Icy Jade

As I walked through the masses of the party, a strange feeling preoccupied my mind, digging into my soul. It was a scent, a scent of ice, stormy nights and jade. It was strange, and unfamiliar. It sent chills down my spine, like the frost was creeping up on me, yet it was July. I shivered quietly, and followed it. It led me to a boy, dressed all in black. His hair was the color of a raven's feathers, but had the appearance of being dyed, from a chestnut brown. Despite his gothic nature, he was beautiful. His eyes were leaf green, his face proportioned exactly. I would have thought that he was surgically altered, but from my viewpoint, I could see no scars, and my eyesight isn't exactly… normal. It's beyond average. My skin is the color of snow, my eyes are bright orange, tinted purple with blue contact lenses, and my hair is golden blond, waving all the way down to my shoulders. I'm an abnormal creature. I'm a vampyre. I lived alone, up until now. I came to this town fifty years ago, and not one person has noticed that I never seem to get older. Back to reality, the boy was staring at me as if he was wondering what I am. I did a quick assessment, finally drawing the conclusion that he is a… younger version of my kind. "Hello," he quietly said. I was too startled to answer. A sudden gust of wind had brushed back his hair, revealing four scars started on his neck, and then turned toward his chest, down his shirt.

"Oh!" I squeaked. He looked unsurprised. "The scars get everyone, but I would have thought someone like you would have noticed this." He raised an eyebrow, obviously referring to the fact that vampyre eyesight catches anything.

"I wasn't watching closely enough" I said, embarrased.

"I'm Shade Tanith"

"Ryker Austyn, it's great to meet you.." he said, spellbinding me with his voice.

"as you have probably noticed, I'm not one to be lost in a crowd, but that's what I want,"

I had no idea what to say, so I awkwardly replied " My car's supposed to be here soon… I had to get a ride, I lent my car to a friend and she crashed it …"

Ryker replied "I'll drive you, so you can stay a while longer, 'kay?"

"um… sure" I had no clue what to say. It's not normal for humans to drive strangers home… but Ryker and I, we're hardly human. The days progressed after the party, and I began to see more of Ryker. I would see him while grocery shopping, walking along the streets of Vermont, and getting a drink at that little soda shop up by Killington. I wondered what he thought of me, and what I really thought of him, while we were in each other's company. We spoke so little to each other, and just walked along, side by side. We never knew what to say. He was so obscure, and I, so predictable. People generally avoided me at College, their subconscious thoughts knowing that I am dangerous, but they aren't quite clever enough to figure out what we really are, just curious. But something Ryker said had been bothering me. We had talked about relationships, and he had mumbled a bit about not wanting to talk about it. I had gone though the details of my human life, and why I had been changed. My life had seemed like a pretty big splat, until it got worse. I had been walking in an alley, hardly anyone was there, and the only door that had been there was the back exit of a pub. Someone- a man, had flown out of it. As if like magic I inspected the man's body, and it was completely drained. The only thing that stood out on his bloodless skin were two blood red puncture marks on his neck. I screamed. Someone behind the door growled. And suddenly, my body flew backwards as an object like metal barreled into me. The male was beautiful. Too beautiful. And his eyes were crimson. He bent over me, as if to kiss me, and my life was suddenly being drained. I clawed at his neck, but he wouldn't let go. Suddenly, he looked into my eyes, full of pain, and kissed me. For he had seen a ghost of something in my eyes, and loved it. Quickly, my skin was being cut open. Fire lashing out at each cut. And seconds later, I was changed.

One day, Ryker came over, seeming bored. For the first time, I looked at his eyes. I was stunned, They weren't concealed with contacts. They were blue. Ice blue. My eyes widened about three millimeters. Ryker was a white leopard vampyre. My enemy. The tiger clan, my clan, is a warm-blooded clan, or, we would be, if we were to have blood. We transform into tigers, the Ice Clan, white leopards. We have been enemies for as long as I can remember- which is a very long time. "Oh my god…"

He blinked twice.. "what..?" he said.

"you're… you're… you're an Ice Warrior! I can't be seen with you!"

his eyes narrowed.. "I thought you were neutral…"

I screeched "NO! I am the most dangerous person for you to be with in this town!"

"I am Tiger!"

Ryker and I never saw each other after that point. Our clans were too hostile. But there wasn't a day when I didn't think of him. Always. The pain of trying to forget was getting to me . One day, I got a message from our leader, Triysten. It said 'All Tiger Clan members must come to the Amazon. We must plan. We are attacking our enemies, the Ice Clan warriors on the 23'rd of October' I checked my calendar. It was the 20th. I had to warn Ryker. I raced to his house. I knocked, but there was no answer. As I turned to walk dejectedly away, a flash of blue caught my eye. It was a tiny note. It said,

'Shade, I know of the war, but there is no point in it anymore, when friends are on either side of the line. Come away with me. Meet me at the lamppost across from the forest at 2:00 am. You mustn't feel pressured to go. I will wait until 2:30, but if you are not there by then, I will have to leave. Ryk.' My eyes filled with tears as I realized I would have to leave my clan mates forever. Ryker's over me was too strong to resist. I packed a small backpack full of supplies for a few days, sure we would be in civilization in only a short time. I needed only a small container of blood- powdered, of course, a small water bottle, and three pieces of fruit. I could survive on almost nothing but a pinch of blood for up to five weeks. But I needed strength. I raced to the lamppost. It was almost fifteen after two. I almost sprinted into his back. I was quite clumsy for a vampyre, but not awkwardly, just humanly. just stared quizzically. Suddenly, voices stung in my head. They belonged to my clan mates. "what are you doing!?" and "how could you" 's filled me up. The only person I hadn't heard from yet was Triysten. This meant she would find me. Kill Ryker. But I couldn't let this happen. We had to leave now. I had to make Ryker safe. He was the one thing I needed now. Not anyone else. Just him. It was holding me, no, binding me to him. That feeling that he might be lost was too strong for words. And I couldn't take it. Not now. Not ever . Because he meant everything to me. Too much. I needed him now, though. I would always need him.

Without saying a word, he led me north-east, toward Canada. I had always wanted to see snow. My life- or afterlife, some would call it, was quite uneventful. My human life was even less eventful. But I couldn't think any longer. Because we were flying. return to

RYKER'S STORY

I scented someone following me as I wandered through the party. I had had no intention of coming, but I was here, solitary and invisible. How I liked it, of course. But you could get lonely, not seeing anyone that was too terrified of our… subtle beauty to come near. I needed companionship. I had shut the voices out of my head for far too long. I couldn't even remember their names. But the scent was coming closer. I turned around in time to see a blur of golden blonde hair and violet eyes. I stared in amazement. Her beauty was hard to get used to, after all these years of trying to be alone. She stared back. My hair blew back behind my neck, unveiling the scars. They hurt just thinking of it. But I was enveloped. The memories came flowing back. Her crimson hair, the way we had fit, like one. And then, when I had found them together, her, on a man that was not I. Not her fiancée. His claws raking across my neck. Her cries. How I had left her, even though she had begged me to stay, asking for my forgiveness. But I could not forget her. How could I, when she had occupied such a large part of my mind. But this one- she was beautiful. Even for a vampyre. She looked as shocked as I, seeing another vampyre in this small town. Her wide violet eyes bored into mine, her dark lashes framing them. "hello" I said.

The scars must've frightened her. Our skin was not damaged easily.

"Oh!" she squeaked, the sound coming out as music. I didn't see why she wouldn't have noticed them. I pointed this out, surprised at her answer. We were never not watching closely enough. She introduced herself. Her name was Shade Tanith. How unusual. "I'm Ryker Austyn." Both of our names weren't what you would call normal. But nothing about us was normal.