The Heart Of A Vampire

chapter 9: the storm

The next day, Evangeline woke to the sound of raindrops hammering against the cottage. She drowsily say up in bed with a yawn, rubbing at her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up.

The rain wasn't too intense. Sure, it was strong enough to wake her up, but Evangeline was not exactly a very deep sleeper, so that didn't say much.

She didn't think much of it as the rain continued. Lunchtime had arrived, and she could still hear the it outside, though she did notice that it seemed to be growing more powerful.

By mid to late afternoon, the wind was howling and dark angry grey clouds littered the once beautiful blue sky. Even the large and thick oak tree beside her cottage was bending, completely at the mercy of the howling wind.

It seemed as though the rain would never stop. Evangeline stood at one of the dusty windows, squinting as she peered outside, admiring the beautiful sight of natures sheer power and might.

However that didn't last long- not even a minute later, Evangeline watched as said oak tree quaked before slowly tumbling down, her eyes widening in shock at the sight. A loud crash echoed throughout the cottage, and she began coughing as dust started swirling through the air around her, leading her to come to the realization that the tree must have fallen on her home. After all, if it hadn't, the dust would have been outside, not around her.

She quickly raced outside to see that luckily, it hadn't fallen on the cottage, though she had gathered that by the fact that there wasn't too much dust. Instead, it had fallen right beside her home, however many of the branches had collapsed upon the side of the cottage, which must have been what caused so much dust to stir.

Evangeline blinked, her brow furrowing as she suddenly realized that the branches had fallen on her bedroom. She quickly raced towards the tree, hoping that she could move the branches and salvage her bedroom- the room that contained her things, her gowns, her books, her diary.

Hoisting up her skirts so that they didn't get in the way, she bent over and began hauling the smaller branches away, feeling the rain picking up as she did so, her hair getting tangled up in the wind. A few minutes later, she found herself with only the last branch- the one that were too heavy for her to move- left.

It thick, at least as thick as her waist, and wouldn't budge an inch no matter how much she pushed. Evangeline paused, deciding to take a moment to try to regain her strength, thinking that perhaps having gotten rid of the other branches had taken a toll on her, that she should take a moment to try and recoup before attempting once more.

After a minute, she bent down once more, leaning forward, putting all her weight on her right foot as she tried to push the branch again. Suddenly, she flailed, her feet sliding around in the wet mud brought on by the rain, sending her flying and falling down onto her face.

She quickly pushed herself back up, kneeling in the mud, her hair, gown, hands, and face absolutely covered in it.

And the branch still hadn't moved an inch.

"I'm presuming you need some help?"

Evangeline whirled around, finding herself facing Vlad.

He cleared his throat in a slightly awkward manner. "I saw you from the window. You appeared to be having a difficult time moving that branch. I thought that perhaps I should come down and help you myself, if you would allow me."

She didn't respond at first, feeling embarrassed to be seen covered in mud like this. Finally, after a moment, she nodded curtly and moved out of the way to give him room to help.

He silently moved forward, kneeling slightly and easily picking up the branch, hauling it up, slinging it over his broad shoulders, and setting it down in the pile of the branches that Evangeline had managed to deal with on her own.

He then turned back to face her, his eyes flickering over to glance at the remnants of her collapsed bedroom. Hunks of stone- the stone that once made up said bedroom- were sprawled out on the grass in front of them.

"I probably could have done that by myself," Evangeline murmured, turning her nose up slightly.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "I was expecting a thank you. How unappreciative," he responded bluntly, though there was an edge of playfulness to his tone- a very slight edge, at that.

Evangeline sighed, though there was a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Fine. Thank you. Thank you so much, your imperial majesty. Thank you for being so spectacular and amazing. Whatever would I have done without you?" She responded sarcastically, clearly struggling not to break out laughing, trying to keep up the cold facade.

"I'd rather you insult me," Vlad whispered dryly before approaching the remnants of her bedroom and bending over to pick up some of the stones. "Most of these are broken. If I were you I would go to the marketplace to purchase more," he advised.

Evangeline approached him from behind, following. "I spent most of my coins on food," she said with a sigh "And now I need to spend the rest on stone. What luck I have," she continued in an exasperated tone.

"You could begin working. Grow food to sell, perhaps. Until you have enough money to rebuild everything," Vlad suggested, turning around one of the stones in his hand.

"And in the meantime?" Evangeline countered "What if there's another storm? Even if it's not a storm, just rainfall. The water would flood my cottage. Do you not see this massive hole? This place may as well be a cup."