Chapter Thirty-One
One Of Questions
Every vampire in the region who knew of the Rising was ultimately on the verge of a panic attack of chaos. It was the night before November 20th, and Evanen hadn't been heard of for days. Not since I told him that I'd be happy if he would go away, which he seemed all too greatful to do. I hadn't actually expected him to just disappear, but then again, I never quite understood Evanen enough to ever tell what exactly he was planning to do. Still, it was like an hour away from being the day of the Rising, and the man of the day was AWOL.
Being that the Rising had nothing to do with me, I would have no reason to be worried. Except for the fact that I held a device around my neck that was the only way to contact Evanen, and I happened to be the human he was devoted to.. at least enough to punk out of his own world-changing destiny at my minor request. (I just might be the hero of mankind after all!) But, with these points at my feet, I had a reason to be worried because in a house of power hungry vampires missing their source of powers, being the one able to contact and control that power yet being helpless yourself was not a good position to be in.
Waiting for the moment when Cecilian, Drewdon, or both of them would come in and put me in a life-threatening position in order for me to scream Evanen's name for salvation so that he would have to return, I laid curled up under the blankets in my orange pj shorts and orange spaghetti strap night-shirt, clutching Evanen's necklace in my grip. Normally I'd be cold, but the heater was working full force and I was relatively comfortable. I wasn't actually too worried about being killed, seeing as I had at some point accepted this next day to be my end already, so it wasn't as though I were begging Evanen to return through the necklace. It was more of a teasing, bored tone.
"Evanen," I called in a sing-song voice, "Maybe you should stop throwing your fit until after tomorrow." I myself believed the whole "trying to convince Evanen to come home" thing to be pointless because he wasn't going to budge under my will anyway. After all, I was the one he was mad at. "Evanen, oh Evanen, where are you?" I'd been doing this every once in awhile when I was bored. It wasn't as though it worked. Well, I wouldn't know because it wasn't a two-way response system. Still, he hadn't shown up yet so I didn't figure he would anytime soon.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching my door. Somehow, I knew it wasn't Evanen. Sure enough, the door burst open, and I froze. It was strange how I felt safer because I was under a blanket, and the same feeling amplified when hiding under a bed. Ah, the mental damage we receive from our naive childhoods. It took about a second for the blanket to be stripped from my covered orb of safety, and Cecilian stood over me like a mad woman.
"Give.. it.. to me," she said in such a strained voice that I pulled off the necklace automatically and handed it to her with wide eyes. Well, if other vampires were on the brink of a panic attack, Cecilian was beyond that. I never saw such a wreck of a healthy vampire. And in one fatal blow, Cecilian screamed into the necklace, "EVANEN!" I covered my ears in automatic pain at the sound of it, never hearing anything so loud in my life.
Just when I thought my eardrums would explode, she ended the screamed name. I stared at Cecilian, who paid no attention to me, with a gaping mouth and bulging eyes. I wanted to make a remark about how that would be the most unwelcoming call I'd ever hear, and that she probably scared him off for good, but the timing seemed oh so wrong.
"You better be here tonight or I'll destroy your human, YOU HEAR ME," She screeched, and threw the necklace next to me with so much force that it broke through the bed like a bullet. I watched her storm out of the room without a glance my way, and hesitated before moving my hands away from my ears. Sure enough, at a glance, I saw a bit of blood had dripped onto my hands. At least I wasn't deaf. I reached into the hole in the bed, and pulled out the necklace.
"Great, now I'm going to be destroyed rather than just killed tomorrow," I said quietly into the necklace, "Evanen, I get your point, I'm not happy here even when you're gone. I admit it." I put the necklace back around my neck morbidly, and moved out of the bed. I wiped just under my ear, looking at my bloody hand, and started into the bathroom to clean up the mess Cecilian left. The blood loss wasn't as bad as it seemed, actually quite minor, but I cleaned it up anyway. After I was done, I stared at my reflection in the mirror, thinking about my upcoming death. I couldn't actually imagine dying or seeing this blinking face completely still, arms crossed in preparation of burial. If I was even properly buried. I mean, who knows what type of death humans will have after the Rising. Maybe we'll be just flung into the street, our bodies twisted pathetically, and our dead state public for all vampires to laugh and spit on. Or maybe we'll all just burn.
I sighed, feeling a sudden wave of nervousness at the prospect of my death. What if there was nothing after death? What if I was sent into a darkness... and even was aware of the neverending darkness? What would all this amount to? But the feeling passed, due to some human emotional defense mechanism that somehow allows us only to be worried about mortal death for short periods of time. Except for those who lack it. I felt sorry for those who couldn't stop being worried about death so that they were in a constant state of fear.
I opened the bathroom door to go back to my orb of safety under the blanket. I nearly jumped out of my skin, though, for Evanen was seated on the edge of the bed expectantly, as though he hadn't just scared every vampire in the regional area by his prolonged absense. For a moment, I just looked at him with a bit of disbelief, and he smirked triumphantly, his sharp, blue eyes excited for the next step in his life.
"Did you miss me," he asked darkly, a sort of what I imagined to be blood thirst in his tone.
Unsure what to do at the moment, I looked at him suspiciously, not moving to back away or move closer. "You could say that," I responded sarcastically, with a bit of annoyance.
"I couldn't miss you, what with your voice constantly teasing me in my head," Evanen stated, and he looked around as though something about the room was different. "I'm back, though, and now you don't have to worry about being killed tomorow." He moved his gaze to me with a bit of amusement that reminded me of when I first was taken here.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," I countered suddenly, "Drewdon says he's going to kill me either way. Guess I'm too much of a liability."
Evanen shook his head, rejecting that bit of information. "I won't let him, Hailence."
There was a definite pause, as I felt a sudden burst of dread. It was something I had been thinking about for awhile, the whole being killed thing. I had sort of reached a decision that it was what I preferred. In fact, I didn't feel like living next to Evanen and watching the world fall to peices, forever doomed to be some human slave or turned into some vampire slave instead. Death seemed a better point to reach before all that would happen, and so I had been serious when I told Drewdon I'd be counting on his killing me. But Evanen would definitely have a hand in preventing it.
"What do I have to do for you to let him kill me," I suddenly asked Evanen, and he looked sharply from the ceiling to me in startlement. Then he frowned in confusion, as though I were telling him a joke and he didn't quite get it. I waited for his response.
"Wait. What," he inquired, thinking over my question darkly.
I sighed, "What exactly do I have to do to get you to be bored enough of me to let Drewdon kill me tomorrow? Huh? Or maybe you'd like to kill me instead... make it some sort of death of passion type of thing?" My heart was starting to thump in my chest under the sudden stress I had placed upon myself. I had seriously gone suicidal, but I couldn't back out now or I'd be stuck in Hell forever.
"I don't..," Evanen started, and he stopped, unsure of what to say.
"What about this whole love thing? I'll bet it's not what you think.. I'll bet it's the whole play-hard-to-get thing. If I stopped playing, would that work? Would you just finish me off already," I asked sincerely, my gut reeling at the words coming out of my mouth. Evanen stared at me, probably certain this was one of those tests I had up my sleeve. Blocking off what cowardice I had within me, and building adrenaline, I moved in front of Evanen determinely. I moved my thumbs under the elastic hem of my orange pj shorts, and pulled them down so that they dropped onto the floor, leaving me in my spaghetti strap shirt and panties.
Just like that, I slid onto Evanen's lap, strattling him. His face was blank, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. "Would you do it if I had sex with you? If I told you I loved you," I asked in a trembling voice, moving his hands to my lower back before moving my lips just above his ear. "I love you, Evanen," I lied, whispering thickly into his ear. Suddenly, he turned his head to connect his lips with mine, and instead of fighting him off, I kissed him back. At first, he kissed me lightly, as though uncertain of himself, and then he started to tighten his grip on my body, pressing me against him harder. It wasn't long until his kiss was sending shocks of pain through me.
I felt the skin on my lips crack and start to bleed. I started wincing in pain, regretting this whole thing, but certain that Evanen would kill me after all. Suddenly he broke the kiss, and I gasped in pain. Before I could reach up to touch my lips, Evanen swiftly flung me over onto my back on the bed, and moved sharply over me. I started sliding back, not exactly trying to escape, but prolonging whatever doom he had in mind for me. And when I reached the edge of the pillows, I raised my hands to place on his chest. He easily grabbed my wrist and pushed them down on the pillow above my head. I started breathing heavily in anticipation as he pressed his lips over my sore ones firmly. His hand trailed along the side of my torso greedily.
Evanen lifted his head, his eyes wild and fighting to get control of himself. "Go ahead, do it," I egged him on, wishing for the end of this to come as quickly as possible. There was a struggle behind his eyes as he grabbed my jaw firmly. He paused, and I looked at him reapproachingly.
"You want me to kill you, then," He asked, the blood thirst definite now.
"Yes, just kill me," I ordered, fighting back the thick fear pulsing through me. Evanen shook his head, and I felt a rush of disappointment. "Just do it, Evanen. You did with the other girls. Just pretend I'm just like them; a pathetic human. Kill me." If I could've hit him, I would've done that as well, but he still pretty much had me pinned.
"Just like the others," He asked darkly.
"Yeah," I responded, "Just like the others."
I barely got the words out of my mouth when suddenly he pressed his thumb into my bare stomach, sending a sharp pain throughout my body as his nail broke the skin dementedly. Automatically, I breathed in sharply in pain, and held my breathe, closing my eyes tightly. Without pausing, Evanen slid his thumb downward leisurely, towards my belly button, with massive patience. The brutal cut he was leaving behind went halfway towards my navel before I couldn't help but to scream in pain. I started struggling based on instincts, forgetting exactly why I would want to die this way, but it was futile. Evanen didn't even have to try to keep me restrained, seeing as he just kept one hand holding my wrists down, and continued on his path to my belly button without expression.
Suddenly, he lifted his thumb from my stomach, looking at the blood dripping from the tip of it. He hungrily stuck his thumb in his mouth before looking at the cut on my stomach. I stopped struggling, believing him to have just done that to prove a point, and winced continually at the burst of pain the cut caused. After looking at it for a moment, as though it were an art peice, Evanen bent down and trailed his tongue from one end of the cut to the other end, causing whimpers to escape my lips at the pain that alone added to it.
"Hmm," Evanen said, looking at the cut boredly, "Not quite deep enough, but one more try and I'm sure that'll be good enough. Then we can get to the fun part... the inside." He smiled almost eagarly as he moved his thumb back to the top of the cut.
Terrified, I screamed, "No! No, I'm sorry! No, please don't!" I started sobbing, waiting for the searing pain to begin again. I felt his thumb press lightly over the cut, but instead of digging into it, he moved his cool fingertip over the surface of it almost sadly. I kept my jaw tightly clenched, waiting for him to finish what he was doing, but he just continued tracing the cut.
"What happened to your death wish," Evanen asked sarcastically, and he moved from my stomach to grab my jaw again. He forced me to look at him. "If you were like the others, I would've killed you a long time ago." He lightly pressed his lips against mine, and then moved my head to the side as he lightly kissed my neck lovingly. It wasn't long until I felt a certain sensation of sleepiness wash over me. He trailed his lips over my neck hungrily, and switched to the other side of my neck, making me turn my head so that the world seemed to turn with me.
"I'm going to turn you," Evanen suddenly said quietly, so that it slurred into my thoughts.
"No," I responded slowly, and he continued kissing my neck seductively. I felt my heart throbbing in my throat desperately.
"I'm going to make you one of us," He paraphrased, apparently not wanting to do it until he got the right answer out of me. I thought a definite 'no', but this time nothing came past my tongue. This seemed to be enough of a confirmation for him, and I suddenly felt a gentle pinch as he peirced his fangs into my throat. I closed my eyes, feeling the wave of exhaustion dizzying me until it was as though I was drunk. I mentally struggled against it, but my body refused to connect with my mind for control.
Just when my breath became shallow, Evanen upbruptly pulled away. He hovered over me a moment, and I tried to focus on him, but nothing seemed to want to stay still. The next thing I knew, Evanen let go of what grip he had on me, and rolled away from me, onto his back. I felt the sleepiness wash away from me, leaving the hangover of the blood loss. I groaned, gripping my neck in uncomfort. When I pulled my hand away to look at it, blood was leaking through my fingers. He hadn't closed the wound yet, which was strange. Wait. It was strange that he wasn't finishing it off.
"Evanen," I said in a scruff voice as I sluggishly moved off the bed towards my pj shorts. I bent down to grab them, nearly falling over due to the sudden swirling of the world, and slowly pulled them back on. Then I grabbed my neck again, feeling the blood still leisurely spilling through the wound gently. I turned to look at the bed, and saw Evanen was still laying there on his back. "Evanen?" I moved closer to the bed uncertainly. He had his eyes closed in what looked like pain, his hands to the side were clutching the bedsheets angrily, and he was completely still.
Still gripping my neck, I moved closer towards him. "Evane--," I started, but before I could finished, Evanen's mouth opened to allow a painful roar to burst from his soul. I backed up, stunned by the tearing scream he'd just erupted. Then he dragged in another breath in agony, and when he let out another roar, I screamed as well. I backed into the wall, not sure what was happening except that I'd never heard Evanen scream like that.. nor be in pain like this. It scared me.
The door to the room bursted open, and Cecilian walked in followed by Drewdon. Drewdon pointed at Evanen and said, "Get him to the attic. It's started." Cecilian walked to Evanen and gently moved him to his feet. He didn't fight her off, seeing as he seemed to be in another world at the time, and soon he was being led out of the room. I thought about Drewdon's remark for a moment before I realized that he must have been talking about the Rising. It's started, and I wasn't dead yet. The end of the human world was closer than ever, and I was more scared then than I was minutes before. When Evanen was gone with Cecilian, Drewdon didn't follow them. I was still backed against the wall, clutching my less-bleeding wound, and I stared openly at him, wondering why he hadn't just left. Unless he was about to finish me off then.
Drewdon turned towards me, seeming in deep thought about something. "You..," he started, but before he could say anything further, I moved to run away. I got about two steps out the door when Drewdon snatched my wrist and started dragging me towards the stairs.
"What are you doing," I asked, frightened. When he didn't answer, I tried pulling my hand out of his grip, which I knew would get me nowhere. In fact, all my struggling did was nearly kill me on the way down the stairs. Drewdon didn't stop to look or help me out in any way. Instead, we reached the bottom of the stairs, and he turned into the living room, pulling me along like a doll. I stopped struggling the moment I came into view of the living room. The whole room was filled with both familiar and mostly unfamiliar faces. All were dressed the same, in dark suits, just like the three men and Jove had been when they had showed up that one day. In fact, it wasn't hard to spot the albino guy and the redhead, and I was certain this was the whole of the Council. They must have come to sit out the whole transition of the Rising.
"Council," Drewdon announced, moving me in front of him. I felt extremely vulnerable and exposed, plus a bit weak from the blood loss. "This is Evanen Draele's human, the one he's become a bit too fond of, and the one I believe may have been spoken of in reference to the Rising. So you all know how extremely important it is that she's to be either killed now or taken away from here immediately. I myself would do it, but I'm needed elsewhere. Please, whoever wants her, take her." I was utterly confused and nervous, but before anyone else could say anything, a hand shot up out of the group. I started to look at who it was connected to, but then I was being shoved into a random room that reminded me of a coat closet except larger. The door shut behind me, and I was left in the dark.
It wasn't long before the door opened again. Automatically, I backed up as far as I could away from the person. It was worse that I was going to die from some random vampire in a closet. The person stepped closer, and I started whimpering before putting my hands in front of me as though that would protect me. Without hesitation, the vampire wrapped its hands around my wrists, and I closed my eyes.
"Hailence," I heard someone familiar say reassuringly. I opened my eyes, but there was nothing but darkness greeting me. I looked forward blindly, trying to focus on Jove, who suddenly let go of my wrists. After a moment, there was a click and it was no longer dark. I saw Jove, who was dressed in his dark suit and looked amazingly in tune with his surroundings, as though there were a mine somewhere and he was searching for any sign of it blowing up around him. I let out a rush of air, slightly relieved.
"Jove," I sighed, before feeling a sudden wave of dizziness. I started sliding to the floor, feeling the buzz in my skull, which I hadn't felt since the constant dizzy spells my hypertension used to give me. Jove reached out to grab me before I fell all the way down, and pulled me close to him. "I think I'm still bleeding," I explained, and I started to reach to my neck in order to find out but Jove stopped me. He moved my hair from my neck gently, and the sudden exposure of the wound made him freeze. That was about the time I remembered that he was a vampire, and I started getting nervous. There was a moment in which I kept absolutely still, learning from previous lessons. Then Jove moved towards the wound carefully before I suddenly felt him trail his tongue over the bite gently. The contact sent the sudden burst of energy through me that Jove always caused.
After a moment, he pulled away and smiled. "There's never a dull moment around you, is there? You're always in some sort of trouble," He teased, letting go of me. I smiled with a bit of relief that he didn't just finish me off. But then there was a definite pause where someone was suppose to say something along the lines of 'now what'.
"What did Drewdon mean when he said I might be the girl in reference to the Rising," I asked curiously.
Jove found something amusing in this question, "He believes you're the One of Questions." I just stared at him for a moment, obviously questioning in my eyes what exactly that meant. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "It's an after story to the whole Rising prophecy. There was a small stream of rumors saying the transition of the key to immortality would be halted by the One of Questions, who will be a human with amazing power that will defeat all vampires and stop the Rising of vampires." He laughed at the expression on my face.
"Well, I think Drewdon forgot the part about 'amazing powers' which I oh so lack," I laughed in return. "And me defeating all vampires? Puh-lease." I stopped laughing, no longer finding the whole thing funny. "Could you just turn me into a vampire already? It would solve so many problems." I looked up at Jove, who was still amused as ever.
"Oh, no, Hailence," Jove responded, grabbing my hand lightly. "I believe you're destined for something far greater than being turned by the pitiful likes of a vampire like me. We'll just get you out of the house until after the Rising, and bring you back to Mr. Evanen, who can turn you if you'd like later. I'm sure it would please him to all ends."
I sighed, "Fine, then. How do I get out of this house, which, by the way, is littered with vampires who were just told to kill me?"
"Ah, leave that to me," He stated, and he moved to the door. Instead of opening it and creating a diversion, he leaned against the door. "We'll just walk out the front door, I hope. Now, try to keep quiet so that I can concentrate. I haven't actually done this but once before to a dog and I'm going to need all the focus I can get." He flashed a smile towards me, and I moved next to him against the door, keeping as quiet as possible. I wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but he closed his eyes and started focusing on something. I assumed it was hearing, but then why would that be so hard to do with a vampire? Questions were buzzing through my head, like always, and I suddenly understood why Drewdon would think I'd be the One of Questions.
Nothing happened for the longest time. I started to wonder how Evanen was doing. Was he finished with the Rising already? Passing it on to Drewdon? My thoughts were interupted by a breath of air released by Jove, and I focused on his face, which was serene and still like death. I didn't move, but suddenly I was worried that maybe whatever he did wasn't too smart and he might have died. Then I nearly screamed in surprise when he eyes opened slowly. Instead of solid green eyes, there was a silver glow swamping his irises and he didn't seem to be seeing anything he was looking at. I opened my mouth to ask him if he was okay, but then closed it and waited. I watched his beautiful, glowing eyes with curiousity, wondering exactly what he was doing.
There was a sudden crash outside of the room as someone yelled in utter shock, "I'm blind!" For a moment, there was confused silence, and then more yells followed this one, all similiar and along the lines of blindness, deafness, or both. Jove blinked, and his eyes were back to normal, while those outside the door were throwing a fit over their sudden loss of senses.
"How did you--" I started.
"Yeah, yeah, no questions," Jove interrupted, opening the door so that we could see the sudden chaos that was occuring as vampires suddenly weren't so strong. "Let's go." Jove grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the livingroom and towards the front door. We reached just in front of the stairs, to the front door, when the albino Coucil member was suddenly in front of us. He glared at Jove mostly.
"I'm afraid you were never let into my mind as of yet," the albino vampire said smugly, "And I'm pretty sure Mr. Draele didn't want that human girl to be freed, either. Are you actually willing to risk our power in the world over some human?" I backed up carefully, and the albino started to move towards me. Jove stepped in front of him, stopping him from coming closer. There was another series of glares as they stood in front of each other in a challege. "Mr. Silverstone, I'd also like to tell you that as of now, your position as Council Interrogator is a under surveilence."
"I'll take my chances," Jove responded dryly, and turned sharply to me. "Run." Without hesitating, I turned to run to the only place open to me at the moment: the stairs. I didn't look to see if I was being followed by the albino, nor did I when I heard a crash behind me as well. I sprinted up the stairs in twos, and started down the hall, looking for the door to the dungeons. If I could just find it, I could slip into the kitchen, and out the back door in no time. It was a good starter plan, and seeing as all the vampires seemed to be busy at the time, there was no better opportunity of escaping this Hell than now.