Oooh, this is possibly my favorite chapter. Cute cute cute!!!
Disclaimer: same as last time. please review!!!
Hiding
Elizabeth was crouched on the floor, picking up shards of what looked like mugs. James took a step backwards, maybe he could escape before she noticed, but clumsily knocked a pot into the balcony railings. Elizabeth fell over, scattering pieces of pottery, and breaking the last few mugs, one after the other, in surprise, with her new gift. She yelped, landing painfully hard on her elbows on the smooth wooden floor.
James forgot to breathe. There she was, the only person in the world he could love entirely. Laying on the floor, looking extremely vulnerable and very beautiful. The undyed cotton skirt she wore had got bunched up around her hips when she had toppled over, the thought of his slipping his hands up that skirt made his eyes glisten with silver, and his pupils dilate. The matching top had slipped to one side, revealing a bare shoulder, her hard nipples pressing against the fabric. I could have her right now, he thought, mind dizzy with the cool night air, and his recent feed, but a few things held him back. One was the fact that his connecting with her body and soul could completely mess up her brain with her suddenly remembering, who knows how many, past lives, not mentioning the fact that he was a vampire, and this alone could cause a large amount of discomfort...... Two, the police were now conducting a door to door search for him, and the police and Elizabeth's parents finding him on the floor with their supposedly innocent daughter was not a particularly good way of making a good impression on them.....And three, James had not yet been invited in, and walking into invisible barriers was not going to help his current condition. She panted quietly, long auburn hair framing her soft shoulders, sad grey blue eyes boring into this stranger of the night. Her crisp scent wafting to James' nose, seducing him without her knowledge. She acted completely calm, probably because she could see no malice in those eyes, only sadness and devotion.
"Hide me," he breathed. What he actually wanted to say was 'Marry Me,' but luckily, the only currently sane part of him called common sense decided against it, and made a slight alteration on the way. It was, however, at that unfortunate moment, that the police and Elizabeth's parents knocked loudly on the door.
Elizabeth flicked her head from the door, to the stranger at her window. Hide, she mouthed. He would never get away in time. She opened the door a crack, to see her mother, father and two police officers, a man and a woman. The girl pulled the cream shawl closer to her body, to conceal the fact that she was nervous.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely, giving a warm smile to the people.
"Hello Elizabeth. Have you seen a group of three boys about. We lost two of them, but we traced a third to the outside of your house, you might have seen where he went, from up here. We just want to check that he hasn't crept up here. I don't think you'd be very pleased to have some strange boy jump out of your wardrobe hey?" Elizabeth appreciated the Que. to laugh, and gave a polite chuckle, turning her head to check the balcony, she found that James had already disappeared.
"Come in then," the adults entered her room, the male officer checking the bathroom, the woman peering in the cupboards. She waved at the collection of pictures on the wall.
"You did these?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I took to a pencil like a cat to milk," the woman grinned, inspecting a chalk drawing of the view out of her balcony door, her head looking from picture to balcony and whistled, impressed.
"They're fantastic," Elizabeth smiled proudly, glad that her missing faces on her portraits were mistaken for a personal style. The officers finished by checking the balcony, peering out onto the street, checking that he wasn't sneaking off whilst they checked the houses.
"Well, looks likes our man has gone, or at least, isn't here. We'd better leave you folks alone, and head out."
"What did they do?"
"Hmmmm?"
"The boys, what have they done?"
"Oh, we got a call about some disturbance down at the RSPB pond, and found them there, making noise, probably drink or drugs playing with their brains."
"Yes, well, we appreciate the thought, and you Miss Elizabeth, should be in bed. C'mon, your father'll show them out, and I can tuck you in."
"Awww, mum," she hated it when her mum was like this.
"Whilst you explain why five of my perfectly good mugs are smashed on your perfectly good floor," Elizabeth's mum tapped her foot on the wooden boards, arms crossed. The door closed with a chuckle from the escaping adults.
"I was trying out a new drawing technique, I was going to experiment with shades and curves, and build up a truly.....chaotic picture how can you tell there were five?"
"Uh huh.....whatever you say innocent daughter of mine. It's called a mother's intuition. Now. Hoover, damp cloth, then BED."
"Whatever you say mother...no seriously, how could you tell?"
"There are five handles! Now march!" It was a whole forty-five minutes before her mum turned the light out and left. Elizabeth sighed, listening to the fading footsteps.
"You can come out now," she whispered. With a soft thud, like a cat dropping, the ghostly figure appeared in the balcony doorway, shrouded in moonlight.
"Thanks for hiding me,"
"I don't remember doing anything."
"You didn't tell them about me. Thankyou, I'm in your debt." She hoped the darkness concealed her blush, why did he make her so nervous? She cleared her throat to cover the shake in her voice
"Please, sit down, those officers are still patrolling. You can stay in here 'till they've gone.if you like," James regarded this as an invitation in. He drifted around her bedroom before settling on the sofa. He placed one hand to his face, fingers wrapped around his mouth and jaw, inspecting the slight bristle of a young beard, the other gripped the sofa's arm. His eyes flicked to the clock. Eleven o'clock, he'd better get home soon. Elizabeth sat, arms around her knees, surrounded by a swamp of thick white duvet. They watched each other thoughtfully, eyes locked together across the dark room, a strip of moonlight acting as a barrier, stopping both from moving towards the other. Elizabeth touched her lip in confusion, wandering what this beautiful creature of the night was doing in her room. Instinctively, she reached out for a piece of black sugar paper, and her chalk pencil from a box by her bed. The white chalk moved to draw the moonlight as it fell across the still figure, revealing only the imprint of his shape. She wished he'd blink more often, it was unnerving, and yet, she found it eerily sexy, made her ache to touch him. Stay put and finish the picture, she thought angrily to herself. "My name's Elizabeth, by the way..." I know, thought James silently, it's a beautiful name.
"I'm James," the girl smiled, I like that name, it suits him, it's both powerful, and gentle.
"What did you do? It seemed to piss the police off..."
"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,"
"Oh..." minutes of silence passed, James' eyes never left her, she pretended not to notice, but had to concentrate to keep her hand steady. "There, finished," she had built up enough courage to walk over to him. James felt alarmed at her coming to him, his grip on the sofa arm tightened, but the rest of him remained still. Gingerly, he took the offered picture, it was amazing, she had talent and he said so. Blushing again, and mumbling her thanks she returned to the safety of her bed.
"I saw what happened when I startled you..." he could see her stiffen at the remark. "It's OK, I've had experiences with witches and stuff......" Witch, he had used the word that had been questioning her all evening. Her......a Witch. Cool. " I can get you some books, proper ones, that'll teach you how to focus energy, and direct it in spells. You seemed to have been doing well without them though."
"Well, I 'broke' a pot in art class today, I was just seeing if.I could do it again,"
"I could introduce you to some friends of mine, they'll help teach you properly, with time, you could get very good..." she toyed with her necklace excitedly. Witch. The word sounded strange in her mouth. "You could join a circle, I wouldn't recommend Circle Midnight, though the Twilighters are friendly. Circle Daybreak would be best, my parents work for Daybreak, they would get you in. This power you have, is your membership card to a whole new world.."
"Of Witches?"
"Not just Witches, look, maybe I'm not the best person to explain this,"
"No, please, carry on."
"There are other things, are you sure you won't get freaked?"
"I am not afraid of you," her reply caught him off guard, she seemed so.....sure, so confident.
"There are Vampires." Vampires, she didn't expect that, she chewed on her thumb nail.
"Your a Vampire..." good guess, he thought.
"Yes."
"Right...what else?"
"Shapeshifters.....they usually only restricted to different animal forms, the lesser can only change into one shape. Shapeshifters can be born of shifter parents, or bitten by one to be made."
"Lesser ones?"
"Dragons are the true type of Shapeshifter, they can change into any living thing. They haven't been active for years, imprisoned within the Earth. There was one awakened this year, but it was destroyed. The direct descendants of dragons, they're like Kings in the Shapeshifter hierarchy, they can choose what animal they want to be, but after that, they're stuck with that other form for life," James looked carefully at the girl, she didn't look surprised. Duh, old soul, she's probably known about this in dozens of other lives. "There are also werewolves, and, don't laugh, I'm being serious..Zombies,"
"Zombies? Joy."
"They're formed when 'made' Vampires don't get enough of the Vampire blood in them, so after they 'die', they are still 'alive', but they still decompose. It's not very nice."
"Are you a made Vampire?"
"No, I'm a Lamia, the offspring of Vampires, I can age, but I can also choose when to stop aging. I haven't stopped aging, so I am actually seventeen,"
"So am I," she answered.
"There's thousands of us, we are all around you, a hidden world, the Nightworld within the day. We go to your schools, some live in this road. My Dad even fought in the Second World War."
"How old's he?"
"Three hundred and.......twenty six."
"You must spend a fortune on birthday candles," James gave a warm chuckle at the remark. The girl let loose a very large yawn. "And you should be in bed. No falling asleep in school tomorrow," she grinned at him, and arranged herself within and around the covers.
"G'night James."
"Goodnight Elizabeth. I'll show myself out." The girl became silent, shrouded in a feeling of safety in his presence, her breathing bacame quiet and regular. James listened to the officers walk past the house again. Half eleven, he should leave in fifteen minutes or so. Sitting down again, he watched the sleeping girl lie peacefully on her double bed. Maybe now, maybe it was alright now, it wouldn't happen again, he needed to feel her.....James blinked, shocked, he was at the foot of her bed. Moonlight edged her soft pale hand. Something deeper made him reach out towards it, made him touch it......and the room disappeared....
......Elizian was blindfolded. She had been pressed against a cold wall by rough hands. She knew what was coming next, and she tried to brace herself for the pain. Why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut and her limbs in line, rather than lashing out at the Head Guard. If she could control her temper, she wouldn't have made it happen, she wouldn't have set off the fire, her fire. Elizian remembered the dark orange flames, that had erupted from her, engulfing the guards trying to put her back in line. They were scared of her, but if she tried to do it again, they would kill the whole group of them. The Germans would kill them. After the first strike of the whip, the girl decided flatly that imagining pain, and feeling pain were clearly two different things. Imagining pain is greatly inaccurate. The deadly lick of leather swept across her back again, roughly slicing through the skin, and ripping it off. Elizian thrashed against the wall, biting back a scream on the bonds in her mouth. The pain continued, distinguishing the fresh lashes, and the last hit became harder and harder to tell. Tears ran uselessly down her face, soaking into the blindfold. The last and worst hit came. She spat out a mouth full of blood and saliva, the wounds on her back hurting unbearably, the raw flesh oozing warm blood. Why couldn't it just all stop hurting? Why so much pain over a petty question of religion? Why? She sobbed into the wall helplessly, rough hands clawed at her arms. They pulled her out onto the dusty pathways in the Concentration Camp. She had lost all her bearings, but she already knew where they were taking her, the smell of charred bodies filled her nose with repulsion. She could hear the screams of men as they ran up blood stained steps whilst carrying 25kg blocks of stone on their backs, and knew the wet spray on her bare legs was the blood of a man crushed by a dropped rock. Elizian whimpered mournfully as she sensed the weak life extinguish. The path under her feet changed. She was here.
As the girl entered the dark building, all warmth disappeared from her body. She was pushed into a chair. Cold metal touched her forehead, shearing off what little hair she had left. The job was thorough, but ripped off skin with each swipe, and drops of blood ran down her face. Every cut and bruise she'd acquired over the past few years stung and ached, reminding her that they were here to stay, never healing scars. Elizian was yanked to her feet by her elbows, the cold floor bit into her sore feet. She heard the creak of a heavy metal door as it was slowly opened, a babble of screams burst into the girl's ears.
"What's going on? What's happening to us?" Screamed the people.
"Your going to be disinfected. Your going to be purified," they answered. Elizian knew what was coming as she was thrown into the knot of confused women and children The iron door banged shut behind her. Waiting for the end was worse than her aching pains. Gentle hands pulled away the blind fold and bonds.
"Mother!" Elizian was pulled into a hug by her only surviving parent. Her rosy cheeks had long gone, her whole body was thin and under nourished and her hair had been roughly cut as well. The skin hung off the bone, and her infected wounds pussed grotesquely, but her eyes were still bright as she hugged the daughter she had thought dead.
"Elizian! Elizian! Oh my daughter! Your alive! Your alive...." she sobbed into Elizian's bleeding shoulder and the girl held back a wince.
"Where's Dina?" her question was answered by a large shape that ran into her.
"Oh Elizian, I was so afraid when you burnt that guard and they took you away and I thought I'd never see you again!" she swamped her remaining family with a hug. "Ever since Dad died...I just knew I wouldn't be able to manage without you both !"
"It's OK Dina, Mum. It's OK. Look, I'm fine!" Elizian was cut off by a large rattling through the overhead pipe work. The lights blinked and wavered. The strange 'shower heads' that hung over head, blared into life, and a foul liquid came spluttering out. A wave of sickness came over her as she inhaled the poisonous gas, and heard the screams of her mother, sister and friends. She turned to the door, and a sick perverted eye glared back at her, as her lungs absorbed the evil stench. The small children, effected faster by the gas than the adults, fell to the floor, choking on vomit and blood. Their thin frail arms flailing at the feet of their mothers, and crying out with their last breath "take me home Mum, I just want to go home." Elizabeth collapsed to her knees, and spluttered the small content of her stomach onto the metal floor. The gas burned at her skin and at the skin of those around her, raising bloody welts and sores. All the girl could do was claw at the bodies of her family, and have the image of their unblinking eyes, protruding from their heads to bursting point, scarred on the soft tissues of her mind for all eternity. Why? She thought again, as she felt her mind darken, and her throat close. Her last memory was of the darting eye at the iron door, as it watched her reaching out in pain, with her last slither of strength, for the hand of her mother. The same hand that had pulled her up when she fell, that had comforted her when she was sad. When she was crossing the road. If she could hold that hand, it would pull her out of the darkness, away from this endless nightmare...
James pulled his hand free from Elizabeth's, and walked into the moonlight, leaning against the balcony- door frame, hoping the cool night air could get rid of the revolted sick feeling inside of him. He had done alot of school work on the Holocaust and the Concentration Camps of World War II, but seeing it was a completely different kind of learning. Enough to make you hate a culture for life.
"I get afraid sometimes....." the sound of Elizabeth's soft dreamy voice in the middle of the silent night nearly made him topple over. His attuned balance kept him standing "...when I remember all the things I've ever seen, views of beauty, smells........feelings. I get afraid because I think I'll never have them again." She must be talking in her sleep, he thought.
"You still have the memory. That is something that no one can take away from you," he replied.
"True." Silence. "But only with some things.....others, like me, being afraid right now, that you'll walk out that door, and I'll never see you again. Never feel like this again...."James perched at the end of the bed, and carefully stroked her hair. "I am truly afraid of that."
"I too am afraid............." I love you, he thought.
"Everyone is afraid James. Everyone." He swallowed a lump in his throat, and kissed the crown of his her head.
"I will never leave you. Though I am gone in body, I remain in soul." Her mouth tweaked into a smile, though her eyes remained closed.
"Good." He pulled the blanket over her shoulders, it was getting cold.
"I must go now, I have stayed too long.........I will see you soon........." he walked quietly to the balcony. " I promise."
And then he was gone. Elizabeth shuffled in her sleep.
" I will never see him again." She said, and rolled over back into her dreams........
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OK, so, looking back at it now, it appears a bit crap and clichéd, but hell. I'm not going to redo it unless I get sufficient review response to.....or not to.
If any Pride & Prejudice fans/watchers of the BBC televised one, noticed anything 'peculiar', then pop it into a review.....there are quite a few bits there. It's not exactly a Nightworld Jane Austen thing, oh good idea ©, but some of the bits I found particularly fitting.
How was that? I know there is a few flaws to the plot, if you spotted any, fill me in by clicking that luvly lil box \/!down there!\/ i.e:
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Ohhhhh... does anyone know about shapeshifters and children? Does the child become the same animal as any particularly parent, or one or the other? Or do they become something completely different? Just doing a background check for another story idea.....yes another one. Oh, you could put that in along with a REVIEW, hint hint......
Next chapter maybe a while, depends if I can stitch ideas together or not. Please review, if your a faithful reviewee, I'll stick ure name in bcause I'm stuck with ideas for them too. Go-on, have a review...go-on, go-on, go- on, go-on, go-on, go-on, go-on!!!!!!
Hiding
Elizabeth was crouched on the floor, picking up shards of what looked like mugs. James took a step backwards, maybe he could escape before she noticed, but clumsily knocked a pot into the balcony railings. Elizabeth fell over, scattering pieces of pottery, and breaking the last few mugs, one after the other, in surprise, with her new gift. She yelped, landing painfully hard on her elbows on the smooth wooden floor.
James forgot to breathe. There she was, the only person in the world he could love entirely. Laying on the floor, looking extremely vulnerable and very beautiful. The undyed cotton skirt she wore had got bunched up around her hips when she had toppled over, the thought of his slipping his hands up that skirt made his eyes glisten with silver, and his pupils dilate. The matching top had slipped to one side, revealing a bare shoulder, her hard nipples pressing against the fabric. I could have her right now, he thought, mind dizzy with the cool night air, and his recent feed, but a few things held him back. One was the fact that his connecting with her body and soul could completely mess up her brain with her suddenly remembering, who knows how many, past lives, not mentioning the fact that he was a vampire, and this alone could cause a large amount of discomfort...... Two, the police were now conducting a door to door search for him, and the police and Elizabeth's parents finding him on the floor with their supposedly innocent daughter was not a particularly good way of making a good impression on them.....And three, James had not yet been invited in, and walking into invisible barriers was not going to help his current condition. She panted quietly, long auburn hair framing her soft shoulders, sad grey blue eyes boring into this stranger of the night. Her crisp scent wafting to James' nose, seducing him without her knowledge. She acted completely calm, probably because she could see no malice in those eyes, only sadness and devotion.
"Hide me," he breathed. What he actually wanted to say was 'Marry Me,' but luckily, the only currently sane part of him called common sense decided against it, and made a slight alteration on the way. It was, however, at that unfortunate moment, that the police and Elizabeth's parents knocked loudly on the door.
Elizabeth flicked her head from the door, to the stranger at her window. Hide, she mouthed. He would never get away in time. She opened the door a crack, to see her mother, father and two police officers, a man and a woman. The girl pulled the cream shawl closer to her body, to conceal the fact that she was nervous.
"Can I help you?" she asked politely, giving a warm smile to the people.
"Hello Elizabeth. Have you seen a group of three boys about. We lost two of them, but we traced a third to the outside of your house, you might have seen where he went, from up here. We just want to check that he hasn't crept up here. I don't think you'd be very pleased to have some strange boy jump out of your wardrobe hey?" Elizabeth appreciated the Que. to laugh, and gave a polite chuckle, turning her head to check the balcony, she found that James had already disappeared.
"Come in then," the adults entered her room, the male officer checking the bathroom, the woman peering in the cupboards. She waved at the collection of pictures on the wall.
"You did these?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I took to a pencil like a cat to milk," the woman grinned, inspecting a chalk drawing of the view out of her balcony door, her head looking from picture to balcony and whistled, impressed.
"They're fantastic," Elizabeth smiled proudly, glad that her missing faces on her portraits were mistaken for a personal style. The officers finished by checking the balcony, peering out onto the street, checking that he wasn't sneaking off whilst they checked the houses.
"Well, looks likes our man has gone, or at least, isn't here. We'd better leave you folks alone, and head out."
"What did they do?"
"Hmmmm?"
"The boys, what have they done?"
"Oh, we got a call about some disturbance down at the RSPB pond, and found them there, making noise, probably drink or drugs playing with their brains."
"Yes, well, we appreciate the thought, and you Miss Elizabeth, should be in bed. C'mon, your father'll show them out, and I can tuck you in."
"Awww, mum," she hated it when her mum was like this.
"Whilst you explain why five of my perfectly good mugs are smashed on your perfectly good floor," Elizabeth's mum tapped her foot on the wooden boards, arms crossed. The door closed with a chuckle from the escaping adults.
"I was trying out a new drawing technique, I was going to experiment with shades and curves, and build up a truly.....chaotic picture how can you tell there were five?"
"Uh huh.....whatever you say innocent daughter of mine. It's called a mother's intuition. Now. Hoover, damp cloth, then BED."
"Whatever you say mother...no seriously, how could you tell?"
"There are five handles! Now march!" It was a whole forty-five minutes before her mum turned the light out and left. Elizabeth sighed, listening to the fading footsteps.
"You can come out now," she whispered. With a soft thud, like a cat dropping, the ghostly figure appeared in the balcony doorway, shrouded in moonlight.
"Thanks for hiding me,"
"I don't remember doing anything."
"You didn't tell them about me. Thankyou, I'm in your debt." She hoped the darkness concealed her blush, why did he make her so nervous? She cleared her throat to cover the shake in her voice
"Please, sit down, those officers are still patrolling. You can stay in here 'till they've gone.if you like," James regarded this as an invitation in. He drifted around her bedroom before settling on the sofa. He placed one hand to his face, fingers wrapped around his mouth and jaw, inspecting the slight bristle of a young beard, the other gripped the sofa's arm. His eyes flicked to the clock. Eleven o'clock, he'd better get home soon. Elizabeth sat, arms around her knees, surrounded by a swamp of thick white duvet. They watched each other thoughtfully, eyes locked together across the dark room, a strip of moonlight acting as a barrier, stopping both from moving towards the other. Elizabeth touched her lip in confusion, wandering what this beautiful creature of the night was doing in her room. Instinctively, she reached out for a piece of black sugar paper, and her chalk pencil from a box by her bed. The white chalk moved to draw the moonlight as it fell across the still figure, revealing only the imprint of his shape. She wished he'd blink more often, it was unnerving, and yet, she found it eerily sexy, made her ache to touch him. Stay put and finish the picture, she thought angrily to herself. "My name's Elizabeth, by the way..." I know, thought James silently, it's a beautiful name.
"I'm James," the girl smiled, I like that name, it suits him, it's both powerful, and gentle.
"What did you do? It seemed to piss the police off..."
"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,"
"Oh..." minutes of silence passed, James' eyes never left her, she pretended not to notice, but had to concentrate to keep her hand steady. "There, finished," she had built up enough courage to walk over to him. James felt alarmed at her coming to him, his grip on the sofa arm tightened, but the rest of him remained still. Gingerly, he took the offered picture, it was amazing, she had talent and he said so. Blushing again, and mumbling her thanks she returned to the safety of her bed.
"I saw what happened when I startled you..." he could see her stiffen at the remark. "It's OK, I've had experiences with witches and stuff......" Witch, he had used the word that had been questioning her all evening. Her......a Witch. Cool. " I can get you some books, proper ones, that'll teach you how to focus energy, and direct it in spells. You seemed to have been doing well without them though."
"Well, I 'broke' a pot in art class today, I was just seeing if.I could do it again,"
"I could introduce you to some friends of mine, they'll help teach you properly, with time, you could get very good..." she toyed with her necklace excitedly. Witch. The word sounded strange in her mouth. "You could join a circle, I wouldn't recommend Circle Midnight, though the Twilighters are friendly. Circle Daybreak would be best, my parents work for Daybreak, they would get you in. This power you have, is your membership card to a whole new world.."
"Of Witches?"
"Not just Witches, look, maybe I'm not the best person to explain this,"
"No, please, carry on."
"There are other things, are you sure you won't get freaked?"
"I am not afraid of you," her reply caught him off guard, she seemed so.....sure, so confident.
"There are Vampires." Vampires, she didn't expect that, she chewed on her thumb nail.
"Your a Vampire..." good guess, he thought.
"Yes."
"Right...what else?"
"Shapeshifters.....they usually only restricted to different animal forms, the lesser can only change into one shape. Shapeshifters can be born of shifter parents, or bitten by one to be made."
"Lesser ones?"
"Dragons are the true type of Shapeshifter, they can change into any living thing. They haven't been active for years, imprisoned within the Earth. There was one awakened this year, but it was destroyed. The direct descendants of dragons, they're like Kings in the Shapeshifter hierarchy, they can choose what animal they want to be, but after that, they're stuck with that other form for life," James looked carefully at the girl, she didn't look surprised. Duh, old soul, she's probably known about this in dozens of other lives. "There are also werewolves, and, don't laugh, I'm being serious..Zombies,"
"Zombies? Joy."
"They're formed when 'made' Vampires don't get enough of the Vampire blood in them, so after they 'die', they are still 'alive', but they still decompose. It's not very nice."
"Are you a made Vampire?"
"No, I'm a Lamia, the offspring of Vampires, I can age, but I can also choose when to stop aging. I haven't stopped aging, so I am actually seventeen,"
"So am I," she answered.
"There's thousands of us, we are all around you, a hidden world, the Nightworld within the day. We go to your schools, some live in this road. My Dad even fought in the Second World War."
"How old's he?"
"Three hundred and.......twenty six."
"You must spend a fortune on birthday candles," James gave a warm chuckle at the remark. The girl let loose a very large yawn. "And you should be in bed. No falling asleep in school tomorrow," she grinned at him, and arranged herself within and around the covers.
"G'night James."
"Goodnight Elizabeth. I'll show myself out." The girl became silent, shrouded in a feeling of safety in his presence, her breathing bacame quiet and regular. James listened to the officers walk past the house again. Half eleven, he should leave in fifteen minutes or so. Sitting down again, he watched the sleeping girl lie peacefully on her double bed. Maybe now, maybe it was alright now, it wouldn't happen again, he needed to feel her.....James blinked, shocked, he was at the foot of her bed. Moonlight edged her soft pale hand. Something deeper made him reach out towards it, made him touch it......and the room disappeared....
......Elizian was blindfolded. She had been pressed against a cold wall by rough hands. She knew what was coming next, and she tried to brace herself for the pain. Why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut and her limbs in line, rather than lashing out at the Head Guard. If she could control her temper, she wouldn't have made it happen, she wouldn't have set off the fire, her fire. Elizian remembered the dark orange flames, that had erupted from her, engulfing the guards trying to put her back in line. They were scared of her, but if she tried to do it again, they would kill the whole group of them. The Germans would kill them. After the first strike of the whip, the girl decided flatly that imagining pain, and feeling pain were clearly two different things. Imagining pain is greatly inaccurate. The deadly lick of leather swept across her back again, roughly slicing through the skin, and ripping it off. Elizian thrashed against the wall, biting back a scream on the bonds in her mouth. The pain continued, distinguishing the fresh lashes, and the last hit became harder and harder to tell. Tears ran uselessly down her face, soaking into the blindfold. The last and worst hit came. She spat out a mouth full of blood and saliva, the wounds on her back hurting unbearably, the raw flesh oozing warm blood. Why couldn't it just all stop hurting? Why so much pain over a petty question of religion? Why? She sobbed into the wall helplessly, rough hands clawed at her arms. They pulled her out onto the dusty pathways in the Concentration Camp. She had lost all her bearings, but she already knew where they were taking her, the smell of charred bodies filled her nose with repulsion. She could hear the screams of men as they ran up blood stained steps whilst carrying 25kg blocks of stone on their backs, and knew the wet spray on her bare legs was the blood of a man crushed by a dropped rock. Elizian whimpered mournfully as she sensed the weak life extinguish. The path under her feet changed. She was here.
As the girl entered the dark building, all warmth disappeared from her body. She was pushed into a chair. Cold metal touched her forehead, shearing off what little hair she had left. The job was thorough, but ripped off skin with each swipe, and drops of blood ran down her face. Every cut and bruise she'd acquired over the past few years stung and ached, reminding her that they were here to stay, never healing scars. Elizian was yanked to her feet by her elbows, the cold floor bit into her sore feet. She heard the creak of a heavy metal door as it was slowly opened, a babble of screams burst into the girl's ears.
"What's going on? What's happening to us?" Screamed the people.
"Your going to be disinfected. Your going to be purified," they answered. Elizian knew what was coming as she was thrown into the knot of confused women and children The iron door banged shut behind her. Waiting for the end was worse than her aching pains. Gentle hands pulled away the blind fold and bonds.
"Mother!" Elizian was pulled into a hug by her only surviving parent. Her rosy cheeks had long gone, her whole body was thin and under nourished and her hair had been roughly cut as well. The skin hung off the bone, and her infected wounds pussed grotesquely, but her eyes were still bright as she hugged the daughter she had thought dead.
"Elizian! Elizian! Oh my daughter! Your alive! Your alive...." she sobbed into Elizian's bleeding shoulder and the girl held back a wince.
"Where's Dina?" her question was answered by a large shape that ran into her.
"Oh Elizian, I was so afraid when you burnt that guard and they took you away and I thought I'd never see you again!" she swamped her remaining family with a hug. "Ever since Dad died...I just knew I wouldn't be able to manage without you both !"
"It's OK Dina, Mum. It's OK. Look, I'm fine!" Elizian was cut off by a large rattling through the overhead pipe work. The lights blinked and wavered. The strange 'shower heads' that hung over head, blared into life, and a foul liquid came spluttering out. A wave of sickness came over her as she inhaled the poisonous gas, and heard the screams of her mother, sister and friends. She turned to the door, and a sick perverted eye glared back at her, as her lungs absorbed the evil stench. The small children, effected faster by the gas than the adults, fell to the floor, choking on vomit and blood. Their thin frail arms flailing at the feet of their mothers, and crying out with their last breath "take me home Mum, I just want to go home." Elizabeth collapsed to her knees, and spluttered the small content of her stomach onto the metal floor. The gas burned at her skin and at the skin of those around her, raising bloody welts and sores. All the girl could do was claw at the bodies of her family, and have the image of their unblinking eyes, protruding from their heads to bursting point, scarred on the soft tissues of her mind for all eternity. Why? She thought again, as she felt her mind darken, and her throat close. Her last memory was of the darting eye at the iron door, as it watched her reaching out in pain, with her last slither of strength, for the hand of her mother. The same hand that had pulled her up when she fell, that had comforted her when she was sad. When she was crossing the road. If she could hold that hand, it would pull her out of the darkness, away from this endless nightmare...
James pulled his hand free from Elizabeth's, and walked into the moonlight, leaning against the balcony- door frame, hoping the cool night air could get rid of the revolted sick feeling inside of him. He had done alot of school work on the Holocaust and the Concentration Camps of World War II, but seeing it was a completely different kind of learning. Enough to make you hate a culture for life.
"I get afraid sometimes....." the sound of Elizabeth's soft dreamy voice in the middle of the silent night nearly made him topple over. His attuned balance kept him standing "...when I remember all the things I've ever seen, views of beauty, smells........feelings. I get afraid because I think I'll never have them again." She must be talking in her sleep, he thought.
"You still have the memory. That is something that no one can take away from you," he replied.
"True." Silence. "But only with some things.....others, like me, being afraid right now, that you'll walk out that door, and I'll never see you again. Never feel like this again...."James perched at the end of the bed, and carefully stroked her hair. "I am truly afraid of that."
"I too am afraid............." I love you, he thought.
"Everyone is afraid James. Everyone." He swallowed a lump in his throat, and kissed the crown of his her head.
"I will never leave you. Though I am gone in body, I remain in soul." Her mouth tweaked into a smile, though her eyes remained closed.
"Good." He pulled the blanket over her shoulders, it was getting cold.
"I must go now, I have stayed too long.........I will see you soon........." he walked quietly to the balcony. " I promise."
And then he was gone. Elizabeth shuffled in her sleep.
" I will never see him again." She said, and rolled over back into her dreams........
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OK, so, looking back at it now, it appears a bit crap and clichéd, but hell. I'm not going to redo it unless I get sufficient review response to.....or not to.
If any Pride & Prejudice fans/watchers of the BBC televised one, noticed anything 'peculiar', then pop it into a review.....there are quite a few bits there. It's not exactly a Nightworld Jane Austen thing, oh good idea ©, but some of the bits I found particularly fitting.
How was that? I know there is a few flaws to the plot, if you spotted any, fill me in by clicking that luvly lil box \/!down there!\/ i.e:
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Ohhhhh... does anyone know about shapeshifters and children? Does the child become the same animal as any particularly parent, or one or the other? Or do they become something completely different? Just doing a background check for another story idea.....yes another one. Oh, you could put that in along with a REVIEW, hint hint......
Next chapter maybe a while, depends if I can stitch ideas together or not. Please review, if your a faithful reviewee, I'll stick ure name in bcause I'm stuck with ideas for them too. Go-on, have a review...go-on, go-on, go- on, go-on, go-on, go-on, go-on!!!!!!
