Alena slowly awoke but kept her eyes closed. She moved her tongue inside her mouth searching for the fangs that her new body should have. With a smile, she realized that she would probably need Gabriel's instruction on how to elongate the new incisors. She inhaled deeply wondering how long she had been sleeping. Three hours or three weeks, she knew that a cup of coffee was definitely needed to cure this headache.
Headache? Do vampires have headaches? How can vampires survive eternity if they suffer inconveniences such as headaches? Stretching her body on the bed, she felt as though her joints were stiff from immobility and weak with hunger.
Slowly opening her eyes, Alena tried to focus in her dark surroundings looking for Gabriel. When the beside lamp suddenly lit the room, she squinted and moaned in complaint. A quick inventory of her stats included a headache, sore body, hunger, and blindness in the dark. Ignoring her body's complaints, she quickly sat up in the bed in shock and horror.
She was not a vampire.
Looking at Gabriel, she cried, "Why didn't you change me?"
"I did everything that I was supposed to do," he replied while slowly walking to the bed.
"What's wrong with me?"
"Baby," he said while sitting beside her, "calm down. We'll figure this out."
"What happened?!" she demanded in rising panic.
"Alena, calm down," Gabriel said while pulling her onto his lap. "Listen to me. You are not still human but you have not completely changed ... yet."
"Yet? I don't understand," she said in rapid breaths.
"Please try to calm down. You've been sleeping for three days as though your body was changing but you've not become a vampire. I've been trying to give you orange juice and water so you wouldn't dehydrate. I could hardly take you to the hospital in your condition."
"What condition?" she asked in confusion.
Pulling away from Gabriel, she noticed the strain in his face. He appeared tired and worried. Gently touching the wrinkles around his eyes, Alena noticed her hand. Pulling away, she turned her hand back and forth viewing the smooth, flawless skin.
"Oh God," she said. "What happened to me?"
Lifting her in his arms, Gabriel carried her to her dressing room and stood her in front of the full length mirror. When she looked at their reflections, she was shocked at the woman staring back at her.
Since joining Gabriel at the mansion, her physical appearance had improved through rest and relief of stress. But now, the beautiful face framed by thick mahogany hair barely resembled her own. She turned in the mirror, slightly distracted by her nudity, observing all of the changes in her appearance. Her body, always petite and trim, now seemed to boast perfect dimensions with the fuller breasts that stood at attention to the golden skin that glowed in unblemished perfection.
"You now have the perfect body as it would have been with no stress, illness, or age," Gabriel commented with a tender stroke of his fingers down her arm.
"But I'm not a vampire."
"Your human heart faltered as though it would stop but when I fed you, it started beating its normal rhythm again."
"My eyes changed."
"Darker, as your hair has darkened also."
"Gabe, did I do something wrong?"
"No," he said pulling her closer to him. "You did nothing wrong and I've been going crazy for three days trying to determine where I failed."
Dropping her head in a futile attempt to control her emotions, Alena stepped away from Gabriel motioning for him to keep his distance when he tried to follow her. She walked to the closet and found a long, black silk robe that noticeably had more material than any of the others. When she exited the dressing room, Gabriel followed slowly behind her watching her every move. Stopping in the bathroom, Alena collected necessary items for a bath, enough for one person.
"I would like to freshen up," she said in a monotone voice.
Refusing to look at him, Alena did not see the sorrow that passed across his face. When she heard him leave and close the door, she immediately turned on the water impatient for the temperature to warm. She stood under the spray long enough to wet her hair and shuddered when she felt the weight from the new volume drag down below her hips.
Struggling to reach the small ledge, she sat down and allowed her disappointment and fear to be released through her emotions. Tears started as she tried to understand that she had been rejected by the vampire world. Eight years of loneliness had been eased only to be elevated to a torment that she knew her heart could not bear. Now, after completing a physical bond with Gabriel, she would still age, be subject to illnesses, and eventually die. With the dark cloud of pain crushing her heart, she began sobbing uncontrollably.
On the other side of the bathroom door, Gabriel leaned his forehead against the wood listening to Alena cry. He had suffered alone for three days only to be alone again when she had finally woke. He knew that he should say something to her, offer her some encouragement but he had barely been able to answer her questions and do more than gawk at her altered body.
He hated himself more than she ever could. How could she ever love him again when he had somehow failed her so miserably? After four thousand years of being alone, eight years of sacrificing his life with her for the demands of his world and the three additional days of waiting in frustration, it was his failure of changing her that now pushed him beyond his control.
"Fuck this," he growled storming into the bathroom. His confidence shattered when he saw her huddled in the floor of the shower. Quickly stripping out of his jeans and t-shirt, Gabriel opened the shower door and stepped into the stall.
She felt him lifting her into his arms before she knew that he was with her. Trying to pull away from his hold, she hid her face in her hands to hide her tears. When she realized that he would not let her go, she circled her arms around his waist and sobbed on his chest.
"I'll never let you go," he vowed as he kissed the top of her head. "I promise you that nothing will ever separate us. I'll find out what I did wrong and fix this."
