Part Nine:

"Destin...I mean, Iveria,"Daviel said. He had his hands on my shoulders and was shaking me for my attention. "It's Ivy,"I groaned. "I don't care what it is. This is YOUR past problems and don't think I'll help you through it,"Daviel snapped in annoyance,"You get ahold of yourself right now or it'll be worse for you, got that?" I gulped and nodded. Daviel got up and grabbed the newspaper,"I won't show Jestin, but I am going to tell her your name whether you like it or not."

I glared at Daviel. I'm going to call the newspaper people and tell them to never post an add about me again. Daviel disappeared through the door. Alone. It didn't seem much a treat to have a chance to get away, again. Unless I wanted to freeze to death again...except this time seriously. Well, I could sneak off for awhile. God knows when Jestin will show up. I crawled out of the bed and steadied my feet on the ground. After a second, I walked to the door and opened it.

No one was in the hall, yet. I walked out into the hallway and started walking down the hallway. Then I picked a random door and opened it. Eh, trophy room. Boring. I shut it and walked to another room. After opening it, I saw it seemed like a regular sitting room. It looked comfy enough. So I entered the sitting room and shut the door. I slid my hand over the smooth wood. Then I heard a click and looked to see that I had knocked and locked the door.

I wouldn't be here long anyways. I'm only going to look. I walked around the room, looking at all the paintings on the wall and the glass statues for decorations. Then I approached the chairs. I ran my hand over one chair and felt how soft and fuzzly it was. I should smack myself. I just used the word fuzzly. How immature is that? ANYWAYS, I sat down on the chair and sighed. I found myself not wanting to get up, actually. So I curled up in a ball and before I knew it, I was asleep.

BAM! I heard it in the back of my mind, but I didn't open my eyes from my beauty sleep. BAM!! I stirred slightly, but a deep drearyness kept me from completely waking up. BAM!!! My eyes fluttered open and I tried to get the surroundings into focus. I was utterly confused. BAM!!!! I stretched and yawned and froze when Daviel's voice yelled,"Hide all you want, but once I get in there you're DEAD!" BAM.

Daviel was breaking down the door. I suddenly remembered that I had fallen asleep in the sitting room chair. Why is the door locked then? I know I wasn't "hiding". I heard another crash at the door and what was fixing to happen sunk in. Daviel was going to kill me because he thinks I'm running again. And this time I WASN'T attempting to run away. Damn.

Before I could think of what to do, the door burst open and Daviel stood in the doorway looking as evil as ever. I fell off the chair as he started towards me. I could feel the anger from his glare stinging my skin. So from reflex, I started crawling backward. I hadn't gotten far, go figure, when Daviel grabbed my neck and dragged me to my feet. I started to explain myself, but he slammed me back against the wall. Not only did this cause me to cough from pain, but it brought red and blue lights to my eyes.

I grabbed his hands, which happen to be still wrapped around my neck, and gasped for air. "Don't think Jestin will save you this time, Ivy. She's already given in,"Daviel sneered with malice,"I'm free to kill you at last." I attempted to say something in reply, but the air was being cut off from my throat. Then Daviel said,"My, my, I thought you were smarter than this. Surely you figured I was telling the truth before." I tried for air one last time, failed, and instead kneed Daviel in the stomach.

He loosened his grip for a second in which I gasped in the fresh air. "You JERK,"I screeched and before he could tighten his grip around my neck, I grabbed his hands and pulled at them with all my might. It was enough to give me time to say,"I WASN'T running, you jerk! I fell asleep. That's all. Otherwise you wouldn't have found me on that STUPID chair, you STUPID IDIOT! Oh, I should-" But Daviel never figured out what I should have done, for he clamped his hand over my mouth.

"Would you PLEASE shut up,"Daviel yelled at me. Daviel looked awefully exhausted, suddenly. It occurred to me then that maybe somebody could be talked to death. But I had will power, I wouldn't give up so easily. Even if it took immature measures. I parted my lips and licked the palm of Daviel's hand with fire in my icy blue eyes. Let me tell you, his hands were dry and salty. How could vampires, since they supposively "exist", stand trailing their tongues on human skin.

It was utterly disgusting. Daviel pulled his hand back and we both said in unison,"Uck!" I started wiping off my tongue and Daviel wiped off his hand on his pants. "What in the hell was that,"Daviel asked,"You're secret weapon or something?" "Well, it worked, didn't it,"I snapped stubbornly,"Now leave me alone. I haven't done anything wrong except fall asleep in the wrong place." Daviel looked at the broken door and said,"Too bad for you, Jestin doesn't know this."

And he smiled wickedly with this knowledge. "Right now we're aaaaall alone,"Daviel said in a mysterious voice,"Jestin is out with Zander to mourn over her little pal's death. But a deal is a deal." I crossed my arms and said,"That is totally not fair. You are breaking your end of the deal. You completely stated that if I attempted to run away again, you'd kill me. Clearly, I haven't tried to run away and you still are going to kill me. It is NOT fair."

I already saw the reply to this before Daviel said it. "Life isn't fair. That's why I'm dead,"Daviel stated with authority. I snorted,"If you were dead, then you wouldn't be moving." "I'm the undead...didn't you ever read up on vampires what-so-ever,"Daviel asked in annoyance. I rolled my eyes,"Well, vampires aren't real so I never thought on becoming obsessed with them!" Daviel laughed dryly,"Do you not take in anything that goes against your words? I'M a vampire. Vampires ARE real!"

I patted his shoulder,"Sure you are. Keep thinking that if it helps your anger problems." I have no idea why I'm denying this vampire stuff. Even dental surgeries don't allow you to grow fangs and then retract them whenever you wanted to. "You,"Daviel said in anger,"You...you..." He had his finger in my face in frustration. "I what,"I dared boldly. "Sometimes I want to KILL you,"Daviel snapped. I scoffed,"Isn't that what you're supposively going to do?"

He considered this for a moment, then said,"Gah, I'll do it later." Then he started out the room. "HEY,"I yelled. Daviel paused, not turning but looking as if he was using all his will power not to kill me. Then he turned,"What?" I hesitated,"Nevermind." Then he left without another word. I was going to ask him when exactly he was planning on killing me because I had to check my schedule. But it would have only got him more annoyed than he was already.

I hesitated before walking out into the hallway. Then I started towards the front stairs. I had been here so long that at least I knew something about where everything was in direction. I found the stairs and grabbed the rail so I could boredly walk down the stairs. It was just merely a habit of mine. But this time, I felt the wind being knocked out of my lungs as everything around me blurred slightly. I tried to blink the fuzz out of my eyes, but to no prevail.

Instead, I started hearing yelling. Furious yelling that sounded so familiar to Daviel's yelling. Then I looked at the bottom of the stairs. No, it was at the second floor. I turned to see myself running towards the stairs I happened to be blocking. I was utterly shocked to see my twin running towards the stairs. "I didn't mean it,"my twin self said, out of breath,"that wasn't suppose to happen." Then I winced as my twin self literally dissolved through me.

I turned around, trying to watch where my replica was heading, but she...well, myself...wasn't there anymore. I looked around; the yelling had stopped and the blur had disappeared. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. I think I've now proved to myself that I'm insane. First vampires, then seeing things that aren't there. I shook my head and went the rest of the way downstairs.

I sat boredly as Jestin painted my fingernails. Sure, I could do them myself, but why show the interest? Besides, it seemed to make Jestin happy enough. "I really like that name...Ivy,"Jestin said wistfully,"I wish I had a name like that." I sighed,"You have an odd enough name. So don't worry." Jestin started applying nailpolish to my middle finger. Then she paused and poked my class ring. "What's that,"Jestin asked in confusion. It was as if she was from another world.

"Class ring...you order it in memory of your high school life. I should request a change for the side. Put fangs on it to represent that I've been kidnapped from my life by vampires,"I stated sarcastically. Jestin hesitated,"I don't like referring to it as 'kidnap'. Maybe something like...permanent guest or something." I laughed dryly,"Or abducted. Whatever." "So what's this on the side,"Jestin asked, pointing at the side of my ring.

"Pheonix,"I replied dully. Jestin looked confused. "You know...to express myself. It looks like it's falling but it's getting back up,"I told her, pointing at the angle the bird was positioned. Suddenly, Jestin grabbed my hand and twisted it to where my palm was face up. Then she pointed at my wrists where deep, dark scars zig-zagged their way up my arm. "You've fallen and gotten back up,"she asked curiously. I snatched my arm away from her and glared at her.

"It's none of your business,"I snapped defensively. Jestin didn't say anything and for a moment there was an awkward silence. Then she suddenly grabbed my hand and started finishing my nails. "You don't seem the kind of person who does that,"Jestin said after awhile. "I don't do it,"I snapped,"not anymore." I felt like smacking this curious cat's forehead. Porkchop. Jestin then added,"What did you cut yourself for?" Oh my friggin God. She never stops.

"I thought I was going insane,"I admitted cryptically. Jestin laughed highly,"You thought you were going crazy? So you cut yourself?" I glared at her,"It's true. I saw things!" Then it hit me. I saw things just like I saw my twin self at the top of the stairs. Crap, I'm going insane again. Jestin took a minute to stop herself laughing before asking,"What did you see?" I rolled my eyes,"I don't know...stuff."

Stuff...odd stuff. Deja vu? Possibly. It's actually happened throughout my life, I guess, but it use to be in my dreams. Just normal weird dreams. Then I had the period after Oak...well...I had a period when I was normal again. Nothing bugged me. Then one day I was writing in my homework for math when everything blurred and I looked around to see myself crying, curled up in a ball in the corner of my room. Just like that, it disappeared. I figured it was nothing.

It happened more often after that. The world around me would blur and something odd would happen. Usually it included my twin. What drove me to cut myself was once when I was talking to a friend in science class, the world blurred and my friend dissolved in thin air. Then everything was different. Different notes on the board, different clothing, but yet everything was the same. Except my friend wasn't there. The next thing I knew, the world got back into focus and my friend was there.

The next day, her family had packed up and she had moved without a day's notice. Something to do about no pay on their rent. Around that time, I figured I'd gone insane and possibly unreal. So I bled myself to make sure I wasn't a monster or something. After awhile, my mind took the hint and stopped screwing with me. So I stopped cutting myself. It was that simple. No depression. Just paranoia.

Jestin switched to my other hand and I glimpsed a slight scar on her own wrist. Just barely glimpsed it. But I smirked and said,"Speaking of self-mutilation..." Then I grabbed her hand and twisted around to reveal a more odd scar. Two wide circles punctured scars into her wrist, but a long scar connected the two dots. Then another scar crossed out the connecting line. Above the left circle was a star looking scar. I was confused by these scars.

Before I could think much about it, Jestin jumped up and stormed out of the room. I felt a dreadful feeling in my stomach. I knew I had just done something beyond wrong. But I wasn't sure what it was...