Ok so no doubt the usual mistakes and typos are all over the place. I really do try to weed them out but I suck at editing. Also incase you get confused here is a quick geography lesson.
Asturias: A northern region of Spain encompassing the coast and the mountains. Very pretty place.
Frankfurt: A city in central Germany with typically cloudy weather.
Lille: A city in France near the Belgium border situated on the Deûle River.
St. Petersburg: A Russian city on the Baltic coast. Formally known as Leningrad.
REVIEW PLEASE!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"They're on the train! They're on that train!"
"Sssh! You have to wait."
"No! I wanna get them now! I wanna kill'em, not wait."
"Adelaide stop misbehaving; you're being a spoiled brat."
"But I wanna kill her again! I already killed and she died and now I wanna do it again! It's not fair that she is still alive."
"Quiet now. You'll get another chance at her again; just make sure she really dies this time."
"She did die! I saw her fucking head fly off Grandfather!"
"I believe you little one; I've seen how thorough you are in your work. It's just that you must go alone this time and I have to trust you not to misbehave yourself. Don't let anyone see you kill her. Understood?"
"Yes grandfather."
"Good girl."
A giggle sounded in the dark.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Light mumbles and harsh breathes escaped her lips as she slept. Repeating words she had never heard and those she had not uttered since she was a child. Her mind never slept; it was only on a journey into the limitless eternal and instant expanse of the dream.
In the depths of her mind she found herself standing before a man. She recognized him as her father's killer; tall with waving dark hair and a refined face. But what she remembered best were his eyes. Endlessly white, like a blank sheet of paper with a small dot drawn on. From them came no expression; no anger, no kindness, no evil, nor any good. It felt as if their absence of heart created a vacuum intending to suck out all of her own emotions. Strangely the result was distantly calming and numb feeling.
When he spoke he kneeled down to bring himself to her height and smiled lightly; the eyes reflecting nothingness. His voice was soft and smooth yet firm. The words sliding around her as if to embrace, "You can't run forever you know. You're meant to stand on our side just like the rest of your family."
Echo stood silently looking into his unchanging eyes.
"I have a deep sense of family; wouldn't you like to be my daughter?"
Echo tried to sound as dark as she possibly, "Go away."
The man was still kneeling before her neither blinking nor seeming to have heard her, "Are you upset over your father's death? He refused to be my son so I did what I must; it pains me to see that he could not think of his own daughter's happiness. But I am willing to replace the father I took."
As he spoke the man leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her in a fatherly embrace holding her tightly but not threateningly. Physically the hug was perfect; but it was cold. There was no emotion or feeling behind it, no warmth.
When Echo stepped back timidly he did not try and hold her as she slid away from him and out of his arms, "You can't replace him; you would never be able to. But what you can do it pay for his death; I'll exact that price from you one day."
The white eyed man stood up and nodded accepting her answer without protest. "I'm sad that you have rejected me and my love; I am even sadder to say that you must die."
Echo smiled, "You can't hurt me here. I know how to defend my mind."
The man nodded again, "I cannot penetrate your mind, but I was never planning to. I have already sent my granddaughter to visit you. Think of her as like a sister and please treat her well."
With that the man's image faded from her mind leaving Echo alone in her own darkness.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Visceras sat in the seat across from Echo's sleeping form sober now for 24 hours. The same night she had arrived to his abode in Frankfurt they had gotten on a train heading west. Where exactly was not important. She had demanded that if he was going to help her they had to leave that same night or risk being caught.
And though Visceras had spent the last twenty years living his quiet methodic life in Frankfurt he did not find himself particularly upset to see it go. In fact he might have been somewhat relieved to see that there was purpose for him again. He had spent far too long in the darkness as of late.
He looked over his sleeping niece. Well not quite niece, she was a relative but a distant one. He might have been something like a great great great uncle to her. Her father the great great grandson of his deceased sister.
"God how I wish I had a nice smooth bottle to keep me company right about now."
A bottle would help him think, and a he needed to do a great deal of that. Visceras was not a full fledged vampire but he was still powerful; their entire family shared a powerful lineage. Rafael, Echo's father, had been noted to have been an especially gifted with vampiric strength. An oddity that such a gifted would have a daughter with no vampiric abilities at all. But yet Rafael, his friend and distant nephew, had fallen. If nothing else it meant that the enemy was dangerous.
And what of Echo's words? 'They cut my head off.'
She hadn't really been able to make it any clearer than that. Her captors had decapitated her thinking her dead then left. Echo then simply described waking up on the street where she had been killed, head intact, yet with a clear memory of her own death and her blood on the floor.
Visceras looked at his niece again. He wasn't sure what to make of her words; there was no surviving decapitation even for a vampire. Not that he knew of anyway. But maybe she was just traumatized? Anyway it wasn't important.
Echo stirred slowly on her seat rubbing her face and as she woke.
"Good morning," she said with a thick tongue.
Visceras looked out the window, "Morning? You slept all day; it's dark again girlie. You sure you're not like me and inherited a nocturnal tendency?"
Echo looked outside and nodded heavily, "Sorry uncle, I must have been tired. It's been awhile since I felt safe. I think they might have found me today if I was still in Frankfurt."
Visceras took a chance to ask, "Your father never told you anything about these people?"
Echo shook her head. "No, that was stupid of him wasn't it?" she said moodily.
Visceras nodded, it wasn't particularly unusual for a half vampire or someone of vampiric descent to be targeted for assassination. Half breeds like them had enemies on both sides. Some humans were unable accept anything with any vampiric ties and wanted it destroyed while vampire's sometimes saw them as trash that needed to be disposed of.
Perhaps it was then fitting that their family specialized in both hunting human and vampire. There are criminals among both that half breeds are best equipped to deal with.
Visceras asked pensively, "Echo what did your father teach you about our family?"
Echo smiled, "We're the scariest monsters around. We have nothing to fear."
Visceras smiled, "Spoken like your father! And what of our history?"
"We were born from the union of light and darkness; I am neither vampire nor human." Echo recited.
"Yes Echo, good." Visceras patted her. "And what do we do Echo? What has our family strived for?"
"Justice and balance for vampire and human."
So apparently Rafael had taught her a good deal about the family, which was odd since it was tradition to keep those without and vampiric abilities in the dark about such things.
"Uncle?" Echo asked.
"Hmm?"
"Where are we going?"
Visceras leaned back in his chair comfortably, "West. This train will take us to Lille and from there I think I'd like to visit Belgium. Anyway most important is losing our pursuers and then perhaps we should contact someone for help. Now let me think… I believe Alister is somewhere in Belgium with your cousin Marie, do you remember them?"
Echo snorted, "Marie was a snob even when we were kids. I don't want to go to her for help. Besides going west is a bad idea."
"Why is that?"
"They always found me quickest in France; when I went east it took them longer."
"How far have you gone?"
"I went as far a St. Petersburg then turned around to pay you a visit."
"Well you obviously haven't been caught. How did you know when they were near?"
"Oh of course, I should have told you," Echo reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace with a small golden ball hanging at the end about the size of ping-pong ball. "Eye tells me."
Visceras scratched his head, "Eye?"
At the mention of its name a slit appeared on the seamless golden ball that widened. From within a single brilliantly blue eye stared out at him.
The effect of its gaze was instant, blood rushed into his head and Visceras felt the pressure build around his eyes in a dark terror. Even worse was that Visceras could feel a inexplicably malignant presence brush against his conciousnece as it tried to take hold of him.
As Visceras doubled over holding his head Echo snatched Eye into her hands bringing it to her face. "No Eye! Uncle is a friend, you don't need to make him pop."
The effect of its gaze dissipated when the eye's line of sight was broken. "Pop?!" croaked Visceras. "Gods girl that's a demon eye!"
Echo put Eye back inside her shirt laughing, "Father gave him to me for protection. He can get a bit aggressive and he doesn't seem to like you; strange though because I think you two share some similarities."
"What can I possible have in common with that thing!"
Echo frowned, "Well your both perverted. I have to keep Eye in between layers of shirts otherwise…"
Visceras was disbelieving, "Your father gave that thing to you? The man was always insane; it can kill you. Or worse it can take your body for its own."
Echo laughed a little louder.
Visceras shook his head, "Girlie you laugh the same way your father does and it's not compliment."
Echo stopped laughing but a smile lingered, "I think father died laughing uncle."
Visceras took a moment to think, "That rather does sound like him."
Now the smile fell from Echo's face, "Well I didn't laugh when I died."
Visceras felt a small pang of guilt for being insensitive. Strangely though he did not feel particularly sad about Rafael's death; it was not that he had not loved the boy but Echo was so much like her father it didn't quite feel like he was gone.
Visceras looked out the window again and saw their destination, "Those lights must be Lille, we're just about there."
If Visceras had been human he might not have noticed, but his vampire senses immediately took note of Echo's paling skin, increased heart rate, and tightening jaw, "Hey now what's the matter?"
Echo gripped her shirt, "Eye can see them. They are already waiting for us in Lille."
In her mind she could hear Eye mocking, Hah! Your screwed this time brat. Give me a peek inside that shirt of yours and maybe I can help you make it out alive.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ok so the story is progressing! You probably have a slightly better idea of what is going on; not really though. Review! If you review I write; if I wanted to write for myself I would write something different. What makes this fun to write is that other people read it! Review! I wonder if asking people to review means they are less likely to. Anyway maybe reviews aren't worth anything; I have clicked on some stories with a lot of reviews and they were BAD! Maybe the story was interesting but the writing was sickening. And I don't even have high standards…. I just wanted to say that.
