Chapter 12 : Alukah-Gabriel

Gabriel's POV "So Elizabeth Bathory really was a vampire?" I asked, the journal open on my lap. My leg was crossed over the other, giving me a flat surface to work on while I face Vivianna. I took notes as I analyzed everything she had to say. It was like a dam of information had cracked wide open, spilling and overflowing the river beneath it. All of the pieces were falling together. The mystery of the portrait under the library. The missing people. How Vivianna enticed me. Vivianna had her legs parted, speaking easily, freely. She didn't have anything to hide now. She nodded, gazing at me with interest. "Elizabeth liked virgins. She'd host extravagant parties and every guest had to bring her a virgin. Alistair was a frequent attendee." "You said you slayed her. How?" "The first fifty years of my curse was a bloody blur." She paused. "Pleasure. Death. Emptiness. I was so empty until one of Elizabeth's citizens grabbed my arm in passing, begging me to save his daughter from