Okay, sorry this has taken so long but I've been locked up every day in a sadistic institute for seven hours each day. They call it 'school'. Well anyway I'm free for the moment so I'll be adding more chapters pretty damn quick.
Thanx for the comments so far and this is split in three parts, the first in the now, the second is a remembrance from the past, the third the now again. Okay?
Ryarth Hemlock drained his glass in one gulp, relishing the burning tang of the alcohol in his throat. Blood and alcohol, did it get any better? Well... he smirked. Maybe the fat wad of cash and power he'd get for reporting Circle Daybreak's latest plans to his Night World contacts shortly would come a close third.
He grinned at the other vampire and the shapeshifter couple who were his fellow Daybreak spies. Easy work, easy money, and Ryarth idly glanced about the dark interior of the Black Iris for someone who'd provide him with refreshment of the more traditional kind.
A young, gorgeous woman was walking towards him. He blinked. Lucky night.
"Hello," she murmured huskily, coppery brown eyes locked on his face.
"What's a babe like you doing in a place like this?" he grinned. He had the feeling he'd seen her before somewhere.
In response she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled a little. Well, he liked them eager.
"Looking for you."
"Yeah? Well lucky you, you got me..."
"Yes, I really do. I'm planning on killing you."
Remembering...
She ran with delicate grace, moving smoothly and quickly through the woods as all of her kind could, like a flowing whisper of smoke. The scents of flowers and rich leaf mould filled the air, the sweet piping of birds, and in her ears she could hear the laughter of the other half of her soul behind her, running to catch her. He would catch her eventually, she would make sure of it.
Paws seeming to barely touch the ground, the large tawny female wolf leapt and ran through the forest, heading to the hill that reared in the centre of the forest, heading to her favourite place where she always went to meet him... She broke free of the woods to the mossy base of the small hill.
"I'm getting closer!" called a human's voice behind her.
Turning in an unnecessary human like gesture to pinpoint him visually she put a paw down a pothole. With startled yelp she stumbled.
"Got you!" sang a voice that was pleasant to hear even in the ears of another shape, and the wolf changed easily, form stretching and reshaping into a young woman. Jazda stretched, reaqquainting herself with this shape and grinned happily as her soulmate dropped down beside her.
"I win!" he cheered, but she silenced his triumph with a swift kiss. Brilliant sparks of energy seemed to leap in her mind and she felt golden warmth wherever their skin touched.
"Not fair," he mumbled teasingly. "I was looking forward to a good gloat..."
-I let you catch me- she told him mentally. - and this is your prize-
-You should let me win more often...-
Finally they pulled apart. Jazda looked up into the face of her soulmate. When they had met and come together it had been as if she had never lived before she knew love. He was her life.
He smiled, catching her thoughts, and his warm topaz coloured eyes sparkled. It had been that warmth and energy in his eyes that she had first noticed, but it was the trueness of who he was inside that made her love him. Tieran Mioroke, her soulmate. She could hardly believe that he had only come into her life a year ago.
"It's our anniversary tomorrow," he said, looking wondering himself. "What shall we do to commemorate it?"
Jazda just leaned forward and kissed him again. She felt the surge of warmth, love, pure white energy as their minds met and connected openly with a brilliance that made the world and all it had to offer look dull and lifeless. Their thoughts swelled and merged in a closeness that was indescribable...
After perhaps a lifetime they pulled apart. Jazda smiled, looking into his dazed eyes. "Now, what could we do that could be better than that?"
Tieran smiled wickedly, pulling her closer. "My, my, what a challenge..."
"It certainly is, but it may just have to wait."
"Why?"
"Because my foot's down a hole and it's really painful."
"Oh." He helped her up.
Jazda looked up the hill. At the top was a strange, open sided building, like a temple. It was made from a strange turquoise coloured rock with darker swirls through it, the roof very tall, supported by intricately carved pillars. It was some kind of witch building, that was all Jazda's clan knew. No one went there. Well, other than them. She blushed at the thought. It was hard to find privacy round here, what with the Pack running about at night and the vampires prowling about looking for blood.
At that thought she winced. They were going to be mad to find she had escaped from her usual meditation session to be with Tieran. He was her soulmate, a gentle witch. She didn't get why they wouldn't accept him.
"They'll understand one day," said Tieran reassuringly.
"I know, but Father is so set in his ways..." sighed Jazda. "All he and Mother want is for me to train day in, day out forever so they can make me into a strong leader."
"Well, few like you-"
"-exist," Jazda finished for him. It was true. The Night World held laws against cross species marriage. That hadn't stopped her mother, Garnet Redfern, from marrying her father, Manargn Arione. The clan of Arione, a renowned werewolf Pack, and the lamia family Redfern, combined into one person. She was that person.
Her parents were proud, ambitious people and eventually the Night World had left them alone. In any case it was rare for cross breeds to be particularly strong. Usually they were a little of both, or just the one.
It seemed to Jazda that she only took after her father, but the witches who had visited their village each year had done some weird spells and were convinced Jazda was lamia too. All that meant to Jazda was that she was different.
To her parents it meant she would grow up to be the model Night Person- powerful, strong, destined to be a great leader of both vampires and werewolves- with the right training. As a result Jazda lived under a strict regime of meditation, potions and rituals that her parents thought would bring out her vampire genes, and rigorous training and fighting lessons. Jazda just wanted to them to leave her alone and let her be happy as she was. Tieran was the only one to understand. He loved her. But her parents had married for ambition, not love.
Still, if not for the regular visits of the Mioroke witch family each year she would not have met Tieran. He and his parents had stayed when they realised Tieran and Jazda were true soulmates. At least they understood...
"Jazda!" Faintly she heard the shouts of her father, far away but approaching. Searching for her. She scowled. Why couldn't she have had normal parents instead of a pair of strict disciplinarians who just wanted to turn her into a mindless fighter.
"Father's coming. I best go. He'll be angry." She kissed her soulmate goodbye. "Meet me at our secret place tonight?"
"I will."
Jazda struggled through the tangled undergrowth, trying hard not to snag her filmy white dress on the protruding bushes and branches of the woods. She knew her way through these woods easily but she was in a hurry and the trees seemed closer and more menacing. -Don't be so silly- she chided herself. She thought instead of Tieran and how pleased he would be to see her. She'd had to sneak out of her room to come meet him and it hadn't been easy to slip out quietly. Werewolves were excellent guards and her father's clan was no exception...
There, the hill loomed in front of her. She started forward- and froze. She'd been so preoccupied thinking she hadn't noticed the strange noises and smells ahead. What was going on? She frowned, looking up at the abandoned temple with her piercing night vision, listening hard. It would have been easier in wolf shape, the world painted in noise and smells rather than sight and imagination, but she preferred human shape-
Then a scream ran out, and she froze again before lunging forward with her own. It was Tieran.
There was pain, and more pain. Tieran hung helpless as the world swirled in a madness of black and scarlet and hellish chants-
The pain receded temporarily, and he gasped frantically for breath. The world stopped spinning but it was no better now-
"I love your screams. So... earnest," whispered the girl who had bound him to the tall stone pillar in the centre of the temple. Often Jazda and he had wondered what it was and now he knew.
"Enjoying it?" she asked. Tieran drew up his failing strength and spat at her.
"Not...impressed..."
Tall black candles formed a wide circle around him, and inside the circle of flames stood seven tall people, dressed in black robes, faces painted with crimson blood. His blood. Each held a human skull with a symbol painted on it and their voices rose and fell in a intent, searing chant of strange guttural syllables. Tieran screamed again as a wave of pain tore through him as their voices rose again, stabbing into his brain. Symbols were carved at his feet and a reeking, acidic smell emanated from the candles as he twisted madly.
The black haired girl danced in front of him excitedly, pale blue eyes glittering with pleasure, a silver dagger in her slender hands. Tieran had been seized as he had walked through the woods and he had fought but they had been too strong, strong like vampires.
"Nearly ready," hissed a man with long black hair and eyes that changed colour like the lights in a faceted crystal. "Nearly ready-"
A slender woman with hard black eyes and long blood red hair stepped forward, raising some sort of dark crystal in her hands. A crackling aura of dark energy leapt and stabbed around her and a fiendish smile contorted her face. In response the crystal throbbed with flashes of light and in response the walls of the temple swirled with scarlet red power strands.
"Death to the damned Mioroke! Death to the stealers of souls!" sang the black haired girl.
The evil magic that was concealed in this place was waking up, and then there was a flash of movement at the edges of his blurring vision as Jazda hurled herself forward into the circle, screaming frantically.
She knocked into the red haired witch and shoved her back. The chanting was broken and the others lunged forward to stop her, surrounding her and Jazda fought desperately, lashing out with fists and feet and teeth-
Then she shrieked on a new note that hurt Tieran more than anything. Her beautiful amber-brown eyes turned to him for the last time, then she fell forward, the blue eyed vampire's silver dagger in her back.
Tieran stared uncomprehendingly. Silver...
Panting, the red haired woman turned back to him. "Your little soulmate, eh?"
"Dead?" asked one of the witches.
"Will be soon," snarled the woman. "What with a silver knife in her back. Justice for trying to stop us."
"The ritual's been broken," said the young witch worriedly.
The black eyes locked on Tieran.
"Too bad. We'll just have to start again."
The blackness obscured everything. Amongst it hung a single spark of consciousness, suspended in silence.
The spark grew, slowly, until it was a flame. With it came pain. More than physical pain. A heart rending pain that would obscure everything.
Nonetheless, the flame still grew until-
Jazda opened her eyes.
She was staring into the face of her brother Kelstone.
With a snarl of irrational animal hate she lunged for his throat.
He avoided her, grabbing her wrists, and she realised she was in human form anyhow.
"What did you do?!? WHAT DID YOU DO?!?" she screamed the words at him.
"Calm down!"
"I'll kill you first!"
A slap hit her face and she fell back, stunned.
"I didn't do anything! I just- came up here and found you- and- You've been missing for two days! No one wanted to come up here so they sent me!"
She heard the words dimly.
"What are you talking about?" she muttered.
"Jazda, you have been up here for two days. Ever since... I mean... "
Then she remembered.
She sprang to her feet, ignoring the rush of dizziness and turned, seeing the temple, the blood stained floor, the arcane symbols, the burnt candles, the body of Tieran-
She howled in agonized realization...
He was cold.
He was dead.
Jazda felt her soul shatter into a myriad of pieces. He was dead...
"What happened?" she heard a twisted voice whimper, and realized it was her.
No one knew. Tieran's parents had vanished that night too. All those who dared venture to the top of the hill where the black ritual had taken place came back shaken and confused. The dark energy residing there was ominous and cold. She didn't understand it. Why had it happened? Why had they done that to him?
Her father, cold and practical as always, reassured her by saying that one day the killers would be brought to Night World justice. Night World justice. For some reason Jazda had a feeling they'd give them a pat on the head rather than a knife in their hearts. And then came the cremation ceremony and the numb shock over her mind vanished.
She broke down and cried.
"I'm going to kill myself then," sobbed Jazda wildly, pressing her face against her hands. Hot, wet tears flowed between them like a cataclysm that would never stop-
"No." It was her brother who spoke to her.
"Yes. I cannot stand to live without him! If I die too then we will be together always."
"No." This time it was her father who spoke.
"What?" asked Jazda, raising her head and blinking. "Maybe he would have wanted me to live but I do not believe I can, I just cannot-"
He gently reached out and caught her hands, pressing them gently.
"If you die, you will be even more alone then you are now."
There was no understanding left in her. She felt hollow.
"What?" she whispered, again, feeling young and so, so alone.
"How do you know where you go after you die? How do you know he will be there?"
Like pinpricks of light amongst an eternal limbo of heavy gray, the thoughts drifted down into her brain... The tears on her face slowed, and stopped forever. True. It was a belief of their clan that a soul could not...rest... truly, if it's unfair death wasn't brought to justice.
She could not cry any more, it seemed.
Even now he had been taken away. Even now, when Hell seemed like a welcome respite, she was suspended in the desolate blackness. Alone...
She wanted to destroy herself because she didn't think she could live with herself, with the memories, and oblivion was sweet and inviting.
But he wouldn't be there. She didn't know, maybe no one knew where you went after death. But if there was a chance that he wouldn't be there.... She could not stand that thought, for then truly there would be no escape. If there was a possibility that his soul would not be there... More so, though, she wanted to know. She wanted to kill them.
Maybe she was the only one who could free him. She could do one, last thing for him.
"I will do this for you," she whispered. "If it takes eternity I shall try."
Her father knew somehow what she was thinking. He squeezed her hands once more, a futile but heartbreaking attempt to reassure her. He had never shown affection before, but even that did not matter to Jazda now.
Jazda did the hardest thing she had ever done.
She said goodbye to all that was left of her soulmate.
She crawled over to the remains of her beloved, kissed his cold face for the last time, tasting his blood, and promised she would see him again, that she would set him free. With trembling, tear stained fingers she closed sightless topaz eyes that would never sparkle again.
"If it takes an eternity I shall fight for you, I will, I will, I promise-". Whispered promises that she would never, ever forget, and she shakily stood back, moving away from him.
She watched at his cremation as flame was touched to the pyre. As she stared at the leaping flames, she felt a new sensation sweeping over her like a bitter wash of frost. Numbness. Coldness. Resolve. As if all that she was receded and she instead only her strength remained. Yeah, that was it forever. Jazda, vampiric wolf-huntress was all that was left as the burning golden red flames consumed her shattered dreams. How ironic. What her parents could never achieve. To sap all her love for the world away and make her a committed killer.
Yes, he was not the only one to have died that night.
She and Kelstone scattered his ashes to the winds on the cliffs of Kabron a year later. She stood there for an hour, in silence.
Then she turned to Kelstone. "Thank you."
He nodded, sensing this was goodbye.
Jazda's vampiric powers came soon after, and the eternal burning for the hunt. She left her clan, not needing them. She didn't need anyone anymore.
Remembering those callous, laughing eyes...
...Quite unlike the surprised eyes of the vampire looking at her now as she picked him up and heaved him into a wall.
-All my life, my love, has vanished and all I am until I breathe my last, is a cold, empty executioner. A channel of hate and hunt- rage- ...
-How poetic- she thought with contemptuous humour and whirled to face the other vampire spy as he jerked out a knife and held it at her.
"Keep back, bitch!"
Jazda changed quicksilver fast and leapt for him, knocking him onto the floor as she bit into his arm, jaws locking till they met, then as she heard movement behind her she ripped out the vampire's life and leapt off, turned, faced the other two spies...
One was changing too into a werewolf, but a small and puny creature compared to her size and in a flash of movement, teeth and fur they were fighting, snarling, darting, dodging, feinting, then she surging forward again and caught the other wolf's throat in a ripping bite.
A heavy blow struck her head and she vaulted away to find that the wounded first vampire had hit her with a chair.
-That hurt- she told him telepathically.
-But not as much as this will- and she prepared to spring at him.
-NO!- cried a new voice and something lunged into Jazda's path.
A puma?
It was.
-Interesting- she snarled at it and swiped at it with a claw. The puma backed away.
-I can't let you kill him, but I am on your side-
Jazda snarled in contempt again and feinted a lunge. When it turned she sprang the opposite way, onto the wall, leapt off it again and hit the vampire full force, ripping at it with her fangs.
-NO!- cried the puma again and she turned to finish it too.
The puma just stared at her with greenish gold eyes. Then it changed into human form.
Jazda hesitated in surprise, ears flat against her skull. Why had it done that?
One way to find out. She changed back into vampire form, her fur forming clothes again, fangs vanishing except for her canines, vision clearing to colours again, then snatched up the knife lying nearby and started towards the puma-shifter.
"Hey, don't, I'm on your side-" gabbled the guy in surprise before she seized him byt the throat and held the knife in front of his eyes.
He struggled but she was easily stronger. Eyes blazing amber, she leaned close to him and told him... an admittedly somewhat embarrassing clichéd statement that still got to the point decently.
"Give me one good reason to spare your life."
He swallowed. "Can I have a minute to sort the words out first?"
Thanx for the comments so far and this is split in three parts, the first in the now, the second is a remembrance from the past, the third the now again. Okay?
Ryarth Hemlock drained his glass in one gulp, relishing the burning tang of the alcohol in his throat. Blood and alcohol, did it get any better? Well... he smirked. Maybe the fat wad of cash and power he'd get for reporting Circle Daybreak's latest plans to his Night World contacts shortly would come a close third.
He grinned at the other vampire and the shapeshifter couple who were his fellow Daybreak spies. Easy work, easy money, and Ryarth idly glanced about the dark interior of the Black Iris for someone who'd provide him with refreshment of the more traditional kind.
A young, gorgeous woman was walking towards him. He blinked. Lucky night.
"Hello," she murmured huskily, coppery brown eyes locked on his face.
"What's a babe like you doing in a place like this?" he grinned. He had the feeling he'd seen her before somewhere.
In response she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled a little. Well, he liked them eager.
"Looking for you."
"Yeah? Well lucky you, you got me..."
"Yes, I really do. I'm planning on killing you."
Remembering...
She ran with delicate grace, moving smoothly and quickly through the woods as all of her kind could, like a flowing whisper of smoke. The scents of flowers and rich leaf mould filled the air, the sweet piping of birds, and in her ears she could hear the laughter of the other half of her soul behind her, running to catch her. He would catch her eventually, she would make sure of it.
Paws seeming to barely touch the ground, the large tawny female wolf leapt and ran through the forest, heading to the hill that reared in the centre of the forest, heading to her favourite place where she always went to meet him... She broke free of the woods to the mossy base of the small hill.
"I'm getting closer!" called a human's voice behind her.
Turning in an unnecessary human like gesture to pinpoint him visually she put a paw down a pothole. With startled yelp she stumbled.
"Got you!" sang a voice that was pleasant to hear even in the ears of another shape, and the wolf changed easily, form stretching and reshaping into a young woman. Jazda stretched, reaqquainting herself with this shape and grinned happily as her soulmate dropped down beside her.
"I win!" he cheered, but she silenced his triumph with a swift kiss. Brilliant sparks of energy seemed to leap in her mind and she felt golden warmth wherever their skin touched.
"Not fair," he mumbled teasingly. "I was looking forward to a good gloat..."
-I let you catch me- she told him mentally. - and this is your prize-
-You should let me win more often...-
Finally they pulled apart. Jazda looked up into the face of her soulmate. When they had met and come together it had been as if she had never lived before she knew love. He was her life.
He smiled, catching her thoughts, and his warm topaz coloured eyes sparkled. It had been that warmth and energy in his eyes that she had first noticed, but it was the trueness of who he was inside that made her love him. Tieran Mioroke, her soulmate. She could hardly believe that he had only come into her life a year ago.
"It's our anniversary tomorrow," he said, looking wondering himself. "What shall we do to commemorate it?"
Jazda just leaned forward and kissed him again. She felt the surge of warmth, love, pure white energy as their minds met and connected openly with a brilliance that made the world and all it had to offer look dull and lifeless. Their thoughts swelled and merged in a closeness that was indescribable...
After perhaps a lifetime they pulled apart. Jazda smiled, looking into his dazed eyes. "Now, what could we do that could be better than that?"
Tieran smiled wickedly, pulling her closer. "My, my, what a challenge..."
"It certainly is, but it may just have to wait."
"Why?"
"Because my foot's down a hole and it's really painful."
"Oh." He helped her up.
Jazda looked up the hill. At the top was a strange, open sided building, like a temple. It was made from a strange turquoise coloured rock with darker swirls through it, the roof very tall, supported by intricately carved pillars. It was some kind of witch building, that was all Jazda's clan knew. No one went there. Well, other than them. She blushed at the thought. It was hard to find privacy round here, what with the Pack running about at night and the vampires prowling about looking for blood.
At that thought she winced. They were going to be mad to find she had escaped from her usual meditation session to be with Tieran. He was her soulmate, a gentle witch. She didn't get why they wouldn't accept him.
"They'll understand one day," said Tieran reassuringly.
"I know, but Father is so set in his ways..." sighed Jazda. "All he and Mother want is for me to train day in, day out forever so they can make me into a strong leader."
"Well, few like you-"
"-exist," Jazda finished for him. It was true. The Night World held laws against cross species marriage. That hadn't stopped her mother, Garnet Redfern, from marrying her father, Manargn Arione. The clan of Arione, a renowned werewolf Pack, and the lamia family Redfern, combined into one person. She was that person.
Her parents were proud, ambitious people and eventually the Night World had left them alone. In any case it was rare for cross breeds to be particularly strong. Usually they were a little of both, or just the one.
It seemed to Jazda that she only took after her father, but the witches who had visited their village each year had done some weird spells and were convinced Jazda was lamia too. All that meant to Jazda was that she was different.
To her parents it meant she would grow up to be the model Night Person- powerful, strong, destined to be a great leader of both vampires and werewolves- with the right training. As a result Jazda lived under a strict regime of meditation, potions and rituals that her parents thought would bring out her vampire genes, and rigorous training and fighting lessons. Jazda just wanted to them to leave her alone and let her be happy as she was. Tieran was the only one to understand. He loved her. But her parents had married for ambition, not love.
Still, if not for the regular visits of the Mioroke witch family each year she would not have met Tieran. He and his parents had stayed when they realised Tieran and Jazda were true soulmates. At least they understood...
"Jazda!" Faintly she heard the shouts of her father, far away but approaching. Searching for her. She scowled. Why couldn't she have had normal parents instead of a pair of strict disciplinarians who just wanted to turn her into a mindless fighter.
"Father's coming. I best go. He'll be angry." She kissed her soulmate goodbye. "Meet me at our secret place tonight?"
"I will."
Jazda struggled through the tangled undergrowth, trying hard not to snag her filmy white dress on the protruding bushes and branches of the woods. She knew her way through these woods easily but she was in a hurry and the trees seemed closer and more menacing. -Don't be so silly- she chided herself. She thought instead of Tieran and how pleased he would be to see her. She'd had to sneak out of her room to come meet him and it hadn't been easy to slip out quietly. Werewolves were excellent guards and her father's clan was no exception...
There, the hill loomed in front of her. She started forward- and froze. She'd been so preoccupied thinking she hadn't noticed the strange noises and smells ahead. What was going on? She frowned, looking up at the abandoned temple with her piercing night vision, listening hard. It would have been easier in wolf shape, the world painted in noise and smells rather than sight and imagination, but she preferred human shape-
Then a scream ran out, and she froze again before lunging forward with her own. It was Tieran.
There was pain, and more pain. Tieran hung helpless as the world swirled in a madness of black and scarlet and hellish chants-
The pain receded temporarily, and he gasped frantically for breath. The world stopped spinning but it was no better now-
"I love your screams. So... earnest," whispered the girl who had bound him to the tall stone pillar in the centre of the temple. Often Jazda and he had wondered what it was and now he knew.
"Enjoying it?" she asked. Tieran drew up his failing strength and spat at her.
"Not...impressed..."
Tall black candles formed a wide circle around him, and inside the circle of flames stood seven tall people, dressed in black robes, faces painted with crimson blood. His blood. Each held a human skull with a symbol painted on it and their voices rose and fell in a intent, searing chant of strange guttural syllables. Tieran screamed again as a wave of pain tore through him as their voices rose again, stabbing into his brain. Symbols were carved at his feet and a reeking, acidic smell emanated from the candles as he twisted madly.
The black haired girl danced in front of him excitedly, pale blue eyes glittering with pleasure, a silver dagger in her slender hands. Tieran had been seized as he had walked through the woods and he had fought but they had been too strong, strong like vampires.
"Nearly ready," hissed a man with long black hair and eyes that changed colour like the lights in a faceted crystal. "Nearly ready-"
A slender woman with hard black eyes and long blood red hair stepped forward, raising some sort of dark crystal in her hands. A crackling aura of dark energy leapt and stabbed around her and a fiendish smile contorted her face. In response the crystal throbbed with flashes of light and in response the walls of the temple swirled with scarlet red power strands.
"Death to the damned Mioroke! Death to the stealers of souls!" sang the black haired girl.
The evil magic that was concealed in this place was waking up, and then there was a flash of movement at the edges of his blurring vision as Jazda hurled herself forward into the circle, screaming frantically.
She knocked into the red haired witch and shoved her back. The chanting was broken and the others lunged forward to stop her, surrounding her and Jazda fought desperately, lashing out with fists and feet and teeth-
Then she shrieked on a new note that hurt Tieran more than anything. Her beautiful amber-brown eyes turned to him for the last time, then she fell forward, the blue eyed vampire's silver dagger in her back.
Tieran stared uncomprehendingly. Silver...
Panting, the red haired woman turned back to him. "Your little soulmate, eh?"
"Dead?" asked one of the witches.
"Will be soon," snarled the woman. "What with a silver knife in her back. Justice for trying to stop us."
"The ritual's been broken," said the young witch worriedly.
The black eyes locked on Tieran.
"Too bad. We'll just have to start again."
The blackness obscured everything. Amongst it hung a single spark of consciousness, suspended in silence.
The spark grew, slowly, until it was a flame. With it came pain. More than physical pain. A heart rending pain that would obscure everything.
Nonetheless, the flame still grew until-
Jazda opened her eyes.
She was staring into the face of her brother Kelstone.
With a snarl of irrational animal hate she lunged for his throat.
He avoided her, grabbing her wrists, and she realised she was in human form anyhow.
"What did you do?!? WHAT DID YOU DO?!?" she screamed the words at him.
"Calm down!"
"I'll kill you first!"
A slap hit her face and she fell back, stunned.
"I didn't do anything! I just- came up here and found you- and- You've been missing for two days! No one wanted to come up here so they sent me!"
She heard the words dimly.
"What are you talking about?" she muttered.
"Jazda, you have been up here for two days. Ever since... I mean... "
Then she remembered.
She sprang to her feet, ignoring the rush of dizziness and turned, seeing the temple, the blood stained floor, the arcane symbols, the burnt candles, the body of Tieran-
She howled in agonized realization...
He was cold.
He was dead.
Jazda felt her soul shatter into a myriad of pieces. He was dead...
"What happened?" she heard a twisted voice whimper, and realized it was her.
No one knew. Tieran's parents had vanished that night too. All those who dared venture to the top of the hill where the black ritual had taken place came back shaken and confused. The dark energy residing there was ominous and cold. She didn't understand it. Why had it happened? Why had they done that to him?
Her father, cold and practical as always, reassured her by saying that one day the killers would be brought to Night World justice. Night World justice. For some reason Jazda had a feeling they'd give them a pat on the head rather than a knife in their hearts. And then came the cremation ceremony and the numb shock over her mind vanished.
She broke down and cried.
"I'm going to kill myself then," sobbed Jazda wildly, pressing her face against her hands. Hot, wet tears flowed between them like a cataclysm that would never stop-
"No." It was her brother who spoke to her.
"Yes. I cannot stand to live without him! If I die too then we will be together always."
"No." This time it was her father who spoke.
"What?" asked Jazda, raising her head and blinking. "Maybe he would have wanted me to live but I do not believe I can, I just cannot-"
He gently reached out and caught her hands, pressing them gently.
"If you die, you will be even more alone then you are now."
There was no understanding left in her. She felt hollow.
"What?" she whispered, again, feeling young and so, so alone.
"How do you know where you go after you die? How do you know he will be there?"
Like pinpricks of light amongst an eternal limbo of heavy gray, the thoughts drifted down into her brain... The tears on her face slowed, and stopped forever. True. It was a belief of their clan that a soul could not...rest... truly, if it's unfair death wasn't brought to justice.
She could not cry any more, it seemed.
Even now he had been taken away. Even now, when Hell seemed like a welcome respite, she was suspended in the desolate blackness. Alone...
She wanted to destroy herself because she didn't think she could live with herself, with the memories, and oblivion was sweet and inviting.
But he wouldn't be there. She didn't know, maybe no one knew where you went after death. But if there was a chance that he wouldn't be there.... She could not stand that thought, for then truly there would be no escape. If there was a possibility that his soul would not be there... More so, though, she wanted to know. She wanted to kill them.
Maybe she was the only one who could free him. She could do one, last thing for him.
"I will do this for you," she whispered. "If it takes eternity I shall try."
Her father knew somehow what she was thinking. He squeezed her hands once more, a futile but heartbreaking attempt to reassure her. He had never shown affection before, but even that did not matter to Jazda now.
Jazda did the hardest thing she had ever done.
She said goodbye to all that was left of her soulmate.
She crawled over to the remains of her beloved, kissed his cold face for the last time, tasting his blood, and promised she would see him again, that she would set him free. With trembling, tear stained fingers she closed sightless topaz eyes that would never sparkle again.
"If it takes an eternity I shall fight for you, I will, I will, I promise-". Whispered promises that she would never, ever forget, and she shakily stood back, moving away from him.
She watched at his cremation as flame was touched to the pyre. As she stared at the leaping flames, she felt a new sensation sweeping over her like a bitter wash of frost. Numbness. Coldness. Resolve. As if all that she was receded and she instead only her strength remained. Yeah, that was it forever. Jazda, vampiric wolf-huntress was all that was left as the burning golden red flames consumed her shattered dreams. How ironic. What her parents could never achieve. To sap all her love for the world away and make her a committed killer.
Yes, he was not the only one to have died that night.
She and Kelstone scattered his ashes to the winds on the cliffs of Kabron a year later. She stood there for an hour, in silence.
Then she turned to Kelstone. "Thank you."
He nodded, sensing this was goodbye.
Jazda's vampiric powers came soon after, and the eternal burning for the hunt. She left her clan, not needing them. She didn't need anyone anymore.
Remembering those callous, laughing eyes...
...Quite unlike the surprised eyes of the vampire looking at her now as she picked him up and heaved him into a wall.
-All my life, my love, has vanished and all I am until I breathe my last, is a cold, empty executioner. A channel of hate and hunt- rage- ...
-How poetic- she thought with contemptuous humour and whirled to face the other vampire spy as he jerked out a knife and held it at her.
"Keep back, bitch!"
Jazda changed quicksilver fast and leapt for him, knocking him onto the floor as she bit into his arm, jaws locking till they met, then as she heard movement behind her she ripped out the vampire's life and leapt off, turned, faced the other two spies...
One was changing too into a werewolf, but a small and puny creature compared to her size and in a flash of movement, teeth and fur they were fighting, snarling, darting, dodging, feinting, then she surging forward again and caught the other wolf's throat in a ripping bite.
A heavy blow struck her head and she vaulted away to find that the wounded first vampire had hit her with a chair.
-That hurt- she told him telepathically.
-But not as much as this will- and she prepared to spring at him.
-NO!- cried a new voice and something lunged into Jazda's path.
A puma?
It was.
-Interesting- she snarled at it and swiped at it with a claw. The puma backed away.
-I can't let you kill him, but I am on your side-
Jazda snarled in contempt again and feinted a lunge. When it turned she sprang the opposite way, onto the wall, leapt off it again and hit the vampire full force, ripping at it with her fangs.
-NO!- cried the puma again and she turned to finish it too.
The puma just stared at her with greenish gold eyes. Then it changed into human form.
Jazda hesitated in surprise, ears flat against her skull. Why had it done that?
One way to find out. She changed back into vampire form, her fur forming clothes again, fangs vanishing except for her canines, vision clearing to colours again, then snatched up the knife lying nearby and started towards the puma-shifter.
"Hey, don't, I'm on your side-" gabbled the guy in surprise before she seized him byt the throat and held the knife in front of his eyes.
He struggled but she was easily stronger. Eyes blazing amber, she leaned close to him and told him... an admittedly somewhat embarrassing clichéd statement that still got to the point decently.
"Give me one good reason to spare your life."
He swallowed. "Can I have a minute to sort the words out first?"