Adela Gascoigne

The burning seemed ceaseless, the agony had finished consuming the outside of my body only to then conquer my insides. The pain began throbbing straight through my veins and into my heart, lingering and contorting my flesh.

I should have protected them.

I should have tried harder, fought harder, done anything harder to try and prevent what had happened. We should have moved, left, ran away somewhere else the second the whispers started.

But now I could only hope that death would finally come for me. The suffering had not been swift and it feels like I have been suffering for eternity. But maybe I would, maybe this was my eternal punishment for the sins of my life. I was supposed to be the pillar that would support my children, and yet I had failed them, something that would weigh down my soul.

The rage had not died out either. Any sadness or guilt that might have taken over my mind never seemed to really take over. Instead, my anger and loathing of the humans around me only seemed to be fueled by the agony in my veins.

I hoped that humanity would burn, just like I had buried before them. I wanted retribution for me and my family more than anything else yet it was just far outside of my reach.

The shock that went through my body felt like pure extinguishing relief.

It had stopped. The pain had finally stopped.

I thought that opening my eyes would lead to a blinding pain as the colour finally took over my vision, but instead, as I took in the sight before me I was met with a richness to my vision that I could have never imagined. I could see each particle of dust in the air if I focused, everything around me had so much more depth to it than it did before. My senses were overwhelmed by all the scents I could now register and by what I could perceive.

I could hear mumbling from people far away from me, and smell the forest air as clear as day. But most importantly as I came clearer to my mind was that I no longer needed to draw in breath. My heart had stopped just as Caius' heart has stopped.

I could sense a presence next to me and looking over I could now see Caius in such detail, his crimson eyes holding so much more complexity than they did before with flecks of black running through his iris. But I couldn't keep myself transfixed on the man before me.

"Where are they?" I sounded desperate even to myself as the fear began to freeze through my veins. But no quicker than I had asked the question the door burst open to show Alec and Jane.

"Mother" they called in unison before running to me, Jane on my left and Alec on my right. They looked as if the fire had not touched them. Although they had lost the youthful colour of their cheeks, they had gained a sort of ethereal childlike glow to them. They looked like young angels, with pale skin striking against their bloody eyes, if not for what I know now I would say they looked like fay children that you hear about in old wives tales.

But my heart could now have been more full of love at that moment if I had tried. My children were alive and well. Or at least undead and well, but nonetheless they were here with me and Caius and I swore to myself that I would never let anything happen to them again. We were almost crushing each other with how hard we were hugging but it couldn't be helped.

"I'm so glad that you two are okay" I whispered to them, almost scared that raising my voice any louder would break the serenity of the moment that we had created. Running my fingers through their hair I could also notice that it had become softer and silkier than it was before. They had changed greatly from before the fire, both physically and emotionally, but I suppose we all had. The trauma wasn't something that would just disappear overnight, and I was not foolish enough to think that it would, but it was something that could be worked on.

Interrupting us was a soft knocking at the door, and before I could gather my thoughts I had pulled the twins closer to me as a soft growling escaped my throat. My feral mind could only process as far as the unknown threat outside the door.

"Enter slowly Aro" Caius spoke commandingly, causing the inky-haired man to gently open the door. He stood far back from us with his hands held out before him to show that he meant no harm.

"I mean no harm, I am simply here to warn you that you might want to feed soon, it will help with the transition" No sooner than he had uttered his words a violent burning began clawing at my throat. The overstimulating awakening had meant that such trivial things as my hunger were easy to ignore, but now it had been brought to my attention the hunger was unbearable. The starving feeling deep in my stomach was painful but manageable. However, the feeling in my throat was much like that of being burned alive and I was becoming desperate to quench it.

"Let us go my love, we can let Aro teach the children how to hunt and I will teach you" His velvet voice was soft in my ears as he tried not to startle my newborn form. I couldn't control the hesitation in my expression, eyeing the leader before me before I reluctantly agreed.

"Do not worry my dear Adela, I will be as quick as we can and then I shall return them to your company" Aro spoke with a friendly smile. His words put me more at ease knowing I wouldn't be gone from them long.

But I allowed Caius to guide me, trusting that I could extinguish the burning soon.

Thank you for reading~