Welcome to chapter 14 of Living Myths. I appologize to all of you for that bitterness you got from me in the last chapter. I was having a really REALLY bad month, and everything was agrivating me. I'm better now.
Guess who's comin'!!!
Disclaimer: Nope.
Wanda stalked up to her room after several long hours of interrogation from Ororo. It was the same questions over and over again, and all she could give her were the same answers.
"What was the incantation you used?"
"I don't remember."
"Wanda, I can't help you if you don't help me! What spell did you use?"
"I don't remember!"
It went on like that for what felt like a hundred years. Ororo finally relented and allowed her to escape from the kitchen and all the books books books. So, with the days events pushed to the back of her mind, Wanda found her way to her bed and fell face first into her pillow. She fully intended to sleep for the rest of her life, and if anyone were to disturb her, she'd gladly, and without hesitation, murder them right where they stood.
"Did you read this?!"
Rogue stormed into the living room, where Ororo was going through a few books of hers. They were alone, since Ororo had sent Amanda and Ilyanna to bed already, and Remy was always slow to rise. The Southern vampire threw down a crumpled newspaper on the table and glared at it, as if doing so would cause it to burst into flames.
Ororo looked at the paper quizzically, then to Rogue. "What is it?" she asked, not knowing what was causing her this much stress.
"Complete bullshit, that's what it is!" she seethed. Rogue fell back into an armchair and snatched the paper up again. "Raised from the Dead --" she read aloud. "Recently abandoned night club, 'The X Mansion', has been purchased by an overseas investor, and will be holding it's grand re-opening tonight under the new title of 'Pit 6-66'. This promises to be a huge event - the first fifty guests will be treated to a free drink by the new management. Youths of legal drinking age are invited, and encouraged to bring a friend..."
Ororo watched her crumple up the paper again, and toss it on the floor. "I'm sorry, Rogue. I know how much that building means to you-"
Rogue snorted. "Oh, it ain't just that. This is far more than sentimental value, 'Ro. That building is MY turf! Ah don't know if you fully understand how territorial vampires can be, my friend."
The African woman's brow furrowed. "I've learned of this. Perhaps the new owner isn't a vampire, Rogue. They wouldn't know of those laws."
"Oh, it's a vampire alright!" Rogue snapped. "It's gotta be, seein' as how quick they got the place runnin' again." She crossed her arms and sneered at the coffee table. "And it's perfectly liable. Since Ah ain't been livin' there for so long, the place had become unclaimed, makin' it free-range to any squatter that happened to come across it."
A low grumble and the sound of a door slamming shut sounded from the kitchen. Rogue looked at Ororo with a slight smirk on her pale lips. "Speakin' of squatters..."
Remy emerged from the kitchen, adorned in an undershirt and wrinkled blue-jeans. He rubbed his tired eyes and stretched his chest out in the doorway before stepping into the living room to see what all the noise was about. "What goin' on in here?"
Ororo nodded curtly to him. "Rogue and I were having a discussion, Remy." she answered shortly. It was apparent that the witch hadn't fully forgiven Remy for what he had done to her friend, and as a result, to her students.
He sniffed and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh? Why would dat be?"
This time, Rogue offered her piece of mind to him. "New neighbours." she hissed. "And not the kind Ah'd invite for dinner." She stood up and went to get her coat from the front hall.
"What are you going to do?" Ororo called, closing the book that lay open in her lap and leaning over in her seat to watch.
Rogue popped back into sight with her coat on, and her usual scarf tied around her neck. There was a strange glint in her pale green eyes that disturbed Ororo in a way that even she couldn't fathom. "Ah'm goin' out to a big party." she answered haughtily. The vampiress looked to her male counterpart expectantly. Remy, in return, watched her in confusion.
"What?!" he demanded.
Rogue threw his heavy leather jacket to him. She turned her collar up while glaring at him. "You're comin' with me, Cajun. There's a new mosquito in town, and nestin' in my club. And while this pisses me off, Ah ain't crazy enough to go on my own."
He nodded and slipped his jacket on.
The cold, late autumn air bit at the faces of those standing in line outside 'Pit 6-66', waiting for their turn to enter. Rogue kept a straight face as a couple of girls - who reminded her of Wanda and Amanda on the night she met them - flirted shamelessly with her companion. She watched Remy warily, worried that he might slip back into old habits and break the promise he made. He smiled at them charitably, careful not to reveal his fangs, but didn't offer them anything further than a polite 'bon soir'. They, of course, thought this gesture to be rather enticing. Rogue had to turn around and shoot them an icy glare before they stopped trying to grab for Remy's attention.
The line advanced slowly, until Rogue and Remy were admitted. The bouncer, a large man with the name 'Mondo' tattooed on his arm, took one look at them, grinned, and allowed them to enter with his utmost enthusiasm. "Welcome. Mondo is happy to say we have an excellent selection for you tonight."
Rogue gave Remy a look of disgust as they walked past the bouncer. The dance floor was already packed with humans, demons, werewolves and vampires alike. Rogue didn't recognize any of them as she looked around her old territory.
Strobe-lights flashed, music pumped, people danced, drank, and disappeared into the basement. Rogue glowered in the direction of the double-steel doors. She had a very good idea of what was going on in her old room - and it made her sick.
Remy sensed her unease, and offered her a pat on the shoulder as his way of reassuring her that none of this was her fault. "I take it you ran a cleaner business, non?"
Rogue pulled away from his hand and stalked off toward the bar. She didn't bother to see if Remy was following. She wanted to talk to the owner and find out exactly what was going on.
She slid onto one of the barstools. These were new ones, with leather upholstered seats, instead of the old metal ones she had kept for sentimental value. She glared at the seats, as if she were blaming them with all that was going wrong in her unlife. The bartender turned to her and smiled before going back to wiping glasses with a semi-red-stained cloth. She didn't look up at the barkeep. She didn't even look up when she felt another being, a vampire, sidle up next to her.
"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle." a deep, airy voice cooed into her ear. Rogue glanced at him from the corner of her eye. It wasn't Remy who was standing next to her, but some lavender-haired vampire dressed in designer black pants, and a white dress-shirt with the top few buttons undone. His fangs were bared as he gave her a very charming smile. "Care for a drink?" He held a glass of red fluid to her. "It's virgin."
Rogue turned her head away. "Ah'm not thirsty, thank you." she answered shortly.
The French vampire didn't seem to want to give up. He sat down next to her and made a hand gesture to the bar tender.
"I don't believe we've met before... miss-"
She wasn't going to offer him any pleasantries. "Rogue." she said. "Sorry, as much as Ah'd love to get picked-up," there was just the teeniest hint of sarcasm in her tone, "Ah'm lookin' for somebody. So, if you'd excuse me-"
She turned to leave, but the vampire appeared in front of her on the other side. "Perhaps I can be of service. Who are you looking for?"
Remy cut through the crowd and mysteriously wound up on the dance floor. A pack of gorgeous young women pulled him into the center of their group and began dancing around him. The movement of their bodies was enthralling, inviting, and downright sexy. Remy was almost mystified by them, except his libido had been quite effectively tamed since he stopped drinking the blood of humans. One of the dancers sidled up in front of him and lay her arms around his shoulders. Her voice was like silk as it slid across his cheek and slipped into his ears. "Are you open to sharing?"
Remy looked around at the five dancers. They were identical quintuplets, all with the same hungry, demanding look in their pale blue eyes. The Cajun vampire knew this was too good to be true. There was only one answer to this - they were all succubi. He sighed and shook his head in rejection. "Desole, p'tite. I've been wit' your kind b'fore, an' dat be an experience Remy don' wanna repeat."
The five sisters looked at each other, shrugged, then stalked off to find another partner. Remy began weaving through the crowd again. There were so many fresh-faced men and women swarming about. Remy watched as one young man was lured into a set of double doors by an attractive vampiress. He thought what an unfortunate bastard that man was, then continued his way to the bar.
As he approached, he saw that Rogue was engaged with a vampire he thought looked familiar. A young woman stood by them with her head bowed and her hands folded in front of her. There was something eternally tragic about this mocha-skinned beauty that Remy couldn't quite put his finger on. She seemed to be waiting on the lavender-haired man, but her eyes blankly stared off, as though she were awaiting an inevitable death.
He placed his hand on Rogue's shoulder to alert her of his presence. She didn't even flinch at his touch.
Rogue turned around and glanced at Remy quickly. "Remy, this is Marius." she announced, motioning to the vampire before her.
Marius extended his elegant hand to Remy. "Monsieur. It is a pleasure."
The hint of familiarity Marius stirred in Remy brought about a realization. Remy had in fact met this man several years previously. Marius was a friend of Essex's. And that made him one of the most sadistic and twisted creatures on the face of the Earth.
"Remy, I believe I know you from somewhere..."
Rogue's eyes snapped to the Cajun's face. "Do you?"
Remy shook his head. "Non. Y'must be mistakin' me f'someone else." he still eyed the young mystery woman as he sat down next to Rogue.
Marius seemed to notice this. He tenderly pulled her to his side and brushed her long, brown hair over her shoulder. "I see you've noticed my lovely sister, Monet." he let her hair drop. "Monet, ma petite, say hello to your brother's new friends."
She stared past them, and Remy and Rogue saw that her dark brown eyes were dead. "Bonsoir, monsieur et mademoiselle. Welcome to my brother's club." she said in a flat monotone.
Remy was mystified by this girl. he knew for a fact that Marius was over three-hundred years old, and this girl was not a vampire. Had it not been for the striking resemblance, he would have thought Marius was lying about her being his sister.
Rogue found the while set-up extremely disturbing. This Marius was a villain of another breed. She guessed the kind of hold he had on Monet, and the knowledge fed the fire of her burning rage. "Ah thought holdin' immortals was passé these days." she sneered.
Marius chuckled deep in his throat. "What can I say? I'm a sentimentalist." he ran the palm of his hand across Monet's cheek. "Besides, my darling sister has the sweetest blood I've ever tasted." he flashed them a sinister grin. "I'd be willing to share a bite with you."
Monet automatically unzipped the collar of her turtle-necked dress, and pulled the vinyl fabric away. Rogue turned her eyes away from the sight of multiple puncture wounds across her throat and down her collar-bone.
Marius patted Monet's shoulder and motioned for her to do her dress up again. "Forgive me. It seems you have different tastes, non?"
"Ah'm off human blood."
"Ah, oui! Of course! I've heard of this." he snapped his fingers, and the bar tender brought them two glasses of blood. "Please, have these on me. As the proprietor of this club, allow me to offer you my sincerest apologies for my insensitivity."
Remy picked up his glass and looked at it warily. "De lady jus' said we ain't drinkin' dis stuff no more."
"Of course not." Marius chuckled. "We cater to all tastes here. This is the finest lamb's blood in all the world. Please, enjoy."
Rogue downed half of the glass quickly, then set it aside. "Well, it's gettin' to be time to go. Ah've gotten all Ah need." she pulled the glass out of Remy's hands before he could even touch it to his lips. "Ah need to talk with 'Ro before mornin'. Let's beat it."
Remy made a face at her in protest, but followed her out nonetheless.
Marius watched them exit with a sneer twisting his refined features. "Don't worry, ma petite. We'll be seeing them again." he took his sister's hand and led her to the basement.
Wanda's unconscious body turned over in her bed as a light moan escaped her lips. In light of all that had happened recently, it was a relief to escape into her dreams again. The warmth of her blankets was transferred to her subconscious as the warmth of a pair of arms embracing her. She snuggled further into them, hearing a voice softly and tenderly whispering wonderful promises of security in her ear. She smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages as she allowed herself to be engulfed in the golden glow of the being she accompanied in her dream.
Amanda was there, with Ilyanna and Ororo. They sat off and studied, paying Wanda and her companion no mind, and occasionally making sparks of light flash off in the distance. Pietro and her father were standing outside the window, unable to come in and disturb her. Rogue sat on the floor and played a mandolin bare of any strings, while Remy embroidered his initials on a pillow.
It was a fairly strange dream, to say the least. Wanda focussed on the heat around her instead of the outside distractions. She didn't know or care to find out about the surprises that awaited her when she finally woke up.
Amanda Sefton was always early to rise, even on weekends. She even had a chance to talk to Rogue and Remy for a few minutes before they had to disappear into the basement for their slumber. She had told Remy that she had forgiven him for almost drinking her blood, and that she didn't blame him for what happened to Agatha. Remy expressed gratitude for this, patted her on the shoulder, then went downstairs.
Having done her morning work-out - since it was required to do so in order to get ready for next season's gymnastics tournament - Amanda began pouring cereal for her breakfast. It was perhaps the closest thing to sugary breakfast food that Ororo would allow the girls. Granola... Amanda was a little sick of granola, in all honesty. But she knew where to go to get the frosted-goo-goo-puffs. She knew about the secret stash her good friend Wanda kept under her bed. And luckily for her, she knew Wanda slept like a corpse on weekends.
"She wouldn't mind sharing." she rationalized. "We'll just consider this payment for all those notes I let her borrow for the past year or so."
Amanda crept back upstairs, this time turning left instead of right at the end of the hallway. She noted the signs hanging on Wanda's door. "Beware," one said "Do Not Awaken the Beast Within."
Amanda slowly turned the handle on the door and pushed it open. "Wanda..." she whispered as a sort of warning that she was there. "I'm coming in for a minute... I promise not to wake you up." she popped her head in the door and squinted in order to focus her eyes in the dark room. They were drawn to the fiber-optic lamp Wanda had going on her dresser. Amanda couldn't understand how she could stand having that thing on when she was trying to sleep. It was far too distracting.
Amanda tip-toed her way toward the bed, knelt down beside it and reached under for the box of 98 sugar-based breakfast cereal. She placed her hand on the bed to anchor herself and to prevent falling over. However, when her hand made contact with the bed, it felt like she was touching something warm and alive. Thinking that she may have just disturbed a sleeping giant, she pulled her hand away quickly and looked up to see what was awaiting her. Her eyes widened considerably as she found out what lay before her. Amanda silently exited the room and went to find Ororo.
In a matter of minutes, both mentor and student were at her bedroom door. Ororo had been disturbed just as she was about to drift off, having stayed up all night. Her snow-white hair was up in a braid, and she wore her thick bathrobe. "And you're sure of this?"
Amanda nodded, wondering how Ororo was managing to stay so calm in this kind of situation. Normally, if something like this happened, Ororo would be flying off the handle and breaking down the door by now.
Ororo threw the door open and flicked on the light. Yes, what Amanda told her had just been confirmed. A knowing frown appeared on Ororo's face as she approached the bed. As a reaction to the light, Wanda immediately shrunk away and snuggled further into her blankets.
"Wanda, it's time to get up child."