Wow I'm really bad at updating! SRY! Please bear with me, I fixed the whole sumbol thingy (I don't even know how that happened!) but the font is stuck this way. I know how to prevent it in furthur chapters, but this one is stuck this way. I tried to space it out a bit more to make it easier to read. Once again I'm sorry for the font!
CH6:
"Are you O.K Anna?" Celeste asked pulling on Anna's sleeve. Anna looked down on her little sister and felt the familiar pang of guilt as she saw the white bandaged wrapped around the child's head. "Yah. I'm fine." She fake grinned and picked up her sister, continuing to gaze out her window at the people below.
It was a week after her first hunt and she still felt ashamed. The Sunday she had gone to church she had burned with guilt as she felt Jesus' eyes gazing calmly down at her from his stained glass window. He had wanted everyone to respect each other, and even to love their enemies. She had brutally killed hers. "Anna."A soft comforting voice filled her room and she looked us to see her mother's understanding green eyes. "Celeste, why don't you go and bug Velken. He'll be in the library looking over the maps as usual." Celeste nodded obediently and left the room giggling. Vanessa took a seat next to Anna near the window. "Need to talk?" Anna nodded and opened her mouth,
"I killed a werewolf on the hunt." She began. "And as he died he, he changed." Anna wrapped her arms around her mother. Vanessa hugged her young daughter close. "It was a man. A human man. He could have been a father, or a brother, or an uncle, he had a family!" Anna let her anguished tears flow and Vanessa patted her head,
"Anna, what is done is done. He would have killed many more people if you had not released him from his torment. Sometimes death is the only option. Your family...our family is cursed to forever live between worlds. The live and the dead, light and the dark. But when it really comes down to it, there is no division. Sometimes the only way to really live is to die,and sometimes one must walk in the dark to maintain the light. We are all one."
"I feel so weak. I shouldn't be crying!" Anna felt a stab of anger at herself. At her weakness.
"You're not weak Anna." Vanessa looked sharply at her daughter, and then her gaze softened. "Anna, you are one of the strongest people I know. You allow yourself to feel remorse. Your heart is not cold, it is warm and full of love and compassion. Never let that light die. Only a weak person completely shuts out all emotion. And only a strong person can cry." Anna nodded her head and got up, drying her tears.
"Why doesn't Dad cry?" Anna asked quietly.
"He lost his light many years ago Anna." Vanessa let out a shuddering breath. "The pain he felt,feels, about his family's fate is more than he can bear alone. But he chooses to take the all burden and continue on. He won't share his pain." Vanessa smiled weakly and kissed Anna on her forehead. "Don't ever loose your light Anna." Then she left the room. Anna fell onto her bed and thought about her father quietly. He was two men in one, a king and a father. Feeling a sudden urge to see him she got and headed for the training room. She found him there, practicing new techniques. He had to for, he had lost and eye in the hunt.
"Hi dad." She said attempting to be bright. She averted her eyes however, it was so hard to look at her father now.
"Hey Anna." He smiled warmly at her and threw her a rapier. "Want to test me?"
Anna smiled and nodded. He was still her same old father, still looking to improve. Catching the rapier expertly she twirled it for a second, getting accustomed to the weight. Then without warning she attacked, he countered expertly, continually moving his body so his blind side would never be exploited. Bobbing and weaving he pulled back and made his way to Anna's right side where he cut down fiercely. Anna barely blocked. Her father's style had changed greatly. He used to stay in one place and solidly defend, never braking his stance. Now, he moved agilely, and Anna couldn't get her rapier in edgewise. Boris managed to fling Anna's weapon away from her and placed his weapon on her shoulder,
"Dead."
"How did you...where did you learn that?" Anna asked, mouth gaping.
"I taught myself." Boris answered simply. "I needed to change my style."
"Can you..."
"Teach you? Of coarse Anna, I was hoping you'd ask." Boris smiled and ruffled her hair. After a few hours of sparring with her father Anna felt completely rejuvenated, and the melting snow and warm gusts of air hinted at spring. She stopped in the hallway she was walking in and looked out the window at the setting Transylvanian sky. The crimson light pouring in through the windows stained her usually pale face and warmed her skin after months of cold.
"Enjoying the sun?" Vanessa asked with laughter in her voice as she came up to her daughter. Celeste was with her and danced around Anna happily,
"I can whistle!" She giggled. Anna smiled at her little sister and picked her up.
"Show me!" Anna hugged Celeste ad the little girl began to whistle. The clear sound filled the hall and rang off the walls.
"Excellent!"
"Mommy taught me!" Celeste announced proudly. Anna swung Celeste around and placed her on the ground again.
"Go show Daddy." Anna suggested. Celeste nodded excitedly and ran off to find her father. Vanessa joined her daughter at the window,
"I remember that when you were that young."
"I thought I learned to snap before whistling." Anna leaned out the window slightly.
"Yes you did, and you wouldn't stop! All day and night snap, snap, snap!" Vanessa laughed and demonstrated.
Anna rolled her eyes and looked at her mother, Vanessa's onyx hair was down and flowed over her shoulders like waves and her skin was also stained blood red by the setting sun. Anna imagined herself at her mother's age, confident, calm, and collected. She couldn't wait.
"SQUIRT!" Velken ran up and swung Anna around and crouched behind her.
"VELKEN!" A female voice screamed from down the hall.
"Velken?!?" Vanessa's tone was suddenly strict and angry. "What did you..."
"Just hide me!" Velken crouched lower to the ground. Anna moved in to cover him and Vanessa fanned her skirts out.
"Where are you, Velken you...Oh...your majesties." A girl around Velken's age curtsied when she saw Vanessa and Anna. She was Julia the daughter of one of Boris's closest friends and right hand man. "Have you seen Velken?" She smiled, but her eyes showed how pissed off she was.
"Oh, that way." Vanessa motioned vaguely to the right, "What has he done this time?" Julia's face turned redder than the sky and Vanessa nodded knowingly. "Ah."(A/N: Hint Hint. Guess what they did and guess who's pissed about it now. Himt Hint. I'm only doign this cuz Lostsoul99 had a hard time figurin it out.) Julia ran off in the direction Vanessa had motioned. Once she was gone Velken got up,
"Thanks squirt, mom...OW!" Vanessa roughly smacked him upside the head.
"VELKEN VLADIMIR VALERIOUS! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!" Vanessa shrieked at him, smacking him again. Anna's mouth snapped closed in shock. She had NEVER heard her mother swear before.
"I really wasn't..." Velken said meekly as Vanessa vented her fury on him.
"What did he do?" Anna asked, completely clueless. Velken held back a laugh and Vanessa clopped him over the head again.
"What's going on?" Boris walked up holding a confused looking Celeste. Vanessa glared at Velken one more time then turned to Boris,
"Velken is in big trouble with young Julia. Three guesses why."
"Good choice Vel..." Boris began but Vanessa drew herself up to her full height and nearly burned her husband with her eyes, "urm...Velken! What is the matter with you?!?!"
Anna decided to leave the screaming behind and took Celeste upstairs. Celeste danced around on the carpeted halls and posed in the mirror, not at all put off by the fighting downstairs. Anna watched her little sister protectively. Another image of Celeste lying unconscious and bloody on the ground flashed through her mind. She clenched her fist on the spot where the hilt of her cutlass usually was, making a silent vow to never let anything hurt her sister again.
Hola! Infinityrose here! I just wanted to add this cuz it's so true!
Never Argue with a Woman...
One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, "Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?" "Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, Isn't that obvious?) "You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. "I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading." "Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. "I'll have to take you in and write you up." "If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman. "But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden. "That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment." "Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think. Send this to four women who are thinkers. If you receive this, you know you're intelligent.
I did not come up with this and whoever did U ROCK!!!