*A/N – Sorry I haven't updated in forever; no one would believe the past few months my life has taken. Anyways, it's summer, so no school, no pesky roommates, plenty of time to write and update (let's hope). This should be the end of the 'prequel', the next chapter will begin the actual story if you will. Thanks to all the reviews I got, please keep them up! That's how I know if I'm doing a good job, or what you guys want me to change. Let me know what you think. Much love to UtsSmutqueen, and "encouragement"; I don't own Paul, Shane, Chris (though I wish I did! :)) All I own are the characters and places of my diluted, warped mind.
Prophecy of Twins – Chapter 4
A Day that would Live in Infamy
As the next day grew on, the sisters grew more and more nervous about their double date. They decided dinner and a movie would be the safest. While they were getting ready, the phone rang. Since Kala was closest, she answered it. After a couple moments of one word answers and sympathy, Kala hung up.
"That was Tom's mother. She asked me if I had seen or talked to him yesterday – apparently he never came home from my birthday party. Isn't that weird? He probably just got hanging out with some people and forgot to call in or come home; I'm sure it's no big deal," Kala said.
Terra nodded and the women continued primping. A couple minutes after seven, their buzzer rang. Kala was busy "fine-tuning" her lipstick, so Terra went to let the guys in. As she opened the door, she couldn't help the sharp intake of breath that gasped from her lips. She couldn't believe how good Paul looked. He was very smarty decked out in a black, fitted t-shirt and khakis – which nicely enhanced his beautiful posterior, Terra noted – and a pair of black boots to finish the outfit off. His outfit complimented Terra's brown shirt, light blue jeans, and brown clogs very well. Finding her composure (and breath) Terra sat and smiled at Paul; he ran his hand through his loose hair and smiled back at her. They probably would have stayed, smiling stupidly at each other for hours if Paul's companion hadn't broken the ice by coughing to get their attention.
"Are we going to sit here, or are we going to actually go sometime?" the man asked annoyed.
"Sorry, dude. Terra, let me introduce my best friend, Chris Irvine. Chris, this is Terra Ashbury. She's my date, so don't go getting any ideas," Paul answered.
"I caught that much, thanks, junior. So, where's the lovely lady I'm escorting tonight?" Chris said, with great "enthusiasm"/sarcasm. Terra led the away up the stairs to the apartment.
"Is he always this – charming?" Terra whispered to Paul as they reached the landing and walked towards the door.
"No, he's in a good mood tonight," Paul quipped. Chris obviously heard them, and just glared as they laughed.
Terra let them in the apartment first, then went to go get Kala. Terra was begging her to be nice as they entered the living room. Kala looked at the two men and froze, a small squeal stuck in her throat, clutching Terra's arm. Terra was worried until Kala, and very shortly after Chris, broke into grins.
"Do you know these guys, K?" her sister asked.
"Ter, these are the guys who rescued me the other night. Paul caught Terra rolling her eyes and laughed as the two younger people made goo goo eyes at each other. Terra decided against saying anything, but instead picked up her white cardigan and purse and took Paul's arm. Kala and Chris finally broke apart, and followed suit. 'This is going to be an interesting night.' Terra thought as the group headed down the street.
The date was going perfectly – everyone was having a great time. Dinner was rushed; the girls had gotten something to eat on the way, since the guys claimed they weren't very hungry. Then they settled on seeing the latest suspense thriller at the movie theater. The movie had been pretty good – not to mention the girls enjoyed having someone to snuggle up to during the "scary" parts, and the guys had no complaints about their companions snuggling against them. For Paul and Chris, they felt almost human; they could feel the warmth of their dates against their cold skin. When the movie was over, Chris suggested a walk through the park. The moon and stars were casting a luminous glow over the trees and meadow. The two couples paired off and were happily strolling through the flowers when Kala unceremoniously announced she had to pee. Frustrated at the interruption, Terra dragged her rather brusquely to a set of trees a ways off. Kala did her business and walked with Terra in the direction of where the guys were waiting. As they reached the edge of the trees, they stopped. A couple of thugs jumped out to attack their dates. The girls were about to run to help when things got weird.
Before the attackers could say a word or wield their weapons, Chris and Paul sprang to action. They jumped and back-flipped, ending up behind their assailants. Their animal instincts kicked in; both men snarled, displaying razor sharp fangs, and bit into their victims' necks. The girls sat silently, unable to move, scream, or even breathe as they watched Paul and Chris drain the blood, the life force, from the two helpless men. After a couple minutes, Paul and Chris patched the puncture wounds by placing a drop of their own blood on holes, and laid the bodies against a tree. 'They look so peaceful, like they are just in a deep sleep,' Terra thought as she watched their dates clean themselves up. A sudden noise in the air caused Kala to snap, she screamed bloody hell.
The guys had joined the sisters in half a second, but Terra ignored them, focusing on helping Kala. She just stared at the two men before her. Paul didn't need mind-reading powers to understand what Terra was feeling; the emotion in her eyes said it all. Fear, outrage, shock, relief at being safe, concern for Kala, but most of all angry confusion and curiosity.
"What the hell was that? What the fuck is going on?" Terra asked, holding Kala in her arms, stroking her hair.
"How much did- what did you see?" Paul asked.
"Those men, they died; you killed them," Kala replied, whispered as in a dream. Terra soothed soft words into her ear and glared at both Paul and Chris. Chris kneeled down in front of Kala, looking in her eyes.
"We – they attacked us, they could have attacked you, too; we had to protect everyone."
"You didn't have to kill them!" Terra barked out.
"Chris is right, we are sorry. Those punks tried to jump us and our instincts kicked in. It's our reflex – when we get provoked, we attack. I'm very sorry you had to see it," Paul offered.
"You're sorry. I had to see that, and that's all you have to say - 'you're sorry'," Terra responded. "Go to hell!" She stood up, guiding Kala with her. Up to then, Kala had been silent, sitting fixed in her own world. Now she was looking intently into Chris' eyes, calm and almost – happy. Her serenity wasn't even broken when Terra began leading her by the arm out of the forest and towards the park exit.
Chris grabbed Terra's arm. "You can't pretend like nothing happened. We should talk about this."
"talk about what, that my sister and I witnessed two men get murdered by our escorts/dates for the night?" she said. "No, Kala and I are going home. We didn't see anything tonight, we don't know you guys." Terra started to walk away, but was stopped when Kala didn't move.
"NO! I'm not going home. I want to hear what they have to say. This is the most exciting thing to ever happen to us. They haven't h armed us so far, why would they now, all of a sudden? Especially since they just…ate" Kala said, bearing her tear-stained eyes into Terra's.
"yeah, they just fed off human blood!"
"Vampires have to eat, just like we do," Kala replied to Terra. "Chris, let's
go, Terra can't be nice – too bad." She held out her hand for Chris, who soon
took it. Terra looked between them and Paul as they started walking away
together and knew she had been defeated. Rather than let her liitle sister, the
only thing she had in the world, walk away with two strangers and get herself
into god only knows what kind of trouble, Terra knew she had to give in and see
this through; whether she liked it or not.
"Fine, we will sit down and talk. I don't like any of this, I'm only doing it for Kala." With that, the four walked back to the girls' apartment: Chris and Kala talking excitedly about the evening's events, and Paul silently walking next to a sullen, confused Terra.
~~~~~~~
The tension was overwhelming as everyone seated himself around the living room, waiting for someone to begin. Finally, Kala could take it no longer.
"So, you gonna spill about being bloodsuckers, or what?"
"For someone who was crying and slightly catatonic earlier, you seem much perkier," Terra snidely said.
"At first the shock of everything was so amazing – seeing two men die, and actual, concrete proof that vampires exist. I was scared initially, nervous, but now, I think it's cool!"
"That was my first reaction, too!" Chris laughed.
"Can we be serious for a moment?" the older Ashbury sister asked. "You want my sister and I to believe that you, Paul, and you, Chris, are blood-sucking vampires?"
"Yes, we were turned many years ago. I was walking home one night when I was attacked from behind. The asshole bit neck, then drained me. I was fading out and heard another man scream, that's when the jerk quit feeding off of me and went after the new meat. I woke up a vampire and Shane was standing over me. He said he had been walking and sensed danger; he followed me and got rid of my attacker. I had no choice but to believe him. He taught me how to live. One night we were hunting and met Irvine, here. We traveled and when we got to this city it felt so right, we decided to settle here, call this place home. That's my story. Chris?"
Chris took a deep breath and began. "Mine's not as exciting as Paul's, but here goes. I was having some drinks, okay a LOT of drinks, at a bar, and then this beautiful woman came up and started flirting with me. She kept buying me more drinks, and eventually we went back to my place. We were going at it, almost finished, when she bit my neck and drained me. She must have left when I was unconscious because she was gone when I woke up the next night. The dirty, lying, bottom-feeding, trash bag ho used me, turned me and deserted me. So I had to learn how to live my new "life" alone. Then one night I was hunting and ran into Paul and Shane. They helped me out, so I decided to stay with them, travel around, and eventually we all moved here a few years ago. That's about it," he finished.
"You poor thing! That is most heinous! If I ever find that good-for-nothing tramp that hurt you, I'll give her candy ass a whooping!" Kala exclaimed.
"You'll have to wait until I'm finished with her," Chris replied. He and Kala sat on the couch, holding hands silently. Everyone was watching Terra, waiting for her to pronounce her verdict. She had been stoic and emotionless through both stories. Finally she turned away from the window she was leaning against to the three expectant faces.
"Well, I'm sorry for both of you, but that doesn't change the fact that you're both still killers. Neither my sister nor myself will have anything more to do with you!" Paul shook his head sadly and Chris and Kala immediately began protesting.
"This isn't fair! Ter, you can't just run everybody's life!" Kala began, unsure how or why she had the confidence to be so bold and outspoken. She wasn't usually rebellious or overly wild, but for some reason- maybe it was Chris' support, she was standing firmly behind her feelings.
"I want to see Chris, get to know him better. If you won't accept that and support me, I'll sneak around. And once I go to college next fall, I can openly date him."
"She's right. I want to be with Kala, too- with or without approval- but it would mean a lot to have your blessing," Chris affirmed.
Terra turned to Paul. "What's you say in all of this?"
"I think you should let them be together. At least then you can keep an eye on them. Chris won't hurt her, I can promise you that. Besides, how can I pursue you if they are forbidden?"
"You want to pursue me?" Terra asked Paul incredulously.
"Yes, you are a fantastic woman, full of life, beauty – everything amazing. I've never felt so good as when I'm with you."
Terra was bested again, and she knew it. Between Chris and Kala's affection for each other, gloomy loneliness, and Paul's budding interest, she had to concede and see where this led them all. the thing that bothered her the most, though, was how much she believed and trusted these strangers with her and her sister's lives.
"Alright, you all win. We'll take this slow, one day at a time. The minute I feel Kala or I am in danger, that's it – finito!" Everyone agreed to Terra's terms, and spent the rest of the night having fun and getting to know each other.
When morning came, the guys left and the girls got some much-needed rest until the phone rang. It was Tom's mother again, wondering if Kala had heard anything. She groggily muttered that since she and Tom had broken up the other night, she hadn't heard, nor expected to hear, from him. His mother apologized and hung up.
The next day, the top news story was about a teenage boy's body being rescued from the river; the body was recognized to be Tom's.
For the next four years the two couples- Paul and Terra and Chris and Kala- dated. They learned about each others' pasts, they even talked about searching for the Ashbury sisters' family, through the use of Paul and Chris' network and abilities. Despite certain limitations: night-only dates, Terra taking full control of the clinic, Kala going to college, the men becoming full managers at the restaurant, and general ups and downs of normal dating relationships- the relationships grew and blossomed. Everyone was happy; then one day, everyone's world changed.
Sorry about the length, had a lot to write. Did you like it? Keep reading, now the real fun, the real story begins!
End of Chapter 4! R/R!! Catch the wrestling references, if you can; you get a cookie if you do!