Here is the second chapter of Love & Death. Thanks to those who read the first chapter, double thanks if you reviewed, and thanks again for reading this next chapter. Sorry about the slow updates, our computer has been plagued with viruses and I am plagued with GCSE coursework, so that is my excuse. Please read reveiw and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing I did not invent, I claim nothing I did not invent, I know nothing and I have nothing you can have if you sue me goddammit! (Come on, I'm only 13, what would you get if you sued me...) lol Areie
(The next day)
The Vampire fortress
A back corridor
Lucian had snuck away from where he was meant to be during the day – on the Mansion walls – to try and find Helene, a first cousin of his, Serena and Araiden's. Helene was extremely clever and had excellent instincts, and one of Lucian's fellow guards had apparently heard a whisper of something from a vampire he wanted to talk to her about. The Lycan wall-guards had developed a very efficient way of talking between individuals posted far way from each other: like a strange game of Chinese whispers, the messages were passed with alarming speed all over the walls. Lucian had been asked to find Helene because he was naturally stealthy and also quite close with his first cousin.
Helene normally worked in the archives, organizing and looking after the various books and scrolls of the vampires, but since she was rarely supervised, she was more often than not devouring books at an alarming speed. At this hour, near four in the afternoon, there were few if any vampires up and about, but even so Lucian moved swiftly and quietly, keeping to the shadows until he reached the archives.
The room beyond the imposing mahogany doors was high ceilinged and vaulted, it's brushed pale marble walls paneled with dark, soft-scented wood. Sculpted stone busts and large oil paintings stared down from high above, appearing to keep every occupant of the huge room under intense and never-ceasing scrutiny. Whatever the weather outside, the archives were always freezing, or at the very least chilly. To Lucian it resembled nothing more than a vast silent tomb and for the life of him he could not understand why Helene would want to spend so many hours of her life here. Yet she did, and it was an unusual trait for her to show such lack of common sense that she preferred sitting, numb with cold, devouring the ideas of old philosophers. Helene was frighteningly intelligent, a startlingly fast reader, and possessed of an uncanny memory. She was normally to be found huddled in some corner with her arms pulled inside her shirt, a book or scroll in her lap, and muttering to herself –
"The Divine Proportion or phi, considered the most beautiful number in Creation, being the ratio used by the Goddess to create all nature, is generally valued at one point six one eight and can be found – "
"Helene," Lucian hissed. His first cousin started and reflexively covered the heavy book she was reading with her arm. On seeing it was Lucian she relaxed. Helene was the nearest thing the slaves had to a scholar and despite her youth it was now her responsibility to educate the pups in reading, writing, arithmetic and the history of the immortals. No-one knew what would happen if the vampires caught her studying ferociously from the archives but they all suspected it was unlikely to be good.
"Ah, it's only you Lucian," she sighed, brushing brown hair out of her green eyes and smiling in relief.
"So, what is it today?" he asked lightly. "Or do I not want to know?"
Helene's eyes sparkled. "Oh, just phi or one point six one eight, the Divine Proportion." She patted the book in her lap. "This is wonderful."
"I'm sure it is…"
She smiled wryly and said, "So what's happened?"
Her cousin deadpanned, "Who says anything's happened? Maybe I just wanna talk to my cousin. Maybe I just felt like coming down here…"
Giving her book's pages one last affectionate stroke, Helene slotted the heavy tome back onto the shelf and stood up to face Lucian. "Come off it. I know you hate this place. I know it scares you, and I know you only come down here for a reason. Not just for a friendly chat about phi."
The playful light in Lucian's eyes vanished and he said, "Dane overheard the vampires talking about something he wanted to tell you about." Helene's eyes widened slightly. "He said he thought it might be important."
She nodded and replied seriously, "I'll meet him on – I take it he's on the walls?" A nod in answer. "I'll go find him then. And by the way, Jude wants to call a meeting t'night."
"I'll tell Serena."
"Yeah." Helene looked up impishly and smirked. "And try and get a word in edgeways this time. You and Kieron."
Lucian snorted. "Like that's gonna happen." Serena was famous for browbeating the males in her family and never letting them speak at meetings – she always talked over them.
Smiling, Helene said, "Don't let her walk all over you Lucian. And take care." Then she vanished into the gloom of the archives, leaving her cousin alone in the hall. As he turned to find his way back out through the maze of bookshelves, he heard something. Something that sounded distinctly like a person creeping around.
"Helene, if you're trying to scare me…" he muttered under his breath, and spun around when the direction the sounds were coming from changed totally with near supernatural speed. Then whoever was there started to sing. It was a female voice, hauntingly fragile and beautifully ethereal.
"In the light of the last stars love's embrace is felt
With diamond tears on the face of the night
Where belladonna roses climb around my skin
A last night of beauty, a last night of life
Snow begins to fall and soften my fire and pain
Indigo eyes as deep as all time light the way
And belladonna scent fills my heart and mind
The last night of beauty, the last night of life…"
The aria finished and Lucian was left breathless. He'd heard Serena and the other Lycan women sing with pleasant enough results, but this was something else entirely. If he had to imagine starlight as a voice, it would be like that voice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white cloth and blonde hair and then the singer rounded the corner.
"Oh – "
Lucian whirled around for the second time in as many minutes and found himself facing the loveliest woman he'd ever seen in his life.
Sonja rounded the corner with the last note of her song hanging in the air and to her shock found herself facing the most captivating man she'd ever met.
"I'm sorry I – "
"I didn't – "
In a heartbeat they found themselves each holding the other's shoulder and staring right into each other's eyes. Both stopped dead, hearts fluttering.
The silence could have gone on indefinitely, but Sonja felt she had to say something, anything to fill the empty space. "I'm so sorry – I didn't know you were here – I didn't disturb you? – I wouldn't've if I'd – were you looking for – for something? – I could help – I mean if you don't – "
Why do I always do this? Gabble like an overexcited human teenager? I'm so –
"Shush," Lucian said softly and to stop her anxious stuttering, almost without thinking put a finger to her lips.
Sonja's breath caught as he stopped her flow of nervous chatter. She could feel herself trembling, half with exhilaration, half with a kind of fear. "I'm sorry, " she began again, almost compulsively.
"Just – hush," he whispered. "Don't be so tense … I won't hurt you." He trailed the finger along the line of her lips and drew it down her pointed chin, so lightly it barely touched the creamy skin. She drew breath in a little gasp as he did so and swallowed. Then she began for the third time, slower and less nervously.
"Who are you?"
As if in a trance, Lucian stepped closer to her, not breaking eye contact. "I'm Lucian."
"Lucian."
"And you," he whispered, as she came further towards him. Why couldn't he catch his breath?
"Sonja," she almost gasped, leaning up to him, her hand drifting slowly up to the nape of his neck.
Sonja … Sonja … now where do I know that name from? His brain seemed to have slowed down, and while he tilted his head down toward hers he was still thinking furiously. Sonja … the daughter of … the third and youngest daughter of –
Like a lightning bolt it hit him and he jerked back, dropping his hands from her shoulder and neck, breaking out of her gentle grip. A vampire! I nearly kissed a vampire! And not just any vampire! Oh no, the princess Sonja: Viktor and Janine's child! The truth of it slammed Lucian in the face and he looked at Sonja, taking in everything he'd missed before: the perfect alabaster skin, the beautifully-cut white dress that clung and floated in all the right places, the full lips – no Lycan had lips like that, the gold pendant around her neck – the charm given to the family of an Elder, the gem at the center a different colour for each. The stone on this one was jade, he noted absently.
"Lucian?" Sonja ventured timidly, her blue eyes wide and hurt.
Pale cheeks flaming crimson, he ducked his head in the proper show of humility and said half-choked, "I'm sorry, Milady." When no response was forthcoming, he bowed and added, "I overstepped my place, Milady."
Are you criminally insane! She is a vampire princess, for heaven's sake! You nearly kissed her! Her sister broke your sister's jaw for not doing her hair properly, dammit! Goddess knows what she'll do to you…
"Lucian …?" Sonja's voice was full of hurt and she felt a lump constricting in her throat. I'm sorry … She'd realized as she leant in to kiss Lucian that his scent and ragged clothing marked him a Lycan slave. She'd realized just as soon that she really didn't care.
He did though and I've hurt him so badly. He's afraid of me … Oh Goddess he's actually afraid of me. Maybe he hates me.
Tears prickled in her eyes as she curled her fingers around his chin and tilted it to face her. "Please don't bow your head in front of me," she whispered and almost got it out without her voice breaking.
"Sorry Milady," he muttered, reverting to the subservient manner used by slaves around vampires.
Sonja swallowed hard. "Please … look at me, Lucian." Those black lashes flicked down, then up and she saw the moss-green of his eyes, afraid and perhaps resentful. "Thank you," she murmured and nerved herself. "I'm not … I won't hurt you. Please believe that. And my name is Sonja, not Milady." She felt a tear slip down her cheek, and steeled herself to continue, "I'm sorry if I've hurt you or offended you or caused you pain. I never meant to harm you. I don't … I don't c-care if you are a Lycan or not," somehow she found they were close together again, "because I – " she leant up to him as he leant down, feeling almost pulled together, "I … I …" oh, say it Sonja, just say it, "I love you."
As she said it Lucian moved forward and their lips met and they were kissing and all that Sonja could think was, I love him and it was meant to be. All Lucian could think was, I knew this was going to be a weird day, I had that itch in my elbow.
After what seemed like an eternity of heart-stopping sweetness, they broke the kiss. His breath coming in gasps, Lucian looked deeply at Sonja, taking in the expression in her eyes, the gentleness, the vulnerability, the opening up, revealing herself to him. She was beautiful, yes, a sublimely crafted marble statue with perfect features and that soft gold hair, but it was something else in her that attracted him. It was something in her eyes, in her voice, in her sudden awkward movements. Something reminding him…
She reminds me … of something in me …
Her hand drifted up to stroke his dark hair, and his own buried itself in her thick blonde hair. He whispered, breathing in her soft scent, "I love you too." His hand found hers and he raised it gently to her lips.
Sonja let out a muffled sigh and he stepped in to her, and she stepped in to him, and her head rested on his chest while his chin settled on her head. And for once, just for a while, they were all alone together in an almost dreamlike world.
