Turned By Him

Eventually Mirana came into the room. She was holding a framed picture of Devlin. Resting it on the table she said, “I wish we had one more chance.” She looked around the room. All of her children stared at her with wide eyes of anticipation. Even Eliza could feel the pressure on Mirana to say something, to give them the smallest amount of peace. “To a new year,” Mirana said after a moment of thought.

Eliza had almost forgotten that it was January. The silence became increasingly awkward. Many were shifting and stirring as if to return to their isolation. “We should do something” Eliza blurted out. The eyes of the room were now on her. “We should walk the city” she said eventually. Eliza wasn’t sure what they would do out in the busy streets, sidewalks and alleyways of Manhattan but she knew it would be better than staying in.

Fortunately Mirana backed the idea. “I have the perfect place in mind.”

The group of still sullen vampires cleaned themselves up and prepared for a night on town. Eliza tucked her hair into a black knit cap and dressed in fashionable but visibly warm clothes. Though she did not grow cold, she was learning the many ways vampire practiced “keeping the secret.” When the group finally ascended the stone stairway into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, their spirits were already higher. They created a low clatter of conversation as they tried to briskly leave the busy Cathedral. Once they were out in the night air, Mirana took the lead. Everyone paired up and they formed a small caravan which snaked its way through mounds of piled trash and snow on the sidewalk.

The walk was brief as Mirana led them into Rockefeller Plaza. The bronze statue of atlas was draped in soft snow which reflected the bright city lights. The coven rented and donned ice skates. While they laced up their skates, the groups chatter became a blusterous exclamation of excitement. Harper divulged that despite living so near, she had never skated in the iconic rink. Eliza, having grown up in Manhattan, had developed a great nostalgia around Rockefeller Plaza. She had visited it many times over the years. One of the last vivid memories she had of her father was in the plaza during the fall.

Once on the ice, Eliza and Tom held hands. Tom, while not falling down, was visibly less than comfortable on the ice. His shuffle made his inexperience obvious. Eliza skillfully swerved behind him. She let go of his hand and set both of her palms on his hips. She kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly. When she would feel him begin to stumble, she would hold his weight and pull him closer. As she did, one of George’s memories surfaced in her mind. The memory flashed in visceral feelings of love. Eliza was George, she was holding Heather’s small hands in her own. Heather was no older than 6. Eliza’s heart swelled with love and sadness. The little girl was so easily saved from falling, just as Tom now was in her arms. Moving back around, Eliza She held his hand tightly once more. Tom’s expressions of happiness were often visually interrupted by a frown or a grim rolling of his eyes. He still held her however, his sadness too overwhelming to give into true joy.

After about an hour on the ice, the group returned to Novum Sanguinem. They all sat around on the smoky red couches and talked in groups. Eliza sat between Harper and Trevor as they both argued over the true course of events in the story Harper had just told. The debate escalated to a playful shouting match which attracted the attention of the room. “That’s funny, neither of those ways seem to be how I remember it,” Mirana said in a sly tone. The coven erupted in laughter.

As Eliza watched Tom enjoy the company of his vampire family, Eliza realized that she was now as much a part of the NuBlood coven as anyone. Looking around the room, Eliza decided to give herself a memory. She closed her eyes tightly. When they opened again the conversation was silenced and the smiles everyone was wearing hung on their faces. Eliza had once again called on her dark gift to slow time. The jubilant feeling of family and happiness froze in the air between them. Eliza could feel the good vibes and family ties in the strange silence her pause created. She drank in the moment as if it were fresh and free blood from an artery. Eliza observed her new found family and considered what it meant to be an orphan. Her mother had died long ago and then her father. Her best friend and her father died last week. Yet for all her loss, Eliza had never felt so at home or surrounded by loved ones. She barely knew the rag tag team of young vampires. When her eyes fell on Tom however, she felt as though she had known him her whole life. He was frozen in time now; there was no way his dark gift was stretching into her mind. The love she felt for him was real. It did not dissipate or weaken the longer she held time in place. “Strangely, the love with the most power is the love with the most danger,” Eliza whispered the words as she mulled them over in her mind. She knew the words but could not recall where she heard them. As she whispered them into a darkness only she could hear, the words stuck in her throat with a strange sadness.

Eliza was a very young vampire and her new coven had very dangerous enemies. Her adventure into undeath had been a strange one and it was far from over. The rapidly cascading events of the past 7 days blurred together in her mind. When time eventually slipped back through the veil of her thoughts, Eliza knew that she had started another chapter in her life, a chapter which was not marked by becoming a vampire. The new pages of her life would surely have the word “vampire” scrawled across its surface. Eliza knew however, that the real benchmark was her love for Tom and her new family.

The end.