Cognata: A Vampire Romance (2 page)

"Alexia?" She kept calling me from downstairs, while I was in my room with the servant girl who was sweating blood and tears to make sure my dress was well fitted, "You'll be late. It's time to go!"

I know mother.

I must make sure I am fitted for the ball.

Father would be proud to see me in such elegance.

I was 17 at the time. Certain of myself. Didn't have much care for the world around me but I was sure of myself and where I should go and it wasn't meant to be there. I never saw myself in my mother's shoes or any of the other court ladies of the time. My mother was an aristocratic woman tied into my father's traditions of following the 'savior' and being the upright woman society wanted her to be but in her spare time, she'd always do these strange paintings. Depictions of naked women, full of hoping and longing. She'd die before she ever revealed what they meant but I think, they were her passion for escaping. Little did she know, her only choice would be to live that through me. So she did her best, like my father as well, to make certain I was raised as an elegant, classy only-child, destined to be wedded to one of the Emperors or their relatives eventually.

Yet I still found myself completely unmoved by their traditions. Conflict spread through the city from street to street, quarter to quarter, from the beggars to the noblemen, while rising multiculturalism was surely eating away at the great city of Constantinople. None of it made sense to me or maybe, I simply did not care.

I cared about that night when I was taken by an escorted chariot with my parents to the Great Palace. A party for only the Emperor's most distinguished guests. I remember when my father escorted my mother and I out of the seating. That's when I saw him in the shadows of the dark night, prowling around the street's corner, lurking and searching. His eyes were as white as snow and they shimmered through the blackness as they gazed right into mine telling me,
I want you.

Should I tell father what I saw?
No, they'd think I was crazy. Cast a veil over me and rebuke any demon haunting my steps. Then they'd dive deeper into their superstition till I heard no end of all the religious rubbish they spewed at me. The moment I looked away, the shadowy devil was gone. That made me feel safe but only for a short period of time. I somehow knew I'd see him again. I just didn't know when. There was something eerie about the encounter and no, not because of how terrifying it would seem. The eeriness? I wanted it. I wanted him to chase me. Don't ask why.

The party was held in the endless Grand Palace gardens, filled with welcoming flowers and dim lights that showed inscriptions of faith across the walls without trace of any religious depictions or icons, following the Empire's official mandate. The white marble shone in the moonlight and the general atmosphere felt like a night where we should forget all conflict and be one with the finest wines. Father was here on business. He did not have much conversation with many of the guests, save for the Emperor and his closest advisors. His focus was on how high he could climb the ladder. My mother on the other hand, fulfilled the social duty. I did not want much to do with either of them. While the lyre, lute and cymbals were hard to resist from the skillful hands that played them, I needed to get away. Discreetly, I whisked myself away, deeper into the gardens and far from the cheery hypocrisy of the court. I found myself at the very edge of the palace grounds, on the walls overlooking the Bosporus.

I wanted to be alone.

There were no swarms of thoughts that kept me bothered, only those eyes I saw - that kept reappearing in my mind over and over till the point where I could feel them and eventually, hear him... a man's voice, soft but chiseled, raspy but wise, came to me,
"You are worth more than what you are given."

For a moment, I silently considered the possibilities of all the deranged beliefs of the time. Maybe I was possessed or maybe, I was losing my mind to schizophrenia. Both would be a wonderful fantasy tale to endow this journal with and both would also be a lazy lie. The truth is, his voice was calling to me and I was following it.

"You are so special Alexia."
He kept echoing inside me.

Blindly following the urge to find the cause of my madness, my night's journey took me to the marble railing, high over the waves below, endlessly crashing against the shores of the Golden Horn, where a beautiful full moon awaited me with all of space's wonder in the background; some sprinkled stars and a few clouds that only added to the texture of the real life painting.

Dim lanterns from boats in the horizon, coming and going day and night, connecting the great imperial capital to all corners of the world. I was breathless upon seeing it. It was so... beautiful.

Suddenly I felt a glass shattering cold. A very obvious shift in the weather. It was so cold I started shivering and the air around me grew thinner. It was hard to breathe. Something else was there with me. Something of another world. Another creature...

"It is good you are here my child." The voice spoke to me again, only this time it was no longer in my head. It was there, in person. "You came to my calling. Good, that is good. A step towards your wonderful destiny." A tall, pale-skinned, ornament-faced, well-dressed man waltzed around me, smelling me as if I were a lost bouquet of treasured flowers. Listening to him speak was odd. His accent was poor. Clearly a foreigner, but the way he twisted his tongue and formed his words spoke tales of lusting for the things he'd do to me, which I found painful to resist.

"Who are you?" I stopped him as I glanced back to the direction from where I came, "What do you want?"

His tracks stopped in front of my gaze and I was cornered by his snow-white, almost pupil-less eyes - "You." His tone suddenly became stern, far from the introductory playfulness and excitement. He had to have been at least twice my age with a few years added on, yet he was so... infatuating and undeniably attractive. The way he spoke to me, as if I were some precious stone and not the next Emperor's bride to be, was different and different was what stimulated my imagination at the time. I was a young girl and I wanted more than all the tedium around me. He made me feel like it was possible.

"I want... you, my dear Alexia." His hand trailed on my face and I thought to myself initially how smooth his fingers were before the thought melted into a deep despair over how ice cold his touch was. I shuddered on contact while all he did, was simply smile.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded, keeping my outer armor fastened, away from my inner desires.

"I know a great deal of things about you Alexia." He began moving around me again, this time leading the way to look out to the boats in the horizon, "I know that you grow tired of all these petty things you're burdened with. I know that you dream of not just seeing the sea, but crossing it and walking into places of old, places of far... " He turned around, smiling as his head tilted to the side seductively. "and places to call your home."

I remember just staring at him, speechless. My eyes were so locked into this statue of a man that I wasn't sure I'd even heard his words properly. My heart was racing but I was not afraid. I was... excited. Renewed. A sense of adventure, tugging on my heart's strings.

"Are you afraid of me?" He smirked.

"No." I stood my ground mirroring his piercing eyes fearlessly.

"Oh, my child. You really are special... "

"Is that your charm for whisking young maidens away? I will not buy into such stale bread. You must try harder than that, I'm afraid."

"No." He dragged on the
'oooo'
of the word, "I can only be honest with such a beautiful creature like you. I can only be true. Naked in your light."

His fingers parted my long hair and part of me was wondering why I shouldn't knee him in his groin, and then the other part, the curious part that gets the cat killed - wanted to be frozen.

"Come with me.
Tonight.
We can go wherever we want, whenever we want, however we want. This is the chance of a lifetime, my angel. I will make all your dreams a reality and no one will stop you from being free."

I looked away, back to the ballroom. The traditional, monotonous living-dead fashions of life were clawing their way into the very fringes of my heart, beckoning me to leave it all behind. Then I looked back to him to give my answer, but he was gone, along with the coldness in the atmosphere abruptly departing with him. My heart still raced as I heard his whispers calling from the shadows in the graves of my hindered mind.

"Midnight. Come to the waters and the sand... "

How could I return to the party as if nothing happened? The subtle gestures on everyone's warm-blooded, wine-soaked faces may have well been allegorized to the walking dead, blindly following old customs without asking why. I still felt the cold of his hands, trailing on my face. It should have felt like death, but to me, it was life. I would only spend another hour or two before the calling would get the better of me. No part of me wanted to stay. Seeing the world was a fantasy I'd only read in books. Experiencing it in person? How could I resist?

I quietly slipped away into the shadows, leaving the ball the moment the temptation got to the last edge of my finely crafted discipline. For a moment, I wondered how I'd explain this to father. I could tell him I was taken. I could tell him I was followed. So much I could get away with, wrapping that man's head around a thinly veiled lie. They'd forgive me - at least, that is was what I hoped. If they knew I was willing to run away with a man, the story would be quite different.

The waters and the sand, he had said. It sounded like a test. Surrounded on three sides by water, the peninsula on which the city of Constantinople was built, had numerous beaches. How would I know which one he meant? His voice did not echo in my mind. I started walking, thinking only of my desire to escape the stranglehold of my circumstances. I let my legs take me where they saw fit. I only followed my primal urges and the leading of my own inner voice that took me to one particular beach. The waves were unsettling. They couldn't decide if they wanted to be gentle or rough. The boats I saw earlier were all gone, except for one that drifted a short distance off the shore. I wondered how the lantern was still lit. There was no one in it. It was abandoned, and alone.

Had he abandoned me?
Was this even the right place?
I berated myself for entertaining such foolish notions of escape. I didn't even know his name!
I should get back.
I continued, sulking angrily at not only him, but the whole world. A cold gust of wind brushed against me, robbing me of my vision as my hair covered my face, forcing me to turn around and when I did, he was there.

"Alexia... " He smiled from ear to ear, his eyebrows crunching intently. "you came."

I held my hands together, taking leery steps closer to him. If I had to guess now, I'd say he was standing next to the boat that had somehow, miraculously landed on the beach on its own, as a kind of ferryman, waiting to take me on a voyage.

"Yes." I quietly responded, "I came."

As I got closer to him, he extended his hand in the act of chivalry to take me on board the water-crossing vessel. I found myself naturally extending my hand to meet his. I was not afraid of his coldness. I wanted to feel it. It may have been painful, but I discreetly enjoyed it.

He carried me on board and sat me gently as a passenger, then he reached for the boat's paddle which was beneath my feet where I sat.
"Sorry." I whispered ignorantly thinking I was in the way, but all he did was smile as he gracefully lifted the paddle overhead and dipped it into the water, leading us bit by bit, row by row, away from the shore. I kept looking at him while he steered us to the dark open blue. He was so graceful. So refined and relaxed, confident and sure. It was unlike anything I'd seen in a man at the time. He knew where he was going and he knew what he wanted. Nothing would get in his way.

"May I ask you something?" I broke the silence. He did not look at me. Only kept his eyes fixed on our destination, "What is your name?"

The question provoked him - "You are travelling with a stranger and the only thing you wish to know is my name and not where we are going?"

"I assume you would take me to the places you promised. The destination does not concern me at this time, only the hand guiding me there."

His eyes peeled away from the horizon to focus solely on me, "You are wise my child."

If he'd thought that would be enough to shut me up, he was wrong and he knew I wouldn't let it slip away, so he sighed, contented by my curiosity and answered - "I've been known by many names in my time. Some have called me angel, others - devil, but you may call me... Aristide."

'Aristide'
, I recited his name in my thoughts, wondering if he'd be tuning in to hear. He probably did. Only a smile that said,
I know
would be my only hint.

"Here we are." His chilly voice lifted happily. I looked back to see the setting. It was difficult not to stare at Aristide on the ride. His physical attractiveness aside, there was this magnetic force that kept pulling me to him. I couldn't run away even if I tried. To look where we were going came second.

He helped me off the boat, once again showing how much of a gentleman he is.

The air was windy and I remember feeling embarrassed over the dampness of my dress but he didn't seem to mind. I didn't recognize the land at first. The hazy weather and the night's creeping fog were only just starting to clear away. It was Terebinthos. A small island just an hour's boat ride away. At night, you couldn't see it from where I lived and during the day, I was warned to stay away.

Aristide gently took my hands into his own. His cold touch still remained foreign to my body but with a gentle kiss he promised me
all will be well
.

We moved away from the shore and headed upwards to the thick of the island. As the trees cleared away and the clouds unveiled the shimmering moonlight, I noticed where he was taking me. It was a home, no, more like an abandoned castle: lying dormant on the outskirts of a hill's rise, sporting a strange architecture which did its best to differentiate itself from the norm. It was calling to me. Looking up at it made me feel I'd be a queen, should I be willing to take a step in there.