“Are you a sorcerer?” Elise asked and stepped away from me. She climbed up on a bale of straw, so she could look down at me.
“No.” I ducked below the beam so I could walk over to her. “Are you?”
“No.” She shook her head, and I noticed a small braid she had in her hair, keeping it back so it didn’t fall in her eyes.
She reached up, hanging onto the beam, and her dress pulled taut against her bodice. It awakened a fever inside of me, and my whole body began to heat up.
“How have you put this spell me on then?” Elise asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
I reached up, putting my hands on the same beam as her. My fingers brushed against hers, causing a jolt to surge through me. Her eyes widened, so I knew she felt it too. I leaned on the beam, so our bodies were so close they were nearly touching, and I breathed in the sweet perfume of her flesh.
“This,” she said softly. “This is a spell, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “If it is, I don’t care. I don’t ever want it to stop.”
I leaned in, meaning to kiss her, but she jumped down off the bale of straw. She ran out of the stable, her dress flowing behind her, and she glanced back at me over her shoulder. I’m not sure if she wanted me to give chase, but I didn’t have a choice.
I ran after her, and she sped up. I was faster than her. I easily caught her. I grabbed her wrist, gently as not to hurt her, and she stopped, whirling around to face me. Her body pressed into me, so I could feel how hard her own heart hammered in her chest. She stared up at me, searching my face.
“What game are you playing?” Elise asked.
“This isn’t a game.”
She pulled her wrist from my hand and stepped back from me. “Just because I want to kiss you doesn’t mean we can.”
“Why not?” I asked, and I made myself stay in place. I wanted to follow her, to be close enough to touch her again, but I knew that wasn’t what she wanted, so I stayed firm.
“Because.” She stood up straighter. “I am a lady, and I have morals.”
“Yes, of course,” I nodded, feeling the blush on my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to… tarnish you.”
“Good, because you can’t.” She turned away. “If you’d like to walk with me, you can. But nothing more.”
I hurried to catch up with her, and we walked slowly down the road. A little boy ran out in front of us, nearly into her, and she paused to let him pass.
“You don’t know what this is?” Elise asked softly after he’d gone. She kept her eyes focused on the path in front of her, only occasionally glancing up at me.
“You mean this… pull between us?” I asked.
“Yes, exactly,” she nodded quickly. “The pull.”
“No, I haven’t the faintest idea,” I shook my head. “My maker might know, though.”
“You know your maker?” Elise looked up sharply at me.
“Yes, don’t you?” I gestured back to the market. “Wasn’t Catherine yours?”
“No, she’s a friend, more like a sister.” Her steps slowed a bit as we talked. “My maker was a stranger that my father paid to turn me, and then he promptly abandoned me.”
“Your father paid him?” I asked, not hiding my shock.
“We were dying,” Elise explained. “Both my younger sisters and my mother had already died. It was only my father and I left. The famine hit our family hard.”
“So to save you, he hired someone to turn you?” I asked, and she nodded.
“But he left me, alone with my father.” Her face darkened. “I had to learn how to be a vampyre on my own.”