Chapter 2

As she drank hungrily from his neck, a shimmering light suddenly appeared around him, then suddenly shot from his body and into hers. As soon as she felt it enter her body she pulled away from him, released her grip from his head, and his lifeless body slumped to the ground.

She then bent over his still body, gently touched her fingers to his temple, and uttered these words in a hollow echoing voice, "My beloved, hear my plea, accept this offering and return to me!"

She straightened up and took a step back from him. Suddenly the ground began to tremble with an almighty rumble and the dirt around Trevor began to churn as though it was boiling, and very slowly he sank into the ground until he could no longer be seen.

As she wouldn't know whether her summoning attempt was going to be successful or not until midnight the following night, and what she had just done had left her feeling extremely drained and exhausted, she headed inside and washed up. Not feeling like she had the energy left to climb up the spiral stairs, she walked over to the sofa, lay down and fell into a deep sleep.

The following day felt like the longest one in her entire existence waiting for midnight to arrive, but eventually the sun set and midnight drew closer. With only moments left until midnight she headed out to where the events of the previous night had occurred and waited there with bated breath.

Suddenly to her immense excitement and relief, right on the stroke of midnight, small bolts of lightening shot forth from the ground filling the air with loud crackling sounds, and she could feel the electrical charge pulsing through the air making goose bumps stand up on her skin. Then with one last almighty thunderclap the lightening suddenly stopped.

Before the echoes of the thunderclap had ceased, the ground began to tremble with a sickening roar. As she tried to maintain her balance on her feet, a large crack suddenly  split the ground right where the lightening had just been, then with a tremendous grinding groan the crack opened up to a deep gaping hole. A strong blast of hot air wailed out of the hole whipping her hair away from her face, bringing with it a strong smell of sulfur. As the ground became still smoke and flames suddenly bellowed out of the hole, then a single figure slowly rose up into the flames.

The figure stepped onto solid ground and instantly the fire and smoke disappeared as the hole sealed itself off leaving a small blackened crater.
"Marcus, my beloved!" She cried, with overwhelming emotions cracking in her voice as she hurled herself towards him and threw her arms around him.
"Eliza." The words struggled through his lips from his deep voice. He was obviously greatly weakened by his transition into this world, and he leaned into her heavily as he returned her embrace.
"Eliza," He repeated her name again, then added, "At long last, I am returned."

She held the embrace for a moment longer then pulled away from him. A look of seriousness came to her face and a note of urgency to her voice. "We must hurry, someone was bound to have heard the noise from your arrival and is likely to come looking to see what had caused it."

She gave a worried glance over her shoulder, straining to hear if anyone yet approached. All was silent. She returned her attention back onto him with a look of concern on her face. "You are weak," she observed, then continued, "you will need your strength if we are to conceal our presence here and flee."

She held out her arm to him and instructed, "Here, drink. There should be still enough life essence left in me to give you the strength you need."
He grabbed hold of her arm and bit into it, drinking hungrily. Her arm began to glow with the same iridescent light as the night before when she drained Trevor of his soul. Gradually the light shifted from her arm and into Marcus. Once Eliza saw the light from her arm had completely diminished she forcibly snatched her arm away from him.

He instantly glared at her with a hungry and angry look on his face, but when his eyes met her stern expression his face relaxed to a look of gratitude.

A look of dread suddenly crossed her face as her head jerked to the left, and she stared intently into the trees in the direction where she thought she heard the faintest wail of a siren.

Her eyes then lowered to the blackened crater beside them in dismay, knowing there was nothing they could do to conceal it.

Her attention then focused on the cottage and an idea sprung to her mind. She didn't believe her idea would completely conceal what had transpired here, but she thought that if they could create enough confusion here the authorities wouldn't have a very clear picture as to what had occurred, and they should hopefully buy themselves a lot more time in which to escape.

Marcus saw her attention was fixed on the cottage and that she was deep in thought. He stepped up beside her, gave the cottage a momentary glance, then looked at her, pondering what may be running through her mind.

She realized he had stepped up beside her and was looking at her. She turned and they stood facing each other as she began to reveal her plan to him.
"Quick, I need your help." She said with a sense of urgency in her voice. "Between the two of us we should be able to combust this cabin."

"I like your way of thinking," he said. As a sly smile came to his face he continued, "and I'm way overdue for some fun!"

They both stood before the cabin with their eyes closed deep in concentration, and with an almighty crack and splintering of wood the cabin suddenly heaved, then collapsed in on itself.

Seconds later there was an earth shattering BOOM as the cabin exploded.

End of chapter 2