The cries of the children echo throughout the valley and all you hear is the song of the birds.
The beach stretched out like a black river winding slightly until finally it passed round a bend. A distant mist threatened to cut off the view of the black sand river finally disappearing round the bend. The rough ocean leap in up on this river, dragging it back into its depths, laughing as it sucked away the upper layer of dull blackness.
On the other side of the river a dull bank of green arose from the black. Long stems of long suffering fern lingered upon the surface of the beach brushing the very edge of the sand as the rough gusts of wind passed by.
But this was all far below. Here she stood atop a steep grey cliff to look and admire upon the barren and rugged landscape below though she had never been there. Eternity stood still, the gusts blowing her hair forwards blocking her vision of the dark river until they died once more and the river became clear again.
She turned her face then, directly into the wind, to look at him. He stood looking directly out to sea. He did not speak but she heard ~Out there is America. The land of the Dream. The land of false idols and plastic people. Behind me is England. Past is there. The future there.~ He nodded out towards the distant land he looked for in the growing mist. His tone was listless and cold.
Another cold breeze past over her, she shivered clasping her arms to herself. He stood in a thin short sleeved T-shirt but let no hint the bitter breeze affected him. She looked to the floor and shuffled her feet wanting to find the words to say but like so often they never came. She edged a step towards him, to which he responded to her for the first time by turning his head so his eyes, just his eyes, could see her. She knew those eyes so well. Her eyes dropped instantly but rose again with a slow wariness.
He seemed to change then, from the younger more fearful inexperienced boy he had been to the controlled leader she knew him as. Only later did she realise what changed was the loss of fear it had held a second earlier. He also seemed to lose soul; the hope the had chased about his face left and as the emotion drained so did the heart. This was the Carthage she knew.
"Why did you tell him?" She asked feebly standing awkwardly in his memory. Cold, so so cold. The breeze seemed to beat against her then until the harshness left Carthage's face. She felt his emotion then and it scared her more than anything else did. Longing.
"I told him because he had a right to know." There is no pretending when you head and heart both lie totally exposed to another. ~But that's not why you told him~ Eternity half thought half told. She took a half step forwards lost in those blue eyes. "It is time that bastard knew. Can you imagine how I have suffered all these years seeing you two together?"
"And do you think I have not, every time you bring a girl, to fuck, did you not think I would know? Did you not think I would hear all of it?" Bitter tears were beat from her eyes as the wind beat against her and the vaguest droplets of rain began to fall. Carthage's face had engraved all the look of the boy it had held a second before whilst in the wild storm eyes she saw a tear beginning to form. "And do you not think," Her voice shook as she whispered, "that every time I looked into your eyes I saw this place?"
"I offered you myself. I told you I would give everything for you. And ALL YOU DID WAS CRY! DO you think this is easy for me? Living with that bastard day in day out when what was mine was with him?" Carthage's voice was worn like the very cliff they stood upon shouting shouts that were lost in the wind which had gathered. Upon the black beach the ocean roared louder than ever. "And did you not think I would not hear every time you made love?"
Eternity could not look into those eyes and instead looked out to the distant sea which was obscured by the gathering mist. A guilt to the likes of which she had never felt before desended upon her and she closed her eyes to it. Behind her the broken voice of a broken man continued, "And how do you think it feels to have someone who you love with every ounce of your being in love with another man? And how do you think it feels to have someone you love denounce you as a traitor and a liar?"
"Did I choose this life?" He echoed her thoughts with his broken voice which wavered unsteadily. She blinked to clear her vision of the tears that swamped it. "Why wasn't it me?" Her body shivered, though the wind had died and the rain was falling now, fast and light, bouncing off her shoulders and running down her face mixing with the tears.
His touch electrified her as it always had. The same mix of bile and hatred rose to her mouth as it always had when he touched her. The same mix of relief and comfort released from her mouth as it always had when he touched her. His hand was placed on her hip, his body was, she knew as she felt sparks of lightening passing through the rain between their two bodies, right behind hers. Her head dropped in defeat as his left unoccupied arm rested around her body and his head came to rest above hers.
A moment of peace held, the rain stopped and the wind ceased. But a moment was all it was.
"Let me go." Her whisper was swept away by the wind but he heard her speak anyway. She did not repeat the words and he did not let her go. To Eternity it seemed as though the wind was dragging away her resistance. With every passing second the determination not to give into him was weakening.
~Would that be so bad?~ His thoughts were not aimed at her but she reacted as though it was whiplash, withdrawing her thoughts from him, hiding herself within them. His head dropped from above hers and he gently brushed her neck with his breath. To her it was like someone walking over her grave.
Why did she have to fight him anyway? What was so wrong with this place? She tried to remember, but his breath, like poison, was clouding her thoughts. What was so important to remember? Valerio. Everything became clear as ice and Carthage's body withdrew. He was behind her now. Somewhere. Close but not as close. Valerio, she owed her life to him. Valerio who loved her and cared for her. Valerio who was everything she had ever dreamed of. After years of being together she loved him just as much as she ever had.
Minutes passed in an endless silence. Her eyes were shut to his world as she let the silence beat down on her like ice. Chills passed through her as she tempted to believe that when she'd opened her eyes they'd be home. She opened her eyes.
White. Everything about her was white. A glorious gentle beauty of swirling white that danced about. White was everywhere. A bit landed on her eye, she blinked, feeling the cold and wet... Snow. Snowing so heavy and so hard she could barely make out the black beach below, which was no longer black, except where the sea cut in.
She could still feel Carthage behind her. He was cold now. Beautiful, but cold. Like ice. "I love him." She felt the taste of hate in the words. At herself. "You were hardly about. We didn't find out until it was too late. By then. And you were so immature. We would have been, we would be, unhappy together. We can't get along."
"We've never tried." His voice was quiet and toneless. The snow danced around her face and distracted her from the comment. Gradually the snow slowed and stopped leaving behind a blanket of white covering as a far as the eye can see. "Isn't love all that matters?"
Eternity jumped to her feet but it was too late. The vampire was already half in flight. She fell to her knees, her body unable to support her. She felt a searing black hole of pain rip throughout her body as she watched her soulmate disappear over the edge of the cliff. As his words echoed throughout the memory laughing and crying at her. "Isn't love all that matters?"
-*-
"Are you okay?"
The voice drifted in from faraway. Eternity stirred. She felt heavy and her body did not want to obey. Vaguely she felt the drop and the pain as she fell off the comfy thing she was lying on. Groaning she opened her eyes. They stuck with dried tears that had fallen there. "Starkers?" She asked vaguely ignoring the dull pain that strung her body. Perhaps her blood had gone on strike.
She coughed as she sat up looking around slowly. Her vision was blurred but she could see a large black shape ahead of her. "Oh you don't sound healthy." The almost jolly voice of the normally jubilant Starkers came into her hearing. The room was dim with the heavy curtains crossing the windows but it was evidently Starkers room as he was the only one to hold such a darkened room. A real creature of the night.
"What happened?" Eternity's groggy voice amused Starkers who picked her up and put her back on the bed she had rolled off. She looked up at him with unfocused tired eyes. She let off another fitful cough. "You weren't there.."
"Carthage told the world you were his soulmate and to prove it grabbed you. After that we had pandemonium." Starkers told her smiling for the first time since Holly's death. "I didn't need to be down there the shouts were loud enough. Anyway I arrived down there after a minute or so to find, get this. Valerio speechless, his mouth open, his eyes wide, the whole shamozy. You and Carthage looked like someone had got you with a freezer gun. Frozen in the positions you were left in. And Wellies was on the floor."
"Is Valerio all- Wellies was on the floor?" Eternity asked waking up. Her voice held a husky element and her tummy grumbled irritably. The sounds of Wellies normal wake up cartoons sounded from below.
"Wellies was crying. Laughing and crying. My goodness you missed a pretty sight. Pretty awful I mean. Er, Carthage is in his den. Preparing for war. I don't wish to know against whom. Valerio is in your room. I don't know what he's doing. I took you because you were helpless against those mean men of yours." Starkers tried not to smile as he said this. The necklace hit him softly in the chest and he sobered quickly.
Eternity's eyes dropped and she sat silently for a minute. "Breakfast." She said huskily before turning to get out of bed. Her body felt like lead. She looked up suddenly. "Is it morning?" She asked confused. Starkers nodded. "Did I sleep after?" Nod. "Did Carthage?" He shook his head then and shrugged. Eternity returned to thinking whilst walking out the room with Starkers in tow. She stopped at the head of the stairs. The door to their room was slightly ajar.
She slipped forwards to the open door. It creaked as she opened it some more. Valerio looked up from where he sat on the bed. The second their eyes met. The second later she turned and walked downstairs with all the resilience she had carried before. Starkers was already downstairs, she heard the clutter of pots and pans.
Eternity sat at the table leaving Starkers to his favourite activity. He had put the radio on to one of his favourite HEART channels. The sounds of 'What a Girl Wants' blared into the room. Starkers was quickly singing along. Like nothing had happened. ~A friend in need is a friend indeed~ Starker's thoughts unintentionally sent to her left her to remember he heard her thoughts.
"Today." Carthage's voice carried through the music. He was carrying a newspaper and with him was Valerio. Both looked tall and old. "Today is the day we make peace or make war." He sat down opposite Eternity, Valerio stood next to her.
"Today." Valerio confirmed. "Starkers after the breakfast check the weapons. For all of us." Starkers flipped a pancake. Carthage dropped the front page of the national newspaper. Eternity glanced at the back of the page he was now reading. The headline read 'Gun Crime drops by 32%'.
The irony escaped her for that moment.
-*-
Review and I will give you more chapters...... cos I'm lovely like that. Please!!!!!
Nada: Yes you have been closing to guessing me plot bunnies. I hope this meets you high expectations I doubt it will but I think the next chapter you'll enjoy.
Bex Drake: Bloody nice of you to say so darlin'. Thank you mightly. Hope you enjoyed this one.
Pandie Katteken: Yeah. Strange turn of events wasn't it. If I have time I will look at your story.
Redaura: I think you are in a minority of not liking Carthage. Only two people died in Red. How can you say that it was a bloodbath.
Amstar: I loved your review darling. I am so glad you like my story. I hope this chapter is satisfying and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you very much.
Does anyone remember Michael Pope?