Bites
The Snowstorm
Amara could barely feel her feet anymore in her boots, the first snowstorm of the winter being unnaturally harsh as the snow slid off of her black plague doctor robe, letting her keep herself dry, except for her feet that plunged at least a foot deep into the layers of snow on the ground with each step she took.
Amara cursed her position, fisting her hands into her coat. The next village was miles away, and the only hope she had was the faint silhouette of a building that couldn't have been less than an entire fucking kilometer away. Still, holding onto hope, she trudged through the snow, teeth chattering at the cold as she slowly approached a clearing before a large, dark building, perhaps a manor with the way it was structured. Warm lights emanated from within, and Amara almost fell in pure relief. She ran into the clearing and knocked on the large wooden doors, hoping someone was inside.
Amara
"Hello?! Is anyone here?! I've no place to stay for the night!"
Her shouting only continued for a few minutes as the doors opened, a woman behind them with a soft smile.
Elise
"Oh, dear. You seem terrible, plague doctor. Have you no village to serve?"
The woman's voice is low, a purr almost, rattling Amara's ribcage with it. She nodded still, the cold air coming in through her mask and into her lungs making her wheeze.
Amara
"I- yes, ma'am, the next village is miles away, if I could just stay here for a few nights, please, I'd be in your debt-"
The woman, beautiful and ethereal, hushes her and smiles, her teeth white and seeming..Sharp.
Elise
"Hush, darling. Of course I'd give you a place to stay. Come inside and make yourself at home, I will fetch a new set of clothes for you."
Amara bowed her head gratefully and shuffled into the home, collapsing onto a chair in pure relief. She took off her boots and her coat, trying desperately to warm the soles of her feet by the fire burning warmly and steadily in the fireplace. She moaned in ungodly relief, unclasping her mask and putting down her hair to let the back of her neck get warmer. All the while, the lady of the house looked at her, amused, as she picked up the articles of clothing that Amara had shed in her search for warmth, handing them over to a servant and whispering something to them in a foreign language.
Elise
"Feeling any warmer, dear? I've had a servant fetch you some warmer clothes."
Amara looked at her and smiled, shivering less as she wiggled her toes, finally able to feel them properly again. She nodded, looking at the lady of the house.
Amara
"I am feeling warmer. Thank you very much, I'm forever in your debt, miss...Oh dear, I've not even asked your name."
Amara flushed, her face turning pink as the woman only laughed, patting her head as though she were a dog. It felt nice.
Elise
"Oh darling, don't fuss so much about it. My name is Elise, and I am an owner of a humble little apothecary in the nearest village."
She said, grinning, her teeth seeming sharper still, and yet Amara didn't feel inclined to be frightened in any way of them. If anything, it comforted her. She saw Elise's head rise as the woman smiled, turning her attention back to Amara.
Elise
"Now, would you care to join me in the kitchen? Your clothes are there already, as is our food."
Amara blushed, still embarrassed about only being in her shift and stay, but she nodded either way and followed Elise's lead as the woman walked to the kitchen, handing a warm, intricately made dress to her, fine cotton dyed red and gold, with long sleeves and warm gloves. It was almost too extravagant, but Amara accepted it with warmed cheeks as she shuffled slightly with the fancy items of clothing in her hands.
Amara
"Where is the washroom, miss Elise? I'd rather change there."
She said, keeping her voice polite as Elise simply smiled and pointed in the direction of the washroom. Before Amara went, Elise called to her from the bottom of the stairs leading to the hall.
Elise
"You needn't give me an honorific, dear, it'd be more personal if you didn't."
Amara blushed, nodding as she shuffled into the washroom to get dressed. She took off her shift and her stay, leaving her naked in front of an elaborate, full-body mirror. She put on the dress and the gloves given to her, and when she had finished, she almost looked like a bride, the fine material hugging her body and making it look just a bit fuller, her ribs not showing through the warm fabric despite the lack of her undergarments. She smiled, opening the door and walking down towards the kitchen again. There, she was greeted by a grinning Elise, the woman's eyes raking over her body, studying her.
Elise
"You are stunning, darling. Come, drink with me."
Elise raised a glass of wine, the liquid within shimmering under the light of many candles that lit the kitchen. Amara nodded, compliant as she walked towards Elise and attempted to sit across from her, only to be beckoned by the other to sit directly next to her. She complied, drinking the glass of wine poured for her. It was sweet, tangy and bitter, and it warmed her stomach with every gulp. So much so that she did not notice the way that Elise's gaze lingered on her, the way her hands gripped at the table a bit tighter.
Amara
"This is delicious, Miss-"
Elise
"Just Elise, my dear."
Amara blushed, the alcohol making her easily embarrassed and flustered.
Amara
"It's delicious, Elise. I've never tasted wine like this in the villages I've gone to..Where did you get it from?"
She poured herself another glass, suppressing a small moan at the taste as it warmed her entire body again, making her lick lazily at her lips as a drop of the wine escaped her mouth. Elise watched it eagerly, smiling.
Elise
"I make it myself, my love. Now, eat, I'm sure you're famished."
A plate was presented in front of Amara, and on it was meat and bread, with a bowl of soup beside it. She ate it with glee, not having eaten or drank so heavily for years due to the plague. She swallowed the bite of food in her mouth and grinned at Elise, thankful beyond belief as she continued to eat until her plate was completely empty. It was well into the night by then, Elise also having eaten and drank her share, as she led Elise to her temporary room.
Elise
"I'd suggest you keep the dress on while you sleep, my love, as the blankets we have here are quite thin."
Elise advised softly, laying Amara down onto the bed. She hummed, obedient and pliant in Elise's hands as she was placed down onto the bed.
Slowly, her eyes closed, and she fell asleep.
The Night
The moon was as high as it could be in the sky, Elise watching over a sleeping Amara, the girl no more aware than a sleeping babe, dead to the world and beautiful, the only thing giving her away being her breathing and the delicious beat of her heart.
Elise whispered, cupping Amara's cheek and relishing in the way that Amara didn't even react, not making a single sound of awareness.
Elise
"What do you have in store for me, hm?"
She asked, knowing she wouldn't get a response as she crawled onto the bed, sitting atop Amara's hips and licking her lips at the exposed column of her neck. She took Amara's chin into two of her fingers and gently maneuvered her head so that her neck was completely open to Elise. She leaned in close, smelling the scent of lavender and sickness on Amara, but not in her. She was healthy, and those filthy plague victims had tarnished the sweet scent that lay underneath, her blood thrumming against Elise's lips, which were now pressed flush to her jugular.
Elise buried her teeth into the vein, moaning as blood burst into her mouth. She enveloped her lips over the wound, sucking the sweetest blood she had tasted for entire decades. Amara was a gem, able to withstand the plague with an iron will, and it only made her blood all the sweeter. Memories flooded Elise's mind, both sweet and cruel, scenes of clear skies flashing through a child's eyes interspliced with the sight of dead bodies piling up to be burned, all of them having distinct black spots on there skin wherein the disease had spread. And through all of it, Amara remained strong, beautiful, untarnished.
The blood had become sluggish in the way it flowed out, clotting all too easily, and Elise sighed as she ran her tongue over the two pinprick wounds. She hadn't taken nearly enough, she was still hungry — But she wanted to keep Amara to herself, she wanted to keep her alive for as long as possible.
Elise
"You, my love, are far too precious to simply feed from."
She whispered, peeling away the painfully thin blanket from Amara's body, looking at her form, delicious and ready. The effects of the alcohol hadn't died yet, still thrumming through Amara's blood, and it made her slick in just the right places.
The smell of it was intoxicating, tempting, and Elise wanted to bury her fingers into it and take it in its entirety. But no, she wouldn't. She would let Amara choose her desire, until she kissed Elise and begged to be taken, until she laid onto this bed, awake and lively and beautiful, and begged to be taken in her entirety.
For now, Elise slinked back into the shadows of her room, thinking of tomorrow, and the days that she would slowly take from Amara, draining her piece by piece.
Elise
"Gods, my love. You will be perfect."
Praise slipped from her lips as she watched the sun rise, a smile on her lips.
The Day
By the time Amara woke up, she was tired and confused, unsteady on her feet as her head throbbed. She remembers this feeling - But she can't place how or from what. She's never had anemia in her life and yet the feeling of lightheadedness and weakness were both familiar to her.
She groans as she pushes herself out of her bed, the snowstorm having passed as it left the world bleak and covered in a seemingly immovable layer of snow and ice. She takes off the dress given to her, folding it neatly and gently, doing the same with her gloves, terrified of damaging either fabric despite the wealth that Elise possessed.
Elise seemed like the type of person who could use fine silk as a rag and not think twice of it. The type of person who had enough money to treat it as if it were disposable. But she ran a shop, and in the direction Amara was going to either way. So, Amara had the choice to either freeze in the cold trying to walk towards the closest village or be taken there in a carriage with a noblewoman. Of course, Amara chose the latter.
She put her mask back on, and her robes after it. The lavender hadn't spoiled yet, and it fit just as tightly as it had before. It brought her familiarity. She walked down the stairs, only to find Elise there, ready and waiting with a book in her hands, her dress beautiful but not made out of expensive materials. It was linen and cotton, a worker's dress with a corset over it. It was beautiful on her.
Somehow, Elise had noticed her presence, turned in her direction and smiled.
Elise
"I'm going to the village nearby, dear. Would you like to come with me? Judging by your clothes you were already planning on it."
Amara stared at her for a moment, before nodding as she surveyed the room to look for her doctor's bag. She had certainly left it somewhere, having come inside with it. Yet, nowhere to be found inside the main room.
Elise
"Your bag's in the kitchen, darling. The carriage won't be here for another hour, so once you find it you may wait with me."
Amara simply nodded again, going to the kitchen and finding her bag on the dining table, right in the center of it as though it were some sort of decoration. She took it easily, walking back to the main room and sitting down next to Elise.
Amara
"I'm in your debt, Miss Elise. You've treated me with nothing but kindness."
Elise smiles at her and places her book down, taking her gloved hand into her own bare one. Amara was so, so warm, as if there was a fire burning under her skin and coursing through her veins. Her heart was loud, beating, alive, the rhythm of it an intoxicating thing that Elise hadn't heard in a while. She wanted to keep Amara alive for as long as she could — Her blood was too precious to have all in one go.
Elise
"Take it as no debt, Amara. You've already paid it enough."
Elise's grin was wide and alluring, exposing her sharp canine teeth. Amara furrowed her brow in confusion. She thought she hadn't told her name to Elise yet. Perhaps Elise had looked into her journal while she was asleep? But she rarely, if ever, mentioned her own name in it. She hadn't even put her name on the back of the journal's cover, almost afraid to be found when she had acquired the dusty thing. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence, or Amara had told her name to Elise and forgot. Either way, she didn't pay close attention to it.
Still, she was confused. What did Elise mean by telling her she had already paid her debt?
Before she could ask, the sound hooves against dirt and snow echoed outside, each of the horse's steps breaking the layer of ice as the heavy wheels of the carriage dragged along the ground.
Elise
"The carriage is here."
She extended her hand, a bag on her arm and a smile on her face.
Elise
"Come with me, love."
Download MangaToon APP on App Store and Google Play
