Apotheosis of the Immortal Read Online Free PDF Page A

me? I’ve waited for so long.” She was squeezing him tighter and tighter. “I’m so sorry.” She spoke between sobs. Though it was mostly healed, she could see the mark where she had bitten and sucked at his neck. She squeezed him tighter and clenched his tunic firmly in her fists.
    “I’m sorry, too, but I didn’t think I had a choice. I couldn’t have borne seeing you with him. I couldn’t.” Elijah was also in tears, holding her close, realizing what a terrible mistake he had made.
    “Of course there was a choice. I loved you , Elijah, and I would never have married your brother. If you had talked to me even once, you would have known that. I was yours; I wouldn’t even speak to Solomon for the first two years after I found out. I was waiting for you, but you never came; you never came.” She was still weeping, but her tone was sharper.
    “Shhhh, I’m here now. Tell me, what happened to you, Sara?” He gently pushed her away and looked into her eyes. “Why were you trying to eat me?” Narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brow, he swallowed hard; he was afraid of what she might say.
    “I don’t know.” Releasing Elijah from her tight grip, she sniffled and wiped the corners of her eyes with her knuckle. “The last thing I remember from before I blacked out is William chewing on my neck. Chewing! Like some animal.” She squinted and lowered her head. “Solomon just stood there watching,” Sara mumbled with teary eyes. “Your father must have sucked out nearly all of my blood before I fainted. That’s all I remember.” Her eyes were soft and apologetic as she looked up again at Elijah.
    “What about your family?” he asked.
    A deep sorrow eclipsed her face, and immediately he was sorry he had asked. He could almost see the painful memories rushing through her mind. She squinted against the horrors until her eyes closed completely.
    “I remember all of it, even the smell of my parents’ burning flesh.” She just dropped forward and cried out.
    Elijah couldn’t bring himself to press any further. He stared into space, baffled. What was going on? What awful thing happened to spur this madness?
    “After that,” she continued after a while, “all I remember is the smell of blood. The dead men on the road, the smell of their blood stirred something inside of me, a hunger… I couldn’t stop myself. Blood was all I could think about, and once I started I couldn’t stop, I just wanted more and more.” She had stopped crying now and was speaking more quickly, with enthusiasm, as if it had been terrible and wonderful all at the same time.
    Strangely, Elijah could relate. He had experienced something similar when he took the lives of the thieves on the road. Still, this seemed different; it was so strange. He didn’t want to be a bigot, but Sara’s actions just seemed more perverse than his straightforward killing. Still, how could he judge her after what he had done?
    “How did you kill all those men on your own Elijah?” Her thoughts mirrored his own.
    “This dreadful experience has changed us somehow, Sara. Like you, I am much stronger and faster, but I have no desire for blood.” Elijah looked up and saw her embarrassment and remorse. “No, I wasn’t trying to say you are bad, or I’m better than you, only that I haven’t experienced that, at least not yet.” Elijah was worried, not just for Sara, but for himself as well. There were too many similarities between their circumstances. How long before he experienced the urge to tear through someone’s flesh?
    “Anyway, when I saw you on the road, I could hear your heart beating beneath your chest and the fresh blood pulsing through your veins. I tried to stop myself, but I couldn’t; I lost control. It was like something else took over and was driving me on, forcing me. Nothing else mattered; I just wanted your blood.” Her eyes seemed to glaze; the excitement faded from her voice, changing to remorse and embarrassment.
    “What