This is a shocking chapter that some of you might not like. Oh well, flame
me if you want. I love this chapter. Its wonderful, yet horrible. Many
doors are opened while even more are closed. It's a surprising chapter that
even I did not expect. Please read and enjoy!
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Two months and five days without Nada. My child is now four months old, and I wish I could be there to see it grow. My life~or unlife~ has changed drastically. I now live in the west wing along with the other vampires, but it is so much more different than my old place.
Have I killed? Yes, I have. It was something I had not planned on, it was completely an accident. I don't want to discuss it now. I feel so guilty just thinking of it. "Eric?" I turn my head from my position on my couch to see a crimson cloaked figure. It was Lucia, and she seemed to have just come back from New Mayhem. Or at least as 'just came back' could be. New Mayhem was quite a long time away. Lucky thing she had a car. But my sister had not been here for almost a week and she had no idea what had happened over that short period of time.
"Enjoy your visit?" I asked as calmly as I could as I sat up and stretched. This couch was rather comfortable. When I saw Lucia take a long look at me, I knew she could sense something different in my aura. I didn't want to tell her yet, not right after she came back.
"About as enjoyable as washing the kitchen floors," she answered honestly. "Until I actually met Nada. Had trouble with a vampire earlier that day, took care of him point blank." That seemed to have thrilled her. Being a shifter guard could be rather boring around here. Nothing was stupid enough to try and get away. "She seemed rather enjoyed to hear about you."
"How did she take the news of Turquoise and Ravyn?" As much as I had not known Ravyn, I still ached inside. The two hunters had taken down one vampire but created two instead. Three Midnight vampires created and two killed. Odd how this never happened while I was human.
"Not too well," she answered. I thought so. When I had heard, I had gone crazy. Ask Adrian. He had to pry me away from a human I was all but killing. He and I had become closer than I would have liked three months ago. He really wasn't as bad as he came out to be. If you were a vampire that is. If he liked you, you and him were great. But if he hated you, you were in for Hell. I am not sure how he decided to like me so soon after I had been a slave in which he beated for pleasure.
"I would be surprised if she took it well," I thought aloud. Then, I asked. "How is she?"
"Nada seems to be a little big for a woman that far into her pregnancy," Lucia replied, but she didn't see that troubled. And so I was not either. As long as the two of them were safe and sound, I was fine as well.
"Did you see Jager?" Lucia winced and she shook her head slowly. "You saw her without a leash attached to Jager's grip?" That was relatively surprising. He had her caged up like god knows what for a year and then let her roam freely in a town full of vampires? That certainly did not make sense. But then again, New Mayhem vampires were always hard to understand.
"It seems as if he lets her roam the town until midnight. She has to be at the house by then I would suppose. But it looks like she visits that witch Jaguar told you about." Jaguar. I looked away at the name to fight both tears of sadness and anger. My body began to tremble and my fists clenched. I have shed so many tears over the months. It was not fair. But as Adrian said 'Life gave me the name Fair, and yet look where I have ended up.'
"I see," I sighed as I stood up and looked straight at her. I had gained enough mental power to change my appearance. And since I was no longer human, I did not want to look human. And so I had traded in my human looks for deep crimson hair and piercing blue eyes. That along with my already pale skin could look haunting to a slave. And then, Adrian was teaching me how to use a whip. Not like he could teach as well as Jaguar could . . . "You should get some rest sister." I glanced at the clock and winced. It was already 2 in the afternoon and I felt the vampiric instinct to sleep cover me like a thin sheet. I could still see the light but if I just closed my eyes . . . .
"Sounds rather intriguing," Lucia smiled and kissed me on the forehead before looking at me closely. "There is something painful in your eyes. I wish I could read them like I used to. But I fear I cannot." She always hit home, I cursed to myself. I just hope I can hold this off for just a few more hours until I am personally able to handle the consequences of my actions. "Good night, brother who walks among the shadows." And with that, she turned and left me there. I could still feel her aura tingling my skin where she had kissed my skin.
I fell back onto the couch, curled up like Jaguar used to, with my new whip in hand. I dreamt of the incident the day after Lucia left to find Nada. That was the day I first killed and let responsibility fall heavily onto my shoulders, almost crushing my soul.
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"Eric, please be reasonable about this." Jaguar's words hit my back and yet I did not turn to face him. It was not that I was afraid of him, it was that I felt this sickening pleasurable feeling building up inside me and I was afraid that it would release itself and cause harm.
"I AM being reasonable about this, Jaguar." I growled, my hand on my dagger. It was the dagger I had given Nada the day we were 'married'. She had used it to stab Jager, and I felt like using it once again. The ruby studded hilt glistened in the dim room. I felt obligated to use its beauty. There should be nothing that beautiful put to waste. Not like I am saying that stabbing Jager is a waste. That made my day, although it also damned it.
"No, you are NOT." He yelled the last word, and that finally convinced me to turn and meet him eye to eye. His expression was less than inviting, but I did not falter. I refused to. There was no way I was going to act like prey ever again. Unlike other vampires who had still acted like prey for years after their change, I have turned full force predator in the past two months. I had to. Vampires around here were not pleased with the fact that a slave was now a vampire. A vampire that was growing strength.
"Do not speak to me as if I know NOTHING!" I screamed at him. For a moment he was too shocked to even reply. "For seven years I have lived here. I listened to everything even slightly political that I could. I never wanted to be a slave. But none of us had any choice now did we?" When he tried to interrupt, I held my knife in the direction of his heart. "I had not been broken in those years, I had sat at your feet like a puppy waiting to be praised. I will NOT do so for the rest of my life!"
"I know the changes of Turquoise and Ravyn have hurt you, but there is no reason for you to take this out on me." He kept trying to be the father figure. He had thought himself as a father to me, but I had just been a small pet to stay at his side.
"This has nothing to do with them!" I felt tears sting my eyes but I did not wipe them away. I had tried to fight them back before and had failed miserably. "I will not be the little puppy at your feet anymore Jaguar. I refuse to try and understand your attempts of reasoning." By now, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Jaguar seemed to pity me, and I hated pity. "Do not pity me Jaguar, for you shall receive no pity from others."
"Is that a threat Eric?" Jaguar seemed to be going defensive now. Before he was trying to get my offense down but now I had struck a nerve. A vampiric nerve. He did not like the thought of being threatened by a young vampire.
"No," I answered, but some sadism snuck through, "It's a promise." Several slaves who were still present in the room decided to leave as soon as they were able to. Considering this was in the main hallway, anyone who tried to get to the other side of the building would have to pass us.
"You better remember boy," Jaguar spat, finally losing his temper, "that I made you. It's my blood that runs through your veins. I own you."
"You sound a little too much like a vampire I used to know." I snarled. He jerked away from me as if he had been struck. I had struck another nerve there, but this one was more personal. I had boughten out the Jeshickah in him. The evil nasty side of the usually content calm vampire named Jaguar. "And we know what happened to her, now don't we?"
"Shut your mouth," he ordered. I stared straight at him and laughed. Laughed as if I had lost my mind.
"You cannot tell me what to do," I informed him as if it was the most simple thing ever said on the planet. As if HE was the younger of the two of us.
(A/N: Eric sounds a little cocky doesn't he?)
Before I knew it, he was attacking me. But before he could touch me, he stopped, His eyes went wide and he pulled away. Or at least tried to. He had fallen to the floor before I could properly blink an eye. Eyes wide in shock, I looked down at him. My ruby dagger was dripping with his blood, and I looked down at the vampire that was once named Jaguar.
I sank to my knees and took in every detail possible. I forgot what we had been fighting about, but it was too late. The dagger had pierced his heart inches before he was able to strike me. He didn't even touch a hair on my head. But I had killed him.
"No," I whispered, my voice cracking. "He ran himself through."
I kept on chanting that until Adrian had entered the hallway. Seeing me in the condition I was, he knelt down beside me. His eyes held no comfort to me as he ordered several slaves to take Jaguar's body away. "I do not know how this occurred, young Eric," he said as he pried the dagger from out of my hands. That took some effort. "And when you are ready I'll listen. But until then you need to feed and get some sleep. You look like the dead." He winced after he said that, but I laughed. The icy, bone chilling laugh made Adrian shiver.
"I am already dead, Adrian. Jaguar has just finally left this Earth long after his time." I tried to get up but was too weak. And so Adrian brought both of us up to my new room in an instant. He then forced me to sit on the bed.
"Get some sleep Eric," he ordered, and I slayed back on the bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. He did not need to tell me that twice.
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A noise pulled me from my light sleep and I was up with a dagger in my hand before I even knew I was awake. It was a habit I had learned as a human, to wake up at the slightest sound. Which was probably why I never got sleep. When I saw who it was, my heart sank.
"Do you know where Jaguar has gone to?" I looked at my sister and was only able to hold her gaze for a brief moment. I still felt overwhelmingly guilty for the death of her uncle. I only wondered who would rule Midnight.
"Yes." I managed to choke out. Lucia's brow arched, a familiar trait in Midnight.
"This is what has pained you since my arrival back here, is it not?" There was no point in trying to hide it from her. Shifters were not stupid. Much smarter than humans, but not as immortal as vampires. I could not verbally respond and so I just simply nodded. "What has upset you so?" I could hear the fear laced with her usually calm voice, feel the uncertainly and suspicion in her aura, see the doubt in her eyes.
"I seem to be having trouble finding a new leader for Midnight." I had answered her questions with only a few words. I could not look at her as her mind reluctantly processed those words. I heard her heart speed up, her breath quicken, I could taste the sadness in the air.
"Who killed him?" It was obvious that Lucia was trying to be strong, and to a human she would look that way. There were no teary eyes or sweaty palms. But as a vampire I could hear her breath, pulse, everything that she would try to hide from me, I could find. I did not want to answer her question. I was afraid that she would try to kill me out of revenge. But she knew that I loved Jaguar as much as she did.
"A young vampire who has grieved ever since his death. A vampire who did not understand reasoning. Your brother, Eric." I did not turn around. I did not wish to see Adrian. He had come at the right time. Or had he been there? I doubt the latter. I would have felt his aura.
Lucia did not seem to take the news well. She glanced at Adrian, then me, before a single tear ran down her cheek. Then, she ran off. No doubtly into the garden where she would grieve as I have, if not worse. "Thank you Adrian," I whispered, still not used to this side of the killer trainer I had learned to hate as a human.
"Get some sleep Eric," Adrian advised. He has told me that several times over the past few days. "The Master of Midnight needs his sleep." I turned to face him then. "Yes, you are the Master of Midnight now. Or until you appoint someone else."
"Good night Adrian," I stammered, now in more shock than I had a few minutes ago. I then brought myself into my room and slept. But I could not shake off the feeling of the fact that I might not wake up again.
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Two months and five days without Nada. My child is now four months old, and I wish I could be there to see it grow. My life~or unlife~ has changed drastically. I now live in the west wing along with the other vampires, but it is so much more different than my old place.
Have I killed? Yes, I have. It was something I had not planned on, it was completely an accident. I don't want to discuss it now. I feel so guilty just thinking of it. "Eric?" I turn my head from my position on my couch to see a crimson cloaked figure. It was Lucia, and she seemed to have just come back from New Mayhem. Or at least as 'just came back' could be. New Mayhem was quite a long time away. Lucky thing she had a car. But my sister had not been here for almost a week and she had no idea what had happened over that short period of time.
"Enjoy your visit?" I asked as calmly as I could as I sat up and stretched. This couch was rather comfortable. When I saw Lucia take a long look at me, I knew she could sense something different in my aura. I didn't want to tell her yet, not right after she came back.
"About as enjoyable as washing the kitchen floors," she answered honestly. "Until I actually met Nada. Had trouble with a vampire earlier that day, took care of him point blank." That seemed to have thrilled her. Being a shifter guard could be rather boring around here. Nothing was stupid enough to try and get away. "She seemed rather enjoyed to hear about you."
"How did she take the news of Turquoise and Ravyn?" As much as I had not known Ravyn, I still ached inside. The two hunters had taken down one vampire but created two instead. Three Midnight vampires created and two killed. Odd how this never happened while I was human.
"Not too well," she answered. I thought so. When I had heard, I had gone crazy. Ask Adrian. He had to pry me away from a human I was all but killing. He and I had become closer than I would have liked three months ago. He really wasn't as bad as he came out to be. If you were a vampire that is. If he liked you, you and him were great. But if he hated you, you were in for Hell. I am not sure how he decided to like me so soon after I had been a slave in which he beated for pleasure.
"I would be surprised if she took it well," I thought aloud. Then, I asked. "How is she?"
"Nada seems to be a little big for a woman that far into her pregnancy," Lucia replied, but she didn't see that troubled. And so I was not either. As long as the two of them were safe and sound, I was fine as well.
"Did you see Jager?" Lucia winced and she shook her head slowly. "You saw her without a leash attached to Jager's grip?" That was relatively surprising. He had her caged up like god knows what for a year and then let her roam freely in a town full of vampires? That certainly did not make sense. But then again, New Mayhem vampires were always hard to understand.
"It seems as if he lets her roam the town until midnight. She has to be at the house by then I would suppose. But it looks like she visits that witch Jaguar told you about." Jaguar. I looked away at the name to fight both tears of sadness and anger. My body began to tremble and my fists clenched. I have shed so many tears over the months. It was not fair. But as Adrian said 'Life gave me the name Fair, and yet look where I have ended up.'
"I see," I sighed as I stood up and looked straight at her. I had gained enough mental power to change my appearance. And since I was no longer human, I did not want to look human. And so I had traded in my human looks for deep crimson hair and piercing blue eyes. That along with my already pale skin could look haunting to a slave. And then, Adrian was teaching me how to use a whip. Not like he could teach as well as Jaguar could . . . "You should get some rest sister." I glanced at the clock and winced. It was already 2 in the afternoon and I felt the vampiric instinct to sleep cover me like a thin sheet. I could still see the light but if I just closed my eyes . . . .
"Sounds rather intriguing," Lucia smiled and kissed me on the forehead before looking at me closely. "There is something painful in your eyes. I wish I could read them like I used to. But I fear I cannot." She always hit home, I cursed to myself. I just hope I can hold this off for just a few more hours until I am personally able to handle the consequences of my actions. "Good night, brother who walks among the shadows." And with that, she turned and left me there. I could still feel her aura tingling my skin where she had kissed my skin.
I fell back onto the couch, curled up like Jaguar used to, with my new whip in hand. I dreamt of the incident the day after Lucia left to find Nada. That was the day I first killed and let responsibility fall heavily onto my shoulders, almost crushing my soul.
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"Eric, please be reasonable about this." Jaguar's words hit my back and yet I did not turn to face him. It was not that I was afraid of him, it was that I felt this sickening pleasurable feeling building up inside me and I was afraid that it would release itself and cause harm.
"I AM being reasonable about this, Jaguar." I growled, my hand on my dagger. It was the dagger I had given Nada the day we were 'married'. She had used it to stab Jager, and I felt like using it once again. The ruby studded hilt glistened in the dim room. I felt obligated to use its beauty. There should be nothing that beautiful put to waste. Not like I am saying that stabbing Jager is a waste. That made my day, although it also damned it.
"No, you are NOT." He yelled the last word, and that finally convinced me to turn and meet him eye to eye. His expression was less than inviting, but I did not falter. I refused to. There was no way I was going to act like prey ever again. Unlike other vampires who had still acted like prey for years after their change, I have turned full force predator in the past two months. I had to. Vampires around here were not pleased with the fact that a slave was now a vampire. A vampire that was growing strength.
"Do not speak to me as if I know NOTHING!" I screamed at him. For a moment he was too shocked to even reply. "For seven years I have lived here. I listened to everything even slightly political that I could. I never wanted to be a slave. But none of us had any choice now did we?" When he tried to interrupt, I held my knife in the direction of his heart. "I had not been broken in those years, I had sat at your feet like a puppy waiting to be praised. I will NOT do so for the rest of my life!"
"I know the changes of Turquoise and Ravyn have hurt you, but there is no reason for you to take this out on me." He kept trying to be the father figure. He had thought himself as a father to me, but I had just been a small pet to stay at his side.
"This has nothing to do with them!" I felt tears sting my eyes but I did not wipe them away. I had tried to fight them back before and had failed miserably. "I will not be the little puppy at your feet anymore Jaguar. I refuse to try and understand your attempts of reasoning." By now, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Jaguar seemed to pity me, and I hated pity. "Do not pity me Jaguar, for you shall receive no pity from others."
"Is that a threat Eric?" Jaguar seemed to be going defensive now. Before he was trying to get my offense down but now I had struck a nerve. A vampiric nerve. He did not like the thought of being threatened by a young vampire.
"No," I answered, but some sadism snuck through, "It's a promise." Several slaves who were still present in the room decided to leave as soon as they were able to. Considering this was in the main hallway, anyone who tried to get to the other side of the building would have to pass us.
"You better remember boy," Jaguar spat, finally losing his temper, "that I made you. It's my blood that runs through your veins. I own you."
"You sound a little too much like a vampire I used to know." I snarled. He jerked away from me as if he had been struck. I had struck another nerve there, but this one was more personal. I had boughten out the Jeshickah in him. The evil nasty side of the usually content calm vampire named Jaguar. "And we know what happened to her, now don't we?"
"Shut your mouth," he ordered. I stared straight at him and laughed. Laughed as if I had lost my mind.
"You cannot tell me what to do," I informed him as if it was the most simple thing ever said on the planet. As if HE was the younger of the two of us.
(A/N: Eric sounds a little cocky doesn't he?)
Before I knew it, he was attacking me. But before he could touch me, he stopped, His eyes went wide and he pulled away. Or at least tried to. He had fallen to the floor before I could properly blink an eye. Eyes wide in shock, I looked down at him. My ruby dagger was dripping with his blood, and I looked down at the vampire that was once named Jaguar.
I sank to my knees and took in every detail possible. I forgot what we had been fighting about, but it was too late. The dagger had pierced his heart inches before he was able to strike me. He didn't even touch a hair on my head. But I had killed him.
"No," I whispered, my voice cracking. "He ran himself through."
I kept on chanting that until Adrian had entered the hallway. Seeing me in the condition I was, he knelt down beside me. His eyes held no comfort to me as he ordered several slaves to take Jaguar's body away. "I do not know how this occurred, young Eric," he said as he pried the dagger from out of my hands. That took some effort. "And when you are ready I'll listen. But until then you need to feed and get some sleep. You look like the dead." He winced after he said that, but I laughed. The icy, bone chilling laugh made Adrian shiver.
"I am already dead, Adrian. Jaguar has just finally left this Earth long after his time." I tried to get up but was too weak. And so Adrian brought both of us up to my new room in an instant. He then forced me to sit on the bed.
"Get some sleep Eric," he ordered, and I slayed back on the bed and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. He did not need to tell me that twice.
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A noise pulled me from my light sleep and I was up with a dagger in my hand before I even knew I was awake. It was a habit I had learned as a human, to wake up at the slightest sound. Which was probably why I never got sleep. When I saw who it was, my heart sank.
"Do you know where Jaguar has gone to?" I looked at my sister and was only able to hold her gaze for a brief moment. I still felt overwhelmingly guilty for the death of her uncle. I only wondered who would rule Midnight.
"Yes." I managed to choke out. Lucia's brow arched, a familiar trait in Midnight.
"This is what has pained you since my arrival back here, is it not?" There was no point in trying to hide it from her. Shifters were not stupid. Much smarter than humans, but not as immortal as vampires. I could not verbally respond and so I just simply nodded. "What has upset you so?" I could hear the fear laced with her usually calm voice, feel the uncertainly and suspicion in her aura, see the doubt in her eyes.
"I seem to be having trouble finding a new leader for Midnight." I had answered her questions with only a few words. I could not look at her as her mind reluctantly processed those words. I heard her heart speed up, her breath quicken, I could taste the sadness in the air.
"Who killed him?" It was obvious that Lucia was trying to be strong, and to a human she would look that way. There were no teary eyes or sweaty palms. But as a vampire I could hear her breath, pulse, everything that she would try to hide from me, I could find. I did not want to answer her question. I was afraid that she would try to kill me out of revenge. But she knew that I loved Jaguar as much as she did.
"A young vampire who has grieved ever since his death. A vampire who did not understand reasoning. Your brother, Eric." I did not turn around. I did not wish to see Adrian. He had come at the right time. Or had he been there? I doubt the latter. I would have felt his aura.
Lucia did not seem to take the news well. She glanced at Adrian, then me, before a single tear ran down her cheek. Then, she ran off. No doubtly into the garden where she would grieve as I have, if not worse. "Thank you Adrian," I whispered, still not used to this side of the killer trainer I had learned to hate as a human.
"Get some sleep Eric," Adrian advised. He has told me that several times over the past few days. "The Master of Midnight needs his sleep." I turned to face him then. "Yes, you are the Master of Midnight now. Or until you appoint someone else."
"Good night Adrian," I stammered, now in more shock than I had a few minutes ago. I then brought myself into my room and slept. But I could not shake off the feeling of the fact that I might not wake up again.