Unable to form coherent words, Rosetta raised her hand towards the carriage before she made her way towards the door. Eve quickly opened the carriage door, and her face turned pale.
Eugene... His white shirt was inked in blood. Before climbing inside the carriage, Eve asked, "What happened to him?!"
Eve checked Eugene's pulse, but she couldn't feel one. Her hands turned cold, and horror filled her eyes. She refused to believe Eugene to be dead. She turned to look at Rosetta, whose eyes were filled with tears that didn't stop from falling down her cheeks.
"Rosetta, how did this happen?"
Rosetta shook her head, trying to control her emotions, and she said,
"I d--don't know. I--I was...." she took a deep breath before continuing, "I was on my way here, and my carriage broke. And I found him on the ground. I don't know who hurt Eugene. I tried to turn him... but it didn't work." And she broke into tears.
Eve was as shocked as Rosetta by the news.
She had seen Eugene less than half an hour ago, and when he left the house to pick up the plants from the forest, she hadn't expected to meet him like this. Her head started to spin, and she held the carriage door.
At the same time, Mrs. Edwards appeared outside her house and called Eve,
"Genevieve! I didn't know you were here. I wanted to thank you for your help in repairing the house!"
Eve couldn't let this woman or anyone else in the town find Eugene in this condition. They couldn't carry him inside the house with people walking on the road. She whispered to Rosetta,
"Sit inside the carriage with Eugene," Eve stepped down from the carriage and walked to the front so that Mrs. Edwards wouldn't come to stand next to the carriage door to see Eugene or Rosetta with blood on them. She heard the sound of the carriage door closing behind her.
Eve hurriedly replied to Mrs. Edwards, "Forgive me, but I am in a hurry and need to go back to the Moriartys mansion."
Mrs. Edwards' smile faltered, and she nodded, "Of course, dear! I am sure you are busy with your job."
Timotei, who was rummaging through the kitchen cupboards, heard Eve's voice outside the house. Believing Marceline was here, he pranced out of the house and noticed Eve sitting in the coachman's seat. He quickly pushed his paws and climbed the carriage to sit next to Eve.
Once the carriage started to move, Timotei asked, "What's going on?"
"It is Eugene. He is hurt... badly," Eve replied, and the impatient cat climbed on her shoulder to look inside the carriage through the small window. Inside the carriage sat Eugene and Marquee's daughter, Rosetta, noticing blood on them.
"Who is the closest physician in Meadow?" Timotei asked, with the cold wind brushing against them as the carriage continued moving through the streets.
"We aren't going to the physician's," Eve replied with her eyes slightly dilated.
"What do you plan to do?" Timotei asked her, his eyebrows furrowing as this situation didn't look good. From what he could see, Eugene looked lifeless... as if he was already dead.
"Do you know how long it takes for a human to turn into a vampire?" Eve asked in a worried voice.
Timotei answered, "Depends on how fast the person wakes up. Mostly you get to know in a minute if it worked. The person starts looking less dead. Did the vampiress turn him into a vampire?!"
"She tried," Eve felt anxious and took a deep shuddering breath.
Timotei was speechless. It was because if Eugene hadn't responded to the vampiress's blood and transformation, it only meant Eve was right in not taking Eugene to the physician as the person was dead. He asked her, "Where are we going?"
"There's a nearby forest and river, where no one goes to," Eve answered, and the carriage left Meadow town.
Eve pulled the reins of the horses and stopped the carriage when they reached the place she had planned to bring them to. She climbed down the carriage, and Rosetta opened the door. The vampiress asked in a broken voice, "Are we here to bury him?"
"No, Rosetta. What happens from here on, I need you to keep it to yourself. You cannot discuss it with anyone. You need to promise," Eve's words were firm and she tried to be the calmer person of the two.
Rosetta didn't know what was happening, but she agreed, "I promise."
"Good. Let us place Eugene on the ground."
Eve and Rosetta carried Eugene out of the carriage, placing him on the snow-covered ground. Timotei, at the same time, remarked,
"It is good that there's snow."
Rosetta's eyes widened in shock, watching the black cat being able to talk, and she looked back and forth between Eve and the cat. Eve asked Rosetta, "When did you give your blood to Eugene?"
"I think.. I think it was late..." Rosetta clenched her hands.
Timotei came near Eugene and looked at his wounds. He commented, "These are some deep stabs. Someone who didn't like him?"
Rosetta wondered if she was losing her mind after Eugene had closed his eyes. She heard Eve ask the black cat, "What else is needed for the transformation to complete?"
"Venom of the vampire. Just blood isn't enough as you need to seal the deal for the transformation," Timotei replied, and he checked Eugene's pulse near his neck and sighed. "If she," he referred to Rosetta, "Didn't give her blood before he... quietened. That only means the blood didn't get to circulate and the body is in pause or like I like to call it, frozen state."
"It is why we brought him here," Eve's words were shaky and her eyebrows were deeply furrowed.
Eve hoped that at least one drop of Rosetta's blood had entered Eugene's body. Because if it didn't, what she was going to do next would be useless, and nothing would work. She turned to look at the river and then back at Eugene, who looked as if he was sleeping.
She wasn't going to lose Eugene like how she had lost her mother. She was no more a powerless child to run away. She raised both her hands and closed her eyes.
Rosetta asked, "What are you doing?"
"Shh," Timotei hushed the vampiress. "Wait and watch."
Soon a cold air blew where they sat on their heels. The surface of the water started to waver strongly. Drops of water started to leave the surface of the river, travelling to where Eve and others sat, forming a protective shield-like dome around them.
Rosetta's mouth went dry with a gobsmacked expression on her face. She didn't know what was going on, but she was in awe as she watched her friend do something she had never seen before or knew she could.
When Eve opened her eyes, her blue eyes glowed more than ever before, and she looked down at Eugene. His wounds were trying to heal and she placed one of her hands on his chest. She used her ability to circulate the blood that Rosetta had earlier given to him. Once the circulation was complete, she said to the vampiress,
"It is time for the venom."
Rosetta was in a trance, and so was Timotei, who noticed the change in Eve's voice.
The vampiress quickly bit into Eugene's hand, releasing the venom through her fangs, before pulling away from his hand.
Eve used her ability to circulate the venom in Eugene's body so that his transformation could begin.
"I don't think it worked," Timotei voiced his thoughts. "Were we late?"
"But her blood was inside him. It should have worked," Eve muttered, and she started to compress Eugene's chest. A minute passed, and nothing changed. Rosetta felt her eyes sting with tears, and so did Eve, who didn't want to give up.
After a few more seconds, Eve felt a subtle movement and stopped what she was doing.
"What was that?" Timotei asked, who had heard a crack.
"It sounded like a snap..." Rosetta's voice trailed.
Eve placed her hand on Eugene's neck but didn't feel his pulse. She was sure she hadn't put too much pressure on his chest for the bone to break. When her eyes fell on his lips, she noticed the colour in them. She pulled her hand away from his neck.
The next moment, Eugene gasped in pain and opened his red eyes.
