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Completed The House Mini-Series Currently being written
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"There you are" A good looking guy said and got of the couch and sauntered
over to Jade "You weren't here when I got home" They talked a little more before the guy asked who Kat was "Daniel this is Kat my sister, Kat this is Daniel" They nodded. Daniel looked Kat over as he stood behind Jade and wrapped his arms around her. He nibbled gently on Jade's shoulder careful not to pierce her skin infront of Kat. Jade tilted her head and he kissed her slender neck. He noticed that Kat and Jade were not identical twins. An odd silence fell and Daniel was the one to break it.
"How about I give you a mini tour of the house. Even show you to your room
as I guess you will be staying for some time" Daniel offered her his arm and then lead her out of the loungeroom. He showed her the pool downstairs along with the gym. Then he brought her back up to ground floor and showed her the rumpus room, the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and other general rooms. Then he showed her the guest room where she would be staying. By this stage the sun was up and streaming into the bedroom giving off a very nice angelic affect. Kat noticed that Daniel made sure not to step into the sunlight.
"Does it burn you?" Kat asked a little more bluntly than she intended Daniel left and Jade walked in holding a tray with two cups and a small tea pot on it. She set it down on the small table by the bed and sat down in one of the lounge chairs in the rather opulent bedroom.
"I hope you find this room to your likeing" Kat poured herself a cup of green tea and settled back in the other lounge chair. Like the room it seemed a little oversized but was amazingly comfortable. Jade had brought her legs up and had tucked them under her body. The position looked quite unconfortable but Jade showed no hint of pain. Kat told Jade about growing up in the forest. She left a few details out Jade noted from the tone of voice but didn't push it, after all she had secrets too. As Kat finished she asked about their father. Jade turned her head slightly and changed the topic.
"You say our Aunt is dead. How did she die." Kat nodded at this point recognised an old script descibing about the period of time where witches learnt to hide their beliefs in fear of being burnt.
"So" Jade continued "vampires became of two sects, those of bad blood and
good blood." Kat placed wards in the corners of her room so that she would awaken if anyone approached her as she slept, and quickly changed for bed. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Upstairs, Jade also slept. The two dreamed a strange dream - they were hunting the vampire who had killed their aunt through a world of feathers - with definite edges. ***
Jade awoke alone in the evening, and moved downstairs. She had slept for
longer than she thought she would. She must have been tired. Daniel was
standing in the hall, looking in on her sister. When Jade and Daniel returned about 2:00 AM, Kat was up, although still in her sleeping wear. Jade noticed that the was still wearing her jewellery - she obviously never took it off. It made an interesting sight. Jade hoped that with Daniel full of the blood of a couple of late-night cut-throats, he would not be thinking about "tasting" her sister. Jade wasn't quite sure how much it would take to turn Kat, but she wasn't about to experiment. Jade slumped on the couch in quiet contemplation. She almost envied Kat for
not being a vampire. Jade had fought heard to earn her innocence of her
fathers wrong doings. Jade knew the hierarchy still kept a close eye on her
even still but that was more now because she was a hunter and hunters were
always watched. This recent murder though would probably put herself back
into the limelight. Being watched was one thing, being in the limelight was
another. Jade shuddered and ignored the look Daniel gave her. Sooner or
later Kat would ask about their father. Jade hoped it would be later but
Jade doubted that.
"Where and who is father?" Jade sipped her tea and Kat almost thought she didn't hear her. She watched Jade intently confused by the expressions that cross her face but said nothing. "Who? It's not really important, and where? I don't care."
There was a knock on the door. Kat wondered if she should answer it. She called out to Daniel and Jade but no-one replied. The knock came again, louder and more persistent. She decided to get the door. She opened the door and smiled. She stopped smiling when the gentleman standing in front of her suddenly sprouted feathers out of his chest. She took a few steps back in shock and surprise and turned to see Daniel striding towards her and the front door. He still had the crossbow ready to fire again but the person at the door was defiantly dead. Daniel kicked it over and checked ripped his shirt up. Located at the base of his spine was a small birthmark. Mark spat on the body and said something Kat didn't understand. He turned to Kat and she knew he was angry. "Are you stupid? Don't you ever open the door again, you could have been
killed"
Daniel muttered again and picked up the body saying something about it cluttering the doorway. Kat watched him unable to peel her eyes away. When she turned to speak to Jade she was gone again. Kat feeling suddenly out of place went to her room and flopped onto her bed. After a few minutes she grabbed out her crystal ball and her scrying bowl. She was going to see where Jade was but as she tried to concentrate she knew her nerves were shot. Instead she decided to calm herself before scrying. She knew Jade was avoiding the subject of their father, and she thought she knew why. She realised Jade was trying to protect her, but Kat felt she was old enough to look after herself. Despite what she had told Jade, Kat's knowledge base was quite wide. Anne-Marie had grown up with her brother, and had imparted a large volume of first-hand knowledge in that final evening spent with Kat. Plus there was the book. Placing aside the bowl and crystal ball, Kat pulled out The Book and re-read the section on vampires, searching for mention of a birthmark on the base of the sign. When she finally found it she realised why Daniel had been upset. The mark was the mark of Cain - signifying a vampire of "bad blood". She didn't know why Daniel had been so upset though - she had not invited the vampire in, nor would she have, and he would not have been able to enter without an invitation. Presumably he had already been invited in at some time previous, or Daniel would not have been so worried. This led to Kat pondering who the vampire had been, to have gained an invitation to the house, then what he had done to have Daniel shoot him. Eventually Kat dismissed her ponderings, and concentrated on other matters. She had decided that she was going to find out some more about her father, and as Jade had not been at all forthcoming, she was going to have to find out for herself. Kat cast the wards, and settled comfortably on the bed. What she was about to do required mastery of spirit and air, and whilst Kat didn't have the sorcery ring of air, it was not for lack of talent. Anne-Marie had thought it best if Kat spaced out her passing of the tests. To pass a test, masters other than one's own teacher had to be present, and Anne-Marie had not wanted to draw un-due attention to her charge. In actuality, Kat had passed the adept tests for all five elemental rings by age 25, and had mastered three of the five further rings since then. Anne-Marie had always been curious about Kat's seeming ability to pick up whatever she had seen once almost instantly, but had never mentioned the occurrence to anyone else, and safe in their little valley, caution had never been necessary. Kat carefully cast a sending, and paused as her consciousness flooded through into her astral self. She then directed the sending up through the floor to the 3rd level, where Daniel had not taken her. The third floor was much the same as the second, halls lined with rooms. It was only on closer inspection of the doors that Kat realised what the rooms really were. The rooms were prison cells. Many completely shut off from light, some completely flooded with the light of the rising sun. The walls of these rooms spoke of screams of pain, horror and terror as their occupants had been turned to dust by the rising sun. The walls of the darkened cells spoke of long suffering, starvation, and madness brought on by lack of blood. Some of the cells were occupied. Most were not, thankfully. Kat's sending navigated the halls, floating through walls occasionally, when something in another room caught her attention. Eventually, Kat found the room where she knew Jade and Daniel slept. Daniel was not there - he was placing the body in one of the sunlit cells, where it would burn to ash as the midday sun hit it. Jade was seated in a chair, staring at the floor. Kat viewed the room through her sending's eyes, and pondered if she should materialise here or not, and finally decided not to. She didn't want to startle her sister. Despite Jade deliberately withholding information from her, Kat knew that Jade was only trying to protect her, and that was something to be thankful for, no matter how frustrating it may be. The sending sunk back through the floor and made its way back to Kat's bedroom, where it dissolved into a gentle spring breeze. Kat breathed in, and opened her eyes, her consciousness now fully returned to her body. She sat there thinking for a while, then packed away her scrying bowl, and sat there staring at the roof, crystal ball resting on open palms. Upstairs, Jade remained staring at the floor, thinking of Mark. Her childhood hadn't been anything like Kat's peaceful years of learning. Jade's learning took an entirely different slant. Not how to preserve, or heal, only how to take and destroy. Mark had not been a bad father - he had taught her how to protect herself, and had taught her many things that every vampire needed to know. He had also instilled in her deep values of what was right and what was wrong; values which she still kept to this day. Mark had not always been "bad" either. Like Jade, he had the bad blood, although also like her, he had battled with it, and had been victorious. He had managed to stay good for all the years of his childhood, meeting his wife, marrying her, the birth of their children, and through Jade's beginning education. It had only been about 50 years ago, about the same time Jade had left her father's home to stay with Daniel, that he had turned bad. It was all the fault of that woman, thought Jade viscously. The woman had come when Jade left, and seduced Mark with ease - he had been very lonely after his wife died, and more so after Jade had left. It was only after the seduction of body that the seduction of soul began. And Mark had fallen into the darkness. Jade shook herself, and moved over to her chest, and pulled out the only thing of her father's that she had kept - his journal, filled with sketches of the girl's mother, and also of the girls as young children - Mark had obviously not been as far away as they had thought all those years. Jade partly blamed herself for Mark's fall - she used to wonder if, had she stayed, would her father still have fallen? Jade leafed through the book slowly, looking at a sketch of Anne-Marie with Kat on her knee, and Jade by her feet. The book was deeply imbued with her father's energy, and Jade decided to give it to Kat, to see if perhaps Kat could locate their father, using the book. Jade didn't know how such things were done, but she seemed to remember Anne-Marie teaching Kat when they'd been younger. Jade shook herself again, closed the book, and moved to her sister's room. Kat had focused herself and was staring deep into the crystal ball when Jade knocked. Kat waved a hand absently, and the door swung open, revealing Jade and the book. Kat breached the wards, and Jade stepped through, closing the door behind her. She sat on the bed and explained about the book. Kat leafed slowly through the book, looking at the pictures, then shut her eyes and felt the energy of the book. Then she sent a probe, and located the direction of their father. She locked on, and opened her eyes.
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he started walking and Kat followed. They walked in silence and Jade had
gathered the dreams had probably been connected to Kat's sudden appearance.
She turned again to study Kat. She spotted the sorcery rings on her
fingers. Kat had mastered fire, water and spirit but not air or earth Jade
noted. Jade looked forward and continued to wonder about her dream. She
had a feeling Kat was going to ask about the vampire. How she knew she
wasn't sure, she just knew.
