Vampyre Bride ✔️

XLI⎮Hobkirk Priory

It occurred to Emma suddenly that Nicholas appeared far too much at his ease amidst these hallowed walls. She observed him with a dubious countenance which he noticed and answered with a quirk of the mouth, his gaze askance.

"Forgive my presumption," said she, raising a mordant brow, "but should you not have burst into flames by now?"

He gave a bark of laughter. "How remiss of me. I should hate to think I've disappointed you."

"Only a little," she muttered, glancing up at the crucifix above Nicholas's head where a shrunken-bellied Christ was hanging from his iron nails, his head bowed as if in lorn contemplation of the strange creature below him. "But, in the spirit of inquiry, do consider the impertinence, instead, a concern for your safety."

"Well, then I am pleased to allay your concern on that score, for, you see, I am not and have never been a vampyre."

"Truly?!" Her eyes had flown quite as broad and wide as his dark smile.

"Truly."

"Well, you must be"—she leaned away from him, the better to disinter his secrets and discover what was so manifestly preternatural about him—"something other than mortal."

"And, indeed, I am." His prevailing silence thereafter, however, was attestation enough that he meant to withhold the nature of his physiology.

It was most provoking. "For Heaven's sake, what are you if not a vampyre?"

"Miss Lucas, it is rude to pry."

Before Emma could tell him what she thought of his perverse reticence, the door swung open to admit Sister Mary and a somber young woman who, despite possessing Milli's fine looks, lacked the warmth of spirit that was wont to imbue each beloved feature of the sister she remembered. Whatever reunion Emma had expected, it had not been the taciturn embrace of a young woman garbed in black.

Milli disengaged herself from Emma's arms, her glance falling instantly—and with manifest surprise—upon the gentleman standing beside Emma; a man upon whose dashing figure the Milli of old had so often feasted starving eyes.

"My dearest Milli"—Hawksmoor's eyes glittered with humor as he examined her severe attire—"you look positively divine."

Even the high neckline and furrowed brow was no detraction from the pretty hue of pink that suffused Milli's fresh cheeks. Determinedly, she ignored Hawksmoor's shameless familiarity, choosing, instead, to address the reason for the 'divine' attire that had also aroused Emma's curiosity. "You find me now a humble postulant, sister."

Notwithstanding the austerity of Milli's demeanor, Emma was so taken aback by the declaration that she stood by, limp and dumbstruck, as Sister Mary pressed a welcome kiss to her cheek. "A nun, Milli?! You cannot be serious!" Here, indeed, stood a contradictory dark twin; an imposter mirrored from the shadow world.

"Mary," said Milli to her cousin, "I must beg a private moment with my sister. I see I have shocked her."

"Of course." Mary favored the sisters with a smile of concern and a nod of her round face which the tall nun echoed. "You shall find the little bench beneath the willow quite secluded. Lord Hawksmoor will be quite safe in our custody."

To that, his lordship gave a tight smile and watched the sisters leave the parlor arm in arm. 

When at last they were seated alone beneath the weeping tree, Emma found that she was lost for words. She was, however, relieved to see Winterly's bracelet hugging Milli's dainty wrist.

The sullen twin, meanwhile, searched Emma's face and then gave her hands a reassuring squeeze. "I don't wonder at your confusion, Emma, Lord knows I barely understand it all myself, but my sudden interest in the church is hardly arbitrary, considering all we now know of the world." The interruption of a lonely crow, as it circled the bell tower, squawking its sinister agreement, drew Milli's wary gaze. "You, pretty surely, of all people, must understand my need for answers—Deuce take me, Emma! That creature fed on me! Will I never escape the nightmares? Will I never feel clean again?! Just once I wish I could close my eyes and not see...those eyes." Terror dilated Milli's eyes as she stared, unfocused, over Emma's shoulders, lost in wakeful nightmares.