Immortal Beloved

By: Angel

Chapter Five

New York City 2009

They traveled by night through the mountains, stopping in a small town to buy Serena some decent clothes to replace what was left of her tattered dress, they caught a plane from Cuzco to Mexico City where they were forced to stop at a hotel for the day. After the sun had gone down that night Serena left them sleeping in the room and headed out to feed, the blood she had taken form her sister the day before had restored all of her strength but after starving for so long she had no desire to waste any opportunity to feed. She still felt weak. Well not weak exactly... different. It was as though her body had dramatically out grown the power she was used to wielding. She had gone through power surges growing up where her power had increased within a short amount of time but never as much as it had since the last time she was really able to expend her energy enough to use her powers. While walking through town looking for the unlucky person that would soon be her meal she experimentally turned her gaze to a pile of garbage lying along the backstreet, it took barely a thought to have the pile bursting into flames and startling Serena who watched opened mouth as the pile incinerated. The last time she had tried to use her pyrokenetic abilities she had barely been able to make a candles wick smoke with the amount of effort she had just put into incinerating the garbage. Curiously she tried another trick. This time setting her sights on a beaten up carriage shaped hunk of metal, Darien had referred to as a car that was abandoned on the street, once again with barely a flick of her wrist the metal lifted into the air and floated there as if it was as light as a feather. Laughingly pleased with herself Serena moved off down the street happy with her newly acquired strength, and as she rounded the corner a block away the car still hovering in the air slammed back to earth in a bone crushing smash.

It was two more days before they reached New York and nearly dawn when they exited the terminal and headed for baggage claim.

"We have to hurry." Ray said. "We have already lost an hour crossing the time zone and it's going to be morning soon, we need to find a safe place for Serena to hide till we can make it back to your place."

"Maybe we should rent a car?" Darien mumbled as he searched for their bags.

"There is no need, for if I am not mistaken that is a friend of your heading our way." Serena stated intensely staring at a short blue hair girl looking to be not much older then her own appearance, which was walking toward them swiftly.

"Amy?" Darien asked when he too spotted her; he glanced curiously at Serena before turning back to the blue haired girl. "How did you know when we would be arriving?" he questioned when she had neared them.

"Give me some credit Darien." Amy said slightly offended. "Any hacker worth their salt would be able to track your credit card and find out what flights you had booked onto, after that it was simple to get the arrival dates and times."

"Of course it was." Darien stated blushing slightly as Serena giggled from behind him.

"I think I like your partner Darien." Serena stated smiling. "She is very amusing for a mortal." Amy blushed as well as she glanced at the girl she was certain was the vampire princess of Ray's story. Glancing over the Beautiful blonde Amy checked for any visible sign of illness, mental or physical. There were none noticeable; in fact the girl looked incredibly healthy for someone who had spent the last two hundred years locked in a temple, even for a vampire. Her long blonde hair reaching to her calves, clean now thanks to a shower and the wonder of modern conveniences, hung down her back like a silk curtain and shined like the sun. Her skin though extremely pale glowed with health and her smile reflected pure mischief.

"Well it is very nice to meet you to your majesty." Amy said kindly as she bowed slightly before addressing Ray and Darien again. "The car is in the underground parking lot and I have had the windows treated with the special sealer to block out the sunlight but it is my suggestion that we leave there are still some vamps out wondering around even this late."

"Right lets move." Darien said as he took Serena's arm protectively and led the way out of the building.

"Sister! What do you mean she is your sister?" Amy bellowed as she faced Ray sitting in the back seat beside Serena, who was gazing out the window with a child like fascination at the buildings and people walking the streets, safely now that the sun was fully up.

"It's like I said." Ray said frustrated. "She is my little sister."

"Half sister." Serena pointed out nonchalantly, not looking away from the window. "We share the same mother, one that I never met, and you may be immortal, but that does not mean you are my equal." Ray rolled her eyes.

"It has been a long time since we have sparred sister." Ray said gratingly. "I have improved and then some." A sly smile crossed Serena's face as she continued to stare increasingly more absorbed by the happenings outside the car. Amy closed her eyes with a sigh and rubbed her hand across her forehead to sooth away some of the stress she was feeling and looked back at Ray.

"Ok, let's try this again shall we? Explain everything straight from the top." She ordered as the car continued down the road and Ray started again to explain to Amy everything she had already explained to Darien on their long trip back to New York from South America.
Darien's mind was obviously on other matters as he drove through the city only half listening to Ray explaining to Amy the whys and how's, with Serena occasionally adding her two cents worth in. Something Serena had said back at the temple had stuck with him for some reason and he knew the answer was in that old journal at his office. So when they reached the apartment come office twenty minutes later Darien parked the car in the garage removed his and Ray's bags from the trunk and moved toward the elevator with Serena bringing up the rear, glancing around trying to take in her surroundings. They rode the elevator to the fifth floor and then headed down the hall to apartment D5. Super natural Investigations, was written in bold letters across the door Darien unlocked, and being the gentleman that he is allowed the women to proceed him in to the main room before closing and locking the door, then walking down the hall past the girls and into the library where he proceeded to find some answers.

Darien was throwing books left and right over his shoulder twenty minutes later when Amy came in to the library.

"Darien what are you doing? Have you gone insane or something?" Amy yelled as she stormed across the room toward him, dodging books along the way.

"She said Endymion." He said still not looking up from where he was scattering more book to the floor.

"What?" Amy asked confused. Darien paused what he was doing for a moment to look down at her.

"When I first got to her she thought I was one of Dracula's men come to kill her. When I told her that I wasn't she asked how many years had passed. She got very upset when I told her it was almost two hundred, and she mumbled a name to herself. She said Endymion." He stated the last part as he started plowing more books from the shelves. "Where the hell did I put it?" he mumbled to himself.

"Put what?" Amy yelled as she bent and started to pick up the carelessly strewn books. "And so what if she mumbled crazily to herself, she was blood starved and nearly insane from hunger, it could just be a word she made up. It does not sound English to me." Amy asked growing angrier because she could not get a strait answer from him and that he was making such an awful mess of her favorite place.

"It is a name. A mans name." He stated shaking his head as he pulled a last book from the bottom shelf and opened the cover to scan the pages. "She said it again after Ray arrived. Apparently this guy Endymion had something to do with why Serena was locked away in that temple. Yes. I found it." He exclaimed, as he started flipping though the pages of the book.

"Found what?" Amy yelled.

"Lord Duke Endymion Warwick, sixth Duke of Windsor." Darien stated excitedly as he moved around Amy, who was still gathering up her prized books, to sit at his desk. "I bought this book at a bazaar on my trip to Madagascar a while back, remember?" he asked but didn't wait for her to answer. "I was reading it the day Ray came to tell me about the job of locating the missing princess? Well anyway, this book is really a journal written by this guy, Lord Endymion, in the last entry I read before I left he talked about this girl he had met, her name was Serenity and she was the Daughter of a count." He was babbling the story out as he flipped the pages, till he came to one and carefully removed and unfolded a yellowing piece of paper.

"And your point is?" Amy asked even more irritated when Darien smiled.

"This is my point." He said holding up the faded picture of the beautiful woman he had found in the book earlier that week. Amy's mouth opened in shock as she stared at the picture.

"But that's Serena!" she exclaimed.

"How many times do I have to say I am sorry before you will let me explain?" Ray demanded losing control of her temper as she stormed across the room to glare at her unshakable sister. It was unnerving to see her little sister who had always been driven by her emotions, staying so calm even when faced with Ray's fiery temper.

"Calm down Rayna." Serena stated. "There are more important matters to deal with, matters with which I will need your help." Serena faced Ray calmly letting no emotional show on her face. "Now tell me sister, who is left? Of my father's advisors and his guards, those loyal to him, who is left?" Ray stared at her sister for a second knowing now that the calm was just a façade to prepare herself to face the blow she was about to be dealt. Taking a big breath Ray plunged straight into the truth.

"It's bad Sere." She said. "Mina was one of the first captured, because she was of Dracula's blood. I don't know if she is still alive, but it is doubtful." She stated sadly. "Ralita disappeared in the middle of a battle five years ago, whether she has gone underground or also been capture I don't know." Shaking her head Ray continued on. "I know of five of your father's generals and three of the nobles loyal to him are alive and I know where they are hiding. I have been in communication with them and they know about my mission to free you, and they are all behind you Serena. They will fight for you."

Wow this chapter was so hard to write. And it wasn't like I had writers block it was just that nothing flowed right. Doesn't that just drive you nuts? You know exactly what you want to say but can't figure out how to say it. Well I hope the next chapter comes easier and I hope I have the time to write. I have been working so much recently I haven't had anytime to do anything. Summer vacation....yeah right. Well I hope you guys liked this chapter. Let me know if I'm doing a good job...k

C ya next time

Angel