Immortal Beloved
By: Angel
Chapter Three
Place: Ruins of Incan city, Peru Year: 2009
The next morning brought a return of the sun and Darien was awakened a little past dawn by a terrifying scream. He glanced at the far back corner of the room where the noise had come from and found the girl huddled in a fetal position, in the corner of the room. Looking around the room trying to see what had made her scream, he noticed a small shaft of sunlight close to her and followed it up to a small hole that had rotted away in the roof and the thin stream of sunlight that was filtering down threw the hole mere inches away from the poor huddled creature who was unable to move away from it without being burned by one of the many shafts of light filtering threw the decaying walls and ceiling. Noticing the slight burns already on her arms and the really bad one on her leg he assumed she to must have fallen asleep and been awakened by the sun searing her skin. He watched her for a few minutes as she huddled there against the wall trying to shrink farther and farther away from the light. At least that's what he thought at first, as he watched he noticed she kept trying to move farther away because it was moving toward her, as the sun was raising in the sky the small ray of sunlight was moving closer and closer to her across the floor.
Quickly he scrambled up out of his sleeping bag and headed for her dragging it behind him. He reached her and unzipped the bag tossing it completely over her huddled tense form just as the ray of sunlight would have reached her and sighed when she didn't make any sound and another scream was not heard.
"Are you alright princess?" he asked concerned. When he got no answer and there was no sign of movement from under the sleeping bag, Darien cautiously lifted up one end and checked under it. Her small form was still huddled in a fetal position, hugging her knees to her chest, apparently not even realizing she was safe from the sun under the sleeping bag. Carefully Darien reached out and touched the cool skin of her arm.
"It's alright princess." He said quietly so as not to scare her. "You're safe under here." He felt the tension slowly leave her as she realized he told the truth and she was safe.
"My friends call me Serena; I would like you to do the same." she stated without looking up at him. Smiling he lowered the side of the bag and headed over to his pack to grab another R.E.M.
'It seems she has decided to trust me.' He thought to himself as he tore into his packet, a pleasant feeling of contentment filled him as he sat on the floor eating. He busied himself thinking of a way to keep busy during the day, he was not one to sit still for long. Naturally he would have to do something about the sunlight filtering down through the cracks in the old ceiling, after all Ray would not arrive till late tomorrow and what was the point of going to all this trouble to find the princess if he just let her get destroyed when the sun rose tomorrow morning. Plus he felt responsible for her now, he had given her his word that he would save her, he wanted to protect her.
'That was a funny thing to think.' He thought to himself cocking his head to the side in a thoughtful manner as he tried to rationalize that feeling to himself. 'Why should I care about some vamp getting burned up, I have wished much harsher deaths upon some of the vamps back in New York.'
Because he wasn't back in New York where the vamps ruled the city and people were so terrified of leaving there homes that some starved to death. He was here in this crumbling old temple with a poor half starved girl that has suffered greatly at the hands of her own father. She was not apart of the horrible battles and the mass murders happening in New York. She is however the lost princess of the Vampires and maybe the only one that could restore order to the vamp gangs.
His thoughts did raise a difficult question though, how had she lived here alone so long with barely any food and not disintegrate immediately when the suns rays had touched her? He had heard stories of full blooded vamps that were so strong that they could withstand a few minutes in the sunlight and survive, but not without consequence. Most, according to the stories, ended up horribly disfigured or missing limbs. But this one girl half starved and weakened considerably was able to withstand small amounts of sunlight, from what he had seen, and heal perfectly as soon as the sun had gone down, and as far as he had seen there wasn't a scare on her. Finishing off his meal he decided to ask her about it later when he questioned her, and got up to go outside to see what could be done about the walls.
Three hours later Darien stood at the entrance to the temple mopping his brow with his already sodden hanky and looked smugly at his handy work. The far back corner of the room where Serena still huddled under the sleeping bag was now pitch black not a speck of sunlight shown threw anymore. Cautiously he walked up to her and gently began to remove the sleeping bag from over her, only to have it pulled out of his hand.
"What are you doing?" said the frightened girl under the sleeping bag. "It is still day light I can sense it."
"You don't need to worry Serena your safe." He said calmly as he began to lift the blanket again slowly, but once again it was dragged from his hand. Chuckling softly he reached down to lift the corner of the bag and look in at the girl huddled under it. "What is the matter Serena don't you trust me?" he asked looking sincerely into her eyes trying to make her believe him, as he for the third time tried to pull the sleeping bag from over her head. This time she allowed him and he pulled the sleeping bag away to reveal her squinted pale features, and mussed hair. "See nothing to fear." He said calmly though he was amazed she had indeed trusted him, cautiously he sat down next to her.
"That has yet to be seen. I still do not know your reason for searching me out or who sent you." She stated defensively as she looked into his eyes.
"It is a very long story, but I guess I should tell you now that the world really has changed. The human world knows about the Vampires, how could we not?" he commented sarcastically. "The population of the half breed vamps in New York alone is double to that of the humans still living there." He stopped when he heard her gasp.
"How is that possible, haven't the elders been enforcing my fathers laws?" she asked alarmed.
"Well that's part of the problem. The vamps out number the elders fifteen to one; the ones that were not killed in the first battle went into hiding. There are barely any pure bloods left. In fact without your father around to create more you very well might be the last."
"I am not exactly a pure blooded vampire." She stated off-handedly shrugging off his questioning look and somehow managing to stay outwardly calm while her emotions were raging. "But that is not important, you said the half breeds out number the pure bloods fifteen to one. How is that possible? No new vampires are to be created without my father's permission and without him there should be fewer not more vampires in the world and there should never be so many in an area the mortals know of them. What has happened? Who rules the vampires in my fathers place? You must tell me so I can understand what has happened to my kind." She stated anxiously.
"Alright, alright!" he exclaimed trying to calm her anxious questions. "I'll explain everything if you explain your last comment about not being a pure blooded vamp, is it a deal?" He wagered holding out his hand for her to shake.
Glancing from his face to his hand to the veins in his wrist memories of the night before when he had allowed her to feed from him replayed in her mind and as she glanced back to his face she saw in his eyes that he was reliving the memory as well.
Although some of her strength had been returned to her she was still far weaker then she would have been at full strength. And the need to feed was still paramount in her mind. She could taste his blood flowing in her mouth even now and her hunger renewed to the point where her canines elongated and she could feel his pulse pounding in her ears.
Blood creeping into his cheeks from the sight of her he pulled his hand away, feeling like an utter idiot he tucked his hand out of her line of view.
She took a moment to regain her composure and to wonder what he was thinking. But he interrupted her thoughts by rushing into the story of the past twenty years happenings.
Little over an hour later all of her questions had been answered to the best of his knowledge and she now sat quietly next to him on the stone floor of the temple contemplating what would need to be done to save her people from themselves. Things could most defiantly not continue as they have been for the past twenty years, once she was free she would take the thrown as her father had ordained for her. And she would reunite what was left of the pure bloods and restore the laws her father had set for his children. Feeling a tap on her shoulder she snapped back to the present and the man sitting beside her, raising one eyebrow in puzzlement at his disrupting her planning.
"You said you would explain to me about your proclamation that you are not a pure blooded vamp, remember?" he reminded her with a sigh.
"Oh right." She agreed. "Well I'm not really a pure blood, but I am the closest thing to one." She said casually. At his look of disbelief she explained further. "My father was thee only pure blooded vampire, those directly sired by him merely consider themselves pure blooded because that is the closest one can be." She smirked. "Vampires who are born vampires are mutants, created by a mortal gene left over in the half-breeds, but blessed with the gifts of a vampire. True Vampires cannot sire children as mortals do."
"So does that make you a mutant to?" he asked seriously, but the question merely made her laugh.
"Do not compare me to that trash." She stated angrily still trying to regain control of her raging emotions. "They claim they have power because they were born vampire, they have no idea what true power feels like." She said with a sigh as she closed her eyes.
"If you are not a mutant than what are you? You were born a vampire weren't you?" Darien asked seriously.
"I am..." she paused for dramatic effect. "... An enigma." She stated grinning deviously. "I was neither bore nor created. I guess you could say I am truly my father's daughter, for not only do I share his blood but I share his curse." her grin widened to a smile at his reaction. She thought the look of shock and astonishment did not sit well on this oh so smartest of Detectives. "You wish me to explain... yes?" she asked still smiling as Darien could only nod.
"My mother..." she began. "...Was the great Sorceress Mandela of Haven shire she was extremely powerful and very beautiful, but she was also a very jealous woman. She was in love with my father and he with her. They were together for many years, but one day her jealousy got the better of her. You see my father was already married to a woman, a pale lifeless creature with a slow wit. My father was not in love with the woman, their marriage had been arranged by his parents, but he was in need of an heir, so he bedded the silly creature hoping she would conceive quickly so he could placate Mandela by telling her it would never happen again." She stated this part rolling her eyes at the stupidity of the male species. "Honestly I don't understand how he could have thought my mother would take the news well. She was enraged with the passion of his betrayal and placed a curse on him. My mother was a clever woman filled with the need for vengeance and she intended to make my father pay for a very long time. She knew my father most loved life and the living people in his care. It was the simple things he found most pleasure in, village celebrations, and working all day in the fields with his people." Her smile was soft as she wove the romantic tale, but ever so slowly it dimmed to a frown and her forehead creased in thought as she went on. "
"She cursed him..." She paused sighing sadly. "...to suffer through immortality as death itself. Forever dependent on living mortal blood and yet never able to touch the world of the living without tainting it with death, hence the first vampire was created."
"But as I said my mother was clever, so she did not stop there. No she could not have, she wanted revenge from the source of his betrayal as well, so she also placed this curse on any child he should have, that they to should be cursed to live out the same un-life for eternity." She derided. "But my dear mothers curse did not work out the way she had planned, for she did not know it at the time but she had already conceived me. And so here I am before you neither mortal nor immortal. But that is not the end of my story...no not the end." She agreed with herself staring deeply in to his eye and suddenly he felt heaviness in his chest. A deep heavy sense of sadness and regret pressed down on him and pain filled his chest. Automatically he rubbed at the sourced of the pain, which appeared to be his heart, in till she glanced away from him and the pain instantly stopped.
"Forgive me, it has been a very long time since I have used my powers and a few of them are rusty." She stated calmly.
"What did you just do?" he asked astonished. "I've never met a vamp who could do that before." He stated.
"I have already explained to you that I am not like other vampires." She said glaring at him. "And will you please quite referring to my kind by that insulting name." She huffed out indignantly.
"Alright, fine." He agreed. "But you have not explained to me how you are different from other vamps...other vampires." He quickly corrected himself at her glare.
"Oh alright, now where was I? I already told you my father loved my mother and that her curse had backfired. Anyway after she cursed my father he became so angry he lost control and attacked my mother. She would have died then and there if my father hadn't come to his senses and saved her by changing her into one of us. But there were strange consequences, you see his blood already ran threw my veins, when he changed my mother the new infusion of his blood supercharged my mothers and together they ran into me. You see as much as I am my father's daughter I am also my mothers. I am not full pure blooded Vampire, but I am a Sorceress, and with all the powers of both of my parents." She watched amused at his shocked look. "Now do you believe me when I'm different...an enigma?" She stated. "My father was especially proud of my genetic talents." She smiled. "But there was a down side to my birth..."she said her smile faltering. "... for as great as my mother's powers were she was still only a half breed and that combined with the power of her own curse killed her while she brought me into this world." She said and once again Darien could feel a sadness come over him, deciding it was her feelings of loss about her mother he was feeling and he searched for a way to distract her. Deciding the best way was to kill two birds with one stone he began to ask more questions.
"But none of that explains what you are." He stated. "In fact you have contradicted yourself quiet a few times in your story." He countered. Rolling her eyes in exasperation she reached up to push an unruly lock of dirty golden hair from her face.
"Well that is what I am." She stated annoyed. "An Enigma something which can not be explained and yes a contradiction." She reasoned. "I am neither mortal nor immortal because unlike created vampires I do age physically only much slower than mortals. I am not pure blood because my blood is not pure, it is tainted with that of my mortal mothers and though it is the blood of a sorceress and makes me more powerful than those who call themselves pure bloods; because it is there I will never be pure blood." For a moment he sat there staring at her in silence, then shook his head. Figuring he would get no other explanation from her he asked the one question that had remained on his mind since he had arrived at the temple.
"Well princess, if you are so powerful why haven't you used your powers to break the chains and leave this place? Escape somewhere your father would never have found you. Why stay here and starve to death and be tortured every day when the sun rises?"
"There is no such place in existence. My father could have found me anywhere I went. We are linked." She explained. "My powers may be weakened but his would not have been, and where would I go?" she asked sarcastically. "The nearest village is too far to reach in one night and in the weakened state I'm in I'd be lucky to find shelter before the sun rose again in the morning." She stated getting up and glancing threw the temple to the light outside the entrance to the temple. "And besides that there is a curse on these chains." She said calmly holding up the golden manacles, which bound her wrists to the back wall. "They can only be removed by a witch. A witch powerful enough to break the spell placed on these chains by the witch my father commissioned to make them." She said sadly turning to glance at him still sitting against the wall beside her. "Do you know any witch that powerful?" she asked him. When he remained silent she turned away but said quietly. "You understand now why I've never fled."