𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄:
A new life
(1831)

IF CONFUSION IS A SUBSTANCE LACED WITH NARCOTICS, then Eloise is sure she is having a surfeit.

She awoke from what felt like torture, a deep endless slumber filled with pain and agony, and begged herself to wake up, to open her eyes, to fight whatever is happening to her, to her body.

Her eyes scanned the scene in front of her; an outpouring of emotions greeted her; amazement, wonder, and, most of all, confusion dominated any other emotions she was feeling.

Everything is clearer than before. Detailed is the word that'll bring justice to what she is seeing.

Dust particles floating in mid-air that she swore lightly glimmered, the seams of the bedding she's been laying on the piece of fabric between the edge of the material and the stitches are visible, that she can almost feel the texture just by looking.

Another sense is what caught her attention. Her hearing is much more audible; she could hear the ruffling leaves of trees outside, the whooshing of air from the strong current, the serene sound of the nearby falls, and the water. It was gushing over the rocks, surging and plunging down the mountain.

"You are oddly calm for a newborn," A voice, smooth as honey, its sweetness drizzling with every spoken word, caught her attention.

She looks over her shoulder, and her breath hitches.

A woman with hair as black as the night sky, skin that had an endless golden glow, her eyes were crimson red so that it reminded her of her blood.

"I beg your pardon?" Eloise asks, her voice hoarse and dried. She must have misheard what the woman said.

A newborn? She's eighteen, as far as she remembers, far from a newborn babe.

"Pardoned," The woman chuckles and grins at her as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"You're a newborn vampire," she bluntly says. No use in stringing her along; she'll know sooner or later, so why prolong it?

Eloise then laughs. She then stops, her own laughter surprising her at how angelic it sounded.

When it escaped her lips, she then looks at the woman and says, "You must think me a fool. Vampires are mere folktales for children,"

"Then perhaps you have another interpretation of what you were observing before I made my presence known."

She furrowed her eyebrows, considering the woman's statement.

And it dawned upon her that her senses were heightened.

She then looked down at her body. Her skin was flawless, ivory, and creamy. She then scanned her left thigh where a scar lingered just above her knee and saw none, no signs of imperfection whatsoever.

"Well?" The woman asks, rather impatiently but not annoyed. But no, she's not annoyed or impatient, she's curious about how the newly awakened newborn is ignorant of what she is feeling at the back of her throat, and she is intrigued, nonetheless.

"I don't understand..." Eloise tries to say something, anything, yet fails to do so.

She is out of words as of the moment, shock and confusion taking over her body.

"Of course, you do not. I haven't explained anything, have I? My name is Maria, the woman who saved you from the brink of death," she simply says. And it is far from simple if Eloise is being asked.

And then the events from before flashed before her eyes.

The ambush.

A man shot her father, her mother, and then her. Eloise's hand flashed to her stomach, searching for the bullet wound, but finding none.

It is not possible. She thought to herself.

"I'm supposed to be dead," Eloise mutters quietly, yet still, the woman hears her.

"And you are not. I changed you before you enter death's door. " Maria interferes, walking towards her, her movements graceful yet calculated, most of all weary.

"You're fortunate I was there,"

"Turning into a creature of the night that was supposed to be a mere myth is not what I desire. This was not supposed to happen. My life was not supposed to be like this..." Eloise trails off, feeling utterly helpless.

None of this is what she wished for.

Apparently, the fates have their own way of ignoring her.

Maria then says, "Dearest, can you not see this opportunity for you to live a second life? The life you always sought?"

Eloise looks at her and scoffs with a shake of her head in disagreement, "How can I live with the thought of being this?" She asks as she looks at her body and continues, "If the myths are true, vampires drink blood, and there is only one way of getting what we truly desire...To kill."

Maria almost pitied her. But one thing is certain: for a woman like Eloise, she doesn't want to be pitied. "Yes, There is no denying that for us to survive truly is to kill, but not all life deserves to live,"

Eloise looks at her in shock. She must misunderstand her again; she is not truly suggesting that. "Even so, the guilt will eat me whole,"

Maria sits beside her, takes her hand, and says, "You will get used to it. Trust me,"

Eloise purses her plush lips. She will not and will never get used to the idea of killing a human, taking a life for her to live on her own.

And all she could ever do is pray to the heavens above, asking for forgiveness for living a life she did not choose...or so she thought.

"Come, it's admirable that you lasted this long. A newborn not being hectic without blood as they awoke," Maria says, dragging her to her feet.

I made a good choice. Maria thinks to herself that the blonde woman has already impressed her not even an hour after she has awoken.

And that is when Eloise felt it. The hunger. She held a hand to her throat, feeling it was painfully dry as if every breath she inhaled felt terrible.

"Odd. Now that I mentioned it, is how you noticed your own hunger," Maria tells her, and Eloise stays silent as they go outside the tent.

The sun was setting, and the night making itself known.

"Let's get you a meal,"

With that statement, Eloise felt disturbed and disgusted. But she cannot deny the hunger that she feels.

•| ⊱✿⊰ |•

ELOISE HATED IT. SHE HATED HOW SHE LOVED THE TASTE OF HUMAN BLOOD.

And the mere thought of it made her want more.

It sickened her, yet all she could think about was how sweet it tasted, how smooth the liquid glided on her tongue, how it tasted like warm honey, and how it made her feel powerful.

Maria was the one who lured the human she fed on. Maria suggested a hunt, but the blonde woman disagreed.

Why would she want to frighten the person? Isn't killing them enough?

She had her first kill; it'll truly hunt her forever.

Maria explained the knowledge she gained over the century of being the creature of the night.

She dismissed the accusations of a vampire burning in the sun, coffins, garlic, and stakes.

There is only one way to truly end a vampire: by ripping their body parts off and burning them.

Maria told her about the Volturi.

A coven of the most powerful vampires in their world, and that they should stay far away from them.

They inflicted a law that is passed by word of mouth from vampire to vampire.

Hunts must be inconspicuous, victims who were unlikely to be missed, and their remains must be disposed of, and the territory must be changed then.

Incapable of self-control and, therefore, a threat to exposure. Immortal children are not to be created. Such creation is the ultimate taboo and punishable by death to both the child, the creator and those who defended the child and those who knew of its existence.

Dealing with werewolves or shapeshifters, except for the intent, is also punishable by death.

Hunting is forbidden in Volterra. The town is the residence of the Volturi.

Attention should not be drawn, and vampires should not be noticed in open sunlight.

The creator is responsible for its newborn's behavior and teaching the law before they can be released on their own.

And lastly, a vampire's interaction with the humans must not draw wide attention. If a human becomes aware of them, the vampire at fault would be responsible for silencing that human. This mostly leads to two options: Make the human join the immortals or silence the human permanently.

Secrecy is what the Volturi valued most. Eloise doubts that a human would believe them if they told them they were vampires, because her kind is said to be a myth, a mere folktale, but apparently not.

"Rest. Training starts tomorrow at dawn," Maria says as she walks away from the tent that Eloise now resides in.

Training. Eloise is shocked that what Maria had planned for her all along was to be her second-in-command for her to take over territories from other vampires.

Power. Maria said that is the reason she was doing this.

Nonetheless, Maria promised her that she would give her the freedom that she craved just as blood, with limits, the woman quickly added.

It's freedom. How can she complain? Yet, is she truly free?