The First Musical: Chapter Five: Gisele, Part 3

I listened to the notes he played, soaking in their simple intricacy. The possibilities for singing these lyrics were numerous. “Because you know I love you,” I began singing, slowly, guessing this would be more of a ballad. “Though you have chosen someone—wait a minute. What?”

Johnathan stopped playing again. “What?”

“Irial knows she loves him but he’s with someone else? How does that work?”

He nodded; “Irial is at his equivalent to a bachelor party, at a tavern, when he meets Collette, who is also out with friends. They notice each other immediately, but try diverting their friends to other people—unsuccessfully, I might add. So they end up dancing together, and quickly fall in love.”

“That’s so cliché.”

“But still plausible. Especially in literature. So, anyway, here, they’re walking home and he accidently lets slip that there’s someone else, named Delilah, who he’ll marry the next day.”

“So Collette is pissed?”

“Not quite. She’s angry at first, but she doesn’t stay angry long because she does love him,” Johnathan continued. “At this point, she’s more hurt than angry, but you’ll see when she’s angry again, especially when we put the dialogue with the lyrics.”

“Okay.”

“Ready to begin again?”

“I’ll try.”

After a few measures, I began, the notes emitting from my lips different from the ones I had first sung; “Because you know I love you, though you have chosen someone else; and it tortures me to think you would abandon her for myself….”

I sang through the next verse and chorus, and when I’d come to the end of my lines, Johnathan said, “Here you and Irial converse more, and when you tell him to leave, he replies in his own section.” He then sang Irial’s part. It was more playful than Collette’s. His voice entranced me, though. There was depth to it that brought the words to life, as though he could spin the song into moving tapestries. I stared at him before long, only pulled back to the rehearsal when he said, “Then you insist on his inanity while he tries to blame you partially for this late development. At this point, you’re infuriated at the accusation, but still hurt and troubled because he won’t listen to you.”

With this brief explanation, I broke into the new section, a little faster, a little more distressed, volleying the lines with him. Toward the end I found myself staring at him, again. I hadn’t meant to, but that’s how luck would have it. There was something that drew me to him and terrified me. My brain screamed that he was dangerous, that this scenario had already played out tragically before. But Johnathan had helped reawaken in me this need to sing, and that felt like reuniting with an old friend. I didn’t want to lose it again.

“...don’t kiss me,” I finished, his blue-green eyes flying to mine as the final note died away. Something in those eyes wanted to reach out, touch me, but there was a wariness. Almost as though he believed I might be an illusion of the light.

“Gorgeous,” he whispered, his eyes still holding mine.

For the longest time neither of us said anything. We just sat there staring. My former numbness was overrun with emotions I couldn’t name and thoughts that flitted away as soon as I realized they were there. It felt like we could have stayed like that forever, statues of something that never happened and never could be. But then he moved to touch me and I snatched up my keys, running out the door before he could make a sound.

I felt guilty, leaving him so suddenly. But I didn’t need a relationship, even if I was possibly going to break my no performing rule. My mind kept thinking that if I hadn’t left, he would have kissed me.

If he had, I feared history would have repeated itself.

The First Musical: Chapter Three: Gisele, Part 2

Outside the dorm it seemed colder than usual and the typical glances seemed to sear into my skin. Everyone was someone who wanted me to audition, to give into Johnathan. None of them could be trusted.

Somehow, I found myself outside the door of an empty practice room. They wouldn’t think to look for me there. What use would I have to be in a practice room?

Locking the door behind me, I sat my bag on top of the piano and sat down, running my fingers over the cool keys. I had never really learned to play piano; I had learned cello formally, and played at learning piano, guitar, and violin at various times. Mostly I liked to play different chords to emphasize the emotions storming inside me and laying a foundation for vocals.

“Under your wings,” I began singing softly, the notes harsh in my throat. Clearing my throat, I was grateful to be without an audience in the dark room. “I find the shelter I’ve been looking for.” A noise came from outside the room and I stopped, half expecting the door handle to rattle or someone to knock. When it faded away down the stairs opposite the practice room, I turned back to the piano, my fingers finding a new minor chord. “Stand next to me. Don’t make me think I’m needing you more—”

There was another sound, this one on the far side of the room. “Who’s there?” I asked, not yet moving from the piano. I couldn’t help but think locking the door and keeping the lights off had been a huge mistake.

“Sing more,” Johnathan’s voice said from the shadowy corner. “It’s beautiful.”

Grabbing my bag, I made to leave, only to find him blocking the door.

“Don’t go.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” I asked, my voice cracking a little. I hated that he frightened me, that I didn’t know why he was doing this to me instead of someone who wanted the attention.

“This is your audition. I’ll be where you can’t see me if you prefer, and we can leave the lights off. All you need to do is sing.”

“That’s very accommodating on your part,” I said, consciously trying to force bitterness and anger into my voice. “I do remember, however, telling you I wouldn’t audition.”

“You’ve already started, though. I insist you finish.”

I inhaled shakily. My bag was heavy enough I might be able to strike him in the head and escape, but it wasn’t guaranteed he’d be out of my way enough for me to make it through the door. It also didn’t stop him from appearing in random places around campus and recruiting my friends to assist in fulfilling his agenda.

“If I finish this audition, you have to promise to leave me alone,” I said.

He shook his head; “I can’t promise that.”

“Why not?” I asked, not voice pitching from the frustration.

“I already told you,” he said plainly. I could feel his blue-green eyes searching my face. “You’re my lead.”

“Why me? I don’t even perform anymore.”

“Anymore. Why is that?”

“None of your business.”

“Until you accept that you’re my lead, I can’t tell you why it has to be you.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I whined, my free hand gripping the top of my head.

“It will,” he said. “Now please finish the audition.”

My bag fell to my feet. “You won’t let me leave until then?”

“No.”

I walked back to the piano and sat down, defeated.

“Where do you want me?” he asked, standing on the far side of the baby grand, hands buried in his pockets.

Sighing and running a hand through my chocolate tresses, I stared at him. There was a relief in being able to have some control over him, but not much. “Stay there.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable—”

“So long as you’re in this room, I’m more comfortable being able to see you,” I said a little more tartly than intended.

“Very well.”

I stared at the keys, not sure where to start, or what to sing. So I returned to what I had been singing. “Under your wings, I find the shelter I’ve been looking for. Stand next to me; don’t make me think I’m needing you more than I do. Because I don’t need you. Keep close to me, so my skin absorbs its warmth from you. Hold me tight, don’t let me go or else I’ll see it’s true. I don’t need you.” My eyes darted up to his, and I hoped he’d say I could go, but all he did was bow his head toward the piano, his eyes closed as he waited.

“So long as I think I need you, you can be cruel and kind and dominate my world. Don’t let me see the truth; that I’m just a fool and, when you’re done, you’ll hurl me aside. Because that’s what you do. You take everything for you. And we both know it’s wrong,”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I finished. I regretted singing that song; I hadn’t thought about it since I’d written it more than two years ago. “I’m done,” I muttered, grabbing my bag from the floor and leaving him behind.

I hated him for trapping. I focused on that one thing because if I didn’t, I’d realize the only reason it had happened was because of me. Because I had ended up there and I had started to sing thinking no one was listening.

Sonnet

His brow is furrowed, but not in anger

His eyes light up as you walk together

And although you know there is no danger

You must tell yourself it’s not forever

You know the truth, though prefer to deny

He might dishearten and leave you broken

Yet there’s something like love trapped in his eyes

Words, he too, is afraid to hear spoken

So now you decide what path you will take

Silence and confession have pros and cons

Will you discover his heart is true or fake?

You imagine he will love, dote, and fawn

              Over you. But you fear you’re wrong, and he

              Will leave you alone, defective, and empty

Eternal: Chapter Eleven, Part 4

Screams engulfed the crowd; there was a flash in front of me, and I felt a bump, but I had no idea what was happening. It seemed impossible that someone had actually shot at me…again. But I was unharmed. Yet everyone was still pointing, their faces contorted in horror and fear. In the distance, I saw Nick’s team apprehend the shooter and quickly canvass through the crowd, searching for any other threats.

Everyone who hadn’t run was gaping, though, and when I looked at my feet, I saw why. Nick had jumped in front of me and took the bullet. I felt my heart break and my strength seeping away from me. How could this have happened? And now of all times? When everything was going so well.

Kneeling beside him, I smoothed the hair off his face. He was in a cold sweat and shaking. Glancing up, Ian was already on his cell phone, yelling that we needed an ambulance right away. The way Nick was squeezing my hand, though, I knew he didn’t have long.

“Abriel,” he whispered, holding on tighter to my hand. I could feel him slipping away and I didn’t want it to be true. It couldn’t be true.

“Don’t die on me,” I demanded, furiously wiping the tears blinding me from my eyes. “You aren’t allowed to die on me.”

“If you change me,” he murmured, “you’ll ruin…everything…you’ve worked for.”

I hated him for saying it because he was right, and it was what I had been thinking. Turning me had been Drei’s solution, and here it was one of my two options. But his words were true. Taking that route would undo everything I had put into motion; but I couldn’t just watch him die.

“But—”

“I’m dead…you know that.” He coughed, closing his eyes.

“Nick, don’t, please hold on,” I cried, squeezing his hand as his grip loosened.

“Finish it,” he said, struggling to inhale so he could speak. “I…love…”

“No, Nick;” I couldn’t stop myself from crying, or from holding him to me as he slipped through my fingers. Everything we had been through, everything we had done, and he was gone in seconds. “Don’t leave me like this. I love you.”

Drei knelt beside me, rubbing my back. It took me a moment to realize he was saying anything.

“—say something to them.”

Nodding, I wiped the tears from my eyes and signaled toward Caroline. She came over to join me.

Pulling myself together, I started improvising, just as we had planned. And as miserable as it made me to realize it, I had been right about how this had to end. “This is…was Nick,” I said, my voice stronger than I thought it would be. “He wasn’t an elemental, but he has been a friend to me for years, and now he’s also a victim of this injustice. It needs to end.” Looking at Caroline, I raised my hand to her. “Caroline will show you how.”

A wave of uncertainty and some grumbled complaints met me. They were scared, but this was the right thing to do. To truly take down the government wasn’t something I could do. For that, it required someone more willing to lead a coup. Complete removal of the government was the only way to keep things from reverting back to the way they had been.

“I brought you together,” I said, catching their attention again. “That was my job. I brought you together, gave you information, motivation, and a voice. What comes next requires a different kind of leadership. Caroline I trust with my life, and I hope you will as well. She will lead us faithfully into the next steps of change, and our new future.”

Despite the shock and depression in the crowd, there was applause, there was excitement and anxiousness, and I knew they would follow her. Caroline hugged me, whispering into my ear, “This is your baby, though.”

“It’s yours now.”

Some people left, more swarmed the platform, or any of the groups of elementals, asking questions and trying to find out what Caroline would do next. She made a public announcement to the news crews that she would have to meet with her advisors to discuss how to go about the next phase, but they would keep everyone posted. All they had to do was be ready to act.

While everyone was distracted, Drei had removed Nick’s body and I followed him away from the site. Away from the place where Nick had died protecting me and our campaign. Away from everyone I had worked with over the last two years, and wasn’t sure I could even face anymore. But, mostly, away from the place where my past seemed to end, and my future undoubtedly began.

Eternal: Chapter Ten, Part 3

Two weeks passed, with only two to go. We were mostly prepared, and what we weren’t ready for we never would be, so it didn’t matter. I tried to stay away from everyone, the anxiety palpable almost to the point of unbearable; I noticed Ian wasn’t around much either unless it was just the two of us, sometimes Drei as well, hanging out in our apartment. Even that wasn’t often.

Then again, I was also busy. No one knew with what, but it was my project for Drei, my gift back to him. Whenever I’d had time, I had been searching, slowly working through a long list of burial sites and graveyards, marking off the ones that didn’t have what I was looking for. There were a couple of times I thought I had found them, but upon closer inspection, they were too old or too young, or too recent—the decay not far enough along.

Unexpectedly, not in a cemetery, but just outside of one, was one deep grave. Inside, from what I could tell, were buried two little girls in a single casket. They were barefoot, no suggestion of shoes anywhere in their grave. What was left of their clothes suggested a flimsy dress—flimsy from how little there was left of it. They seemed to be in approximately the right stage of decay, based on my brief research on the subject.

Pulling out of my mapping, I checked where I had been looking. A small graveyard overseas, to the north and near the coast. Before I told Drei, I wanted to check it out for myself, but knew I didn’t have the time or the means. Mapping it again, I was sure it was Avery and Ashlyn.

I could have asked Valetta or Mitchell to check for me, but what if they told me I was crossing a line? I should keep my nose to myself and not even think about opening those old wounds for him, especially if I loved him. It seemed all I could imagine was the worst, no matter how hard I tried to come up with anything that was positive.

Those thoughts didn’t help, though. As I contemplated telling Drei, the words from my scenario kept playing through my head. No one had even said them, but they were there nonetheless. If you love him, you won’t tell him. And as those words stopped, the thought that he deserved to know kept pushing me towards it. I was caught between a rock and a hard place and I wasn’t even sure how. It was all in my head but it all seemed real.

I finally broke down the last night of April, the night before the march. Or, more precisely, it had been bothering me for so long, Drei finally drew it out of me.

“What is the matter?” he asked as we sat together on the couch, running his fingers through my hair as he set down the paper he had been reading—the front page was chock full of information for the public on tomorrow.

“Nothing,” I said, shaking it off and closing my eyes. He didn’t know; he didn’t need to know, I told myself in an attempt to cover up the voice telling me he should know.

Glancing down, I felt him inspect me, looking for some clue as to what I was thinking. “It is unhealthy to keep it to yourself.”

Unhealthy. I was reminded of my thoughts about Jake bottling his emotions; that was the word I had used then to describe it. And now Drei was telling me the same thing because I was bottling it up. But I didn’t want to believe it. This was different; this was me, and Drei, and his sisters. This was my relationship, not anger and sadness at my family. It was different, not at all the same thing.

“You can tell me,” he insisted, pulling me from my thoughts.

Glancing up at his pale, amethyst eyes, I knew he was telling the truth. I could tell him; he wouldn’t let it ruin what we had, and I could finally get it off my chest.

“I think I found your sisters,” I whispered, looking away. Though his eyes promised a calm reaction, my mind still warily remembered some of his past reactions. He had the ability to be cruel, even to me.

“How?”

I hadn’t expected that; my voice had sounded so soft to me I thought his first question would be for me to repeat. But it wasn’t, and that threw me for a moment. “Over the last couple of years I’ve been mapping graveyards and burial grounds, trying to find them for you,” I said timidly, still unable to gaze up at him. If he had looked away from me, I might have been able to, but his gaze was steady. “And I think I found them. I have it marked on a map, if you wanted to see;” I stood to retrieve it.

Drei captured my hand, stopping me. He stood, taking my other hand in his, trying to catch my eyes.

“Abriel,” he said, softly but clearly, and our eyes met. His eyes were watery on the edges but glinting, the slightest curve to his lips. “I appreciate what you have done for me.”

“It wasn’t anything special;” I broke our gaze and glanced around the room. His eyes were so intensely focused on me and I couldn’t read any emotion coming from him; the combination unnerved me. “I just thought I could help, since I had some extra time and, you know, some—”

He chuckled, a deep rippling sound filling the space between us. “There is no need to babble,” he said, lifting my chin. “You have done nothing wrong.”

Looking up at him, he was wearing a full smile now, white teeth and all. “Really? You’re not mad?” I asked, feeling myself shiver. Why was I shivering?

Shaking his head, his shaggy hair jostling a little, he elaborated, “I am not upset with you. You have done me a great service, Abriel,” he persisted, closing the gap between us and folding me into his arms. “Why are you shivering?”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, shaking my head. I didn’t know why I was still shivering. It wasn’t fear, because I wasn’t frightened anymore by how he might react. He had already reacted, and it was the best case scenario I hadn’t been able to imagine.

Then it dawned on me: I didn’t want him to say he was going to find his sisters’ graves instead of being with me tomorrow. I wasn’t sure if I could lead that many people through the capitol to the reflecting pool and then speak to them. Inspire them. Say what hadn’t been said in so long. Not if he wasn’t there. Nick may have helped my first tour, but this was a larger scale and it was much more important I didn’t completely foul it up.

But Drei had waited so long for this, and I wouldn’t stop him if he decided to go. I loved him; I had found them because I knew not knowing where they were had haunted him; he deserved to have closure so that wound could finally heal.

“I’ll get the map,” I said, still holding onto him, “so you can go find them. Tell me if I was right.”

When I went to pull away from him, Drei didn’t let me go. He just held me tighter and I couldn’t fathom why. He wanted this, had waited centuries for this, and now he was stopping me from giving him the information that had so long eluded him?

“Tomorrow is important for you,” he whispered into my ear. “I will be there for you.”

“But you’ve waited hundreds of years,” I argued, not understanding why he was doing this. He should be going to see if I was right, not staying here with me.

“I have waited hundreds of years, as you have said,” he repeated, holding my gaze, not letting me look away this time. “I can wait a few more days.”

“But—”

“Abriel,” he interrupted—having done this more frequently over the past months, especially when it came to arguing about sleep or the like, it didn’t concern me as much as it used to. “I would like to go, but tomorrow I will be here for you.”

Biting my bottom lip, I withheld my argument. I didn’t understand why he would put it off longer than he needed to, but maybe when I was as old as he was now, I’d understand. Tonight, I wouldn’t; I could be sure of that much.

“Besides,” Drei added, his eyes focusing on something else, “I would like you to be with me when I go.”

“Of course,” I promised, tightening my arms around him.

We stood that way for what seemed like a long time, though it couldn’t have been that long. It was still the night before the march when he suggested I sleep, kissing my temple and then leading me to the room.

I didn’t fall asleep right away, though I honestly couldn’t remember falling asleep at all that night. My brain seemed completely preoccupied with trying to figure out why he was putting me before them when they had been important to him longer. And as I asked myself that over and over again, the only answer that came to mind was that he loved me, and love made us do strange things.

Eternal: Chapter Nine, Part 9

“You no longer need me,” Drei said, gazing down at me. “I do love you, Abriel. Please do not think I will ever stop loving you. But right now, I need something for myself, something to do, some reason to continue on.”

“But I need you,” I persisted, a twinge of whining slipping into my voice.

He opened his mouth to protest again but I put a finger to his lips to stop him.

“It’s why I didn’t give you another job,” I said, hoping it wasn’t too late. If it was, I deserved everything that came of it. “Because I need you with me. This whole vampire thing is still new to me, Drei. I still need you to take care of me, to make sure I stay healthy because you and Caroline both know I have a nasty tendency to overestimate myself—Ian, too,” I admitted, though it was hard to do. Tears started filling my eyes, though I pushed them back. I didn’t want him to stay because he didn’t want to see me cry; I wanted him to stay because he felt needed here; because he could find what would make him happy here. “I can’t afford to overestimate myself now,” I whispered, swallowing, hoping my throat would clear and my voice would stop wavering. “Everything…everyone is relying on me. I would die if I let them down.”

“Do you—”

“Every word,” I promised, holding his gaze steadily, even if my voice was no longer so. I took his hands and put them on my hips. “I need you to take care of me, Drei—because I’m really, really bad at that.”

A slight smile crossed his lips as he nodded. “I agree with that.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, his hands slipped from my hips so his arms were around my waist. “Will you stay?” I asked, having to look away before I really did start crying. This could go one of two ways: he could let go, apologizing and walk out the door anyway, or he could hold me tighter and say he’d stay. Though I knew there were two options, the longer I waited, the more it seemed like there only was one. My mind even started playing through how I would be if he left, suggesting I would start crying and no one could make me feel better and everything would fall apart.

“I love you…so much,” he said into my hair.

This was it, I found myself thinking. I dreaded hearing the apology because that would mean I was right, and I couldn’t argue with him because I would have received my just desserts. After three fourths of a year, more than that even, I still hadn’t talked to him as I had said I would.

“I shall stay with you.”

Despite his answer, I buried my face in his chest and cried as he held me closer with one arm, the other smoothing my hair.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, pulling slightly away, smiling kindly down at me.

Wiping tears out of my eyes with one hand, I answered, “Because I was so scared you would leave, and it would be my fault.”

Kissing my forehead, he assured me, “While it would have been partially your fault if I had left, it would have been the hardest thing I had done in years.”

“Then why were you going to leave?”

“Because hard things are still things that should be done.” Wiping a tear from my cheek, he tapped my nose. “But you have convinced me this is one thing I should not do.”

Smiling at him, my eyes probably watery, I asked if he needed help unpacking. He declined, saying I should sleep instead.

“Can’t I work a little longer?” I pleaded with him, having hoped to catch up with at least the old topics. Yes, the forums were a great source of feedback, but I also really enjoyed reading the varying responses.

“If I am to stay, you should listen to me,” he said, leaning closer to me.

“But there’s no fun in that,” I teased, bending backwards, smiling as he bent over to follow me.

“I never said there would be;” he caught my lips with his, both of us bent practically in half and slowly righting ourselves as we kissed. Drei pulled me closer to him, suddenly stopping. “You really should sleep now.”

“You’re evil,” I breathed, my lips barely brushing against his as I spoke. “If there’s more of this, I could listen better.”

“That is not you speaking,” he said, pulling a little further away. “That is your vampire’s lust.”

“My vampire is me, though.”

“When you can control her,” he countered, giving me a small kiss before sweeping me into his arms and heading toward the bedroom. He stopped any protestations I might have given by saying, in a very final tone, “You are to sleep now.”

When he set me down on the bed, exhaustion washed over me. I hadn’t realized I was tired, but then I was a specialist at denying it.

“Always pushing your limits,” Drei mused, crouching by the bed and smoothing the hair out of my face.

 I smiled sheepishly at him, my eyes closing. “That’s why I need you; so you can push back.”

“If you listen to me,” he mocked, pressing his forehead to mine.

“You’re not going to run off while I sleep, are you?” I asked before yawning and closing my eyes.

“No,” he promised, holding my hand now. “I have a purpose now.”

Eternal: Chapter Nine, Part 6

Drei had chosen the exact location for this speech to be the gazebo where, on sunnier days, local musicians would showcase their talent and school bands would hold fundraisers. It was a huge, well-kept, white gazebo with intricate lattice work and was in a well shaded area. Nick and I arrived an hour before it was scheduled to begin. I had left behind my notebook and notes, not wanting to carry them with me. Though I had it memorized, I was beginning to feel nervous again, wishing I had brought it along after all.

“You’ll be great,” Nick insisted, squeezing my shoulder. “Remember, I’ll be in the audience, by that tree,” he added, pointing to a tall oak tree straight out from one of the entrances to the gazebo.

Touching his hand, soaking in the comfort it was trying to offer, I nodded, knowing he had to leave and show up after other people had, if anyone did. He would stay nearby should I need him, but we wanted to limit the number of faces directly related to our campaign for the time being.

He walked away, looking back once as if to assure me he would be under that tree before I started speaking. That I wasn’t some puppy he was going to leave by the side of the road and never return to. Not that I had been thinking that. Really. All right, maybe a little.

I sat, concentrating on breathing, relaxing until Nick’s cell phone alarm went off in my pocket—doubling as a reminder he had to return. As I breathed, I tried not to think if I was dressed appropriately in my blue jeans, long, loose-fitting blouse, and sweater jacket; I attempted to stop my brain from going through opinions whoever showed might already have of me, how I would work around that, and if I could at all. I wasn’t succeeding very well.

Slowly, my silence was infiltrated as the park started filling with people, some of them stopping to stare at me while others just stood around chatting. Focusing on the first words of my speech, I tried droning them out, forcing myself not to be concerned with their words

There was a soft buzzing in my back pocket. Pulling out the cell phone, I turned it off, exhaling slowly until there was no air in my lungs.

Show time.

Standing up, I faced the oak tree Nick had pointed out, surprised to see a good sized group of people before me. Some sat on picnic blankets, relaxing with friends; some had brought lawn chairs; others were standing under or leaning against trees. A shush fell across them like dominoes as the people closest to the gazebo noticed me there.

Part of me, the part scared senseless right then, wanted to walk down the steps and pretend I had just been waiting in the gazebo for the speaker. To let it end here with all of them disappointed, never to be bothered again.

Glancing around, my eyes caught Nick’s, and I knew I couldn’t let them down. Most of them had probably been avid listeners and followers of Caroline’s revolution when it had ended—indirectly my fault. They had been waiting for a change, craving one. I couldn’t reward their patience and devotion with more disappointment.

Swallowing, I stepped forward, forcing myself to calm down, at least on the surface. I wasn’t Caroline; I could draw attention, but I didn’t know how to command it as she did. The beginning she had written was what worked for her, but standing before all of these expectant people now, I knew it wasn’t what was going to work for me.

“Welcome,” I greeted, opening my arms to all of them. “That you’re here today means you’ve seen the commercials; you’ve visited the site; now you want to know more,” I started, risking looking around at everyone. My nerves were still going crazy but at least it wasn’t showing in my voice. Nick gave me a thumbs up. “For anyone who hasn’t read the literature on the site, allow me to summarize. There are people who look normal, have regular jobs, lead average lives, but are different. They can control one of the four elements: water, fire, earth, air.” I had thought I might do something to emphasize this point, but decided to leave the theatrics until someone asked. Right now, the message was the important part.

“As I said, they are regular people, just like everyone here, but a little different. Not different in a bad way,” I added, still on guard but starting to relax. It was hard reading just their expressions and I didn’t want to distract myself with reading their impressions just yet. The general feeling was patience, calm, and interest; doubt was only in a few spots. I’d see how that changed in a moment when I went into the heavy stuff. “Instead of treating people like this, like me, with the same respect as everyone one else, though, our government chooses to hunt us. To gather a special detail of people to search for us, find us, and take us into captivity for research to use our gifts, against our will, as a weapon. Gifts that are meant to be given to everyone to improve life, to assist us in coexisting with our environment; gifts that have been at work silently bringing change into our lives for centuries.

“But these gifts won’t be around forever,” I stated, feeling stronger, feeling empowered by finally saying what no one else would. There was no turning back after this moment; no one could erase spoken words, even if they managed to erase those written. “The elements endow us to benefit as many as possible, but that’s their only purpose. They won’t stand for being used as a weapon, or being misused in any way.” Saying this, I thought of Mom and knew she would be proud if she could be here—this was one of her lessons to me, after all. But I also sensed the increasing doubt among my listeners. This was the abstract part now, the part I’d have to back soon with proof. “Some of you may remember another revolution, aimed at the government. Everything that was the case then, is still the case now,” I said, beginning to talk more with my hands. “But this is a case of civil rights, one of many faults in a structure that is failing. Another omission in an ever growing list.”

No one had left yet, and no one had completely lost interest; even the doubters were still listening, still staring at me. Even as they grew more skeptical, something about whatever I was saying was rooting them here. I wasn’t sure what exactly, but I figured it didn’t matter so long as they kept listening.

“This blatant disregard of our rights as citizens—as human beings—breaks apart families, ruins relationships, forces all of us into hiding…until now. We refuse to stay silent any longer. We want to live peacefully and help where we can. To do that, we need all the help you can give.”

Eternal: Chapter Eight, Part 3

Justin was the one who met me in the lobby shortly after I arrived for our meeting. Angeline, he said, was saving a conference room. As we walked, he kept flashing me smiles as if that made up for something wrong. From where I was standing, there was nothing wrong. The smiles were flattering; I could see why she might like him, though I could also see how his confidence could be annoying.

The conference room was all windows on two walls, 30 stories up, and had an oblong table in the center surrounded by cushioned chairs. Angeline was standing at the window when we entered, enjoying the view of downtown; at this height, you could barely hear the traffic below.

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Miss Jones,” Angeline said with a strained smile. “You’re looking wonderful, though you could stand to use some sun.”

That must have been why Caroline liked her. “It’s a medical condition,” I lied, smiling. There was nothing wrong with the woman; she was pretty much just like Caroline, even if it didn’t make her the most eloquent or flattering of people. “And please, call me Leirba.”

It was still strange giving people a name that wasn’t technically mine; all the practice in my spare time helped, though.

“Shall we sit?” Justin asked, pulling a seat out for me. I took the seat, on the corner of the table. He helped Angeline sit, as well, before sitting across from me.

“So what is the goal of your revolution?” Angeline asked, sitting back in her chair.

Passing them each an overview sheet, I summarized, “The goal is to reveal the corruption of our government through the oppression and mistreatment of elementals—citizens who are gifted with the ability to manipulate a certain primary element.” When I said elementals, Justin tensed and his brows knit; a second later he had regained a neutral composure. “In the process, the current government may be completely removed, but that remains to be seen. For sure we’re aiming for exposure and liberation, our rights as people and citizens.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Justin asked after a moment. A bead of sweat creeped down his right temple.

Justin’s response didn’t worry me as Kora had already reacted similarly; Angeline was different, though. She stared, her lips pursed and eyes widened in disbelief, and a single thought scrolled continuously through her mind.

“It’s already in the works,” I answered, flipping to the front of my binder and pulling out the disks. “One of the disks is the rough draft of the commercials we’re putting together.”

“Commercials?” Angeline asked, one of her eyebrows arching high.

“To intrigue viewers into visiting the website, which the content for is on the other disk if you wanted to look over that; in that case is also a paper with the information needed to view the developing website. It’s mostly set up already and it explains our cause.”

“People won’t believe it’s real,” Justin said, staring at the CDs on the table before him.

“That’s where we disagree,” I politely said, sitting forward. I knew this was going to be an uphill battle; the whole two years were going to be an uphill battle. So far I was doing pretty good, but I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be able to last at this rate. “I think most people want to believe there’s some magic left in the world. It’s why people are interested in Wicca, even if they won’t ever practice it. Why supernatural books sell and movies are made. Deep down, we all want to believe there’s some kind of magic left in the world, that miracles can still happen.”

He stared at me and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. After neither of them said anything, I stood. Right now, it didn’t matter if they believed me. All they had to do was keep my movement from sinking due to legal issues.

“Just do your job.”

I was halfway down the hall before Justin stopped me. He instructed me to follow and then led me past the elevators and into what I presumed to be his office. Once there, he closed the blinds on all of the windows and locked the door.

“Why do you want to do this?” he asked, sitting on the black leather couch he had in the corner.

Still standing, I said, “Because it has to be done.”

“Exposing all of us is the only way?”

Ian’s instinct about the past was seeming more right by the second; given the opposition I was coming against, it seemed easy to believe everyone else who had tried before had been stopped by someone else; discouraged by someone telling them it was wrong. But no one could convince me what I was doing was wrong. Not because it wasn’t frightening to think how others might handle the news, but because there was a greater wrong happening that needed to stop. We weren’t weapons; we were people, and we deserved the right to live our lives.

“If you expose yourself, it’s your own thing. But people have to know we exist. If they don’t, we can’t stop what’s happening.” It struck me suddenly that he might not have known what was happening to us, how oppressed we were. “You do know about that, right?”

“Of course, I know. We all know.” He bowed his head, rubbing his temples.

“So, wild guess, fire?”

“Yeah. I’m guessing you’re air.”

Nodding, I sat down next to him. “I’m not forcing anyone to admit anything they don’t want to. I have given everyone on my team a choice, and any of them are allowed to back out when they feel it’s too much. You’re only association with us will be as a lawyer,” I said, feeling a need to comfort him. “It’s completely up to you if people learn otherwise.”

Justin sighed and looked at me. “Okay.”

“I need to be going now.”

He unlocked the door and walked me to the elevator. I hoped he would be okay; part of me also hoped he would choose to reveal himself as an elemental and truly accept himself.

Eternal: Chapter Seven, Part 4

Nick would stay with us; Valetta and Mitchell had found a place to rent for a while and wouldn’t be using our spare room. Though I still wasn’t sure how dedicated Kora was at this point, she seemed better by the time she left; she and the others from camp had spent a couple hours catching up with each other and it seemed to calm her worries.

While I washed dishes, Drei came into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around me. I was surprised at first, but leaned into him after a moment, feeling all the worry and self-doubt from earlier in the day fade.

“I missed you,” he whispered into my hair.

“I missed you, too.”

“Valetta told me as much.”

“Are we going walking tonight?” I asked, closing my eyes and resting my hands on the edge of the sink.

“If you would like. Nick may come as well,” he offered. I was hoping this meant any animosity between the two was long gone. Just remembering how they used to fight made me shiver. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah. I was just thinking.”

“Of course.”

We stood in silence for a moment before he asked if I wanted help.

“I’m almost done,” I said, pulling gently away from his to return to work.

He washed his hands anyway; he rinsed the already washed dishes and set them in the drying rack. “There is something else I have planned for you.”

“And what might that be?” I asked, draining the sink and drying my hands off, handing him the towel as he finished rinsing.

“You shall see tomorrow night.”

“You and your mysteries,” I teased, wrapping my arms around him. He bowed his head to stare into my eyes with those amethyst gems. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him, the touch stirring my vampire. It wasn’t frightening feeling that part of me anymore; the feeling of something shadowy and burning cold blossoming at my core and winding its way through my body. I wasn’t sure what to make of this new side of myself, but it no longer terrified me.

Drei lifted me onto the counter, kissing me hard. I didn’t know what I was feeling, or what he was feeling. It felt like my element had been completely overridden, but I didn’t mind. All I wanted was to feel his touch, to feel him. I only wanted him. And I knew he wanted me when his lips strayed to my neck.

“Did you guys—”

Drei pulled back from me, glaring at Nick. I slid off the counter, quickly turning and searching for something to clean. For anything that gave me an excuse not to look at either of them for a moment. I felt the dual impulse of injuring Nick for his interruption and grabbing to Drei to continue where we’d left off despite Nick’s presence. The flicker of what I knew to be me didn’t want either of those and began pushing against the shadows.

“Oh, sorry,” Nick apologized, backing away slowly. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You weren’t interrupting,” I lied, glancing at Drei. Even if they weren’t fighting, it was obvious sharing an apartment might still be trying in its own ways. Meeting Nick’s uncertain gaze, I asked, “Was there something you needed?”

His eyes darted in Drei’s direction, as though he felt compelled to leave us alone. However, now that my vampire was again subdued, I felt somewhat embarrassed and angry at myself. Even if that part of me wanted it, I wasn’t ready for it; and Drei wouldn’t know that unless I told him.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pay anything for staying here?”

“We discussed this already, Nick;” Drei released an aggravated sigh, but it wasn’t because of the question. “You are welcome to reside with us, free of charge, so long as you like. Ask again and I may not be so generous.” He left with that, disappearing into our room, leaving Nick and I in an unnervingly awkward silence.

“I really am sorry,” Nick said, gesturing futilely toward where I had been sitting a moment before.

“Don’t be.” I closed some of the distance between us. It was less awkward if we were standing beside each other. “We were getting a little carried away. I haven’t seen him in so long—and…I’m just making you feel worse;” I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter.

“No, I understand. I really do;” he buried his hands in his jean pockets. “You love him, and you missed him, and it was your first chance all day to be alone together and I messed it up.”

Shaking my head, I wanted to tell him he hadn’t messed it up. Valetta had talked about my vampire’s lust, and I was fairly certain that’s what that had been. It wasn’t Drei’s fault for not being able to tell. He was as swept up as I was, but I couldn’t say that to Nick. No matter how I put it, it would sound wrong. Especially since I couldn’t tell him Drei had turned me. I couldn’t tell anyone.

Nick looked at me, his eyes clouded. “Sorry I didn’t get to say bye this last time.”

“Don’t worry about it…really.”

His lips curled in their signature crooked way, and he ran a hand through his hair. I felt a twinge better seeing him relax.

“You probably want to go talk to him, huh?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But we’ll talk more, okay?” He nodded. “Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge or the cupboards.”

“Of course.”

Before I left, I squeezed his hand, saying, “I really am glad you’re here.” And then I went to find Drei.

He was leaning out the open window, basking in the cool night air. From the emotions circling around him, he was still perturbed but calming down.

“Nick really didn’t mean anything by it,” I said, approaching him and leaning against the wall beside the window.

Drei straightened and faced me. “I know,” he said softly. “I wanted to be alone with you and had forgotten he was here.”

Smiling, I said, “You’re the one who invited him to stay.”

“I, too, am entitled to forget some things.” Pulling me closer to him, I felt my vampire start to return and, this time, it did scare me.

“Drei,” I whispered, not wanting to offend him, but still wanting him to hold me, maybe even kiss me, vampire or no.

“Yes?” he murmured softly.

“I’m not ready,” I told him, before I lost the words altogether.

“There is nothing wrong with that,” he breathed into my ear. “I shall stop us before it goes that far.”

“Thank you.” And I was gone, slipping into his kisses and the burning cold darkness of this other me. I trusted him; I had to because, in this state, I couldn’t trust myself.

Eternal: Chapter Seven, Part 2

Turning around, my eyes found the young man who had spoken. He was tall with bright jade eyes, sharp facial features, and a crooked smile; his pine colored hair was long and shaggy. Words escaped me; I hadn’t expected to see him, though I should have guessed he would show up somewhere.

I hugged him as his arms enveloped me, holding me tight, as they had so many times before. “Nick,” I murmured into his shoulder. I don’t know how long we embraced, but I did eventually remember I was playing hostess and pulled away. When I did, there was Drei, leaning in the door frame. Walking over to him, he pulled me into his own comforting, familiar embrace.

He kissed the top of my head. “Do you like my surprise?”

Nodding, I stepped back from him. “But now we’re ruining the meeting.”

He chuckled a little. I smiled goofily at him before taking his hand and then Nick’s and walking them into our circle.

“Drei’s here now. And the last member of our council will be Nick.”

“Can we trust him?” Mikael asked skeptically. It was a fair question; Mikael, Kora, and Xenia had lived through the aftermath of Nick revealing his involuntary involvement with the government. What information they’d received at the time was likely limited and compounded by rumors, particularly when Nick didn’t join us during the relocation.

Glancing at Nick, I nodded. “If we couldn’t, Drei wouldn’t have brought him.” There was still some uncertainty, though it was considerably dispelled as they contemplated Drei’s endorsement of Nick’s character. I turned to Nick and Drei. “Would either of you like something to drink before we start? And did you catch everyone’s name?”

“I think so,” Nick replied, nodding. “If not, I’ll ask you about it later. And I’ll take water, please.”

“The same,” Drei said as Valetta went to the kitchen. I would have objected, but I understood. We had already been derailed enough.

“So, to business then.” I smiled at everyone sitting around me, feeling better than I had not minutes before. I knew, without a doubt, I could do this. “I’ve talked to all of you about the general timeline but I’ve withheld what the focus of our movement is…until today. From talking with all of you, I know more than ever it’s the right thing to do. To prevent others from experiencing the same dilemmas and heartaches we’ve faced over the years. To protect, or to heal, the ones we love. We’re taking down the government by letting people know we exist,” I said. “We, as elementals, have to stand up for our own rights as people; the only way to do that is to show regular people we exist to begin with, that there is a unique group being exploited and endangered by the very institution that’s supposed to protect us.”

“We’re admitting we’re different?” Kora asked slowly, her hands shaking in her lap. Her hazel eyes were wide.

“It’s the only way,” I said gently. “We don’t physically look different, so no one knows unless we tell them.”

“So what’s with the miracle tagline you gave Ian and I to work with?” Caroline asked, eating another one of her cookies.

Drei raised an eyebrow at me. I felt myself blushing, knowing it was a silly thing for me to have remembered for so long. “I once asked why the government hated us, and Drei told me the only reason he could think of was because they wanted to erase miracles.”

“What’s the tagline?” Xenia asked, taking one of the sandwiches.

“Miracles still exist,” Ian said, a smile in his voice. “So it was your inspiration?”

“It seems that way.” He smiled at me.

“I’m not sure about this, Abs,” Caroline said, setting her napkin of cookies on the coffee table. “I’m all for taking down the government—you know that. And I don’t mind putting myself at risk either. But you’re not talking about just us;” she stood and began pacing behind the couch and talking with her hands in broad, sweeping gestures. “You’re talking everyone. That’s everyone who’s managed to live their life without getting caught, and everyone who’s just starting to figure it out. That’s a ton of people, Abs. Who says they want to come out of hiding?”

“If they don’t, nothing will ever change,” Jake argued. “When the Black Civil Rights Movement started, not everyone was sure they wanted to fight that battle. But the few, and then the many, did anyway; look how that turned out.”

“You’re seriously comparing this to the Black Civil Rights Movement?” Kora demanded, going to stand by Caroline. “We’re not black…well, not all of us.”

“But we’re oppressed,” Ian said, shifting on the couch to look at the two. “Our civil rights aren’t being acknowledged, and they won’t be until we do something about it.”

“And what about the people who are fine hiding?” Kora asked, crossing her arms, trying to control her shaking.

“No one’s fine hiding,” Xenia said. “No one likes to hide who they are; eventually it eats away at who you are inside and then what are you left with? Some ghost of who you might have been?”

“Well, I don’t mind hiding;” Kora turned and walked towards the door.

“What kind of lasting relationship will that make, Kora?” I asked, hoping it would at least stop her from leaving; if she walked out the door, I wasn’t sure there was anything any of us could say to bring her back. “How do you know if he loves you if he’ll never know who you really are?”

Eternal: Chapter Six, Part 7

It wasn’t difficult to track down to where Jake had disappeared; he had left in a terrible mood with a unique mix of emotions trailing behind him: disappointment, anger, hatred, self-loathing, and a touch of sorrow. The trail he left traversed campus and through the park nearby, down to the river on the edge of the field just beyond the park. He wasn’t much better off than when he’d left; if anything, he had just started bottling it all up again.

“Jake?” I asked, standing a few feet from where he was sitting on the bank. He stiffened, keeping his back to me and curling into himself. “Could you talk to me? Like a person who isn’t being purely defensive?”

When he didn’t respond, I sat next to him and waited a moment. He wasn’t running, which was a good thing, but something was definitely wrong. All of his bitterness wasn’t from normal circumstances. Something over the past few years had changed him. Never could I have imagined him so cold and hard.

“What’s wrong?” I tried, wanting him to open up to me. He’d feel better if he did, I was sure of it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, staring fixedly at the water as if it was going to give him the answers he wanted. I would have told him it wouldn’t if I had thought it might help. “I don’t even know you, Leirba.”

Leaning back on the heels of my palms, I sighed. True, he was being a pain, but it was also true he wasn’t necessarily himself. Besides, anger wasn’t going to help me with this; it would only worsen things. “You do know me, so don’t even pretend.”

“Then why are you going by a different name, Abriel?” His eyes met mine; the brightness I had seen before was just a trick of the light. They were dull and lifeless; I wondered if the hint of childishness in his smile had also been an illusion. It was difficult to tell anymore. “It’s sketchy.”

“Drei wants me to go by Leirba for now. It’s really long and complex and I’m not really supposed to talk about it,” I said, having to look away from him. I wanted him to trust me, but I couldn’t even give him sufficient reason to. “Now what changed you?”

“Why are you here?” he asked instead. “Why now? Why not before?”

“Before what?” I inquired, hoping he’d say something to let me pry further.

No such luck. “Before now.”

It amazed me I could even be talking to the same person from all those years ago. The others, I could still see them, who they had been beneath who they had become. But every trace of who Jake had been…it was like it had all been erased.

“Before now I’d been figuring things out. I’ve been learning about myself and my movement, and some other stuff—”

“That you can’t talk about,” he finished bitterly. I winced at the daggers in his voice. “Well, while you were off doing whatever it was that was more important,” he spat, facing me, his face red and splotchy, contorted in a nasty combination of heartache and fury, “I was shipped from relative to relative until I was dumped into foster care, and then shipped from family to family.”

I was speechless for a moment, my mind absent of any response. “What happened to your mom?” I asked, remembering how he had told me she’d sent him to the camp for his protection. In his relation of it, she had promised to be there when he returned to her.

“The fucking government happened!” he screamed, tears coursing down his cheeks as his bottled emotions spewed forth. I tried to clear them away as best I could while letting him still go through the sensations. He needed to; he needed to feel again. He’d been making himself numb for too long and it was alienating him. “By the time I got back they’d picked her up.  My dad blamed me for everything; said if I’d never been born she’d never have been caught. He told me get the fuck out before he killed me. So I went to my grandparents, who sent me to one relative to another and to another until the last one didn’t want me either. I was dropped in their fucking system!” he yelled, pulling his knees to his chest and running his hands through his hair. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to hide in their fucking system?”

I pulled him into my embrace, knowing it wasn’t the foster care system he was angry at; it wasn’t even me. He felt like his father had told him the truth. It was his fault; he was the only one to blame.

“Jake,” I whispered, cradling him in my arms, rubbing his back and trying to limit how much of his pain he had to go through. There was so much and it was still so raw, as if he had avoided feeling any of it before now. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It isn’t your fault.”

He pulled away from me, his bloodshot eyes revealing how unworthy of my help he felt he was. “But it—”

“Your mother loves you,” I told him sternly. “She told you that, and she meant it. Nothing changed that,” I said, taking his hands in mine. He stared at me blankly, unsure how to respond; he wanted to believe me, but he had also spent so much time believing he was to blame. What I said seemed only like a happy pipe dream. “Nothing changes her love for you. Okay?”

He nodded slightly, wiping away his tears.

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 3

Caroline drove us across town to Ian’s loft apartment. I hadn’t been there since the Thanksgiving we spent together, but it hadn’t changed much. The most striking difference was the artwork everywhere. Canvases were propped against and hung on all the walls, the images ranging from tranquil or busy scenes to abstract splashes of color or seemingly randomly placed angles and shapes.

One piece in particular caught my eye—partly for the color choices and partly because it seemed to be calling to me, demanding attention; it was propped against the floor to ceiling windows in the area functioning as a living room. In the center, blue, green, gray, and red ribbons twisted and intertwined in the center, strands peeling away in different directions, the other colors clutching to them—following and pulling them back. The strand was surrounded by blackness, a void of nonexistence; except light radiated around the ribbons and the strips breaking away.

“He calls it Contamination,” Caroline said, standing beside me. “I think it’s brilliant, but he won’t listen to me. Something about it being a statement.”

“It is a statement,” I said, wanting to touch it, but not wanting to be disrespectful, either.

“How?” Caroline huffed impatiently, crossing her arms. “Ian won’t explain it to me.”

“This is us,” I said, pointing to the strands. “The four elements and consequently all of the elementals. The blackness is the world; the people who don’t have the connections to nature we have, so they don’t understand what we do, especially about the way the world is.”

“Then the light is the contamination?” she asked, glancing from me back to the painting. “Contamination is a bad thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s often given a negative connotation, yes. But in this case, people don’t see the good we cause. Most would be afraid if they knew the truth about a lot of us,” I said, struggling to find the words that would make her understand what I did. “So to darkness, light can be seen as a bad thing, though oftentimes light is given a positive connation. To a world in darkness, light is contamination.”

“So we’re just gifted to make things worse?”

“Not at all;” I turned to face her. I never would have thought she would have drawn that conclusion. “We make things better, in theory.”

“You’re losing me,” she warned, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “We’re contaminating the dark world but we’re the good ones?”

“More, the world is in darkness because they don’t know. When they don’t know, it doesn’t really seem like anything is changing. There’s just…an angry environmentalist trying to stop companies from polluting rivers, or—or a crazy tree hugger trying to save the rainforest,” I said, taking a different approach. “For the longest time, we’ve been discouraged from letting people know we’re elementals, that we’re different. That’s why the branching strips are being pulled back.”

“But why are there are so many branching off if they’re not supposed to?”

“Because the people need to know eventually. If they know, they might listen more to what we have to say.”

“Or they might just think we’re freaks,” Caroline countered skeptically, crossing her arms and shivering. Definitely not a reaction I would have expected from her. I couldn’t help feeling these thoughts weren’t necessarily her own, but someone else’s that had been ground into her.

“Some people will think anyone different is a freak,” Ian said from behind us, causing us both to jump. Caroline hit his arm as I waited for him to finish his statement. “If any of us are really going to make a difference in anything, we have to stop being afraid of the people who will hate us.”

“Why didn’t you just explain that the first time I asked you?” Caroline demanded, pouting a little. I wasn’t sure she understood; all I could really hope was that she was beginning to.

“Do you realize how long it took her to explain it to you?” he retorted, turning his bright blue eyes on me. “You’ve changed…a lot.”

I smiled, trying to lighten his mood as his observation seemed to depress him. “And you haven’t changed at all,” I said, noting he still wore a stocking cap over his flaming red hair.

Hugging me, he added, “Sorry you had to explain it to her. I’m glad you understood it.”

“Of course I understood it.”

“I didn’t,” Caroline reminded us, hands on her hips. “Oh, and you have to call Abs Leirba now.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, his left eyebrow cocked.

“Drei’s choice, really. I’m just going with the flow.”

“I’m going to make coffee,” Caroline announced, heading to the kitchen area.

“You know where everything is.” When she was out of earshot, he confided, “She really missed you. What took you so long to resurface?”

Eternal: Chapter Three, Part 3

It seemed hours passed before she came out of the room, followed by a voice demanding Mitchell enter. She glanced in my direction and then retreated into a corner of her own, defeated. Whatever happened hadn’t gone well. It had exhausted and drained her.

Though I could have asked what had transpired, I resolved to plot, to find a solution to this new predicament. I didn’t want to be the ingénue and Drei the villain. Valetta and Mitchell didn’t deserve to be punished. At least, I didn’t want them to be punished. I wanted everything to work out well. I needed Drei; and although I didn’t know what they would do yet, I needed Valetta and Mitchell as well.

I was determined to find some solution. There had to be one.

Mitchell exited after another extensive period of waiting. He moved as if to look in my direction, but changed his mind and leaned against the wall a few feet from Valetta. The demanding voice summoned Drei.

He didn’t seem to see anything as he disappeared into the room again; he just stared ahead as if indifferent to these events. Watching him leave, I felt hurt. Not because I was afraid for him, but because he didn’t look at me. Once I had told him lying hurt more than it helped. Right then, all I wanted was for him to lie to me. Tell me it would all work out, or not to worry; I’d even settle for a convincing smile. Anything to make the situation seem better than it was.

There was a crack in the wall across from me. I stared at it, wondering. I wondered what was happening in that room; why, when I tried to listen in, I couldn’t keep my focus; what would happen to me; why they would leave this crack in the wall. It wasn’t a very interesting place to look. Occasionally, a spider or two crept in or out but, other than that, it was just a black slice of void. It gave me somewhere to look, I supposed. Somewhere that wasn’t completely hopeless. Valetta and Mitchell were so worn and defeated it made me feel worse to look at them. Something about this place suggested speaking with them would be entirely inappropriate and punishable by some obscure Council ruling.

As I stared and thought, occasional ideas popped up that had nothing to do with what I was thinking. All of them, I realized after a while, were related to the Council and my movement. Studying the hole in the wall as if it held the answer to how these two were connected, I began to see how I might be able to spare all of us from punishment. Might being the key word. I’d have to do a ton of smooth talking and hope the Council bought into it.

Eternal: Chapter Three, Part 1

Chapter Three: Time Bargain

Two vampires, their faces distorted by shadows cast by flickering torches overhead, ushered us from the car into a building with a worn smooth, stone exterior. I wasn’t sure where we were, but it wasn’t any part of the city I remembered seeing before. Everything here had an old fashioned feel to it, nothing like the modern or classic brick buildings to which I had grown accustomed. From what glimpses I caught of the building, it was built in a gothic mansion style, three stories, tall windows, and what seemed to be gargoyles—though it was difficult to tell in the darkness.

Inside, it reminded me of the kinds of places people tell you to stay away from in ghost stories. All of the walls were faded reds and browns with discolored crown moldings and cobwebbed corners. The main foyer was lit by a chandelier—electric, surprisingly enough. It, too, was strung with thick cobwebs.

We were led through dimly lit hallways and past numerous nondescript doors before our guides directed us to wait in a small sitting room. My nerves had me taking in everything from the cracked and flaking paint of the portrait over the fireplace to the stiff furniture in floral upholstery from what I guessed to be the Victorian era. There were no windows and the walls were blotchy in their fading, as if long-removed décor had prevented an even weathering. The only lighting came from the few scones spaced along the walls.

Drei sat across the room from me. I thought I understood why, but the action only worsened my nerves. Even with Valetta sitting beside me, pushing damp hair from my forehead and telling me it would be fine, I couldn’t help wondering what came next. What would they say or do? Why were Valetta and Mitchell here when they hadn’t done anything wrong? Was there a chance of talking the Council down from whatever decision they made? Sitting in that room, it didn’t feel like it. Not as time seemed to only vaguely tick away.

It seemed a lifetime had passed before another shadow faced vampire entered the room and announced the Council would see us. Drei and Mitchell followed Valetta and me out; all of the emotions they weren’t showing flooded my senses, making me feel sick. I wanted away from this suffocating tomb. If I kept telling myself this wouldn’t take long, I could attempt keeping the illness at bay; I didn’t allow myself to contemplate what a brief run-in with the Council might mean, though.

The vampire held the door as we filed into a dark room, allowing it to slam menacingly behind us and causing me to jump. Even if we were in quite the predicament, they could at least strive for ambivalence rather than menace.

A handful of lanterns sprang to life upon the towering desk before us, illuminating the seven council members and another who sat above them. I guessed the eighth might have been the eldest, the founder, or perhaps some sort of monarch; it was clear he was separate but more important than the others. Shadows danced over the eight faces and I noticed only one of them was female, which struck me as odd. As conservative as I had conceived them to be, it didn’t seem likely a woman would be among their numbers. Then again, if she was anywhere near as strong as Valetta—particularly in regards to intelligence and opinions—it was less surprising. I found her presence at the desk slightly calming and reassuring.

With the shadows playing across their visages, they seemed thinner than any movie exaggeration, their faces elongated and severe. The effect was meant to intimidate, obviously, but their image wasn’t nearly as unsettling as their possible ruling. I would have found it more unsettling if they were all sitting in a brightly lit room wearing blue jeans and tees, talking about the weather when we entered. This presentation was expected to some extent and, therefore, unimpressive.