Fan Fiction ❯ Aranea ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

Warning!: This chapter contains slight Shounen AI! You have been forewarned!

 

Note: This chapter is in dedication to Erica, Anissa, Jackie, Sarah, and Chris, who made me get up off my lazy ass and actually update this damned thing.

 

And -Due to Erica's request that chapters be more than the normal length- It's a very long chapter, pretty much double the size - also to make up for the 2 months I didn't update. Its about 12 pages and 6,030 words of story text long on my OpenOffice Word document. It was painful and done mostly over a period of 2-3 days. I stayed up pretty late on both nights so some points may be confusing as 'ell for you while it makes absolute sense to me - at the time - so leave a review regarding any confusions and I will fix them and/or explain them to ya.

 

Please enjoy this. Lots of stuff in this, more than one new character, and a Hell of a lot of the plot jumping and such in this. If you can decipher what I have in mind, that is. It's very long, has a lot of action and more in this, so if there isn't a chapter for nearly another 2 months length of time -

 

Deal with it and wait for meh!

 

And just to show ya how long it took me to write this in One or two or three or -you get this idea - sittings, I'll post the time I started and the time I ended.

 

-Chapter Five-

 

With one final glance at those surrounded around the table to follow his orders, he stood and with a backwards wave of his hand, dismissed the meeting. They had talked more than enough and covered more subjects than he had first thought they would. Apparently, his followers were more on top of things than he had thought, at least, enough to the point where they were able to come up to the topic of the strange, rogue bounty-hunter not of human or slayer race. He was surprised, but proud of his assembled group nonetheless.

 

Ray had taken care of training vampyres for a battle that was sure to come; several of the elite coming in to demonstrate all that they had learned.

 

Taryn had dealt with providing enough armor and weaponry to last several month long battles, demonstrating how to use them effectively and make them from scratch.

 

His other followers had kept track of the population, prisoners from the vigilante group, the whereabouts of the remaining thousands of the vigilantes, the slayer progress and how many they've killed within the last month and how many slayers have been killed.

 

All seemed to be going well.

 

So why was there a nagging feeling in the back of his head telling him that something had gone wrong?

 

Brushing the feeling off with a small shake of his head, Kai left the room and headed down the hall. He didn't feel like returning to his room and sleeping. Seemed like he would be subjecting himself to a vulnerable position when something told him a danger was lurking around the grounds.

 

Kai slipped his hands into the pockets of his suit, letting out a short chuckle when a draft came through the hall and lifted his hair slightly. Maybe he was starting to turn insane like Stefanus had gone. It wouldn't be as far-fetched of an idea that many would oppose to.

 

Glancing at the vines growing up out of the ground and up the walls, dark green and blending in with the stone, Kai wondered just who he would find for a queen. Already, he'd ruled out over 3/4 of the women who had come into the gathering and few were remaining. The only one he could think of for a possibility was the girl he'd seen earlier, the one he'd spoken to.

 

She reminded him of Katalina.

 

Not in looks but eyes. Both were black as night, empty, like they were searching for something more to life.

 

Shrugging off the memory of them both, he recalled the current ruler of the vigilante group that was wiping out much of the vampyre population; Mortifer.

 

Elizaveta, the one Mortifer followed and vowed to follow, mocked him already by the very meaning of her name. Oath of God. Yeah, sure.

 

He'll believe a vampyre took an Oath of God the day that God came down and visited him.

 

(-)

 

Wandering the halls aimlessly for the length of the day, Kai came to his balcony door yet again the next night. Pondering over the idea of leaping off the side of the building and going for another walk, reminded himself that Taryn and Ray wouldn't be occupied with many tasks.

 

Screw it, he thought. The walk before was rather peaceful.

 

Gripping the golden handles in each of his calloused hands, he pulled the door open and a gust of wind and stray snow blew in his face, not bothering him in anyway.

 

Leaping off, he followed the same path he'd traveled the night before, slowing at points to observe the landscape.

 

Coming to the tree he'd let Ravyn 'hang', he paused to look at the remains. Observing the fact the there was next to no trace that she was there, besides the smell and the broken tree-limb that was protruding from the trunk.

 

“The even cover up my evidence,” he sneered, noticing the small string hanging from a higher branch. A small, brown scrap of paper turned hard by the cold hung at the string's end. Snatching it with the speed of a praying mantis, he looked down at the note with an almost surprised but not confused expression.

 

All of it was written in Russian.

 

'Such a sad world, isn't it? Surely you agree. You've created this hell we are in now. Just for your information, Ravyn's death will not be taken lightly, and I will personally ensure that our race is exterminated. The kind that you revivified will be brought down by one of your own. Ironic, isn't it? Don't forget to watch your back; you might not be alone...”

 

“Still the same rash leader, aren't you Mortifer?” he murmured to himself, letting loose the parchment and watching it blow with the wind and fall to the snow, instantly hardening and crumbling to fragile pieces.

 

Walking at a normal slow pace, that of a humans' quick paced jog, he kept his hands in his pockets, thinking about Mortifer.

 

Despite her being the most absurd woman with black-hair, crystal blue eyes, and ivory skin he'd ever met and turned, she was most assuredly the most challenging opponent he'd come across; aside from Stefanus.

 

Knowing one's secrets were the biggest advantage possible in any war, fight, battle, argument, and opposition.

 

He'd been the one to turn her, too; saving her from death while lying on the cold and empty streets of Moscow nearly three millennium ago at the first the gathering had been held in Russia. She'd been beat by her master, after doing as she promised in order for her freedom. Apparently, being alive wasn't included in being free, so she turned and fought.

 

And now, she turned on him this time, her new 'master', once again.

 

He knew, at first, that she was an independent one; a girl who fought for her way and fought like she knew how.

 

She was repulsed by her own kind; repulsed by the feeding off of blood, killing humans simply to satisfy hunger.

 

Hunger that she, too, felt and was forced to submit to.

 

Ironic; life was indeed ironic.

 

But what unnerved him much more than anything, was the fact Mortifer had been a Gypsy, one to tell of the future and read into people's minds, lives, and secrets.

 

More times than he could count, she'd looked into his eyes alone and uncovered more secrets than she'd hoped for.

 

And that she could handle without going into mad flurries of confusion and anger before talking it out with Taryn, whom, at the time, she'd thought was oblivious to all that the prince had done.

 

After realizing she'd basically told she knew everything that was to be kept secret to one of the most powerful vampyres, and the most powerful woman, on Earth, she fled, ashamed of what she was.

 

But too proud, and angry to end her own herself.

 

“What an incompetent fool,” he said to the winds, standing still in the middle of an empty wasteland as slow rose from the grounds eerily.

 

Takes one to know one, doesn't it?

 

Growling at the memory from long ago, he rolled his eyes as the sound of her high-pitched, naive, and, scathing voice.

 

That was her response to every single one of his insults or uncaring remarks about her. It got old quickly.

 

At least she didn't traipse along behind me for more than five-hundred years, he thought sourly, the white cobwebs of his breath disappearing upwards to the everlasting sky.

 

“I didn't know I was so unwelcome, m'lord,” a voice sounded icily, a heavy German accent echoing at the end of her sentence. “I'd have thought someone who was nearly your dearest Katalina's twin would been wanted in the presence of rather than away sooner than later.”

 

And damn, did one knowing a secret like that feel like hell.

 

“Hello to you, too, Kai. Fancy meeting you here... o' grateful savior,” she mocked, courtesying slowly and partially, eyes glinting with the stars above.

 

Turning slowly, he could see his reflection in the glassy shine of her eyes and scowled at the mess of his hair and the cold glare of his eyes.

 

And the hint of blood red coloring in the center of them.

 

“Nice to see you can still show respect for your leader,” Kai countered, his voice a low, drawl of sarcasm and lack of interest. Deciding to cut loose the idle chat, he spoke before she had the chance. “What are you doing here? I thought you detested me at an immeasurable amount of hatred.”

 

“I did,” she replied simply, cocking her head to the side, her voice still young and naive as her sixteen year old body proved to be. Her dark green outfit of a coat, knee-length skirt with wool over green pants and black shirt ruffling with the wind. Snow covered her black winter boots “And I still do. Just find it pointless to run and hide from you when I'll hear of you for the rest of my eternity on this world. You are, after all, the one who revived the whole race and brought it back from near extinction after Stefanus' rule.

 

“So, I figured, 'Hey, why not wipe out the one who is a murderer, cold-blooded even for a vampyre, and the one who's slain most of his own kind just to get to where he is?' and become the savior of human kind? Works for me, and that's all I care about.”

 

“What about humans?”

 

“What about them? God's children, right?” she retorted.

 

It was the same fight as it had been nearly fifteen hundred years before, only they were less hostile and weren't spitting their words out carelessly.

 

This one was more drawn; moves were precise and words were thought-out.

 

“As if you truly believed it. God wouldn't let his children be turned into the 'beast' that we are, would he?”

 

“Maybe some us of were spawns of the Devil and the brunts of the Devil's treachery.” Turning on her heel, she spun around, arms crossed, and took three strides. Whirling on her heel again, she repeated the steps and continued several times. “I had a dream that I could fly...” she murmured lightly through a grin, “I could feel each moment as time went by...” Laughing as Kai lashed out at her, she did a flip backwards, landing gracefully on her feet, stumbling from laughter and not from lack of balance.

 

“Learn to have some maturity, Mortifer, or I just may end your life right here, ending all suspicions of your thoughts on how cruel I am. I have little patience for those like you.”

 

Her laughter subsiding by the threat, she angled her head toward the ground lightly, her eyes taking on a sinister shape from the angle Kai saw them from. “Learn to have some maturity? I'm not the one who holds on to past loves and mourns and can't fight an image that reminds of the past, Kai. That's you,” she voiced darkly, her voice quiet but firm.

 

“And I am not the one who hates herself because she can't control her desires,” he drawled in return, sneering and narrowing his eyes at her, tightening his hands into fists. “Even when you were human, you couldn't control yourself. You are, after all, the one who threw herself on her master just to be freed.”

 

Freezing in her movement to crack her knuckles almost uninterestedly, her hair, long down to her mid-thigh, blew in front of her face and to the side with a sudden gust of wind, her face frozen in almost fear.

 

“You don't know what you're talking about. He offered me the choice to either bed with him or to work another twenty-four years until I had forty years on the earth. I had no desire to stay there or to lay with him.”

 

Not the way you wrote it in the letter to Elizaveta, girl, he muttered darkly in his mind, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “You told the story a different way in the beginning. Don't lie, it only shortens the time you've left still walking.”

 

“Well, I never planned on staying here after your death, so it matters not.”

 

“Perhaps you won't see my death; let alone be the cause of it,” he murmured, his voice taking on a light, feathery tone that most had come to fear.

 

Mortifer, scowling, sent him a glare, then her face took on a smile. “Whatever you say, Kai. You are the all knowing lord of us all, are you not?” Sending him a narrowing glance in return for his, she continued. “So your word is law. You command the mass of vampyres and each of us obey, seeing you as our grateful leader who saved us all,” she trailed, gesturing lightly with her fingers and an mocking expression adorned her face, hair blowing in various directions with the wind.

 

“And what would you consider yourself? Obviously, you are not a follower, so are you an opposing vampyre? Or are you all on your own, doing as you please but not going against me or with me?” He questioned, watching as she began to circle around him slowly, hands clasped behind her back almost innocently.

 

“I hunt us; vampyres. Kill everyone of them I see and can before they flee for their endless lives. But, it seems that it isn't just my... assortment or group of slayers that are out there killing vampyres. Apparently, there is a solo vigilante slaying our kind as well. Our belief isn't so 'far-fetched' as you thought and you aren't as big a hero to all...” she murmured closely to his neck, her breath colder than the wind on his skin.

 

Spinning, he struck her across the side of the face once, almost as lightly as his strength would allow. “And maybe you aren't as powerful as you think,” he ground out, seeing her on her knees and wiping a trail of blood off of her chin.

 

“We will avenge Ravyn, Kai. Her death will not go without notice, Kai. You added another life to your endless lists of lives taken. When will you realize when to stop and just let us wrench your heart out like you solely deserve?”

 

“When I've been alive for six millennium, thats when,” he snapped. “When will you realize you can't win a battle when vampyres taking human blood is no worse than a human slaughtering a pig for meat? And countless other animals when vampyres take only blood and leave the bodies to lie in peace for eternities time?”

 

“When hell freezes over.” Standing up, a smile spreading to each side of her face, she started to laugh lightly, arms hanging at her side. “Because we use all components of the food we eat. We don't drop the bodies careless-”

 

He smirked suddenly, his teeth glinting in the light reflected off of the snow, and he tilted his head to the side slightly. “We?” he repeated. “You aren't human, Mortifer, no matter how much you want to be. You're one of us. You need to acce--”

 

Stopping in mid-sentence, he took a step to the side to evade Mortifer's sudden lunging attack and turned half-way to see her hand just before she used her long nails to her advantage. Ignoring the pain of her nails cutting through the skin of cheek, barely feeling her fingers at all, he took her by the shoulder and flung her several feet away. She landed in a heap of snow and disappearing for a moment, she repositioned herself in front of him, hit his chest with the brunt of her palms, knocking the wind out of him to no effect and sending him in a back-flip.

 

“What I am,” she began seething, “Is a curse laid upon me by you and the Devil. Everything I lost was at your hand. This was my fate - Is my fate, but I do not have to accept it and live on because I cannot live. I take my revenge upon you, returning the pain of the Hell that you've inflicted upon me.”

 

Chuckling, he felt the side of his face, running his fingertips along the scratches. No blood seeped out of the wounds and he smiled. She'd barely touched his skin, let alone broke the skin to draw his blood. “I don't need to hear something I already know of twice in one full cycle of the sun, Mortifer,” he drawled lightly.

 

“What, has your faithful Taryn told you everything she knows about me again? Does she hate me now for proving to be more of a challenge to you than she is? Is she the one tracking me since she has all the more reason and drive to search for me, the one she befriended and then betrayed?”

 

The tiny smile on Kai's face fell and his eyebrows raised, his attention caught. “Taryn never betrayed you. You betrayed us, by attacking us then disappearing for nearly a century,” he countered, his eyes taking on a deep red as Mortifer's face lit up in sheer delight and amusement.

 

“I planned to betray you long before I actually did so, Kai. Its part of a prophecy I received from your oh so loyal Taryn. 'On the night of the blue moon, two women sired by the brothers of the Nile, prophecies handed to saviors - Centuries old flame dwindles in the presence of thou. Free from his binding vow, a prince is handed death, and terror unleashes upon the dwellers of the night following the rule. The hundredth sired betrays her own mind - changes the earth; sets the world into silence',” she snarled, seeing the almost clueless look his face as he stood in front of her. “You're handed death, but by who, or what, it does not say, so that leaves the option to take up the position myself. My group of vigilantes; full of vampyres and slayers alike, will bring down your empire.”

 

“What makes you so sure I'm one of the brothers of the Nile?”

 

“You are the oldest now, sired by the first along with one other.” Her face hardened. “But of the five originals, first to be turned by the first human vampyre, only three remain now. The fourth having just died three centuries ago, fulfilling the prophecy.”

 

Growling, he took a step forward, but the sound of a voice in his head stopped him from going further.

 

'Kai, quite smelling the pine trees and get your ass back here.'

 

Taryn, he muttered mentally, talking a side glance in the direction of the cathedral.

 

'Don't forget about the gathering. It still takes place and you have yet to choose.'

 

Sighing, reminded of the gathering and the fact that Ray was the one with better reasoning tactics and Taryn was more of using force than persuasion. Turning to Mortifer, finding her backing away slowly, a smile on her lips, he tipped his face upwards in disgust.

 

“You're lucky I have a gathering to attend to. Next time we meet... you won't be so fortunate.” Closing his eyes, he disappeared and Mortifer let out a laugh that would chill even the prince to the bone.

 

“I'm lucky, is right,” she sneered. “Lucky things are going exactly as the prophecy foretold. You didn't even deduce that I was merely a distraction...”

 

(-)

 

Leaping up the wall for the second time in his stay there, Kai walked briskly by the curtains blowing wildly with the wind and came to both Taryn and Ray standing at his doorway.

 

“Took you long enough, Kai. Where did you go this time?” Taryn questioned as he walked in front of her.

 

“And who were you with?” Ray added, standing in place as the prince walked farther away with Taryn trailing calmly a couple yards behind.

 

For a second, Kai contemplated not telling either of them of his meeting with Mortifer, and decided against it.

 

He could trust the two, right?

 

“Mortifer.”

 

He let out a silent breath when he heard Taryn stop walking behind him after he spoke. So that means...

 

Mortifer wasn't lying to him.

 

Turning to look at them, he saw the raised eyebrow on Ray's face and the almost surprised one of Taryn's.

 

“Really?” Ray spoke, his voice sounding intrigued, “What did she have to say?”

 

“Just that she was going to unleash Hell on me along with her group of vigilantes. And -” he turned his gaze to Taryn inconspicuously, “about some prophecy that I didn't make any sense of.”

 

“I see. Did it have anything to do with the slayer you killed last night?” Ray questioned.

 

“Yes. The girl was part of the group and Mortifer confronted me about that as well. Apparently, Mortifer will avenge her death by taking mine.” Smiling wryly, he turned back away from them, continuing down the path he'd been headed to the large ball room where he was sure that many were waiting.

 

“As if that would ever happen.”

 

A grin spreading across his face as the two of them replied simultaneously in the same tone of voice, he walked onto the indoor balcony and looked down at the crowded room of women and how they struggled for room to show themselves off.

 

Coming to the banister, he set his hands firmly around the smooth wood and leaned forward, his arms straight. Taking glances at random women in the room, he barely held back a sneer at some amounts of make-up he'd seen on some faces.

 

“Yet another night, isn't it, Kai? Same women to choose from.” Shifting his head slightly and looking out of the corner of his eyes momentarily, he regarded Taryn briefly before focusing back at the ones before him.

 

“If only you didn't have to choose, correct?”

 

“Yeah, it would be much simpler.”

 

(-)

 

She'd sat in the same place for nearly two hours, just staring at the remains of the vampyres before her. It wasn't her intention to make such a messy battle or to end up fighting so cruelly.

 

Especially the malice she'd felt after taking down the strongest; how she'd prolonged his death.

 

Katharine only wanted to take what she needed, not to kill them all without using anything afterwards.

 

She was becoming more and more thoughtless as the years went by, no matter how much knowledge she gained from others.

 

Standing, she walked out of the room, the scent of blood still lingering in her nose along with the fresh taste of blood in her mouth. Katharine looked at the skin on her arm, almost forgetting how she received the burn. The holy water the leader had thrown at her burned an upper layer of her skin, but made no lasting damage. It looked as if she had a sunburn from when she was a human, the skin loose and out of place.

 

Resisting the urge to pick at it and scratch it as an itch came on relentlessly, she found herself back at the room to her door in less than five minutes, pulling out the key.

 

Tossing her long cloak, which saved her from further injuries she might have received, and watching it land softly on the seat of a chair in front of the dresser, she breathed in the scent of another being.

 

Someone was in my room, she thought before looking around the room. Coming to the bed, she noticed the pure black dress laying on top the blankets and a tan paper folded next to it. Taking in a cautious portion of air for the scent of holy water, she picked it up slowly.

 

'This dress may come in handy; knowing the scent and blood of the vampyre you killed will still linger on the clothes you are wearing now. I take it is to your liking since it is not as intricate as most women's dresses.'

 

Looking up, she went over the detail of the dress. It was a thin, smooth black dress the length of her ankles, the ends cut expertly to look as if they were naturally tattered and torn, the sleeves reaching near the tips of her hands with the same ends as the skirt, and the collar was low, perfectly rounded and a bodice of a rusty orange color and black laces on the sides. The fabric shone lightly in the little light that there was and was simple enough to wear.

 

Just as the note had said in other, more carefully chosen words.

 

Stripping herself of the dress she had on the replacing it with the one on her bed, she growled at the fact that it seemed to fit perfectly.

 

Which meant that whoever had given this to her had kept a close eye on her; close enough to know what size of clothing she was.

 

Hearing a group of girls pass her closed door, Katharine looked away from the mirror in which she was examining herself and remembered that the Gathering was taking place still.

 

And that dusk had arrived finally.

 

Running a brush through her hair a few times then shaking her head to rid the fading itching feeling on her scalp, she headed down the hall far behind a group in front of her. She wrinkled her nose as several fumes of perfumes circled the air and invaded her senses, then decided against trailing behind them and moved past them quickly.

 

If this keeps up, I may not be able to smell anything besides perfume for centuries, she thought dryly.

 

Arriving at the entrance to the ballroom, she saw that the room was already filled with vampyres and her eyes widened at the fact that it seemed there were almost double the amount there was the night before.

 

The prince was charming, in his own mysterious, quiet, almost rude sort of way, but charming nonetheless, but she had to admit that he shouldn't attract this many women.

 

It was all for the power and wealth of being the queen of vampyres...

 

Right?

 

Turning her attention to the upper right of the room, she saw the topic of her mental debate walk into the room converse quietly with Taryn and Ray behind him. Catching the small smile on his face, she felt a small, but sharp pain in her chest and a warm feeling as well.

 

Katharine watched as he walked over to the stairs, made his descent down them and sent calculating glares to see who would back down or look away.

 

His eyes met his and her gaze didn't falter.

 

Katharine, he thought, a slight smile sliding onto his face involuntarily. He thanked Ray for learning the girls name for a second in his mind and made his way to her.

 

She stood in the same spot as he neared, her head angled downward as she looked at him through her lashes and her mouth in a flat line, wondering just what had provoked the smile that had appeared on his face.

 

What would he want with her?

 

The plain girl who was never worthy enough of a man?

 

He could see through the golden bangs that she was looking at him, playing with the idea in her mind to turn and flee or to stay and see what he had in store for her. His eyes trailed down the short length of her hair, then to her neck and shoulders, following the curve of her breasts to the narrow of her waist and further down. Then, returning to her eyes when she straightened her body, he saw the way her eyes flared with what seemed to be determination.

 

So much like Katalina's...

 

Closing his eyes for a split second then reopening them quickly he blocked the memory and focused his attention on Katharine.

 

“What is it that has brought you here, lord Kai?” she asked, a mocking tone evident in her voice. Most likely, he was there to command her leave of the Gathering, finally finding her unfit for such a civilized occasion.

 

“A dance. One that I would like to ask you to accompany me with,” he replied just as calmly as she had. “Will you accept to the invitation or will you turn someone such as me down?” He held out his hand loosely, noting absently of the murmurs behind him about a plain girl was receiving the attention.

 

Her eyes widening in surprise, she took his hand and soon after, she was being led into the center of the room, which she hadn't counted for, and dancing in a small circle with Kai standing closer to her than she'd expected.

 

She was supposed to kill him, not dance with him...

 

Keeping her face blank, she concentrated on trying to read what he was thinking, to look into the back of his mind for secrets he may hold.

 

Finding it completely blocked, almost with a barrier he seemed to be holding up with out nearly any effort to do so at all, she let out a heavy sigh that could have been mistaken as boredom or impatience.

 

“Why is someone like you, who doesn't seem to be interested in my hand in the least, attending the gathering?”

 

Looking up at him from glancing almost nervously at the ring of people around them, she pressed her lips together before responding.

 

To kill you... her mind thought darkly and stubbornly, reminding her of her mission and promise. “Just wanted to see what was so alluring about the prince that made so many women dress themselves so provocatively.”

 

“And are you satisfied?”

 

Her eyes widening, her mouth dropped slightly as she took in what he said. Satisfied? The prince wasn't supposed to have asked another question.

 

Was she satisfied?

 

Looking into his eyes, finding them more red than brown, much like Alexander's had been, she found herself unable to think up an answer that said she wasn't.

 

“Yes, I am satisfied.” Closing her mouth, she noticed the way the corner of his mouth tipped up ever so slightly and they continued to move across the floor in a flowing manner.

 

“I'm glad to find you are...” Before Katharine could respond, he dipped his mouth to hers in a demanding, dominating kiss and she found herself closing her eyes to return the gesture.

 

Feeling his lips leave her own and his hand that she didn't remember positioning itself on her check left after what seemed to be half a minute later, Katharine opened her eyes and watched as he backed away from her, a mischievous glint highly evident in his eyes.

 

Somehow, she had just gone against everything she had went there for...

 

Turning and almost breaking into a run, she headed toward the doors that exited St. Isaac after Kai's form disappeared behind a crowd.

 

What happened was not supposed to have happened.

 

She was supposed to be the one to kiss him, to get his secrets. Not him kiss her instead.

 

Pulling open the doors with an easy grace that nearly removed the door from the hinges, a cold rush of wind and snow hit her in the face and she headed towards a bridge she spotted down the road behind the gate.

 

Coming to the underside of the stone bridge, she brought her fist to the gray and cold solid wall. “Damn it, that was not part of the fucking plan,” she growled, aware that anyone could have followed her and hear everything she said.

 

Sensing another presence near the bridge, she looked down to the other side of the small tunnel created by the arch of the bridge and saw a black silhouette standing motionless in her sight.

 

She wasn't in the mood for more company.

 

“Who the fuck are you?” she snarled, turning the rest of the way toward the figure.

 

“Calm down, don't loose your tongue.”

 

She snorted at the way the voice seemed to be calm, light despite her obvious distaste for his presence at that moment. “Who are you to tell me how to talk,” she snapped.

 

“Unless things have changed between us, I would think that my opinion and voice counts, seeing as I am who I am, Katie.”

 

Her eyes widened and her hand froze from reaching for the dagger between her dress and the bodice. No one had ever called her Katie except...

 

“Max-Maxie?”

 

“Yeah. ” He stepped forward to where she could see his face and body fully. The same brown freckles on his cheeks, the same round and determined set of his chin, and the same messy blond hair that stuck up in every direction. “It's me... Maxie.”

 

Even the same scar on the side of his head from when they were ten and she'd pushed him onto the well on accident was still there. Long ago, from their short lasting days of innocence.

 

“I thought you were dead!” she cried softly, her eyes showing disbelief and worry. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face in his chest. It wasn't happening...

 

After all those years thinking... believing...

 

Lowering his head, dusty blond hair falling in front of his brown eyes, he let out a quiet chuckle. “I guess, in a way, I am.”

 

“Oh god... I thought I was alone...Why didn't you come back that night?”

 

Looking up again, his lips pulled into a half smile and he looked over his shoulder. “I was turned, Katie. By Tyson.”

 

Upon the end of the sentence, another figure came to the edge of the tunnel and walked in slowly and ended up standing a short distance behind him. He had light brown hair and blue eyes and stood tall, thin and lanky but muscular. He had a carefree look set about his face and his hands were shoved into his pockets.

 

Yet, he was obviously older than two millennium.

 

“He took me away from our parents; you know how much hell it gave me to stay with them,” Max explained, his fingers lacing with Tyson's. “I couldn't stay there.”

 

Katharine's anger flared again, paying no mind to the way the two were holding hands. She was too busy paying attention to the fact that he hadn't come to find her. “So you left your twin sister there to be attacked by vampyres alone in the cellar?”

 

Her brother winced visibly and the older looked down at him worriedly. “I tried to find you, Katie. I went home to find you but you weren't there. There was barely anything left of Mother and Father, and all we could find of you was your scent. Don't blame me for not trying.”

 

“So what, you gave up on me?”

 

“No, I didn't,” he snapped, his voice impatient. “I looked everywhere. I followed the rumors that you were training with Mikhail, or Alexander, as you knew him, who was Tyson's sire, but all I found years later was his ashes at a woman's grave.”

 

“Maybe you should have looked harder.”

 

Max made to lung forward but Tyson shoved him back and set himself between the two. “Calm yourself, Max.”

 

Sending Tyson a glare, he went back to his sister. “Look. I could have just accepted the possibility that you didn't survive the fire that burned that house down, and just went on without searching for you at all, Katharine.”

 

“Maybe you wouldn't have wasted your time then.”

 

“Maybe I wouldn't have,” he agreed quietly, his eyes hard and his mouth set in a thin line. Tyson moved behind Max after a near minute of the two staring at each other in the eyes and set his arms around Max's shoulder, head by his neck.

 

“Come on, time for us to take our leave...” he murmured, pulling Max back slightly then letting loose.

 

Glancing over his shoulder, Max nodded in acknowledgment then turned back to Katharine. “Nice seeing you again, sister. I hope next time we meet, it won't be on such hostile grounds.” He spun on his heel and followed Tyson, leaving Katharine to stand and stare at the direction he had just been.

 

“Good-bye...” she murmured, retreating back towards the cathedral.

 

-End Chapter Five-

 

November 19, 2005 at 3:58 am.

 

-Insert big, huge, long, endless yawn here- Please tell me you enjoyed that because i could not stop writing it until I finished. You have no idea how tired I am. I stayed up until 3 o' clock last night and only slept till 9 the morning after. I took a lot of breaks during the day, having to clean, a friend over, and a lot of other stuff most of you don't want to hear the long list of , I'm sure. Review please, it would MUCH appreciated seeing as I slept only for about... 5-6 hours? I dunno, my math might be off, its 4 am, deal with it.

 

Originally, I had a whole 'nother scene I planned to add in at the end and figured, hey, why the hell add it in when I can have it as the starting point for chapter six?

 

Oh well. Bye bye - Sleep is good. Night peeps.

 

-Arisa Niwatari