Eternal (Chapter 5)

"We know what we are,
But know not what we may be”
(William Shakespeare)

Chapter V

Haven- “This place is huge,” I said. I bent my head back; my hair falling down my back in soft curls, the domed ceiling in the living room that reached devastating heights depicted various scenes in stained glass. Each scene was equally bloody and violent. One scene showed a sickly looking woman desperately driving a large stake through a young man’s chest. His face was stuck in a silent scream as tears ran down the woman’s face.
         “Do you like it?” Rayne asked and smiled.
         “Yeah actually, it’s… well it’s different.”
         “The man you see there, that’s Grey. The women Maribel was his first love, when she found out that he was a vampire she tried to kill him. He pretended to die, and ran when she wasn’t looking. He loved her and was very upset with himself for years but then he found my mother. He was captivated and they fell in love. He was good with my half sister Dusk and a couple years later I was born.” Rayne smiled at the end. “We are all shown here. Any huge thing that happened to us is up there.”
         “So a stake can’t hurt us?” I asked, I had been avoiding every piece of wood I that I could for fear of a splinter.
         She laughed, “No only fire and sunlight, which will both turn you into a pile of foul smelling ash. If you starve then you just shrivel up into a mummy, your never fully dead though blood could revive you from starvation.”
         “Oh so… you’ve killed other… other vampires before?”
         She looked up at me and hesitated. “There are other vampires out there, and every couple years we will come across clans that are power hungry. They are normally small in number and we over power them quickly. So yes, I have killed other vampires but only to protect my coven.”
         I nodded.
Rayne smiled at me, “So, want to get on with the tour?”
         “Sure sounds good.” I followed her to the stairs between the living room and the kitchen.
         “Better pay attention. It’s really easy to get lost here.”
         “For sure, I could get lost in a cardboard box. I’m gonna have to study this place.”
         She laughed, “Yeah, do you want me to draw you out a map.”
         “Wouldn’t hurt.” I smiled and laughed along with her.
         At the top of the endlessly long stairs and to the right, a door sat ajar. Just behind it was a yellow and black room. A girl about 17 sat on a bed reading a very large book. The title read Cantor’s Theorem: A more in depth look. She had dirty blonde hair in a short pixie like cut. Her deep blue eyes seemed to be full of knowledge and excitement. Also in the room was a boy about 18. He was sitting at his desk in the corner writing something. He also had dirty blonde hair but he was very tall and lanky. His shaggy hair covered his eyes as he scanned the paper intensely.
         The girl stood up and hugged me, “Hello Haven, I’m Autumn.”
         “Hi,” I said shyly after she had let me go.
         “Hello Haven,” the boy said. “I’m Solomon.”
         I looked up at him. The size difference between the two of them was extraordinary. I didn’t even notice that he moved from the desk. His warm green brown eyes looked at me with the same wonder Autumn had as he held out his pale hand.
I shook it, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Autumn was about to say something but Rayne interrupted. “Sorry but we’ve got to go. Bye”
Rayne lead me out of the room by my hand quickly, down the hall to another door, and pushed it open gently. Everything in the room was either grey or white. A woman sat in a rocking chair looking out the window.
I looked around, a large bed sat against the right wall and two bookshelves were perched on each side. Two doors stood on the left wall side by side. I guessed one was a closet and the other an office or a bathroom.
My eyes flicked back up to the woman, she was extraordinarily beautiful, I could see how Grey had been so captivated. Even as a human I’m sure she would have still looked like an angel. She had thick black hair with soft loose curls that came just past her shoulders. Her kind brown eyes were swirled with silver and her lips formed a constant smile.
         She turned her head and smiled, “You’re awake.” She stood, and walked towards us.
         “Haven, this is Nevar, my mother.” Rayne said looking at her fondly.
         “Hello Haven,” Nevar said as her eyes searched my face expectantly. “My home is your home.”
         Before I could answer, a man stepped out of the door closest to me. The man looked at me with old knowing eyes, full of thought. He had the same silvery white eyes that Rayne owned. He pushed his blonde hair back out of his face and set his stack of papers down with a quiet thud.
         “I’m glad to have finally met you Haven. You’ve put up quite a fight,” he held out his hand. “I’m Grey.”
         I shook it and briefly wondered how many hands I’d have to shake today. “It’s nice to meet you to. I’m happy I finally have a place to stay.”
         “I apologize but I need to return to my work. It’s very important,” he said before leaving.
         Rayne grabbed my hand, “It’s alright we need to continue our tour anyway.”
         We left the room and walked across the hall to a door in the corner. I could hear a faint clicking noise but I wasn’t sure of its source.
This room was green and black all over. To the left was the source of the soft clicks.
A boy was bench-pressing over 600 pounds at a rate that was to fast for even the best body builder. A girl peeked her head out from behind the easel. There was red, blue, and green paint caked on her cheek, and her white t-shirt had been covered in a rainbow of paint splatters. Her icy blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that went a little past her shoulders.
         “Oh, hello there,” She stepped out from behind the easel. “I’m Selene,” she held out her hand.
         I shook it, “Hello Selene.” I pulled back my hand; it was covered in an array of paint.
         “Sorry about the paint, here,” she gave me a towel.
         I accepted it and looked around the room as Selene talked to Rayne.
         My eyes flickered from painting to painting they were all so beautiful, every single one. They seemed to move as I looked at them. The trees swayed and the people blinked and smiled. They were so lifelike.
         My eyes came from the painting and rested back on the boy working out. He saw me watching and smiled broadly. In one swift movement, he sat up, heaved the weight up in the air and threw it at me.
         “Heads up,” he yelled laughing.
         My body instantly knew what to do. It grabbed the weight out of the air, and sent it spiraling back towards his head.
         “Nice reflexes,” he said putting it back on the bench press.
         “I’m Jack,” he to held out his hand.
         I hesitated, and then accepted. He squeezed my hand tightly, but I squeezed back harder. I felt an awful sounding snap followed by a gush of blood that ran over my hand.
         “God you’re strong, you broke my hand,” he said in disbelief.
         “Jack you need to remember that she’ll be stronger than you for
awhile,” Rayne said in mid laugh.
         “I heard Jack scream.”
         I turned around to see a girl smiling wildly in the doorway.
         “Oh man, am I too late?” she pushed her hair out of her face, and pulled a video camera to her eye turning it on.
         “Ok I want to see his face, tell me exactly what happened.” She ran up to Jack focusing in on his face. He put his good hand to the lens, “Kaiden get that thing out of here.”
         “Fine,” she pushed it out the window carelessly. “Happy? Now tell me why you’re bleeding.”
         He held up his broken hand, “New girl snapped it.”
         “New girl?” she said turning around questioningly. “Oh! Hi Haven, you’re finally here! Yay,” she said hugging me. “I’m Kaiden, but unfortunately I have to go now make sure I didn’t hit anyone with my camera, so bye.” She gave a quick smile then jumped out the window after her camera.
         “Oh my god!” I ran to the window. Kaiden was perfectly fine on the ground picking up the tiny pieces of what was left of her camera. “How did she do that?!”
         “We’re vampires remember?” Rayne chuckled.
         “Well, I guess I’m going to go see if Solomon can help me put my hand back together so… See you around newbie.” He stood and left the room.
         I retreated from the window. “Your paintings are very beautiful, Selene,” I said examining them.
“Thanks, Oh! I almost forgot,” Selene ran behind her easel and emerged with two paintings.
“This is for you Rayne, and this one is for you Haven,” she handed the smaller of the two to Rayne and I got the other.
I was so absorbed by my painting that I didn’t get to see Rayne’s.
“This will go great with the last one you gave me!” I heard Rayne say.
I stared wordless at my painting. It was me! It looked like I was looking in a mirror, only 1,000 years ago. I was dressed in old world style clothes. The elegant gown I wore was a deep forest green that went exceptionally well with my red hair. It was pulled up in a high bun and I sat in a Victorian chair with a window behind me. In the window, you could see flowers and trees along with an old decrepit barn.
“Do you like it?” Selene asked giving me a faint smile.
“Of course, it’s beautiful thank you so much.”
“Ok I’ll take it to your room. See you around,” she dashed out of the room with our paintings and we left quietly behind her.
We walked out into the hallway and Rayne lead me to the door, right next to mine.
“Ok, this is my brother’s room so just bare with me. I promise we won’t be in here long.” With that, she pushed open the door.
The room was about the size of mine and had a single bed in it. Just like the other rooms, it had to a color theme, black and orange. A boy stood looking out the window along the far wall. He had his back to us, but he looked about my age, maybe older. He turned and I instantly recognized him.
I finally found my ‘stalker’. Oh what fun.
He walked towards me staring profoundly. “I’m Mourning, I am very glad to meet you, Haven.” I shook his hand and he continued to stare.
Fortunately, Rayne was sensing the weirdness also, so she stepped in.
“Well…uh, we still have the rest of the house to see, so…we need to leave now.” I breathed a small sigh of relief.
         She pushed me out of the room and then ran back inside.
         “Mourning, stop being such a weirdo!” I heard her say, followed by a thwap sound of a fist hitting skin.
         Rayne emerged, shook her hair and led me up a tall spiral staircase to the third floor. At the top of the stairs was the beginning of an enormous library. Books covered every spare inch of the wall.
         “This is the library, obviously.”
I looked around.
         “You have so many books!” I exclaimed, I ran my fingers across the spines, memorizing the feel.
         “Most of them are written by the coven, others are our history, some are the complete history of vampires. The others are just the classics, well these two shelves are,” she pointed to two different shelves that ran the whole perimeter of the room. It had to be more than a thousand.
         The books continued down the hall endlessly as we followed. I saw a couple names I recognized, Wuthering heights, Grapes of Wraith, Of Mice and Men, I even saw the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe.
         Rayne pointed to a door, “That’s Vladimir’s room.” I looked at the door it was painted all black and music was blaring from inside. “He’s a little weird,” she whispered. “This whole floor is sort of for the ‘less classy vamps’, the ones who don’t mind a good party.” She winked at me. “I feel bad that the guest room isn’t up here, you would love this floor at night it gets crazy.”
         At the very end of the hall was another door, it was ajar so Rayne nudged it open slowly.
         “Echo,” she called, peaking her head into the room. She drew her head out, “She isn’t in there.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number frustrated.
         
Rayne- The phone rang, and then rang some more. I walked back down the hallway listening carefully, gritting my teeth. In Vladimir’s room, just beneath the pounding music, I could here a faint ringing.
         Oh, no. If they were doing what I think they are doing in there, then Stefan is going to be really pissed.
         I knocked on the door with three quick taps.
         “Stay here,” I told Haven.
         I pounded on the door loosing hope, “Vladimir open up!”
         The door opened and Vladimir stepped out with no shirt and half-undone pants. Wow, Vladimir half-naked that is… disgusting? I shook my head trying to get the image of him out of my mind.
         “What do you want Rayne?” he asked impatiently.
         “Is Echo in there with you?” I looked him right in the eye.
         “Why would you care?” He said smugly.
         I cocked an eyebrow. “Because if you two are a ‘thing’ and Stefan finds out like this, he will kill you.” I said trying to help them out.
         I pushed Vladimir out of the way and looked at Echo. She was sitting on his bed in the far corner of the room.
         “I don’t care about what you two do, you know that, but Stefan is going to have a fit. And I just don’t want anyone dieing or Stefan killing anyone,” I said desperately. “Or anyone loosing an arm again.” I shot a look at Vlad.
         “Hey, I got I back, good as new.” He wiggled his shoulder and winked.
         “I’m not telling him, I can’t tell him,” she interrupted Vladimir, shaking her head furiously.
         “What…what if I tell him.” I said but once I did, I wished I hadn’t.
         “Would you? For me?” she asked hopeful, her blue eyes widening, her face filling with happiness.
         “Yeah, but remember who he’s going to come yell at.” I walked out of the room thinking of what I was going to have to do. Ugh, it can wait until later I have a tour to finish.
         I walked up to Haven, shaking my head, “Ok then, sorry about that, just some drama I had to settle out. Follow me.”
         I led her to the end of the hall and knocked on Adrian and Kaiden’s door. It clicked open and we stepped inside.
         Adrian was on the black couch playing his guitar and Kaiden was humming something while sketching on a notepad.
         Kaiden looked up from the paper, “Hey Rayne what’s up?”
“Just taking Haven around the house,” I nodded towards her. “Get your camera picked up?”
“Yeah, I hit Mourning though. I thought I heard someone yelp.” She said her eyebrows furrowed as she ran her pencil over the paper carefully.
         Adrian set down his guitar, and jumped out of his chair. I took his
place gently strumming the strings, feeling the texture with my fingertips.
         “Is she any good?” he asked looking her over; inspecting her.
         “I haven’t found out yet. She did catch a 600 pound weight and broke Jack’s hand though,” I smiled, still strumming an unknown song.
         “Hmm, impressive but that’s purely strength. Be sure to test her fighting and hunting skills later.” He walked around her once more, satisfied, and sat down again.
         I stood, and handed him his guitar, “Sorry our visit wasn’t very long, but we are going to loose daylight shortly.”
         I started to walk out the door, “Oh I forgot to tell you two, but Echo wants me to inform Stefan about her new relationship… with Vladimir.”
         “Well I guess we’re in for a show,” Kaiden said laughing and nudged Adrian. He grinned mischievously and cocked an eyebrow.
         “Yeah, I think I’ll tell him in the morning. Make sure to get good seats.” I said walking into the hallway.
         Once we were in the confines of the hallway Haven turned to me, “Why was he inspecting me like that?”
         “Adrian is one of our best fighters so he’s always looking for recruits.”
         “Recruits, what do you mean.”
         “Adrian is convinced that the Royal Coven will attack us because of our numbers, so he is always looking for ways to strengthen our coven.”
         “Royal Coven who are they?”
         “They are the vampire worlds form of government, an absolute monarchy. Seeing, as we never die, other vampires constantly try to challenge the Royals in an attempt to obtain the throne. Adrian thinks that the Royals are going to attack us in fear of us challenging them. If a different coven defeats the Royal Coven, then they take the place on the throne and become the new Royal Coven.
         “And what happens if the Royals do try and attack us?” she said.
         “We’ll fight and one will win; don’t worry though it’s not likely. Adrian is just paranoid, you’ll get used to him.” I laughed. “I need to talk to my sister, so we can go there next.”
         I walked right next door and knocked.
         “Come in,” I heard Stefan say.
         Stefan sat on the tiny couch in the corner looking out the tall pane windows. Dusk sat curled up beside him reading a book.
         “Stefan can you keep Haven company. I need to speak with Dusk,” I said Stefan nodded and Dusk stood.
         “What is it,” she asked once we are in the hallway.
         “It’s about Stefan. Echo has requested that I tell Stefan about her being Vladimir’s mate. She wants to make the Sacred Bond.”
         “Oh no, he isn’t going to take it well. We don’t need another fight like the last one.” I saw her slowly fade away to that night in her memory, when she did her face turned green slightly, then she snapped back.
         “That’s why I was hoping you might be able to control him. Stop him from completely killing Vladimir. Because if he does kill him, our coven is going to think that they can solve everything by killing each other.”
         “I will try my best.”
         “Thank you,” I grabbed Havens hand, and pulled her down the hall towards my room.
         I peeked my head in, and looked at Damen sitting in his chair, “Damen.”
         “Yes, my love,” he answered.
         “I was wondering if you would like to finish the tour with us.”
         “I’d be delighted,” he hopped up.
         “Hello, Haven,” he said taking my hand.
         “Hi Damen. Where are we going next, Rayne?” Haven asked.
         “To my favorite place in the house,” I said pushing open a door next to mine.
         We walked into the sunroom, as rain poured down on the glass. “This is
the sun room; it’s more beautiful when it’s sunny though.”
         “Hold on let me try something,” Haven, said closing her eyes.
         I looked back out the window, a sudden gust of wind moved the
rainclouds, revealing the sunny sky. I was shocked; vampires didn’t usually get their powers this soon.
         “What, so you can control the weather?” Damen asked confused.
         “Is that normal?” she asked withdrawing.
         “Oh it’s perfectly normal to have powers, but for you to be able to do it this soon is extraordinary,” I said looking at her with wonder. “Let’s go to the roof so we can talk.”
         I walked to the window and she stared at me critically, “The window?”
         I turn around, “How else do you suppose we get there?”
         “Um, the stairs perhaps.”
         “Come on,” I grabbed her hand and pulled her halfway out of the window.
         I climbed the face of the wall gracefully, Damen beside me. I looked down at Haven still sitting on the windowsill, “Come on, and just trust your body, it will know what to do.”
         She nodded her head and swung her legs out of the window grabbing hold of the ledge of the building. She stared at me terrified, I nodded reassuringly, and she scrambled up the wall awkwardly.
         “It gets easier, the more you do it.”
         She gave a shaky laugh, “Yeah, as if I’m ever doing that again.”
         I strolled across the roof, and plopped down onto the big table. Damen sat across from me on top of a stool. Haven sat on the trampoline completing the little triangle we formed.
         “Haven, this is going to sound weird, but do you know your father?” I asked pondering over an idea.
         Damen spoke up, “Rayne, you don’t think that she’s a-”
         Haven interrupted him, “Actually I never knew my father, he ran as soon as he found out my mom was pregnant.”
“You showing your power this early is not common but it’s not unheard of either. I was the same way. See a human can be a little more advanced, if she or he becomes a vampire, if they have vampire genes before hand. Meaning if a male vampire mates with a human female it produces a healthier, stronger human and also vampire,” I explained.
         “What Rayne is trying to say is, she thinks you were a dhampir, half vampire half human, like she was when you were human,” Damen said.
         “That… that can’t be. I mean wouldn’t I know?” She exclaimed shaking her head.
         “No, you’d feel no different from any regular human. You would just be healthier, faster, stronger, more intelligent, and would heal quicker than anyone else,” I said. “It’s not very perceptible, to humans. Any vampire on the other hand would be able to spell the vampire blood in your system, that’s possibly, why you were turned. Your maker probably thought it’d be funny to set a newborn dhamphir loose in California. Real hilarious joke.” She rolled her grey eyes and shook her head.
         “But wouldn’t my mother know,” she asked desperately.
         “Possibly, but there are many stories just like yours, and in most, the women never knows,” I said.
“What powers do you have?”She asked curiously.
“Mine’s a shield power. I can project an electric current over or out from my body like a dome. If someone tries to penetrate the dome they get electrocuted.”I answered.
“Shield? Are there different kinds of powers?”
“Yes, there are individual powers and sometimes vampires aren’t given a power. However, when you do have an individual power, it is classified into one of three different categories. Physical, a power you can see with your senses, Shield, a power that is used for protection, or Mental, a power that never really happens, your mind is just tricked into thinking that it has.
“Besides the individual powers which vary with each vampire there are other things that are a constant with vampires. Your common vampire will have an Individual power, which I already told you about, as well as physical traits and mental traits.
Common physical powers consist of an incredible strength, an inhuman speed, we can project our voices to ear shattering levels and to points too low for the human ear to hear, and we can heal quickly.
Then there’s Mental powers, we have something called metanormal perception which is a heightened sense of pleasure and pain, it’s used in torture often, and then there’s also our concentration, we can read with great speeds, pick up other languages easily, mimic sounds perfectly, and we can compel humans as well as scramble their thoughts and memories.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“Yeah, but once it’s in there, it’s stuck. You can remember everything that you’ve ever seen in a second, another one of those common mental powers.” I stood. “I think it’s time to see if you can hunt.”
         She swallowed hard, “I… I don’t know.”
         “No arguing.” I grabbed her hand pulling her to the ledge. Damen ran, and jumped right off not breaking his stride.
         Haven screamed, “Oh my god is he ok!”
         “You’ve really got to stop freaking out, we are vampires not much can hurt us. Remember fire and sunlight, jumping off of a building not either one.” I smiled.
         She leaned over the edge and saw him standing perfectly fine on the ground.
         “Come on!” he yelled up to her.
         She backed away, “Oh no… no. I will jump steps and climb out of windows but I am not jumping off a 3 story building.”
         “Fine then, you’ll just have to fall.” I said grinning.
         “Fall what do you mean by fall,” her voice was shaky and came out in a squeak.
         She tried to dodge my hands, but she was too slow. I grabbed her and threw her off the edge before she could even react. I jumped down after her gracefully in a dive. I sailed past her body flailing wildly in the air. Right before I could crash into the ground, I pulled my torso up flipping my body around. My feet land with a quiet thud on the ground next to Damen. Haven landed, not so gracefully, beside me with terror in her eyes. She had that whole cat after a bath look about her; let’s just say she wasn’t working it.
         Her voice came out in a small hiss, “Don’t you ever do that again.”
         “Stop complaining, you survived didn’t you. Learn to trust in your body. It’s the only thing that keeps us alive,” I grabbed Damen’s hand again. “Now let’s see if you can run.”

Haven- We flit through the trees like wild animals dodging trees and rocks.
         Rayne and Damen were faster than I was. However, I was stronger, and every stride of mine matched the length of three of theirs. Therefore, I flew with them through the living green maze, by their side, not following at all. As I ran, I couldn’t help laughing quietly at the thrill of it; the hilarity neither slowed me, nor disturbed my focus.
         I rocketed over, under, and through the thick emerald labyrinth at a rate that should have reduced everything around me to a green streaky smear, I could unmistakably see each infinitesimal leaf on all the small branches of every insignificant shrub that I passed.
         I kept waiting to feel winded, but my air came smoothly. I waited for the burn to ignite in my muscles, but my energy only seemed to amplify, as I grew comfortable to my stride.
         Wind blew my hair back behind me and even though I knew, it was wrong it felt warm, just as the limbs that whipped at my flesh felt like a caressing feather.
         The wood was more alive than before- tiny creatures whose existence I never guessed at teemed in the leaves around me. They grew still after we had passed, their breath hurrying in terror. Animals had a wiser response to our scent than humans had.
         My feet touched the earth so infrequently it felt like flying rather than running.
         We came up to an aged fence and leapt over it effortlessly. The ashen picket fence encircled the tree line of an immense meadow. Deer grazed the full green grass eating their dinner. There had to be at least 20 deer in that field. A large buck stood out from the crowd. He turned inquiringly my direction, sensing my gaze.
         “See one you like?” Rayne said grinning at me.
         “Yes the buck on the left,” I said not moving my eyes from him. He stomped his hoof portentously; I returned a low hiss.
         “Looks like you’ve found your prey, that’s the easy part. Now you have to catch him. He is not going to go easily.” She smiled then trailed after her own.
         I ran towards him vigilantly studying his every move. He was smart though; he took off running away from me.
         With my human legs, he would have gotten away, but I was quicker than he was and with a light pounce, I sailed through the air and landed on the back of the deer.
         It wasn’t much of a battle.
         He threw me off and tried to plod me. His hooves could have been caressing fingers for all the impact they had on my skin. His mass was nothing. I shoved him off me and climbed back onto him. He bucked in vain, this time I was ready. My teeth unerringly sought his gullet; his instinctive resistance was piteously feeble against my power. My lips locked effortlessly over the precise point where the heat flow was concentrated.
         My teeth sliced in as easily as biting into butter. My fangs were steel razors; they cut the fur, fat, and sinews as if they weren’t there.
         The essence was wrong, but the blood was warm and dripping and soothed the ragged, itching desire as I drank in an eager rush. The deer’s struggles grew feebler, and his screams were choked off by a gurgle. The heat from the blood radiated throughout my entire body, heating even my fingertips and toes.
         I shoved the cadaver off my body and wrenched myself upright in one quick shift. Standing, I realized that I was a bit of a mess. I wiped my face on the back of my arm and set my outfit.
         “Hmm,” Rayne said. I looked up to see her and Damen leaning nonchalantly against a tree, studying me.
         “I guess I could have done that better.” I looked down at myself I was covered in soil; my hair was disheveled, my clothing bloodstained.
         “You did fine,” she said and smiled.
         “Aren’t you going to hunt?” I asked.
         “We already did.” She pointed to the spot where two deer carcasses lay.
         I gaped at them, “But… you’re completely clean... not a hair out of place, not a drop of blood on your clothes. How did you do it?”
          “Years of practice,” Damen said with a small smirk.
         “Come on lets go back to the house it’s getting late.” Rayne said and vanished into the woods.
         Even though it was dark and I shouldn’t have been able to see, I could. Every facet was unambiguous and vivid as if it were a sunlit day.
I followed Rayne and Damen through the dense forest again, this time taking my time, relishing the experience.
         At my door Rayne attacked me with an extensive bear hug, “Goodnight, Haven.” She said to me, “Sleep, you’ll need your energy. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be very interesting.”


hope you liked it, next chapter you get to see a fight and watch someone train their powers. Read on ;).

~Song inspiration- Freinds bye Band of Skulls~