He felt the tense muscles in his back relax and he was about to step away from the wall, when he caught himself and yanked his eyes away from her face. She looked almost familiar, but no one normal could control darkness, so he assured himself he didn't know her.
But, then it clicked.
"HOLY SHIT!"
He clapped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late. If she hadn't noticed him before, she definitely did now. Her hand shot out, grabbing his paunchy throat, pinning him up against the wall. His eyes went wide with fear and his heart sped up even more.
"Yo-you're supposed to be dead. I-I shot you myself not five minutes ago."
She laughed. It was a clear, pealing sound, like little silver bells or a brook babbling over a stream. But, there was an iciness to it, a hidden threat.
"Dead ?" she had a lilting, British accent that could have been pretty if not for the haughty tone to it.
"How can I be dead ? I died three hundred years ago in 1704."
"Bu-but, I shot you !"
"Yes, you did."
With her free hand, she touched her chest where slightly hidden in the black leather, he could see a sluggishly bleeding bullet-hole, right over where her heart should be. Then, she dug her fingers into the wound and with a horrible, sucking noise pulled the bullet out. She casually rolled it between her fingers, studying it.
"But, you see, since I'm already dead, bullets don't hurt me and neither does shooting me. It just makes me really pissed-off !"
Bringing her fingers together, she crushed the bullet into a fine, gray powder and then dusted it onto the ground. Her hand dropped to a holster hidden inside her black, leather coat and she pulled out her trusty pistol.
"You don't know why I'm after you, do you ?"
Fear had made his tongue paralyzed, so he simply shook his head.
"Well, in that case I won't tell you, because it's too late for that information. All you need to know is you're going to die now."
Tears ran down the man's cheeks, but she ignored them. Her pretty, deep red lips twisted into a cruel smile and she placed her gun at his temple, slowly squeezing the trigger, until the shot rang out and the man slumped, dead, onto the dirty ground. She replaced her gun to it's holster and reaching into her pocket, pulled out a black rose with a small slip of paper attached to it, which she casually dropped onto the dead man's chest. His blood seeped through the edges of the paper causing it to curl up, but even as it soaked through, the words still shone brightly through.
Beware
Elise slipped into the mansion, carefully closing the huge wooden door behind her. The sun was almost up, so she prayed that most of the residents of the mansion were preparing to go to bed. That was all she wanted to do herself and she hoped that no one would stop her to ask how it went. Unfortunately, her prayers fell on deaf ears as it appeared a large party was still in full swing. She never understood why Julian let this go on, but you couldn't question the Vampire Master, so she never asked. She managed to edge past the ballroom without being noticed and had almost made it to the stairs, when someone grabbed her arm. She spun around ready to fend some drunken idiot off, but it was only Christopher.
"Christopher, what are you doing ?"
Her friend grinned and ran a hand through his thick, chocolate brown hair, making it more ruffled than it usually was. For a man, who kept such high standards in his clothes, he certainly never did anything with his hair. He had died in the Victorian era, so he was younger than she was, but he looked slightly older, due to the fact he had been a young man in his early twenties when he was turned.
"Sorry love. Just thought I'd ask how it went."
"Wonderful. But, do you really mind ? I'm incredibly tired and I just want some sleep."
"So he's dead then ?"
"Yes. Now would you please let go of me."
"Sorry, love. Do you want me to tell Julian for you, if he asks ?"
"Thank you so much, Christopher. You're too good to me."
"Nonsense. It's only a favor for a friend."
He bowed low and disappeared back into the ball room. Elise stumbled up the stairs and collapsed into bed. Her brain was screaming at her that she needed to feed, but her body overpowered it with the more powerful command of "SLEEP NOW !"
As, soon as her head hit the pillow she fell into a world of dreams and darkness.
It seemed like only a few minutes had passed, although it had actually been almost a full day, when she was rudely awakened by Katrina bouncing into her room, yanking open the curtains letting the moonlight flood in and flopping down on her bed. Elise groaned and yanked the covers over her head.
"Katrina, please go away. I want to sleep."
Katrina pulled the covers back down and yanked Elise's pillow from underneath her head.
"Sorry, but you can't. You have to get up. It's almost nine 'o' clock."
"So ?"
"Tonight's the covenant silly. Lord Julian expressly commanded your presence there."
Elise groaned again and buried her face in the mattress. If, Julian had wanted her to be there, he could have just told her instead of having Katrina relay it. Katrina was a nice enough girl who was turned during the Russian Revolution, but she was one of those insanely feminine types who really got on Elise's nerves, with their giggling and everything.
"Fine. I'm up. When are the Lycans getting here anyway ?"
"In an hour or so. But, you have to get dressed. I'll help you with your hair and make-up."
Katrina spent so long on her face that it was nearly time for the Lycans to be arriving and she still wasn't dressed. But, she always knew how to get rid of Katrina.
"Katrina, it's great of you to help me with my make-up and everything, but shouldn't you be getting ready, too ? I mean, Lord Julian did want you there as well."
Katrina bounced up with a small shriek.
"Oh my gosh! You're right ! Oh, I'm sorry I have to leave you in this state, but I have to get dressed."
She ran out of the room, almost slamming the door behind her.
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Christian slumped down in his seat and tried not to complain about why he was being dragged along to this stupid covenant. He was one of the youngest Lycans and it wasn't like anything that would happen there tonight would really concern him.
"Christian, would you please sit up and not wrinkle your shirt."
Christian glanced up at his father, Christophe. He was looking more pale and tired then usual. Christian opened his mouth to complain, but closed it again, thinking of how tired his father was of this covenant already and it hadn't even happened yet.
"And, don't think I don't know what you were going to say. I know that you don't want to be here, but if you are going to take control one day, as Master of the Lycans, you need to know how things work."
"Yes, father."
"That's my boy. Now, who is the lord of the Vampires ?"
"Julian."
"And, what do we do around him ?"
"Act polite, don't speak unless spoken to by him, sit up straight, don't act bored or surly and when in doubt think of what I would do in our court." Christian intoned.
"That's a good lad. You'll have a chance to stretch your legs now. We're here."
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Elise glanced out of the huge bay window, where she was perched in the window seat. The night was clear and cool and she could see the shiny black limousines pulling up the drive, signaling the arrival of the Lycans.
"Come here, Elise."
She turned from the window, to face Julian, the oldest and wisest of the Vampires. He was seated in the royal seat, which only the Master of the Vampire clan was ever permitted to sit in.
"I said come here."
Julian was almost four thousand years old, but still held the look of a kindly old uncle. His skin was pale and he had gray hair, neatly combed and twinkling blue eyes. Elise went over to him and sat at his feet on the dais below the chair. She was his favorite out of all of the clan, so she always sat at his right hand during talks. He smiled at her and patted her knee.
"Now, Elise. I know that every now and then, your temper gets ahead of your tongue, so will you try for me to not speak unless spoken to by Lord Christophe or myself ?"
"I will, Lord Julian. I know I must learn to control my tongue, but it's so hard sometimes."
He smiled at her again and opened his mouth to say something, when Christopher rushed in. He fell to his knees in front of the dais, sweeping a low bow.
"My lord. The Lycans are here."
"Good. Gather everyone and have them come in here. We must not seem unprepared, now should we, Christopher ?"
"No, my lord."
Christopher got to his feet and after offering Elise the curt nod that you were expected to give vampires not much higher in seniority than yourself, ran out of the room.
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Christian didn't like the Vampire's mansion much. It had an old, creaking feeling and even smelled old to his sensitive nose. But, underneath the old smell was a scent he liked even less. Death. Recent Death. He hoped the talks were over fairly quickly, because this place was giving him the shivers. The vampire who had shown them in, shoved open a large wooden door and after sweeping a low bow to his father and offering Christian a scathing look which quite clearly said "What are you doing here ?", disappeared down one of the dark hallways. Christian kept his eyes on the ground, but had the strangest sensation that he was being watched. He glanced up, finally noticing at least thirty vampires seated in chairs or window seats around the edge of the room, looking at him. Raphael whispered to him that the man up on the dais was the Vampire Lord, Julian. He bowed to him as was customary, but the moment he raised his head, he saw a lovely female vampire seated on the dais steps looking at him.
She seemed young, so she was probably only about sixteen or seventeen when she died. She had the deadly pale skin of a vampire, but hers seemed to glow in the light of the candles instead of waning, taking on a yellowish cast, like some of the other vampires. Her eyes were a fiery, gold color and she had lush reddish-brown hair which was swept up in a thick french braid. She was wearing a tight bustier top and even tighter black pants and hanging around her neck was a large, silver spider web necklace with a smaller silver spider hanging off it. His eyes were drawn to the cross-like pattern embedded in the spider's back and he wondered what it meant. But, he was shaken out of his reverie, by his father who laid a hand on his shoulder as he introduced him to Lord Julian. The Vampire Lord seemed like a fairly nice man, as he smiled at him and laid a hand on the head of the young female vampire.
"This is Elise. She was about your sons age when she was turned and is our best warrior."
The girl smiled, flashing deadly white fangs. Christian felt the same shiver up his spine that he had felt earlier.
She may look innocent, but there was something deadly to her smile, like a cat who just caught a mouse and is playing with it, before it kills the mouse.
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Elise was incredibly bored. All of the Lycans who had attended the covenant were uninteresting and pompous old men. To pass the time, while the introductions were being made, she was playing her favorite game. The meeting room had a huge, tiled ceiling and every time she looked at it, she would try to pick out different patterns. She was in the middle of doing this, when she felt someone staring at her. She glanced around the room and finally noticed a boy who was standing with the other Lycans. He was staring at her intently with a slightly confused look on his face. Elise tuned back into the conversation just as the Lycan Master, Christophe introduce the boy as his son, Christian. Elise ducked her head and pretended to be looking elsewhere, while carefully studying the boy under her lashes.
He looked about seventeen or eighteen and was tall and thin. Not gangly thin, she could see the taught muscles underneath his tight shirt. He had deep emerald green eyes, much like his father. But, the resemblance ended there. He was at least a few inches taller than his father and he had pale skin and dark chestnut brown hair which seemed to have rippling red highlights and hung into his eyes in an unruly sort of way, while his father had rather tanned skin and sandy-blond hair that was neatly combed back, away from his face.
Elise jumped slightly as Julian laid his hand upon her head. She could see the Lycan boy suppressing a smile, like he found it funny. She saw red, but keeping her word to Julian held her tongue and instead flashed him a dazzling white smile, making sure he saw her fangs. He paled slightly and took a step towards his father. Elise smiled to herself.
He's afraid of me........ Interesting........ He looks nervous already though....... I wonder if he doesn't like Vampires.