, I will break all of my bones until I become a version of myself Icantolerate. Until I become a version of myself the worldcan’t.
I think it would be beautiful to be as untouched and uncaring as the snow.
Elric
I feel him before he hits my floor of the manor, the Nephilim. The harsh, radiant heat he seems to give off. It’s been hundreds of years since he last stepped foot up here. His unease sings in every pump of his heart as I brush through his blood. Feeling it in every ounce of my being, I let it surround me as it vibrates, eager to answer the call of its master.
“You called for me.”
He lets out a deep breath as I release my hold on his blood, the very essence of his, as sour and bitter as him.
When my eyes open, I can see the room in a new light, the dim one that always comes from him. Memories littered around decay, the evidence of my madness ripped and torn throughout it all. His eyes land on the bars, a long kept secret, a sick…deviant, selfish desire long held in the dark.
My desperation in its physical form.
She’ll hate you.
My voice is soft, deceptively so. I keep it that way, my rage dragging it deeper. “I suppose I should thank you. You could have handled things more considerately.”
“You were about to–”
I cut him off, my barely concealed anger betrayed by my tendrils as they snap behind me. “Next time you speak to her like that, you die.”
“You’re welcome.” He huffs, his lanky frame eating up the doorway. Nephilim were once thought to be giants. Infallible children of God, I suppose they meant subjectively. What he holds inside him is far more concerning than brute strength.
I see it the moment it gets the best of him… the grief. The rage.
I know it well. I wear it heavy, day in and day out, like an old musty coat.
“So, this is your plan? This is your big solution in the absence of basic decency and restraint?”
His words spark inside me as my tendril snaps out, slamming into his chest, smashing him against the bars. “Careful of your mouth,child.”
