You'll be glad to know that I found my way around the next Fanfiction format. I hope this chapter's okay. It might suck. I update too much. Usual disclaimer.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Emarni was collapsed against a bookcase, her eyes only slightly open. Her head was resting against her knees, her hands covering her head. Books were lying on the floor around her, in a perfect circle like she had arranged them that way, and Chelsea had scuttled away. That was how Elisabetta found her.
"Emarni..." Elisabetta prodded her daughter with her foot. Slowly, Emarni looked up at her, her eyes wide now.
"The gods have shaken the earth." Emarni sounded scared, "It is a sign that the world is ending."
"Emarni, it was an earthquake!" Elisabetta rolled her eyes, "Get up."
"We are all going to die." Emarni was still covering her head, in case there was another earthquake. She wasn't going to be surprised again. As her mother left the room, no doubt to find Malik, Emarni Vaccaria got to her feet. She looked at the circle of books that surrounded her and blinked in confusion.
"That is odd." She remarked, kicking the books out of her way. She shook her head and let herself forget about it.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
The screen switched off, as the room began to shake. CDs began to fall on top of Malik's head and he tumbled to the floor. He smacked his head against the ground, nearly knocking himself out. His first thought was his mother. This had to have been caused by Elisabetta. His second thought was Emarni.
"EM!" He yelled, struggling to stand. The ground was still shaking. Knocking things over as he went, he sped towards the library.
There was no sign of Emarni, but Chelsea had crawled onto a bookshelf. The lizard hissed at him and he hissed back, before zooming out of the room again. Luckily, Malik heard a soft sobbing as he was passing a cupboard. He froze where he was and pulled the door open. Emarni was sitting there, amongst piles of various newspapers, shoes and jackets, crying softly to herself.
"Em?" Malik said, his voice softening automatically. Careful not to fall on top of his sister, Malik stepped inside the cupboard and shut the door behind him.
"Why're you crying?" Malik asked, sitting next to his sister. He wrapped an arm around her in the dark, where nobody could see them.
"Mother is scaring me. She is going to try and kill Vladimir." Emarni sniffed. She rested her head against her brother's shoulder.
"We're going to stop her, Em." Malik said.
"Mal, we cannot stop Mother. She is incredibly powerful and we are just children, in her eyes at least." Emarni said.
"Em, we are just as powerful as she is." Malik said, "Only we're not crazy, like Mum." Emarni spat in the palm of her hand and offered her hand to Malik.
"Swear on it." Feeling disgusted, Malik spat on his own hand and shook hands with her. Emarni wiped her hand on the hem of her shirt and her brother did the same. Simultaneously, they got up to open the door and both stumbled over each other. That was when the cupboard door flew open and they both landed on the floor, next to their mother's feet.
"Hello Mum." Malik said, with as much dignity as he could muster. He pushed himself off the floor, so that he was kneeling instead of just flopped against the ground. Emarni was still collapsed on the ground, looking up at Elisabetta pathetically.
"Emarni, Malik, get up!" Elisabetta ordered, "You pathetic pair of imbeciles." Despite agreeing to stop her mother minutes ago, Emarni leapt to her feet obediently. Malik let out a sigh.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
"Why would Emarni be an only child?" Malik frowned in confusion.
"She wouldn't be." Elisabetta said quickly, "Because I love her very much." She was lying, Malik could tell.
"Why do you want to know how she feels about being one, then?" Malik insisted. His mother sighed, her son was difficult to get around.
"I do not want to be a lonely child." Emarni stuck out her bottom lip. Her older brother threw a screwed up piece of paper at her head. Her mother simply sighed.
"You mean, an only child, Emarni." Elisabetta corrected.
"A lonely child is what you're going to be when I sell you." Malik told her.
"I am being sold as a slave?" Emarni sounded absolutely horrified, "Mother, why was I not told of this?"
"We're not going to sell you, Emarni." Elisabetta rolled her eyes.
"She's only denying it, so that you don't put up a fuss." Malik hissed to his sister. Like a child, Emarni began to scream, kicking her legs furiously. Malik ducked, as she hit him hard in the face accidentally.
"Emarni, for sat and sake!" Elisabetta grabbed her daughter by the shoulders, "Malik is only teasing you."
"Oh." Emarni stared down at her Vans in embarrassment. Her brother rolled his eyes and flopped onto his back. He was not having a good day.
"So, what was the earthquake about?" Malik asked, looking up at the ceiling. Elisabetta sighed in frustration: what had she done to deserve two hopeless children?
"I was summoning the Council of Elders." Elisabetta said. Suddenly intrigued, Emarni looked up so quickly that her blonde hair flopped in her eyes.
"The what?" But her mother had already left the room, annoyed with her children. It was only Emarni and Malik left. Oh, and Grayson. He was collapsed in the corner of the room, having had a table fall on top of him during the earthquake. It was hard to tell if he was alive or just unconscious. Luckily, Malik had been strong enough to be able to push the table off him, or Grayson would be dead for sure.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Why couldn't Ingrid stop thinking about him? The smoothness of his pale skin, underneath her fingertips. The pulse in his neck throbbing against her hands. His delicious scent, a tasty mix of breather and vampire. His leather jacket was always soft against her skin. It was all too much. The glass of blood slipped out of her hand, smashing against the floor. Ingrid didn't even bother to step back, looking at the red liquid spreading on the floor. It splashed against her shoes.
"Hey, Ingrid." George grinned. Then, she looked at Ingrid and the blood and stopped grinning.
"What happened?" George asked, as Ingrid knelt down and began to pick up shards of broken glass. The glass sliced her hands, as she began to collect it up in her hands. He was probably dead by now, Elisabetta would've easily got fed up with him and throttled him from behind. Either that or he had forgotten Ingrid completely.
"Ingrid?" George tried, in a much quieter voice.
"What?" Ingrid snarled, glaring at the younger girl, "What the hell do you want?" She was not in the mood to be messed with.
"That boy, Malik." George wrinkled her nose, "Did you luuurve him?" Ingrid growled under her breath.
"Has the infamous Ingrid Dracula gone soft?" George teased gently.
In anger, Ingrid spun around and hit the girl hard. Looking completely startled, George fell over and landed in the puddle of blood and glass. Ingrid dumped the remaining glass on the girl's head; there was no way Ingrid Dracula was going soft. No way whatsoever.
A tear trickled down the side of George's face. Her arms were cut and bleeding by the smashed glass. Her hair was full of glass shards, which were digging into her scalp. She was kneeling in the pool of blood, some of which was hers and some of which wasn't. She must've looked pretty bad, because Vlad looked taken aback when she stamped in.
"George? What happened?" Vlad said, in horror. He looked down at George.
"Ingrid. She pushed me over." George looked at Vlad pathetically, "I think I'm bleeding." Lifting the small girl to her feet, Vlad made her promise not to move. George stayed where she was, shivering and wrapping her arms around herself. Within seconds, Vlad was back. He began to scrub at the blood and glass that was splattered all over the floor.
"Did you upset her?" Vlad said, "Ingrid, I mean." George pulled a large piece of glass out of her arm and watched as blood began to leak down her arm. She licked it off.
"I guess so. I was asking about her boyfriend." George waggled her eyebrows.
"Malik? Ooh, touchy subject for Ingrid." Vlad said, "I wouldn't ask her about him." He finished cleaning the floor, due to vampire speediness. Then, he turned to George.
"You look a right mess." Vlad chuckled, "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." He steered her out of the room, holding her by the shoulders.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Olga's head was drooping, her hair falling forwards to cover her face. She was wearing plain black jeans with holes scraped in the knees, a red checked shirt- Erin could've sworn it was one of hers- falling down past her knees. And as Erin watched Olga twitch in her sleep, she couldn't help but notice that Olga had put more effort into her make-up. Who was she trying to impress?
"Three days." Olga said, as she snapped awake. Until Vlad's birthday, Erin added silently. And then out loud:
"Who are you trying to impress?" Erin asked, picking up a book and flicking through the pages.
"What?" Olga sounded surprised.
"You're dressed differently, you're wearing make-up and you're counting down the days till Vlad's birthday party." Erin said, "Olga, who on earth do you want to impress?" The other vampire looked uncomfortable and she began to wring her hands nervously. Rolling her eyes, Erin glanced down at the book that she was flicking through. She didn't even know what the words meant, how was she supposed to research? She never had been able to focus on words, they wriggled around too much. Glancing back at Olga, Erin realised that the girl had fallen asleep again, her hair spread out in a cloud behind her head. Olga did seen to sleep a lot recently and Erin would know- they shared a room now.
"The Council of Elders." Vlad read aloud, "Is that something worth looking into?" He glanced over at Erin, who shrugged her shoulders. None of the girls were being much help. Erin was struggling to focus on what she was reading and Vlad couldn't blame her; she was dyslexic. His younger cousin, Olga, was lying on the rug by the huge fireplace that had been recently built. She had tried her hardest to read, but kept falling asleep. Eventually, Vlad had given up on keeping her awake and let her curl up on the rug. George was lazing on a nearby chair, not even pretending that she was working. And Vlad knew for a fact that it wasn't a research book in her hands, it was a fiction book about demon hunters.
"Probably not." Olga groaned, lifting her head off the ground just enough to look at him. Then, her neck aching, her head fell back to the floor. God, she was so lazy.
"Okay." Vlad tossed the book aside. That was when Olga's wristwatch began to beep frantically, like a bomb about to go off. The girl leapt to her feet and ran out of the room.
"Helpful." Vlad muttered under his breath.
"Where's she going?" George asked, looking up from her book. In that afternoon, she had worked her way through the first two books in the trilogy and was on the third.
"I don't know." Vlad said, immediately suspicious, "Olga's been acting really weird recently."
"You don't think she's working with the Vaccarias?" Erin suggested.
"Who?" George wasn't quite up to date yet.
"I don't know." Vlad said.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
When he woke up, Grayson thought he was alone. He was lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. A leather jacket had been draped over him lazily. He pushed himself up on his elbows and realised that he wasn't in fact alone. His goddaughter was sitting cross legged, just to his left.
"Morning, Grayson." Emarni said, holding out a pastry, "Apple Danish?"
"Cheers." Grayson took it from her and stuffed it in his mouth, "What's going on?"
"Mother sacrificed thirteen humans last night." Emarni said, "To bring back the Council of Elders, an ancient parliament of vampires. Long before the Vampire High Council were around, the COE ruled over all the vampires of the time. It caused a shift in dimensions, which caused earthquakes across the globe." Emarni shrugged, "That is what I gathered."
"Wow, a lot then." Grayson raised his eyebrows and sat up. She was wearing different clothes to when he last saw her, which meant he had slept through at least a day or two.
"Vladimir's birthday is only two days away now." Emarni told him, "Malik is arguing with Mother, right now. They are scaring me." She took her jacket off of him and pulled it on.
"There's no need to be scared, Emarni." Grayson yawned, smiling at her; he ruffled her curls, ignoring the glare that she shot him, "All families argue sometimes."
"Not all families are like mine, Grayson." Emarni said.
"I suppose you're right." Grayson smiled.
"We're not being a part of your stupid plan!" Malik yelled.
"You have to do what I say! I'm your Mother!" Elisabetta shrieked at him.
"Well, maybe I wish you weren't!" Malik snarled. Then, there was the sound of somebody throwing something. Grayson winced, they were probably destroying his furniture.
"Emarni was right." he muttered. It sounded like Malik and Elisabetta were about to murder each other. He moved away from the door which he had been listening in at and carried on down the corridor.
"I don't want to be a part of this stupid family!" Malik stormed out of the room and the opposite way to Grayson. He was heading towards the study.
"Gray?" Elisabetta was in the doorway. Grayson tried to act like he hadn't been listening in and failed dramatically; Elisabetta could read him much too well, they had been friends since childhood.
"Lizzie." Grayson said, "Malik doesn't mean any of it. He's just angry."
"He's always angry." Elisabetta said, "He has his father's temper."
"Are you ever going to tell him who his father is?" Grayson asked, strolling towards her. She shook her head.
"He wouldn't be able to cope with it." Elisabetta said, "Grayson, I want you to do me a favour."
"Yeah?" Grayson asked. His friend paused, avoiding his gaze. This was new. Elisabetta never seemed to show any feelings.
"I want you to look after the girl. Permanently. I have no use for her, but Malik would kill me if I abandoned her." Elisabetta said, then she turned and walked away.
"Hey Emarni." Grayson started. The girl spun around, her hair spinning out in a curtain behind her. She was holding a open book in her hands.
"How are you?" Grayson smiled. He couldn't just say it. He couldn't just tell Emarni that her mother didn't want her.
"Nervous. Scared. Unwell." Emarni said, quickly explaining, "I feel unwell when I am nervous and scared."
"Why are you nervous?" Grayson asked; she didn't already know, did she?
"Because you only start a conversation with a question, when you know something is wrong." Emarni said, "Grayson, what do you know?" She sounded so mild, that at first Grayson didn't register what she said. Then, he sighed and held his head in his hands.
"Your mother..." Grayson ran his hands through his hair and sat down in a chair, "... She wants you to... Stay with me, for a while..." Forever, Grayson added silently.
"But... Mother likes me." Emarni said, in confusion, "She must have meant Malik. She needs me to help her. She needs me!" She sounded more frantic now, "She has always needed me! I was always there to help her! What will she do without me?" Emarni was screaming.
"Emarni." Grayson hugged her tightly- she was shaking with anger.
"No." Emarni shoved him off her, "I cannot keep crying anymore! It is time that I made a stand! Mother is going down!"
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Holy rabies, this chapter is way, way too long. Read and review! Sorry that I update too much and thanks for the reviews, favourites and follows! :)