I decide to leave it at that about the dream for now. I can't keep dwelling on something I can't work on right now. I need to make progress on something but dawdling on a dream won't get me anywhere. Walking over to my black stained wooden dresser I pick out a black sleeveless T-shirt with a set of flaming swords done in crimson on the front and a new pair of unfaded black jeans. Okay so I'm Gothic, anyone have a problem with that? I have my own style thank you. So if it disturbs you go sod off 'cause I don't care.
I don't really have to bother with my jewelry again since I fell asleep with it on. I turn over to my mirror again and undo my hair running a brush I have close at hand through it to solve the evening hair problem. I don't even bother to put it back up. I thought that tonight maybe I'd just leave it down for the Hell of it. At it's current length it's like having an ebony cloak around my shoulders, long and thick. I put it up most of the time just to keep it out of the way when fighting. I really don't want to accidentally cut it off trying to wield my sword or have a vampire take advantage of my mobility restriction when it's down. Tonight, I just don't care so it stays down.
I just sigh to myself. Come on Sonia think; whom could I go to for help. The answer is basically no one. Raziel is already doing her best and despite the fact that she is a few years older than myself she is a bit more, how do I say it? Foolish? No, she may be many things but a fool isn't on of them. Compulsive, that's it compulsive. She'll jump into situations before she has an idea of what she's doing. Not to mention when angry she has something of a big mouth that often times gets her into more trouble than she can handle. I usually will confide in her even in a combat situation but not right now. I can't always be there to bail her out if she got in a tight spot. I'm no babysitter in a fight I need to be able to watch my own back not someone else's.
Trying to keep my mind from wondering again, I set my attention to other matters. Like my weaponry for this fine evening. I don't arm myself quite as heavily tonight. I only take along my gauntlets with the wrist sheaths in them and a pair nine in hunting knives, placing one in each of boots. I'm fairly confident that Rahab nor Arielle will try to come for me tonight. If they were Rahab wouldn't have warned me but then again I'm hoping that was one of his more sane moments. Then again with vampires you can never tell. Some of them have more normal modes of thought but some are just plain bizarre. I've heard rumors of a vampire named Muerte that has completely lost it. So much that even the more powerful members of his own kind are hesitant when dealing with him. Indra won't go near him and that in itself is freaky. Oh, forget it.
Ugh, right now I'm just so confused as to what to do. As I have said there's almost no one I can turn to. I need to get some serious thinking done before I can start to take action on anything. One of my mottos is failing to prepare is preparing to fail, or is that a school motto? I don't know. It's still a useful and practical motto.
The one place I can think of to think without distraction is the isolated wilds of the Appellations. It has been one place I still love to go to and I know the Shenandoha area like the back of my paw now. I mist myself to a more secluded spot and stake out a place far from the prying eyes of hikers and fanatical tourists who might be out at this time of night. Walking without my footfalls making a single sound I find a rocky ledge that looks comfortable enough. I climb the moss covered precipice and settle down to think. These woods at night are a truly beautiful thing. I enjoy the subtle sounds of the crickets and the small animals scurrying about under the layer of dead leaves. The thick pine and birch trees that cover the area along with the pure crisp untainted scent of untouched land. These are the things I revel in here. It feels much more natural and comfortable in the wilds of the forest than in the cities and towns where I live and hunt. Here even the feral growls of the beast are pacified and tranquil.
I just sit here letting my mind wander into whatever it chooses. Some would think after the trauma I've experienced here I'd never would never want to come back. I suppose refusing to cower and hide has been my way of saying; ha, I'm still alive and kickin'. It's true, I could have given up but nope here I am. I never give up until I've accomplished my goals. That's just the way I've learned to be. In this case I have to kill the only ones I've ever feared in my life. Well, I suppose we meet new challenges everyday. It's just for all the things I've seen and done this is all so confusing. When I was little I thought I knew a lot. Now I know I don't know a thing and am just beginning to learn. Mostly the hard way each time but sometimes that's the only way to truly learn something of value. The saying that knowledge is power is a fitting statement. I can't fight what I know so little about. As Rahab told me the only way I won was from the blazing fury of the beast. Without it I would have held back and he would have killed me. I've tried for so long to pretend. Pretend that I was just a normal teenager that just happened to be a bit more enlightened than the general masses. I know now that one can only keep such a façade going for so long. After that you begin to lie to yourself, as I have done. After all this time do I truly know who and what I am? The answer to that is no. I've found no one who holds the answers I seek yet part of me still longs to find out. If I knew at least that, it might be my key to beating Rahab without succumbing to the madness of the beast. Also, to mention my little nagging desire to find another like me, a crystalline one. Who knows? I suppose I just have to keep looking. Maybe I'll find what I seek. Some of the answers I want to find.
I've looked for so long but have found nothing. I've never even seen another lycanthrope like myself. I suppose that doesn't matter now anyway. I need to find a way to find Rahab and soon. I have no idea what he could be planning for me or who ever he wants to go murder this time around. If I can do anything about it he won't lay a hand on anyone else. I'll see him with my blade protruding from his chest first. I have waited and trained all my life for just such an opportunity and now I will seize it this time. I know my prey now more than I did then and he'll be killed because of that. Knowledge is power and those who respect it will gain its benefits. Those who don't will perish under it's equally cruel flames. I've learned that lesson the hard way and at such a price. Well now it's pay back time and guess who that tax collector is now?
A rustle in the brush catches my attention, pulling me from my deep thought. I stand up and carefully scan the area. I catch a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and with lightning reflexes I dash for it. It's a vampire; the aura is just too dark and unnatural for it to be anything else. Yet this one's aura seems different, more like mine than a vampires. Oh, who cares who ever they are they're goin' down. I grab a hold of the back of it's, no, his shirt and slam him against a near by pine tree. He is clad in an old looking pair black T-shirt and jeans. His ankle high books seemed to match. Only the red frosted tips of his spiked raven hair seemed out of place here.
"Who are you?" I demand; no one should have known I was here and I don't think he just happened to be here. Coincidence only stretches so far and this was pushing it.
He looks at me in utter terror. That's definitely strange to see out of a vampire. They don't like admitting or showing fear at all. They hate any form of weakness. To show weakness means you would be an easy target and any hunter would despise that. He visibly and audibly gulped. "I'm Koyote, he stutters, his voice a bit high from fear, I mean no harm. I just wanted to talk to you."
"Why might that be? Do you even know who I am?" I doubt it if he was so bold but I thought I'd ask anyway. He was being a bit too brave to have been a vampire and still heard of me. Maybe if he were a Silver but seeing as how he is not. Well, this doesn't seem right.
His black eyes flick back and forth in near panic. "I know you're Acerbus Tigris but I never knew you were Clan so I just wanted talk." What was he talking about? This has just gotten so confusing all of a sudden. Was he suicidal and what on Earth and Hell did he mean by clan?
"What do you mean by clan? I belong to nothing like that." I didn't understand but I was going to make sure he was going to enlighten me a bit.
"You really don't know, he managed to stammer, as powerful as you are I thought you knew."
"Knew what? Cut to the chase already my patience only lasts so long." This Koyote person was getting irritating. I hate people who mess with my head. Whether it's on purpose or not.
He must have sensed it more that I let on 'cause he started to talk like he was never going to see a new moon again. "Okay well we're not from the same clan but we're still part of the same nation of clans. I'm of the Spazierganger Tod clan, a Death Walker, but from what I've heard I think you're a Crystallinus Bestia. One of the Beasts of Crystal." I stare at him in shock. I never really believed it but it was true. There were others. To think I had only just been musing on this and here comes someone who knows about others of my kind.
I release my tight grip his shirt and take a step back. "Koyote, we have some serious talking to do so we might as well walk a bit. This will be a long night" He just nods at me. He's still wary but that's to be expected. Hopefully he can tell me something useful or better still answer some of the questions about my kind, my past.