Children of the
Night
Chapter
5— Past Love
By:
Hime
hime@alloymail.com
~*~*~*~
"Good judgment comes from
experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."
-Evan Hardin
~*~*~*~
"Have fun on your date?" A voice called out from the darkness of the
living room.
Serena barely swallowed her shriek of surprise before reaching for the
light switch on the wall. "Don't do
that." She scolded the blonde sitting
on the couch, drumsticks in hand. She
had been practicing in the dark on imaginary drums, waiting for Serena to come
home.
The girl's purple eye's glanced up
in question. "You came home pretty
early…"
"I know, but we're planning on
going out again tomorrow."
"Did you choke?" The blond asked
before making a high pitched whining sound before shouting "boom".
"What's that suppose to
mean?" Serena asked, confused.
"It means crash and burn. Didn't
it sound like crash and burn?"
"No, it just sounded loud and
annoying." A second girl walked out
from the shadow-filled hallway. Her
long black hair was a little damp from the shower she had taken earlier. "Why are you home so early? Did you choke?"
Serena stood straight, looking
at both girls, unflinching. "I didn't
choke. I just got nervous."
"She chocked." The other two girls said to each other.
Serena wrinkled her nose at her two friends,
but she didn't deny their claims again.
Instead she sighed and threw herself on the sofa, making Sahra scramble
to get out of the way. "I'm such a
loser." Serena moaned into one of the sofa's throw pillows. "I told him I had to work tomorrow and I
needed to get home early. Why did I say
that?" She wailed. "Oh, but I am going out with him tomorrow
night." Serena sat up abruptly, once
more in better spirits.
Sahra cautiously sat down next to her
friend. She patted her on the shoulder
and said, "Well that's good isn't it?"
Sahra almost tumbled off the sofa when Serena
abruptly stood up and clenched her fists.
"It'll be better then good, it'll be great! I'll be the best date ever!"
"Calm down, you're scaring us." Faye watched the short blonde do her happy
dance. "Well, you're scaring me at least."
She said when Sahra joined in.
Faye turned away from the two and made for the kitchen. As she pushed open the swinging door, she
mumbled under her breath, "I'm living with idiots. That's the only explanation."
The door opened again a few seconds later.
"You're just jealous cause you don't know the
happy dance." Sahra blew Faye a
raspberry.
"I do too know the happy dance!" Faye was suddenly incensed. She began to demonstrate her knowledge. "You stick your fists into the air and you
wiggle you bottom and then you…" Faye trailed off as the two blondes began to
snicker. Faye looked at her hands in
the air. 'God's, I'm becoming an idiot
too. It's contagious.' Faye brought her hands to her face and began
to rub it hard as if to wake herself up from whatever dream she was in. Sighing, she sat down and looked at her
roommates. They smiled innocently at
her. She bared her fangs at them.
Deciding that she had teased Faye enough (the
sight of fangs can do that to you), Serena turned to the sink and filled the
silver kettle that was on the counter.
Once filled, she placed it over the burner, setting it for high. 'Shouldn't take to long to boil.' She
thought and turned to sit down on the only chair available.
"So why'd you choke anyway?" Faye finally asked, though she was still a
bit miffed at the two blondes teasing.
She enjoyed watching Serena's cheeks grow red.
"Oh, it's because of 'bastard boy' from college,
right?" Sahra said off-handedly, drumming in the air.
"Sahara!"
"Bastard boy?"
They both looked at Sahra. She was still hitting her imaginary drum
set. When Serena reached over and
smacked her upside the head, Sahra turned her puzzled purple eyes toward her
friend.
"Why'd you do that for?" She whined as she rubbed the sore spot on
her head. "I was only telling the
truth. You did choke because of him."
"And who's 'bastard boy'?" Faye asked.
"He was my boyfriend in college-" Serena started
to say before she was interrupted.
"He was her boyfriend from forever!" They were dating high school and all the way
up until they graduated from college!" Sahra said excitedly.
"When you call him 'bastard boy-" Now it was
Faye's turn to be interrupted.
"Don't call him that. His name was Brian." Serena said quietly.
"But he was a bastard! He broke your heart!"
"What happened to you two?" Faye asked curiously. She had always wondered why her roommate
didn't date and now it seemed that she would finally get her answer. Serena just stared at the kitchen table,
her hands fisted in her lap. Faye
looked at the girl, waiting for her to say something. Finally, Serena raised
her head with a blank look in her eyes and opened her mouth. Then the kettle went off and instead of
speaking, Serena got up to the stove.
She busied herself, making the tea and brought it to the table, before
sitting quietly once more. Serena
picked up her cup and when she noticed her hand trembling a bit, she brought her
other hand up to steady the cup. Taking
a sip of the calming tea, she sighed.
Faye looked at Sahra. Sahra was
just staring at Serena with a contrite look upon her face. Sahra bit her bottom lip, leaving marks.
When Serena put her cup down, Sahra immediately
grabbed one of her hands and placed it on top of her head. "I'm sorry I brought him up. I didn't realize how much the thought of him
hurt you still."
Serena looked at Sahra and smiled sadly. She petted her friend of eighteen years on
the head. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to hurt me." Serena scratched at a spot right behind
Sahra's ear. Sahra immediately began to
purr deep in her throat. Faye watched
the two through half-closed lids. She
felt an unmistakable feeling of jealousy.
Those two had been friends, best friends for over a decade. Faye knew she was their friend, but she
wondered how long it would take her to become as close to them as they were too
each other. Serena turned and placed
her other hand over Faye's. She smiled
into Faye's surprised eyes. 'You're my
friend too.' Serena's eyes seemed to convey.
Faye smiled back, her eyes flashing the same message. Serena gave another little sigh and brought
her hands to her cup again.
"I meet Brian in high school. He was in my class and since he's last name
was similar to mine, we sat near each other a lot. His father was a preacher-"
"You went out with the son of a preacher
man!" Faye squeaked out. Her shock was so great she didn't even
notice what she had just said. Sahra
in the background began to hum the song that Faye had unwittingly quoted.
"Yes, I did.
My parents didn't approve but they didn't stop me. And Brian himself wasn't that
religious. I think growing up in such a
religious family, turned him away from his own religion. Anyway, we became friends and then
more." Serena blushed at some memory,
before shaking her head and continuing with her story. "We went steady though most of high school
and then we went to the same college.
It was our last semester, almost graduation time when he…when he…" She
paused here and took a deep breath.
"When he what?" Faye asked, unable to hold her question.
"When he asked me to marry him."
~*~*~*~
Three years ago
"Okay, what did you want to ask me?" Serena smiled into her boyfriend's deep
green eyes. The wind played with her
golden strands of hair, wrapping themselves around the close couple. Brian's nervous fingers rumpled his chestnut
colored hair. He smiled down at her,
his eyes filled with love for the girl in his arms.
"Well we've been together for a long time now…" His
voice trailed off as Serena glanced down.
"I love you."
Serena's face grew warm and the smile on her face
grew brighter. "I love you too." She said softly and raised her face up to
his again to say it louder this time.
"I love you too." She stated
simply. He leaned down to kiss her when
he abruptly shook his head and instead began to speak again.
"We're going to graduate soon. And I know that you're probably going to
take over your mom's store in L.A. and all-"
"And you're going to join one of Seattle's biggest
architecture firm. I know that, we've
been over it before." Serena
interrupted him, not wanting to think past this day, past this moment. Graduation was coming up soon and who knew
what the future held for them.
"Why don't you come to Seattle with me."
"What?" she blinked up at him in complete surprise.
"Come with me to Seattle. I mean your mother can still run the store, or maybe one of your
cousins. You have a business degree so
you can get a job there or even start your own store. And we could be together."
He said softly, his eyes urging Serena to agree.
"But your parents hate me," she murmured, looking
off to the side of his head. "They hate
the family business."
"But you won't be part of that anymore so they
can't object. And anyway, even if they
did, it doesn't matter; they're not the one who wants to marry you. I am."
"Marry…me?"
Now she looked him in the eyes, her breath caught in her throat.
"Yes, I want to marry you. What did you think? I was just asking you to move in with me?"
"But marriage.
You never said anything to me about this."
"I didn't think I had too. I've loved you since high school and I love
you now. I want to spend the rest of my
life with you."
"You say that so easily."
"I say it from the heart."
"But there are things you don't know. Things about me and my family that
might…upset you."
"Like what?
I like your family even though they do own some new-age pagan
store. They're nice and I know they
love you very much."
Serena looked down. She could see her silver chain glint in the afternoon
sunlight. Her pendant was hidden
beneath the collar of the blouse she was wearing. She pulled it out of its resting space. "Do you know what this is?" She asked him, her eyes never leaving the
twisting silver moon. It glittered in
the sunlight and swung back and forth almost hypnotically.
He looked a bit puzzled, but he answered her
question. "It's your pendant. The one you never take off."
"Do you know why I never take it off?"
Brian knew a leading question when he heard one so
instead of answering he just shook his head no.
Now Serena turned her face to look at him. And just like the sunlight had glittered off
her necklace, her sky blue eyes reflected the rays of light from the sun. The wind stopped blowing and her hair fell
in disarray around her. The world had
seemed to quiet down in that one moment, just as if it was also waiting for
some sort of confession. Her lips
gleamed and curved up into a tiny hesitant smile.
"The reason I never take this off is because it
stores my powers."
"Powers?"
"Yes, powers.
It stores my powers because…I'm a witch."
~*~*~*~
"He didn't know you were a witch and you guys were
dating for 8 years?"
"I-it never came up."
Sahra snorted.
"You made sure it didn't come up."
"Whose side are you on? What happened to 'bastard boy'!" Serena rounded on her friend angrily.
"You said to call him Brian. And I'm just telling the truth. You didn't want to tell him because you were
afraid of how he would react."
"And how did he react? What happened after you told him you were a witch?"
"Before or after he called me 'Satan's
Whore'?" Serena smiled wryly but there
was pain in her eyes.
"Oh I'm so sorry, Serena." Faye came out of her chair and hugged Serena
tightly.
Serena patted Faye's arm and said, "It's
alright. It's been two years now, I'm
over it." Faye released her and went
back to her seat. "Well at first he
didn't believe me when I told him, so I did a little light spell to convince
him I was telling the truth. Then it
turned out he was much more religious then either of us thought he was. He left right after."
"Left school?"
"No, he just left me there in the park, alone."
"What happened after that day?" Faye wanted to know.
"I jumped him."
Sahra said proudly. She made a low
sound in her throat, a sound of pride in her skills as a hunter.
"What?"
"Sahra jumped him and I erased his memory of what
happened. He thought the reason we
broke up was because we were going to be separated anyway with him moving to
Seattle. I never saw him alone
again. I made sure of that."
"Does your family know what happened?"
"They never asked me about it but I'm sure my mom
and grandmother figured it out. They
were the ones to warn me against getting into a relationship with him in the
first place. And when my grandmother
suggested a store here in New York, I decided I would be the one to oversee the
branch."
"And I came here because of the music scene." Sahra filled in.
"And then two years later, I came in, hmm?"
"Why did you come to New York anyway? Doesn't your family live in California? Hey, wouldn't it be cool if your parents
knew Serena's?"
"They don't know each other, I'm sure of it. They live out in Hollywood." At the two blondes interested looks, Faye
expanded a bit more. "My dad's a
producer and my mom, well my mom does whatever she wants."
"But why did you leave?" Sahra pressed for an answer.
"I wanted to get away." Faye stated simply.
"Away from what?"
Purple eyes gazed at the vampire sitting next to her.
"In all my years of life, I have only lived away
from my parents twice. Once, nearly a
century ago, and then now. A child must
leave the nest eventually and permanently if she's to ever lead a life of her
own."
"But why come here?" Sahra's pressing questions were irritating Faye.
"I don't know why I came here. Maybe it was fate."
"Perhaps it was." Serena's voice was small but it
carried across the table. She smiled, a
truly happy one; the first real smile she had given since she had started to
talk about her past love. "Perhaps it
was fate that brought you here to this city; brought you here to meet us, so
that we could meet you. It must have
been fate."
~*~*~*~
Somewhere else in the city
"Dammit! We're
too late." A gloved hand fisted and
then punched out at the wall.
"Don't hurt yourself." An emotionless voice called out.
The owner stepped into the room, ignoring the copper scent of blood that
lingered in the air. She also ignored
the scent of human waste. The bowel was
the first thing to be released after death and the girl had been dead for over
an hour. She walked around the room,
watching for anything the vampire had left as a clue to hunt him down
with. She stopped at a closed
door. Though she knew the vamp was
gone—he was too smart to stay in the vicinity of his most recent kill-- she was
still cautious. Vampires were not the
only things that could kill you. She
signaled toward the brunette, and slid to one side of the door. The brunette nodded and kicked the door
open. Gun first, the blue-haired girl
stepped slowly into the bathroom. The
other one walked in too and gasped as she saw the wall in front of her. The reason the scent of blood was so strong
in the air was because of the message on the wall was written in it.
"Get Darien in here. Show him why we need him to concentrate on this matter and not on
his libido." The brunette left to do
her bidding.
Cool, collected eyes scanned the short message,
written in big block letters. When
Darien saw this he would understand why they were in such a hurry to finish
this matter up. More people were going
to die if they didn't. The message said
so.
SHE IS NOT
THE FIRST AND SHE IS NOT THE LAST.
~*~*~*~
AN: Well
that wasn't so disturbing after all. Well
at least it wasn't to me *shrug*. I
hope to get gorier later on. I mean I
have the "R" rating; I might as well use it, ne? Anyway, now we are going to be getting into the action part of
the story. Hope you guys enjoyed this
chapter! Remember to review, alright?
10/15/01
1:06 AM
