A/N: Ok...hi:) Yeah, I know I took FOREVER to get this out but here it is! Hope you like it, I worked extra hard to write a long chapter this time. It's going to be very cryptic and it needs a lot of deciphering, I think, so be ready. Alrighty, I'll shut up now.
P.S. I've started another story, it's called The Vampire Children. Check it out if you're free. ;)
Dear God, when I grow up, I want to be able to travel the world and see India and Rome. I also want to meet a handsome man who'll make me happy. Those are dreams I've dreamt about a lot for awhile, but what I really do want most is to see my papa smile again. I hope when Mrs. Archer sends this letter off, that it'll reach you, all the way up there in the sky I adore. Love, Suzette.
I watched my childhood self write out those words; elegant in their manner but in messy script nonetheless.
She smiled she finished and inserted it deftly into the brown paper envelope she'd taken from the study.
If there was one thing that Suzette had always known, it was that God existed and he watched over her constantly.
Only that'd been her childhood self who'd thought so.
She no longer believed; she'd lost her faith and her hope in Him when that letter was never answered.
Shortly after it'd been sent, her father never appeared at all. Suzette couldn't remember seeing him once in her adolescent years. He was a mystery to her when she was young.
The one memory of him which stuck clear as daylight in her innocent mind had been of when Anneliese had celebrated her 12th birthday.
His eyes are grey; his hair is dark but fading.
I'm reminded of myself when I see him but at the same time, I can't see the resemblance we hold.
Maybe it's because every time, when my father sees me, his eyes harden.
His facial expression turns grim and he almost looks...afraid.
Once, when I'd pulled his sleeve to get his attention while he'd been writing, he'd yelled at me in a rage.
His arm had knocked the blue ink all over his papers. They were ruined. I'd never been able to go to his office again.
My mother used to say that my father and I were so alike.
In our looks, in our writing, in our mannerisms.
But, although my mother never stopped talking and going on and on about how similar we were, my heart knew we were not at all the same.
As though, he wasn't my father...
The vision of my depressing past ended and I found myself staring into a pair of crimson-colored eyes. My heart leaped into my throat.
I swallowed down my saliva in a surprised gulp. The color of those eyes made my blood curdle and squeak.
Something papery-soft, yet cold, released my hand. I hadn't even known that someone had held it in a grip. My eyes adjusted to the soft focus of the torchlight illuminating the room.
My pulse started racing.
I was in some-sort of medieval castle. The room was made from solid stone bricks and expensive looking tapestries adorned the walls.
I couldn't see any windows.
Oh, God. What have I gotten myself into now?
As if answering my unspoken question, those crimson eyes which I couldn't stop staring into gently pulled me to a standing position.
I realised that those eyes belonged to a creepy-looking man who was dressed in very fine robes. He looked practically ancient.
His white lips curled upwards in a mocking smile and his eyes hinted at amusement.
Suddenly, I came upon a stunning realisation. The pallor of his skin was identical to James'. Perhaps, he would know where the keeper of my heart was!
My face must have betrayed my thoughts, for the man's eyes suddenly changed in expression. They became almost cruel-like.
I trembled and my hand dropped from his. It was then that I realized we were not alone in this room. Far from it.
Alongside the entrances, two other deathly-pale men stood, looking almost-like guards.
My heart was going to give out from the amount of stress I was feeling. The sense of impending danger was nearly palpable.
The room smelt dank and salty. A cold lump slithered into my gut as I recognized the smell as being that of blood.
I let out a terrified shriek, which echoed on the walls.
Lying on the ground nearby, lay something so bloody and mangled, that I wouldn't have recognized it to be human had I not seen the mass of dark hair, tangled and torn, atop the body.
The bones were lying in the most awkward positions, and several had been snapped and broken.
It was face-down and I was grateful that I did not have to witness the poor soul's face, which undoubtably would be one of pure and utter horror.
But this was not the most frightening sight I was witnessing.
It was the black-coated mass crouched over the body which scared me the most and chilled my blood. The shadowy figure was licking the pool of dark red liquid flowing from the corpse.
I nearly collapsed from shock.
Something caught me before I could, though. And I was even more ready to faint when I glanced at who had done so, because despite my memory being fleeting and blurred, I still remembered that face.
The expression of sheer terror which crossed his face when he saw me.
The shadow of my past; one of the many unresolved mysteries of my sad life.
Impossibility would be putting what I felt at that moment lightly.
Because, although his eyes were burgundy-red, I could have sworn that the features of this person belonged to that of my father.
And at that instant, my heart caved in from the internal pressure, and my breathing became heavy. I was being suffocated by my own body.
Until I realized, that a pair of very clammy and almost steel-like hands had taken me by the neck.
And were strangling me to death.
My eyes shut. I couldn't bring myself to try to fight my assailant. My murderer. I had no more strength within me.
It was also in this moment, that I heard a ferocious, beast-like roar.
It flung itself against the walls, forcing them to echo it in rising intensity as my eardrums nearly exploded.
And just like that, I was freed.
I coughed and spluttered, sucking air back into my deprived lungs.
I sank to the floor, choking back my sobs. I didn't know why I was overcome by tears.
Maybe I was just glad to be able to breathe again.
The bones in my neck felt non-existent. As though, they'd been paralyzed by the iron grip.
Or by the fear I now felt.
A enraged pair of onyx eyes caught my sweeping gaze and I turned away in fright. The monster was being held back by the guards I'd seen previously.
The thumping of my heart became even more audible, and the thing yowled in frustration.
"It's lusting for her blood. What do your Highnesses suggest be done?" An submissive, low voice said.
It was one of the guards, who obviously held the creature back with no effort whatsoever.
The crimson-eyed man sighed in annoyance, appalled at his escort's own foolishness. "Well, what do you think? Take that mangy thing out and get rid of it. It's done it's part. Now, send it on it's way."
He tapped his foot in impatience. The guards nodded and the thing, still screaming in protest, was taken out of sight.
"Are you alright, my dear? Perhaps, letting you be in the same room as a bloodthirsty tracker was not a very wise idea."
I simply stared.
My mind was confused. Jumping from a million different images at once. What in the world was going on?
Somehow, I found my parched voice. "What was that?" I asked, my eyes widening.
"Dearest me, you are peculiar. Have your parents taught you nothing?"
He shook his head in dismay and motioned a tall, gypsy-looking woman forward. She complied and her wide ring earrings jangled, as she strode.
"Jiha, please take this young woman to your quarters and get her cleaned up immediately. She can't meet her future husband looking like this."
He laughed a humorless laugh which resonated around me; I wondered why I hadn't fainted yet.
My head was pounding, and the blood was rushing to my ears. This always happened when I was confused.
The woman whose name was Jiha rolled her eyes at his gesture and offered her hand in my direction. I took it in silence.
She led me out of the room into a long corridor. It was more of a tunnel. And it ran in one direction for a good length of distance as I could make out. Jiha pulled me along, firmly but motherly.
"He's right, you know." She said eventually.
I blinked.
"Excuse me? I have not a single notion of where in the world I am and who you people are."
I could barely recognize my own voice. It didn't sound like me.
"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were on your way to Italy to be wed, were you not? At least, that's what they tell me." She muttered, irritated.
I blinked again.
"Are you telling me that I'm in Italy...already?"
My head spun.
The drive from that dock in Paris to here would have been at least, a week. They had to be lying.
She read my incredulous stare, shaking her head.
"It's true, alright. Caius placed you into a temporary coma. Honestly, I've never seen him get this worked up over anything in a long, long time."
She turned a corner and stopped to get her bearings before continuing.
"Put me...into a coma?"
I swore I felt a bad taste in my mouth from saying those words.
"Yep, now, quit talking."
She pushed me into a room, and sat me down in front of a huge mirror and dressing table.
I looked at my disoriented expression and took in my messy, unruly hair and the tired circles of darkness lining my brown eyes. I looked old.
As though, being asleep for weeks had aged me by years.
I slumped forward only to be pulled back upright.
"Stop fidgeting and let me get down to business, girl." Jiha said sternly.
Just like Mother.
She studied my appearance as I stared back with weary eyes, already half-drooping from fatigue.
She shook her head a couple of times, but soon started nodding in approval. Soon enough, she was clapping her hands in delight.
I feared she'd be doing a happy jig after this.
Thank goodness, that she didn't.
She seemed far too refined and poised to do that. Stuff which Rita wouldn't have been able to do in a million years.
I smiled at this.
It'd been ages since I'd spared a thought for my family. And a pang of sadness went through me.
As Jiha ran me a hot bath and pushed me behind a changing screen, which was etched with Japanese sakura trees, to get undressed, I realised that I wouldn't see them for awhile.
Or perhaps they weren't coming at all.
I shed a couple more tears when it dawned on me that my fate lay here.
In this unknown place.
In a foreign land.
Suddenly, vivid images of the corpse, the monster, the crimson-eyed man, the man who looked like my father, all of them flew into my mind at lightning speed and disappeared once again.
I was at a loss for what to think.
It was a puzzle which made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
None of what had just taken place was logical.
So, maybe it wasn't at all.
Yeah, I know! Super-confusing, isn't it? Anyways, I hope this satisfies. It's really long, you know. I mean, for someone like me. Ok, review:)