Evidently, I own none of LJ Smith's stuff. But all the original things that
I have made up are mine! Great.
It's been a while, I apologise. But won't you review my story? Please! I'll give you an imaginary chocolate cake if you do! With chocolate butter icing, chocolate buttons, smarties and icing sugar on top! Bribery is wrong, I know, but never mind.
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Ella peered into the shadowy gloom, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the small amount of flickering firelight that illuminated the room. There were large windows all around, but for some reason they were shuttered off completely. It was vast, the walls rough, built from red-gold sandstone blocks. The floor was carpeted, well; it was soft to tread upon anyway. Many figures huddled round the roaring fire, and the dull murmur of conversation mingled with the malevolent crackle of the flames as they roared up the cavernous chimney and devoured gigantic wooden logs in the large hearth that stood to the left. Spots of candlelight were dotted about the rest of the room, upon tables, and she could just about make out a few forms sitting around them, separate from the main group. A few burning copper braziers were dotted about too; to light up dark corners, but all of this combined did not dispel the gloomy darkness of the room.
"Gregson!" Aldred said beside her, his sharp tone of voice cutting through everyone's conversation. A stirring of bodies around the fire, then one ambled lazily towards them.
"These are the watchmen for the front doors. We have hundreds of people employed just to guard the facility. Don't think the castle is just a training facility. This place is the base of all our many activities, projects and operations. Obviously, the Night World considers this program of utmost necessity and importance." He did not expand on this, and yet again Ella was left with a myriad of unanswered questions taunting her.
"Sir," said Gregson, behaving just as John had. She saw that he was a human, and a mutilated one at that. Only his face was visible, a round, shiny lump. One of his ears was torn off, a ragged seam of unused, broken flesh still attached to the side of his skull. Scars crisscrossed his ugly face, which was swarthy and mean looking. His startlingly blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. As he spoke, Ella glimpsed that a large proportion of his teeth were missing.
"Take this bag to the Rowan room." He conveyed her black suitcase from her nervous clutches and dumped it unceremoniously into Gregson's hands. Ella bit back a shriek as she saw that he had only three fingers on one hand. Gregson nodded respectfully to Aldred, and after flashing a grim smile at Ella, he sauntered away.
Aldred looked at Ella keenly. "How are you Ella?" he asked, looking for some reason faintly amused.
"Fine. Where are we going now?" she asked, masking any emotion from her voice or expression.
Aldred smiled. It did not suit him.
Ella was getting terminally fed up. What was up with all the secrecy and mystery?
"I am taking you to meet all the other trainees. There you will learn more about your task and meet your colleagues. All will be revealed then, and only then." Ella got the chilling feeling that despite her best efforts, Aldred could read her thoughts anyway.
The blond vampire made for the very end of the dreary room, his pace lightning fast as always. Ella stood stupidly still for a second, before running to catch up with him. She tried to get a closer look at the rest of the guards, but their faces were turned away from her, towards the warmth of the fire. She was a bit disappointed, but if they all looked like Gregson, then perhaps it was a small mercy.
Aldred paused at the doorway, impatience in his stance and imperious face as he waited for Ella, who jogged up a few seconds later.
"Sorry," she said, not because she meant it, but because the arrogant guy seemed to expect it, and at this early stage, she supposed she should try at least to get into someone's good graces. Without replying, Aldred pushed open the door. It led to a long and winding spiral staircase.
Going up, up and more up, thought Ella a couple of minutes later. The steps were steep, but at least here there were windows, the late afternoon sunlight pouring blessedly in, giving the red sandstone a yellow glow. The metal banister was ornately carved with gory and beautiful depictions of blood feasts and battles, but Ella had no time to admire them as she sought to keep up with Aldred.
Finally, after what seemed like a year and a day, Aldred stopped his furious ascent abruptly. Ella managed to stop herself from colliding with him by an inch. He looked disdainfully at her for a second. Ella couldn't help but wonder why he acted so superior. His silver eyes were cold and arrogant. He truly was the original arsehole vampire. She realised that she had a really large amount of irrational dislike for him, almost instinctual feelings of distrust and hatred. She guessed it was just a personality clash or something.
He opened a door, which was old looking, an iron antique. Ella saw that, excepting the massive front door of the castle; all the other doors had been made of wood. In fact, there was hardly any of the stuff around. Ella felt comforted by the though that no one could poison her easily in this place. But there were plenty of other ways to die. Unlike the front door, the iron one opened smoothly, gliding on well-oiled hinges.
It opened out onto a corridor. Bleeding Thistles was turning out to be one huge maze of stony corridors and winding steps, in Ella's mind. They walked for a short while along it, before taking the fifth door to the left, yet another iron door.
"Wait in here," Aldred ordered. "I am sure the others will welcome you." His smile at that statement was truly frightening. Ella yet again felt the undercurrent of fear rise to the surface, turning her mouth paper-dry and making her stomach feel like a snake pit. He pushed open the door, holding it for her. Ella forced herself to walk in, sheer terror crawling up her spine like an icy spider, making herself go headfirst into danger. Despite her instincts warning her to stay out, to get out, to run and never look back to this dark, bloody place, she did the unthinkable, and entered the room.
Her first impression was of greenness, and that there were people in the room besides her. The carpet was a lush green, exactly like thick crops of meadow grown grass, and the walls were a lighter, minty colour. Thinking of mints suddenly brought John back to her mind. The 'wolf hadn't been nice or attractive, but he had been kind to her, and had tried to help a bit, after he'd drugged her senseless. Ella admitted to herself that regardless of this, she felt a bit grateful to him. Suddenly remembering her situation, she snapped out of her daydreams and got back to reality. There would be plenty of time to think about that later. Right now it was imperative that she stayed calm, alert, focused, and on her guard constantly. She surveyed the room critically. It was an airy, pleasant space, tastefully furnished with modern, comfortable upholstery. It all looked absurdly expensive. Identifying a cosy looking, if bright lime-green armchair directly ahead, she made for it and sat herself down, thinking that she should at least be relaxed and comfy whilst examining the population of the room.
There was quite a crowd. But still the room was deathly silent.
"Jesus, what a fun time I'm having," a bored, sarcastic female voice drawled. "If it gets any more exciting, I think I'll have a heart attack." It came from her left.
Ella turned to see who had dared break the oppressive hush. It was a fed up, exotic looking girl around her age, who lay seductively upon an elegant chaise longue in the corner. Sensing eyes upon her, the girl rolled her own hazel ones in disdain. She was wearing a short denim skirt with frayed edges, which showed off her long shapely legs and delicate sandals. Her tight white baby-tee contrasted strongly with her rich, dark brown skin. She was even taller that Ella, and voluptuous, her face round and pretty. Her brown eyes had a look of mischief in them.
"Come to join the party, huh?" she asked with a wicked smile.
"I might just," Ella replied with a grin.
"Well, I have a feeling you might just be a little bit disappointed with the set-up here then," replied the girl with a smile. "Yazmin Arlin. And you are...?"
"Ella Pinefrost," she said with a genuinely friendly smile in return.
"Come sit here with me, girlfriend," she said jokingly. But the pleading look on her face definitely implied that the offer was serious.
Ella did so. From the chaise, they could see just about everything and everyone in the large room.
"I can't believe it! Seriously, are we the only girls here?" she whispered to Yazmin.
"Nope. You really need glasses, girl! Look over there." She indicated a small girl with short, cropped blonde hair. She looked like a fairy or a pixie or something, as she sat dreamily upon a small stool. "And there!" She pointed at a girl with sullen features and dark brown hair, who sat with an annoyed expression. Ella figured that this was probably because a perky looking redhead was garbling on at her. Her high-pitched chatter carried over across the room and was loud to her vampiric senses. It was totally meaningless drivel.
"Five females, as opposed to, let me see, about eleven guys? Great odds," Ella muttered.
"They are actually," replied Yazmin. "Until recently, it was an unspoken rule that only men could attend."
"Unspoken?"
"Well, not official anyway. But I think some changes up top might have turned things around a little. After the death of Hunter, and Maya of course, the new person at the top shook things around a bit in the Night World. This place included. Caused a lot of bad feeling and controversy." She paused for breath. "Well, that's what my mom says anyway," she smiled, diffusing the significance of her information. Yazmin then tossed her ebony black braids as she stretched. Ella noticed that they each had cute silvery beads on the end.
"You're a witch, right?" Ella asked. "The last name gives it away a bit."
"Yeah. Circle Midnight. And you're a vampire."
"Right. How did you know?" Ella gave her an evil grin. For some reason, she was getting on really well with her. Just like the instinctual feelings of dislike she'd had for Aldred, she got the sense that she and Yazmin were kindred spirits.
"It was a bit of a guess really. But your last name, Pinefrost. It has a tree-based bit of it, so...." Suddenly, Yazmin got a bit distracted, and stopped mid-sentence.
"Yazmin?" Ella followed her line of vision, and saw that she was staring at one cute guy. In fact, most of them there were gorgeous.
"He is so fine!" she said, but quietly so as not to embarrass herself.
Ella was about to give her opinions on the subject, when the door opened again. It was Aldred. Everyone in the room turned to face him.
Ella still thought he was a bastard. But he was a gorgeous one all the same.
"Follow me," he said. "You are to be presented to the Council immediately." With that he turned and walked away. Yazmin and Ella just looked at each other as the rest of the room quickly sought to follow him.
"The Council, huh?" remarked Yazmin. "Who are they exactly?"
But the question remained unanswered as it hung forebodingly in the air.
Ella now felt inexplicably afraid, more fearful than ever before.
"I don't want to know," she said quietly, more to herself than to Yazmin as they hurried forward. "I just don't want to know."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gosh! Well, please review! It would make my day! Thanks ;-)
It's been a while, I apologise. But won't you review my story? Please! I'll give you an imaginary chocolate cake if you do! With chocolate butter icing, chocolate buttons, smarties and icing sugar on top! Bribery is wrong, I know, but never mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ella peered into the shadowy gloom, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the small amount of flickering firelight that illuminated the room. There were large windows all around, but for some reason they were shuttered off completely. It was vast, the walls rough, built from red-gold sandstone blocks. The floor was carpeted, well; it was soft to tread upon anyway. Many figures huddled round the roaring fire, and the dull murmur of conversation mingled with the malevolent crackle of the flames as they roared up the cavernous chimney and devoured gigantic wooden logs in the large hearth that stood to the left. Spots of candlelight were dotted about the rest of the room, upon tables, and she could just about make out a few forms sitting around them, separate from the main group. A few burning copper braziers were dotted about too; to light up dark corners, but all of this combined did not dispel the gloomy darkness of the room.
"Gregson!" Aldred said beside her, his sharp tone of voice cutting through everyone's conversation. A stirring of bodies around the fire, then one ambled lazily towards them.
"These are the watchmen for the front doors. We have hundreds of people employed just to guard the facility. Don't think the castle is just a training facility. This place is the base of all our many activities, projects and operations. Obviously, the Night World considers this program of utmost necessity and importance." He did not expand on this, and yet again Ella was left with a myriad of unanswered questions taunting her.
"Sir," said Gregson, behaving just as John had. She saw that he was a human, and a mutilated one at that. Only his face was visible, a round, shiny lump. One of his ears was torn off, a ragged seam of unused, broken flesh still attached to the side of his skull. Scars crisscrossed his ugly face, which was swarthy and mean looking. His startlingly blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. As he spoke, Ella glimpsed that a large proportion of his teeth were missing.
"Take this bag to the Rowan room." He conveyed her black suitcase from her nervous clutches and dumped it unceremoniously into Gregson's hands. Ella bit back a shriek as she saw that he had only three fingers on one hand. Gregson nodded respectfully to Aldred, and after flashing a grim smile at Ella, he sauntered away.
Aldred looked at Ella keenly. "How are you Ella?" he asked, looking for some reason faintly amused.
"Fine. Where are we going now?" she asked, masking any emotion from her voice or expression.
Aldred smiled. It did not suit him.
Ella was getting terminally fed up. What was up with all the secrecy and mystery?
"I am taking you to meet all the other trainees. There you will learn more about your task and meet your colleagues. All will be revealed then, and only then." Ella got the chilling feeling that despite her best efforts, Aldred could read her thoughts anyway.
The blond vampire made for the very end of the dreary room, his pace lightning fast as always. Ella stood stupidly still for a second, before running to catch up with him. She tried to get a closer look at the rest of the guards, but their faces were turned away from her, towards the warmth of the fire. She was a bit disappointed, but if they all looked like Gregson, then perhaps it was a small mercy.
Aldred paused at the doorway, impatience in his stance and imperious face as he waited for Ella, who jogged up a few seconds later.
"Sorry," she said, not because she meant it, but because the arrogant guy seemed to expect it, and at this early stage, she supposed she should try at least to get into someone's good graces. Without replying, Aldred pushed open the door. It led to a long and winding spiral staircase.
Going up, up and more up, thought Ella a couple of minutes later. The steps were steep, but at least here there were windows, the late afternoon sunlight pouring blessedly in, giving the red sandstone a yellow glow. The metal banister was ornately carved with gory and beautiful depictions of blood feasts and battles, but Ella had no time to admire them as she sought to keep up with Aldred.
Finally, after what seemed like a year and a day, Aldred stopped his furious ascent abruptly. Ella managed to stop herself from colliding with him by an inch. He looked disdainfully at her for a second. Ella couldn't help but wonder why he acted so superior. His silver eyes were cold and arrogant. He truly was the original arsehole vampire. She realised that she had a really large amount of irrational dislike for him, almost instinctual feelings of distrust and hatred. She guessed it was just a personality clash or something.
He opened a door, which was old looking, an iron antique. Ella saw that, excepting the massive front door of the castle; all the other doors had been made of wood. In fact, there was hardly any of the stuff around. Ella felt comforted by the though that no one could poison her easily in this place. But there were plenty of other ways to die. Unlike the front door, the iron one opened smoothly, gliding on well-oiled hinges.
It opened out onto a corridor. Bleeding Thistles was turning out to be one huge maze of stony corridors and winding steps, in Ella's mind. They walked for a short while along it, before taking the fifth door to the left, yet another iron door.
"Wait in here," Aldred ordered. "I am sure the others will welcome you." His smile at that statement was truly frightening. Ella yet again felt the undercurrent of fear rise to the surface, turning her mouth paper-dry and making her stomach feel like a snake pit. He pushed open the door, holding it for her. Ella forced herself to walk in, sheer terror crawling up her spine like an icy spider, making herself go headfirst into danger. Despite her instincts warning her to stay out, to get out, to run and never look back to this dark, bloody place, she did the unthinkable, and entered the room.
Her first impression was of greenness, and that there were people in the room besides her. The carpet was a lush green, exactly like thick crops of meadow grown grass, and the walls were a lighter, minty colour. Thinking of mints suddenly brought John back to her mind. The 'wolf hadn't been nice or attractive, but he had been kind to her, and had tried to help a bit, after he'd drugged her senseless. Ella admitted to herself that regardless of this, she felt a bit grateful to him. Suddenly remembering her situation, she snapped out of her daydreams and got back to reality. There would be plenty of time to think about that later. Right now it was imperative that she stayed calm, alert, focused, and on her guard constantly. She surveyed the room critically. It was an airy, pleasant space, tastefully furnished with modern, comfortable upholstery. It all looked absurdly expensive. Identifying a cosy looking, if bright lime-green armchair directly ahead, she made for it and sat herself down, thinking that she should at least be relaxed and comfy whilst examining the population of the room.
There was quite a crowd. But still the room was deathly silent.
"Jesus, what a fun time I'm having," a bored, sarcastic female voice drawled. "If it gets any more exciting, I think I'll have a heart attack." It came from her left.
Ella turned to see who had dared break the oppressive hush. It was a fed up, exotic looking girl around her age, who lay seductively upon an elegant chaise longue in the corner. Sensing eyes upon her, the girl rolled her own hazel ones in disdain. She was wearing a short denim skirt with frayed edges, which showed off her long shapely legs and delicate sandals. Her tight white baby-tee contrasted strongly with her rich, dark brown skin. She was even taller that Ella, and voluptuous, her face round and pretty. Her brown eyes had a look of mischief in them.
"Come to join the party, huh?" she asked with a wicked smile.
"I might just," Ella replied with a grin.
"Well, I have a feeling you might just be a little bit disappointed with the set-up here then," replied the girl with a smile. "Yazmin Arlin. And you are...?"
"Ella Pinefrost," she said with a genuinely friendly smile in return.
"Come sit here with me, girlfriend," she said jokingly. But the pleading look on her face definitely implied that the offer was serious.
Ella did so. From the chaise, they could see just about everything and everyone in the large room.
"I can't believe it! Seriously, are we the only girls here?" she whispered to Yazmin.
"Nope. You really need glasses, girl! Look over there." She indicated a small girl with short, cropped blonde hair. She looked like a fairy or a pixie or something, as she sat dreamily upon a small stool. "And there!" She pointed at a girl with sullen features and dark brown hair, who sat with an annoyed expression. Ella figured that this was probably because a perky looking redhead was garbling on at her. Her high-pitched chatter carried over across the room and was loud to her vampiric senses. It was totally meaningless drivel.
"Five females, as opposed to, let me see, about eleven guys? Great odds," Ella muttered.
"They are actually," replied Yazmin. "Until recently, it was an unspoken rule that only men could attend."
"Unspoken?"
"Well, not official anyway. But I think some changes up top might have turned things around a little. After the death of Hunter, and Maya of course, the new person at the top shook things around a bit in the Night World. This place included. Caused a lot of bad feeling and controversy." She paused for breath. "Well, that's what my mom says anyway," she smiled, diffusing the significance of her information. Yazmin then tossed her ebony black braids as she stretched. Ella noticed that they each had cute silvery beads on the end.
"You're a witch, right?" Ella asked. "The last name gives it away a bit."
"Yeah. Circle Midnight. And you're a vampire."
"Right. How did you know?" Ella gave her an evil grin. For some reason, she was getting on really well with her. Just like the instinctual feelings of dislike she'd had for Aldred, she got the sense that she and Yazmin were kindred spirits.
"It was a bit of a guess really. But your last name, Pinefrost. It has a tree-based bit of it, so...." Suddenly, Yazmin got a bit distracted, and stopped mid-sentence.
"Yazmin?" Ella followed her line of vision, and saw that she was staring at one cute guy. In fact, most of them there were gorgeous.
"He is so fine!" she said, but quietly so as not to embarrass herself.
Ella was about to give her opinions on the subject, when the door opened again. It was Aldred. Everyone in the room turned to face him.
Ella still thought he was a bastard. But he was a gorgeous one all the same.
"Follow me," he said. "You are to be presented to the Council immediately." With that he turned and walked away. Yazmin and Ella just looked at each other as the rest of the room quickly sought to follow him.
"The Council, huh?" remarked Yazmin. "Who are they exactly?"
But the question remained unanswered as it hung forebodingly in the air.
Ella now felt inexplicably afraid, more fearful than ever before.
"I don't want to know," she said quietly, more to herself than to Yazmin as they hurried forward. "I just don't want to know."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gosh! Well, please review! It would make my day! Thanks ;-)