“Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what you mind already knows.” - Anonymous
“Our scars make us know that our past was…real.” - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
BAD HABITS
Cora often pretends she’s much more stable than she is to try and control her life.
Cora often finds herself trying to control others around her to keep herself sane.
BOTTLED UP
Cora has kept the bracelet her boyfriend/fiancé gave her when they made their relationship official, decided they would spend eternity together. She doesn’t talk about her past, but it’s the one thing she can never let go of.
It had been six months since her boyfriend had wedged a knife between her ribs, letting her bleed out on the floor, watching the life fall from her eyes. It had been six months since she came back to life, awakening right where she had died. The vampire blood in her system had turned her, unknowingly sired her to the man she loved. The sire bond didn’t matter to her, she barely even realized it was there. In her mind, she would already do whatever Christopher asked her to do. She was a loyal girlfriend, and she was looking forward to spending her life with him, without any complications. No children, at least, none of their own, no death, to be young forever, it seemed like the perfect poison.
She didn’t expect what came next.
It was a cold September night, and the pair were meandering around town, only the street lights glowing against the dark blue sky. Hand in hand, they were making their way home from the bar that they had been at. A night out, six months in celebration of their togetherness. It was their equivalent of marriage. Their own special little anniversary. Cordelia was tipsy, and Christopher was trying to hold her up, trying to keep her standing as she smirked and giggled her way down the road and back to their little apartment. But when she heard a voice coming from behind her, she couldn’t help but turn and look.
“Who’s there?” she asked into the darkness of an alleyway. “Who is it?” she insisted. “I can hear you,” she singsonged, before Christopher put a finger to her lips gently, urging her to be quiet. She obliged. When there was no response but the rustle of footsteps nearing closer, Cora’s breath caught. It caught again when she was ripped out of Christopher’s grasp, and all of a sudden she felt the cold hard sting of silver against her throat.
“Say one word and I slit her throat,” the man said to Christopher, who had his hands in the air in defence, in surrender.
“Chris…” she whispered, feeling a few tears fall down and hit the blade underneath her.
“Is the little girl crying? Oh, dear, we thought you might have been a little tougher than that,” another man growled as he stepped out of the darkness, twirling a spike in his fingers. He kicked the back of Chris’s knees, forcing him to the ground as he walked in circles around Cordelia’s boyfriend. Slowly, aggressively, he dragged the spike down the side of Christopher’s cheek, causing a long red gash to appear down his skin, and although it took a moment, it healed.
“Please,” Cordelia shuddered. “Please just let him be. He never did anythi-“ she was cut off by the metal blade pressing deeper into her throat.
“You don’t know who he is, do you?” the man with the stake scoffed. “This man has killed more than you could ever imagine. He’s the reason behind the animal attacks, drains people dry in order to sustain life. A vampire, darling.” Cordelia knew full well what he was. She was one, too. But she didn’t dare say anything. Maybe keeping quiet would get them both out of the situation. If not, it would definitely get them both killed.
“I’m begging you,” she whispered one last time, a desperate attempt before she watched the man drive the stake into Christopher’s chest.
“It’s too late now. The man let go of Cordelia as she rushed towards Christopher, tears streaming down her cheeks as she reached his dying body.
“Don’t leave me, please… please don’t… I love you, I-” she whispered aggressively. She could hear his breath catch one last time, interrupting her words as her tears became wracking sobs. The man she loved, the man she vowed to spend her whole life with, was now dead in her arms. And the men who did it were going to pay. In too much pain to think straight, she flipped off her emotions in a desperate attempt to get her revenge without her feelings getting in the way.
Following their scent, Cordelia found them nearly a block away, and sneaking up quickly and stealthily behind them, Cordelia cornered the man who had driven the stake through her boyfriend’s heart, digging her teeth into his neck from behind. Unsuspectingly, he let out a cry. “Oh, you don’t like vampires?” Cordelia whispered, snarling, turning him around to face her. “Too bad you’re going to die at the hands of one.” And with that, he snapped her neck.
He was the first man she killed, but he certainly wasn’t the last. Just the first in a long line of emotionless kills.
