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“Icannothave children! How could you have been unfaithful to me? This was different! This was unlike anything I have ever felt!” he yelled, smacking me.
I fell to the side with the force of his strike, slamming into the bedframe. The room was black, my ears ringing and head spinning. Numb tingles crept across my face, and I choked on vomit as I tried to crawl away from him. Blood trickled out of my mouth or from my lip–I could not pinpoint the source for sure. It was slick, hot against my skin which ached and throbbed, the joints of my neck protesting movement. As my vision came back into focus, I saw the red droplets fall onto the floor, tasted the richness on my tongue.
Ribs aching, head splitting, I managed to crawl to the wall before I twisted around to see William bent over the blood by the bed. Dipping his index finger into the puddle, he brought it to his mouth, his slippery tongue swiping it clean. He shuddered. I watched in horror as he went back for more, more urgently this time.
Was I seeing this right?
“What are you doing?” I whispered, finding my lips numb, voice slurred. William's head snapped up, his eyes animalistic. He flashed his teeth, two long and pointed fangs exposed on the top. I could have screamed... I wanted to.
But I didn’t, the air sucked in went nowhere.Thiswas his secret. This was what he was hiding from me. I scooted farther, the wall meeting my back, nowhere to go. The panic ratcheted higher, and I could feel myself begin to hyperventilate. William erected himself, taking two steps in my direction.
I shook my head back and forth. “No, no, no, no, no!” This was it; I was going to die.
William continued toward me unhurriedly, cocking his head to the side and kneeling in my face. My eyes sealed shut, shivering when he placed his hand on my cheek. William turned my face, his wet tongue sliding over my lips, over the blood pooled there. I opened my eyes, his expression pleased, blood coating his lips and… fangs.
“William,” I whispered. His eyes bore into mine, the inhuman expression all but gone. “What are you?”
“You must leave,” he said loudly, and in one of those quick movements, he vanished. Standing by the door; ajar he motioned into the hallway. “Leave now.”
“No.” I urged. “I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth. We've been dancing around in circles since Christmas Eve, what's going on?” I stood, fixing my skirts which were speckled in blood, bright red splattered over sapphire blue. My ribs strained with the movement.
“Leave.”
“No! Tell me what you are! I am pregnant! I am to be your wife!”
“You are not with my child, Rosemary Abbott. And we will no longer be getting married. I depart immediately. Now,pleaseleave me.”
“Stop it! I have not gone to bed with anyone but you.” I ran to him, and grabbed his vest with my fists, my aching, weak arms shaking him. “I am having your child! You are my life, please tell me what you are! I won't leave you!”
Perhaps it was the fierce shaking, the tears, or the fact that my words rang with the truth, but William shut the door and pulled me into his arms.
He was crying.
I clung to him, weeping into his chest, the stress of the last few months weighing heavily on my shoulders.
“I'm sorry.” His words muffled in my neck, tears smearing my skin. “Please forgive me.”
“I do.” My fingers found his hair, and I wished I could crawl under his skin and be with him forever. “I forgive you,”
“I don't want to hurt you again, Rose. Ever. You mean more to me than my own existence. Without you, there is no reason for me to be.” I kissed his cheek, blood trickled from the spot.
“I'm bleeding,” I said, extracting myself from his arms to check my swollen lip.
“I will be right back; sit down on the bed,” he ordered. And he was gone. I did as I was told, gazing down at my virtually ruined dress.
William’s face was burned into my mind, the way his eyes showed little of his humanity, the way he hissed at me, baring those teeth… like nothing I had ever seen before.
He was back within too little time, holding a wet rag from the kitchen in his hand. I saw where my mouth had been against him, the blood pooled in various places. His jaw was tight, almost as if he were holding it shut. With shadows under his eyes, William lightly dabbed at my forehead, then lip to stop the bleeding.
“Where else are you hurt?” he asked shortly.
“I think the inside of my cheek–I can taste it,” I replied. “It feels strange to say that it tastes good.” His eyebrows raised significantly.
“My ribs hurt…” I added, each breath more piercing than the last.
“Put this inside your mouth,” he instructed, I did as I was told. The water was cool, metallic as it soaked up the blood against my tongue. “I apologize again, Rose. It was wrong of me, I–I lost control.”
I pulled the rag out, “No–”
