Chapter 6

Comments: You guys all know I'm not claiming these characters as my own, so, I think I can stop saying "these are not my characters" and such.

To my reviewers, who have all but gone away.

Arden Kaylien: Your right, thank you for helping me. *Wacks herself on the head for making so many mistakes*

ShadowBlaze: Oh, what would I ever do without you? No way, Jager is no monster! The girl has almost nothing to do with the story, she was brought out to show Jager's love for Risika. You can TOO hold on to something with a vengeance, it just means you will NOT let this thing go no matter what. Your right about the scent thing, I tried to fix all the mistakes.

RogueVampyr: I tried to use third person, but it didn't sound right for some reason.

Random Thought: Has anyone noticed how much I love roses?

PS Lets make it up to 35 reviews now? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ebony's eyes stare almost blankly, and they film over from the loss of blood. Ebony's blood tastes strangely like Aubrey's, and that bewilders Risika. Risika raises her head from Ebony's neck and stares at Ebony with pitiful eyes.

"I will spare you, but never, ever, raise a hand against me again, or you will wish you had died, right here and now."

Ebony stands, dizzy, and mutters something, but she doesn't meet Risika's stare. She stumbles out of the club. Risika looks around. Her barrier is blocking the door, and many people can't get out. With a toss of her hair, she walks out the door. She waves her hand towards the door, and the barrier is gone. She hears the sigh of relief as it fades away to nothing.

Not a one in that club was stronger than her. She shakes her shoulders, shifting her hair to her back, and stretches her arms above her, feeling joints pop, she sighs in comfort. Adrenaline still flows through her, and her legs quiver under her with unspent strength. She feels the new power in her. She shivers in joy and walks down the street.

Aubrey. She had almost forgotten about him. He was still missing. She quickens her pace and remembers the last time she had found his aura. It was in the forest. She disappears and reappears in the forest. It was near her forest. She feels another aura too, the one on the rose. The aura is extremely faded, as is Aubrey's, but they lead off together. Aubrey's is more faded than the other, as if he was not awake or something.

She follows the trail, and finds the path disappears. She growls to herself, even though she knows it could not have been that easy. ~I wonder where Jager is.~

The thought just pops into her mind. She has no idea where it came from. Jager lives in New Mayhem, with almost all the others. Without thinking, she appears in New Mayhem, gazing at the walls of the vampire town.

Entering its doors, she breathes in the smells of the dwelling of most of Ather's line. She walks up its stone stairs, past its gothic front room and into the heart of the building. Almost everyone lives here.

Without knowing how she knows where Jager's room was, she heads in its direction. Appearing inside the room, she lays her token on the bed. Her own rose, crystallized black tipped silver.

Gold fringes the leaves, and the rose looks almost porcelain, in its perfection. She touches the rose, twirling it between her fingers. She smiles.

The doorknob twists and there's the sound of a door unlocking. Panicked, Risika drops the rose back onto the bed, and disappears just as the door opens. Jager stands at the door, peering into the room as if someone was there.

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Jager stands at the door, peering into the room as if someone was there. The room looks the same on a quick sweep with his eyes, but he thought he had heard footsteps in the room. His gaze catches the rose on the bed, and he realizes who it was.

Collapsing onto his bed, he twirls the rose between his fingers. Deep thoughts consume him, and he falls asleep beside the rose.

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Aubrey runs down the dark corridor. Nobody seems to notice he was missing, and it seems almost too easy for him, and he wonders if this was actually a trap. In front of him, the hall ends, and there are two open doors to the sides.

A girl walks calmly from the left door and stands at the end of the hall, waiting for the still running Aubrey. She raises her hand as if to stop his sprinting, and instinctively he stops ten feet from her.

The girls tank top reveals the tear and the eye on her shoulder, and his own shoulders slump. Blood, fresh blood, but she was as off limits as any Triste. The girl was not a Triste herself, but one of his fledglings.

More people walk from the doors, and they flood the hall. The marked girl lowers her hand, and speaks.

"Ah, Aubrey. We thought you'd be coming soon, took you longer than we had first expected. If you had thought it would be this easy, you are wrong. You will be returned to your room. Jager is not please with you."

The vampires around the girl all narrow their eyes at him, and the force of so many minds, all weaker than his but strong together, push him back, he tries to step back with the force, like being pushed by a current.

His feet fly out from under him, and he flies backward down the hall. He is knocked into the door at the end of the hall, and the door braces from his weight. The door is flung open, and he lies crumpled on the floor.

The door slams shut, and locks with a click. He curls up in a ball on the floor, and tucks his head in, he shivers, and thinks again of Risika. Forgetting his pride, he cries out,

"Help me, Risika, Beloved."

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Risika appears in her own forest. The willow trees sway in the wind, and she lays at the trunk of one. Letting her head rest against the great tree's trunk, she stares at her own peaceful wood around her.

Leaves and slender branches embrace the blue sky, and the wind rustles the drooping leaves. A creek near her babbles in a never ending stream of tumbling water sounds. It feeds into a silvery lake, reflecting the trees towering above it.

Birds twitter in the branches above her, and she wonders how a place so perfect could ever exist on Earth. Her tree sat at the edge of a path, and beside the path was her lake, her path led to her clearing, and her well, and all her trees hug the path like an old friend.

Hers.

Closing her eyes, she relaxes. She is surprised, when a letter drops to her lap. It is silver lined in black, and opening it, she is surprised at the contents.

Forests of Beauty,
Darkness of Night,
Heaven's Own Grove,
Risika's Delight

But the Darkness unsettles,
Even Heaven's not safe,

Dancing Leaves,
Waving Branches,
The Land of the Weeping,
Of Moonlight Dances,

You Thought it was Yours
But Really it's Mine,
I guess time will tell,
Lady of the Wood,
Because you've crossed the line

She grits her teeth. She will never lose this land. It is hers. She doesn't know who her challenger is, but he would not live to walk her wood.

Alright, Kill me for my Poetry. Sorry.