The concept of the NW and all it's original characters belong to LJ Smith
and her publishers etc. Not me. OK?
This is my first attempt at NW fanfiction, so any reviews would really make my day! Thanks for reading! Now, on with the story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gloomy, dreary and infinitely grey, the sky loomed grimly overhead, threatening Ella Pinefrost as she gazed from this sodden, damp infested hilltop, overlooking the grimy, glitzy world of Las Vegas. Everything bright and good was washed out by rain in the slate coloured clouds, leaving nothing but this dank wasteland, polluted with evil and unrest. The thought was not only depressing, but also hopelessly sad. The weather seemed to mirthlessly torment her with the promise of a downpour of coldness as she stood silent and melancholy, facing the forbidding dawn.
Here and now, she was experiencing the last few moments of true freedom she would ever have. It was a revolting notion. The weather, in harmony with her inner distress, was giving her a finale that was both dramatic and symbolistic of this point in her life. The sun rose, lancing the bleak, drab banks of rolling cloud. But still, despite such brave, emotive effort, those awful, water infested blobs prevailed. "Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army," she thought to herself. It was a quote from a poem they'd been studying in class recently. And it was a good definition too.
The view was great from up here. Like a toy town, so innocent, beautiful, magnificent. Funny how appearances could be so deceiving. It wasn't at all as it seemed. Within this place, so serene and quiet at dawn, lurked that unseen, secretive terror, stalking the streets with murderous intent. Vampires. Werewolves. Shapeshifters. Witches. Deadly members of the Night World. It wasn't safe anywhere, whether you were human or a Night person like herself. Not now, with the Millennium fast approaching and tension running so high. Death and destruction hid secretive and silent in the shadows, ready to pounce and smother the unwary, the foolish, the skilful and the brave alike. It was a truly awful world to live in, and a worse one to die in. That didn't change the truth of the matter. She was living now, and she would die pretty soon no doubt, here in this corrupt little city.
Ella smiled to herself, feeling self-derisive laughter bubble up within her. What a life! She could help feeling as if she was about to die, though not literally. That would be unlikely, considering that she was a lamia. The old Ella Pinefrost, the carefree kid who went to high school, was officially dead as of today. She was no longer herself, instead, she thought as her deep, wide, velvety midnight-blue eyes darkened in disgust, losing their alluring look of innocence, she would be a trained killer for the Night World's most elitist, most prestigious and most mysterious assassins agency. How's that for a career plan?
Even though she was wrapped up warm, with her stylishly tailored burgundy coat reaching to her knees, her black kitten-heeled boots, her formal brown trousers and a warm, creamy coloured cashmere scarf, she still shivered as a gust of wind sliced through her, as keen as a knife, and just as deadly. She knew that today was the beginning of the rest of her miserable and bloody life. Wistfully, she wound a twist of wavy, thick chocolate-coloured hair upon her index finger, before releasing it. It fell to her shoulders framing her delicate oval-shaped face, many darkly spiralling shafts tossed like a salad in the gusty breeze.
She looked up at the sky yet again. Ominous rumbles issued forth from the very belly of the sky. A storm was brewing no doubt. Just like the storm of unleashed fury that was beginning to broil within her. It wasn't fair!
"Why does it have to be me?" she mentally asked in despair. "I hate you, Alex." And mom, and dad, of course. And Mavis. And life, generally, and fate, for conspiring against her all along, to bring her to this horrendous conclusion.
She had had to leave everything and everyone she'd ever known. She had wanted to get a job somewhere, maybe even apply for college, choose for herself a life just like any other normal person. Ella thought of all those dreams she'd had as a girl, and grinned despite herself. The smile faded. The only problem with that plan was that she was a vampire, brought up in the Night World, and therefore obliged to serve it in the battles to come. Her fellow students, well the human ones anyway, had thought that she was going to some old college in the middle of nowhere, a good one though. The vermin wouldn't expect anything less for the stunning senior with the brains and the talent to go wherever she wanted to go. The Night World kids, and there had been several, knew of her true plight, and most of them couldn't see what the problem was. An assassin's agency was a pretty good deal as far as most of them had been concerned - you'd get to kill people, and get paid! It was a great achievement for a Night World kid with no prestigious family, no family at all actually, to get. Most of this agency's initiates were from well to do, respected families. Great, she'd replied, inwardly feeling disgust.
Maybe she should have been more grateful. That was exactly what everyone; Mavis, the gaunt vamp who had scouted her for the agency, and her friends, had thought she should be. She was no spoilt child, though. She simply believed that everyone should have freedom. The problem was, of course, that she had none. Having no living parents - they'd been staked long ago, her current guardians were in effect, the Night World council, and it was one of their retired, yet fiercely loyal agents, a made vampire called Mavis Rosethorn who had stepped up to take care of the pitifully lonely pair of orphans who had been abandoned in death ten years ago. Ella had been six, two years younger than her older brother Alex. Alex. The feelings of pain and anger rose stronger than any other at the every thought of him. Alex the deserter, the disloyal King of the bastards, the creep who had run away and left her to take his punishment.
Anger blinded her. That was a flaw of hers that no amount of anger management or crying or even violence could dissolve. She hated her temper, but she loathed her slimy toad of a brother even more. She knew deep within her mind, that actually Alex had not been so bad, but it was his sudden departure that had scarred her the most, and now her fury was slowly distorting even the good memories of him that she still held. Mais c'est la vie. And there's nothing anybody can do about it.
Why? That was the question of the day, she thought to herself. I've been out here ages, she realised with a start, as she looked at her watch. Mavis would be up already. The three hands all pointed to the six. Six, six, six. Half six and 30 seconds, 31, 32, 33. She pulled her coat sleeve over it again. Mavis would murder her when she found out she had driven up here. The problem with lying to her foster mother was that she had impeccable psychic abilities, and could sense a lie a mile off. Bitch, she thought as she trudged miserably from her lofty vantage point to her car, although she didn't mean it one bit. Loving Mavis had been hard at first, with the image of her parent fresh in her mind, but as she began to accept the true situation, she had grown to love the beautiful, loving, if bad-tempered woman, so old in age yet young looking, like any other vamp. If anything, it was Alex that had always had the problem with her, and with life. Her brother was now fresh in her mind as she turned back to have one last look at the view. This is it, Miss Pinefrost. Your last look at the world before you metaphorically die. She felt such a longing to run away from life, a sense of loss for those things that might have been. If only things had been different. If only.
But that's life, and shit happens. Deal with it.
With a last glance over her shoulder, Ella got into the car and began the weary journey back home. The journey that she did not want to make, that would take her to her unwanted new life as an assassin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Please r/r! Thanks for reading, and I hope you will come back for the next chapter. ^_^
This is my first attempt at NW fanfiction, so any reviews would really make my day! Thanks for reading! Now, on with the story.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gloomy, dreary and infinitely grey, the sky loomed grimly overhead, threatening Ella Pinefrost as she gazed from this sodden, damp infested hilltop, overlooking the grimy, glitzy world of Las Vegas. Everything bright and good was washed out by rain in the slate coloured clouds, leaving nothing but this dank wasteland, polluted with evil and unrest. The thought was not only depressing, but also hopelessly sad. The weather seemed to mirthlessly torment her with the promise of a downpour of coldness as she stood silent and melancholy, facing the forbidding dawn.
Here and now, she was experiencing the last few moments of true freedom she would ever have. It was a revolting notion. The weather, in harmony with her inner distress, was giving her a finale that was both dramatic and symbolistic of this point in her life. The sun rose, lancing the bleak, drab banks of rolling cloud. But still, despite such brave, emotive effort, those awful, water infested blobs prevailed. "Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army," she thought to herself. It was a quote from a poem they'd been studying in class recently. And it was a good definition too.
The view was great from up here. Like a toy town, so innocent, beautiful, magnificent. Funny how appearances could be so deceiving. It wasn't at all as it seemed. Within this place, so serene and quiet at dawn, lurked that unseen, secretive terror, stalking the streets with murderous intent. Vampires. Werewolves. Shapeshifters. Witches. Deadly members of the Night World. It wasn't safe anywhere, whether you were human or a Night person like herself. Not now, with the Millennium fast approaching and tension running so high. Death and destruction hid secretive and silent in the shadows, ready to pounce and smother the unwary, the foolish, the skilful and the brave alike. It was a truly awful world to live in, and a worse one to die in. That didn't change the truth of the matter. She was living now, and she would die pretty soon no doubt, here in this corrupt little city.
Ella smiled to herself, feeling self-derisive laughter bubble up within her. What a life! She could help feeling as if she was about to die, though not literally. That would be unlikely, considering that she was a lamia. The old Ella Pinefrost, the carefree kid who went to high school, was officially dead as of today. She was no longer herself, instead, she thought as her deep, wide, velvety midnight-blue eyes darkened in disgust, losing their alluring look of innocence, she would be a trained killer for the Night World's most elitist, most prestigious and most mysterious assassins agency. How's that for a career plan?
Even though she was wrapped up warm, with her stylishly tailored burgundy coat reaching to her knees, her black kitten-heeled boots, her formal brown trousers and a warm, creamy coloured cashmere scarf, she still shivered as a gust of wind sliced through her, as keen as a knife, and just as deadly. She knew that today was the beginning of the rest of her miserable and bloody life. Wistfully, she wound a twist of wavy, thick chocolate-coloured hair upon her index finger, before releasing it. It fell to her shoulders framing her delicate oval-shaped face, many darkly spiralling shafts tossed like a salad in the gusty breeze.
She looked up at the sky yet again. Ominous rumbles issued forth from the very belly of the sky. A storm was brewing no doubt. Just like the storm of unleashed fury that was beginning to broil within her. It wasn't fair!
"Why does it have to be me?" she mentally asked in despair. "I hate you, Alex." And mom, and dad, of course. And Mavis. And life, generally, and fate, for conspiring against her all along, to bring her to this horrendous conclusion.
She had had to leave everything and everyone she'd ever known. She had wanted to get a job somewhere, maybe even apply for college, choose for herself a life just like any other normal person. Ella thought of all those dreams she'd had as a girl, and grinned despite herself. The smile faded. The only problem with that plan was that she was a vampire, brought up in the Night World, and therefore obliged to serve it in the battles to come. Her fellow students, well the human ones anyway, had thought that she was going to some old college in the middle of nowhere, a good one though. The vermin wouldn't expect anything less for the stunning senior with the brains and the talent to go wherever she wanted to go. The Night World kids, and there had been several, knew of her true plight, and most of them couldn't see what the problem was. An assassin's agency was a pretty good deal as far as most of them had been concerned - you'd get to kill people, and get paid! It was a great achievement for a Night World kid with no prestigious family, no family at all actually, to get. Most of this agency's initiates were from well to do, respected families. Great, she'd replied, inwardly feeling disgust.
Maybe she should have been more grateful. That was exactly what everyone; Mavis, the gaunt vamp who had scouted her for the agency, and her friends, had thought she should be. She was no spoilt child, though. She simply believed that everyone should have freedom. The problem was, of course, that she had none. Having no living parents - they'd been staked long ago, her current guardians were in effect, the Night World council, and it was one of their retired, yet fiercely loyal agents, a made vampire called Mavis Rosethorn who had stepped up to take care of the pitifully lonely pair of orphans who had been abandoned in death ten years ago. Ella had been six, two years younger than her older brother Alex. Alex. The feelings of pain and anger rose stronger than any other at the every thought of him. Alex the deserter, the disloyal King of the bastards, the creep who had run away and left her to take his punishment.
Anger blinded her. That was a flaw of hers that no amount of anger management or crying or even violence could dissolve. She hated her temper, but she loathed her slimy toad of a brother even more. She knew deep within her mind, that actually Alex had not been so bad, but it was his sudden departure that had scarred her the most, and now her fury was slowly distorting even the good memories of him that she still held. Mais c'est la vie. And there's nothing anybody can do about it.
Why? That was the question of the day, she thought to herself. I've been out here ages, she realised with a start, as she looked at her watch. Mavis would be up already. The three hands all pointed to the six. Six, six, six. Half six and 30 seconds, 31, 32, 33. She pulled her coat sleeve over it again. Mavis would murder her when she found out she had driven up here. The problem with lying to her foster mother was that she had impeccable psychic abilities, and could sense a lie a mile off. Bitch, she thought as she trudged miserably from her lofty vantage point to her car, although she didn't mean it one bit. Loving Mavis had been hard at first, with the image of her parent fresh in her mind, but as she began to accept the true situation, she had grown to love the beautiful, loving, if bad-tempered woman, so old in age yet young looking, like any other vamp. If anything, it was Alex that had always had the problem with her, and with life. Her brother was now fresh in her mind as she turned back to have one last look at the view. This is it, Miss Pinefrost. Your last look at the world before you metaphorically die. She felt such a longing to run away from life, a sense of loss for those things that might have been. If only things had been different. If only.
But that's life, and shit happens. Deal with it.
With a last glance over her shoulder, Ella got into the car and began the weary journey back home. The journey that she did not want to make, that would take her to her unwanted new life as an assassin.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Please r/r! Thanks for reading, and I hope you will come back for the next chapter. ^_^