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“They’re here,” I whispered, shivering from the anticipation. The streets were cast in the warm light of the lampposts, the river rushing underneath us, loud and black.
“Are you certain?” he questioned, peering over the bridge into the glowing reflection of the city.
“Can’t you feel it?” I asked. “There’s something in the air. Something that doesn’t sit right with me.”
We pushed into the city center, sneaking around the corners of the tightly packed golden stone buildings. There was a subtle scent of damp sulfur from the roman baths nearby, warmth exuded from the ruins, and the silence of the evening was unnerving. Bath, unlike London, slept.
“Do you think they’ll be hunting?” I wondered aloud, feeling the thirst creep in myself.
“It’s a possibility, we ought to pay special attention to the shadows just in case,” he answered, slinking into an alleyway nearby.
I continued forward by the Abbey, turning the corner, abruptly stopping.
A young woman stood in conversation with an equally as young man leaned against the outside wall of the shops. The woman turned to look at me and every hair on my body stood on end. She had a familiar face, high cheek bones, emerald eyes and waving mahogany hair.
In a similar way I felt tethered to William, I felt to her.
I couldn’t look away, couldn’t tear my gaze from her.
The young man rubbed her arm to garner her attention, but she took a step toward me, her delicate brows stitching together in confusion, never diverting her eyes in the same.
“William,” I whispered, hoping he would hear me. He was behind me nearly instantly, perhaps he spoke, I couldn’t hear him.
The young woman’s eyes widened as she took in William, just as shocked as she was when she recognized me.
Was it recognition that we felt? I was barely aware of the young man stilling behind her. I gripped William’s hand and began to make my way to her, pulled by the unseen connection; he followed without any resistance.
My blood ran cold, and the edges of my vision faded black. Could a vampyre faint? It certainly felt possible, I could not draw in even a breath. A sickening feeling grew in my belly with each detail of her that I took in.
And it hit me, crashing over me as a turbulent wave of knowing.
She was a feminine William; kind and gorgeous eyes, hauntingly powerful in posture.
“It can’t be,” William murmured from beside me. Stepping in front of me to reach his hand out for this woman, we were mere feet away from her. She responded similarly, placing her hand in his, eyes full of innocence and understanding.
My whole frame became wracked with grief, I longed to pull this girl into my chest, to hold her and cry into her hair. Her eyes, oh but they were William’s eyes in my face!
My child.
My daughter.
I knew it, I felt it.
William gasped holding her hand, and her lips parted as if she was going to speak, when there came a shrieking in an alleyway.
Each of us turned quickly to the sound, fangs out in defense. The figure ran toward us with vampiric speed but William grabbed the young woman—our daughter!—pulling her from the creature’s path. The figure turned around, running back toward us but it took only a moment for me to recognize her face.
“Noel!” I shouted to William, grabbing her hands as she swung towards him and our daughter. Noel shrieked wordless cries of rage, her black hair curling around her face, fangs exposed in a snarl as she fought against me.
I looked into her nearly white eyes, the knowledge of just how thirsty she was written all over her face. She would be weaker than any of us.
I overpowered her, shoving her into the Bath stone wall of the Abbey, the building groaning in response to the force.
“MOTHER!” the girl screamed in William’s arms. I turned around to stare at her, surely she was not speaking of Noel? But Noel huffed in exertion between me and the wall.
“Run, Helena!” she yelled in demand. Consternation weakened my grip, dropping my hands from Noel’s shoulders. What was this?
The girl fought against William’s hold in panic and he let go of her begging her to wait. She looked at him with confusion in her eyes, running away with immeasurable speed.
