Jenny was in darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing L.J. Smith related. I do, however, own Alyx.

Note: I am slowly wrapping this fic up. I think there will only be one or two more chapters after this. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far.

Jenny was in darkness. She could not see anything around her, not even the hand that she held up in front of her face. The place where she was had a musty smell of earth to it as if she were underground or perhaps in a cave. There was a dirt floor to the place and it was cold to the touch. But, of course, there was no way of knowing where she was since she could not see.

She had awoken in this place just minutes before. As with anyone coming out of a deep sleep, Jenny had been a bit disoriented, thinking at first that something was covering her eyes, preventing her from seeing where she was. But, she had raised a hand to her face, groping for the cloth or whatever it was that made her eyes only see darkness. Only a muffled cry had issued forth from her lips when she had realized that there was no cloth over her eyes. She was indeed in total darkness.

Her hands had fallen to the ground then and she had felt the cool dirt under her fingertips. Where was she? Had she been in an accident of some kind? She had run her hands over the dirt floor and had tried to remember what had happened to her.

Jenny's mind whirled as her thoughts twisted and turned in her head. What exactly had happened to her to make her end up here, in a place with no light? Her brow furrowed as she had tried to remember.

And then as if someone had whispered his name in her ear, an image formed in her mind. Julian, she thought, a small trickle of fear running down her backbone. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened. They had been in her room. She and Julian. He had come back for some reason. And then the other guy had showed up and Jenny had been sure that this new person was a Shadow Man too, as he was eager to play a game. The new person and Julian had fought while Jenny had looked on, unable to comprehend what exactly was going on. And then, Jenny thought, darkness had slowly come upon her, dragging her into its midst.

"Is anyone there?" Jenny called out a bit timidly. She was not sure if she wanted an answer to that question or not. It appeared as if she were perhaps in another one of the Shadow Men's games. At least, that would account for where she was and what had happened to her so far.

She waited, noticing how the air seemed to get a bit colder around her. She shivered and pulled her knees to her chest, trying to conserve a bit of her body warmth. And she waited. Silence greeted her and Jenny felt a small bit of relief at the fact that no one had answered her call. What would she have done if someone had? If she were back in the Shadow World, then no one could be trusted. If someone had answered her call, it would probably have put her in a more precarious position than she was already in.

She closed her eyes for a minute, allowing the tenseness in her shoulders to relax. At least she was alone.

"Jenny," a voice whispered so close to her that Jenny jumped.

She looked around herself wildly, even though she knew she would see nothing in the darkness.

"Jenny," the voice said again and then it laughed. The laugh was loud and horrible, filled with vehemence and danger that Jenny winced at the sound as if she had been slapped.

Fear filled her throat as the laughing continued. It echoed around the place she was in, seeming as if it were bouncing off the darkness itself. On her hands and knees, she crawled away from the sound, hoping to get away from it. Oh God, oh God, she thought. The sound seemed to envelope her, even as she tried to get away from it.

She stood up, hoping to cover more ground and get away from the sound faster. Arms outstretched, she reached out for anything that might impede her progress. The tips of her fingers itched as if they were afraid that whoever was laughing would touch them. And Jenny, herself, had to admit that that was exactly what she was afraid of.

The laughter grew louder and it hurt Jenny's ears. "Go away," she cried into the darkness, fear thick in her throat. "Go away!"

Then her fingers touched something in front of her and Jenny's knees almost buckled. It was a wall of some sort, blocking her progress from going further. From Jenny's touch it seemed to be made of rocks jutting out here and there. Maybe I am in a cave then, Jenny thought vaguely. But, her main thoughts were of panic because she realized with a start that there was no way she was going to be able to get away from the laughter. With a quick minute decision, Jenny turned and leaned her back up against the wall of stone, bracing herself for whatever was to come next.

Suddenly the laughter stopped and the darkness was plunged into silence once more. Jenny stood, drinking in the silence. She raised one hand to her chest and found her heart beating way too rapidly. Her breath came in short bursts as she realized how frightened she had been.

"Jenny," the voice said from right beside her and she screamed.

………………………………………

He was walking amongst them as if he belonged. To their innocent, unknowing eyes he did belong. To them, he wasn't Julian, the former notorious leader of the Shadow Men. He was simply another college student hoping to pass the upcoming finals. Some may have given him curious looks as they passed him because of his shock-white hair and icy blue eyes. But, many of them just wrote him off in their minds as another punk. They have no idea, he thought with a small smile.

Julian couldn't help but feel a bit of pleasure at his ability to blend into the background of students on their way to class. For once, he didn't hide in the shadows but walked proudly in the light like everyone else. And it felt great to allow all the young minds around him to believe that he was just like them.

He would have loved to be able to continue the ruse all day, seeing how far he could push. Perhaps he could have even gone to a class or two just for the fun of it. Yes, he would have loved to keep up the playacting, but he knew he couldn't. Julian had a quest to do, a game to win. Jenny's life was at stake.

All he had to do was find Alyx and return to the Shadow World with her. Then he could get Jenny back to where she belonged, in the light. But, a nagging voice in the back of his mind asked, what about Alyx? Was he really going to leave her to defend for herself in the dreaded Shadow World?

The only reason that Julian needed to take Alyx with him was to save Jenny. He would hand Alyx over to Ezra and Jenny would be free to go. A life for a life. But, how could Julian hand over the innocent Alyx to Ezra, knowing well that Ezra would inevitably hurt her or even worse- hand her over to his subjects, the Shadow Men.

Julian sighed as he followed a crowd of kids further across the campus. It was such an awful position to be in. He had no reason to hurt Alyx in such a way and, of course, he did not want to. But, Jenny's life was in question. It was all for Jenny. It always had been.

Forget it, Julian told himself. You just have to find Alyx and take her to Ezra. For Jenny.

For Jenny………………………………..

Julian walked on, trying to press such thoughts out of his head. His eyes moved this way and that, searching the masses of students for the familiar face of Alyx.

Suddenly, a pain shot through his head so quickly that he thought he might black out. Julian stopped abruptly and raised a hand to his head as if to calm the pain that was suddenly raging inside. He let out a slight gasp as it grew, pushing from inside his mind.

Julian closed his eyes and focused on the pain, hoping to pull it out of his mind so that he could function normally again. But, as he focused on it, something else happened. It was if all of his senses were suddenly more attuned that they were just mere minutes ago. His ears seemed to be picking up more sound that he had been able to hear before. And, he realized with a moment of clarity, that he had somehow crossed over to the Shadow World for just a moment because, if he was not mistaken, he could hear Jenny screaming inside his mind. His own heart jumped a mile at the thought of this and red hot fury snaked through his entire body. It wasn't a scream of pain, he told himself as the pain worsened a bit, but a scream of pure fear. Ezra was playing with her, scaring her so that she would know who had the power.

Julian gritted his teeth and waited, knowing that Ezra's game would end soon. Surely, Ezra had sent Julian this little message as a reminder that he had better hurry up with his quest. And besides, Julian thought grimly, Jenny was nothing to Ezra if she was dead. No, he would perhaps frighten her, but he could not kill her. Yet.

The scream in his mind dulled a bit and Julian noticed the pain weakening. But, he did not move just yet. He wanted to makes sure it was all gone before continuing on his quest. It would do no good if he were to suddenly black out in front of all the students on campus. It was bad enough that he was standing there with his head in his hands. Perhaps they would just think he had come from a hard exam.

"Are you okay?" A voice behind him asked and without even thinking, Julian turned and stared at the innocent brown eyes that he had seen so many years ago on a child, lost in the forest.

Julian just stared at her, wondering what he was to say. Here he had been searching for her and she had found him. He looked at her closely, noticing how she seemed a bit worried about him. She must have seen him standing with his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" She repeated.

He looked at her, not saying a word. How was he supposed to take her to Ezra? How was he supposed to take someone who was innocent and had no knowledge of the danger she was in?

For Jenny……………………………………..

Alyx looked at him closely, her eyes narrowing as if she were trying to figure out something difficult in her mind. Julian watched her, wondering what exactly she must think of him. He was just another student to her. Nothing more. And yet……..

"I'm sorry, but you look really familiar. Do I know you?" Alyx asked slowly.

"Do you?"

Alyx shook her head. There was a thought right at the tip of her brain, waiting to be acknowledged. But, as much as she wanted to realize it, she couldn't. It seemed as if every time she got even remotely near it, the idea would slip just out of her grasp and settle itself further away.

Who was this guy in front of her? She could have sworn that she had seen him someplace else. Had it been at a party? Or perhaps in class? She couldn't figure it out. But, she couldn't get over the feeling that she had seen him somewhere else before. And, as she looked in his eyes now, she couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. It was as if something was telling her that something bad was about to happen. But, that was just silliness, wasn't it?

"Look," she said, feeling rather uncomfortable with the whole situation. All she wanted to do now was get away from this kid. Really, what had possessed her to stop and talk to a total stranger? "You had better go to the health center if you aren't feeling good."

Alyx gave Julian one more long look, as if trying one last time to remember where she had seen his face before. But, again, the thought seemed to slip just out of her grasp. She sighed. The last few days had been so weird for her and now this. You are losing it, she told herself.

She turned on her heel and started walking away, leaving Julian to look after her. Alyx had a class to get to. I don't have time right now for other people's problems, she thought darkly. Why can't I just have a normal life?

"Wait!" A voice behind her called and she froze. She wasn't sure what it was about the voice that had made her stop. It surely wasn't the commanding sound in it. For, there had also been a bit of uncertainty underneath it. And it wasn't the fact that she wanted desperately to figure out whom that kid was and where she had seen him before. No, something within her had told her to stop walking. And slowly she turned to face him, knowing somehow as she did that she should be running away instead.

He was closer to her now. She hadn't seen or heard him step closer to her, but he was there, just an arms length away. Vaguely, Alyx noticed that all the students who had been rushing to class where now gone from where she and the mysterious person were standing outside. They were all alone now and if Alyx screamed she doubted that anyone would hear her.

Julian stared at her, as if debating what to do. Well, he knew what needed to be done. And he knew that he could do it. All he had to do was shut off his mind and simply act. Quite simple.

For Jenny…………………………………

"I'm sorry……………..Alyx," He whispered and then reached out to touch take her hand.

Alyx stood frozen, watching as Julian took her hand lightly in his own. His touch was cool, as if he had been holding ice before touching her. She looked down at their locked hands and then up to meet his icy blue eyes. She felt the darkness slowly coming over her and she gladly went into it. Right before the darkness overcame her, though, she realized that she had never told this mysterious person her name. And yet, he had known it.

"Who are you?" She murmured and then fell into complete darkness.

………………………………………………

Far away, Jenny screamed again, hoping that someone, anyone, would get her out of the hell she seemed to suddenly be in.

Well, I know that was a bit shorter than I usually do, but I wanted to cut it off there and start a new chapter with the other stuff that happens. I'm sorry about all the cliffhangers. They just seem to pop up, even when I don't want them to be there.

What did you think? Please review…………