Title: Darkness of Companions
Based on: Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde
Summary: A sequel to Companions of the Night. Kerry's life is threatened by an unidentifiable source Ethan/Michel seems to understand. He becomes her champion as she recedes farther into the darkness.
Rated: PG13
Author's Note: I do not own any characters. This is the second last chapter… hence why it is so short. Anyone remember when I said I'd rather gouge out my eyes and feed them to my fish than write something humourless? Well my fish is dead. All mourn Limar, the gay Japanese Fighting Fish.
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Michel had awoke her a few hours before and commanded she get dressed. She had looked up at him bleary eyed and suggested they stay in bed all night instead. His gaze had saddened, and for a second he looked wistful before he shut the emotions off. After she had emerged from the bathroom, he had roughly grabbed and kissed her briefly before walking out the door, leaving her to scramble after him confused and heart pounding.
Now they were driving through the darkness again, headed for the Calabogie Peaks Ski Resort. Michel said he didn't want her lying to her father, and Lestat and Jesse were meeting them up there at his cabin. Knowing Michel it was a small fortress, and the hills themselves were huge and treacherous. What kind of name was Calabogie anyway?
He pulled into a secluded driveway that appeared to be recently plowed and turned off the car lights. Kerry jumped as a branch scraped across her window like fingernails on a chalkboard. The trees were barely visible on the black country road, but the snow managed to find some light to reflect making it a shimmering gray. Michel sped up.
"Could you turn the lights on? You're making me nervous."
"No, you'll see the reason soon enough." She sat back in uncomfortable dark silence, knowing she should feel secure with him at the wheel, but there seemed to be something different about their relationship. She put it down to the fact she had saved his life for the second time and tried futilely to see the nose of the car. He pushed her back and grumbled he couldn't see through her head.
She sulked for a few moments until his hunting lodge came in view. The bright lights were twinkling from a large wooden structure on the hill. Only glimpses could be seen through the trees, and she watched in anticipation for her first glance of its complete grandeur. Michel grinned with pride as her eyes widened and she gave a small involuntary gasp.
They pulled into a dark garage and Michel left her to navigate in the shadows towards the door on her own. She felt as if the dark was suffocating her, and for the first time in days she remembered the winged shadow phenomenon taking place when Michel first showed up.
Lestat and Jesse were exuberantly welcoming Michel into his own home as she finally made it through the garage in one piece. They both looked at her and quickly turned their gaze towards Michel. Jesse's eyes had tears in them, as Lestat looked at him in enraged condemnation.
"You drank from her." The rock-star grabbed Michel and started to pull him toward the kitchen. "I thought you said she was special. She wasn't meant to be touched."
"You know I can still hear you guys." Kerry claimed, watching as Michel punched Lestat in the nose. The blondish man stumbled backwards into the kitchen with Michel walking calmly behind him, slamming the door. She turned to Jesse. "What's going on?"
The auburn haired woman surged into tears. Kerry couldn't hear the men in the kitchen through her blubbering. "What is it?" Jesse backed away as Kerry reached out to put an arm on her shoulder.
"You let him drink from you."
"Of course, he was hit by a car, bleeding and unconscious. He needed nourishment so I gave it to him."
"He was unconscious… so you force fed him?"
"Yes." Kerry sat down, weary of the questions. Why was everyone so upset? The rocking chair collapsed under her weight. She jumped up, glaring at the chair, and wondering how many pounds she had gained lately. With the infrequency she was eating, she would have assumed she lost some.
Jesse looked scandalized. "You sat in the chair."
"Some chair, it didn't even hold me up." She kicked a shard as Jesse gasped.
"No, it's THE CHAIR. Michel made it when he was thirteen." Kerry looked down at the pile of sawdust at her feet. She looked towards the kitchen, where a low murmuring could be heard, and started to kick the shards of wood under the couch. She jammed the backrest under just as a mouse scampered by her arm. Screaming, she jumped onto the couch, expelling a cloud of dust.
Michel crashed out of the kitchen, surveyed the room, scooped up the cowering mouse, and disappeared again. If she had blinked, she would have missed his heroic gesture. Faster than a speeding bullet… she hoped that didn't mean Superman was a vampire.
By this time Jesse seemed to have calmed down. Kerry perched herself on the edge of the couch, aware that there was probably a colony of rodents under her. She let herself down easy, scared it too would collapse, but she should have known that even if it did she had stuffed enough wood under there for it to stay up anyway. Turning to Jesse conversationally, she hoped nothing else distressed the woman.
"Tell me more about the Quhadilne."
"They live in fear of the Quhadila returning. She tried to expel the world humans by setting the plague on them a few centuries back. She normally isn't violent, but I'm pretty sure this one was mentally insane. Another hasn't been born since, as far as we know. Vampires particularly like her, if they partake in drinking her blood, they can live for days in the light."
"You keep referring to her as a female."
"She always is."
"Then could I be…"
"No. A vampire can always sense her presence. I hate to be brutal, but as far as powers go, you have very little."
"If she has so much power, can a vampire kill her?"
"That's the ultimate question. Many vampires have searched all their lives for her. It's like the quest for hidden treasure or immortality for humans. Like… the Holy Grail." She took a breath. "It's believed that if we drain her blood and convert her, the vampire can live forever in the sunlight, and she'll have immortality."
"So vampires desire sunlight above all?"
Jesse's features turned sad. "Most do. It's the only thing not at our fingertips. We have a primal urge to masochistically stand outside and watch our last sunrise."
Kerry shivered, remembering the pain Michel went through when he was caught in the rays for a moment. It was probably quite a painful process just to see the sun. She remembered whats-her-face's crispy body she helped dispose of, and wondered if her last moments in the sun were enjoyable. She doubted it.
Michel and Lestat finally emerged from the kitchen. Kerry jumped up and headed towards them. Michel crossed his arms over his chest and opened his mouth to say something. She pushed pasted him to the kitchen door. "Finally, I thought you guys would never leave. I need food."
The black haired vampire looked at the married couple and the both shook their heads. Kerry opened to fridge to find it empty except for a familiar green glob of grossness.
"It followed us!" She yelled stepping back. Lestat crowded behind her and wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"What's with the zucchini? You don't have some kind of zucchini fetish we don't know about, do you?"
"That one isn't a zucchini." They both looked at Michel questioningly until he elaborated. "It's a cucumber."
"In the sex shop I was in they had a vibrating cucumber." Kerry mused out loud.
"EUGH, dude, what are you doing with the vegetables."
Michel stalked away muttering 'sickos.' Kerry reached into the fridge and grabbed the slithering springy semi-solid slop. A string slipped between her fingers and landed on her shoe, before she chucked it at Michel. It splattered nicely against his back, and Lestat surprised her by turning for a 'high five' as Michel continued to walk out the door. He just yanked off his shirt and dumped it over Jesse's head. Kerry scowled as she innocently wiped her hand on Lestat's shoulder. The man ran over to help his wife as Kerry pushed down on a kitchen chair, testing it before sitting.
It didn't look like she'd be eating anything tonight.
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Look, I know none of you want Michel to kill Jesse, but I think it would be fun if you tried to guess what happens in the next [and last] chapter. Plus I'd love reviews. Even if you've already reviewed this story, I'd still love to hear from you… I'm shameless, I know.
----Wait! Where are you going? Reviewing is that way----
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