[i]Three months ago...[/i] Snow was falling. Eloise was shivering violently, soaked to the skin. Her thin cloak and worn shoes did nothing to keep the cold out. She stumbled through the howling wind, an empty bucket grasped in her numb fingers. Mistress wanted a bath, she said. So a bath Eloise was drawing, and she knew she that Mistress would hurt her later on, because she was too slow. Eloise grimaced. She was [i]always[/i] too slow. By some miracle, the snow had subsided to a light flurry by the time that Eloise reached the well. She was hungry, so very [i]hungry[/i]. The hunger gnawed at her stomach, which was cramping painfully, and she felt the emptiness ricochet through her gut. Every time she passed the house of one of the villagers-there was the widowed midwife's cottage, and just past that was the butcher's brother, and past that was the tailor-Eloise felt dizzy and lightheaded. The faint smell of human blood was driving Eloise insane, but she could not-could [i]not[/i]-disobey Mistress, even if she had wanted to. Eloise filled her bucket with water from the well. She was turning away, ready to make the trek back to where Mistress was staying, when the smell of human blood became so strong that Eloise dropped to her knees, water sloshing out of the bucket as she fell. Her fangs elongated on instinct, and Eloise gasped at the sensation. Her vision was filled with stars, but even so, she still recognized Sarah, approaching at a brisk pace. The smell of her blood hit her again, and Eloise crumpled in a heap in the snow. "Sarah," she breathed, and for one single, glorious moment, she wasn't covered in bruises and her body didn't hurt all over and she wasn't ravenously hungry. All that mattered was Sarah's concerned brown eyes staring down at her. "Eloise-what? We all thought you were dead; where have you been? What-what [i]happened[/i] to you?" Sarah's face was inches from Eloise's. And then Sarah saw the fangs. "Sarah, please, help me," begged Eloise, tears welling up in her eyes, but Sarah was already backing away in horror. "Eloise-I'm sorry-I can't be...I can't be around you anymore-" and just like that, she was gone. But Eloise stayed there in the snow, the cold numbing the pain in her bones and in her heart. And slowly, she lost consciousness... ...and when she woke up, there was nothing but darkness and the quiet sounds of rats scurrying to and fro. Eloise would have groaned out loud, but she hadn't used her vocal chords in so long that she doesn't know if they still worked or not. She would have wept, but she didn't have the energy to. She shifted slightly, ignoring the way that the chains chafed at her raw, bloody wrists. Eloise rested the side of her face-bloody and bruised, yes, but it didn't really [i]hurt[/i] anymore, thanks to Mistress, who was possibly dead-and lay very, very still. It was not a particularly trying task, given Eloise's exhaustion and her broken, mangled arms and legs. She waited, listening to the rats. And she let them come to her, staying completely motionless until one of them was directly on her face- -and she struck, opening her mouth to reveal a set of grimy fangs, and she sank them deep into the rat, choking on the horrid taste but drinking anyway, because she was so [i]hungry[/i]. She sat up, then, moving the carcass away so that she wasn't constantly touching it. Eloise couldn't be sure just how many rats she'd killed after she saw her sire for the last time. Ah, no matter. It wasn't like Mistress was giving Eloise [i]human[/i] blood before she disappeared, anyway. Eloise sank back against the stone wall, which was covered in dried blood. She closed her eyes and listened to the pounding of her heart, disjointed images and faces floating through her vision behind shut eyelids. Her youngest daughter's face. What was her name again? Verity? Victoria? Veronica? Eloise stopped trying to remember; it made her head hurt. And her son, only eight years old when Mistress killed him. Was it Edward, or perhaps Edwin? Or maybe it was Edgar? Finally, her oldest daughter, and her husband. Eloise didn't know her daughter's name anymore, but she remembered her smile and her giggles and the way that she liked to play with John's sacks of flour. John. Eloise was strangely relieved; she remembered her husband's name this time. Most times, she couldn't. Eloise didn't know how long she'd been down in the darkness, chained up in Mistress's cellar. It had to be a hundred years by now. She dimly wondered if Mistress had killed another woman's family and turned another woman into a vampire so that she would have someone to do her laundry and scrub her floors for her, after even Eloise's naturally enhanced healing that came from being a vampire couldn't fix her mangled legs. What year was it now? God, Eloise didn't know. All she knew was the deep, throbbing pain in her bones and the constant hunger that was slowly driving her insane. It seemed like an eternity and then some had passed when Eloise heard someone approaching the cellar. At first, she thought it was Mistress. Was she alive after all this time? Had she simply forgotten about Eloise, or had she determined that Eloise wasn't worth the effort to keep alive anymore? Or was she there to hurt Eloise even more, so that she could take Eloise's pain and slam it into her opponent? But no; beyond the smell of blood and rats and death, Eloise smelled [i]humans[/I]. Suddenly, she was very, very afraid. The Covenant was here. They got through the lock on the door all too quickly, and rays of light flooded the cellar. Eloise flinched and covered her eyes, turning away. After so many years in the dark, even the dim light of the corridor leading to the cellar made her eyes sting painfully. She cowered against the wall as the vampire hunters approached. They saw her, she was sure of it; bright beams of light were sweeping across the cellar. She heard one of them mutter a curse. Fear filled Eloise's veins as they warily approached her. Against her will, her fangs shot out, and Eloise felt nauseous at the smell of warm, rushing blood so [i]close[/i] to her. "Vampire," the one closest to her snarled softly. Bright white light hit her again, and Eloise whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut. "Do you have a name?" Eloise froze, her heart racing. [i]Name. She wants my name. What is my name?[/i] When Eloise failed to answer, the beam of white light hit her full-on in the face, and Eloise whimpered again, squirming against the chains. She would have screamed if her throat wasn't so dry. Eloise licked her parched, papery lips, and let out a few painful coughs. "I-I-I don't know," she stammered out. "P-please. I promise I'm telling the truth...I can't [i]remember[/i]. Please. It hurts...it hurts so much..." A few muttered whispers. The light disappeared, and Eloise breathed a sigh of relief. A different vampire hunter approached her. He was so close that Eloise could have sunk her fangs into her neck if she had the courage. "Let me see your eyes, vampire," he said, not unkindly. Trembling, Eloise lifted her hands away from her face and stared at the hunters. There were two men and two women in the cellar with her. "Have you come to kill me?" whispered Eloise, her palms slick with sweat. The vampire hunter in front of her gave Eloise a small half-smile. "Is your name Eloise Portsmouth?" he said in reply, ignoring Eloise's question. Eloise's mind whirled. She felt lost, confused-was her name Eloise? Half-remembered memories flooded her vision. Wildflowers under a sunny sky. A wooden table speckled with flour. John's wicked smile, Sarah's solemn eyes. "I-I-How did you know that?" Eloise breathed, looking at the hunter, bewildered. An indiscernible emotion flashed across his face. "You are mentioned in certain documents that we obtained from your sire's chambers above," he told her gently. Eloise nodded quickly, unsure of what to say. A wave of dizziness swept over her-all the human blood smelled so, so good. "Enough of this nonsense," a brusque voice said, and Eloise realized that it was the hunter who had first spoken to her. The Covenant member in front of her returned to the small knot of people near the stairs of the cellar, and they conversed quietly amongst themselves, glancing suspiciously at Eloise every now and then. Eloise, for her part, lowered her eyes meekly and waited. The hunters freed her from the chains, and for the first time in many, many years, the blisters and sores on Eloise's wrists and ankles weren't constantly chafing against the iron cuffs. The hunter who had been almost [i]kind[/i] to her gave Eloise a brief look before wrapping the very same wrists and ankles in thick strands of garlic. Eloise gave a raspy cry. The garlic [i]burned[/i], like the hot cooking oil that Stella used to be so fond of dumping on top of her. "Please, it [i]hurts[/i]," she croaked, but her pleas fell in deaf ears. She was then blindfolded (for the sake of her sensitive eyes, if anything else) and gagged, presumably to keep her from sinking her fangs into the nearest breathing being. Eloise felt herself being roughly dragged across the floor of the cellar and up the stairs, and she gasped and groaned against the gag as her useless legs banged against the sharp stone steps. Thankfully, once they realized how little she weighed, Eloise felt herself being picked up and carried away. When they reached the main foyer of her sire's home, Eloise felt a sharp sting in her forearm before she slipped out of consciousness. ***** Eloise dreamed of snow and sadness before she woke up, feeling strangely light. [i]Where am I?[/i] she wondered groggily. She began to sit up, and stifled a scream as her wrists rubbed against the strands of garlic that bound them behind her back. Eloise sank back down onto the thin cot that the Covenant had left her on, her breathing shallow. A trickle of sweat ran down the back of her neck as she waited there for lord knows how long, wondering why the Covenant hadn't simply killed her already, like they had with her sire. She began to feel lightheaded, and once again, Eloise was reminded of her roaring hunger. An hour or so later, one of the hunters came in. Eloise looked down, terrified. "Here," the hunter said carelessly, tossing a...Eloise's mind went blank. It looked like a plastic bag of some sort, the kind that her sire had used to transport blood-a Ziploc bag. It was a medium-sized Ziploc bag, filled with blood, being tossed at her by the hunter. Eloise's hunger reared up and roared, and suddenly, there were tears in the thin plastic, and the blood was rushing out of it and filling Eloise's mouth... Dog blood-not as good as human blood, but infinitely better than rat blood. Eloise finished drinking, her hunger satiated for the moment, and glanced up at the hunter, who was glaring at her with a barely concealed disgust. Eloise lowered her eyes again, shrinking away from her. "Pay attention to what I'm about to say, vampire. I will not repeat myself." Eloise nodded meekly, keeping her eyes downcast. "Records indicate that your sire-a certain Stella Havisham, if I am correct-believed that with time and age, you would develop healing abilities that could be used not only on yourself, but on others as well, human or...not. So, here is what's going to happen; we will feed you and bathe you and bandage your wounds, and in return, you are going to heal anyone who needs it. Is that clear?" Eloise was stunned. "Healing" abilities? Where were these healing abilities all those times that Mistress hurt her? "I-I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't-I don't have any...abilities," Eloise stammered, too afraid to look up at the hunter's face. "Your sire purposefully kept them from manifesting. And if they don't end up manifesting here, either, then we will simply kill you and be done with it. However, if they [i]do[/i] end up manifesting, you [i]will[/i] do what you are told. Trust me on this-the Covenant is just as talented as your sire, when it comes to keeping people chained up and half-alive." Eloise shuddered involuntarily. It seemed as if she had no choice than to become the Covenant's glorified slave, if these mysterious healing abilities ever manifested. [i]Well, they certainly can't be worse than Mistress,[/i] she thought, a tad glumly. Eloise nodded her acquiescence. "I'll do as you say," she whispered. The hunter stood up. "Good." She strode over to Eloise and shoved her up into a sitting position, ignoring Eloise's flinches as the garlic dug into her flesh. The vampire hunter attached something to Eloise's ankle. Eloise looked up at her, wide-eyed and confused. It was black and shiny and resembled an anklet, except that there was no way for Eloise to remove it-it was too tight around her ankle. "This is a tracker, which also can be used to administer an electric shock. Do as we say, and I see no reason why it should have to be used." And with that, the hunter turned on her heel and left, leaving Eloise alone with her thoughts. [i]Present day[/i] It took two months for Eloise's healing abilities to manifest. Eloise watched with numb wonder as cuts healed over, leaving nothing but scars. Bruises faded away, bones knit themselves back together, and a little bit of the color returned to her cheeks. True to their word, the Covenant took care of her, to some extent-they gave her blood, and they gave her an actual bed, and they let her slowly regain some semblance of strength. After Eloise discovered her capabilities, though, the rest was easy. Within a day, her mangled, useless legs were functional once more, thanks to those miraculous sparks that shot from her fingertips. Eloise walked for the first time in sixty years, gasping at the sensation-it felt so...unusual. Her broken bones, kept in place by casts and splints, were suddenly perfectly fine. Eloise could have wept with wonder; for the first time since she was turned, more than one hundred years ago, nothing hurt. The Covenant put her to work then, and some days she healed their hunters until she passed out, but it was infinitely better than her miserable existence with her sire. When she passed out, they revived her (most often with a painful electric shock), gave her a small cup of blood (usually some sort of animal blood-never human), and she continued. They gave her new, strange clothes (apparently, it was acceptable to wear pants that showed a lot of skin now, and women didn't [i]have[/I] to wear dresses and skirts) and sometimes, they let her listen to music on a peculiar device called an iPod. Eloise loved that iPod. She hadn't known that any of this [i]existed[/I], cooped up as she was in the cellar under her sire's house. There were dreams, too, and plenty of nightmares, but those were to be expected. She dreamed of the life she once knew the most, followed by horrible nightmares concerning her sire. But all in all, Eloise was the happiest that she'd ever been as a vampire, despite the fact that she was basically the Covenant's property. It had been three months since the Covenant found her when they put her aboard an airplane (and Eloise was enraptured by the sensation of flying, unable to tear herself away from the window) and flew her to the US, then put her in a car and started driving down to Tennessee. Eloise didn't know why she was being sent to Tennessee, and she didn't question it, instead marveling at all the sights and sounds that twenty-first century America had to offer her. Of course, Eloise spent most of her time in the trunk, her wrists bound tightly together and a gag over her mouth, but that was a nonissue. They were bouncing along a road one day, when the vehicle skidded to a stop. Eloise couldn't make out much from where she was, even with her vampiric hearing, though she could have sworn that she heard gunshots. There were a few muttered curses, and Eloise picked up the static of a radio. She shifted into a more comfortable position, and one of the hunters began opening the trunk. Eloise whimpered into the scarf wrapped around the bottom half of her face as thin beams of light hit her eyes, the only part of her not covered by clothing. Eloise watched with apprehension as the trunk was fully opened, resisting the urge to scream as the light blinded her eyes. Eloise still wasn't used to bright lights after being locked away in the darkness for decades and decades. She caught a glimpse of a finger covered in blood, wearing a trench coat and a gas mask, and shrank back from the group of vampire hunters, keeping her eyes away from the sun.