Chapter Eighteen.

Picking up the last piece of steak with my fork, I popped it into my mouth and chewed happily. Adamus was watching me, but I had tried to ignore it; since he’d been watching me since I walked into his office. Taking a small drink of water, I cleared my throat and smiled at him.1

“Thank you.”2

“Any time,” He returned my smile. 3

“So… you make it seem like the past few weeks of my life have been full of lies.”4

“Well, not all, but most of them seem to be, yes.” Adamus took a sip of the red wine he had in front of him before continuing. “You caught my eye at the Midnight Ball, and after I saw you scratching your fingers, I decided to have a conversation with Gregory about it.”5

“Why Gregory?” I asked.6

“Because, as the head of the household, he always knows what’s going on.”7

“Gregory knew?” My mind flashed back to my encounter in his office. 8

“Of course he knew. Dedrick thrives on the thought that he can outsmart the eldest Rochester. However, the boy seems to continually forget that Gregory has his spot of power for a reason.” Adamus shook his head and sighed.9

“I thought they were all like a family.”10

“They’re supposed to be, but Dedrick has done a number on things around the Rochester household. We used to be close friends, before,” He paused, looking down at his hands for a moment. “Before Amellion killed his parents.”11

“What does that have to do with your friendship?”12

“Well, I was Amellion’s protégé.” Adamus said, his eyes on his wine glass.13

“Alright… so, where do I come into all of this?” I asked, and his eyes rose to level with mine.14

“You’re the daughter of the man who killed his parents; the one man who was so powerful that no one could stop him.” 15

“By the way you’re saying “was” I assume someone apparently did stop him.” I said.16

“Amellion lived for love. He did his best to make petty relationships work, but most of them failed. However, when he met Eileen… things changed. He did everything for that woman; he lived for that woman. When we found out that Eileen despised him, he committed suicide.”17

“Vampires can commit suicide?” I asked18

“It’s not something I like discussing,” Adamus shifted uncomfortably. “But yes, it is possible.”19

“I see.” I bowed my head slightly. The sadness I felt was strange to me; I’d never even met the man and now he was gone. I really had no father.20

“His power lies within you, Amelia, and it is my belief that Dedrick wished to use that power for his own benefit against his enemies.” Adamus gestured towards a servant that was perched against a wall, who ran over and refilled Adamus’s wine glass. He took a long sip before speaking again. “So you are now faced with top options. Either you run and hide – and I do mean hide; dye your hair, change your total appearance, your name and your way of speaking as well as the scent of your blood and get out of the country.”21

My eyes widened at all of this, and Adamus read my surprise as my way of denying that option.22

“Or, you can allow me to guide you through the change.”23

“Why are you offering me so much help?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and eyeing him suspiciously; I wasn’t going to let another Vampire tell me he was in love with me when he didn’t even know me.24

“Because my rose brought you to me, and that makes me your guardian; a protector, if you will. It is my duty to make sure you are safe.”25

I bit my lower lip, thinking over the things he had said and trying to weigh out the chances of whether or not to believe him. Once again, I had two options, but this time it was different. I was tired of being the innocent little one caught in the middle; it wasn’t fair and it degraded me. Adamus sat there, looking at me with even eyes – he had given me options and he hadn’t even said I had to love him for it.26

I knew my decision.27

“So do you know if it hurts?” I asked from behind my dressing screen as I pulled on what looked like a wet suit.28

“We, I’ve only watched it happen once… and that was a long time ago.” Said the old woman who had woken me up. She told me her name was Rita.29

“You mean you’ve never experienced it?” I asked, fumbling with the zipper on the back as I looked at my reflection. The suit was skin tight and it hugged my curves greedily with a few diamond-shaped openings at my belly button, the back of my hands, my elbows, the back of my calves, and had a cut opened at my chest.30

“No dear, I’m just a human, and most of the Vampires around here were mostly born that way.”31

“A human servant to Vampires,” I mused, stepping out from behind the screen.32

“Yes, I’ve been working for the Dracul family since I was a little girl.”33

“Neat. Do I really have to wear this thing?” I asked as Rita took my hand and led me from the room.34

“I’m afraid so, dear, but it’s only to preserve your modesty. Some people tend to go insane when they first change over – they’ll rip their clothes right off! It’s just for the period in which you lose your sanity.”35

“Oh, well now I feel much better,” I moaned. 36

We came upon two large glass doors, which slid open when Rita knocked on them. The room was completely white, with a few machines in it and a metal table in the middle. I tried my best to keep myself calm. Adamus had his back to me, but two other men stood facing me with small smiles One of them had spiked white hair, and the other’s white hair framed his face just like Adamus’s bangs had – only it wasn’t any longer than Adamus’s bangs. Their ice-blue eyes held mine in silence until Adamus finally turned around.37

“Ah, Amelia, these are my brothers – Ray and Christopher,” Adamus introduced, and the two men nodded. 38

“Really? You’re related? I never would’ve guessed,” I said, and Rita laughed openly from behind me. Adamus chuckled with his brothers, who gave each other quick glances before turning their attention back to me.39

“Right,” The one with the shortest white hair began, clapping his hands together. “Let me explain this to you. The first thing we need you to do is step up here and sit on this sterile, metal table.”40

“It’s cold,” Adamus warned in an apologetic tone as he helped me up onto the table. I shivered as I sat down, even though I was somewhat cold, and I hoped the tight suit wouldn’t betray the signs of how cold I was. “My apologies.”41

“Ray here is going to place a heart monitor wire on your chest,” Christopher said, as the medium-length haired Ray came and stuck a small wire with a suction cup on the end to the skin that showed in the cut opening of my suit. “So that we can keep track of your heart rate.”42

“Christopher’s the smart one, in case you couldn’t tell,” Ray said, giving me a small smile as he pressed around the wire to make sure it would stay.43

“Could this kill me?” I asked, not to anyone in particular, but to the entire room. Christopher walked over to a glass cabinet and pulled out a few vials. 44

“It could, yes,” He said, walking back over to me and handing me a vial. “However, that would only happen if we did it wrong. Besides, you have strong blood in your veins; Amellion’s blood, and that should be able to carry you through the process.”45

The thought of dying still worried me, and I looked towards Adamus, but his face remained stoic. Christopher tapped on my hand and gestured towards vial and then to my lips. I sighed, looking down at the blue liquid for a moment before bringing it to my lips and downing the tasteless liquid. Nothing happened – no seizures, no fire and no pain; good.46

“I’m sure that you already know that this process involves you ingesting Adamus’s blood, yes?”47

I nodded, but paused. I couldn’t feel my neck or my hands or my stomach – which, until recently, had been hurting. My eyes widened and I heard the heart monitor start to beep a little faster. Adamus put his hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel anything.48

Christopher came back to the table with a large vial in his hand. Ray came around him and eased me back onto the cold metal, which I could no longer feel. I could see Ray above me as he held down my shoulders, but I couldn’t see Adamus anymore. Christopher leaned over me and told me not to worry as he pulled a cork from the vial. He looked towards Ray, who nodded, before he reached down and pulled my lips apart; opening my mouth.49

I smelled it before it even touched my tongue. The scent resembled metal and raw meat, and I heard my heart rate skyrocket as Christopher tipped the contents into my mouth quickly. It tasted awful, and I gagged and coughed loudly, but he put his hand over my mouth – forcing me to swallow the disgusting liquid. My breathing slowed as I began to calm myself. Christopher pulled away, but ray kept a firm hold on me. I looked up at them both with confused looks, but they remained silent.50

The sound started out quite at first – like far off locusts, but it soon got much louder. My eyes began watering as the shrill sound made my head pound. Christopher and Ray didn’t seem to be to be bothered by the noise that was causing me a hemorrhage. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to ignore the sound, but that didn’t last long. Suddenly, I could feel the liquid making its way down and across my body; it burned like fire. My body began to lurch and jolt and I opened my eyes a few times to see that everything was moving faster. Ray was yelling something to Christopher – who was watching the heart monitor closely.51

The shrill sound in my ears stopped, and I heard my deep, ragged breaths followed by a few painful sobs. The pain wouldn’t cease, and I felt the feeling coming back into my body. I shuddered and convulsed violently as I listened to the heart monitor beeping out of control as the pain increased. I yelled and screamed and cried, but nothing seemed to help.52

Christopher moved out of my sight and I felt the strong hands that had been holding down my legs let go of me. Adamus came into view and for a slight moment he smiled at me; then the pain took over, and I heard the heart monitor going on one steady beep; I was dying. My breathing halted and I stopped sobbing. I looked up at Adamus, but the whiteness was already taking over.53