This is my Christmahanakwanzika present to all of you!

Sorry if this chapter stinks. I was at a loss of what to write. But I found something, and hopefully you like it! And sorry if anything is misspelled or something; my keyboard is acting weird. I think I fixed it all...

Oh, yeah, and for last chapter's title: I'm gonna use 'heaven' in chapter eleven's name, so that's why I didn't use it for seven.

SMALL CHANGE: For those of you who have already read this chapter, I made a small change at the end of it. I thought the 'Married' thing was dumb/weird, so I replaced it with something else.

Enjoy!


Zoey

Cold night air caressed my bare arms, and I shivered at it's icy touch. I glanced at my surroundings curiously, unable to see much because of the clouds covering the moon. As far as I could tell, I was on a small hill surrounded by a forest.

"Hello?" I called out into the empty night; a forlorn echo my only reply. I shivered again, this time not only because of the cold.

A light cracking sound came from the forest to my left, as of someone—or something—had stepped on a twig. I swallowed nervously, and took a small, tentative step in the opposite direction. A growl answered my movement, and I froze.

A few moments later, a dark form left the trees. It was well-built and lithe, and made no noise as it glided soundlessly over the ground. The glowing eyes of a predator stared back at me as I looked, their golden depths filled with a wild intelligence. I prepared to call the elements to me, when suddenly—in a whirl of color—the creature was beside me. I fell backwards in surprise, and it looked just at me. I quickly sat up, and sat face to face with a lynx. You know, those fluffy big cats with tufts on their ears and stuff. But instead of being the natural colors of a normal lynx, it was a swirl of wandering, liquidized colors—none mixing, and contained by a pelt of silver-lined hairs. The dangerous looking claws, sharp ears, and twitching nose were also defined with silver, and I immediately knew where I was.

The lynx butted me with it's soft head, and I was surprised at the unexpectedly solid and furry texture. By it's appearance, one would assume that it would feel squishy, like a balloon full of water. It turned away from me and flicked me with it's colorful tail as if to say, Follow me! I clumsily got up, and the animal started down the hill.

It looked back at me every so often, as if to make sure that I was still behind it. It guided me through the dark forest, which, even with my vampyric night vision, was hard to see in. I stumbled several times, but each time the beautiful feline was there beside me to prevent me from falling. I noticed in wonder that the animal shone with a subtle radiance, flinging different colors of light in each direction.

Finally, we reached the edge of the forest. I stepped out into the chilly night air, and the cool breeze wafted the fresh smell of lake water to me. The clouds had moved, and the bright, rather large full moon shone down onto the lake. Glints of it's light danced on the water's surface, throwing flickers at me and the cat. The light of the moon seemed to shine right on us, and I noticed a dim shimmer from the corner of my eye. I turned my head to look, only to find that it was my extended marks, which were becoming less and less obscure and now were almost completely back.

I felt as if I had called Spirit to me; I felt totally elated and almost high with pure happiness. Maybe Nyx hadn't abandoned me! The light wind surged, and blew my hair back behind me. I breathed in deeply, relishing in the sudden, swirling warmth surrounding me. I looked to my side for the lynx, but it was gone. In it's place stood a deer; a great buck that must have been a 24 pointer at the least. It seriously reminded me of Harry Potter's patronus, only instead of being just silver, it was an impressive array of bright colors with silver antlers and hooves, the same clever golden eyes, and with the current of colors contained by—once again—silver edged hairs. I wondered how old the creature must be to have so many points. And if it was male or female.

Another movement caught my eye, and when I turned to look, I saw a tiny—familiar—figure running towards me from about half a mile away. I turned back to the buck, cautiously reached out to touch it, and smiled when nothing happened but my fingers stroking it's coarse fur. I thanked it—as strange as it seemed—then turned and started sprinting towards Heath.

When we finally met, he crushed me in a desperate hug, and I tried to push him away to breathe but his grip was too strong. When he finally did let go, I was feeling slightly lightheaded and gasped for precious air. He muttered that he was sorry, and I just looked at him quizzically for a few moments, almost sure that there was something really important that I needed to tell him. However, I couldn't come up with anything, told him it was alright, and gave him another, gentler , hug.

"Zoey," Heath said after a few moments, his green, metallic words dissolving into the air. "What happened?"

I looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"I felt it," he declared. "I felt something happen to you, but I couldn't tell what. But it must have been something really big for me to feel it even though we aren't imprinted anymore."

I realized that he was right, and I tried to remember, but for the life of me, I could not. And then I wondered how he'd felt anything, anyways. We were no longer linked in any way that I was aware of, because our Imprint broke as soon as Kalona snapped Heath's neck. The thought of his death no longer pained me, because I knew that I would be able to see him again, although not when or how. But then that brought up the question of will I ever see any of my friends again?

Even as I was thinking these things, something about that last sentence Heath had said disturbed a memory in my mind. But it must have been something really big for me to feel it even though we aren't imprinted anymore… What was it?

Something really big for me to feel it even though we aren't imprinted anymore…

And then it hit me. Something I had pushed to the back of my mind; the farthest depths and forgotten corners of my skull. I had heard of people forgetting distressing moments in their lives to protect themselves, but I never thought it would happen to me. I could feel my eyes water as I met Heath's gaze. He watched me expectantly, but I looked away. I slowly sank to my knees, the water in my eyes finally spilling over my lids and running down my face. Heath anxiously fell to the ground with me, trying to find out what was wrong. I looked up at him, into his concerned eyes.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, my purple words small and shaking.

"For what?"

"For…what I did."

"Zoey," Heath sighed uncertainly. "What happened?"

"S-something terrible," was all I could manage. I desperately wanted tell him, but the words just wouldn't come out. "I've ruined everything."

"Zoey, please," Heath begged.

"I…I imprinted with Kalona," I blurted out, bursting into tears all over again.

"Oh," he laughed nervously, "Is that all?"

I suddenly stopped crying and just stared up at him in disbelief. Was that all? Was that all?! And suddenly I was furious.

"Yes that's all!" I shouted angrily, an edge of hysteria even I could hear at the edge of my voice. "I've basically just doomed the entire world! How will I destroy him now? How can I destroy him now? But you wouldn't care that everyone could die, because you're already dead!"

I knew my words were vicious and uncalled for, and I regretted them the moment they left my mouth in a magenta-colored cloud. I didn't know what made me say it, and I clamped my jaw shut. Heath just looked down at the grass beneath us and muttered, "That's not what I meant."

"I'm sorry, Heath," I pleaded. "I don't know why I said that. I didn't mean it; I'm just really stressed out and scared for everybody and so angry at myself and—"

He stopped my flow of words by reaching up to my face and gently capturing my lips between his finger and thumb. I looked into his eyes, still feeling guilty, but also feeling better now that I had gotten that off my chest. He leaned forward and tenderly replaced his fingers with his lips. He kissed me softly and comfortingly, and I felt even worse for the words I would never get back.

"What I should have said, was that and imprint is easily fixable." Heath murmured after we broke apart. I looked at him inquiringly and he brightly pointed to his neck. "You can just re-imprint with me."

I looked him doubtfully. "How do you know it'll work? We aren't really, real anymore, you know?"

"So?" Heath rolled his eyes. "If it worked with that old man, it'll work with us. I mean, we've imprinted so much already, it's almost 100 percent, guaranteed!" He sounded like an infomercial when he said that, and I couldn't help but smile at his child-like confidence.

"Alright," I agreed, "But how do you expect to… cut yourself?"

"Jeez, make it sound like I'm emo. You can just bite me."

"Yeah, right."

"Or you could use your super-sharp chick nails."

"And now you're just being sexist."

"What else would we use?" Heath defended himself, before suddenly exclaiming, "Let's use a rock!"

"A rock?" I asked, amused.

Heath nodded as he eagerly rose to his feet and headed towards the lakeside. He started searching the ground for a sharp rock, and I stood up to…I don't really know. Because, in reality, what else could we use?

"Aha!" Heath yelled after a few moments of searching. He bent over and picked something up off of the ground and sprinted back over to me. In his hand, he held what looked like a stone that was halfway through it's transformation into an arrowhead.

His solution seemed so simple, and primitive. I was embarrassed by my earlier display—well, more like displays. I thought of myself as a pretty strong person, but I just broke down, crying, in defeat at a single incident. But then again, it was a very significant, world-effecting, people-could/will-frickin'-die incident, and I was very stressed. So stressed, in fact, that I couldn't even help myself from verbally attacking Heath, and I felt guilty all over again.

Heath tested the rock's serration on his finger, and a tiny drop of blood beaded there. He winced at first, but then smiled as he realized that it worked. He raised it to his throat, gave himself a shallow cut, and I thought ironically to myself, He denies being emo, but he cuts himself over me a lot…

I took a step towards him, and something in the back of my mind shouted, No! with such force that I faltered in my advance. Heath beckoned for me to keep going, but that voice made me wonder…if I shouldn't? I couldn't think of anything bad that could happen if I did this, so I started towards Heath yet again.

NO! This time I completely halted. What was going on?

"Zo?" Heath asked.

"I—" Right then, a huge wave of emotion swept over me. I couldn't place exactly what it was, I only knew that there were several different ones. "Sorry, I got…distracted."

I quickly—before my mind could change itself—stepped forward and brought Heath's neck towards me. Before he even touched my lips, there was a terrible pinching in the back of my skull. I pulled away, grabbing the back of my head in the process.

The pain seemed to ebb away after a little bit, and I opened my eyes to see Heath staring at me worriedly. Again.

"Zoey, what's going on?"

"I-I don't know," I replied honestly. "Let's, uh, let's try again."

"'Kay."

He got closer to me, and I leaned forward tentatively, afraid of the pain. When nothing happened, I hastily brought his neck closer to me. Then suddenly the pain was back, this time worse and more crippling. I staggered backward clutching my head, and this time cried out with pain. As the pain faded again, I felt strong, athletic arms wrap themselves around me to prevent me from falling, and I weakly thanked Heath.

Then I got that familiar light-headed sensation that I usually get right before I drift somewhere else, but this time it felt just a bit different…like I was being pulled…

"Crap, Zoey!" Heath exclaimed and jumped back—probably afraid to touch me—as I began to slow in that sparkly, I'm-about-to-explode kinda way. But this time, it felt different.

It was so weird; like the pieces of me were moving really sluggishly, detaching from me slowly like a really viscous liquid, and then vanishing. My movements were slow and difficult, and I still felt as if I was being tugged backward into an abyss. Heath was saying something, but his voice was fading away, along with my vision. And then there was nothing.

Then I was standing on a beach, Kalona's big castle thing rising up only a few hundred meters away. I could feel his presence, and whipped around to meet his gaze. My heart leapt at the sight of him, but my rational mind abhorred his company. I disgusted myself, the way I felt towards him now. With the A-ya that was already in me, and plus our imprint, I think I almost loved him. Almost.

I crossed my arms and tried not to think about how much I wanted to run to him, to leap into his arms and spend the whole of eternity with my Kalona. I scowled at my own thoughts, and the way I had just thought of him as 'my Kalona'. This reminded me ironically of the song 'My Sherona'—which, by the way, is a great song except for the never-ending guitar solo. I mean, guitar solos themselves are fine, but that one just never ends!

Kalona stepped closer to me, and I leaned back a little. His eyes informed me that he was ecstatic to see me, but there was something more—something almost sinister and evil. It creeped me out, and this time, I actually stepped back. He casually closed the small distance between us and entrapped me with his great, black wings. I tried not to touch him, afraid I wouldn't be able to stop myself from doing something stupid if I did.

His hand suddenly tilted my chin towards his face, and I almost melted at his touch. His hand was warm, and caring, and the look in his eyes let me know that he loved me. But there was still that ominous flicker of malevolence.

"You tried to destroy our imprint," Kalona stated blandly, the hurt evident on his face. I was immediately sorry that I had ever tried to do such a thing.

"I'm sorry!"

I stood on my tip toes and threw my arms around his warm neck, hugging him passionately to prove the authenticity of my apology. His wings tightened around me and his arms brought me closer. When I pulled away, he drew my face close to his. His hot breath touched me for no more than a second before my mouth was locked with his, and he kissed me gently, caringly, and reminding me of a similar kiss I had shared with Heath. Heath…

I jumped back, hand to my mouth, in astonishment, and burning with embarrassment and anger directed at myself. What had come over me? I narrowed my eyes at Kalona and glared with all the power I had—I could all five elements stirring inside of me, wrestling, fighting to escape and release their wrath on this man—no, monster, standing before me. I hated him. I loathed him. And yet I loved him, and I knew I shouldn't, but I did all the same. I knew I should stay where I was, but I wanted to run back to him, and devote myself to him. Our imprint was more powerful than any I had ever had, or heard of, before. I had never felt this strongly towards Heath or Loren. It had to be destroyed, and soon; before I did something I would live to regret.

"I won't let you," Kalona hissed, his eyes dark.

"How can you stop me?" I retorted.

"I summoned you here. I will do it again. As long as it takes."

"You can't keep me here forever!"

"Would you like to bet?"

Fear ran through me, and our imprint informed me that he spoke the truth. It also let me know that he caused the terrible pain I had felt when I tired to Imprint with Heath. Half of me was hurt, the other enraged. I tired to fire back a nasty retort, but what came out instead was, "Why would you want to hurt me?" in a tiny voice. His anger was replaced with sorrow, and I knew that he had hated doing it, but he thought that he'd had to.

"I had to, or you would have destroyed us."

There is no us! I hate you! You're evil! is what I wanted to say, but what I really said was, "I don't think I actually could have done it."

I was enraged. How could he have this much control over me? Kalona met my gaze, his eyes caring.

"But how would I have known? You, my Zoey, are unpredictable."

I loved the way he said my name. I went to him, and kissed him again, this time more passionately, and subconsciously agreed with him. I certainly am unpredictable, even to myself, my subconscious thought with revulsion and I began sucking-face with my greatest enemy. It was almost like the rational me was on the sidelines, watching some love-sick idiot control my body. It was disgusting. Kalona started to make a move on me, but I slapped his hand away, and said playfully, "Not now!" and then the sane part of me practically passed out.

Not now?!

Oh, Goddess!


How did you like it? Tell me in a review. Or don't. Whatev. But a review would be greatly appreciated.

Have you ever written a fanfic and thought it was good, until you read it again a couple weeks/a month or two later and you're like, "Wow. That was awful." Yeah. Me too. With most of my fics. But I bet most people feel that way. As my idiot of an english tacher always says: The writing process is never done!

Oh, yeah. One of my buddies wants to know if vampyres can get pregnant. But I can't remember. It seems to me that I can't remember a lot of things. But then again, I am a very forgetful person. Maybe I should reread this series…

Your Pal,

ll SuperOreoMan ll