Chapter 1: Deal?
Word went around that no one that had ever knocked on the Eleazars' doors seeking shelter were turned away.
Arabella held out hope that those weren't mere rumors.
And thus she ran forward through a forest so thick, it had almost completely forbidden moonlight from penetrating it.
By then, and along with her dampened face, the cold had already numbed her feet; it was a miracle they still carried her weight. With one hand clutching the skirt of her gown, Arabella struggled to fend off every branch on her way with the other. Many had already thrashed her skin, causing stinging lacerations that were easy to ignore in the moment, considering the speed at which her blood coursed her veins.
It was only when the hem of her dress had caught in a tuft of prickly vines that she stopped. As that happened, and since the very beginning of it all, Arabella finally threw a glance behind herself, noting, much to her satisfaction, that the Kingsmen's' voices had faded and the light from the torches they held were nowhere to be seen.
She pulled on her gown with all of her might to free herself from the bushes until a ripping sound was heard. Arabella wasted not another second and resumed her running.
"Just a little longer," she told herself, and when the end of the forest became visible, through her tears, the ghost of a smile appeared across her features. The young woman inhaled all the oxygen she could and huffed as she began to slow down.
There, before her eyes it stood, surrounded by no fences but a gate in the distance, the Eleazars' mansion. Grand and majestic, it surpassed anything she'd imagined.
Her hand naturally flew upwards and clasped around the golden locket resting on her chest. Arabella's body started to tremble again as the smile on her gradually waned upon remembering that she was about to knock on a vampire's door.
Still, there was no going back for her. Glancing from her left to her right, all around the mansion, there were no guards and yet the chilling feeling that somebody was watching wouldn't leave her alone.
There was much to be seen, much to marvel at, but much like every aching part of her body that night, Arabella had to ignore all of it and push through. The closer she stepped to the manor the more its lights reflected in her glistening gemstone green eyes.