Disclaimer: I do not own Jaguar (Kyle), Turquoise, Nathaniel, Greg, Midnight, Pyridge, or nearly any other places or people with the exception of Twilight, who is solely mine. Those characters and places that do not belong to me belong to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. (A couple select phrases are even taken from her books."
Monsters Under the Bed
By Jessalynn Grant
Prologue:
I was born and raised in a world where darkness was nonexistent. After the sun set the only thing I knew of were concerts and parties. Both of which seem frivolous and innocent to me now.
No matter if it was a five year olds birthday party or a drug induced hallucinogenic orgy, trust me when I say it is nothing in comparison to the infamous and moonlit world of vampires. It's not said just for effect. In my world a human life may have no more meaning than that of the meat that graces your plate. So cold and so ruthless sometimes I look back and wish I never had to see this side of the night. But at birth such a fate was already denied. Those before me saw to it that I should play a part in this nighttime play land of survival.
My mother, Turquoise Draka, was one. Let me ask you, can you fathom waking up and being told your life is a lie? That the seventeen soap-opera years of parties, plays and schoolwork were nothing more than meaningless, ignorant bliss? Try. A rude awakening, no matter how sweetly said or how humanely introduced. It is difficult to be humane when even the humans are not.
You think of this tale you read now as fiction, a fantastical work of one, no less. Impossibility crafted from an imaginative mind. Even as you process these words you will perceive it as such, for your rational mind will not accept it any other way. Forget the rational mind, it has no use to you now. If you think this is fiction, you're wrong. Every word written holds no lies; chances are you will never be able to prove my claims true or false. However, if you do, I will be a guest at your funeral.
I was born to the name of Twilight Draka, 19 years ago. This is my name because it is the world I must live in, never in day and never in the night. Let us go back two years, to see as a naïve human sees. Keep in mind. you can see, but don't bother to understand.
I doubt you can.
Chapter One:
A doorbell rang, and the clap of bare feet against tile sounded as Twilight ran to open the door.
"Oh, Kyle." She said, obviously surprised at his presence. Kyle was, of course, the vampire known to many as Jaguar. But at the time, she knew him only as the oh-so-human. "Kyle Lostry."
"Nice to see you to, Twilight, where's Turquoise?"
"Shopping, either that or she's out to lunch with Greg. Either way, she'll be back soon." She motioned to invite him inside and offered him a drink when he did enter the confines of her home. But the offer was a tease; she was mocking him, as he knew full well.
"Cut the act Twilight." He ordered, his voice hard with a domineering undertone that most would hasten to obey. Twilight, used to his ways, ignored it.
"I'll cut mine when you cut yours." She smiled, playing off his anger. "First, you actually stop at the door and ring the bell, like you care if I want you in here or not, and then with all this cordial b.s."
"I guess your mother didn't tell you, did she?"
"Tell me what?" She needn't have said that though, her eyes already showed her blatant unknowing of his kind.
That was all the answer the irate vampire needed, he gave a look of what almost appeared as sympathy to Twilight, and left, telling her he would return shortly. Twilight ran to follow, but when she opened the door, he was already gone, even though his car was still in the driveway.
Thoroughly confused and distraught to some degree, she bounded upstairs to her room. The look he gave her was unnerving, and she could not rid it from her minds eye. Engraved in her memory were his cold, black eyes, so far from the friendly face of the Kyle Lostry she knew. Quietly tears ran down her cheeks, refusing to dry until she collapsed onto the comforting softness of her bed. A wave of sleepiness caught her in its wake, and pulled her under, into a deep dreamless slumber.
Twilight returned to consciousness around midnight. She heard the slam of the door and two arguing voices. She recognized one as her mother, the other as Jaguars. His was the first she heard speak.
"Turquoise, listen, I don't know if your catching onto the full urgency of the situation. If she continues living like this, she'll get hurt. Twilight can't live her life not knowing what goes on here after dark. Not when you're her mother, and certainly not when you live in Pyridge! That's like saying you live in Ramsa, or New York City!"
"Pyridge is no Ramsa." Turquoise defended.
Jaguar was nearly yelling now, desperation thick in his voice, "Pyridge is adjacent to Midnight-- my Midnight. You are living in free kill hunting grounds!"
"I…I don't see why--" She was cut off abruptly.
"She needs to know because if she doesn't, the next time I see her could be when a trainer shows up on my doorstep to sell me a newly broken, attractive young woman!
Turquoise went silent at the impact of his harsh words; she had nothing to say, even when her daughter entered the living room. Four eyes rested expectantly on Twilight, waiting for her to speak. When she did though, coherent sentences were just beyond her grasp.
"What-who-why-you?" Twilight blathered. Jaguar smiled at her confusion, knowing it went deep into her thoughts. Turquoise glared at him. He went straight faced and stepped aside. Leaving room for a mother-daughter talk.
"Twilight, honey," She started. "I should have told you this years ago, I'm sorry that you have to learn it now…I'm sorry you have to learn it at all…you shouldn't need to…it's my fault that you do--"
For the second time in minutes, Jaguar cut her off, "Stop procrastinating, Turquoise. What the hell do you even think your talking to her about? She's too old for the sex talk. The drug talks way overdue, but that's what it sounds like your giving."
He smiled, then turned and spoke directly to the puzzled teen, "Look at the picture on the wall, yes the one of me, Turquoise, Nathaniel, Greg, and you as a baby." He waited for her to study it. "Isn't it strange to you, how you, Greg and your mother have aged.and Nathaniel and I seem to be frozen in time?" Twilight nodded dumbly, then exhaled loudly, not knowing what else to do. Jaguar laughed, a bitter sound, unlike the warm rich sound Twilight was used to hearing. It sent a shiver down her spine.
Without previous warning, Turquoise stood, then with a jingle of keys, left. They both heard the car door slam and leave. Now the teenager sank into the nearby couch. Jaguar followed her lead.
This time the vampire spoke first, "So…"
"Yeah?"
"There's a lot going on…you don't understand."
"Ya think?"
"Now do I ask you about your day and start talking about the weather?"
Jaguar's last mocking remark was all it took to send Twilight over the edge. She stood up and slapped him across the face. Hard. His head snapped to the side and the ring she wore cut him. It healed faster than she could even evaluate the ramifications of her rash action. She sat back onto the couch in shock, confused by what her rational mind was saying to her. No human healed that fast.
"I know," He said, an answer to her thoughts. Then, with words that belonged to Jaguars mind and not her own, she heard his voice echo in her head, "Twilight, my real name is Jaguar. I'm sorry you had to find out like this."
Nodding, the seventeen year old opened her mouth to speak. Closing it when she realized that it was beyond her at the moment to talk. Jaguar continued speaking directly into her mind.
"Your right, no human can heal that fast. I'm not human. I'm a vampire. I live in a place called Midnight. It's near here; I also own most of this town." He finished slowly, pausing for a moment. Hearing her jumbled thoughts, he spoke aloud with a quiet laugh,
"I'm sorry young lady, that is a very personal question." He answered her confused mind, knowing that she probably didn't even realize he could hear it.
Out of the blue, he leaned in towards her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He kissed her. Much like one eighteen years previous. The kiss was over quickly, but it had been deep. Unhurried, like he could have stayed all night and not missed a beat. As his lips parted from hers, he looked into her eyes. She had become spellbound to Jaguars, and their eternal depth and darkness.
A single command invaded her mind. Sleep, it told her, and sleep she did. Jaguar laid her on the couch and disappeared, the air closing near- instantly on the space he once occupied.