A/N: Sorry again for the super late chapter update, I got walking pneumonia and I broke my wrists and hands, well it's actually the muscles in that area that are just really messed up, as my doctor said with a medical equivalent phrase of "how the fuck did you do this?" I'm finally able to type again without it hurting as much so chapter updates should return back to normal. I like to thank Aueraelia for the follow.
Chapter 9: Miasmatic Memories
It was suppose to be a quiet trek to England in order to make Demetri's tracking of the nimble newborns easier. Of course being in the company of the two most mischievous guard members, you would be thankful that they didn't light the forest on fire.
Ever since they had left the castle, Calandra and Felix had been punching each other; An unchanging, never wavering, monotonous rhythm. Even with them behind him, Demetri could clearly differentiate each punch. Calandra's were muffled while Felix's were loud and followed by the sound of Calandra slipping in the watery mix of mud and snow.
Spring was creeping in the shadows. It was still too far off for the actual start of spring, but that didn't stop that breaking energy from leaking into the subconscious of everyone's minds. Like the flowers that pushed against the thawing earth, this energy fractured focused thoughts and turned them into chimerical daydreams. This made Demetri's job harder as he had to sift through all those dreams barraging the connection. Adding vexatious noise, which seemed to thunder through the morning woodland, made tracking for the first time slightly difficult.
He could tell them to be quiet. No, it would be rude, but he had been waiting already this long without saying a word. It would only be a few seconds before he had a substantial and clear connection. Demetri tried to form the words that would stop this torture. Telling them to shut up would be just a bit too scurrilous, for his character. Something more subtle and polite would do well enough… right?
"Excuse me, but I thought it was supposed to be quiet?" He asked futilely trying to mask annoyance. There was no stop in the running but the time for another punch by Calandra had passed. Demetri smiled and began his work.
SMACK
Demetri whipped around, focus completely broken.
"Do you have to do that?!" He yelled exasperated. Demetri tried to keep his stern annoyed face, but seeing the surprised poses of his friends were priceless. Calandra's and Felix's mouths were agape at the unusual outburst. Felix was paused leaning forward, arm still out in a punch. Calandra was almost on the ground with only two fingers keeping her off of it. Both looked scared of what they had caused in Demetri.
"Do both not know the definition of quiet?" Demetri said giving under the pressure to laugh. He started walking ahead to try and cover the rest of the laugh. The two scared friends adjusted themselves looking relieved that Demetri was not totally angry with them.
Of course according to the sacred rules of those two's camaraderie, he was answered with two playful grins. Calandra ran up first to him with a bouncy spin to walk backwards ahead of him.
"Demetri, we are being quiet," she said in a pleading innocent way and her eyes wide, "the definition of quiet is no loud noises. We were not making any loud noises." She put so much emphasis on "not" that it made her seem guiltier.
"Really that was quiet?" Demetri asked astonished.
"Well, it really depends on a person's view. From my view, Felix, my friend, and I were being respectably quiet." She explained placing her hand on her heart and the other extended to Felix.
"You sound like you're pleading you're case to the king."
"Oh no if I were pleading my case to the king I would say…" Felix ran up to Demetri's side and fell onto his knees.
"OH YOUR MAJESTY," he clasped his hands together shaking them at Demetri. "YOUR MAJESTYYYYYYY. WAS MY COMPANION'S WORDS NOT ENOUGH TO SWAY YOU?" Felix continued to plead and destroy Demetri's personal space. Every time Demetri moved away from him he would follow on his knees pushing through the mud and snow until he was almost on top of Demetri. "PLEASE BE MERCIFUL YOUR GRACE! MOST AWE-INSPIRING AND POWERFUL ARE YOU, COULD YOU NOT FIND IN YOUR HEART TO SPARE A FOOLISH DOLT AND HIS JUVENILE CHARGE?"
"Felix, stop that…I FORGIVE YOU!" Demetri said frantic. The balance between the two was severely off causing them to totter. Demetri flailed his arms trying to stop a fall that would come at any moment. Of course that moment came right away. If the punches from earlier seemed to roar like thunder through the forest, then the fall would seem like an asteroid impact to the nearby critters.
Demetri groaned from underneath Felix, both of them covered with a good amount of mud. Felix got up kissing Demetri's hand in thanks for his mercy. He continued on to laugh with a doubled over Calandra.
"This must be so amusing for you." Demetri said looking at multiple upside-down Calandras. She crouched down holding her stomach; eyes squeezed shut from laughing so hard.
"Yes!" She said not even bothering to deny it. Demetri got up brushing the mud that had splattered on his face and clothes. No amount of wiping, though would clean up the mud saturated cloak. He discontentedly took it off and folded over his arm.
"We need to stop fooling around," he said, reminding both of what needed to be done. He plopped the cloak on Calandra and started running before they could be anymore side tracked.
The time it took to get to England from Italy was that of a long stroll for the fastest of vampires sans Adede who would get there in less than fifteen minutes. They only crossed the channel a while ago and anymore delays would cause them to lose the window of attack. In an hour there would be more than a comfortable handful of humans up that might witness the slaying of the newborns.
Demetri could feel the newborn group move erratically in the woodland. They constantly stopped and then started off again in a different direction only to stop and comeback. There had to be a struggle for power going on. If it stayed that way it would be a perfect ambush. He motioned to Felix and Calandra to ready them for a fight. Another sprint and their scent would easily be carried on a changing breeze right to the newborns.
He nodded to Calandra to start but something changed. Demetri leaped and grabbed Calandra stopping her sprint.
"What happened?" Calandra exclaimed. Her eyes frantically searched Demetri's face for the answer.
"They split up," he explained, "if we attack the larger group the others might come back and attack us from behind." Felix got up from his crouched position looking much calmer than Calandra.
"So we split up…" Felix suggested, "Who wants to go alone?"
"How many in the smaller group," Calandra asked quietly. She had that same brooding look on her face that told Demetri she had made up her mind.
"Two, heading west." She nodded her head taking in the information provided.
"You two can handle the larger group fine, I presume?" She said jokingly. Her smile seemed off today. Something was bothering her but Demetri could not tell exactly what. When they stopped once in awhile she had been shaking her shoulders like something was pushing down on them. Even during the extremely silly moment, when she wasn't laughing at them, she was touching her heart in a way that elderly humans did to relieve chest pains. Felix didn't seem to be too concerned with Calandra going alone so why should he?
"Don't make us wait," Felix said patting her back. Calandra grimaced as he had hit her scar.
"Be careful," Demetri warned.
"No Demetri, I have my heart set on dying today. You can't convince me otherwise," Calandra said while dumping his muddy cloak in his arms. One last lackluster smile and her silhouette dissolved into the tree dominated landscape.
Demetri tossed the cloak in his hands debating his next move. So far Calandra had been moving quick enough that she was almost caught up with the renegades. It would be time for Felix and him to make their own tactical move.
"How far can you throw this?" Felix snatched it from his hands and chucked it eastward, clear over the tree line. Demetri stared at the tiny black dot in the sky that was his cloak.
"Pretty far," Felix said. Demetri thanked him with a sigh. He rolled his shoulders back, readying himself for the fight. Felix followed suit, crouching once again and waited for his signal.
They looked at each other for only a second before Demetri waved his hand to go. Unlike times before, Demetri stayed behind Felix. Other than his own ability, he only had slightly above average strength and speed. Being swarmed by newborns could be fatal to him than with Felix.
"AHHHHH," A female vampire shrieked as Felix plowed her down, ripping her appendages off. The other fourteen newborns were farther down the rocky hill looking frightened and disorganized. They whipped around trying to keep their backs away from him and the direction where his jacket lay.
Four of the stronger-looking newborns plucked up enough courage to charge at Felix. They tried to mob him but he easily overpowered them and pinned two of them to the ground. Demetri peeled the other two off of him and sent them tumbling down the rocky hill. He was about to head after them but then a feeling of intense heat rushed over the back of his neck. It was like someone had poured molten metal so it just grazed him. He looked in the direction of where the heat had come from to see a white fireball coming straight at him.
Demetri launched the appendage less female newborn, who had been trying to piece herself back together, in front of him. Not even a few seconds could be spent on the girl in the fire's mind; it ripped through her body and continued toward Demetri. He dropped down to the ground, rolling himself into a perfectly sized crevice. The fire rushed past but he was not left untouched.
Demetri hissed in pain as a one of the tiny sparks that fell from the ball ignited a pile of leaves by his feet. He stamped furiously at it trying to put it out before it could consume him.
In Demetri's panic, the owner of the fire had come over and watched him with that crazed newborn look in his eyes; that type of watching that showed the pure ecstasy they felt from seeing their prey scared and flailing around for their life.
"Stuck in between some rocks and a hot place are we?" The man raised his hand forming another fireball. Demetri would not be able to pull himself out of the way now. He stiffened ready for what would seem like hours of an inescapable hell.
His attacker thrust his hand to finish Demetri but was tackled by Felix. Demetri covered his mouth thankful that this crevice would not become his urn.
"You okay?" Felix asked extending his hand out to help his shaken friend up. Demetri nodded his previous annoyance with Felix and his never serious personality had disappeared. While he had been down, the two from earlier had made their way back up the hill and the rest of the newborns had realize there was not a third member. Instead of running away, they approached them. Any fear that had been in their bodies was banished.
Demetri and Felix stood back to back taking in their surroundings. The odds were back in their favor as the fire maker had been killed by his own ability. The others, really, only had their numbers to their advantage, as no other seemed to possess a juggernaut of a power like the one before.
Felix made the first move, barreling through the newborns ripping limbs and heads. Demetri set out to finish his work with the two before. He dashed between the trees with the two following closely behind. Each time a tree came in front of him he waited till the last minute to weave around.
A squat tree appeared and seeing a chance to finally shake them Demetri slid to a stop and turned around. The newborns smiled thinking that he had given up and ran harder to swiftly kill him. He waited till they were so close he could feel their breath on his face and then he ducked.
The ground shook from the collision and roots from the tree pierced the ground. The two newborns were dazed long enough for Demetri to whip back around and tear their heads off.
Not taking any chances of them reattaching themselves, Demetri tore their bodies into little pieces and covered their heads with flat rocks. A time to build a fire would be for later. Felix was still tearing through a greatly diminished group of newborns.
Demetri rushed back to his friend's side taking out a few more newborns. The newborns' mistakes became more frequent and costlier.
The final head was ripped and the ground was littered with bodies. A fire was started and body parts were retrieved. Felix and Demetri stood watching the bodies burn.
"Aro is going to have a fit with us," Demetri murmured.
"Killing that pyromaniac? No, unless you are using 'fit' as a euphemism for tantrum," Felix replied. He shook his head laughing and continued, "But I know in God's name I do not want to be Calandra."
Unfortunately for Calandra, she was the typical victim of Aro's rage. Even though she had no part in destroying such a tremendously gifted vampire, the fact she had not turned out to be the strongest of the Volturi's abilities was enough to shift the blame. Demetri felt bad for her but Aro was too stubborn to change. Poor Calandra… Demetri then realized that she had not met them yet. Was she waiting where her battle was fought?
"Speaking of Calandra… shouldn't we go get her?" Felix suggested like he had read Demetri's mind. Demetri nodded and started to pinpoint Calandra's location. It came to him almost instantaneously.
"It's unusual. She's not moving at all." Demetri commented. He expected her to be pacing around waiting for them to come but she showed no signs of moving anytime soon.
"She probably fell asleep or something," Felix speculated. They both shrugged not thinking much more about it.
()()()()()()()()()()()
It was not long before they could see a black figure between the trees, sitting on the ground.
"See, she was just waiting for us. Calandra!" Felix hollered. Stepping into the small clearing where their friend sat, Demetri felt overcome by a feeling of dread. Something was terribly off with the situation. He called her name this time hoping that she would respond.
Ba-dum
Nothing. Not even a small twitch of her hands that were held out in front of her like she was receiving something. Why were her hands li-
Ba-dum
He saw it. He saw the whole scene, not just the actress in the spotlight. The glint, he mistook for the typical reaction of vampire skin when exposed to the sun, was too dull even for Calandra. It was instead a purplish-blue slime that looked like it coated her hand and a good part of her lower arm. The real shimmer came from another vampire lying on the ground a yard or two in front of her.
Demetri walked cautiously, unsure if the vampire was completely dead or not. The gory wounds, oozing the same gunk, seemed deadly but fire was the only known foolproof way to kill a vampire. It would take something extremely potent to effectively kill a vampire without tearing and fire. Demetri went to trace his hand along the bite wound along the girls face but a shaking voice stopped him.
"Poi…Poisson," Calandra muttered. He turned around, taking a small moment to ready himself before looking at his friend.
Her eyes were wide and pupils dilated from shock. They stared at her hands still trying to register what had happened to them. Her left hand was clean when compared to her right. It was dirty and had tiny scrapes on the front. Her long hair, that had been tightly braided back, spilled over her shoulders. She had worn her hair long for some time but today, only one side remained long as the other was cleanly cut like her childhood style. A shallow cut on her neck was consistent with this new hair line. His eyes followed the small droplets down to the largest of injuries.
The black fabric of her cloak stuck to her body, soaked with blood. He couldn't tell how deep or how big the wound was but he could see the blood splatter that stained the snow. The same poisonous slime was also intermixed with the splatter marks.
"Demetri!" Felix called with the sound of deep howl following. Demetri got up to help Felix but then paused questioning if it was right to leave his dying companion.
"I..I'll b-be fine. It's al-l ways l-like this. All I h-have to… do i-is wai…" the constant was left to drift silently out of her parted lips. The slow and infrequent heartbeats became quieter and irregular sounding.
It's weird to hear someone die. Weird, Alien, Demetri had not seen someone die in front of him. In the heat of the fray he couldn't pause to see them before the next opponent. Now he wondered in that split moment of time, did everyone one who was near the end look like Calandra; staring into a different world, giving up like this was a daily routine for her. Letting death take another of her infinite collection of lives, like a friend sharing secrets.
"Demetriiiii," Felix called again. Demetri stopped giving seconds to Calandra and decided not give another glance to make sure she was fine with being left.
"You need to see this," Felix motioned to a slightly steep decline in the clearing. Indeed it was something he needed to see. A gigantic wolf snarled and growled at them as it lay in the snow. It tried to get up and attack them but it took so much energy just to lift its head. The poisonous sludge had done its work here too. It matted the auburn fur surrounding a three or two feet long cut on the wolf's abdomen.
"How would we kill him? We can't touch that poison. It did so much to Calandra and she was human." Demetri asked. The wolf was the opposite of Calandra before death, fuming and willful, fighting to that bitter end. The idea of toting a bite scar around on his face did not excite him at all.
Felix ran through a list of ways they could finish off the wolf quickly, "Bury it, burn it, drown it… it stinks like it came from the sulfur ponds. We'd be doing it a favor."
"We should just do the same as we've always done." Demetri decided. Felix sighed at such a mundane way of killing. While he started a fire, Demetri began brushing away the lines the wolf made when it tried to drag itself away from the earlier fight.
The howling and the snarling didn't last long and was replaced by the sorrowful whimpers. Then silence came; only the crackling of the fire devouring its large furry fuel was left to speak.
Felix ripped off a large branch from a nearby tree and carefully lit it. They both walked back to Calandra and the deceased vampire quietly. What could they expect? Calandra to be standing there as a little girl again, angry for whatever reason her irrational baby mind thought of. Or the worse, Calandra actually dead.
Her clothes were in a large clump on the ground like she had simply evaporated out of them. A crow landed nearby and hopped its way toward the pile. It pulled at the loose strings of what use to be Calandra's cloak.
He was surprised that the crow didn't fly away when Felix tossed the torch on the dead body. That bird had no sense of survival at all. Even when Demetri himself approached the clump, the bird continued pecking and pulling at loose strings.
"Hey shoo," Demetri told it, waving his hands to scare away. The crow retorted and ruffled its feathers before hopping off. Some of the strings it was trying to pull were actually pieces of Calandra's like colored hair.
He carefully moved the cloak, avoiding the poisonous residue, to reveal a sleeping child's face. He nudged her cheek trying to get her up but she didn't respond. He would have to carry her but her clothes didn't fit her anymore and were covered with poison. Going shirtless or carrying a naked little child both contained high levels of indecency.
"Felix we've been friends for sometime…" Demetri said going into his flatter voice.
"It's pathetic to see you trying to plead. Here," Felix took off his cloak and gave to Demetri. Demetri pulled her out and quickly wrapped her up in the cloak. Felix grabbed her fallen V necklace and lifted up another one they had not seen before.
"You think it was hers?"
"Did she have a rose necklace?"
"Just bring it anyway we don't have time."
()()()()()()()()()
Demetri looked down at the ground as a group of children ran by. He had been sitting, Calandra sleeping in his arms, on this stone bench for a few minutes now
Too much smoke had risen in the air and people were noticing it. Not the whole town of course, it always those kinds of people who had some neurotic attributes. A comment was made between neighbors while Demetri and Felix passed on the shaded road. Did you see the smoke-of course, who didn't? Suspects were named and an average line up was formed. The Barnes boys had left with their axes this morning. Edgar also came by with his rod complimenting the nice weather for fishing. A new neighbor might have taken up residence in the woods.
Or the vampires are back again, a newcomer to the conversation said like he was announcing the weather. The two women looked at him unfazed by his oddball comment. You still believe that was what you saw William the plump stated rather than asked. She picked up her basket of greens and announced how with all this excitement about smoke was a poor excuse for her idleness. The others said good bye and continued.
Demetri attempted not to be awkward and make them think of him in any other way than a normal passerby. Of course that caused him to stare gawkily straight in front of them. He thought he could see them staring at him in his peripherals. The conversation only slowed a bit at the new distraction of people passing by and there was no mentioning of Demetri or Felix.
Demetri felt relieved that the trees were so thick that the sunlight could not expose their real identity to this supposed witness of their kind. Staying around to hear the rumors that circulated in the nearby ran some risks but this gentleman seemed adamant in his words. There was no "maybes" or "I thoughts" in his vocabulary. That man had seen a vampire and he was not allowing his belief to waver.
"I'm going to go later and investigate," the man said.
"Are you going to dig around like last time?" the women asked. She was more convinced in his word than the other one.
"Most likely, though I'm not the strapping young lad I used to be. Well I should be off to my shop. Have a good day, Jean."
Felix and Demetri immediately agreed that it would be wise to do something to distract that man from going out into the woods. Demetri's eyes were still red, from a recent feeding, forcing him to stay behind with Calandra and avoid eye contact or sun.
The sky over this town was muddy just like the ground. A grey shadow covered more than half of the square assuring that there was no chance of a stray ray hitting Demetri's exposed face. People passed by frequently but with so much space they rarely came close.
Calandra slept undisturbed in his lap. Every once in a while she would snuggle deeper into her cloak cocoon. For a while before, he had begun debating if she was really alive or if he was just carrying a child's cadaver around. It was so hard to tell when she naturally didn't have a heartbeat.
Demetri tried to remember his own heartbeat, how it pounded so fiercely when he ran through the hills of Greece. He couldn't recall anything but a jumbled colorless view of his feet hitting the ground. The feeling though was not lost with the change to vampirism. It was the same time of year as it was now, when spring began to revolt against the oppressive winter.
Waaahhh
Tears fell from Calandra's tightly closed eyes as her head emerged from her cloak cocoon. She pounded her head against his chest, wailing even louder.
"What's wrong?" He asked her hoping that she would stop crying. People passing by glanced over at the source of the disruptive noise in their quiet lives. If he didn't calm her down someone would come over. How long would he be able to avoid eye-contact?
Calandra was having an easier time with that issue. Her eyes still refused to open despite Demetri constantly asking her why she was so upset. She had to still be asleep.
He hoisted her up near his shoulder getting ready to escape before anybody approached him.
"Is she okay?" Demetri froze, staring at the ground halfway up. He paused unsure if yes would satisfy the worried villager's inquiry.
"Yes, she's fine-" he was cut-off by another wail from Calandra. "She just woke up."
"Oh, she must be hungry." Demetri sat back down pretending to be focused completely on Calandra. He could sense the other person rummaging through a basket and then extending a piece of bread to him. His hand shook slightly as he reached to take it from them still lowering his head to avoid eye contact. Calandra still cried latching an arm around his neck.
Suddenly, the world went blurry and dull. Colors were significantly less vivid and it felt colder. A pounding feeling came from his chest and everyone seemed to go quiet. What's happening? Demetri thought. The small particles of dirt that was on his hand before was gone and his clothes were not as detailed as he remembered. He felt vulnerable with this blurry sight. Nothing was as clear as it was before.
"It's fine you can take it." The person pushed the bread into his hand. Demetri looked up at this person oddly not as worried of being revealed. Nothing was as clear as before was incorrect; In front of him he saw the one thing that was still perfectly detailed.
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