Continued...
That day forever changed Tirana. It forever changed their marriage. After a while, Tirana shut down inside. She couldn't stand the idea of being pregnant for eternity. It was like a curse rather than a blessing. Having some wriggling thing inside her body was torture for her. A reminder of the family she could never have, a baby she could never see. She lost herself when she realize she lost her baby.
Olek did the best he could trying to pull Tirana back to reality, but she had become bitter, hard and mean. She eventually left Olek and went her separate way. Olek then too became bitter. Not with the poor, lost baby but with Tirana. Tirana who couldn't move on. He had given so much for his wife and his wife had left him. Olek felt very angry with her, and when vampires have emotions, particularly young vampires, emotions are very strong for them.
Olek stirred with these hateful emotions towards Tirana for days. He felt lost without her and angry that she had left, so eventually he went to find her. When he found her, she had found another vampire coven and taken several lovers. Seeing her this way, pregnant and with many other men, he became enraged. A fight ensued and Olek destroyed all of Tirana's lovers, tearing them to pieces in his fury. He then demanded that Tirana return with Olek, but she refused.
Dismayed once again, Olek left, but he did not go far. He watched her through the window, afraid she was up to something. After he left, Tirana watched as the pieces of her lovers came back together again. At first she seemed afraid but then she seemed very pleased. Olek listened outside of the window as she told them of her new "plan." She wanted to be pulled into pieces, have the baby taken out from inside of her, and then be put back together again, after the baby was killed so she could no longer be pregnant.
Olek was shocked and disgusted by her idea. More so by the fact that he had given her this idea. He was determined not to let anyone kill his child, and was going to do everything he could to stop her. That night while all of the vampires were busy preparing for her ingenious plan, Olek grabbed each vampire as they came out of Tirana's room and tore them to pieces again, but this time he threw the pieces into a large fire at the edge of town that had been built by pillagers. It was convenient and useful- the pieces did not put themselves back together again.
He quietly sneaked inside Tirana's room and climbed over her. Assuming he was one of her many lovers, she didn't put up a protest until Olek had torn off the first limb. Tearing her apart was more difficult mentally than it was physically. The center of her body was the worst. He had to break her in half in order to get the baby out. Once the baby was out, he saw that it was a girl. She was covered in fluid and shivering so he cut her umbilical cord and wrapped her in blanket.
Olek didn't have the heart to destroy Tirana so he left her there and took the baby. He traveled north as far as he could and stopped for the night at a small inn. A nice elderly woman named Meena gave him milk for the baby and extra blankets to wrap her in, as well as plenty of food and clean clothing for himself. He knew the milk and food would do no good, but accepted it in kindness nonetheless. He went out hunting shortly thereafter, bringing a container of blood back for the baby to drink. The baby didn't want the blood, however. She seemed repulsed by it and screamed relentlessly. Unsure of what to do, he tried offering her the milk. She drank it until her belly swooned and fell asleep peacefully in his arms.
Olek held his daughter and felt so much love he thought he would burst. His daughter was human, although he had no idea how this was possible. She had been in his wife's belly for nearly two years, and although the baby was slightly chubby, she didn't seem any different than a regular baby. He thought perhaps the gods had blessed him.
His blessing didn't last long, however. Tirana found him quickly and took the baby while he was washing himself clean. She was standing in the room holding her when he emerged from the bathroom. She taunted him for saving the baby, but there was love in her eyes- even for just a moment. She asked Olek what he had named her. Not wanting to tell her he hadn't chosen one yet- because he wanted Tirana to get attached to the baby- he told her the baby's name was Meena. He pleaded with Tirana to stay and be a family again, to make things right. Tirana considered him for a moment, with sadness in her eyes, but told him she could not stay after all that had happened.
She told him she was taking her baby and leaving. She was gone before Olek could protest. He spent many decades tracking Tirana and the baby, but never found them. It made him very cultured and well traveled and eventually he figured that even if she hadn't killed the baby, Meena would have died from old age by then anyway and he gave up the search. His outlook on life changed, and his interest in culture expanded. He continued to travel and every once in a while he would get a glimpse of something and get excited about his search but he never found Tirana.
Then, one day he found Meena in a village in Turkey. She was a vampire, and was twenty-two. It was her name that he recognized, as well as her eyes. A vampire named Meena couldn't be that common. He asked her who her parents were, and she explained that she had never known her father, but her mother's name was Tirana and had died several decades ago.
From there a lot of story swapping went on. Meena's life story was perhaps as interesting as the story of her birth. But I will save that for another day. I think my pen is running out.
Labels:
Before Twilight
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Edward Cullen
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Meena
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Olek
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South Africa
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Tirana
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Traveling
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Vampires
