Page 10 of These Eternal Bones

A Vampire With a Name

Molly

I keep my head down, ensuring my copper-colored hair is tucked deep inside the hood of my cloak as Elric rounds the coach to open the door.

His eyes consume every inch of my covered flesh, coveting every breath like he relies on it as he offers me his hand, his gloves discarded on the seat inside.

My eyes are level with his chest by the time I step down onto the gray cobblestone road, the very one I ran along before veering into the woods.

A very similar feeling is taking root in my gut now, one that screams at me to run. To hide and evade.

My cheeks flush as I dip my head in thanks. “Thank you for the ride, for everything, Elric.” But instead of letting me go, I gasp as his hand finds my lower back, steering me down the road.

My head snaps up, my eyes widening on the bold plum colored flag of the Tabot in the distance. “Oh god, I need– ”

“Supplies, yes? I assume that’s why you’ve come.”

“No, I–”

My heart shudders as he stops cold. Suddenly, I’m aware of the eyes on us. Townspeople all but gawking in the street, drawing attention to… him. They’re staring at him. “I…have no coin, I need to go–”

“Coin is of no issue.”

My heart is whooshing in my ears, my head going light as my blood rushes around my skull. That’s when I feel it, him … inside me . Reaching and prodding. My mouth goes dry; panic again rearing its ugly head.

“Molly,” he breathes, his gloved hand brushing my cheek, upsetting my hood. “Your pulse is racing. Why?”

My feet act before I do, my mind swirling as I pivot and run.

His voice is a growl as he calls out to me, everything soft gone, traded for liquid malevolence–a warning.

My boots knock loudly against the dock as I barrel toward the closest boat.

Old habits die hard, I suppose, as I rush into it, my heart slamming to my throat as a man steps out, making me collide against him.

“Please, I-I have coin. I need to go now!” I plead, my hands shaking as I try to extract myself from his rough grip.

The man laughs, the bold sound only attracting more attention to us. He carries on like that for mere seconds, but they seem to drag on for a lifetime until the sound dies abruptly, his scruffy face paling as he looks behind me. “Lord Onogahara.”

My entire body trembles as he all but flings himself away.

I glance behind me, knowing who I’ll find here, but nothing…

nothing could’ve prepared me for the changes in him.

His eyes are swallowed entirely in black, so much so, it seems to bleed from his irises onto his skin.

The dark veining on his neck lengthened, curling upward toward his lips like networked serpents. “Syringa, come. ”

His voice worms into my chest, making my heart shudder as I turn away from him.

It’s hard, harder than it should be, like ripping off a bandage.

“I need passage. I can work.” Shame fills my gut, making it churn as I take a step closer to the man.

My hand falls limp between us as I reach for his chest, only for him to take another step back.

“I…” My words feel like glass in my throat.

“If it is not coin you require, I am good for other means of pay–”

My words cut off abruptly as I’m jerked back, hauled against Elric’s chest with jarring violence. “Leave. Now.”

“I-Lord Onogahara, we haven’t finished stocking for this trip.” The man urges.

“You will fare better at the mercy of the ocean than mine.”

My blood heats where it should chill, his spice and cedar cloying around me as I’m hurled back toward the main road like nothing more than a leaf on the wind.

His words lay credence to his earlier vow.

Although his intentions might be good, he’s dragging me to the exact place I need to be away from.

“I can’t be here!” I hiss under my breath, minding the growing sets of eyes on us. “I need to go, now!”

His eyes slam down to mine, soaking up my panic with deep pools of ink before his head snaps to the side as if he’s hearing something I can’t.

No amount of wrenching frees me from his grasp, like my plight is no more substantial than a gnat as I upset my hood.

The townspeople suddenly avert their eyes as I struggle in his grasp, making their stance on helping clear.

“Told you I seen her! Captain!”

“Oh god.” I whimper, where my hands were struggling, pulling and slapping seconds ago, I cling, pressing myself deeper into his chest. My eyes turn to his, pleading, for what?

I’m not sure. His annoyed stoic expression shifts, again robbing what little air I have in my lungs before the sound of boots on the wooden pier breaks the electrified tension.

I can feel something moving behind my back, long and serpentine.

It seems to writhe and vibrate in barely concealed anger.

The thought should terrify me, but not more than the Captain.

The idea of being on that boat…I know this time I will not fare as well as the first.

“Molly.” His lips tickle my ear, a rough breath leaving me as I feel the prick of something sharp, something drips, heating and tingling my skin. “What does this man want with you?”

“I-I need passage on a boat, anything, Lord–” I cut off my butchered attempt at his last name . “Please.” My stomach churns as Captain Faine stomps closer, his ruddy face red and assured.

Elric’s arms flex around me. “When you said you were hiding in the cottage, is he why?” I gasp as he tugs me deeper into him. So deep it almost hurts. “His scent is familiar to me. I smelled him on you that first night. Tell me, Molly, did you offer him your–”

“Better to offer than for it to be taken!” I hiss.

“Release me now!” The moment those words leave my mouth, I realize I didn’t mean them.

That I would rather be gripped in this monster's arms than stand alone in front of the captain. Something deep and guttural bubbles in his chest, a growl that makes my stomach flip as it rumbles against my flesh, but he obeys. Much to my relief, he doesn’t go far, keeping close, so much so that a simple shift would have my back brushing his broad chest. By the time the enraged captain reaches us, his sour breath wars with spice and cedar and makes me wonder how I’d ever stomached it.

“This woman is my ward! She’s a stowaway on my boat, and I have half a mind to return her to where I found her.

Did you think I would just sail away without the coin you promised me! ?”

“I-I don’t–” I shudder, frustration building in my chest.

“She is no longer your concern. ”

The captain's head snaps up, taking in the man at my back for the first time. That alone seems to lessen the color in his ruddy cheeks and some of his bravado. “Found another cock to keep you, eh? She owes me a fucking debt.”

Elric ignores him, but I can feel the anger rolling off him like it’s a physical thing as he leans in, whispering to me again, “Shall I kill him for you, little human?”

My pulse hiccups, his lips brushing my ear, sending goosebumps over my flesh.

You will come to no harm when I’m near.

Perhaps it’s the naivety of spending my whole life locked away in the desert, or my desperation, but I believe him. His earlier vow ringing in my ears, even so, what makes my belly tighten is my hesitation.

Do I want the captain dead?

Yes, yes, I do.

“The hell is wrong with the freaky people in this damned town! I AM OWED A DEBT!”

“Your word, Molly…” he urges, “it would be nothing, truly.”

“No.” I breathe out, forcing the word from my throat.

“You’re lying, syringa.”

Faine’s face pales, his hand slapping to his chest as he grows unsteady on his feet.

Elric straightens, brushing even closer to me. “She is under my employ now. Any debts she incurred are mine. Name your price.”

“Seven gold coin,” the captain forces out, looking a little worse for wear.

“Liar! I promised you twenty silver.” I spit at the panting man.

“Done. Do not return to Port Clyde.”

“Elric, that’s too much,” I whisper, wishing the world would swallow me whole .

He snaps at the driver of his coach, one I hadn’t realized had followed our entire ordeal.

My eyes widen at the younger man. His face alone seems to radiate light and his skin an unearthly bronze hue, his eyes drifting across me briefly.

I look to the captain to see if he’s as shocked as I am, but Elric’s hand brushes my waist, lingering on my hip bone with a featherlight touch.

My senses pinpoint on his hand. My breath coming lighter for it.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now tell me, what comforts do you lack? ”

“Oh… I suppose an inn would have–”

“No. My home is vast–”

“No.” I echo. “If an inn is not possible, the cottage suits me fine.”

I can feel it now, that quietness that’s plagued me my whole life. When things become too much and my mind separates from me, allowing the upsetting feelings to happen to someone else, something else… but still my heart pounds in my chest.

He sighs, simply moving on. Leading me toward the humble storefronts. “Your intention was to come here and earn coin, yes? Then work for me.”

“What work would you have me do?” My heart flutters, palms slickening with my nerves, given what I’d just offered the other man.

“First supplies, yes? If you do not wish to stay in my manor, the cottage will need work. Handiness is not in your skill set.” The outright confirmation he’s been watching and stalking me all this time flushes my cheeks, that strange, slick tightening back in my core.

I feel him tense beside me, his lips quirking ever so slightly before he throws open the door of the small shop, urging me inside.

When I glance back, it's to find a towns person helping the captain. Their terrified, angry glares point at the bored-looking bronze man as he all but tosses a bag of coin to the deathly pale man, bowed over, gripping his chest.

Elric

Molly tucks her hair behind her ear, the long strands riotous now that they're free from her hood. My cold, unmoving heart willing itself to thump as she runs her hands over the painting cart, her eyes glued to the easel beside it.

“Elric, I have five in stock. These colors only.”

Reluctantly, I turn my attention back to the old woman, her back hunched. One of the few in this town who would address me so casually or at all, really. She’d never had the common sense to be scared like the rest of them. “I’ll take them.”

“As if there is not an entire wardrobe at your castle.” The warning look I cast her earns me a lofty roll of her eyes. “Would be cheaper, all I’m saying. So many pretty gowns going to waste.”

“Yes, therein lies the problem. You speak.”

My eyes scan the case of jewelry, most of it cheaply made, nothing compared to the historical pieces in my home. Not that it matters. I could drape her in the crown jewels, and she would pale every diamond. “Molly, which do you like?”

She turns from the easel, wide green eyes falling to me before scanning the case with a furrowed brow.

Irritation flames my chest. They aren’t good enough.

The offering seems so meager compared to what she deserves.

“I only require what is needed to live. The dresses are still too much, the jewelry is–”

“Few would decline an offer from the vampire lord of Port Clyde. I remember back when I was young and supple, it was I who he– ”

“You mean the time you tried to steal from me, and I nearly decapitated you in my stairwell?”

My attention snaps back to Molly, her eyes widening further now that she has a title to match the monster in front of her.

The old woman groans as she stands, letting loose a cackle, but my attention is on the furrowed brow of my reluctant companion as she all but storms toward the glass case, smashing her finger blindly onto the top. “This one.”

My fangs prod my bottom lip, holding my smile at bay. “Very well, syringa.”

Her eyes meet mine, cheeks flushed with a pale pink.

It’s the same color every time. My tendrils flex underneath my coat.

The damned things are desperate to lock and writhe across her soft flesh.

To seek out her warmth. It’s been so long since I stepped foot off my estate.

It’s hardly necessary anymore. The humans seek me out when they need me, and despite their hatred and disgust, they always need me.

Be it for the company I keep or funds. They hate me, but I am synonymous with their beloved town.

For so long, we’ve nearly become one and the same.

A rumor, a horror story passed down through generations.

It makes me wonder about the supernaturals outside the foggy border. Have they long since faded, too?

Molly’s eyes leave mine, casting a rueful look at the older woman I’ve all but tuned out.

“…bartered a ham cutlet for this last season.” She crones, fishing the simple necklace from the case, but I don’t miss the way she eyes Molly with nothing short of calculated interest.

A growl builds in my throat as I close the distance between us, reaching out for the jewelry. She hands it over quickly. “Your golden man going to settle your tab?” She eyes said man outside the store with a glimmer in her eye .

I ignore it as I hold the necklace out to the woman in front of me.

The smell of lilac bleeds into my bones, surrounding me as she shifts her waterfall hair to the side, baring her neck.

She has no clue the temptation it holds as she waits, allowing me to adorn her.

The older woman stalks off, preparing the things I’ve bought as my little human's eyes peek back at me.

“I didn’t get the impression you had many friends here.” She asks quietly.

I smirk. “I do not.”

“She seemed…friendly with you.”

“Yes, she never had much in the way of sense.”

“You’ve known her a long time.” She retorts as I step closer, seeking her warmth. “That makes you friends.”

“No, that makes her a sustainable meal source.”

Her eyes widened at that, a flush building on her cheeks.

Perhaps I could’ve been more tactful with my words.

Perhaps my hands lingered too long on her slender neck, feeling her pulse thrumming under my fingers after a statement like that.

Perhaps I cannot focus when she makes my mouth water and soul hum.