Cruel Visions

By Cat Snoetygre

N: Feel free to read and review. Leave comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, etc if you wish. Also leave your emails so that if you do have a question, I can respond to it. I will not respond to flamers. All I ask, if you do have something to say against my writing, is that you word it politely.

Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimer applies. (In other words I have no rights to SM or the SS in any way, shape, or form.) However, the story line is mine.

Warning: Profane language, violence, sexual content and blood, gore, vampires, werewolves and all the good stuff. M-rated.

Double Warning: Bad writing involved

Prologue

It's been two months since the attacks of the Delegates. And since I last saw Nikolai. He sent a couple invitations to go with him on a date, but I turned him down. I'm still pretty pissed at him for the second set of teeth marks on my neck. I now have scars on either side of my neck, one set was from Korin, and the other was from Nikolai. The strange thing is that the marks from Korin look like a dog attack. The scar that Nikolai made is only two pinpricks over my artery.

I don't know how it had all happened, but I almost died. I became Korin's servant, well almost, just before I killed him. It was a close call. He had marked me twice, the last mark shared our minds, I had his thoughts, and he had mine. I had had to act, not think, in order to kill him.

Nothing much has happened, since then. We haven't been attacked, nor have we seen any vampires. Guess the vampires went back to laying low.

The peace talks have been put on break for a month. I think it's because everyone wants me to get settled again. I heard Raye and Lita talking a few days ago about the delegates preferring to talk to a married couple if they had the titles of Prince and Princess. I guess the ambassadors feel its wrong for Darien and I to have the Prince and Princess titles and live in the same palace if we aren't married or engaged. But that is their problem. I don't really care how they think. As far as I'm concerned, I am only acting the princess so that the peace talks will actually end in peace, and to help Darien out as far as being a hostess.

Darien and I are still having problems. Anyway, I want to be close to him again, but I'm not sure what would happen if we went back to the way we were. I don't think Darien really knows either. We have taken to avoiding each other except when we have to be together. It's a face to the world around us. I won't admit to being a princess, I have everyone just call me Serena. I think it annoys Darien, but I can't help it. I may love Darien, but I can't handle the pressures that come with being a princess. There is just too much you can say or do wrong. Maybe I'm just scared of responsibility and commitment. I don't know.

Darien found out about why I went after Korin and almost got myself killed; I had seen him with Raye only hours before. He hasn't forgiven me for it. Everyone thought I had tried to run again, so were surprised to find me in a hospital for three weeks while I recovered from heart failure. Or a heart attack, I don't really know which, 'course I don't think the doctors know either. He got extremely jealous when I told him that I had taken Nikolai for backup. The only reason I had told him that little bit of information had been because he kept yelling at me about how stupid I was going into a fight with creatures stronger than myself, alone. He didn't talk to me for a week because of that one.

Molly is still around. She's the only one that has forgiven me for taking off, I think. She's also the only vampire that I have ever considered friend, I don't know if that's saying much since I only recently found out that vampires exist.

She works at a local Dance Hall called Limbo. Honestly, I think it's called a dance hall so the authorities don't go there. It seems more like an orgy party than a dance hall. I try to avoid it personally, but sometimes I get my disguise pen out and visit Molly, she knows it's me though. I told her about the pen after I had revealed us all to the world. Other than Raye, Lita, Mina, Amy, Darien, and Molly, no one knows about my pen. It's helped me a lot, I mean, if Nikolai knew I was hanging around at his dance hall he would have a fit.

He even walked right by me at one point, and he didn't see me. I thought for a moment he had because he stopped right behind me. I didn't turn around because I didn't want him to guess that I was sitting at the bar next to him, and I felt him stare at me for the longest time. Even Molly was worried about it. She was shaking when she served me a small glass of White Russian. I thought she gave it away, but he moved on.

Oh and Renee is back. She turned up yesterday at the palace, after getting a taxi to bring her here, which had cost an arm and a leg, wonder where she dropped from the sky, this time. The little weasel seems to have gotten better at being a brat, if that's possible. Oh man! She gets on my nerves so bad, but I can't help but love her. She couldn't get me (in the future) to tell her where I had gone or when I would be back to her great annoyance. I guess I didn't shed all my secrets in the future.

Anyway, Lily, my friend from the United States is coming to New Tokyo. She's due to arrive tomorrow night. I'm really excited. Other than Molly I really haven't had anyone to talk to. I mean, I can talk to Mina or Lita, but I have to go find them, they never come find me just to talk, or to hang out with me. And the others treat me like the plague.

And Molly's a bit hard to talk to. She lives at the Dance Hall. I guess they converted the cellar into a room for the younger vampires to use during the day. If it weren't for Nikolai, I would visit her everyday, probably. But, because of him, I only go once in a while, when the people here become too annoying. I have even gotten a couple of outfits for my journeys to Limbo. No one would figure out that I was the one wearing such… uh-intimate outfits. But they are only for when I want to be a little rebellious due to everyone nagging at me.

There is one thing that bothers me about Lily coming to visit. She keeps telling me that she has something important to talk about, but can't tell me what it is over the phone or in a letter. She sounds almost scared when she talks about it on the phone. Lately her letters and phone calls have become more erratic. I don't really understand why, but it's starting to freak me out. I hope she's ok.

But next to everything that's been happening, especially with finding out about Vampires, Lily is going to be a breath of fresh air for me. I hope that while she's here everyone will relax a little.

Serena.