AN: Well, I had a bit of time today so I thought I'd toss this up there for people to read! My special, unadulterated thanks to these beautiful, wondrous people: Myst( As much as I'd like to answer your question, it would completely ruin the story if I did. Sorry:: looks very apologetic:: ) Keller( Yup, ::gasps:: there IS a plot! It's just not that far yet. This chapter introduces a bit though ::grins:: ) and lastly but sweetly, Diomede (nope, not gonna make you wait for long, obviously, Thanks for reviewing!)
Any comments would be adored like the thing that they are: Bliss! Comments are the ambrosia of writers and I'm certainly not excluded from that! But on to the story.
Chapter 3: To Dream a Dream of Night
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Lei was dreaming. He knew he was. Colored mists seemed to swirl around him and he was laying down somewhere. It was comforting and he could hear his mother's voice quietly telling him stories like she would when he was little, before his brother took him away. Everything was perfect except for...
Tap. Tap. Tap.
That. An annoying tapping sound, like rain on windowpanes, broke through the harmonious sound of his mother's voice. A first he tried to ignore it, he wanted to curl up in his dream and live there forever. However, the tapping wasn't about to grant that wish.
Tap .Tap. TAP!
Lei awoke with a start, staring straight up at the pale blob that was his ceiling.
TAP.TAP.TAP!
The noise came again and this time he identified it. Fingernails on glass. Lei growled and got out of bed, stomping over to his window. He slammed it open and glared down at Avalon.
"You ruined my dream!" he growled at her, stepping back so she could climb in.
"Sorry," she left him no explanation for why she was there at...he looked at the clock...four o'clock in the morning. Then again, she did this often; and he knew her excuse. Avalon often had bad dreams, horrible ones of death and killing and no one seemed to be able to calm them out of her. Except for him. Which was probably why she was here. She never told him what they were about; she never seemed to need to. Rubbing the sleep and anger out of his eyes, he sat down next to her. He could see she had been crying; tear streaks ran vertically down her sculpted cheekbones.
"Had another one?" he asked softly and she nodded. He held her for a few minutes then said, "Do you want some tea or something? It'll calm you down." She nodded again and stood up. He carefully pushed her back down. "No, it's okay. You stay here and I'll get it." He wasn't sure where his brother was or what he was doing at the moment, but the last thing he wanted Avalon seeing was his brother feeding off some girl.
"Okay, she answered quietly, and laid down on his bed. He closed the door silently behind him and turned to head for the kitchen. Making his way past the living room, he spied his brother and a pretty blonde girl kissing on the couch. Well, probably doing significantly more than kissing but he didn't stay to see. He walked past the room quickly, then spoke to his brother telepathically.
*Avalon's here. She's in my room right now but don't make too much noise*. He felt his brother nodding and he answered.
*Right, we'll be quiet. Would you like a sip little brother? She's sweet*. Lei shook his head at his brother, knowing the older boy would pick up on his refusal. It wasn't that Lei didn't feed off of humans, he wasn't a Daybreaker, but some how sharing with another seemed wrong. Like sharing someone's toothbrush, or having a threesome. He felt his brother's mental shrug, he clearly didn't understand his younger sibling's strange scruples, and cut off the link between them. Laughing quietly, he put a teapot of water on to boil.
*~*~*~*
Avalon huddled in her best friends bed, feeling comforted just by the feel of his sheets on her skin. She could faintly smell his own personal scent, one she equated with love and understanding. Smelling it brought images of sunshine on sweet grass, and the scent of a newborn baby in its father's arms. But it was also a feeling of silk upon steel, which held a strange fire inside that burned the unwary. Something that reminded her of more violent, passionate things; hard kisses under harsh moonlight and the wild excitement of a chase.
A shiver of fear sent a thrill through her bones. But the harder she concentrated on these fierce images his scent sparked, the farther away they seemed to float until all she could see was the sunshine and green grass, babies in father's arms. She sighed and turned on her back. God, she really must have lost a few marbles somewhere along the road. Imagine, getting all from a smell! No wonder everyone at school thought she was a freak. She was one. And then there were her dreams, which sealed her insanity.
She sighed convulsively, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her knees. She tried to block out the images that were now parading in front of her mind's eye. Red was the most prominent thing. The girl who her mind said was her, though she was blonde and much taller, was wearing an old-fashioned crimson dress. It hung off her shoulders, revealing pale skin. The voluminous skirts swept the floor. A floor covered in blood. And so was the girl, once her mind brought Avalon closer. The dress, she realized now, was not crimson, but white, and that it was blood that was staining it red. But not hers. Someone else's, someone she cared for deeply...
Avalon felt herself being pulled even closer now, and although she was wide awake, her eyes staring at a painting on Lei's wall, all she could see was red, red, red.
Suddenly she felt herself pulled inside the girl in her vision, melding into her, her fright and the girl's fright becoming one as Avalon felt her spirit wrenched into the girl's body...
Her name was Morgana and she was the belle of the ball. Women admired her new white dress. The one Daddy had brought back from his trip from France. The men were admiring...well, certainly not the dress but that was perfectly fine with her. She giggled softly at a young man who had said something particularly witty, rewarding him with a smile that light up the room like stray rays of sunshine bouncing off of a crystal wine glass.
He smiled back at her and asked to dance. Of course she said yes, he was very handsome and his violet eyes sparkled kindly down at her. As they waltzed around the ballroom, other couples seemed to stare at them, and whispers were surely saying what a striking couple they made.
"I must say, that is an astonishing dress," he said quietly to her. She smiled coyly at him. She may have been only sixteen but she was fairly sure that he was not thinking of the dress as he said that. Or perhaps he was but only to wonder what it would look like crumpled on the ground.
"My name is Morgana," she said back. He nodded solemnly, sweeping her over the floor.
"And I am Adam Trable, pleased to meet you." Oh, she knew that name, he was among the wealthiest people in Massachusetts. Well, his father was anyway; and they were the ones throwing this ball. She smiled at him for real this time, and candles seemed to dim in comparison. "Would you care to go somewhere to talk?" he asked her. Mutely, she nodded, and let him draw her off the dance floor. He brought her into a room that was obviously a library or study of some sort. He opened a pair of double doors, revealing a large portico that overlooked a beautiful garden. She followed him out, knowing that she really shouldn't be alone with him without a chaperone but...oh well. She had never been one for rules.
To her surprise, they did exactly as he had said they would. Talk. They conversed about many things and as the night grew older she began to realize that she quite liked this young man. No man except her father ever spoke to her as if she had an opinion that really counted. They just assumed that she was another silly woman, prone to emotional breakdowns and hysteria. She wasn't, she had a very sharp mind and her father always said that she picked up on things others tended to miss or disregard as unimportant.
This boy though, this Adam, he asked her opinion on everything from politics, (Are you for or against slavery? Very against, Blacks are people as well) to the best way to get out of trouble (I hardly ever get into any because my father is very liberal. Really? I tend to never be out of it). And he actually listened, laughing at her jokes and listening solemnly to her tale of how her mother died. (They thought she was a witch. And was she? Of course not!) By the end of the first few hours she absolutely adored him.
She heard a sound behind her, and he turned.
"Excuse me, but guests are not supposed to stray from the ballroom," Adam said quietly to the person behind them. She turned as well, and saw a man standing by the doors. He said nothing, paid no attention to Adam, only stared at her as if she were about to be served on a platter. Light from the room behind them shone on his shiny black hair, making it look slick as oil on water. She felt a wave of repulsion as he took a step closer to her, never taking his black, soulless eyes off of her.
Adam was stepping forward now, trying to block the man's path to her. He was saying something to the strange man but she couldn't understand the words that garbled out of his mouth. "What do you want?" she whispered to the man, panic coloring her thoughts a vivid red. Silver darted in the black depths of his eyes like fish in a deep, unending lake and he smiled, revealing canine teeth that were much longer, much sharper than they had any right to be. Terror blackened her mind but sharpened her senses, turning the scene into something out of her nightmares.
"You," he whispered back. Or perhaps not whispered out loud, but in her mind, and it echoed, fear chasing it in circles until it rang like a bell through her panicked thoughts. He took another step forward, never taking his eyes off her. Adam stepped directly in the man's path this time, belligerent tones of someone with all the money of world and none of its fears streaking through the soft, sweet voice that had enchanted her before. The black eyes finally looked away from her for a moment, freeing her from a paralysis she hadn't known was upon her. She cowered behind Adam, thanking God he was there.
Unfortunately, God was not there that evening. Adam swung out at the black-eyed man, but the man ducked, he grabbed the boy's arm swung him into a small wooden table that sat on the portico. She screamed and he stepped forward, only a foot away from her now. He brought his hand up to her neck, cold hand stroking it softly as those sharp canine teeth sharpened even more. She whimpered quietly but didn't move. She couldn't, paralysis had reclaimed its victim. The man brought his lips to her neck, where she could feel her heart pounding in terror...
And was jarred backward as the monster was knocked away from her. Adam stood in his place, a wooden table leg in his hands, which he had obviously used against the demon on the ground. A demon was what this man was, something out of her worst nightmares. And now he was mad, practically foaming at the mouth.
Adam grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the double doors. "Morgana!" he yelled urgently, brandishing the table leg at the Creature. "Go! Get help." She turned to do so but turned as she heard a scream of agony and rage. The black-eyed Monster had Adam by the throat now, and she ran back to try and help him, knowing as she did so that it would mean certain death for her. It didn't matter. Adam was her friend, possibly more, and she couldn't abandon him. Even as she reached them though, she knew it was too late. The Vampire had already sunk his teeth into the violet-eyed boy's neck, ripping it open.
Morgana heard yells behind her, doors opening and people rushing in to see what was wrong. The monster looked up seeing dozens of angry faces, and decided that now wasn't the time to push things. He threw the Adam at her and she caught his slumping body against hers.
"Next time Sweetheart," the vampire hissed at her, then disappeared as he jumped the ledge of the portico. Morgana sunk to the ground under Adam's weight, knowing there was no way someone could possibly live with so much blood spilled. He watched her with strangely calm eyes, handsome face solemn and pale as ash. She brushed a strand of dark mahogany hair out of his startling, wild violet eyes and he smiled. He didn't speak but she knew what he would have said if he had. He would have said, 'I'm sorry.'
He closed his eyes and a crystal tear fell, sliding over his soft cheek. It took her a moment to realize it was her tear, not his. He was dead. Silently bidding him goodbye, she carefully set him on the ground and stood up, paying no attention to her now crimson dress that clung to her stomach and thighs. Hushed eyes stared at her in pity but she didn't want pity, not while standing in a puddle of her dear friend's blood, while it caked her skin, whispering to her that the stains would never be washed off.
"We must kill the vampire."
Avalon pulled herself out of her waking dream, still feeling the blood imprinted upon her body. It had probably only been a few minutes since she had been pulled in though it felt like hours. She didn't want to be alone, not when the rest of the dream was wiggling at the corners of her consciousness, just waiting to make an entrance. It seemed so real, more like a memory of what had once been instead of figments of a more than slightly warped imagination. Those violet eyes...she shook her head.* What about those black ones?* her mind asked her. Just thinking about them caused her to tremble in fear. Forget waiting here. She needed comfort now. And Lei was the only one who could supply it. She rolled off the bed and quietly opened the door, not wanting to wake his brother. She slid silently towards the kitchen where she could almost feel Lei's mind, like an aura.
She paused as she passed the living room, seeing movement in the dark, like a cat stretching lazily on the couch. * Lei doesn't have any animals*, she thought in confusion. Sliding her hand along the wall, she flipped the light on in the living room. Black eyes shiny with confusion and lust stared up at her above lips twisted in a blood-covered snarl, revealing long sharp canine teeth. A girl with pale blond hair lay unconscious in his arms.
Avalon screamed.
*~*
Thank you for reading! I plan to update once or twice a week as I have this completely written already. Ooh, and please, if you liked this story, go to my website at:
http://hometown.aol.com/ramseskittyn/enter.html
This is where I house all my stories, fanfiction and original. Gotta jet. Byeee!
Kaelyn
Any comments would be adored like the thing that they are: Bliss! Comments are the ambrosia of writers and I'm certainly not excluded from that! But on to the story.
Chapter 3: To Dream a Dream of Night
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Lei was dreaming. He knew he was. Colored mists seemed to swirl around him and he was laying down somewhere. It was comforting and he could hear his mother's voice quietly telling him stories like she would when he was little, before his brother took him away. Everything was perfect except for...
Tap. Tap. Tap.
That. An annoying tapping sound, like rain on windowpanes, broke through the harmonious sound of his mother's voice. A first he tried to ignore it, he wanted to curl up in his dream and live there forever. However, the tapping wasn't about to grant that wish.
Tap .Tap. TAP!
Lei awoke with a start, staring straight up at the pale blob that was his ceiling.
TAP.TAP.TAP!
The noise came again and this time he identified it. Fingernails on glass. Lei growled and got out of bed, stomping over to his window. He slammed it open and glared down at Avalon.
"You ruined my dream!" he growled at her, stepping back so she could climb in.
"Sorry," she left him no explanation for why she was there at...he looked at the clock...four o'clock in the morning. Then again, she did this often; and he knew her excuse. Avalon often had bad dreams, horrible ones of death and killing and no one seemed to be able to calm them out of her. Except for him. Which was probably why she was here. She never told him what they were about; she never seemed to need to. Rubbing the sleep and anger out of his eyes, he sat down next to her. He could see she had been crying; tear streaks ran vertically down her sculpted cheekbones.
"Had another one?" he asked softly and she nodded. He held her for a few minutes then said, "Do you want some tea or something? It'll calm you down." She nodded again and stood up. He carefully pushed her back down. "No, it's okay. You stay here and I'll get it." He wasn't sure where his brother was or what he was doing at the moment, but the last thing he wanted Avalon seeing was his brother feeding off some girl.
"Okay, she answered quietly, and laid down on his bed. He closed the door silently behind him and turned to head for the kitchen. Making his way past the living room, he spied his brother and a pretty blonde girl kissing on the couch. Well, probably doing significantly more than kissing but he didn't stay to see. He walked past the room quickly, then spoke to his brother telepathically.
*Avalon's here. She's in my room right now but don't make too much noise*. He felt his brother nodding and he answered.
*Right, we'll be quiet. Would you like a sip little brother? She's sweet*. Lei shook his head at his brother, knowing the older boy would pick up on his refusal. It wasn't that Lei didn't feed off of humans, he wasn't a Daybreaker, but some how sharing with another seemed wrong. Like sharing someone's toothbrush, or having a threesome. He felt his brother's mental shrug, he clearly didn't understand his younger sibling's strange scruples, and cut off the link between them. Laughing quietly, he put a teapot of water on to boil.
*~*~*~*
Avalon huddled in her best friends bed, feeling comforted just by the feel of his sheets on her skin. She could faintly smell his own personal scent, one she equated with love and understanding. Smelling it brought images of sunshine on sweet grass, and the scent of a newborn baby in its father's arms. But it was also a feeling of silk upon steel, which held a strange fire inside that burned the unwary. Something that reminded her of more violent, passionate things; hard kisses under harsh moonlight and the wild excitement of a chase.
A shiver of fear sent a thrill through her bones. But the harder she concentrated on these fierce images his scent sparked, the farther away they seemed to float until all she could see was the sunshine and green grass, babies in father's arms. She sighed and turned on her back. God, she really must have lost a few marbles somewhere along the road. Imagine, getting all from a smell! No wonder everyone at school thought she was a freak. She was one. And then there were her dreams, which sealed her insanity.
She sighed convulsively, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her knees. She tried to block out the images that were now parading in front of her mind's eye. Red was the most prominent thing. The girl who her mind said was her, though she was blonde and much taller, was wearing an old-fashioned crimson dress. It hung off her shoulders, revealing pale skin. The voluminous skirts swept the floor. A floor covered in blood. And so was the girl, once her mind brought Avalon closer. The dress, she realized now, was not crimson, but white, and that it was blood that was staining it red. But not hers. Someone else's, someone she cared for deeply...
Avalon felt herself being pulled even closer now, and although she was wide awake, her eyes staring at a painting on Lei's wall, all she could see was red, red, red.
Suddenly she felt herself pulled inside the girl in her vision, melding into her, her fright and the girl's fright becoming one as Avalon felt her spirit wrenched into the girl's body...
Her name was Morgana and she was the belle of the ball. Women admired her new white dress. The one Daddy had brought back from his trip from France. The men were admiring...well, certainly not the dress but that was perfectly fine with her. She giggled softly at a young man who had said something particularly witty, rewarding him with a smile that light up the room like stray rays of sunshine bouncing off of a crystal wine glass.
He smiled back at her and asked to dance. Of course she said yes, he was very handsome and his violet eyes sparkled kindly down at her. As they waltzed around the ballroom, other couples seemed to stare at them, and whispers were surely saying what a striking couple they made.
"I must say, that is an astonishing dress," he said quietly to her. She smiled coyly at him. She may have been only sixteen but she was fairly sure that he was not thinking of the dress as he said that. Or perhaps he was but only to wonder what it would look like crumpled on the ground.
"My name is Morgana," she said back. He nodded solemnly, sweeping her over the floor.
"And I am Adam Trable, pleased to meet you." Oh, she knew that name, he was among the wealthiest people in Massachusetts. Well, his father was anyway; and they were the ones throwing this ball. She smiled at him for real this time, and candles seemed to dim in comparison. "Would you care to go somewhere to talk?" he asked her. Mutely, she nodded, and let him draw her off the dance floor. He brought her into a room that was obviously a library or study of some sort. He opened a pair of double doors, revealing a large portico that overlooked a beautiful garden. She followed him out, knowing that she really shouldn't be alone with him without a chaperone but...oh well. She had never been one for rules.
To her surprise, they did exactly as he had said they would. Talk. They conversed about many things and as the night grew older she began to realize that she quite liked this young man. No man except her father ever spoke to her as if she had an opinion that really counted. They just assumed that she was another silly woman, prone to emotional breakdowns and hysteria. She wasn't, she had a very sharp mind and her father always said that she picked up on things others tended to miss or disregard as unimportant.
This boy though, this Adam, he asked her opinion on everything from politics, (Are you for or against slavery? Very against, Blacks are people as well) to the best way to get out of trouble (I hardly ever get into any because my father is very liberal. Really? I tend to never be out of it). And he actually listened, laughing at her jokes and listening solemnly to her tale of how her mother died. (They thought she was a witch. And was she? Of course not!) By the end of the first few hours she absolutely adored him.
She heard a sound behind her, and he turned.
"Excuse me, but guests are not supposed to stray from the ballroom," Adam said quietly to the person behind them. She turned as well, and saw a man standing by the doors. He said nothing, paid no attention to Adam, only stared at her as if she were about to be served on a platter. Light from the room behind them shone on his shiny black hair, making it look slick as oil on water. She felt a wave of repulsion as he took a step closer to her, never taking his black, soulless eyes off of her.
Adam was stepping forward now, trying to block the man's path to her. He was saying something to the strange man but she couldn't understand the words that garbled out of his mouth. "What do you want?" she whispered to the man, panic coloring her thoughts a vivid red. Silver darted in the black depths of his eyes like fish in a deep, unending lake and he smiled, revealing canine teeth that were much longer, much sharper than they had any right to be. Terror blackened her mind but sharpened her senses, turning the scene into something out of her nightmares.
"You," he whispered back. Or perhaps not whispered out loud, but in her mind, and it echoed, fear chasing it in circles until it rang like a bell through her panicked thoughts. He took another step forward, never taking his eyes off her. Adam stepped directly in the man's path this time, belligerent tones of someone with all the money of world and none of its fears streaking through the soft, sweet voice that had enchanted her before. The black eyes finally looked away from her for a moment, freeing her from a paralysis she hadn't known was upon her. She cowered behind Adam, thanking God he was there.
Unfortunately, God was not there that evening. Adam swung out at the black-eyed man, but the man ducked, he grabbed the boy's arm swung him into a small wooden table that sat on the portico. She screamed and he stepped forward, only a foot away from her now. He brought his hand up to her neck, cold hand stroking it softly as those sharp canine teeth sharpened even more. She whimpered quietly but didn't move. She couldn't, paralysis had reclaimed its victim. The man brought his lips to her neck, where she could feel her heart pounding in terror...
And was jarred backward as the monster was knocked away from her. Adam stood in his place, a wooden table leg in his hands, which he had obviously used against the demon on the ground. A demon was what this man was, something out of her worst nightmares. And now he was mad, practically foaming at the mouth.
Adam grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the double doors. "Morgana!" he yelled urgently, brandishing the table leg at the Creature. "Go! Get help." She turned to do so but turned as she heard a scream of agony and rage. The black-eyed Monster had Adam by the throat now, and she ran back to try and help him, knowing as she did so that it would mean certain death for her. It didn't matter. Adam was her friend, possibly more, and she couldn't abandon him. Even as she reached them though, she knew it was too late. The Vampire had already sunk his teeth into the violet-eyed boy's neck, ripping it open.
Morgana heard yells behind her, doors opening and people rushing in to see what was wrong. The monster looked up seeing dozens of angry faces, and decided that now wasn't the time to push things. He threw the Adam at her and she caught his slumping body against hers.
"Next time Sweetheart," the vampire hissed at her, then disappeared as he jumped the ledge of the portico. Morgana sunk to the ground under Adam's weight, knowing there was no way someone could possibly live with so much blood spilled. He watched her with strangely calm eyes, handsome face solemn and pale as ash. She brushed a strand of dark mahogany hair out of his startling, wild violet eyes and he smiled. He didn't speak but she knew what he would have said if he had. He would have said, 'I'm sorry.'
He closed his eyes and a crystal tear fell, sliding over his soft cheek. It took her a moment to realize it was her tear, not his. He was dead. Silently bidding him goodbye, she carefully set him on the ground and stood up, paying no attention to her now crimson dress that clung to her stomach and thighs. Hushed eyes stared at her in pity but she didn't want pity, not while standing in a puddle of her dear friend's blood, while it caked her skin, whispering to her that the stains would never be washed off.
"We must kill the vampire."
Avalon pulled herself out of her waking dream, still feeling the blood imprinted upon her body. It had probably only been a few minutes since she had been pulled in though it felt like hours. She didn't want to be alone, not when the rest of the dream was wiggling at the corners of her consciousness, just waiting to make an entrance. It seemed so real, more like a memory of what had once been instead of figments of a more than slightly warped imagination. Those violet eyes...she shook her head.* What about those black ones?* her mind asked her. Just thinking about them caused her to tremble in fear. Forget waiting here. She needed comfort now. And Lei was the only one who could supply it. She rolled off the bed and quietly opened the door, not wanting to wake his brother. She slid silently towards the kitchen where she could almost feel Lei's mind, like an aura.
She paused as she passed the living room, seeing movement in the dark, like a cat stretching lazily on the couch. * Lei doesn't have any animals*, she thought in confusion. Sliding her hand along the wall, she flipped the light on in the living room. Black eyes shiny with confusion and lust stared up at her above lips twisted in a blood-covered snarl, revealing long sharp canine teeth. A girl with pale blond hair lay unconscious in his arms.
Avalon screamed.
*~*
Thank you for reading! I plan to update once or twice a week as I have this completely written already. Ooh, and please, if you liked this story, go to my website at:
http://hometown.aol.com/ramseskittyn/enter.html
This is where I house all my stories, fanfiction and original. Gotta jet. Byeee!
Kaelyn