Chapter 310: Among the living
Silas only begrudgingly agreed to guide her down the dungeon path. He sulked all the way down there and refused to meet her gaze.
In a way, he reminded her or Remus in the childishness of their actions.
As per their usual, the halls harboring those unwelcoming cells were cold for a human. Arabella snuffed out the shivers running up and down her skin by furiously rubbing her arms.
"We should head back upstairs. It is too early for you to see her after what she did to you. It might upset you,"
For once Silas didn’t walk in front of her, she kept on quickening her pace that he gave up and let her lead the way instead.
The young woman said nothing in response and launched forward, running towards a particular cell where Allegra stood holding her face.
"Why are you here?" Allegra gasped upon noting her.
"How has she been?" Arabella ignored her first question and asked her own.
Allegra did not linger on it and turned to the frail looking figure of Katherine. The haunting breathing cadence she had before the incident had returned and the vampiress lay limp with her bloodshot eyes wide open.
In reply, Allegra doubled on the cries and bent forward, holding her mouth to choke down her tears.
Arabella understood without the need for words.
"Allegra," she lay a gentle hand on her back, "Would you leave us with Katherine for a moment?"
A spark of horror flashed across Allegra’s face, eyes snapping onto the stern demeanor of Silas.
"I... Please...," she begged, her chin quivering.
"He won’t harm her," Again, Arabella interfered before he could say a thing, "I give you my word,"
She was quite confident. A little too confident considering they had no way of knowing whether his blood would do her harm or otherwise.
Besides, just by looking at Katherine, Silas couldn’t guarantee his hands wouldn’t go around her neck and simply sever her head clean off her body.
Allegra eventually agreed to leave, but not without throwing little glances back for as long as there were no visual obstacles between them.
"You are not coming inside," he said simply.
"That is fair," she did not argue.
Silas made his way inside then around her body to tower over her head. He took a few seconds to glare down at her which Arabella thought was unnecessary but made no complaints as she understood his positions as well.
When he took too long to move, she finally cracked, "Please, she truly is innocent in all of this,"
"An illness is no excuse," he practically hissed.
"Yes, it is!" the strength of her voice got his full attention, "Otherwise no pregnant vampire would have been allowed to live. Otherwise, no teething wolf child would have been forgiven, and all of the ghoul kind would have been eradicated instead of accommodated," she held nothing back while gripping the silver bars separating them so tightly, her knuckles had turned completely white, "Katherine hasn’t been herself for a good number of days now and we all witnessed it. You knew her for longer than I have and therefore should know she’d never be capable of such a thing if not under the influence of something potently foul,"
Silas pushed another sigh before crouching down, "Still... She is a vampire,"
"And your blood is no ordinary vampire blood, much like her condition is extraordinary," she paused, but as he hesitated for longer, she pressed her face further through the bars, "Please just give it a try. What harm can it do at the stage she is at?"
Silas not so delicately lifted Katherine’s head off the ground before nicking his other hand with his own fangs.
He again forsook any gentleness when pushing his bleeding hand against Katherine’s mouth.
There was coughing, there was gurgling as Katherine seemed to find some of her strength and attempt to fight him off but to no avail. He held her down as she kicked and scratched until the first scream escaped her.
"Let go of her!"
The moment Silas did as Arabella told him, Katherine slipped out of his hold and scurried to curl against the wall and sob without a hint of control.
Her head snapped from left to right as her eyes darted from one corner to the next.
Frantic in every movement, the vampiress held her head and pressed herself further against the stone wall behind her.
"Katherine!" Arabella called, "Katherine! You are safe! You are back among us! This is real! Do you hear me?" when her words did nothing, and seeing as Silas dangerously closed in on her, she tried again, "This is not a dream! You are no longer dreaming, Katherine! I am sorry I left you alone, but I am here now. I am with you!"
Left her alone? Silas understood not a crumb of it, but it mattered very little as it was clear Katherine remained a danger to anyone who couldn’t fight her off.
In his mind, there was no alternative; she had to be eliminated.
Arabella could read no mind, but her throat had dried at once upon noting his stance... He was getting ready to end things and there’d be nothing she could do.
In a last-ditch effort to bring her back, the young woman screamed the first thing that came to her mind at that moment.
"My mother is grateful!" she cried, "My mother is so grateful that you kept her company all this time," she sank to her knees, "And I am grateful too," Arabella’s voice grew weaker, "Thank you for letting me see her smile again because I couldn’t... Not even in my best and warmest of dreams. Ever since she died, I couldn’t see her face, but you allowed me to finally see her again, Katherine,"
By then, Arabella practically whispered because it worked... Katherine had ceased all movement and focused on nothing but her.
Silas too froze in place upon hearing her words.
"Arabella...?" for the first time since she’d collapsed, Katherine had uttered her first coherent word.