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*** Kat was running blindly not really knowing where she was going. She just knew that she the vampires where behind somewhere behind her and she hoped like hell a long way behind her. For some reason though she decided to turn south and headed that way. Her body wasn't exactly happy with her but she ignored it humming softly to herself to keep 'borrowing' energy from the moon. This was going to be taxing on her later. She eventually stopped and sat down opening her bag. She carefully pulled things out and then went about fixing her neck. She felt sleepy and her vision was going so she hadn't exactly noticed the figure laying done not far from her. Kat closed her eyes for a few seconds but snapped them open again when she heard footsteps. She quickly started putting things back into her bag and stood up only to fall again, but she was caught by strong arms. "Daniel" Kat whispered without opening her eyes
Daniel carried Kat off into the night leaving her bag behind. He had Kat in his arms now and hoped that his master would bid him the one reward he really wanted. He had wanted to turn Kat and he had been able to take part of that even though it was Jade who had fallen first to their spell and took away his fun. But he had seen her running off into the night and had seen her pain. It had wrenched his heart and he then realised that all that time he had spent with her they had become mates. He didn't realise that being mates was so strong or pull on his heart so. He felt no desire to kill her any more just to be with her. He would turn Jade and then take her as his mate again and that way his master would rise and Daniel would have his reward. That was the theory anyway... It didn't quite work that way. Just as he was deepest in his thoughts of Jade, Kat twisted out of his arms, and knelt on the ground, violently throwing up. Daniel took a step back in astonishment. Kat knelt on the ground, her stomach emptying itself of Daniel's blood. Daniel scowled. He was weak enough from lack of blood already, he didn't need her wasting the precious quarter pint he'd given her. Kat, however, rarely ate meat, and the taste of raw blood quite simply turned her stomach. She just couldn't keep it down. She knelt on the dirt, retching, trying to think. There had to be some way to get away from Daniel. Kat held no illusions about her ability to out run him. Her only option was to outwit him. With a groan, Kat rolled away and flopped onto her back, breathing in the night air. Dawn was close. He would be in a hurry to get in shelter soon. Kat gave another pitiful groan and rolled onto her stomach, coughed and spat a few times, then rolled back onto her back. She closed her eyes and look several deep breaths, tasting the air. Her senses, it seemed, had been sharpened further. She could taste Daniel standing a couple of metres from her, and the blood and bile on the ground between them. There was no running water near by, and Daniel had left her bag when he carried her off, so she didn't even have her water skin. She had to do something quickly though, he would soon run out of patience. Unbidden, her fingers sank into the soil, and the song popped into her head. Kat didn't trust the enchantment with Daniel. He would come out of it too quickly. Instead, Kat sung to the Earth. She sung quietly, humming, hitting the correct notes, feeling them resonating through her body. She knew Daniel would hear her, but hoped he wouldn't realise until it was too late.
Kat kept her thoughts directed on The Book. She knew The Book was in her bag, but even through the protective layers, the world could feel it, and reacted with it. In this way, Kat travelled through the Earth, back to her bag, far faster than would have been possible on land, especially in her weakened state. She needed to rest, sleep, and eat - but not meat. Kat didn't think she would ever touch meat again. The Earth pushed Kat up to the surface, right beside her bag, and she took a few minutes to remember how to breathe, and what it felt like to have a body. Eventually, Kat sat up, and opened her hand. Clenched in her fist, was a gold nugget and a hunk of jet. Kat stared at them blankly for a moment, then realised that she had just gained her fourth sorceress ring, proclaiming her mastery of Earth. She swiftly realised that now was not the time to celebrate, however. After rinsing her mouth out, Kat examined her neck in a small mirror. There didn't seem to be any markings there at all. Kat was puzzled. She felt strong, and refreshed, and her wounds were healed. She also didn't feel nauseous any more. Kat packed up her belongings, and looked towards the horizon. The sun would be rising in a little under an hour. She had to get moving. As Kat finished packing and slung her bag over her back, she realised what must have happened. The Earth had healed her. Travelling through had removed the vampiric taint, and when she emerged, she was herself again. The Earth had refreshed her, and lent her its strength. Kat paused for a moment, to whisper her thanks, and felt the ground respond in kind. Then Kat took her bearings, and headed for home. *** Jade awoke under a hedge as the sun was half way over the hill that shaded her. It was about half an hour past the breaking of dawn. Jade stretched, and grinned. Her two hour sleep had done wonders for her, her body had caught up with the damage she'd subjected it to, and she was feeling strong again. Now the first order of business was to find Kat. If Jade had turned her - Jade felt a surge of guilt at the thought - then Kat would be starving. And Jade didn't know what the sun would do to her. And if she went without blood for too long, she would go mad. Unless, of course...
*** Kat paused for lunch at a small village. She bought bread, and cheese, and a large pitcher of fresh milk, then moved out of the village to eat it. As she ate and rested, she called a small fire elemental to her side to help her craft her ring. The work was swiftly done, using her magick instead of real tools, Kat crafted the band. The stone she set in an endless flow of running water, courtesy of a water elemental, and 20 minutes accomplished what would have otherwise taken 20 years. The stone that Kat set in her ring was a smooth, perfect oval, which shone brightly in the light. Kat thanked and dismissed the fire and water elementals, and slipped her ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. Kat packed up the remains of her lunch, returned the pitcher to the helpful farmer, and continued on her way, singing joyously. The vampires were forgotten. For the moment. In the early afternoon, when Kat was far between any villages, she produced the book. Her distance-eating spell wasn't really fast enough. She wanted to teleport, but needed to look up the spell. Once she'd found it, she undressed, repacked her bag adding her clothing, and sung it. And then, she vanished. When she reappeared she was almost home. She called her bag and The Book to her, and they came. Kat quickly redressed, and walked swiftly home. The house was still destroyed, and the forest had began to reclaim it. Kat didn't have the heart to start rebuilding yet, and so she moved to her tree, and climbed high into the branches. The birds chirped a welcome; they, at least, were pleased to see her. Smiling, Kat completely unpacked the bag for the second time in her life. She dropped all her dirty clothes down onto the ground, and then repacked the bag again. Then Kat swung down, gathered her laundry, and headed for the stream. By late afternoon, Kat's laundry and person were both dry. Kat gathered her belongings, and climbed the tree again. She packed away her clothing, and lay herself on a branch, trusting to the tree to keep her aloft. And she lay there, in the sun, allowing herself to drift as her hair dried. *** Jade arrived at the clearing just as the sun was beginning to think about leaving the sky. The destruction of the house devastated her. Jade wandered the ruins, but found no trace of Kat, or anyone else. After an hour or two of looking around, Jade caught sight of a hint of gold in a huge tree. Jade squinted up the tree, and realised she was being watched. She also knew who it would be, even if she couldn't see her.
And Daniel stepped from the trees. Jade looked from Kat to Daniel then back to Kat. "I have that idea" Kat said in Jade's mind
Jade didn't think about how she should distract them, she kind of figured a few broken necks would get there attention. She ignored Daniel and went to a few female vampires to his left. Jade was disgusted at how easily they fell and noted that it was because they were trying to distract her from Kat. She spun on her heel and yelled out to Kat in warning but it didn't matter, Kat was gone and the vampires that had leapt at her hit each other and landed with a rather heavy thud. Jade laughed a maniacal laugh and prepped herself for more fighting noting that Daniel was watching her every move but not moving in for the fight himself. She wondered if it was because he knew her moves and she knew his. She realised this could be at her disadvantage as he probably trained all these vampires to expect her moves. She was right enough as a few of them actually managed to hit back. Jade decided she had to change tactics. She let out a high pitched shriek forcing a few vampires to collapse under the strain of her scream. Jade realised that many of these vampires where fresh but good. She then started flinging out her feathers with deadly accuracy which accompanied with a few will changing thoughts they were as good as stakes. Jade caught Daniel's surprised look and tried not to show her own surprise. She imagined she saw Anne-Marie's ghost watching but she didn't have time to dwell on it. More and more vampires were showing up jumping through a vortex that Jade thought only demons could make. She wondered just how far Daniel would go to killing her. Jade must have been fighting for hours on end before eventually she collapsed at Daniel's feet. She looked up in defeat willing it to stop, to be able to sleep and forget about it all. Daniel's face softened as he held up his hand stopping the vampires to come forward. Jade had one last glimmer of hope from Daniel's expression "Help me" she pleaded to him
Daniel sunk to his knees and held Jade's face in his hands allowing his nails to stroke her already scratched face. "Why didn't you ever turn to the dark side?" he asked
Jade spat the last comment out and Daniel got up suddenly letting Jade's head fall through his hands scratching her face even more. No sound came from Jade, just a look of utter betrayal and a look of pure hatred. How that look tore at Daniel's heart. He tried to remind himself of what Cain promised to give him but came up blank. He realised he had led his own partner to hell for empty promises. *** Kat had arrived inside a huge chamber with an equally huge coffin resting in the centre. She willed a stake into her hand and strode purposely towards the coffin. Putting the stake on one half of the coffin she lifted the lid to the other half and then picked up the stake again. She was about to stab him through the heart when she saw the face of Cain. It looked like her father. She faltered but released it must have been an illusion but still took a few steps backwards. "Kathryn, please don't destroy me" The voices whispered
There was silence "Answer me" There was laughter "Who are you? Where are you?"
Kat started faltering in her mind and felt suddenly like she was drowning. She felt horror, saw and tasted blood, felt power rising and then strangely enough love. "Love?" Kat whispered
Kat dropped the stake she was holding and walked towards the coffin again. She opened the other half of the coffin and stared down into the face of Cain. He looked oddly beautiful laying there so still and she reached out to brush his hair off his face. Somewhere inside her was screaming this was wrong, to stop but they weren't loud enough. "I am here my love, take me" Kat said and placed her hand upon his chest above his heart. She felt nothing for a moment but soon she could hear a heartbeat, soft then getting louder. The sound was rhythmic in itself and Kat let herself fall into the rhythm and be swept away *** Daniel had been standing there in a daze when he felt the pull of Cain. He looked around and noticed that he wasn't the only one aware of it. Even Jade had felt the power "Kat" She whispered and slumped into the earth wishing it would swallow her
up. She then looked at Daniel in fury and suddenly was standing in front of
him tearing at him
"I can help you" Daniel's voice interrupted Jade's killing fest
Jade looked at Daniel dubiously but then released he was telling the truth. She looked at all the still vampires and then back at him with a questioningly look. "The pull I guess was to strong for them"
Jade headed towards the pull but stopped when Daniel called out "I know a short cut" He said and opened a portal
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er legs felt like lead weights and her heart didn't seem to feel much
lighter. Jade racked her brains trying to remember anything Kat had taught
her about the craft. Jade's memory for details was good but nothing really
helped her. Then the tune that Kat sang came into her head. She decided to
give it a go hoping to hell it wouldn't affect her either. So stopping
suddenly she spun around to where she knew the vampires would be. She heard
one gasp at her sudden stop and was a bit surprised to find out they were
really close. Drained as Jade was she lifted her head high and started to
sing, badly. Being slightly tone deaf wasn't helping her at all so she
ignored what sounded right to her and sang it they way she thought it was to
sound. She felt a tingle of power rise from inside of her as the two last
vampires sank to their knees with blank expressions. Jade kept singing and
walked casually to each of the vampires, inspecting them. One was wearing a
necklace that Jade had seen before but could quite put her finger on it.
She yanked it off the vampires neck and then snapped both their necks. Jade
let the song fall into the night and ignored the cats that had gathered
around hissing at her. She lopped off to find herself somewhere to lay and
rest. Her heart was screaming at her to find Kat but her mind knew that she
would have better luck when she was fully recovered.
