<div style="margin: auto; max-width:600px; height: 500px; background-color: #000; background:box-sizing:border-box; position:relative; box-shadow:2px 2px 1px #ddd; margin-top: 10px;margin-bottom:15px;"><br/>
<div style="margin: auto; height:500px; max-width: 600px;background-image: url(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/8d/4f/b6/8d4fb6db36784ec075ad5ada03f69d20.jpg);background-size: cover;background-position: center; font-size: 0px; filter: contrast(100%); mix-blend-mode: screen;; opacity: 80%; margin-top: -20px; filter: grayscale(0%);border-radius: 15px;">.</div><div style="margin: auto; height:500px; max-width: 600px;background-image: url(https://64.media.tumblr.com/3c4cfe3f49658c62a8178c9bba7683f1/cee01a2748ea1b29-30/s400x600/69e8d140c0e25ca5190b816c57f4e9f72a8d0fde.gif);background-size: cover;background-position: center; font-size: 0px; filter: contrast(100%); mix-blend-mode: screen; opacity: 20%; margin-top: -500px; filter: grayscale(100%);border-radius: 15px;">.</div><div style="margin: auto; height:230px; max-width: 130px;background-image: url(https://i.imgur.com/InLtdkf.png);background-size: cover;background-position: center; font-size: 0px; filter: contrast(100%); mix-blend-mode: screen; opacity: 100%; margin-top: -340px; filter: grayscale(0%);border-radius: 0px; margin-left:3px">.</div><div style="margin:auto; background: #fffffff; margin-top: -220px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 475px; line-height: 140%; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 1px; font-family: times; text-align: justify; color: #fff; height: 250px; overflow: auto; text-shadow: 5px #000 5px #000 5px #000; padding: 5px;position: absolute;margin-left:110px;"> <div style="margin: auto; height: 50px; width: 50px; border-radius: 100%; float: left;  box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px 2px #fff; background: url(https://i.imgur.com/uQ7Iktg.gif); ;filter: contrast(100%);filter: grayscale(100%); background-size: cover; background-position: center; font-size: 0px; margin-left:10px; margin-right:5px;">.</div>You never could really forget the smell of burning flesh – or the scent of hair set aflame until it was nothing but coarse ash in the wind. It was the second night in a row that she was having this dream and it always started with the smell of burning flesh. There was something frightening about what happened to a vampire's body before death – almost like for a split second they were alive again. But their insides would always prove what they were; rotting from the inside out as the flames continued to lick and lap at every free patch of skin. The young woman threshed against the velvet plush of her coffin, her eyes pinched as she fell deeper into her dream. Her vision came soon enough in the dream, Eve searching through the thick gray smoke as she ran through the house. She knew the layout all too well of the old house she once considered a home, no matter the horrors she faced there.<br/>
<br/>
"Julius!" Her hands instinctively reached above her head, bracing for the beam that came crashing down and narrowly missing her. She was panicked, scared as she had been all those centuries ago, but something was leading her to Julius just as it had that night of the fire. This was usually the part of the dream when she woke up, panicked and terrified until she reminded herself that she had been successful in her mission to save him. She had saved Julius that night.<br/>
<br/>
Instead, she was surprised to find the dream continuing. Eve pushed on, crossing over growing flames and ducking for cover as she ran through the halls and up the stairs. Julius' bedroom door was open, the room alighted as the flames had taken to the walls, eating up the curtains that always remained drawn, even after sunset. Before she had been able to run into his room, risking her life to drag Julius' weakened frame out before the whole house came down on their heads. But she couldn't get through, barred at the threshold of his bedroom and forced back no matter how hard she fought forward. And surrounding Julius' coffin was more than the dark gray smoke from the fire . . . but a black cloud that <i>moved</i>. She was terrified, her screams choked now by smoke. The figure cloaked around Julius' coffin which rocked and shook with horrified screams coming from the inside. "Julius!" Eve cried out again, catching the attention of the figure shrouded in blackness. When it turned to face her, all she could see was a pair of floating eyes. The pressure around her throat felt like a pair of hands, lifting her off her feet. And with a violent shove she was sent back, her body ate up by flames.<br/>
<br/>
As the flames swallowed her body up eagerly, she used her last bit of strength to scream for Julius. "Father!"<br/>
<br/>
It wasn't the fire she felt when her eyes shot open, but instead the hard smack of her head bouncing against the cherry wood top of her coffin.<br/>
"Oh shit!" Eve's hands immediately came upward, gentle against her forehead as though to soothe it against the pain. It was dull, much less painful than she would've expected had she been mortal. Groaning, she reached up to push the coffin open, her eyes searching the span of her bedroom as though expecting to be surrounded by nothing but crumbling and singed furniture. The room still looked much the same, she could tell that much even with just the thin strip of moonlight passing through her windows.<br/>
<br/>
When Eve was younger, she was teased for what was considered an overactive imagination. But when those <i>tall tales</i> she started telling became the truth, the taunting became more out of fear of her presence. She had the devil in her, as she heard her father say – before he spilled about that's what he got for sleeping with a hoodoo bitch. Maybe had her mother been there for her, she could help Eve figure this out – whatever it was that she could call these premonitions. Instead, she was sold off to the plantation in the town. It wasn't until her nineteenth birthday she learned the conditions under which she had been sold . . . the real reason Caius seemed to tolerate her behavior over the others.<br/>
<br/>
She fought the urge to think about that though, much too concerned with Julius and making sure he was okay. It had been seven years since she saw him last. He didn't normally like to stick around for too long, but was curious about the whisperings that's gone on about the possibility of vampires coming out of the shadows finally. It'd just been talk then . . . who knew it'd actually turn out true. She climbed out of the coffin and reached for her robe that hung against the wall. Eve shrugged it on to cover her naked frame, gripping it closed. She was light on her feet, at the dresser in less than a second where her phone lay charging. It was nearing two in the morning and she had no clue if Julius would answer. It was a relief to hear that click on the other end and the slow drawl soon after.<br/>
<br/>
"<i>Mon piaf</i>."<br/>
<br/>
______________<br/>
<br/>
That was a week ago. Julius had been on the East Coast and longing for the Southern weather. Besides, it was the tenth year of her rebirth and he wouldn't miss that for the world. She was sure that Beckett was likely to read on her face how excited she was, but could already hear the long winded sigh he'd probably give in knowing that Julius was on his way into town. He'd been running Louisiana as the Magister dutifully and for the most part without issue. But with the Emergence, it had emboldened some vampires and she wasn't sure how he'd feel with Julius hovering over them, watching to see just how well they could keep a handle on things now.<br/>
<br/>
There was already a case they had to deal with as the sheriff's message indicated that he was running out of patience. Keeping the vampires under control wasn't necessarily just about keeping their fangs to themselves – they were starting to wreak havoc on the night life which was making some of the locals antsy.<br/>
<br/>
This was what she currently needed to talk with Beckett about. Her curls bounced with each quick paced step down the stairs until she had reached the second first floor. Since being given the position of Magister, the home has been renovated. Half of the first floor was meant for entertaining guests, but also served as a waiting room while the other half was split as her office and Beckett's. Eve often spent her time upstairs in the library. This wasn't a problem she could come up with a solution on her own and would certainly need his stamp of approval considering he outranked her.<br/>
<br/>
The silky sleeve slunk downward as she raised her hand to knock before entering. She'd a file clamped in her free hand, waving it in the air to catch his attention. Though the thick gold bangles that clinked together could've done that as well.<br/>
"Have you seen this? Three – <i>three</i> complaints about that abandoned house on Todd St. Now the bloodsuckers are squatting!" Her voice had always had a rasp since the fire, but it'd grown a bit deeper over the last few years making her appear much more mature despite how young she still looked in the face. "This is the same group we left off easy a month ago. We don't do something about them, and that sheriff might just grow a pair and come down here himself." She was particularly dressed up for the affairs; normally Eve dressed casually in a pair of dark black jeans or fitted dress pants. Nothing too incredibly flashy unless she was trying to get Beckett's attention . . . but it had been a while since the need for that. She wrestled with the thought, running her tongue against her fangs as her eyes took him in. She'd wanted to look her best for Julius' arrival, and he'd always thought she looked best in white. He often referred to her as a little sparrow, but after she rescued him . . .he'd always considered her an angel; probably one of the only vampires with a <i>soul</i>.<br/>
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