Because I am evil, I'm not going to reunite Malik and Ingrid until the next chapter! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Okay, so about this chapter. I was writing it and I got about half way through before I realised that I was shipping Emarni/Chloe. You can judge me all you like, but this chapter is based around them. Okay? Come back next week if you want Malik/Ingrid.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
The blonde human girl looked up and frowned across the table at the blonde vampire girl. Chloe Branagh was not enjoying her time staying with Grayson, who was related to her in a some way that she could never quite remember. And Grayson's goddaughter was not very good company. Emarni Vaccaria was- and there was only one word for it- queer. Currently, she was falling asleep whilst at the breakfast table. She looked on the verge of falling into her cornflakes and Chloe wondered if she should move Emarni's breakfast out of the way.
"Emarni! Emarni! Emarni!" Grayson snapped his fingers under the girl's nose. Emarni looked up, yawning slightly and blinking several times.
"Mother?" she said, wearily. She brushed her curls out of her big, bright eyes. She glanced over at Chloe, sending shivers down the human girl's spine.
"Morning, Emarni." Grayson smiled, ruffling her curls, "Now, eat your breakfast." The girl looked down at cornflakes and frowned, pushing the cereal around her bowl using a spoon. After only a few minutes, Emarni got bored and leapt up from the table.
"Where're you going?" Grayson called after her.
"To lie down. My head hurts." Emarni said, pressing her hands to her temples. There was a quiet tapping as Emarni ran up the stairs. Chloe looked after her, a little wistfully. She was feeling rather queer herself today.
It felt like a demon was inside her cranium, pounding on the inside of her head. Her brains were rattling around, like someone was shaking her by the shoulders. The back of her head throbbed like someone had knocked her out and her eyes were beginning to ache on the insides. To say her head hurt was definitely an understatement. Closing her eyes tightly seemed to help, like it was taking the pressure off her forehead to keep her eyelids open. Emarni smoothed out the wrinkles on her forehead, collapsing on her bed.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow." She muttered and then more sharply, "OW!" Her wrist burned suddenly. Frowning, she opened her eyes and looked down at her wrist. The bracelet was glinting on her wrist, almost glowing in the light.
"Oh, god!" Emarni's eyes widened. The flesh around her bracelet was burnt black like someone had held a flame to her wrist. It was spreading slowly up her arm, quicker and quicker by the moment. That was when there was a knock on her bedroom door.
"Grayson?" Emarni whimpered. She sounded so weak, so sickly. Man up, Emarni, Malik would say, you're a Vaccaria, remember?
"It's me." Chloe said, "What's up, Em?"
"Don't call me that." Emarni replied instantly. The younger girl pushed the door open and gasped, taking in what she was seeing. Emarni slammed the door shut behind her and held her okay hand over Chloe's mouth. Chloe's lips were wet and warm against Emarni's hands.
"Just... Hear me out." Emarni said, "Grayson cannot know about this. I just need to cover it up for a while." She let go of Chloe, who gasped for breath. Chloe looked at Emarni in shock, a little in awe for not collapsing on the floor and demanding an ambulance. That's what Chloe would've done if her hand was rotting off.
"How are you going to cover that up?" Chloe said, with wide eyes, "Your arm's rotting away! And for gods sake, take that bracelet off!" She began to struggle with the clasp on the bracelet, which seemed to have got stuck. And it didn't help that Emarni was trying to shove her away.
"No! Malik gave it to me! My brother!" Emarni shrieked quietly, if that was even possible.
"It's eating away at you!" Chloe hissed back. She fell over backwards and suddenly they were wrestling for the bracelet, both of them bursting into hysterical giggles.
"I said stop it!" Emarni shoved her off, still laughing, "You are tickling me!"
"Give me the bloody bracelet." Chloe gasped for breath because she was laughing too hard. It wasn't really funny to either of them, but both had cracked under stress.
"Chloe, stop." Emarni giggled, giving up on pushing the other girl away. Quickly, Chloe grabbed her by the wrist and snapped the bracelet off her wrist. She held it up triumphantly, grinning at Emarni.
"No..." Emarni collapsed backwards on the floor, her arms and legs all over the place.
"Emarni, Chloe, I'm going out. Are you two going to be okay?" Grayson called up the stairs.
"Yeah!" Chloe shouted back.
"I shall be fine!" Emarni added helpfully.
She was kind of beautiful, Chloe supposed, looking at the girl sitting next to her. Whenever Emarni laughed, her head dropped forward suddenly, her hair falling in front of her eyes like she was embarrassed. Her skin was incredibly pale, like she had just climbed out of a bath of milk. Her loose white dress dropped to just above her knees and her boots reached up to just below her knees, so that her knees must be freezing if she went outside. Emarni had the most irregular sleeping pattern and it showed beneath her eyes, where her skin was dark purple from tiredness.
"You are staring at me." Emarni said, looking embarrassed. She looked down at the tips of her boots but didn't blush even in the slightest.
"Sorry, I just..." Chloe's voice trailed off.
"What?" Emarni raised her eyebrows. They were sat in Grayson's library, leaning against a bookshelf and sitting side by side. Chloe did blush, a pale shade of pink and Emarni looked away.
"I was just thinking that you're kind of beautiful." Chloe admitted quietly. The other girl was flicking through a book, looking for anything about enchanted bracelets. She didn't seem to find anything.
"I am really not." Emarni said, "Otherwise Mother would have found me a husband by now." Swallowing her feelings, Chloe looked away and tried not to feel hurt. She was feeling really weird. She'd never liked anyone before and she'd never really been that interested in boys at all.
"You have known me for a few hours." Emarni said, "That is not enough to truly know me." She threw the book aside, not even flinching when it hit the wall. Then, she gasped quietly.
"What?" Chloe asked, "What's going on?" Without warning, Emarni flopped onto her stomach and crawled forward. Her boots scraped across the ground. She reached out and pulled something out from underneath a bookcase. In her hands, she held a small bearded dragon.
"Chelsea! There you are!" Emarni hugged the lizard tightly, like it was her best friend. She skipped out of the room, without shooting Chloe a second look.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
When Grayson got back, he was surprised to find the two girls curled up on opposite ends of the sofa. Emarni had been reading, but she had dropped the book on her face. It was difficult to tell if she was awake or not. Chloe had her laptop resting on her lap and was typing furiously. Then, she would groan and erase everything again.
"I was only gone for a few hours, right?" Grayson joked, but neither of the girls laughed. He collapsed in the middle of the sofa, in between the two girls. Both of them sniffed and pulled their legs out of the way.
"How's my two favourite girls?" Grayson asked, lifting the book off Emarni's face. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the life, and sat up.
"Working." Chloe summarised, "For my Fiction Writing course. Have to write a short story. Writers block. Can't speak in full sentences." Emarni didn't say anything, she just hugged her godfather tightly.
"What's this for?" Grayson laughed, as Emarni wrapped her arms around him. She shrugged and didn't let go.
"I have been thinking about those acting lessons." Emarni said, "That Alex McCauley offered me. I think I would like to go."
"Yeah?" Grayson said.
"I need... Something. I do not know who I am yet. And I want to know." Emarni said, struggling for words. She pulled away from Grayson, avoiding his gaze.
"That's a good idea, Emarni." Grayson said, smiling at her, "Why don't you help Chloe with her writing? You have some good ideas."
"I do not know how to write." Emarni shrugged, looking down at her feet. That caused Chloe to look up in absolute shock, her eyes wide; Emarni looked uncomfortable, fidgeting slightly.
"What?" Chloe said.
"I have to go and... Find... That thing... That... Yes..." Emarni lied, running out of the room.
"Why can't she write?" Chloe sounded physically hurt. She'd never met anything that couldn't write before. Maybe Emarni was dyslexic. But she could read?
"She never learnt." Grayson shrugged, "Her mother didn't want her too."
"But she can read? How can she read and not write?" Chloe said.
"She can't read very well. She's new to it." Grayson said, "She prefers looking at the pictures."
Chloe stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching Emarni sleep. Wait, no, that sounded creepy. Chloe had knocked gently on the door, before pushing it open; she needed to talk to Emarni. But upon opening the door, she had stopped. Because Emarni was flopped on the bed, turned one her side. She was breathing gently, if at all. Chloe couldn't just wake her up, could she?
"Emarni." She hissed, "Emarni."
"Huh?" The other girl pushed herself up on her elbows. Her blonde curls were strewn across her face, stuck to her forehead by sweat. She seemed to notice instantly, pressing her hands to her forehead.
"Oh, god." Emarni muttered.
"What is it?" Chloe shut the door quietly and crossed the room. Alarmingly simple, Emarni's bedroom was basically scarce. She didn't seem to own any possessions and very few clothes, which were strewn across the floor. Her duvet had a swirling pattern of vines, leaves and roses.
"I think you should get Grayson." Emarni whispered, sitting up properly, "He will know how to deal with this kind of thing."
"What?" Chloe was confused.
"I am sick. Really sick. And I think you should get Grayson." Emarni peeled her hair off of her face, pushing it back. Her hair was incredibly wispy at the front and thick at the back, blonde waves of curling locks that sparkled in the moonlight.
The human girl really was an interesting specimen. She was reasonably small for a sixteen, maybe fifteen, year old. Her hair was long and blonde. It wasn't very thick, falling in a straight curtain. Her neck was exposed, the smooth curve of her arteries clearly visible to the vampire. Emarni could hear her heart ticking like it was a small clock. She smelt incredibly nice, like soap bubbles. And it was odd, but Emarni almost felt attracted to her. Like a dark and demented moth to a gentle flame. Maybe it was like yin and yang, maybe Chloe and Emarni could balance each other out.
"You're really cold." Chloe said, pressing a hand to Emarni's forehead, "Do you want a hot water bottle or something?" Emarni laughed softly. The human girl was so incredibly sweet and caring, she was so unlike anyone Emarni knew. The vampire shook her head, her hair clinging to her sweaty forehead. Carefully, Emarni knelt up and looked at Chloe. She could still hear the tick, tock of her harmonious heart beat. It sped up when Emarni looked at her. A bead of sweat rested on Chloe's forehead. The blood was pumping through Chloe's veins, like a bird calling for a mate. Emarni could not resist.
"Chloe." Emarni said, quietly. She looked down, her fangs lowering slowly.
"Yeah?" Chloe said.
"I think you are kind of beautiful." Emarni raised her head again, her fangs glistening in the moonlight. This was night and this was the world she must walk. And Chloe was not just a victim to Emarni's fangs, she was a victim to her seductive powers. Brushing Chloe's hair aside, Emarni sunk her fangs into the side of Chloe's neck. The human girl didn't even scream.
THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY - THE ANGELS WILL ALWAYS CRY
Please read and review. Like I said: next time Malik and Ingrid UNITEEEEEEEE :)