Chapter Two
Help
It felt as though a million years had passed before a slow, tender cool began replacing the warmth of the atmosphere. The sun was slowly fading and something told me I needed to fade with it. Something inside was warning me of dangers that came with the dark, but I couldn't think past that. I continued to become distracted by the eerie difference between what moved in the light and what woke in the dark. The dark was loud, inviting me to pleasures the light would never see. My eyes moved through the shades without trouble, telling me to see what no other eyes could see. But still, something inside told me to become the dark… to follow the light… to escape what fate looked for me in the night.
I suddenly heard a sharp noise moving nearby, one that stuck out above the creatures of the Earth and the breathing of the trees. Before I could even think to turn around, I had already done so, and muscles which I never felt previously were tightening underneath my illusion of soft skin. But my sight was greeted with a familiar face… or a would-be familiar face if I couldn't now see the changes my new sight had given me.
"Hailence," a voice approached me slowly and easily, the length of time taken to say this one word was excruciatingly long, as though it had been there all along. It carried a scent, something beautiful and delicious, with it. I turned my eyes to greet Jove Silverstone… a new Jove. One who had flaws, though hidden well, flaws only I could see. His skin, which was near perfection before I was turned, was now a soft cream color with multiple marks that told history of his battles in life – both human and vampire. It gave off a thick smell of temptation that made my veins begin to itch as though I were an alcoholic being teased by wine.
Jove's eyes moved slowly over me, though meaning to be quicker than seen, and I watched his movements which were so careful as though he were afraid I would disappear. He stood a good distance away from me, holding one palm out in surrender, and the other behind him as though preparing to run. His hair was black as the night around him, short and softly messy to represent his natural informal personality. His eyes were a sharp light green that would fascinate any passerby and even I thought they were more beautiful than usual; wilder.
Normally any sight of a Council member would have caused me to bolt as fast as possible the opposite way, being that they were an organization in the vampire world whose goal was to use this Key of Immortality to turn humans into an army of truly immortal vampires and finally rise from the shadows to rule the world. But Jove was no ordinary member, if he even was one still. Jove was a powerful mind reading vampire, in which his skills gave him full access into any human or vampire mind upon a single touch. Furthermore, he kept a mental bond with those he touched, so that he could sense people he's known if they were around him or – in my case – could track them if he knew them well. This power gained him the seat of Council Interrogator, for obvious reasons, which he was previously told was "under surveillance" due to helping me escape from my death at the Draele house.
This was the only reason why I didn't automatically run away at the sight of him. That and the fact that his mental bond to me obviously wasn't broken, meaning he could very well find me again. And this thought made me shift from a stance of hesitation to one of determination, waiting for his move. If he were to attack me, which for some reason something in my mind said it was very possible, I felt as though I could defend myself… or possibly kill him to save myself from the Council.
"Just Hail," I responded quickly, apparently so quickly Jove seemed to move his head to the side to hear me. My voice was suddenly so alluring in the night, so inviting to everything around it. I felt like I could call out and have followers to grant me every wish just with a simple order. I smelled the air, smelling that same scent of life, like a fruit being presented before me days after starvation. I couldn't pinpoint where it came from, except that Jove brought it with him. "What are you doing here?"
I still had no reason to relax as of yet, but at the same time I wondered why I would be afraid of Jove of all people. I was the Key of Immortality… if anyone should be afraid, it should be him. And then it hit me… his stance wasn't one that said he was about to run to me; he was prepared to run the opposite direction.
"I know Evanen gave it to you," Jove told me slowly, his voice much quicker and easier to understand than when he had said my name so slowly before. "But the Council hasn't figured it out. I'm here to help you, Hailence." He moved his other hand from behind him to furthermore represent his surrender, but I merely narrowed my eyes. "I'm not here to hurt you. I don't think I could even if I tried."
"Go away, Jove, you've helped me enough. There's nothing else you can do," I responded shortly, turning to run away. Jove moved quickly, but unlike before I was turned, I saw it easily. The moment he reached to block my way, I grabbed his arm and threw him powerfully through the air and even through a few trees. Before he even landed, I was already grabbing him and throwing him into the ground, and ended up pinning him on his back under me before baring my teeth dangerously just like I had seen Evanen do in the past.
"Hailence," Jove said quickly, which was surprising seeing as I had my knee on his chest hard enough to hear his usually steel bones begin to crack. I didn't want to press harder in fear that I could possibly break my knee through his chest completely. I didn't hate Jove to hurt him like that. "You're a newborn. You need my help to learn about yourself… to control yourself. Unless you want to slaughter a whole town of people every night…"
I hesitated. "I won't do that," I said with uncertainty.
"Have you fed, yet?" I thought for a moment, doing a self check as though my stomach would be grumbling for food, but the only strange feeling that could represent hunger was a strange craving that was burning through my veins. I didn't feel hungry in the normal sense, or thirsty for the matter. I couldn't be sure how long it had been since I had indulged myself with any type of refreshments or food. But still the scent was pulsing in the air invitingly. I looked at Jove directly. It came from him, but I couldn't be sure where. Still, it didn't exactly tell me to go kill people and drink blood. In fact, the only reason why I was feeling this way was the smell that Jove was giving off.
At this thought, I moved my knee off of Jove to straddle him instead, bending closer to him to see what exactly this smell was. Jove didn't struggle, which was good because for some reason I felt if he did it would be dangerous… for him. I breathed in his scent carefully, which automatically enticed the feeling through my body viciously, making me halt in mid-inhalation.
Without thinking, I moved his shirt from his shoulder, and breathed in the scent more directly from his skin. It was like a mix of fruit, with warmth, and a promise of delight. I automatically bit into his shoulder, causing multiple things to happen: First, Jove gasped, apparently not used to being the one being fed from. Second, his blood rushed into my mouth, blinding my thoughts with the sudden burst of craving that throbbed through my veins. And lastly, my blinded thoughts were given eyes by a sudden burning sensation over my skin and throughout my body. It was the same familiar feeling of life that Jove gave me every time he touched me, only this time I was suddenly hearing his voice through my head and feeling his own pain of broken bones, slight wonder and fear, and the sting of my fangs in his skin.
It was enough to cause myself to pull away quickly, holding a hand over my mouth as though I had been caught sneaking a bite from someone else's chocolate cake. "I'm sorry," I told Jove sincerely, moving to get off of him and run away. But he quickly moved to grab my hand and stop me, or rather ask me to stop seeing as I felt I could easily get him to let go.
"It's okay," Jove responded, making me think that perhaps something was mentally wrong with him. "You don't have to explain anything to me of all people." Which made sense seeing as he knew everything with a mere touch.
"You can't be around me, I could hurt you," I said darkly. "I'm not a normal vampire. You know how good your blood tasted. Vampires hate the taste of other vampire blood."
Jove wasn't to be deterred. "I can help you control it," He told me sincerely, "I know you're different from us, which is expected, but I can still help you learn. And I can help you find your power and learn how to use them… or how not to use them. Besides… you want to really know how I know you need help?"
I peered at him suspiciously.
"We're not speaking normally," He stated, and to prove it he began saying something that was unintelligible and took forever for him to finish. But now that I concentrated I could suddenly tell he was speaking actual words, only near painfully slow, and I didn't have to patience to wait and hear what he was saying.
"You're saying that's normal speech?" I was skeptical.
He nodded, "And you're speaking… how did you used to put it? Vampire language?" This astounded me, and at the same time horrified me. I remembered being human and hearing Evanen and Cecilian speak to each other in wisps of air, which I had been informed me was normal speech merely sped up to beyond human understanding. I had dubbed this fast language as a vampire language, and now I was supposedly speaking at this pace? This meant the whole world was moving ten times slower than I thought it was which explained why it took so long for the sun to move over the sky. What if I was stuck in overdrive forever?
"What… How… What… How do I stop that?!" I exclaimed as though Jove could present a cure to me. Now that I was no longer pissed or trying to eat him, Jove seemed more relaxed and humored like he used to be.
"It'll become easier as time moves on, but until then you just have to learn to listen and figure out the right pace of the universe. It's hard when you've first turned, but I can help you understand what's going on," Jove said simply. "The new vampire blood with the human is on overdrive for now, heightening everything, speeding up things, and distracting you constantly. But as time goes on everything will start to settle."
I frowned, my pessimistic thoughts beginning to race through my mind. I wouldn't learn to control myself. I would end up permanently unattached to the world. I would eventually explode and kill everybody and anybody because they would be like insects to me; strange, unintelligible, and inferior. It was only right that I need help to learn what I could about myself just so I wouldn't hurt anyone. And it seemed right that that person would be Jove, who was literally the only being in the universe who knew absolutely everything about me.
"Fine," I finally submitted, "You can help me. But if I end up killing you, you can't blame me."
Jove smiled triumphantly, and looked around. "Good. The first thing we'll do is run. You've barely gotten anywhere away from the Draele house, and if the Council did know what happened, you would've been found by them by now."
I looked around at the trees, finding myself becoming fascinated easily by the night vision. Jove watched me for a minute, as though allowing me a bit more time to be curious about this situation, before interrupting my thoughts.
"Hailence," He touched my arm lightly, gesturing in a certain direction, "Run." And without a second order, I was flying through the trees faster than ever, feeling as though absolutely nothing could stop me. There was nothing at my back but a bad past… and Jove.
