I knew I was laying on the ground. It was cold and I felt cold. I could feel the grass poking up through my shirt and into my skin. The smell of dandelion and manure from the barn not far from where I lay. The area was silent, too silent for my liking. I opened my eyes to see a woman looking down at me. Her hair dangling in front of her face and her hands on her knees as she stared at me. I suppose once she saw my eyes open that she reached her hand out and helped me up to my feet. There was something oddly familiar about her, though I can't recall ever seeing her before. Her long, pitch as night hair that flowed down to her knees, her piercing dark eyes that enveloped my soul and a body so voluptuous that even the finest human woman could not revel. She was mouthwatering and yet at the same time I knew she was exceedingly dangerous.
"Very brave," she said in a seductive tone as she ran her hands over my chest and playing with the buttons on my shirt.
"Who are you?" I asked trying to back away, but she continued to follow.
"I am Nyx. Goddess of the Night," she answered as her fingers walked up to my shoulders.
I grabbed her hand, "What has happened?"
She pulled away from me and turned around to look at the man that I had killed, still laying on the ground, "Well, you managed to kill a Werewolf with nothing more than your human hands. Quite impressive if I do say so myself."
"Werewolf? I mumbled as the last few minutes came flying back to me. I looked at my hands over and over, was I Immortal again? Had Ilona's instructions worked? I ran my tongue over my teeth, but they felt blunt as before. Had it not worked? It couldn't be? I did everything I was told? Was I not supposed to kill the wolf before I drank the blood? What had I done wrong? "It didn't work," I mumbled.
"Of course it wouldn't work," Nyx answered as she grabbed my face and looked into my emerald eyes. "You can't become Immortal from simply just drinking blood, silly boy."
"I wasn't..." I started before panic overcame me once again, and this time with pain. Searing pain shot up my back and over my arms as if my whole body was on fire. I yelled out and fell to the ground once again as I began to convulse and shake. She was being hurt. I needed to get to Anabelle. "Anabelle!", I yelled as I stumbled towards the door, but Nyx beat me there.
Her arms across the threshold, "Not so fast."
"Let me pass!" I yelled at her as I tried to push the woman out of my way. She was like bricks, she would not move, not even a small bit.
She laughed as I was trying to get her out of my way, "It's no use, you might as well just go home. You can't go in. Go on, tend to your cousin, he needs you far more than she does."
"Let me in!" I yelled again, this time with my hand around her throat. If I had to, I would kill her. "No matter what you know of Silas, Anabelle is much more fragile and she needs my aid."
"What good would that do? You're nothing but a small mortal. You can't save her and she is not meant to be saved," Nyx looked at me, her voice never faulting as I squeezed tighter. "It is not her destiny."
"Destiny is what we make it. So I will save her, because I love her!" I growled as I squeezed even tighter, though having no effect on her. It was as if I had never had hold of her neck to begin with.
"Even if it means giving up what you want the most?" Nyx asked.
I released my hold on her and backed away. It was useless to try to fight with her, she was too strong, too powerful, "What do you mean?"
"You know me, don't you?" Nyx asked as she walked closer.
"I do not, no matter how close a resemblance you are," I said as I tried to go around her again. She once more beat me to the door and pushed me away without even trying.
I was knocked back to where I was lying previously. My chest ached from where she had pushed me. Forceful and strong she was. I tried to pick myself up but I felt as if air was pushing me down, deeper into the ground. My arms out and my legs, holding me tighter as if the earth was sucking me in. I couldn't breath and gasped for air as she walked closer towards me shaking her head.
"So you do not remember me then?" Nyx asked as she looked down at me, "Because I remember you so well."
Her head shook from side to side as the black fell out of her hair and changed to a scarlet red. Her face pale and her eyes still dark as she smiled at me. I had seen her before, thousands of years ago. Though I don't remember her being a force to reckon with, nor do I remember her wearing so much clothing, but indeed, it was her.
"Lilith," I whispered. I was aghast. Ilona had been searching for her for centuries, and yet she was here, right in her backyard. Right where Ilona said I wouldn't find her. And yet, by mistake and fortune, I had.
She did nothing but smile. "It is I."
"You could stop her, please! Help Anabelle!" I yelled as I tried to get up from the ground, only to have been slammed further down into it.
"No, see, that's not really the plan right now. Anabelle is the sacrifice. She is the one that we've been looking for going on thousands of years, well before you or your cousin were ever turned. A true Seer from the Danu. Do you not understand how valuable her soul is?" Lilith asked as she curled her finger up towards her and my body floated up to meet her eye.
She waited there, her brow raised, waiting for an answer. "I know not," I admitted.
"Even the mighty Julius the strong, can not come to terms for who she is and what she'll be used for," Lilith laughed as she started to walk away. "I'll tell you what," her laugh ceased as she turned around, her arm crossed at her waist and her other hand tapping her chin as she thought, "leave Anabelle here, with us, to fulfil her destiny. In return, I'll give you what you dream of. Your hearts desire for your dream. You must chose."
"Wait, how does one become immortal if not biting and drinking the blood of the wolf after they have been bitten, tell me how and then I will chose," I said hoping that I could get a straight answer to save us both.
Lilith's mouth turned up in a smile, "Clever. You hope to hold the secret so you can save your precious princess. No, and for that, I might rescind my offer."
That was the answer to my question. So there was another way to be turned back. I knew that Lilith could change me, but agreeing to her terms would forfeit Anabelle's life. Something I would not do. I was bound to tight to her in my heart and my soul. I couldn't just feed her to the vultures just for amusement of a witch. When I refused to answer her Lilith turned and walked towards the house. Her hands smoothing over her hair as it turned from red to black again. "Make your decision soon, Julius, for it will not be on the table long."
"Wait!" I yelled. I wasn't sure what I was going to say to her, or what answer to give. I could, on one hand become the Vampyre I was again. The powerful, the day-walking, animal morphing, sarcastic and deadly warrior that I have been for five thousand years and give up the woman that I had sworn to myself over and over again to protect, or I could remain mortal and attempt to save Anabelle at the risk of losing my own life in the process. It was a hard decision to make.
"Have you given the offer some thought?" she asked, her brow arched high up on her forehead as if she doubted that I would take my decision so seriously.
"I have a question," I said.
Lilith's lips pursed, "I didn't ask for a question, I asked for an answer, a decision to the choice I've given you. Do you not wish to become the immortal you were?"
"I do, but there is one question I seek," I said.
"Ask away then, I shall give you but one answer," Lilith responded and let go of the bonds that held me in her thrall.
"If I chose the first path, to be immortal once again and give up my beloved to be sacrificed, what should stop me from bringing in an Army to subdue you and Morrigan to save Anabelle after all?"
Lilith laughed, "Clever once again. I was right to change you when I did. You are very wise and smart. However, you think too much with your heart and not your head. The house is shielded. No Vampyre, Werewolf, witch, or human can enter apart from myself, the Danu named Tristian and Morrigan herself. And soon enough, with us just speaking here the ritual will be completed and there will be nothing you can do to save her."
I looked down to the ground, weighing my options. No matter if I stayed human or if I was immortal could I enter the house. I couldn't get to Anabelle if I tried. So why be vulnerable? Why not be immortal, so that when the ritual is done, I could possible get in then and turn her. A human didn't need to be alive for us to turn them. They just needed to have our blood in their system. I could have Lilith turn me, then I could turn Anabelle. The bond between us would guide me to her.
"Then I chose immortality," I answered as Lilith smiled at my response.
I stood, perfectly still as Lilith, with a flash was at my side. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I wish to be as strong and powerful as I was just two nights ago," I answered, certain of my choice.
"So being a mortal has been so difficult for you that you wouldn't even consider staying mortal for a little while longer?" she asked as if my answer was not what she expected. Agreeably, I'd admit that most Vampyre's would probably want to be human, but I, I could care less.
"No, I have grown to accustomed to being a Vampyre over the past five thousand years since you turned me that night, I don't wish to go back," I answered as I stepped towards her and knelt down to her feet. Looking up into her face I said, "Please, give me the life essence that would make me what I once was."
"So be it," she said as she took her nail and sliced her arm, letting her blood flow freely on my face.
I opened my mouth to receive the blessing that I was bestowed some five thousand years ago. The warm tingle of her gift flowed freely down my neck and into my bowels. I started to feel faint and nauseous. I choked and coughed as the blood took over my system. I could feel my whole body burning as if I was on fire. I rolled over on my back and shook as my body prepared for it's transformation once again as a newly born Vampyre. All feelings of Anabelle left me and I was confounded with my own pain and fears as the change coursed through me. I moaned and screamed for what seemed like ages before the sensation wore off. Lilith looking down at me as I got to my knees and faced her once again as an equal. My eyes, the hot white flame reflected in her dark onyx. I was one again. Now is what I took advantage of the situation. I took my maker's throat in my hands and threw her up against the barn. She laughed as I started to squeeze. "Tell me how to breech the shield."
Lilith laughed some more as she hung there, lifeless from my grip, "There is no use getting in. You can't, and it is not as if you could find her anyways."
"I am bonded to her, I could find her if I needed to," I answered with an equally menacing laugh.
"Are you?" she questioned with a raise of her brow.
I looked away from her face, thinking about what she asked. Was I? Could I feel Anabelle anymore? I searched within myself and found nothing. The bond should be stronger than it was when I was a human, it should be overwhelming. I should be able to practically see her where she was at, but nothing came to view. Nothing at all. The bond was severed. "What. Have. You. Done?"
"I did exactly what you asked for. You wanted your immortality, so you gave up your heart's desire. I never said that by giving her up that you would lose her to Morrigan, I simply meant that the bond with her would be severed. You did not ask the right questions," she laughed as I dropped her from my hold. She ran past me and towards the house, but I did not move. "Good luck with the search though."
I dropped to my knees and cried out, "Anabelle!" as frustration took over to grief. How would I find her now?