2. Richard

The snow swirled around my window dotting little flecks of white on the pane. I stood there, as always, waiting for the start of my “human” day. I breathed a deep sigh feeling very alone as my breath left no mark on the freezing glass as it once did.

 

I was already dressed in what I was going to wear that day. Dark blue jeans, a khaki colored turtleneck, a black leather jacket. Not that the jacket was really needed just part of the facade. Nevertheless, I still looked myself over in the mirror, making sure that there was nothing out of place. Contrary to popular belief, mirrors are quite useful for vampires as well as humans. I ran a quick comb through my thick dark hair, letting it fall as it will, there was really no need to regulate it, what I now was, was something of pure glamour and façade, keeping me looking ever young and handsome no matter what I tried to do otherwise (and believe me I have tried). Girls that were around my appeared age would try to woo me, failing endlessly to gain my attention. What they didn’t know was that I was already promised to another long ago.

This slow routine was starting to wear thin my patience, I wondered at Alba’s sanity time and again only to be given the same answer, she ‘felt’ Nox would return to her children here. However, I was convinced that something else was the reason for our stay in such a slow little town. It was Alba, after all, who had made the pact with the Hunters not to harm them, if they would not harm us. The whole plan reeked of cowardice, a trait I could not stand.

 

No one truly knew exactly when or where the Goddess was supposed to return, not after the Hunter and his wife, the same Hunter whose brother later made the Peace Pact, had burned all the prophecies. All anyone really knew was that Nox would return in America, and within 100 years of her last death.

One hundred years had already passed from her last time upon this earth and still there had been no warning from the vampires’, werewolves’, or hunters’ community, it was as if she had chosen not to return. As though she didn’t want to grace her proper place in the heavens. I turned from the mirror knowing that I had to leave or risk missing that infernal contraption the humans called a bus. Not that it would matter much anyway I could have just been on the bus from the start but as Alba always stressed humans are fragile frightful creatures that scare easily in the night.

 

Alba was certainly the diplomatic kind, every time I saw her or spoke to her she reminded me of the kings in times of old, she certainly fit the bill with her high swept cheeks thin button nose and her tendency to stand straight as a pin despite her height. However she was caring, unlike others who had gone from being rich and pampered to living within the shadows of the night.

 

She did what she could to provide a nice, semi normal life for those in her care. Her coven was small consisting of only a few weary vampires. For the most part they all stuck to the animals in the area, taking sustenance from them, but every once in a while they craved the blood of our chosen prey item, hunters, human blood for the most part. We were obligated under the Peace Pact not to harm any Hunters that took residence in the area, but every now and then we would venture outside of city limits and drag a rogue Hunter back with us. Some might think it cruel but in truth it is survival.

 

Descending the stairs, I noticed that most of the coven was still awake. They were making their individual ways back to their rooms stepping out of my path, with their heads bowed and eyes averted. They knew that I was stronger then they and many feared this fact. Alba was the only one to look me in the eye. Her deep brown eyes holding me for a moment with an ere of elegance and authority. We met at the door and I bowed my head out of respect, she did the same and then stepped out of my way. Although she was the leader of the coven, she knew that I had been in existence before her and therefore I was stronger. I could easily throw her out of power; however, I had only one thing I wished for.

 

My mission was to find Nox, our mother goddess. I had been her guardian the last few times she had been alive and now the only reason I stayed in this world was for her to return to the heavens as a proper goddess with me at her side. And even though I held some disdain for the way they lived their lives, they were still the last to hold prophecy of Nox and it was still at a time when it was safer to be in a coven then on one’s own. Hunters ran rampant in these dark times, and the Children of the Night were beginning to thin.

 

I noticed the winter chill only by the dancing snow, I could no longer feel the freezing flakes as I had once used to, but for all things, missing from my former life the cold was not one. Though I relished in my new existence there were many things I would like to have back such as the velvety taste of chocolate, or being able to feel the warmth and comfort offered by the sun, though it didn‘t hurt me I could no longer feel it, there was little I felt anymore.

 

Nevertheless, missing such things does not bring them back. The bus, as usual, was crowded and loud. The dogs sitting in the first seats were loudest of all with their pushing and screaming. Every now and then, they would look over to me and make high keening sounds in the backs of their throats, humans couldn’t hear them but with being a Vampire, I could. I blocked everything out and opened to the first page of my brand new book. Time passed very slowly as I read page after page of the darker, quainter times that I was still stuck in.

 

“MOVE!” the shout rang from the front of the bus. I looked up suddenly aware that a new presence had stepped onto the bus. Everything I had been trying to block out snapped back to me, sending most of my senses into a level of shock, but I located the source of the demanding voice. A tall, thin girl stood at the head of the bus and waited for the aisle to clear. She walked down the small aisle with a graceful ease, she sat in the very back row. She was more then a dark beauty with her long straight black hair and pale skin that rivaled the purest pearl in opulence and glow.

 

Even after identifying the voice, I could not pull my gaze away from the exquisite creature who had stepped onto such an ugly mode of transportation. Though she was thin, she had a sort of strength that lay under the surface until she decided to unlock it.

 

She had a grace that hinted at vampyrism, even when she was sitting down, but there was something more to her. Could this be Her? I thought to myself. I noticed that the head of the wolf pack was also looking at her. She looked a little upset at something as her long slender hands dug through her bag and pulled out a book that looked as though it had seen many better years. Her face slowly turned into a scowl and it seemed like she ran across the same sentence in her book over and over. She set the book down in a huff.

 

“Can I help you?” She snapped, her voice effortlessly reaching both the wolf and myself, shifting her gaze between the both of us. Her eyes, a perfect forest green, sent chills through my spine. I snapped out of revere and put my face into my book, not really seeing the words, for the rest of the ride my mind wrapped around the thin form that lay just in the corner of my vision. Stepping off the bus, I noticed the wolf make his move on the girl. Zeik was too enthusiastic with the girl, He’s going to run her off before we even know for sure, the stupid mutt, I thought angrily. This wouldn’t be good if he told her too soon our suspicions she would revolt against it, humans often feared what they did not understand. I would have to avoid him if I wanted her trust.

 

Disgusted and somewhat disgruntled I went straight to my first class. The fragile teacher stood at her desk and waited as students filed in and sat down. I pulled out my book again to pass the time. A few hundred pages or so later and I heard the bell ring. The teacher picked up a clipboard to take roll. Her wavering monotone and the chaotic order in which the names were called, scraped at my nerves, I gritted my teeth and blocked it out by reading. A few moments passed and she called the names of most of the class.

 

“Calling Night?” My head snapped up. Would this weak human dare to call upon the night as though to mock its existence, or was this the name of an unfortunate student? My fangs lengthened in the heat of my anger. What did any of these weak humans know about the night? Nothing! They knew nothing of the night, they only glimpsed it in their nightmares and through the eyes of inventive authors. The Hunter in the back didn’t even have a clue!

 

“Calling Night?” My hands balled into tight fists under the table and I stared straight ahead trying to avert my attention and anger away from the voice that called out to the night, if I were to kill one of these humans in a room this small I would have to kill all of them and it was a e difficult task to cover so many murders at one time. Not only that but a fight would inevitably break out between myself and the Hunter, Baldric in the back, demolishing the Peace Pact, and though I hated the restrictions the coven appreciated the protection it offered.

 

“It’s pronounced Colleen, and here.” I turned in my seat to meet the face of the girl who had walked onto the bus that morning. It came as no shock that this girl's name would have something to do with the night. Her elusiveness and silence was much like that of the moon, playing hide and seek in the clouds. A smile gently tugged at the corners of my lips; in fact, her face compared to that of the Moon’s with its pale mystery.

 

Callign, so our pale beauty has a name, I thought as I looked over my shoulder again. She still seemed as upset as she had been on the bus, probably because Zeik and I felt familiar to her. Yes we would feel familiar if she was who I believed her to be, Nox could always tell who her children were.

The teacher finished her call and moved in front of the chalkboard to begin the day’s lesson on the periodic table and its different elements, not that I was really able to pay attention. This matter proved to be more important than that of a lesson I had learned hundreds of times.

Reviews

[Alysha]

Don't worry you find out more as the story progresses, after all it is but the beginning.

[ChristianM]

I like where you are going with this story. For stories about vampires it is very unique. I like the fact that you have the vampires and the hunters sign a peace pact, but would like to know more of the reasoning behind it.
Another great chapter though.