Chapter 16: Revelations

AN: I'm back! I'm not dead! AND MY PROJECTS ARE FINISHED! Done! Complete! Terminated! Graded and turned in! HAHAHAHAHA hysterical laughter

Cough um….yeah So, if you hadn't guessed, the overload of projects is done. I'm extremely sorry I didn't update sooner. throws self on ground Forgive me O Readers of Mine! Forgive me! And thank you for so faithfully reviewing!!!!!!!

Okay, about this chapter:

person called aleera: yes, I added an Aleera/Destiny scene in here just for you.

crackpot joe: yes, I will make this into a story quiz on it may take some

time, what with having to change the whole damn thing to second person. But I'll try to make it happen. And your bunnies do not hurt me! Now, badgers, that's another story.

To all of you who thought Destiny was dead: hahahahahahaha! She's NOT! I loved reading your reviews, they provided me with MUCH amusement. Kekeke I love making painful cliffhangers

Works coming in the future: The Hand of Fate (sequel), and I'm trying to write my own book series in a world that I made up. But that won't happen for a while. If I ever want to think about getting it published, I need to be careful with it and not rush it.

If you guys have any ideas of what you'd like to see in a sequel, send them to me via review or email: ) the sequel will be called The Hand of Fate and will take place about 20 years after this one

Ps: I have no idea where the hell I get my inspiration. Most of my ideas come to me when I'm trying to get to sleep. (that might explain a LOT)

My first semi-lucid thought was that I was floating. I was not quite alive but neither was I dead. For who knows how long, I simply existed in a hazy world of nothingness and pain. Sometimes, I fancied that I heard voices. At other times, I could almost make out distinct shapes. But, I could never hold on to any consciousness that I may have had for long and I would inevitably slide back into the well between Life and Death.

Opening my eyes, I first thought that I was still in that awful between state. It was dark and cold, full of shadow. Gradually, I was able to discern the familiar shapes of the furniture in my room and the drapes over my window. Relief bubbled up in my brain that I was no longer trapped in the well. That was all I had time to gather before a wave of pain swamped me, sending fire up every nerve in my body and nearly causing me to black out again.

I managed, after several attempts, to sit up. Something was not right in my room, but I didn't know what. The drapes, as I pushed them back, seemed heavier than usual. In fact, every movement was harder and required more energy to carry out. An after-effect of the demon's poison perhaps?

Which hadn't even worked! I was torn between anger that all that work had been for nothing, relief that I was alive, and pain/guilt/sorrow that I wasn't dead. The warring emotions caused my head to pound, but a the sharp nail of someone's finger at the base of my skull and another one pressing into my jugular veil distracted me quite effectively.

"Ow," I said to whoever was behind me. Three guesses as to who that was. Literally.

"I still fail to see how such an insignificant, pathetic figure like you could hold such sway over my Master," Aleera purred into my ear, using the tone I'd come to identify as Aleera at her worst.

Great.

"You have caused so much havoc, yet he lets you live." She was circling me now, and I stood as still as possible. "I find it odd that a jaamini demon could find its way here without help."

Silence was the best policy.

A finger tilted my chin and I just barely managed to match her gleaming purple eyes without flinching. She couldn't kill me without risking her own death I knew, but knowing Aleera, she could come up with many things worse than death itself without a problem.

Even as it was, I was unprepared when she struck me hard across the face, knocking me to the ground. Her nails raked across my cheek, leaving four bleeding furrows in their wake.

"You don't deserve the leniency that you have enjoyed thus far," she spat, dragging me upright again. Hissing slightly, she licked the blood that was flowing from the wounds, savoring it. "And you certainly aren't deserving of carrying my Master's seed."

Unconsciously, one hand rose to protect my stomach. I knew that Aleera was most likely, well, let's say certainly jealous and was enjoying taking her anger out on me while punishing me for trying to kill myself at the same time.

"I certainly did not ask for it," I shot back, and then clamped my mouth shut in dismay at those ill-timed words. Aleera's hand locked around my throat. "Yet you seemed perfectly willing to go along with it," she hissed.

Abruptly, she let me threw me to the floor for the second time and was gone before I landed. I stared at the door, wondering what other forms of punishment I should expect should I venture out of my room. I shuddered. Aleera: crazy but vicious, with a vengeance streak a mile wide.

Doing what I could about the blood on my face, I left my room, hoping that the wounds would heal before anybody noticed.

Through the windows, I noticed that snow was falling, gently, for the first time in many days. Save for the occasional Dwerger I ran into nobody while making my way down countless flights of stairs and through the front hall to the outside.

The icy air momentarily took my breath away and I waited a moment for my body to acclimate itself to the outside before wading through the ankle high snow. Along the castle walls and especially in the nooks and corners, the wind had blown the snow into glistening white mounds. The temptation was too much to resist.

Ten minutes later I was poking eyeholes into the face of a round snowman. Loose pieces of stone made fitting eyes and a nose for him, and I used my thumb to carve a smiling trench mouth below the nose.

Standing back to admire my handiwork, I noticed a stone pillar and what appeared to be a mirror on a rocky ledge. Funny I had not noticed them before. My curiosity piqued, I trudged over to investigate.

It was a mirror. Running my hands over its surface, I discovered that it bent slightly under my touch and was not cold, as I had expected, but rather warm as if it were inside.

Which was a ridiculous thought, since it was currently stationed in the middle of the mountains over an abyss. In the stone frame that encircled it, I found a tiny carved message. Though some of the words were chipped and others worn away, I could make out the name "Valerious" and the words "gateway" and "banishment".

I knew deep within my bones that there was much more to this mirror, if that's what it really was, than meets the eye. Perhaps, there was even a way to use it to help the werewolf escape. I had not forgotten about him, locked down in that awful cell.

Flopping down on my back in the soft white powder, I lay spread-eagle with closed eyes, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. Things were now in motion that could not be undone (a.n.: LOTR rocks!). Slowly, I swished my arms and legs through the snow, back and forth, back and forth, in wide arches.

Without even opening my eyes, I knew he was watching me. Not being able to stand the tense silence much longer, I stopped swishing the snow around and spoke.

"I know you're there, so you can stop skulking in the doorway."

"I'm not in the doorway." The answering voice was much closer than I had estimated and I twitched in surprise. Opening my eyes, I saw him standing a couple feet away. "And I'm not 'skulking', as you put it." Careful not to smudge my work, I stood up.

"It's a snow angel," I said, motioning to the indentation I'd made in the snow. He ignored the statement. It was times like this that I wished I could read his mind. Would give me some warning once and a while.

"You tried to kill yourself." Again, I couldn't tell from his guarded tone whether he was on the verge of exploding at me or not.

"I was upset." Boy was that putting it lightly.

"You summoned a demon."

"I considered asking Aleera to bite me," I offered unhelpfully.

"I would have found out."

"Yes, you would have, so that's why I didn't ask." I tried to brush snow off my dress, before it got even wetter than it already was and I turned into an icicle.

"You stopped the demon, didn't you." It was more statement than question. "Why couldn't you have just let it be?"

The count sighed, exasperated. "Because it would have killed you. I believe we've already established this fact." His tone was unusually guarded, even for him.

"Yes, but why?" I pressed. "You're not answering the question and you know it. Why?" I ran a hand through my hair in annoyance.

Instead of answering the question however, Dracula frowned and brushed the hair away from the left side of my face. My hand flew up to cover the claw marks. I'd forgotten they were still there. Apparently vampire wounds didn't heal as fast as I would like.

"Did you do that?" he growled softly. Removing my hand, he inspected the wounds. At least they'd stopped bleeding, mostly.

"No." I shrugged slightly. "It doesn't hurt anymore though." I was lying.

"You are lying Destiny. It hurts, you're wet, and if you stay out here any longer, you'll get sick. And that I will not stand for." I rolled my eyes slightly as Dracula led me inside.

"Rules, rules, rules. God forbid you're actually worried about me." My voice was heavily laced with sarcasm

"I have reason! If you did not inflict that upon yourself, then who did?" When I did not answer, he spun me around to face him and gripped my shoulders tightly. There was no need for Dracula to say anything aloud; the black look on his face was enough.

'Aleera' I said mentally. She couldn't prove I told him if no one heard. 'But it's fine, it's fine. They're healing anyway. Now if you'll excuse me." I tried to leave, but he locked his cold fingers on my shoulders and refused to let me go.

"Do I need to re-teach you the meaning of obedience?" he hissed. "I have put up with your nonsense for far too long Destiny. Don't expect any in the future after this stunt you pulled."

The tension between us scorched the surrounding air.

"Don't worry," I spat back, "I never expected any humanity from a monster in the first place."

That did it. Dracula's eyes changed to electric blue before I could even blink and he sunk his fangs in to my neck, sucking greedily. I struggled hard, trying to get away.

"I hope you realize you're killing the only live children you have!" I yelled at him. He stopped for a split second. That was all the time I needed to slip out of his hold and when I did, I slapped him.

"Bastard! Do that again and I'll launch myself off a cliff, I swear. Or fall upon the first sharp thing I see. We have quite a lot of swords around here!" I felt my face burning in fury. "DO you understand me? Never feed off me again!" With that, I turned tail and fled, too upset to realize that I was not being pursued.

I raced up the stairs, blinded by the tears I was attempting to withhold. When I stopped finally to catch my breath, I realized that I was in yet another unfamiliar part of the castle.

Great. You think you finally have everything on a nice neat little map and low and behold, you find someplace new. But my damnably strong curiosity was piqued and so I set off up a narrow flight of stone steps. Why would there be a tower with only steps in it? There had to be a room at the top.

There was. It was medium sized but completely bare save for two things: the torches on the wall and a strange sphere that held a syringe full of red liquid.

"That's odd," I said aloud. Why would Dracula go through all the work of building a tower for the sole purpose of housing a needle? It didn't make any sense. What was he so afraid of that he didn't want it to be found? Was he protecting it from damage?

The syringe glowed a luminous red and hung suspended in a translucent globe. It seemed to beckon one to attempt to take it. This was too easy, much too easy. Why go through all the effort of hiding it if there were virtually no guards around it.

Hesitantly, I touched the surface of the globe with one finger, but recoiled instantly with a small cry. Examining my finger, which was smarting, I found the tip to be red and blistered, like an acid burn.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. Now how would I get it? In my mind, I was beginning to formulate an idea of what it might be. Given my research, the location, and the werewolf in the cage….

Tucking my hand inside my sleeve, I pushed the globe off the pedestal. It shattered on the stone, sending liquid everywhere. Miraculously, none hit me. Damn I was such an idiot. Hand still covered by my sleeve, I picked the syringe up and tucked it in inside my pocket. That was one half of the plan. The other was how to get him out of here.

Which meant more research, which I was getting more than a little sick of by now. No one told me anything useful so I had to always find it out myself. The syringe I hid in my super-secret-special spot and not a moment too soon. Just as I got to my room and hid it, Verona entered.

For a while, we stood and just looked at each other in silence, not sure how to talk to one another. Her eyes were dark and sad and I felt my heart twist in guilt. Aleera, Marishka, even Dracula, I could care less what they felt (most of the time), but not Verona. Not her.

"Are you going to yell at me too?" I whispered. Verona sighed.

"I am not going to ask why you did it. And I will not ask how you found that particular spell." Her voice was low and calm. "But you almost destroyed all our plans, all our – all my – hopes." I bit my lower lip.

"He was very worried you know."

I looked up at her questioningly.

"Vladislous. He does care about you. He would not even leave the castle to hunt while you were recovering." She studied the look on my face. "You do not believe me, but he does." She rose and left.

I cried for a long time afterwards, thinking of what she said and how I was going to betray them all.

That after noon, when all the vampires were asleep, I went down to the torture chamber. It was mercifully empty. Crouching next to the cage, I whispered,

"I know how to help you escape.