“Nineteen” yelled Amaya. She ran back to the King and looked him in the eyes. I tightened my grip on him. Amaya backed away and a look of shock crossed the King’s face. He looked at me, then Amaya and back again. I hesitated and he whispered something.
“R... r-rini?” I loosened my grip. The ice melted away. My red, curly hair grew lighter and a bit longer. My body was beginning to change back but I caught myself before it happened. The king hit the ground and looked at me. I was about to call the branch back, to finish the job when the shadow of a snake wrapped around his neck and his eyes rolled back in his head. I looked away to see who had controlled the snake but caught the light of Amaya’s psi ball instead and jumped into the air. We ripped off our dresses. I shouldn’t tell Amaya about what happened just yet. After all, that could have been me right?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We had been galloping for a few hours now. We left as soon as we met up with Acario and it was almost dawn now. Amazingly we had almost made it back to the ocean. We stopped in a clearing by a dark cliff. I could see an outline of a man in dark green and silver robes that had a squiggly symbol on them and the glint of his eyes. He had a dark outline about an inch thick. He looked very familiar and nodded at me. Acario noticed this and stopped his horse.
“I’m very sorry,” he said. “but this is where I must leave you. My friend Salazar isn’t one to wait.” He spun his horse around and trotted away. “You’re a fine student Rini, got it on the first try.”
I looked back to the man named Salazar. He winked one of his grey eyes as the outline around him was shaped into a snake. I saw the snake around the King’s neck again. Out of the corner of my eye a guest in green winked. I was brought back and felt my lips moving. “What’s Salazar good at?”
“Dark arts.” Answered Acario, but in my mind I heard something else. And legilimency was added in a hiss.
Amaya and I rode back to the ocean, did what we did, and flew back to the castle. Amaya looked like she was enjoying herself, but I guess I looked otherwise because when Seth found me he picked me up in a hug and asked if I was alright. “Ya, I’m ok.” I answered with a smile but it just made him looked more worried. “What happened to my cheesy Seth?” I pouted. This made him smile.
“Miss me already? We’ll catch up later. Now we should grab Amaya and Kyle. Lucifer wants to see you.” We were escorted to the throne room where Lucifer casually lounged. He didn’t care to hide the absence of his left arm.
"Welcome home, girls!" he yelled. "Rumours have spread, it sounded like a wonderful execution!"
"It was amazing! His face was blue for almost ten minutes before he died! I got to crush heads, it was awesome!" Amaya was getting carried away using hand gestures.
"I enjoyed taking him out," Amaya’s eyes darted to me. I hope my face wasn’t giving away too much.
"What happened to your arm?" Amaya changed the subject.
"A human from the other side watched you before when you first arrived and finally arrived here yesterday. He attacked, but had horrible aim and got my arm instead of my head. And I had his after," he caught my eye and saw my clearly portrayed disgust. "I need to feed too, you know!"
"Yeah, yeah . . ." I muttered.
He watched me for a moment so I kept my head down and avoided his gaze. "Well, you look tired. Have a good night’s sleep, we celebrate tomorrow!"
We were escorted back to our rooms and Seth joined me. “So what did happen to Mr. Pickup Line?”
“You look tired Rini, go to sleep. We have a long time to talk tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not tired,” my yawn said otherwise. Defeated, I admitted, “Fine, I’m tired.”
“Good night” he whispered into my ear and gave me a quick peck on my cheek. Before I could say anything he was gone. I threw my hand up to the cold spot. My eyes closed and a thud was heard.
I awoke the next morning while Amaya was asleep. I had been laid softly on my bed. I really must have been tired for passing out before I made it a couple more steps. I jumped up and hopped over to my closet to see new clothes hanging there, but what surprised me the most was the sparkling smoke grey dress hanging in plain sight. A sticky note was attached to it.
For the celebration tonight, I couldn’t let Lucifer pick it out for you. You’ll never know how much skin you’d be showing if he was in charge of everything. Hope you like it.
Love,
Seth
I think I’ll try it on later... who knows what could happen if pervert Seth picked it out. I sat on my bed and looked out my window. Since Amaya isn’t awake yet, I can have some quiet time. “Good morning”
-or not. I whipped my head around and saw Amaya beaming at me. “Morning” I replied.
"I’m confused. When I woke up this morning, Kyle was beside me, looking asleep like normal. I placed my hand on his chest but he didn’t move, and strangely enough, I think I felt a heartbeat briefly." Did I mention that Amaya’s been brainwashing me. I’m starting to feel towards these bloodsuckers.
“That is weird,” I said “talk to him about it later.” I glanced to my closet. “Did you see your new dress?”
"Dress?" I had forgotten that Amaya isn’t the type to head straight to the closet.
"In your wardrobe, I have one too. I think it’s for the party today."
"Oh."
"Are you going to wear it right now?" I asked.
"Maybe, are you?"
"Totally! You’d better wear yours or else," She knew I was just joking but nodded anyway. Then burst out laughing. Before the door shut I saw Amaya stop and a growl crossed her face. I think I’ll ask her about that later, but now its dress time J. I slipped the dress off its hanger and slid it on. A brush and some sparkles flew from the bathroom and onto my dresser along with makeup. In the back of my mind I was still thinking of legilimency so I decided to try it. Amaya, come help me with makeup. I’m sure she heard it because a minute later she whisked into my room.
“Rini, did you call me?” she still hadn’t tried on her dress.
“Nope, but now that you’re here you can help me with my makeup.” I grabbed some eyeliner and handed it to her.
“Can’t you just do it with magic? Otherwise, I could be here all day and not have you ready in time.” Her reflection grinned at me.
“Oops. I forgot. I have to give you time to get ready too.” I shot her a fake warning glance. “Next time I see you that dress better be on.”
She laughed at how serious I sounded and left saying, “Yes Master.”
I looked into the mirror and the makeup shot at me. Curlers and brushes tugged at my hair and sparkles were flying everywhere. It took me all of ten minutes. My hair was pulled half back and was in loose waves. Sparkles shone everywhere, especially around my eyes. I stood up and swirled around.
“Wow,” a gasp emitted from the door. “You, ah.. look... wow.”
I tried to hide my smile, “I think we’ve established that Seth.” He stood there with a goofy look on his face. I sat on the bed and asked why I saw Amaya stuck outside my door earlier.
“No reason, I just had to tell her something about Kyle.”
“Is it anything I can know?”
“You’ll have to ask Kyle.” One of his fangs glistened. He knew I don’t talk to Kyle.
“Oh,” I pouted. “The old Seth would have told me.”
“The old Seth isn’t here anymore. I think he moved away.”
I gave him an exaggerated gasp, “Oh no, why?”
“He wasn’t getting any respect. All the younger ladies were bullying him and he knew he’d never get a date if he kept that up.”
Curiosity struck me, “A date, for what?”
“For your party. Rini, would you be my date to the celebration tonight?”
“Seth, I-” He picked me up in a hug and whispered ‘I love you’ in my ear. The door swooped open and Amaya was eying us. “You knew she’d come in didn’t you?” A smile grew on his face and he kissed my neck.
“You gonna be finished soon?” she was already dressed for the party.
I looked back to Seth. “Okay, I’ll go.” He set me back down and walked straight pass Amaya, through the door and around the corner.
“So ... what was that about?” She nudged my side.
“Nothing.” I looked away.
“He asked you to the party.” She was telling, not asking.
I grabbed her hand and sat down. “Here.” I ran the last minute through my head again. Her eyes flicked and fluttered behind her eyelashes in the same way mine did when I was experiencing it. I didn’t show her the part about Kyle.
“Oh. I see. Ok... how did you do that?”
“I don’t know. That Salazar person could do it too. I just tried to make you see and it worked.” I shrugged.
“Ok, I’m leaving now.”
“What, why?”
“You already saw my dress.” She was now out the door.
There isn’t much I can do in a dress so I wandered out my door. Seth wasn’t there. I walked left and right and this way and that until I came unto a garden. I walked through it and found a wall. Everywhere there were roses and tulips, daisies and lavender, flowers and more flowers. I kept my hand on the wall so I could find my way back but ended up at a staircase instead. It looked dusty and had cobwebs everywhere, but I climbed it anyway. The room it led to was filled with silver. It was like a room for a Prince. I reached over to one shelf and touched a sword. . . You know how curiosity kills the cat? I think it just did.
Something grabbed me from behind. My mouth was covered with their other hand across my waist and something cold and hard on my neck. “You shouldn’t be here.” Said a voice around my throat.
“Seth?” I whispered. I was just guessing. I don’t think Seth would’ve grabbed me like that. The grip loosened for a second. I started to turn, but fell into a cold hard shoulder.
“AHH!” I screamed. Green and black sheets were ripped off me and two cold arms picked me up.
“Rini, Rini! RINI! Why aren’t you answering me?” Seth’s worried face was a few inches from mine.
“I – I... can’t – breathe.” Seth’s crushing arms laid me back down as he asked what was wrong. I looked around and realised that I was in my bedroom. “Nothing’s wrong... I just must have been dreaming.”
Seth looked down, “You sure? Anyway the party is in one hour so you might want to get fixed up and have something to eat.”
I looked in the mirror and saw my hair and dress were ok, but my makeup was smudged. I took about thirty seconds fixing it then walked out the door and followed Seth to the kitchen. Amaya and Kyle were already in there. I took one look at Amaya and accidently said, “Oh no honey, you’re not trying to scare people.” She glared at me like I said something wrong. My makeup flew through the door and hovered close to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your cat eyes.”
“That’s my cue. I’ll meet you tonight, Amaya.” Kyle walked out of the kitchen.
“Me too,” Seth smiled. “See you later, babe.”
“Babe?”
“You said you missed the old Seth.” He had already caught up to Kyle when I came up with a comeback.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Her dress was a twist of orange and black which flowed as she walked. I made her makeup match it with some orange eye shadow and lip gloss. Her hair was up in an orange headband but her bangs still hung out front. My waves flowed behind me and the end of my dress brushed around my ankles as we walked down the stairs. Cheers were erupting everywhere. We walked down the aisle made in the middle of the grand hall and though the people congratulating us until we reached Lucifer sitting in a throne. He raised his arms (the left had grown back by now) and silence fell.
“Welcome everyone, to the beginning. The beginning of our true reign. With the human king gone, vampire will have control of the human world, being entitled to what we truly deserve.” More cheers broke out and he raised his arms again. “But we can talk more about that later. Now isn’t a time for seriousness. Now is a time for celebration! Amaya, Rini, congratulations on your successful mission... Now let’s get this party started!” Once again cheers erupted. Kyle and Seth stepped out of the crowd and towards us.
“Would you care to dance?” Seth asked.
“I don’t know how.”
“Then I’ll teach you.” I was whisked away and into the waltz. I didn’t even realise what I was doing, but Amaya said Seth and I were the most graceful in the room. She obviously couldn’t see herself and Kyle. After a few waltzes, the music changed to a quicker, more modern piece.
It went something like: Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
“Hi Rini.” Miranda was standing beside me near the wall to take a break.
“Oh, hey.” I don’t like Miranda. I remember how she greeted me when I first arrived here. Her friend Mira isn’t too bad though.
“I just wanted to say congrats,” She looked down. “And sorry. I know I wasn’t the nicest to you before.”
You're wrong when it's right
It's black and it's white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up
“Oh. Ok.” I really didn’t want to talk to her and started looking around for Seth.
“I hope we can really become friends and that you’ll be happy as a vampire. Maybe you’ll even find a vamp boyfriend like - ”
“Seth!” I had spotted him. He was dancing with Amaya and Kyle. He danced sorta funny. Most of the dances I know to this kind of music are supposed to be sexy, not elegant. He heard my voice over the shouted lyrics and caught my eye. He made his way over.
“What?” Miranda grabbed my arm again, as tightly as she had the first time we met. “I thought you liked Kyle.”
“I don’t talk to Kyle and what are you talking about?” It was obvious that I wasn’t paying attention.
Seth broke in. “Anything wrong ladies?”
“No.” Miranda growled. She pulled me closer and hissed in my ear, “Seth’s mine.” She let go and marched away.
“Come on.” Seth pulled me into where Amaya and Kyle were.
(you)You don't really want to stay, no
(but you)But you don't really want to go-o
We danced the whole night. The music changed from prehistoric to futuristic. From poised to head banging. And from great to better. When it was time for us to go to sleep (vampires don’t need to sleep) Seth picked me up and carried me away. He probably knew I’d keep dancing if he didn’t.
“Now go to sleep.” He said as he laid me on my bed.
“In my dress? Close your eyes for a minute.” He closed his eyes and I touched my charm. I had been smart enough to make a charm which could take clothes from my closet. “You can open them now.” I was in my pyjamas.
“Good. Now go to sleep.”
“What if I don’t want to?” I smiled.
He playfully growled and opened his mouth to sing. The most beautiful sound came from his mouth. I can’t really describe it because after the first line, I was asleep.
I woke up to a knock at my door. I charm changed my clothes and flattened my hair. “Come in!”
The door creaked open a little and Mira slid through. “I’m sorry about Miranda’s behaviour. She gets a bit touchy when a human come and moves in on a guy she likes, especially if she wasn’t paying attention when she was explaining it.”
“Oh. Its ok, but I don’t get what you mean with ‘moving in on a guy she likes’.”
“She has a thing for Seth and since you were dancing with him she thought-”
“I don’t like Seth like that.” At least I don’t think I do. “He’s just a friend to me.”
Her eyes shifted around. “Ok, well I got to go. Bye.”
Seth appeared at the door just a minute after Mira left. “Come on.” He said, “We got to see the king now.” I jumped off my bed and had to fly around to catch up with him; Amaya and Kyle were behind us. Lucifer wasn’t sitting at his throne; instead he was pacing the room.
“Rini, Amaya, I need your help.” He glanced at Kyle and Seth and they left. “The resistance is getting edgy and have attacked a group in the forest. All three vampires are dead. The resistance has some members who can easily match our strength.”
“Werewolves.” Amaya stated.
“Yes, werewolves,” replied Lucifer. “We don’t know how many there are, but the both of you are probably our best bet against them. You are to leave now and don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Seth can point you in the right direction.” Seth stepped into the doorway. “Now go. They’re coming closer with every second.”
We ran out and followed Seth. We had no time to go to our rooms and no need either. Amaya had some weapons on her (I swear she sleeps with them on) and I had my bracelet. He pointed out west and we shot off. Amaya on her psi ball and me in the sky. I saw something move a mile in front of us and joined Amaya in the trees. “Go a little lower now. They’re less than a mile in front of us and coming this way. We’ll meet them in a clearing.”
She hopped off her psi ball and my feet reached the forest floor. We got to the edge of the clearing and waited; Amaya with two swords in hand and me with my magic. “Where are they?” She whispered.
Two brown wolves bounded into the clearing, headed straight for us. We jump to the left and I hit them with a barrier. Three more joined in, two were grey and one was a sand colour. Amaya disappeared from my sight. The two grey wolves charged at me and tripped in some quickly growing vines. By the time they got up, I was thrown across the clearing by a new black wolf and landed with a thud by Amaya. I shot a healing blast at the scrape on her face and jumped back up. There were now seven wolves. The last one was the biggest and it was a blue colour. It tackled me to the ground, but I sent it flying through the air with a barrier. The grey ones swiped at me and one got me in the arm when the other got me on the leg. I spun and landed a few feet from them. I could see four wolves on Amaya who was covered in blood. I don’t know whose. I brought out my bow and got the black wolf nailed to a tree. Now it was three each. I tried to get up when I felt the pain shoot through my hurt arm and leg. The blue one, I’m taking him to be the leader, was on top of me. A vision shot through my eyes.
I saw a full moon, a stool in the corner. Three people were falling off a cliff and later they were riding hippogriffs. I saw two people watching the sunset off a cliff and the smile of a twelve year old with blue eyes. My eyesight focused again, but I saw the same two eyes.
“Souta-kun?” I asked. The werewolves froze. Whining came from the blue wolf, but growls from the others. I wish I knew what they were thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’m staying here!” I yelled at Amaya, my sister. “I didn’t expect you to understand, after all, you think you love one of those bloodsuckers!”
“R... r-rini?” I loosened my grip. The ice melted away. My red, curly hair grew lighter and a bit longer. My body was beginning to change back but I caught myself before it happened. The king hit the ground and looked at me. I was about to call the branch back, to finish the job when the shadow of a snake wrapped around his neck and his eyes rolled back in his head. I looked away to see who had controlled the snake but caught the light of Amaya’s psi ball instead and jumped into the air. We ripped off our dresses. I shouldn’t tell Amaya about what happened just yet. After all, that could have been me right?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We had been galloping for a few hours now. We left as soon as we met up with Acario and it was almost dawn now. Amazingly we had almost made it back to the ocean. We stopped in a clearing by a dark cliff. I could see an outline of a man in dark green and silver robes that had a squiggly symbol on them and the glint of his eyes. He had a dark outline about an inch thick. He looked very familiar and nodded at me. Acario noticed this and stopped his horse.
“I’m very sorry,” he said. “but this is where I must leave you. My friend Salazar isn’t one to wait.” He spun his horse around and trotted away. “You’re a fine student Rini, got it on the first try.”
I looked back to the man named Salazar. He winked one of his grey eyes as the outline around him was shaped into a snake. I saw the snake around the King’s neck again. Out of the corner of my eye a guest in green winked. I was brought back and felt my lips moving. “What’s Salazar good at?”
“Dark arts.” Answered Acario, but in my mind I heard something else. And legilimency was added in a hiss.
Amaya and I rode back to the ocean, did what we did, and flew back to the castle. Amaya looked like she was enjoying herself, but I guess I looked otherwise because when Seth found me he picked me up in a hug and asked if I was alright. “Ya, I’m ok.” I answered with a smile but it just made him looked more worried. “What happened to my cheesy Seth?” I pouted. This made him smile.
“Miss me already? We’ll catch up later. Now we should grab Amaya and Kyle. Lucifer wants to see you.” We were escorted to the throne room where Lucifer casually lounged. He didn’t care to hide the absence of his left arm.
"Welcome home, girls!" he yelled. "Rumours have spread, it sounded like a wonderful execution!"
"It was amazing! His face was blue for almost ten minutes before he died! I got to crush heads, it was awesome!" Amaya was getting carried away using hand gestures.
"I enjoyed taking him out," Amaya’s eyes darted to me. I hope my face wasn’t giving away too much.
"What happened to your arm?" Amaya changed the subject.
"A human from the other side watched you before when you first arrived and finally arrived here yesterday. He attacked, but had horrible aim and got my arm instead of my head. And I had his after," he caught my eye and saw my clearly portrayed disgust. "I need to feed too, you know!"
"Yeah, yeah . . ." I muttered.
He watched me for a moment so I kept my head down and avoided his gaze. "Well, you look tired. Have a good night’s sleep, we celebrate tomorrow!"
We were escorted back to our rooms and Seth joined me. “So what did happen to Mr. Pickup Line?”
“You look tired Rini, go to sleep. We have a long time to talk tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not tired,” my yawn said otherwise. Defeated, I admitted, “Fine, I’m tired.”
“Good night” he whispered into my ear and gave me a quick peck on my cheek. Before I could say anything he was gone. I threw my hand up to the cold spot. My eyes closed and a thud was heard.
I awoke the next morning while Amaya was asleep. I had been laid softly on my bed. I really must have been tired for passing out before I made it a couple more steps. I jumped up and hopped over to my closet to see new clothes hanging there, but what surprised me the most was the sparkling smoke grey dress hanging in plain sight. A sticky note was attached to it.
For the celebration tonight, I couldn’t let Lucifer pick it out for you. You’ll never know how much skin you’d be showing if he was in charge of everything. Hope you like it.
Love,
Seth
I think I’ll try it on later... who knows what could happen if pervert Seth picked it out. I sat on my bed and looked out my window. Since Amaya isn’t awake yet, I can have some quiet time. “Good morning”
-or not. I whipped my head around and saw Amaya beaming at me. “Morning” I replied.
"I’m confused. When I woke up this morning, Kyle was beside me, looking asleep like normal. I placed my hand on his chest but he didn’t move, and strangely enough, I think I felt a heartbeat briefly." Did I mention that Amaya’s been brainwashing me. I’m starting to feel towards these bloodsuckers.
“That is weird,” I said “talk to him about it later.” I glanced to my closet. “Did you see your new dress?”
"Dress?" I had forgotten that Amaya isn’t the type to head straight to the closet.
"In your wardrobe, I have one too. I think it’s for the party today."
"Oh."
"Are you going to wear it right now?" I asked.
"Maybe, are you?"
"Totally! You’d better wear yours or else," She knew I was just joking but nodded anyway. Then burst out laughing. Before the door shut I saw Amaya stop and a growl crossed her face. I think I’ll ask her about that later, but now its dress time J. I slipped the dress off its hanger and slid it on. A brush and some sparkles flew from the bathroom and onto my dresser along with makeup. In the back of my mind I was still thinking of legilimency so I decided to try it. Amaya, come help me with makeup. I’m sure she heard it because a minute later she whisked into my room.
“Rini, did you call me?” she still hadn’t tried on her dress.
“Nope, but now that you’re here you can help me with my makeup.” I grabbed some eyeliner and handed it to her.
“Can’t you just do it with magic? Otherwise, I could be here all day and not have you ready in time.” Her reflection grinned at me.
“Oops. I forgot. I have to give you time to get ready too.” I shot her a fake warning glance. “Next time I see you that dress better be on.”
She laughed at how serious I sounded and left saying, “Yes Master.”
I looked into the mirror and the makeup shot at me. Curlers and brushes tugged at my hair and sparkles were flying everywhere. It took me all of ten minutes. My hair was pulled half back and was in loose waves. Sparkles shone everywhere, especially around my eyes. I stood up and swirled around.
“Wow,” a gasp emitted from the door. “You, ah.. look... wow.”
I tried to hide my smile, “I think we’ve established that Seth.” He stood there with a goofy look on his face. I sat on the bed and asked why I saw Amaya stuck outside my door earlier.
“No reason, I just had to tell her something about Kyle.”
“Is it anything I can know?”
“You’ll have to ask Kyle.” One of his fangs glistened. He knew I don’t talk to Kyle.
“Oh,” I pouted. “The old Seth would have told me.”
“The old Seth isn’t here anymore. I think he moved away.”
I gave him an exaggerated gasp, “Oh no, why?”
“He wasn’t getting any respect. All the younger ladies were bullying him and he knew he’d never get a date if he kept that up.”
Curiosity struck me, “A date, for what?”
“For your party. Rini, would you be my date to the celebration tonight?”
“Seth, I-” He picked me up in a hug and whispered ‘I love you’ in my ear. The door swooped open and Amaya was eying us. “You knew she’d come in didn’t you?” A smile grew on his face and he kissed my neck.
“You gonna be finished soon?” she was already dressed for the party.
I looked back to Seth. “Okay, I’ll go.” He set me back down and walked straight pass Amaya, through the door and around the corner.
“So ... what was that about?” She nudged my side.
“Nothing.” I looked away.
“He asked you to the party.” She was telling, not asking.
I grabbed her hand and sat down. “Here.” I ran the last minute through my head again. Her eyes flicked and fluttered behind her eyelashes in the same way mine did when I was experiencing it. I didn’t show her the part about Kyle.
“Oh. I see. Ok... how did you do that?”
“I don’t know. That Salazar person could do it too. I just tried to make you see and it worked.” I shrugged.
“Ok, I’m leaving now.”
“What, why?”
“You already saw my dress.” She was now out the door.
There isn’t much I can do in a dress so I wandered out my door. Seth wasn’t there. I walked left and right and this way and that until I came unto a garden. I walked through it and found a wall. Everywhere there were roses and tulips, daisies and lavender, flowers and more flowers. I kept my hand on the wall so I could find my way back but ended up at a staircase instead. It looked dusty and had cobwebs everywhere, but I climbed it anyway. The room it led to was filled with silver. It was like a room for a Prince. I reached over to one shelf and touched a sword. . . You know how curiosity kills the cat? I think it just did.
Something grabbed me from behind. My mouth was covered with their other hand across my waist and something cold and hard on my neck. “You shouldn’t be here.” Said a voice around my throat.
“Seth?” I whispered. I was just guessing. I don’t think Seth would’ve grabbed me like that. The grip loosened for a second. I started to turn, but fell into a cold hard shoulder.
“AHH!” I screamed. Green and black sheets were ripped off me and two cold arms picked me up.
“Rini, Rini! RINI! Why aren’t you answering me?” Seth’s worried face was a few inches from mine.
“I – I... can’t – breathe.” Seth’s crushing arms laid me back down as he asked what was wrong. I looked around and realised that I was in my bedroom. “Nothing’s wrong... I just must have been dreaming.”
Seth looked down, “You sure? Anyway the party is in one hour so you might want to get fixed up and have something to eat.”
I looked in the mirror and saw my hair and dress were ok, but my makeup was smudged. I took about thirty seconds fixing it then walked out the door and followed Seth to the kitchen. Amaya and Kyle were already in there. I took one look at Amaya and accidently said, “Oh no honey, you’re not trying to scare people.” She glared at me like I said something wrong. My makeup flew through the door and hovered close to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your cat eyes.”
“That’s my cue. I’ll meet you tonight, Amaya.” Kyle walked out of the kitchen.
“Me too,” Seth smiled. “See you later, babe.”
“Babe?”
“You said you missed the old Seth.” He had already caught up to Kyle when I came up with a comeback.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Her dress was a twist of orange and black which flowed as she walked. I made her makeup match it with some orange eye shadow and lip gloss. Her hair was up in an orange headband but her bangs still hung out front. My waves flowed behind me and the end of my dress brushed around my ankles as we walked down the stairs. Cheers were erupting everywhere. We walked down the aisle made in the middle of the grand hall and though the people congratulating us until we reached Lucifer sitting in a throne. He raised his arms (the left had grown back by now) and silence fell.
“Welcome everyone, to the beginning. The beginning of our true reign. With the human king gone, vampire will have control of the human world, being entitled to what we truly deserve.” More cheers broke out and he raised his arms again. “But we can talk more about that later. Now isn’t a time for seriousness. Now is a time for celebration! Amaya, Rini, congratulations on your successful mission... Now let’s get this party started!” Once again cheers erupted. Kyle and Seth stepped out of the crowd and towards us.
“Would you care to dance?” Seth asked.
“I don’t know how.”
“Then I’ll teach you.” I was whisked away and into the waltz. I didn’t even realise what I was doing, but Amaya said Seth and I were the most graceful in the room. She obviously couldn’t see herself and Kyle. After a few waltzes, the music changed to a quicker, more modern piece.
It went something like: Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
“Hi Rini.” Miranda was standing beside me near the wall to take a break.
“Oh, hey.” I don’t like Miranda. I remember how she greeted me when I first arrived here. Her friend Mira isn’t too bad though.
“I just wanted to say congrats,” She looked down. “And sorry. I know I wasn’t the nicest to you before.”
You're wrong when it's right
It's black and it's white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up
“Oh. Ok.” I really didn’t want to talk to her and started looking around for Seth.
“I hope we can really become friends and that you’ll be happy as a vampire. Maybe you’ll even find a vamp boyfriend like - ”
“Seth!” I had spotted him. He was dancing with Amaya and Kyle. He danced sorta funny. Most of the dances I know to this kind of music are supposed to be sexy, not elegant. He heard my voice over the shouted lyrics and caught my eye. He made his way over.
“What?” Miranda grabbed my arm again, as tightly as she had the first time we met. “I thought you liked Kyle.”
“I don’t talk to Kyle and what are you talking about?” It was obvious that I wasn’t paying attention.
Seth broke in. “Anything wrong ladies?”
“No.” Miranda growled. She pulled me closer and hissed in my ear, “Seth’s mine.” She let go and marched away.
“Come on.” Seth pulled me into where Amaya and Kyle were.
(you)You don't really want to stay, no
(but you)But you don't really want to go-o
We danced the whole night. The music changed from prehistoric to futuristic. From poised to head banging. And from great to better. When it was time for us to go to sleep (vampires don’t need to sleep) Seth picked me up and carried me away. He probably knew I’d keep dancing if he didn’t.
“Now go to sleep.” He said as he laid me on my bed.
“In my dress? Close your eyes for a minute.” He closed his eyes and I touched my charm. I had been smart enough to make a charm which could take clothes from my closet. “You can open them now.” I was in my pyjamas.
“Good. Now go to sleep.”
“What if I don’t want to?” I smiled.
He playfully growled and opened his mouth to sing. The most beautiful sound came from his mouth. I can’t really describe it because after the first line, I was asleep.
I woke up to a knock at my door. I charm changed my clothes and flattened my hair. “Come in!”
The door creaked open a little and Mira slid through. “I’m sorry about Miranda’s behaviour. She gets a bit touchy when a human come and moves in on a guy she likes, especially if she wasn’t paying attention when she was explaining it.”
“Oh. Its ok, but I don’t get what you mean with ‘moving in on a guy she likes’.”
“She has a thing for Seth and since you were dancing with him she thought-”
“I don’t like Seth like that.” At least I don’t think I do. “He’s just a friend to me.”
Her eyes shifted around. “Ok, well I got to go. Bye.”
Seth appeared at the door just a minute after Mira left. “Come on.” He said, “We got to see the king now.” I jumped off my bed and had to fly around to catch up with him; Amaya and Kyle were behind us. Lucifer wasn’t sitting at his throne; instead he was pacing the room.
“Rini, Amaya, I need your help.” He glanced at Kyle and Seth and they left. “The resistance is getting edgy and have attacked a group in the forest. All three vampires are dead. The resistance has some members who can easily match our strength.”
“Werewolves.” Amaya stated.
“Yes, werewolves,” replied Lucifer. “We don’t know how many there are, but the both of you are probably our best bet against them. You are to leave now and don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Seth can point you in the right direction.” Seth stepped into the doorway. “Now go. They’re coming closer with every second.”
We ran out and followed Seth. We had no time to go to our rooms and no need either. Amaya had some weapons on her (I swear she sleeps with them on) and I had my bracelet. He pointed out west and we shot off. Amaya on her psi ball and me in the sky. I saw something move a mile in front of us and joined Amaya in the trees. “Go a little lower now. They’re less than a mile in front of us and coming this way. We’ll meet them in a clearing.”
She hopped off her psi ball and my feet reached the forest floor. We got to the edge of the clearing and waited; Amaya with two swords in hand and me with my magic. “Where are they?” She whispered.
Two brown wolves bounded into the clearing, headed straight for us. We jump to the left and I hit them with a barrier. Three more joined in, two were grey and one was a sand colour. Amaya disappeared from my sight. The two grey wolves charged at me and tripped in some quickly growing vines. By the time they got up, I was thrown across the clearing by a new black wolf and landed with a thud by Amaya. I shot a healing blast at the scrape on her face and jumped back up. There were now seven wolves. The last one was the biggest and it was a blue colour. It tackled me to the ground, but I sent it flying through the air with a barrier. The grey ones swiped at me and one got me in the arm when the other got me on the leg. I spun and landed a few feet from them. I could see four wolves on Amaya who was covered in blood. I don’t know whose. I brought out my bow and got the black wolf nailed to a tree. Now it was three each. I tried to get up when I felt the pain shoot through my hurt arm and leg. The blue one, I’m taking him to be the leader, was on top of me. A vision shot through my eyes.
I saw a full moon, a stool in the corner. Three people were falling off a cliff and later they were riding hippogriffs. I saw two people watching the sunset off a cliff and the smile of a twelve year old with blue eyes. My eyesight focused again, but I saw the same two eyes.
“Souta-kun?” I asked. The werewolves froze. Whining came from the blue wolf, but growls from the others. I wish I knew what they were thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’m staying here!” I yelled at Amaya, my sister. “I didn’t expect you to understand, after all, you think you love one of those bloodsuckers!”
