The Witch's Keep
It was a bright, sunny day at the surreal communal town of Alphea. The birds laid background music for the citizens, who walked down the un-cracked sidewalks without a care in the world. These perfect sidewalks lined perfectly green and trim lawns, which led up to brightly coloured, large, beautiful houses. To any passer-by, this vivid town would appear to be heaven.
Though, even heaven has it's faults.
Every part of the town seemed as bright and perky as the last, with the exception of a hill on the west side of town, and the house that sat on top of it. This house was large, like the others, but alwase seemed to have a perverbial storm cloud hovering over it. The house was gloomy, and looked dead, even the grass that had once been on the lawn has been dead for many years. The one tree that still stood, was long seince dead, like the rest of the vegitation, so it allowed its long branches to snake down and onto the side of the three-floor house. Nobody in Alphea knew if anybody lived there, or if anybody had died there. Then again, nobody really cared. Pretty much everybody in Alphea had ignored the gloomy house, which could be seen only from the residential area, but not from the large bustling city.
Almost everybody, mind you, for the high school juniors just loved the house. For dares, that is.
"Hey Bloom!" a girl with long bright orange hair turned at her name. Running towards her was a girl with long blonde hair, which flew behind her in waves resembling the sunlight that shone upon her features.
"Hey Stella!" Bloom gretted the girl as she stopped in front of her.
Stella offered her a flawless smile, which had recently been cleaned of braces which she'd had on seince 6th grade. "Me and Musca and Tecna are having a girls only sleep over tonight! You in?" Stella asked, tilting her head to the right slightly.
Bloom thought for a moment and nodded. "As long as I can bring Kiko, he's been a bit restless lately." Kiko was Bloom's pet rabbit.
Stella nodded. "We'll tire out Kiko so well, he won't be able to keep his eyes open!" Stella said with a wide smile.
Bloom smiled at her friends enthusiasm. "As long as he wakes up later I'm fine!" She said with a light laugh.
"Don't worry about it. Be at my place tonight at 6, and you better be in your pj's!!" Stella said smiling.
Bloom nodded, and waved at her as she ran to her car sitting happily in the lot. "Hey honey" Bloom turned around again, and was greeted by her boyfriend, Brendan. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his masculine neck, and touseled his shoulder length brown hair.
"Hey I can't hang out with you tonight, 'kay babe? I promised the guys we'd go out of town for a bonfire." He said with an irrisistable, god-like smile. Bloom nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "I'd just told Stella I was going over to her place for a girls night anyway." Bloom smiled. Brendan nodded and kissed her lips, breaking the kiss off after a moment. "I'm gonna call you first thing in the morning, 'kay love?" He said with the same smile. She nodded and hugged him tightly. "I love you." She said into his neck. "Hm, I love you too Bloom."
"Ew! Break it up I think I'm going to puke!" this statement followed by various gagging noises comming toward Bloom.
"Musa! Common I don't get to see my boyfriend for the weekend!" Bloom pouted at her music loving friend. Musa touseled one of the two ponytails that held her hair up. At that gesture Bloom knew she'd struck a chord. Musa's boyfriend Riven had gone to an alternative school accross state, which meant that he was probably cheating on her, and if he wasn't that she could never see him.
Brendan, feeling the tension, decided to break up the moment. "I gotta go dear, the guys are gonna be waiting for me. Play nice with your friends." He kissed her on the cheek, then whispered in her ear "If you don't answer when I call tomorow I'm gonna be mad." Brendan satated with a bit of humor in his tone.
Bloom giggled. "I know, I know. Don't worry, I'll have my phone right by my side all night." she kissed him on the cheek one more time and waved bye to him as he ran off to join a boy she recognised as Timmy.
Musa was still quiet as she continued to play with her hair. "Musa I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I just-"
Musa shook her head cutting her off. "It's okay. I know you don't mean to. I was wondering if you could give me a lift home, Layla has to stay late at work today." Bloom nodded. Layla was Musa's roomate, as well as her main mode of transportation seince the music lover failed her drivers test more times than Bloom had taken it. Musa's parents had kicked her out of the house, due to a large arguement between the three of them over Riven, Musa's less that desireable grades, as well as every other little thing her parents never chewed her out about over the last 17 years.
"Sure, no problem." Bloom said, and led the girl over to her rusted out truck, looking like the one dirty spot in a parking lot filled with new SUV's and fuel efficient cars and the occasional motorbike. They both got in and drove off from the school. Little did Bloom know it would be her last time seeing the natural side of the happy little high school.
`-`-`-STELLAS HOUSE, THAT NIGHT 10:24PM`-`-`-`-`
"Hey I know what we can do!" boasted Stella for the fourth time that hour.
A girl with a purple pixie cut groaned and stuck her nose farther into the book she was holding. "Again? I have to say Stella your last few ideas have been nothing less than disgusting or just plain irresponsible." She groaned, turning the page.
Stella frowned. "You haven't even heard my idea yet Tecna!" She pouted, crossing her arms.
They four sat in Stella's large bedroom, which was about the size of an entire appartment, with a large queen-size bed against a small outcove. Against one wall was a large flatscreen TV, wall mounted of course, and hooked up to a cable box in an otherwise empty enertainment station below it. Stella's dresser and walk-in closet stood on the wall opposite the bed, which also had an ornate, hand painted folding wall, which she used the change behind even though nobody else was in the room.
Bloom sat accross from Stella on her bed, holding her light blue bunny Kiko in her lap. Tecna was laying on her sleeping bag reading some boring book about the history of words starting in "r", and Musa was playing with the boombox she brought over. "So what's your idea this time Stel?" Bloom asking, stroking Kiko's ear.
"Truth or dare!" Stella said, holding up a green glass bottle with "Cokea-Cola" outraised on the glass.
"Sounds like fun. You up for it Tec?" Musa asked the other girl. Tecna eyed Musa with a death glare, before letting out a defeated sigh and closing her book. Tecna sat up and took the bottle from Stella's outstretched hand, and placed it on the floor between her and Musa. Stella and Bloom joined them on the floor. "Alright! Seince it was my idea I want to go first!" Hearing no objections, not that she would've acknowledged them anyway, spun the Coke bottle. It landed in front of Musa.
"Truth or Dare Musa?" Stella asked with a big grin on her face.
"Truth." Musa said, crossing her arms defiantly.
"Okay, did you and Riven ever get it on in the bed?" Stella asked, anticipation hanging on every word.
Musa's face turned redder that a tomato. "Uh.. I uh... Dare!" Musa said, before she said something she'd regret. Stella frowned. "Aw, common how am I gonna get you to tell?" Stella thought for a moment. "Ah! I dare you to tell me if you and Riven had sex or not!" Stella said smiling broadly.
"Stella, you can't do that, that's cheating!" Bloom pouted. Stella shook her finger at the orange-haired girl. "She's gotta do it now!" She smiled.
Musa shrugged. "Okay, no we didn't." Stella groaned. "Oh common!" she complained. "You didn't even hesitate that time.
Musa smirked. "Thats because it was a dare. I didn't have to tell the truth if I didn't want to, as long as I did the dare." Musa smiled. Stella's eyes lit up. "So you and Riven did it then?!!" Musa laughed. "I'll never tell! My turn!" Musa spun the bottle and it landed in front of Tecna.
"Ooh, Truth or Dare Tecna?" Musa asked, raising an eyebrow at her sub-genious friend.
"Truth." Tecna said plainly. Musa frowned. "You're no fun! Fine, do you have a crush on Timmy Duncan?" Musa asked, refering to the same nerdy-boy that Brendan had gone to hang out with tonight. Tecna sighed. "No I don't. Timmy continues to be immature about too many things." Tecna said, a slightly angry expression on her face.
"You set your expectations too high, Tecna." said Stella matter-of-factly. Tecna giggled. "Look who's talking, Miss There-isn't-a-boy-at-Alphea-that-I-havent-screwed!" Everybody but Stella laughed at this.
Stella frowned. "Alright alright. Go Tecna, its your turn." Tecna spun the bottle, the occasional giggle leaking out as the bottle whirled around. It stopped at Bloom.
"Truth or Dare Bloom?" Tecna asked with a bit of excitement in her voice. "Dare!" Bloom said with a defiant smirk. Tecna raised her brow, the put a finger to her chin. "Damn, I thought you'd pick truth..." Bloom giggled. "I came here to have fun not find out gossip." She said with a smile.
Tecna looked thoughtful. "You want to have fun? Alright, I DARE you to spend the night at the haunted house on the west side of town!" Tecna said with a devilish smirk on her lips.
Bloom laughed. "I pick truth then!" Tecna grinned again. "Alright, have you ever made out with your mother?" Bloom's eyes widened. Tecna knew something she wasn't supposed to know, and she'd talk to her after she spent a night at the haunted house. "Fine, I'll spend the night at the haunted house. But Kiko has to stay here, I want him to try to sleep tonight." Bloom said, patting her bunny on the head. Tecna shrugged, "I never said the bunny had to go anywhere."
"Bloom! Haven't you heard the rumours about that place?" Bloom smirked. "What rumours haven't I heard? Besides, I don't believe in that supersisious mumbo-jumbo." Bloom said standing. She grabbed her bag from the wall.
"Wait, how will we know if she's still at the haunted house?" Musa asked. Tecna nodded. "I thought of that." She stood and walked over to her bag, and revealed a large ankle bracelet. "This is what the police use to keep people on house arrest. Usually it only works when a metal wire has been dug into the earth around the property. This one I modified to work so that it will counteract with the space of the walls, and will forbid you to leave untill I come with the key tomorow morning." Tecna smiled, holding up a card key. Bloom took the device from Tecna. "Don't put it on untill you're at the house. If I dont get a signal in 30 minutes consider your school reputation ruined. Bloom's eyes widened. Oh yes, she would definatly have a talk with Tecna later.
`-`-`-`HAUNTED HOUSE 10:48PM`-`-`-`-`-`-
Bloom took her bag and sleeping bag out of her truck, with her cellphone securely in her pocket. Bloom looked up at the dead looking house, standing barefoot on the dirt yard around the drery property. She held up the brace in her hand, contemplating for one more moment if this was the best option. "It wouldn't be that bad... I mean..." She shook her head quickly. "No, Stella would flap her face to anybody she passed in the hall at school on monday." Bloom said, and entered the house without another thought. She set her bag down by the door, put her slippers on, then put the ankle bracelet on. She was in it now, no turning back. She looked around the inside of the decrepit house.
She was in a small entry hall, which only had a couple of coat hangers on the wall that looked capable of holding anything more than a pillowcase. The living room had a high ceiling, which gave way to a exposed hallway on the second floor, which was lined with broken rotted railings that were fossilized into place by white spiderwebs that looked like thick sheets. At the top of the exposed hallway directly accross from the door, was a large window, with a view of a the dark forest that sat waiting behind the house. Back on the first floor, in the centre of the hardwood flored room was a moth-eaten floor rug, which was surrounded by a lightly moth-eaten couch, loveseat and two recliners. A collapsed pile of wood on top of the rug implied that the wood was once a coffe table. The floor lamp stood odly untouched between the couch and recliner.
To the right of the living area but in the same room was a dining table and chairs, which shared the same damage as the rest of the house. On the wall next to the dining area was a kitchen, which Bloom could see without going any farther than a few steps out of the entry hall. On the opposite side was a large fire place and two closed doors to the right and left of the stone cave. She looked around, and assumed one of them went upstairs.
"Well, Tecna never said I had to look around." Bloom shruged and grabbed her bag and sleeping bag. She rolled the bag out on the wooden floor beneath the couch. Without much of a second thought, she tucked herself in to her sleeping bag, and went into a very very light sleep.
So light, that she woke up about an hour later to footsteps comming from behind the couch. 'It sounds like a pair of high heels...' Bloom thought, analzing the approaching footsteps. 'I'ts probably Stella, trying to scare the crap out of me, then she'll take a picture and put it up everywhere in school.' Bloom inwardly groaned. 'Really Stella? you just had to wear you heels to sneak up on me? Though I can't say its unexpected.' Bloom mused. The footsteps stopped. Bloom held her cell phone tight in her hand. She knew if she held it the right way, it looked like a cop pistol. Or so Musa told her.
A few moments passed and the footsteps got closer. 'Thats right Stella, the shoe is about to be on the other foot!' Bloom thought excitedly, clenching her phone tightly. Thats when something became off. The footsteps that had sounded like heels now sounded like skateboard shoes, their soft pat-pat scared Bloom. 'Okay, Stella's good but she couldn't have just changed her footwear while walking and keep a steady rhythm. Taking her chances, Bloom opened her eyes and held up her phone like a gun "FREEZE!" She shouted, sitting upright. Bloom's jaw dropped and she almost passed out.
"Now I know what you're thinking. "Ah, a Vampire, help!" am I right?" Said the woman, who was crouched about half a foot away from Bloom's sleeping bag.
Bloom said nothing, but looked her over carefully. The woman had lone brunette hair that fell around her wheen she knelt, with blonde bangs framing her face. Her amber eyes were intently focused on Bloom, asking a hundered insignifigant questions. She had an a purple tanktop, which was cut off to reveal her tight stomach. Her boot-cut pants were purple as well, with a black belt which was clearly unneded.
The woman in front of her looked, at what Bloom had frozen in her hand. "Uh, you can put that down you know. I'm not gonna run up your phone bill." She said with a smile, revealing her sharp canines. That snapped Bloom out of it. She dropped her phone and shot back against the couch, causing a handfull of disturbed moths to fly out and onto the other furniture.
"Wh-who are you!? What do you want with me?!" Bloom demanded. The woman tilted her head to the side, much the way Stella would. "Well, I should ask you the same thing. You're the one who entered my home without permission, pointed a cell phone at me like it was a gun and slept on my living room floor without my permission." The woman frowned and crossed her arms.
Bloom realized the logic behind what this woman was saying. "I uh... I'm sorry." Bloom sat foreward away from the couch, grabbed her cell phone and put it back in her pocket. "I'm Bloom. Bloom Rockwell. I was dared by a friend earlier to... to spend the night here." Bloom said, her voice shaky.
The woman raised her eyebrow, and sighed. "I thought all of the high schoolers were done with that truth or dare game." She shrugged. "Ah well. I'm Darcy Devine. I've lived in and owned this house for the last several hundered years." Bloom's eyes widened at the hundered years revelation.
"You know nothing about vampires, do you?" Darcy asked, raising her brow. Bloom shook her head slowly. "As it should be." She paused. "Now, why are you sleeping out here instead of in one of the bedrooms?" Darcy asked, pointing to the doors next to the fire place.
Bloom followed her finger, and looked back at her. "I... this place gives me the creeps. No way am I going in there." Bloom said.
Darcy smirked. "You're in my house, you go by my rules. You sleep in a bedroom or you can sleep in the forest out back. Your choice." Bloom looked out the window to the forest, black and mystifying in the starlight. "And a word of advice: the werewolf takes less kindly to visitors than I do." Bloom swallowed, then quickly picked up her sleeping back and bag. She followed Darcy into the door to the left of the fire place.
Darcy watched her dust off the matress and covers from the years and years of dust and place her sleeping bag on top of it. 'I get a weird feeling from her. Icy, do you feel it too?' Darcy thought, watching the girl curiously.
"Hey, gimme your phone for a second." She held her hand out to take the girls phone.
Bloom handed it over without much thought. She was just tired at this point in the night, not even a truckload of redbull would keep her from yawning now.
Darcy flipped open the phone and began typing into it. "I'm giving you my number. I'm not sure why, but I kinda like you." She finished typing her number in the phone and handed it back to her. "You don't tell anybody about seeing me. Got it?" Darcy said crossing her arms. Bloom nodded tiredly, and slid into her sleeping bag. She silently left the room, and went to the door opposite the fireplace, and up a staircase that went through the seeminly pointless room.
"Icy, get out here." Darcy frowed, standing at the top of the stairs. She was in a large room, about half the size of the living room, with a dusty moth eaten bed, and rotted wooden furniture. "Icy!" She called again.
From the closet to Darcy's left came a slow motion, like something waking up. The figure slowly moved into the moonlight of the room, standing tiredly in front of the vampire. "Yeah yeah, I got your message." the girl frowned, running her fingers through her still flawless, long ice blue hair.
"Did you feel it or not Icy?" Darcy said with a slight frown. Icy stretched, cracked her back then put on a neuteral face. "I felt something. I'm not sure it was the spark we've been detecting." She walked over to the window, and looked out at the forest. "If that was it, it's still very dormant. Stormy would have showed up if it was awakened at least." Icy said, eyes instantly going to an area of motion in the treetops.
"I've got my eye on her." She walked over beside Icy. "We'll know if she's the one that can break this curse by the end of the week." Darcy said, showing no emotion. Icy nodded, and gazed at the moon.
`-`-`-`-HAUNTED HOUSE; 7:19AM`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`
Bloom was awake by now, and had changed into her day clothes, managing to get her favourite tight jeans on over the large ankle bracelet. She sat on the couch in the living room, with her bag and sleeping bag, waiting for Tecna to come and get the brace off her so she could leave. Darcy hadn't shown up in the living room, and Bloom decided it best not to further intrude on her privacy. She'd felt a little guilty about the whole thing as she sat on the couch, which was slightly moving underneath her weight.
Just as she was about to start killing the moths that had laid on her bag, Tecna came in through the door holding the key card up. "Well, that was impressive." she said with a smirk. Bloom frowned. "What, did you expect to see me curled up in a corner soaked in my own piss? Ha!" Bloom laughed at the scenario that would never have happened.
"No, I just wasn't expecting you to sit there as calmly." Tecna looked around the house. "This place isn't half as scary in the daylight as it is at night." She analyzed, kneeling in front of Bloom to deactivate the brace.
"You've been in here?" Bloom asked.
Tecna nodded. "When I was in elementary school, myself, Timmy, and a few others went in here on a dare." she giggled. "One of the boys had convinced us that a vampire was in one of those rooms over there! Can you believe that?" Tecna laughed, putting the keycard in her pocket and holding the brace with one hand.
Bloom laughed, she was a great actor. "Pretty crazy!" Bloom said, standing up. They walked out of the house. Once outside, Tecna presented a sleeping Kiko in his cage for Bloom.
"How'd you get him too sleep?" Bloom asked excitedly, taking the cage from her.
"I just put a little bit of sugar on part of a cherry. He got hyper for a while, then fell sound asleep all in 5 minutes." She smiled. Bloom nodded, and said goodbye to Tecna before throwing her crap in the bed of the truck, Kiko in the front seat, and drove off for home.
She didn't get far before her phone rang. The caller ID told her it was Stella. "Hey Stel!" Bloom said with a smile.
"How was it!? Were there ghosts and vampires like Tecna said?!" Stella asked in her high pitched excited voice.
Bloom only laughed. "No, there was nothing there, alot of cobwebs, spiders and moths though!" Bloom said with a laugh, knowing the thought of bugs made Stella shiver.
"EUGH!! Nasty!!" Stella made a face on her end. "So anyway, I want to know if you want to go shopping with me and Tecna and Musa after you drop off your bunny?" Stella asked.
Bloom thought for a moment, looking at Kiko, who wasn't even begining to stir. "Sure!"
"Cool, be at my place when your done! Bye!" Stella hung up. Bloom smiled at the phone, before setting it in her one working cupholder. Bloom thought for a few minutes. "Yeah, Tecna definatly knows way too much..." She said to nothing, and pulled into her driveway.
`-`-`-`-MAGIX MALL; 9:49AM`-`-`-`-`-`-`
"Where's everybody going?" Bloom asked like she didn't already know.
"Not this time Bloom." Stella said, setting her Double cream latte on the table. "We have a mission today! Tecna gets a new wardrobe!" She said, putting her arm around the girls shoulders.
Tecna seemed less than thrilled. "I told you, my wardrobe is fine." She frowned. "Mabye for you. But you wouldn't answer to truth last night!" Stella said with a wide smile. Tecna grimaced. Bloom looked to Musa for insight.
"After you left, and Tecna got a read on that little ankle collar, Stella decided to take your turn. Tecna picked truth again, and when she didn't answer to wether or not she was gay, she picked dare." Musa said, taking a bite of her scone.
"And she took the dare! So we get to pick out your wardrobe today!" Tecna frowned, crossing her arms.
"I don't recall giving the others permission to pick my fassion." She half-scowled at the blonde.
Bloom laughed. "Don't worry, Stella will change your fasion sense on it's head anyway!" Musa and Stella laughed too, Tecna scowling off to the side.
When they left the food court, they went to almost every fasionable clothing store in the mall: rue 21, buckle, DEB, Nike, Express and Holister. Each stop took its own sweet time, and Tecna seemed to enjoy it after a while, mainly because Stella was buying all these new clothes for her, which means it wasn't a huge loss. Of course, Musa and Bloom picked up their fair share of things, and Stella had almost as much for herself as Tecna did. All of Tecna's clothes barely managed to fit into her bold purple prius. Stella's fit comfortably in the back of her white SUV, while, sience Bloom was taking Musa home, thier purchases fit comfortably in the rusted bed of Bloom's truck. They said their goodbyes, and went their seperate ways.
Bloom was halfway home, when she realized Brendan hadn't called her yet. "Mabye he's too hungover to find his phone." Bloom shrugged, and looked at her phone, debating on wether or not to call him.
She turned onto her street, and see that the call was unneeded. Brendans maroon sportscar sat in the otherwise vacant driveway, her parents cars being in the garage. Bloom pulled in next to Brendan's car, grabbed her bags from the bed, and walked in.
"I'm home!" Bloom said, puttin her keys on the small key hanger near the door. Hearing no reception, she raised an eyebrow. She walked into her room first, to set down her bags on her bed. Kiko was awake now, and drinking from the little waterbottle on the side of the cage. Bloom smiled, and put her finger in the bars to stroke Kiko's head. She decided to figure out where he folks were.
"Mom, Dad?" She called, comming down the stairs. She headed into the kitchen where she heard the clanking of mugs.
Once inside, she saw her parents, knocked out cold on the kitchen floor. "Mom!? Dad?!" She crouched down next to her mom, and tried to shake her awake. "Mom! Mom wake up, Mom!" The woman was unresponsive.
"That was too easy." came a voice from behind her. She turned quickly enough to see Brendan with a crowbar over his head, just about ready to swing it at her head like it was a golf ball. She rooled out of the way, and ran over to the counter and grabbed a knife from the block. Brandon ran accross the kitchen after her, and slammed the crowbar down. She moved out of the way just in time so the crowbar made contact with the once flawless granite countertops. Bloom ran into the living room, and up the stairs, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She ran into her bedroom and locked the door behind her, calling the cops.
"Alphea Police department please state the nature of your emergency."
"My boyfriend knocked out my parents and is chasing me around the house with a crowbar!" Bloom explained quickly, Brendan banging on the door with his crowbar.
"Can I get your adress please?" asked the receptionist.
Bloom gave the woman her address, but couldn't say any more, because that was when Brendan's crowbar came through the door. Bloom backed away from the door, as Brendan pulled the crowbar down, making the wood splinter and crack to the handle, where he yanked the crowbar out and put his hand in slowly to turn the knob.
"Why didn't you call me?!" Brendan gritted his teeth.
Bloom made a face. "Call you?! Uh, you were supposed to call me!" Bloom said crossing her arms still holding the knife.
"I left you twenty messages on your phone to call me! You know how worried I get when I dont hear from you!!" Brendan said, shoving her against the wall. Kiko hid under half a toilet paper tube in fear.
"I never got any calls on my-" Thats when it hit Bloom. 'Darcy must have deleted the messages!!' Bloom snarled and tried to get away from Brendan. If she told him about Darcy, he'd get even more mad!
"Why the hell are you so mad because I didn't call you!? You've never been this mad before!" Bloom said, strugling to get out of his grip, which still held firm.
"Because you knew what I was doing! Thats why you never called me!" Bloom made a face, but seince she wanted to know she faked it. "I know what you did and I know you're not sorry for it!!" Bloom shouted, continuing to writhe under his powerfull hands on her wrists.
"I cant believe that Flora slut told you! She probably told that bitch Stella who couldn't keep her damn piehole shut!" He punched the wall, and Bloom turned her head in time to avoid it. He punched again, but this time Bloom turned the wrong way, and he punched her right in the eye. "You stupid bitch! I knew you never loved me!!" He began to slam her repeatedly against the wall.
"I loved you! You were the one who fucking cheated on me!!" Bloom continued to struggle, trying to kick him in the crotch to make her escape.
"You think I didn't know about you and Helia?!" 'What?!' Bloom thought shocked. She hadn't even hung out with Helia. Except that one time at Starbucks, but she didn't consider that a date, seince he was pretending he had rabies by putting the whip cream from his drink on his face and snarling.
"I never went out with Heli-AH!" Brendan threw her against the wall. She tried to catch herself but her hand slipped from the wall, and an audible CRACK was heard.
"You lying-" He was cut off by the sound of sirens wailing outside. "Dammit! You fucking slut you're going to regret ever fucking around with that asshole!" With that statement he ran downstairs and tried to make it out the back door, where he was intercepted by police. The paramedics got to Bloom just before she passed out from the pain.
`-`-`-`-`- BLOOM'S HOUSE; WEDNESDAY; 4:32PM`-`-`-`-`-
Bloom was discharged from the hospital. Her arm was broken, but the fracture wasn't terrible, so they just let her go with just a cast. Her eye was a gross purple colour, wich the doctors said would go away in a week or two. Her parents were fine, Brendan hadn't used the crowbar on them. That meant that they came home on Sunday.
Brendan himself was going to prison for destruction of private property, referring to Blooms door, her wall, and the kitchen counter.
Bloom sat on her bed, watching her bunny eat some of the iceberg salad she'd just put in there. Her phone sat in her hand. Should she call Stella and tell her what happened? Mabye she should send something to Darcy... she seemed like a comfortable person to be around, though not the kind of person you could really tell about your ex-boyfriend, who has been a recently assesed schizophrenic, when he came into your house and attempted to kill her. She decided to call Stella.
Though to her suprise, Stella called her.
"Bloom?! Oh my gosh, are you okay?! I heard what happened to him on the news thats so bad!" Stella practically screamed.
"Yeah, Stel, I'm okay." she paused, and looked at her new door which her dad had installed on Monday.
"You don't sound okay. You wanna come over and have a movie night? We can both skip classes tomorow." Stella said. Stella's parents didn't really care how late she stayed up or what she did during the year, so she could skip two weeks and as long as she was passing on her report card, they didn't care about any of it.
"No, I'm behind in my classes, I have to go to school tomorow." She paused. "And my parents don't want me out of the house if I don't need to be." She said finnaly.
Stella frowned. "Okay. I have to go, mom's got company over. I'll see you tomorow, okay?" "Okay." "Bye" "Bye."
Bloom hung up her phone and laid back on her bed. She looked at her arm, which still hurt somewhat, but the painkillers that the doctors had given here were like magic.
Her phone vibrated a few inches from her good left hand. The ID said Darcy. "Open your window" said the text. Bloom got up, and opened her window. Darcy flew in like a ninja.
"Where are your parents?" Darcy asked, closing the window behind her.
"They went out for dinner. They won't be back for a while." Bloom paused and looked at the vampire.
"I can't stay long. Friday night, be at my house right after school. Make sure nobody is following you." Darcy raised her eyebrow, looking at Blooms bruised right eye. "Ouch, I didn't think it would look that bad." Darcy shrugged. "I have to go, before Icy kills me. See you Friday." Darcy opened the window, and whipped out the window.
Bloom looked lazily at the window. "She could've just texted me. Whatever." Bloom shrugged, she wasn't in the mood. She changed into her pj's and went to bed.
That night, she had a strage dream.
In a huge infinite blackness, she sat naked on the floor. After a few moments, a glowing white light appeared from nowhere. It flew around her several times, Bloom following the little farie-like object. it flew directly in front of her, about 40 feet away, and threw itself onto the black ground. It spread like a liquid through a track in the floor, starting off as a curve, and continuing on that way while part of it came toward her as a straight line. The white lite continued to fill in a seemingly preset track, until a large shape was on the ground. It was a pentagram, and Bloom was facing the bottom end of it. Two circles surrounded the glowing white star, where symbols appeared in the ground. Five figures appeared out of nowhere around the circle, one at each point, all were dressed in long back robes with hoods covering thier faces. Feeling self concious, she moved to cover her body. But to her suprise, her body would not move.
She began to strugle, only her shoulders moving slightly with her huge struggle to move. The figures around the circle began some old gaelic chant that Bloom didn't recognise. Light green ripples of power moved through the glinting white outline of the pentagram. The ripples began filling in the white with thier bright green colour. Once the circle was full of the green light, it began to radiate towards her, forming a powerfull bind around her. The light changed to black and shocked her with an unbelievably painful shock. Her dream then faded into a world of a searing black pain as she woke up and found that she was laying on her cast.
`-`-`-`-`-THE HAUNTED HOUSE; FRIDAY; 3:41PM`-`-`-`-`-`
She parked her house in front by the curb, like she had before, and nocked this time before she went in. Darcy answered the door. "Well, about time you get manners." She smirked, and let Bloom in. Bloom entered the house, still as decrepit as before. She was still shaken up about the dream, and hadn't told anybody about it. Even Kiko.
"So whats up?" Bloom asked. Darcy smiled.
"Icy was the one that actually wanted to see you. She's upstairs, follow me." Darcy said, leading her to the door to the right of the fireplace. They went through the door and up the stairs that led into Icy's room.
"Icy! Bloom's here!" Darcy shouted from the top of the stairs. "She won't hurt you unless you provoke her, so just watch what you say and be nice." Darcy advised. Bloom nodded and a shadow moving in the corner cought her eye.
"This is her? God she looks like she lost a fight with a pussy boy." Icy frowned. Crossing her arms over her ice blue tanktop that showed off the top half inch of her thong, before hiding back into a pair of large arctic camouflage pants.
"Pussy boy? Don't you ever call my ex a-" she paused, remembering Darcy's words. Bloom stopped and just stood. Icy raised an eybrow at her.
"She's definatly human." She paused and closed her eyes. "And I'm definately feeling the vibe off her now." Icy looked to Dary, who nodded her agreement. "I felt it too, it's much stronger that it was last week." Icy smirked. "Fortunatly enough for her Stormy left town with the rest of her pack, she wont be back for a week or so."
Bloom looked at Icy expectantly. "Uhm, her is in the room." She stated plainly. Icy shifted her gaze to her, assesing her from the outside.
"I suppose we should get started." Icy said, walking over to the rotted chest at the foot of her bed.
"Started? With what?" Bloom looked at Darcy. "I'll tell you depending on what Icy finds." She turned to Icy. "I'm leaving her in your care, I'm gonna go see if Stormy found anything usefull in the last month. Icy nodded, not turning around from the chest. She pulled out some chalk, a few bowls, a candle, and an amber crystal.
"Take that rug and throw it against the wall." Icy said, pointing to the rug she was standing on. Bloom nodded and rolled up the rug, putting it against the back wall. Icy had begun to draw a circle on the now cleared floor. "Alright, step in" She pointed to where she left a gap for Bloom to enter. Bloom entered and closed the circle. Icy grabbed one of the bowls that she brought out, which had some salt in it. "I use this salt to obtain the purest truth." Icy said as she spread the salt around the circle.
"Sit." Icy said. Bloom did, cross leged. Icy set three bowls around the circle in a compass patteren. One bowl was willed with sand and a twig with a couple of leaves on it. Another bowl was filled with water, and another held several burning incence sticks. Finnaly, she placed the call candle opposite the water. Icy sat directly accross from her, and grabbed the crystal. "I want you to calm your thoughts, dont even think about your cast or your eye, just focus on breathing. Don't hold onto a single thought." Icy said. Bloom nodded, took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She let all thoughts fleet her, and ignored the throbbing in her eye. She vaguely felt a cold, smooth stone against her forehead. "Ignore the stone, relax." Icy said. Her eyes were closed, but she was focusing on the crystal. After a moment the crystal let out a high pitched sound and glowed brightly. Icy opened her eyes, and Bloom strained to keep concentrated at the sound.
Icy pulled the crystal away, and watched as it shone and began to spark with black electricity. Bloom opened her eyes, the sound was unbearable. After a moment the crystal calmed down, back to its original state.
Icy looked at Bloom with eyes that she couldn't read. "What? Did I break your crystal? I'm so-OF!" Icy slammed herself to Bloom in a hug, stopping her from finishing her unneded appology. "You can save us. Thank god you can save us!"
Darcy came into the room a few minutes later, to see Icy with a wide smile on her face, as she put away the circle. Bloom sat on the bed dumbfounded as ever.
"So?" Darcy asked, looking at Bloom carefully. Icy looked at her and nodded. "Its her, she is the one!" Icy said, looking happier than she had in years.
"What am I? What did I do?" Bloom asked, looking at Darcy for answers seince Icy was unable to give them to her.
Darcy got the same wide smile that Icy had on. She walked over to sit by Bloom, and Icy sat on the other side.
"About 200 years ago, this town was just being built. Myself, Icy and Stormy were the first ones to settle here. We found a small clearing on a hill in the forest, but to build this house we had to cut down the neighbouring trees. Our... "abilities" helped with this. I am a vampire, Icy is a demoness, and Stormy is a Werewolf." Icy nodded her acnowledgement, and picked up where Darcy left off. "However, the trees that we cut down were protected by a powerful tribe who lived where the town now sits. They cursed us to reside here forever, as a punishment for destroying their pure nature." Darcy picked up the story from there. "They told us that a witch would one day come along with a power they cherished, called the DragonFire, that would free us from this curse." Darcy wrapped her arms around Bloom "And that is you. We need your help, and your power to free us." She pulled back and looked in Blooms eyes.
"I won't be hurt, will I?" Bloom asked. Darcy shook her head.
"We know exactly what to do, nothing will hurt you." Darcy said with a smile.
Icy groaned. They both looked at her like she was crazy. "We have to wait untill Stormy comes back. She won't be here for a month!!" Icy fell back on her bed, defeated.
Darcy came to her aid. "We've been waiting for this for 200 years. We can wait another month." Darcy said with a smile. Bloom giggled.
Icy pouted. "I guess you're right."
Bloom smiled. "So how is this gonna work? Icy does one of those circle things again and the curse goes away?"
Darcy and Icy laughed. Bloom frowned. "Pardon me I haven't been studying this for the last 200 years..."
Dary wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry, that was just really really funny." Darcy cleared her throat and straightened up. "What we have to do is train you to focus all of your energy on this crystal." Darcy said, holding up the amber crystal Icy had earlier.
Bloom looked at the crystal and took it in her hands. She giggled. "It tickles!" She smiled.
Icy smirked. "Its probably still buzzing from your power signature." Bloom handed the crystal back to Darcy.
"Training you to control your power might take more than a month, but it will definatly be worth it." Darcy said looking at the crystal with a smirk.
"How am I gonna train? Are you guys gonna give me a mountain of books to study?"
Icy shook her head. "The best way to learn is by experience. We ask that you come over here everyday after school to meditate with your power. Weekends too."
Bloom frowned. Darcy smiled. "So you can kiss your social life goodbye for the next month!"
Bloom sighed. "At this point if my friends got to spend too much time with me it would all end up being consoling about my ex-boyfriend." She shrugged. "But regardless I didn't really have a choice."
Darcy raised an eyebrow. "You have a choice. We're just strangers who are otherwise cursed to live in this hell hole without you."
Bloom shook her head. "No, after I got up when I slept over, I felt bad. I mean, I just walked right in here and fell asleep on your floor! Thats really bad. So this is gonna be my way of making it up to you!" She smiled.
"Alright. We'll start tonight, and go straight through the weekend." Icy said with a smirk.
Bloom sighed. This was gonna be a long weekend.
`-`-`-`-TIME SKIP. 2 WEEKS HAVE PASSED SEINCE BLOOM STARTED TRAINING.`-`-`-`-`
"Bloom!? Can you come down here for a minute?" It was her mother calling up to her room. Bloom's eye looked as good as new, but her cast was still on her arm.
"Comming!" Bloom went downstairs after giving Kiko a little pat on the head.
Her mother and father were each taking up one of the recliners, leaving Bloom to have the couch.
"Bloom, is everything okay? In school?" Asked her father.
Bloom raised her eyebrow. "Yeah, everything is fine, why?"
"Not just with your friends, with your homework too?" Her mother asked.
Bloom nodded. "Well, I didn't hand in the last couple asignments, but I was acing all those classes. I'm probably at C's now, but thats no problem. I can pick those up." Bloom smiled.
Her father sighed, and held out a sheet of paper folded three times. She opened it up and saw it was her progress report. She had one D- that was holding on by one point, the rest were 30% F's.
"Bloom, what have you been doing after school? and on the weekends?" Her father asked.
Bloom thought for a moment. Darcy gave her strict orders not to tell anybody about her training. So she made something up. "I'm hanging out with Tecna. I'm helping her try to get the attention of Timmy at our school." She lied convincingly.
Her mother let out an agitated sigh. "If thats true then why does Tecna admit to never having you over for the last two weeks?"
"She's a bit embarassed that she has to ask for my help with it, so she won't tell anybody anything." Bloom lied without another thought.
It was her fathers turn to give an agitated sigh. "Either way, you haven't been doing your work, and your grades are far from acceptable. We're grounding you from any other afterschool activities."
Bloom's eyes widened in shock. "What?! For how long?!"
"Untill your grades get up. No more sleepovers, no more hanging out with friends untill late at night, and no cellphone untill all your homework has been done!" Her father said sternly.
Something snapped in Bloom. She was 17, she didn't have to take orders from anybody. "Fuck you! I'm not giving up my phone! And I'm not giving up my social life!" She shouted standing up.
Her father cringed at the f-word. "You'll still be able to see your friends at school honey!" Said her mother, noticing her father's anger.
"It's not the same dammit! I don't have to do shit that you say! I don't give a shit if I'm failing! Big fucking deal! Schools alwase gonna be there!" Bloom cursed. Now she was getting mad.
"My daughter will not talk to me like that!" Her father shouted, standing up. "For that you're grounded from the TV AND your truck!"
Bloom bared her teeth. Then she felt something she hadn't felt before. She felt like she was vibrating, and like a cold fire was burning on every nerve. She saw her mothers expression turn to one of shock. Her fathers as well. She was glowing orange, so were her once timid blue eyes glowed a violent white orange.
"You can't boss me around!" She lifted her arms up and clapped them in front of her at full arms length. The clap caused the house to shake, which knocked several things to fall off the shelves.
Bloom stood like that with her teeth bared for a moment, before her orange glow and white-orange eyes went away. Bloom looked around, confused. Her parents were holding eachother and looking at Bloom with fear. Bloom looked around, and realized what had happened. Her power had reacted to her anger and got out of controll. She looked at her parents for guidance.
"I, I didn't mean to, I-"
"Just, go to your room, Bloom." Her father said, looking horridly at her.
Bloom felt hot tears rush to her eyes and ran upstairs crying. She grabbed a bag from her closet,threw in a bunch of clothes, her cellphone, and left out the window. She went onto the top of the garage, then jumped down into the bed of her truck. She jumped out of that and made a run for Darcy's house, tears streaking her face.
`-`-`-`-DARCY'S HOUSE; FRIDAY; 9:22PM`-`-`-`-
When Bloom reached the front door, she knocked hurriedly. She couldn't go to Stella, Musa or Tecna's place, because they didn't know what she was doing everyday afterschool, and she wouldn't break the promise she made to Darcy. There was just something about Darcy that Bloom wanted to please.
After a few minutes, Darcy showed up at the door. "Bloom?" She saw that the girl had tears in her eyes. "Bloom? Are you alright? Common in." She put her arm around the girls shoulders and ushered her into the living room. Icy peered out from the balcony.
"Who is it?" Icy asked. Looking down she saw it was Bloom. She jumped from the balcony and landed softly on the first floor, and walked over to Bloom.
"Bloom? What happened?" Darcy asked the shaking girl. She wrapped her arms around the girl in an awkward hug. From behind Bloom's head, Darcy motioned for Icy to grab the crystal. Icy nodded, got up and went back upstairs.
Darcy sighed softly, and gently, but a bit awkwardly, rubbed small circles on Blooms back. "Calm down, Bloom. It's alright." She said a bit unsurely.
Icy came back in a moment from the upstairs with the crystal. She put it in Blooms trembling and slightly numb hands, before it started sparking blue.
"Thats not good." Icy murmured. She set the crystal on the ground. She turned and looked into Bloom's face. "Bloom you've gotta calm down. Otherwise more scary things are gonna happen." She spoke slowly. Bloom nodded, and took a shaky deep breath. After a few more and a light backrub from Darcy, Bloom was fine.
"Bloom? What happened?" Darcy pressed gently, putting her fingers on Blooms chin to meet her eyes.
"I... got really mad. My parents made me mad, but it wasn't like when I usually get mad." Bloom said, leaning back lightly on the couch, which was vibrating via unpleased moths.
"What happened? What do you remember?" Darcy pressed. When Darcy saw the girl crying, something clicked in her head that told her she didn't want to see Bloom upset. And it wasn't because it could cause another power burst.
"I remember feeling tingly, like some kind of cold fire was on me, then a white heat and then..." she paused, shaking her head. "I remember seeing my parents looking at me like I was a monster." Tears threatened her eyes again, but Darcy placed a soft hand on her shoulder. Bloom took a deep breath.
Icy thought a moment. "Would you like to stay here for a little while? At least for the night?"
Bloom looked at Icy with a bit of suprise, she was just expecting to stay for a few more hours, then mabye make a break for her window and go back to bed at her own place. She turned her gaze to Darcy, who shrugged.
"I don't see why not. We're kinda like sisters now, right?" Darcy said with a smile. Bloom smiled too, and nodded. "Though, I dunno where we'd put you." Bloom raised her brow. "What about that room I slept in the first time I was here?" Darcy shook her head.
"A huge spider colony has recently made refuge there, that won't work." Darcy thought for a moment. "You can stay with me in my room, how about that?" Bloom nodded slightly.
Icy smirked. "Good, now I've got some meditation to do so please dont be too loud." She warned, before she went upstairs and into her room.
Bloom wondered how they were supposed to get to Darcy's room, which was upstairs, seince the only set of stairs she knew went through Icy's room.
"There's another set of stairs in the kitchen. Common." She took Bloom's wrist and pulled her up from the couch.
"I'm sorry for troubling you like that." Bloom said as they walked into the kitchen.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Darcy said, unsure of what else to add. She felt her face get warm at Blooms unneded appology for some reason. The two walked up a staircase which was accross from the spot where the stove was. They'd taken out what was once a range, to make room for a refidgerator for Darcy's little blood quirk. They never got around to buying the fridge, because the basement was practially an arctic frozen area, which worked well for storing the blood buckets that sat down there.
They walked up onto the balcony, made a left and went into Darcy's room. Her bed was probably the only one in the house that was used on a semi regular basis, and her room one of the cleanest places next to Icys room and the basement. The bed had new sheets on it, as well as a stainless steel frame and new matress. All of her furniture was new as well, made of fake wood so they wouldn't rot for a few decades. Her floor rug was the only thing that matched the rest of the house, moth eaten and coffee stained.
She sat on the bed and patted the space next to her for Bloom to sit. "So what was the fight with your parents about?" Darcy asked. Bloom thought for a moment. "It was about my grades." She reached into her pocket, and showed Darcy her deplorable grades.
"I guess our meditation hasn't helped with your GPA any then..." Darcy's brow furrowed as she tried to think of an answer. Then it hit her. "Bloom? On Monday, do you think you can bring all of your school books over here? And your notes and everything?" Bloom looked at her for a moment. "Y-yeah, sure. Why?" Darcy stood and smiled. "It's only a theory, but with a couple of spells and a little time, we can teach you everything you need to know about everything you're failing." She said, handing Bloom back her grade sheet. "Change into you're pj's, I'll be in the bathroom changing into mine." The two got ready for bed, and Bloom stood dumbfounded in front of the one bed.
"What? You think we can't share this thing?" Darcy let out a low laugh. "Don't worry, you can't catch vampire." She laughed. Bloom laughed too, and got into bed with Darcy, both facing opposite directions. After Bloom was asleep, she rolled onto her side, and cuddled lightly into Darcy's back. Darcy smirked, but stayed facing away from the orange haired girl. 'Mabye later Bloom.' she thought, and drifted off to sleep to the sound of the other girls rhythmic breathing.
`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-`-
There you go, a new DarcBloo fic. This is a fanpairing with only one other fic on here, which is by me and may not ever be finished. So here's this... I HOPE IT MAKES YOU THINK FAN COMMUNITY!