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"You can't hide from me now little bitch" Kat was so startled that she let the crystal ball fall from her hands. It fell to the ground as if in slow motion. Neither Kat nor her unexpected guest moved, they just watched in stunned silence. As the crystal ball hit the ground it shattered into several pieces. A white figure seemed to pour out of the crystal taking form of Kat's Aunt Anne-Marie. The figure turned and then looked directly into the soul of the visitor. "Tim, you did many injustices and know you will pay for your actions."
Tim went to speak but when he opened his mouth nothing came out. Soon he seemed to writhe in anguish and then slowly he fell apart as if something or someone was tearing off his very skin. Soon the skin was gone and then the muscles. The skeleton was soon the only thing left and they didn't last long. The skeleton soon dwindled down to a pile of sand and a breeze coming from nowhere blew the sand pile away where it simply disappeared. "Anne-Marie, that really you"
Anne-Marie looked up towards the stars and then was gone. The crystal ballwas no longer shattered when Kat looked at it but did have cracks in it now.It almost looked like there was a snowflake in the very center of it. AsKat picked it up it chirped at her and Kat felt very warm. Kat polished all her crystal and put them away being extra careful. Shefelt glad she had been able to say goodbye to Anne-Marie. She got up andclosed the balcony doors and locked them. She then went to the front doorto double check the locks when she heard the meow of an injured cat. Sheopened the door keeping the latch on and saw a black and white cat by herdoor. She took off the latch and spoke softly to the kitten. Then bendingdown she starting singing an enchantment. The kitten looked up at her andthe scratched her before running off. Kat stood up suddenly and slammed thedoor bolting it tight. Something was not right tonight and it was startingto get on her nerves. A few buildings over Danield stopped and watched Kat. The littleenchantment she sung was still making his fur stand on edge and his tailwent back and worth angrily. He licked the paw which he struck Kat with andtasted her blood. It was sweet and he purred. When the blood was gone hechanged back to human form and went into the night. Jade returned to find she was locked out - Kat had bolted the door. After Jade had convinced Kat to let her in, Kat told Jade all the weird things that had happened. Jade was very worried about Tim getting in through the balcony, especially after she'd locked them, but closer inspection revealed the lock was very easily pickable. The episode with the cat, Jade simply brushed off as a reaction to Kat's recent proximity to a vampire. Kat thought there was more to it than that, but accepted Jade's suggestion - on the surface at least. Before going to bed, Kat smoothed a herbal mixture over the scratch and bound it lightly - tomorrow she would be seeing her father for the first time since he had taken her twin sister away from her; she wanted her hand to be in working order in case she felt the desire to slap him herself. Kat fell asleep while Jade was still checking the balcony doors. Jade noticed Kat drifting into sleep and glared at the doors. She was tired, and she wanted to sleep, but she couldn't leave Kat unprotected. As Jade had been hunting she'd overheard a conversation between two vampires who weren't paying as much attention to their surroundings as they should have. Someone wanted Kat. Jade didn't know for certain that it was her sister the dark vampires were after, but the description matched Kat fairly well. The disturbing part was that they seemed to think Jade was also mortal - going by their talk of "turning" her and Kat. Jade sat on the recliner and stared at the balcony. It just didn't make sense. No vampire ever mistook another vampire for a mortal. It just wasn't possible. Jade closed her eyes and ran over the conversation in her mind. Of course. They had to be dark vampires. Someone wanted to turn her nature to be true to her blood. That's what they had meant. She should have killed them both on the spot. But who... Obviously someone she knew was a dark vampire. What other reason could there be for the interest in her? Jade drifted off to sleep, still going through possibilities. *** "So this is Dad's house?" asked Kat, already knowing the answer. "He doesn't look after it very well. He needs to employ a gardener."
Their father gasped.
*** Later, once Mark had calmed a little, the three sat around a table. Mark looked at his two daughters, and sighed.
Suddenly, several things about the conversation she had overheard clicked for Jade. Startled, she gasped out loud.
Mel fled to the masters house and was surpirsed to find Daniel payinghomeage. He did not move or indicate that he sense her presence but she knewhe would be aware of her. She sat down and waited for him to acknowledgeher. Daniel didn't move for another few minutes then got up and stoodbefore Mel "It is done then, they have entered the house?"
Daniel slapped Mel accross the face and the force of his blow sent herflying backwards. She cradled her face but did not make a sound "Do not get above yourself, the prophecy will be fulfilled and we shall allreap the rewards, even you. Now get out of my sight" Mel scampered off. She was angry and hurt but most of all confused. Shedidn't know why she didn't inform Daniel that Mark was genuine about sendingher away. Mark was meant to pretent to let the girls get close but Mel knewthat whatever grip they may have had on them was gone. She also knew that ifshe hung around she would surely be hunted, Mel decided to leave. *** Kat and Jade had been at Mark's house for a few days and Jade noticed thather father was changing, he seemed to become more and more like the way sheremembered him when she was younger. She did however feel a few pangs ofjealousy when Kat and Mark seemed to spend a lot of time together. After thefourth day Jade had enough and left the house and oddly enough startedweeding the garden. She had ripped most the weeds out when she heard thefront door open and close. She didn't turn but instead allowed her senses totell her who was walking towards her. She breathed in deeply gathering thescent and then eventually stood up and turned. "Jade, it's been a long time since you pottered around in my garden."
Jade brushed her hands down her jeans and impulsively hugged her father.She couldn't remember the last she did that and memories came flooding backto her. She held on tightly to Mark feeling like it was the last time shewould be able to do that. When at last the embrace ended she looked into herfathers face and saw that he had been crying, saw how deep the hurt ran, sawthe future. Mark broke the gaze and nodded before heading inside, he stoppedat the door and then turned. "Remember that I love you"
That was the last Jade would ever see of Mark and she knew it. She allowedherself to sink to the ground and oddly enough decided to dive her fingersdeep into the earth. She never moved and that was how Kat found her laterthat evening. "He's gone" Kat said
Kat raised her eyebrows in suprise and then put her hand on Jade. A look ofshock crossed Kat's face before she seemed to get hold of her emotions. "Come inside, you need to eat"
Jade looked up angrilly but Kat stood her ground. Jade eventually relentedand pulled her hands out of the dirt, she didn't seem to notice that herhands were surprisingly clean despite where they had been. Kat did but saidnothing, she just lead Jade inside and then made her sit down and eatdinner. Anne-Marie's comment about nothing being as it appeared driftedthrough Kat's mind troubling her. Jade looked at her suddenly but Katcontinued to eat her dinner ignoring Jade's glare that seemed to be boringinto her mind. The room, the whole house and then the whole world seemed to go quiet makingboth Jade and Kat stand suddenly. Jade stood ready to fight and Kat wasalready gathering a proctective sheild around herself. Then it started. The walls began shaking and pictures fell from the walls as the roof cracked. A loud, high-pitched whine echoed through the house, and Jade shrieked and fell to the floor, covering her ears with both hands. Outside, under cover of darkness, vampires stood, waiting to see what emerged from the rubble of the house, all with carefully blocked ears.
At that moment, a fragment of the roof fell with a loud crash onto the machine wielded by the vampires. The high pitched whine ceased instantly, and everything stopped shaking. It took Jade a few moments to realise what she was doing, but then she jerked away with an exclamation of self-loathing. Kat's eyes had gone hard as agate, and the second Jade wasn't touching her any more, a bright flash of light emanated from Kat's body, and she vanished. Almost in a daze, Jade stared at the empty space where her twin had lain. Obviously it was a counter-vampire spell, the bright flash would have driven off any but the more "advanced" vampires - the ones who had some tolerance to sunlight. But where had she gone? She just... In that moment, Jade's full sensibilities returned to her. What had she done? She had attacked her own sister! Had she taken enough to turn her? Jade didn't know. But Kat had left. And Jade had no way of finding her, or even any ideas of where to look. Then Jade realised that her problems were far from over. The house was surrounded by vampires. Bad ones. And she was in the house, alone. If she didn't come out, they would come in for her. There was really only one course of action. Jade prepared herself for a fight. *** Kat materialised in the darkest corner of her father's garden, and whispered a summoning spell. In a moment, her bag appeared before her, still containing The Book. Kat touched her neck. It was still bleeding. There were a couple of drops of her blood on the ground, which Kat kicked dirt over. She needed to do something about her neck, but she needed to get further away from the vampires first. Kat clambered over the fence, into the neighbour's yard. She jogged across the yard, climbed a fence, crossed a yard, climbed a fence, crossed a yard... In this way she made her way away from her father's house, never noticing that she left a very faint trail of blood behind her. *** The house was silent. Daniel peered towards the house, the gloom like midday sun to his eyes. He could see nothing stirring. The vampires around the house all had strict instructions not to kill either of the girls - they were to be detained, and taken to the master's throne room, where they would be turned before his body. Cain had been in tauper for a long time. Soon he would arise again, and Daniel would be there when he did. Visions of glory filled his head, distracting him from the ruins of Mark's house.
*** "She's not there, Daniel."
*** Jade rested, gasping, against the side of the apartment block. She had killed four of the six vampires following her, but the other two would be close. And Jade was tired. She listened intently, but heard nothing other than the barking of a distant dog. False dawn lit the sky, and Jade looked up. Two hours until sunrise. She had to last that much longer. Her whole body ached, and she was bleeding from numerous places - she had been badly injured so many times that her regenerative abilities couldn't keep up. She would need to stop and rest soon, give her body a chance to recover. Jade realised she had to keep running through the day - it was the only advantage she had. She also had to find Kat. If Daniel hadn't already done so.
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at and Jade reached the town where Jade's father lived. Jade however stopped Kat from heading straight to there fathers and checked them into a hotel instead. Kat went to ask questions but Jade wouldn't answer. She told Kat to stay away from the windows and not to open the door to anyone, grabbed the keys and left. Kat was a bit put out but couldn't do much about so decided she may as well take advantage of the wanning moon and let her crystals sit in the moonlight. She pulled out her crystals and listened tothem happily sing and burble. Then she pulled out her crystal ball and rolled it around in her hands with fond affection. It sung happily and Kat started to relax enjoying the communal song off all the crystals. Kat closed her eyes and let herself be swayed by the rythym of the crystal's song. She was so caught up in the sound that she didn't hear the balcony doors open.
