Chapter 6: Between Life and Death-part I
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Ruby-red eyes cracked open to darkness once again.
The newly Undead Lina Inverse groaned in the darkness that met her eyes.
"I'm beginning to make a habit of this..."
She attempted to sit up and found that there was something weighing down on her left arm. She looked to her left and found that there was a fairly big lump underneath the light sheets that covered her.
Lina laid back down on the soft mattress and stared up into the ceiling, wondering if she should find out what was under covers number one.
Well, I gotta get up sooner or later, she thought to herself. It can't be any worse than it already is...
She took an unnecessary breath and lifted the light sheets and peaked under. Lina gasped as big round, innocent blue eyes popped open and met her gaze lazily.
A boy, about nine or ten, lifted his head off Lina's arms and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He turned his neck slightly to sit up and showed a punctured wound on his delicate young throat.
"Oh, is it evening already?" he asked groggily.
Upon getting no repsonse, he looked at her wide ruby-red eyes with innocent curiousity. "Huh? Are you okay, m'lady?"
Lina didn't respond. She sat up quietly, dropped her legs over the soft bed, closed her eyes and looked up at the ceiling again.
"AAGGHHH!" Lina screamed at the top of her lungs, jumping away from the bed.
"WAHHH!!" The young boy exclaimed in surprise. He clutched at the sheets and looked at the rampaging vampire with fear.
"Give me Weres, give me Lycans, but what the HELL is a BOY doing on the bed?! And that WOUND!!" She grabbed her flame mane in frustration. "Oh, L-sama! WHY is this happening to ME?!"
She whipped back around at the boy and pointed an accusing finger at him. "WHO are you?!"
He was about to reply when Lina cut him off. "Wait a minute! WHERE am I?!"
"M'lady! M'lady, calm down! Please!" the boy tried to calm her down. He inched off the bed and made his way towards her.
Lina was about a head taller than he was. He had mousy brown hair and a bed-head. He was just a regular human boy.
He looked up at her and said, "I should be the one that's supposed to be afraid of you, m'lady. You ARE an Undead, afterall."
Lina closed her eyes again and took her red eyes away from blue ones.
What is it with innocence and blue eyes?
With calm and patience, she asked again, "Who are you?" She bore her eyes on him again.
"Me?" his eyes widen as if surprised that she cared to know who he was. "Um...I'm..My name is..um..." His cheeks tinged pink and he started to twiddle his fingers.
Lina put her hands on her hips and said with slight annoyance, "It's not a hard question, y'know."
He looked down as if ashamed. "Um..no, it's not...it-it's just that it's been awhile since anyone cared about my name."
This time he was the one who took a deep breath.
He took a step back and bowed like a gentleman would to a lady. "My name is Melaverne, m'lady." He straightened and smiled, proud of himself. "But everybody here calls me Mel, though. And you, m'lady? They were in such a rush last morning that I didn't have time to ask anybody."
"First of all, stop calling me m'lady, it's annoying. Second, my name is Lina, so call me Lina," she replied and sighed. "Where am I?"
She looked around the room and found nothing out of the ordinary richly decorated room with a thick black curtain of the windows. Before Mel could reply, she walked back to the bed and brought her dead body down on the bed, sensing that she might need to after she's through asking him questions. Mel followed like an obedient pup but did not sit down. He stood in front of her and clasped his hands behind his back.
"This is Turquoise, m'lady," he replied. "You did not know?" He asked curiously.
Lina's eyebrow twitched. "Does it look like I know?!"
He immediately looked apologetic and ashamed. "I'm sorry, m'lady..."
Lina's eyes soften upon seeing his face and said softly, "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled like that. It's been one hell of a week for me, y'know what I mean?"
Mel nodded and smiled, "I understand, m'lady."
Lina ignored the fact that he seemed so pleased to agree with her and asked, "So what is this Turquoise place?"
"Well, to begin, this is vampire's territory," Mel replied. "No other Creatures of the Night are allowed here."
Lina peered at Mel and said, "But...you're human..."
Mel nodded. "Yes, I mean, except for humans and vampires, no Others can set foot on Turquoise."
Lina instantly looked at Mel's wounded neck. "Don't tell me humans are..."
He nodded again. "We are just walking food." He smiled so innocently that it made Lina sick to her stomach.
She went paler than was possible for her dead body. "You're kidding me...so...you were my...I..."
He turned away slightly, a shy smile on his face, his cheeks tinging pink again. "I was glad... that I was selected for the duty to...look after you." Mel turned his blue eyes to look at Lina's red ones. "I knew you weren't like the Others that dwell in Turquoise." He looked away again. "Now, at least the other humans won't make fun of me anymore..." His smile faltered as he seemed to went into thought.
"Others?"
"Oh, yes," Mell said. "There are many, many humans within Turquoise. The vampires that dwell here tend to be picky about the humans they choose. Ever since I was born, I was never chosen..." His face lit up again as he looked at his vampire. "I was really glad to find that I was your human!"
Lina blinked. "My human? My HUMAN?! Listen, Mel! You're not a dog! You're not something to be chosen! You're HUMAN, Mel, HUMAN! You have a life!"
Mel blinked in confusion and shook his head slightly. "I know, m'lady, that is why I'm glad to be your human."
"Stop it!" She shouted as she bolted off the bed.
Mel's eyes widened at the demand.
"Don't say that so casually! Can't you see?! This is wrong on so many levels! Oh! L-sama! How was I so oblivious to something like this when I was alive?!" She stomped around maniacally and stopped at the oak wood door. She leaned on it and massaged her temples.
"M'lady? M'lady, are you alright?" Mel said worriedly and went to the vampire's side. His warm hands held onto her ice cold arms as he looked up at Lina. "Are you hungry? Do you need to feed?"
Lina's eyes widened at how he casually asked the question. She blinked and found that she was looking through his skin and at the red blood coursing through his veins. She swallowed her dry throat and clenched her fists.
Her eyes strayed to the wound on his neck, his delicate young neck, full of blood, warm innocent blood, like the priest's virgin blood.
She shut her eyes tight and shook her head slightly. "No..."
"But--"
"NO! No, no, no, NO!" She shouted and whipped around to pound a fist into the wooden door.
She heard Mel gasped at her actions and a thud from the other side of the door.
"What was that?" she asked, taking her fist from the hole she made in the thick door.
"Uh...I think someone is outside, m'lady," Mel replied and went to open the door.
Lina winced at the candle light pouring into the dark room. Her eyes were still sensitive and unadjusted.
"Cathy!" Mel exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He opened the door wider to let himself out.
Lina peered around the door to see a girl with blonde curls and brown eyes getting up off the floor. She was a few inches taller than Mell, perhaps a couple of years older than he was as well.
"Well, I was just checking to see if you were awake," she replied, patting her white dress. Upon seeing Lina at the doorway, she instantly bowed.
"I apologize, m'lady, if I had disturbed you," she said.
Lina brushed her hair back annoyingly and walked back into the dark room.
"It's Lina, just Lina, how many times do I have to say that?" they heard her grumble.
Mel stepped back from the doorway to let Cathy in. She took a step into the room and did nothing else.
"Well? Was there anything you wanted to see me for, Cathy?" Mel asked as he shut the door lightly.
Cathy blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dark room and replied, "Well, actually, I was supposed to check on Mistress Lina."
Lina's face contorted with distaste. "Mistress?"
"Master Brandus and Master Cecil summons you, m'lady," Cathy continued.
"Ugh! What the hell do they want now?!" Lina cursed to no one in particular.
Cathy looked unsurely at Mel. He shrugged.
"Um...I'm not sure, m'lady, I dared not ask," she said and bowed apologetically.
Lina's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Will you two stop acting like everything you do is wrong? And stop bowing. And stop calling me M'LADY!"
"A-are you hungry, m'lady?" Cathy asked unsurely. "Why haven't you fed her, Mel? Can't you see she is in a bad mood?"
Mel shrugged. "She doesn't want to. I offered."
A vein popped out of Lina's head. "Stop it! What does me being in a lousy mood have to do with feeding?!"
"Uh...well, most of the vampires here are moody when they are hungry...they tend to get very violent too...." Cathy replied.
"Ugh! How many more OTHERS are there?!" Lina exclaimed.
"Oh, many, m'lady," Mel said and made his way towards a corner of the room, opened a built in closet and took an overcoat out.
He made his way towards Lina. "Even Master Brandus and Master Cecil aren't able to keep count of all the vampires that come and go in Turquoise."
He draped the deep-red velvet coat over Lina's shoulder. To accomplish the feat, he had to stand on his tip toes. He started to button the coat but Lina swat his hands away. He winced and shook his hurt hands.
"Oh, sorry," Lina said and started to button the coat up herself. "So are those two the masters of this Turquoise place or something?"
"Not masters, really," Mel said. "But they are the first of those who started to make Turquoise their permanent home."
Lina sighed. "This is the last thing I need right now but...c'mon, I need to get out of this place and I'm sensing that I can't do anything without having talk to him first." She stood up and walked to the door, the two humans following close behind.
"Leave? Where are you going, m'lady?" Mel asked as Lina turned the knob.
She stopped and turned her head to look at Mel. "Away from this crazy place"
Lina opened the door and took a step out into the grandiose hallway. She stopped briefly to adjust her eyes.
"You're taking me along, right, m'lady? I'm your human, afterall," Mel said.
Lina sighed and turned around. "Look, Mel, you're not my human.
You're A human."
A stab of guilt pierced through Lina's dead heart as she looked at Mel's crestfallen face. She ruffled his hair and said, "Besides, I'm making my way towards this MidNighte place. I thought only vampires are allowed here."
Upon hearing the word midnight, the two human ooh'ed.
Cathy shook her head as she said, "Vampires and their humans are allowed there, m'lady. Mel is allowed in MidNighte so long as he is your human."
Lina turned her back on them and rubbed her temples. "Okay, one problem at a time, please, children. I already have one big ass of a problem I have to deal with any moment now."
Mel and Cathy giggled softly behind her.
"It's not funny," Lina whined. "This is serious, why am I even here?" She looked around the hallway and asked, "By the way, isn't it awfully quiet around here? Didn't you two say there are many, many others in this place?"
"Oh, they're not awake yet, m'lady," Mel said.
"Later on in the night, it will be full, believe us, m'lady," Cathy said and nodded sagely.
"Ugh...I'll take your word for it," Lina said. She looked behind her at Cathy and said, "Well? Shall we proceed into my Chamber of Doom?"
Cathy giggled and lead them to their destination. "You're right, Mel. Mistress Lina is not like the Others here in Turquoise."
Mel smiled widely. "I told you so!"
Lina began to rub her temples again. "This is gonna be a long night..."
...To Be Continued...
Author's Note: I know! I know! This is a short chapter! But! But this is part A! part B will be coming out real soon! my net connection if really iffy and I'm afraid I won't get another chance to update in a loooong if I don't do this now! SOWWIE people!!! Please come back!!!!