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[[For more of Vame Haven see http://www.writerscafe.org/writers/faeriegorgeous ]]
This one is short, and an incredibly rough draft (I have not read over
it yet, this is fresh from my mind to the screen), but my favourite
chapter so far.
Vame
Haven©
By Ketlyn Leah
Rawley
For the rest of the day, Drake and Damon
kept Crys away from the discs. She wouldn’t admit it, but the search for her
identity was taking its toll on her, and the longer she searched the discs, the
more discouraged she grew, and the more the light in her eyes faded.
That evening, when Crys went
to wash the cocoa and flour out of her hair, Damon used the opportunity to talk
to Drake in private. “Drake, you’ve known Crys longer than I have. Tell me, how
is she? She laughs, she smiles, she jokes and teases. When she speaks of her
family I can see the horrendous ache in her eyes, but cannot hear it in her
voice. What do you think?”
Drake sighed and looked at
Damon with sad eyes. “It is Crys’ subconscious nature. She feels pain. She
feels emotions stronger than anyone I’ve known. But she will not show pain
openly. Why do you think she carries her bangs the way she does? To hide her
eyes. She knows I read emotions from eyes. Whether she knows it’s a vampire
ability or just my ability, I do not know. Every reminder of her family makes
her hurt. You should have seen her when she saw their family picture load up on
the computer screen. Her eyes literally flashed with pain, but no tears came.
“What do I think of it? I’m
worried. She is battling two natures. Her first is to fall into a million
pieces and cry until her strength fails her and she dies. The other is to shrug
it off and move on, laughing and smiling. She is caught between two extremes,
and can find no middle ground. And if she doesn’t find a middle ground, a third
nature, so to speak, one of the two natures will win, and she will be consumed
by it.”
“Are you saying eventually she will
either be utterly consumed by her hurt and feel nothing else, or else be
consumed by indifference, and lack the ability to feel?”
“Somehow, she has simply got to find
a way to allow herself the pain when she feels it and the joy when she feels
it. Last night is the first time I have ever seen her show what she felt, when
she felt it.”
“It
seems when her Vamean instincts surface, that her third personality surfaces,”
Damon observed. “Like when the Restok were chasing after her.”
“Sometimes, it’s as her two battling
personalities portray humans on one side, and the Restok on the other. She has
to let the vampire in, and join with the human.”
“It’s
funny you should say Restok,” Damon murmured, as if lost in thought.
“How so?”
“You
know the myths surrounding the origin of Restok?”
“Mutated
humans, turned into the monsters they are from slaughtering vampires and consuming
their blood.”
“That
is what is assumed. It’s funny, it was told to me by a stranger in the woods,
when I was a boy, about eight thousand years ago. I always thought he was mad, but
now, I wonder. You see, he told me the Restok were Vameans.”
“That’s
impossible. Half-breeds can’t reproduce other half-breeds,” Drake contradicted.
“Drake,
we know what happens when Vamean babies have vampire blood smeared on their
teeth. What happens if it is human blood?”
Drake’s eyes widened at the thought.
“Damon, are you saying… great Rahme this is why the Restok wanted Crys alive!”
“Shh! That’s my fear,” Damon hissed.
“But we can’t tell anyone about this. No one! Not even Crys. Do you know what
such knowledge could do to her?!”
“She
is battling enough personalities as it is.”
“If
we are not careful, instead of accepting one, she will accept both.”
“You
mean, like a multiple personality complex?”
“It
would be fatal,” Damon nodded.
“What
can we do? We cannot simply force her
to become a warrior!”
“No.
But by Rahme we simply cannot let her, or any
of the other Vameans, fall into the hands of the Restok.”
“You know, we could be wrong.”
“Of
course we could! But then again we could be right. Can we take that chance?”
“What
can we do? She has to take things slowly as she looks through her father’s
discs, or else she will overload. But the longer we wait, the more danger there
is.”
“We
have to take her to Vame Haven.”
“I hate rushing her.”
“Drake,
you know her best. She will go wherever you tell her. She’ll do what you tell
her. You have to explain why it is imperative that she come to Vame Haven as
soon as possible.”
“Damon!
I will not exercise that sort of power over her! That’s misusing her trust in
me. No. If she goes, it is her decision.”
“I’m
not telling you to bewitch her into coming. Just, find a way to explain why we
have to leave now, without telling her about our fear concerning the Restok.”
“Like
what, tell her you’re invited to a birthday party that you can’t miss?” Drake
retorted sarcastically.
At that moment, they heard Crys
leave the bathroom and Damon didn’t have time to respond, simply casting Drake
a stern look instead. She came into the living room and sat across from Damon
and Drake on the big armchair, drawing her feet up and hugging her knees.
Dressed in black sweatpants and deep
green hooded sweatshirt, her emerald eyes flashed in competition, trying to
out-color the sweatshirt. Her wet hair framed her face, her bangs fell into her
big eyes, and looking at her, Drake couldn’t help but think that she was just
like a little girl, lost in a big city, just trying to find her way home.
“So how’s my chocolate raspberry
doing?” Drake teased.
“Just
fine. How are you, egghead?” Crys shot back, grinning from behind her knees.
“What
a horrendous waste of cocoa your escapade was,” Damon lamented, standing up
from the couch. “Where did you two children put the muffins anyhow?” he asked,
walking towards the kitchen. “In the container on the top shelf of the
preserver,” Drake answered, waving vaguely toward the kitchen, as if it would
help Damon discover the muffins.
Crys’ head suddenly shot up from
behind her knees and she looked at Drake with a suppressed smile. “Drake? Did
you tell him about the gummy bears?” Drake’s face exploded into a horrified grin.
“No,” he said.
At that moment, they heard a loud
cough from the kitchen. Drake and Crys looked at each other in silent dismay
for a moment, before bursting into muffled laughter. Drake was trying valiantly
to keep his face straight, whereas Crys buried her face into a pillow, fairly
choking on her laughter.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,”
Drake whispered, getting up and reaching out for Crys’ hand to pull her from
the chair. He opened the patio door and they both slipped out. They ran for the
nearest tree and then collapsed on the grass, still laughing.
“Oh it’s a beautiful night,” Crys
sighed, staring up at the sky.
“You
want to see something amazing?” Drake asked, reaching for her hand. “Come with
me.”
He helped Crys up and led her
through the dark meadow. “Now be careful, the ending’s a little abrupt here,”
he whispered, slowing their steps. Crys strained to see, and as her eyes
refocused, she saw that the ground beneath them suddenly dropped. What seemed
like thousands of kilometers further down was a field of flowers, bordered by a
ripple-less lake, gleaming like a new mirror, its colors shimmering alternately
blue and silver as the moon gazed upon it.
“Oh, Drake,” Crys gasped, clenching
his hand for fear of falling.
“Amazing,
isn’t it?” he murmured.
“The
lake, the sea of flowers, the moon, and all those stars,” Crys said softly,
tilting back to gaze at the sky. So enchanted was she with the sky that she did
not notice Drake looking at her much in the same way that she was gazing at the
sky. Still looking up, she lied down on the grass with Drake, their hands
interlocked as they watched the stars sparkle.
For a while longer they stared in
silence, before Crys turned to look at Drake. “They can’t be an accident, can
they Drake? Someone that beautiful was put up there for a reason, wasn’t it?”
she asked. Drake smiled. “No I think you’re right. They are no accident.”
“But
who put them there? I’ve never seen stars like this before, they’re the most
beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, aren’t they?”
Raising their interlocked hands,
Drake was silent for a moment before he answered. “They’re beautiful, but
they’re not the most beautiful thing I’ve seen,” he finally said, softly. Removing
her hand from his, Crys looked at him questioningly. Asking himself whether he
had taken complete leave of his sanity, he continued, “If their creator were to
put all of those stars together into one dazzling star, it couldn’t outshine
the beauty I see every time I look at you.”
Crys remained deadly silent and for
a few horrendous moments Drake wondered if he had maybe damaged their
friendship for good. As he looked over at her he saw that her entire body was
trembling, and when she sat up it became clear that she was crying.
“Crys!”
“Drake,
I, oh, I, you, all this time, you,” she babbled. Getting frustrated with
herself she took a deep breath and tried to speak coherently. “All this time,
I, you, I thought, it was just me, and, you, I, oh, why’d you say that?” she
stammered, still barely able to bring out a clear sentence amidst the tears.
“Because I’ve always loved you and I
can’t stand keeping it in me a moment longer, even if it is selfish to admit it
to you,” he answered.
“You,
I, all this time, I,” Crys fell into incoherent stammers and tears once more.
“Crys?”
Drake asked tentatively.
“I,
I’m fine. You, I, o—oh!”
This time Drake didn’t let her
finish. He wrapped her in his arms and she collapsed against his chest, still
crying. For a long time he sat there rocking her, as she fought the tears and
tremors that raged through her. His revelation had completely stripped her of
the barriers she tried to hide behind for so long, and the truth that he felt
the same for her that she felt for him completely unnerved her. As the minutes
passed and she realized he was still holding her, and that she had not imagined
his words, her breathing calmed and the tremors stopped.
Taking a last deep breath, she hugged
him back and finally whispered, “I love you too.”
She
never saw the tears of relief that filled his eyes. She never felt the single
drop that fell on her hair as he buried his face in it and kissed her head. She
only felt his arms around her tighten, and only heard his soft whisper, "I love you Starshine."
What are ya'll's thoughts?
-Naamarie-
♥Starshine†Faerie™ |
