The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

I sought to puncture Heaven and instead discovered Hell.

I wanted more time with the books. I wanted to spend the day in a quiet corner, sitting against a window, lost in words and worlds I had never been given access to.

Sometimes we were strangers even to ourselves.

They had stripped us of everything we were taught made us women, and then told us we were mad.

Not being blameless is not the same as being guilty.

It was easer to rage than to despair.

While I saw the destruction of the tree as nature’s beauty, Victor saw power—power to light up the night and banish darkness, power to end a centuries-old life in a single strike—that he cannot control or access. And nothing bothers Victor more than something he cannot control.

I would lie silent and still, like a corpse, as he studied me. His careful, delicate hands explored all the bones and tendons, the muscles and tracings of veins that make up a person. “But where is Elizabeth?” he would ask, his ear against my heart. “Which part makes you?” I had no answer, and neither did he.

death is never allowed to touch you

I, however, was perfectly aware of my beauty. I considered it a skill, alongside speaking French, English, Italian and German. It was a language of its own, in a way. One that translated well in different circumstances.

I have been stuck in the business of books for so long, I forgot how much fun being a part of a story can be.

Lightning clawed across the sky, tracing veins through the clouds and marking the pulse of the universe itself.

The trap was set and I was both bait and poison.

It was not his mind I loved. It was his esteem for me. He valued me when no one else did. And I thought it made me special, that he loved only me. I should have realized that his inability to love anyone else just meant something was wrong with him.

I am better.' 'But you will not always be. Someday death will claim you and I will not allow it.' His eyes narrowed, and his voice trembled with fury and determination. 'You are mine, Elizabeth Lavenza, and nothing will take you from me. Not even death.

I did not repent my distance from God. If I wanted help, I would find it myself.

I felt certain that once again I was on the edge of it. On one side: Victor, Justine, Henry. The life I had built with such vicious determination. On the other: the unknown. But the unknown beckoned, promising rest from pain. Rest from sickness. Rest from the endless striving and manipulating and working, working, working, working just to keep my place in the world

He mapped my own veins with his fingers, plotting the course of my heart.

Rich dark wood, polished by both time and careful hands, grew from the floor to the ceiling in perfect straight lines. In place of branches, shelves. In place of leaves, books. Oh, the books. I was light-headed from breathing in as deeply as possible, trying to absorb the knowledge here by sheer force of will. I trailed my hands along a row of spines, their worn leather bindings labels with gold because of the treasure contained inside" -Elizabeth

Each day was the same, an infinite parade of degradations and torture accomplished by unyielding women overseen by the condescension of uncaring men. If not mad already upon internment, surely no mind could withstand the torment of this hell.

Over the next month, despair settled around me like snow falling on the ground, covering my dreams of vengeance. Then despair covered my dreams of life itself, until all that remained was a blank white pain of nothingness.

He grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me with the strength of his terrible grip. 'Suffering is temporary!' And so are you! I almost lost you. You would have died, leaving me alone. When I saw you on your sickbed, inching ever further out of reach, I swore I would never let that happen. You are mine. You belong to me. Do you think I enjoyed what i had to do? i hated it. But I had to do it. All my work, all my sacrifce, has been for a single purpose. I am going to defy death. I am going to steal the spark of creation from it, to make life eternal, untouchable by corruption. And I am doing it for you. When I succeed - and I will succeed - then you will count yourself the most blessed creature on God's earth, because you will no longer be subject to Him. I will step into that place. I will be you god, Elizabeth. I will re-create you in my image, and we will have our Eden. And it will never be taken from me.' 'You are mad.' My voice trembled, but I could contain my fury.

Which meant the monster had not murdered WIlliam. Someone else had squeezed the life from the boy. Someone else had carefully taken the pendant. Someone else had found Justine and planted the pendant on her when she was asleep. Someone else had engineered the sequence of events perfectly so that- I let out a choked sob of horror. Someone else had engineered the sequence of events perfectly so that he could have Justine's body. 'Victor,' I whispered. 'Yes, my love?" he answered, a dark silhouette in the doorway.

His lips were soft and dry. If Justine's had felt like a butterfly on my cheek - a moment of surprising grace - Victor's were like a contract between us. A promise that I was his, and he would keep me safe. I kissed him back throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to sign my own name to the contract between us.

He lifted my chin and fixed my eyes with his. 'You are mine. You have been mine since the first day we met. You will be mine forever. My absence should not have caused you to doubt the firmness and steadfastness of my attachment to you. It will never fade.

I gave him a light, carless smile. I used smiles like currency. They were the only currency I ever had. My dresses, my shoes, my ribbons - they all belonged to the Frankensteins. I was a guest in them, just as I was a guest in that house.

Such is the nature of science, though. At some point theory must be turned into reality, and there will always be more work than anticipated.

But the mattress was soft and the blankets warm. Thus every small animal is lulled into security.