Piscean Wisdom: Well, the first time I had the dream I woke up drenched in cold sweat and I was shaking all over. Naturally I was scared. The second time wasn't as bad, just sweaty and shaking slightly. The third time was a little confusing because this one was slightly different than the other two times. You know the way in some computer games, when you have a two player game, the screen splits? Well, that was something similar to the way the third dream was like. One half of the dream was the same as the last two times, and the other half was from a different point of view. When the tidal wave comes to drown everyone, in the other half that's different, I see what has caused the wave…me! I'm the one who causes the end of the world.
Lalenna Yeah, dreams are weird. I only like the nice vivid dreams; I hate vivid nightmares like this one. I don't know why, but I've always thought that Nilsson's first name was Daniel…seems to suit him. Plus it makes him more of a person I think. I didn't wake up screaming from that dream, just Laurana. Of course, I was nearly screaming. I wonder if I have prophetic dreams like Laurana? God, I hope not! I don't want to be around if that dream came true. As for your question about young vampire turning to leather when they're staked…I have no idea if they do, but let's just say that they do. I'd look up in my L.J Smith books to see, but they're in a box at the minute. I was decorating my room and haven't gotten around to unpacking.
Well, let's get on with the show…I mean story! Enjoy. I know, I promised to update Belladonna but I'm a bit stumped at the minute as to what to write for the next chapter. Sorry.
Part 2.
I wake up the next day to find the other side of my bed empty. Nilsson must've already left to start work. I turn back the way I was facing and look at the digital clock near my head. It says 12:45 pm in large red numbers. I stretch out on the bed, and groan, my stiff joints coming loose. I stare up at the black ceiling with its ancient looking chandelier.
I sit up and open the black sheer curtains around my four poster bed, and climb out. I stumble into the bathroom naked, and wash my face in the sink with cold water. I look at my reflection in the mirror. I see a youngish girl around eighteen, with very long jet black hair, hazel eyes, well formed lips, a small button nose and a pensive expression. My eyes are the only things about me that look older than around eighteen. My eyes, at the moment look tired, old and bloodshot, probably from not enough sleep.
I stick my tongue out at my reflection, then turn around and head for the shower. I turn the shower temperature up to as hot as I can withstand (I love hot showers), and try to wash away the memory of last night's nightmare.
I reach for the soap dispenser and squirt some of the apple smelling shower gel onto, what I call a puff (but it's really a loofa, or something like that), it looks like a puff of netted material to me. I reach up and pour a lot of cherry smelling shampoo onto my hair and I lather it in. Next I pick up my puff and scrub myself clean with it. I rinse myself off, and then just stay under the hot stream of water for a while longer.
I close my eyes and tilt my face up to the stream of hot water, I gently move my head from side to side, and let the steamy water hit off my skin. I reach behind me and turn the temperature down to the coldest setting I can withstand. I stay under the cooler water for about ten minutes, cooling myself down and letting the water soak onto my stream of black hair. I read in some magazine that cold water is healthy for your hair, that it gives it extra shine and strength. It works.
I turn off the shower and open the door. I reach to the towel rack and pick up a blood red towel. I pat myself dry, and then I grab my blood red silk kimono, put it on, and then tie the belt around my waist.
I walk back into my bedroom, and flop down on the bed. I look down at my red knees and scratch where I got heat rash from the hot water. My skin normally looks like a light tan, but it's now a lobster red.
When I was "human", by which I mean mortal (I was never human, I was a witch), I had lovely natural dark skin, like a dark tan, but it lightened up an incredible amount when I became a vampire, so now it looks like a lightish tan, rather then the dark colour my skin used to be.
I sit on my bed, thinking about the time when I used to play games with my twin nieces, when there comes a knock on my door. I sit up properly and the door opens to reveal Thierry.
"Laurana, I need you to go on an assignment for me." He says coming over and sitting on my bed beside me.
"An assassination?" I ask, closing the top of my gaping kimono.
"Yes, his name is Vlad Lorenzo; he is an Italian vampire, nearly the same age as you. He is a very evil man. He has high ranks in the Night World Council. Here is his file." With that, Thierry hands me a brown file and leaves the room, he stops at the door.
"He is staying in the Mirage Hotel." Thierry leaves me alone, with the details of my next assignment.
I open the file and gasp as I see the picture of Vlad. He is the very same vampire whom I have seen twice in the past two weeks. Those same dark eyes, that same willful mouth, those luscious lips.
I look down at the details of Vlad and begin to read, my eyes straying every once in a while at Vlad's picture.
After reading up on some of the details of Vlad Lorenzo, I get dressed in a black leather shirt, tight black leather trousers and a pair of black New Rocks encases my feet. I throw on my black leather duster and head out of my bedroom. I briskly walk down the hall and down the staircase; I turn right and walk towards the back of the mansion. I walk through the kitchen where the soulmate couples are having lunch, and out the back door.
Ash is lounging by the pool with his soulmate Mary-Lynette, and their two year old son Oren. Both Ash and Mary-Lynnette greet me as I walk past. I nod to both of them, before walking towards the woods at the end of Thierry's huge back garden. It's basically a half hour's walk from the back door, to the woods. It only takes me ten minutes, as I am sprinting.
Once I get into the woods, I crouch in the thick undergrowth and stalk out a buck. He is grazing near a stream, eating from some bush. I stalk silently closer to him. He raises his head, and his ears twitch. I stop in my tracks and begin to hum. My eerie sweet song relaxes the buck, and he goes back to eating leaves. Again, I walk towards him, still crouched and silent. I am about three feet in front of him, still humming my sweet melody, he looks up at me, and starts to walk towards me. When he is within touching distance, I pounce on him, and sink my fangs into his throat before he has a chance to react. I drink my fill of blood, and then let the buck up; I have not drained him completely.
I brush off any dirt and leaves that have clung to me, and head back to the mansion. I open the back door and march through the kitchen, through the foyer, up the stairs and come to a halt outside Thierry's office. I knock on the door, and then enter without waiting to be acknowledged.
Thierry looks up from his paperwork and looks at me.
"Is something wrong Laurana?" He asks.
"Yeah, there's something bugging me." I reply, breathing hard, though not from marching through the mansion, or sprinting back to the mansion.
"What is it?" Thierry prompts when I don't continue.
"That guy? Vlad Lorenzo? Did you know that he was the figure I saw on top of the Four Seasons? And he was the same guy who talked to me yesterday?" Could it have only been yesterday? Feels like a hundred years ago.
"No, I didn't." Thierry replies.
"Don't lie to me Thierry." I warn. I usually know when I'm being lied to, and I don't like being lied to. I'd rather know the truth then and there, than find out the truth later.
"I'm not lying. I really didn't know that he was the man you saw twice." Thierry replies, dark eyes boring into mine. I study his dark ageless eyes for a few minutes, and then breathe out a sigh of relief. He is not, as he said, lying to me.
"Right. So, why him?" I ask, looking around Thierry's office.
"Why him what?" Thierry asks.
"You're infuriating you know that?" I reply. Thierry just looks at me surprised. "I meant, why do I have to assassinate him?"
"Oh, well, he's a dangerous and ruthless vampire and must be destroyed." Thierry replies. I roll my eyes.
"Duh! I meant, what has he done?" I ask sarcastically.
"Well, if you don't assassinate him, he'll try to bring darkness to the whole world." Thierry replies.
"Ah, the old trying to destroy the world ploy again?" I ask, sighing.
"Yes, so you go to the Mirage Hotel at around midnight tonight and…" Thierry imitates driving an invisible stake in the air. Only it looks like he's doing something else with his fist. I raise my eyebrows at him.
"Thierry? If you want to masturbate, just say so, and I'll leave you in peace." With that I duck out of Thierry's office to avoid a letter opener to the head. I hear the letter opener stick into Thierry's mahogany door. I open the door again, and see Thierry looking at me.
"Temper, temper. There was no need for that." I laugh. Thierry turns an interesting shade of puce.
"Get you out of my office, before I get up and hurt you." Thierry replies. He is not angry, just embarrassed.
"Don't you hurt yourself getting off the chair old man." I reply. I shut the door again on Thierry's shocked face, and shout through the closed door.
"By the way, you have a hole in your door." I laugh when I hear his reply.
"Dammit!" I'm nearly rolling on the floor, wetting myself with laughter. It's a good thing the only liquid that's in me is blood, otherwise I would've wet myself.
Vampires only need to use the bathroom if they've eaten or drank anything. If I drank a glassful of water, I'd need to use the bathroom, same if I ate something. If I just drink blood, I don't need to use the bathroom because my body uses up every single blood cell. Pity I wasn't Lamia, I'd never have had to use the bathroom, as long as I drank blood. You try peeing outside in a hole, and see how you like it. I'm from around the time of the Bronze Age, remember?
Anyways, I walk back down the Grand Staircase, along the hall and come to a halt outside the Training Room. I open the door and walk on in. Rashel is beating up the punch bag, Quinn is pumping his arm muscles with a huge bar bell, Jez and Morgead are sparring and Keller is on the rowing machine.
I go over to the weapons rack and pick out some of the deadliest weapons that Thierry has for my mission tonight. I pick up a few nasty looking knives and put them in discreet places, I put one inside my right New Rock boot, one attached to a hidden spring mechanism on my right forearm, one inside the waistband of my leather trousers and one down my top, this one is a weird shape, the hilt is an M shape so that the blade fits easily between my breasts. Next I pick up a wooden Katana, and hide it on my back. Next I pick up half a dozen wooden stakes and, one by one, attach them to a belt designed to hold them, I buckle the belt over my shoulder, so the strap is sitting diagonally across my chest.
"Whoa! Laurana's going on an assassination mission!" I hear Morgead say behind me.
"Who is it this time?" Jez asks, coming to stand beside her soulmate. I turn around and look at them.
"Just some vampire who is trying to destroy the world." I reply, not answering them properly.
"Aw, c'mon Laurana!" Morgead pleads. "Tell us who it is."
"No!" I say to him, walking away towards the door. I open it and almost bump into Nilsson head first.
"Hey Dan." I say to the made vampire. I turn sideways so as to let Nilsson through.
"Hey Laurie." Nilsson replies. Nilsson is the only person I let call me Laurie, nobody else does. "Going on another mission?" Nilsson asks, spying the "hidden" weapons.
"Yeah, but she won't tell us who they are." Morgead answers coming up behind me, looking disappointed.
"Don't be so nosy." I reply, I reach up and ruffle his hair. Morgead pulls back and tries to bite my hand. I chuckle at him, then turn around and head for my bedroom.
Once I am in my bedroom I take off the stake belt, take out the knives and pull the katana from my back. I lay them carefully on the window seat, and flop down on the bed. I look at the clock, this time it reads 3:53 pm; I decide to fall asleep until nearer the time when I have to assassinate Vlad Lorenzo.
I dream about the night when Thierry rose from his make shift grave, and the night when I became a vampire.
I am walking through the dense forest, my bare feet hardly making a sound on the soft ground below. I am wearing a dress made of silk, many layers of silk. The seasons grow colder, the daylight shorter and the night time longer.
I climb over a fallen tree, and scrape my bare left knee slightly; there is no blood, only skin pulled back.
I walk on for a few more minutes, listening to the sounds of the night. The moon above me is full, but waxing. The sky is black, but sprinkled in stars. There is hardly a cloud in the night sky. It is nearly midnight, the Witching Hour.
I have come here because I had a dream about my ancestor, Theorn. He is about to wake up, and I need to be there to teach him the ways of this time.
Theorn is my many Great Uncle, his brother, Conlan, was my ancestor. Theorn is a blood drinker, but he has been asleep for nearly ten thousand years.
I am a witch, and a Prophetic Witch at that. A few weeks after Theorn became a blood drinker, he found his Soulmate and killed her, and he asked Mother Hellewise to make him sleep until his Soulmate was reborn. Now is that time. She has been reborn and it is time for Theorn to awaken.
I come to a stop over a pile of dirt that has not been disturbed for nearly ten thousand years. All of my family has kept watch until the night when he will awaken. Conlan watched over the grave, and his daughter, and her daughter, all the way down to me.
I glance nervously over my shoulder. I am unafraid of the night, it's what belongs to the night that I am afraid of.
Maya. She is the epitome of evil. She was the very first blood drinker, she was the one who made Theorn one. She has been coming around to our house every so often, looking to see if Theorn is there. She may be watching me at this very moment.
I hear scraping. The earth below me starts to move, slightly at first, but then more rapidly. I hand comes out of the ground, followed by an arm, then an elbow, and then the upper arm. Next comes the other arm, and then a head. Theorn shakes his head and spits dirt out of his mouth. He looks at me and growls slightly. He reaches down and pulls himself out of the ground. First his shoulders, then his chest, next his abdomen, then his waist, after that his legs, and finally, his feet.
He crawls forwards slightly, and I reach down to help him up. He takes my hand and lets me pull him to his feet.
"Γειάσου Theorn.Ευπρόσδεκτοσπίτι." I say to him in Greek. (Hello Theorn. Welcome home.)
"Πού είναι ι;" He replies, his voice is hoarse, and gravelly. (Where am I?) I see his long sharp fangs. They glisten in the moonlight.
"Είστε κατ' οίκον."I answer, taking him by the hand again, and start to lead him through the forest. (You are home.)
He resists, at first I do not know why, but then he looks at my throat, and I know why he has resisted. He is hungry.
"Εδώ, θα απαιτήσω ένα ζώο για σας για να ταϊ'σω από." (Here, I will call for an animal for you to feed from.) I start to hum a sweet melody. Theorn continues to look at my neck, resisting the urge to sink his teeth into my throat. My song becomes a little faster, and after a minute or so, a doe has come towards us.
Theorn's eyes widen, and he lets go of my hand. He runs at the doe, and sinks his teeth into her throat. She doesn't move, for I am still humming my melody, and it has paralyzed her.
When Theorn has drunk his fill, I lead him through the forest and back home. There for the next three months, I teach him the ways of this new era.
On the fourth month, Maya bursts in through the door, and demands the whereabouts of Theorn. I tell her nothing. Theorn has gone out hunting in the forest. He must be well hidden for Maya not to have found him.
Maya lunges forwards, and grabs my little brother and sinks her fangs into his neck, she drains him dry. Still I do not answer her, and she does the same with my twin sister Laurel. Next she moves onto my parents. And still I do not tell her where Theorn is. Next she grabs me and sinks her fangs deep into my throat. I hear her drinking from me.
When she pulls back her head, I can see her mouth; it is stained with my blood, and the blood of my family.
She bites her wrist, and forces the blood into my mouth. The blood burns, and is sweet.
"Πρόκειται να σας κάνω έναν πότη αίματος έτσι ώστε θα μου πείτε όπου Theorn είναι." (I am going to make you a blood drinker so that you will tell me where Theorn is.)
I fall on the floor, and I feel the life drain from me. I am dying, but I know that I will not stay dead. The last of my life slips away, and I float in darkness.
When I wake up three days later, I am in an unfamiliar place. It is dark, though I can see as plainly as though it was day.
Theorn is there, and he tells me what Maya had done. He gives me a fawn to feed from. I take it gratefully.
And for the next thirty thousand years, Theorn and I have tried to avoid Maya, and to protect Theorn's soulmate, Hana.
I wake up from my dream of the past. Everything is dark and mostly quiet. I look at my alarm clock again, and it reads 11:07 pm. I get up and get all my weapons sorted out; the knives back in their hidden places, the katana back onto my back, and the stake belt back to sit diagonally across my chest.
The time is now 11:10 pm. I pick up my leather duster and my car keys. I throw the duster around my shoulders, and stuff the keys into my pocket.
I open the door and almost walk into Thierry.
"Oh! Good God man! Don't do that!" I say, clutching a hand to my heart. I take deep breaths, and start to calm down.
"I thought you might need this to keep up your strength." Thierry hands over a pint glass full of blood. I gulp it all down gratefully, even though I already fed earlier, I prefer to feed again before I go on a mission.
I hand Thierry back the empty pint glass and wipe my mouth. Thierry spots a drop of blood on the corner of my mouth and wipes it away for me.
"Thanks." I say, I walk past him and down the hall.
I walk down the Grand staircase and out the front door. Nilsson is out there washing one of Thierry's white Limos.
"Have fun." Nilsson says, going back to rinsing the car. Don't ask me why, but Nilsson prefers to wash cars in the middle of the night rather than the middle of the day.
"Oh I will." I reply. I head in the direction of the garage, and walk to my Spider. Five minutes later, I am out the Iron gates and heading of to the Strip.
It is nearly midnight when I come to a halt outside the Mirage Hotel. It is a huge building in the shape of an open book, with a volcano out the front. As I discreetly park my car on the opposite side of the street, the volcano erupts and everything is thrown into fiery light.
I hurry to the other side of the street and into the hotel's grounds; I walk through the doors and into the lobby where I meet a Bellhop.
"Excuse me Sir." I say, putting on my most flirtatious smile. "Could you please tell me what room Vlad Lorenzo is staying in?"
"I'm sorry Miss, but I can't give out that information." The young Bellhop replies. I look him in the eye, and bend his will.
"But Vlad's a friend of mine, he wants me to visit him here, but I forgot which room he's staying in." I am hypnotizing the poor child; I am making him think that what I have said is true. I plant a picture into his head of me getting a phone call from Mr. Lorenzo and the conversation we had. Or should I say, never had.
"Let me go check the book." He answers. He toddles off to check the register book; he runs a finger down the names and eventually comes to a stop. He hurries back to me looking a bit worried.
"I'm sorry Miss, but Mr. Lorenzo is not in the book." The boy answers. I look into his eyes again and give him a picture of what Lorenzo looks like. The boy's expression comes back and he looks at me.
"Room 404 Miss." He replies, looking at me dazed. I wipe the boy's memory after thanking him, and head across the lobby and into the elevator. I push the button for the fourth floor, and check my weapons while I am waiting.
The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. I walk out and onto lush red carpet. The carpet is thick and muffles my footsteps. Good.
Room 404 is at the end of the hall. Stupid idiots decided it would be fun to put rooms 499 and 498 where the elevator drops you off.
When I pass room 476, the door opens and out walks a man in his mid fifties wearing a dressing gown. He looks me up and down, admiring the way my leather outfit clings to me.
"George? Have you got that ice yet?" A woman asks, peering out through the doorway.
"Just getting it now Sarah." George replies. The woman looks about thirty years younger than George, and is dressed in a fluffy white corset, fluffy white thongs and white stockings. I shiver inwardly. I know I'm thousands of years old, but seeing that just gives me the creeps.
I walk past George and make a disgusted face. Men that old that are sleeping with women that young? Yuck! I'm going to be scarred for the rest of my life. I shudder.
I continue walking down the hallway until I reach number 404. The door is solid oak, like a mahogany colour, but slightly darker. The plaque on which the number is printed, is brass, the numbers are black.
I look down the hall; just beside rooms 400 and 401 is a window, showing the night sky outside. I walk down the rest of the hall, and open the window. Room 404 is on my right, and I count three balconies across. I jump out of the window, and land cat-like on balcony 400, then I jump again and again, until I am outside room 404. The balcony doors are open and the white curtains are billowing outwards. The room inside is dark, and because the curtains are in the way, I cannot yet tell if there is anyone inside.
I stealthily push the curtains aside, and step into the room. My vampire eyes adjust to the darkness quickly, and I see nothing. I strain my ears, and I hear nothing. There is no one here. I walk from the lounge into the bedroom down the hall. I press my ear against the door, but again I hear nothing from inside.
Dammit! Nobody home. Shit! Now I'm just going to have to stay here until Vlad comes back. This is what I hate about being an assassin, when nobody's home, you have to wait for them to come back. Once I had to wait three weeks for my victim to come home. I phoned Thierry to say that he wasn't in, but he told me not to come back until the job was done. Thierry got a broken nose for that.
I go to the kitchen, which is joined to the lounge/living room; I open the fridge and take out a bottle of beer. I pull off the lid and take a huge mouthful. I normally don't like beer, but that's all there is in Mr. Lorenzo's fridge. I walk back to the lounge, sit down on the sofa, and get comfortable. I check my watch and I'm surprised it's only one in the morning. I lean my head back, and close my eyes. I think about the nightmare I had the night before, and what it all means.
A/N: Well? What do you guys think? Is it good like the other chapters? Well, wonder what happens next? Dunno, have to wait and see.