So, it's been awhile, but in exchange, I gave you a pretty long chapter. I hope you enjoy it, but It's pretty hard to top the last chapter. That one will always be one of my favorites.

So, leave a review, tell me what you think? It would be great. I have time to answer some of the reviews, so I will. Just don't be too offended if I don't get to yours; I only have so much time in this crazy life of mine!

Evangelinex17: I am so glad you both enjoy this story! I can't believe how many people actually read it; I didn't think it would be a big hit! There will be many more cliffhangers to come, but I agree that chapter ten definitely has one of the bigger cliffhangers.

Heartbreak27: Well, it wasn't pronto, but here you go! I will be out of school in six weeks, and I will have much more time on my hands, so I hope to update more often. I'll still need these very helpful reminders, though!

PrettyReckless102: I like it! : ) By the way, if your username is based on the band pretty reckless, you should definitely check out the band "Oh Land" and their song "Perfection." That's where I got the name of this chapter, and if it were ever to turn into a movie, I would insist on that song playing. In answer to your question, I actually came up with her dress and hair in my head. I did look online JUST for YOU for examples, but nothing matched the images in my head. Typically, I leave the images up to the reader. : )

Heather: I guess you'll have to wait and see what it means!

Sunkissedvampirelover: I'm glad there is actually some truth to this story, then!

Please read and review, it would mean a bucketload of….awesomeness? to me!

-***Ace***

Chapter Eleven

~Violet~

I shoveled down the eggs and toast that were on my plate, finishing it off with two large swigs out of the crystal glass of orange juice that was lain out in front of me.

"Later, Jer." I say, pecking him on the cheek before speed walking out of the room.

I nearly sprint through the halls towards Mia. I wanted to see how she was doing after the gala. She had seemed pretty happy when I had seen her, but that was before Jer and I had announced our engagement. I guess it would be time to explain.

I cut a quick turn after I passed through the foyer, running straight into Dimitri's black sweater covered chest.

"Ouf!" I groan, holding my ribcage instantly as I try to catch my breath. Dimitri just strides past me, not casting a second glance back while muttering something about incoherent humans.

I stare after him when I have caught my breath. I didn't know what was going on, but he was obviously having a bad day. I shook it off and closed the distance between myself and Mia's room.

I knocked once. "Mia? You in there?"

No reply came. I knocked again.

"Mia?" I croon.

Once again, there was no answer.

I quietly twist the doorknob, slowly opening the door as I walk into the room.

My eyes pop and my jaw drops like a heavy iron weight. "Mia?"

~Dimitri~

"Stop pacing so rapidly, brother." Jer says, hovering his arms above his head as he rests against the headboard of the bed. I growl, frustration pulsating through my body.

"How could she be so….so…." I stumbled for the correct word, avoiding Jer's sickly mocking gaze.

"So dimwitted?" Jer says, easily elucidating my point.

I nod. "I just don't understand it."

Jer smiles ruefully. "You don't have to understand, brother. Any female is a mystery."

"Yes, I agree indeed." I speak absentmindedly, my eyes replaying the image of Mariella in my mind.

Her auburn red-streaked hair glistened with sweat as it plastered to her forehead, splaying out around her. Her pine needle eyes widened in shock and terror. Her lips tightly pressed against each other into a hard line. Her frozen arms locked by her sides, like grenade pins. Her loose hips as I straddled her, keeping her down against the dark machete carpet. The erratic pound of her heartbeat, motoring in her ribcage. Her eyes, blooming with fear like blue azaleas in spring.

"What was I supposed to do?" I sigh. "She was running, and, hell, she almost made it."

Jer smirks. "Did you really have to straddle her waist?"

I growl at him angrily. He throws up his hands in mock surrender.

"So, I guess you believe now that she does have half-vampire blood?"

I swivel around as Jer asks. "Why would you think that?" I ask angrily.

"Well, if she almost made it to the door, she had to be pretty damn fast, and no average human can even get a quarter of the way there."

I chew on the thought, testing it out. It seemed to fit.

"Dammit," I mutter, poison dripping off my cursing lips.

I pace back and forth around the room silently while Jer leans back, watching me with light eyes.

Jer sighs after several silent minutes. "Dimitri, why won't you just accept that you want her?"

I spin on my heel quickly and fly over to Jer, my hand circling his throat. "I don't want her."

Jer lifts his eyebrows. "Right." He plies my fingers away from his chalky neck.

"Just think about it."

"It's just her blood," I sigh. "Nothing else about her is appealing to me."

Jer clasps my shoulder. "Sorry, brother. We both know you're lying."

I dropped my head into my hands, shaking it slightly. "It's just her blood. It's like smelling it for the first time." I say, my voice muffled in my hands.

I whip my head back to look at Jer. "Do you remember the first hunt?"

Jer nods, a confused expression sifting over his face.

I sigh lowly. "It's like that, but magnified by a thousand times."

I thought he would give me an irritating smile, but he thinks deeply, going into a tranquil mode of no motion and silence.

"That sounds horrible," Jer murmurs quietly after a while, still gazing at a certain part of the wall that was facing me. I turned to look at Jer.

"It is horrible. Jer," I pause hesitantly. He snaps out of his trance to look at me, cocking an eyebrow in response.

"Jer-" I start, unsure of how to say what I was going to say.

I take a deep, relaxing and completely unnecessary breath. "I went to Ella."

Jer stares at me, confusion muddling his features before understanding dawns over it. His eyes widen.

"And…?" He asks.

I shake my head in utter disgust and disbelief. "She stopped it. She realized how idiotic it was, and, however close we got, she stopped it. And even after she stopped it, I tried again at her in a matter of seconds."

"How did you try again?" Jer asks cautiously.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and run my other hand through my hair, tousling it. "I offered her immortality." I speak nasally, trying to mangle the sentence so that Jer wouldn't understand my words. I was positive the words were still clear to him.

His jaw twitches, suppressing what I supposed was a recurring spasm of jumps. His eyes are unreadable.

I stand across the room, facing my brother as he processes my idiocy.

After what seemed like a millennium, he spoke.

"She only has a month left to decide."

~Violet~

I pound furiously on Jer's door, my fists slamming against the hard ebony wood.

"Jer! Damn it, open the door!" I yell, pressing my ear against the wood as I pounded.

No reply.

"Jer!" I scream. "Open the damn door! I need to see that stupid son of a bitch brother of yours!"

A small tap on my shoulder sends me jumping three feet in the air out of my skin. I squeal and twist around in the air to see Zair standing with her weight balanced on one foot. Her arms akimbo, she gave me a stern look.

"So, then, I'm the 'bitch?'"

I blush dark roses. "N-no, no, of course not. I was just talking about Dimitri, ma'am."

Zair laughs and rubs my forearms. "Oh, dear, I was joking. Anytime. I know what you meant. My sons can really act like asses sometimes, can't they?"

I laugh, astonished at Zair, my future mother-in-law. It wouldn't be hard to get along with her.

Jer's door opens, pouring a tinted dark light into the hallway. Zair covers her eyes.

"I just woke up a little while ago, honey. I'll speak to you later, yes?"

I nod, and she smiles weakly before speeding away from the dim light.

Jer's dark, looming figure was pasted into the light as he stood in the doorway. I hugged him tightly and he returned my needed hug with a chuckle, kissing my forehead.

Dimitri stood behind him, arms linked behind his back as he watched Jer and I cautiously.

I detach from Jer, unwrapping myself from his safe embrace.

I stalked in a predator lumber towards Dimitri. He didn't give me a smile.

"Violet." He says blandly, nodding slightly.

We stand there in a motionless deadlock. Jer comes up behind me, draping his long arms around my shoulders.

We all stay silent, Dimitri staring blankly at me, myself glaring viciously at Dimitri, and Jer, protecting me from any harm by simply swooping me into his arms.

"Well?" Dimitri says finally, impatience radiating from him like radio waves.

I stare at him viciously, my gaze hardening.

"What did you do to her?"

~Mariella~

The handle winks in the dark, pretentious light. My hand, bright in the darkness, reaches up slowly to grab it. Only four inches away.

I hear my heart pulsing through the ringing beat in my ears. It speeds up every moment. Three inches away.

I kick my feet up behind me, launching myself towards the door with every bound. I struggle to keep my overpowering panting silent. Two inches.

Only a step more of dark red carpet separates us. I yearn to turn the handle and bathe myself in the glorious, shining sunset light outside. One inch.

Two hallways connecting into the one I was running through opened up. Dark, long, straight corridors on each of my sides, creating a three-way intersection.

A heavy, solid mechanism slams into my chest, knocking me breathless onto the carpet. My head slowly falls against the floor, contacting with a sickly crack. My vision is black splotches.

Something heavy is on my lower stomach. I wiggle, trying to squirm away. Two long, black things clamp my legs.

I curl into a tight ball underneath the weight, groaning and mumbling incomprehensively.

My sight returns as the splotches fade away. He is sitting on me, eyes gleaming with a deadly child's smile, "I told you so" written over their face. He leaned down, minty breath sweeping over my ears, chilling my whole body.

"We still haven't had our dance."

A shudder ripples through me like a balloon cord. Tears ripple down my red cheeks as I stare up at his dazzling, gleaming smile.

It was the smile of a predator, teasing the helpless prey to run, play an amusing game of cat and mouse, maybe. It was all up to them.

Freakishly long canines protruded from his gums unusually. They arced downwards, almost pressing against his tongue. They could kill with one swift swipe, like a viper could to a helpless, lost camper.

I danced in and out between the dream world and reality, my eyes fluttering mercilessly.

A strangled grunt sounds through one of the worlds. I wasn't sure which one.

I fight desperately to wake up. I kick and flail around, swinging my limbs around the area of the bed.

Black. Everything was black. The only things that weren't black were small swirling whirls of white, shining dust, cluttering around itself through the atmosphere.

I stayed here for awhile, admiring the shimmering molecules. It was better than reality. No problems to deal with, no people, no anything. Just myself, the black, and the swirling forms.

"Mia?" A soft voice croons, snatching me away from the swirling white.

A light touch grips my shoulder. I slowly open my eyes.

Violet was watching me intently. I grunt and sit up, managing to bang my head against the headboard. Violet chuckles.

I rub my head.

"Hi," She says quietly.

"Hey." I gaze around the room, realizing it was the one I had been staying in for the past several weeks.

Violet watches me warily, following my face and analyzing everything that crosses upon it.

"Do…..Do you remember what happened?" She asks in a hushed tone.

I tilt my head. "What?"

"After the gala. Well, during the gala, but, it was-I mean, you left, and-" She stumbles over her words. I give her a crazed look, racking my mind for anything that had happened.

The night came rushing back to me. The gala, the bathroom, my crazed idea, hiding underneath the bed, slamming into him before he locked me away once again.

"Oh." I say quietly.

Violet stares at me for a moment before pulling me into a large, tight hug. "I am so glad you're okay." A smack on the back of my head vibrates through the room. "And completely pissed off for what you did!"

She pulls away from me, staring me in the eyes with disbelief on her face.

"What the hell were you thinking?" She asks chronically.

I rack my brain for a way to explain the mayhem of thoughts to her.

"Do you ever get tired of being here?" I ask her, deflated. She tilts her head to the side in question.

"I mean," I start. "Do you ever just miss your family? Want to go home, back to your normal life, with your friends, to school, where you belong?"

Violet's eyes widen for a fraction of a second before going blank. She stares over my shoulder, her gaze wandering over the vague horizon line outside my window. I let her think as I tuck my feet back under the covers carefully and pulling the sheets up above my chest. I twirl a lock of hair around my finger and stare to the other side of the room, where the coffin was.

Violet opens her mouth multiple times, her creamy balm covered lips forming small, incomprehensible words that zapped through her mouth before I could read them. Only, the words were to no avail. She would quickly shut her mouth once again and press her lips against each other tightly.

We stayed like that in silence for moments on end. My small sneeze interrupts the swirling silence around us, snapping Violet out of her stare out the window.

"I need to go, Mia." She plasters a promising smile on her face that I could read through completely. She was faking it all. I had said something that had set her on edge.

I don't say anything about it as she hugs me. I wrap one arm around her back before she pulls away and throws one last weak smile over her shoulder as she exits the room.

I sit there, shock paralyzing my body as it dawns on me just what happened at the gala.

I had tried to escape. I had almost made it. I had seen the handle. I had been in the foyer. He had stopped me, knocking me to the ground. I hadn't danced with him. He had smiled. He had insanely large canines, as sharp as a saber-tooth tiger, but around the size of a large peanut. Curved, deadly, gleaming white weapons.

I hyperventilated, and, somewhere in the process, fell asleep.

~Dimitri~

"Do you ever get tired of being here? Do you ever just miss your family? Want to go home, back to your normal life, with your friends, to school, where you belong?"

Her words replayed through my head repetitively. I had been pressing my ear up against her door, eagerly awaiting for the moment she was awake. My ears had been acute ever since she passed out last night.

When Violet's voice rang from the direction of Mariella's bedroom, and she replied, I came running. I pressed my ear against the cold door, listening intently.

"Do you ever want to go home, where you belong?" Violet didn't answer.

A small sneeze echoed around the room.

"I need to go, Mia." Violet tried to sound nice and light.

I ran back through the hallways to my room, where Jer was waiting, legs folded neatly over each other.

"How did it go?" He asks.

I shake the words away.

"She's awake." I state blankly.

Jer raises an eyebrow. "And that tells me….what?"

I roll my eyes at his pathetic excuse of humor.

Jer sighs and shifts in the chair. "I heard what she said."

I lift my eyes up. "You did?"

He nods. "I was surprised Violet didn't say anything back. I guess she hasn't told the Halfling girl about her decision."

"Violet hasn't told Mariella anything. Not even about you two." I say.

Jer's mouth drops open. "Are you kidding?"

I shake my head. "No."

"Damn it." Jer growls under his breath. "It would have been so much easier to just tell the girl from the beginning."

"I agree." I say, walking over to Jer to take a seat on the bed.

Jer straightens his back as I relax and rest my head against the wooden headboard. "You should go talk to the Halfling." Jer says, twiddling his thumbs in his lap. "It would be good for you to at least bond for the time being."

I groan and slouch further into the mattress. "We don't need any bonding."

He stifles a choked laugh. "Yeah, sure." He stands up, recovering from his postponed laughter. "I have to go, brother. I may possibly see you tonight at dinner." He winks at me mockingly over his shoulder before exiting my room.

I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment before abruptly standing up and leaving my room, towards Mariella's hallway.

It was plain hell to have to do this. Plain hell.

~Mariella~

I was lucid dreaming. Even as the scorching fire swept over the town like a broom dusting the grime out of the way, I could tell it was just a dream.

The flames licked the edges of the circular town. It wouldn't spread any further than the city boundaries.

I stood outside the walls of my city carefully, watching in awe and sadness as it cremated down into charring ashes. Only the deadly scarlet mush of bricks stacked up on top of each other stood intact as they protected the city.

They wouldn't hold for long. I knew they wouldn't. Nothing did.

A small, urgent tugging on my baggy shirt made me look down into the large round brown eyes of a young girl.

"I can't find my mommy!" She wails over the thundering crackle of embers shooting into the air.

I pick her up carefully, cradling her like I would a young baby. "I need to get you out of here." I whisper to her, brushing her shoulder-length hair away from me. I tried to stay composed and steady as the hyperventilating little girl in my arms squirmed mercilessly.

"Stop squirming, dear." I say, hushing my voice into a calming tone. "We can find your parents if you stop squirming."

I run, a small bundle of a girl quivering violently in my arms. I run far away from the city, away from the towering buildings, away from the small suburban homes that had caught fire, away from the screeching wails distressed people uttered.

She stopped quivering. "They aren't here." Her voice turned placid as she stared steadily into the distance.

I stop running, staring down at her. "Who aren't here?"

She slowly turns her small, childish cheeks to me, pale silk reflecting the luminescent colors of the burning flames. "My parents."

She stares at me a second longer before turning away and breaking out in a violent shiver. She struggles in my arms. I hold her tightly against my chest as I start running.

An ear-splitting scream peels from her lips. I hush her.

"Shh, honey. It's okay. You're okay. Everything is fine." I murmur in her ear as I nuzzle the crown of her head. She halts in her shrieking, but the shakes continue.

I run. I run far away from the burning city. Until there are no sounds but my labored breath and the girl's small, jutting deep breaths. I don't dare put the girl down.

"Are you cold?" I ask her gently. She shakes her head.

"I want to go home." She leaps out of my grasp, brushing her small knees before turning to walk to the right, where a dense forest lay. I hastily follow after her.

"What's your name?" I ask her, catching up to walk beside her small feet.

I was softly shaken awake by smooth, prodding hands. "Mia, sweetie, it's time to wake up."

My eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal the image of a robust Cynthia leaning over me anxiously. Her pudgy hand grips my shoulder before letting go and reaching up to pinch my cheek. I cringe away in protest.

"How'd you sleep?" She asks. Her tenuous voice humbly rang through the room.

I shake my head in response. She frowns.

"Here." She says, pushing a plate towards me. It was stacked high with fluffy buttermilk pancakes that were drenched in syrup and scrambled eggs meddled on the side.

I eagerly hold the utensils in my hands as I cut the pancakes violently, taking large swallows of them. My throat burned with dryness.

Cynthia handed me a glass of orange juice, which I gratefully took and chugged down in one swig. She smiled a tiny smile before patting my leg and saying "I'm going to refill this."

As she turned away and out of my room, I took three more large forkfuls of buttery pancakes and salty eggs before placing the plate on the nightstand.

My talk with Violet from the day before came flooding into my mind.

Cynthia unlocked my bedroom door and strode in, swinging the door shut behind her with a loud bang that vibrated through the room.

"Here's your orange juice, sweetie." I eagerly grab it from her, making a point to sip the drink instead of chug.

She picked up the empty plate off of the nightstand and waited patiently for me to finish my glass of orange juice. I gave it to her when I was done, quickly mumbling a thank you.

She nodded. "Anytime, sweetie" Before exiting the room once again. I heard the bolt lock shut.

I curled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, rocking back and forth on the bed.

Whatever kind of sick-minded, cruel hearted, mysterious place this was, I didn't like it. And I sure as hell wasn't going to escape.

~Dimitri~

I took small, unsure steps down the staircase through the hallways. Anything would be better than walking down those hallways, following the invisible steps towards her door.

"It really shouldn't be this hard." I thought angrily. "With any other human, it would have been fine. I wouldn't feel so guilty and anxious about their welfare." A small, nagging and incredibly obnoxious part of my mind reminded me that Mariella wasn't fully human. She was only half. Still, it didn't matter. I shouldn't care about what happened to her.

Jer's chuckling words ran through my head on a fast paced train about to slam into a large mountain side. "Dimitri, why won't you just accept that you want her?"

"Because I don't want her, Dumbass." I mutter in an inaudible growl for the courtesy of the passing maids. I rub my temples, groaning and trying to get the knot of confusion untangled.

I picked up the pace, because I figured that delaying what was inevitable was just a waste of time. Of course, I didn't need that time. I had all the time in the world.

I reached Mariella's door, resting my warm palm on the cool gold handle, curling my fingers around it to soak up the small amount of cold humidity there was.

I tried to swing the door open, but my hand was frozen in place. My body ran cold, shivers dancing up and down my spinal cord. I backed away from the door slowly, before turning to run. I couldn't see her now. I was incapable of it right now.

I ran swiftly back to my room, locking the door behind me.

~Mariella~

I racked my mind desperately for a different explanation of what really had happened last night.

I had forced myself to think about the incident. It was better to sort things out while they were fresh in my mind.

"Not too much out of the ordinary." I think, counting off the things in my head. "He was in front of me in less than a quarter of a second, he was impossibly strong, and he had insanely large canines."

"Yeah." I murmur aloud. "Really, there isn't too much out of the ordinary."

Maybe he had had a teeth growth deformation as he grew up? But it was only on his canines…The gums of his teeth pulled up too much on that specific spot?

That wasn't possible either. You couldn't lift a flap of gum up only to set it back down and in place for the rest of the teeth.

Vaguely, I remembered that all four of his canines were sharp. The top ones just curved in a deadly, gleaming arch. I shivered.

They were elegant, in a way. They arched back towards his mouth, but with a swift move, they could easily rip open anything. Deadly, but elegant.

I suddenly remembered what had brought me to this. If there was no other explanation, then….

It couldn't be true.

But I slowly realized my mistake with an unwilling tenacity that set the whole room on an anxious teeter of tension.

~Violet~

I walked into Mia's room slowly, making sure that if she was asleep, I didn't wake her.

She was quite the opposite. She was acutely awake. Her eyes wide, her back rigid even though it had the choice of resting against the feather pillows, her mouth closed in a loose line, lips barely pressing together. Her ears were perked, just like a full vampires' ears did when they listened carefully.

It hit me with a stun that Mia wasn't actually fully human. I mean, I had heard that she wasn't, but I guess I had forgotten. Her facial features resembled a downplayed version of one of the pale-faced gorgeous vampire ones. She was half of them.

"Hey." I say, making a large effort to stop my voice from trembling. The realization that she wasn't fully human was still shocking. I had never really noticed before.

Mia nods. "Hi." A small, shaded crease line appears between her eyebrows. I walk over to her and smooth it out, smiling half-heartedly. I expected a small smile back, but I get a blank stare.

"Mia," I start. "Are you okay?"

She doesn't answer my question. Instead, she asks a question of her own that all of us had been waiting to hear. "It's true, isn't it?"

My eyes pop for a moment before I let out a big breath. "Yes."

~Violet~

Mia hadn't answered back after I had called her name repeatedly. It was as if her body was in the same place, but I lacked the presence of her mind.

I stared at her for a minute before deciding to leave her alone. It would be best that way for a little while. She needed the news to sink into her brain. From what I could see, she was letting that happen.

She was doing better than I had. I had had night terrors of vampires chasing after me with their gleaming curved fangs as I ran slowly through confusing hallways. I had sat in bed all day, huddled in various blankets yet still shivering from the sheer cold that fear carried around in a red silk pouch, waiting to release it on the terrified soul. It was thrown on me for weeks on end. I couldn't work, or talk, and I resented eating and drinking. I wouldn't shower. I stayed dirty for as long as I could. And, however much I dreaded the nighttime when the night terrors would come, I still had to endure through it. Only did meeting Jer make it better.

~Dimitri~

I pushed down the handle so vigorously it almost broke off. I swung the door so hard it almost fell off its hinges. I was being a coward. I had to see her. She was under my care, after all.

I didn't want to see her.

But moments later, I did. And seeing her really was something.

She was beautiful. Well, of what I could see. Her hazel eyes were trying to turn over into a flowing amber. It was only sparkles in and out of light right now. The amber couldn't fully take over. Her top eyelashes curled up and over, reaching towards her eyelids. Her bottom ones curved slightly downwards, like dark brush strokes against pale, rigid canvas.

Her mouth was two pink coral reefs matched up against each other. The top was thin yet demonstrative while it was compared to the full, rich bottom lip that plumed over, casting a small shadow across the nick of her chin.

Her wide, angular cheekbones that were usually covered by hair now showed, throwing long, lanky shadows across her pale, clean cheeks. Her jaw, squared in a proud way even as she rested.

A long, slender, creamy milk-white neck that carried her head around high in the air, in a non-arrogant yet prideful way was beautiful to inspect. The dark lighting only lightened her skin, almost into the color of a Caucasian vampire. Still, I could see the luminescent rich mocha Italian color underneath the parlor illusion.

Her hair was in a crazy bed head form, but it still looked nice sprawled out in small tangles underneath and around her.

The rest of her was hidden away between a mattress, two comforters, and several quilted blankets of which I was sure was Violet's doing.

I stared at her, amazed at the beauty she possessed. It didn't occur to me for minutes on end that she was in a hysterical daze.

I stroked her hair lightly, feeling through the fine tangles. I ached to run my fingers along her cheek, and sweetly reminisce with her about younger times. But I restrained. She couldn't know what I wanted, what I needed.

"Do I want her?" I think scornfully. "Yes. Hell yes." I ran my hand over her hair again.

"Can I have her?" Footsteps echoed through the halls. "Hell no."

~Mia~

Violet's word had been the one word that I had been dreading for the past couple of weeks. Yes.

I had waited eagerly for Violet to say "No, no. Of course they aren't real. They are all just ordinary humans with odd minds. They play a trick on every guest."

And then I would reply "So why am I here?"

Violet would smile sweetly and smooth out the bed covers. "It's a boarding school. You know, to resist temptation and what not."

I would laugh and throw my arms around her, make a quick call to my family and friends, but they would already know where I was, and since I had figured out the secret, I would be able to go home and continue my life normally.

That is how it was supposed to go.

The whole perfect illusion was shattered and dangled in front of my face with Violet's one word. Yes.

I didn't know how long it had been since then. It could have been seconds or ten lifetimes ago. I sat motionlessly, staring at the dark wall in front of my face.

Heat and cold didn't affect me. I could be in a snowstorm or a desert; it wouldn't make a difference. Drinks and food didn't matter. I wouldn't taste them. Clothes didn't matter; I couldn't feel anything tangible against my skin.

All I could feel was a swirling, howling, ringing wind whipping through my ears. A coiling snake of realization and clarity wrapping around me, squeezing tighter like an anaconda does to its' prey.

I could see, but filmy grain was plastered over my eyes so I saw more of a dusty, block world instead of reality. Through the grains I could see a dark, tall figure walk over to me.

It sighs, a low, smooth and rough, melodious voice slowly echoing through the room. I keep staring ahead.

The snake wraps around again, tighter, squeezing and retracting its' muscles with poise.

The whipping wind breathes over my ear, tucking away a loose strand of hair. Heat spikes up on one of my cheeks. Another sigh.

The dark figure gets up and leaves gracefully, long legs striding across the floor like long, wispy bat wings.

Alone. The figure was gone. No one else was here.

That's what this was; this shock. This lack of hot and cold and feeling.

It was alone.

~Dimitri~

I rushed back into my room, where Jer and Violet were sitting on a bamboo chair in the corner of the room, Violet curled up onto Jer's lap.

I raise my eyebrows as she takes his face between her hands and kisses him. "You do have a room, Jer."

He laughs against Violet's lips and gently inches her away, murmuring something about 'later'. She nods and pulls away, but stays on his lap.

"So," Jer says casually. "You admitted you like her." He stops, raising his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Mariella, of course." Violet smirks.

My eyes go wide with disbelief for a moment too long. Jer laughs, clapping his hands together and joyously yelling "I was right!" I was sure the whole house heard him.

I growl. "She cannot stay in here during this conversation." I point a solid, unwavering finger at Violet.

Jer smiles widely, flashing his teeth in a teasing way. "I'll fight to the death for her. She'll stay in here if she wishes." I knew he was actually threatening me, but he wasn't mad. He was just warning me about the consequences of violence.

I groan and hide my ashamed face in my hands, sitting down on my bed in conclusion. I guess that I had known all along, but it came as a shock. I was addicted to this girl, this….this half-breed. The word and the mere thought of this tangled mess sent shivers of fury spiking through me.

Jer walks over and claps me on the shoulder. "It's okay, brother. I remember when I first found I felt the same way about Violet, I was disgusted. A human maid? I could have done much better." He sympathizes with Violet and throws back a startlingly sad glance at her. "Sorry." She nods, smiling. "It's okay. I know you could have chosen anyone."

"This is all too mushy." I groan, straightening my back. "I won't let this happen." Firmness grasped my voice by a chain.

Jer smiles ruefully at me. "Oh, how you wish love worked like that." I stare at him questioningly. "Come, Vi. Let's let the arrogant, lovesick vampire wallow in grief alone." I snatch a pillow from off of the bed and hurl it at him. Violet smirks before going to meet Jer, who waits outside the door.

As Violet walks past, she pats my head soothingly like she would a dog. "She's a good person. Treat her well." And she walked out.

Just like that. I groaned and fell against the bed, giving up trying to deny it, these feelings I had for this hybrid. Whatever happened, it would happen, and I couldn't change that fact whether I liked it or not.

~Mia~

I wasn't sure how long passed. It didn't matter. The days were all long, attached threads of endless time. Maids would come in, bustling around the room and risking quick glances at my face before jerkily turning away. They were faceless bodies that roamed around caring for me. Chefs would ramble into the room with large trays filled with steaming soup, fresh salad, pork roasts, French cheese and baguettes, luxury ice cream, newly imported iced tea, anything they could try that seemed luxurious enough to please me. They would stand by my bedside, hands wringing each other anxiously to see if I would try their dish. What would usually smell good held no appeal whatsoever. After long, lingering ages of positioning their feet, clearing their throat, fixing the tray neatly onto my lap, they would finally sigh and leave, shaking their heads dismally. They were faceless too.

Violet would come in everyday and perch on the edge of my bed, swinging her feet innocently in the air to thud them lightly against the bed. She wouldn't even look at me often. Her eyes were fixed on her thighs, where her arms and hands carefully rested. When she did look up, her eyes were filled with pain, a long look of understanding that willed me to come back.

But there was no coming back, and even though I could feel her somber gaze lingering upon me, she knew that too. Hope wasn't an answer anymore. I was on my own, as was she.

Occasionally, she would gently press my hands together and cradle my two small ones in her long, spindly fingers, rubbing them together in warmth. I didn't feel her touch, just glanced down to see my two hands that I could not feel, were wrapped tightly in Violet's. Then, without saying a word, she would give me one last, longing glance for me to understand before leaving silently. Violet had a face.

Cynthia came by, her voice a non-stop recording of banter that was only a smooth buzzing in my ears. I would see her pudgy white hand pat my leg cheerfully, willing me to "wake up, honey" and patting my belly ever so often, commenting on how thin I was getting. Then she would leave also, saying she would come back and visit again soon. Cynthia had a face.

Elizabeth came by, wearing her jeans I had given her along with the maids' uniform. She would drag a chair to the bedside and curl up her knees underneath her chin, straight, long black strips of hair covering her cheeks. She would be silent, patting my hand occasionally as a few single tears rolled down her cheeks. I wasn't sure why it was that this happened. Then, she would wipe her face and sniffle lightly before patting my hand once more, pulling in a ragged breath, dragging the chair back to where it was, and then leaving, sealing the door shut behind her quietly. Elizabeth had a face.

Ella would come, speak in a soft southern accent as she gave my feet a massage and speaking of every medical injury lately. A maid had broken her toe, another had split open her chin, etcetera. I didn't hear these things. Her striking downplayed orange hair flipped up around her neck as she spoke excitedly. Ella had a face, but no voice.

Alea and Jade would come together, hands clasped tightly in concern as they, for once in their lives, wore serious plastered masks on their faces. They would flit around me worriedly, still having their same energy, but directed towards worry for me. Jade would hop up onto the bed, resting on the balls of her feet as she rocked back and forth, slapping my hands and cheeks lightly and pleading "Mia, come on. Wake up." Alea would slip her fingers through the stiff comforter and play with my toes, counting them off like a child does. She would smile ruefully and hold back tears that threatened to glisten and pool over her eyelids. Both their gleaming eyes stared hopefully into mine, wishing something that wouldn't come. Their faces were intact.

I wanted to scream "I am awake!" But my mouth wouldn't open. It was sealed tightly shut by an impossible sealing glue. Slowly, each one of them drew away. They were losing hope, piece by piece as their visits dwindled every day. The visits were shorter, sadder. Each one faded away.

Time was easy to forget. It wasn't there anymore. It had vanished into the recesses in the corners of whatever was left here. No one understood that I was alive, I was ready to tackle the world. My mouth just wouldn't open.

Under cover of night, I would crawl out of my bed which was hot and tangled from being sat in all day. I would slip on workout shorts and a tank top, and, as quietly as possible, open my door and slip into the hallway and make a silent run towards the gym, which I could find with no light at all now.

All night, I would train. Flipping through the air before hitting onto one of the uneven bars, dancing across the floor, cartwheeling into aerials and landing on my feet off of the vault. That was my routine, the time when I could be myself, be alone without feeling that tingling sensation of confusion that swept over me when the sun was bright and alive overhead.

I would sneak back into my room at sunrise, get no more than a little time to sleep, and then I was whisked away to continue my tattoo. It was nearly finished, Matthew would tell me as the sun beamed into the room, bouncing off of every surface it possibly could. He would let me look at in the mirror. The fountain was done, the humerus was midnight black with the foggy quotation I had chosen crawling down the sides of it. All that was left was the falling feathers and rose petals.

After my session with Matthew, I only had to endure visitors, which had, at first, been nearly unbearable, but as they lost hope, only two remained.

Violet had the strength to visit each day, holding my hand and talking to me about what was going on in the castle. About how things were falling apart. Something about the eldest brother in the ruling vampire family. She would bring me water and pills some days, which would let sleep overtake me, the last sound being her gradually fading voice. But I didn't hear the words; I heard the tone, like one large hum that changed with emotion.

Dimitri came every day and spent an hour or longer beside me. His hands would brush my hair out of my face, letting his fingers run through it smoothly. The tangles were silk against his fingers. He would murmur low things under his breath that I could not hear as he would stare at me, ash colored sadness filling his onyx eyes. He would stroke my cheek with the back of his hand softly, running it down my arm. This, I felt. I felt the pang of small shivers skittering up and down my arm, living vicariously through Dimitri's touch. Live, vibrating little creatures would sing as he touched me. They faded away as quickly as they had come. His touch was alive. I could feel every wonderful sensation it sent rushing through my body at an incredibly fast rate. Everything he did was dynamic, alive, even though he himself was dead. Everyone else, their touches were nonexistent, static. But Dimitri, his touch was ecstatic. He wasn't just a face. He was a body.

I was alive for the time he spent with me, sitting by my bedside, brushing my hair, skimming my temples, caressing my arms. His soft, low murmurs dangled languorously in the air, brushing through my ears in such a way that if I could move, I would shiver. And when he left, I fell asleep, back into the clutches of the grinning, devious nightmares.

He should be the one I was scared of. He was one of them. He was the main one of them, the one that showed me everything. That brought me into this insane world of paradoxes and loose ends. Yet, he was the one who calmed it. Who made everything that wasn't already gone disappear, so, for an hour a day, while I was in the midst of chaos, a serene leaf enfolded me in its soft, downy comfort and I could be at ease. He eased me away from the chaos.