Blood+ Fan Fiction ❯ The Blue Blood ❯ Entombed ( Prologue )

Prologue: Entombed

“Land Ahoy!” one of the sailors called out.

The phrase echoed in Aina's ear. This was it. This was the final battle between her and Nira. Today one of the queens would die, and the world would fall either into utter chaos or peace. Either the attacks from chiroptera would cease or it would increase exponentially. Either way, it was the end of a queen's reign.

She thought of all those who had been lost in the battle, her eyes closed in remembrance for her fallen companions. Warner, Corwin, Alistair, and Alden. She winced from the pain their names brought to her heart. Tears struggled to roll down her frozen cheeks, but nevertheless they continued to well in her eyes. She could wait no longer. This was her moment to strike. Her eyelids flew open and she darted out of the hold of the ship and onto the deck.

Aina ran as fast and her legs would carry her and she bounded off ice chunks floating in the water. She did not care to tell her crew where she was going, they knew. They knew to depart without her should she fail to return to them.

She leapt from one last piece of floating ice before landing on stable ground. She looked behind her, the ship was still visible. Nira's song was growing louder, she couldn't have been too far but Aina would have to draw her away from the ship so none of the crew would be harmed.

She kept running and the song was drawing her nearer to her sister. It was destiny for them to always stay with each other; one could not be without the other. But die with each other? Will it really need to come to that? Aina questioned. She knew that it might. Aina and Nira's paths were intertwined, no matter how much neither of them wanted it, it could not be helped. They were bonded to one another and there was no fighting it. She would accept her fate once and for all.

She rounded another ice cliff and found Nira and Nathan standing out in the open. Nira had been dancing and singing to her heart's content, luring Aina to her location. She knew as well that this was destined.

Nira stopped her mellifluous tune and turned to look at Aina, smiling mockingly. “Sister, will you sing with me?”

Aina scoffed, “Sing? Nira, do you know what that would do?”

Her eyes pleaded with her elder sister, “But you have the stronger voice…you were always stronger…” Her eyes shifted to the ground. Painful memories of their short time with their mother plagued her. Their mother had been deeply disturbed by the continuous fighting with her sister and had always been wary of Nira because of her red eyes. Their mother resented her because Nira's red eyes haunted her dreams because of their aunt. They were the same red eyes that had followed her, that had tried to kill her on numerous occasions. For her they were the sign of imminent death, a constant reminder of her newly found mortality because of her pregnancy.

It was because their mother associated Nira with her own sister that she was deprived of the motherly love that she so naturally craved. Therefore, Aina received all that their mother had to offer; praise, affection, and care were all Aina's to indulge in. Aina had always been aware of the unbalanced nature between the two relationships but was left unsure of what to do. They were still children when their mother and her sister were slain and were left to try to repair their relationship after her death. They could not get over the differences in their childhoods and their relationship was left to deteriorate as they drifted apart from each other.

It was evident that Nira still considered Aina to be the better sister, the better child, the better queen. Yet she was still reluctant to acknowledge even now. Her eyes brightened and focused on her sister once more as her head jerked up suddenly. “But why does it matter? It isn't as though there are humans in the vicinity? Right, Aina?” She wore a sly smile. Aina almost growled warningly.

“Don't you dare. They have nothing to do with you. They're just useless humans.”

“Then why do you care for them so much, sister? Why do you care for any of them? Why do you care about ALL of them more than you care for ME? I'm your sister!” She shouted, her cool composition was gone, lost in the heat of the moment; she had broken her well composed mask. Nathan gently held her arm as she slowed her breathing.

“You shouldn't strain yourself.” He put his hand over her abdomen. “Remember the children.” She nodded in agreement and then looked back at her sister, smiling icily once more through her raven locks.

“Yes sister I am indeed pregnant.” Aina's eyes widened in disbelief. How? When? Which one of my Chevaliers? But none of that mattered now. All that mattered was…

“You know this only makes it easier for me to kill you.” Nira laughed.

“Quite the contrary, Aina. I know this only makes it that much more difficult for you. These children inside me, they've done nothing wrong. Your conscience wouldn't allow you to take innocent lives. That is why you can't kill me. You are incapable of it.”

Aina's voice bordered on a growl as it ripped through her throat. “You have NO idea what I'm capable of.”

“But I know what you are not, and this is one of those things that you just cannot do.”

“Do not be so sure little sister. Those children are tainted with your blood and in order to end all of this they must die with your corpse.” Aina pulled her custom made sword out of its sheath that was strapped to her back. She pulled the sword apart into its two halves that made separate blades. She placed them on top of her elbows with her arms folded as she held them out, away from her face. Her eyes glowed a bright, intense blue.

“This ends now, Nira.”

Nira smirked, her eyes flushing with a flaming red seeping into her formerly maroon irises.

“No Aina, now it begins.” Her eyes illuminated as well and red pooled into her formerly maroon irises. “Now we shall truly see who was worthy of mother's praise.”

Aina took her blades and threw her arms apart, slashing the length of her forearms as she did it. She cried in pain and to show her readiness. The swords dripped and stained red onto the white ice below her. Blood streamed down her arms from the wounds.

She ran full force at Nira, he amber hair whipped in the harsh wind. Aina had reached her location, but Nira jumped over her head and on the other side of her. The ice cracked underneath the pressure of the chiropteran standing atop it.

Nathan stood silently behind Nira, confident of her success. He snickered to himself as Aina attempted once more to try and pierce her sister's side. Nira side stepped as her sister lunged, and hit the swords into the ice.

“What's the matter, Aina? Sleepy are we?” sneered Nira. Aina panted; it was true that she was growing near to the time of her long sleep. Nira was unaffected because of her pregnancy and was in peak physical condition to fight her sister; she could not have asked for a more opportune moment to kill Aina.

Aina managed to pull her swords free of the ice's tight grip. She tried in vain to strike her sister as she made a sudden one-eighty with her weapons, but Nira once again leapt out of the way. With her super human speed, Nira appeared behind Aina and punched her in the stomach.

Aina went flying into a cliff of ice that had an overhang and the icicles above her hit one another producing a melodious sound like chimes. Aina slid down onto the ground and was on her knees. She began to get up when Nira once again appeared before her and hit her in her abdomen denting the side of the cliff. She repeatedly struck Aina into the wall. The icicles continued to hit one another and a larger one began cracking and fell from the overhang. Both the sisters looked up but Aina took the opportunity to reverse their positions. She grabbed Nira by the shoulders and slammed her into the wall before getting out of the path of the falling icicle.

The icicle wedged itself into the cold ground beneath and created a crack in the surface of the ice, it was about three feet in length and fairly thin for its size. Nira sauntered over to the piece of ice and pried it free with ease. She held it like a sword and pointed it at Aina; the edge was sharpened to perfection.

“Now the theatrics will truly begin.” Aina ran at her again and their weapons clashed. The two sisters pushed on their rapiers and jumped back from each other a few feet. Aina crossed her swords into an `X' and made another attempt at a frontal attack. She leapt into the air and turned three hundred and sixty degrees and kicked Nira in the face. The red eyed queen was sent flying.

Nathan's face expressed quite clearly his shock but he quickly ran to catch Nira in mid-air. She had been knocked unconscious for a moment and Nathan gently laid her on the ground. He could no longer passively watch the fight that he now realized could very well kill his queen. He stared into the icy blue eyes of the enemy and although Nira had always told him that Aina was the loved sister that took only joy in her sister's pain, he could see no elation in her face. Her eyes held nothing but a depressing emptiness that was so deep that it threatened to consume his entire being. Despite his epiphany about the relationship between the two queens he was bound by blood to fulfill his duty to Nira.

He gave Aina a contemptuous look with his eyes now glowing blue and ran at her. By now the blood from her swords had all washed off the blades. So she side stepped and thrust a sword into his outstretched arm that was reaching for her neck. Nathan was caught off guard by the move and stopped his attack, but Aina had already pulled the sword out of his appendage and appeared behind him to she stab him in the back. He let out a surprised gasp and was brought to his knees. Aina let him fall before roughly retrieving her sword from his back.

She coldly said, “Do not interfere.” Aina turned her back on him and faced her sister. Nira stirred and quickly sat up. She took in the scene around her, the sight of Nathan's crumpled form on the ground with blood pooling around him. She growled at her sister and stood up quickly. Once again her eyes glowed brightly; red irises against the white of her eyes resembled Nathan's spilled blood upon the snow.

For a moment Nira's heartbeat was so strong that Aina felt the vibration through the ice and then a tremor reverberated throughout her body. Nira began transforming into her true chiropteran form. She let out a loud wail and her voice dropped half way throughout and turned into a booming cry. Her eyes focused on her sister.

Aina stared back at her sister's new form. Although she hadn't changed much in size, her chiropteran skin was a dark red and much tougher than Aina's now but it could still be broken with her sister's sword. Aina jumped to try and reach Nira's heart but was struck by Nira's arm and was flung into another pile of ice. This time she struggled more to get to her feet and Nira held her by the neck before she could stand up.

Nira held fast to her sister's throat with both hands. Aina raised the sword in her right hand in a feeble attempt to hurt Nira enough to release her hold but Nira simply batted it out of the way and chuckled, “Sister, you are so far gone that you don't even realize there is no longer any blood on your blades.” Nira's eyes blazed fiercely as her life long dream to destroy her sister was being realized. She was so preoccupied with the scene that she didn't notice Aina raising her left hand, sword ready in preparation to strike.

Nathan regained consciousness just in time to see Aina's raised sword.

“So long dearest Aina. Now I will be the only queen, free of your tyrannical shadow. Free to…” Aina placed her right hand over Nira's heart and stabbed both her hand and her sister's chest.

Nira slowly loosened her grip on her sister. Aina hit the ground and rubbed her sore neck. Nira stumbled backwards to where the icicle had fallen. Under the pressure her transformed body put on it the ice cracked even more. Nira's eyes were wide in disbelief; her entire abdomen was beginning to turn to stone and crack.

The final look she gave Aina was one of fear. Aina had not seen that look on Nira's face since they were children. Nira had learned to never convey her fear to others she should wouldn't seem weak. But in her concluding moments she once again let the mask she had tried so hard to build cracked just like her body. She whispered “Sister” and it was not in her transformed voice or even the one that she had possessed since they had grown up, but to Aina it sounded like the same little girl that longed for their mother's affection, calling out to her sister to save her from falling. But it was too late.

She did not transform before the ice she stood on broke and plunged her into an icy cavern. The ice continued to crack and the icy overhang broke from the cliff and fell to fill the cavern below.

Then silence filled the air. Aina let the tears flow now. There was no need to be brave when she was surrounded by ice. She turned to see the red stained ice where Nathan had been. He had fled before Aina could finish him off. It did not matter; her quarrel was not with him. He was free to do what he wanted now, but Aina had a feeling that he didn't see it that way.

The two of them were free to whatever they wished with their lives. The question is, what did they want? What do I want? What is my purpose now? Without Nira's blood she would be completely immortal. But what use was immortality when you had no one left to share it with?

Aina realized that she was the end of the line of chiropteran queens. The only way for their race to continue was for her and Nathan to raise the next generation of queens. But she was not about to do that in any of the coming centuries.

So this was it. The end of the great Chiropteran race. The predators of humans were endangered and on the verge of extinction thanks to her.

Her eyes began to feel heavier with each second, she had to make her way to the boat, her mind dwelling on what she had just done. She bounded from ice berg to ice berg and jumped on the ship's deck. Aina stood upright but the sudden rush made her lightheaded and her world began to spin.

Aina was drifting into unconsciousness. If only…Deyanira had given birth first…then maybe…

Her thought trailed off. She heard various voices calling her name but the idea of sleeping seemed to inviting to her. Aina collapsed onto the deck.