Chapter 6 \.\ The Ragged Edge of Silence
"Oh, God, would you wake up already?"
The darkness in and around me was complete, but there was a stinging sensation, thrusting its way into my senses. I groaned, rolling onto my side. I opened my eyes just the slightest bit. But for a few lonely beams of light from the top of the cell, the darkness remained complete. I turned onto my back and made to sit up, but found that any and all motion gave me the strangest sensation that vomiting was not exactly distasteful.
"Stop moaning, you lazy nit." I sat up, ignoring the pain. The room I was in was small and the floor beneath me was covered in dirt and grime. In fact, there may not have been any more floor than just tough earth. The walls, only so far apart as to allow me to barely lay unhindered, were made of cold cement and light entered only through a tiny window at the very top of the cell. I watched the light, reminded of another cell in another time. I fought to recall vague memories of my blonde-haired boy, squirming away from the light and crying out for me...
A low cough reminded me of the presence of another in the room. There, sitting in the shadow, was a tall boy. His long white face was marred with dirt and bruises, but his dark blue eyes were clear and cognizant, and his coal black hair reminiscent of another boy I had known. I squinted my eyes, looking for other signs to show that perhaps he was that boy, the boy who reminded me of a past not more peaceful than my present. He rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to say something caustic, when he was interrupted by a clanging to my right.
A bowl of water was shoved through a rectangular hole on the wall.
It struck me suddenly that I was very, very thirsty. And also that he must be too, what with the stifling heat of the room. The way it was suddenly smaller than it had seemed before. There was only one small bowl of water. What if he took it all for himself? What if...?
I looked from him to the bowl and back, a quick, paranoid glance. He growled at me, his eyes opening wide in understanding.
"Listen, girl, I don't know what you're feeling, but if I were you..."
No, no, I thought. He's trying to distract me. I lunged for the bowl of water, bringing my face so close as to submerge the entire thing in the bowl. I head nearly put my tongue out to lap at the water when he, having leaped through the air without notice as I was preoccupied with the precious water, crashed into my side, throwing the water bowl flying and the two of us into the unforgiving cement wall.
"What-What- What are you doing?!" I cried, beginning to weep at the loss of the water. He pulled my arms back behind me, restraining me.
"Listen to me. It is not what it seems. Look at it!" I growled. All that remained was the water, my water, evaporating on the hard, dusty floor. As I looked on, though, the image changed. It cracked, fractured, and suddenly I realized I was actually staring at a puddle of dusty blood congealing on the cold stone floor. I gasped, and he released my arms, moving to resume his previous post across the small room.
"What... what was that?"
"The hallucination was due to a drug, introduced into your system by way of a powder they sprinkled up your nose the day they brought you here. I had no idea you could (or would) fight it off so quickly. The last one damn near took my arm off trying to get at it. Succeeded, at least, in getting to the blood."
"What was the blood for?"
"The blood was to make you one of them."
"Them?"
"Vampires, girl. Don't you know anything?" He gave me a withering look and went back to his careful perusal of the cement wall. I shook my head, feeling that, for once, I really didn't know everything. I recalled the day I met Ollivander in the remains of the Leaky Cauldron and the conversation we had had there. Oh, there were a great deal of things I needed to know, and intended to find out. I straightened my back, preparing myself for interrogations as I had done in the past.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, aren't we nosy?" I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms, suppressing a wince at the pain in my ribs from the sudden impact with a wall.
"Who are you?" I repeated. "I do not suffer fools, and if you cooperate... I'll... I'll break us free of this cell." I was bluffing. He knew it. I knew it.
"Alright, girl. But don't forget you promised." He winked, making a mockery of me. "I am none other than the infamous Damien Reinbold, former heir to the throne, and renegade vampire."
"You're a vampire?" Instinctively, I shied away from him, further into the corner I found myself pressed into. He laughed sardonically, revealing pearly white teeth and telltale canines.
"Honestly, girl. Do you really think that, locked in this cage, I pose a threat to you? If I intended to kill the likes of you, I wouldn't be locked in this cell for being a renegade and unfit to succeed his Majesty, the King."
"The King?"
"Apparently, vampires never grew out of the monarchy of old. It's not a true monarchy, as we are all lorded over by-" He was unable to continue, as a shrill squealing sound filled the air. It was almost too much for me to bear. The sound grew louder and louder, more urgent, until suddenly it was gone. The air seemed to reverberate with the echoes. Before I could ask the obvious question, he answered it for me. "Apparently another of the inmates was not as lucky as you, to break the hallucination before they reached the fluid. It seems that the light caught them before the guards did."
"It's true then, that vampires can't go into sunlight?" I asked. I had always assumed that it, like so many other fairy tales about magic I learned as a child, had been an untruth.
"Oh no. We can go into sunlight just as well as any other being. It is only when the change is first beginning that it is crucial for one to stay out of the sunlight. Suppose it's the light touching the darkness as it entwines itself around one's soul."
"Does it always happen like that, with that... sound?"
"Well, what would you do if your soul was being burnt alive within you?" I shuddered. "Now, live up to your promise, girl." I sighed, casting a dark look at him, but he just grinned wolfishly. I stood, carefully avoiding anything that promised to be painful. Looking around, I felt a keen sense of despair.
"There must be some way to escape." I muttered, looking in vain at the solid cement walls. It was only by chance that I noticed a prick of light at the very bottom of one of the walls. I knelt down and pressed my hand against the hole. Yes! A breeze. Noticing my attentions, Damien moved towards me and spotted my discovery.
"Oh, great," Damien remarked sarcastically. "You've find a hole the size of a pinprick. We shall now escape by squeezing our way through it." He gave me a long suffering look. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to be a bit more intelligent than that." He resumed his position in the corner, staring at the wall as if it held all the answers to life and death.
I stood, frustrated. I kicked at the dust on the floor. What had the prophecy said about new powers, huh? I didn't even know where my wand was. Checking my jeans pocket, dirty and ripped though they were, produced no results. I nearly growled in my growing frustration. I closed my eyes, pressing my forehead and my hands against the cold wall to regain some calm. I could practically see the sunlight trickling through the window at the top of the wall, the warm honey color of sunset, the last rays of sunshine. I could feel the breeze in my hair, in my hands, beneath my fingers.
"Girl, what are you doing? Girl... What the hell is that?!"
I opened my eyes at his exclamation, only to see the golden light that had begun to amass at my hands pulsate.
I jumped back as the wall disintegrated before our very eyes, without so much as a crash to announce it's departure. Damien cast a sharp look at me, shielding his eyes from the harsh light compared to the previous darkness of our chamber.
"Where did you learn that, girl?"
I shook my head, taking in the vast forest before us, and the cold breeze that marked the beginning of night. I stepped towards the open space, and slipped on a piece of wood beneath my feet. My head made a nice crack as it struck the ground, and Damien found it greatly amusing.I rubbed the back of my head, giving him a dirty look for laughing, and realized that I had found my wand on the floor. When he finally sobered, I took one last look at the deep patch of red on the earthen floor, and decided there was no time to waste. I thought of Draco, of the last image fading of the vivid dream I had dreamt of him in my slumber. Of the shrill noises of sunlight touching a changing vampire...
"I'm leaving tonight." He gave me an appraising look.
"I think I recognize this place," he said, taking a long look around. "We'll go to a town nearby, through the woods. We'll have to be careful, if you want to go at night."
I laughed sardonically. Careful? I was beginning to think there was really no such thing.
A/N: Back Again! Chapter 6 complete. Longest one yet. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am.
I'd like to add that I own neither that characters of JK Rowling's invention nor the song titles which are lyrics from October Project songs.
Until Next Time:
"So. You're really going to take the bint at her word, then? After she lied to you, stole from you, and tried to rip your hair out of your head?" I sighed and did not look at him.
"Yes, Damien."
"Well. And I had thought I was intelligent, taking on a girl who's been marked by vampires and werewolves alike and nearly got me killed three times in one day. No, no, you definitely win."