Post by Lady Hammer on Sept 27, 2007 22:51:38 GMT -5
7: Perfect Enemy
We stayed at Aleth’s side for most of the night, and thankfully Gabriella was smart enough not to ask what happened between us earlier. Besides, I sort of had the idea that she had already gathered it on her own. She could tell that I didn’t want to talk about it… that I didn’t want to be reminded of what I had done.
My brother seemed ashamed of me, but was surprisingly open and didn’t hide from me like I expected. It reminded me of old times… he always hid when he was disappointed, and I thought it was because he didn’t want anyone to know he was unhappy with them. If that was the case, he was way too thoughtful towards the people who put him through absolute hell. He looked so vicious and cold on the outside, but he was different. Inside, he broke all too often. I knew it. I could tell, I could see it in his eyes.
“What exactly did you do down there, Gabriella?” I was brought back to ground by his voice, suddenly realizing how curious I was, too. Both sets of eyes, his rusty brown ones and my still red ones – I had checked in the mirror – were on Gabriella, waiting for the story. I was suddenly afraid that maybe I had killed the good guys.
“I was scoping out the area, like I said I would,” she started, “but maybe I was doing it a little too conspicuously. The thugs came over to me, insulting me, making fun of us, telling me how scared and pathetic I looked when we came in the Moonspine. And then one of them got in my face.”
“And you punched him?” She frowned at me and nodded.
“What was I supposed to do?” she said, throwing her arms in the air. “It was either I hit them first, or they hit me first! And seeing how there were three of them, I kind of wanted to get in as many hits as possible.”
I could understand that. I gave a snarky little smile and patted the redhead on the back, but Aleth’s look didn’t improve, and it went straight to me. I had expected as much.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he asked me. Pursing my lips, I glared right back.
“I’d really rather not be scolded after I saved our companion’s life, so could you at least spare me that much?”
“Fine. But you need to get it through your head, Tizzy, that Sandroya is avidly searching for you! This little public display of affection isn’t going to help you pass by their men!”
Oh. That’s right. He saw the stupid look on my face and nodded.
“Yeah. I told you to be careful with what you are, Tizzy!” I hated being told twice, but since I was an idiot, and an idiot wouldn’t be able to protect someone in the long run, I decided to shut up and take it.
“You’re right,” I said. His eyes widened. “I’m sorry.” He seemed taken aback by my apology, and I was, too. Suddenly, I remembered yesterday… and how I had tried to apologize to Athen.
Athen…
I was homesick, but I did everything to keep the tears from welding up. I realized my pieces were broken, on the floor, and I could hardly remember who I was, who I had been, or what I had become. I didn’t want this. I wanted to go home. This was my imagination, this was a dream—
“Tizzy?”
Aleth’s voice startled me, and I let out a sigh.
“You were shaking. Are you okay?”
No. I wanted so bad to say no. I wasn’t okay, I was a filthy, bloodsucking murderer. I wanted to go home and forget about all of the things that were happening. I could manage! If I had fought back and defended myself for twenty-four years, I could keep doing it! I wasn’t okay, I was going crazy, I was killing people! I had killed! What did that make me? It made me scum! I was no better than those I had killed!
“Yes. I’m fine.”
His face relaxed a little bit, and he folded his arms, giving me what was almost a smile.
“Ignoring how you handled it, I do owe you a thank you for taking care of the situation downstairs. I couldn’t have done it in my state.”
“I owe you a thank you too, Tizzy,” Gabriella spoke up. Then, as I was being inflated with praise, there was a knock on the door. Were we to expect someone?
“I’ll take care of this, too,” I told Aleth, taking a deep breath and facing the door. At the time, all that was going through my head was “who the hell could this be?” That, and a silent hope it wasn’t someone else who wanted to slit our throats. Slowly, I pulled the door open.
Standing before me was another woman, somewhere between the ages of Gabriella and myself, who stood just a tad shorter than me. On the makeup caked face of hers was a sly smile, like she thought she knew so much more than me.
“Hey there!” I tried to hold back a cringe. “You put on quite a show back there!” Her hair reminded me of Adeska’s, how I missed her, only it wasn’t anywhere near as nice or long. But I was definitely not fond of whoever this woman was. First impressions were running rampant.
“Thanks.” Underneath her white peacoat, I could see thin clothing and a skirt that was surely not made to be worn in fall weather. “Who are you?” Her pale eyes gave me the smile that matched the one on her lips.
“Not an enemy,” she laughed. “Might I speak to Aleth?” I wanted to say “no”, but I turned back to my brother, who had his head in the palm of his hand.
“You hear that?” He sighed deeply and there was a streak of worry suddenly pulsing through my veins.
“Yeah. Could you and Gabriella leave us for a few minutes?” My eyes widened, a little surprised with the request… did the two know each other? I was going to find out. I walked past the woman without a word, Gabriella behind me, and went into our inn room.
Who the hell was that? Apparently, the redhead had the same question, because the first thing she reached for once we were inside was a rusty tin cup sitting on the night table, and she put it right up against the shared wall with Aleth’s room. Sneaky bitch was just as sneaky as I was! Grinning and knowing I still had heightened senses, I put my ear against the wall and listened with her.
“I know it’s none of my business, but I don’t trust her,” Gabriella said, narrowing her eyes. Aside from that same thought, I was also afraid of what kind of relationship she shared with my brother. He did not need smut in his life, and that’s exactly what she was.
“No kidding.”
I strained my ears. There was no sound, save for some rustling, and I figured it was Aleth getting off of his rickety bed. A sigh came next. Faint footsteps, pacing maybe, and then my brother’s voice.
“I didn’t expect to see you this soon. I know you told the convoy you’d meet up with me eventually, but this close to my home?” The woman giggled; a disgusting noise.
“Oh Aleth, I had to make sure you hadn’t changed plans again!”
“I did, actually.” He paused, and the silence was so agonizing. The woman didn’t say another word, just waiting, waiting, waiting. Like she was obligated to have some kind of word from him. “I’m not going straight to Sandroya.”
“What? Why not? We were all depending on you!”
My suspicions rose higher than they ever had before, but not for this woman. For Aleth. Gabriella must’ve sensed my distress, because she stared right at me, a tiny frown on her face, and she didn’t even have the slightest idea of what was going on.
“Lilu, have you or any of the others ever stopped to think about that plan? It’s suicide! You want me to go and take her up there, to the very place that plans to kill her and me?”
“You’re letting her control you, Aleth! It’s sick! It’s exactly what she wants, and she’s evolving so fast, she can use her abilities to control you before you can even—”
“Stop it! That’s not true!”
Expletives. I wanted to scream expletives, I was so confused. Were they conspiring against me? No. No, not Aleth. Please not Aleth!
“Come on, Aleth, get with it! When you fall, she’s not going to catch you, no matter how much help you’ve given her!”
“Lilu, please, she’s my sister!”
“Don’t think I don’t remember all of those horrible things you said about your family! You grew up with us, Aleth. The convoy is your family now, and this ‘sister’ of yours is our key to staying alive!”
My jaw dropped.
“I’m not going to use her, Lilu.”
“Why not? She wronged you all those years ago, didn’t she? You should use the little bitch for what she’s worth!”
“Don’t chastise me just because I know how to forgive and you don’t!” The woman shut up after that, at least for awhile. I felt like I was crumbling inside. What was happening? Part of me regretted ever having listened in on the conversation. But, that was only a part of me.
The other part was madder than hell, and that was the feeling written all over my face.
“You’re letting down the convoy, you traitor!” Lilu suddenly said, and then I heard a loud thump on our wall. Then, a louder thump on an opposing wall. Were they fighting?
“I was going to take her to the convoy, Lilu! She needs a home, too! I took her away from the one she had, so I can’t just leave her hanging! I’m not like you, I care about my family, even after the shit they did!”
“She’s a threat to us, Aleth! She’s on Sandroya’s top five!”
“And Leviticus and Louvittah aren’t? What the hell is wrong with you? Are you afraid of her?” Silence. I was glad that Aleth was standing up for me, but I still didn’t understand about half of what was happening.
“No…” More silence. I could feel my senses slowly starting to return to normal.
“No? Then I know what it is. You don’t like her because she’s not afraid of you!” Aleth then laughed, and it was a haughty, mocking laugh that I had used so many times myself. Then, however, I heard contact. Lilu had slapped him.
“She’s going to find herself a perfect enemy if you aren’t careful!” But I knew Aleth was smiling. I knew he would have something to say.
“No,” he replied. “You’ll find yourself a perfect enemy.”
I could only imagine her take to the threat. She must’ve been burning inside, because I know I would’ve been. And I indeed would make myself into a perfect enemy. Gabriella and I waited for further conversation, but it didn’t seem like there was anything more to say.
“I would strongly advise staying far, far away from the convoy, you little traitor! And maybe think about whose word Leviticus and Louvittah would take. Yours? Or mine?” Then, the door slammed. Immediately, I stood.
“Did you hear that? Did you? They’re conspiring against me!” I said, turning to Gabriella. All she could do was sigh, when suddenly, there was a knock at our door, and it didn’t sound like Aleth’s. This would be good. I opened it to see exactly who I had expected.
“I know you were listening in, you little bitch!” I don’t really know what overcame me, but I couldn’t stop it. My hands shot up and wrapped around Lilu’s slender neck, and I could feel the familiar hot sensation brew inside of me.
“What difference does it make?” I asked her. “I know about as much as you do, in the long run.” She coughed and I could feel my nails begin to thicken and grow. It was going to happen again. “Don’t I, perfect enemy?” She gasped for air. Oh, what a wonderful noise it was. “You’d better be careful of what you say to Aleth.”
Then, her skin started to whiten and gray, and her own clawed hands dug into my arms. Her hair grew dark, her eyes became like ice – I was beginning to realize that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. She wasn’t any nightwalker, that much was evident.
I needed more blood. I couldn’t believe I was thinking such a horrible thing, but if I was to fend her off, I needed more. Aleth’s had been a mere shock to the system.
Wait, what the hell was I thinking? No! No more blood! I would not be living life as a damned bloodsucker! What they did was sick and disgraceful! I would be above them. But how was I going to fend off Lilu and respect my vow at the same time?
The stairs. Lilu’s skin started to grow thick, and maybe even slightly scaly, but I was only focused on the staircase, which thankfully was just a little ways down the hall. And I don’t care who you are; a trip down the stairs would hinder anyone.
“How dare you pit yourself against me!” Her voice was raspy, inhuman… what the hell was she? She raked her claws all down the length of my arms, trails of blood running from my new lacerations. I winced, bit my tongue, and kept my hands firmly around her neck.
“You started throwing names,” I said, “so don’t play like I started it!” I pushed her back bit by bit, wondering if Gabriella was going to jump in or not. Either way, it was fine. I liked handling things on my own, and besides – what kind of a perfect enemy can’t fight her own battles? The stairs were within reach when suddenly, Lilu opened her mouth to reveal a snake-like tongue, fangs, and—
“Shit!”
Venom sacs. She spit the venom right in my face, and immediately, I let her go, kicking her down the stairway as I rubbed my eyes. Stupid idea, I know, rubbing your eyes was a huge no-no, but it was purely instinctual. The devilish woman tumbled down, hopefully breaking a bone on every step. But the poison…
It stung so bad, and I knew rubbing was a bad idea when I stopped to look, noticing that my eyes were seeing everything with a magenta tint. That had to be bad, and it turned out I was right, after I fell to the ground unconscious.
When you’re unconscious, I’ve always found that the strangest things appear, and the poison wasn’t helping. When I had been in that coma some twelve years ago, for nearly eight months, I had no idea that I was unconscious. I was living a different life with different people around me, I… had no idea who I really was. They called me “Tizetta” there. While Lilu’s poison rendered me unconscious, though, I ran into one of my old friends.
There was a large forest, and it was beautiful, serene… much nicer than the one outside of the Hallenar House. I remembered where I was! I knew this place! I had been here so many times during those eight comatose months. My boots crunched on the soft earth, made up of pine needles and fallen twigs, and I looked for the reason I had been brought there. In the distance, there was a large tree about as wide as a small cottage. A woman lived in there, all by herself. I remembered how I used to visit her, strolling through that very forest. So many things came back to me – the girl who looked just like Rori who haunted me even in a coma, a few other women that I was always starting problems with, a man I could not have but had grown to love… I couldn’t believe I was back!
But, that could only mean one thing. My jovial nature drained with all the color in my face. Was I in another coma? Immediately, I ran for the tree, as fast as I could.
“Talora!”
I wasn’t even there yet and I was calling.
“Talora!”
Within moments, I reached my destination; the home inside the tree trunk. At once, I banged on the door.
“Talora!”
“Door’s open, dear.” It was still the same woman. I was still in the same place… I caught my breath, filling my lungs with the cold forest air before coming in. I was so afraid to see that I was there… I didn’t want to be there! No! I wanted to go back to my home! My hands shook, turning the doorknob. But when I walked inside, the scent of fresh herbal tea greeted my nose, at once calming my nerves.
“The rumor is true!” My eyes scanned over the woman’s home, searching for changes; there were none. Everything was still the same, made of wood… a dark green blanket covered the only bed, the one that she was constantly giving to guests, and the same ancient maroon rug was still collecting tea stains beneath her rocking chair.
“What rumor?” I asked, folding my arms. The woman herself looked like she could be an older version of myself, but she didn’t act like me worth a damn, unless in a few years I happened to completely lose it and started acting sweet and loving. She was always dressed so elegantly in black tea dresses, and her hair was never put up in any way. The long midnight curls tumbled all the way past her waist.
“The one about you finally accepting what you are,” Talora replied, sipping tea from one of her finer cups. She just sat there in her chair, rocking back and forth like nothing was wrong by my being there.
“What do you mean? Any rumors about me that may have been flying around here aren’t true! This realm is not my home, Tal!”
“Oh, I know.” My eyes narrowed, watching her take another sip.
“You… you do?”
“Of course! Tizetta, we’re not stupid around here. You live in the Physical Planes, not your own Mental Planes. But a small part of you does and always will.” The Mental Planes… did she mean my mind?
“I’m not in a coma, am I?”
“No, not this time,” she answered, finishing off her tea. That was nice to know.
“Am I dead?” Talora stopped there, sighing, standing up to pour herself some more, and I knew that this was more serious than I thought.
“We’ll have to see about that one,” she said. “You picked a fine person to mess with tonight. It’s very likely that the toxin in your body will kill you.”
“How do you know all of this? You don’t even exist where that happened!” I didn’t mean to be as indignant as I was, but Talora still gave me a tiny smile, like she knew better than to take offense.
“Please Tizzy!” she laughed. “You’re going to hurt my feelings! The second life you had with us was created just in case you didn’t survive the coma that your poor big brother accidentally put you through! Don’t you see it? You weren’t meant to die then, but just in case, you were ready to live on.” How did she know this? A lot of things that I thought I had been able to comprehend were slipping away from me, and if I had thought parts of myself were slipping away before then, I had no idea what to say about them now. They were almost completely gone. Everything I ever knew was changing right before my eyes. Even my “second life”, that I thought only I could understand.
“Talora, what’s going on?” My voice was hushed, but I didn’t know why. I think I was scared. “I don’t understand.” She stood over her tea kettle, deep in thought, and I wished I could see into her mind. I wanted to know what all of this was about. Everything was on a whole different level than I was perceiving it.
“Tizzy, ask me any question about yourself and what you are, and I can answer it for you. Go ahead, ask me.” My eyes locked onto hers. They were red.
“How did I become what I am?”
“You were turned a long time ago, at the same time your brother was—”
“Aleth?”
“Yes, that one. You were turned by the Father of all Nightwalkers himself, Tizzy. The evidence is all over your body. It is clean of scars.”
“Then what about Aleth?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “None of this makes any sense! He has marks on his neck, but wouldn’t he have been turned by this so-called ‘Father of all Nightwalkers’, too?” Talora gave me a very placid smile.
“No, Tizetta. You turned him.”
My eyes shot open to see Aleth and Gabriella hovering over my grounded body. All of the self-hate and remorse in the world was just pooling up inside of me. What had I done? And he didn’t let on to a damn thing. At all. I was sure he hated me! He had to! I ruined his life!
“Tizzy?” He put a hand to my cheek and leaned in closer. “Gabriella, how are we going to stop her shaking?” The redhead bit her lip and started tugging at a fistful of her hair.
“I don’t know. How’s her temperature?”
“Bad.”
“Shoot! There’s not a hospital around for miles! The symptoms are coming upon her really fast!” I didn’t feel anything, though. I was fine. Why couldn’t I tell them that? And why was I having such a hard time breathing?
“Dammit! Gabriella, I think something in her throat is swelling! She’s choking!”
No! No, don’t tell me I was dying! I didn’t want to go back with Talora… I didn’t want to leave Aleth and Gabriella! I was dying! That bitch Lilu was going to kill me! She was going to win!
But I was the perfect enemy. I couldn’t die. I wouldn’t die, not without making that very, painfully, clear.
“What’s happening?” The redhead looked down at me, puzzled, ready to place a wet towel over my head. “She’s… she’s stopped shaking!”
“So has the swelling in her face. And… good god, she’s breathing normally again!” I still was hardly sentient, though! I couldn’t feel any of the things happening to my body. But… there was a warm serenity, and things just stopped being an issue. I stopped caring about all of the stressful things plaguing me, and looked up into my brother’s eyes. He had looked out for me all this time, despite the horrid things I put him through. His eyes showed more fright than I think I’ve ever seen in any one person. He tried to speak, but I couldn’t hear him. He tapped my cheeks, but I couldn’t feel him. Everything was… peaceful…
I didn’t have a care in the world.
My life had been absolutely unfulfilled, but I didn’t care. My vision started fading until everything finally became one blurred sunset, getting darker and darker as I slipped under.
Goodbye.
It was beautiful.
Goodbye.
We stayed at Aleth’s side for most of the night, and thankfully Gabriella was smart enough not to ask what happened between us earlier. Besides, I sort of had the idea that she had already gathered it on her own. She could tell that I didn’t want to talk about it… that I didn’t want to be reminded of what I had done.
My brother seemed ashamed of me, but was surprisingly open and didn’t hide from me like I expected. It reminded me of old times… he always hid when he was disappointed, and I thought it was because he didn’t want anyone to know he was unhappy with them. If that was the case, he was way too thoughtful towards the people who put him through absolute hell. He looked so vicious and cold on the outside, but he was different. Inside, he broke all too often. I knew it. I could tell, I could see it in his eyes.
“What exactly did you do down there, Gabriella?” I was brought back to ground by his voice, suddenly realizing how curious I was, too. Both sets of eyes, his rusty brown ones and my still red ones – I had checked in the mirror – were on Gabriella, waiting for the story. I was suddenly afraid that maybe I had killed the good guys.
“I was scoping out the area, like I said I would,” she started, “but maybe I was doing it a little too conspicuously. The thugs came over to me, insulting me, making fun of us, telling me how scared and pathetic I looked when we came in the Moonspine. And then one of them got in my face.”
“And you punched him?” She frowned at me and nodded.
“What was I supposed to do?” she said, throwing her arms in the air. “It was either I hit them first, or they hit me first! And seeing how there were three of them, I kind of wanted to get in as many hits as possible.”
I could understand that. I gave a snarky little smile and patted the redhead on the back, but Aleth’s look didn’t improve, and it went straight to me. I had expected as much.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he asked me. Pursing my lips, I glared right back.
“I’d really rather not be scolded after I saved our companion’s life, so could you at least spare me that much?”
“Fine. But you need to get it through your head, Tizzy, that Sandroya is avidly searching for you! This little public display of affection isn’t going to help you pass by their men!”
Oh. That’s right. He saw the stupid look on my face and nodded.
“Yeah. I told you to be careful with what you are, Tizzy!” I hated being told twice, but since I was an idiot, and an idiot wouldn’t be able to protect someone in the long run, I decided to shut up and take it.
“You’re right,” I said. His eyes widened. “I’m sorry.” He seemed taken aback by my apology, and I was, too. Suddenly, I remembered yesterday… and how I had tried to apologize to Athen.
Athen…
I was homesick, but I did everything to keep the tears from welding up. I realized my pieces were broken, on the floor, and I could hardly remember who I was, who I had been, or what I had become. I didn’t want this. I wanted to go home. This was my imagination, this was a dream—
“Tizzy?”
Aleth’s voice startled me, and I let out a sigh.
“You were shaking. Are you okay?”
No. I wanted so bad to say no. I wasn’t okay, I was a filthy, bloodsucking murderer. I wanted to go home and forget about all of the things that were happening. I could manage! If I had fought back and defended myself for twenty-four years, I could keep doing it! I wasn’t okay, I was going crazy, I was killing people! I had killed! What did that make me? It made me scum! I was no better than those I had killed!
“Yes. I’m fine.”
His face relaxed a little bit, and he folded his arms, giving me what was almost a smile.
“Ignoring how you handled it, I do owe you a thank you for taking care of the situation downstairs. I couldn’t have done it in my state.”
“I owe you a thank you too, Tizzy,” Gabriella spoke up. Then, as I was being inflated with praise, there was a knock on the door. Were we to expect someone?
“I’ll take care of this, too,” I told Aleth, taking a deep breath and facing the door. At the time, all that was going through my head was “who the hell could this be?” That, and a silent hope it wasn’t someone else who wanted to slit our throats. Slowly, I pulled the door open.
Standing before me was another woman, somewhere between the ages of Gabriella and myself, who stood just a tad shorter than me. On the makeup caked face of hers was a sly smile, like she thought she knew so much more than me.
“Hey there!” I tried to hold back a cringe. “You put on quite a show back there!” Her hair reminded me of Adeska’s, how I missed her, only it wasn’t anywhere near as nice or long. But I was definitely not fond of whoever this woman was. First impressions were running rampant.
“Thanks.” Underneath her white peacoat, I could see thin clothing and a skirt that was surely not made to be worn in fall weather. “Who are you?” Her pale eyes gave me the smile that matched the one on her lips.
“Not an enemy,” she laughed. “Might I speak to Aleth?” I wanted to say “no”, but I turned back to my brother, who had his head in the palm of his hand.
“You hear that?” He sighed deeply and there was a streak of worry suddenly pulsing through my veins.
“Yeah. Could you and Gabriella leave us for a few minutes?” My eyes widened, a little surprised with the request… did the two know each other? I was going to find out. I walked past the woman without a word, Gabriella behind me, and went into our inn room.
Who the hell was that? Apparently, the redhead had the same question, because the first thing she reached for once we were inside was a rusty tin cup sitting on the night table, and she put it right up against the shared wall with Aleth’s room. Sneaky bitch was just as sneaky as I was! Grinning and knowing I still had heightened senses, I put my ear against the wall and listened with her.
“I know it’s none of my business, but I don’t trust her,” Gabriella said, narrowing her eyes. Aside from that same thought, I was also afraid of what kind of relationship she shared with my brother. He did not need smut in his life, and that’s exactly what she was.
“No kidding.”
I strained my ears. There was no sound, save for some rustling, and I figured it was Aleth getting off of his rickety bed. A sigh came next. Faint footsteps, pacing maybe, and then my brother’s voice.
“I didn’t expect to see you this soon. I know you told the convoy you’d meet up with me eventually, but this close to my home?” The woman giggled; a disgusting noise.
“Oh Aleth, I had to make sure you hadn’t changed plans again!”
“I did, actually.” He paused, and the silence was so agonizing. The woman didn’t say another word, just waiting, waiting, waiting. Like she was obligated to have some kind of word from him. “I’m not going straight to Sandroya.”
“What? Why not? We were all depending on you!”
My suspicions rose higher than they ever had before, but not for this woman. For Aleth. Gabriella must’ve sensed my distress, because she stared right at me, a tiny frown on her face, and she didn’t even have the slightest idea of what was going on.
“Lilu, have you or any of the others ever stopped to think about that plan? It’s suicide! You want me to go and take her up there, to the very place that plans to kill her and me?”
“You’re letting her control you, Aleth! It’s sick! It’s exactly what she wants, and she’s evolving so fast, she can use her abilities to control you before you can even—”
“Stop it! That’s not true!”
Expletives. I wanted to scream expletives, I was so confused. Were they conspiring against me? No. No, not Aleth. Please not Aleth!
“Come on, Aleth, get with it! When you fall, she’s not going to catch you, no matter how much help you’ve given her!”
“Lilu, please, she’s my sister!”
“Don’t think I don’t remember all of those horrible things you said about your family! You grew up with us, Aleth. The convoy is your family now, and this ‘sister’ of yours is our key to staying alive!”
My jaw dropped.
“I’m not going to use her, Lilu.”
“Why not? She wronged you all those years ago, didn’t she? You should use the little bitch for what she’s worth!”
“Don’t chastise me just because I know how to forgive and you don’t!” The woman shut up after that, at least for awhile. I felt like I was crumbling inside. What was happening? Part of me regretted ever having listened in on the conversation. But, that was only a part of me.
The other part was madder than hell, and that was the feeling written all over my face.
“You’re letting down the convoy, you traitor!” Lilu suddenly said, and then I heard a loud thump on our wall. Then, a louder thump on an opposing wall. Were they fighting?
“I was going to take her to the convoy, Lilu! She needs a home, too! I took her away from the one she had, so I can’t just leave her hanging! I’m not like you, I care about my family, even after the shit they did!”
“She’s a threat to us, Aleth! She’s on Sandroya’s top five!”
“And Leviticus and Louvittah aren’t? What the hell is wrong with you? Are you afraid of her?” Silence. I was glad that Aleth was standing up for me, but I still didn’t understand about half of what was happening.
“No…” More silence. I could feel my senses slowly starting to return to normal.
“No? Then I know what it is. You don’t like her because she’s not afraid of you!” Aleth then laughed, and it was a haughty, mocking laugh that I had used so many times myself. Then, however, I heard contact. Lilu had slapped him.
“She’s going to find herself a perfect enemy if you aren’t careful!” But I knew Aleth was smiling. I knew he would have something to say.
“No,” he replied. “You’ll find yourself a perfect enemy.”
I could only imagine her take to the threat. She must’ve been burning inside, because I know I would’ve been. And I indeed would make myself into a perfect enemy. Gabriella and I waited for further conversation, but it didn’t seem like there was anything more to say.
“I would strongly advise staying far, far away from the convoy, you little traitor! And maybe think about whose word Leviticus and Louvittah would take. Yours? Or mine?” Then, the door slammed. Immediately, I stood.
“Did you hear that? Did you? They’re conspiring against me!” I said, turning to Gabriella. All she could do was sigh, when suddenly, there was a knock at our door, and it didn’t sound like Aleth’s. This would be good. I opened it to see exactly who I had expected.
“I know you were listening in, you little bitch!” I don’t really know what overcame me, but I couldn’t stop it. My hands shot up and wrapped around Lilu’s slender neck, and I could feel the familiar hot sensation brew inside of me.
“What difference does it make?” I asked her. “I know about as much as you do, in the long run.” She coughed and I could feel my nails begin to thicken and grow. It was going to happen again. “Don’t I, perfect enemy?” She gasped for air. Oh, what a wonderful noise it was. “You’d better be careful of what you say to Aleth.”
Then, her skin started to whiten and gray, and her own clawed hands dug into my arms. Her hair grew dark, her eyes became like ice – I was beginning to realize that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. She wasn’t any nightwalker, that much was evident.
I needed more blood. I couldn’t believe I was thinking such a horrible thing, but if I was to fend her off, I needed more. Aleth’s had been a mere shock to the system.
Wait, what the hell was I thinking? No! No more blood! I would not be living life as a damned bloodsucker! What they did was sick and disgraceful! I would be above them. But how was I going to fend off Lilu and respect my vow at the same time?
The stairs. Lilu’s skin started to grow thick, and maybe even slightly scaly, but I was only focused on the staircase, which thankfully was just a little ways down the hall. And I don’t care who you are; a trip down the stairs would hinder anyone.
“How dare you pit yourself against me!” Her voice was raspy, inhuman… what the hell was she? She raked her claws all down the length of my arms, trails of blood running from my new lacerations. I winced, bit my tongue, and kept my hands firmly around her neck.
“You started throwing names,” I said, “so don’t play like I started it!” I pushed her back bit by bit, wondering if Gabriella was going to jump in or not. Either way, it was fine. I liked handling things on my own, and besides – what kind of a perfect enemy can’t fight her own battles? The stairs were within reach when suddenly, Lilu opened her mouth to reveal a snake-like tongue, fangs, and—
“Shit!”
Venom sacs. She spit the venom right in my face, and immediately, I let her go, kicking her down the stairway as I rubbed my eyes. Stupid idea, I know, rubbing your eyes was a huge no-no, but it was purely instinctual. The devilish woman tumbled down, hopefully breaking a bone on every step. But the poison…
It stung so bad, and I knew rubbing was a bad idea when I stopped to look, noticing that my eyes were seeing everything with a magenta tint. That had to be bad, and it turned out I was right, after I fell to the ground unconscious.
When you’re unconscious, I’ve always found that the strangest things appear, and the poison wasn’t helping. When I had been in that coma some twelve years ago, for nearly eight months, I had no idea that I was unconscious. I was living a different life with different people around me, I… had no idea who I really was. They called me “Tizetta” there. While Lilu’s poison rendered me unconscious, though, I ran into one of my old friends.
There was a large forest, and it was beautiful, serene… much nicer than the one outside of the Hallenar House. I remembered where I was! I knew this place! I had been here so many times during those eight comatose months. My boots crunched on the soft earth, made up of pine needles and fallen twigs, and I looked for the reason I had been brought there. In the distance, there was a large tree about as wide as a small cottage. A woman lived in there, all by herself. I remembered how I used to visit her, strolling through that very forest. So many things came back to me – the girl who looked just like Rori who haunted me even in a coma, a few other women that I was always starting problems with, a man I could not have but had grown to love… I couldn’t believe I was back!
But, that could only mean one thing. My jovial nature drained with all the color in my face. Was I in another coma? Immediately, I ran for the tree, as fast as I could.
“Talora!”
I wasn’t even there yet and I was calling.
“Talora!”
Within moments, I reached my destination; the home inside the tree trunk. At once, I banged on the door.
“Talora!”
“Door’s open, dear.” It was still the same woman. I was still in the same place… I caught my breath, filling my lungs with the cold forest air before coming in. I was so afraid to see that I was there… I didn’t want to be there! No! I wanted to go back to my home! My hands shook, turning the doorknob. But when I walked inside, the scent of fresh herbal tea greeted my nose, at once calming my nerves.
“The rumor is true!” My eyes scanned over the woman’s home, searching for changes; there were none. Everything was still the same, made of wood… a dark green blanket covered the only bed, the one that she was constantly giving to guests, and the same ancient maroon rug was still collecting tea stains beneath her rocking chair.
“What rumor?” I asked, folding my arms. The woman herself looked like she could be an older version of myself, but she didn’t act like me worth a damn, unless in a few years I happened to completely lose it and started acting sweet and loving. She was always dressed so elegantly in black tea dresses, and her hair was never put up in any way. The long midnight curls tumbled all the way past her waist.
“The one about you finally accepting what you are,” Talora replied, sipping tea from one of her finer cups. She just sat there in her chair, rocking back and forth like nothing was wrong by my being there.
“What do you mean? Any rumors about me that may have been flying around here aren’t true! This realm is not my home, Tal!”
“Oh, I know.” My eyes narrowed, watching her take another sip.
“You… you do?”
“Of course! Tizetta, we’re not stupid around here. You live in the Physical Planes, not your own Mental Planes. But a small part of you does and always will.” The Mental Planes… did she mean my mind?
“I’m not in a coma, am I?”
“No, not this time,” she answered, finishing off her tea. That was nice to know.
“Am I dead?” Talora stopped there, sighing, standing up to pour herself some more, and I knew that this was more serious than I thought.
“We’ll have to see about that one,” she said. “You picked a fine person to mess with tonight. It’s very likely that the toxin in your body will kill you.”
“How do you know all of this? You don’t even exist where that happened!” I didn’t mean to be as indignant as I was, but Talora still gave me a tiny smile, like she knew better than to take offense.
“Please Tizzy!” she laughed. “You’re going to hurt my feelings! The second life you had with us was created just in case you didn’t survive the coma that your poor big brother accidentally put you through! Don’t you see it? You weren’t meant to die then, but just in case, you were ready to live on.” How did she know this? A lot of things that I thought I had been able to comprehend were slipping away from me, and if I had thought parts of myself were slipping away before then, I had no idea what to say about them now. They were almost completely gone. Everything I ever knew was changing right before my eyes. Even my “second life”, that I thought only I could understand.
“Talora, what’s going on?” My voice was hushed, but I didn’t know why. I think I was scared. “I don’t understand.” She stood over her tea kettle, deep in thought, and I wished I could see into her mind. I wanted to know what all of this was about. Everything was on a whole different level than I was perceiving it.
“Tizzy, ask me any question about yourself and what you are, and I can answer it for you. Go ahead, ask me.” My eyes locked onto hers. They were red.
“How did I become what I am?”
“You were turned a long time ago, at the same time your brother was—”
“Aleth?”
“Yes, that one. You were turned by the Father of all Nightwalkers himself, Tizzy. The evidence is all over your body. It is clean of scars.”
“Then what about Aleth?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “None of this makes any sense! He has marks on his neck, but wouldn’t he have been turned by this so-called ‘Father of all Nightwalkers’, too?” Talora gave me a very placid smile.
“No, Tizetta. You turned him.”
My eyes shot open to see Aleth and Gabriella hovering over my grounded body. All of the self-hate and remorse in the world was just pooling up inside of me. What had I done? And he didn’t let on to a damn thing. At all. I was sure he hated me! He had to! I ruined his life!
“Tizzy?” He put a hand to my cheek and leaned in closer. “Gabriella, how are we going to stop her shaking?” The redhead bit her lip and started tugging at a fistful of her hair.
“I don’t know. How’s her temperature?”
“Bad.”
“Shoot! There’s not a hospital around for miles! The symptoms are coming upon her really fast!” I didn’t feel anything, though. I was fine. Why couldn’t I tell them that? And why was I having such a hard time breathing?
“Dammit! Gabriella, I think something in her throat is swelling! She’s choking!”
No! No, don’t tell me I was dying! I didn’t want to go back with Talora… I didn’t want to leave Aleth and Gabriella! I was dying! That bitch Lilu was going to kill me! She was going to win!
But I was the perfect enemy. I couldn’t die. I wouldn’t die, not without making that very, painfully, clear.
“What’s happening?” The redhead looked down at me, puzzled, ready to place a wet towel over my head. “She’s… she’s stopped shaking!”
“So has the swelling in her face. And… good god, she’s breathing normally again!” I still was hardly sentient, though! I couldn’t feel any of the things happening to my body. But… there was a warm serenity, and things just stopped being an issue. I stopped caring about all of the stressful things plaguing me, and looked up into my brother’s eyes. He had looked out for me all this time, despite the horrid things I put him through. His eyes showed more fright than I think I’ve ever seen in any one person. He tried to speak, but I couldn’t hear him. He tapped my cheeks, but I couldn’t feel him. Everything was… peaceful…
I didn’t have a care in the world.
My life had been absolutely unfulfilled, but I didn’t care. My vision started fading until everything finally became one blurred sunset, getting darker and darker as I slipped under.
Goodbye.
It was beautiful.
Goodbye.
