CONFESSIONS OF A VAMPIRE PRIEST

The ghost of Elizabeth

I woke up. The moonlight shined through the window. Bekah and Iona slept soundly beside me. I got out of bed. There did not seem to be any immediate danger. I stretched a little and headed for where I left Lunella. It was at that same time that I heard her voice crawl from the dark.

KHAIN

I spun around and saw her emerge from a veil of moonlight. She was a beautiful, painful apparition. Her eyes glowed in the moonlight. Her hair flowed like a golden river, her face young and resplendent. Elizabeth stood before me. My heart started to race. She said not a single word afterward. The silence was palpable as if it was something trying to drown both of us. She floated forward, the moon retreating behind the clouds.

She attacked. I dodged to the right, heading for Lunella. I grabbed the sword, spun around and tried to bring it down on the apparition's head. She grabbed my wrist before I could follow through.

"Khain," and her voice sounded so sweet and real that it wracked my heart. "You can't kill me like that," and then she stepped closer and—

—She jabbed her hand inside of my chest, but there was no entry wound, no exit wound. It was as if she had reached into my very essence, as if she were attacking my life force directly. I felt cold, as if my body was sinking into freezing water...

I punched the apparition in the face, shoved her back and tried to plunge Lunella into her chest. She simply parried the blow, sending Lunella flying out of my hands until it crashed into the wall. Miraculously, Bekah and Iona slept through the noise. Elizabeth opened her mouth and I felt like the air was being sucked out of my body. I felt paralyzed as she did this and I began to see shadows swim in the periphery of my vision.

I managed to break free. I tried to subdue her with a control spell, but I failed. I analyzed her magical composition and realized that I could vanquish her if I used resurrection magic.

It was dangerous, but it was my best bet.

I felt the energies flow through me, and I felt as my body had caught on fire. I struggled through the pain and redirected the magic to Elizabeth's ghost.

But she resisted.

"You're not even trying," and she floated toward me. I dashed out of the room, thankful that her attention was completely focused on me. "Stop acting like you can't kill me. You did it so easily before," and that stopped me in my tracks... it really fucking hurt to hear her say that. When she closed in, I began moving again.

When I vaulted downstairs, I could see Trivistine on the couch and Zed was getting some water. His eyes lit up when he saw what was chasing me. Despite looking tired out of his mind, his mind immediately adjusted to what was happening and he shot a bolt of lightning directly at Elizabeth.

"Khain—what's happening?"

I spun around to see if it had any effect. I saw her, looking down at the sizzling hole in her chest. She grimaced, her eyes a fiery haze. Then she began shaking, her body spasming as if victim to a violent seizure. I did not want to waste this chance, so I grit my teeth and began manipulating the magical power inside of me. But before I had the chance to do anything else, Elizabeth screamed.

It was such an awful sound. It was the scream she had when I...

And then there were two. There were now two Elizabeths.

"I can't have anyone interrupting our wonderful reunion, Khain," and then both of them attacked. In my horror, I realized then that her scream woke everyone else up, and possibly more people.

"ZED TO ME," and we both darted out of the room. I wasn't too fond of running around completely naked but if the others intervened, then there would be a good chance that the apparition would split up again. Theoretically, it would continue to split up if more people got involved. It didn't matter how many spellcasters the university had. If they tried to help, the university would be doomed. As we sprinted down the hallway, I made sure to give Zed a quick rundown of the situation.

"Dead sister trying to kill you, and if we don't stop this soon everyone will get involved and that'll lead to everyone else dying. Got it."

You seem to be taking this well, brother," and I spun around and blasted one of the copies with magic. The magic slammed into her, sending her crashing into the ground, but the other one closed the distance with remarkable ease and began tearing my life essence out. Luckily for me, Zed was there to blast it with more lightning. The lightning flashed down the hallway and pierced the apparition's skull.

"I'm really not," and he began running faster, his breathing ragged. "But I feel better that you're the person I'm handling this situation with!"

There wasn't a lot of time. If the scream didn't wake the students up, the noise we were making would. If I didn't end this soon—

—The other apparition came flying down the hallway, slamming into me like a runaway train. I felt all the air leave my body. I felt her cold embrace seep into my existence, unraveling the life energy that kept me alive. I heard Zed screaming in the distance. Elizabeth's apparition was on top of me. She stared into my eyes while she killed me slowly. "Does it hurt? I hope it does. Do you think your countless good deeds can wipe away what you've done?"

I felt like my heart was sinking into quicksand. I felt like I was being waterboarded the same time this was happening. My vision started to go dark.

"I... never sought forgiveness for what I did to you," and I remembered her, the person she used to be, and I thought about the person she could have been, the life we could have had. I remembered how often we'd argue and bicker, but how we'd usually get along in the end. I remembered the walks we'd take in the woods, when we'd sit on the rooftops while the stars were out, talking about what we considered doing with our lives. There were so many things we did with each other. So many things I would have liked to keep doing. "I didn't want to be forgiven for what I did to you. I didn't do these things to atone for what I did."

"You're telling me you don't feel any remorse for killing me?" and her face was inches away from mine, her predatory eyes gazing into mine. "How very 'vampire,' of you, brother."

"Of course I feel remorse—I never wanted to hurt you, Elizabeth!" and I pressed my right hand against her face. I channeled all the energy available to me, and the pain felt like magma exploding from within me. "I loved you, Elizabeth. I still do. I don't do what I do to erase my sins. I do what I do so I can make a better world, a better world for you to come back to."

"Oh," and the surrounding world became completely quiet. "Are you going to save me, Khain?"

I took a deep breath. My body felt like it was going to collapse and melt away, but I persevered. I did it for her, and for me. "I'm about to," and I unleashed everything I had. Time seemed to slow down as my palm radiated a bright, golden light. The light expanded and consumed both of us.

Everything became white.