"Well that was fun," Julian said. "I definitely like Night World witches."
Crystal smiled. She'd told him too. Technically, she wasn't breaking any rules this time. Julian wasn't human. He wasn't even from Earth. He was a Shadow Man, from another universe entirely.
"If you could be so kind as to direct me to Jenny's room...."
"Down the hall, turn left, room 234." Crystal paused, sitting up in bed. She hadn't bothered getting up and dressed yet. "Oh, you might want to watch out for Tom too."
Julian's eyebrows raised. "She's still with him?" He obviously had difficulty getting the words out.
"Maybe we should have a word with one of your friendly vampire friends."
"We could do that." After he left Crystal lay back, wondering what to do. There was almost three hours before the party that night. Thea and Rowan were supposed to be coming by to pick her up. She had time to kill and nothing to do.
She got out of bed and dressed again, wondering. She left the dorm for a while, wandering around outside. She wondered how Jenny was going to react finding Julian turning up on her doorstep.
She smiled faintly. She found a secluded area, a small pond, and a few trees and plants, some benches. It seemed peaceful, and it was what she needed right now. She had never expected to lose her virginity to a Shadow Man. But still, who was she to complain?
But she had actually *done* that. She had brought him back. Her spell. She hadn't even realised she'd been casting a spell. Maybe Jenny had been right, playing with runes was dangerous.
"Oh, I didn't realise anyone else was here."
Crystal looked up form her musings to see Kaitlyn coming down one of the cobblestone paths. She seemed a little upset. "It's okay," she said.
"Feeling better now?" Kaitlyn sat down next to her, obviously remembering her from the other night.
"Fine," Crystal answered.
There was a silence. Crystal wasn't much on conversation, and it seemed Kaitlyn wasn't either. She seemed rather miserable.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
Kaitlyn sighed. "Gabriel and I had something going for a while, but we sort of broke up. His arrogance was starting to piss me off."
Crystal was surprised. Kaitlyn and Gabriel had been one of her favourite couples. She had liked Kaitlyn because she hadn't gone with Golden Boy Rob, she'd preferred bad boy Gabriel instead, which would have been Crystal's own personal choice.
But before she could open her mouth to say anything, Meredith, Bonnie and Elena walked into the little area, sitting on the other bench. They all looked quite perplexed. Elena didn't look happy.
"I guess you guys know what Susan's found on the 'Net," Crystal said with a sigh.
"Explain," Meredith demanded.
Crystal held up her hands in an "I don't know" gesture. "Don't ask me. I haven't got a clue what's going on. I didn't come up with everything."
"I tried to contact the author," Meredith said. "I got through to the agent, but they didn't believe me when I said who I was. The woman's exact words, were, 'Sure, honey, and I'm the Pope'."
Crystal shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it any better than you do. I thought they were all just fictions. My life was normal before I came here. And now...all this."
"What about Jenny and Susan?" Bonnie asked. "Susan's been pulling all sorts of things up off the 'Net, basic histories, bios, things others have written about us."
"You seem to have written quite a bit too," Elena said. She looked a little insulted. Crystal guessed she'd found the Vampire Diaries stories she'd written once, Darkness in the Depths, done as a crossover with the TV series Charmed, about three sisters who were witches. In the story Elena had gone insane and the others had been forced to kill her.
"I'm also guessing no one seems to like Jenny's boyfriend Tom very much," Meredith added.
Crystal snorted. "He's a wimp. She can do better than that."
"How come so many people seem to think I should be dead?" Elena asked indignantly.
Crystal didn't know what to say. Personally, she herself didn't like the idea of Elena suddenly coming back from the dead. The final Vampire Dairies book, Dark Reunion, had spoiled the series. She had liked the end of the third one, that had been different, and the ending had made her respect Elena, and the fourth had spoiled it.
"I don't know," she said again. "Maybe it's because you died at the end of the third book, and everyone's wondering after six months how you're going to fit back into society and explain it all."
Elena didn't say anything, still looking rather peeved.
"What was the weird magic blasty thing you did last night?" Kaitlyn asked.
Crystal frowned. "Orange energy is something the Night World witches can do."
"What's Night World?" Kait asked.
Crystal sighed. Before she could explain, Jenny, Tom and Dee arrived. Tom didn't look happy. Crystal guessed maybe it was because he finally realised everyone hated him. She decided not to mention Julian was walking around campus somewhere looking for Jenny. That would just mess them up even more.
Finally, she told them the basic details of the Night World. Everyone seemed to be looking to her for the answers, but as Crystal constantly kept saying...she had none. She didn't have the slightest idea why they were all there, now. She told them about the books, the clubs on the Internet, everything she could think of related to them.
And the more she talked, an idea was starting to form in her mind. It seemed that everyone loving the books and reading them so often, and writing about them, playing the characters in RPGs, it seemed that everything had come true. Everyone loved them all so much, everyone's love had made them all real. Was this some sort of alternate universe that had been created? It didn't feel like it. Everyone was very, very real.
"What's happening now?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know," Crystal said, getting tired of the phrase. "I never read anything about college life or anything."
"I always wondered why I had so many different encounters with Damon," Bonnie said dryly.
Crystal shrugged. "Bonnie/Damon fan fics seem to be something everyone loves writing, like Ash and Mary-Lynnette ones."
"But what I don't understand if everyone loving us has made us real, what about TV? Why aren't characters from everyone's favourite TV shows and movies walking around?" Dee asked.
It was a good question. Crystal hadn't considered that one yet.
"Maybe because they're all played by actors, and the characters seem less real," Meredith suggested.
"So if everyone stopped reading about us and writing and doing all those other things, then we'd all just die?" Tom asked.
Crystal smiled faintly. "Somehow, I don't see that happening."
"What's going to happen now?" Elena asked.
No one knew.
* * *
Aurelia leaned against the tree, not sure she wanted to believe what she had just heard. Just in passing, she had heard that Harman girl talk about the Night World to humans. That was forbidden. She had been about to teach the girl a lesson that when you break Night World law you die, but then those other people had shown up.
Characters in books?
What the...?
She shook her head in disbelief. The Council were *not* going to be happy about this.
* * *
Aurelia fought to contain her impatience. The Night World council were really pissing her off. They seemed unable to believe the things she showed them. She wasn't exactly completely brilliant at using the internet, her skills lay in other areas, but she knew enough to find out what she wanted.
The council were all agape in disbelief that so many, many people seemed to know about the Night World. It was like their worst nightmares had come true. Some of them pointed out that when the millennium hit, then everything wouldn't matter any more because the world would be destroyed, there was no mention of any conclusive final Wild Power. And others pointed out that there were hundreds of them, all created as the fans lay in wait for what would happen. There were discussions of finding every created Fourth Wild Power and seeing what would happen.
Personally, Aurelia thought that was absurd. There wasn't enough resources, and nowhere near enough time for that to happen. It was September, there were only four months left until the battle.
"How exactly did you find out about this?" one of the council reps asked her.
"I was on an assignment," she said briefly. "Everyone seemed to think with so many people starting college we had to keep tabs on the Night People to make sure they didn't let something slip and I over heard this girl talking about it. Everything comes from books and everyone loving them all makes them real or something."
"And what book did you come from?" someone else asked snidely.
Aurelia faltered. She hadn't got an answer to this one. From what it seemed, she had been created from someone's imagination, her entire personality, who she was, her life. But if she had been created, how was she here, at this moment, right now?
No one seemed to have an answer to that one.
"Bring her here," the Council leader ordered her. "We want to see what this girl knows."
Aurelia left the room. At least, she thought, if she were a created character it wasn't her fault she was such a bitch. She wasn't responsible for any of her actions. But maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. She liked her life - or was that because she had been told to think like that? She didn't know. Oh the hell with it. It wasn't worth figuring out. She was who she was. She did what she did. If she was created and someone else was directing her, so what?
Maybe this Crystal Harman person could provide some answers.
Only one way to find out.
* * *
After the discussion Crystal was relieved to finally have some time to herself. She headed back to the room, and reached for her Dark Visions collectors edition. The only problem that didn't seem too complicated was how to got Kaitlyn and Gabriel back together. She had to do that. She got Gabriel's room number and banged on his door.
He looked a little surprised to see her. "What do you want?"
She barged in without being invited. "We need to get you back with Kait," she stated rather bluntly. Gabriel pushed the door over and stood there, looking at her, dark eyebrow raised, seeming rather amused. "You have to prove to her that you're not an arrogant bastard."
Gabriel stared at her, seeming at a loss for words. Crystal knew what he must be thinking - who the hell did this crazy girl think she was barging in here and ordering him about?
"Why do you care so much anyway?" he asked. "What business of yours is it?"
"I'm making it my business," she said. She shoved her DV book in his hands. He took it, staring at it in surprise.
"What the hell is this?" he demanded, meeting her eyes.
"Read it," she told him. "And you'll see."
Gabriel looked confused. "I don't get it," he said.
"Just read the book and you will," Crystal said with a secret smile. She left the room, leaving him with the book. If he actually *did* read the thing he'd know what she meant.
She headed back to her own room to find it occupied by Mary-Lynnette, Poppy, James and Ash. But they didn't look happy. They were staring at her sullenly. Crystal frowned. "What's going on?"
"You tell us," a cold voice said.
Crystal was confused. She glanced in the direction of the voice, watching in disbelief as the figure stepped out of the shadows, a semi-automatic with a silencer in her hands. As Frankenstein had been forced to face his monster, now Crystal was being forced to face her own monstrous creation, the Bitch from Hell.
* * *
Crystal smiled. She'd told him too. Technically, she wasn't breaking any rules this time. Julian wasn't human. He wasn't even from Earth. He was a Shadow Man, from another universe entirely.
"If you could be so kind as to direct me to Jenny's room...."
"Down the hall, turn left, room 234." Crystal paused, sitting up in bed. She hadn't bothered getting up and dressed yet. "Oh, you might want to watch out for Tom too."
Julian's eyebrows raised. "She's still with him?" He obviously had difficulty getting the words out.
"Maybe we should have a word with one of your friendly vampire friends."
"We could do that." After he left Crystal lay back, wondering what to do. There was almost three hours before the party that night. Thea and Rowan were supposed to be coming by to pick her up. She had time to kill and nothing to do.
She got out of bed and dressed again, wondering. She left the dorm for a while, wandering around outside. She wondered how Jenny was going to react finding Julian turning up on her doorstep.
She smiled faintly. She found a secluded area, a small pond, and a few trees and plants, some benches. It seemed peaceful, and it was what she needed right now. She had never expected to lose her virginity to a Shadow Man. But still, who was she to complain?
But she had actually *done* that. She had brought him back. Her spell. She hadn't even realised she'd been casting a spell. Maybe Jenny had been right, playing with runes was dangerous.
"Oh, I didn't realise anyone else was here."
Crystal looked up form her musings to see Kaitlyn coming down one of the cobblestone paths. She seemed a little upset. "It's okay," she said.
"Feeling better now?" Kaitlyn sat down next to her, obviously remembering her from the other night.
"Fine," Crystal answered.
There was a silence. Crystal wasn't much on conversation, and it seemed Kaitlyn wasn't either. She seemed rather miserable.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
Kaitlyn sighed. "Gabriel and I had something going for a while, but we sort of broke up. His arrogance was starting to piss me off."
Crystal was surprised. Kaitlyn and Gabriel had been one of her favourite couples. She had liked Kaitlyn because she hadn't gone with Golden Boy Rob, she'd preferred bad boy Gabriel instead, which would have been Crystal's own personal choice.
But before she could open her mouth to say anything, Meredith, Bonnie and Elena walked into the little area, sitting on the other bench. They all looked quite perplexed. Elena didn't look happy.
"I guess you guys know what Susan's found on the 'Net," Crystal said with a sigh.
"Explain," Meredith demanded.
Crystal held up her hands in an "I don't know" gesture. "Don't ask me. I haven't got a clue what's going on. I didn't come up with everything."
"I tried to contact the author," Meredith said. "I got through to the agent, but they didn't believe me when I said who I was. The woman's exact words, were, 'Sure, honey, and I'm the Pope'."
Crystal shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it any better than you do. I thought they were all just fictions. My life was normal before I came here. And now...all this."
"What about Jenny and Susan?" Bonnie asked. "Susan's been pulling all sorts of things up off the 'Net, basic histories, bios, things others have written about us."
"You seem to have written quite a bit too," Elena said. She looked a little insulted. Crystal guessed she'd found the Vampire Diaries stories she'd written once, Darkness in the Depths, done as a crossover with the TV series Charmed, about three sisters who were witches. In the story Elena had gone insane and the others had been forced to kill her.
"I'm also guessing no one seems to like Jenny's boyfriend Tom very much," Meredith added.
Crystal snorted. "He's a wimp. She can do better than that."
"How come so many people seem to think I should be dead?" Elena asked indignantly.
Crystal didn't know what to say. Personally, she herself didn't like the idea of Elena suddenly coming back from the dead. The final Vampire Dairies book, Dark Reunion, had spoiled the series. She had liked the end of the third one, that had been different, and the ending had made her respect Elena, and the fourth had spoiled it.
"I don't know," she said again. "Maybe it's because you died at the end of the third book, and everyone's wondering after six months how you're going to fit back into society and explain it all."
Elena didn't say anything, still looking rather peeved.
"What was the weird magic blasty thing you did last night?" Kaitlyn asked.
Crystal frowned. "Orange energy is something the Night World witches can do."
"What's Night World?" Kait asked.
Crystal sighed. Before she could explain, Jenny, Tom and Dee arrived. Tom didn't look happy. Crystal guessed maybe it was because he finally realised everyone hated him. She decided not to mention Julian was walking around campus somewhere looking for Jenny. That would just mess them up even more.
Finally, she told them the basic details of the Night World. Everyone seemed to be looking to her for the answers, but as Crystal constantly kept saying...she had none. She didn't have the slightest idea why they were all there, now. She told them about the books, the clubs on the Internet, everything she could think of related to them.
And the more she talked, an idea was starting to form in her mind. It seemed that everyone loving the books and reading them so often, and writing about them, playing the characters in RPGs, it seemed that everything had come true. Everyone loved them all so much, everyone's love had made them all real. Was this some sort of alternate universe that had been created? It didn't feel like it. Everyone was very, very real.
"What's happening now?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't know," Crystal said, getting tired of the phrase. "I never read anything about college life or anything."
"I always wondered why I had so many different encounters with Damon," Bonnie said dryly.
Crystal shrugged. "Bonnie/Damon fan fics seem to be something everyone loves writing, like Ash and Mary-Lynnette ones."
"But what I don't understand if everyone loving us has made us real, what about TV? Why aren't characters from everyone's favourite TV shows and movies walking around?" Dee asked.
It was a good question. Crystal hadn't considered that one yet.
"Maybe because they're all played by actors, and the characters seem less real," Meredith suggested.
"So if everyone stopped reading about us and writing and doing all those other things, then we'd all just die?" Tom asked.
Crystal smiled faintly. "Somehow, I don't see that happening."
"What's going to happen now?" Elena asked.
No one knew.
* * *
Aurelia leaned against the tree, not sure she wanted to believe what she had just heard. Just in passing, she had heard that Harman girl talk about the Night World to humans. That was forbidden. She had been about to teach the girl a lesson that when you break Night World law you die, but then those other people had shown up.
Characters in books?
What the...?
She shook her head in disbelief. The Council were *not* going to be happy about this.
* * *
Aurelia fought to contain her impatience. The Night World council were really pissing her off. They seemed unable to believe the things she showed them. She wasn't exactly completely brilliant at using the internet, her skills lay in other areas, but she knew enough to find out what she wanted.
The council were all agape in disbelief that so many, many people seemed to know about the Night World. It was like their worst nightmares had come true. Some of them pointed out that when the millennium hit, then everything wouldn't matter any more because the world would be destroyed, there was no mention of any conclusive final Wild Power. And others pointed out that there were hundreds of them, all created as the fans lay in wait for what would happen. There were discussions of finding every created Fourth Wild Power and seeing what would happen.
Personally, Aurelia thought that was absurd. There wasn't enough resources, and nowhere near enough time for that to happen. It was September, there were only four months left until the battle.
"How exactly did you find out about this?" one of the council reps asked her.
"I was on an assignment," she said briefly. "Everyone seemed to think with so many people starting college we had to keep tabs on the Night People to make sure they didn't let something slip and I over heard this girl talking about it. Everything comes from books and everyone loving them all makes them real or something."
"And what book did you come from?" someone else asked snidely.
Aurelia faltered. She hadn't got an answer to this one. From what it seemed, she had been created from someone's imagination, her entire personality, who she was, her life. But if she had been created, how was she here, at this moment, right now?
No one seemed to have an answer to that one.
"Bring her here," the Council leader ordered her. "We want to see what this girl knows."
Aurelia left the room. At least, she thought, if she were a created character it wasn't her fault she was such a bitch. She wasn't responsible for any of her actions. But maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. She liked her life - or was that because she had been told to think like that? She didn't know. Oh the hell with it. It wasn't worth figuring out. She was who she was. She did what she did. If she was created and someone else was directing her, so what?
Maybe this Crystal Harman person could provide some answers.
Only one way to find out.
* * *
After the discussion Crystal was relieved to finally have some time to herself. She headed back to the room, and reached for her Dark Visions collectors edition. The only problem that didn't seem too complicated was how to got Kaitlyn and Gabriel back together. She had to do that. She got Gabriel's room number and banged on his door.
He looked a little surprised to see her. "What do you want?"
She barged in without being invited. "We need to get you back with Kait," she stated rather bluntly. Gabriel pushed the door over and stood there, looking at her, dark eyebrow raised, seeming rather amused. "You have to prove to her that you're not an arrogant bastard."
Gabriel stared at her, seeming at a loss for words. Crystal knew what he must be thinking - who the hell did this crazy girl think she was barging in here and ordering him about?
"Why do you care so much anyway?" he asked. "What business of yours is it?"
"I'm making it my business," she said. She shoved her DV book in his hands. He took it, staring at it in surprise.
"What the hell is this?" he demanded, meeting her eyes.
"Read it," she told him. "And you'll see."
Gabriel looked confused. "I don't get it," he said.
"Just read the book and you will," Crystal said with a secret smile. She left the room, leaving him with the book. If he actually *did* read the thing he'd know what she meant.
She headed back to her own room to find it occupied by Mary-Lynnette, Poppy, James and Ash. But they didn't look happy. They were staring at her sullenly. Crystal frowned. "What's going on?"
"You tell us," a cold voice said.
Crystal was confused. She glanced in the direction of the voice, watching in disbelief as the figure stepped out of the shadows, a semi-automatic with a silencer in her hands. As Frankenstein had been forced to face his monster, now Crystal was being forced to face her own monstrous creation, the Bitch from Hell.
* * *