The Betrayal
Halloween marked the dark event to bring Brian back to us. Everyone was buzzing about making plans & decorating! It was so exciting! Raine had made a surprise appearance much to my dismay. I had to explain to the coven that she wasn't immortal and just my guardian, to please respect my wishes in keeping her that way. Jason took to her, immediately making me worry. It made me extremely nervous having her there. I worried she would be tempted by the dark side, especially if Jason were enchanting her. I took Jason aside and threatened his life if her so much as breathed on her neck. His eyes glaring at me, he reluctantly agreed not to touch her. I wasn't at ease and mildly content at the moment.
Gwyneth's sweet voice broke the tense atmospshere, calling me upstairs for help. Finally taking my eyes from Jason, I walked out of the den towards the stairs. As I left I could hear Raine flirting with him, making my teeth clench.
I told Gwyneth I needed to go out this evening before the party. She questioned me, but I told her it had to do with my costume, so she shrugged it off as nothing. That allowed me sometime to think & breathe. I could feel something closing in on me I felt. There was a presence close, possibly that dark soul that has followed me for such a long time. He's like a shadow, just trailing behind me. I felt something slowly squeezing my neck it felt. If I thought about it too much, I felt faint. I had to get out.
I dashed to my room for a quick change into my comforting black catsuit. I was at home in it as much as I was my own skin. I adored my black clothes. I threw open the terrace doors and lept into the dark stale night. The wind streamed smoothly across my porcelein skin. The moon shown brightly, illuminating the coast. I loved soaring at night, even moreso, along the surf.
Images flooded my mind, pictures I could not describe. They felt like memories, but I could not recollect them to be my memories. They seem to flood in unwillingly. As if someone else were putting them inside my head. It had to be my mysterious dark soul. He seemed to have powers all his own. He felt close, but it wasn't frightening anymore. It felt comforting, protective maybe.
I returned to the shores below the Castle, where I ran into Richard. He approached me making small talk. I knew his motive in doing so, after all we had been through we were actually good friends. There were times we could talk without insulting one another. Trusting him with a secret was not beyond me. I told him what I did, and he laughed. He actually said he was proud of me. I was stunned, this wasn't like the Richard I knew.
"Your changing due to circumstances beyond your control." he spoke softly. "What I mean is we live such long lives, that we go through necessary changes just to continue our life. Our personalities change, thought patterns, even passions die out over the years. I just thought it was a process you would be used to by now."
"I thought I was, but these feelings are different." I nervously said. "Its not like any other times. I'm softening up I'm sfraid."
We stood looking at each toher combing our thoughts. He was concerned I was fighting a losing battle. He knew that me being the drama-queen & center of attention had lost its flair, he saw it in my eyes. I no longer wanted to play the game, more interesting things lie on the horizon just out of my reach. He knew I was longing for peace of mind. I was searching for the person I used to be. I was the pride of my kind. The very type that terrified mortals in ghost stories. That was the me I adored.
Gazing at the moon, I desired its peaceful loneliness that it held as the ruler of the midnight sky. So many splendored & respected the moon, as they once did me. I wanted it back. I felt I was losing myself in emotions.
I headed to my room to attempt to get ready for this gathering. I had an Egyptian attire to put on as well as all that make-up..~giggles~
The Castle was buzzing with excitement. Everyone was getting drunken with blood and Raine seemed to be drunk on wine, I guessed. I had came downstairs at what seemed to be an awkward moment. I felt very uncomfortable. As much as I hoped to recapture the old feelings of the way it used to be, I could not. Brian, by this time, had joined the party as well. He & Richard were mixing concoctions of blood, preparing to restore his once youthful presence, I presumed. Still, I could not shake the uncanny feeling I was having. I felt dizzy suddenly and the room seemed to spin. I quickly grabbed the bloodwine, thrusting it to my lips for a quick fix. I thought that might cure my ailment. I flopped down on the sofa, as the coven began to circle around me. I began to smother. I never had felt like this, I felt fear. They acted concerned, but I felt it was not sincere. In paranoia, I worried they had poisoned me, but it was much worse. In this altered state, Raine approached me. I could hardly make out what she was saying, my ears were ringing. All I remember seeing was the puncture marks on her neck.
I erupted in a rage never seen by them in their pathetic lives. I came utterly unglued. As fire began to erupt from the candles and fireplace, I screamed HOW COULD THEY? in a voice so enraged, it shook the very ground on which they stood. I began breaking everything I got my hands on. And what I did not touch I threw with my forces & uncontrolled emotion. They ran, and scattered like roaches throughout the Castle at my wrath. Raine stood and challenged me, of course. Slowly they one by one filtered back towards the den. She demanded to know why I was so enraged. She thought I would be joyous at her choice. All I could do was sob. How would she react to find out I was the monster who killed & fed off of her parents. They were my careless victims, and how I took her to cover my own feelings of guilt. How would she feel now knowing she was a monster, just as I? I cried in pain at what this was going to do, to all of us.
Brian was the first to throw the sarcasm at me. I knew he was reading my thoughts. He began to scoff at me, taunting me to reveal this terrible truth. He knew and it was killing me. He tortured me like a cat does a mouse. I felt sick. They seemed to be closing in again. Within myself I beckoned the strength to fight them off. Fire burst once again from the candles, as a gale forced open the Castle windows. I was pissed, but not beat down. And with his sarcasm seething, Brian began the torrid tale of Raine's childhood. Arrogantly he walked around me, spilling the details of how I feasted upon her birth parents, not knowing she slept just a few feet away. Glass shattered in the background , it seemed my rage would surely tear the castle apart.
Raine grew upset, as tears rolled down her face. I had totally hurt her. She was looking at me in such anger , pain & disappointment. All I could do was stand there, paralyzed, while Brian continued his charade. The rest of the coven stood in disbelief. Richard began to taunt me, hurling accusations at me. What a hypocryte I was, he said. How was it that they could so freely cross the boundaries I had set, but if I did the same, I hit brick walls. I didn't like this.
Raine walked to me and slapped me. Then she grabbed my throat as we wrestled to the ground. By this time I noticed the Castle was in flames around us, as the others hissed and screamed about. They were running away. Raine jumped up and told me she would finish this at a later time, and escaped into the smoke.
I laid there on the floor, flames licking at my feet. I was giving up, when suddenly in a swift unseen movement, I was swept out of the flames, and into the night.
When my eyes fluttered open, I couldn't recognize where I was. My eyes slowly came into focus on a figure close to me. I recoiled in fear, momentarily, until my eyes focused on Him--my shadow stalker. There he was finally before me for my eyes to drink in. Intoxicating he was, with his white hair, pale skin and penetrating eyes. He spoke not a word, as I just drank in his beauty. I was very intigued, and curious as to why he had saved me, and why he'd been following me. Maybe because he was to save me, and he knew it? But how...I could not understand. He extended his hand, touching my temple. He spoke softly saying I would remember, soon.
I felt safe within his presence. I watched his every move which seemed so familar. Flashes of memories began resurfacing. With every blink of my eyes, I could see images of Him & I exchanging heated touches, and wet, passionate kisses. My pulse quickened with these thoughts. He turned and looked at me as if he knew I was remembering. His eyes entranced me somewhat, as I remembered the dreams. He was there in them, the one watching, the one, whose face I could not see. My breathing became bated, as I remebered his touches.
He drew closer to me, never taking his eyes from mine. I reached for him, drawing him into a wet kiss. It was like going home. Everything came back to me in those moments. Our lips could not part, the kiss seemed to last forever. I knew he had been looking for me. We were connected somehow, I thought. The memories filtered through my weakened mind. He had finally found me, saved me. The feelings he stirred in me, were unlike any I had ever felt before. I knew nothing of him. Not even if he were immortal like me. I only knew he had wonderfully dark power, and he had saved me for a reason I was absolutely ready to spend an eternity finding out.
The next sundown he came back to awaken me. He wanted to talk. He allowed me to dress and poured me a rather large glass of bloodwine. I felt a sense of dread awaiting me. As I sipping the wine, he began speaking in a low, soft voice.
"Are you aware that I know one of your coven buddies, Tabbs?" I rolled my eyes in disgust, as a heavy breath escaped me. He continued.
"She came to me one night, with a lot of money. She was preparing to hire me for my services."
"Which are?" I inquired.
He hesitated, only to intensify my curiosity. "She wanted me to get rid of you. Eliminate you to be exact." He said with sarcasm. "But I can make you an even better offer, my sweet."
I was puzzled yet intrigued by his words. But I was no doubt enraged by Tabbs' actions. Revenge was underlying all emotion at the moment. He continued to tell me about Tabbs meeting with him. She was extremely confident that her life would be perfectly fine without me in it. She felt I was a threat to her existence, and relationship with the coven. I could not believe the balls she had thinking she could take me out....I was the backbone of that coven. Davidson had me well-guarded, I thought.
But he finally made it to the part about making me a deal. He began to speak slightly deeper, persuading me to look at him. He told me there was a way to give me what I wanted, my revenge, as well as Tabbs. He could kill me ridding me of the vampire curse, to bring me back as something far more evil than that. I could stand along side him and rule the darkness aside him. At that moment, I knew I was speaking to Satan, himself. I raised a brow and smirk drew across my face. I liked what I heard, indeed.
I awoke to the sound of rain, the night was cold and I was once again alone with the demon. I thought most of that evening, about my life and how rich it had been. I was grateful indeed for the time I had spent, long & seemingly dark as it was, I was truly grateful. Fond memories washed a smile across my face as my eyes met with his. For a a moment I saw the most beautiful things within his eyes, but slowly it began to hide within those eyes. I lost it just a quickly as I saw it. He was there to purposely change my life. I did not know whether to thank him or fear him. Only that he did seem to leave quite an impression on me now matter how little of time we spent together. I grew fond of him even though fear underlined it. I knew he could totally eliminate me, he was the only known thing to me, capable of it. So that intimidated me right off.
The rain turned to snow as my thoughts turned towards the past. He laid me back upon the sofa, his long fingernails delicately scratching my temples. Across my lips he ran them, whispering softly..."Are you hungry, love?" A pain shot through my abdomen, I was hungry. Cutting his wrist slightly, I saw his was of flesh! He let me drink of his blood, quenching my thirst momentarily. I was drunkened by it. Little did I know it was only a distraction to which he quickly thrust his demonic hand into my chest, retreiving my vampire heart. I watched the room go dark before utter silence deafened me. The last memory etched forever in my soul was the depth of his blue eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. Casually, he opened a little wooden box and placed my heart within, whispering, "its there for safe keeping til I need you again."
Find out what's next for Jessica Batrese!
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