Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Nymphetamine ❯ Kyllian ( Chapter 2 )

I entered my office late that night, hoping to avoid confrontation with Stephan for as long as possible. In place of my old fashioned dinner chair was a fluffy black computer chair. Ethan had been complaining about it for months, explaining that it stood out like a sore thumb in comparison to the black decor he had chosen for the layout of his company. I kept it because I refused to conform and now it was gone. While I wanted more than anything to dish it out with my boss and vent some of my anger, I had other things to worry about. Such as the over flowing papers sitting in the small silver tray that I had emptied just twelve hours before this.
I took in a mental note of Stephan and I’s first case together; a serial killer with a nasty human addiction. He had almost taken my life, and if not for Stephan he would have. Why Ethan insisted on pairing us together was beyond me, especially since he carried a hatred for Stephan I could never understand. If I had learned anything it was that Lycanthrope’s were jealous creatures and vampires helped fuel their fire. I sighed heavily, yawning.
I sat down, rolling my chair up to the desk. I flipped through the messy papers on my desk, thinking about my life. Everything I had done and not done. Everyone I missed…and didn’t. Things had changed over the last three years since The Third War. Even me...
“You’re here late.” I exhaled a small sigh, looking over at the figure standing in the doorway. Stephan gave me a casual glance; his brown eyes were soft and conservative. His disposition was much kinder now than it had been in our last encounter. I knew this in my mind, but the memories of the night before still made my heart skip beats. He took a step forward, into the dim light of my office. He was dressed in designer jeans, brown suede shoes and a brown button up shirt; anything that showed off his perfect form. He rarely ever did something to make his hair look presentable, but tonight it was structured and yet, at the same time the shaggy form I had come to love.
“I didn’t realize you were waiting for me.” I remarked, flipping through the now neatly ordered pages and pretending like I was interested. “Can I help you with something?” I didn’t have to look up at him to know he was smirking, hands in his pockets, leaning against the single white wall in my office.
“I was hoping we could talk... However, I thought you’d be here sooner…” His voice trailed off. I glanced up at him, an urge inside of me to touch his beautiful face.
“Not tonight.” I answered him, hoping I had a choice in the matter. “I’m still recovering from the bullet wound you so graciously gave me.” The ambiance became slightly hostile on his side. You didn’t have to be super human to feel it. I could feel his cold fingers caressing the bullet wound through the flimsy shirt I wore, but couldn’t quite register when he appeared beside me. It was almost an uncomfortable feeling, like touching raw skin. It was a sudden movement, but he stopped what he was doing, turning me around in my chair. His dark brown eyes caused me to shiver, but I couldn’t look away from him.
“You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.” He traced a finger from the wound to my heart, where it beat quickly. “Another couple inches and the bullet would have certainly claimed you life.” His voice was harsh. It was hard to tell if he was talking to me or himself. He seemed angry and saddened at the same time. I moved my long brown hair to the side, covering the wound and letting the curly strands fall over his slender fingers.
He looked up at me, a small smile on his face. “What?” My voice came out in a whisper, and I swallowed hard.
“I don’t think you understand how beautiful you are…how absolutely crazy you make me.” I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, but I was so wrapped up in the feeling pooling in the bottom of my stomach it hardly mattered.
I took in a staggering breath and looked away from him. “I think you need to leave now.” He stared at me for what seemed like hours, his gaze making me feel oddly human. The door to my office made an eerie noise and Ethan stood in the doorway, hardly surprised at the position he found us in. Stephan straightened himself and looked toward Ethan with slight distaste. Lycanthropes and Vampires never could seem to get along. But Ethan was a beautiful Lycanthrope. He had eyes that set something aside me ablaze with a fire I had never known…and the way he smiled made my knees grow weak. If I could just learn to love him, he would be the perfect man. ‘What the fuck is wrong with me…’
I shifted uneasily in my chair, avoiding eye contact with Ethan all together. In a wisp of misplaced air, Stephan stood in his previous place. I gathered myself, taking in a deep breath. The air had gone stale; all I could feel were Ethan’s eye upon me. “Yes?” I looked up, feeling angry and embarrassed. Stephan looked over to me, my feelings blatantly obvious. I felt taken advantage of, and worse than that, my state of dignity was in serious need of repair. Seeing as how werewolves couldn’t be compelled I’d make that desperate repair.
“I went to your house but you weren’t there. I thought I’d come by here on the slim chance that you had stopped by.” Ethan was irritated, that much I could tell. He cared about me genuinely and thoroughly. He wanted so bad to be the one for me…almost as much as I wanted it.
“I didn’t mean to worry you.” My voice was low in my throat, caught on the idea that I had been both ashamed with myself, and yet, at the same time, not. I glanced over at Stephan, his body lithe and unmoving.
Ethan took in a breath before speaking again. “I’m glad to see you well Sunari. You should go home and get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow?” I nodded my head, feeling like a child in a room full of adults. I didn’t have to look over to Stephan to know he had left. Whether the two would admit it or not they were the same in many ways. Both refused to sacrifice.

My neighborhood was quiet at night. Something I had never noticed before. Normally, there were children running up and down the crowded streets screaming obscenities and battling each other with wooden sticks. I fumbled for my house keys in the deep pockets of my black coat, and pulled them out, my arms heavy with fatigue. I carelessly shoved the key into my less than reliable door knob. I stifled a yawn as I stepped into my apartment, setting my things down upon the little end table in the hallway leading to my living room. The light from the kitchen emanated in my living room, casting shadows upon the wall. I creased my eyebrows, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. I hesitated before walking into the living room, gasping at my childhood friend leaning against my kitchen counter.
“I can forgive you for not showing up to my birthday party.” Kyllian’s voice was soft and endearing. “But not even a call, Sunari? That…not so much.” I took in a deep breath, my mind still in shock at the sight before me. My childhood friend glanced at me, sadness in her beautiful hazel orbs. Kyllian had always been the princess, and she looked even more beautiful to me now than she had when I had last seen her. Her long, pin straight blonde hair fell messily over her shoulders and hung heavily down to her waist.
“I can’t believe you’re here…” I felt guilty. I felt angry. I felt apologetic, but most of all I felt confused. But I was too tired and shocked to voice my feelings. Kyllian took a step toward me, her demeanor demanding in its own way. When she wrapped her arms around me I couldn’t help but take in her smell; vanilla and orchids. It was always vanilla and orchids…and it was always intoxicating. I remembered our childhood as I took her in and silently cried.
We met in Middle School. Really, I had only talked to her because I was guilt stricken. She had transferred to our school during the second half of sixth grade, and unlike most French she was civil and carried a beauty that was hard to top. In many ways, I remember her being just like me. She was silent in class and always did her work. I could never understand why the others hated her so much. I had always thought she had a kind heart.
My father always taught me never to judge a book by its cover and so, in his memory, I never did. During the months she had been there I noticed more and more that she was fazed little by what others thought. She let them do as they pleased and I had come, in my heart, to want to get to know her. Once, I remember that we came close. However, I was not as careless as she was. Shamefully, I cared about what others thought and found that as she walked past me in the halls that even I too laughed at their cruel jokes with hurt in my heart. But that was not nearly as bad as when she smiled sympathetically at me. Almost as if she knew what I was going through. I cried at the thought. Had she once cared too? How was it that she grew up before I did? Able to live a life beyond the line of materialistic things…
Slightly, I was outraged, like anyone else would be; angered at the things that they didn’t understand. As time went on I cared less about what others thought. In an odd way, I suppose she had been my inspiration. I was still me though, kind and thoughtful as my mother would tell me in all my years while with her. Her only advice was to stay the way I was despite what others thought and I lived every day doing just that.
The day I found her broken and sobbing on the floor of the gym I felt something in my heart twinge with pain. She had found refuge curled up in a ball and sobbing like a baby and everyone had just left her there. It was then that I realized I was better than they were; them with their black hearts and cold remarks. I touched her, and instantly, as if she knew it had always been me there watching her she smiled. A big teary grin that deep down I knew I would only see in the rarest moments of my life, though those were the ones I had come to count on.
In that moment she was unrecognizable and I wrapped my arms around her still form and told her that she was okay. There was instant gratitude when we hugged and I knew we would be friends forever. We had become best friends in seventh grade, relying on each other like a life source. Slowly though I noticed, small changes in her person that were causing her to become stronger and carry a hatred for others that she would never own up to. This I had known. Had our positions been switched I probably would have never forgotten what they did to me either. But I suppose it was also partly my fault. I believed once that I could stop her from thinking such things. I believed wrong.
In any case, once best friends now friends. She had left me alone my senior year and had not bothered to call or write as I had so often expected her to. It was almost typical behavior for her and soon I had just stopped caring. Of course, I mean to say that I stopped expecting such things from her. I would always love her but she had become just a distant memory…until now. But this memory was just like all the others…distant, and in the end, bittersweet. It was a fool’s game to pretend she was here any longer and it hurt.Six years ago they said that she had probably left the world peacefully, most likely dying sometime in her sleep. One day she had come to school alive and seemingly happy, and the next she had closed her eyes to sleep for forever. I remember gathering her up in my arms, looking down at her cold face. Once, she had opened her eyes and told me a story without actually speaking. Once, she placed her lips on mine and told me she loved me and I cried. It was my rejection for I could not love her like she wanted.
Never had I prepared myself for her reaction. I knew in my heart that she had not died peacefully. She had died torn apart and hurt inside and it was my fault. I suppose I took her for granted more so then I was willing to admit. I had received her call that night but had been busy with other things. She had not been important to me then so I ignored her. Like most things after our childhood friendship among other things had come to surpass her in importance and I know…I should have cared more. I know this and yet…it hurts like I’m in denial.
I pulled away from Kyllian, the shock slowly fading. “I don’t understand how you’re here. How can I touch you…?” Kyllian smiled; a dazzling white smile that sent me into a stupor all over again.
“I know it’s hard to believe. It’s been six years and it still feels like just days. You haven’t changed a bit Suna. When you found me that day I was dead. Just not the dead you thought.” I swallowed hard. That much was obvious. “I know I should have come to you sooner. There were many things about my being that I had to perfect first…”
I took it all in, trying hard to accept it all. “And that took six years? Not that I’m not happy to see you, Kyllian I just know you better than that…”
Kyllian smirked and nodded her head. “But of course, always straight to the point as I often remember. Please sit with me?” She motioned to the couch, taking a seat. I thought about it for a moment before taking my seat beside her. She was beaming at me, staring at me as if I was someone new to her and committing my features to memory. “I have heard much about you in my travels Sunari; the alchemist with the power to raise the dead back to living, younger and more alive than before. I hear you can animate anything without a transmutation circle. You are a legend as it would seem…my people have great plans for you.”
“Your people…?” I questioned.
“Yes, my people. We are a… an endangered species so to speak, vampires with a soul…of sorts. Perhaps you’ve heard of us?”
I shook my head, still unbelieving. After six years Kyllian came to me expecting my help of all things. Six years of believing her dead. Six years of hating myself for what I had done to her, or thought I had done. “And what is it that you want from me?” I guess you could say I was slightly bitter.
“So many, many things Sunari, but I won’t overload you with them all now. All we want from you is to reanimate someone who was very important to our people.”
“And who might that be?”
“Her name was Basil. She was an important role model to our people. Old age, if that is what you choose to call it, has taken its toll on Basil and she passed before teaching the next heir their duties for leading our people. If your reputation precedes you, as I’m sure it does, than this should be no problem for you…assuming you don’t mind the trip”
“…Old age?” I was puzzled. Vampires didn’t die of old age. They died from a stake to the heart, or sunlight. Not old age. Kyllian smiled gracefully at me, laughing softly.
“Nothing in life is forever, Sunari. We are not like the vampires you have come to know. We feel and experience things in ways they could only imagine. We age, and while it takes hundreds of years it is much the same as a human aging. It’s just a slower process. While our minds mature quickly, we remain small, almost toddler like for many years; same as the teen years and so on and so forth. We vampires are born, not made.”
I took it in all in stride, nodding my head a great deal. I felt like I was being educated rather than informed. That would mean that the entire time I thought I knew Kyllian I really had no idea. She was just as foreign to me now as she was the first time I laid eyes on her. She read my expressions like I was an open book, something she had mastered in our freshmen year of high school. Some things never changed it seemed, no matter how much did.
“I hope you understand Sunari, I had to escape for a while. I felt things for you my kind have only ever dreamed of feeling. Love is not something we are experienced with. Our kind is asexual, and prefers it that way…though I was young and didn’t understand why until you…” Her voice trailed off, but there was something to be said about the silence she left behind. “I hope you don’t take that personally. Loving you opened new doors for me, both good and bad. I can’t begin to imagine the emotional turmoil you went through, believing me dead. Believe me when I say I wanted nothing more than to come to you and tell you I was okay. I couldn’t do that for the obvious reasons, but know I wanted too. I know that probably doesn’t mean much, but I had to move on in my own way.”
I swallowed hard, blinking away the tears threatening to fall. “I watched them put your coffin in the ground. I cried for you Kyllian. A part of me died with you.” Concern and sadness washed over her delicate face. “You were never real. Your mom was never real. Nothing about our friendship was ever real.”
“Don’t say that. You were everything to me, Sunari. You meant the world to me and trust me when I tell you my mother felt the same way. Lying to you was the hardest thing she had ever done. She loved you like you were her own daughter.” Kyllian paused to wipe a stray tear that had managed to escape. I pulled back from her, turning my face to the painfully white wall beside us. “Sunari, I cannot say anything to you other than I am deeply sorry for your sorrow. I never took into account your feelings. I was insensitive. I come to you now bearing the deepest sympathy and regret I can feel.” I scoffed at her words quickly pulling myself together. What was done was done now. I needed to move on from it. At least, above all else, I knew the truth.
“You said something about a trip. Where do your people reside?”
Kyllian looked at me, knowing she was guilty of something she could never repair. “I am hoping you will not turn me down. You’ll be well taken care of Sunari. I can assure at least that much. My people and I live in New Orleans. As you know Third War wiped out many people, things changed and my people and I found solace in the nearly barren town. I must say I was surprised to hear you name in my travels, I was fearful you hadn’t made it. Foolish I know, since you were always the resilient one.” I glanced casually at my childhood friend. I felt an immense anger toward her and nothing she could ever say would make up for that.
“I don’t believe in sides and even if I did, what makes you think I want your kind on my side? You’re the ones that need me after all.” Kyllian smiled, her eyes filled with a silent disregard to my feelings. How quickly her demeanor changed when something she wanted was on the line.
“Trust me when I tell you, Sunari, you live under the laws of an extinct race. Your work is never done. Consider this job security.”
I thought about it for a moment, still uncertain in my decision. Kyllian was not the same person I had known when we were younger...but did I ever really know her at all? And New Orleans was a far way to go. “I have conditions.” I finally answered. Kyllian perked up, her expression one of longing.
“And what, pray tell, are these conditions?”
“Firstly, I want half up front.”
Kyllian smirked. “Naturally,” her response was fluid, as if everyone ultimately wanted the same things in life.
“Secondly, I request assistance.”
“Oh but of course, Sunari, we want you to feel at your utmost confident; which is why we have supplied someone for you.”
They were kind to of thought so far in advance, but I wanted someone for my own personal reasons, one of my own choosing. “How thoughtful of you, however I have someone in mind.” Kyllian looked at me, trying hard to read my expression. She was a skeptic that much remained the same from our recent years together, though I probably would have been the same if our positions had been switched.
“Your conditions are agreed upon. My people will accept these terms. In forty eight hours I will send my personal driver to assist you with your things. Hopefully this will be enough time to give notice to Ethan. I suggest packing for a week so tell that to your…assistance. Your down payment will be sent to a bank account we took the liberty of opening for you and will be at your disposal whenever you see fit.” Kyllian stood to her feet and I quickly followed her behavior. There were many things I wanted to ask her. Like how she knew Ethan’s name. “It was a pleasure being able to speak with you again, Suna. How I’ve missed you. I am eagerly awaiting your arrival.” I nodded my head in fake agreement. I watched as she showed herself to the door and sighed heavily, running a hand through my dry hair.
I walked into my dark room, shutting the door behind me and throwing myself upon my bed. It had been a long night. There was anger in my heart mingled with sadness I could never overcome after Kyllian. Seeing her tonight made those feelings that much worse. The clock read four twenty six and at four twenty nine I closed my eyes to sleep, ready to throw up but not yet weak enough to cry.