A/N: I am soooooooo sorry at how terribly long this has taken to come out. Thank you for your patience, and I will begin to update every week again. If you want a good excuse as to what I've been doing besides updating, I don't have one. But I am in the process of applying for colleges and I have a new job now. So, sorry again. Thanks for reading, fav-ing, and reviewing! –PB
Godric and I arrived at the dance venue at 10 PM. We could feel the vibrations from the music on the rooftop of the building.
"Is this how the teenagers enter their dances nowadays?" I asked sarcastically, and Godric threw a smirk at me.
"Only the naughty ones." But I knew what the real reason was. Now that the existence of vampires was commonplace knowledge, schools checked for vampirism before big functions like Prom. It was a controversial practice, but very few vampires went to school, and so school officials would tap every child with a silver tipped wand upon entering just to make sure no one "unwanted" snuck in.
I rolled my eyes as Godric wrenched open the door that lead to the roof access. He paused at the doorway and motioned for me to enter. "Ladies first," he said with a smile. I lightly curtsied for him and then walked in.
The music was loud, and it was pop. I couldn't even see the dance floor and I was already worried about dancing. I didn't really know what to expect. The last time I had been to a dance was in the 30's. I pretty sure the Charleston wasn't a cool dance anymore.
As we reached the dance floor, my fears were realized. I had no idea what the people out there were doing. They were in circles, or in lines. The circles were dancing only with their upper bodies, and the lines were on top of each other like some strange, clothed orgy. I turned to Godric with a grimace. "I suppose now would not be the best time to tell you that I don't know how to dance," I shouted over the music. Godric just continued to smile back at me.
"That makes two of us."
***Centuries Ago***
I associate with Eric more than I care to admit. The Viking was like a boil on my life- everywhere I went he was close by, annoying me to no end. I went hunting once, and no human would come near me. I soon realized that someone had glamoured every human in the town into believing I was a witch. It took me an hour before I could find a human to feed from. Another time, I went out to steal some dresses from the townspeople only to discover that someone had stolen all the dresses from absolutely all the women in the nearest village. Some of the women were walking around in their undergarments, hypnotized into believing they were fully clothed. Someone carved foul words onto my bedroom door. Someone set fire to my bed. Someone interchanged my bath salts for sodium, causing the tub to explode.
If these antics continued, someone was going to be killed.
I decided the best way to get back at Eric and slowly push myself into Godric's good graces would be to make Eric seem like an idiot.
Getting the Viking to look like a moron wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. When he was instructed to watch me, I frequently ran away. I punched small holes in the roof of his bedroom, so that during the day he would start screaming about the sunlight burning him. I set up silver traps for him; some as simple as lining a doorknob with silver so that he burned his hand, others as complicated as a silver "J" swinging down from the doorway and smacking him in the back. That one was particularly amusing, because then it was like the giant, Swedish Viking belonged to me.
Godric wasn't amused- he was disappointed. Although it wasn't fair to Eric, he expected his Viking progeny to be stronger, smarter, and more deceptive than I. Eric had the potential to have all of those qualities, but at least for now he couldn't meet Godric's high standards. Every time I tricked him, humiliated him, or hurt him was one more mark against Eric. My shenanigans didn't exactly make Godric like me more, but if it made Godric like Eric less, than I considered that progress.
"You know he only dislikes you because you and Mae overpowered him," Godric told me once. "His pride was injured because two girls almost killed him."
"He was trying to kill me, so of course we fought back. And naturally two intelligent, powerful, old vampires could overpower a brand new vampire. Why would you even send him after me in the first place? Did you really think that little of me? Do you still think that little of me?" I asked.
Godric shrugged. "At the time I didn't exactly know what skill level you were. And I didn't instruct Eric to kill you with the intention of him actually killing you; I simply wanted him to gain some experience. And I don't think little of you."
I was pretty sure Godric was starting to consider me something other than a worrisome progeny. I figured I was pretty close to breaking some sort of invisible barrier that was keeping him from trusting me like he trusted Eric. I really didn't want a personal relationship with Godric, but I did want him to at least treat me equally with Eric. And I really wanted to learn how to fly.
Eric and I went out to hunt late one evening when I decided it was time to plan my next move. The Viking was hovering behind me, certain I was going to run away again like I had the past several times. He was right, but I wasn't going to let him know it; mostly because I didn't exactly know how I was going to fool him this time. I let him stalk behind me like some enormous shadow until we reached the town.
Eric said to me in broken Latin, "Where?" I glanced around the town and didn't see any potential hosts so I pointed towards the edge of town. We walked in that direction for a while until we found an eerie old house. When we reached the house I turned to Eric and smiled. He shrugged in agreement, and I knocked on the door. A moment later a strange old man in peculiar clothing opened the door and tilted his head to the side. "What do you want?" he snapped at me.
"Please sir," I begged, pretending to be cold with fake shivers, "My stupid slave got confused while we were traveling to London and now we're lost. Could you please point us in the right direction?"
He groaned, but took a step outside to direct us. "Right that way, miss-" He said, but Eric cut him off with a quick snapped neck. We dragged him back inside his house and closed the door.
The man was obviously some kind of witchdoctor, because he had so many obscure plants, boiling pots, and dead animals in glass jars. His house smelled of pungent old concoctions and Eric scowled- whether at me or the smell I wasn't sure. He said something in Swedish along the lines of "Stupid girl always chooses the crazy ones."
I rolled my eyes and motioned to our kill. "You first," I said in Swedish, but Eric just shook his head.
"I'll find my own meal," He replied and leaned against the wall lazily. The eccentric atmosphere of the house inspired my next move. I began feeding, but no sooner had I started did I stop, and let the man's corpse fall down at my feet. Eric looked at me with a puzzled expression, but before he could ask what I was doing, I fell over on the ground as well. I began to convulse, moving each of my appendages erratically on the floor, and made grotesque sounds with my mouth. Eric hovered over me, a look of pure terror spread across his face. It took all my willpower to keep going and not laugh instantly. After nearly a minute of shaking and gargling, I stopped- still as death on the ground.
My eyes were closed but I could hear Eric cursing above me and I felt him touch my arm, "Juliana?" He asked, shaking me a little as if to wake me up. I didn't move, and Eric continued to pace around the room. I heard him move the dead man's body away from mine, and then I felt him lift me up. At first, I was afraid he was going to take me to Godric, because then the plan would have been ruined. Thankfully, I think Eric was afraid of taking my seemingly dead body to Godric as well, because he dropped me back on the ground and darted out of the house.
I waited for a few seconds until I knew he was gone before I got up and smoothed out my dress. I hurried out of the house though a back door and began to run in the direction of something of which I had only heard rumors.
I followed the local river as I ran through the forest. A few miles away was supposed to be something stunning, but I had never had the opportunity to see it for myself. I tried to run as fast as I could because I knew sooner or later Eric would return and realize I had tricked him with a fake seizure. Could vampires even die by seizure? I didn't know, and I suspected Eric had no idea either.
After a few minutes of running, I knew Eric must have realized I had tricked him. A shiver ran from the bottom of my spine all the way to the top of my neck. I knew that meant Godric was looking for me, and without a doubt that meant Godric was going to find me. I picked up my pace and tried to ignore the prickling sensation that meant I was being tracked.
The forest was getting thicker and thicker the farther I traveled into it. The maneuverability was a challenge, but I knew I had to continue running as fast as I could or else Godric would catch me before I got where I reached my destination. After all, he was hundreds of years older than me and didn't have the burden of having to run through the forest- he could simply fly over it.
Another shiver pierced the back of my neck and I knew Godric was close. I leaned forward and plowed through the last bit of forest. A low roar had progressively grown louder and louder throughout the forest, and that's how I knew I was approaching my destination. Soon, the rush of water was so loud, and the ground and trees were so misty and mossy I had to instantly stop running or I would have run right off the face of the cliff.
A beautiful waterfall cascaded down the cliff face into a large, dark lake. The lake seemed rather serene considering the height and ferocity of the intimidating waterfall. The sight was stunning: a powerful waterfall and a tranquil lake, like two contradictions all wrapped together in one. I started to walk closer to the mouth of the waterfall, but suddenly Godric was standing in front of me.
Quickly, I took a step back out of surprise. His cold eyes analyzed me before he shouted over the raging waterfall, "What are you doing here?"
"Having fun!" I replied with a goofy grin. He must have thought I was insane, or at least he didn't grasp why running away to a waterfall would be amusing.
The vampire glanced down the side of the cliff into the lake and then quickly over his shoulder at the waterfall. "If you're trying to kill yourself," he told me with a slight frown, "you're going about it all wrong."
I let a hallow laugh escape my lips, he really had no idea. "And how would killing myself be fun?" I asked, and then turned to face the edge of the cliff. I felt Godric latch onto my arm, preventing me from jumping.
"You're insane," he said, tugging me back slightly.
"I am not." I held my ground and tried unsuccessfully to pull away from him. "It's called an adrenaline rush. You do something crazy and you let you're fear amuse you. It's exciting."
Godric looked over the cliff face again and said, "I don't think I understand how this could be fun."
"I guess you'll just have to jump."
For a moment, I thought there would be no way in hell Godric would ever release my arm. He stared at me with a look of disbelief, as if I were a lunatic he was trying to save from death. I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "You wouldn't understand."
I felt his fingers slacken slightly and he tilted his chin towards the edge. "You first."
I couldn't contain a grin. It spread infectiously across my face and I think I even laughed a little. Godric stood next to me, with our toes hanging over the side. I paused for a moment as I looked down into the lake and Godric turned to me with a smirk. "Getting cold feet?" he asked.
"Hardly," I scoffed, and then jumped. The first few seconds, all I could think was that I had made a huge mistake. I suppose that's the fear talking, but for a moment I couldn't even scream. Then, I started to laugh. It actually was a lot of fun. The fall only lasted 12 seconds, and then I knew I was about to hit the water. I took a big breath of air and prepared for impact when I felt two hands grab my sides.
I gasped as I slid through Godric's grasp, I was going too fast for him to catch me, but he grabbed onto my hand. I stopped with my feet barely grazing the water. I glanced up at him and shook my head, "You really don't understand the idea of fun, do you?"
He carried me to the bank of the river and dropped me in. The water was shallow, and barely hit my hips. Godric sat on a partly submerged log a few feet away. "How is plummeting into a lake fun?" He asked.
"You would have found out had you actually fallen, and not flied, down the cliff."
"You were scared," He pointed out, and for those few seconds during freefall I had forgotten the vampire could feel all of my emotions.
"That's part of the fun," I said with slight exasperation.
"Can you even swim?" Godric asked me with the same tone.
My dress was billowing around me in the cold water and I tried to push it down. "Not really, I never learned."
I looked up and Godric was rubbing his temples. "How you've survived this long is a mystery to me."
I looked at the way he was perched on the log and realized something. "You can't swim either, can you?"
Godric looked at me and shook his head. "My master would have never allowed me to learn."
"Marius?" I asked, thinking of the second vampire who had assisted in the demolition of my human life.
The vampire's eyes narrowed. "I said "Master" not "Maker." Marius was not a part of my human life, although I wish he had been. Maybe it wouldn't have been so terrible."
I thought about that for a moment and realized I knew nothing about Godric's human life. I really knew nothing about him at all. "If you had a master then… that means you were a slave?"
"My master was a horrible man," was his only response. His fists were clenched so tightly together that his white knuckles almost seemed to want to pop right out of his skin. I had no idea what was done to him during his slavery, and I really didn't want to know if it was making Godric this angry.
"Did Marius save you?" I asked, trying to steer him away from bad memories and back to ones that at least Godric thought were good.
"No, I had to save myself. Then I became a warrior, and that's how Marius found me. He thought I was a brave fighter, so he turned me. Strength isn't something that's easily found." I was looking down into the water when I felt Godric eyes one me. When I looked back up at him, he said, "That's why I turned you."
"I wasn't a warrior, I was a sheepherder."
"You were strong. You don't give yourself enough credit."
"I know I was strong- am strong." I groaned and tried to switch topics again. I didn't want think about my human life anymore than Godric did. "Why did you turn Eric?" My tone was a little sharper than I had anticipated.
"Eric is strong as well."
"That's because he's a god damn giant."
"It's because he has no fear," Godric corrected me.
"I think I scared him today with my little 'seizure,'" I snickered, and Godric frowned.
"Why are you jealous of him?"
I felt my jaw go slack for a moment before I rebounded. "I am not jealous of Eric. I don't like Eric. I hate Eric."
"You think I replaced you."
"I-I do not. You can turn whomever you wish. I don't care. It's none of my business. It's just that Eric is annoying, and violent, and cruel, and stupid, and I hate him."
Godric didn't seem to be listening to me. I caught his eyes quickly flicker to the right, as if he were looking at something behind me. His dark irises paused at that point for a mere second before they fell back onto me. But the look wasn't the same anymore- or rather, it wasn't the same look he had been using all night. He was cold again, calculating.
I stopped talking to look over my shoulder, but suddenly Godric grabbed my hand and tugged me towards him. "Come with me," he demanded.
Instinctively, I pulled away and he almost fell into the lake. I didn't like his tone, and I knew something wasn't right. But I hardly had time to react before I heard a voice I thought I would never hear again. A shrill voice called from behind me, "Juliana!"
