The Awakening

The Awakening
Alice

The haze in my mind feels like a thick, endless fog. It’s as though I’m in a dream, but not exactly. I remember being in pain, though I can’t pinpoint exactly how it felt. I remember transforming into something new, but I don’t know what I was before or what I am now. 

I remember being somewhere—with someone who was calming, secure, safe, then, as if lightning struck me, something happened. I can’t remember what it was. It seems to me I approved of it, but I can’t imagine why I would do such a thing since it caused me so much pain. 

Slowly, the fog begins to lift. I remember that I’m Alice, and that I’m at Duskmoore with Rhys, in my room. I love Rhys, I recall, and I’m pregnant with his baby. But that pain.... I can’t pinpoint what it was about. 

The baby.... 

In an instant, it all becomes clear to me. Our baby is a vampire, and I had to become one to carry him or her, or I would die. Rhys helped me through the transition.

Rhys....

I blink my eyes open, and his face is the first thing I see. But I push back into my pillow with a start. 

Something is different. 

He’s always been stunningly handsome to me, but now, every detail of his well-defined jawline, the depth and vibrance of his sleek dark hair, the flakes of silver I hadn’t noticed before in his gray irises—every detail is sharp, crisp. 

“Alice?” he says tentatively, and I feel the warmth of his hand in mine. It’s as though he never let go. 

“Rhys,” I repeat, my voice so loud and clear, I scarcely recognize it. I take a moment to look around the room. Everything is clearer. The sound of the ocean waves beneath us crashes thunderously as though I’m right on the shore. The colors in my room, which I’d thought to be simple yet elegant, all come to life with every detail, every shadow. I smell Rhys’s musky cologne and sense some smoked wood undertones I’ve never noticed before. 

“You’re all right,” he assures me, his lips rising in a smile. “Let me get Gio.”

But he doesn’t get up or let go of my hand, so I know he’s communicating telepathically. I’m a vampire now, too. I wonder if I can do the same yet....

I’m still considering it when I hear Dr. Lombardi’s footsteps come up the stairs and toward my room. I can tell that it’s him, and his shoes pound so loud against the floor, there’s practically an echo. 

“Yes?” Rhys responds to the doctor’s firm knock on the door. He enters, and Rhys bends down to kiss my forehead. “I’ll let him examine you,” he tells me. “I’ll be right over here.”

He steps back from my bed, letting go of my hand eventually. Cold air rushes between us, and I want him to return, but Dr. Lombardi is already speaking to me from the other side of the bed. 

“How do you feel?” he asks. 

“Wonderful,” I say honestly. “Everything is so clear, and loud, and the colors are so bright.”

His head sways gently up and down in a nod while he examines me, and I notice his lips turning up in a smile. “That’s to be expected,” he says. “Your senses are a lot stronger now. It may take some getting used to.”

“I can see that,” I reply. But then I feel a wave of anxiety. This is not the same as it was before, either, this emotion. It doesn’t seem to rush over my nerves like it used to. The feeling is more static, yet all-encompassing. “Is the baby all right?” I ask him, furrowing my brow with concern. 

“Yes,” he says quickly. “I have done several ultrasound examinations throughout your transformation, and all is well for the baby.”

“Thank you,” I say, an easy smile growing on my lips. 

I made it through! The baby made it, too! 

I remember how I felt when I was in pain, but I still can’t describe the sensation except to say that it was as though my entire body was being torn apart then pulled back together and reassembled. I suppose in some ways, it was. 

Someone knocks on the door, and Dr. Lombardi steps over to it to take something handed to him through the cracked door. I catch the scent right away—copper, with a hint of sweetness, a familiar scent I can’t quite place, yet it awakens something inside me. 

An odd, powerful craving erupts from every part of my being. I have the urge to leap at Dr. Lombardi and snatch it from him, even before I see the bag in his hand that’s the source of this scent.

Human blood....

“Here,” he says, pouring some into a glass and bringing it to my bed.

But I don’t have the patience for it, the craving overwhelms me so. I seize it out of his hand and drink it down, spilling some over the side. He refills it before the cravings have a chance to return.

“Keep drinking,” he instructs me. 

I do so, even though I’m not as desperate for it after a few moments, but the feeling of satisfaction that envelops me brings me a sense of peace and calm. I’d thought craving blood would be horrific, but it feels... natural somehow. 

“You’ll have to be careful around humans for the next few decades,” he warns me. “You won’t be able to see your human friends safely. Over time, you’ll get used to it and learn control.”

“Is there anything I can do to speed up the process?” I ask, thinking of Molly. 

“It’s something you’ll work on mentally,” Rhys explains.

I turn to him on the other side of my bed. “I’ll do whatever I need to do to control it,” I promise. And I mean it.



Rhys

Alice is so beautiful as a vampire, impossibly more lovely than before. Her bright blue eyes now have shimmering silver flakes that give her an ethereal glow. We’ve kept her bedroom lights dim so that when she awakened, she wouldn’t be overwhelmed with brightness. I can see it was a good choice since her senses are already sharp and alert. 

I step toward her and take her hand again, lowering myself into the chair where I’d kept watch over her for so many nights, I’d scarcely kept track. She smiles and squeezes my hand, a welcome relief from the many days she’d spent in delirium, unable to respond at all.

“I’ll leave this here,” Gio says, pouring what is left of the blood into a glass on the table. “If anything changes, tell me, and I’ll come back to check on you.”

“Thank you, Dr. Lombardi,” Alice says.

“Thank you,” I tell him before turning back to her. 

He steps through the door and closes it firmly behind him, and Alice gazes at me. “It’s all so amazing!” she exclaims, her eyes wide. “Everything looks different. It smells different. And the blood—” She turns to the glass over on the table. “It’s not as frightening as I thought it would be to crave it.”

I nod lightly, considering my response. In a house with only vampires, she hasn’t experienced the worst of the cravings yet, cravings that can have... consequences. 

And I know firsthand what that can mean for someone like her. 

“You’ll still need to be careful,” I explain. “Things will be different when you’re out in the world.”

“I understand,” she says, but her smile doesn’t fade. “I just can’t get over all this. I want to see the ocean.”

Though she’s stronger now, no doubt, she’s been bedridden for so long that she is still weak, and the small amount of blood she’s had won’t alleviate that just yet. Still, I can’t refuse her request, so I help her over to her chair by the window and open it wide, letting in the misty air. 

“Oh, my,” she whispered. “It’s breathtaking.”

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and face the sea with her, focusing my mind on its scent, sounds, and natural beauty. I can finally share her joy of it. Sliding the other chair over to hers, I sit with her, holding her hand for a few moments while she reconnects with this world. 

“I feel Duskmoore,” she says suddenly, turning to me. “I always did, but now it feels so much more alive, so protective.”

“That is why this is my favorite home,” I agree. “I’m glad that I can share all this with you now. I’m glad we can finally enjoy our future together.”

Her smile grows wider. “We can!” she says excitedly. “Rhys, I’ll be able to hold our baby! We’ll be a family!”

“That we will,” I say, clasping her hand tighter. “And I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“With all those ultrasounds Gio had to perform, he acquired new information,” I begin. “Alice, we are having a son.”

Her mouth falls open, and her eyes widen. “It’s a boy? He’s a boy?!”

“Yes,” I confirm, and her smile is contagious. I can’t help but put my lips to hers gently. She tastes even better than before. 

“Oh, it’s going to be so wonderful raising a boy together,” she says when we part from the kiss, turning back to the ocean. “My mother would be so thrilled.”

“I’m sure she would,” I tell her. 

What I don’t share with her is the flash of memory that washes over me at that moment—Alicia, once smiling and carefree, fallen to darkness in the presence of humans. 

But I push that memory deep inside. I don’t want to frighten Alice when she is newly discovering the world as a vampire. 

Those dark secrets can wait for another day.