Too Close To Tell You

AN: Really over it this time, honest. Don't want it. sniff OKAY I WANT IT ALRIGHT! I JUST CAN'T HAVE IT! Bugger…

Chapter 9 – Poison

She paced around the room, her boots making loud scuffling noises that echoed through the halls of the Hermitage, cursing. Her plans were all but nonsense now, all except one part of it.

'Sister?' He asked her. 'Why is it you want to borrow my toy?' He pouted as if he were five at the thought of giving it up.

Lania flicked her hair back over her shoulder. 'Just give her to me.' She said. 'I need her abilities.'

He pulled the rope hard making the woman fall to the ground in front of him in a sprawled mess. 'Don't break her.' He turned on his heel and left laughing. 'Oh and sister?' He called back. 'Don't be too greedy.'

'Well, well Cassandra.' She said pulling the rope and forcing her to stand up. 'Tell me, what's keeping Arushka?'

Cassandra coughed trying to catch her breath. 'I don't know.'

'Don't give me that!' Lania exploded slapping her across the face. The slap sent her reeling into one of the many marble columns. 'You lying little snake! Let me remind you that I will kill both of you if you disobey me!'

'You will kill me either way, at least if you kill me now you have no way of finding her.' Cassandra retorted.

Lania hit her with a straight out punch. 'You're right I will kill you, but I'll make you wish that you talked!' She punched again and again until Cassandra was lying on the floor and unable to get up. 'Now you will do two things for me… One: You will bring Prince Alexei back to life, two: You will tell me at least as clearly as possible where your sister is and then I will kill you. Do it properly with no more delays and you'll die quickly and painlessly.'

The girl closed her eyes. 'I will not bring back that boy.'

Lania growled. 'I am growing impatient Cassandra. Bring him back or I will destroy their souls.' She pointed to a group of huddling children in the corner. They cried for their mothers.

'You wouldn't!' Cassandra said looking at them tears forming in her eyes. 'You tell me to bring the soul of one little boy back or you will destroy three little girls! You're insane!'

'That's three times today, it must be true.' She laughed, setting one of the children to wet themselves in fright.

She shuddered, knowing that either way her god could not possibly forgive her. 'Three souls for one.' She said hanging her head in despair. Lania yelled at the children to run away quickly. They wasted no time in getting away.

'I knew you'd see things my way.' The woman laughed loudly. 'Now bring back Prince Alexei.'

Cassandra took off her overcoat to reveal a white bodice and gauze skirt, leaving nothing to the imagination. She closed her eyes and began to sing lightly at first and then louder. Her hips began to swing to invisible beats and a wave of light surrounded the boy. He was lifted from the floor and hung in the air as she danced around him. She sung so loud that others such as soldiers and any one raiding the palace stopped to listen to the sad song. Suddenly there was a burst of light and little Alexei fell to the ground. His skin was purple and his eyes a feral yellow colour.

He stood up and began hissing at her, spitting and biting.

'What have you done?' Lania shrieked. 'Where is the prince?'

'That is the prince!' Cassandra cried scrambling to her feet, 'His soul was too pure, too forgiving!' The boy turned on Lania and started to bite and scratch her. It wasn't the prince. It was a monster in his body. She fought at it finally giving up and snapping its neck. The sickening crack echoed through the halls and every one that could hear it winced. Cassandra raced as fast as she could down the hallways and burst out into the cold streets. She forced her legs to run as fast as she could and hoped against hope that Lania couldn't give chase just yet. A loud shriek followed behind her and she knew Lania was chasing her. She hopped over the homeless and drunk people lying in the streets and ran across the roads. She had no idea where she was but she didn't care, she was going to get away if it was the last thing to do. A hand grabbed her and yanked her into an alleyway. Before she could scream a soft hand clamped down on her mouth and a gentleman whispered. 'Shhhh ma petite.'

He pulled her into a doorway and closed the door silently behind them. The light in the room flickered gently and she could see him now. He wore an extravagant suit in a lavender color and his blonde hair hung to his shoulders in a neat cut. He regarded her with deep jade colored eyes before smiling at her gently. 'Ma petite, we should escape.'

He lifted up a trapdoor and ushered her through. 'Head three steps south and press your back as firmly to the wall as possible. If they find it, then the will not see you.'

She stumbled down the ladder until her feet were on the ground. With out delay she took the three steps and pressed her back against the wall as hard as she could. The light snuffed out above and he closed the trapdoor over. Scuffling sounds were heard over head but she didn't dare move or make a sound.

There was loud knocking, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Suddenly the trap door was opened above her and light flooded it again. She stood so still even when the spider crawled over her fingers, not moving.

'I assure you madam that leads to a joint cellar that I share with my neighbors.' He said just loud enough for her to hear. 'Why I can't even remember the last time it was opened, as you could tell from the dust.'

'Humph.' Lania's voice could be heard. 'If you see her, bring her back to the winter palace. There is a huge reward on her head.'

'I will, madam. I'm sorry I don't know more.' He concluded.

The door slammed knocking out the light and again she was in the darkness. An eternity seemed to pass before the door opened again. He dropped down and the trapdoor closed behind him. 'Are you all right?'

'Yes. Thank you.' She answered, 'My name is Cassandra, though you may call me Cassie.'

'Keith Valentine.' He answered in his slightly French accent. 'We must hurry; soon she will realize that I have lied to her.' He grabbed her wrist and led her through the tunnels, twisting and turning in strange directions.

'Where are we going?' Cassie asked as he suddenly stopped.

'Where she can not find you, deeper underground.' He answered revealing another trap door. 'Be careful, there is no light down there.' He jumped down the hole and Cassie climbed down the ladder carefully.

'Let go.' He said. 'I will catch you.'

She didn't really want to fall to her death on craggy stones, in a place where no one would ever find her, but something in his voice told her to trust him. She let go of the ladder and leaned back slightly. The fall was scary, a blur or darkness surrounding her, but as he said two strong hands caught her before she hit the ground. He placed her on her feet. 'We are almost out.' He said dragging her again, but slower this time, aware that she couldn't see.

'You're not human are you?' She puffed as they rounded more dark corners.

'No, very astute.' He said, 'What do you think I am ma petite?'

She thought for a moment to herself. 'Everything inside me tells me that you are a vampire, but I don't know if you are like a vampire at all.'

'How so?' He asked stopping for a second and lifting her over an obstacle.

'Well you don't want to drink my blood, or you would have let me fall, and you are not at all scary. I feel I can trust you with my very life.' She answered stumbling over rocks in the darkness.

He laughed; it was like soft bells ringing. 'You are right, ma petite, I am a vampire. But I am a pure blood vampire; human blood does not interest me at all.'

She said nothing as his hands grabbed her around the waist again and lifted her again. 'Well that makes sense, but why are you helping me?'

He stopped. 'You remind me of some one.' There was sadness in his voice. 'She died recently.'

Cassie said nothing, but noticed that the tunnel grew brighter as they neared freedom. 'I'm sorry I reminded you then.'

'Oh no, ma petite never be sorry! You could never be sorry for some one you have never met. I am happy that you look like her, because the memories are all blissful ones.' He said leading her to the cave's exit. 'That's not the only reason that I am helping you though Cassie.'

'Why then?' She asked breathing in the fresh air.

He sighed. 'You have a gift that should never be tampered with.'

She froze. 'You want my power?'

'No!' He said waving his hands around. 'Never would I violate the dead. They deserve to rest. I only mean that no one should have your power.'

'If I had my way I wouldn't have it.' She pouted. 'If I could give it away in an instant I would.'

He laughed, 'Gifts are given for a reason, and you just haven't found yours yet. I must now leave too; you may accompany me if you wish.'

'Where are you going?' She asked him brushing away a lock of her light hair that blew into her face.

Keith stared at her for a moment. 'I am going to Zurich and then on to Prague.' He answered on hand on his hip.

'Zurich… Yes I will accompany you, thank you.' She answered. He started to walk towards the west and beckoned for her to follow him.

They wandered through the quiet town of Zurich. Little houses packed closely together, and flowers on every windowsill. Anastasia and Arubna ran off together having a look at all the pretty flowers and plants. Kurando smiled to see Anastasia smiling again. She was happy at the moment, that's what counted to him. No one would destroy her happiness ever again. Even if she never regained her memory, it didn't matter. He loved her and he was winning her love all over again. Halley and Erené chatted together and entered the pub. Halley was all up to getting drunker than a pissed parrot. She agreed and decided that she would be too. They sat on the barstools in the furthest corner and drank and drank and drank. Kurando sighed as the man at the front counter handed him the keys for a single room upstairs. Anastasia followed him up and yawned. It had really been a very long mile.

'I never wanna hear another song again.' She yawned stretching her arms.

'Well! There was a young lass from boulders grass!' Halley and Erené could be heard singing downstairs. Her emerald eyes widened and she raced up the stairs trying to get away from them. She waited for him to open the door and all the little wolf was the first one in. Her ears were back and she buried her head under the sheets.

'Daddy! Make those annoying humans stop!' Arubna whimpered. 'My hearing is ten times clearer and it hurts!' The door shut behind him and thankfully locked out most of the noise down stairs.

'I know Arubna…' He answered sitting on the bed and looking out the window, his other hand clutched his chest tightly. He patted her absently but still continued to watch something.

'What is it?' Anastasia asked sitting beside him. 'What's the matter?'

'I don't know.' He answered clutching his chest again.

She pulled his hands away and examined it for herself. There was a red mark there, but that was obviously from him holding it so tightly. The necklace around his neck was glowing too, a pale yellow colour.

'Why do you wear this?' She asked touching it.

He smiled trying to swallow the pain down. 'Because it helps me get more powerful.' He answered. Suddenly a painful headache hit him and he felt as if he were going to vomit. He ran into the bathroom and leaned over the old and dusty sink. That sick feeling didn't leave him, but at least he hadn't vomited. He washed his face feeling hot all of a sudden. As if he had come down with a fever.

'Kurando you look sick, maybe you should rest for a while.' Anastasia said leading him over to the bed. His face was some what paler that it was less than ten minutes ago. He nodded his agreement realizing that he had never felt this bad before in his life. She helped him into the bed and got a wash basin and cloth. A small red spot on the side of his neck stopped her. 'Kurando when you were fighting those bug looking things, did one of them bite you?'

'I don't know, maybe.' He answered as she wiped away the sweat on his face. He coughed a few times making his chest heave and arch. The pain was phenomenal and knew that his fusions were doing nothing to help. He could feel them each clawing at his mind, each trying to pull his sanity away so they could surface. The pendant around his neck suddenly flashed a bright red and he thrashed as if he was getting pulled down a dark hole. His skin seemed to glow with that evil and terrible red. He opened his mouth and cried out in agony.

'Arubna…get…help.' He choked out. The little cub scratched at the closed door until Anastasia opened it for her. She bolted down the stairs and grabbed doctor Maya by the coat, trying to urge her to come up stairs. Kurando screamed at that instant and she raced up stairs with out a second thought. The cub followed her staring in horror as he thrashed around. Anastasia tried to keep him still unfortunately he was much stronger. She leaned down and shoved a needle into his arm causing him to drift off to sleep.

'What in the hell?' Halley slurred in the doorway, the assassin beside him hiccupping. 'Is he all right?'

Maya ignored him and gave Anastasia a small green vial. 'Before he wakes up, give him a little each hour. When he does come back to the world of the living he will be fine. He should have told some one if those monster bit him, it was lucky I got to him when I did.'

He slept peacefully after the shot and Anastasia placed her head down on the mattress beside him. She felt the uncontrollable urge to take care of him. She didn't remember him that was true, but she trusted him and what ever the cost she would watch over him like he watched over her…

That was Chapter nine! Yippee! If you liked it please review! Please?

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