Preternatural

Chapter 1 –

Almond shaped bright emerald green eyes. Straight waist length fiery red hair. Tall & curvaceous, yet thin. The definition of beauty & elegance in one woman. Perhaps you have some clue as to who I am now? No? Shameful, well I’ll tell you some more about myself. Let’s start with my personality shall we? We’ll get to what I am later. I’m one of the most loveable, charming, intelligent, pessimistic, unpredictable & understanding women you’ll ever meet. My name is Rowena. What am I? Do you really want to know? Yes? Very well then. There are many names for my kind such as: blood child, valkyrie, lamia, vampire, blood hunter, child of darkness. You get the picture? Good. This book shall be the first of many, some of you mortals will enjoy & others will detest them. I’m indifferent to that matter. What are the books to be about you say? Well as the title would suggest, things that are outside the natural course of nature. Do excuse me if you are some religious fool & you are ignorant enough to ignore the title & open this book, for you will probably take offense at what I write.

I tire of writing like this, let me now begin the story of my preternatural friends, myself and the various witches & wizards of my acquaintance.

Let me first describe my acquaintances one by one. I shall start with my darling Sirius, a vampire like myself; I brought him over when he was just sixteen. Why? Allow me to divulge. Since infancy Sirius was extremely rambunctious, which in turn lead him into many dangerous situations. He escaped most of them without consequence, but one incident (I’m not particularly well informed on the particular details, because Sirius himself cannot remember) landed him in a hospital bed. I had known Sirius before the accident occurred, & when I heard of his misfortunes I made my way to the hospital as quickly as possible, to find out how serious his illness was. It turned out to be an uncommonly aggressive cancer of the lungs. The doctors couldn’t treat it for some reason or other. Sirius knew what I was; he was the only mortal that I had ever told. I loved him dearly; I couldn’t stand to see him die.

“Sirius darling I cannot stand to see you in such a state! Why can you not remember what happened to you? Oh! If only you could remember, perhaps then the doctors would be of some use!” I whined.

“My dear friend you need not stress yourself. You worry for no reason! You can save me, you can bring into the Vampiric race! I would love to be like you so very much!” He whispered hoarsely in my ear “Save me!”

I thought for a long while, I then proceeded to search his mind. He was not lying. He wanted it.

“Darling, you will come to hate me if I bring you over! But I cannot bear to see you die in such a horrible place as this!” I breathed these words into his ear.

“I will do no such thing! I am plainly horrified that you would think of me in such a fashion! Rowena please, I’m not ready to die.” Hoarse whisper in my ear again.

“How long did they say you have?” I pulled away from him as I said it.

“They estimated quite roughly about two months. Why do you hesitate? I know you don’t want me to die, I know you want to bring me over as much as I want to be brought over.” Imploring voice.

Damn him! Why couldn’t I ever resist that damned boy? I knew before I’d even made it to his bedside that I was going to bring him over if the illness was terminal. But why did I hesitate? I knew damned well why! Every vampire I’d made ended up despising me, cursing me, I loved him too much to risk losing his reciprocation of my feelings, but damn it I wouldn’t let him die.

Heavy sigh.

“Ok! I’ll bring you over, but before I make you a vampire you must understand that once I have brought you over, I am master & teacher. You do as I say, or I will destroy you, I will not have a disobedient student! Understand me?” Harsh voice. I didn’t want to be hard on him but he had no clue what it was going to be like.

“Gotcha! So when are you going to do it? I don’t mean to be rude but, now would be good.” Soft voice, he sounded slightly hurt by my harshness. I searched his mind for any pain I’d caused him. None.

“I’ll do it when I believe you are ready, for now you need to rest.” With that I walked out of the room, to hunt. I was made a vampire at the age of twenty, I’ve been earthbound for 300 hundred years, & the present year now is 2007. You do the math. But let’s not wander from the story, after all I’m meant to be justifying my choice to make Sirius a vampire.

I knew he wouldn’t sleep until I came back but I wasn’t going to wait that long for him to rest. Damn it Sirius! I won’t save you if you’re going to refuse the last mortal sleep you’ll ever get! Vampires also have a great amount of telepathic power, but telepathy isn’t all its cracked up to be. I’m not going to explain it either. I was unsuccessful in finding an appropriate victim & so returned to the side of Sirius’s bed.

“Back so soon my sweet?” he breathed, barely audible, his lungs laboring, heart pumping.

“Perhaps a little too soon.” I muttered.

“So how’s this thing going to work?”

“That’s for you to find out, for now I need to figure out how to do it without attracting attention.”

“Can I suggest you pull the blinds down and cover the security camera with something?” rasping voice. I had to act soon, the longer he suffered the more nervous I became.

“Alright, here goes.”

I moved swiftly pulling down all the blinds in the room, locking the door from the inside & covering the camera with my black head scarf. I flew across the room to his bed, & stood silent for a moment.

“Are you ready my boy?” plucky voice.

“Always.”

I got onto the bed and lay next to him, turned his neck, found the artery & pressed my teeth into it, drawing the blood quickly, then slowing down to a safer pace. I drank until his heart beat was only faint. I withdrew my fanged kiss and slit my wrist, fresh spurt of blood. I opened his mouth and placed my wrist over it.

“Drink, drink from me!” I whispered into his ear.

He began to drink, I let him drink until I had almost nothing left to give, & I withdrew my wrist.The dawn was coming, & I needed to feed more urgently now. I hurried over to the camera grabbed my scarf, Sirius got out of bed and we both went to the wall opposite the windows facing a community park.

“Hold onto me, & keep your eyes shut tight.” Plain, composed voice, barely audible.

He grabbed me tightly, I saw his eyes shut & so I ran faster than any human could through the window and flew on into the remaining darkness. We were flying over the back streets, the slums of the city called London. I found a victim for each of us, & landed swiftly & without sound about 300 meters behind them.Drug lords.

“We don’t have long my love so I’ll kill yours for you and take my own, & then we shall journey on to our crypt.” Whisper that human ears wouldn’t pick up.

Having said that I came up behind them quickly broke one’s neck and threw him back to Sirius & grabbed the other, found the artery in his neck & sunk in my teeth. I drank his blood slowly, savoring the rich sweet taste of it. When the heart stopped pumping I covered the evidence of an unusual death, & showed Sirius how to do the same.

“Come, the sun is rising. We shall retire to our crypt.”

This is where my justification ends. Now it’s time for me simply to describe him to you, tell you what he looks like, & about his personality.

Sirius is Abnormally tall at around six feet nine inches, his hair touches his shoulders, is wonderfully straight, black in colour & shiny, his eyes misty grey, skin like ivory, & a strong & lissom body. His personality, hmm where shall I start? Well he’s quite shy, always earnest, all things benevolent, trustworthy, intelligent, & vigilant.

Isolde is the next friend of mine which I’m going to tell you about.

Ivory skin, ebony waist length hair, tall & slender, her eyes were deep green & flecked with gold. Isolde is almost always amiable, vivacious, quite a charmer, very agreeable, witty & always unpredictable. She was made a vampire at 18 years of age by one of the most ancient vampires of my knowledge, her current age is 150 years. Her story is unknown to me, & that’s how I’d like to keep it. The only one of us who might possibly know her story, would be Remus; her lover.

We come next to Remus himself. Tall, muscular, his hair is curly, vivid auburn & touches his shoulders, his eyes intrigue me, they are the most stunning green & the older he gets the more brilliant they become. Remus in four words would be cunning, unforgiving, intelligent & vicious. Remus is also a vampire, brought over at the age of 22; he’s been one of us for 200 yrs and still dresses in the late 18^th century style. He detests change, & so he does not blend in with the modern world. Wherever we take him, he attracts a multitude of attention. All that he has told me of his story is that he was taken by a fledgling that’d fallen in love with his eyes & couldn’t bear to let him die. I personally think there is more to his story but I never pressure him, because of his temperament.

Next on the list is Cyrus, a true vampire, the oldest of my group but somehow not the leader. If he were the leader he would be the one who had written the words you are now reading. He was made a vampire when he was 30 yrs old, in the prime of his life; he’s been a vampire for 560 yrs. His story no one but Cyrus himself knows. Cyrus is of average height & athletic build, his hair is a glorious red cut just above his shoulders, it’s not straight yet not curly, his eyes are shaped like huge almonds and their colour a very plain brown but like so many of my acquaintances flecked with gold. To sum his personality up in a few short words, I would have to say he is a born charmer, quick of wit, blatant, imprudent, & you can love & hate him at the same time.

The last of my Vampiric friends is now to be mentioned; Pandora.

Brought over at 20 yrs of age. Her husband unbeknownst to her was a vampire & when she became terminally ill after giving birth to her 10^th child, her husband loving her too much to let her die a slow & painful death gave her our dark blood. The children were not his; they were fathered by the house slaves. Her husbands name is Mortimer & he sadly is no longer with Pandora. Why? I shall tell you why. The great vampire that he was walked into the sun, immolating himself. Why would he? Well Pandora had no wish to be a vampire & what happens with most fledglings & their makers, is a mutual hatred for each other. The maker is less likely to hate the fledgling but the fledgling almost always despises its maker.

So that is her story but you know not what she looks like or anything of her lovely disposition. So let me tell you. Big almond shaped intense amber eyes, average height, elegantly thin, straight shoulder length blonde hair normally worn in an ornate messy sort of bun. She’s impetuous, blithe, charismatic, almost always reckless & very rarely vigilant.

Now you know of my Vampiric friends, shall we move onto my two lovely centaurian friends? Yes I think we shall.

First is my darling Lestat his eyes a deep sparkling blue, straight shoulder length blonde hair, skin the colour of ivory, lithe strong build, long graceful legs, & a liver chestnut hide. He is spirited, cunning, wise, unpredictable, intrepid, & always amiable unless he has reason not to be. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you how old he is, so to put your heart at ease Lestat is 25 yrs of age.

The other centaur of whom I’m aware & acquainted with is Marius. How shall I describe him to you? Hmmm…

Marius is a most peculiar creature, being charming, intelligent & shrewd. Yes I know that sounds very monotonous but my point shall be proved in the duration of this novel. He stands at around 18hh, graceful, well built, his hide is the colour of buckskin, his eyes a rich electric blue, & his hair is a blonde wavy shoulder length mop.

There are no stories of interest to be told about them at this present point in time so we shall move directly onto my mortal friends; the witches and wizards of London.

The first wizard you shall come to know is Darius. If you should ever wish to spot him around the streets of London then here is a perfect description of him.

His hair is short & dark brown in colour, his eyes are pale blue and shaped like two perfectly sized almonds, he’s of an average build, & of average height. Darius is amiable, a mastermind, cunning, optimistic, & yet unpredictable. And did I mention he’s only 19.

The only witch of my knowledge is Lowanna; I don’t know anything about her at all, except for the fact that Darius loves her dearly.

So now you know of the past & the time has come for us to plunge into the present.

At this point in time Sirius & I are currently on the streets of London, in search of victims. In a couple of nights we will be traveling to Italy, to call upon Pandora, Isolde & Lestat. In the mean time those who are keeping us company are Cyrus, Darius & Marius.

“Is there no evil filth for us to see tonight? Or have you taken us to the wrong alleys perhaps my dear Rowena?” Cyrus spat at me.

“Why are you so concerned friend that we have not yet found any victims? The night is young! Rest easy.” This lucid assemblage of words came from Marius.

“I do not wish to spend the whole night looking for evil blood! I wish to be done with it! I have other matters that require my attention!” came Cyrus’s livid reply.

If you have not gathered by now that Cyrus has a rather short temper, & great dislike of Marius then perhaps you should discontinue reading this book. No! Don’t stop reading my friend! I want you to know what happens.

“Marius, Cyrus! Please if there are any potential victims in these alleys; which there are mind you, they shall be scared off by your senseless bickering! If you wish to drink tonight I suggest Cyrus that you keep your temper in check, and your voice at a preternatural level! & Marius please simply ignore Cyrus, he should be of next to no importance to you!” I whispered softly, menacingly.

They said nothing to me or to each other after that & sure enough fifteen minutes later we found what we wanted & drank to our hearts content.

“Perhaps now you will have more trust in my methods of finding victims Cyrus? Now you are free to attend whatever business it is that so direly requires your attentions & you still have three quarters of the night with which to do so.”

“I apologize Rowena for my harsh words, but I honestly did not think…”

“What you thought was that I didn’t know what I was doing, true you are older than me and more experienced, but you should not be so cynical about the ways in which younger vampires than yourself go about hunting!” I snapped at him.

“Darling please, Cyrus has apologized! Do not be so harsh on him, he only meant well.” These calm pleading words came from my dearest Sirius.

“Perhaps my dear, you might like to keep your nose out of things that do not involve you!” I snarled.

I regretted it instantly, for Sirius was gone in a flash & I knew not where he would go. I ran into Marius’s arms & he held me snugly against his bare chest.

“Oh what have I done Marius? Must I always make a mess of things with him?” I sobbed.

“No darling! You were merely not thinking straight, you were angry & so you snapped at the first of us who questioned you! Cyrus & I had already irritated you & you did act unjustly towards Cyrus when he apologized. That is all Sirius was trying to point out to you! But in your fury, you did not see this & that is where you made your blunder. Perhaps you ought to do as you instructed Cyrus earlier this evening, perhaps you need to learn to keep your temper in check.” Gentle, sympathetic words. “He will come back; you know he will; just let him alone for a while.”

“You are right. I must also learn to control my temper.” I sobbed into his chest.

“Perhaps we can continue our journey back to the villa now?” asked Darius. This had been the first time he’d spoken, since we began the hunt.

“I think we should return to the villa, do not you Marius?” Cyrus spoke in a measured voice.

“Yes, I agree. Come Rowena we are going home.”

Marius picked me up and placed me on his back. I locked my arms tightly round his waist from behind & kissed his shoulder blade lightly.

We reached our villa in a quick ten minutes, & and the group separated, Darius to the library, Cyrus to his room, Marius to the kitchen to make himself a meal, & I dashed into my room & flung myself onto the bed.

I curled up in a ball, crushing the pillows to me, & I began to weep my tears of blood. Someone touched me ever so lightly! I tensed up, then felt myself being lifted by that same someone. I did not uncurl my body, I did not stop crying.The figure embraced me, planting light feathery kisses all over the top of my head.

Sirius! Oh he had come to me! How happy yet guilty I felt.

“I could not stay away for long, I couldn’t let you beat yourself up about what you said, and you were right in a way. I do stick my nose into matters that have nothing to do with me, all too often. But you were also wrong.” He murmured lovingly “I gather that you would have realized this or Marius would have shown you, so I shall not harp on about it. But know that no matter what you say or do I’ll always love you.”

With the last sentence I uncurled my body & flung my arms around his broad, powerful shoulders. I rested my head against his chest and listened to his heart beat.

“I love you more than you could ever know, & I wish dearly that I had not said those hateful words to you earlier this evening! Please I beg your forgiveness Sirius! Were you here when I came in?” I whispered.

“Yes I was here when you came, though I thought it only polite to let you have a few moments to yourself before I approached you. Did you not hear me? I am over looking the situation, I have already forgiven you! I have also said that the situation has been forgotten. I love you too much; it’s that simple.” He whispered in return.

With those words I pulled myself away from him, to get some tissues to wipe away the streaks of blood that stained my cheeks. He came up behind me locking his arms round my shoulders, kissing the top of my head. I turned in his arms & met his lips with mine. We stayed like that for a few blissful minutes. Then I laid my head against his chest once more. He picked me up gently without saying a thing & placed me down on the bed, then lay next to me & once more wrapped his arms around me. We lay like that until an hour before dawn without saying a word, only looking into each others eyes.

“Let us go now to our coffin. We’ve an hour to get there & I’d like to have a little drink before we go to bed.” Soft voice.

“Sirius?”

“Yes dear?”

“Don’t ever leave me! I couldn’t bear eternity without you!” I sobbed

“Rowena I could never leave you, nor would I ever want too! You need not worry!” he said kissing me gently, our lips together once more.

We walked as mortals do towards our crypt, searching as we went for a damned soul. An old man, his heart stained with murder! We took turns drinking from him, & he was soon dead. With our meal finished we continued our walk to the crypt.

“You’ve no idea how much I regret what I said and did earlier this evening! You do understand that don’t you?” I mumbled.

“Of course I understand! How could I not? But honestly Rowena, you must forgive yourself as I have forgiven you! With me the moment has been forgotten! You mustn’t punish yourself for one mistake!” Gentle words again.

“Ah my darling Sirius, you know not the reason why, I cannot forgive myself!” My words were harsher than I’d meant them to be. I winced when I heard them leave my mouth.

“Perhaps, it would be wise of you to tell me so that I might try to understand your anguish. Surely you can do that much, in attempt to redeem yourself in your own eyes?” His words were still gentle; overly patient.

“I shall explain it to you, but at the moment it’s time for us to sleep.”

A heavy silence fell; at once I knew the sun had risen, & so we were defenseless should a mortal find our crypt & expose us to the burning light of the sun. but that was highly unlikely, seeing as our crypt is deep below king’s cross station and the doors are made of marble so heavy it would take a modern machine to move them.

I must tell you I’m a great marauder; I go where I want when I want, & when in the company of mortals or fellow immortals I come & go as I please. No one controls me; the only one who has any ability to bend my will is Sirius. Impetuosity is another part of my nature, which is explained by my prowling nature, as aforementioned I come and go as I please, but this is merely an impulsive act I do not always appear, leave & come again.

But enough of this, ‘tis time we went back to where I left off; the crypt.

Sunset, the sky was streaked with gold, azure & the most beautiful shade of fuchsia. I was mesmerized as I waited for Sirius to rise from the sarcophagus.

This is as close as I will ever get to seeing the light of day ever again. Such thoughts made me sad & so I shall dwell on them no longer.

When Sirius finally joined me the sky was already a deep blue, and the beautiful colours I had seen were long gone.

“Tomorrow we go to Italy, & we shall see some of my dear friends, you of course will be meeting them for the first time. It seems just like yesterday that I saved you, & yet it’s been fifty years. If you had been like one of my other fledglings you would have left me forty years ago. But you aren’t & that’s what I love most about you, you’ve never been able to hate me.” I said as I turned to look at him leaning against the marble wall.

“I will never understand how they came to leave you & I don’t ask you to relive that pain, so that I can. Though what I do ask is much simpler. Tell me the reason why you cannot forgive yourself.”

I could tell by Sirius’s voice that he wasn’t in the best of moods, & so I obliged him without further ado.

“You wish to know why I cannot forgive myself. Hmmm… alright I’ll tell you. It all started with my first fledgling, not unlike you, he was on his death bed. After having brought him over I tried to show him, & teach him everything I knew. But I had no patience for his own impetuosity, & his clumsiness in killing. I did to him what I did to you last night, I always spat my words at him, let my temper run afoul.

Eventually he & I grew so very tired of each other he left; just for a night.

When he returned in the morning very close to dawn, I raged at him, he told me that he loathed me more than anything; more than death itself. Before my very eyes he walked into the sun & immolated himself; I of course was badly burnt from watching him die. I stood there out of shock; finally I found sense & got into the sarcophagus alone.”

I was crying when I finished telling him, Sirius walked promptly over to me & hugged me tightly.

“Is he the only reason?” he asked me timidly

“Yes, I did the same thing with all my other fledglings, but they never immolated themselves, thank God! They simply left me & never returned. I’ve seen them every now & then, but it gives no comfort.” I was sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly a figure was standing in our door way. It was another immortal, one I hadn’t seen for over 100 years.

“So! You’re still here in London! Well, I don’t want you here, this is my city!” he roared at me.

“How dare you come into our crypt!” growled Sirius.

I squeezed his hand.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t you Percival! Your city? Don’t make me laugh you fool! I’ve been in this city for 250 years! You haven’t even been immortal for for half of that time span!” I spat at him.

“You may have made me, but you cannot control me anymore!”

“I never once implied that I could! Honestly Percival, what makes you think that this is your city, you’ve not been here for over thirty years! Though you need not worry about your safety…I’m traveling to Italy tomorrow night so you shall have this city to yourself for a while, but make no mistake I’ll be back, & when I do return you had better be gone! Now get out!” I screamed rather savagely.

Percival did not move. In one swift movement he came to stand in front of me.

I saw tears standing in his eyes; he reached out his hand to touch me.

I felt it touch my cheek, my hand went up to his and held it there.

“Even after all these years…I still love you” he whispered to me.

His words struck me hard, I had once loved him as I now loved Sirius, & now he came here & told me that after every horrible thing that happened between us he still loved me.Percival continued to run his hands all over my face, all the while looking into my eyes. I drew him into my arms & crushed his soft body to mine. I held him for so long; I was overjoyed that one of my children had come back to me.

“I never stopped loving you” I whispered in his ear “If you like, you can come to Italy with us.”

He didn’t say anything he simply gave me a powerful squeeze with his arms.

“May I ask why it was that you came here?” I said trying to get him to speak.

“To see if you were still here. To see if you would let me in & also to be with you once more.”

I gave him a quick kiss & then began walking up the stairs towards the door, beckoning both Sirius & Percival to follow me.

Sirius was stunned, Percival subdued & I was euphoric.

They soon caught up with me, Sirius trying to catch my eye so that he might be able to communicate with me silently.

“Come my children, we go now to Cyrus. Percival, Sirius & I have some unfinished business to discuss, I remember that you loved Cyrus, & I know that he’ll be overjoyed to see you & talk with you. Sirius & I wont be gone for long.”

With that I grabbed them both by their waists and flew off to the villa. We were there in a heart beat. Cyrus stood at the door waiting for us, when he saw Percival his face lit up with joy.

“Oh my dear boy! You’ve come home at last!” Cyrus said gleefully.

Percival ran into his open arms.

“Sirius & I will be back shortly Cyrus.” I told him, not knowing if he heard me.

I smiled to myself what a wonderful night this has been I thought.

I grabbed Sirius by the waist once more and we flew back the way we’d come.

I landed lightly at the entrance to our crypt & pushed the doors open easily.

“I’m just taking a stab in the dark here, but I take it that Percival is one of your many fledglings.”

Sirius’s voice was uncharacteristically full of venom.

“Yes Percival is, though I can’t see why you should have a problem with that.” I said pleasantly. I was simply too happy to bite back.

“I’m sorry but I haven’t had to share you before & I think you would leave me for him in a heartbeat!”

“Don’t play the fool Sirius! There are too many old wounds to be healed in that relationship! I am simply happy to have him back.” Pleasant, measured voice.

I turned to look at Sirius, & saw him crouched against the wall, his head in his hands. I went to pull him up & hold him to me, but he pulled away. This gesture of his hurt me more than anything else.

“Leave me be.” He whispered.

“How could you not understand my happiness, when I have just told you the very reason why I find it hard to forgive myself…”

“Get out of my sight! Go tomorrow with him to Italy instead of me! I don’t care! Just LET ME ALONE!” He bellowed at me.

I gave him a final contemptuous look and ran all the way back to the villa attracting perhaps a little more attention than was wise. But I didn’t care!

Why had Sirius reacted so badly? True he hadn’t to share me with another male vampire for fifty years, but that was no reason to yell & scream & shout.

Percival was waiting at the door for me, arms open. I flung myself into them & sobbed continuously. He carried me into his old room & put me down on the bed.

“I know what happened, I followed Sirius with my mind, I saw the whole thing.”He said gently, almost lovingly.

“ Do you really think there are too many old wounds to be healed?”

“No I don’t honestly I don’t but you must understand Sirius has had me completely to himself for fifty years, & then you appeared out of the blue; I can vaguely understand what he must be feeling, but it hurts me that he wouldn’t trust me.”

“Perhaps in time he will come around, but what shall we do in the meantime? If he doesn’t warm up to you again by early tomorrow evening, would you wish to postpone the trip to Italy until he does?” he whispered soothingly.

“No! If he wishes to act like the child he was when I saved him, then he can find his own way there or he can wait here until our return.” I said to myself more than to Percival.

He kissed my forehead & lay next to me, he laced his fingers between mine, & we soon drifted off into a mortal sleep.

When I woke next Sirius was standing over us, glaring at Percival.

Percival himself, was still asleep. I got off the bed as carefully as possible, so as not to wake him. Then I turned to Sirius & gave him an I’m really pissed off at you but still love you more than anything look.

He walked over to me, hesitated for a moment, then cupped my face in his hands & kissed me more passionately than ever.

I resisted kissing back for a few moments, but I couldn’t resist him. I never could’ve resisted him for very long.

He pulled away from me and as he did so he said to me “There are some things I need to tell you, come.”

I followed him to my own room obediently. He sat down on the end of my bed and rested his elbows on his knees, bowing his head slightly.

He heaved a sigh & then he spoke.

“I’d like to explain to you why I acted the way I did this evening. As we were walking back to the villa Percival knowing that you wouldn’t be able to pick up his thoughts because of the heavy blood exchange, was talking to me telepathically. He was telling me that you would leave me for him, that he was going to steal you away from me, & that he would be able to make you come to despise me if I discussed any of this with you. This is what made me act the way I did; whether or not you believe me is completely up to you.”

He looked suddenly into my eyes, searching for God only knows what. I thought for a few minutes.

“I believe you Sirius, but please tell me if he does this again. I’ll need to know so I can be on my guard, so I can look for the warning signs of his tricks.” Serious, dark voice.

“You mean to say he’s done this before?” he seemed rather shocked.

“Yes that is exactly what I meant to say, it’s the very reason why I left him to his own fate. Lock your mind to him, but always be listening to what he says.”

I walked over to where he sat and crouched down in front of him & curled my fingers round his hands.

“Come, let us go to Tokyo, I’ve an old friend there who might be able to help us.”

“No I wish to stay, we need to fix this on our own, perhaps if the time comes we shall call to other vampires for help.”

I considered what he had just said, this a wise thing to say. It was too early in the scheme of things to call for help.

“Very well, we shall let the dice fall where they may.” I said to him.

I stood & as I did this I pulled him to his feet.

“Why so weary young one? You have eternity to be weary, for now let us be full of love & life!” I whispered in his ear.

He smiled wistfully. I did not allow him to think for long though; for I gathered him to me and began to lead him in one of the most beautiful dances I know. One I picked up in the 18^th century & have never forgotten. Though I had begun to lead, as soon as he grasped the steps he began to lead me as though the dance was purely his! Somewhere inside the villa Cyrus began to play Tchaikovsky & then he moved to my most loved piece of Beethoven; The Appasionata, Sonata No.23 Op.57 moving from the Allegro assai to Andante con Motto & then proceeding to Allegro ma non troppo-Presto. I dearly loved to hear Cyrus play this song, his nuances were quite different to any other person’s I had ever known.

As the dancing came to an end I laid my head to rest on his chest, & sighed.

“I think we shall leave a night early for Italy, I’ll leave a note for Percival saying to follow us.”

“If you wish to go a night earlier, then I shall pose no objection.” Sirius stated trying to be agreeable, though I could see he wished to linger, though I knew not what for.

With that I went directly to Cyrus to say our farewells.

“Cyrus my love, Sirius & I are journeying to Italy this evening, so we’ve come to bid you adieu.”

“All is well & good Rowena, you need not worry about Percival, I shall tell him you have gone on ahead & that he is to follow. But I am sorely disappointed that I shall be deprived of his company so soon!” amiable, & rather loud voice.

“It is not as though he won’t be coming back, even if we do have another falling out, which I believe is quite inevitable; I am sure you will see each other again very soon.”

With those words I swooped down upon him, gave his forehead a light kiss & went out into the garden, to find Marius gazing at the stars.

“You are leaving a night early dolly dear?” I wasn’t even within 100 meters of him when he said this.

“Yes I am my wise & venerable old friend. I shall see you in a month or two unless you come after us to visit Lestat?”

“No I shall not pay Lestat a visit, though I wish too I must watch over London & see that nothing evil goes on whilst you are away.” Poignant voice.

“I do wish you would come, but I thank you with all my heart for looking after my beloved city! Would you give my farewell & love to Darius?”

“Yes.”

With that I ran up to him locked my arms around his body and received his kiss on my forehead. Sirius came & took my hand & lead me to our crypt.

We packed only a few belongings, mainly clothing, minimal jewellery.

I packed my roman tunics, & one of my late 17^th century dresses, along with all of my rosaries. Now what you must understand is that I am not religious; I never have been, I wasn’t even religious as a mortal human being. I simply like the look of them, their archaic & exquisite beauty.

I’ve no Idea what specific items Sirius packed, but I remember him packing his 17^th century frock coat with beautiful cameos for buttons. I particularly loved this coat, another vampire has one similar only more valuable and handsome than Sirius’s. I shall not mention his name for I don’t know him personally, I merely know of him. But perhaps if you’ve picked up this book, then there is a chance that you have read his chronicles.

“Ready to go?” I asked.

“As always.”

I grabbed our belongings & then gripped Sirius around his waist, & flew up into the air. The wind tore playfully at my long hair, ripped at my clothes & stung my skin with a crisp, frosty grip. Sirius clung to me as he never had before.

In a few hours time we were descending down towards a glorious palatial villa, on the outskirts of Rome. Isolde & Lestat were waiting for us in the garden between two lovely tall olive trees.

We landed gracefully & without sound.

“My lady, I trust you’ve had a pleasant trip? Though I cant be sure bearing in mind the fact that I remember your repugnance of flight.” Cheeky words came from Lestat’s pert tongue.

“Lestat! I see you’ve not lost your drollness & love for tomfoolery! My trip if such a matter truly concerns you, was a right side more pleasant then usual. Now I may ask you where is our Lady Pandora?”

“She’s still hunting.” Barely audible words left Isolde’s mouth the istant I finished my question. She had read my thoughts, but as always was much too courteous to cut across me & answer before I’d finished.

“Come inside, my friends & I’ll show you your quarters for the sunlit hours.” Came Isolde’s soft voice.

Sirius & I followed them both into the villa, marveling at the colourful frescos that covered so very many of the walls. We were lead through many rooms, & corridors, until in due course we saw two large heavy marble doors. These doors were rather more stunning than my own, because there inlaid in gold on the doors, written in latin was a favourite catholic hymn of mine; Dies Irae.

No mortal man could have pushed these doors open, it would have a taken a team of at least 100 of them to even budge the marble an inch.

But with one easy push of Isolde’s arms the doors swung back; a push which infact would have looked as though the doors weighed nothing if a mortal were to watch her do it. Behind the doors was another little hallway. We began to walk down it, & as we passed the doors I noticed that they all were made of gold! Not only that but each door had a different name on it, as we continued to walk towards the end of the hall I saw some rather familiar names on a few of the doors.

At last we came to a door not just with one name, but two; mine and Sirius’.

“This is where you shall slumber during the hours of light.” Isolde told us in an ethereal voice.

The door opened without anyone’s pushing it, we entered.

There was only one sarcophagi that lay in the room, though it was double the size of a normal one. Made to fit two, this was the first one of its kind I had ever seen & again inlaid in gold was the Latin hymn Dies Irae. I wondered why they seemed so infatuated by the hymn, because though the song was made for the dead, the irony of having it on a sarcophagus in which a vampire was to lie, was the fact that a vampire is neither living nor dead.

“There is another that shall be joining us?” Lestat inquired .

“Yes; Percival.” Sirius spoke on my behalf.

“Rowena, surely you’ve not forgiven the wicked scoundrel? I thought you’d learned you’re lesson with him.” Lestat again.

“And what lesson was that? That we all make grievous errors of judgement? Yes I’ve learned that, but forgiveness is essential for me, I rarely hold a grudge.” I said these words very plainly and without emotion.

“Yes I suppose you are right in that respect.” With these words from Lestat the matter was closed.

“There are others here, whom you’ve not met and I dare say that shan’t happen until tomorrow evening.” Isolde’s soft voice broke the silence once more.

Isolde walked back the way we had come. We followed. She led us to her sitting room, where she sat in a large and beautiful old leather lounge chair, only big enough for two.

“Come sit by me young one. I must see you properly. You may need my blood should you wish to equal any adversaries you might make, in your journey through eternity.” Kind, warm words from Isolde.

This would be a great honour for Sirius if she was to allow him to drink from her, for she had drunk from some of the eldest of our kind, and so she was young yet very powerful.

Sirius did as he was told, as soon as he had sat Isolde took his face in her hands and began to study him, in all probability she was searching his mind for fortitude and courage and his blood for any fault or weakness.

She told him to stand, he did so. Now she studied every inch of him she could see.

At last she voiced her opinion.

“You’ve done well Rowena, though he will need some of my blood but not much I assure you. You’ve never made a finer fledgling.”

I was flattered. A compliment like this was rarely ever made by Isolde, yes it’s true that she is younger but she is more wise and powerful than most of my company. The hours passed as she examined him more closely, it was getting close to dawn when she finally spoke again.

“He’ll need only drink three draughts of my blood, but they must the biggest draughts he has ever drawn.”

I was quite plainly astonished, all my other fledglings had received more from her. But I did not question her motive or reasons, I simply nodded in a passive manner.

Isodle pulled Sirius’ head into her neck, she gasped when he bit down into her flesh. I watched the muscles of his throat work strenuously to draw out three large draughts of her blood. It was over within the blink of an eye she had drawn away, and Sirius licked his lips to catch any blood that he may have spilt.

Isolde motioned for him to take his place beside me.

“The hours of sunlight encroach upon us, I think it would be best if we were all to take to our crypts.” More words of wisdom from Isolde. These words of course excluded Lestat as sunlight could not kill him. I gave him an envious look and turned to go, but not before he said.

“What would you give to see the sun shine once more, to feel it’s gentle warm rays caress your skin?” A simple yet very intrusive question to ask a Vampire, but it is what he said to me.

I turned looked him dead in the eyes, I gave him a telekinetic push backwards, for warning of what he’d just done, for what he’d just asked me to reveal. And whispered “The world.”

With that I turned and walked to the crypts in silence. I slid the lid of the granite crypt to one side climbed in under the side that was still covered, Sirius followed. He slid the lid back in place, and wrapped his arms around me, I began to cry silently remembering the last rays of sunlight I had ever seen.

They were the cold rays of winter sunlight, they made the snow crystals of my home land glitter like diamonds. I can even remember the last feeling of sunlight touching my face, it felt like someone had placed their warms palms and fingers on my cheeks to give them feeling once again. I wept because I could remember it yet I could not feel it. I could not feel it because if I let the sun touch me, instead of feeling warmth I’d feel fire, my body instead of being warmed would be burnt and turned to ash.

A deafening silence fell over everything, I could hear nothing. No telepathic thoughts could be heard, no images, nothing. With the coming of this silence I knew the sun had risen, inevitable sleep called me.