Within the Veil

“So, what’s the name of this club again?”  Cheryl dusts powder across her forehead, looking at Sylvie in the mirror.
        “The Black Veil.  It’s over on Wellington Avenue.”  Turning to leave, the girls give each other a last once over.
        “Sounds dark.  Hope it’s up to the hype, or else I’m leaving.”  A devilish grin giving way to dimples, she continues.  “If I hadn’t already sold the article to the Chronicle, I would not be going.”
        “Yeah you would.  You want to see that Dimitri guy again.”  Rolling her eyes, Sylvie grabs her keys.  “And besides, you had to have somewhere to wear that little black dress, right?”
        Laughing, they climb into Sylvie’s Focus. 
        “Wow.  Could they have gotten any more black in here?  It looks like they took every stitch of black fabric they could find in Cryner and stapled it to the ceiling!”
        “Ha, ha, Cheryl.  I thought the theme worked.  You know, The Black Veil- all the drapey black fabric…” 
        “Yeah, yeah.  I’ve got an article to write.  Looks like all the weirdoes in Cryner showed up for the big debut.  Wonderful.”  Meandering through the throng of clubbers, Cheryl spots Dimitri.  Cloaked in darkness, he seems to float above the floor. 
I wonder if he knows how sexy he is.  There is just something about him…I feel drawn to him, like he’s pulling me in.  Maybe it’s his eyes…
        “Cheryl?”  Jumping back to reality, she smiles up at him.  “You left so fast yesterday, I thought you didn’t want to see me again.  But here you are.”
        “Uh-huh, here I am.”  Nearly swooning at his proximity, Cheryl struggles to regain her composure.  “And I brought a friend, Sylvie.  There she is, by the payphone.”
        “Are you sure you’re just friends?  Haven’t you noticed you two look exactly alike?”  His gaze becomes quizzical as it darts back and forth between the girls’ faces.
        “Um, yeah.  We’re twins, but be don’t harp on it.”  Cheryl’s face blushed crimson.  “Our mom always wanted us to be ‘individuals,’ so we were never into the whole dressing alike thing.”
        “Okay.  I didn’t think it was possible to have two such beautiful creatures in the same room.”  Grinning, he takes her hand.  “Dance?”
        “Sure.”  With a nod to the DJ from Dimitri, Cheryl’s favorite song begins to play.  “How did you know…?”
        “I read your mind.”    A sidelong glance grants her a sly smile emanating from Dimitri’s flawless face.  “Just dance, Cheryl.”
        “So how was the party last night?”  Picking the crust off her toast, Sylvie flicks the crumbs at Cheryl.  “HELLO?  I believe I have been talking to myself for the last five minutes.  What gives?”
        “What?  Oh, the club.  I had a great time.  I guess I’m just tired.”  Slouching in the chair across from Sylvie, she grabs the last croissant.  “Kind of like I’ve been running a marathon or something.”
        “Ha, you?  You wouldn’t make the first mile of a marathon, sis.”  Rising from her perch on the edge of a kitchen stool, Sylvie retrieves a page from the fax machine.  “I see Max liked your story on The Black Veil, though.”
        “What?  I haven’t written it yet!”  Leaping to her feet, she skids to a halt next to Sylvie.  “I swear I didn’t turn anything in.  I haven’t even typed a title.”
        “Apparently you did, or someone did it for you, because there’s the copy.  I believe that’s your name on the byline, sister mine.”
        “Enough with the poetry, Syl.  I really didn’t submit this.  I got in late.  I planned on whipping out a quick story this morning, just in time for the press run for the Sunday edition.”
Pacing back and forth between the fax and the fridge, Cheryl nibbles at her nails.  “Who would have done this?”
        Ding-dong!
“It’s barely seven in the morning!  Who on earth could that be?”  Peering through the peep hole in the front door, Sylvie sighs.  “Cheryl, it’s your boyfriend.”  As Sylvie calls to her sister, the lock turns on its own.  Shocked, she steps backward.  “Cheryl?  Umm, Cheryl, I need you in here please!”
Dimitri opens the door and steps inside.  Pressing a finger to Sylvie’s lips, he hisses, “Shhh.”  As Cheryl enters the hall, he looks up at her.  Pure energy flashes in his eyes, and Sylvie is shocked to see the same eerie flash answered in her sister’s eyes.
        “What is going on?”  Whirling to face Dimitri, she hisses at him like a lioness whose young are in danger.  “What have you done to her?”
        “She is one of us now.”  He reaches out to Cheryl, and she seems to melt to him, like she’s being pulled to his side.  “We must hurry, Cheryl.  Dawn is already upon us.  We must return to the Veil.”
        “No!  You’re not taking here anywhere!”  Desperate to save her sister, Sylvie tries to step between her and Dimitri.
        “Be gone, wretch.”  Without moving, Dimitri sends her reeling toward the wall.  “Do not try to follow us; you will not be able to keep up.  Come now, Cheryl.”  Helpless, Sylvie watches the beast drag her sister outside.  She hauls herself to her feet and dashes for the door, searching for Cheryl.
        “They’re gone.  How could they have left so fast?”  With no trace of her sister or her abductor to be found, Sylvie returns to the kitchen, picking up the fax she and her sister had been reading just before the door bell rang.  “This isn’t the paper’s fax number!  No wonder she didn’t recognize the story.  She really didn’t write it!”  Grabbing her keys, Sylvie heads for her car.
Where am I?  This is so weird; I remember being in the kitchen with Sylvie, then nothing…Oh, no  What is happening?
“Cheryl, love, wake up now.”  Cheryl struggles to sit upright as a woman emerges from the shadows.  “Sit up now, darling, and try to drink this.”  The dark-haired woman leans over, thrusting a wide goblet toward her. 
Peering into the cup, Cheryl inhales deeply, trying to verify its contents.  Taking a sip, she asks, “What is this?” 
The woman looks at her, surprised.  “Why, it’s blood, miss.”
Cheryl fights her body’s urge to vomit.  “Blood?  Why would you give this to me?”  She flings the chalice across the room in disgust.  “What the hell is going on here?”  Battling to keep her anger and confusion in check, Cheryl attempts to get out of the bed.
Darkly clad men loom just outside the dim light, threatening to close in on her.  “Miss Cheryl, I believe it would be best if you remain seated.”  The woman waves her thin hand at the men, who then return to the shadows.  “I believe you wished to know where you are.”  Cheryl glares at her, but she continues.
“My name is Augusta Hudsen.  Here, I am the matriarch of Cryner Coven.  Outside our haven, I am the owner of the nightclub, The Black Veil.  Of course, I am much older than what I outwardly appear, but outsiders needn’t know that.”
“Outsiders?  What to you mean, outsiders?”  Cheryl hugs herself tightly, beginning to fear the unknown. 
“One second, dear.  Dimitri, dear, we’re in here.  The Lagos Room.”  Augusta calls out, startling Cheryl, who has heard nothing except the rapid beating of her own heart.  “Now, where was I?  Oh, yes.  You are inside the Coven’s rooms.  Did Dimitri not explain all this before?”
“What does any of this have to do with Dimitri?  All I remember is dancing with him, and then I woke up this morning at home.  I got up to eat breakfast with Sylvie, like always, and…  It was him!  In my dream, I was taken away by a man in a red velvet robe.  It was Dimitri!”
“Yes, it was me.”  The rich baritone of his voice demanded her attention.  “I am sorry, Augusta.  I did not intend to bring her here.  But last night, she stumbled upon the entrance…”
“How did she bumble into the Coven?  It is supposed to be protected against all intruders!  Are we to let any who wish to enter our haven just waltz in?  I, I….”  Stepping forward as if to comfort the woman, Dimitri holds out his hand.    Augusta stops speaking, silenced as if Dimitri’s hand was actually across her mouth.
“I don’t know yet how she even found the right door.  But I promise the problem will be addressed.  As for her, she is one of us now.”  Turning to face Cheryl, he casts his eyes downward.  “I am sorry.  I never meant to hurt you, or your sister…”
“What have you done with Sylvie?  Where is she?  I swear I’ll –“  She is hushed with the same force that silenced Augusta.
“She is not injured.  And she won’t be, if she’ll forget you existed.”  Knowing her sister’s temperament, Cheryl knew she would not stop searching for her.  “Yes, I realize that, Cheryl.  It presents a problem, but we will do our best to spare her.”
“You weren’t teasing about the mind-reading thing, were you?”  His answer reverberated in her mind even before she finished the question.  “Don’t do that.  What are you?  What have you done to me?” 
“Ah, Augusta was to explain.  And she was trying to, before you became impatient.  Once the sun has set, you will be Awakened, and you see what it is you have become.”  Moving toward the hallway, he shot a glance at Augusta.  “You may continue.”  With that, he disappeared from sight. 
“Now, dear, what I was trying to tell you…”
“He’s a vampire.  You all are.  He’s made me a vampire.  Am I dreaming?”  Taking a slow breath, Augusta readies herself to answer her.
“No, love.  Soon, when the sun sets and the moonlight fills the Coven, you will be fully Awakened.”  Pausing for a moment, peering earnestly into Cheryl’s eyes as if listening to her thoughts, she continues, “That’s right dear, you are not dead, nor alive.  You are immortal.  Or, you will be, with the moonrise.  There are many things that must be said and done, though, before you will be accepted.”
“What if I don’t want to become part of this, this Coven?”  Cheryl’s already rapid heartbeat slows as she rises from the edge of the bed.  “What if I want to leave?  Can I leave?  Or will your goons stop me?”
“If you leave the Coven now, you will be dead within the hour.  After moonrise, you’re free to do as you please.  Unless you anger Primus, in which case, you will also die, but not in a timely fashion.”
“So what you’re saying is, I can’t leave or I’ll be killed.”  Plopping back onto the bed, she sighs.  “What are my options?  I can’t decide not to go through with this “Awakening” business?”
“I’m afraid not.  You have drunk the blood of a human.  You have no choice.”
“Dimitri!  Come out you coward!”  Sylvie relentlessly beats the back door to The Black Veil.  “Come out and fight like a man!”  The door creaks open as if it were a prop in a bad horror film.  “Alright.”  Sylvie whispers under her breath, “I’ll come in and fight like a man…”
“She’s inside, sir.  Shall I send Bradley and Chandler?”  A stout, ruddy-faced man follows Sylvie’s movements on the ground floor.
“No, just watch her.  She could cause a lot of trouble for us.”  Dimitri moves a bookcase aside and enters the main room of the Coven house.  Wordlessly, all who were milling around the great room stop and wait for his instruction.
She’s finally gone.  I thought she was going to stay here watching me forever.  What was that?  Calm down, Cheryl, don’t scare yourself.  It’s probably just a mouse…but why would mice live in a place crawling with vampires?
“Hello?  Any body here?”  Sylvie called out, trying not to sound frightened.  Her mind was still trying to figure out how she’d already climbed four sets of stairs in a two story building, but that seemed to be the least of her worries.  She heard a thump from inside a room down the hall.  Frozen in terror, she watched the door rasp open, sure some evil thing was about to pounce on her.
“Sylvie!”  Her heart soared at the sight of her sister, here and alive.  “How did you get in?”
“I opened the door, silly.  Now what is all this?”  Her emerald green eyes full of questions, Sylvie moved to put her arm around Cheryl, but Cheryl pulled away.  “What’s wrong?”
“You shouldn’t get too close to me, Syl.  It could be dangerous.”  Saddened at the necessity to keep her sister away, she turned back toward the door.  “You should go now.  It will be night soon, and you should not be here.”
“Cheryl, I demand to know what’s happened to you.  You’ve been gone three days.  I have searched everywhere for you.  No one has seen you, until last night.  Martin saw you at The Black Veil with that Dimitri creep.  What gives?”
“Look, I know you don’t understand, but you’ve got to leave.  Never, ever come back to this place.  If they find you, they’ll kill you!”  Cheryl held on to the door frame, desperate to keep her distance. 
“Who is they?  Are they threatening to kill you?  Cheryl…”  Thunder resounded in the hall, seeming to come from the door behind Sylvie.
“Run, Sylvie.  Get out of here!”  Cheryl’s face distorted in pain and despair as she gripped the stone pillar outside her room.  “I can barely keep myself away from you.  They will not be so kind.  Leave!”
As Sylvie turns to flee, Dimitri bursts through the door, followed by many pale, crimson clothed people, all of whom were staring intently, even hungrily, at Sylvie’s chest. 
“They can hear your blood moving through your veins, Sylvie.  Can you see their hunger?”  He smirks, then draws Cheryl to his side.  “You can hear it too, can’t you, Cheryl?”  The eerie flash Sylvie had seen in his eyes the day Cheryl was abducted repeated, echoing in the eyes of her sister, and in those of the others behind them. 
“You can have her, if you want.”  Dimitri roughly turned Cheryl’s face to meet his gaze.  “You take her, or they will.”  He sneered, gesturing to the group pressing in closer to Sylvie.
“Alright.”  She whispered.  “I’ll do it.”
With minimal struggle, she lowered her sister to the floor.  “I’m so sorry,” she murmured in Sylvie’s ear.  “I’ll try not to hurt you.”  As the life drained from Sylvie’s body, their eyes met.
“Sisters,” Sylvie gasped.  With her last bit of energy, she placed her had on Cheryl’s heart.  Tearfully, Cheryl moved her hand to Sylvie’s chest.
Wind gusted through the hallway of the Coven, ripping paintings from the walls.  Thunder crashed again, but this time from within the hall itself.  Sylvie’s body dissipates into thin air, leaving nothing, not even an impression on the rug.
What’s happening?  I thought I’d died.  But they aren’t staring at me anymore.
That’s because they can’t see you, Syl.
Cheryl?  Why can’t they see me?  I can still see them.  What happened?  I thought you became a vampire, and you tried to kill me.  Where are we?
I am still right here.  And you, you’re inside me somewhere.  Even more than before.