Two men sat in a dim room. One, blonde with ice blue eyes and an annoyed and irritated look on his face. The other, a frail old man with grey eyes that had no pupils. His face sagging in wrinkles around thin, dry lips. His nose was long and hooked as it cast a shadow, hiding most of the right half of his face.
"She'll turn twenty-one in three days."
"What should I expect?" Elijah asked.
"On the day of her birthday she will burn with a fever that will make her body feel on fire and frozen at the same time. One the second day she will lose consciousness, trembling and sweating while she sleeps. She will have dreams of her body being broken, rebuilt, and broken again. On the third day she will finally die. Throughout these days her powers will manifest." He took a deep breath as though it was difficult for his lungs to do such a demanding amount of speech. "If she wields fire, she may burn the bed she lays on. Ice; she may freeze those around her. Any number of things could happen as no one knows exactly how powerful she'll be. We do not know who her parents are therefore we do not know the amount of purity that runs through her." His voice began to crackle as he spoke and picked up a glass of water, wetting the dry lips that touched the rim.
"What can I do?"
"Keep others away. The less amount of people being privy to the transformation the better it will be. You, yourself, may be harmed in the process should you stay by her. Of course you won't die, due to your mother. However, it could still be painful."
Elijah stood, his old wooden chair creaking from the decrease in weight straining it. He cleared his throat and said, "If that is all, I will leave you to your rest, Hazazel."
Hazazel looked up at the mean, his wrinkled eyelids covering parts of his empty eyes.
"I wish you the best. Not many in your position would take on marrying one of us."
With that Elijah left the frail old man.
Alissa woke to Rosita dropping a tray of tea on her nightstand.
"Goodmorning, my lady." She said, using the new title given by her new standing as the married woman of the lord. "I have brought you tea before you depart."
"Just where am I going? I have no recollection of anyone saying I was leaving."
"The lord has insisted on your appearance in the study. He wishes to take you to town. Bathe and get dressed."
Rosita left Alissa to prepare. Alissa didn't want to be anywhere near her new husband. She had already known she had no say in what happened to her but a little foreknowledge before signing her life away would have been nice.
She ran a bath and looked in the mirror at herself. Her eyes looked hollow. All fight had left her. Last night she had laid in bed coming to terms with the fact that there was no point in denying it anymore. Her voice didn't matter.
After bathing she decided on wearing a dress fit for a lady of a lord. It was a dark red with white rose designs around her chest. It flowed from her waist with a shimmering look like sun on the snow. It was strapless, leaving her neck and shoulders bare. She put her hair up with white pins adorned with roses. She never had the chance to look like anything other than a maid so she decided she might as well try to enjoy the things that came with marrying this demon.
A knock notified Elijah that someone would be entering his study. He wanted to show Alissa what he could offer her. Give her some sort of joy before her birthday tomorrow. She had no knowledge of what she really was, having grown up with humans. He wondered what she would to them once she found out she was so much more. He envied her. The power she would gain. Yes, he would use it to his advantage, but he had just married a woman who may be able to light him on fire with flick of her wrist.
Alissa glided into the room, Rosita shutting the door behind her. The dress she wore hugged her curves before billowing out around her legs. The pale skin of her neck enticing him. He knew she was beautiful but she had never worn anything like this before. He kept his composure, not letting any of his thoughts peirce his foreboding look.
She kept her head down, not meeting his gaze. He could tell her fire had died out and for some reason that pissed him off. He walked past her, holding the door open for her to follow. Silently, she did, which only pissed him off more. He hadn't realized how much he enjoyed her playful jabs and punches.
In the car, Alissa stared down at her hands in her lap. She didn't want to look at the sky, the birds flying free through open blue oases. She didn't want to look at the flowers that grew without constriction. She didn't want to be reminded of things she would never have. Elijah let off an aura of dangerous rage and she couldn't understand it. She had married a man who was never pleased. He was angry when she talked back and even angrier when she didn't. She knew that Rosita had said he had never hit one of the maid's before but she now tasted fear, raw and deadly on her tongue.
From the corner of her eye, she could see he had one strong hand tapping on his right knee as he sat next to her, staring out his window. The silence was slick with deadly hate. Why had he married her? She had no title, no beauty, absolutely nothing to give him.
The car stopped and Samuel got out, letting Alissa out of her side before Elijah. She stood still, waiting to be told what to do next. She felt his presence before she heard him. Ice that burned penetrating her skin.
"What do you like to do?"
She figured he was asking someone else but silence overwhelmed the atmosphere.
"Alissa." His voice brought her head to look at him, his frozen eyes staring into hers as though she were a little girl being chastised by her father. He lifted his hand, gesturing in front of them. "I asked you a question."
"Oh..." she paused. She had never been asked such a thing before and had no idea what to say as she didn't know what she would want to do out near the markets and restataunts.
"I like to read." She whispered, looking down.
"Is marrying me such a tragedy that it has broken you completely?" His voice was like salt in her wounds.
"It isn't that it's you." She looked up at him, then. "I apologize. I honestly don't know what I like to do."
He sighed then. "How would you like to spend your birthday, then? You must have done something to commemorate it." He was getting impatient. Here he was trying do something nice and even that went awry.
"It's my birthday?" She asked, confusion written on her face.
"You didn't know ma'am? It's tomorrow." Samuel had informed her.
"I've never celebrated it. I've honestly never know."
She held back the ache in her throat. How old was she, then? Did they know? How had they known it was her birthday when she didn't even know?
"You'll be turning twenty one." Elijah's gruff voice added. He wasn't looking at her, staring off at the stores and buildings that lie ahead. Something dark crossed his face for just a second. A haunted expression.
"How old are you?" She asked him.
"Twenty nine."
"When is your birthday?"
He looked down at her, surprise changing the usual angry features. "May seventh."
"Oh. And mine is November seventh. Six months apart exactly. If you don't count the years." She stared off, lost in thought. She once imagined what people did on their birthdays. Were there balloons? Celebrations? Or was it just a simple song around a cake with candles? Were there others like her who never even knew what day to celebrate?
"We'll have lunch, first." he stated before grabbing her hand and gracefully walking toward the buildings. As they walked she felt a prickly feeling where his skin touched hers. His skin was soft against hers. Whereas hers was rough in comparison from doing the chores of her household.
She looked at the windows of the stores as they walked by when they came across a technology supply. Televisions glared bright colors at her and her eyes widened. She had seen them before, of course, but she was never allowed to watch. Sometimes she listened through the walls as her parents watched TV at night, trying to picture what the images on the screen might look like.
"Is there a TV in the manor?" she asked, wondering why she hadn't asked sooner.
"Yes, in the den." His voice conveyed no emotion, a monotonous stating of fact. She would ask Rosita to show her there once they returned.
The three sat at a table in a fancy restataunt as they peered through the menu. Everything had weird names and she couldn't figure out what to get. The waiter came by for their selections and she was wide eyed with uncertainty.
"Three chicken cordon bleu with your finest Chardonnay, thank you." Elijah ordered for the three of them. Though she was grateful at not having to stumble through it, she was upset at having yet another choice taken from her. Dejected, she handed the waiter her menu and stared down at her hands once again.
After eating, they meandered through the shops for a while, Alissa still silent through the entire hour. Everything she looked at for too long was bought by Samuel. She supposed having her eyes gaze at something given to her was somewhat of a choice and perked up a bit.
That night, Rosita, Layla, Samuel and Alissa sat in the den on large couches as they watched cartoons on the TV. Alissa was mesmerized and enthralled with them. Finally smiling after the day of being toted around the town. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for the gifts and the food and thought. It was just exhausting being around such a mountain of pure hate all that time.
Rosita and Layla departed for the night as it was Layla's bed time and Samuel followed suit not long after. Alissa clicked through the channels, settling on a movie about shining vampires and a moody teen. She feel asleep on the couch with dreams of sunlight and strawberry blond hair.
This novel has been featured on Encouraging Originals in the Original block of the featured section! As a Thank You I'm releasing this chapter as a surprise Sunday release! I love you all! Thanks for reading!