Falling From Heaven: The sequel to An Angel from Hell
Chapter 1
by Kayla Chavi
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Alternate/Romance
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.envy.nu/kaylachavi/index.htm
* * *
"I'm thinking of cutting my hair."
Kalkia was lying on her stomach in a sea of scarlet sheets. She had braced herself on her forearms. Only she could manage to effortlessly lay there, the sheets covering her modestly. The hair of which she spoke was a dark auburn and wavy. It was tossed over one side of her body and spilled over the dark sheets. Her startling green eyes were watching me closely.
Thankfully, the silver threads they contained weren't glowing. She was calm and almost docile at the moment.
"You'll never go through with it."
I was lying on my back in the same monstrous bed, and looking at the ceiling. The sheets covered me as well, but it wasn't nearly so artistic.
She arched an eyebrow. Don't ask me how I knew, 'cause I wasn't looking at her, but trust me, she did. "First you ignore me and then you mock me?"
"Kalkia," I sighed heavily. I rolled onto my side and propped myself up on my elbow, so I could face her. I took my finger and lightly ran it over the white skin of her shoulder. She continued to watch me. "You are the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet. You know that. You are impossible to ignore."
She smiled, which in and of itself isn't anything abnormal. Kalkia smiles all the time. I just never can tell what she means by it until after she's gone. She then laughed quietly and I assumed that once again I amused her.
But the eyebrow was still raised. It was then that I realized what she was asking.
"But?"
"I don't--"
"I don't want that Darien. If I was in search of that horrid emotion, it would be incredibly foolish of me to court you. It would be even more foolish to bed you. I might get my heart broken." Again she smiled and I met her eyes.
"You saw her."
"Yes."
"You spoke to her."
"Yes."
"You touched her."
This time I just laughed and nodded. I turned my attention back to tracing patterns along the skin of her shoulder. It was a welcome distraction and she didn't seem to mind it either. My fingertips had made it to her back until I was ready to speak again.
"Was it that obvious?"
"A younger woman would not have felt the difference," she said bluntly. She lowered herself all the way to the bed and placed her head on her arms. "You are too much of a man to think of another woman when we are intimate. But yes, it was obvious."
I winced. Kalkia has two modes: blunt and mysterious. Today she was blunt, which made things a little easier to comprehend. However, that was not always the case. Most of the time she spoke in riddles or in contexts that I didn't understand.
Our relationship began three days after I had found Serena's warehouse. She found me in the middle of the storage area crouched into a ball and wailing.
It was not a pretty sight. More embarrassing actually then unpretty, but still, if I could blush, I would. She took me to her nearest mansion, (one of forty in the world), and then forced me to loose control of my humanity or my demon.
Take your pick.
The short of it is, all of my new vampire instincts surfaced and I had no idea how to deal with them in conjunction with my soul. She took me to the large room in this place and locked the door. She made it possible for me to grieve for my angel like a true demon, get out all of my anger and frustration, and not kill or hurt anyone in the process.
Use your imagination of what that entailed.
Now we were friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, I guess the benefits would be considered a more thing, but it's not really.
"I'm torn between laughing and apologizing."
"Silly Darien," she rolled onto her back. The sheets moved with her and her hair spread out all around her. She seemed even more pale now than before. It didn't help that her eyes had started to glow. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling.
"Shawn's here. At least I think it's him."
We laid there in silence. When she changed topics of conversations like that, it was always silence.
"What about the other?" I asked.
We had compared life stories once as we laid in bed. I found out that Kalkia was wanted by many Powerful men. And by wanted, that's exactly what I mean. To most she was a possession to be owned. She was born into an Elvin Family with the Power to control the essence of Lightning. With that power came a dangerous beauty. Damien had originally chosen her to be his Consort, but she had refused. She had met Serena and they had become something close to friends. She was there when Serena was made and they had traveled the world together. Her story is interesting, one of these days I'm going to get her to write it down.
Most of this didn't surprise me, just from what I knew of her. However, it did surprise me to hear the number of men she claimed to love. It was quite the list.
But I digress and am starting to ramble. Some things never change.
She laughed quietly and looked up at me. She lightly touched my lips with her fingertips. "Sometimes soulmates don't make the best significant others. Melina told me that. I miss her. I grow tired of waiting for her to be born again. Maybe this time she won't kill everyone."
See what I mean? Totally mysterious and confusing. I had no idea who this Melina was.
"And Shawn?"
"My Knight-In-Shining-Armor. He was to me what you were to little Serena." She paused, "And I think he's going by something else now. Something much to long. Zefyrath, I think," she concentrated for a moment, "That is not right either," she mused and her voice took on the soft quality of a person talking to themselves. She was going to ignore me.
I sat up and ran a hand through my unruly hair. I felt the bed shift as Kalkia moved to kneel behind me. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she kissed the skin at the nape.
Okay, I was wrong, she wasn't ignoring me. I don't know if that is a blessing or a curse at times.
"Your thoughts are racing," she murmured into my ear. She laid her head on my back between my shoulder blades and I felt her close her eyes when the lashes brushed against my skin. I closed my eyes as well and tried to calm myself, to calm thoughts that were now in an uncontrollable tumble.
It was one thing to know Serena was alive.
It was one thing to talk to her.
It was quite another to try to reestablish an eight thousand year old relationship.
"If you were my true Childe," Kalkia gently kissed my shoulder moving her mouth along it until she came to the back of my neck, "we wouldn't need words."
I laughed bitterly. Damien, my true Sire and I did not have a real relationship. Kalkia had taken that place and loved and protected me as if I were one of her own Childer. You can't understand what that means to a new vampire, especially one with a soul. She took an insane risk by taking me in. Serena would have wanted it, she told me, so she's doing what she should for her sister. Kalkia insists that she is the biggest bitch undead, but I can't believe her, not when she's done so much for me.
I placed my arms over hers and pulled her a little closer, seeking the comfort and guidance she was offering.
Again we were in silence for a very long time.
~Then again,~ I heard her whisper into my mind, ~We never did.~
* * *
"You'll never guess what Serena did," Rei chanted childishly. It was sing-songy and very annoying.
We had just gotten home from the now demolished vampire club and had come to tell our Uncle Andrew that we were indeed alive and well.
He just raised an eyebrow from his rather large and comfortable chair. Uncle Andrew was nearing his sixties, but he didn't look it. He used to work for the New York Police Department, and he said that it kept him young. That confused me, I thought people aged quicker in those jobs. He really wasn't our biological uncle, but he had already been around, taking care of us. When our parents were killed, Rei and I just moved in.
"Let me guess," he said seriously and my sister and I plopped down onto a very nice couch with lots of pillows. I grabbed one and hugged it. "She went to the club when her Watcher told her specifically not to go."
"Uncle Andy," Rei wrinkled her nose and pulled out a lollipop. "That's obvious."
I rolled my eyes at both her and the lollipop. She and I had spent several years in London while I was training to be a Slayer. She picked up the annoying habit of sucking lollipops, I picked up the culture.
"It really is not that important."
And yes, I do speak with a bit of an accent. Rei calls me stuffy. I call me cultured.
Uncle Andrew looked at me seriously for a moment. A corner of his mouth quirked upwards.
"Let me guess again," he said as he stood up. He walked over to the small bar on the other side of the room and poured himself a glass of brandy. He then began to pace with the glass in his hand, as if he was deep in thought.
"Serena killed more vampires than the last time she disobeyed Amy's orders?"
"Andy, be serious," Rei took the lollipop out of her mouth and rolled her eyes. If my current silence, which was very abnormal for me, was noticed, Rei and Andrew didn't say anything. I really do love my sister. Really, I do.
"You've met Darien."
He looked right at me. Again he raised an eyebrow. Apparently my easy blushes gave me away just as easily as they had when I was seven. Damn.
I just nodded and continued to stay silent. I didn't trust myself to speak just yet.
"You talked to him."
Another nod.
"You touched him."
This time I rolled my eyes. He was being a tad melodramatic. "Stood there is more like it," I muttered rebelliously. "I don't see how this is important. He's just another vampire."
"He kissed her," Rei added sardonically.
Have I mentioned how much I love my sister?
I wanted to ram that sucker down her throat. I shot her a deadly look and perversely, Uncle Andrew didn't freak out about this small but rather significant detail. You would think he would, considering how he reacted when he found Kunzite and I making out on his motorcycle.
He insisted that I was too young for anything involving tongue and hands from the waist down. Whatever the hell that means. First, Kunzite's hands were on my waist and mine were in his hair. You would think that I had been naked by the way he reacted. Besides, I was having fun and my dearest uncle ruined it. Kunzite now looks around a little nervously before he kisses me.
I'm nearly nineteen for Chrissakes.
Oh, did I forget to mention that I had a boyfriend?
Well, I do. And its part of the reason I don't want the fact that Darien and I kissed blasted all over town. Kunzite is a nice guy. He's sweet and fun and doesn't care that I can punch better than he can. He's an Elf, so I don't have to worry about him not taking care of himself in a fight. He's a really good kisser too. That man has amazing talent.
And disregarding the fact that Darien is the sexiest man I had ever seen, (sorry Kunzite), he is still a vampire. Not exactly on my list of qualities for the perfect mate.
We barely kissed! I mean if you could call it a kiss, his lips just touched mine. That's really all that happened. I was so not thinking about what kissing him with tongue would feel like. And I wasn't thinking about the way he made very naughty images appear in my mind! Like maybe him without a shirt....
Eep! Bad Slayer. Don't think about Darien that way.
I sighed quietly.
Okay, back to the real situation. Andrew is still not freaking.
He chuckled at my expression. "Serena, you seem to think that you are immune to vampire mesmerism. Darien is very much a vampire and he has some amazing things going for him, the bastard." The last part had been muttered as he drained the glass of brandy.
He drained his second glass a little too quickly.
"He did not mesmerize me," I nearly snapped. "Besides that club had a policy of not letting any vampire under five hundred in."
Of course what I had just said made absolutely no sense. My dearest sister saw it and grinned.
Did I mention how much I love her and her lollipops?
"So he shouldn't have had any power over you if he was so young," she commented idly. Finally, the lollipop was finished. Now she was just chewing on the stick. I shot her an evil look and Uncle Andrew chuckled once more.
"That wasn't my point!"
"Then what was, Sere?" Rei stood up and took the third glass of brandy away from Andrew. She may be annoying, but she does take care of the people she lives with. She just enjoys making my life more of a living hell too.
"My point was," I sighed heavily and then drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment as I tried to calm myself down. "Darien is young, so he couldn't have mesmerized me. Not even the Master could have held me that spellbound."
That sounded stronger than anything else I had tried in the conversation. Thankfully they didn't catch me admitting to the spellbinding part.
The real truth was, he could have killed me and I would have let him.
That scared me.
Amy called me cocky, but I hadn't met up with a vampire I hadn't been able to dust or walk away from. I hadn't met a vampire with the power to turn my legs to stone. None had ever made my heart race.
Not even the Master had increased my pulse.
I had never been scared.
Never.
Not until tonight.
Not until Darien.
I heard Andrew sigh quietly and then he looked over at my sister. "Rei, why don't you go to bed. Think up some story for Amy."
There was absolute stillness for a very long time. I closed my eyes and stupidly, I began to cry. The couch creaked as my uncle sat down next to me. Gently he pulled me into his arms and held me as I cried.
"Serena," he tried to get my attention by tilting my head up towards his.
"I wasn't mesmerized," I sniffled. He laughed and hugged me.
"Of course you weren't." He kissed my forehead, "Of course you weren't."
* * *
I left the mansion at sundown with no regrets. What was there to regret? I had a wonderful relationship with a wonderfully weird woman and I was about to go do something that made me seem like a wuss.
I had been given at least thirty years to contemplate how I was going to deal with a mortal Serena. And for at least half of that time, I knew that it was definitely a reality.
However, all this planning would be a moot point if Damien said that I couldn't. Hence the fact that I'm a wuss.
Embarrassing, isn't it? I have to ask another man for permission to pursue her. It's not easy to describe Chide and Sire relationships on a normal basis.
It's damn near impossible when the two dislike each other, but here goes nothing.
Damien made me in hope that I would stop Serena's foolish attempt of casting mortality on Beryl. I failed and therefore he promptly disowned me.
Well, in a way he did.
We didn't actually start talking about until five years ago. I don't think he ever forgave Kalkia for taking me in. Perhaps he never will. Now, we've come to a mutual agreement. He marked me as his favorite Childe, and I stay out of his way.
So far, it's worked.
However, when it came to Serena, I was walking on dangerous ground. Especially with what I did last night. There were no rules when it came to her, and if I offended him, I might as well stake myself before word got out. I'd probably wake up breathing or something else just as drastic.
Vampires have amazing imaginations.
So I took my time walking to his estate. It was on the other side of town from Kalkia's, so it was a long walk. As I drew nearer, the weather began to get a little stormy and the wind began to howl. When I approached the gate of the estate, I rolled my eyes. Thunder was groaning in the distance. The effect was quite eerie.
Classicists.
I went inside and didn't bother to knock. If he didn't want to discuss this with me, then he wouldn't be here. If he did, then there was no point at keeping me out.
"You took your time getting here, Endymion."
When I had found him, he was in one of his large libraries. The Master was standing at one of the windows, watching the rain that had begun to fall. His golden eyes flicked over me once before returning to the outside view.
"Yeah, well..." I shrugged and watched him carefully.
"Sit down. I'm not going to bite."
I raised an eyebrow. Normally Damien didn't bother to lower himself to making very bad vampire jokes. I sat down in one of the overly large chairs. Patiently I waited for him to turn around and face me.
It wasn't a long wait.
"I won't stop you," he said.
"What?" I blinked stupidly.
"I have already spoken with Serena. This might come as a surprise to you, but she is a lot more immature now then when I first saw her. Frankly, now she has the ability to annoy me. It will be a few years until she regains her majesty and royal air." He paused, "Make no mistake about my words, Endymion. I still love her, but she has changed. I see no need to keep her from you."
Surprise would be too mild a word to describe it all. Never in all my lifetimes did I ever think or believe he would say this to me.
"I fell for her when she was bearing the weight of a ruling nation. Now, she is a vampire slayer." He actually smiled, "Go figure."
I had to laugh quietly at the slang. I ran a hand through my hair and slowly stood. "You understand how relieved I am."
Damien smiled and nodded as he turned back to his window. "But you won't take offence when I say I hope she stakes you on site after your little kiss."
"I didn't kiss her," I muttered, "I was being completely innocent. Our lips barely touched. Besides, that happened last night. How on earth did you find out?"
He laughed again, "Word travels fast," he said and I shook my head as I headed towards the door. "How is she?" There was no doubt in my mind who he was talking about. I paused with my hand on the doorknob.
"She misses you."
He was silent and I turned the handle, thinking that this conversation was done and over with.
"Does she still live in that monstrous mansion?"
"Yes."
"Then perhaps I will go visit her."
"Good idea."
Then I left, feeling a lot lighter and carefree then I had in a long time.
* * *
"You're late," Amy remarked quietly as I came into the study that we used as a meeting place. Already there was my sister with her damned lollipop.
"I over slept. Sorry, Ames."
If she could have looked at me and given me a disapproving glare, then she would have. However, being blind did not stop her from frowning and going back to reading her book.
Rei looked up from her book and opened her mouth to comment on my state of exhaustion, probably involving something crude, but I shook my head. I really wasn't in the mood for it. I was trying to avoid getting a lecture.
Avoiding mentioning Darien was only a benefit.
"We're in the middle of trying to identify the vampire that Lita saw a few nights ago," Amy said as I sat down at the table. "Zoicite was there too, and he thinks he recognizes her."
The Elf in question walked in at that moment. "I have two more confirmed sightings," he said and went to kneel next to Amy's chair. He took her hand in his and kissed it gently. "Jedeite is in town, j'thia."
"This is going to be interesting," the Watcher commented and sighed heavily. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the chair. Zoicite looked at us with concern. Amy's headaches had been getting worse lately and we were all afraid that they might get too much for her. The last thing any of us wanted was for the Council to get too interested in us, or send me a new Watcher.
"Jedeite!" Rei said suddenly and she took the lollipop out of her mouth. She hastily flipped through a book titled, 'What To Do If You Think You Have A Sexy Vampire Stalking You.' A ridiculous title, I know. I think Rei got it to bother me. "That must have been the vampire we saw last night at the club with--"
"Kunzite!"
That was me, and it was an excited squeal. He had walked into the room and placed his hands on my shoulders. It had startled me and now he was tickling me and I was trying my hardest to retaliate. It finally ended with him picking me up and sitting in my chair. He grinned up at me impishly and I wrinkled my nose at him.
"That was unfair," I pouted. He laughed and then pulled me forward by my waist.
"Yes, it was," he agreed and then pulled me down into his lap. After a few kisses, I happily settled in his lap. I had a tendency to be a little hyper after our make out sessions and right now was no exception. It was actually a comfort. I had been worried that I might think that Darien's little non-kiss did more to me than Kunzite did.
Wonderfully, I had been so very wrong.
"Now that the sex-capades are over with," Rei said, "Can we get to work?"
"Party pooper," I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Serena," Amy warned and I shut up, "Concentrate please." That really wasn't easy with Kunzite's hand on my leg, but I did my best.
Shit. Now his hand was starting to move. I swear, he must be trying his hardest to distract me.
"We should make a list of everyone we know that's in town right now," Kunzite suggested. "Zoicite and I saw the little girl again. Do we know who it is yet."
"I think its Harotu," Rei said after flipping through one of the books she had. "Is this her?" she held up a painting of a young girl with jet black hair that was streaked with large strips of white. Her eyes were a mixture of dark red and black. She didn't look much older than fifteen.
"That's her," Zoicite said.
"So we know that the Master is here," Rei said and I pulled out some paper to write all this down. "Thanks to Serena," she said mischievously. "Is he a good kisser?"
"Rei," I gave her a look, "Damien and I didn't kiss."
"That's right, that was you and--"
"Damien, and Jedeite," I continued.
"And Harotu," Amy said and sighed, "I think its safe to assume that Kalkaylakia is here as well. Which doesn't mean much. She just likes to sit on her throne and be unnerving."
"She does a damn good job at it too," Kunzite muttered. I turned and gave him a questioning look. "Oh, she was my little sister. I would be older than her if I hadn't died a few times. She's what happens when an Elf is made into a vampire. Normally we go insane. Apparently she didn't."
"There are some who would argue with you on that," Zoicite pointed out. "Half of Greece for example."
"I think I'm missing a lot of the story," I muttered and leaned back into Kunzite's shoulder.
He laughed quietly and looked down at me with his beautiful green eyes. "I'll tell you some time. Anyway," he continued, "that's quite a gathering of Old Ones. The last time something like this happened, The Sapphire King named his Consort."
Zoicite sighed quietly, "And then Senna killed the poor mortal girl he had chosen before the ceremony was complete. She found it repulsive that he would make a Slayer into a Vampyre Queen. Do you remember who she was courting at the time?"
Kunzite sighed quietly, "Mamoru, the Japanese Prince. I think he was Endymion as well."
There was quite for a long time and I knew that the two Elves were thinking about a time that I could barely imagine. Sometimes it was odd when they talked like this. It was hard too, knowing that I could never understand what it would be like to live so many lifetimes.
"Oh!" Rei broke the mood. "I almost forgot to add one more!"
Kunzite raised an eyebrow, "Who?"
"Darien. Serena and I saw him last night at the club." There was another disapproving frown from Amy, but she didn't say anything to chastise us.
"And here I was thinking you had forgotten about me."
My eyes widened considerably at the sound of that voice. Slowly I stood up and turned to face the doorway.
He was leaning against the doorframe in the doorway, and dressed in all black. His blue eyes looked straight into mine. I felt my mouth dry up and my heart start to race.
"Hello, Serena."
Chapter 1
by Kayla Chavi
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Alternate/Romance
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.envy.nu/kaylachavi/index.htm
* * *
"I'm thinking of cutting my hair."
Kalkia was lying on her stomach in a sea of scarlet sheets. She had braced herself on her forearms. Only she could manage to effortlessly lay there, the sheets covering her modestly. The hair of which she spoke was a dark auburn and wavy. It was tossed over one side of her body and spilled over the dark sheets. Her startling green eyes were watching me closely.
Thankfully, the silver threads they contained weren't glowing. She was calm and almost docile at the moment.
"You'll never go through with it."
I was lying on my back in the same monstrous bed, and looking at the ceiling. The sheets covered me as well, but it wasn't nearly so artistic.
She arched an eyebrow. Don't ask me how I knew, 'cause I wasn't looking at her, but trust me, she did. "First you ignore me and then you mock me?"
"Kalkia," I sighed heavily. I rolled onto my side and propped myself up on my elbow, so I could face her. I took my finger and lightly ran it over the white skin of her shoulder. She continued to watch me. "You are the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet. You know that. You are impossible to ignore."
She smiled, which in and of itself isn't anything abnormal. Kalkia smiles all the time. I just never can tell what she means by it until after she's gone. She then laughed quietly and I assumed that once again I amused her.
But the eyebrow was still raised. It was then that I realized what she was asking.
"But?"
"I don't--"
"I don't want that Darien. If I was in search of that horrid emotion, it would be incredibly foolish of me to court you. It would be even more foolish to bed you. I might get my heart broken." Again she smiled and I met her eyes.
"You saw her."
"Yes."
"You spoke to her."
"Yes."
"You touched her."
This time I just laughed and nodded. I turned my attention back to tracing patterns along the skin of her shoulder. It was a welcome distraction and she didn't seem to mind it either. My fingertips had made it to her back until I was ready to speak again.
"Was it that obvious?"
"A younger woman would not have felt the difference," she said bluntly. She lowered herself all the way to the bed and placed her head on her arms. "You are too much of a man to think of another woman when we are intimate. But yes, it was obvious."
I winced. Kalkia has two modes: blunt and mysterious. Today she was blunt, which made things a little easier to comprehend. However, that was not always the case. Most of the time she spoke in riddles or in contexts that I didn't understand.
Our relationship began three days after I had found Serena's warehouse. She found me in the middle of the storage area crouched into a ball and wailing.
It was not a pretty sight. More embarrassing actually then unpretty, but still, if I could blush, I would. She took me to her nearest mansion, (one of forty in the world), and then forced me to loose control of my humanity or my demon.
Take your pick.
The short of it is, all of my new vampire instincts surfaced and I had no idea how to deal with them in conjunction with my soul. She took me to the large room in this place and locked the door. She made it possible for me to grieve for my angel like a true demon, get out all of my anger and frustration, and not kill or hurt anyone in the process.
Use your imagination of what that entailed.
Now we were friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, I guess the benefits would be considered a more thing, but it's not really.
"I'm torn between laughing and apologizing."
"Silly Darien," she rolled onto her back. The sheets moved with her and her hair spread out all around her. She seemed even more pale now than before. It didn't help that her eyes had started to glow. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling.
"Shawn's here. At least I think it's him."
We laid there in silence. When she changed topics of conversations like that, it was always silence.
"What about the other?" I asked.
We had compared life stories once as we laid in bed. I found out that Kalkia was wanted by many Powerful men. And by wanted, that's exactly what I mean. To most she was a possession to be owned. She was born into an Elvin Family with the Power to control the essence of Lightning. With that power came a dangerous beauty. Damien had originally chosen her to be his Consort, but she had refused. She had met Serena and they had become something close to friends. She was there when Serena was made and they had traveled the world together. Her story is interesting, one of these days I'm going to get her to write it down.
Most of this didn't surprise me, just from what I knew of her. However, it did surprise me to hear the number of men she claimed to love. It was quite the list.
But I digress and am starting to ramble. Some things never change.
She laughed quietly and looked up at me. She lightly touched my lips with her fingertips. "Sometimes soulmates don't make the best significant others. Melina told me that. I miss her. I grow tired of waiting for her to be born again. Maybe this time she won't kill everyone."
See what I mean? Totally mysterious and confusing. I had no idea who this Melina was.
"And Shawn?"
"My Knight-In-Shining-Armor. He was to me what you were to little Serena." She paused, "And I think he's going by something else now. Something much to long. Zefyrath, I think," she concentrated for a moment, "That is not right either," she mused and her voice took on the soft quality of a person talking to themselves. She was going to ignore me.
I sat up and ran a hand through my unruly hair. I felt the bed shift as Kalkia moved to kneel behind me. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she kissed the skin at the nape.
Okay, I was wrong, she wasn't ignoring me. I don't know if that is a blessing or a curse at times.
"Your thoughts are racing," she murmured into my ear. She laid her head on my back between my shoulder blades and I felt her close her eyes when the lashes brushed against my skin. I closed my eyes as well and tried to calm myself, to calm thoughts that were now in an uncontrollable tumble.
It was one thing to know Serena was alive.
It was one thing to talk to her.
It was quite another to try to reestablish an eight thousand year old relationship.
"If you were my true Childe," Kalkia gently kissed my shoulder moving her mouth along it until she came to the back of my neck, "we wouldn't need words."
I laughed bitterly. Damien, my true Sire and I did not have a real relationship. Kalkia had taken that place and loved and protected me as if I were one of her own Childer. You can't understand what that means to a new vampire, especially one with a soul. She took an insane risk by taking me in. Serena would have wanted it, she told me, so she's doing what she should for her sister. Kalkia insists that she is the biggest bitch undead, but I can't believe her, not when she's done so much for me.
I placed my arms over hers and pulled her a little closer, seeking the comfort and guidance she was offering.
Again we were in silence for a very long time.
~Then again,~ I heard her whisper into my mind, ~We never did.~
* * *
"You'll never guess what Serena did," Rei chanted childishly. It was sing-songy and very annoying.
We had just gotten home from the now demolished vampire club and had come to tell our Uncle Andrew that we were indeed alive and well.
He just raised an eyebrow from his rather large and comfortable chair. Uncle Andrew was nearing his sixties, but he didn't look it. He used to work for the New York Police Department, and he said that it kept him young. That confused me, I thought people aged quicker in those jobs. He really wasn't our biological uncle, but he had already been around, taking care of us. When our parents were killed, Rei and I just moved in.
"Let me guess," he said seriously and my sister and I plopped down onto a very nice couch with lots of pillows. I grabbed one and hugged it. "She went to the club when her Watcher told her specifically not to go."
"Uncle Andy," Rei wrinkled her nose and pulled out a lollipop. "That's obvious."
I rolled my eyes at both her and the lollipop. She and I had spent several years in London while I was training to be a Slayer. She picked up the annoying habit of sucking lollipops, I picked up the culture.
"It really is not that important."
And yes, I do speak with a bit of an accent. Rei calls me stuffy. I call me cultured.
Uncle Andrew looked at me seriously for a moment. A corner of his mouth quirked upwards.
"Let me guess again," he said as he stood up. He walked over to the small bar on the other side of the room and poured himself a glass of brandy. He then began to pace with the glass in his hand, as if he was deep in thought.
"Serena killed more vampires than the last time she disobeyed Amy's orders?"
"Andy, be serious," Rei took the lollipop out of her mouth and rolled her eyes. If my current silence, which was very abnormal for me, was noticed, Rei and Andrew didn't say anything. I really do love my sister. Really, I do.
"You've met Darien."
He looked right at me. Again he raised an eyebrow. Apparently my easy blushes gave me away just as easily as they had when I was seven. Damn.
I just nodded and continued to stay silent. I didn't trust myself to speak just yet.
"You talked to him."
Another nod.
"You touched him."
This time I rolled my eyes. He was being a tad melodramatic. "Stood there is more like it," I muttered rebelliously. "I don't see how this is important. He's just another vampire."
"He kissed her," Rei added sardonically.
Have I mentioned how much I love my sister?
I wanted to ram that sucker down her throat. I shot her a deadly look and perversely, Uncle Andrew didn't freak out about this small but rather significant detail. You would think he would, considering how he reacted when he found Kunzite and I making out on his motorcycle.
He insisted that I was too young for anything involving tongue and hands from the waist down. Whatever the hell that means. First, Kunzite's hands were on my waist and mine were in his hair. You would think that I had been naked by the way he reacted. Besides, I was having fun and my dearest uncle ruined it. Kunzite now looks around a little nervously before he kisses me.
I'm nearly nineteen for Chrissakes.
Oh, did I forget to mention that I had a boyfriend?
Well, I do. And its part of the reason I don't want the fact that Darien and I kissed blasted all over town. Kunzite is a nice guy. He's sweet and fun and doesn't care that I can punch better than he can. He's an Elf, so I don't have to worry about him not taking care of himself in a fight. He's a really good kisser too. That man has amazing talent.
And disregarding the fact that Darien is the sexiest man I had ever seen, (sorry Kunzite), he is still a vampire. Not exactly on my list of qualities for the perfect mate.
We barely kissed! I mean if you could call it a kiss, his lips just touched mine. That's really all that happened. I was so not thinking about what kissing him with tongue would feel like. And I wasn't thinking about the way he made very naughty images appear in my mind! Like maybe him without a shirt....
Eep! Bad Slayer. Don't think about Darien that way.
I sighed quietly.
Okay, back to the real situation. Andrew is still not freaking.
He chuckled at my expression. "Serena, you seem to think that you are immune to vampire mesmerism. Darien is very much a vampire and he has some amazing things going for him, the bastard." The last part had been muttered as he drained the glass of brandy.
He drained his second glass a little too quickly.
"He did not mesmerize me," I nearly snapped. "Besides that club had a policy of not letting any vampire under five hundred in."
Of course what I had just said made absolutely no sense. My dearest sister saw it and grinned.
Did I mention how much I love her and her lollipops?
"So he shouldn't have had any power over you if he was so young," she commented idly. Finally, the lollipop was finished. Now she was just chewing on the stick. I shot her an evil look and Uncle Andrew chuckled once more.
"That wasn't my point!"
"Then what was, Sere?" Rei stood up and took the third glass of brandy away from Andrew. She may be annoying, but she does take care of the people she lives with. She just enjoys making my life more of a living hell too.
"My point was," I sighed heavily and then drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment as I tried to calm myself down. "Darien is young, so he couldn't have mesmerized me. Not even the Master could have held me that spellbound."
That sounded stronger than anything else I had tried in the conversation. Thankfully they didn't catch me admitting to the spellbinding part.
The real truth was, he could have killed me and I would have let him.
That scared me.
Amy called me cocky, but I hadn't met up with a vampire I hadn't been able to dust or walk away from. I hadn't met a vampire with the power to turn my legs to stone. None had ever made my heart race.
Not even the Master had increased my pulse.
I had never been scared.
Never.
Not until tonight.
Not until Darien.
I heard Andrew sigh quietly and then he looked over at my sister. "Rei, why don't you go to bed. Think up some story for Amy."
There was absolute stillness for a very long time. I closed my eyes and stupidly, I began to cry. The couch creaked as my uncle sat down next to me. Gently he pulled me into his arms and held me as I cried.
"Serena," he tried to get my attention by tilting my head up towards his.
"I wasn't mesmerized," I sniffled. He laughed and hugged me.
"Of course you weren't." He kissed my forehead, "Of course you weren't."
* * *
I left the mansion at sundown with no regrets. What was there to regret? I had a wonderful relationship with a wonderfully weird woman and I was about to go do something that made me seem like a wuss.
I had been given at least thirty years to contemplate how I was going to deal with a mortal Serena. And for at least half of that time, I knew that it was definitely a reality.
However, all this planning would be a moot point if Damien said that I couldn't. Hence the fact that I'm a wuss.
Embarrassing, isn't it? I have to ask another man for permission to pursue her. It's not easy to describe Chide and Sire relationships on a normal basis.
It's damn near impossible when the two dislike each other, but here goes nothing.
Damien made me in hope that I would stop Serena's foolish attempt of casting mortality on Beryl. I failed and therefore he promptly disowned me.
Well, in a way he did.
We didn't actually start talking about until five years ago. I don't think he ever forgave Kalkia for taking me in. Perhaps he never will. Now, we've come to a mutual agreement. He marked me as his favorite Childe, and I stay out of his way.
So far, it's worked.
However, when it came to Serena, I was walking on dangerous ground. Especially with what I did last night. There were no rules when it came to her, and if I offended him, I might as well stake myself before word got out. I'd probably wake up breathing or something else just as drastic.
Vampires have amazing imaginations.
So I took my time walking to his estate. It was on the other side of town from Kalkia's, so it was a long walk. As I drew nearer, the weather began to get a little stormy and the wind began to howl. When I approached the gate of the estate, I rolled my eyes. Thunder was groaning in the distance. The effect was quite eerie.
Classicists.
I went inside and didn't bother to knock. If he didn't want to discuss this with me, then he wouldn't be here. If he did, then there was no point at keeping me out.
"You took your time getting here, Endymion."
When I had found him, he was in one of his large libraries. The Master was standing at one of the windows, watching the rain that had begun to fall. His golden eyes flicked over me once before returning to the outside view.
"Yeah, well..." I shrugged and watched him carefully.
"Sit down. I'm not going to bite."
I raised an eyebrow. Normally Damien didn't bother to lower himself to making very bad vampire jokes. I sat down in one of the overly large chairs. Patiently I waited for him to turn around and face me.
It wasn't a long wait.
"I won't stop you," he said.
"What?" I blinked stupidly.
"I have already spoken with Serena. This might come as a surprise to you, but she is a lot more immature now then when I first saw her. Frankly, now she has the ability to annoy me. It will be a few years until she regains her majesty and royal air." He paused, "Make no mistake about my words, Endymion. I still love her, but she has changed. I see no need to keep her from you."
Surprise would be too mild a word to describe it all. Never in all my lifetimes did I ever think or believe he would say this to me.
"I fell for her when she was bearing the weight of a ruling nation. Now, she is a vampire slayer." He actually smiled, "Go figure."
I had to laugh quietly at the slang. I ran a hand through my hair and slowly stood. "You understand how relieved I am."
Damien smiled and nodded as he turned back to his window. "But you won't take offence when I say I hope she stakes you on site after your little kiss."
"I didn't kiss her," I muttered, "I was being completely innocent. Our lips barely touched. Besides, that happened last night. How on earth did you find out?"
He laughed again, "Word travels fast," he said and I shook my head as I headed towards the door. "How is she?" There was no doubt in my mind who he was talking about. I paused with my hand on the doorknob.
"She misses you."
He was silent and I turned the handle, thinking that this conversation was done and over with.
"Does she still live in that monstrous mansion?"
"Yes."
"Then perhaps I will go visit her."
"Good idea."
Then I left, feeling a lot lighter and carefree then I had in a long time.
* * *
"You're late," Amy remarked quietly as I came into the study that we used as a meeting place. Already there was my sister with her damned lollipop.
"I over slept. Sorry, Ames."
If she could have looked at me and given me a disapproving glare, then she would have. However, being blind did not stop her from frowning and going back to reading her book.
Rei looked up from her book and opened her mouth to comment on my state of exhaustion, probably involving something crude, but I shook my head. I really wasn't in the mood for it. I was trying to avoid getting a lecture.
Avoiding mentioning Darien was only a benefit.
"We're in the middle of trying to identify the vampire that Lita saw a few nights ago," Amy said as I sat down at the table. "Zoicite was there too, and he thinks he recognizes her."
The Elf in question walked in at that moment. "I have two more confirmed sightings," he said and went to kneel next to Amy's chair. He took her hand in his and kissed it gently. "Jedeite is in town, j'thia."
"This is going to be interesting," the Watcher commented and sighed heavily. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the chair. Zoicite looked at us with concern. Amy's headaches had been getting worse lately and we were all afraid that they might get too much for her. The last thing any of us wanted was for the Council to get too interested in us, or send me a new Watcher.
"Jedeite!" Rei said suddenly and she took the lollipop out of her mouth. She hastily flipped through a book titled, 'What To Do If You Think You Have A Sexy Vampire Stalking You.' A ridiculous title, I know. I think Rei got it to bother me. "That must have been the vampire we saw last night at the club with--"
"Kunzite!"
That was me, and it was an excited squeal. He had walked into the room and placed his hands on my shoulders. It had startled me and now he was tickling me and I was trying my hardest to retaliate. It finally ended with him picking me up and sitting in my chair. He grinned up at me impishly and I wrinkled my nose at him.
"That was unfair," I pouted. He laughed and then pulled me forward by my waist.
"Yes, it was," he agreed and then pulled me down into his lap. After a few kisses, I happily settled in his lap. I had a tendency to be a little hyper after our make out sessions and right now was no exception. It was actually a comfort. I had been worried that I might think that Darien's little non-kiss did more to me than Kunzite did.
Wonderfully, I had been so very wrong.
"Now that the sex-capades are over with," Rei said, "Can we get to work?"
"Party pooper," I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Serena," Amy warned and I shut up, "Concentrate please." That really wasn't easy with Kunzite's hand on my leg, but I did my best.
Shit. Now his hand was starting to move. I swear, he must be trying his hardest to distract me.
"We should make a list of everyone we know that's in town right now," Kunzite suggested. "Zoicite and I saw the little girl again. Do we know who it is yet."
"I think its Harotu," Rei said after flipping through one of the books she had. "Is this her?" she held up a painting of a young girl with jet black hair that was streaked with large strips of white. Her eyes were a mixture of dark red and black. She didn't look much older than fifteen.
"That's her," Zoicite said.
"So we know that the Master is here," Rei said and I pulled out some paper to write all this down. "Thanks to Serena," she said mischievously. "Is he a good kisser?"
"Rei," I gave her a look, "Damien and I didn't kiss."
"That's right, that was you and--"
"Damien, and Jedeite," I continued.
"And Harotu," Amy said and sighed, "I think its safe to assume that Kalkaylakia is here as well. Which doesn't mean much. She just likes to sit on her throne and be unnerving."
"She does a damn good job at it too," Kunzite muttered. I turned and gave him a questioning look. "Oh, she was my little sister. I would be older than her if I hadn't died a few times. She's what happens when an Elf is made into a vampire. Normally we go insane. Apparently she didn't."
"There are some who would argue with you on that," Zoicite pointed out. "Half of Greece for example."
"I think I'm missing a lot of the story," I muttered and leaned back into Kunzite's shoulder.
He laughed quietly and looked down at me with his beautiful green eyes. "I'll tell you some time. Anyway," he continued, "that's quite a gathering of Old Ones. The last time something like this happened, The Sapphire King named his Consort."
Zoicite sighed quietly, "And then Senna killed the poor mortal girl he had chosen before the ceremony was complete. She found it repulsive that he would make a Slayer into a Vampyre Queen. Do you remember who she was courting at the time?"
Kunzite sighed quietly, "Mamoru, the Japanese Prince. I think he was Endymion as well."
There was quite for a long time and I knew that the two Elves were thinking about a time that I could barely imagine. Sometimes it was odd when they talked like this. It was hard too, knowing that I could never understand what it would be like to live so many lifetimes.
"Oh!" Rei broke the mood. "I almost forgot to add one more!"
Kunzite raised an eyebrow, "Who?"
"Darien. Serena and I saw him last night at the club." There was another disapproving frown from Amy, but she didn't say anything to chastise us.
"And here I was thinking you had forgotten about me."
My eyes widened considerably at the sound of that voice. Slowly I stood up and turned to face the doorway.
He was leaning against the doorframe in the doorway, and dressed in all black. His blue eyes looked straight into mine. I felt my mouth dry up and my heart start to race.
"Hello, Serena."