His voice was deep, the timbre of it rushing across the nerve endings of her exposed ashen skin as she lay in his arms, her body so far lost that she barely felt the impact of landing in his embrace. She tried to focus on his face, lovely pale skin and dark eyes blurred in and out of her conscious thoughts and she tried to formulate words only to choke on the remaining blood that filled her weakened lungs. She felt the darkness that pressed against her vision call to her and without hesitation she rushed towards it, warmth engulfing her and rest finally finding residence within her aching physique. What happened beyond that moment was lost to her, but the hope of heaven and reunion with her family members past played in whatever small moments she was left to experience. 

[i] Elle, gather the supplies we need and meet me at the edge of Herrington's forest." Her brothers voice was hushed and the only vision she held of him was due entirely to the small candle that he held in front of his handsome face, his grin wicked and filled with promise of adventure.

She couldn't help but smile, though neither of them felt giddy or happiness, but more a sense of purpose and a fulfilled calling awaiting them at the end of the night. "You know that father would not approve of us leaving in the middle of the night. We must wake him, Jameson. I will not take lashes tomorrow when he finds out what we have done."

"He will not know, sister. Now do as I say!" Her brother moved back and Elle huffed softly, slipping from her small make-shift bed and pulling off her long white gown. They were still young and deep into adolescence, their sense of right and wrong perfectly in place and yet the call of the wild or the possibility to make a name for themselves well overrode their sense of preservation or looming destruction. Their father would know because they would in fact kill a vampire and knowing her brother, he would talk about it for months and months. 

They would be caught - she had no doubt of that fact.

She pulled up a pair of britches and an old white shirt, slipped her feet in some solid brown boots and her hair in a tight knot and headed for the small closet at the back of their room. Deep in the confines of the darkness lay a small board that moved and below it was a few supplies that they would use to kill the vamps. A bottle of holy water, blessed by Saint Stephen, a cross and a long stake that would be used to end the creatures nefarious lifestyle. She finished gathering the supplies and slipped into the night, her brother waiting at the edge of the forest with a gleam in his eye and a smile on his lips.

"Are you ready, little sister?" He reached for the stick and she shook her head. 

"We're going to get caught or die trying not to." Elle stuck out her tongue, but nothing remained of Jameson, but a soft laugh he left for her as he forged into the forest.
[/i]

Soft candlelight filled the room around her as she moved a little, her body so sore and her skin painfully tight. Where was she? Was this heaven? She tried to sit up, but a long burn filled her chest as she muffled a scream, embarrassed by her emotion and yet in so much agony that to cry out seemed the only way to move past the anguish and into relief. Dying was horrid, but this transition into the next world was more treacherous than she'd imagine. Her body shook as her muscles inflated and her skin relit with color. Her eyes bulged as she finally let out a long agonizing scream and her body finished the transition. She breathed in rapidly and felt tears dot her cheeks as her fingers dug painfully into the bed she was laid upon. Giving herself a few minutes to pull through the remaining transition she prayed to the God of her father and finally pushed up to her elbows, a man that appeared familiar and yet not sat across from her, his strong features playing with her against the firelight that bathed him in illumination.

"Where am I?" She muttered softly, her lips pale pink and full again as they sat upon her perfectly smooth alabaster skin. "Who are you?"