Dwellers in the Dark, Part V: Still here

Half-consciously Sheva’s hands wandered over the crumbling wallpapers and mouldering interior of Adam’s house, as she tried to suck in the essence of this place.

When finally her legs quit their service; she tiredly dropped onto the next chair, suddenly finding herself face to face with her reflection.

It was no pleasant sight staring back at her from the cracked mirror of the old dressing table, whose splintered white painting seemed to echo the lines under Sheva’s subsided eyes, causing a double reflection – one literal; one metaphorical.

Slowly she let her finger wandered down the uneven rupture in the otherwise perfectly smooth surface.

“Memory…” she whispered remembering her nightly walk, as it became increasingly painful to focus on a continual string of new notions. Somehow it was easier to simply recall a short-memory rewind.

“…a cracked memory” was all the new she was able to bear.

“It’s not a memory” Adam’s voice came from behind.

“Why not?” Sheva asked tiredly.

“It is only a memory when you leave it behind” he said. “And we are still here.”

In the raging sea of her current pain Adam’s voice and words were like the eye of the storm. They were pure comfort that could only be succeeded by the cure of his fangs in her flesh.

“Help me up” she said “will you?”

Of course he did. His arm around her, Sheva felt able to manage the way upstairs.

For an eternity Adam had been like a brother to her. With him around she felt that she could even face the horrors of her rebelling blood and fight the demons in her soul. Whatever might be, Adam gave Sheva safety.

Therefore when he noticed she could not manage the final stairs; Adam simply carried her the last steps on his back as if they were children coming home from play.

Eve smiled gently at this entrance, knowing how much the two incommunicable immortals had in common and how much Sheva’s arrival cheered Adam up, even if he was slow in showing.
With Sheva around Eve hoped to finally cure Adam’s melancholy for good. Maybe the three of them could start anew. Live like in the old days were they had been inseparable and happy until that damned incident in Paris.

As if she was reading Eve’s thoughts Sheva said: “I would like that…”

Eve smiled, as they shared a secret right in front of Adam, whose eyes contained an expression of confusion mixed with suspicion.

Then Eve got serious: “It must hurt terribly, if you can already read my mind.”

“I would like to scream” Sheva said. “Will you make it stop?”

Eve nodded and Sheva offered her left wrist, watching how her friend’s eyes – flaming with desire – shoot her a last look ere vanishing in the course of fangs penetrating flesh. A groaning escaped her lips as Sheva felt one pain erase another.

She wanted Adam to join but the same shook his head.

“Why not?” she asked breathless, feeling the ecstasy of Eve’s bite.

“Because it hurts you”

With a tiny gesture Sheva waved Adam nearer, dragging him onto the sofa, as soon as she could get a hold on him. Meanwhile Eve was miles away and a part of Sheva shared her rush, yet she could also feel that both of them did not want to leave Adam behind.

So Sheva fixed her eyes on his and said: “You are right, it hurts me - but never for long and never from you two…Adam; it is part of my nature”

She turned her gaze back to Eve, who was already about to finish her first bite in wish to enjoy the following rapture. Thereby Sheva exposed her neck to Adam, who felt his natural instincts rising.

Without looking she took his hand to assure him that it was all right and finally he carefully approached her neck. Sheva could feel his breath on her bare skin, as Adam’s lips were only centimetres away.

She could also feel his hesitation, but in the end he did it. He buried his fangs in her neck and greedily sucked her blood. To her left Sheva heard Eve moaning as both of them felt Adam joining their ecstasy.

Once more they were one again and Adam was right: They were still here – and how they were.