Are You Far Away And Distracted?
"It can all be explained young prince."
Shadow stood before the elders, his expression expectant of what they had to tell him. Each vampire elder were those one saw in the horror films of the mortal realm; pale faced demons with no fur, long claws, and long fangs with saliva dripping from their fangs. Their eyes were faded, with cataracts, and they bore tattoos all along their body that pulsed red with the inner power each vampire had. Though they were old, they were powerful, probably the most powerful beings in the whole clan.
They were the one's that had lived for eons, the one's who had gained immortality.
Not all vampires were granted this ability. It was believed to be a pure gene, passed on only by pure blood vampires. The kind who made other minions rather than bedded a blood-mate and bore offspring (if the blood-mate happened to be of opposite gender and able too).
All pure bloods happened to be direct descendants of the true vampire king, Dracula. He was sealed away though, for the safety of the balance of the world, as the oracle had warned many centuries ago. All kings who ruled under Dracula's great teachings were direct descendants of the vampire king Dracula.
He was actually the first prince who had been blood-mate born in history.
"The filthy ways of the new generation have finally infected the throne!" Hissed the second elder. A female with tiny scruffs of fur on her head. Her fingers were curled like gnarled twigs, and one of her fangs was chipped from battle.
Shadow sighed through his nose. Yes, he had gotten much grief and disrespect from the higher positioned vampires because of his hybrid mixing. Despite his mother being turned, he still had mixed blood, and that was not good enough for anyone in the clan it seemed. Still, by Dracula's law clearly stating there was no overthrowing of the king, meant he was destined to be their king, whether they appreciated it or not.
Of course, Dracula had not known of the mixed blood generation when he created those rules.
"I come seeking answers, not accusations," Shadow responded sourly.
The elders hissed and snarled at the prince, but Shadow sat unfazed. The elders feared the change that was passing through the clan and now the vampire throne, but they would never be able to do anything but face it. For they feared more the wrath of Dracula if they were to change his rules with asking or some ridiculous thing. Shadow crossed his arms and sighed through his nose. For the supposed wisest of all the vampires, one would think that a sealed away Dracula meant they could get away with changing a rule or two via a voting process.
But how else was the king supposed to control the elders if they pointed that out? Elders were very influential after all. Shadow shut his mouth and waited a little impatiently for the Elders to get on with it.
One elder wasn't as angry as the rest though. He stepped foreword to address his future king respectfully. "Since you were an infant you have had unusual talents, My Prince. Heightened senses and phenomenal power. As expected when born of the Father's blood. I believe you are a positive mutation to this blood-mate epidemic."
"How can you say something so foolish!" The female elder screamed.
The elder, who happened to be siding with Shadow, turned to her with a fierce hiss of his own. "Did you not notice his skills in combat training? He far surpasses those of his class, even the pure-bloods! Perhaps this mutation is just what we need in order to destroy the were's!"
Shadow realized then that he would not get his answer. All he had asked was if there was a vampire who had a strong reaction with their blood-mate before, and what the outcome had been. He had gotten a name, but now the Elders were off arguing amongst themselves, and Shadow knew he would be getting no more.
Thanks, but no thanks. He muttered in his head as he turned. He left the elders arguing in their temple and started walking down the hallway. At least with a name he could go to the library and do some research. Maybe get some answers to how he should deal with the longing he felt pulling at his very life essence.
Like the farther away he was from the blood-mate, the sooner he was going to waste away.
He knew this was not normal. He also knew no one would really get what he was looking for. Honestly he didn't quite know what he was looking for himself. But he knew the answer he was looking for was out there, and that he would find it.
Shadow didn't know how long he was in the library, but long enough for his friends to sneak up on him. He jumped and whirled around to face Rouge and her blood-mate Knuckles, stopping the hiss in his throat and sighing to himself. "Don't sneak up on me."
"Well hello to you too," Knuckled growled.
Rouge ignored her blood-mate with a roll of her eyes before looking seriously at her friend. "What are you doing?"
"Researching."
"About?"
"Zeek Fletcher."
"Who? And Why?" Rouge sat down beside her friend now, interested. She hadn't seen Shadow so wrapped up in books like this since he had been young and forced to study. Therefore, she knew something was up.
Knuckles sighed, but joined them. He still looked mighty aggravated to be doing so though.
Shadow sighed and closed his book. "He was a great king created in the 1700's. Supposedly he was the first to find a blood-mate."
It was Rouge's turn to sigh. "I told you that I would be here to talk if you needed it, Shadow."
Shadow turned to his friend now, ignoring Knuckles as he snatched the book from the vampire's hands and began to read silently what Shadow had been studying for hours.
"I don't think you can help. I have… a weird feeling about this blood-mate of mine."
"That's probably just the high you're still experiencing. It's scary at first, and makes you paranoid."
"No. Rouge, I'm not high."
"Then the attachment. I could barely let go of Knuckles the first month or two."
"It's stronger than that. It's like… I feel like I'm dying without him here."
"…. that was corny."
"I'm serious…"
"Hey guys… the numbers on these pages are off."
Shadow and Rouge blinked and turned to Knuckles, who pushed the book over to show them. Sure enough, the pages went from 268 to 271.
"Some one printed these with missing pages?" Rouge looked curious.
Shadow went to page 268 and read through the last paragraph again. Sure enough, the last paragraph had no period at the end. Such a minor thing that he normally would have overlooked. The next page was about another king though, and considering the pages jumped, Shadow was willing to bet this was more than just some tiny grammatical error.
Half of Zeek Fletcher's story was missing. Why? What did he do that needed to be erased? What about his blood-mate? What happened to them?
And why the hell was it every question he wanted answered just seemed to lead him to more frickin' questions?
The semi-boring let's thicken the plot a little more chapter. I promise there will be more Sonadow in the next one~! Read and review please!