Rays Through The Eclipse [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

Tending to the wounded wasn’t over until the sun started to creep over the horizon. “Er…will…will Ahmose be all right in that tent?” Fenuku took a look back at the tent, wondering at the material and if it was flimsy or not.


“Yeah,” Dean said as he slid his hands down his pants to remove some of the dirt and blood from them. He motioned for Fenuku to follow, “That’s Gwen’s tent. She’s as much a fan of the sun as most vampires.” Gwen still hadn’t shown up. He had half-expected her to just stroll right into the camp as if her tardiness were no big deal, but she still wasn’t here.


‘Dead.’ His mind had mentally concluded that. There would have to be a discussion on how to proceed. He knew the Gawain identity was created to ensure that the vampires would never ‘kill’ the leader, and they’d have to proceed as if Gwen weren’t gone, but it would be difficult.


“So she’s…something of a leader?”


“Did you not see her order to spare Ahmose followed?” It was said in a ‘duh’ way as Dean entered the mess hall tent, and went to get himself a plate of food. There wasn’t much, mostly potato dishes with some meat from deer and the like, but it would suffice. Fenuku also got himself a plate and the two took a seat within the overlarge tent.


“I’m sorry, I just…this has all the markings of Gawain’s group.”


And Dean smiled, just a bit, “Speaking of, who are you?”


“Oh,” he realized then, and he held out his hand to Fenuku, “Dean.” And Fenuku shook it.


~***~


Gwen hadn’t really gotten her hopes up about being able to walk free, so she consoled herself with the thought of getting to see more of the place as her hands were bound in front of her. She was pulled forward and to keep to the vampire’s pace which, since he wasn’t running, wasn’t difficult. “Your threats are well understood, vampire, when I feel like dying I will try to run,” derision dripped from each syllable.


She honestly didn’t believe him. More than likely, he’d just catch her again and this cycle would repeat of waking up with a headache in some uncomfortable room. ‘Speaking of.’ As she was led away from the cell, she did turn her head this way and that to take in each room she was moved through, memorizing as much detail as she could.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys was already eating when she saw Dean and Fenuku walking over. She motioned them over. Drake her usual second in command was sitting beside her. He eyed the new comer. "This is the guy I was telling you about with that ancient night crawler." She said to him and Drake just nodded watching him curiously.


"He seems normal to me. What would he be doing with an ancient?" Alys shrugged looking over at him. She honestly had no idea.


"Maybe their gay, why don't you ask him," Alys thought that was a probable answer seeing as there were such things as dhampir, so in theory a vampire and a human could be in love.She had never actually seen a mixed couple before, but Gwen was proof it had happened.


"Ahmose didn't strike me as gay but I only got a peek."Drake continued eating.


<***>


He walked up to his four and opened it pulling her inside, he pushed her into a chair and searched the house for supplies.He kept one eye on her at all times though.He was quite thirsty and he hoped someone had been gracious enough to leave him some blood.He hasn't been on a proper hunt in ages. He opened the fridge and sifted through it's contents. "Thirsty?" He asked the women.

 

[Lucyfer]

When Dean saw the gesture, he got up and motioned for Fenuku to follow him. He went to take a seat at the table with Drake and Alys, as Drake gave his comment about Ahmose. Dean glanced to Fenuku, the question put to him.


“Even if Ahmose is, I’m not.” Fenuku dug into his potatoes, feeling a bit annoyed to have his relationship with Ahmose turned into something sexual in a question.


“Do you know if he is?” Dean couldn’t help but ask.


“I haven’t seen him in a relationship with anyone of any gender that was of a sexual nature,” he saw Ahmose with cats, with the sun, with vampires, and with other humans, but never had he seen Ahmose in anything like a sexual relationship. He wasn’t shy about loving, but it always seemed platonic.


~***~


The chair rocked back on its legs when Gwen was thrust into it, and it was sheer luck that it didn’t tip over and spill her onto the floor. It settled, and Gwen shook her head, adjusted herself in it so the threat of it tipping over again wouldn’t be immediate. ‘Do not need to hit my head on the floor.’


She tried to make herself comfortable, and noted his query, “Yes.” The worst he could do was deny her a drink. She was thirsty, but it was something of a constant state. Gwen never drank much blood since it was difficult to acquire as a rebel. She drank what was necessary and tried to subsist on water and human food for as long as possible.


She always did drink blood, though, she wasn’t stupid enough to deny herself like some. Otherwise, she’d end up going rabid and killing her own in thirst, and that wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys nodded. Ahmose hadn't striked her as gay either. She had only loved one man, she would only ever love one man. She continued to eat quite, she had dwelled on him a lot lately. Maybe she was finally coming to terms that he was gone. She had woken up every day still wishing he would be laying beside her. She had turned into her tent every night wishing to see that smile before she went to sleep. Maybe it was time to forget about him, He wasn't coming back. She could feel Drake's eyes on her and she came back to reality.


"What?" she asked sort of annoyed. Drake shook his head throwing his hands in surrender.


"Nothing sargent slaughter, you just look like your thinking about something." He looked away from her and to his food. Drake had been his best friend, his brother in arms, naturally they never talked about him but they shared the sorrow silently together. she shook her head and looked up at the human.


"Do you think Ahmose would be willing to give us some information?" She shook her head, bad question. "I mean is he brokering for peace or our destruction?" Alys eyed him, her expression giving away nothing of the thoughts buzzing around in her brain.


<***>


Aiden dug through the fridge and smiled when he found a couple bags. He ripped one open and brought it to his lips sighing with content. He preferred it fresh, that way it was warm. He was so hungry though that his stomach did not protest. He walked over to her and dropped one in her lap before he flashed his sword and cut the binds on her hands. He sheathed his sword and continued gulping down the rest of his bag. He desperately needed a fresh kill this cold blood would do for a while but eventually his blood lust would get the better of him if he did not satisfy the animal within. "Drink up." He leaned on the counter.

 

[Lucyfer]

The woman drifted off in thought, and Dean was silent. He let Drake break the moment, and then let Alys query Fenuku.


Fenuku frowned at the question, “I’m not sure what you’re asking,” he admitted, “Everyone wants peace,” even those who hated humans wanted peace. “People just want peace differently. So of course, Ahmose wants peace.” He wanted the violence to end. He wanted things to change, like everyone else.


Unlike most others, Ahmose wanted to remake society with humans and vampires on more even footing.


~***~


Kindness wasn’t expected in any form. Gwen flinched when the blade was drawn, but all it did was remove her bindings so she could actually drink without assistance. ‘Don’t question it.’ No thank you was in order, considering her position, so she simply lifted the bag of blood to her lips and let her teeth puncture it.


Cold blood was disgusting, but blood was blood. She didn’t waste a drop, and rolled the bag up into a ball when she was finished drinking, and tossed it into the trash without rising. Her eyes shifted back to him. The obvious question had its answer already, so Gwendolen asked instead, “What is your name, vampire?”

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys sighed. "Is he looking for the peace where humans are just food, or where humans are on the same ground. Where vampires and us exist together without fighting." She pushed her dark hair out of her face and looked at Fenuku. Drake was silent beside her though they both hated vampires and were fighting for humans to rule again. Keegan would fight for the release of humans. He held the belief that not all vampires were bad, that was until they destroyed him. The name flashed through her brain again and then she pushed it away again. Then she came back to reality.


<***>


"Aiden." He loomed over at her. Then he tossed the bag away too. He wasn't worried about her being untied. She was in the middle of the vampire capital someone would either kill her or capture her again. "And yours?" He asked looking at her. His enhanced eyes caught everything about her. Her skin was pale and smooth. Her hair was so blond it was almost white. She wasn't that bad to look at.

 

[Lucyfer]

Fenuku shook his head at the question, or rather, at the fact it was even asked, “Do you think he would have risked his life to save mine, if I were only food to him? I’d have to be a pretty good meal,” and he gave a little smile, “and I’m pretty sure I’m not,” Ahmose rarely drank from him.


Then he crossed his arms over the table and looked Alys right in the eye, “He wants peace where humans are on equal ground. He’s lived enough years to know that what other vampires want is never going to work out, and despite his age, he remembers what it is to be human. He tries…every evening he tries to go out in the sun,” it was lunacy, but he thought it might shed light on the vampire they dealing with.


He wasn’t like all the rest.


Dean gave a smile, however rueful, “Well, Gwen had a good eye,” she was always looking for vampires like that, always keeping her eyes open, and listening for the rumors. She wanted proof that vampires like her mother existed.


~***~


“Gwendolen Anjou,” Gwen answered. After all, her name wasn’t all that significant. It gave away nothing, since she took her father’s surname and not her mothers. It didn’t place her to any vampire family in particular, nor did it place her to any rebel group in particular.


She remained seated as it was clear the vampire was watching her closely. He would probably know the difference between a stretch and a move to attack, but she wasn’t yet willing to risk it, “So, what do you hope to gain here, Aidan?” Gwen knew the answers to expect. He wanted her for information, no doubt. Perhaps he wanted her as a bargaining tool, though she’d laugh at him if that were the case.


Her own group was instructed to never bargain with vampires over one rebel. She’d just spin it that her group wouldn’t pull a single hair for a dhampir.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys nodded he made a lot of sense. She leaned on the table. "He sounds very interesting. Do you think we would talk with me?" She was very intrigued by a vampire who actually had compassion for humans. Her dark eyes moved away as she thought about Gwen. Maybe all vampires really weren't bad, then again they had still taken everything she cared about from her. She blinked and focused on Funku.


<***>


Aiden Sat and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He locked his crystal blue gaze on hers. "That's nothing for you to worry about just be thankful the council wanted you alive." He leaned back and closed his icy eyes for a moment. He was beyond exhausted. He had been going for three days now. He wished for his own home.

 

[Lucyfer]

Fenuku nodded to the query, “I’m sure Ahmose would talk with you. He doesn’t really have much of a choice at this point,” the thought caused Fenuku to lower his eyes. He didn’t like his own situation any better, all things considered, but he imagined this must be hell for Ahmose. No doubt, he was still just sitting in that chair, waiting.


~***~


Gwen chuckled a bit at his statement, “I suppose so,” there was just little else to do but wonder and worry. “I don’t suppose you have a book then so I can pass the time?” She was hoping to keep him on his toes, just a little, curious about his response to requests that would likely be considered out-there.


After all, she wasn’t arguing. She wasn’t attempting escape. It had to be getting under his skin. “Or perhaps you’d be willing to enlighten me as to what sob story brought you to hate humans so much?” The derision was quite apparent. Gwen wasn’t a fan of people who chose to blame an entire species for the mistakes of a few, but it seemed the norm, among vampires and rebels both.


Frustrating, really.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys nodded and finished of her plate standing. "I'll go see him now. I'll met you in the field for training later Drake." She slapped Drake on the back and waved goodbye t Dean as she walked off to the trash can. She dumped her plate and her plastic silverware into the was buckets next to the trash can ten she dropped her napkin in the can. Ahmose was still bein held in Gwen's tent so she headed there. She walked over and pulled back the flap. She almost couldn't stop the shiver those silver eyes sent down her spine. Out of reflex her fist clenched around her bowie knife. She let the flap fall behind her as she brushed the dark hair out of her face.


<***>


"I sent think I've done anything to make you think I hate them." He leaned forward leaning his elbows on his knees. "And you may have whatever is available around us. I untied you didn't I?" He smiled politely then stood walking over t the book shelf he ran his fingers over the spines until he came to the one that stood out to him. He tossed it to her and the cover flapped as it sailed trough the air. The silver lettering of the title flashed as it landed in her hands. "My favorite by far. And I have had many a century to read."

 

[Lucyfer]

Humans had come in to peer at him, and Ahmose always thought that one of them would snap and try to kill him. So far, so good.


Then, Alys returned to the tent. He looked up at her and observed the way her body reacted. Her hand went for a knife. ‘Ah, so it will be you.’ He didn’t lower his head in defeat. Perhaps he was optimistic that her body language didn’t betray her true intentions.


“Can I help you?” He asked. There was annoyance in his tone. After all, he had been bound to a chair for hours. He was going to be a bit annoyed after sitting there with nothing to do but think the next person who walked in was going to behead him.


~***~


“It’s in your eyes,” Gwen answered the rhetorical question. She’d seen enough of vampires to figure the ones who hated, and she pinned Aiden as one who hated humans. She’d be happy if she were wrong, but she doubted it very much. She knew what hate looked like. Many of the rebels who served in her group hated.


His polite air was different from the one he’d had on the battlefield, and she rose when he said he could have whatever. She caught the book that was thrown at her, “Thank you,” it would be something to pass the time.


She kicked off her shoes as she walked to the bed in the room, and then let herself take a seat on it, pressing her back against the wall and stretching herself out before turning to open the book that was this vampire’s favorite.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys noted his tone but said nothing. "The human you brought with you Funku. He speaks very highly of you." She stood before him she was in camo pants and a black tank top. Her dark hair was pulled back in a broad which reached her lower back. She kept her hand on her knife but did not advance toward him. "I wish to speak with you. If I cut you loose will you stay put?" She felt like she could trust this man's promise. He seemed like they type of man to never break his word. Her bowie knives were ancient relics passed down through her family. It was stark black with a solver stallion. Her family name was represented with a stallion. She pulled one but held it loosely as not to make him think she would hurt him, but she was not to be underestimated she had wielded twin blades since she was a child.


<***>


He watched her go thinking on what she said. Yes he hated humans, with a passion actually. Once his uncle found him dieing in the arena and turned him he had never looked back, his father had been a Spaniard with the name of Martinez but he always thought of himself as his uncle's son coming from the ancient Greek vampire blood line of Athens. His parents had been nothing but trash and humans of his time watched each other kill for pleasure. They didn't deserve to rule, they had been killing the earth before the vampires took over.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ahmose let his expression soften when Alys stated her intentions, and did not act before receiving an answer, “Yes, I will stay put,” he answered, giving a reassuring smile to the woman with the braided hair. He meant it. If he had intended to escape before speaking with anyone, he would have. Or at least, he liked to imagine he would have been capable of it.


He wanted to speak to them, too. “I’m glad you are listening to Fenuku and not just considering him some brainwashed servant,” for Fenuku was definitely not that.


~***~


There was a silence in the room that was anything but. Gwendolen could feel the heaviness as she turned another page in the book and kept her gaze on the words, though she was not fully absorbing them. Her focus couldn’t be on the book completely when there was a threat in the room, so now and then she had to go back and read the same sentence over to try and remember the story she was reading.


The vampire was thinking, though. It bothered Gwendolen more than she’d admit that this ‘capture’ wasn’t going according to any script she knew. With her eyes still on the book, she asked, "Do you hate dhampirs, as well?" Her tone sounded bored, as if she didn't care what his answer was.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys glided over to him and cut through the rope binding his hands. Then she took a coupled steps back. She grabbed a chair and sat on the very edge looking at him. "I like Fenuku very much, I do not think he is brainwashed at all. I think he is very wise, and he knows how to read people." Her chocolate brown eyes hit the floor now. "He was very offended we thought you were lovers." She looked back up at him with a small apologetic smile and rested her hands on her knees.


Her palms were sweaty being so close to a vampire. She had never been this close with out the intention to kill. she took in the Egyptian vampire then, for the first time she was actually interested before she had been scoping out an enemy. There was no doubt that he was Egyptian, from the way he dressed to the way he held himself. And those silver eyes, it felt like they were looking into her very soul. It sent shivers down her spine but she controlled them.


Then her mind flashed to Kegan and her eyes narrowed. He was still the enemy he always would be, she would just have to play nice now that she needed information. Her hands twitched with the urge to be around the familiar grip of her knives. "He says that you want peace, not just for the vampires but for the humans."


<***>


He looked up coming back to reality. He thought on her question, dhampirs had never done hims wrong the only reason he had to hate them was the human part of them. But how could he hate a whole race just because they were half evil. He shook his head slowly, no he didn't hate them. they had never done him wrong.


"I have never been wronged by a dhampir so I have no reason to hate them, it is not their faults that they were unlucky enough to be the offspring of a human." He shook his head once more and looked right at her with icy blue eyes. "I know that is what you are. I have never actually met one before though." He looked back at the floor thinking of all the humans that had wronged him, one stood out in particular the only girl he had ever loved. It was like a stab to his heart to remember her. She had said she loved him and spent many years as his wife until she set a trap to have him killed. She had only used him for his connections. He scowled and shook his head pushing it all away into the back of his head.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ahmose made an exaggerated expression of sorrow, “I suppose I had to find out somehow that Fenuku would not be interested in me as a lover,” from the small cracks of a smile at his lips, though, it was quite clear he was joking. Ahmose had never considered Fenuku as such, though he’d had many lovers in his life of either gender. Fenuku was not even a consideration in his mind, and he was rather pleased to hear that Fenuku hadn’t fallen for the vampire’s allure.


“Fenuku hasn’t lied to you on the matter of peace,” he became a bit more serious with that said, “I would like things to become equal. Vampires made a mistake when they came on the scene, and were immediate hostile. There was a lot of pent-up rage,” he remembered it, he’d been dragged along into action with the warring vampires. They had all been angry about the years they’d had to live in the shadows and sought to make it so humans finally ‘paid’ for a crime they didn’t truly know they were committing.


~***~


Gwendolen saw the shake of his head out of the corner of her eye and heard his measured words. “I’d imagine not. We’re not well liked, you know, by your kind or by humans. We tend to die to one or the other.” Humans feared them, vampires disliked them enough to kill their own if they slipped and reproduced. Gwendolen imagined it was more the fact her mother had loved her father that caused the problem. Her affection was wrong, so in the eyes of her sire, she had to die. “I’m surprised you even knew we drank blood,” a page was turned, “though I suppose even human rumor gives that away.”


There was some story to his hatred of humans, considering his phrasing about how it ‘wasn’t her fault’ to be born of a human. She wondered how long a vampire could hold a grudge.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys nodded, vampires were always angry. She was caught of guard by his smile, he thought vampires in capable of humor. How had they remained in the shadows for so long they were so much stronger than humans were. They loved to exercise such power. She looked at Ahmose, she wondered how old he was how many lives he had lived.


"How did you think being on the side with the vampires would help you acquire peace?" She cocked an eyebrow. "My Father used to lead the rebels, he saw this war as a necessary evil. He didn't want blood shed but every time he begged for peace they would laugh at him. So he turned to war. He and my mother died in battle. The vampires who preached peace, they said blood must be paid with blood. My father was no dictator he did not deserve to die..."


She swallowed she had said a lot more than she meant to. She had so much more to say but she just let that sit until she asked.


"How will we ever see eye to eye?" she locked her chocolate gaze with him.


<***>


"I would think so, Vampires see your human blood as evil and Humans see the opposite. I think it very strange that they would put you in a leadership position, actually." He leaned back in the chair closing his eyes again. "You seemed more vampire than human so I took a guess." He confessed with a shrug.


Soon a council member would be here to tell him of the other councils rulings on the girl. He would either hand her over to be killed or he would keep her here until they found a bargain with the rebels that suited them. The girl did not seem all that bad, but either way he would not feel bad if she died or not. She had chosen the wrong alliance, the rebels could not be allowed to continue living.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ahmose kept his gaze on those chocolate eyes. He could see the pain that she knew in such a short life, and wondered how he could ever explain to her that there were vampires out there, like him, who had not dwelled on their pain. There were vampires out there who had seen good, and who lived on that hope. They were the majority, but the problem with them was their passivity.


It was his problem, too. “I understood that we were in a position of weakness at the outset. I knew that if I did not help, in the past, then all of us would be destroyed for the acts of a few. I know it is not nice to hear it, but many humans fear what they do not know, and that was as true then as it is now. Now that we have the position of power, I think we can come to terms and make things equal.”


The problems were apparent with that, of course, “A vocal and strong minority happens to hold sway over most vampires, and we are, admittedly, enjoying having power,” he couldn’t deny that, “so much so that many of us fear giving any liberties back to humans. We lashed out at you, and we expect if you as a race are given power, then you will work to limit our freedoms once again, and send us back to the shadows we came from. We’ll only see eye to eye through careful negotiations, and getting rid of fearmongers on both sides.”


He’d prefer the fearmongers not killed, but that was always the case. Even he knew that was how it would have to be. “Where you humans have continued your acts of violence, I have been talking at the councils on your behalf. I have been bringing a human with me to every meeting, and I have been teaching vampires, again, that humans are just as civil as us. It is not a fast process, but we have only had power for a century,” a human lifetime, but to a vampire—a blink of an eye.


~***~


Gwen smirked at his comment, saw it for what it was. She decided, however, not to lie. Let him know, and more than that, “Oh, they didn’t put me there.”


Gwen could explain that through a mixture of killing those who opposed her and reminding everyone of her father’s skills and assistance, she had taken the leadership, but it was not a story worth sharing. “I took leadership.” That was all that really needed to be said. Her planning, her combat prowess, and her ability to listen to others had gained her a following over the years since she took power.


She lifted her eyes from the page, “You know, they also call me Gawain.”


That should up her importance. “My idea, to keep all of you looking for a man.” And that’s how it would continue, because even if he believed her, others wouldn’t. Humans lied, so why not a dhampir?


Letters from Gawain would continue to be written following her group’s activities. The faceless leader would always reign until there was peace. "It'd be very foolish to keep me alive." But, with saying that, she immediately returned her attention to the book.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys looked at the man, not the vampire, the man beneath. He was so different then any vampire she had ever met. He was the exact oposite of what humans had lead her to believe. He was the one who could change everything. Did she want things to change though? Did she really want to come to terms that her parents were gone, that her Kegan was gone? How could she look past what they had done to her, like this man has obviously already done. She promised herself she would never cry again but her eyes grew misty as she looked at him.


"Fear is all we know. All I know." She looked down wiping at her eyes. "How can we look past that? How can we see the good if all we see is the bad?" She looked back up at him her usually steele eyes were soft and held everything she had kept buried in her heart for so long.


"How did you look past all that? You have obviously had life times of being hated, of being wronged." Her hand went straight to her knife when she spoke next.


"How can I speak peace if all I've ever known is war?" Her knuckles went white around the worn hilt. Usually they were her comfort but now they were just cold under her fingertips.


<***>


He smiled and opened his eyes. "now that makes much more sense, humans are weak." he looked straight at her thinking over her last comment. The leader of the rebels had always been a man, why would she claim to be him if she was not though? He just shook his head. Who was he to make such a decision, he was just here to see the humans burn.


"All the councils will vote, I am not the one who decides if you will live or die." He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees with a bored expression. "honestly I could care less about their decision. Either you will live or you will die. Life and this war will go on with or without you in it."

 

[Lucyfer]

She was crying. Ahmose wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but apparently he had reached this human in some way. For that, he supposed, it was a good thing. There was emotion there, and with that came the willingness to hope.


The fear of hope.


“You imagine.” Ahmose said softly. “I’ve lived over 2,000 years,” he wondered how that must sound to a human. He remembered Fenuku’s jaw dropped. “I have seen many wars, and I’ve seen many times of peace. I’ve seen innovations and joy, and I’ve seen tragedy and loss. I’ve accepted it.”


The years forced him to accept it. In life, he would always have these things, and he’d learned from one of his lovers that it was something he had to accept. Life went on for him, and not for his dearly departed. He should not let that make him cold. He should share his experiences and his life with others, and love the gift that was his immortality rather than curse it. He should dream. “Things change. That’s the rule of this world. If I stopped believing that….”


If he stopped believing that, he’d die. It was, after all, his greatest hope that things would change for him. That one day, he’d walk under the sun. “You have to dare to believe that war changes to peace, as night changes to day. It has happened in a past you’ve never seen. It will happen in a future.”


~***~


“The council is going to decide, knowing absolutely nothing about me? My, my,” Gwendolen shook her head a bit, and then had to close the book to laugh at the hilarity of it.


If the vampires were this disorganized, this rash, then they would fall much easier than she had anticipated. Gwendolen knew that war would rage on, wars always happened. Even before vampires took power, Gwen knew of wars in human history like the so-called World Wars.


She composed herself soon enough, “You’re not wrong,” she told Aidan, “but it’s a shame. I had higher hopes for your kind.” Death would be the verdict, of course. She was a dhampir, it couldn’t be anything else. Funny, it was very easy to accept that.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys took in all he said, being alive for 2000 years was unfathomable for her but she believed him. She knew deep in her heart that everything he said was true. Inside though her heart was screaming for blood. She looked down she wiped her eyes again. She was done with crying she had already shown him more then enough of her weakness. She stood, she couldn't handle anymore, she wasn't a 2000 years old she couldn't see the way he saw. Or at least she told herself that. "I've been through the highest form of ancient military training, I've lost everything I've ever loved. I was born into a world of blood, I can not see the things you see I am not like you. We will never be like you." She turned to leave the tent. "One good vampire does not mean that the whole lot of then is good." She looked back at him. "I see that you are good, and you will not be punished for those who are not but this war will go on. I will fight until my blood has been repaid." She turned and exited the ten letting the flap fall behind her. Guards were posted at the door. She turned away from camp and sprinted.


She smacked limbs out of the way and let the wind blur his tears. She jumped up the tree she knew so well. She tried to pretend that the man's words had no impact but they had. Her heart was turning inside her chest.


<***>


"That may be true. I am only one head in the council I do not make all the decisions." He leaned back again he was quiet exhausted. Soon he wouldn't even be able to keel his eyes open, he didn't know if he could trust the guards around the building or not. And nothing would stop her from killing him if she wanted while he slept so he just enjoyed the darkness for a second before standing and walking back over to the book shelf. He ran his sensitive finger tip over the spines looking for something that he fancied. He was quite bored with this little dhampir he was hoping some one would take her off his hands soon.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘We will never be like you.’


The absolute denial of hope and of a future struck Ahmose hard enough for him to stand when she turned away. “Wait, I’m not—” he wanted to insist he wasn’t the only one, to tell her that violence wasn’t the only way, but as he moved to follow her out, he was struck by the sun.


For the first time in many centuries, Ahmose recoiled and staggered back into the tent. He fell backwards and sat, staring at the tent flap, in shock of his own reaction to the sun, and bothered again by the fact it always prevented him from doing much during the day.


He slammed a fist into the ground, and then brought his knees to his chest and remained there. Likely, he would sleep. It was day, after all.


~***~


“Obviously, or there wouldn’t be a council.”


Gwendolen understood the concept. She didn’t think they worked well. She preferred the system of one leader and many advisers. It worked for her, after all. She did wonder who would rise up when it all came crashing down, in her own group. Dean wouldn’t; he was more a follower than anything. There was Alys, but she worried about her. Too much hate.


Another page turned, and the dhampir let her thoughts dwell on the future of her own group, and how it might change if she was unable to return.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

She sobbed openly clutching the tree with her hands so that her knuckles were bone white. She didn't want this she had never wanted this, Kegan was never even meant to be in her life. She was never meant to love she was only meant for war. Made for war even bred for it. Her father loved her but he had trained her and passed the iron in his bones to her. Soldiers in her family went back for generations on both sides as far as there family tree reached. Her emotions were clouding her judgment Kegan was clouding her judgement. She would have to just it all down if she wanted to survive. Pulling her knife with shaking hands she pulled up her sleeve. Sliver hairline scars crisscrossed the olive skin of her upper bicep. She ground her teeth as she sunk the medal into his skin. It burnt like fire,like the rage and sorrow inside her. Blood dripped down her arm an she felt like she could finally breathe. Pain gave her the sharp clarity in her mind that she needed. She wiped her tears thinking of her weakness sickened her. She knew what had to be done. She cleaned her knife and pulled down her sleeve. This war would go on, peace would only lead to the destruction of the human race. She stood staring out to the horizon her brain was cleared and she saw every movement like a hawk. She had the eye of a sniper. She stood there for a while, or maybe a second. There was no way to tell, then she climbed down and returned to camp.


<***>


He nodded to her comment as he pulled out an interesting book. The tale of two cities. He brought it back to his chair and ran his fingertips over the ancient lettering. Books were few and far between in this world. But the capital seemed to hold most of them. He sat and opened the cover, a hundred years of dust rose from the book and the scent of paper hit his nose. He had always liked to read, usually in his original language but English would have to do. He knew many languages in fact even some tongues that had gone extinct. "How do you like that story so far?" He was curious if she was actually reading it o thinking of an escape plan.

 

[Lucyfer]

Time slipped on, and Ahmose slept. It was the first time in many years he had slept alone, without a cat or a friendly human nearby. When he woke, he was not surprised to find he was still alone. No doubt, Fenuku was staying near the humans so that he would not aid Ahmose in an escape.


‘At least they will treat you well.’


His thoughts drifted to the cat, and he wondered if some vampire had picked it up. He wondered if it were night or day, but had no desire to look out of the tent to discern the time. He stretched, sat back up, and then stood. With nothing to do, he decided to start going through the things in the tent.


~***~


The vampire went to get his own book, and for a while, there was a peaceable silence between them. Neither seemed inclined to sleep, and conversation died out for a bit.


He asked about the book, and Gwen considered, then said, “It’s not very realistic, is it?” Dracula. There were so many myths about him, but general consensus was that he had never been real. Vlad Tepes of course, was real, but there was no Dracula. “I’m surprised you have a book about a vampire who becomes obsessed with a mortal woman to the point of endangering himself,” poor, foolish Mina. And of course, Dracula would die. That ending was obvious already. “I suppose it has happened before,” dhampirs were not always products of love, and even when they were, well....


Her mother was still the shining example of what happened to those vampires who fell for a mortal. Death was an inevitability.

 

[Wolfprincess17]

Alys returned to the tent at sundown, she had no wish to talk but the vampire had to be hungry so she had brought him lambs blood from the slaughter this morning. She was much more centered now she had crammed her emotions back in the vault of her heart and locked them away. She had no wish to show him her weakness again, he rifle was slung over her shoulder again. Her and Drake were to go on a hunt tonight. She had volunteered for the mission though usually only this who didn't have a stomach for war were those to hunt. She pulled back the flap her braid sliding over her shoulder.


<***>


"I like it because it is quite ironic and for a reminder." He finished the line of his own book and looked up. "Humans are weak and driven by there emotions." He looked at her for a moment longer before returning to the pages of his own book. He enjoyed the silence he hadn't had much of late. The blast from the rebels still rung in his highly sensitive ears. His eyelids seemed to grow heavy and heavy with each page.

 

[Lucyfer]

Everything had changed about Alys when she walked in, so much so that Ahmose thought it was cruelty that caused her to bring in lamb’s blood. “Thanks,” he just looked at it with disgust. He didn’t know if dhampirs ate animal blood, but he couldn’t subsist on it. It had no appeal to him. He did notice that Alys smelled of blood, and as soon as the scent hit him, he ceased breathing. It wasn't necessary to live, just for talking, and he didn't need to let himself get carried away and try to drink from a human. He did wonder how she got injured, though.


She didn’t seem to care that he was examining the tent, and he took note that evening was coming. ‘Good.’ Since it was clear the human had no desire to talk to him, and no one else had the gall to, he figured he would find a way out that night. It wouldn’t be too difficult…a bit of hypnotism, finding Fenuku, and then making his way back towards the town for his cat, before getting a plane home.


Then he’d go back to what he was doing.


~***~


The dhampir looked up, confused, and then held up the book, “Have you read this thing?” She inquired of him, “It’s Dracula who’s driven by emotion here. He wouldn’t have any problems at all if he didn’t pursue Mina,” but of course, Dracula did, and so he was going to die.


The way her nose wrinkled suggested her absolute disbelief that this was the conclusion he came to from reading the book. The humans were the only sane ones in it, Dracula was driven by nothing but emotion here. “The humans even win,” she hadn’t read the last page, but she knew that. It was written by humans, and humans were portrayed as the protagonists. No doubt, if she skipped over to the end, she’d see that, too.