Page 37 of These Eternal Bones

Minor Concussions & Major Misdeeds

Elric

It is a divine sort of pain, the one I endure.

I had once thought very little could make me afraid.

Fate had seen it fit to wipe away any of those notions as frivolous as they were.

My fangs prod my bottom lip, nicking the flesh as I lie beside her, copper strands still smelling faintly of blood and lilac.

It’s been a day, a full rising and falling of the sun, and she has not yet woken.

The town doctor’s urine still permeates the room despite having long been cleaned up after I rushed him up here.

I’d called the golden man to stay by her side before I all but flew down the mountain, blurring into his local office and ripping him from his patient with my tendrils.

It was impolite .

She would disapprove.

He’d acted quickly enough after he was on solid ground, vomiting once outside before I rushed him up to our rooms. He’d soiled himself after he watched one of my tendrils form into a spike aimed straight for his temple after he’d told me there was nothing he could do.

It was a minor concussion, and she should wake soon.

I kept him just in case.

My tendrils prod and wrap around her gently.

Whether to comfort me or her, I am unsure.

My chest is aching. The whispers of her echo in my mind, the screams of that night.

The first death, the one that triggered so many.

Terrible misdeeds born from greed. Seeking to give her everything, I took it instead.

I want to do the right thing, to make the right choice, answering the questions that brought her to the top of that damned ladder…

but the idea of admitting one's sins seems too great a risk. Hunger rides me as venom fills my engorged fangs. So much so, I’d taken to milking them nightly.

The need to cement the bond will win out soon.

It almost already had. My love lay there on the ground, sprawled, her breath shallow, and my mind couldn’t seem to get past sinking my fangs into her breast. Tying her to me so that I could feel what she did, so that she did not have to experience it alone.

It is a selfish desire, but I am a selfish being.

The depths of which she will soon know. I have made up my mind, I think, long before her soul returned to me.

I had decided all those centuries ago, as I held her soft body, long gone, rigid and devoid of warmth, that the next time would be different.

That it is worth the hatred in her eyes over the glossy nothingness I am tormented by.

I have many things to atone for. What’s one more?

Molly

Pain blooms something awful in my temple as I shift, my mouth parched and my mind fuzzy.

“Selkie, fetch the doctor. She’s waking,” a growly voice comes.

It sounds terrifying, but my chest warms at the baritone.

Chilled hands cup my face, stroking my cheeks in featherlight passes.

It tickles and I wish to swat it away, but not far.

I’d like the hands to stay close. There are…

a lot of hands, all of me being touched at once in soft but frantic passes.

A choked scream pushes my eyes open. They greet a pair of horrified, wide blue eyes.

The older man trembles as Elric’s tendril wraps around his neck.

“Stop!” I croak, my eyes snap toward Elric, his eyes bleeding black into pale flesh.

It’s that same animalistic, primal look in his eyes, the one that tracks without thought or care.

“Elric!” He looks at me then. The sound his tendril is making on the man's neck makes bile rise in my gut. “Let him go.”

He does, his eyes never leaving the man as he bows over, choking.

“I must touch her to ensure she is okay, Lord Onogahara. I will not harm her.” The man looks at me with pleading, terrified eyes, but my brain is still catching up to the world around me.

I remember falling off the ladder, hitting the ground, and–

The books!

I reach out with tingly, weak arms, snagging a tendril and jerking it to me.

The man doesn’t budge until I give it another two tugs.

When he relents, his eyes finally leaving who I’m assuming is a doctor, he blurs, his face inches from mine.

“Come back to me,” I whisper, emotion clogging my voice.

I cup his face, trying my best not to move my throbbing skull.

It’s not a quick change that overcomes him, more like someone slowly dragging a film from over his eyes. He’s sluggish and quiet when he speaks next. “I have gone nowhere.”

The rest of the exam is spent with a trembling doctor, and a sudden burst of growls and snarls every time I wince.

It is nothing short of a miracle that the man leaves with his head intact, escorted to the front by Elric and Tien.

Most of my vampire’s manners return to him as he speaks to the newly excited doctor about compensation for his time, as well as much needed updated equipment for his clinic.

I know it has little to do with Elric’s nonexistent care of the people, and everything to do with wanting to give me the best, should the need arise. Nonetheless, it is a positive thing.

I collapse back on the bed, the pain medication acting quicker than I had hoped.

While every blink still tugs at my temples, I was given a clean bill of health.

Despite having slept for a full day, I drift off until the clearing of a throat jars me awake.

My eyes snap open, meeting a pair of golden bronze ones. “Cartiel…”

A long and awkward silence fills the room. For the first time, the man looks…uncomfortable instead of annoyed. “I–” he cuts himself off before clearing his throat. “You are well.”

I frown. “Uh, yes, thank you…for the heads up about the ladder,” I offer carefully, making his eyes finally meet mine.

He just nods, the man acting all manner of odd before he jerks something from his back, tossing it on the floor with a loud thump before leaving abruptly.

I gasp, jarring my knotted scalp, my feet tangling in the blankets as I rush over to the stack of books.

But not just any books, the books. My heart pounds as I panic, my eyes darting everywhere before I find my trunk of paints.

As much as it pains me to shove them in there, I’m at a loss for better options.

My breath is leaving me in tiny, quiet huffs as I scoop out a book sized hole in the middle, cringing as I shove them in.

I can already tell some paints will mar the covers of the worn leatherbacks now, without the paper wrapping it’d seen them in before.

I bury them, slamming the top shut and slamming myself down on top of it just as Elric blurs into the room, his face incensed.

“You should be in bed, not worrying over paints,” he growls, making my heart flutter and eyes widen as I’m gently snatched off the trunk and laid back amongst the mussed covers.

“The Nephilim was here.” It’s not a question, so I don’t bother denying it.

“Cartiel.” I nod, making me wince.

“Why?” The sound is eerie, carried off his tongue in an unnatural way.

He needs to feed, but I know trying to convince him to do so with me injured is a lost cause, so I don’t comment on it. Not yet. “He was checking on me.”

Elric quirks a brow at that before settling beside me on the bed.

My breath comes just a little easier, but I don’t miss the way his eyes dart to the thudding pulse in my neck.

It feels horrid lying to him. But what feels worse is watching him tormented as he is, knowing how much suffering has blackened him over the years.

Imagining how he’ll react once I’m gone.

It’s not a choice in my mind, there’s not a question of when .

I simply must stay, if only to keep him…

intact, whole for a while longer. My eyes land on the trunk as he tugs me gently to him, wrapping me in his cool embrace.

I need answers, and thanks to someone I’m nearly certain hates me, I might finally have them.