Chapter 14: Silence.

Cassian

Her eyes opened wide.

They did not open slowly like someone waking up from sleep. They just snapped open in the room that was lit by candles.

I stopped moving when I saw her eyes open. I was standing beside the stone table where she was lying.

For a second, I thought I had failed to save her. I thought the life I had brought back to her body had not worked.

She did not feel warm like she did before. There was no anger or pain in her.

She just felt cold and hard like glass.

Her eyes looked really black then they got smaller and sharper. She did not blink all. She just stared at the ceiling like she saw something moving above her that no one else could see.

I said her name, "Selene."

She did not answer.

Then she took a deep breath in.

The sound of her breathing was really loud in the room.

Then she stopped breathing.

There was no breath.

The silence after that was really scary.

It made the room feel like a monster.

She slowly turned her head to look at me.

It was too smooth like a wild animal moving into a body that used to belong to a woman.I felt something change before I saw it.

Her nose moved like she smelled something.

Then she locked her muscles and dug her fingers into the stone table.

Her lips pulled back. I saw her fangs.

It was an terrible thing to see.

Her body reacted before her brain could think.

She jumped at me. Hit me hard enough to push me into the pillar behind me.

The stone cracked and dust fell on my shoulders.

Her hand grabbed my throat and her other hand hit my chest to keep me in place.

She was really strong like an animal.

She bent down to bite my neck.

I caught her wrists and pushed her back before she could hurt me.

She made a loud noise, like a wild animal.

I said her name again "Selene."

She just struggled against my grip like an animal in chains.

The room was really messy now.

A big metal bowl of coals fell over. Coals spilled all over the floor.

The fire jumped up the walls and made crazy shapes.

Old chains hanging from the ceiling were shaking hard.

Her heel came down again and cracked the stone floor.

I had seen old and strong vampires break doors and stone before.

I had never seen a new vampire do this.

She jumped at me again with her teeth out.

I said her name again "Selene."

This time it was like a command.

Her body stopped moving for a second.

Then she looked at me. I saw something in her eyes.

It was like she was buried under a lot of blood and hunger.

Then I saw confusion and anger in her face.

Her grip on my throat got a looser.

Then she felt pain. She pulled away from me.

She screamed really loudly and stumbled backward.

She was not human and not an animal. She was something in between.

She scratched at her throat like something inside her wanted to come out.

Then she fell into the stone table behind her.

A lot of things fell on the floor like bones and cups and charms.

A carved idol broke into two pieces.

She got down on one knee and started shaking.

I knew what was happening to her.

All new vampires go through this. Hers was going to be worse.

Water was dripping somewhere in the room. It made her jump.

The coals were making noise. It made her pull back.

My heartbeat was really loud in the silence.

She covered her ears with her hands, but it did not help.

The world was too loud and too bright for her.

It was like everything was attacking her.

I took one step toward her.

She looked up at me quickly and her hair moved across her face.

I saw hate and fear in her eyes.

She tried to talk. Her voice was not working well.

"What... Did you do?" she said.

There were two voices in her sound, like something was living inside her.

The question was like a knife to me.

I did not say anything.

There was no way to explain what I had done.

I saved her because I needed her.

I saved her because I thought she might be the answer to something.

I saved her because I could not watch her die.

She saw that I was not saying anything and she hated me more.

Her eyes landed on a silver plate on the floor.

She jumped up and grabbed it.

For a second she just stared at herself in the plate.

She saw how pale she was and how bright her eyes were.

She saw the fangs in her mouth.

She saw the thing I had made.

She screamed and threw the plate across the room.

It hit the wall and bent, then it fell to the floor. Spun around until it stopped.

She backed away from where she had seen herself in the plate.

She said "no" again and again. It was not working.

Her hand landed on a dagger on the floor.

It was a blade with a special edge that could hurt vampires.

She grabbed for the dagger. I moved first.

I slammed her wrist to the floor. The dagger slid away.

She fought me hard like a storm.

Tears came out of her eyes. I did not know if vampires could cry.

Maybe this was something too.

She screamed at me to let her go.

I told her she would kill herself.

She said that was the point.

She fought me some more. Then she stopped.

The silence was really scary.

She looked up at me. I saw tears on her face.

Her voice was really rough when she talked.

"You should have let me die " she said.

The room felt like a tomb.

I did not know what to say to her.

I had never felt so bad, about what I had done.