Devil Inside

The Birds And The Bees.

*A/N - for those of you following the soundtrack to this book, it's Eternal Life by Jeff Buckley for this one! *

At breakfast the following morning Elsa was distracted by thoughts of Sebastian.

“Everything ok sweetheart?” Her father’s voice interrupted the tangle of emotions and questions in her mind.

“Hmm? Yes fine,” she said absently.

“It’s just you’re eating breakfast.” Marcus nodded at the spoon in Elsa’s hand, which contained a good serving of cereal and was dripping milk. He had not seen Elsa eat actual food since she’d come home from the clinic. The fact was, she only ate food now when people who expected it as normal behaviour were watching.

Elsa put the spoon down, she must have fixed herself breakfast on autopilot, an old habit that had crept back in whilst her mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t help but smile, “I was miles away,” she admitted.

“Anything I can help with?” Marcus asked earnestly.

“No, it’s fine Dad, really. Just usual teenage angst.” She stood up to exchange the pointless cereal for a blood bag from the fridge, which she decanted into a mug and popped in the microwave, a little trick Hesper had told her to make it more palatable. Her father didn’t bat an eyelid at that but he was studying his daughter carefully.

“Boy problems?” he asked.

“You could say that,” Elsa took a sip from her mug and allowed the warm blood to slide slowly and luxuriously down her throat.

A pained expression crossed Marcus’ face, “That’s something we need to talk about,” he said.

Elsa rolled her eyes, “I don’t need the birds and the bees talk Dad.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Oh,” Elsa hadn’t even thought, her dad was worried she could hurt a potential boyfriend, or that she could draw them in against their will, “Ok I get it, it’s nothing like that, nothing you need to worry about,” she sighed, “Just someone I have to work with in history who is a bit difficult.”

Marcus visibly relaxed, “Oh right,” he said, “I’m sorry Elsa, you understand why I worry? I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Or anyone else,” she said and Marcus looked stung. “Sorry Dad, I didn’t mean it like that, I hadn’t really thought about the effect I can have on boys or what it could lead to. I did need reminding, thanks.”

“It’s ok,” he said and gave her a kiss on the forehead as he walked past her and into the hallway, picking up his keys and briefcase, “I’m off, have a good day today.”

“You too,” Elsa finished off her drink and rinsed the mug before putting it in the dishwasher. She didn’t like putting a mug upside down in the dishwasher for the last bits of blood to drip out of it and onto the plates below, it just didn’t seem right somehow. She had her suspicions that her father paid close attention to the mug she used and discreetly chose not to use it himself. To be fair to him she didn’t bring it up, just made sure she always used the same mug.

Elsa arrived at college alone; Kate was taking a couple more days off after her doctor had advised rest following her mysterious and unexplained fainting episode. She had a free first but was planning to hit the library and get ahead start on next term so she could get away with skipping a few lessons if the fancy took her. She had her earphones in and Jeff Buckley’s Eternal Life blasting into her ears, smiling to herself at the somewhat applicable lyrics. Eternal life is now on my trail, got my red glitter coffin man, just need one last nail. She was glad she didn’t need a coffin but if she had, a sparkly red one would have been acceptable.