CHAPTER THEME TBD;FORM - DONE
NAME:
Devyn Mitchell
FC:
India Westbrooks
AGE: 21
TRAITS:
Outgoing | Enticing | Egotistical | Hedonist | Courageous | Energetic | Reckless | Defiant
PERSONALITY:
Devyn has a big ego. She seeks attention and the freedom to do as she pleases. Idleness is not a way of life for her… she’ll be off somewhere, doing something at any given time. Sports, dance, and group activities fill most of the minutes of her days. At times, she can be a bit of a tomboy who isn’t afraid of anything, but her femininity is never overshadowed. She can easily be enticed to all sorts of pleasures without inhibitions (and vice versa). Her sensuality with an overwhelming desire for more is not tamed by her often impulsive nature. Too often, her choices can lead to compromising situations. She lives by the motto, No Apologies, No Regrets… so do not expect her to feel remorse or lament past mistakes. It is all par for the course, opportunities to learn and grow. She is not a planner… life is meant to be lived and experienced, so come what may… she will go where the mood leads her. She does not like taking orders while at the same time will hold little value, and respect, for someone that allows her to walk all over them. And she will, if given the chance.
Interests: Samuel | Philip | Christian | Theodore
STORY - DONE
Tick, Tock, You're On The Clock - DONE
As we stood there, hand in hand, Sam bolstered my spirit and strength. I felt the energy surging in me, the power. I was a vampire, as promised… right in time to face the vileness of Honor’s savagery.
If not for Sam, comforting and soothing the rioting sensations inside of me I wondered if maybe I might have become the beast in that instant. Feral and murderous in my hunger. I did feel it… this need for the blood. I could hear the human heartbeats thundering in the crowd. But the violence I wanted to unleash was directed at Honor’s cronies and goons poised to destroy the precocious peace and balance between the vampire-human worlds.
Then everything changed. In the blink of an eye. My fingers clutched for Sam’s firm grip but it was gone… as was the ballroom and all the threats that had stood ahead of me. Replace simply with a series of doorways.
I was utterly confused and leery of course. The doors themselves were fairly simple… plain wood panels and a brass-looking knob. However, as I approached the first, the center faded slightly allowing some sort of hazy image to appear. My pulse raced as I peered through, spotting myself standing next to Phillip in the ballroom where sleeping arrangements had been made. Shocked, I realized that it must have been some time after the first werewolf attack.
Frowning, I moved to the next door, almost identical but as I drew closer the transparency revealed Chris and myself, in the classroom he’d tugged me into that last time I’d spoken to him. My stomach flipped as I watched his expression turn mournful but resolved. He had been missing the last time I’d searched for him.
Nervously, I moved to the third. But this one was different. More solid, firm. The image on it did not fade… it was fixed, steady… on the ballroom. And I stood there with Sam by my side, Honor visibly creating a commotion ahead of the crowd gathered in that room.
I gripped the knob and instinctively moved to join Sam… to get to his side and face whatever was unfolding in my present. But I froze, turning back… the other two doors shimmering. Opportunities.
Sam and Phillip both existed beyond the door I stood by… easily reached. But Chris, he wasn’t there. I knew it. My fingers twitched as I squeezed the knob.
I should return… to where I belonged. This was some weird magic… strange and potentially dangerous. Sam had always warned that there was a price to pay with magic. And I couldn’t explain why or how this particular event came to be. Or what the cost would be in using this chance. I’d just gotten what I wanted… I was a vampire. I could feel the power coursing through my body. I had all the time in the world to be with Sam… to experience everything that could possibly mean. I could lose all of that. Not Sam though. I knew I wouldn’t lose him. I also knew, in that heartbeat, that I had to retrieve Chris. Even if that meant I’d lose my vampirism.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped back and moved purposefully towards the middle door. There was no more hesitation, I gripped the knob and immediately stepped across the threshold.
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“We can’t find the book. Anywhere. I’ll never be able to get Cassandra to lift the curse.”
I blinked, feeling a strange rush of sensation fill me as the room flashed before my eyes. The smells came just as quickly, sharp, heavy, poignant. Then the sounds. I could hear voices in the hall, clear as if they were right there beside us and I laughed, a bubble of relief and joy spitting out of me.
“Dev?”
Chris! I spun back to him, completely understanding his utter confusion. Then I spotted the clock… well… a timer of sorts. Numbers, floating a bit overhead of where Chris stood. Time… ticking away, second by second.
“Do you see that”
He looked more confused, glancing around but shook his head.
“Are you okay?”
I stepped closer and tried to touch the spot but it just faded beneath my fingers as they split the vision. The timer did not stop. Clearly counting downward from… well 2400. A day? I turned aside and the misty clock spun with me, staying front and center. A very clear omen. I frowned, glancing back to Chris who looked extremely nervous and concerned.
“You can’t leave!” His jaw dropped and he looked around now, more perplexed than before. I grabbed his hands and urgently squeezed them tight. His eyes widened in shock. “You can’t leave, Chris, promise me!”
“I… I didn’t even tell you that yet… Dev… what has happened to you?”
“Chris… promise me. I, I think I know how to help. Do you trust me?”
He frowned and only hesitated for a moment before he nodded.
“Of course, of course, I do. I… Dev you don’t seem like your-” he gasped just as the room flashed around me, growing sharp and distorted at the same time, a bright, vibrant darkness shrouded me before it was gone again.
“I have to go… but, I know I can help you! Just… promise me you won’t leave… not now, I-” the clocks ticking blared loudly in my ears. “Wait for me, I will find you soon, I promise.”
I reached down, unrolling the key from my layered socks.
“What have you done?”
His voice shook but I smiled, the rush of fear competing with the excitement I felt deep inside. I was still a vampire. And I could get him the help he needed before it was too late.
“I’ve come here to help you.”
I squeezed his hands, firmly knowing that he could feel my new strength, and moved to the doorway, using the key on it and giving him one last look to utter one final plea before disappearing through the dark abyss that showed.
“I’ll go to your suite soon… don’t leave the estate, please…”For The Next Millennium - DONE
“Sam! SAM!” I shouted as the magical doorway disintegrated behind me. “SAMM!!”
“Devyn?!”
It took only another couple of seconds before he dashed out of the stacks, eyes wide with alarm and he rushed towards me seemingly interested in making sure I was unharmed.
“Sam!” I squealed and basically threw myself into his arms.
All of my ramped-up energy shifted and sizzled, growing more intense as soon as I spotted him. But it was the closeness that sent me catapulting over some invisible edge. The scent of him was like a punch in the gut and had me quivering all over. The room itself fluttered, changed then rightened before I sunk my fingers into his arms and yanked him ever closer. Needing him against me. In some mindless fog, I stretched up and pressed my lips against his… desperately, savagely. Like some fragment of sanity had completely snapped inside.
In the next instance, he growled. And before I knew it, he slammed me against the nearest wall. Hard. I barely noticed as my fingers stroked and raked against him. Something dark and feral hissed between us and I honestly could not say if it came from him or me. All I know is that he responded to my wildness in turn, thrusting his tongue into my mouth and scooping my legs roughly until they were wrapped around him. There was no rationality or consideration, we were both tearing at the others' clothes, shredding and tossing them aside until our bodies began slamming together, bucking and battling for control in some ferociously lusty, demented dance.
Sometime later the room suddenly came into focus again and it was only then that I realized it had been distorted for far too long.
“Fucking hell!” I laughed shakily. Sam continued to hold me against the wall, his head rested against my neck as we both panted violently. Which should seem weird but felt perfect.
“It seems…” he murmured softly after pressing a delicate kiss against the groove in my neck and lowering me to the floor, “that I need to prepare myself for a lifetime of surprises with you…”
“At least a thousand years… I’m a vampire, Sam.”
He laughed as he reached down to retrieve my completely tattered blouse. Buttons for it were scattered across the floor.
“You don’t say?”
If I were human still I wonder if I might have blushed. “I guess then you can tell… of course you can.”
He smirked then and I rolled my eyes but nothing could stop the giddy feeling that was swelling up in me at admitting it for the very first time out loud.
“Just like I can tell you’re displaced… temporally…” he frowned now, moving to the same cabinet he’d opened the very first time I came to his library. A moment late he tossed a top and leggings in my direction. “Did I send you back somehow?”
Stalling after tugging the pants on, I looked up and frowned myself.
“I… I don’t know.” I pulled the top over my head with a firm grip. “I have no idea what would happen… I was just… there, then I figured, well I just went for it and when I got here nothing had changed it was just like before… I was so scared… like I didn’t know what would happen… but also knew I had to come but didn’t know… you know!” I laughed and to start pacing as I began spewing information at him haphazardly.
“Devyn…”
“Oh my gosh… it’s soo crazy… first I was with you in the ballroom then I was just… I don’t know… at these doors… then I saw Chris… Chris and me, we were just there on the door somehow… like you know I could see inside but not hear anything… we were just there and I… Chris… Sam… I need you to help me… please… I need to-” I frowned again and pressed my hand against my temple. When had I told Sam about Chris and his curse? Did he already know now or did I need to retell the tale?
“Slow down… let’s take this one step at a time…” I scratched my head having so many thoughts and sensations storming through me. I let him guide me to the sofa. “How about you tell me how long ago you transitioned?”
“I… um… last night. Or like, what’s today?” I frowned as the loud ticking finally disturbed my thoughts. How had I even ever let it out of my mind when it flashed so insistently overhead. “Fucking hell… I’m wasting time.”
I grimaced at how much had already passed. What on earth was I thinking… well, I knew I hadn’t been. Not even a little bit. Every baser instinct had taken full control of my mind and I’d given in to them in the most enthralling way imaginable. Without hesitation, consideration, or precaution.
Sam glanced in the direction I had then back again.
“How much time do you have left?”
“Like 21 hours… how could I waste so much time, I’m so fucking selfish…”
“Listen…” He did an admirable job of trying to smother his laughter. But he was quite serious by the time he continued. “I have told you a few times there’s always a cost to magic. Without knowing why or how you found your way back here I must caution you about any changes you are thinking to make.”
“I have to hel-”
“Let me finish… I just want you to really consider if whatever it is is worth the fallout that might occur.”
I frowned again. “What is the fallout for changing something in time?”
“Could be anything… whatever you do will affect the future, somehow. There’s no telling what your interference may cyclone into.”
I nibbled on a nail and my eyes widened as I felt for the first time (or noticed rather) the difference. Instinctively, my canine teeth inched downward and I slowly curled my tongue around the hard enamel. Something primal and consuming pulsed through me as the world turned vibrantly dark once again. An almost glow illuminated around me and Sam seemed to blaze right in the center. I was back to feeling like a million stars were exploding in my mind all at once. Every sense, every nerve heightened… untamed. But there was more… more than just the unquenchable hunger I had for him… there was also the sudden spark of thirst that drove through me.
“Sam,” I whispered, confused and consumed with the feverish need for more. I just could not say what the more was… him? Everything…
“Devyn, focus…”
I inhaled and released this strange ragged breath. Which shouldn’t be right. I blinked and rubbed my head again.
“I… can’t think straight. Everything is… strange, intense. My emotions are all over the place.”
“Have you fed yet?”
“I…” I looked around still stroking my fang with the tip of my tongue before continuing, “you gave me a flask… at the ball. Then… then Honor was yelling throwing magic and then I was at the doors…”
He frowned but nodded, rose then returned with a drink. The scent hit me first as he held it out. Shakily, I accepted the ornate goblet, cupping it delicately before lifting it to my lips. The metallic taste washed over my tongue, swirled between my teeth, and made my eyes roll back, fading to black once again. It was intoxicating… sweet, and delicious. It charged me… feeling as if electricity was coursing through my body. I gulped and slurped, louder, faster, trying to guzzle the contents down like a fiend.
Sam plucked the cup away and a guttural cry tore from my throat. Without thinking I lunged for the drink but was easily restrained by his far more superior strength.
“You need to go slow, Devyn. Unless it’s your plan to be some bloodthirsty beast.”
My nostrils flared, drinking in the heavenly scent, my mouth salivating, body aching for it.
“Sam, please…” I whispered, slithering my body while he continued to hold me back, keeping me restrained while the cup was far too far away. “I… it’s like nothing I’ve felt before… nothing I could have imagined.”
His mouth curled into a wicked grin and he leaned forward, slowly running his tongue at the corner of my mouth making me groan lewdly when I saw the streak of red on the tip of his tongue.
“And you’ll have it, I promise. But you also need to be in control. Strong and steady. It sounds as if something major is unfolding where you’re from…”
I trembled, blinked… the ticking registered again. Gasping, I shut my eyes and tried to focus.
“I… I need to help Chris.” I whispered then looked at him again, struggling to ignore the thirst while he continued to withhold the drink. “He’s in trouble… he’s cursed.”
He nodded, “Yes, you’ve mentioned it…”
I frowned and nodded too. “When I asked you about the Book of Names, you tol-”
“What? How do you know about the Book of Names?”
I wrinkled my nose. “I’m trying to tell you… again. We’ve had this talk before…”
He looked skeptical but I continued.
“There is a woman that was trying to get him to get her the book.” I held up a hand when he started to interrupt again, “YOU told me she was not likely someone to trust. Which I had already told them when they first…”
“They?”
“I’ll never get through all this if you keep interrupting!”
I gritted my teeth, the blood so exposed and nearby was playing havoc with my senses. Sam must have sensed it because gently he brought the mug back to my lips letting me have a small sip before putting it out of reach again.
“Chris… and Phillip. They were searching for the book but I suggested that they should speak with his sire… Phillip’s of course. I figured as the professor on vampire culture… figured artifacts and legendary items might be something he would know something about. I wanted them to try… well to ask someone else before I came to you about it.”
“The Kirkwood boy has been harassing you for weeks, I just had to yank him from your room the other day.”
“Weeks ago… and, I told you then he is… was… is I guess still, trying to protect me. From the others. But… this is about Chris. I’m here about Chris. He’s missing. He told me today… this day in the timeline thingy… he let me know he was going to leave. And by the night of the binding ceremony…”
I could see the question in his eyes but he held back finally from interrupting.
“I noticed him missing. I know he left because he was fearing what he might do. If… when the curse manifested fully. I asked about using the book to help him and you told me a slayer could help… there’s one here, somewhere. Honor was furious about it at the ceremony. Demanding the slayer be presented. Maybe… maybe if we could find whoever it is, we could convince them to help Chris.”
He took a sip of the cup himself before he handed it back to me with a firm instruction to go slow before he sat back considering everything.
“I don’t know about a slayer at the school… but I have been suspicious for a while. Mixed reaction at being proven correct…”
I took a sip and gritted my teeth as I pulled it away far sooner than I wanted. Sam, however, seemed pleased by my struggled restraint which in turn made me feel stupidly proud.
“I’ll arrange something… a light-slaying, so to speak.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m assuming we don’t want him killed in the process…”
“No! Of course not. You assured me before it could be done without him having to die… but, well, he would lose his vampirism.”
“He’s set to-”
“Lose it… yes, you pointed that out last time already.”
He smirked again.
“Bring Chris here… tonight around 8 pm.”
I calculated the time in my head. “And we can do everything that needs to be done by tomorrow morning?”
“It won’t be a problem.”
I nodded and clenched my fingers around the goblet, only one tiny sip was left and part of me dreaded making it disappear but was also desperate to have it. Finally, I took the last bit and moaned softly as I passed the cup back to him.
“It’ll get easier, you are just new to it, and the thirst… it’s quite powerful in these early stages.”
I nodded, trusting his wisdom on the matter.
“How badly do you think my coming here… my trying to help Chris… will fuck things up?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. But I would never tell you not to do it. He is clearly more than some casual acquaintance… and must mean a great deal to you in order to make you come back for him.”
“It’s weird, right? How deeply I’ve developed feelings for the vampires in this world that I didn’t really know shit about a few months ago.”
He nodded, his usual smirk missing from his lips. This was all a lot to take in, but I completely understood. My mind raced with thoughts but in truth, they were more subdued after the drink he’d given me.
“I’m sure he will be relieved to know you went to all this effort for him.”
I chuckled, remembering Chris’ expression from just a few hours ago.
“I’m not so sure you’re right… I’m sure he wasn’t too thrilled with the brief glimpse he had of me a few hours ago now.”
“Brief?”
“Ummhmm… I hardly waited for his chastising when I needed to find you.” I laughed, shifting closer and running one of my newly sharpened nails across his pants leg. “But then… the moment I saw you all thought of Chris and his problems and everything else puffed right out of my head.”
“Is that right?”
“I suppose I cannot be blamed. I hear it happens quite often when one is in love. I’d never experienced it before in all honesty, so it does come as a bit of a shock.”
“Are you trying to bait me as some form of payback?”
“Bait you… how so?” I couldn’t help the smirk that spread across my own face when I noticed his smug one. “If you must know… I was quite forward and direct with my admission… unlike some people. You’ll just have to wait a few days to see if it actually happens in the future.”
He pulled me closer, “And if it doesn’t?”
“Well then, you’ll just be shit out of luck. I doubt I will ever be so open, vulnerable, and selfless ever again…”
“Do you really want to set me a challenge?”
I laughed, crawling up and straddling his lap. “Oh yes, yes I do, Professor Parrish.”Clean Slate - DONE
“What have you done?”
His voice shook, again, immediately upon my entering his suite.
I felt… exhilarated but perhaps a bit more sluggish than I might have if I hadn’t indulged in another ravenous bout with Sam before being exhausted enough for him to get back to his work. Classes were taking place and he did have a job to perform. Or at least that’s what he reminded me before he slipped away after advising that I stay out of sight while in my current phase. Whatever that meant.
But I didn’t sleep despite having worn myself out a couple of times already. I couldn’t sleep. Not only was the thrill still taunting me each time I recognized another new tick or twitch or some other uber chaotic sensation, but I also ached to know more. Like a moth to a flame, I needed more.
But then the ticking sound… the flashing clock would drag my mind back to reality and the purpose of my arrival at this time. A temporal displacement Sam had called it.
I’d come to help Chris. And Sam was going to help.
I just needed to make sure Chris was where he needed to be at the right hour.
This is why, when I entered his suite shortly before eight and was immediately assaulted with his burning question, I had to take a steadying… pointless… breath. Seeking calm in my amped-up state.
“Chris, there is so much I need to tell you, I just… we don’t have a lot of time right now.”
“Dev… how are you a vampire? Are you… did someone sire you?”
“No.”
He sucked in a breath. At least made the motion of it. And took a recoiling step back.
“What…? Why? Who did this to you?” Fury started to flood his face.
“I did. It was called self-siring… I believe that's what it was called. I am not sure now. It doesn’t much matter.”
“Self-s-ssir– Are you crazy?”
“Maybe, yes. A bit. But that isn’t really the point at the moment. I’m here to help you.”
“Help me? You are the one that needs help now. Oh lord.” He began pacing.
“Chris. Please. My condition is not what we have to worry about. I wanted this. I did this of my own choice. I do not… will not change it. But…” he spun and was staring at me like I’d lost all of my mind in transition. “I found a way that you can be cured of the curse.”
“What?”
At least he was turning his attention away from my condition.
“There’s a catch though…”
“A catch? What are you talking bout? You, you found the book?”
“No.” I shook my head for added emphasis and stepped closer to clutch his hand. “But I know another way… I’ve been told another way.”
“Another way? To cure a curse?”
I nodded then shook my head and frowned. “Well, sort of. Do you trust me?”
He snorted. “I do but this whole vampire thing is making me rethink your judgment…”
“Can you honestly say that my wanting to be a vampire is such a huge shock… that my personality doesn’t match well with the expected behavior of one? I’m fairly sure I remember you thinking I was one the first time you met me… long before I decided I wanted to be.”
I could tell that what I said made sense but he wouldn’t acknowledge the truth of it. I didn’t need him to but it would have been nice to have him understand me a bit better.
I looked up at the timer and shook my head. I didn’t want to waste time.
“Do you trust me?”
He pressed his lips together but nodded staunchly.
“I need you to come with me. But I want to warn you before we go. The only way I can find to release you from your curse is to heal you… in a sense. And to do that, I needed a slayer.”
“A slayer?” I could see clearly the genuine fear in his eyes.
“Not to kill you. They… they can do other things too. Besides, kill vampires. They can strip you of your powers… your immortality.” I took his hand and squeezed it. “Without your vampirism… the curse has nothing to stick to. You are cursed because of it.”
“Dev…”
“You have a pretty simple choice really, Chris. Give up your vampirism willingly… or have it ripped away when the wraith takes over and you lose all sense of yourself in the process.”
I waited, knowing it would be a horrible choice for me if I had to make it. A wretched choice. But Chris took far less time to decide… it was barely a few seconds later when he nodded. I think I would have balled my eyes out if I’d been presented with a similar decision.
I pulled the key out and opened the portal.
“You do trust me, right?” I held out my hand. He didn’t hesitate this time, he took it and followed me into the darkness.
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“What… where are we?”
I smiled at his awe and confusion. It wasn’t far from the initial response I had when I found myself there the first time.
“Sam?”
Chris’ eyes narrowed and then widened.
“Ahh… wondered if you’d be on time or I’d have to send some dogs out after you.”
“Professor Parrish?!”
“That’s not even funny.” I hissed. Sam chuckled, obviously finding himself quite humorous.
“Christian. How are you feeling?”
“I…” he looked back at me. “You told him? Everything?”
“He knows everything. And I trust him. With my life. And yours…”
Chris definitely looked uncertain.
“I promise nothing enormously bad will happen to you, Christian. The slayer will simply perform one of their lighter tricks… spells… whatever you wish to call it. Once it’s complete you will be, basically, reborn into your old self. Safe from the curse haunting you from your maker.”
He looked utterly nervous. I certainly could not blame him. I stepped beside him, taking his hand once more. Trying to assure him of Sam’s trustworthiness. Finally, he nodded. But I frowned.
“Is the slayer not here yet?”
Sam nodded and turned, “Yes… she was just preparing for the process…” he stepped backward and looked somewhere off to the left. “Jacinda?”
“Yess… sorry, coming… I was just gathering what I needed…”
When the tittering voice called out, something barbaric and vile welled up inside me. Then the pretty brunette stepped around one of the stacks, coming from who knew where… well, Sam knew where certainly… I swear I saw the entire room turn green. A putrid, slimy moss haze… far different from the warm darkness that fueled so much of my excitement in the last 10 hours or so. I curled my nails in against my palms, pinching violently hard to focus my senses on that instead of my violent response to the unknown human.
My eyes shot to Sam then away quickly because I knew I was being ridiculous. What the hell was wrong with me? Even if he had been in the midst of something far more heated and intimate with the woman, this harshness… pettiness I was feeling was totally uncalled for. I sure as hell was out of my mind if I thought either of us would be happy spending the next millennia with one single lover. Not to mention it was so unlike anything I had ever felt for any man before. I bit the inside of my cheek and tried so hard to ignore the greed and possessiveness… and full-blown jealousy reaching up and trying to choke me. But my eyes locked onto her neck, right there at the base and I curled my tongue around the sudden protruding fang inching downward.
“What is Cassandra doing here?”
Chris’ shocked gasp only served to heighten my agitation. I snarled but not nearly as fast as her own speedy response. Spotting Chris… realizing the predicament she must have been in almost immediately she screeched, all semblance of humanity falling away in a split second then spun to attack Sam. I screamed out, moving forward but Chris blocked me, throwing himself between me and my target just as something pulsed and slammed into her body. She went flying backward, past Chris and me while Sam looked on, confused but quite easily unharmed. A barrier of some sort perhaps having protected him. But I was entirely too livid to register his safety. I wanted to rip her throat out.
Undaunted… or more so because she was rebuffed in her initial attack she circled wildly, yelling out again and this time stalked straight towards me. My eyes flashed and burned on her, my fingers curling into nothing more than vicious claws… all for nothing. Before Cassandra… or Jacinda… or whatever the hell the bitches name really was could get even a step closer to me Sam sprang forward like some glorious beast. Roaring and snapping ferociously before he cornered then trapped the… woman… in a nearby box. His whole body shook as he stood over it, his fist clenching and unclenching.
With the threat neutralized, I seemed to break free of my fog and shoved past Chris… who somehow, once again, had placed himself between me and the creature that tried to harm us.
“Sam… are you alright?”
He didn’t speak, instead, he turned and searched me, checking to assure himself that not one scratch landed. At least that’s what I imagined. I could see his teeth gnawing together by the tightening of his jawline.
“Are you two alright?”
I turned, quite shaken from the fiasco that I had completely forgotten about Chris for a moment. Sam squeezed my arms gently before stepping closer to Chris. I wasn’t sure what I expected but them shaking hands wasn’t exactly in my mental wheelhouse at the moment, nor was hearing Sam say thank you in a low tone.
Then silence ensued for a few seconds before the ticking clock intruded once more.
“So what now? Without her… well, without a slayer Chris is still screwed.”
He sighed softly and stepped over to me, pulling me into an embrace, “It’s okay Dev. I do appreciate you trying. I’ve kind of come to this conclusion already, have accepted my fate.”
I gritted my teeth now, hugging him tightly with frustration.
“It’s not fair… you don’t deserve this.”
He laughed sorrowfully.
“There’s still a way…”
Both of us, shocked, turned to face Sam who had strolled several feet away and cradled a glass of dark liquid in his fist.
“The book?”
Chris darted his gaze between us.
“No. That’s still too volatile an option… too dangerous. This one may be too but it’s less so. You’re self-sired.”
I blinked, not at all connecting any dots.
“And?”
“And… Devyn is capable of siphoning your powers…”
“Siphoning powers-” What the hell was he talking about. “How… what would I need to do.”
“I won’t allow her to be harmed to help me.”
Sam smiled at Chris but it wasn’t arrogant or mocking. I gritted my teeth and stepped closer to Sam and spoke in a hushed tone, not that I knew if Chris could overhear or not but still trusting Sam to be honest with me no matter what.
“Will it harm me? What are the risks?”
“There’s always risks wit-”
“Magic… yes. But… how much? Will I lose my powers? Or reduce them? Will… I draw his curse onto myself?”
“I won’t let the wraith be passed to her.”
I turned, frowning at Chris whose inflexibly grim expression said everything he didn’t add to his comment.
“The curse will not in any way transfer to her… you” He cupped my chin and turned me to look back at him. “You won't be mixing your blood, just draining his powers.”
My mind raced. “And what are the negative effects for me?”
“Chris is no two-day-old vamp. He’s years of power already bottled up inside. All of that will surge into you. All at once. It may be daunting… if not downright cataclysmic. You may overload for a while… with the sensations and hunger and… well all those slowly burgeoning phenomena you’ve already been experiencing.”
I nodded, getting the gist quickly then nodded again, more firmly.
“Very well.”
“Dev… think this through, really. I… I won’t trade my life for yours. You mean more to me than that.”
Sam grinned and clapped Chris on the back after he crowded us. I smiled as well, reaching for a squeezing his hand.
“I trust him. If the worst that will happen is power overload… for a while?” I peeped at Sam.
“I honestly cannot say how long it will last.”
“But it will eventually reduce… level out?”
He shrugged. “I assume so.”
I wrinkled my nose but then gave Chris a reassuring grin.
“Ignore him, he’s always contrary…”
The younger vamp peeked at the older who was already flipping through some book a couple of steps away.
“How long…”
My eyes flashed, distorting the room as I followed Chris’ gaze then grinned back at him.
“Honestly…” I whispered loudly, “I think he’s been caught in my web and lusting after me since the pool party…”
Sam snorted, Chris chuckled… tentatively but there was more to it. Hope.
“Slayers use stakes… it’s crude and mostly for effect… cus, well, they’re assholes usually. All you really have to do is utter the incantation and you will call his powers out… draw them out of his body.”
I nodded, we both did and let Sam position us across from each other and dusted the ground slightly with some grain. He admitted that the substance wasn’t necessary per se but that it might help ease the jolt of power from slamming into me so quickly. He also admitted that I should brace myself against any resistance… that I’d have to focus harder if I encountered any.
Of course, there was none. I touched my hands to Chris’ wrists… or any part of him per Sam’s guidance… but I chose his wrists and immediately the power sprung forward. A bright haze shrouded him and began to pulse and hiss where my hands connected with him. Chris offered no resistance at all, opened himself to the transfer, and in a matter of seconds, it was done.
And my whole being soared. Like a violent chemical imbalance, I jittered and felt my brain flitting from one thought to the other without hesitation or restraint. I laughed, loudly and spun around as if I were seeing spiraling lights rushing around me, or huge butterflies darting from point to point. Or a cat chasing laser pointers from 100 different users. My fingers twitched, spread then curled making me stare down at them. Fascinated, I almost imagined that they glowed with the coursing power filling me.
Chris laughed too, drawing my focus for a moment… forcing me to wade through the spiraling tornado of thoughts muddled in my head.
“It worked!” The relief set ablaze inside me… something primal and wild… excitement that I had given him this peace… that I’d be able to actually make a difference for him. Then he looked devastated… eyes widening, his fingers shifting as well, closing, reopening… and it was slowly creeping in on him just what all of this meant.
His power… all vibrant and pulsing raged inside of me now. It had my mind in a riotous fog, all vigorous and robust. And with all the emotions and senses going haywire inside me… his humanness was sharply noticeable. I could smell and hear the blood coursing through his body. And strangely, I could feel the sorrow welling up inside of him.
“I’m sorry…” I whispered it… wanting to mean it but I clenched my fists, gripping the power inside me… feeling stingy and greedy and wildly euphoric. “I… I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.”
I couldn’t. Or I could and I could not in any way envy him.
“I just… It’s more the loss of brotherhood with Phillip and now… perhaps our relationship now that you’ve moved on to this world.” He shrugged with a slow sad grin. “We need to figure out how to get you two human with me instead…”
It was obviously a joke. Maybe. I laughed, quickly shaking my head and clutching my hands tighter. There was simply no way. I said as much… boldly…
“I never want to go back to that…”
He laughed as well but I definitely knew it was etched in heartache that he was now much less than he was… even more than he had felt before as a half-fang. My mind continued reeling, my body twitching eagerly for something… everything more. I could smell and hear and see better than even just moments before. All that Chris had honed in the last few years of his life was now part of me.
“And you know damn well that you will always be Phillip’s brother… no matter if you're a vampire or not.” I hissed fiercely and rushed on when he tried to voice his doubts, “And you’ll always… always be my friend. I came back to make damned sure you were safe… maybe fucked up my whole future for it so if you think you are going to just walk away and never see me again you’re a complete moron!”
His eyes brimmed with his human tears even as he put on a brave smiling face.
“There is a way…” we both spun, seeing that Sam had stepped back giving us some space, and stood in a corner of the room, “that you can be vampires together again…”
I arched a brow and perhaps fed off the quick flare of hope that made Chris’ pulse race a bit faster. I turned to look at him… my eyes flashing darkly as my gaze fell to his neck, the vibrant pulse tearing away my curiosity about whatever Sam was saying. He was speaking… I simply could not hear it over the throbbing of blood in the body next to me. My nostrils flared.
“I am not sure about being a half-fang again.”
I blinked and shook violently as Sam laid his hands on me, dragging me back to the present and out of the cyclone of hunger that had suddenly overtaken me. Chris seemed utterly clueless and to be honest, I had no real consciousness of what I had actually been thinking in those moments that they had spoken outside of my fog.
“I don’t have the best track record as a sire… and Devyn is far too green to be a sire. But…” he looked at Chris steadily… “I still have a vial of the blood that she used during her self-siring ritual. You could do the same.”
I felt Sam’s soothing touch keeping the chaos in me at bay at that moment and was relieved to have him. Because I knew there was no telling what I might do if he weren’t.
Chris hesitated… worried over his last experience as a vampire… worried about tainted blood and isolation and discrimination. But Sam took the time to assure him and walk him through the process. Convincing him that it wouldn’t be like before. That he would be curse-free and more bound to me than anything else. Siblings really.
I almost laughed. Not out of any sense of disbelief or snide resentment. Nothing at all like that. It was pure delight racing through me. I had no siblings. No family. Having Chris be that to me sounded like an absolutely fine idea.
Chris, after only another brief hesitation, grinned and nodded.
Then together, the three of us prepared Chris for the ritual with Sam and I watching over him until he finally drifts off to sleep.Battle Royale - DONE
A fire burned in me, coiling and bubbling from my gut to my chest, all the way to my violently narrowed eyes. It was the sensations that hit me first before my brain caught up with me physically. Finally, the room came into focus… the crowd around me… the fact that I was standing alert and shouldered on each side by a strong, rigid body.
I peered to the right, Sam grinned slyly, one hand still gripping mine as I remembered from this moment, but the other flipped his coat back revealing the box that I’d seen him with just last night… which wasn’t really last night but was. The crazed bitch, Cassandra, was housed inside of it. I frowned but then I heard the screech erupting in the room.
Darting around, I witnessed Honor stepping forward on her dais, same as last time… yelling… repeating words and actions I’d already lived through.
The snarl to my left captured my attention next and my pulsed raced to see Chris there, right beside me, his fangs bared threateningly before he tossed me his own fiendish grin.
“Welcome back!”
“It worked!”
“Well… at least we’re alive… for now…”
Both our eyes reverted back to the commotion evolving second by second before us. I scanned the crowd again, connecting eyes with Phillip… closer than I remembered the last time I saw him. But then my eyes shifted beside him and I gasped, oddly, and tingled from head to toe.
It was almost as if I fell into some sort of trance… utterly captivated and compelled to reach that part of the ballroom. It took less than a few seconds to close the distance, barely noticing any of the others in the room as I did so. Even ignored Phillip in those few seconds as I stopped directly in front of Professor Kirkwood.
He looked startled, glancing first at me and then over to where Chris had moved in step beside me. Confused, I felt breathless… waiting for… well, I didn’t really know. But I knew there was something. My brain was rattling a mile a minute… and I tried to assure myself it was some remnant from last night's activities… I’d barely slept before reemerging here at the academy. But I knew that was not what was wrong with me at that moment. I felt anxious… damn near fatally so. Completely wired by some synergy radiating off the man before me. It felt crucial… critical that he see me… us... Chris and me.
He inhaled sharply and narrowed his gaze on us before darting his gaze up and over my shoulder. By the time I followed suit… chasing his regard, I found Sam… still standing where I’d just left him another of his smug grins spread across his face.
I couldn’t rationalize it… not with the chaos erupting around us and not with this sudden intensity swirling around in me. Then I saw it… Sam’s mouth moving… with words that were so far away that there was no way I could hear them. But I didn’t need to hear to read those lips I knew so well.
“You owed me, Kirkwood”
Immediately, I looked back, realization starting to sink in but I couldn’t even dare to think it… could I? Professor Kirkwood… the one professor at the school that I felt for sure hated all of our kind… or what we used to be rather… turned back and looked us both over with a resolved grimace.
“Very well…” He muttered giving each of us a stern look… “there’s no shaming the lineage in my family… do you understand?”
My eyes flashed darkly, vibrantly… excitedly as I spun to face Sam again and a violent surge of gratefulness… and desire… tore through me.
“Huh?” Chris muttered, slower to garner the situation it seemed.
“Mine…” Kirkwood explained, clapping Chris on the back and squeezing his shoulder firmly, “are tough and driven… and you’ll have the chance to prove it tonight… earn what you are.”
He reached over and did the same for me, patting my shoulder and nodding resolutely.
“I… I don’t understand though… I, I thought I was not sired. Sam said I wouldn’t be…”
Well, technically, what he told me was that he would not sire me.
“Sam, hmmm?” There was a definitely narrowing of his eyes as he glanced down at me and if I could blush I am sure I would be at that moment. “Well, Sam… has given up a very big advantage for this… don’t think I won’t be finding out why later…”
He twisted me to face the crowd ahead of us.
“What the hell is going on? Dev… you’re a vampire?!”
Phillip! I had forgotten all about him in those few moments. Chris though must have gotten the hint finally. He laughed… drawing more than one gaze in our direction but he stepped past me, wrapping his arms around Phillip in a tight hug. I laughed too, shocked, relieved, thrilled really, and stepped to Phillip as well, and wrapped him into a three-way embrace. He was so very utterly confused.
“We’re sired to Prof… Ki… I don’t even know what I’m supposed to call you now…”
“We’ll figure all of that out later… right now there are more important things to deal with.”
He was curt with his caution and nodded his head to the gathering vamps around Honor, again.
“Wait… what?”
But despite Phillip’s continued confusion, Theo interrupted the explanation I started to give and demanded we prepare to face what was to come.
He revealed in a hushed tone that he had secretly supported a movement… a rebellion against Honor and the Vampiric Council after what had happened here at VanDrake. Calling her an extremist and psychopathic. The human-vampire resistance had been preparing for weeks, without anyone being the wiser… or at least not I.
Sam made his way around to us, standing with the group that had started to form… both human and vampire. But I couldn’t help but sense that Theo seemed concerned. I noticed him glancing around as if he were looking for another but then his jaw set and I heard a sharp, blistering whistle screech out into the room. Oddly, it seemed that none of the humans reacted at all but each vampire’s eyes flickered and rounded… at least those that weren’t already in full savage mode around Honor. And almost immediately there were several loud crashes and glass shattered in every direction.
Screams followed… both human and vampire… snarls and snapping teeth responded. Huge dark shadows flew past my head and landed on all fours with vicious intent several feet ahead.
My eyes burned with a savage rage that they would return after what they did to Phillip a little over a month ago. But before I could sink my already drawn claws and fangs into one of the beasts, Sam grabbed my arm and yelled to focus on the true enemy.
Wide-eyed and wild I spun, adjusted to the burst of flame that ignited against one of the curtains, and saw clearly that the werewolves were indeed attacking Honor’s group.
But it was the last moment of sanity that would hit me. Theo yelled… ordering us to get the humans out… I could hear their hearts beating… smell the aroma of their fear but I somehow managed to control the beast inside me and moved to help.
Encountering my first threat was both terrifying and thrilling. The guard… the one that wanted to teach me a lesson when Phillip tore my room apart that day. The guard that taunted and tried to intimidate me each chance he got after that bitch took over the school. He sneered vulgarly, his eyes dark, fangs barred…
“Look it… the bitchy blood bag… there’s nothing to stop me now” he sneered and sped forward. When I side-stepped he slammed into the column directly ahead and spun, thunderously glaring as he finally noticed my darkened eyes. Smirking, I parted my lips letting my fangs hang down for the first time and he did a double-take. “Filthy half-fang!” he spits angrily and charged again.
But he was riled up, too much of a beast to use any part of what must be an incredibly tiny brain. I moved again but managed to spin in enough time to wrap my hand around his wrist. With a move Sam taught me I moved into the rotation and pounced, jumping onto his back and gripping both hands around his thick, neanderthal neck.
And I chanted, squeezing… digging my nails into his flesh. He tried to resist but he hadn’t caught on soon enough and the surge of his power was already draining away, seeping with a brilliant glow through the tips of my fingers. I gasped at the rush, gritting my teeth and locking on harder when his struggling tried to grow but before long he collapsed, crying out in rage and fear.
Nostrils flared I shook with more power… shaking with it. His pulse grew steady… just as it had with Chris the night before. I growled making him spin, facing me. Then he started backing up, scooting really and lifting his hand, pleading for mercy. Now that he was human. I gritted my teeth… and then bared my fangs again as my gaze shifted to his throat as the sounds of bloody battle rang in my mind. The scents, the screams… all of it was dragging me into some dark, dangerous pit.
But somehow, beyond even my own understanding… I hissed with regret and snatched the unworthy beast to safety, dumping him outside with the other humans.
And I would return, again and again. I’d see slashed and ripped throats along my path… I did some of my own. And I was punched and cut… snapped at and singed to varying degrees. Fabric ripped, blood flowed but I continued to drag more ‘breathing’ bodies free of the room and the brutal melee taking place.
Each saved human tested my restraint in ways I could not imagine. Just the feel of their soft warm flesh under my fingers made me crave to plunge my fangs hard and deep as they screamed and sobbed at the horror unfolding around them. I imagined freeing them from the torment… silencing them. But, somehow, I’d win out and managed to return to the battle for yet another ruthless pass.
I stumbled once… twice… was shoved and yanked. There was so much blood and guts pilling upon the floor it was impossible not to have to wade through it all. The heat of the fire blazing around the room only accentuated the gruesome scene.
Then I was knocked brutally, falling to my hands and knees, and splattering into a mound of something now dead… permanently. All before I heard the loud anguished crunch of something joining the creatures my fingers dug through for purchase. When I spun around Theo hovered over me, his hand outstretched, with a furious glare to the monster that was now face down in the puddle of death beside me.
It cost him little strain to yank me to my feet but immediately my gaze spotted the beserking-monster charging at his back. I shouted vampirically and sneered viciously as the wild-eyed vampire flung back, crashing into a very coincidentally splintered banister rod. Theo was definitely surprised but there was little time to discuss where, when, or how I managed the magic needed for such an action.
The fighting continued… vampires whizzing back and forth… some fighting to save others determined to ruin. There were others too, humans I did not recognize but based on the stakes in their hands, it wasn’t too hard of a guess. But for the most part, they seemed focused on dragging humans free of the carnage and plunging their stakes into the monsters that attempted to stop them.
After another electrifyingly rapturous power drain, my eyes caught sight of Sam. The moment was fleeting… some strange space and time thing where I had the seconds to release a breath as I watched him as if in slow motion ruthlessly tearing our enemies into shreds with both magic and his bare hands. Then he reached into his coat and snatched out the box flipping the lid and releasing its contents into the crowd ahead of him…
But whatever it was… Cassandra I assumed, disappeared from sight as a loud blistering crack exploded and a huge burning post crashed to the ballroom floor directly in my path. I yelled out… forgetting everything and everyone else, and rushed headlong in the direction I’d last seen him. But Sam sprinted forward from the flames and winked, soot covering a majority of his clothes. But there was little time for me to celebrate or seek confirmation he was unharmed.
I moved back into action, grabbing the last of the humans I would help and wound up shaking in the grass beside wailing and injured bodies as VanDrake Academy was engulfed in a blazing inferno.
LOOKS:
R1-DONE | R2-DONE | R3-DONE | R4-DONE | R5-DONE
Last edited by BambiFoxx (04/06/2022 at 07:57)
