Blood and Love
Greetings readers! The Light Goddess Kalinda is finally publishing on Fanfiction.net! My close friends and acquaintances that are already familiar with my work may find this surprising, considering my previous experiences with online publishing, but I have at last decided to give this another try. The following story is very much a work in progress and even I do not know exactly where this is going. All standard disclaimers apply to this story.
Although I will admit that I sometimes draw my inspirations from other authors, nearly all ideas in this story are completely original. I will be more then willing to give credit to any source that I drew more then a line of material from.
The Prologue will not be very long at all, you must pardon me. The rest of my chapters will be longer.
And now without any further ado, the story. Prologue: Shadows in the Night
Brand stood at his post near the foot of the hill, a cool breeze threatening to lull him into the deep sleep he so desperately desired. The night was clear and beautiful, but it was also warm and lulling. Brand's previous night's sleep had been interrupted by the screaming of his firstborn and he had nearly cried in self pity when he had learned that he had to work the night shift that day. The presence of human guards around the compound had never been a necessity before the arrival of Frieza and Brand found himself again cursing the lizard for ruining his planet's harmonious existence.
To fight off his boredom and fatigue, Brand took a look around. A few feet up the paved road he could clearly make out the impressive gates of the Capsule Corporation Compound. Beyond those were the front lawn and finally the home of his employers, the owners and operators of the multi- billion dollar business. Turning back around, Brand failed to notice the figure darting through the shadows and toward the gate.
As he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, Brand's thought's again wandered to Frieza. It was well known to the people of Earth that they had so far escaped relatively unscathed from the lizard's tyranny. Life had undoubtedly gotten harder, but it was nothing compared to the horror stories that had reached his people from visiting alien races.
Brand turned around to face the gate swiftly as he felt something pass by him. Seeing nothing, Brand shook the feeling away. It had only been for an instant, but he could have sworn he had felt something. Clearing his head, he returned to his musings as he faced the road.
Frieza himself had yet to visit the planet and had so far made relatively few demands. The more intelligent minds on the planet knew this would not last, and that was why Brand was guarding the Briefs.
Dr. Briefs was one of the leading members of the human resistance and was already at work designing weapons to fight the lizard. Normal security measures using machines simply were no longer adequate. Word would most certainly have reached Frieza of a resistance on Earth, and Dr. Briefs' hand in it would be easy to see. Frieza would likely send someone to punish Dr. Briefs soon and the Doctor was determined to have enough warning to help his family escape. To where, Brand didn't know. Rumor had it that a secret human colony had even been set up and that the population of Earth was slowly being moved, but Brand himself had seen no evidence of this. It was most likely a rumor fueled to give hope to the populace, but it was still nice to believe that there was a place where people lived free from the atmosphere of fear that surrounded Earth.
Glancing around again, Brand realized he must have been more tired then he had originally surmised. It appeared that the gate to the Compound was in a different position then he had remembered. It was preposterous of course. There was no way anyone could have gotten past him that quickly and passed through the gate without him seeing. They would have tripped the alarm, or at least made a noise. A feat like the one he was thinking of would have been downright...
Inhuman.
Slinking through the halls of the Briefs home was something Shadow was well suited to do, but that didn't mean she was enjoying it. Being in such close proximity to so many warm bodies was intoxicating, and she found her patience with her own weakness wearing thin. She had been ordered to not be seen or leave any evidence of her presence, or she might simply have pulled one of the humans aside and taken what she needed. That guard had been a particular test of her will. She had passed within a centimeter of him and she could still smell him faintly. It had been a mistake to come without feeding first, she could tell that now.
She moved up the hallway with an inhuman speed, easily dodging robots and cameras alike, until she finally found what she had been looking for. The source had been right; the family was still up talking in the living room. She could distinctly hear the voices of the Doctor and his wife, but the child was either silent or no longer in the room. Shadow nearly cursed when she probed about with her mind and discovered that the girl was nowhere to be found. Perhaps Briefs had already sent her into hiding. The thought was not very comforting. The mission would be considered a failure unless the whole Briefs family could be found.
Shadow leapt silently onto the wall and climbed to the ceiling. She braced herself in a corner above the doorframe where she was certain she would not be seen, then she began her mental search for the child. The Gods must have finally been smiling down on her, because she could sense the approach of a small girl that could only be the daughter of Doctor Briefs. Smiling, Shadow waited. It couldn't be long now...
Bulma Briefs was not a girl given to nightmares. In her eight years she had only had a handful, and those had never been bad enough to drive her to seek out her parents. Bulma possessed a very good amount of logic for a little girl, and she could usually work out for herself that whatever had plagued her in sleep was not going to follow her into reality. However, this last dream had seemed different. Shadows had reached out to grab her and take her from her parents, blood had splashed all about and creatures had fought over it like dogs over a bone. There had been darkness and screams and above all, fear. Nightmares this vivid had never come to Bulma before, and she was ill equipped to deal with them on her own. That was why she was seeking her parents at this late hour, she wanted her mother's soft reassurances and her father's strong embrace. She would not feel safe until she was in them again.
As Bulma rounded the corner that would lead her to the family room, she immediately senses that something was amiss. The feel of the hall was different, as though something there did not belong. She looked around for the source of her discomfort, but she could find no reason for her disquiet. She turned around and back down the hall cautiously, thinking that whatever she was sensing might come at her from behind. She never saw the Shadow descend upon her, and she never knew what it was that made her vision suddenly go black.
Greetings readers! The Light Goddess Kalinda is finally publishing on Fanfiction.net! My close friends and acquaintances that are already familiar with my work may find this surprising, considering my previous experiences with online publishing, but I have at last decided to give this another try. The following story is very much a work in progress and even I do not know exactly where this is going. All standard disclaimers apply to this story.
Although I will admit that I sometimes draw my inspirations from other authors, nearly all ideas in this story are completely original. I will be more then willing to give credit to any source that I drew more then a line of material from.
The Prologue will not be very long at all, you must pardon me. The rest of my chapters will be longer.
And now without any further ado, the story. Prologue: Shadows in the Night
Brand stood at his post near the foot of the hill, a cool breeze threatening to lull him into the deep sleep he so desperately desired. The night was clear and beautiful, but it was also warm and lulling. Brand's previous night's sleep had been interrupted by the screaming of his firstborn and he had nearly cried in self pity when he had learned that he had to work the night shift that day. The presence of human guards around the compound had never been a necessity before the arrival of Frieza and Brand found himself again cursing the lizard for ruining his planet's harmonious existence.
To fight off his boredom and fatigue, Brand took a look around. A few feet up the paved road he could clearly make out the impressive gates of the Capsule Corporation Compound. Beyond those were the front lawn and finally the home of his employers, the owners and operators of the multi- billion dollar business. Turning back around, Brand failed to notice the figure darting through the shadows and toward the gate.
As he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, Brand's thought's again wandered to Frieza. It was well known to the people of Earth that they had so far escaped relatively unscathed from the lizard's tyranny. Life had undoubtedly gotten harder, but it was nothing compared to the horror stories that had reached his people from visiting alien races.
Brand turned around to face the gate swiftly as he felt something pass by him. Seeing nothing, Brand shook the feeling away. It had only been for an instant, but he could have sworn he had felt something. Clearing his head, he returned to his musings as he faced the road.
Frieza himself had yet to visit the planet and had so far made relatively few demands. The more intelligent minds on the planet knew this would not last, and that was why Brand was guarding the Briefs.
Dr. Briefs was one of the leading members of the human resistance and was already at work designing weapons to fight the lizard. Normal security measures using machines simply were no longer adequate. Word would most certainly have reached Frieza of a resistance on Earth, and Dr. Briefs' hand in it would be easy to see. Frieza would likely send someone to punish Dr. Briefs soon and the Doctor was determined to have enough warning to help his family escape. To where, Brand didn't know. Rumor had it that a secret human colony had even been set up and that the population of Earth was slowly being moved, but Brand himself had seen no evidence of this. It was most likely a rumor fueled to give hope to the populace, but it was still nice to believe that there was a place where people lived free from the atmosphere of fear that surrounded Earth.
Glancing around again, Brand realized he must have been more tired then he had originally surmised. It appeared that the gate to the Compound was in a different position then he had remembered. It was preposterous of course. There was no way anyone could have gotten past him that quickly and passed through the gate without him seeing. They would have tripped the alarm, or at least made a noise. A feat like the one he was thinking of would have been downright...
Inhuman.
Slinking through the halls of the Briefs home was something Shadow was well suited to do, but that didn't mean she was enjoying it. Being in such close proximity to so many warm bodies was intoxicating, and she found her patience with her own weakness wearing thin. She had been ordered to not be seen or leave any evidence of her presence, or she might simply have pulled one of the humans aside and taken what she needed. That guard had been a particular test of her will. She had passed within a centimeter of him and she could still smell him faintly. It had been a mistake to come without feeding first, she could tell that now.
She moved up the hallway with an inhuman speed, easily dodging robots and cameras alike, until she finally found what she had been looking for. The source had been right; the family was still up talking in the living room. She could distinctly hear the voices of the Doctor and his wife, but the child was either silent or no longer in the room. Shadow nearly cursed when she probed about with her mind and discovered that the girl was nowhere to be found. Perhaps Briefs had already sent her into hiding. The thought was not very comforting. The mission would be considered a failure unless the whole Briefs family could be found.
Shadow leapt silently onto the wall and climbed to the ceiling. She braced herself in a corner above the doorframe where she was certain she would not be seen, then she began her mental search for the child. The Gods must have finally been smiling down on her, because she could sense the approach of a small girl that could only be the daughter of Doctor Briefs. Smiling, Shadow waited. It couldn't be long now...
Bulma Briefs was not a girl given to nightmares. In her eight years she had only had a handful, and those had never been bad enough to drive her to seek out her parents. Bulma possessed a very good amount of logic for a little girl, and she could usually work out for herself that whatever had plagued her in sleep was not going to follow her into reality. However, this last dream had seemed different. Shadows had reached out to grab her and take her from her parents, blood had splashed all about and creatures had fought over it like dogs over a bone. There had been darkness and screams and above all, fear. Nightmares this vivid had never come to Bulma before, and she was ill equipped to deal with them on her own. That was why she was seeking her parents at this late hour, she wanted her mother's soft reassurances and her father's strong embrace. She would not feel safe until she was in them again.
As Bulma rounded the corner that would lead her to the family room, she immediately senses that something was amiss. The feel of the hall was different, as though something there did not belong. She looked around for the source of her discomfort, but she could find no reason for her disquiet. She turned around and back down the hall cautiously, thinking that whatever she was sensing might come at her from behind. She never saw the Shadow descend upon her, and she never knew what it was that made her vision suddenly go black.
