Aqua was sitting on the top of Vincent's house reading the new manga he had bought for her. Then all of a sudden, cold drops of water started to splatter her face and shoulders. She started coughing…again. Occasionally, she went into coughing fits, but no one knew why "Wow," aqua murmured, "it's freezing now!" Vincent appeared out of thin air and laughed when Aqua jumped "Yeah it would be, it started raining and it is the middle of January! Here," he handed her a jacket"; this should keep you warm, wait, I changed my mind. This thin little thing won't keep you near warm enough, not when we have to run to get there." That stopped her short; she turned her head towards Vincent. "Wh-what, do you mean?! Get where?!" He smiled a sly, crooked smile and said "Oh, trust me. You'll see."
Vincent picked her up and, she knew what was coming and she closed her eyes tight and tucked her head down to her chest, he jumped from the roof. He was lucky this time. A nearby neighbor had just shut the door when he leapt to the ground. Any normal human would have been maimed or gotten a broken limb, but Vincent was no ordinary human. He was a vampire. He and his family were all vampires, and there was one critical rule that all vampires had to follow in order to survive. And his Mother had broken that rule. A human had discovered her secret and she had not changed him into a vampire; therefore she had been killed when Vincent and his brother, Zavier, were toddlers. They had never really known her, but hey all felt empty, everyday of their lives. That was until the day that Vincent had met Aqua. He had introduced Zavier to crystal. Finally, the boys felt complete.
Vincent and Zavier had big plans for their human girlfriends. And Vincent was going to execute his plan tonight.
"Bro, when are you gonna put her down?" Zavier asked with a chuckle and shocking Aqua 'That was fast' she thought . "Never!" Vincent replied, somehow he put a smile into his voice. "Oh, com'on! You have to put her down sometime!" Crystal had walked up behind Zavier and wrapped her arm around his waist while Vincent arrived. "If you are going to do what we talked about, you are going to
have to put her down." Zavier said. Vincent gently lowered Aqua to the ground and she asked "Can I open my eyes yet?" Vincent chuckled and said "No, not yet."
Vincent and Zavier held Aqua up by the elbows so she would not fall over or trip over anything, because she was walking around the woods blind. Crystal was a few feet away from the others, deep in thought about...something. It drove Zavier crazy, but for some reason, Crystal was one of the few people able to block his power. He could read minds. Finally, after a few minutes of walking in silence, Vincent spoke up. "You can open your eyes now, sweet girl" Aqua opened her eyes slowly and when she had them all the way open, all she could do was look around, wide eyed and with her mouth hanging open.
The garden she was standing on was filled with the most beautiful roses the Aqua had ever seen. "There're so pretty!" Aqua said, mostly to herself. Vincent smiled and tucked a small piece of hair back behind her ear. He then got down on one knee, and he said "Aqua, my sweet girl, I promise to love you everyday for the rest of forever. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and joining me in the world of night?"He pulled out a little black satin box and lifted the lid. A delicate little ring was sparkling in the bright sun. Aqua, with tears running down her cheeks, shakily said "Yes!" Vincent took out the ring and put it on her third finger. Vincent rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around her, and his eyes glimmered with the gost of tears. Behind Vincent, Zavier came up and handed him a gorgeous, blood red rose with a long stem that was covered in thorns. Zavier smiled at his brother, and backed away to his own true love, who took him by the hand and leaned her head on his shoulder.
Vincent looked into Aqua's eyes and asked her "Do you really want to join me and my family in the vampire world?" She looked at him with longing eyes "Of course, that is the only thing I want." He looked at her with sadness in his eyes as he closes his eyes and his fangs slowly begin to grow. Crystal walks over and takes her by the hand. "You might want to close those eyes of yours right about now." Aqua does as she is told and she feels Vincent's cold lips brush her neck before she feels the sharp tip of his cold fangs pierce her warm skin. She recoils from the
pain, but Crystal holds her still enough and Aqua can feel Vincent's hand on the nape of her neck, almost as if this was an embrace, not a violent act of necessity.
A few seconds later she felt the fangs leave her neck. "Can I open my eyes now?" there was a note of hysteria in her voice when she pierced the top layer of skin on her lip and felt the blood tickle into her mouth. Zavier was the one who spoke up saying "Sure, if you want to see your fiancé covered in your blood, be my guest." As was his intent, she closed her eyes even tighter. Crystal walked up to her and examined her sister's neck."Wow!!"She exclaimed. Aqua really wanted to open her eyes, but the fear of the sight of her own blood kept them shut."What? What is it?"Aqua asked, misunderstanding the excitement in Crystal's voice. "Zavier, love, come here and look at this."At this point, aqua was really panicking because no one would answer her question.
"Aqua, would you please calm down? It's just, your neck healed really fast, and your fangs are already there." Zavier informed her. At this point, Vincent had returned, free of blood, and took Aqua by the hand. The instant he was by her side, she calmed down."You can open your eyes now, baby." He said in a whisper that was thick with emotion. She did as she was told and she smiled at Vincent. "Do you remember what dad told us when we were kids? About the way a persons fangs appear? He said something but I can't recall." Zavier addressed his brother, who looked bewildered. "No clue." Vincent replied.
At that second, a figure dressed in all black and purple appeared in a swirl of black smoke. "I said that if they come in before the minute mark, you are soul mates. How could you have forgotten that?" the figure chuckled. "Dad!" Vincent and Zavier exclaimed together. The man held his arms out and started walking toward his sons. "How did you know where we were?" Vincent asked as the three men hugged. "Well, first off I was inside. I have been back for probably two weeks. Second, I have a spell on the property that alerts me when someone discovers the land. How rude of me, I have not introduced myself to these beautiful ladies." He walks right up to Crystal and Aqua and shakes Crystals hand "Hello, my name is Riku. You must be Crystal. Zavier, you little liar! Her ears are precious. Not just cute, as you clamed." By this time crystal was blushing like mad.
Riku then went to Aqua and shook her hand, also."You must be Aqua, even more beautiful than Vincent's letters depicted. And that is hard to believe." Now, Aqua was blushing.
Zavier and Vincent Walked back over to the girls and Vincent put his arm around Aqua's shoulders. Zavier stood behind Crystal and put his arms around her waist, and started kissing her neck. Riku looked around,"Umm, from the letters you set me, this Destiny girl sounded like a big part of Aqua's life. May I ask why she was not here for this momentous occasion?"
Then a crack like a bullet out of a gun reverberated around the garden, and a girl fell form a tree. She got up hurriedly and shook the leaves out of her bright purple hair. She looked around at everyone. "Did someone say my name?"She asked. "God, Destiny! Teleport much?" Zavier joked. Destiny looked down and started to grumble. She looked up at Aqua, noticed the ring and ran to her. "What?! Could you not wait for me to get here Vincent?" Vincent shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Well," destiny crossed her arms across her chest. "I have a surprise for you, too." Aqua and Vincent looked at each other. "Oh, yeah? What is it?" Destiny smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Hotaru! Get your butt over here!"
A young girl (probably 11 or 12) walks out of the shadows with a slightly bored look on her face; she has bright pink hair with black tips and black eyes that are set on Aqua. "Uhh, who is she?"Vincent asked. "I'm Hotaru, pleased to meet you Vincent, and Aqua, Crystal, Riku, and Zavier." She looked at each of them as she said their names. "Well that's not weird at all." Riku said with a fake laugh and a strange look in his eyes that resembled fear. "Sorry, I guess I should explain." Hotaru let out an awkward little giggle. ''Yeah, that might help a little. Or a lot." Aqua says, dumbfounded. Hotaru looks at her apologetically. "I am a young vampire and I don't remember anything but waking up from unconsciousness with my first vision." Vincent held up a hand and shook his head in confusion. "Wait just one second! Vision of what, and who turned you?"
Hotaru's eyes fell."A vision of the future, and it was my mother. Before she died. My vision was of my brothers." She looked at Vincent and Zavier as she said the word.
Crystal tilted her head to the side and frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked. Hotaru closed her eyes and shook her head sadly. After looking off into space for 5 minutes, Destiny seemed to snap out of some kind of daze. "So anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah! Um, Hotaru here had a vision of joining her family but she didn't know who they were until she met me and explained. I knew immediately who it was."
"Well, well, well." Vincent said after a minute. Vincent looked at Hotaru then to Zavier. "I think that, maybe, we should let her move in with us." Hotaru's eyes light up. "Really!?" Her eyes were welling up and about to spill over when Vincent walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her little shoulders and pulled her into a bear hug. Riku, who looks kind of angry, steps forward "Why don't we carry this heartwarming, and nauseating, conversation inside?"
Aqua, crystal, and Hotaru all speak at the same time "Inside?!" "Yes, inside. What did you just think this was a beautiful garden full of roses?" Aqua and crystal looked a little embarrassed, because that was what they had thought. Vincent took Aqua by the hand. Zavier took crystal around the waist again and Riku led the way through a small and nearly invisible pathway in the rosebushes while Hotaru trailed along behind them. They followed him for a few minutes until the castle finally came into view.
"Wow" Aqua mouthed. "Holy snaps! " Hotaru exclaimed. After endless hiking through the hedges that slowly turned to trees, they came across a clearing. And right in the middle of that clearing was the largest castle that any of the girls had ever come across, on the other hand, for the boys, it was their home. They were very familiar with the land and castle. "um...baby?" Aqua mumbles into Vincent's ear. "How come no one has ever found this place?" "Protective spells and it's a lot farther back in the woods than you know."
They all entered that castle, and found that the inside was lit by candles and torches. "Dad, would it kill you to put in electricity?" Zavier asked. Riku shrugged. "I never saw the point. It's a waste of money." He made the word sound like profanity. "Zavier is right, Dad, we don't have to live in the dark ages anymore. Anyway, you said you hated the dark ages, that they got old really fast."Crystal looked toward Zavier with confusion. He smiled at her when he explained. "You see we don't age like humans do, you know that. What you did not know is that we can choose to age very quickly, or very slowly. My Dad chose to age slowly, so he could see as much of the world as he could." Crystal just nodded slowly. When they had gotten into the dining hall, there was someone already there waiting for them. Riddic was standing in his usual stance against the wall and Raven was sitting at the head of the table with her head in her hands and her long blonde hair falling around her.
As soon as Aqua was in sight, Raven smiled and jumped up. "My, my, my. Riku, you need to do some exterminating. You have some vermin "Aqua says with a chuckle. Raven laughs, too. "Then, while we are still here, why don't you give me a hug?" Aqua tilts her head "Sure, why not?" Aqua cant stifle the laughter long enough to finish her sentence. They step closer together and the girls are hugging. Raven steps back and spots Hotaru standing behind Vincent.
She smiles at Aqua"Who is the little sweetheart?" She asks. "This is Hotaru, and she is the boys little sister" Raven smiles wide "When did that happen?" Zavier laughed and shrugged. Then Aqua had a coughing fit. All Vincent could do was rub her back. Aqua walked out of the room, still coughing. Raven looked after her worried."Would you please give this to her when she gets better and tell her I am sorry but we have to go." She looks over her shoulder at Riddic and he finally moves. Raven hands Vincent a Purple rose and Riddic snaps his finger and they disappear. Aqua comes back in the room after half an hour and sits on Vincent's lap. "Per Raven, I am to give this," He hands the rose to Aqua "to you." The second the rose touched her hand, she fell to the ground, unconscious. Riku and Vincent were at her side in the blink of an eye and Riku automatically knew what to do. He poured a vial out of thin air and poured the contents down Aqua's throat. She sat up and spluttered.
"God I am so stupid!" Vincent snarls. "I know what rose does what! I nearly killed my fiancé!" Hotaru stepped forward and looked confused. "Wait, what?" she asked. "Aqua's blood system is weird. Some roses can heal her, like the yellow ones in our garden, but some can kill her if she touches them. Like that damn purple one, she's just like mom. That's why you wont see any purple roses within 200 miles of this place." explained Vincent. "But why did you have that vile with you dad?" Zavier wondered. "I still had it from when your mother was alive." he said somberly.