Quilted Story

Must. Post!

2010-11-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ack!
I keep forgetting to keep this thing up to date.
Blargeth.
Well, let's get to the update.

The house has been stripped. Everything we're taking to our new house has been packed up and is now on it's way to California. Because that's where we're going. Loong ways away. At least all out stuff will be there when he show.
Oh! And National Novel Writing Month has started again! So happy. I was planning on writing a sequel to my first book I finished last year, Dream of Fairyland, but then decided to start a new book. This one is a bit more depressing. I'm killing characters >:D Mean, I know. But that's how it's gonna work. The title is Red Magic and here is the link to my NaNo Page which I'll be putting on my sidebar with my deviantART link :D go check it out!
Well, that's all I can think of for now. If I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.

It's naked! D:

2010-10-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

Holy freaking crap.
It's gone.
Everything is gone.
It is near totally naked.
My poor, poor room.
All I have left in my room is:
My bed; my pillow; two blankets; my desk; my computer; my purse; my dresser that acts as my third wall; my bag for the road-trip and NekoCon*; my chair; three paintings; the garland of fake cherry blossoms on my west wall; my dream catcher; and a few need-to-have odds and ends.
It's naked.
I used to have posters; nick-knacks; little boxes; big boxes; toys; junk I didn't acutally need; wonderful things! And now there is so little. It is so plain. I am saddened D:
But the upside is: th mess isn't so big anymore; I have more room; the room all my junk is going into is going to have a real fourth wall and a door. And a closet. Like, a real closet. I haven't have a closet in five years. And even then, I had to share it. Along with the fourth wall and the door. So, I'm stoked, but sad. It feels so lonely and plain in my room. But it does feel bigger now....

*Oh! NekoCon! NekoCon is an anime confrence that is held once a year on either the first or second weekend of November. Thankfully, this year it's the first, so I can go! I'll post a little more about it later when the time comes :D

I shalt bring you back to life!!!

2010-10-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Wow.
This blog is dead.
D-E-D, DEAD.
And the spam.
Oh god the amount of spam on this thing!
I will need to clean it out.
That'll take a while XP

Well, let me tell you the reason I'm bringing this ratty old thing back to life: I'm moving. Yep, moving. Totally moving AAALLLL the way across the country. On the total opposite side. And up a couple miles or so. Oh goodness this is going to be all kinds of epic.
But what spurred this post was the utter and sad realization, that I'm am going to miss all my friends and family here oh so dearly. I mean, I was crying over it D:
Not a happiness.
Not at all.
So I decided I would start posting again and redo the blog a little. Clean out all the godforsaken spam, change everything around a bit, just to liven the place back up.
Oh!
And I'm moving in the second week of November! So that means I'm going to be writing my NaNoWriMo novel while I move! In the car! Because we're driving! With two cats and a dog! Just total amazingness right there, right?
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.
So.... Yeahh....
That's all for this post, but stay tuned! Who knows what'll come up next ;]

Menewsha signature banner

2010-03-20T12:25:00.001-07:00

[URL=http://www.menewsha.com/forum/gaming/quests/109460-one-mind-many-open.html][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Zi4di.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I can't use this right now, I don't have the outfit bought yet, but when I do buy the outfit and run around the online forums as Jareth the Goblin king, I'll put this in my signature in hope of forwarding more people to my quest thread.
I had to save it somewhere, and thought here would be just right.
:D

Arts?

2010-03-09T07:38:00.001-08:00

Hey all!
I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy!
Anywho, this post is a little art update. If you watch my art updates, I would like to direct you to the little link below my profile. This link is my deviantART and is where I upload all of my art now. I found it much too troublesome to post my art to both DA and here, so I made it just DA.
Oh, and the link says "Click me for arts!" just in case you were wondering :D

I love you all!
~Me :3

Interesting...

2010-01-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

So this isn't related to my stories (well it kind of is) but I got a forwarded link that made me smile because it was so true.
I'm not one to send on chain mail, so I thought post the link to my blog.
:D

Click this link!
(This t'is a PDF file you will need to download)

22 new arts :D

2009-12-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

Okay! Here is yet another post that is nothing but art and just a teeny-tiny bit of text.
And no; There is no order to this madness :D

Art commissions for NaNo!

2009-11-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

Here is another cover that I drew for yet another NaNoer. And then i also found this nifty thread where you draw the character of the person who posted above you, so the second picture is for that :D

Cover art for some NaNoers and a character for the the story!

2009-11-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

Me + Coffee

2009-11-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Just a little comic I came up with at three in the morning last night :D
Click for bigger image :3

Crap-ton of art...

2009-11-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

OMG!

2009-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Okay! NaNoWriMo has just started!
I'm going to post up the link to my NaNo page once more and let you read over my new novel idea and then I'm gonna put up the pictures of my new characters.

NaNo page: Click me!

Pictures:

More makeups :D

2009-10-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last night (for I had to go to bed before I could post this) I found some more beautiful makeup tutorials for Halloween by the same girl who did the Sailor Moon tutorial. Just wanted a place to put them!

Sailor Moon!!!

2009-10-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

Out of boredom, I looked up makeup tutorials online. After watching a good few on Halloween makeup, I found one that is how to do Sailor Moon makeup! Now, if you don't know who Sailor Moon is, something is truly wrong with you and you must look her up on Wikipedia.
But anyways, this is the video and I hope you all enjoy it <3
Moon Prism Power!

Uh-oh!

2009-10-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Reporter: Just in! There has been breaking news that Patience, otherwise known as Alex Mayweather on NaNoWriMo, cannot post her seven pages a day here on Quilted Story! Patience, what do you have to say about this?

Patience: Well, not too soon after I posted up the link to my NaNo profile, did my mother tell me that if I post my story here on Quilted Story, publishers would be discouraged to publish my story.

Reporter: And why is that?

Patience: Well, you see, a publisher want something new, something fresh. If it's already been up on the internet, the publishers won't be interested.

Reporter: Aha, now that makes a little more sense! Tune in for more updates on Patience's novel, The trouble with Fairyland! After the break :D

NaNoWriMo!

2009-10-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Alrighty! Here is that NaNoWriMo (NaNo) post I promised :D

So, the novel I'm going to be writing this November is titled "The trouble with Fairyland". And I was going to post up a summery-like thing up in this post, but I'm going to be mean and make you go to my NaNo profile >:D
Under the tab "Novel Info" you will find what you need to know about my story ~.^

Now my mother and I have a little deal: If I write seven pages a day for my novel in the month of November, I don't have to do any other homework for the month! Well, I don't have to do math and my Greek/Latin roots anyways >3>
So, I'll be posting up my seven pages a day here in my blog. So don't wander, it's gonna get really interesting :]

ARTWORK!!!

2009-10-20T17:45:00.001-07:00

Oh look, a post!
And what's this!? A post with artwork?
My goodness, I think I've found the lost blog of Patience!

Haha, okay I'm done now :D
But anways, I'm back and kicking with some arts for all my loverly* readers.
The first picture, is the cover art for a novel I am writing. And yes I am actually writing a novel this time. I entered in NaNoWriMo, an awesome competition for writers everywhere! So, over the duration of November, I will be writing: The trouble with Fairyland. I another post (coming soon) I'll put up my little summery and a link to my NaNoWriMo page :D
The second picture, is that of my very close imaginary friend, Alex Mayweather (she has kindly lended me her name for NaNoWriMo).
The third is fanart of every's favorite sexy super-villian: Poison Ivy!
Then the fourth is a pciture of one of my newer OCs, Nina. She's a fallen angel :D

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (15)

2009-05-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

Chapter fifteen,

Just a little bit longer

Sarah hesitated inside the carriage. Ray sighed. "Sarah, honey, I promise, if he tries anything, I'll be there for you. He knows plain well to leave you alone, and plus, I don't wanna share him. Chill." she said for the millionth time. Sarah gave Ray an odd look at her comment, but it was true. Sarah turned him down and Ray was interested. He and Sarah were not getting back up together, not that they had anything in the first place.

Ray finally coaxed Sarah out of the carriage and into the ballroom. There was no announcer this time, and Ray was glad. If there was, she was going to have to run after Sarah. And that would have been no fun, not in boots.

Ray and Sarah descended the steps, walking into the crowd. Ray got her and Sarah drinks and they wandered, looking for a conversation to jump into. Ray had no luck finding somewhere to slip into, when she heard something strange.
"I hear the King has been planning a contest to see who he should marry."
"Oh really?"
"It's about time, he's been alone for far too long."
"I doubt he's really doing such a thing."
"Oh, why?"
"Don't you remember? That mortal girl broke his poor heart. He won't look for another bride for a long while yet. Just like last time."
"You weren't alive the last time it happened."
"I'm older than I look."
"Right. I still think it's being planned."
"Well, I don't think it would be you."
"Oh, why not?"
"Don't you remember what I told you? That girl, another mortal, I don't remember her name, but he sent us away and let her stay. And she was so strange, she talked to him, looked him in the eye."
Thats when Ray popped in, dragging Sarah behind her.
"Is it so wrong to look a man in the eye when you're interested?" she asked. Sarah seemed completely lost. "Ray, what are we talking about?" she asked. "The King, and the possibility that he's looking for a bride." Ray told her. The four goblin women looked at Ray like she was a loony. "You can look any ordinary man in the eye, but the King? Certainly not." said the goblin that said Ray had looked the King in the eye. "Why not?" Ray challenged. "Nothing bad happens, his eyes just enchant you to no end, and his voice works wonders on the mind." she said with a smirk. Sarah nodded. "His eyes can lead you astray, and his voice casts a spell. We would know." she said, backing Ray up. She's starting to into the flow of things. Ray thought, watching the expressions on the faces of the goblin women.

It took the four goblin women a few minutes to realize who Ray and Sarah were, but when they did, they went crazy.
"You're that girl you actually turned him down?!"
"You're the girl who stayed late with him at the dinner?!"
Were what most of the questions were. Ray took it in, saying yes, she did have thing for the King, and was sure he like her back. Sarah was also true to her feelings, saying she didn't like the King at all, and was happy Ray had a thing for him. They talked on about this until the end of the ball.

Finally, Ray and Sarah tore themselves from the group of gossiping goblins. "You enjoyed that too much." Sarah said as they sat down in the carriage. Ray giggled. "Live with it. I like him, way too much for any sane girl. But when was I ever sane?" she said, knowing that some of the champagne had gone strait to her head. Sarah on the other hand, didn't drink much. "Well, at least your happy." she said, "I'm glad you like it here. Maybe.... Maybe you can fix some love-life problems." she said, quietly, Ray wasn't sure she heard her right. "So, I can hit on him, no hard feelings?" Sarah giggled. "Yeah..."

Ray wasn't quite sure how she got undressed or how she got into bed, but she knew Sarah had something to do with it. "Thanks." she said, her voice heavy with sleep. "Just go to sleep, Ray. You had one too many glasses of champagne." Sarah said, tucking Ray in. "Heh, maybe. But what can I say, it tastes good." and then she was out.

Ray woke up to the smell of bagels and locks and the sound of soft purring. "Toffee J.?" Ray mumbled. There was soft mew and Toffee J. rubbed his head against her cheek. "Morning." she said to the small cat. "How was your night? I had a blast." her words were slurred with sleep. "Oh, look who's awake." she heard Sarah's voice. "Sarah?" Ray asked, trying to pull herself away from sleep. "Yeah, it's me. And everyone else is here too." Sarah said as she helped Ray upright in bed. She rubbed the sleep form her eyes and saw the five little goblin women sitting around the table, a wonderful breakfast spread out in front of them. "Food, yum." Ray said a smile on her face.

Breakfast was great. Toffee J. sat by her plate and lapped at a saucer of milk. He never accepted anything else. They talked about the ball, and the conversation Ray and Sarah had with the gossiping goblin women. Zari and Bornia heavily backed Ray while the other three weren't against it, but weren't trilled either. "You should ask to attend a dinner with him" Zari said. "You can ask him to come here, have a simple dinner with you. I'll cook something special." she offered. Ray shook her head. "He knows plenty well I like him. For now, I'll let him muddle over if he likes me or not. But if he takes too long, I'll take you up on your offer." she said, taking a bite of her bagel.

After breakfast, Capeka said that Ray could have the day off so she could hang out with Sarah. After thanking the five goblin women, Ray and Sarah set off, looking for adventure. Toffee J. tagged along.

"So," Ray started as she and Sarah walked towards the city. "Where do you want to go?" Sarah shrugged. "I don't know. It'd be fun to see Ludo and Sir Didymus again." she said stopping. "Can't you call them?" Ray asked. Sarah nodded. "I guess, but wouldn't be a little odd to just call a giant red furball and a fox-thing on a dog into the center of the city?" Sarah asked, emphasizing how strange it would be. Ray sat down on a bench and thought on it. "We can go out to the woods just outside of the Underground. we can take a train to get there faster." and she took Sarah's hand and headed for the train station.

Tickets weren't as expensive like she thought they would be, but that didn't bother Ray in the slightest. The train was quiet and Ray and Sarah saw most of the Underground as the zoomed toward the edge. "It's almost steam-punk." Sarah commented. "Yeah, I guess it is." Ray said, looking out the window with her friend.

They found themselves at the forest station faster than Ray even thought. "Lets find a nice clearing to hang out." she said, taking Sarah's hand again and walking into the woods.

It only took a few minutes to find a clearing. Ray stood back and gave Sarah room. "Ludo, Sir Didymus, Ambrosia, Hoggle, I need to see you all again." Sarah whispered. Then the air began to shimmer, and slowly the forms of Ludo, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ambrosia began to appear. "So cool." Ray said once they were all there. "Sarwa!" Ludo's baby talk could be heard as he hugged Sarah tightly. "Hey, Ludo. I missed you." she said. "Maiden, it has been much too long." said Sir Didymus. "Yes, it has." Sarah smiled, scratching Ambrosia under the chin. "Guys, this is Ray, my friend." she said, introducing Ray into the circle.

They talked for hours, sharing news and reminiscing. Toffee J. sat on Ray's shoulder the whole time, licking her cheek now and again. It was nice to meet "the gang" as Ray called them in her head. Time seemed to fly even faster now. "Sarwa stay?" Ludo asked. Sarah shook her head. "I can only stay just a little bit longer." she said. "Speaking of, I might even have to go now, so I can get my stuff I brought from home." her voice fell as she said this. "T'is alright, dear maiden. Even if you go home, you can still call us, and we can meet once more." Sir Didymus said. Sarah nodded, "Yes, I will call you all more often. Thank you."

The trip back to the shop seemed to be much faster then the trip to the clearing. Ray didn't think that was fair, but she didn't saw anything out loud. Sarah picked up her bag and hugged Ray good-bye. "Send me a letter?" Ray asked when they pulled away. Sarah nodded, "Totally." her smile started to fade. "Ray, thank you. I had so much here, and I might have given come to not hate him so much, but I still don't like him. Just FYI." she said. Ray giggled. "No worries. Even if you did start to like him, I wouldn't let you close to him." she said with a grin. Sarah shook her head and chuckled. "He suits you."

Ray handed Sarah her mask. "Take it, to remind you that this wasn't a dream, that you did actually go to that ball, that I'm still here." she said. Sarah took it gently in her hands. "Thank you again for everything, Ray." and then little goblins flooded into the shop from everywhere. "Time to go home." they said, snickering here and there. "Bye." Sarah said and then the goblins took her away.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (14)

2009-05-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

Chapter fourteen,

Reunited

Ray was busy finishing her dress, she had doodled a particularly nice dress that she wanted to wear, and had been working on it for the past two days. She would find a mask to match it later. Just then, there was a knock on the door. "It can't be the mailman. He came by earlier. Maybe he forgot something...?" Ray said, walking to the door.

"Sarah!" she exclaimed, seeing Sarah standing there in the door. Sarah seemed to be equally surprised. "Ray?" she asked. Ray smiled, "Come in, come in." she said, hurrying her friend inside. In the door way stood a few very small goblins all looking very expectant. "Oh, here." Ray said, digging a few coins out of her pocket and handing them to the goblins.

Sarah had put her bag down and was looking about the shop. "Wow." she said, bewildered. Ray giggled. "It was a lot messier when I first came. I've organized it a lot since then, come upstairs." she said, picking up Sarah's bag and showing her upstairs.

Sarah followed slowly behind, her eyes wandering everywhere. "Ray, wow." she said as Ray pulled out a chair for her to sit in. Ray went over to the sink and poured them both a glass of water. "Thanks. I thought you might like it." she said, handing Sarah a glass and then sitting down herself. "So," Ray started, "How'd you get away?" she asked. Sarah took a sip of water. "Said I was going to Nikki's. My parents won't call, and Nikki never knew." she answered. Ray nodded. "That works. So, I'm gonna make me a place to sleep so you can sleep in the bed. Or, if you don't care, 'cause I don't, we can both just sleep in the bed. Friends do that, right?" she asked, picking up Sarah's bag once more. Sarah shrugged. "I don't care." Ray smiled. "Alright then. We can go right to making your dress now."

Ray came back just as Sarah was finishing her water. "So, pick a color or a theme. Or both! We also have base dresses that we can add onto if you like." Ray said, showing Sarah downstairs. She was so excited to get started. Her dress was almost finished, so she could spend time on Sarah's now.

Sarah followed behind her. "I dunno. How about blue? A light blue maybe?" she asked, sounding a little off. Ray turned around and looked Sarah in the eye. "He's not here. He's not going to bother you. Okay? You're alright, here with me. Chill." she said. Ray knew Sarah hated it here, and the Goblin King. Ray couldn't blame her. If she had a younger bother, taken away, even if by her own wish, and then didn't get him back when she asked, she too would be a little hostile towards the King. Butthats how things worked. Life just wasn't ever fair. Sarah seemed to be taken aback by Ray's sudden outburst and nodded. "Sorry." she said quietly. Ray put an hand on Sarah's shoulder. "T'is alright. Now c'mon, we had a dress to sew. Light blue you said, right?"

Ray found a plain light blue gown, much like the one she had worn when she first got here, but it a different color. Sarah stood on the stool in front of the mirror while Ray was busy making sure it fit right whenHoggle walked in. "Sarah! You came!" he said, surprised and happy. Both Ray and Sarah giggled. "Hey, Hoggled." Sarah said. "How can I help you?" Ray asked. Hoggle shrugged. "I was wondering if you made suits. I need one for the masquerade." he said. Ray shook her head. "No, I don't. But Capeka does. I'm sure she wouldn't mind coming in to sew you a suit. Do you know where she lives?" Ray told Hoggle . He nodded. "Uh, Yea. Thanks. See ya later, Sarah." and he left. Ray and Sarah looked to one another and just started giggling. So was the way with girls.

By the time Hoggle came back with Capeka, Ray had made Sarah a beautiful blue fairy. Or, at least, she was a beautiful blue fairy in progress. "Wonderful job, Ray. Is this Sarah, your pen-pal?"Capeka asked. Ray nodded. "Capeka, Sarah. Sarah, Capeka." she said, introducing them. Sarah nodded and Capeka welcomed her. Then she and Hoggle went to another stool and mirror to start their work.

"Thanks you, miss." Hoggle said as he left. Capeka came around to see how Ray and Sarah were doing. Sarah wore a puffy light blue gown with see-through blue fabric draped loosely around it. Along with that, Sarah had long fingerless gloves with a sash attached. Jewels were in the process of being sewn on to give it sparkle. Ray had cut off the spaghetti straps and left it sleeveless. "I'll add wings and the rest of the jewels tomorrow morning. Then we'll go get masks." Ray told Sarah. Sarah nodded and looked at herself in the mirror. "Ray, this is beautiful!" she said, all her worry seeming to be melting away. Ray smiled. This is good. She needs to enjoy herself here, just this once.

The sun was setting now and Ray's stomach grumbles loudly. Sarah giggled. "I never thought you would sew so much you forgot to eat." she said with a smile. Ray had just helped her out of her dress and put it on amanniquine. "Hehe, yeah. I really get sucked into my work. But lets go get some dinner. Capeka, would you like to join us?" Ray asked, putting on a jacket and slipping on her heeled sandels. Over time and with the huge amount of balls she had attended, Ray had gotten used to heels. Capeka shook her head. "No 'hun, but thank you. Have fun, you two." she said, waving good-night.

Ray and Sarah stayed at Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner and ate and talked. Ray introduced Sarah to Gutaki and Zari and that was a blast. But then they had to close up, so Ray and Sarah headed back to the shop. On the way, Toffee J. began to follow Ray again. "Oh, hey Toffee J." she said, picking up the small cat. "See, this isToffe J. Isn't he just the cutest?" Ray asked, showing the little cat to Sarah. Sarah gently scratched him between the ears. "He is cute." she said with a smile.

Once they got to the shop, Toffee J. ran off. "Aw." Ray said, sadly. "Maybe he'll come back in the morning." she said, opening the door for Sarah. Sarah nodded. "Maybe. He did last time, right?" she asked. Ray shrugged. "Yeah, but whatever. He's his own cat."

"So, what does your dress look like?" Sarah asked as Ray rummaged through a chest a jewels and pins. "Oh, um..." Ray blushed. "You might not like it all that much..." she said, finally finding the pin she was looking for. It was a diamond-shaped topaz. Sarah cocked her head to the side. "Why won't I like it?" she asked confused. Ray sighed. If only Sarah didn't hate the Goblin King so much. "It's sorta like, um,y'know, his outfit." Ray said, feeling really uncomfortable. Sarah just stared at her. "What?" she asked, not looking so mad as confused. "How are you going to that off?"
"Here, I'll show you what I have so far. I still have to finish up a few things, but it's almost done." Ray said, showing Sarah over to a mannequin that was covered with a cloth. Sarah stood and waited. With a deep breath, Ray pulled the cloth off.

Ray's dress was a plain blue-gray sleevelss gown with a V-neck. Over top the dress was a black leather tailcoat with a tail that was just a bit longer than the dress and a large collar that stayed stiffly in place, just like how Sarah had described the King's jacket so many times. Sarah just stared at it. "Oh.." she said. Ray couldn't tell if she was mad or not. I hope she isn't... Ray thought, she didn't want to have offended her friend.

"So...?" Ray asked, looking at Sarah worriedly. "It's..." Sarah started, "It's good. I like it." she said, giving Ray a smile. Ray sighed, glad that Sarah was alright. "I just, never thought I'd see a dress like this. It's, I just saw him wearing it when I first saw it, it was.... Odd." Sarah said with a unsure smile. Ray burst out laughing. "Him, in a, dress? Sarah, you're great." she said, her sentences broken with giggles. Sarah laughed with her. "I don't, know. It just, popped into my head." she said, giggles overflowing from the both of them.

The giggling finally stopped when they both ran out of breath. "We should go to bed." Ray said, pinning the topaz pin to the tail coat to give it some sparkle. Sarah sighed. "I thought you liked to stay up late." she said, following Ray upstairs. Ray laughed. "Yeah, I do like to stay up late, but I don't really get to anymore. Life had speed up for me. There's so much to do now, and whenever there's a ball, "no rest for the hardworking"y'know ?" Ray said, making little quote marks with her fingers. Sarah chuckled and shook her head. "You're so grown up, Ray." she said looking down. "I am older you. But, Sarah, why are you so hell-bent on growing up? It's really not all that great, not in your world anyhow. Just be you, you'll feel so much better." Ray encouraged. Sarah looked up with a smile. "Thanks, Ray.

They stayed up much later just talking like they used to in bed. But finally they both couldn't keep their eyes open anymore. Ray let her mind wander, and slowly slipped into unconsciousness. But she could tell Sarah had a harder time falling asleep.

Toffee J. woke Ray up in the morning. "Oh, hey Toffee J. You want some milk?" she asked, her eyes still only half open. He mewed softly. Ray stretched and got up out of bed. Sarah was still sleeping and ray let her sleep. It was dawn, the mask shop wouldn't even be open yet. "You can sleep for another hour or so. Then we need to go." Ray said, putting the blankets over Sarah, it was a chilly morning.

Ray poured Toffee J. a saucer of milk and a glass for herself. "So, how was your night?" she asked the small cat. He mewed and shrugged. "Okay, huh? You can sleep here if you want. I don't care." she said, petting him. He was so soft! Toffee J. mewed and began to purr which sounded funny when he was drinking. Ray giggled. She loved cats.

Finally she couldn't wait anymore and she woke Sarah up. "Sarah, it's time to go. We can get breakfast on the way there, 'kay?" she said softly. Sarah rolled over. "It's cold." she mumbled. Ray chuckled. "Yeah, you can wear one of my jackets. But it gets a lot warmer later in the day." she said. Sarah moaned, but got up out of bed.

After grabbing a bag of hot biscuits, Ray showed Sarah to Hidden Faces. "Oh wow." Sarah said with a mouth full of biscuit. Ray nodded in agreement. "Totally."

They walked around the shop, just looking at all the masks at first. "This place is so cool, Ray." Sarah said, looking at a white angel mask. "Heh, Yeah." Ray said, drawn to a demon mask. "Almost like his..." she said, remembering what Sarah said about the Goblin King's mask when she had danced with him. The difference between this one and the one Sarah talked about was that this mask only covered half the face and the face was a dark-amber in color and the horns were black. "Would you like to purchase that one?" asked a familiar voice. It was the goblin lady form before. Ray smiled down at her, she was about a little bit taller than half of Ray's height. "Oh, um..." Ray thought back to her dress. It matches. "Yes, but I'm waiting on a friend, can you hold it for me at the counter?" she asked. The lady nodded, "Sure honey." and she took the mask down and hobbled over to the counter.

Ray wandered around the shop until she found Sarah. She was looking at a crescent moon mask almost the same color as her dress. It also had little blue gems on it. "I can get that one if you want it." Ray said, seeing Sarah's face. She was obviously very much in love with the mask. "Oh, really? But it's so expensive..." she said, turning the tag for Ray to see. "Three-hundred coins....Oh well. I'll get it for you, this should be the ball of your life, splurge won't ya?" Ray said, nudging Sarah in the ribs playfully. "Really? You'd get it for me?" she asked, the joy in her face obvious. Ray giggled. "Why not?C'mon, I already found mine." she said, taking the mask down gently.

The goblin lady was very careful to wrap the masks well, so they wouldn't brake or crack on the way back. "Have fun at the ball!" she called after Ray and Sarah as they left the shop. "Thanks!" Ray said, with a smile. "So, you like your mask?" she asked. Sarah nodded her head vigorously. "I love it! Thank you, Ray. You're the best friend ever." she said, hugging Ray. Ray hugged her back. "Right back at you."

When they got back to the shop, Capeka was there working on Hoggle's suit. "Morning girls. Were you successful?" she asked, looking up form her sewing. Ray turned the sign on the door over to say "closed" and closed the blinds. "Yeah, we both found masks. How are you?" Ray asked, ushering Sarah over to the stool and mirrors.Capeka shrugged. "Alright. I haven't sewn a suit in a while, but it's turning out alright." she said, holding up the suit for Ray and Sarah to see. It was a plain black suit with gold trim and smoke-like embroidery. "I can't seeHoggle in that." Sarah said as Ray helped her into her gown. "I don't know Hoggle like you do, but I can't see him in it either." she said with a giggle.

Ray spent the next hour making Sarah a pair of wings, just like the wings the fairies had, but they were smaller, so Sarah didn't have to worry so much about sticking someone in the eye. After that, Ray sewed on the rest of the jewels. "Here," she said, handing Sarah her mask. "Try it on with the dress."
"Alright.." Sarah said, taking the mask and tying it on.

It took her a moment to get it tight, but when she looked up, Ray couldn't help but feel proud of herself for making such an outfit. "You look awesome, Sarah." she said. Capeka nodded. "Very beautiful, dear. Good work, Ray." she said, taking a small break from her work. Sarah turned this was and that, looking at herself in the mirror. "Ray, Capeka is right, you did wonderful. Thanks you, so much!" Ray blushed. "Thanks, guys." she said, happy that Sarah was enjoying herself.

"Now, lets see your dress." Bornia said. Ray turned around to see Bornia and Alopa standing behind her. "You did a wonderful job on Sarah's dress." Alopa commented, setting her bag down and walking around Sarah. "Yes, quite nice." Bornia agreed. "But go on, get your dress on and lets see what else e need to do."

Ray came out a moment later, wearing her dress and jacket. "Something's missing..." Sarah said, much to Ray's surprise. "What?" she asked, getting up onto the stool. "Boots. You need leather boots. And gloves. And you still need makeup."Sarah said. "I thought you didn't like to think about him." Ray said, looking herself in the mirror, making sure everything looked okay. "I don't like to think about him, but what choice do I have, you've got the hots for him. I might as well be a good girlfriend and give you feedback." Sarah explained with a sigh. "Thanks, Sarah."
"Don't mention it."

From there, Ray just had to cut a little bit off the bottom, it was still too long in the front, and she had to sew the pin onto the jacket, so it wouldn't fall off during the ball and she dug out a pair of gloves with just the tips of the fingers cut off. "Now, lets find some shoes." she said to Sarah. Bornia and Alopa had left and Capeka was finishing up Hoggle's suit.

It took forever to find shoes that fit, but when they did, it was worth all the work. Ray found some blue strap-heels for Sarah, and Sarah found Ray a set of black-leather boots that buckled up the sides. Hoggle came by then, to pick up his suit. The ball was only a few hours away.

Ray was putting her dress on when Sarah tapped her on the shoulder, "How are we going to get to the castle?" she asked. Ray giggled. "He didn't tell you in your invite? He's sending us a carriage." she said. "Oh.." Sarah said, and Ray could tell she was slipping back into suspicion. "If he bothers you I'll stare him in the eye 'till the end of the world, he'll hate that, 'kay?" she said, turning to face Sarah. Sarah nodded. "Thanks. Could you help me with my dress?"

Once Sarah had her dress on, Ray went to getting her makeup done and her hair fluffed. Once she was done, Sarah looked like the queen of the fairies. "How can I help with your dress?" she asked Ray and Ray buckled her jacket on and slipped her gloves on. "You can do my makeup," she said. Sarah smiled. "Alright, have a seat."

It didn't take long for Sarah to do Ray's makeup and Ray was grateful, the carriage arrived just as she was tying her mask in place. "Lets dance." she said, and they set off towards the castle.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (13)

2009-05-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Chapter thirteen,

Six months and a wary visit

Six months since Ray's dance with the Goblin King, and Sarah was glad she was still in contact with her "missing" friend. Like she had told Ray in her letter, no one really seemed intent on looking for her. It was just "Okay, Ray's gone, oh well. Moving on." that almost made Sarah cry, how little people really cared.

But at least she knew Ray was alright. At least she could still talk to Ray. At least she still cared. And Ray seemed to be enjoying herself plenty in the Goblin City. That still sent shivers up Sarah's spine. She knew that the Goblin King couldn't ever get to her ever again, but she was worried for Ray. What if he was just toying with her? What if it wasn't real, the feelings Ray had for him?

With summer break coming to an end, Sarah was worried she wouldn't have as much time to write to Ray, to make sure she was still okay. But, they only wrote a few times a week now anyways. "I'll live." she said, walking home from her walk in the park. "And Ray seems to be doing alright." Sarah shrugged, walking into the house through the back and picking up the letter on the windowsill.

She went up to her room and opened the letter. Ray had gotten wax and used the seal for her shop to close her letters now. It was pretty cool to say the least. Now Sarah didn't have to remember to send her letters with and extra envelope.

Sarah unfolded the letter and read it.
"Sarah,
I'm glad that you still care enough to worry. But you see, this is the reason I wanted to leave; no one wanted me there. Yeah, I had you and maybe a few others, but from what you're telling me, you're the only one who really cares. And I like that, thank you.
But moving onto more happy news. Toffee J. came back. He woke me up this morning. So cute! Oh, and theres a masquerade ball this weekend. I'm going to stop by that mask shop again to try and get an idea for what to wear, and I want to know, what would you like to wear?"
Sarah stopped for a moment there. "Did she just write what do I want to wear?" she asked herself. Sarah read on to see.
"Yeah, I can see your face right now: WTF, RAY?! Hehe, but yes, I just asked what you wanted to wear. The King sent me two invites; one for me, and one for you. I don't really know what he's up to, but I'm sure it'll be alright.C'mon , you don't have to dance, I rarely do. You just have to cling to me and have some fun! You can say you're going camping in the woods behind your house or something and disappear for a few days! It'll be so much fun to see you again. And you can see the shop, meetBornia and the girls, see Toffee J. and I can show you around a bit."
Sarah was interrupted by the calls of her stepmother. "Sarah, honey! There's a letter for you down here." she called. "Coming!" Sarah said, getting up and getting the letter.

Sarah had to wait to open her new letter and continue Ray's until after dinner. Ugh. She has the worst timing.. Sarah complained, glaring at Karen for a moment, before going back to finishing her food.

When she was allowed away from the table, Sarah went back up to her room and continued Ray's letter.
"A note came with the invite for you, it said "Send this to the mail house, it'll get o Sarah from there." and I did so. I hope you got it. It looks like an ordinary letter, with the to address and the return address, but if you look at it, the return address makes no sense. Anyways, that's your invite. I didn't open it, promise.
Hope to see you soon!
~Ray."
Sarah stared at the other letter. The return address on the other envelope. It did make no sense.
"G.O.B. Lin King
P.O. box # 654
Center Goblin City, NW 09876"
Well, at least Sarah knew that the invitation got here. And maybe it made some sense.... In a really really really strange way that only Ray and Sarah would understand. "He makes no sense." Sarah said, looking warily at the envelope. "Here goes nothing..." she said, opening it.

The letter inside the envelope looked like the letters that Ray sent, except the handwriting was very fancy and neat, and in a shining green ink. I really don't want to read this.. Sarah thought, a knot had formed in her stomach. It's probably some sort of trap. He's using Ray to get to me. her chest was starting to throb. But Hoggle said that he couldn't hurt me anymore. Does that mean even if I do go, he won't be able to hurt me? Oh I just don't know. Sarah sighed. "Hoggle, I need you." she whispered. Her parents were still awake, but Sarah needed help now, she couldn't wait until everyone else was asleep.

Hoggle appeared in her room a few minutes later. "Sorry for taking so long, I had to figure out where Ray's shop was again, I was invited to a masquerade ball. Really strange. But anyways, I'm where,what'd you need?" He asked, seeming almost just as uncomfortable as Sarah about going to the ball. "Um, I was invited to the ball too." Sarah said uncertainly.Hoggle looked as if he was about to scream so Sarah shushed him. "Everyone it still awake. So we need to be quiet." she said in hushed voice.Hoggle still seemed baffled. "How does he expect to get you to the Labyrinth? He can't touch you!" Hoggle said, mimicking Sarah's thoughts. "I don't know, but I'm sure it explains everything in this letter. I'm just too scared to read it." she said handingHoggle the letter.

Hoggle read over the letter several times before he spoke to Sarah. "You can wish yourself into the Labyrinth for the duration of the ball, and a little more so you can find a dress that fits and a mask. "Hoggle said, handing the letter back to Sarah. "Like Ray did, but it would only be temporary. That's the extent of his power with you." he said with a sigh. Sarah let go of the breath she hadn't known she was holding. "Really? You sure?" she asked.Hoggle nodded. "It says everything on the invitation." Sarah looked down warily at the letter. "Calls me if you need more help, but I have to go now."Hoggle said as he faded away.

Sarah didn't know how long she spent just looking at the invitation. Finally she brought herself to read it, it was just a piece of paper with words on it. It wasn't like it was going to comet to life and drag her back to that horrible place.
"Dear Sarah,
I know you don't want to here form me, but I thought, since you and Ray talk so much, you would like to see her again.
I'm having a masquerade ball this weekend, and I thought it would be convenient for you to come then. Ray would love to make you a dress. She's quite good at sewing now if you hadn't heard.
If you do decide to come, wish a hope you do, find a good time to disappear, give yourself at lest an extra day or so, Ray needs to make your dress still, and then wish yourself here, to the Goblin City, for however long you will be staying. Since you can't stand to have me around, I'll send my goblins to take you to Ray's shop. When your time is up, you'll be sent home. Easy as that.
So hurry, you don't have much time.
~Goblin King"
She read. Sarah didn't know what to do. She had two days to decide.

Sarah spent the next two days couped up in her room, only leaving when she had too. Should I go? she would ask herself over and over again. Finally she decided. "I'll go. But only for Ray. You hear me?" she asked the air around her, knowing that he might as well be hiding in the shadows, watching her every movement. "I'm only going for Ray. This has nothing to do with you!" and that was it.

Who's house could she pretend to be going to? A sleepover. The whole weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There were a few people, but Sarah needed someone who had easy-going parents that went to bed early. "Nikki, maybe..." she said, thinking about it. Yeah, she coudl sya she wa going to Nikki's, and her parents knew not to call late, and Sarah and Nikki did get along enough to have a sleepover now and again.

Sarah got the phone form downstairs, to make it seem like she was calling someone. Once back up in her room, Sarah began to pack, simple things that she wanted to take with her. And if she left for her "sleepover" with no bag, her parents might ask more questions than Sarah could handle.

"Dad?" Sarah asked, walking down the stairs with her packed bag. "Sorry this is so last notice, but I thought Nikki and I could have a sleepover this weekend. Two nights. It's been so long, and her parents already said we could." she said in, trying her best to sound like she normally would in this sort of situation. Her dad took the bait. "Oh, yeah. Sure honey, just be careful. You want a ride?" he asked, going for his keys. "Uh, no. I'm good, we're meeting at the park for a bit first anyways." she said, maybe a bit too fast, but her dad shrugged it off. Good save. she told herself. "Alright then. Be careful. Have fun." her dad said and she was out the door.

Sarah held Ray's letter and the invitation in her hands. She bit her lip, but wished herself away anyways. "I wish the goblins would take me away form here, just until Sunday afternoon. Right now." she said, closing her eyes.

The giggles and horrible chuckles of the goblins came form all around her. Sarah was frozen to the spot. "This way, hehe." said horse little voices from the bushes. "Yeah, hehe, come this way." they told her, drawing her into the woods. "Just a little bit more, hehe."

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (12)

2009-05-27T16:59:00.001-07:00

Chapter twelve,

Six months and Toffee

Six months since the masquerade ball and the magical dance with the King and Ray is doing wonderful. She keeps up with Sarah, happy she can keep in touch. Her place at Five little gowns has gone up and multiplied; she now works as the errand girl, the maid, the head dress designer, and assistant seamstress.

Life in the Labyrinth has treated Ray well, and she gets invited to balls often. Gutaki and Zari left the shop to open a deli and bakery of their own; they call it Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner. Ray goes there everyday and gets all three meals for the day from there. Getting it from anywhere else was just not the same. Bornia, Capeka, and Alopa still work at the shop, coming in everyday to help with her dress orders. Speaking of Alopa, her wedding happened two months after Ray's private dance with the king and she moved out of the shop, offering the now empty space above the shop to Ray to live in. Ray accepted and moved in. It was a small house on top of the shop with some of the walls torn down. It fit Ray nicely.

With Ray living in the shop, the shop itself seemed to be passed into Ray's charge, and she handled most of the orders from there on out. Even though she was mostly in charge of the shop,Cakepa was still the head seamstress, with Bornia and Alopa right behind her.

Traffic at the shop stayed mostly the same, even after that one goblin woman at the masquerade told most of her friends about Ray's designing talent. So Ray had more time to work on dress orders and more time to herself.

With more time to herself, Ray took the time to wander the Goblin City and the Underground that surrounded it. Sarah had never said anything about the Underground, mostly because she didn't see it. The Underground surrounded the castle in sort of a half-moon, on the other side than the one Sarah used to get in, so it was easy to see why she knew nothing about it. The shop was on the inner circle of the Underground, jut on the outside edge of the Goblin City.

Ray was on one of her regular walks around town when she spotted a new mask shop. "Hidden Faces.." she read, walking into the shop. It was a fairly large shop, but many things were still being put up and things still needed arranging. A goblin lady sat at the counter, doing some paperwork. "Excuse me," Ray said, walking up to the counter. The lady looked up at her. "Oh, hello dear. How can I help you?" she said with a cheery smile. Ray instantly liked the place. "I was wondering if I may be able to browse your shop, or if you were still much to deep in setting up for customers." she asked. The lady shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we still need to set up a few things. Feel free to browse, but you cannot buy anything at this time. But if you find something you like, I can put it on hold for you until the shop officially opens." the lady said. Ray nodded. "I'll just browse then. Thank you." and she went about the shop.

Many of the masks were blank, but there were ones pre-painted. Those were particularly beautiful. Ray found many that she liked, but there hadn't been a masquerade for a while. I'll come back when I need a mask. she thought, thanking the goblin lady again and leaving the shop.

As Ray continued her walk to the shop, she noticed a little white-brown cat had been following her. She stopped and knelt down to look at the small cat. By its build, Ray guessed it was full grown. "Oh but you're so small." she said, holding her hand out to see if it would let her pet it. The cat pressed its head into her palm and Ray scratched between its ears. "Aw, you're so cute!" she said, carefully scooping the small cat up in her arms and standing up. It didn't seem to mind in the least, in fact, it began to purr. Loudly.

Ray took the small cat back to the shop and put it on the table. "Let me get you something to eat." she said, going upstairs to see what she had left over form lunch to feed the small cat. Ray found some slices of salami, and poured a saucer of milk.

When she put the meat and milk in front of the cat, it only seemed interested in the milk, it didn't even sniff the salami. "More for me, then." Ray said, taking a slice of salami.

Ray lay in her loft, she could be alone up here, but easily get to customers if need be. She was doodling dress designs, just letting her mind wander to the next ball. The cat watched her intently. "You sure are and odd little cat." Ray said, scratching it between the ears for the millionth time. Ray had found out it was a boy cat, a stray by the looks of things. It hadn't been neutered like most pet cats.

"So, kitty," Ray said, putting her sketch book aside and looking the cat in the eye. "You got a name, or am I gonna have to make one up for you?" she asked, petting it. His fur was irresistibly soft. The cat mewed, and Ray thought it looked like he shrugged. This world is so weird. she thought. Even the chickens, which were everywhere, seemed to act just a little more human. Or goblin. Whichever. "I guess that means you don't really care if I call you something other than your real name?" she asked. The cat mewed happily. "Thats a "yes". Hrm... what to name you...." Ray mumbled, staring at the beautiful fur. It was mostly white, with strands of light brown here and there. "Toffee." she said all of a sudden. The cat looked up at her, his head cocked to one side, as if to say "isn't that a girls name?". Ray laughed at that. "I know, I know..." she said with a sigh. Toffee was a girlish name. "You know what..." Ray said, an idea coming to her mind. "I'll call you Toffee J. Now it sounds like a boy name, and every time I say your name, you'll remind me of him." she said, the cat seemed confused. Ray giggled. "Y'know, him. The King?" then it seemed to click for the small cat. Ray giggled again. "Well I have to go get dinner. I'll be back in a minute." and she hopped down from her loft and headed to Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner.

Ray walked back into the shop humming the tune she usually hummed when she sent Sarah a letter. "I'm home! Toffee J.?" she called, walking upstairs and putting her bags on the table. Toffee J. was nowhere to be seen. "Toffee J.?" Ray called, wandering all around the shop. "Maybe he left.." she said sadly. "Oh well." and she went back upstairs to eat dinner.

That night, Ray sent Sarah a letter telling her the usual, how her week was, new news, Toffee J. "I hope I see him tomorrow on my walk." Ray said before she settled in for bed.

Ray was woken up by the sound of purring. She slowly opened her eyes to find Toffee J. staring down at her with big, beautiful gray eyes. "Morning." she said groggily. "How the hell did you get inside?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "I closed up last night." Ray said, looking at the little cat. It mewed and looked over to the window, which was open just enough for it to have crawled through. "Oh.." Ray said yawning. "I'll remember to keep that open to ya."

The rest of the day went by as usual, Ray ran her morning errands, came back to the shop, where Bornia, Capeka, and Alopa were already sewing, ate breakfast, did her morning sewing, cleaned up after the three goblins when they left, got lunch, did her afternoon sewing, ate dinner, chilled out, and that was it. Toffee J. never left her side. Ray lay up in her loft doodling again. Toffee was curled up next to her book, sleeping. Ray looked down at him. "So cute." she said, petting him softly. "Nice that you found me." and she carried the sleeping at up to her room.

Ray sat at her desk and opened the letter Sarah had sent.
"Ray,
That new mask shop sounds like it has potential. I'm so happy that you're doing okay. Everyone here is looking for you, though, it pains me to tell you this, no one is really looking for you. There are missing signs up at the police department and on the occasional milk carton, but everyone is going on without you.....
Well, I'm glad I get to talk to you, knowing you're not lost or missing makes me feel so much better.
So this Toffee J. cat, he sounds really cute. I wish they had cameras over there, then maybe you could send me some pictures.
xoxo,
Sarah"
Ray read. She smiled sadly. "Thats why I wanted to leave so badly, Sarah." she said to the letter, taking out a piece of paper and a pen, "No one really cared about me."

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (late intro)

2009-05-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

((I know this is a little late, but I just couldn't figure out how to write it until now. Enjoy <3)) style="font-weight: bold;" face="Comic Sans MS">Labyrinth II:

Return to the Labyrinth

We all know of Sarah's journey to the dread Labyrinth to rescue her baby half-brother from the clutches of the Goblin King. But what do we know of what happened after she came home, safe and sound with her brother?

Having to vent her worries, her anger and her amazement to someone she knew would listen, Sarah calls a childhood friend, Ray, and tells her the whole thing.
Ray, thinking it was all just a story, wishes herself away to the Labyrinth. And guess what?
He takes her there.

In this story of the Labyrinth, new adventures arise, new friendships are made, old ones renewed, and love burns again in the iron-cold heart of the Goblin King.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (11)

2009-05-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Chapter eleven,

Dinner and a dance

Ray woke up herself that morning, she was eager to tell Bornia about he private invitation and she needed to take a bath. She quickly bathed and made herself and Bornia a breakfast of scrambled eggs.

Once they were fed, Ray and Bornia headed off to the shop. "Oh, Bornia," Ray started. They were about halfway there now. "Yes, dear?" Bornia asked, glancing backwards at Ray. Ray sped up to walk beside Bornia, she was getting better at keeping up. "I got a private invitation to a private dinner party after the ball." she said. Bornia looked at her, surprised. "Oh did you now? Thats interesting. Did it say why?" she asked. Ray nodded. "When the King took me to the outside of the Labyrinth, I challenged him to a race back to the castle. Just for fun. And when I finally go to the castle, no one was there. In the note it said that I was invited because I won the race." Ray said as they reached the shop.Bornia laughed. "Now that is something to dress up for." she said with a grin.

Gutaki and Capkea were already there working on their dresses. There had been a closed sign on the door, so that everyone could work on their dresses for the masquerade without having to worry someoneelse's. "Guess what, ladies?" Bornia said as she walked in with Ray and Alopa , who had just arrived as well, trailing behind her. "What?" the three goblins asked at once. "Ray got invited to a private dinner party with the King!" and then the gossiping started. Ray let them be, she need to work on her outfit.

Ray decided to go with the same outfit and mask she had planned the day before, just to make things easier and because she was very much attached to the look. Ray had decided to wear a bodice gown, much like the gowns in medieval movies that one saw the peasant girls wearing, without the sleeves, and with a butterfly mask to match.

Ray, to her delight, found a long light-cream colored skirt that twirled like no other skirt Ray at ever seen. She also found a light sky-blue halter-top dress that stopped near her knees. This also twirled to no end. It might have not been what she was planning, but it worked just as well.

Ray dug out a length of thin brown rope, to match her eyes, and wound it around under her bust and the rest of her lower torso, just like how the ribbon on her other dresscriss -crossed in the front. The only ting different was that Ray tied the rope off in the front. "Perfect." she said as she looked in the mirror. She didn't have to much sewing, she just had to sew the rope into place and then her dress would be done.

Ray then put her finished dress aside, Capeka needed held finding some feathers for hers and Alopa still wasn't sure what she should wear. Gutaki and Zari were busy finding and cutting out fabric for their dresses. Ray had learned over the week that they were sisters, Gutaki being the elder, and they were going to go to the ball in dresses that matched exactly, but would have slightly different masks. Ray thought it would be interesting to watch people guess which one was which and get it wrong.Gutaki and Zari sounded very much the same if you weren't looking them in the face. The masks would make much it harder to tell them apart.

With Capeka's feathers found, Ray turned her full attention to Aopla. Bornia was also helping her. "Oh, I just can't get the mask to match anything!" Alopa wailed. Bornia rubbed her back while Ray examined the mask. It was a crescent moon mask that was the strangest teal color with varying shades of purple to decorate.Alopa was looking for something they had already made, like Ray had, to make things simpler. Ray held the mash up. "Well, you were looking for a teal base. But I think that would be too much. Start with a purple base, maybe a deep violet or royal purple, and then stitch teal patterns onto that. It would contrast very nicely with the mask, and then you can wear those lovely teal heels you like to match." Ray said, with a smile. She had always loved drawing the outfits on all her drawings and took the colors seriously.

Alopa was quite pleased with this idea and went off to find a purple dress that fit her. "You would make a wonderful designer, Ray." Bornia said with a smile of praise. Ray thought on it. "I could try." she said with a shrug. "Do you need any help with your dress?" she askedBornia. Bornia shook her head. "I'm alright. How about you, did you find what you needed?" she asked. Ray nodded. "All I need now are shoes and a mask." she said excitedly. Ray had wanted to go to that mask shop ever sinceBornia mentioned it at Ray's first ball ever. Borina chuckled. "We can go to the mask shop tomorrow. Now go find those shoes, it can take forever to find a shoe your size in this place." she said, walking off to get materials for her own dress.

Ray spent almost half the day looking for a pair of shoes. She needed a pair of brown shoes that fit her and matched her dress. And after and hour of cleaning and sorting the shoes closet her shoes around her size, Ray found a wonderful pair of heeled sandals that matched. They were strap sandals, with a loop for her big toe and an X of brown over the top of her foot. Ray put them on and smiled, they fit great. She might even be able to wear these for a while they fit so good. The only thing Ray did not like about the shoes were that they were inch-tall heels. They weren't stilettos, in fact the heels were thick like boots, but Ray never had much luck with heels. She always ended up slipping or falling over. "Maybe if I wear them a lot, I'll get better at walking in them..." Ray said to herself, taking her red flats, that were now more of a brown-ish color, and putting them in Bornia's bag. She would only wear the sandals form now until after the ball.

Since she had nothing more to find in the little shop, Ray spent the rest of her time sewing beads, buttons, and other things to dress orders.Gutaki and Zari needed help sewing sequins onto their sparkling ocean-blue dresses, and Capeka needed help choosing wear to sew her feathers. When she was done with that, Ray put her dress on a mannequin and began to sew the rope into place.

The sun set and the streets became dark. Ray looked her dress up and down. It looked simple, but fancy as beautiful as well. The fact that it twirled as much at it did went a long way for making it look fancier. And the mask would help finish it off.

With happy good-byes, Bornia and Ray left the shop for home and dinner. Bornia was going to teach Ray how to make the soup she had given her when Ray arrived. "So what is in it?" Ray asked, opened to door forBornia. "A variety of things. Come, I'll show you."

It didn't take long to make the soup, it was really simple. But a few things were in it that made Ray think twice before she took her first sip. Chicken, snail, lizard, basil, rosemary, carrot, and some beans. What A strange soup. But it still tasted just as good.

As they sipped quietly at their soup, Ray spoke up, there was something she had been meaning to ask Bornia. "Bornia?" Ray asked. Bornia looked up form her soup. "Yes, dear?" Ray thought how she was going to say this. "I think I danced with the king that night.." she said, uncertain whatBornia's response would be. Bornia paused mid-sip. "Whats makes you think that?" she asked, not mad, in fact she sounded quite interested. "His eyes.." Ray said, leaning back in her little chair. "I've never seen eyes like his before and the man with the lunar moth mask had his eyes. I swear, it was him..." she said, almost dreamily, thinking back. Bornia leaned back in her chair as well. "I've never seen the King's eyes for myself, but I do know from what people tell me, they are quite stunning. So I would believe you on that maybe it was the King. But you never really know at balls like that. Some goblins use magic to change how they look, just for the fun of things, so it might not have been the King." she said, with a shrug. "But if is was the King, you are one lucky child." Bornia said, going back to her soup.

Ray, out of curiosity, checked her windowsill. There on the ruff wood, sat an envelope. "Cool." Ray said as she took the envelope and sat down at her little desk. Ray opened the envelope, took out a blank and empty envelope and a letter.
"Ray,
Your adventure was so different from mine! Shorter, and lonelier. But I'm glad you're having such a good time! The ball sounded like it was a lot of fun. But it also sounded a little weird. Are you sure it was him that you danced with? And the song, are you sure it was the same one? I dunno about you, but this sounds just a little scary too me. But maybethats because I had such a different experience with him.
And about that "private dinner party", seriously?! You won the race to the castle? You got there before him? That doesn't quite sound possible, but if you like him that much, I'll let you go your own way. But he's dangerous, Ray. Be careful, please. His signing his own name scares me. But everything about him scares me, so oh well.
What are you going to wear for the masquerade? I know you like masks and dressing up, I remember doing that with you when we were little. Are you going to wear the same dress you wore to the first ball? I'd love to see a picture orsomething.
~Sarah"
Ray read. She chuckled half-heartily. Sarah was really scared of the Goblin King. Why did Ray see him so differently? "Sarah's probably right. She had a different experience with him than I did. Maybethats it." she said, putting the letter back in the envelope. She would write back after the ball. Ray went to bed after that. She wanted to get up early so that she andBornia could go to the mask shop.

Ray again woke herself up. Bornia was already up and had breakfast ready. "So you want a butterfly mask, right?" Bornia asked. Ray nodded. "Something I can paint myself so it matches my dress."she said. Bornia nodded. "Alright then. Lets go."

The mask shop wasn't too far from the shop, so when they were done there, Ray and Bornia were going to go the the shop to work on the dresses some more. The mask shop was called Behind Plaster Eyes and the front windows were filled with all sorts of beautiful masks. A bell rang as Ray and Bornia walked in. A little goblin man with spectacles looked their way. "Looking for a mask to wear to the ball?" he asked. Ray nodded. "We would like to look at your blankpre-made masks first, please." Bornia said. The little man waved at them to follow.

The shop was very narrow and very long, with the blank pre-made masks at the very back. "Here we are." the little goblin man said. "These are the ones out here on display, but we have others and more sizes in the back." he said, looking to Ray who looked like a giant inside the store.Bornia nodded in thanks and looked to the masks.

All three walls in the back were filled with masks, and to Ray's delight, half of one wall was all butterfly masks. She looked trough all of them, reading the tags for their name and price. She found one the was particularly pretty. It was the shape of a normal swallowtail butterfly, in fact it was called "swallowtail butterfly mask", and the interesting thing about it was the mosaic pattern of the butterfly's wings was already on the mask. All the shapes were imprinted into the mask, making the lines that divided them stand out. "How much..." Ray said to herself, checking the tag again. "30 coins." it read. "Bornia, how much money can I spend here?" she asked. "One-hundred coins." Bornia said, still looking for a mask herself. Ray smiled, it looked like she had enough money to get this mask in a size that fit and to paint it herself.

Bornia found a mask not too soon after Ray found hers, and they both went up to the clerk. "I need a size down for this mask, and she needs a few sizes up for hers, please."Bornia said. The little clerk got out of his chair and waddled to the back. "Would you two like to pain those here?" he asked. "Yes please."Bornia answered. "I'll be right back then, may I take those masks, please? Thank you." and he disappeared behind a little door in the back.

He came back a few minutes later with the masks and a basket filled with paints. "This way," he said, showing Ray and Bornia to some tables that had dried paint on them. "Here you are. Try on the masks first, just in case." he said handing the masks to them. Ray put her mask to her face, it fit great.Bornia had the same luck with her mask. "Good, when you're done painting come get me." and he went back up to the counter.

Ray went to the larger table and put the mask down. "Now, where to put the colors.." she said, looking for the paints. she found a off-white that was close enough, a light brown and a light blue. She looked to the mask, trying to remember what a real swallowtail butterfly looked like. The edges of the wings were black, along with the tiger stripes that came down from the top. Then the spots on the edges of the wings and the rest of them were yellow. "We'll changes that." Ray said with a smile.

Ray was nearly done when Bornia came to check on her. "How are you doing, dear?" she asked. Ray carefully picked up her mask to show Bornia what she had done. "How do you like it?" she asked. The spots were brown, while the edges of the wings and the stripes were blue. Ray was just filling in the rest with cream. "Oh it's beautiful darling."Bornia said with a smile. "Hows yours?" Ray asked, peering over to Bornia's table. Bornia's mask was a fiery sunflower. "I just finished, do you like it?" she asked. Ray nodded. "It's very nice. I like how you blended the colors in the petals." she said, admiring the yellow-to-orange change. "Oh thank you. Now finish up so these can dry." she said.

The little goblin man took both masks one at a time and put them in the oven in the back to dry. "They'll be done in about an hour. You can stay here, or you can come back later to get them." he said as they walked to the front of the shop. "We'll come back."Bornia said, putting fifty coins on the counter. "I'll pay the rest when we get back." she said. The clerk nodded and Ray and Bornia left the little mask shop.

They walked to Five little gowns rather quickly, Zari said she was bringing lunch again. The smell of fresh-baked bread and brisket filled the shop. "Oh I love brisket!" Ray said, walking inside. Gutaki and Zari were serving Alopa and Capeka. "Oh, I'm so glad you two made it!" Gutaki said, filing two plates with mouth-watering brisket while Zari sliced them two healthy slices of bread. "I presume you two found masks?" Alopa asked, taking a bite. Ray nodded, her mouth full. "Yes, Ray found a beautiful butterfly mask and I got myself a new sunflower mask. The paint is drying now."Bornia said before she took a bite of buttered bread. "Wonderful! I can't wait." Capeka said.

After Ray and Bornia picked up and paid the rest for their masks, they went back to the shop. Ray helped Alopa stitch patterns of teal onto her deep purple gown. As she was stitching, Ray thought of something she could do to up her own costume. "I'll be back,Alopa." she said getting up and starting her hunt for materials.

Ray found a spool of wire and cloth that matched her dress. She measured the wire, then cut and shaped it into small butterfly wings with a long tail on the bottom wings. She then went to work making a case to put over the wire.

The sun was setting once again when Ray finished her wings. She had sewn the wings to look like her mask and then slipped them onto the wire frame, then she sewed them tight and onto the back of her dress, so that she now had a pair of butterfly wings coming out of the small of her back like a bow. "Nowthats good." Ray said, walking around her dress.

The rest of the week passed in a hurry. They were busy finding the things they needed, fixing mistakes and trying the dresses on the make sure they fit. The day of the ball came and Ray found herself getting terrible anxious. What if I'm not dressed up enough? she worried as she bathed. What if I slip up? all these "what if" questions ran through her head. "Oh I can't do this by myself..." she sighed. But she was going to have to do it by herself, she was the only one she knew of that was invited.

After dinner, Ray and Bornia headed to the shop. Ray had gotten much better at walking in her heels and she felt confident that she wouldn't fall. But doubts still tugged at the edge of her mind. She tried to breath deeply and tell herself that it was going to be okay, but waves of heat still washed over her body.

"Okay, you can look now." said either Gutaki or Zari, Ray didn't know which. The two of them stood in front of Ray, Bornia, Capeka and Alopa. "Oh wow!" Ray said, looking at the two of them. they wore sequin mermaid dress with almost the same seashells mask. "You two look wondrous!"Alopa said, clapping. "I really can't tell which one is which." Capeka said, Bornia agreed with her. Gutaki and Zari laughed. "Good." they said at once. "Your turn Alopa." they said. Alopa smiled and then went off to get her costume.

Alopa came out a minute later wearing her dress. "Beautiful!" Ray said with a smile. The others agreed. Cakepa later came out with her cat costume on, it was quite realistic. Bornia then dawned her fiery sunflower outfit. It was beautiful. "Your turn, Ray." Gutaki said. Or maybe it was Zari, Ray couldn't tell. "Alright.." she said, the pain in her chest coming back.

Just a moment later, Ray walked out with her dress on. "You look wonderful, darling." Bornia said, she knew about Ray's anxiety. Ray smiled. "Thanks." she said. Just then, the doorbell rung. "That must be the carriage." Capeka said, getting the door. Indeed it was the carriage and the night of the ball began.

It was strange, being announced to a large crowd of people as you came down the stairs. Everyone looked at you. Ray felt very self conscious for the first thirty minutes of the ball, but then, as she talked, she felt better about herself.

Ray didn't dance this time, mostly because no one asked her, but also she was sure that the Goblin King as cast some sort of magic that made her dance so well last time. She just sipped champagne and talked to the other goblin women who did not dance.

It was more fun this time. Ray didn't quite know who everyone was, and the masks didn't really help, but she knew the topics they were talking about and could slide politely into a conversation. "So,darlin'," a women dressed as a human girl said to Ray. Ray looked up to show she was listening. "Where do you get your dresses? I love the subtlety of yours. It's so simple, but it's got a lot of fancy to it, y'know what I mean?" she said. She had sort of a rich-girl city accent. Ray smiled. "I got it at Five little gowns. I work there and designed my costume myself." she said. The goblins surrounding her looked surprised. "Oh really, now? Five little gowns, y'said, right?" the goblin asked her. Ray nodded. "You designed your own dress? Darlin' you got talent!"" said another goblin. Ray blushed. 'Thanks.."She said shyly. The conversation went on over to dresses and sewing after that.

The ball ended and Ray said goodbye to her friends. "We'll tell the carriage to come back here in a few hours to pick you up." Capeka said.
"Thanks"
"Have fun dear." said Bornia.
"Yes, enjoy yourself, everything will be fine." said Zari, they had taken off their masks.
"I will. And thank you again." Ray said, waving good-bye.

Ray slowly walked up into the throne room. She was the first to arrive. As she waited for the other guests, Ray thought about why she had chosen a butterfly mask. It was a sort of message to the King. "I know it was you" was what Ray wanted to get across. She had no idea if it would work, but she hoped it would.

The other guests came in one by one. Ray didn't recognize any of them. And there goes the last shred of my courage... Ray thought, feeling her face grow hot under her mask. A guide came into the room and directed the Ray and the other guests to the dinning hall. So glad I ate a small dinner. Ray thought as she was shown her seat. If she had eaten any more food, she wouldn't be able to put one thing in her mouth here.

There was a minutes of silence after all the guests were seated. The goblin that showed them in cleared his throat. "His majesty, the Goblin King." he announce as the King walked in. Ray had to hold back a gasp. He was wearing a pale-blue lunar moth mask. The same one he had worn before! I was right. she thought. He walked to the table, and Ray noticed with a burning sensation that she was sitting right next to him.

The King sat down, and with one swift and graceful movement, moved his owl-feather cloak out of the way. Ray did her best not to stare at him, trying to fit in with the crowd around her. Only moments later, the food arrived. A plate of steaming brisket was placed in front of everybody, along with the needed silverware. How convenient... Ray thought, stealing a glance at the King. He was leaning back in his chair, looking at her. Ray quickly returned her gazed to her food.

Wine was brought in right after that and everyone dug into their meal. Not much of a party. Ray thought as she tried a slice of brisket. The brisket was okay, but not as good as Zari's. Ray leaned back in her chair as she chewed and glanced about the table. Everyone looked like they were waiting for something to happen.

After a few minutes of silence, the King spoke. "How was he ball?" he asked casually. When no one answered, Ray spoke up. "It was very nice, your highness. Did you enjoy it?" she asked. Looking his way. The flame in her chest still hurt and the butterflies in her stomach would not calm down. Everyone looked at Ray like she had committed some sort of taboo. The King smiled. "I enjoyed it very much. Masquerades are my favorite." he said sipping his wine. Everyone still stared at Ray and she suddenly became very self-conscious. Is there something in my teeth? she asked herself, discreetly running her tongue over her teeth. Nope. So why is everybody looking at me like that?! Ray was starting to panic. Then it hit her. I'm looking at the King. Thats what caught them off guard. she thought, turning back to her brisket and taking another bite.

Conversation slowly arose between the other guests, there were eight of them, but no one ever addressed the King unless he spoke to them first. Ray mostly kept quiet, enjoying her dinner and trying not to overheat. "You've a very interesting mask." the King said to Ray. Ray looked up. He had barely touched his food and was leaning back in his chair. "Thank you, your majesty. You have a very interesting mask as well. Familiar in a way..." Ray turned back to her food to glance at the King sideways when she spoke the last sentence. That caught his attention. "Oh? Familiar in what way?" he asked in a cool voice. Ray pretended to think. "I could have sworn I saw a man with that same mask at the that ball you kindly invited me to." she said, testing to see if she was right, watching his face. But his expression didn't change at all. "Hm." he said, and that was the end of that conversation.

When everyone was done with dinner, the plates were taken away and everyone was shown to a large balcony that overlooked the city. The other guests huddled together and chattered about whatever while Ray leaned up on the railing, looking out over the city. "Such a beautiful place." she said with a sigh. "Oh, Sarah, why did you leave? You could have had anything. Anything in the world..." she said shaking her head. "She left because of her brother." a smooth voice came form behind her. Ray whirled around to face the King. His white and pale-blue costume glowing in the moonlight. His cape wafted gently on an unseen breeze. "Toby?" Ray asked, watching the King as he came to sand just two feet away. He nodded. "She could not bear the thought of him becoming a goblin. But you, Ray," he said, turning to look her in the eyes. Ray almost forgot to breath. "You are very different. You crave this sort of life. You wished for it and didn't wish it away when you got it." he stepped closer. Ray forgot to breath altogether. "I like that." he said, an irresistible smile on his lips.

It took Ray a moment to recover, but when she did, she smiled back. "You like that?" she asked, looking down. He didn't say anything, just looked at her. Ray chuckled and looked back out to the city. "Well,thats a good thing. Right?" she asked again. He chuckled. It sent shivers up and down Ray's spine. "Yes, yes it is." he said softly.

They stood in silence for a long while and Ray could feel someone drilling holes in the back of her head. Or maybe it was everybody on the other side of the balcony. "They don't like me." Ray said. The king glanced over to her. "They envy you." he said, confirming Ray's statement. "Why?" she asked still looking out over the city. It was easier to breath when she wasn't looking at him. "You can look me in the eye. Many people have a hard time just looking at me in general. Usually they're looking at something behind me, keeping me in the corner of their eye." he said. "Why? Did you have a bad reputation for sweeping young girls off their feet when they look you in the eye?" she asked. He looked at her. "I sweep you off your feet do I?" he asked. Ray instantly regretted saying what she did and didn't respond. He chuckled, quite amused, but left it alone.

Ray stared out over the city for a long time, just looking at the lights twinkle like stars. She could see the Goblin King out of the corner of her left eye and she noticed they were painfully close. She also noticed the drilling to the back of her head stopped. Ray turned around to find that all the other guests had gone. "Where-?" she asked, looking around. "They were shown down to the gates about thirty minutes ago." the King said simply. Ray looked up at him. He had a smug smile on his face. "I found you figured out it was me you danced with during dinner. I thought you might like to dance again." he said, holding out his hand. As he did, music began to play. It wasn't the same tune as before. In fact it was very different. It had a sort of lift, like Ray was on a new adventure. Slowly, she took his hand and he swept her off her feet.

They danced for a long time, the music never seeming to end. Ray savored ever second. He likes me. Like, really likes me. Oh my, I never thought something like this would happen. Never thought I'd live in the world of my dreams. But here I am, living in a world beyond the one I was born into, and, best of all, I'm dancing with the most handsome and charming man I've ever met! If only it could go on forever. she thought as they swayed to the music. Then a thought came to Ray's mind that made her giggle. "What is it?" the King asked, in the same silk voice he always had. Ray looked up to him. "I feel like Cinderella." she said. Ray did feel like Cinderella. She had come from a simple little household, to the castle and was now dancing alone with the King. But she was going to have to go home soon, just like Cinderella. The King chuckled. "What?" Ray asked, he had an amused look on his face. "Nothing you need to worry about now." he said with a sly smile. Ray pouted but left it alone.

It ended all too soon. The music finally stopped and the King showed Ray down to the gates where a carriage waited for her. She hesitated on the steps. "Your highness?" she turned to look at him once more. He raised and eyebrow. "Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"It depends. What is it?"
"Can I call you by your name? At least when we are alone?"
There was silence. Ray bit her lip.
"........Yes." and then she was ushered into the carriage.
Yes. she thought, smiling to herself.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (10)

2009-05-25T00:51:00.000-07:00

Chapter ten,

A new adventure story

Sarah got out of the car and closed the door. To day had been good, knowing that Ray was alright. "Sarah honey, can you get he mail?" her father asked as he walked inside. Sarah nodded and wentot the mailbox.

As she walked in, Sarah read who the letters were for, like she always did. When she came to the bottom of the pile, she paused. In her hands was the same envelope she had put on her windowsill to sen to Ray. The only difference was that the envelope seemed much thicker now.

Sarah put the rest of the mail on the table and headed up to her room, opening the envelope as she went. It wasn't her letter, it was three more from Ray! Sarah lay down on her bed and began to read.
"Hey Sarah,
I got your letter. Odd way of sending them though. Anyways, just so you know, I'm fine. In fact I've never had this much fun in my entire life! And, because it's only fair, I'll tell you everything."
Sarah read, and from that point on, it was a story, written just like how she told Ray.

Sarah read the letters over three times, just to make sure she was reading everything right. She was amazed by how different Ray's experience in the Labyrinth was compared to Sarah's. But the things that stuck out the most were that the Goblin King let Ray into the Labyrinth in the first place, the first ball were Ray danced to the same song Sarah had, and the private dinner party.
"And you won't believe it! In the letter saying I was invited to the private dinner, the King wrote "P.S. Because you won." meaning the race. And even better than that, he signed his name. Not "Goblin King" or whatever, but his name, Jareth! I swear my heart skipped a beat then. But, as you can surely see, I'm out of room. I might not be able to write back right away (I have dresses to sew) but I'll try my best.
Talk to you later,
~Ray."
And that was the end of it for the third time. Sarah read over that little clip once more. "He signed his name?" Sarah just didn't know what to think, but whatever was going on, Ray was alright and having a good time, which was what mattered.

Sarah wrote her reply and put in in an envelope, along with one extra for Ray, and put it on the windowsill. She had to go to bed early that night, school was the next day and summer break was a month away, so Sarah played her music box and went to sleep.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (9)

2009-05-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Chapter nine,

Good news

That morning, Ray was again woken up my Bornia's gentle welcome. "Time to go." she said. Ray nodded and got out of bed. Today was another day of work. Ray still needed to get used to how early the day started here. She pulled on another simple cream dress, put on her shoes and headed downstairs.

Zari had said she would bring breakfast to the shop that day, so Ray and Bornia headed off right away. Ray was starting to memorize the way to the shop and once she had it all down, she would be able to run errands when they needed to be run.

Bornia and Ray stepped into the shop and the welcoming smell of apple pie and biscuits filled Ray's nose. "Oh Zari that smells really good." Ray said, joining them at the small table. Bornia was right behind her. "Yes, that does smell particularly delicious. Zari you should open a bakery. I'm sure you would get plenty of business." Bornia commented. Ray and the other's backed Bornia up on this. Zari had brought breakfast before and it was equally at good as this one. Zari made a half-hearted smile. "I know girls. But I love it too much here to start a new shop of any kind." and from there, they dung into the food.

Breakfast was gone rather fast and the work day began as dawn broke. Ray went around as usual and cleaned up after the five little goblins as they left trails of fabric and thread in their wake. The door bell rung and Ray was quick to answer. A stout little goblin boy stood outside the door. He had a big bag bulging with letter slug over his shoulder and in his hands he held seven letters, all which were closed with a wax seal except for one. "These are for the owners and employee of this shop," the little boy said in a high-pitched voice. Ray took them. "Thank you very much. I would give you a coin or two if I had any on me." she said with a smile, this was the new mailman. He nodded and then was off.

Ray looked through the letters, five of them were addressed to the five goblins busy at work and two were for Ray. She opened the one in an envelop first.
"Dear Ray,
I was so worried about you! I thought he had taken you and left you to rot in that horrible maze of his! But Hoggle told me you're doing alright and I shouldn't worry. He sent me a note telling me how I could get in contact with you and well, if you're reading this, I guess he was telling the truth.
So tell me, how are you? Hoggle said you worked as an assistant seamstress. I didn't think you sewed much. But, what do I know? How did you get the job? How did you get into the city?! Tell me everything, it's only fair.
Can't wait to hear from you,
Sarah
P.S. To write back, put the letter on the windowsill and hum a melody before you go to bed."
Ray read over the note. She giggled near the end. It was only fair. "I'll write you back just as soon as I get off work, Sarah." Ray said to the letter, tucking it carefully back into the envelope. Then she turned to the wax-sealed envelope. Three crystal orbs were printed into the silver wax. "From the King?" Ray asked, popping the wax seal off and unfolding the letter.

As she opened the letter, a smaller folded piece of paper fell out into Ray's lap. I'll read that one in just a sec... she thought, unfolding the large piece of paper all the way.
"Dear citizen,
You have been invited to the annual Masquerade Ball at the castle in the center of the Goblin City. This masquerade will take place on the first full moon of summer. When you arrive at the castle, tell the guard whom you are and you will be allowed inside. You name will then be called as you enter the ballroom. There will be food and drink, along with a long night of talk and dancing. The dress code is what it always is; wear something fancy, and a mask to match.
Thank you~"
Ray read. "Oh cool! I showed up just in time." and with that she tucked the smaller letter in her apron pocket and went to tell everyone the good news.

It so happened to be that the five goblin women also got invitations to the ball and they all were in a flurry to get ready. The first full moon of summer was only a week away, and no one had anything fancy enough to wear.

After a long day of planning out dresses, making dresses, and designing masks, Ray and Bornia headed home for some well-earned dinner. "Bornia, do you have a pen and paper I might be able to use once we get home? I have to write a letter back to a friend of mine so she doesn't freak out." Ry said with a chuckle. "A letter from a friend that lives in the mortal world? I don't know how it'll get back to her but sure."

Once home, Bornia gave Ray a feather pen, an ink pot and a piece of paper. Ray was up in her room in a flash, wanting to write back to Sarah. "But I might want to read that other little letter first if I want to tell Sarah everything." Ray said, taking the little folded piece of paper from her apron.
"Dear Ray,
You are invited to a private dinner party with the King and other special guests. This dinner will take place after the Masquerade Ball on the first full moon of summer. To find the party, after the ball, go into the throne room and wait for a guide to show you and the other guests to the table. The dress code for the dinner is the same as the code for the masquerade.
Thank you~
P.S. Because you won. ~Jareth."
Ray's breath caught in her throat. "Oh my.." she whispered. So many thoughts cascaded through her mind now. "I'll never get everything into one letter now." Ray said, putting the unfolded special invitation to her left and she wrote to Sarah.

Ray put the finished letter on her windowsill and hummed a melody that had been stuck in her head the whole day long. She had managed to get all the important bits into three pieces of paper, which was all that Bornia had given her, and folded them up and put them in the envelope Sarah had used. then she crawled into her warm bed, thinking about the private dinner she had been invited to. " I did win." she mused before sleep took her over.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (8)

2009-05-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Chapter eight,

Relief

Sarah waited for her parents to be asleep once more. For the past week, she had called Hoggle to see what progress he had made. Each time, he had gotten another tip as to where Ray might be, but never any real news. "Oh, Hoggle where are you?" she whispered. The guilt feeling that Ray was stuck in the horrible place had kept Sarah awake at night and that in turn had turned her normally good school-life upside-down and inside-out. Just then, Hoggle appeared with a relieved smile on his face. "She's fine." he said.

Sarah listened as Hoggle told the whole story. "She's working as an assistant seamstress at some little gown shop. She said she was perfectly fine and looked like she was enjoying herself enough." he explained. Sarah sighed with relief. Ray was alright. Good. "Oh thank you, Hoggle. I know how hard finding her must have been." Sarah said, hugging her friend. "Oh, I had nothing better to do." he said in his usual bashful tone when Sarah commented him. "And the Goblin King? He's left her alone?" Sarah asked. Hoggle shrugged. "As far as I know, yes. He's been laying low and not doing much of anything really. Dun worry Sarah, it'll be alright." Hoggle said. "Now I have to go. Business. But if you need me again, call." and he was gone again.

Sarah fell onto her pillow. She had been so worried about Ray. They had been friends for a while, not "BBF"s but they had known one another for a long time and Sarah would have hated it if anything bad happened to Ray. "Assistant seamstress." Sarah chuckled. Sarah couldn't imagine Ray sewing for a life. But then again, Sarah didn't quite know all of Ray's hobbies. Or maybe sewing was the only job Ray could find. That would also make sense.

Sarah slept well that night and she slept late into the weekend morning. When she finally woke up around lunch, she was quick to get out of the house and walk about in the park. She called Merlin, her beloved sheep dog, and started the walk to the park. It was a beautiful summer day outside. Not to hot, but far form being cold.

The park was empty, like usual. Sarah ran around, letting herself go for a minute. But then something caught her eye. A large white barn owl. "No..." she whispered as her eyes met it's. She stood and stared at it. "You can't bother me anymore." she said, her perfect weekend ruined. the owl flew down and dropped a scroll of paper at Sarah's feet and then flew off. Sarah picked up the scroll and walked to a bench.

She untied the little red ribbon that held the scroll together and unrolled it. In a fine cursive print the letter read:
"Dearest Sarah,
I must say, telling the whole story to someone here and not expecting something to happen? Tsk, tsk. But all is well, don't worry, Ray is quite content with herself here. In fact, she's doing quite well for a mortal in a goblin world. If you would like to write to her, leave the letter on a windowsill and play your music box before you go to bed. It'll get to her.

~Goblin King."
Sarah looked down on the note. It seemed like a trick, but she would try it later tonight. Right now she needed to let of some steam.

Like the night he took Toby away, Sarah came home late and drenched from the rain. But thankfully, unlike that night, her parents would be staying home tonight. Sarah put Merlin in the garage and headed up to her room to write Ray a letter.

By ten, Sarah had finished the letter and she sealed it up in an envelope and placed it on the windowsill right next to the back door. And having still to catch up on her sleep, Sarah played her music box and went to bed.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (7)

2009-05-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

Chapter seven,

New life

It had been a week since Ray had come to the Goblin city and she was adjusting to her new life quite well. She worked with Bornia and the others at Five little Gowns and enjoyed herself to no end. Like Gutaki had said, the shop got very few orders, but that left them with more time to work on the orders they did get, and to work on things for themselves.

Ray worked as the maid and the girl who took your dress order. Cleaning was something Ray was good at, she had done plenty at home, and the studio did need a good cleaning.

Ray was sewing some beads onto a dress that had to be done in one month for the customer's sister's wedding for Zari, when the doorbell rung. Ray knotted off the bead and went to answer the door.

At first Ray didn't see the short dwarf, she had to remind herself that most goblins were shorter than her. "Yes, how can I help you?" she asked him. It was odd to have a male customer. Or maybe he was that new messenger the old one had been talking about. "Are you Ray Quirk?" he asked. Ray nodded uncertainl, "Yes, I am she. May I ask who you are sir?" she asked politely. The dwarf let himself inside, "I'm Hoggle." he said once he was in. Ray coudl just stand and stare.

"Sarah sent me to find you. She's been worried sick!" Hoggle said after Ray closed the door. "Sarah? Oh, thats right." Ray remembered the last part to Sarah's "story". "I'm sorry, If I could have, I would have sent her a letter or something, but I had no idea how, and I didn't dare ask the King if I could." Ray explained. "But you can tell her I'm fine, and shouldn't worry about me anymore. I like it here much much more than I did out there." Ray said with a smile. Hoggle nodded and sighed. "Alright, I will. But next time you pull something like that, leave trail of stones or something, it took forever to find you!" he said as he left. Ray giggled. "I will. Thanks for coming all this way, Hoggle." and he left.

Ray went back to sewing beads, feeling sorry that she hadn't been able to tell Sarah what happened. "Maybe Hoggle will come back and I can write her a letter. That would work." Ray said to herself. "Yeah, that works great." she said with a smile.

Bornia brought lunch to the shop not much later and ray was glad she did. "I can't believe I forgot to pack myself a lunch." Ray said, taking a bite out of her sandwich. Bornia smiled. "And I was worried you would already eaten." she said, taking a bite of her own sandwich. They talked for a while but when lunch was finished, they had to get to work.

Ray Had finished cleaning, so she continued with sewing beads onto the braids-maid's dress while Bornia began a new dress for some other occasion. By the time they were done, it was dusk. Ray put the dress back on the mannequin, it was almost finished now, while Bornia turned off the lights. Then they headed home.

After dinner, which Bornia helped Ray make, Ray went up to her room and lay down on her bed. She was wearing a cream summer dress that she had made herself. Ray had used the pattern of the dress she arrived in to make it. Gutaki had helped with that. "Oh, Sarah," she said, looking up to the ceiling. "Why did you turn this down? Even here, way below royalty like Jareth, it's nice. Everyone minds their own business, life is simple, and it's just overall great." she said. Ray only spoke the King's name aloud when she knew she was alone. It was a sort of unspoken law not to mentioned the King's name. Ray knew that if no one else knew, she would be fine.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (6)

2009-05-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

Chapter six,

Worried

Sarah sat in her room, worried. Ray hadn't showed up to school today. Sarah was hoping they could talk more. Sarah had liked yesterday, she felt better about what had happened. "Maybe she playedhookie.." Sarah said to her stuffed dinosaur on her pillow. "I'll call her." she decided, going downstairs and grabbing the phone.

"Sarah, are you done with your homework?" Karen, Sarah's stepmother asked as Sarah dialed Ray's number. "Yes, ma'am." she said with a groan. Then the phone picked up. "Hello?" said a husky female voice. "Hello," Sarah started. "I'm Sarah, I was wondering if Ray is available?" she asked, hoping that Ray had just been late to the phone. "I'm sorry, but Ray hasn't been home all day, But I'll tell her you called when she gets home." and then the phone clicked off. Sarah stared at the phone, insulted my the lady's rudeness, and worried about Ray.

Sarah ate dinner in silence and when she was done she ran up to her room. She wanted to talk to Hoggle. When she was sure that her parents and Toby were asleep, Sarah called out, "Hoggle, I need you." and then, in a flash, Hoggle stood next to her bed. "You called?" he asked with a smile. "Yeah, first off, how are you?" Sarah said. Hoggle leaned up against the bed. "I'm doing alright. How are you?" he asked. Sarah's smile dimmed. "Actually I'm quite worried about a friend here," and she toldHoggle the whole story.

Hoggle listened in silence as Sarah told her story and frowned when she finished. "Your friend, Ray right? Does she got light-blond hair? And was shewearin' a little red dress?" Hoggle asked. Sarah's eyes went wide. "Yes! How do you know?" she asked, surprised Hoggle would know what Ray looked like. Hoggle coughed. "I saw her goin ' into the Labyrinth through one of them invisible entrances. I thought she was just another poor soul who had found the Labyrinth, but I guess not..." he said, thinking back on it. "What?!" Sarah exclaimed, but she still kept her voice down.Hoggle shrugged, "I dun know! Maybe she found her way into the Labyrinth using everything you told her. Or maybe....." Hoggle stopped. "Or what, Hoggle?" Sarah asked, growing even more worried for her friend. Hoggle didn't answer at first but after being stared down by Sarah he spilled. "Or maybe the Goblin King took her there!" he said. Sarah shook her head in disbelief, that couldn't be right.

"He can't harm you anymore, Sarah, or your bother. But his power is still strong. He can still answer the call of others. Maybe Ray wished herself into the Labyrinth."Hoggle explained with a shrug. Sarah was still shaking her head in disbelief. No, she couldn't have. Why would she? Sarah thought, worried that Ray was now stuck in the maze with no way out. "Hoggle you have to take me to her!" Sarah pleaded. Hoggle shook his head. "I can't do that. One, I just dun have that sort of magic, and two, I have no idea where she is!" he said. "But I might be able to find her and tell her that you're worried." he quickly said as tears began to well up in Sarah's eyes. Instantly, Sarah cheered up. "Really?" Thank youHoggle!" she said, hugging him. "Now, go! Please!" and with that Hoggle faded away. "I hope she's okay." Sarah prayed.

Sarah didn't sleep well that night. Nightmares plagued her mind. Ray stuck with that horrid "wild bunch", the orange creatures that could take off their limbs. Ray lost in the stone maze where they changed your marks. Ray stuck in the oubliette. Anything and everything that could go wrong did in Sarah's mind. But knowing that Hoggle would find her, gave Sarah the calm she needed to fall back asleep.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (5)

2009-05-24T18:29:00.001-07:00

Chapter five,

As the world falls down

Ray stepped out of the carriage last and stepped down onto the stone. She wore some half-inch dark-red heels Capeka had found and they clacked as Ray walked. She felt over-dressed, but was sure she would feel under-dressed once she stepped into the ballroom.

A tall, thin, green-skinned goblin with a suit on showed them into the ballroom and Ray lost her breath. It was even more beautiful than any ballroom she had ever seen! Crystal chandeliers hung form the ceiling, the light reflecting off them and casting little diamonds of light everywhere. Music played softly in the background and the chatter of the whole room flowed into Ray's ears. "Oh I feel so out of place..." Ray whimpered.Bornia patted her hand. "Don't worry 'hun, you'll be fine." she said as all six of them walked down into the mass of people.

Ray looked around at all the people and their fancy suits and dresses. "Zari?" she asked, for Bornia had gone off with Alopa and Gutaki to get drinks, "Why are all the men wearing masks?" she asked. All the men in the room wore ornate and elaborate masks while the women's faces were bare, except for makeup. "I guess it was the dress code they were given. The King has his reasons."Zari said. Ray nodded, understanding just a little more about his place than she did before.

Bornia, Alopa and Gutaki came back with tall glasses of champagne. Bornia handed Ray a glass. Ray looked down into it. She never had champagne before. Curious, Ray took a small sip. "This is good." she said, taking a slightly lager sip now.Gutaki laughed. "My dear, what did you do before you came here?" she asked. Ray sighed. "Not anything this exciting. Thats for sure. I've never been to an event like this, never had champagne, never wore a dress so wonderful. My life was.... ordinary." she said.Gutaki smiled. "Well, we'll change that for sure!" she and the others clinked their glasses, Ray did so as well. "To a better life?" Gutaki proposed. "To a better life." Ray answered. "Hear, hear." the others said, and they all took a sip of champagne.

Ray followed behind the six little goblin women and talked to the people they talked to and found that she was getting more comfortable with herself. "So, darling," said a round goblin who was just an inch shorter than her, "Do you dance?" that caught Ray off guard. "Um, yes. But not very well, I'm afraid." she said sheepishly. Another goblin women Ray's height chuckled lightly. "At least I know I'm not alone." she said with a smile and a wink. Ray smiled, also glad she was not alone.

For a few hours everyone just talked and snacked on little bite-sized snacks. But then the music changed and the men went around asking the women to dance. Ray held her breath, almost hoping no one would ask her do dance. She didn't want to embarrass herself on her first fancy occasion in her life.

So far, so good.... Ray thought as she stood against the wall. Everyone she had talked to had been asked to dance or left to talk to someone else and Ray was left alone to watch the women twirl in their beautiful dresses and stare at the wondrous masks. Her feeling of being so out of place came back as a knot in her stomach and pain in her chest. "Oh, I wish I knew how to dance better, so that maybe I'd feel better about myself right now.." she sighed.

Ray was admiring the craftsmanship of one mask that seemed to stand out more then the others when Bornia came back for a rest. "How are you holding up, dear?" she asked. Ray shrugged. "Alright, I guess." she said, still looking at the mask. It looked like a large lunar moth, except it was a pale blue in color.Bornia followed her gaze and smiled. "They all look so beautiful." Ray said. "I've never seen masks like this in real life, and the ones I've seen on TV just don't compare." she said.Bornia nodded. "Oh yes. And I know a wonderful little shop where you can make your own. I'll take you sometime." she said." Ray smiled. "You're the best,Bornia." she said. Bornia chuckled. "Oh thank you dear. Your pretty good yourself."

Bornia's partner came back and Ray was left again to stand alone against the wall. The man with the lunar moth mask had disappeared while Ray andBornia had been talking, but when Ray looked up to gaze at another mask, the knot in her stomach turned to butterflies. The man with the lunar moth mask was standing where he had been before and his eyes gazed into Ray's.

The man slowly wound his way through the crowd towards Ray. She had to remind herself to breath. As he came closer, a tune Ray recognized floated into the air. That song! she thought, remembering Sarah. Thats the song that Jareth played for Sarah when he tried to make her forget! As the world falls down, Sarah said was what it was. She was looking down as she thought this and when she looked up, he was there in front of her. "May I have this dance?" he asked in a soothing voice. The butterflies in Ray's stomach multiplied and all she could do was nod.

He took her out onto the floor and they began to dance. Ray felt her feet move themselves as she stared up into the eyes of her partner. He had beautiful eyes, and Ray felt like she had seen them before, but the could not put her finger on where.

The words Sarah had sung did not accompany the music, just the tune, and as Ray listened, she felt herself go into a sort of trance. She didn't even have to worry about where to put her feet, for they found where they were supposed to go all on their own. It was a slow song, and that might have been what helped Ray out, but still, she felt like she wasn't doing anything at all.

Her partner said nothing as they danced, he just showed her which way to move. Slowly, the song came to an end and Ray found herself dreading having to leave this mysterious man. But the music stopped, and so did he. For a moment he gazed down at Ray through his mask, and then, he just wasn't there anymore. Ray sighed dreamily and went back to where she had been standing before.

Borni was waiting with Zari and Capeka at the wall with a glass of champagne for Ray. "I saw you dancing with that handsome man with the lunar moth mask." she said. Ray blushed. "Yeah, it was pretty nice. He was a really good dancer." Ray said.Zari and Capeka chuckled and Gutaki and Alopa came back. "Well it seems like we all had a good night." Zari said with a smile. "Yeah, best night I've ever had." Ray said. "Well lets make sure you have this much fun all the time." Bornia said and then it was over.

As they rode back to the shop in the carriage, Ray thought about the man she had danced with. Even more enchanting than his mask were his eyes. Where have I seen those eyes before?! She asked herself in her mind. The answer was on the tip of her tounge, but still she couldn't bring it into words. Then it hit her. "Oh my!" she gasped. The five goblins looked at her. "Are you alright dear?" Capeka asked, worried. Ray nodded. "Sorry, I just realized something. Nothing to worry about." she said with a smile. The goblins, to tired to ask questions, shrugged it off and went back to minding their own business. Those eyes.... Ray thought, almost scared to think the words. Those mismatched eyes... They could only belong to one man... Jareth, the Goblin King!

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (4)

2009-05-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Chapter four,

Surprise

Finding the castle from where Ray was, was not hard at all. It was just a strait shot forward. But Ray hesitated. What if someone saw her and told the King? Would he send out his armieslike he did with Sarah? No he wouldn't. Why would he need to. Just because it happened to Sarah doesn't mean it'll happen me me... she thought. And with that, she began her careful walk to the castle.

Ray was about halfway to the castle when a little goblin came across her path. "Girl!" it yelled. Goblins could be seen in all the windows now. They ran and yelled and Ray saw the castle gates closing.

Ray ran for the closing doors of the castle. They were closing to fast! Ray picked up her pace and almost lost her bag to the closing doors, but she was inside now. "Now which way.." Ray turned right, the Way Sarah had gone. She came into an empty throne room. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed in the empty space. "I can't have taken so long that he forgot about me!" Ray exclaimed, exhausted.

Ray walked over to the only chair in the room, the throne, and fell into it. It was comfy. "I guess he's got something more important to tend to right now. I can wait." she said, her eyes becoming heavy. As Ray sat in the throne, she giggled. "I won." And without wanting to, Ray fell asleep.

Ray awoke to the feeling of someone staring at her. She opened her eyes and jumped back. The Goblin King stood there with his arms crossed. "You're in my throne." he said. Ray quickly got up and made a slight bow to the King. "Sorry." she said, rubbing the sleep form her eyes. "I didn't dare sleep in the Labyrinth, and when I got here, no one was in sight. I didn't mean to fall asleep in your throne..." she said, looking up at him now. Oh I do hope he lets me off the hook. Ray prayed.

The Goblin King looked down on her from his throne, obviously pondering what to do about Ray's sleeping here. She waited silently. Finally, he broke the silence. "How did you like my Labyrinth?" he asked, completely off the topic of the throne. Ray had to suppress a sigh of relief. "I liked it very much, but it was, by far, not a piece of cake." Ray said, it had been a hard journey. The Goblin King chuckled at this. "Well then, you may stay here in the Goblin City, but if I ever catch you sleeping on my throne again, you're going right back where you came from." he said. Ray's face brightened. "Thank you, your majesty!" she said, bowing.

It hit Ray then that she had no place to stay. Maybe I'll find someone who would be willing to let me work for a room and food. she thought, biting her lip as she walked out of the throne chamber. "Ray," the Goblin King called form behind her, like she had forgotten something. Ray turned around to look at him. "Yes?"
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"I really don't know."
The King sighed and held his head in his hand. "At least you answer truthfully." he mumbled, looking back up to her. "Bornia!" he called. A small goblin women came out of the hallway Ray had used to get into the throne room earlier. "Yes, sire?" she asked with a small bow. Ray noticed that her eyes never met those of the King. "Take Ray here and give her a room and something to eat as well. " He looked into a crystal orb that suddenly was in his hand and said, "And get her a dress for the ball. You may go now." he said, meeting Ray's eyes for just a moment beforeBornia pulled at the hem of Ray's red summer dress. "Come now dear, you can't be going to the ball in that. And you are much to pale for any normal person. You need some food in that body of yours." and with that Ray was dragged out of the chamber and into the Goblin city.

Bornia's house was larger than most of the houses in the city, and it seemed to built in a more stable fashion. Bornia showed Ray in and set her down at a table that was much to small for Ray, but just the right height for Bornia.

As Bornia busied herself with some sort of good-smelling dish, Ray took the time to familiarize herself with how Bornia looked. If she ever got lost, finding someone she knew would probably be the best thing Ray could do. Bornia was quite small, about three feet tall with a plume of red hair pinned into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her face was old and she had dull green eyes. Ray noted that she wore simple house-wife clothes.

"Soups finished. There darling, now eat up, the ball is tomorrow night and we need to get your dress done by morning!" Bornia said, placing a bowl of thick orange-colored soup in front of Ray. Despite it's odd color, the soup smelled quite nice and Ray was reminded of her hunger. She sipped at a small spoon full and then almostgulped the rest of it down. Ray couldn't quite put her finger on what the taste of the soup was, but it was really good! "Miss Bornia?" Ray called. "Yes dear?" Bornia appeared form around the corner. "Where do I put this?" Ray asked, holding up her bowl and spoon. Bornia smiled, "Let me get that dear. Now we need to get going! Go and wait for me outside, I'll be there in just a moment." she said, taking the the bowl and spoon and heading her what Ray presumed was the kitchen.

It was a warm evening, and Ray admired the sunset as she waited for Bornia. The door creaked open and Bornia came out with a bag full of something slung over her shoulder. "Lets get going then." she said and began walking.

Despite her size, Ray had to walk fast to keep up with Bornia. The goblin city was buzzing with pre-bedtime preparations and with night time work. Ray smiled. It was better then what Sarah had said. That might have been the fact that Sarah didn't stop to take in the scenery, but she could have detailed it just a tad bit more.

Ray had no idea where Bornia was going, but she was sure not to loose sight of her while she was at that amazingly fast pace for someone so small. As they walked, Ray thought about what the Goblin King had done. Ray had expected him to just say "Okay you can stay, you're on your own now." or something. His tellingBornia to let Ray stay with her was very generous, and Ray was thankful to them both. But a dress for the ball? He invited her to a ball?! That was one of the last things Ray thought would ever happen to her here. But here she was, following Bornia to get ready for the ball. "Well, at least I get to go at all." she said to herself with a smile.

They walked for about another five minutes before Bornia walked into a large building. It was too dark outside for Ray to read. "Ray, darling, come inside." Bornia called when ray stopped to try to see the sign. "Oh, sorry." Ray said, ducking down so she didn't hit her head on the frame. Four other small goblin women, who looked very much likeBornia, except their hair were varying shades of brown. "Ray, these are Alopa, Capeka, Gutaki, and Zari. We'll be making your dress tonight. If you would come up here on this stool please." Bornia said. Ray smiled to each of them and stood up on the little stool. "Thank you in advance for doing this." Ray said looking in the full-length mirror that stood in front of her.

The five little goblin women spread out, two of them, Ray thought they were Zari and Alopa, turn on some lights, Bornia quickly took off Ray's clothes, except her underwear, and Capeka and Gutaki fetched materials. Ray felt a little odd at first, being near completely naked with complete strangers, but was comforted by the fact they were all women.

Zari came out with a beautiful and simple midnight-crimson red ball gown and slipped it over Ray's head. Ray looked at herself in the mirror. She had never worn anything this fancy before and by the look of things, it was going to get fancier.

"Is there anyway I can help?" Ray asked as the five little women busies themselves around her. Gutaki, who was on a stood cutting off the spaghetti straps on Ray's gown shook her head. "No darling. We got it. Plus, this is fun for us! We haven't had a dress order in such a long time." she said with a smile. "Zari," Gutaki said, looking down to Zari who was measuring how much fabric on the bottom to cut off so that Ray wouldn't trip. "Yes, Guaki?" Zari said, looking up. Ray noticed her eyes were an amber color. "Do you have any puff sleeves left over? I think the puff sleeve off-shoulder look would be quite nice."Gutaki said. Zari nodded and hobbled off.

Zari came back a couple minutes later with a pair of leg-of-mutton sleeves. The puff was almost the same color as the gown and the tight sleeve was a cream color that matched Ray's hair. The amber-eyes goblin handed them up toGutaki who slipped them onto Ray's arms. "Perfect!" she said, getting of her stool to look Ray up and down. "Now we just need to get some of the cream color to the rest of her dress." she said.Bornia and Alopa came to look with Gutaki. Zari was already off looking for something and Capeka had gone with her. Ray smiled, she looked wonderful already.

The three goblins present went back to what they had been doing and Ray moved her upper-half around a bit when Gutaki was done pinned the sleeves in place. The tight part of the sleeve hooked over her middle finger instead of just stopping at the wrist and Ray thought that was pretty cool.

Zari and Capke came back with two spools of cream-colored ribbon. There wasn't much ribbon on either spool so Ray understood why they had brought back two.Alopa took the spool with the most ribbon from Capeka and pulled it all out. She then pulled it around the front of Ray's chest, just under her bust and looked over in the mirror. Bornia stood there thinking. "I know," she said and the five goblins again went to work.

When the dress was finally done, sewn up and everything, Ray couldn't believe what the five goblin women had done for her. "Well, give it try,"Zari said, gesturing for Ray to walk around. Carefully Ray lifted up the gown a bit and stepped down from the stool. The leg-of-mutton sleeves hung off her shoulders and she felt very proper. Ray let the dress fall down it just barely hit the floor in the front, giving Ray room to walk, but in the back it dragged just the slightest bit. The cream ribbon went under her bust and then crossed over once i the front, from there itcriss -crossed in diamonds down the back of her dress, small at the top and growing as the reached the bottom, sort of like a corset. Her neck line was indented in just a tad bit so that there was a small triangle of skin almost reaching her cleavage. "Girls," she said, looking down to the goblins. "This is the most fabulous dress I have seen, much less worn . Thank you." Ray thanked them as she carefully knelt down to hug them. "Aw, thanks you deary."Capeka said with a smile. "I'm glad you like it," Alopa said. Bornia smiled. "Good. All is well. It's a wonderful dress darling, I'm sure you'll many a glances at the ball tonight." she said. Ray cocked her head to one side. "Tonight?" she repeated. The five ladies laughed. "Why yes, darling. It's dawn."Zari said, opened the window to reveal a beautiful sunrise. "Oh." Ray said, she hadn't noticed the time fly. "Well, come now. Lets get you washed and rested."Bornia said patting Ray on the head.

It didn't take long to get the gown off, for that all six of them were grateful. Ray and Bornia waved good-bye and headed back to Bornia's house. Ray stopped a second to see what the name of their shop was. "Five little gowns." she said, That will be easy to remember. and then she ran to catch back up with Bornia.

That walked home was just as fast as the walk to the shop was and Ray was quite tired by the time they got home. Seeing that Ray would fall asleep in the bathtub,Bornia showed her up to the largest room in the house which fit Ray just right. With a quick thank you, ray took off her shoes and dress and fell asleep.

Ray awoke to the feeling of Bornia rubbing soft circles on her back. "Huh?" Ray mumbled, rolling over to look at Bornia. "Evening, darling." Bornia said with a smile. "It's time to get up. You need to wash up and then we need to go see the girls to get our outfits together. Alrighty?" she asked. Ray slowly sat up in bed and nodded her head. "M'kay." she said, rubbing her eyes. "Good. I've already drawn your bath and everything you need is in there." Bornia said, showing Ray to the bathroom. It was just across the hall. "Thanks, Bornia." Ray said. "No trouble Ray. Now don't take too long." Bornia said, closing the door.

Ray slipped into the warm water and sighed. It only just occurred to her that she hadn't bathed in two days. "Well at least I have somewhere to bath at all." she said, looking at the different soaps. She assumed the ones in the bottles was for hair and the bars of soap for her body. Ray looked into the bottles to see if she could tell thedifference between shampoo and conditioner, if they even had conditioner. But they did have conditioner, it was in the smaller bottle, like usual. Ray pour a little shampoo into her hand and began to wash her hair.

It didn't take Ray very long too finish up, for the water was getting cold fast and she didn't want to get stuck in cold water. She grabbed a towel, dried off, and was about o put her old clothes back on when she saw a large cream-colored dress on the toilet seat.
"Here is something clean to wear for now,
~Borina"
It read. Ray smiled and slipped the dress on over her underwear, which gladly, were quite clean still. The dress stopped just above her knees was a halter top. Ray looked down at herself, it looked nice. With that she let the water out, hung the towel up and walked out.

Ray walked down the stairs to find Bornia waiting in the dining room. "Thanks for the dress." Ray said to Bornia. The goblin women smiled. "It belonged to a cousin of mine, but she grew out of it. But lets go, we still have much to do before the ball!" and then they were out the door.

They reached the shop just as the sky was beginning to get dark. "We're here!" Bornia called. Zari was the first to appear. "Oh good, come, Ray, lets get your dress on." she said ushering Ray over to the stool again.

Ray had her dress on and was now sitting in a small chair with Alopa carefully winding her hair through with thin dark-red ribbon. When she was done, Capeka came out and expertly put makeup on Ray's face. Zari found a pair of earrings that matched Ray's dress. They had a strand of cream ribbon dangling down about and inch and a half while a strand of red ribbon clipped up on the top of her outer ear. "Now all you need is a necklace..."Zari said. She snapped her fingers and took a red silk choker out of her pocket along with a cream silk circle. She clipped the choker on and carefully slipped her cream silk over Ray's head. "Perfect." she said, happy with her work.

Ray then convinced the five goblins to let her help them get ready for the ball. She put their makeup on, did their hair and gave them positive feedback on their dresses. Just as Ray finishedCapeka's hair, there was a knock on the door. Bornia answered it. "The carriage is here, lets go." she said with a smile. Ray breathed in and stepped outside.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (3)

2009-05-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Chapter three,

Left alone

Ray stood on the same hill Sarah had told her about and she could see the whole Labyrinth from here. The Goblin King stood a few feet behind her. Ray could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. Almost like he was trying to read her mind. "Wow...." was all Ray could say. The Labyrinth was beautiful. "So," she started, turning around to face the King. "I guess this is where we part. Race you to the castle?" Ray asked, playfully. The Goblin King raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I'll win." he said. Ray shrugged. "No harm in trying." she said, retuning his mischievous smile with one of her own. And with that, he was gone.

Ray walked along the wall of the Labyrinth, swatting away fairies as they came at her and dragging her other hand along the wall. She was looking for one of those hidden entrances that Sarah had mentioned. Sarah had said that a little blue worm with a red scarf and British accent told her that there were openings in the walls that you couldn't see with the naked eye.

Ray had been walking for a very long time and she was grateful that she was not timed like Sarah had been. She hadn't found an entrance yet and the fairies were starting to gang up on her. Ray stopped to take a rest and leaned up against the wall. There was one problem with that: there was no wall! Ray fell right through the hidden entrance and fell flat on her butt. "Ow!" she said, groaning and standing up. "Well," she said, looking both right and left. "At least I'm in." and began to walk.

Like Sarah said, it went on and on and on. But Ray let her hand drag along the wall, looking again for a hidden entrance. This time she found one faster. Her hand was on the the wall one moment, then it wasn't. At least it felt like it wasn't. Ray took this opportunity and went trough the entrance, reading herself for what might come next.

Ray turned a corner and found herself at the beginning of a hedgerow maze. "Here goes nothing..." she said, walking into the green maze.

Ray walked up until she came to a fork in the path. One went left, one went right. Ray leaned up on the hedgerow and looked for the castle, it was to her left, so she went that way.

Ray kept the castle in front of her and soon found herself in a stone maze, just like the one Sarah found. "Okay, now I can either keep doing what I just did, or I can look for those funny men with the shields..." Ray said, looking up to see the castle so close but so far away.

Ray decided to continue with what she had been doing and if she found the four men, good, if not, oh well. She walked quite a long while before she remembered what Sarah had said about this maze. "The walls move!" Ray exclaimed, exhausted. She leaned up against the wall and slid to the ground. "This will take forever." Ray complained. "It won't take forever if you choose one of us." said a voice just behind her. Ray stood and turned around to find that she was faced with the four men with the shields.

"One of these doors leads to the castle, right?" Ray asked, her hope renewed. "Yep. One of these doors leads strait to the castle and the other," started the red one left, "Bum bum buuummm!" said the blue one on the right, "Certain death!" finished the red one. They all laughed at then. Ray stood there and thought back. Sarah had taken the blue one and wound up in the oubliette. But just because she wound up, or down, in the oubliette, didn't mean that wasn't the right way. She could have gone up and continued walking. The four men watched her as Ray thought. "Well, here goes nothing.." Ray said, walking up to the red ones. "I'd like to go through this door please."

The men waddled out of the way and the door opened. It was just a hallway. Ray breathed in and stepped through the door. She walked slowly, testing the space before her as she walked. So far, nothing happened, but Ray wasn't going to let that go to her head. The door slowly closed behind her and Ray was left to go on in the dark.

Ray put her hand on her passenger bag that she had packed before the Goblin King had taken her here. "It's a good thing I shoved my flashlight in with my sketch book." she said, taking out the red wind-up flashlight and turning it on. The hallway seemed to go on forever, so Ray placed her hands on the walls, jut in case.

Ray didn't know how long she had been walking when she reached what seemed to be a dead end. "Oh this can't be!" She exclaimed. But then remained herself that nothing here was what it seemed. Ray held her flashlight in one hand and ran her other hand along the entirety of the wall in front of her and on her right and left. She found a small invisible crawlspace in the left corner about two feet high and across. "What a strange place to put a entrance." Ray said as she got down on her hands and knees and began to crawl.

As she crawled, a dim light from far off guiding her, Ray noticed, here and there, there was a tin can or glass bottle. Could I possibly be headed for the junkyard? Ray thought. She hoped so.

Finally Ray came out into a space that she could stand up in. Her knees and palms hurt, but she had hardly a speck of dirt on her. "At least it's clean in that sense." Ray thanked. She wadded through the now growing piles of junk until she came out onto a heap of trash. "Oh wow..." she said in aw. The castle was just a quick walk away and it was the most beautiful thing Ray had ever seen in her life. "It's even better than what Sarah told me." she said and with a smile added in her mind, Just like Jareth.

Ray hefted her bag over her head so that it was slung over her right shoulder and rested on her left hip. It was much more comfortable that way. "On I go." she said, and began walking trough the piles of trash towards the gate.

Ray was careful not to step on any of the moving piles of junk and watched carefully where she was going. Ray didn't want to get into any trouble after she had come this far. As she walked she noticed here and there a little fire and Ray could see a forlorn goblin sitting by it. Just like Hoggle... she thought with a tang of pity for them.

Ray reached the gate much later then she thought she might have. Walking carefully through the junkyard was harder than it looked. But she was here. Ray hid behind the wall, and peer over at the guard. He was asleep. Good. Now he just needs to stay that way. Ray thought, tip-toeing towards the door.

Ray made it through the first gate no problem and she checked back to make sure the guard was still asleep and closed the door. It made the slightest click sound and Ray hoped that didn't wake the guard. Form there she walked quietly on the sandy ground into the Goblin City.

Labyrinth II: Return the the Labyrinth (2)

2009-05-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Chapter two,

A new adventure

Ray opened and closed the front door as quietly as she could. Her mother was in the TV room just around the corner and probably was not in the best of moods. She never was at this time of night. With the door down, Ray did hr best to tip-toe to her room at the end of the hall but the squeaky floor-boards gave her away. "Ray!" her mother called. Ray sighed and went to confront her mother.

Ray peeked around the corner and looked at her mother who was on the couch. "Yes, ma?" she asked. "Where were you today, young miss?" her mother asked, not even turning to look at Ray. "I was at Sarah's house. I put a note on the fridge." she said. Ray had put an note on the fridge. It was probably still there. "Alright then. Now off to bed, you've school tomorrow." Ray's mother commanded. Ray sighed and walked to her room.

Ray took out her sketch book and lay on her bed. she had taken her new sketch book to Sarah's house and now most of it was filled with the drawings of all the characters Sarah had told Ray about. "What a fantastic story..." Ray mused, flipping through the pages. The characters had such personalities, such life. Ray wondered how long it had taken Sarah to put all that together.

Ray stopped at her favorite picture of Jareth, the feared Goblin King. His high collar, long cape, and Victorian-style clothes were everything Ray liked. And the King himself was appealing to Ray. From what Sarah had told her, he had a few love-life problems, but was still quite a powerful being.

"Lights out, Ray!" her mother called as she went to bed. Ray turned of her light and hid under the covers with her flashlight. She stared at the picture of the Goblin King and sighed. "If only I could actually ask you to take me away." she whispered. "If only it wasn't just a story." she said, again looking at all the characters. "Just to take a break from reality. Just to see the winding Labyrinth. Just to gaze upon the Goblin King once. It would be amazing...." Ray sighed and book the book and flashlight away. "But it's just a story. No Goblin king, no Labyrinth, no magic, just words and pictures." she said, looking to the window. The full moon shone in making Ray's room glow an eerie blue. "Oh, I wish the goblins could, would, take me away from here. Right now."

The wind began to howl against Ray's window and she could hear strange giggling from the dark corners of her room. A large and beautiful barn owl scratched at her window. Ray looked around her room, trying to find what was giggling. Finally, the window burst open and wind and leaves rushed in and the giggling stopped.

Ray had put her hands up to protect her face from the owls talons when it flew in and she sat there frozen for a moment. This is what happened in Sarah's story! It can't be... But when she turned around to see the owl, the Goblin King stood in its place.

"You're real!" Ray exclaimed but then covered her mouth, hoping her mother hadn't heard anything. The Goblin King raised an eyebrow. He looked even better in person. "Of course I'm real. Who told you otherwise?" he questioned. Hid voice was calm and smooth with a hint of resentment. His eyes were what made Ray hesitate. They were mismatched, one was stunning green and the other a sharp blue and they held Ray in a sort of trance. "S-Sarah. She just told me all about the Labyrinth and you and, and...." Ray stopped. The King's face was suspicious. "Sarah, told you everything?" he asked. Ray nodded. "Just today." The Goblin King leaned back and thought on this. Ray gave him his space.

Oh. My. God! It really is real! Why didn't Sarah tell me? Was she afraid? That would make sense, but still! He's real. The Labyrinth is real. The magic. The escape.... Ray had so many questions, but kept her mouth shut. She didn't dare brake the silence the Goblin King demanded. "Why did you call me?" he asked at last. Ray had to remember to breath. "I..." she paused. He looked down at her, his eyes expectant. "I thought it would be nice to get out of here. To travel the Labyrinth. It sounds so much better than here." she answered. "And whats makes you think I would do that for you? You have nothing that I can take." he said a-matter-of-factly. Ray looked down. "I don't know. You have to remember I didn't know you and you're realm were real until just now. It wasn't like I was really thinking that you'd come." She answered. "But if there is anything I could do to get to you take me to the Labyrinth, I'll try my best." Ray said, hoping that would do it.

Ray really did want to go to the Labyrinth. Even though she had just heard about it, knowing that it was real made it all the more appealing. The Goblin King watched her, thinking. Ray felt her chest tighten and waves of heat went through her body. His eyes bore into hers and Ray almost felt like he was testing her.

"You really want to go the the Labyrinth?" he asked. Ray sat up straiter and nodded. "Very much so. It's not every day one gets to go to another world." she said in excitement. The Goblin King smirked, amused by Ray's enthusiasm. "I'll let you stay in the Labyrinth, if," he paused for effect there. "If, you can solve the Labyrinth, by yourself." he offered. Ray breathed in. By myself? she thought on it a moment. "Alright." Ray said with a smile. "I just need to pack a thing or two, is that alright?"

Labyrinth II: Return to the Laybrinth (1)

2009-05-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Chapter one,

A shared adventure

The party was over and all her friends gone, and, thankfully, the mess they made disappeared along with them. Sarah was now left to mull over what had just happened. "Was it real?" she asked herself. "Of course it was real, how else did that party just happen?" Sarah answered herself. But nothing was left of the party....

Sarah breathed deeply and sat upright in her bed. Life was never going to be the same now. The Goblin king may have been defeated, but someone else might try to take Toby away and Sarah was never going to let that happen.

But so many things tugged at the back of her mind. Why had the Goblin king answered her call in the first place? Was it just because he answered whenever called? Or was it something more? "I need someone to talk to," Sarah said looking to her stuffed bears on the wall. "Someone I can tell everything to. Someone here. But who?" she wondered. Then it hit her.
Ray.
Ray Quirk was the weirdest girl in school and was always talking about things that did not really exist. Maybe Sarah would be able to talk to her. Maybe she could get some feedback, some outside help. "I'll call her in the morning." Sarah decided. With that, Sarah collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

Sarah did not dream at all that night and she was grateful. She feared that if she had dreamed, she would not wake up again. But the morning was here and soon she would have someone to talk to. Ray and Sarah were not the best of friends, but they were close enough.

Sarah washed her face and then ran down stairs to eat something. She wolfed down a bowl of cereal and, after tossing the bowl and spoon into the sink, snatched up the phone and went up to her room.

Sarah dialed Ray's number and waited axously on her bed. The phone rang five times before someone picked up. "Morning, Ray here," Ray said through the phone. She sounded so different on the phone, older. "Hey Ray, it's me, Sarah. I was wondering if you might be able to come by my place today and stay for a while. I..." Sarah paused. She hadn't thought about how to tell Ray without sounding like a crazy person. "I have this story idea in my head and I wanted to talk it over with you 'cause you're the only person I know who would listen to it without cracking up at the end of every sentence." she said. That would work. Ray gave a surprised and excited gasp through the phone. "Oh really? That sounds awesome. I'll be over in a flash, soo happy you live so close, and we can talk fiction. See ya in a minute!" Ray said and the phone clicked off.

Sarah sat on the stairs, waiting for Ray. While she sat there she thought over how she was going to tell Ray everything. As she was thinking this, Sarah noticed that all of her adventure had been almost exactly like the book. That book, The Labyrinth, the one she read over and over again. Things like all the friends Sarah had found and the friends the maiden in the book had found were very different, but the basic chain of events were the same. Had it been that the author of that book had gone to the Labyrinth as well? Sarah's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door bell.

Ray stood outside the door with a big smile on her heart-shaped face. "I'm here!" she said. Sarah smiled back. "Hey, thanks for coming, I hope I didn't ruin your Sunday..." she said. Ray shook her head. "No problem, I had nothing to today," she said this as Sarah let her in, "And I haven't ever seen your house, so alls cool." Ray looked around the foyer and to the stairs. "Already your house is cooler than mine. Wheres your room?" she asked, excited.

Sarah showed Ray up to her room. Sarah now noticed that Ray had a blue passenger bag with her. This was quickly dumped onto a chair as Ray kicked off her flats and jumped up onto Sarah's bed. Ray patted the spot in front of her and Sarah sat down with her. "So, spill. Whats this really strange story that I only can hear?" Ray asked, her large chocolate brown eyes eager. Sarah took a deep breath and began to tell her story.

It took hours to tell Ray everything. Ray demanded every little tiny detail that Sarah could give her. She gasped in all the right places, "Oooh"ed and "Aah"ed, giggled at the funniest parts, and overall was the best person to tell. When Sarah finally finished Ray clapped. "Sarah that was the coolest story I have ever heard in my entire life! You should write all that down, if you haven't already." she said, getting up and getting a sketch book and pencil out of her bag. Sarah looked down. She hadn't told Ray about The Labyrinth, and if she were to write her adventure down and try to publish it, it might be considered plagiarism. "I dunno..." she said at last. Ray was back in front of her with her sketch book. "Aw, c'mon! I could illustrate it for you. But I don't think I'll be able to draw Jareth too well, he seems like such a complicated character." she said his name without hesitation. Sarah shrugged, trying to seem indecisive. "I'll think about it."

Ray and Sarah spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the "characters" in Sarah's "story". Ray drew them all down in her sketch book and to Sarah's surprise, they looked very much like the real people she had met in the Labyrinth. The two pictures Ray spent the most time on were the ones of Sarah's ball gown and the Goblin King. Sarah's stomach knotted itself into a ball when she saw those pictures. It was a bitter-sweet memory that she wanted so much to forget. In that brief period of time, she had actually wanted to stay with the Goblin King. But it was all just his trickery, his games. The feeling hadn't been real.

"So..." Ray said with a mischievous grin on her face. "So what?" Sarah asked. Ray leaned back on the pillows behind her. "Soo, do you fancy tall, pale, and mysterious men?" she asked. Sarah blushed. Ray giggled. "Thought so. So tell me, since "you turned down the Goblin King" can I have him?" she asked. Sarah stared at Ray open-mouthed. She wanted to yell that he was dangerous and Ray shouldn't even think about him, but she needed to keep up her act that this was all just a story. "Well?" Ray asked with and eyebrow raised. Sarah shook her head and looked at Ray. "I take it you like tall, pale, and mysterious..." she mumbled. "But I don't know how you could "have him". He's just a character." Sarah said, hoping that would throw Ray off. Ray giggled, her blond not-quite-curly hair bouncing. "Sarah, honey, thats what makes it all the better! He's not real, I can do what I want. This is why I love this stuff, you can twist it and bend it however which way you wish." she said. Sarah sighed worriedly. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Ray left around ten, thanking Karen for dinner. "Call me if you decide you want to write that down." she called to Sarah as she walked away. Sarah waved good-bye and then went back up to her room. This was not good. She hadn't told Ray the real words to summon the Goblin King, but what if she found them out, just like Sarah had? What would happen then? "Wait.." Sarah said, sitting upright in her bed. She had defeated the Goblin King, he couldn't come back. Another goblin might take up the throne, but no one would ever come close to the Goblin King. With thatreassurance, Sarah sighed, letting all her troubles disappear.

Labyrinth II: Return to the Labyrinth (intro thingy)

2009-05-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!
As of late, I have become re-obsessed with Jim Henson's: The Labyrinth!
Because of this re-obsession, I am writing a fan-based sequel to the movie.
So, I thought I might inform y'all before I stated posting the chapters up.
Oh and BTW, my version of the sequel will be very very very different <3

Poem

2009-05-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a poem I had to write for poetry class.
Tell me what you think!

-Mischief

When we are young, we are taught to obey.
They set before us a list of strict rules,
but, of course, we do not follow the fools.
Instead we follow Jackal, Fox, and friends,
and where we go from there it depends.
Dear Jackal cheats at love and then picks the
shackles. The foxes lock innocence in
boxes and never lets it back out again.
Their friend the Snake has done both of these things,
and because of this he can grant us wings.
Look towards the darkness of the sunset,
you'll see Jackal untie her red corset,
Fox comes to lock her in the dark closet,
and Snakes ends it all with a bloody banquet.

Patience Winterton

The Darkmoon Gang (1)

2009-04-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

1
Kicked out

Myra sat in her room, fuming. Yet again her step-father had locked her in her room while he had his business friends over. "Fucking little…" Myra threw her pillow at her wall. She hated him. No one but the maids and her tutors even knew she existed at all. "Children should neither be seen nor heard." was her father's argument. It was no fair. But Myra always had the window. She could just run away and do them both a favor. No, Myra could not do that. She was only sixteen, not really old enough to buy an apartment and what would she do for a job? Plus there was the fact that she had zippo money. All her clothes she ordered from online using limited access to her father's account. "What the hell am I going to do mom?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling which was painted like the night sky. Myra's mom was long gone, but Myra still looked to the caring mother she once had for guidance.

Someone knocked on the door. "I'm decent." Myra called to whoever it was, she could no say "come in" for the door was locked from the outside as usual. Myra heard the click as the door unlocked and a wary maid stepped in with a tray of food. Had it been that long? Myra looked at the clock, seven-thirty p.m. "Your dinner, miss Myra." said the maid, placing the tray on a table big enough for two and curtsying a little. "Thanks." Myra said, nodding to the maid and handing her a few coins. The maid smiled broadly, and left. Myra's father did not pay the maids too much.

Myra sat down at her little dining table and examined her dinner. Ribs, yum. Myra dug in. Halfway through devouring the entire rib, Myra's cell phone rang. She wiped her face and fingers off and picked up the bronze-colored phone. "Myra here," she said, waiting to see who had called. "Myra honey!" said the usually cheery voice of Sophie, Myra's best friend. "Hey Sophie" Myra said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Sophie only really called when she going out to party and wanted Myra to come along. "Whats up?" Myra asked, getting excited now. "Well," Sophie started "I'm going out to that pretty little club on Venders street and I thought since you liked it last time, you'd like to come along." she said, confirming Myra's thoughts and hopes. "When do I need to be ready?" Myra asked, knowing that she would be left alone for the rest of the night. "Um... half an hour? You want me to stop my your window again?"
"That works great. Thanks Soph."
"Awesome, girl. See you then!"
Myra snapped the phone shut and turned back to her ribs.

When she had finished the ribs, which did not take very long, Myra opened her closet. She did not really have much, but she had enough. Myra threw on a black tank-top, some ripped jeans she and Sophie had dyed purple, and her fishnet gloves. Myra looked at her collection of boots and picked out a pair of black commando-like boots and tied them on tight. She then went back out to her room and to her vanity and picked out a pair of thick-looking purple hoop earings and applied some dark eyeshadow to her eyes and grabbed her purse.

It did not take much more time for Sophie to arrive. She stopped on the street just a dash fro Myra's window. Myra took out the fire escape ladder and climbed down, running for Sophie's as fast as she could. Once in, Sophie kissed Myra on both cheeks and stepped on the gas.

With Sophie's driving, it took no time at all to reach the club. Myra could hear the music blaring out the open doors as people waited impatiently in line. Sophie parked the car ans walked right to one of the guards, dragging Myra along beside her. It was now that Myra noticed Sophie's dress. It was a dark blue baby-doll dress that stopped much too soon on her thighs. She was also wearing stiletto heals that matched her dress. "Hey baby doll," said the guard to Sophie. "Can I help you?" he asked. Sophie batted her blue eyes at him. "You can let me and my girl in." she said with a wink. I rolled my eyes. Sophie was such a tease. That poor guard was probably now hoping for some fun after work. Too bad.

The guard let us in, much to the dismay of everyone else in line. The club was filled with people drinking and dancing. I weeded out an empty table while Sophie got us some drinks. She had just turned eighteen, and was now legally allowed to get us beer.

Sophie came back with two hard lime-aids and popped the top off of them both and handed one to me. "So, you gonna dance dirty with anyone?" Sophie asked. She always did. Myra looked around, but could not see anybody that appealed to me in the mass of people. "I dun think so." she said, sipping her beer and looking back to her girlfriend. "You?" though Myra already knew the answer. "Hell yeah! Theres a group of boys over at that table that look like they'd be nice." She said, pointing to a few boys who looked like they could kill somebody with all the piercings they had on their faces. "You're crazy, Soph." Sophie giggled. "Damn strait." she said getting up and walking over to the boys she had just pointed out.

A song Myra loved came on and she downed the rest of her beer and headed on into the dance floor. Sophie was showing off her hips in a large dancing circle in the middle of the floor. Myra made eye contact with her, telling her come Myra's way when she was done.

Sophie was dancing in place beside Myra while Myra warmed up to dancing. It took her a minute or two to start going crazy like Sophie. But soon enough, Myra was the one out in the middle of the circle getting hollers of encouragement from the crowd. Myra motioned for Sophie to come out and join her. Sophie was more than willing.

As Sophie and Myra danced, they got plenty of people yelling at them to go on, but Myra was in need of a refreshment. She and Sophie went up to the bar and got some more drinks. "Ow, girl!" Sophie said, nudging Myra. "You've been holding out on me." she said, taking a long swig from her beer. Myra laughed. "Not really. I've just been making sure I could dance like hat before you and I tore up the floor." she said. The two of them laughed.

The party ended sooner that Myra would have liked. Someone had broken the toilets and everyone had to leave unless they wanted to be drenched in sewer water. Sophie was wasted, good thing Myra knew how to drive.

Myra dropped Sophie off at her place and left the car there. It was not too long of a walk back to Myra's house. But it was a lonely walk. The city sky was covered in musk, like always.

Once home, Myra climbed up the fire escape ladder she had used to get out and put it back where it belonged. She looked at the clock. Four a.m. Myra's usual bedtime. She took off her party clothes and threw them in the hamper after she had taken her boots off and tossed them back in the closet. Myra took her earings off and took a quick shower. She dressed for bed and passed out.

The whir of machinery was what really woke Myra up. The irritating GONG-GONG-GONG of the clock was what got Myra out of bed. "I hate mornings." she mumbled. It was nine a.m. "Well lets see..." she did the math in her head. "Six hours of sleep. Charlie will notice." Myra grumbled.

Myra headed downstairs for breakfast. Her step-father was already at the table eating toast. A maid was just coming out with Myra's sausage and eggs. At least Myra was well fed. "Morning," Charlie said in an emotionless tone. "Morning." Myra answered, sitting down and eating her eggs. Charlie looked up at her. "Where did you go last night?" he asked casually. Myra hated it when he did that. "Out." she said, knowing he would not drop the subject just yet. "With whom?"
"Soph."
"Your whore friend?"
That put Myra off. Sophie was no whore, she was just more open with her sexuality than most other girls. "Sophie's not a whore, Charlie." Myra corrected him, trying to stay calm and controlled at the table. Her mother had taught Myra to mind her manners even if she did not like the person she was talking to. "Then what is she?" Charlie asked, still keeping his calm tone. He was a business man, he was practiced at this. "She's a good friend of mine." Myra answered simply. "Mmhm." Charlie mumbled, finally dropping the subject.

It was Saturday, so Myra could wander about the house and stretch her legs. The garden was Myra's favorite place to be. It smelled so nice. Like her mother. Myra sat on the stone bench and held a blooming rosebud in her palm. "Your roses are doin' good, mom." Myra said, remembering all the time that her mother had spent here taking care of the roses. "I miss you." she whispered. Myra's mom had taken her own life, when Myra was ten. Six long years ago. Charlie had driven her over the edge. She had told Myra herself. "I can't take him any more, Myra. I just can't go on like this." she had said to Myra before going to her room. Myra had no idea what her mother had really meant when she said those words. But and hour later, a gunshot sounded from her mother's room and when Myra ran to see what had happened… That was a sight that a ten-year-old should never see.

"She's gone. Get over it." Charlie said coldly. When did he get here? Had he heard Myra? "Say again?" Myra asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about. "Your mother is gone. Get over it and grow up." Charlie said, his voice still cold. Myra held back tears for the millionth time. "I know she's gone. Is it such a sin to miss her? She cared for me more than you ever did." Myra let her hate leak into her voice. "Your mother obviously didn't care for you as much as you think if she took her own life to get away." he said. Myra shot up, pulling the rose up with her. The thorns hurt, but not as much as Charlie's words did. "Mom took her life because of you! You drove her to insanity! I saw her. Every time you spoke to her, it was like you were stabbing her with blunt knives! She told me herself that it was because of you she could not go on!" Myra yelled, no longer being able to hold back her tears. She could feel the pain as the thorns dug into her skin and she could feel the warm blood trickle through her fingers.

Charlie was quiet for a moment. But his face was still cold and emotionless. "Myra, talk to me like that again, and you can pack your bags and leave." he said. Myra clenched her fists even tighter now and slapped Charlie, hard, across the face. "I'd rather leave now." she said, storming up to her room to pack.

Myra was sure to smear her bloody hand over anything white and valuable to Charlie, and that was a lot of stuff. Once in her room, she dialed Sophie's number. It took two rings for Sophie to pick up. "Yellow?" Sophie's cheery voice sounded through the phone. "Hey Sophie?" Myra asked, her voice cracking. "Oh! Myra honey, whats wrong? Did he beat you again?" she asked, panicked now. Myra shook her head and then remembered that Sophie could not see her. "No. He just kicked me out. Can I come to your place?" she asked, her hand washed and clean. "Definitely! I'll be over there as soon as I can. Hold on, 'kay?" Sophie asked. " 'Kay." Myra said, snapping the phone shut. She looked at the little bronze gears that turned on the outside of the cell phone for decoration. "Get packed, Myra." Myra told herself, leaving the bathroom and getting out her suitcase.

It did not take long for Myra to pack. Nor did it take long for Sophie to get there. The doorbell rang and Myra almost ran down the stairs with her single suitcase and passenger bag. A maid had jsut opened the door. "I'm sorry but there is no My-" she was cut off as Myra shoved past her towards Sophie's car. "Lets get out of here, Soph. I'm sick of it." she said. Sophie gave the maid a hard glare and then went to being Myra's big sister figure and helped get her stuff in the trunk. "You can stay with me hun'. I've got room." Sophie said, starting the car and driving away.

The Darkmoon Gang

2009-04-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a new story idea of mine, The Darkmoon Gang. Heres the little blurb you read on the back of the book or on the inside flap:

In a huge explosion at the military science vicinity, fifty years ago, a many number of people living nearby were caught by the blast and had their blood mutated. They became known as x-type humans. But humans were not the only race caught in the blast, a few vampires were also there and their taste buds were mutated to find x-type humans quite delicious.
Myra Kane Chevalier, the daughter of Marie Kane and step-daughter to Charlie Chevalier, is a rare x-type human. Alexander Lu'kard, second in command of the Darkmoon gang, is a vampire that was caught in the blast. What will happen when Sophie Clear, Myra's best friend and the Darkmoon gang's maid brings Myra into the gang?

And thats it for now. I might come up with something more witty later. This story is also very much inspired by Stephenie Meyer's book, Twilight. But what can I say? I like vampires and romance <3

Darkrealms: Warmorning

2009-04-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Warmorning

The drums sounded throughout the Obsidian castle. Wake up time. Haythia groaned and rolled over, not wanting to get up. Every morning for three years the drums would sound through the castle at four in the bloody morning and Haythia was forced to get out of her bed and train in the art of war. She hated it. But at the same time, the monster Haythia was now lusted for it. But for the past few months her trainer, Andreas Seset, would wake Haythia up in the kindest of ways.

As these thoughts went through Haythia's head, she felt the weight of the bed shift and without opening her eyes she knew the Andreas had come. "Good morning, love." He said gently. Haythia turned to face him. Andreas. Haythia whispered his name in her head. Andreas was the right hand of the man Haythia hated most, her trainer, and her secret lover. The moment Haythia first set foot in the Obsidian castle Andreas, and Andreas alone, had been kind to her.

"Morning." Haythia finally said after a few moments of silence. But as Haythia's eyes met Andreas' she didn't see the usual calm content look on his face. No, this time a look of worry and concern was all Haythia was greeted with. "Whats wrong?" Haythia asked. Andreas' sea green cat eyes held no light. "Elleron..." Andreas paused. A flare of hate shot through Haythia's body. "Elleron has decided that we go to war today." Andreas finished. Great. Yet another day ruined by the bastard, Elleron. Haythia sat upright. "Now?" she asked. "He said that we are to be on the battlefield by sunrise." Haythia cursed under her breath. Elleron Rawdroll, vampiric king of the Darkrealms. He was the man who brought Haythia here. He was the man who ruined her life. He was the man that was using her. He was the man Haythia hated like nothing else. "I'll..." Andreas sighed. "I'll be in the arena. Come down your ready." he said getting out of the bed and heading for the door. Haythia could tell the he too was upset at Elleron's last-minute decision.

Haythia got out of bed and headed for her wardrobe. The dark morning didn't help her mood any. "War. The idiot." Haythia said walking into her wardrobe, looking for the right armor. Every "war" that Haythia fought for Elleron only lasted a couple hours, and only on rare occasion did the "war" last more than a few days. They were more like really big fights and scrambles. Elleron always won. No, Haythia always won. Elleron just got the credit.

Sighing harshly Haythia picked out an old suit out of three choices. "...I haven't worn this in forever." She said looking at her old leather sparing-suit. It consisted of a pair of shorts, a single-sleeved tank top, a right shoulder guard, arm guards, boots, and a belt. "I hope the enchantments still work. I don't want to have to come running back to change when they don't." Haythia said to herself. The armor had two enchantments on it. One was that no matter how much Haythia grew, it would always fit her. The second was that after the armor was hit a couple times, a protective shield of magic would cover Haythia's body until any one piece of the armor was removed.

Haythia took the armor off the wooden manequin in lived on and draped the items over her arm. She would put it on in a minute.

Haythia then proceeded over to her weapons closet. Haythia looked through the blades in the closet. After a moment, she spotted the two she wanted. The weapons were two swords in the shape of lop-sided diamonds, with smaller side of the diamond near the hilt. There was no hand guards on either of the blades for reasons Haythia did not know.

Haythia held the blades firmly. Elleron Rawdroll. Boy did he have it coming. "When this is over Elleron will finally pay for everything. With his life." Haythia assured herself as she left her room. "Everything."

Haythia had been human once.

Haythia dodged another one of Andreas' attacks. "Your mad." Haythia said as she lunged back at Andreas. "So are you." Andreas said moving aside just in time to dodge Haythia's attack. "Damn strait." She said, her anger growing with each passing second. A small sliver of light could be seen on the horizon and Haythia wished that she could be fighting Elleron himself and not for him. Haythia's anger was burning hot.

"When was the the last time you fed?" Andreas asked Haythia as they spared. "I don't remember." She said, tripping Andreas and holding her sword to his throat. "Okay you win the spar." Andreas said nervously. Haythia withdrew her blade and turned to face one of the dummies. "How do you think your going make it?" Andreas asked as he stood and brushed the dust off his tunic. "What do you mean? I've lasted this long." Haythia spat as she moved from dummy to dummy, leaving a trail of shredded fabric and stuffing cotton in her wake. "You'll be surrounded by blood. The smell of it will drive you crazy." Andreas told her, walking over to a bench and sitting down. Haythia slashed the head off the last dummy. "You've taught me to hold back. You've taught me how to channel my hunger into power." Haythia said turning to Andreas, the anger burned clearly in her eyes. No amount of dummies could stand in for Elleron. Andreas nodded. "Yes, I guess I did." He said, looking at Haythia worriedly.

Haythia walked over and sat beside Andreas on the bench. She leaned on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. "Is there any way I can be me again?" Haythia asked Andreas, a sadness in her voice that only he heard. "No... Once bitten. Always bitten." Andreas told her. Haythia cursed. Elleron was a pure blood-born vampire, the last of his kind, and he had bitten Haythia three years ago and made her a "bitten vampire". Ever since then, Haythia had been dark, mean, and lusted for blood and battle. Only very rarely did Haythia seem human, and even then, it was not the same.

The drums sounded and Haythia once again was overcome with hate. "I swear when this is over..." Haythia said standing with clenched fists. "We'll get through this. C'mon." Andreas said, taking Haythia's hand and walking out of the arena.

Haythia stabbed a young human soldier, no older than eighteen. She looked at the fake courage in his eyes dieing eyes. "Stupid." She scorned. "Each time I fight, our enemy's soldiers keep getting younger and younger. And they think it will help. Sehctib." Haythia said withdrawing her blade from the boy's chest.

Haythia lunged at another soldier, digging her sword into him, and then lunging at the next and the next. She used her swords like grappling hooks and the men like cavern walls, propelling herself through the mass of humans and demons. The humans were the only ones dieing right now. As she did this, Haythia looked for the brown hair and cat ears of her love, Andreas, but was unsuccessful in finding him. But she did see Elleron. That was something that Haythia grudgingly respected Elleron for, he fought alongside his people.

When Haythia could see the tops of the enemy tents she stopped lunging and killing and snaked through the crowd until she reached the edge of the battlefield. The sent of blood was still strong in her nose and Haythia had to stop for a moment to control her urges. She was saving her hunger for Elleron. Haythia was doing this one last battle for him. Then, she would kill him. Never had Haythia gone this long without feeding on the blood she now needed. That hunger and power was going to rid the world the tyrant once and for all.

Elleron had told Haythia to deal with this king swiftly and quietly. The faster, the better. If she could finish this fast and without trouble, it would only help her in killing Elleron faster.

Haythia walked up the the biggest tent, obviously the tent on the king. The scent of something extremely sweet replaced the smell of blood and Haythia nearly hurled. "What is that?" She asked in disgust as she walked closer to the tent. Haythia highly disliked sweet things. Even when she was human, she had not liked them.

The sweet smell only got stronger as Haythia got closer. Great. She thought as she looked through a crack in the tent fabric, just so she knew what she was up against. Inside the tent she saw two guards and a very fat king sitting in a fancy chair eating baked sweets. Well this is going to be easy.

Haythia walked around to the front of the tent and just walked in. He was a fat, lazy, king with only two guards to protect him. Sneaking in would be more work.

The fat king heard her come in. "Whoever you are, go away!" He said. Haythia shook her head. This fool truly had no idea what was coming. When the king noticed that Haythia hadn't left he snapped his fingers at the two guards.
"Remove the intruder." He told them, and they moved in to take Haythia out.

When the guards were close enough Haythia took her swords and stabbed them into the guards. When the king heard the last groans of the guards, he looked up. Just then Haythia withdrew the swords from the chests of the guards and they fell limp, dead, and cold to the ground. The smell of intense fear flooded Haythia's nose. "W-what are y-you doing w-w-woman?!" The king demanded shakily as Haythia approached him. Haythia said nothing. "How d-d-dare you k-kill the men t-that are of h-h-higher status then y-you?!" He demanded again. Still Haythia said nothing.

Haythia put her blade to the king's throat, her amythist eyes held no compassion. In fact, all she could feel right now was the numbness of her hate. "W-w-what are you?" the king asked, gulping in his last breath. "A puppet." Haythia said sadly, and before the king could say anything more, Haythia cut his head off with one swift stroke.

The smells of fear, blood, and the sweet things wafted into Haythia's nose. She looked over at the sweets. "I wonder..." She said, picking up one of the sweets. Maybe, they did not taste as bad as they smelled.

Haythia took a small bite and spit is right back out. "Gross!" She said, throwing the sweet to the ground. She had been wrong about them tasting batter then the smelled. Haythia looked around the room for something to wash her mouth out. She found a half empty bottle of wine and took a long swig.

When she had washed the taste of sugar from her mouth, Haythia set the wine bottle back on the table and picked up the head of the dead king by the hair and exited the tent.

Haythia looked around for a place where she could show that the Darkrelms had won this battle. She found a platform with a horn on it. Most likely used to tell the troops what to do. "It'll work." She said and she walked up the steps to the horn.

Haythia took a deep breath and blew into horn. It sounded loudly all throughout the battlefield. Everybody, human and demon alike, turned in her direction. Haythia raised the king's head high. "Your king is dead!" She yelled. "Elleron Rawdroll, vampiric king of the Darkrealms has won! If you value your life, run back to your homes, pack-up, and leave these lands! For they are ours now!" Haythia yelled to the crowd. She knew that not everyone could hear her or see her but the message would spread and soon the battlefield would be empty. Haythia looked at down where the battlefield started and she saw Elleron looking up at her with a smug and content look on his blood splattered face. His icey blue eyes no longer able to melt her hatred. Just wait. She thought. And I'll wipe that smile right off your smug little face.

Re-writing

2009-04-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hey look!
A post that doesn't have to do with anything Twilight fan-fiction related!

But anyways.
I'm back.
To this blog....
And I'm re-writing Darkrealms: Warmorning and continuing the story!
The new, re-written, Warmorning chapter will be posted as soon as I have it ready.
The next chapter, Joy and heartbreak, will be coming up next.

Notes

2009-02-03T18:56:00.000-08:00

{These are my.... Notes I guess.
These notes are for a roleplay that I want to start, but I have to work out a few quirks first.
These will be written in the first person, given that they are notes to myself. I wonder how one is going to work out....
If you have any suggestions, feel free to share <3}

Firstly, there needs to be a set number of players.... Seven works. That should be enough to keep the whole thing moving. And if someone(s) wanted to quit, they could just kill their character(s). Or something that makes them permanently disappear.
Now I want there to be a set ending too. But I first need to decide what I want the RP to be about. I know I want it to be some sort of quest, but the question is: a quest for what? Treasure is out of the question. Saving the world? Maybe.... Um mum mum..... Oh gosh I have no idea. That might come later.
Now, to keep the the RP moving, I could set up a list of mini-quests or goals. Of course those would center around the main quest/goal that I can not think of right now!

Okay, lets take a break form the story. Maybe designing the profiles. Yeah, that works.
Of course there has to be the usual, Username, name, age, and race categories... But to make it an interesting RP, I have to put meat on the skeleton. How 'bout:

Username:
Name:
Race:
Age:
Profession: Wow, I spelled that right on the first try O_O
Weapon(s):
Magic:
Past:
Appearance:
Word Color and Font:
Other:

Thats good. Everything would be as it sounds, name, race, age, blah, blah, blah. The only one that seems to make little sense, is the "Word Color and Font" part. Well that is a simple explanation; It's the color and font that you will use to make your RPC unique. Like someone could use, Orange color and Courier font. And only one person would be able to have Orange color and Courier font. Which would look like this: Orange Courier.
But I want them to state their RPC's first and last name. Middle name if they want. I'll put that in parenthesis.

No wait.... I can't have seven all powerful heroes running around! I'll add a fears and faults section to the profile. I also need to bold the the thingys....

Now, for my RPC..... *evil grin*

Username: Betrayal SilverBlood
Name: Enin O. Corover (O. stands for Oblivion)
Race: Lunar Elf turned Litch
Age: 73 (looks and sort of acts 18/20-ish)
Profession: Necromancer
Weapon(s): Scythe
Magic/Abilities: Can heal severe wounds (external or internal). Can feel death, as in she can tell if someone is dieing and she can tell if there is a ghost, shade, undead, is nearby. Can talk to the dead. Can use black magic/shadow energy to a large extent.
Fears and Faults: Will loose power when is solitude, given that she is a Litch, because she in a way feeds off of the dieing life force of those around her. She can not die, she will stay unconscious for days, weeks, months, even years at a time when delivered a death blow, but she can not die unless the dieing life force(s) she feeds off of is/are cut off of from her for long enough. If she uses too much black magic/shadow energy at any given time, the entirety of the magic/energy will backfire on her. Scared of being left behind and alone. Sometimes she can get a bit clingy.
Appearance: *picture for this spot is being drawn*
Word Color and Font: Word color is Purple and Font is Papyrus.
Other: Nothing right now.

There! My profile. I am quite pleased. I'll fill in the empty parts later.

Sadly, I still do not have an idea for what should be happening in the RP. It'll come too me later.
I hope.....

Betrayal (8)

2009-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

8: New body-old soul

Veax lay in her bed. She was still scared to go to sleep, despite Dorran's encouragement. In all honesty, Veax was not scared of Elleron, but scared of dreaming. She had dreamt once before and that had not ended well. It was before her mother's death. Veax shivered at the memory. Her mother had died of starvation, a long and horrible death for a Vampire. It was just a few months before the clan moved out of the city manor and headed out to the country.Veax's mother, Raina, was a beautiful Vampire with the reddest hair you have ever seen and golden eyes. She was very much against the war, Raina saw no meaning to it. She had tried to use logic and history onCarthem, but logic was a stranger to Carthem and he thought nothing of history, be it Vampiric or not. Veax remember covering Nasya's ears as her parents fought. Her mother had tried to tell Carthem, for the millionth time, that Vampires and Werewolves had once lived beside one another under Elleron's rule, along with many other races. Carthem never listened to Raina, and that was half the reason she allowed herself to die such a death. Raina had love Carthem, but when his love for her died, so did she.

Veax shook her head, trying to wipe the horrid memory from her mind. Then it came to her. "King Elleron once ruled over all creatures, Vampiric and Werewolven alike." Veax whispered. "Then he died -supposedly- and everything fell apart. He might have been a tyrant, but he was a good king. He kept the peace! Maybe...."Veax hesitated before continuing, "Maybe he could keep the peace again. Maybe he could come back and end the war." she laid down on the bed, curiosity replacing her fear.Veax closed her eyes and repeated "Let me talk to Elleron." over and over again. Slowly but surely, she fell asleep.

She was in the main hall of the Obsidian castle again. Veax looked to the tapestry. It was different somehow. Veax could not see how it was different, she just knew it was. It told a different story. Veax dismissed the tapestry and walked down the hidden stairway. It seemed to take longer this time.
When she reached the bottom, there was no one there. Veax took in a deep breath. "Wait." she paused. "I'm controlling myself. Does this mean I'm still dreaming? Or can you control yourself in your dreams sometimes?"Veax asked herself. "Yes. You can control yourself in your own dreams." a voice spoke from behind her. Veax spun around, it was Elleron. His emerald robes contrasted well with his white skin. "Did you see the tapestry?" he asked in a cool voice. Veax shook her head. Elleron looked disappointed. Veax noticed that he stood out from everything. Everything around him seemed slightly blurred now. "Thats a bummer. I thought you might like it. You can see it in the morning though, so all is well." he said shrugging.
Veax did not know how to start. How should I ask him? she thought. "Ask me what?" Elleron asked, his eyebrow raised. "I thought you could read my mind deeper than that." Veax said, looking up to his eyes. They were as icy blue as her own, if not more. Elleron chuckled. "I could. Last night you were sleeping with no control over your dream. Since you had no control, I filled that spot and learned what I could. But now that you are more or less awake, I can only see so deep. And I feel like being polite, so I'm going to let you decide to ask me whatever it is you want to ask me or not."Elleron explained. "Aha..." Veax nodded. "How did you know that I could read your thoughts deeper?" Elleron asked. Veax looked in the direction of the library that the journal was and before she could think twice, she was standing in front of the old desk andElleron was seated in the large armchair. The book was opened to the page with Elleron's previous entry that told of his seeing Veax.
Elleron ran his fingers over the writing. "I thought you couldn't read goblin." he said. Veax guessed that Elleron made sure that she could not read goblin, for the sack of her not reading the journal. "I can't, Vance read it to me." she explained.Elleron looked up at her. "Vance Warxen?" he asked. Veax nodded. Elleron seemed to turn this fact over in his mind and Veax saw a small gleam shine in his eyes.
"Elleron...." Veax started. Damn. I still don't know how to ask. I don't want to do anything that would hurt anyone else. she thought. "Yes?" Elleron looked up at her. "Um.... How do you plan to "come back", pray tell?" Veax asked, her voice low. Elleron looked down at the journal. "I said what I was going to do. Whats bothering you?" he asked, the gleam gone from his eye. "I don't want you to hurt anyone coming back. I don't want anyone close to me having to do something against their will or being promised anything that won't be fulfilled." she said.Elleron stood and smiled warmly at Veax. "I give you my word, no one will be harmed or given any false promises." he said sincerely as he placed a cold hand on her cheek. "But how do I know you're not lying now?" Veax asked, biting her lip. "Because I don't want to scare you. I don't want to loose you." Elleron spoke with the sort of longing that Veax had told of in her bedtime story to the young ones.
Veax pulled away from Elleron's hand, as comferting as it was. "Do you have any idea who to choose?" she asked, turning away. Veax could feel Elleron's despair at that action. "Yes." he said. Vance... Veax thought. "Yes." Elleron confirmed. Veax turned back around. "You'll keep your word?" she asked, just once more. Elleron nodded.
Veax was about to say something more, but she heard a sof t voice calling to her from the outside. "Veax, c'mon you sleepy head, get up." spoke Nasya's voice. Veax smiled at Elleron and allowed herself to return to consciousness.

"Hm?" Veax mumbled as she opened her eyes. Nasya giggled. "You've never slept this deep before." she said. "I did notice two shadows passing my door last night." Nasya smiled. "You didn't sneak off with somebody last night did you?" she asked with giggling curiosity. Veax blushed. "No! What makes you think that?" she asked, sitting up in bed. Nasya only giggled more. "That was so totally a yes! C'mon, tell me who the lucky guy is." Nasya asked, her big eyes batting at Veax. Veax rolled her eyes. "I did not sneak out with anyone, and there is no lucky guy, Nessie." Veax said, annoyed. She had wanted a different welcome back into the world of reality. Did King Elleron and I just have a long and meaningful conversation in my dream? Veax thought, remembering the whole meeting with perfect clarity. Elleron had expressed the feeling only two other women had felt towards Veax just a moment ago.

Nasya nudged Veax about the previous night over and over again. "No, Vance and I didn't sneak off!" Veax said, turning to her little sister, quite annoyed now. "How many times to I have to tell you? Nothing happened last night! I was just wandering 'bout the manor like I used to before we moved. 'Kay?" she snapped at Nasya.

Nasya backed off after that, just one more complaint away form a smack in the face. Veax stood on a one of the five third floor balconies. She was trying to figure out who to see first; Dorran or Vance. It might be best to see if Dorran's doing alright. Then I'll go see Vance..... I wonder what he'll be like after Elleron. That is, if Vance accepts Elleron's offer-proposal-whatever-it-is-thingy. Veax thought as she headed for the unused wine cellar. Oh damnit! I didn't get any blankets for Dorran! He must be misrble. Veax realized. Veax grabbed a few good spare blankets as discreetly as she could and headed back down to the cellar.

Almost everybody was out of the manor and back in the city. This was a good thing. A very good thing. Veax reached the door and knocked. "Mixed." she said. There was a moment of silcnce and then the sound of the lock clicking open. Dorran stood at the door, he looked horrible. "Did you sleep at all?" Veax asked, feeling so bad that she had not gotten him a blanket sooner. Dorrn smiled. "I got a few hours. How about you?" he asked, taking the blankets. Veax took a deep breath. "I guess I slept..." she said, locking the door and then helping Dorran lay the blankets out for his makeshift bed. "You guess?" He asked, confused. Veax sighed.

Veax told Dorran everything about her meeting with Elleron. It was nice having someone to talk to. Someoen who would not look at her like she was an idiot or traitor. "Well, now you know what you wanted to know. The question now is: what are you going to do about it?" Dorran spoke Veax exact problem aloud. Veax lay down. "I have no damn idea." she said. Every time Veax had tried to think of something to do, her mind had gone blank. That always happened to her when she tired to think of one specific thing.

They lay in silence for a moment, but that silence was broken by Dorran's loud stomach. Veax giggled. "I'll go get you some food" she said, standing and going to the door. "Would you like some "wine" as well?" she asked with a smile. Dorran's eyes lit up. "That would be the best thing in the world to me right now." he answered.

Veax casually walked to the newer wine cellar and got her and Dorran a bottle of blood-wine, which was the same thing as wine, but it had the one special ingredient that all Vampires craved; human blood. When she got a fresh bottle, Veax headed up to the kitchen. Memly, the head chef and cook, was busy cooking some soup for lunch. "Ey, Memly?" Veax asked, half in and half out of the kitchen. Memly, a stout auburn-haired Vampre, turned to face Veax, her beady green eyes kind. "What can I do for you dear?" Memly asked with a smile. "Do you perchance have any meat left form last night's dinner?" Veax asked in her usual way. "Hiding up in your room again?" Memly asked, moving over to a large cabinet. "More like up on the roof, but you were close enough." she said with a smile. Memly handed Veax a pile of sliced and uneaten pork wrapped in a large napkin. "Well wherever you are going to be, it'll be nice to have somebody eat this meat." Memly said, returning to her stew.

Veax grabbed to cups before she left the kitchen and then headed back to the old cellar as fast as she could, she too was hungry. When she reached there, she again knocked and spoke the 'password' and Dorran let her in. They sat down and Veax set the two cups down and poured Dorran a drink before she did anything else. "Be careful when drinking that," she told Dorran as he picked up the cup. "It's like wine so if you drink it to fast you'll feel sick." she explained. Dorran nodded and sipped in down as fast as one could sip wine.

They had a nice brunch of pork and blood-wine. Dorran most of the blood-wine, which helped his sleeping problem and his feeding problem. Veax left the empty wine bottle with Dorran as well as the last few pieces of pork. "I'll be back later tonight with some more to eat, okay?" Veax asked as she was leaving the cellar. "Thats just fine." he said, locking the door behind Veax.

Veax walked out into the daylight. The sun felt nice on her skin. "Oi! Veax!" a femiliar voice called. Veax turned to see who it was. Culdo was running towards her. Veax waited for him to finally reach her. "You know, " he paused to catch his breath "You could've, done something, along the lines, of running to meet me." he said, panting as be spoke. Veax giggled. "No when had I ever done that you silly red-head?" she asked, scuffing up Culdo's shaggy red hair. Culdo laughed. "Never I guess." he said. Veax let her own red-brown hair down and then put it back up in a pony. "So why'd you run all the way over here?" she asked. Culdo heaved another breath. "My wife, Linlic, would like to have you over for dinner tonight." he said. Veax blinked her eyes at Culdo in surprise. "You can little Lin got married? For real this time, right?" Veax teased. Culdo rolled his eyes, "Haha," he said, sarcastically. "Can you come?" he asked. Veax smiled. "Why not. When should I show up?" she asked. "Sundown." Culdo responded.

Veax waved bye to Culdo and then head off to see Vance. Had Elleron already made his move? Veax was anxious. She walked to the building that Vance was staying in as fast as she casually could.

When Veax reached the extra manor, Vance was not there. Veax asked around, and a few Vampires told her that he had gone to see the castle garden again. Veax went to the gardens strait away. She did not know why she was so worried, maybe it was just the fact that the most powerful Vampire in all of history was going to possess her friend. Maybe it was the fact that the most powerful Vampire in all history was in love with her. Or he at least felt connected to her.

Once at the gardens, Veax looked around. Vance was nowhere to be found. Veax quickly went to the hidden tunnel. She almost ran down the dark passage, tripping more than once. Finally Veax reached the main hall of the Obsidian castle. She looked around. No guards. Veax went behind the tapestry and down the near invisible staircase.

Veax was out of breath when she reached the library. Vance was not there either, at least not where Veax could see him. Taking in a deep breath, Veax headed towards the journal. Her pace slowed as she came closer to the old desk. She almost did not want to know whether Elleron had taken Vance or not now. But it was to late to turn back and when Veax turned the corner, what she saw left her frozen.

Betrayal (7)

2009-01-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

7: A plan

Dorran was crouching over the stream. The Werewolves had been hunting more often now that they had started setting up a permanent camp and had left Dorran little time for hunting prey on land. Fish had fed Dorran for the past day and a half. The meat tasted fine, but the fish did not and could not satisfy his hunger for blood. Dorran would have to wait until the pack settled down in oder to fill that hunger.

Dorran was picking the small bones carefully out of his newly caught meal. He could just as easily crunched the bones in his mouth, but then they got stuck in his teeth and that was no fun. It was mid-day and the sun dappled the small little clearing near the stream. Dorran wondered what his dream was about. He could not remember very much, just that there was Jasperain and a female and they were in the middle of some huge battle.

Dorran was deep in thought when Jasperain's sent snapped Dorran out of his thoughts. Jasperain stepped into the clearing just a few minutes later. He looked like one of the fabled warriors of Lune with his antlers. He was truly a blessed wolf to have found and caught that buck. "Hey." Jasperain greeted Dorran simply, sitting down beside him. "Afternoon." Dorran nodded towards his new friend. "So, what took you so long?" Dorran asked jokingly. Jasperain smiled. "Since I'm deputy now, I've had to stay at the camp and help around. Alarik let me have a breather. So we can talk for a good hour." he said. Dorran could see now hard hard Jasperain had been working.

For about the first twenty minutes, Dorran and Jasperain talked about one another. It was interesting, learning about life in the packs. Dorran's father had taught him a thing or two, but not much and Dorran had picked up a thing or two from following the packs, but that had not given him anything big either. Jasperain seemed equally interested in Dorran's life. Then the topic of dreams came up and Dorran remembered his. "Oh! I just remembered." Dorran's ears pricked up. "I had a dream last night, and you and a female I don't know was in it." he said. Japserain looked up. "Tell me." he said. Dorran told what he remembered of his dream.

Jasperain sat cross-legged, looking over the stream, his golden eyes seemingly far away. Dorran waited. Jasperain finally spoke. "From what you tell me, that Vampire in your dream was Veax." he said, his voice as far off as his eyes. "And from where we were and what we were doing, I believe you have seen how Veax and I feel about this war." Jasperain said, finally looking at Dorran. Dorran nodded. "I saw you and her on the battlefield. I knew there had to be a good reason that you didn't kill her." he said in a low voice. Jasperain tilited his antlered head to one side. "You've been following us for that long?" he asked. Dorran nodded again. Jasperain looked away again. "Dorran...." he paused before continuing "Can you keep a secret?"Jasperain asked. Dorran chuckled. "I have no one to tell." he answered. "Good. Because I have a dream to tell you. It keeps coming back to me and I can't sleep. Lune wants to tell me something, and I just can't dream long enough to find out what it is." Jasperain said, his voice barely above a whisper. This caught Dorran's attention. "I'm listening."

Jasperain told Dorran of his dream. The blood covered clearing, the full moon, Veax. "And every time she tries to tell me what I promised her, thunder rolls through the sky and blocks her words. Then I kill her...." Jasperain was obviously quite troubled by this dream. Dorran thought it over. He had never had a recurring dream and he doubted that many did. "Jasperain," Dorran said, putting a paw and the younger wolf's shoulder "I don't know much about the beliefs of the packs and the ceremonies of your kin, but if I didn't know better, you are seeing visions from Lune." he concluded. It was the only thing that made sense to Dorran right now.

Jasperain did not seem to be encouraged by that thought. "But I have no one else to tell. If I were to tell anyone else of this dream I would be cased out of the pack or even killed for knowing a Vampire as something more than an enemy." he said, despair think on his words. "You don't have to say that you know her, you can just leave those parts out. It's a dream, a vision, you're not supposed to know everything you see or hear in it." Dorran pointed out. Jasperain picked his head up. "Why did I not think of that before?! Dorran, you might only be half my kin, but you must be blessed by the Moon and the powers of Lune." the antlered wolf exclaimed, his hope renewed. Dorran smiled. "I'm glad I could help." he said.

They talked about how Japserain should go about telling his pack shaman, Kacima, about his dream. It did not take long, and they were both happy and content when they agreed on the best plan of action. Then an idea came back to Dorran's mind. "Jasperain, I have an idea." He started with a smile on his face. Jasperain leaned closer, showing that he was listening. "I could sneak into the city and find Veax. I could talk to her and help plan ways for you two to meet, because I want to stop this war too." he stated. Jasperain looked surprised. "Won't know that you are not one of them? Wouldn't you smell different?" he asked, worried. Dorran shook his head. "If anyone asks, I could just say that I had spent some time where some Werewolves had previously hunted. That would be enough for them." he said. Japserain leaned back, thinking it over. "Alright. Heres all I know about Veax: her clan name is Bloodrain, she looks about twenty years old, she has dark red hair, and she has the sharpest and brightest ice blue eyes I have ever seen." Japserain told Dorran. Dorran nodded. Bloodrain, twenty, red hair, ice eyes. he went over the fact in his mind. "Thats all you have?" he asked. Japserain nodded. Dorran stood. "In that case, I'll head off. The Vampires like the day better than than night, and I want to catch her before she goes to bed." he said. Japserain stood beside him. "Our hour is almost up anyway and I need to clear your sent off me. So it works. I wish you luck, mu friend." he said. Dorran smiled warmly "And I wish you the same luck, my friend." and they parted ways.

Dorran had not changed to his most human form in a long time. He felt so much smaller. But he was smaller. His human form was at least two feet shorter than his wolven form and his overall body mass became smaller. He felt cramped now and he had three problems. The first was that his pants were to big, but that was an easy fix. the second problem was that he still had wolf ears on the top of his head. He would have to find a hat for that. Dorran's last problem was his tail. It was much to big to keep hidden in his pants. As he looked around for a vine that could hold his pants up, Dorran pondered what he should do about his tail.

As he was fastening his make-shift belt, the idea hit him. "I'll wrap my tail around my waist and make it look like my belt." he did this as he said it and surely enough, it worked. "Perfect. Now all I need to do is get into the city before night-fall, find a hat, and then find Veax." Dorran went over his to-do list.

He ran as fast as his human feet could take him and after an hour of running through the forest, he came upon the city's outer wall. It was a new addition to the city and not made of the same slick stone the inner wall was made of and in turn was easy to climb.

After he made it into the outer ring of the city, Dorran walked in the shadows, looking for a hat he could snag. Soon enough he found a man sleeping on a bench and Dorran gently slipped his hat off his head and then ran off as fast as he could.

His disguise complete, Dorran wondered how he was going to fin Veax. Her clan might have a manor here in the city, if so that would be the first place for me to look. If not, I'm screwed. he thought, looking at all the signs. Finally he found his way into a main square and there was a billboard of new events. "Lets see..." Dorran looked for the new arrivals part. "Aha!" he exclaimed, finding what he was looking for. "Twenty new clans have joined the city. The ones with manors are: Vell, Garnon, Shadow, and Bloodrain. All other clans are living in guest manors. All new arrivals are in the inner city." Dorran read the notice under his breath. Perfect. he thought and headed for the gates to the inner city.

Getting into the inner city was easier than Dorran had thought it would be. The only work he had to do was hide in a big group of people passing into the inner part of the city and then run off before anyone asked who he was.

Finding the Bloorain manor was another thing entirely. Dorran had been in other, smaller, Vampire inhabited cities before but this was the biggest city in the entire known land. Dorran walked around looking for a main square, hoping for another clue as to where he might find Veax.

About four and a half hours past and Dorran was worn out. He had been to all four main squares it the inner city and had no more information on the whereabouts of the Bloodrain manor than before. He had thought about asking where it was, but decided it was to risky.

He wandered aimlessly in the alleys for about another hour. Then his sensitive ears picked up the words "Bloodrain" and "blue eyed wonder". His hopes renewed, Dorran headed towards where the voices were coming from.

Four young looking male Vampires sat in a what looked like an old make-shift clubhouse in the alley. Dorran only got a small glimpse of them, and then retreated back into the shadows. He would hear what he wanted from where he was and not get caught. "I hear that Veax dragged yet another innocent man on her crazy adventures of the castle." one remarked. Dorran labeled him vamp one, just to keep track. The others laughed. "I remember those days. We had a lot of fun, sneaking into the castle. Veax was always at my window "C'mon Kaleb. Just one more look?" she would say." said another Vampire, chuckling as he spoke. He was labeled vamp two. "She did always go to your house first. I wonder why." said vamp three in a sly tone. "Yeah, why did she always get you first?" asked the forth. The second Vampire hesitated before replying. "Well.... Lets just say out of us four, I was the closest to Veax." he said in a low voice. The other three Vampire burst out in laughter. "Why wait until she comes back, seven years later, to tell us this?" the third asked. The second Vampire did not say anythign and Dorran guessed that he had shrugged or made some other silent gesture.

They talked about Veax for a little more. Just her sense of adventure and they tried to figure out who she had run off with earlier that morning. "I know!" the forth Vampire exclaimed. "Why don't we go to her place and ask her ourselves?" he suggested. Dorran hoped that they would do so. That would help him a lot in finding Veax and talking to her. "I bet she thinks we are all respectable Vampires that have no sense of adventure anymore." the first said chuckling. The others laughed with him. "Well then she's in for a big surprise. Lets go welcome Veax back home.

Dorran followed after the four Vampires with caution. they talked amongst themselves as they walked, discussing everyday things. Dorran moved his attention and concentration to keeping inconspicuous. A few Vampires glanced his way, probably because of his 'belt' but nothing more.

It was a good thirty more minutes of walking before they reached the Bloodrain city manor. Dorran marked where the manor was in the city mentally and was glad now that he had circled the whole inner city. The four Vampires went up to the front door and knocked. There was no answer. They rang the bell. Again no answer.

Someone out of sight giggled. Dorran watched the four Vampires from his hiding place. A young female Vampire with red hair came around the corner of the manor. "You idiots. Don't you remember that no one ever answers the front door?" she asked. "Veax!" the four yelled, running towards her. They each took turns hugging her and welcoming her back. My work here is done. I know where she is and who she is. Now I need to find a place for me to stay until she is alone. Dorran thought, and headed off.

He wanted someplace where he would be a short walking distance from Veax's home so that he would not loose his precious time with her. It took him until sundown to find a place to sleep. It was not the best of places, but he looked like a homeless Vampire anyways.

Dorran waited. Hopefully he wold be able to find Veax. Hopefully she would not turn on him. The moon was high in the sky now, but the crowed buildings hid it from Dorran's sight. He had not realized how much he craved the moon's light. It must be my wolven side. Being in this form probably isn't helping either.... he thought.

Not being able to stay in one place anymore, Dorran ventured out in the almost completely empty street. There were very few street lamps but Dorran could see better in the dark than any other Vampire, so finding Veax's manor was no problem. His problem now was finding Veax.

There was only one light left on in the manor that Dorran could see from where he was. It was on the top floor. Above that window, sitting on the roof, was someone. Their hair flowed around their their head like a little cloud. Dorran looked for the best way to get up on the roof and he found a series of balconies that would work like steps for Dorran.

Dorran pulled himself quietly onto the roof. He was on the opposite side of the manor than the person he had saw, but that was a good thing. This would give Dorran time to see if this person was the person her was looking for.

Dorran walked slowly to the person sitting on the edge of the roof. From where he was now, Dorran could tell that is was a woman. This was good. Her hair was to dark to see the color, but Dorran could have sworn there was a tint of red to it. But that just might his mind playing tricks on him.

Dorran was about six feet from the woman. He could see now that her hair was red. Dorran tip-toed closer, but he stepped on a loose tile and that was a sound that the woman deffitnetly heard. She turned her head slightly, showing that she knew someone was there. "Vance?" she asked. It was Veax's voice, but it could have been her sibling for all that Dorran knew. "No." Dorran responded, staying where he was to show that he respected her space. The woman turned around. Her ice eyes shone clearly despite the dim light. "Who are you then, stranger?" she asked, her tone completely calm. "My name is Dorran Solitan. I'm looking for Veax Bloodrain?" it was Dorran's turn to ask a question. The woman nodded. "I am she. How do you know my name?" her voice held more suspicion now. Dorran took a few steps closer and knelt down. "Jasperain Quicksilver is a friend of mine as well." he said quietly.

The look on Veax face was one of utter surprise. "What!?" she exclaimed, standing. "Who are you really and how do you know about my knowing Jasperain?" Veax demanded. Dorran did not blame her for her reaction. "I am really Dorran Solitan," he said, sitting down completely now. "And I know about you and Jasperain because I saw you two on the battlefield. I followed his pack form there and he found me." Dorran siad, keeping his cool. He didn't want to scare her off.

Veax seemed to calm down a little more. "You don't look like the type of Vampire that would follow a pack of Werewolves that big single-handedly. I can't think of any Vampire that would." she said, still standing. Dorran looked her in the eye. 'Thats because I'm not a Vampire." Dorran said, and before Veax could ask he said "Nor am I a Werewolf in Human form. But at the same time I am both." he finished. Dorran left Veax to realize what he was saying.

It took her a moment, but once Veax understood what Dorran was telling her, she completely calmed down, and sat across from him. "You're a Werepyre?" she asked, her icy eyes glowing with a new excitement and curiosity. Dorran nodded. "Yes. I'm a Werepyre. But we can talk about that later." Dorran held up his hand to stop Veax from complaining. "I need to know a place where the two of us can talk safely. Somewhere alone. Then I can tell you all you want to know." Dorran had just been overcome with a feeling of caution. He felt like someone was there with him and Veax. Watching them. Veax stood. "Follow me." she said quietly. Dorran nodded, got up, and followed Veax to a trap door in the roof.

Veax showed Dorran into her room, the one with the light on. It was a small room and Dorran only got a glance at it. The biggest thing in the room was the canopy bed that literately filled half of the room, as in it was half the room. Veax opened a door and looked out into the hallway. "It's clear. C'mon." she said, gesturing with her hand. As Dorran followed her, he could have sworn he saw a man out of the corner of his eye, but there was no one there. You're just nervous, Dorran. he told himself.

Veax lead him through twisting hallways and down winding stairs. It seemed to never end. But at long last, Veax ushered Dorran through a door, and then closed and locked it. They were definitely under the manor now. Veax picked up a small box and took something out of it. Then there was a small flare of light as she struck a match. Veax held the match to a torch and the small and empty wine cellar lit up.

They sat on the stone floor. "So, can you prove to me that you're a Werepyre?" Veax asked. Dorran nodded, took off his hat and let his tail unwind itself from his waist. Veax looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "That could just tell you're a Werewolf in Human form." she pointed out. Dorran chuckeld. "I suppose it would. Here." He smiled, his Vampiric fangs showing clearly in the torchlight. Veax smiled, pleased. "Alright. I'm convinced." she said.

From there, they talked in hushed voices and Dorran told Veax about Jasperain and his antlers and his being deputy now. Veax cursed when she heard that, but was open to Dorran's idea about him being a link between her and Jasperain. Dorran then remembered Jasperain's dream. "Veax....." he started. "Yes?" she looked at Dorran with her head cocked to one side. Dorran took a deep breath and told her of Jasperain's dream. She was quiet as Dorran spoke.

When Dorran finished, Veax looked up. "I don't know what to say to that." she said in a small, far off voice. "I just thought you might want to know. Jasperain told me that he kept having this dream. It might be a vision, a warning." Dorran said, not knowing what else to say. Veax nodded. "It might be a message, but Jasperain has not promised me anything. Not yet at least." she said. "But I do have something slightly related to that topic I want to tell you about." Veax lowered her eyes to meet Dorran's. "I had a dream last night, and Vampires almost never dream." she said. Veax seemed worried about this. Really worried. "Tell me. It'll help." Dorran encouraged.

Veax was quiet for a while and then she started telling Dorran of the Obsidian Castle, the hidden stairs, the supposedly dead Vampire king. "And then earlier today, Vance Warxen and I went down there. There was journal and in it was Elleron's words. It was real, Dorran. He was really there in my dream! I really went into the castle and down those stairs with some one. But I woke up in my bed. And now Elleron is going to look for someone to control or something so he can be closer to me." Veax told Dorran, her voice thick with distress. Dorran put a hand on her shoulder. "Well you can't ignore it. I suggest to go to bed and if you see Elleron again, try to gain control within your dream and talk to him. Ask him to clear things up for you." He said. Veax nodded. "Thanks Dorran. Can you stay here? No one goes down to this cellar anymore. We made a bigger one a few years before me moved out of the city, so you'll be safe." she asked. Dorran smiled. "Yeah. I can stay. I'll lock the door just to be sure." he said as Veax opened the door. "Alright. I'll say "mixed" when I want to come in, 'kay?" she asked. Dorran nodded. Veax smiled, closed the door and left. Dorran lock the door behind her, and tried to get some sleep.

FIMC (another spur of the moment story)

2009-01-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Falcon Institute for the Magically Capable or FIMC is an institute for anyone and everyone capable of using magic. This does not mean that everyone goes to FIMC. In fact, there are very few students. FIMC is 'low grade' magic school, meant to teach gifted humans of the common class. All the powerful demons, fairies, ghouls, angels, the whole lot of those kinds creatures, and the eventual rich human, went to more 'high grade' magic schools like Bills of Light University, or Kregan's School of Magix.

Betz went to FIMC. She loved it there. It reminded her a lot of home, which was a huge mansion up in the mountains by a lake. There was a lot of open space and with the low count of students, it was a very quiet place and Betz always had the library to herself.

Betz was not one of the nerds or geeks, but she did not fit in with the popular crowd either. She, in a way, was her own label. Betz was different from most of the other kids, and the few that were like her kept to themselves. Or so Betz thought.

It was about eleven thirty and Betz was heading back to her dorm from the library. She took the outside rout because it was a warm summer night and she wanted to look at the starts for a moment before she went to bed.

She stood in the center of the garden that was the entrance to the girls side. It was a cloudless night and the smell of roses was heavy on the breeze. "Evening Betz." a seducing whisper came into Betz's ear. It was male, but this was a magic school, so it could be anybody. Betz whipped around, looking for the speaker. She could not see anybody. "Who are you?" Betz asked the air. She hoped and prayed that all the others girls were sound asleep and would not hear any of this. "Oh, nobody." the voice said in a sly tone. It was still the same honey covered whisper as before. The sort of whisper that a stereotype bad-boy would have. "Well if you're nobody, why do you hide? If you were really nobody, it wouldn't matter if I could see you or not." Betz said a matter-of-factly. The voice chuckled softly. "True, true. In that case I am somebody. But I'm not going to tell you which somebody I am." he said smoothly. Betz could just imagine a sly smile spread over this invisible somebody's lips. "Well, with the security of the school, you are a student. Right?" she asked. "Yes." the voice said. Betz took that answer into account. "And am I right in thinking you are male?" she asked, wondering if she could track where he was by getting him to talk. "Yes." The answer came from a different place this time. Betz bit her lip, she could not find him by talking to him because he was circling her, and unless she could ask questions, figure out he who was and tried to calculate where he was all at the same time, she would just have to live with talking to the air until he showed himself. "Alright, that take more than half of the students off my list." Betz said. Her only problem was that she did not know any of the boys at school. "Okay, um... Are you using magic to make yourself invisible?" she asked. "No. It's natural for me to just blend in and go unnoticed." the voice responded. Betz nodded. The list had just gotten much much smaller. "So, you're not human?" she asked, wanting to make sure she was on the right path. "Yes." he validated Betz's thoughts. "That leaves me with two students. You are either the true blood vampire or the demonpyre. Correct?" Betz had given up trying to follow the boy's voice. It was making her dizzy. "Yes." he chuckled again, obviously pleased that Betz had almost figured him out. "Well, given that vampires are supposed to stand out in order to attract prey, you much be the demonpyre." Betz brought it up to an end. "You are very clever, miss Flare." the voice said approvingly.

Betz tried to remember the name of the one demonpyre in the school. She knew his last name had something to do with a bird, but that was all she had. "I am Darius Nightingale." he said, as if he had read Betz's thoughts. He still had not showed himself. "Alright, Darius," Betz paused "May I ask what you are doing here, so close to the girls side?" she asked. Darius chuckled. "You look tasty." he answered in a voice that sent shivers up Betz's spine. Not the usual shivers of fear but the other kind of shivers. "So you look at me as a snack?" Betz asked, an unsure edge to her voice. Darius laughed softly. "Ha ha, no. A snack is much to simple. I was thinking a feast, you are much more beautiful and more sophisticated than a snack." he commented. Betz flushed. "Thank you?" she said it more as a question then as a statement. "Your welcome." he whispered into Betz's ear, his warm breath on her neck.

Betz jumped, Darius now had his arms wrapped around her and his head was floating by her ear. "I've been watching you for a while now Betz, and I must say; you are intriguing." he whispered, his voice dripping with honey. Betz, despite her trying not to, melted back into Darius' arms. "Oh?" she questioned. Darius nodded. "It's in my nature to seek out one prey and keep him or her close for many many reasons." he whispered, his arms pulling Betz even closer. "So what are my choices, now that I am your prey of choice?" Betz asked. Her father had taught her much about hybrids, and demonpyres had been on that list. She knew that even with her magic, Betz did not have a chance in fighting a demonpyre and that she should see the peaceful ways out before she decided to run or fight. "Well, you can accept the fact that you are the only women that has ever caught my interest in my life, and commit your body to my hunger and your time to me or you can try to avoid me, in which case I will try even harder to win you over." he said simply.

Betz tried to breath normally. She failed. Her heart was racing now. She had never been this close to a man in her life. Yes she had hugged her father, but that was a completely different relationship and situation than this. That was hard for most people to believe, given that Betz was seventeen. Her thoughts were racing and she could not think strait. But after a moment or two of silence in Darius' arms, Betz answered. "Let me talk to my father. I'm going to go see him this weekend. I'll give you my answer after I've gone over a few things with him." she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "As you wish." Darius whispered and than he was gone, just as sudden as he had come.

Betz opened the door to her dorm. Emily, and Tabby were talking in hushed voiced and giggling. They went silent when Betz walked in. Tabby was the first to talk. "And why, might I asked, is your face so red?" she asked with a giggle. Betz started getting out of her uniform and into her pajamas. "I...." she sat down on the edge of her bed, unsure what to tell the two gossip girls. "I just got the most intriguing offer." Betz said, and left it at that. She was not lying, just not telling the whole truth.

Bubblegum?

2009-01-15T14:47:00.001-08:00

(small spur of the moment story.)

Chelsie was late. She was always late. That put Betz off. In this line of work you had to be on time. No matter what. And what was worse, Chelsie had been working here for at least two years longer then Betz. The bell on the front door rang as someone walked in. It was a young woman, about five foot three with long curly blond hair. The woman walked over to the table that Betz sat at, chewing quite loudly on some bubblegum. "You're late." Betz said sternly. Chelsie blew a large bubble that popped with a large sound. Betz cringed, she hated Chelsie. Chelsie was the daughter a rich man and never let anyone forget that. "I saw some shoes and just had to get them." Chelsie said sitting down. "As if that lets you off for being late. This is big Chelsie. As in you could have gotten fired for being late big." Betz tried to tell Chelsie how big of a deal this new mission was. Chelsie was looking at her nails, not paying attention to Betz. "Chelsie!" Betz slammed her fist on the table. Everone in the small diner looked over to them. Betz did not care. She got looks like that a lot. Chelsie on the other hand did care. "What?" she finally said, her attention on Betz now. "The monsters came out of the sewers last night and killed five civilians. You and I are to go and investigate." Betx summarized the mission up into a quick few sentences. Chelsie shrugged. "Why didn't you say so, lets go." she said, getting up. Betz cursed under her breath and the two of them walked out of the diner.

Betrayal (6)

2009-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

6: Back home

Veax sat on the rooftop of the old Bloodrain manor overlooking the city. It was a beautiful view. The cool night air flowed through her loose red hair. Veax rarely let her hair down like this now. It was just to troublesome out in the country to let her hair down.

"You look good with your hair down." a smooth voice spoke from behind Veax. She turned around. It was Vance. The image of him covered in blood flashed across Veax's mind, but she shook herself from it. "Thank you." Veax said lightly. Vance would have to settle for that.

Vance came and sat beside Veax. "Your city is beautiful." he said. Veax smiled. "Yeah, it is." memories of running through the city streets and sneaking into the castle flowed through her mind. It was fun living in the city. "Care to give me a tour tomorrow?" Vance asked, looking over to Veax, a sort of gleam in his amber eyes. Veax shrugged. "Why not?"

Vance was called away before he could say anything else. That was a slight relief to Veax. It was so much easier for her to think alone.

Jasperain had not tried to talk to Veax since their last meeting, four days ago. Why did Veax want to see this Werewolf so badly? Veax looked up to the sky. It was slowly dimming with arivial of night.

Veax smirked as she thought of the Human myths about Vampires. They said that Vampires preferred the night because they burned up in the sun. But those beliefs were quite wrong. In fact, Vampires liked the day-time better. The wolves had night as their domain.

That brought Veax back to Jasperain and the Werewolf pack. The previous night Veax had been out and she had heard the far off sound of howls. She dismissed it as the howls of some wild wolves, but now she knew it had been the pack. What had they been doing? Veax almost did not want to know.

The city tower chimed midnight. Veax had many happy memories of this city that had taken place at midnight. Most of them were sneaking out of the house to go and play with the 'bad-boys' of the city. Those boys were grown, married, and perfect gentlemen now. Or at least, that was what Veax was told. But, Veax's best memories laid in the Obsidian castle. A castle in the center of the city carved of a black stone that had fallen from the skies thousands of years before. It was called the Obsidian castle because that was what it looked like. But no one had come up with a name for the mysterious stone that was stronger than diamond and steal combined. No one but Elleron.

Veax stood. She would visit the castle tomorrow. And maybe bring Vance along for the ride. Yes, Veax would give Vance a tour he would never forget.

Veax stood in the main hall of the Obsidian castle. She was out of breath. There was a young man standing beside her. Veax could not see him clearly. "Where can we hide?!" he asked frantically. Veax looked around. Where could they hide in this huge open space? Then she remembered! "This way! Quick!" She ushered the man towards a tapestry. Behind the giant carpet was two doors with a big solid space between them. "Walk into the space between the doors." she hissed at him. The man looked uncertain, but Veax pushed him into the space. Veax had found this secret entrance when she leaned up against the tapestry and fell through. The 'solid' space between the two doors was in fact a opening that was cleverly made to look like a real wall. The two of them ran down the stone stairs. But wait, Veax had remembered the stairs leading up. What had happened? Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a huge library under the castle. There was a tall caped man standing in the middle of the room. He had platinum-blond hair and wore a crown of the same black stone the castle was made out of. "King Elleron...." Veax voice was so quiet, she might as well just thought the words. The fabled king turned around, a sly grin across his lips. "I was waiting for you, Veax." he said in a voice as cold as ice, but still as smooth as honey. The man she had run down the stairs with was slowly backing away as Elleron approached Veax. He took her up in his icy embrace and......

Veax woke up in a cold sweat. She had dreamed? Vampires never got the deep into sleep to dream. But dream Veax had. "I have to see if that passage leads down." Veax said, getting out of bed and getting dressed.

Veax was quiet all through breakfast. Nasya chattered on as usual. Carthem was also quiet, but obviously bothered by something. Veax finished eating and quickly excused herself from the table before Carthem could say anything about whatever he was thinking to her.

After packing a small lunch of a ham sandwich and a small keg of wine, Veax headed off to where Vance and the other clans were living as of right now.

It was not hard to find Vance. He was the 'bad-boy loner' of his clan and was patiently waiting for Veax in the center of the little circle of houses that his clan was living in. "You're here earlier than I thought you'd be." Vance noted as Veax came to stand a few feet away from him. "I want to see something in the castle. Pack some food and c'mon." Veax said, itching to get on with her search.

Vance came out a moment later with a small bag slung over his back. "Ready?" Veax asked. "Ready." he responded. "Good." with that, Veax showed Vance a easy way out of the circle of houses. She could tell that Vance had questions, but she wanted to get away from everybody else before she said anything else.

They finally reached one of the city's four main squares. It was flooded with Humans and Vampires going from place to place. "So are you going to show me around the city, or are we just going to go to the castle?" Vance asked, a smirk on his face. He found Veax amusing. Veax giggled. "Since you asked, we are going to the castle first." she said with a smile. Vance chuckled and dashed after Veax as she sped through the crowd, headed for the Obsidian castle.

It only took Veax and Vance fifteen minutes to get tot he castle at the pace Veax was running. The huge castle loomed over them as they approached it. "So how are we getting inside?" Vance asked. Obviously they could not just walk in. Veax smiled slyly. "We get in the same way I got in when I lived here." she said.

Veax showed Vance around the east side of the castle to the gardens that were open to the public. There was more people in the gardens then Veax would have liked. "Pretend that you took me here to see the flowers." she told Vance quietly as the walked into the gardens. Vance nodded and smiled.

Veax showed the way to the secret entrance into the castle discreetly as Vance pretended to show her the various flowers. Veax could tell that Vance was enjoying this. Well he should be smart enough to know that it's just for show. Veax thought to herself. They reached the entrance without notice and Veax ushered Vance inside.

It was dark in the hidden tunnel, but the faint light from outside was enough for both Veax and Vance to work their way down the tunnel. They did bump into one another now and again, but Veax moved away as fast as possible.

After five minutes of stumbling over one another in the near pitch-black tunnel, Veax and Vance came out behind a huge statue of a dragon in the main hall. Veax listened for the footsteps of guards. Nothing. Good. She silently showed Vance over to and behind the huge tapestry. Veax headed for the secret doorway and slipped inside. Vance stood in total confusion for a minute or two, but Veax pulled him in.

Veax gasped. They stairs did lead down. "What is it?" Vance asked, worry lining his words. "Last time I came here, the stairs lead up, not down....." Veax said, still stunned. Vance started down the stairs. "Well lets see whats down here." He said, holding his hand out to Veax. Veax took it and followed him down the stairs, almost scared to know what was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

The hidden library that Veax had seen in her dream was what her and Vance walked into. But no one else was in the vast space. Veax had to hold in a sigh of relief. She walked around the space, running her fingers across the spines of the old books. Vance followed her, his interest solely on her and her body. Veax almost did not care, books fascinated her.

She walked until she found what seemed to be the center of the library. There was a dusty oak desk sitting the center of the small space with an open book on it. Veax went over to the large high-backed padded armchair and sat down. It was quite comfortable. Veax leaned over the huge book, it was open slightly past the middle. Now what was strange was that the book had not one speck of dust on it. In fact it looked brand new. In dark red ink words that Veax did not understand were written. Vance had come to stand next to the chair and was looking at the book as well. "This is written in goblin...." he noted. "You can read it?" Veax asked, interested in knowing what was written on the parchment. Vance nodded. "Yeah, goblin was a language I was taught along with English." he said, his eyes running across the pages. "Can you read it to me?" Veax asked. Vance nodded and pointed to the top right corner of the right page. "This is the date, it says: Siht yrtne koot ecalp no eht yad, neetenin sthgin morf eht sselnoom yks." he said in goblin. "Care to translate?" Veax asked, jokingly. Vance chuckled. "Sure. I said: This entry took place on the day, nineteen nights from the moonless sky." Vance closed his eyes, thinking. "This entry was written yesterday...." he mumbled. Veax looked to the rest of the page. "Can you read it all to me? In English?" she asked Vance, who seemed to be already reading it. "Hm? Oh yes, may I sit?" Veax got up and motioned to the chair for Vance. Vance sat down and leaned over the book. "Lets see. It reads: Last night I saw her. She came here in her dreams, but with my power I could see her, speak to her, and feel her. She is just like the others. Just right. But there was something about her, something strange. Given that I could see into her mind, I knew her secrets. This woman had befriended a Werewolf. Is that not taboo now? I don't know. I just know that I must see her more, speak to her more. Feel her warm skin on my fingertips. I was wrong about my weakness, the diamond of the Ice Caves only 'kills' me like Haythia had killed me. I know not what can kill me, but this woman might just keep me from looking for that weakness. If I could find a body, a someone I could become to get closer to her, I would use it. I would make her mine. I don't need a kingdom. I just need someone to fill this hole in my being. It is driving me insane to live like this. Hopefully she saw me. Hopefully she will came back." Vance stopped. Veax had to hide her expression of fear under her expression of surprise. "King Elleron wrote this....." she whispered. "Its seems to be so." Vance said, equally surprised.

They left the book and headed back to where they had come into the hidden library. Veax felt out of breath. That was Elleron. He was here. He had taken me into his arms. This is much to much for me. He knows I know Jasperain, knows that I sympathise with them.He siad he would find the body of someone close to me to control.... Vance...... Veax slowly drew up to the conclusion.

Veax and Vance sat down and emptied their bags. Vance had also brought a sandwich and a small keg of wine. They sat and ate in silence. Veax wondered what to do. Should she cut herself off from Vance in all ways? No, Elleron would find someone else. Veax sighed. Maybe she would see him again tonight.

Betrayal (5)

2009-01-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

5: New arrival

Dorran had been following a pack of Werewolves and a large group of Vampire clans for about a week now. He did not know much about the Vampires. Just that they were heading towards the main city. As for the Werewolves, all Dorran knew was that they were the Quicksilver pack. That Dorran found ironic. Silver was the metal that killed the Werewolves. Dorran wondered why they picked that name. But given the sheer size of the pack, Dorran guessed that the real meaning of the name had been lost in time.

Has of right now, Dorran padded about a mile behind the pack. He was walking on all fours like the Werewolves usually did when traveling. He could not wait for them to settle down somewhere. His paws were stating to hurt. Dorran had been traveling longer than either the pack or the Vampires. In fact, Dorran had traveled his entire life. Well, it was not really traveling. It was more like running. Running away from the packs and the clans.

As Dorran traveled through the forest, the sent of Vampires became stronger and stronger. Why is the pack risking getting this close to the Vampires? Dorran wondered. It definitely not because they randomly decided to make peace. No, the Werewolves were as stubborn about this war as the Vampires were.

It was mid-day when the pack stopped. They were camping in the same exact spot the Vampires camped the night before. What are they planning? Dorran could not help but wonder.

As Dorran watched the pack set up their small camp he thought over the few things he saw in the past week. There were two things that really intrigued him. The first thing was that he had seen a Werewolf and a Vampire exchange words during a battle three days ago. Yes, Vampires and Werewolves exchanged words of hate all the time, but this was different. They had spoken in an uncertain peace, but peace it was. Dorran had not been close enough to hear what they said, but he had seen their faces and they were in truce. The second thing that caught his attention was that the same wolf that spoke to the Vampire female had just undergone his Lune ceremony and was granted antlers from one of the Moon's bucks. That was unusual. How had that buck been caught by that wolf? Deer that belonged to the Moon were smarter, stronger, better in all ways than other deer. The Moon and Lune had something special in store for that wolf. Dorran wished he had that wolf's luck.

The Quicksilver pack finally settled down and about fifteen wolves went out to hunt. This was the worst time for Dorran to be out. If any of the pack saw him, he would be finished. Yeah, he was a loner, and most loners were welcomed in. But Dorran was the one kind of loner that would be ripped to shreds on the spot. He was a half-breed. A disgrace to both races. Dorran was a Werepyre.

Dorran was pulled out of his sad thoughts when he saw the horned wolf head out of camp to hunt. Out of curiosity, Dorran followed him.

The horned wolf did not go to far, just to some boulders by a stream. But what surprised Dorran was that there was the smell of Vampires here. The sent was about a day old, but still lingering in the night air. What was the Werewolf doing here?

Dorran did not have to wait long to find out. The horned wolf knelled down next to the boulder on the left. "Damn Veax...." he mumbled. "I need to see you. My pack is calling the others tonight and when they get here, they'll raid the city." the wolf's voice was think with worry. Was this 'Veax' the Vampire he had spoken to on the battlefield? "And now that I'm deputy, I have to help them raid the city. But there is still so much I want to talk to you about. So much I want to know about you and why you're against the war...." he continued. "May mother Moon and Lune grant us another meeting in peace soon." the wolf finished and stood.

The wind changed just then. And to Dorran's dismay, he was now upwind of the horned wolf. "Who's there?!" the wolf demanded, standing to his full height, and with those antlers, he looked pretty scary. "Show yourself!" he demanded again, turning in Dorran's direction. Dorran knew that no matter what he did, this wolf would find him.

After pulling himself together, Dorran stepped out of the forest and into the small clearing near the stream. The Werewolf was completely taken aback. Dorran looked like any other Werewolf with a red-black pelt and orange eyes. The only two differences about his features were his huge bat wings and unusually long and sharp canines. "Who, what, are you?" the horned wolf questioned. Dorran looked down. "I am Dorran Solitan and I am a Werepyre." he said glumly. The wolf just looked at him. "Werepyre? As in half Werewolf, half Vampire?" he questioned. Dorran nodded.

To Dorran's surprise, the wolf placed a paw on his shoulder. "I thought I'd never meet someone like you." he said, his golden eyes filled with calm. It was Dorran's turn to be taken aback. "So you're not going to go and get the rest of your pack to hunt me down?" he asked, hope growing slowly in his heart. The Werewolf nodded. "No. I won't go back to m clan and tell them about you. But right now, I need to go. I'm needed back at the camp. Tomorrow, meet me here. If I don't show up, thats because I've got something to do in the pack that I can't get away from. Alright?" the horned wolf said, smiling. Dorran lit up like a excited cub. "I'll camp here. Just to make things easier." he told the wolf.

Dorran noticed something as the horned wolf left. "Ey! Whats your name?" Dorran called to him. "Jasperain Quicksilver." he said. With that he sped off into the woods, off to actually hunt now.

Dorran sat between the two boulders wondering who Veax was. He knew what she was, but he wanted to know what she had said to get Jasperain all wrapped up in her. Then a genius idea came to his mind. "I'll ask Jasperain what Veax looks like! Then I'll change to my Human form and find her. I can sneak into the main city better than any Werewolf." he told himself with a smile.

About two hours later, the moon had risen fully in the night sky and the howling began. It was the pack. They were calling all the rest of the Werewolves from the main land. They trusted in the power of Lune to carry their voices on the wind to the other packs. By the time the Werewolf hoard got here, it would be full moon. The best time for the hoard to attack. They would only recognise their own kin and slaughter all others.
Dorran was standing with a Vampire female and Jasperain. They were the only thing between the Werewolf hoard and the Vampire army. The sky was black with the smoke of burning buildings, Dorran did not know whether it was day or night. The ground was covered in the blood of both races. Jasperain readied himself for attack while the Vampire female drew her sword. The strange thing was, they were facing their own race. As if they wanted drive back their own kin back to the shadows they came from. Jasperain and the Vampire looked at Dorran and nodded, showing him that they would all go down together. Dorran nodded in return. He knew what was going to happen now and readied himself for the pain that ran his way.

Dorran sat up. He had almost fallen into the stream. "What the hell was that?" he asked himself, remembering the dream in a vague fuzziness. He would have to tell Jasperain about this.

It had been mid-day when Dorran had woken up. Though by the looks of it, the pack had been awake since dawn. The camp was starting to take on a permanent look. Make-shift dens were being made out of wood and stone and held together by flexible roots and mud.

Dorran could see Jasperain talking to a large red-pelted wolf. By the way that Jasperain addressed the wolf, Dorran assumed that he was the Alpha. Which brought back the little tidbit of information that Dorran had heard the night before; Jasperain was the deputy of the Quicksilver clan.

Dorran did not want to stay and watch the pack all day, so he decided to see if he could catch a glimpse of the clans before the entered the city. He had to push his limbs to their limit so that he could see the clans. They must have reached the one mile marker to the city by now.

Dorran got to the city walls just in time to see the Vampire clans arrive. At the front was a tall brown-haired Vampire who was obviously in charge. Beside him stood two female Vampires. One looked about twelve with red-brown hair. The other was a tall slender woman who looked like she was in her early twenties with red hair.

Dorran could hear what the head Vampire told the gourds at the gate. "I am Carthem of the Bloodrain clan. These are my daughters, and all these Vampires behind be are from many other clans collected together." He said, gesturing to all the Vampire behind him. "A pack as large as all of us combined is heading this way and we seek refuge in the city." Carthem explained. The guard nodded and signaled for the gate to be opened.

Dorran walked back to the stream. His was worn out and did not want to push himself any further. Hopefully he would recover before the hoard arrived. Night was already dominating the light of day when Dorran reached the boulders. He gulped down seaveral mouthfuls of water when he arrived.

Hunger was another problem for Dorran. He had to be careful and hunt after the pack did. But the time it took them to hunt was never the same, so Dorran had gone about five days without food. The real problem here was that he had not fed in a month or so. Dorran knew he could last about two months without blood, but it was better for his health and sanity if he fed regularly.

Jasperain did not show up that night. Dorran knew that he must have had some deputy job to do and could not get away. Jasperain had told Dorran about that, so he was not surprised. But Dorran felt alone again. He hated feeling alone. He had been alone all of the three-hundred years he had been alive. His parents had been found out and killed. They had tried to kill Dorran too, but had was a small cub and got away. Dorran had been running ever since.

Betrayal (4)

2009-01-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

4: Almost there now

the sun had just set and Jasperain was out hunting. The antlers on his head began to shine more and more in the moonlight as the days passed. Kacima said it was because Japserain was giving the antlers something to grow on, therefore making them shine. Jasperain, was the only wolf in his pack that had such a signature of maturity other than Kacima, who had a skull attached to his head. All the other wolves had small objects, like stones or charms embedded in their chests, hidden by their long fur.

Jasperain caught onto the sent of some Humans. He followed the sent through the forest. What was that second sent? Vampires? Was the pack camping that close to the Vampire's camp? No, they would not take that risk. So the Vampires must have left the camp to hunt.

Jasperain stopped at some bloody boulders by a deep stream. The Human's sent was stong now, but still stale. He sniffed the air. What?! he exclaimed in his mind. Veax's sent was here. It was not very strong underneath the sent of scared Human but it was there none-the-less. She had been here about an hour ago, with another Vampire. Jasperain wondered who.

After he left the spot where Veax and the other Vampire fed, he found two young does grazing in a small forest clearing. They would do for Jasperain's hunt.

The does had no chance against Jasperain's speed and now were slung over his back. A hot blazing fire up burning in the center of camp, it was the third half moon since Fregor, the deputy, had died and Alarik needed to choose a new deputy. Jasperain laid the two deer in the pile of prey by the fire. The older cubs were skinning and gutting the prey while the younger cubs were cooking the meat.

Kacima came up to Japserain, Cregan at his side. "Jasperain, since you are now of maturity, you may participate in the ceremony." Kacima said, nodding towards the fire. Jasperain smiled and bowed.

The fire was unusually cool against Jasperain's fur. Alarik was centering himself with the half Moon away from the fire. Beryl sat by the fire. She was a big wolf with an ashen pelt and pale green eyes. For some reason that Jasperain never understood, Beryl did not like him. Tabrez, Fregor's son also sat by the fire. The other wolves stood in small groups, quietly talking about who Alarik would choose.

Jasperain felt out of place now with his antlers and Cregan was always with Kacima now, so Japserain had no none to talk to. Well he could talk to anybody in the pack, but not everybody was as enthusiastic as Cregan.

The moon rose fully in the starry night sky. Kacima and Cregan gathered up all the cubs and sent them away from the fire. Alarik came back, the power of Lune shining in his eyes. All the pack that could participate came to stand by the fire.

Beryl glared at Jasperain. He flinched back from her hateful eyes. Beryl was fifteen years older then him and always like this. Kacima and Cregan stepped between Beryl and Jasperain and began the ceremony. "Oh Lune, granter and taker of our power and sanity, we call upon thy sight! Through Alarik, pack Alpha, choose the wolf you would want as the next deputy!" Kacima and Cregan called up to the Moon at once.

Alarik's eyes lit up, shining as bright as the full moon on a clear night now. He walked around the fire, meeting the eyes of each and every one of the silently waiting wolves. Kacima and Cregan chanted in low voices.

When Alarik looked every wolf in the eye he took up his spot between Kacima and Cregan. "Oh Lune, granter and takerof our power and sanity, we call upon your voice! Through Alarik, pack Alpha, show us the wolf you want as the Quicksilver pack deputy!" the two shamans called towards the moon again. Alarik's eyes dimmed and became as black as a night with no moon. He turned and faced Jasperain with his black eyes and in a voice that was not his own he spoke, "Lune hath chosen thy as the deputy of the Quicksivler pack." he pointed at Jasperain.

Jasperain froze. What?! Me? the surprised showed clearly on his face. Beryl glared at Jasperain furiously, but said nothing. Tabrez and everyone else looked at startled as Jasperain felt.

Kacima placed his hand on Jasperain's shoulder. "Lune has chosen you as deputy. Fulfill the task." he told Jasperain, handing him a silver dagger. Jasperain looked into the fire. He had to cut his palm and hold it over the open flame. The power of Lune would then heal his wound through the fire if he was truly was the one Lune had chosen. Jasperain had seen wolves who had not really been meant to be deputy howl in pain when the fire seared their flesh.

Jasperain took a breath and then cut his palm. The silver blade stung and cut deeper than Jasperain had meant it to. Cregan nodded to Jasperain, telling him that all was going to be alright.

The fire hurt, but did not burn. It was an odd feeling. Jasperain could feel the flames licking his palm and felt a strange sense of peace. His palm tensed up for a moment and then loosened again, the pain gone. Cregan took Jasperain's hand out of the fire. His palm was completely healed except for the scar that ran across it.

Alarik was out of his trance now and smiling proudly at Jasperain. Alarik held out out his paw, his palm was also scared. Jasperain shook it, the official ending of the ceremony. There were howls of joy and the cubs were allowed to come back.

Tabrez was the first to congratulate Jasperain. "I thought you might be chosen." he said, smiling. Jasperain smiled back. "I honestly thought it would be you." he said. Tabrez chuckled. "Most everybody did."

The meat was cooked to perfection by now and there was much feasting. Beryl was the only wolf that seemed to not be having a good time. Jasperain knew why: he had been chosen and she had not.

Cregan came and sat beside Jasperain. "I can't believe it Jasp!" he exlaimed with a smile. "I could feel Lune emanating form Alarik. It was so empowering." he said, lost in the memory. Jasperain chuckled softly. Cregan was such a wistful wolf. But Jasperain's thoughts were on his new job. He had to be deputy. That was a lot of responsibility and left him little time to do anything. It left him with no time to go and sneak over to Veax. No time to learn more about her.

The feasting ended and the fire had dwindled down to shimmering embers. Most of the wolves had gone to sleep, but Jasperain stayed by the embers. So many questions in his mind were going to go unanswered. Alarik pulled him back to the present. "Jasperain?" he asked softly. Jasperain looked up at the Alpha. "Yeah?" he asked in return. "You look unsure of yourself." Alarik said, sitting down next to Jasperain. "I'm just stunned. I never thought I'd be chosen deputy." Jasperain explained half of what was worrying him. Alarik chuckled. "I know what you're feeling. But don't worry. Things always work themselves out in time." the Alpha said encouragingly. "Yeah, things do work out in time...." Jasperain said, looking up to the sky, his hope renewed.

Jasperain got little sleep that night. Horrible images flashed behind his eyes every time he finally fell asleep. It was terrible. Jasperain wished he had someone in the pack to talk to about his nightmares, but if he told anyone, they would knew about him and Veax. Every image that passed through his mind was of Veax and in each image, she was hurt or injured in someway. Her pale face and icy eyes were red with her tears of blood. What had Jasperain promised to her? He needed to know, so that he would not make this mistake he kept seeing. But Veax's voice was always blocked by thunder, leaving Jasperain in the dark as he tore Veax apart.

He was glad when morning finally came. The Vampire city was about a days travel from where the pack camped now. Alarik came to Jasperain before he woke any of the other wolves up. "You will be traveling up front with me today." Alarik told Jasperain. Jasperain nodded. "Should I help wake up the pack?" he asked. Alarik smiled broadly. "Just what I was just going to ask you." the Alpha answered Jasperain's question.

Japerain went around waking the pack up one by one with Alarik. But Jasperain stayed away from Beryl. She would attack him if he woke her, she hated him that much. That thought sent shivers up Jasperain's spine. He almost wished that he had not been chosen, for so many reasons.

All the pack was awake and traveling now. The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky and warmed the previously cool air. It was nice, but Jasperain and Werewolves in general, liked the night time better. Alarik walked on all fours beside Jasperain on the forest path. "Tell me, Jasperain, what do you know of being a deputy?" he asked. Jasperain thought for a moment. "I don't know the specs, but I know that I am to be the bridge between you and the pack. I know that I must support you, no matter what...." Jasperain looked at Alarik, uncertain. Alarik nodded. "I'll explain to you."

Alarik explained everything he needed to as they walked at the front of the pack. He said that there must be trust between the Alpha and the deputy in a pack. No secrets. That part Jasperain did not know how to handle. He would have to tell Alarik about Veax sooner or later. When Jasperain knew it would be safe to tell Alarik, he would. Alarik also said that the deputy had to establish trust and friendship between him or herself and the pack. Jasperain was going to have a problem with that too. Beryl would rather become a loner than be friends with Jasperain. He would have to tell Alarik about that one too.

The sent of Vampires filled Jasperain's nose as the pack traveled. Jasperain looked at Alarik. "What are we doing so close to the v-blood drinkers?" his tongue almost slipped in to saying 'Vampires'. Alarik seemed not to notice. "We are going to camp where the blood drinkers just camped. Their sent will vaguely cover ours." Alarik explained, but Jasperain was still confused and Alarik could see that. "We are going to camp near the city and then we will call the hoard and then we attack the city." he said, his voice dark. Jasperain could not help but think of Veax.

Covers

2009-01-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the cover for Betrayal!

I made two different covers:

A white one with the title.
And a colored one with no title.

They had 13 layers each and took me about three hours to make?
Long long time.
Well, tell me how you like them!
Chapter #3 of Betrayal will be coming along shortly! (now in the post below this one)

!!!Spoiler Warning!!!
!!!This next little blurb might be a spoiler to some. So if you don't want to know, don't read this!!!

The characters on the cover(s) are Veax and Jasperain.
To me they look like their about 16-17 in the picture(s).
But in the story, as Jasperain stated in the 2nd chapter, Veax and Jasperain look like they are about 20-ish.
Just FYI.....

Betrayal (3)

2009-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

3: History

Two days passed since Veax and Jasperain's meeting. Veax was starting to wonder why he had not come back. His pack probably found out. she thought has the clans traveled.

Yet again the clans set up camp under beautiful sunset. Veax readied herself for patrol duty. The previous night she had gotten patrol duty again, so she assumed that again she would have patrol.

Carthem walked into the small tent. "Veax," he started. Veax turned to face him. "Yes father?"
"I want you to watch the young ones tonight."
"What?" Veax asked, surprised.
"Would you rather do patrol again?"
"No! I was just surprised, father. I'll head over there now." Veax said, glad that she did not have to do patrol.

Watching the young ones was much more pleasurable for Veax. There was not much to do when watching the young ones. All Veax had to do was make sure they did not run off or anything.

Nasya was still young enough to be considered a young one, though soon, probably when they reached the city, Nasya would undergo her coming of age ceremony. She would be turning thirty. A very very young age for the Vampires. Veax herself was thirty-seven, but she acted and looked like she was in her early twenties. Vampires aged roughly twenty years slower then the Humans. Veax had no idea how fast Werewolves aged, or how long they really lived.

Nasya came up to Veax and looked up to her with pleading eyes. "Veax, can you tell us a story? We got really bored and you tell the best stories." she pleaded. Veax chuckled. Stories were her strongest point. "Alrighty then. What sort of story do you young ones want to hear?" Veax asked, stepping into the middle the circle young of ones. "What about a story about King Elleron?" one of them asked. Veax stood for a moment, pondering. "Very well." she said smiling.

Once the young ones settled themselves in a quiet cricle around Veax, she started the story. "Hundreds and Hundreds of years ago, the Vampire king, ElleronRawdroll ruled over these lands. King Elleron was a great tyrant, showing no mercy to the lands that he consumed." she started. The young ones already knew most of what Veax was going to tell them, but the facts and tidbits she added into the mix would keep them interested and they knew that. "Elleron had but one problem: he was utterly and completely alone." the young ones looked at her confused. Veax was quick to explain why Elleron was lonely. "Yes there were other races in the world at the time, like the demons, angels, fairies, nymphs and such, but Elleron was the only Vampire of his kind. Other vampires were lesser, weaker, for Elleron was the only Vampire that had only one weakness. One unique weakness that only he knew." Veax gestured with her hands to show how big Elleron was compared the the vampires of his time. "So he searched his lands for someone he thought might fill the hole in his being. After about a year of searching and watching, Elleron found a young woman by the name of Haythia Mlerkrad. She was half fallen angel and half human. Elleron took her back to the Obsidian castle and bit her, sharing his blood for the first time." Veax took a breath. "Years went by. Elleron trained Haythia to be the best warrior in the land. And in a dresreate way, he spioled her. Gave her everything that she really wanted. Well almost everything she really wanted. Elleron refused to share Haythia with any other man or woman. He wanted her to love him as he loved her. But that failed miserably for Haythia fell in love with Elleron's right hand, Andreas." Veax watched as the young ones picked up on a fact that they previously did not know and smiled. "In his rage against both Haythia and Adreas, Elleron killed Andreas. In return, Haythia attempted to kill Elleron. And in her mind, she completed the task. But Elleron was only severely damaged and needed a few year to heal over before he could come back." Veax turned in circles, so that her ice-blue eyes met each and everyone of the young one's eyes. "Andre, Haythia's daughter grew up listening to Elleron's whispers of evil and darkness and when Elleron's power was back up to its fullest, he broke free. Andre was instantly at his side and helped him re-take the kingdom." Veax paused for effect. "After the kingdom was his again, Elleron used Andre to kill Haythia. You see, Andre inherited the pure angelic blood that Haythia did not have and when Andre killed her mother, that purity was passed to Haythia. This was what Elleron really wanted for Haythia all along, but did not know this until Haythia died a pure angel. With that done, Elleron took all of Andre's blood out of her without killing her, and replaced it with his own blood, making her his daughter and his daughter alone." Veax's body moved like water, meeting the gaze of each young one.

It was when doing this did Veax notice Vance Warxen, a Vampire only a few years older than her. But Veax paid him no mind now, she had to finish her story.

"But Elleron's and Andre's time together as father and daughter did not last long, for Andre was a young woman now, and caught the eye of many men with her beauty and mind. But the one man that caught Andre's eye was the HellFire. He was the fire elemental that was so powerful he could control the pure fires in hell." Veax said, her hands giving as much information as her voice was. "Andre and the HellFire met more and more, and eventually Andre married the HellFire and left the Obsidian castle to live with the HellFire as the HellFlower. This once again left Elleron alone. He was proud of Andre, but he missed her, wanted her back. But as a good father, he let Andre go her own way." Veax took another sweep of the young ones before continuing. "So Elleron started his quest over, but never found another woman that struck him as Haythia and Andre had. After one hundred years of searching, Elleron gave up. Literally." Veax pushed the word 'literally' to its fullest extent. "He went mad and ravaged his own lands, killing off everyone except the Humans, Vampires, and the Werewolves in his rage." when Veax said 'Werewolves' instead of 'pack members' she got many odd looks from her small audience. They were getting a story from Veax, she was going to use words, names, and titles that made her story the most colorful, real, and interesting. So she continued. "Elleron ran on and on until he found himself in the Cold Lands. There he wandered in the ice and snow until he found the Ice Caves. To everyone in the world, the Ice Caves was a place that no one could reach. You would freeze before you even got close to finding them. The caves, despite their name, are not made of ice. In fact, the caves are formed by the biggest diamond that grows on this earth." Veax said, trying to dazzle the young ones with her words as the Ice Caves would have dazzled with their brilliance. "He wandered in the caves for a few days until he found the center. Once there, Elleron fashioned a stake from the diamond and killed himself by the only means he could: stabbing himself with pure diamond like the diamond that grew in the caves." Veax began to wrap up her tale. "And to this day, if you were to ever find the Ice Caves and find the center of their twisting mazes, you would find Elleron laying there on the floor, perfectly preserved, with the diamonds around him stained crimson with his blood." she finished.

The young ones and clapped and Veax could see Vance smiling out the corner of her eye. "Veax that was awesome!" Nasya and a few others exclaimed happily. Veax smiled, "I'm quite glad you liked it." she said.

A moment later, Carthem came over and told the young ones to retire to their respective tents, which they did without complaint. When Carthem left, Vance approached. "Nice story. All fact?" he questioned. Veax nodded. Vance smiled at her, his fangs showing clearly. "I was told that Elleron fought some beast in the Ice Caves and it killed him. Not that he committed love-sick suicide." he said, giving Veax a sideways glance. Veax shrugged. "I was taught to sneak into the castle and read the actual documents that Elleron kept in his life." she said, topping Vance in so many ways. Vance was obvioulsy wounded by that attack that backed off that topic and moved onto something Veax hoped he wouldn't bring up. "So, how'd you get the pack member off you?"

Veax didn't know what to say. She could lie to him, but he would want details and Veax would not remember them all when she had to re-tell the tall. "Didn't Nasya spred the story 'round? I hit an open wound, made him loosen his grip just enough, for just enough time to push him off me." Veax said blandly, hoping that Vance would le t it be. He did not. "I thought you weren't one to fight like that?" he reminded her. Veax had to control her facial features. "The thing was right in my face! It smelled and I was desperate. So I fought dirty and got away. Is that such a problem?" she looked at him, letting some of her annoyance vent into her voice. Trying to hint to Vance that he was not going to go any further with this topic. Vance picked up her hints ans changed the topic. "Join me in a feast?" he asked, inviting her to feed with him. As much as Veax did not like Vance, the thought of hunting and feeding was to much to refuse.

The night air whipped past Veax's face as she ran beside Vance, chasing down two Humans that had chosen the wrong night to sneak into the woods alone. Veax could smell their fear now, it was intoxicating. Veax hated to admit it, but Vance had found the two Humans in the first place. He was the better hunter.

The Humans were cornered now. They made the mistake to try and hide by some boulders that stood by a deep stream. Veax pondered their chances of escape. They could try to swim away. No. In this stat of hunger, Vance and I would be on them before they turned around. They could try to climb the boulders. But then they would end up with the same fate as the first option. Woe is them. Veax knew she should care more, but she really did not right now. She was hungry for some real food.

The screams of the Human Veax lunged at were muffled by her strong hand. Veax's ice eyes changed to an eerie mixture of red and black as she dug her fangs into her prey's neck. Slowly the Human stopped struggling and then finally died. Veax pulled away and sighed. She felt so much better now. Veax looked over to Vance. He to looked refreshed. Veax had to admit, Vance looked good covered in blood. What Vampire did not? But for some reason, Vance looked exceptionally tasty. I swear, feeding like this is not good for me. Veax thought with a smirk.

Vance and Veax sat by the stream for a long time after they fed. Vance's eye returned to their normal color which was a stunning amber that contrasted quite well with his short, shaggy, midnight-black hair.

Veax and Vance walked back to the camp after they buried the Humans. Veax looked around the forest they walked in now. She had played in these woods when she was much, much younger. They were only a few miles outside the main city, the place Veax grew up and where her clan lived until they moved out, as to allow the clan to grow even more. Vance had never been to these woods or the city as far as Veax knew. He and the Warxen clan had lived about sixty miles away from the Bloodrain clan manor. His clan had warned of the oncoming Werewolves.

Carthem was wiating when Veax and Vance got back from their little hunt. "And where were you two?" Carthem asked sternly. He did not like not knowing what was going on among those 'below' him. Vance and Veax looke dot one another. "Well?" Carthem asked, growing impatient. Vance stepped forth. "I asked your daoughter if she'd like to feast with me." Vance said simply. Veax knew that if she had said anything, Carhtem would have demanded a detailed answer. Though for some reason, he liked Vance enough to allow Veax and Vance off the hook this time because he just nodded stiffly and left.

Vance bid Veax goodnight before heading back to his own tent. Veax lay on her cot staring at the top of the tent. That feast left her with a clearer mind to think over the things much more interesting than Vance covered in blood.

Betrayal (2)

2009-01-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

2: By the Moon

Once he was out of decent hearing distance, Jasperain plundered on through the forest on all fours towards a stream he had noted on his way there. He had to wash all sent of the blood drinker from his pelt. It would mean big trouble if he showed up at the pack smelling like the enemy.

Once at the stream, Jasperain plunged into the cold water. It was refreshing. A fish or two passed by him as the bathed. It was tempting to just snap them up in his mussel and gulp down the protein. But he said he was out hunting deer, or some other big prey, so coming back and having fish breath would hint to where he really was.

With all the blood drinker's sent washed off his body, Jasperain got out of the stream and shook the water from his pelt. "Now to actually start hunting..." he mumbled to himself. Hunting was easy for him, though not everybody knew that. So he was safe.

The sent of deer was clear in the spacious forest, and Jasperain was on the sent almost immediately. As he tracked his prey Jasperain went over what VeaxBloodrain, the Vampire had told him. Her views on the war were almost the same his. It was odd, for Jasperain had thought that the Vampires were just selfish savages with no care for anything or anyone else. But Veax had shown him that some of them could be nice, kind. It seemed to Jasperain that he had the same effect on Veax. Hopefully she did not think that of the rest his pack, who would kill her like her kin would have killed him.

Jasperain had the prey in his mussel now. It was easy to find and kill it. It was a large buck. Jasperain let it fall into his paws and hefted it over his back, holding it by its antlers. As he walked back to where the pack was camped, Jasperain thought over the questions he did not ask. "I wonder how old she was....." he wondered aloud. Veax looked a few years younger than Jasperain, and he was almost twenty. But with Vampires, it was hard to look at them and know their age. They had to tell you. "Like that would actually happen anytime soon." Jasperain rolled his eyes at himself. Another question he had floating in his mind was about that new sword of hers. The first time they met on the battlefield she had a dagger and a sword. Why had the changed her weapons? It was dangerous to switch between weapons in the middle of a war, just because it took a little time to integrate the new weapon into your technique. And to Jasperain's sharp eye, the new sword was different. Lighter. Not made of silver.

He was welcomed back into the pack with a round of howls. Everyone was still in their wolven forms, which was not a big surprise. Jasperain rarely saw anyone in their 'Human' forms when their pack was chasing the Vampires. To be in your Human form when hunting the enemy was a disgrace to the pack. You would have looked too much like the enemy.

After the buck was skinned, cooked, and devoured, Jasperain walked to his spot in the pack's camp with the buck's antlers. His friend, Cregan, was laying in the soft grass, looking quite bored. His brown pelt seemed to always be clean. Cregan noticed Jasperain and instantly jumped up. "Hey Jasp!" he smiled. "Hey Cregan." Jasperain smiled back, sitting down on the grass. "I would have come to join everyone in the fest, but I already ate. That was a big buck though!" Cregan said, his tail wagging ever so slightly.

Cregan was like Jasperian's little brother. Yes they were in the same pack. That did not mean that they were related. Wolves from other packs, or loners would join the pack and make it grow. Jasperain wondered if the Vampire clans grew the same way, or if the clans were only family members and a new clan was made when two Vampires married and left their birth clans. Cregan interrupted Jasperain's thoughts. "What took you so long to hunt, eh? I mean, you can hunt really well and really fast. Did you met a female loner in the woods or something?" Cregan nudged Jasperain in the side with his elbow. Jasperain rolled his eyes at the younger wolf. "No, I did not meet a female, Cregan. I just wanted some time to myself. You know how I like the quiet." he lied this time. Jasperain did use hunting as an excuse to get some time alone and to himself, and he hoped that Cregan would be satisfied with that answer.

Cregan did not push the subject any further and returned to his spot on the grass. Jasperain had to stifle a sigh of relief and he to sat down on the grass. He looked at the antlers in his hands. The packs tried to carry a little as possible when they traveled and intended on returning to the main land. Maybe she...... Jasperain pondered the prospect of carving and giving the antlers to Veax. A show of trust perhaps? Jasperain did not want to waist the antlers, but had no idea what to use them for in the pack. "What you gonna do with those?" Cregan asked Jasperain, almost reading his thoughts. Jasperian held the antlers up to the pale moonlight. "I dunno. What would you do with 'em?" he asked. "Can I see them?" Cregan asked, holding out his hands. Jasperain nodded and handed the younger wolf. Cregan inspected the antlers, he had a more artistic eye and than anyone else in the pack. "There are beautiful Jasp." he said in his trance-like voice that showed he was preoccupied. Cregan turned the antlers over in his hands, allowing the moon to shine on them. "Hey Jasp," Cregan's voice was curious. "What?" Jasperain asked, unsure on what caught Cregan's eye. "These shine in the moonlight. Ever so slightly, but shine they do." Cregan noted. Jasperain looked closer at the antlers. they did shine! "This buck must have had some connection to the Moon." Cregan noted. Jasperain nodded. Though he could not fathom what the Moon would want with a buck, but anything was possible. "Jasp, I think you should use these for your Lune ceremony." Cregan's voice was more serious now. Jasperain pondered one the thought. The Lune ceremony was a ceremony that showed that a wolf was of full maturity and was allowed to use his or her wolven form and human form at his or her digression, unless one of higher rank, like the Alpha, said otherwise or if it was a time of war where you had to be in wolven form most of the time if you could control the power of transformation. Jasperain's Lune ceremony was supposed to happen a few weeks ago, but one: he did not have an item that was naturally connected to the Moon like these antlers at the time. And two: the Quicksilver pack was chosen to chase the group of Vampire clans which gave them no time to do the ceremony.

Jasperain took the antlers back from Cregan. "I think I'll do that. I'll go ask Kacima about the ceremony. Thanks Cregan." he smiled at the younger wolf. "Anything for my pack mate." Cregan waved as Jasperain heading the direction of the pack shaman.

Kacima, the Quicksilver pack shaman was an elderly wolf with a silver-gray pelt. His wise eyes were a pale blue and always made Jasperain calm when he looked into them. "Ah, Jasperain cub. What brings you here?" the old wolf asked in a low, soft, voice. Kacima was old enough to call Alarik, the Alpha, 'cub'. Jasperain sat down and held out the antlers. "Cregan said that these shone in the moonlight and said I could use these for my Lune ceremony." he said as Kacima examined the antlers. "Cregan is correct. These antlers belonged to a buck of the Moon and you can use these for your Lune." Kacima handed the antlers back to Jasperain, who took them gently in his paws.

Kacima's pale eyes locked into Jasperain's when he handed the antlers back. Jasperain was frozen in place. What did the old shaman see in his eyes? Did Kacima see where Jasperain had really been? But the shaman looked away seemingly uninterested in Jasperain's previous whereabouts.

Jeasperain departed from the shaman's space respectfully and returned to where Cregan stood. "Y'know Cregan," Jasperain started as he sat down next to his pack brother. "Wha?" Cregan asked, his ears pricked up. "You should see if Kacima would take you in as an apprentice." Jasperain said, placing the antlers gently beside him. Cregan looked at Jasperain like he was a genius. "Jasp you are the best. Why didn't I think of that?" Cregan said, a huge smile spreading over his mussel. Jasperain chuckled. "I'll ask him in the morning." Cregan said, looking up at the clear night sky.

Where was he? Jasperain couldn't see anything. He was in wolven form crouching on all fours. He could smell Vampires all around him, but the sent was stale in some way. The grass beneath his paws was wet. Was it dew? No. The liquid was to thick to be water. Slowly his sight returned and Jasperain was taken aback by what he saw. He was crouching in a forest clearing that was drenched in the blood of Vampires. "Jasperain!" yelled a fammiliar voice. "Why?! You siad you would stay away! Said you wouldn't hurt us! Why Jasperain?! Why?!" a female voice called. It sounded like she had been crying before she spoke. Jasperain looked up. It was Veax! Her pale skin was drenched in crimson tears and her voice cracked when she talked. Jasperain looked up, clouds covered the moon. "Jasperain....." Veax was now on her knees, crimson tears flowing freely down her face. "Why'd you break your promise? I thought you-" she was cut off by a crack of thunder. "I thougt-" again she was cut off by the thunder. Jasperain wanted to go to her. To go and comfort her but the clouds moved away from the moon. Jasperain was overwhelmed by a power he could not control. The moon was full and he lost grip on his sanity now and lunged at Veax, the compassion gone from his eyes. Veax's scream was lost in the rolling thunder and the fear and sadness in her eyes shone clearly as the lighting flashed across the sky.

Jasperain awoke with a start. Cregan was sleeping peacefully next to him. What had he just dreamed? What was Veax going to tell him? The sun was rising in the east and the Alarik was going around and waking up all the wolves.

Jasperain was up and ready to go by the time the large deep-red Alpha reached him. "Morning Alpha." Jasperain said with a nod of his head, acknowledging Alarik's status above him. Alarik nodded in return. "Sleep well?" the Alpha asked. Jasperain shrugged. "Not as well as I would have in the main land but well enough." Alarik nodded and looked down to Cregan. "I have two things for you to do Jasperain," Alarik said, looking back to Jasperain. "Firstly I need you to wake Cregan for me. And secondly, I want you to go and talk to Kacima and arrange for your Lune ceremony to be when we next camp." with that, Alarik left Jasperain to wake Cregan.

Then they were off. There was not much to pack up, given that the packs carried very little with them. Jasperain fell behind so that he was now walking beside Kacima. "Alarik said that we needed to plan for my Lune ceremony now, so that we would be prepared by the time we camp this evening?" Jasperain asked, unsure if that was what was happening. Kacima nodded. "Now you and I will center ourselves to the Moon and when she rises tonight, I will mount the Moon's antlers upon you and you shalt have the power." Kacima said, his voice thick in an accent that only the oldest wolves knew how to twist their tongues around. "But before we do so, go fetch Cregan. I sensed he wished to tell me something last night, but forgot to when he awoke." the old shaman said, nodded towards Cregan, who padded on all fours not to far off.

Jasperain picked up his pace and walked beside Cregan. "Kacima said that you wanted to tell him something?" Jeasperain said, reminding Cregan of his suggestion the previous night. Cregan shifted up onto two legs. "Oh, thats right!" he said, remembering. Jasperain and Cregan fell back to Kacima's side at the same time. Kacima looked at Cregan expectantly. "Well um..." Cregan scratched his head. Jasperain knew that if Cregan were in his human form, he would be a very deep red right now. "Yes, cub?" Kacima smiled. Cregan took a breath and looked the shaman in the eye. "Well Jasperain said that I might make a good apprentice...." he mumbled, quite embarrassed. Kacima chuckled. Its low rumbling seemed to make Cregan even more uneasy. But Kacima did not seem to be offended in any way. In fact he looked please. "I was wondering if that question would ever come up." he said. Cregan relaxed. "You mean, you'll accept me?" the embarrassment in his eye being replaced my excitement. "Yes. And now is the best time. The three of us will center with the Moon and then you and I will mount the Moon's antlers upon Jasperain." Kacima stated. Then, like the shaman told them to, Cregan and Jasperain begin to center their thoughts on the Moon, the mother of their being.

Jasperain did not noticed the day fly by him. After the first few minutes of centering himself, Jasperain had fallen into a trace-like walk. He could sense that Kacima and Cregan had done the same. It was odd how these things worked. Though Jasperain was sure that Kacima had used some kind of herb to help the process.

By the time the pack had stopped, the sun was just about to fall completely below the horizon. Kacima and Cregan left Jasperain's senses and he was left alone. He couldn't hear, see, or smell. Jasprain felt so vulnerable. But then he felt Kacima and Cregan showing him where to go. Now he could feel the eyes of the entire pack on him. Hopefully everything would go well.

Jasperain could feel the heat of a fire on his mussel and could hear Kacima chanting, though his sight was still out of reach. He felt Cregan taking his bag off his back and could hear him taking the two antlers out with great care. Then Jasperain was overwhelmed with searing heat. He wanted to scream, but his voice would not respond. The heat slowly started to move form all over his body and focused on two points on his forehead. Kacima's chanting got louder and louder. Then out of nowhere, Cregan placed the antlers upon Jasperain's head. Jasperain could feel the antlers welding into his skull. It hurt like nothing had hurt before, but still he cold not scream.

Then it was over. All the pain went away and all of Jasperain's senses came back. Kacima, Cregan, and Alarik stood before him. The Alpha held out his paw. "Welcome back form Lune, our horned warrior."

Betrayal (1)

2009-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

1: Half the battle

Veax sat on her cot, running the tip of the silver dagger over her palm. The small tent that now sufficed as her home was more or less empty, unlike all the other tents. Veax was smart enough to know that the manor was not going still be standing when this was all over. Smart enough to only bring was she really needed and wanted to keep.

There were no mirrors in the small tent. Her clan thought it to be bad luck to keep mirrors in a time such this. Veax wished she could have brought her little hand mirror from home with her, but she knew it would have not lasted the trip. Though Veax had brought things she knew she would use when this was over, or when the clans reached the main city. Those items lay in a bag at the foot of her cot.

Veax got up and opened the bag. On the the top of the bag were three dresses her mother had made before she died. Veax wasn't really one for dresses, but these were more or less whet she had left of her mother. Under those were pendants and jewels that had also belonged to her mother. Under those, wrapped in an enchanted cloth, was Veax's most prized possession. It had taken her seven whole years to make. It was her enchanted sword, DarthLightning. The blade was made of blue and black dragon scales that had been melted down to a black and blue shimmering liquid. That had taken one year. Then it took another year to make the hilt out of enchanted jet. Then four years to perfect the blade, making sure it wouldn't crack or break. Then one more year to complete it. Veax had made the sword so that the blade was as light as the hilt and near unbreakable.

No one knew that Veax had DarthLightning. It was her secret and she would only use it when she truly needed it. Plus, it wasn't silver. Only silver was used in these kinds of wars. It was 'traditional' to use silver weapons.

The horn sounded throughout the camp. Veax put the silver dagger in its sheath, picked up her silver sword and headed out. Everyone flooded out to the center of the camp where a wooden platform stood. Upon the platform stood Veax's father, Carthem. Veax crinkled up her nose. Her father always smelled bad when he was exited. He was especially exited now. Unlike her mother and herself, Veax's father lusted for war. He could not be sedated by a simple, friendly battle. No, he had to fight an all out war. This was one of the reasons he was leading this group of clans. He was willing to fight and slaughter the enemy.

Everyone quieted down when Carthem raised his hand. "My friends, family, and allies, the scouts have seen the enemy approaching this way. The scouts have also noted the total destruction of our land! Every house and manor torn down and plundered! Have those beasts no manners?! No respect for the higher race? No! They just plow through us, thinking that just because they hold the key to the beast that they are more powerful! Are we not near immortal? Our we not the better of the three races that roam this earth?" he called out to the crowd. Veax could feel everyone tensing up with anger and excitement. She could see the few other that were like herself, but they belonged to other clans. Possibly stricter clans. There was no chance that she'd get there help in trying to end the madness. But what chance did she ever have to stop it?

Carthem raised his hand for silence again. "Only a small pack heads our way. No trouble for our numbers. Shall we be rid of them? Shall we show the other packs that we are the better? Shall we teach them who rules this earth?!" his voice rose with each sentence. This time everyone cheered. Even the ones who had been quiet last time. Veax felt out of place. She wished her mother had been here. Wished her mother had survived the trip. Wished she had someone to confide in; someone who felt has Veax did. But finding someone like that would be near impossible. "Long live the Vampiric!" Carthem yelled to the crowd, raising his sword, almost feeding off the battle cries of the clans that surrounded him.

Carthem had exaggerated in the wrong way when he said that the pack was small. In fact, it was almost as big as all the clans in the camp combined. Veax had always been bewildered on how the packs just grew and grew. Never really branching off like that Vampire clans did. Veax belonged to the BloodRain clan. Other clans amongst her were the Shades clan, the Batalha clan, and the Rakyne clan. Though in total, there were about twenty clans in the camp, with each clan hosting about sixty Vampires. Veax knew that every clan would loose a decent number of Vampires in this one fight alone. The packs fought with physical power much stronger then the physical power of the Vampires. But Veax and the other Vampires were armed with silver weapons. Silver was the one metal that had an actual affect on the packs.

Pack members and Vampires alike lay dead around the ruined camp. Veax was at a stand-still with a pack member. He was tough and lean, with plenty of battle scars to show where he got his muscle from. His only weapons were his claws and fangs, and Veax was armed with a silver dagger and sword. Veax was cut deeply in multiple places, as was the pack member. He growled, his golden eyes filled with the powerful rage that the pack members could harness and use.

Without warning, the pack member lunged at Veax. She fell to the ground and could feel the wind being quite roughly knocked out of her. Veax never got caught off guard like that. What happened to her concentration? The greasy black pelt of the pack member held a stench that overwhelmed Veax's sensitive nose. Then out of nowhere, the pack member loosened his grip, but still held Veax down. "You are not like the other blood drinkers." he stated in a low gruff voice. Veax still struggled to free herself. "You are unlike the other pack members." Veax noted in return. A pack member had never addressed her before. It was an odd sensation. "You don't fight with all your being. Why?" he asked her. Veax was hoping that no one would have noticed that. But there was no running away from this. "I don't want to fight. But my status requires me to fight. I would have been dragged out here if I had refused to go." Veax told him. She didn't really know why she was telling him. Veax never really liked the packs, but she never really liked the fighting either. The pack member thought this over. Then actually got off her. Though he did it in a such a fashion that it looked like Veax had pushed him off. "We will speak again, if the Moon permits. If anyone asks how you were freed from my grip, you can say you wrestled free." with that, he ran off on all fours with what was left of his pack. Veax lay there on the blood-soaked ground, stunned. Had that pack member actually let her go? Just because she was against the war? No. That could not be it. But he had just done so and all of Veax's senses told her what had just happened was real.

Nasya, Veax's younger sister, rushed to her side. "Veax! What happened? I swear I saw that pack member holding you in a grip of steal! How'd you get free?!" Nasya fussed. "Nessie, I'm fine." Veax lied. Veax was far from fine. "I guess I hit a sore spot and got him to let go enough for me to wrestle free." Veax lied again. It would be harder to lie to her father about this. Why did he do that!? Veax's head was spinning. Nasya helped Veax to her feet and back to what was left of the camp.

Everyone was injured in one way or another, but being Vampires, everyone healed quickly. Carthem was at Veax's side the moment she and Nasya walked into the main tent. "What happened young one?!" Carthem demanded of Nasya, wanting to know what happened to Veax. Carthem had never liked Veax. For many, many reasons. The biggest reason was that Veax was the eldest of Carthem's children and female. A big disgrace in Carthem's mind. "I don't really know, but Veax wrestled a pack member, near twice her, size off her chest!" Nasya said in admiration. If only she knew..... Veax thought, knowing that her sister knew nothing about what had happened between the pack member and Veax. Her father just looked down at Veax. "Pack your stuff." he said bluntly. Veax nodded and headed towards her tent.

Thankfully, Veax's tent was intact and her belongings untouched. She was still dazed by what the pack member had done and said. Would he seek her out now? Would he follow the clans on their way to the main city? No, he wouldn't take that sort of risk. The scouts would find him before he could get to close. Why did he want to talk again anyway? As these thoughts ran through Veax's head, she unpacked DarthLightning. Something was telling her to arm herself with it. That she would need it later and Veax almost always trusted her instincts.

Veax stood, her silver blade strapped to her right hip and DarthLightning strapped to her left. Hopefully no one would ask about the extra blade. The tent, cot, and everything else that belonged to Veax was packed and on her back. Nasya came over to her. Nasya and Veax always traveled together. Nasya was the only person that liked to travel with Veax.

Before long, the clans were off. Nasya was already chattering off about rumors going around the younger Vampires. Like usual, Veax did not really listen. At least not until she heard Nasya mention the packs. "You know some of the other kids are calling the pack members by the title they call themselves? I told them that they'd get in trouble but do they listen? Noooo." Nasya shook her head in disapproval, like her and Veax's mother used to when she was alive. "What?" Veax asked, interested now. Nasya nodded. "They were calling the pack members by their own titles. Like the "Alpha" and "cub" and stuff." Nasya stuck out her tongue, as if saying the words put a bad taste in her mouth. "And worst of all they were saying....." Nasya looked around to make sure none of the elders were listening too closely. "Werewolves." Nasya whispered so quiet, Veax had almost asked for her to repeat the word. This stunned Veax. Did this have to do soemthing with what happened between the pack member and herself? No. It could not. How could those young ones know about what really happened?

Veax shook her head, trying to clear it. This was too much for her. Especially with all this traveling, Veax's brain did not want to keep up. Nasya went back to babbling about other things, and left Veax to herself.

The sun was setting now and the sky was a beautiful mix of purple and crimson. For some reason the sunsets always looked better when Veax was traveling. Carthem called a halt and found a spot that the clans could camp.

Once everything was set up, Carthem came up to Veax, who was pacing back and forth. "Veax." He said, quite sternly. Veax snapped out of her thoughts. "Hm?" She asked. Carthem looked at her. Veax pulled herself together. "Yes, father?" she corrected herself. That was what Carthem was looking for. "You have west border patrol tonight." He said. Veax nodded, sheathed her silver sword and belted on DarthLightning, but did not let her father see the blade. He just nodded and left. Veax took a breath and headed to the west border of camp. Hopefully Nasya would sneak her a snack later.

Veax hated patrol. Time just seemed to slow to an utter crawl. Even if she had been partnered with someone, the night seemed to never end. It was simple though. All Veax needed to do was watch the shadows. Make sure that no predators or enemies approached the camp. If she spotted someone, she would yell or scream, fend off the attacker until backup arrived, and then do it all over again.

Hours passed and darkness consumed Veax, with only the dim light of the crescent moon to light her way. She had memorized almost every twig and branch on her path now. Nasya had not come. "Carthem probably set her up somewhere else." Veax whined, her stomach grumbling. She hadn't fed since they had left the manor. And right now that felt like forever ago. "I don't even need to feed. Any sort of food would be nice." Veax told the tree that acted as her north corner marker.

More time passed. Veax was not paying attention to how much time anymore. The night just dragged on. It was horrid. But it was better than being harassed about how she 'wrestled' the pack member off of her. Then there was a whiff of unknown sent. Veax instantly readied herself, her hands hovering over the hilts of her blades. The sent become stronger as it came closer. It was the sent of a pack member. What is a pack member going here? Veax questioned herself. Could it be the pack member from earlier today? Did he get past the scouts? A shadow formed at the edge of the forest, just a few feet away from where Veax stood. It was clear to Veax now that it was a pack member. The sent was quite clear, but not as strong or gross as it was earlier that morning.

It came out of the shadows and into the dim moonlight. It was the same pack member from before! "What the hell are you doing here!?" Veax hissed at him. He smiled, his canines bigger than Veax had remembered. "I told you we would speak again." he stated simply. Veax shook her head, still ready for any sort of attack. "Yes, I know. But here? Now? Do you know how bad this would look, for the both of us, if we were caught!?" Veax had to struggle to keep her voice low. Men had alway s driven her crazy. Human, Vampire, and..... Werewolf alike. The Werewolf nodded. "Yes I know. Thats why I watched and counted the pace of the other guards before I approached you. We are safe for about twenty minutes." he said said simply, sitting down on the grass. Veax stood there, unsure. The Werewolf seemed to noticed her caution. "If I had wanted to kill you, you'd been dead long ago." he said bluntly. Veax accepted this fact and sat down, but still on her guard.

The Werewolf pulled a small bag off of his hip. Veax smelled meat. The Werewolf held the small package out to her. When Veax did not take it, he took her hands gently and placed the bag in them. Veax sat there. His hands where soft. Veax thought she'd never come into contact with a Werewolf in such a peaceful way. It was so odd. Unsettling and comforting at the same time. Veax slowly unwrapped the cloth, keeping an eye on the Werewolf. The overwhelming sent of fresh killed meat came into Veax's nose. The Werewolf had brought her a meal! Veax looked up at him, her mouth hagging open. The meat was even cooked to a moderate degree. He shrugged. "You said you were hungry." he explained. "How long were you there?!" Veax asked. "Long enough to hear that you hadn't fed and wanted, needed, something to eat?" he responded, making it sound like a question. Veax was too hungry to argue, a fault in Vampires that was quite evident.

After she devoured the meat, Veax looked up at the Werewolf. "So, why so nice? If I could have, I would have killed you on the battlefield without thinking twice about whether you were nice or not." she asked. Before Veax asked, or answered anything else, she wanted to know why this Werewolf was doing this. The Werewolf looked down. "I could smell your difference. Your dislike about being put in the position of fighting. I wanted to know more. Is that too much to ask?" he asked, his golden eyes looked like those of a small puppy. Veax was taken aback, "Thats all?" he nodded. Veax looked down, now ashamed of herself. "Whats wrong?" he asked. Veax shook her head, handing the cloth that the meat had been wrapped in back to the Werewolf. "I never did like the fighting. But I still thought that your kind was just beasts. No "Human-like" feelings in the lot of ya. Now you come and do this," Veax motioned between them, "And now I just feel bad. And the whole actually talking to you like this is odd." Veax stood. She should not be here. She should be patrolling. But at the same time she need to stay here. This acquaintance might lead to something that could stop the fighting. But Veax didn't like to use people.

The Werewolf stood. "We're almost out of time, so I'll go." he said, facing Veax. His gold eyes shone clearly in the dim light. He held out his hand. "Jasperian Quicksilver." he introduced himself. "A little late for that, aren't you?" Veax said, taking his hand. Jasperain smiled and shrugged. "Veax Bloodrain." Veax said. Jasperain held Veax's hand lightly and gently as he shook it. Then he left as quietly as he come.

With that, Veax resumed her patrol. She now had many, many things to go over in her mind as the patrolled the camp's border.

Falling with Angels (1)

2008-12-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

Nightmares?

Jessica was in a dark room. There was no light, just a void of darkness. But she could feel the floor beneath her feet and the walls and her fingertips. The room was about as big as her bedroom, but by the feel of things it was empty.
No, wait. There was someone else in the room. They were close. Very close. Jessica felt her way around the empty room, her arms stretched out in front of her. After what seemed to be forever, Jessica's fingers landed on something soft. Feathers! Jessica felt around more. The feathers were attached to wings. They must have been black wings. White ones would have glowed, right?
Jessica felt up the wings, they were huge! Maybe about as long as both her arms combined. She was expecting the wings to be attached to some huge animal, but she was wrong. The wings were attached to the bare back of a boy. Jessica felt around over his shoulder and moved her blind self to stand in front of the him. This was the person she had felt in the room earlier. She traced her fingers down his arm down to his hand. It was so cold, but in some odd way, comforting.
A strange realization came over Jessica then. She knew someone that knew who this hand belonged to. But how would she know that? How could she? The hand moved, along with the rest of the boys body. He embraced her, holding her close. Like she was a long lost friend he had just found. His body was cold, but she welcomed his embraced. She felt so safe in his arms. "Come back to me Aciaj. Please come back to me. I miss you so much. So much....." He whispered into her ear softly, sadness thick in his words.
Jessica was confused now, who was Aciaj? Was he talking about her? Jessica did not get the chance to find out as light flooded the room. The boy disappeared in the light as a vampire would. "Wait!" Jessica called after him, but he was gone.

Jessica shot upright in her bed "Wait!" she called again, panting. She looked around, she was on the floor, tangled in the sheets. "Not again...." Jessica mumbled, standing and removing the sheets from her body. This must have been the fifth time she had this dream. Or was it a nightmare? Jessica always woke up in fear after that dream. She could not put her finger on what kind of fear, but fear it was none-the-less. "I should tell Thane. He might have some idea on why I keep having this dream-nightmare-thingy."
Jessica threw the sheets back on her bed and walked into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror. "God, I look horrid." she commented on her tangled red-mahogany hair and sleep-deprived green eyes. Her nightshirt was also sticking to her back from the sweat. " I need a shower....." Jessica noted to herself, pulling off her nightshirt and shorts.
After a long hot shower and recount of her nightmare-dream, Jessica pulled on a t-shirt and some jeans. She walked downstairs to the kitchen. She could smell sausage wafting her way. "Morning." Jessica said, walking into the kitchen. Thane turned around. "Well your up early." he said, smiling and pulling a chair out for her. "Care to tell me why your up so soon?" he asked, sitting next to her. Jessica sighed. "Well...." she hesitated. "I had this really odd dream last night." that caught Thane's attention. He was always one to jump in if the topic related to dreams. "Tell me?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
Jessica told Thane what she saw in the dream and told him of the fear she woke up in. She also told him that she had this dream before. "Hrm....." he ran his hands through his golden-blond hair. He opened his mouth to say something when the oven timer beeped. Thane got up and took the sausage out of the oven and served them, hot and sizzling. "Now, back to your dream." he said, cutting himself a bite of sausage. "Balck can be a symbol of darkness or evil, and wings tends to mean an angel when attached to a human being. So I guess black wings means a fallen angel. You said that he embraced you? Like a hug?" Thane questioned. Jessica nodded. "He told me that he wanted me to go back to him, that he missed me. But what was really weird was that he called me Aciaj." she said. Thane dropped his fork. His expression was like that of a person who had just seen the end of the world. "Thane!" Jessica yelped, standing up. Thane held up his hand to show that he was alright. Jessica sat back down. "What did I say?" she asked, scared now. Thane was not the kind of person to do that. He was always bright and happy. An expression like that on his face worried Jessica. Only when things were really bad did he ever even hint had being worried. "Aciaj." Thane said, a odd feeling in his voice that Jessica could not understand. It sounded like a mixture of hate and fear. "Aciaj is......" he sighed, rubbing his temples. "Aciaj is the sister of a previous friend of mine. A friend that did many wrong things." he was holding back his words like he was talking to small child. "Then why did the boy in my dream call me that?" Jessica asked. Aciaj was such a strange name. Like Thane's last name, Anquel. "Because you look like her." Thane said, still his voice was far and distant and filled with that weird emotion.
Jessica and Thane finished their breakfast in silence. Jessica had never seen Thane like this. He seemed to be deep in some horrifying thought. Jessica cleaned up the plates and put them in the dishwasher. She tied on her boots and grabbed her purse. "I'll be at the park!" she called behind her. "Alright!" Thane called back, still broody.
Jessica sat on the swing trying to wrap her head around what Thane had told her. "Aciaj is the sister of an ex-friend of Thane's. That boy in my dream seemed miss me in that way a older brother would miss a younger sibling." she said to herself jumping off the swing and heading towards the path that circled the little park. "So that makes me the sister, the boy my brother and Thane's ex-friend. So Thane was the person I know who knew that boy. If what I just said was correct...." Jessica stated. She walked slowly on the path around the park. Walking help her think. Moving in general helped her think. "But I never had a brother. Just mom, dad, and little Lilly. So where did this boy come from?!" Jessica was getting frustrated. All this was making sense and not making sense at the same time and it was confusing her. What she was thinking was not possible unless she had a older brother that her deceased parents put up for adoption before she was born. But then, wouldn't have Thane known about him and told Jessica?
Jessica shook her head. "I needed something less troubling to start my first week off from school." she grumbled. Jessica went back to the swings. "Maybe this ex-friend really hurt Thane and hearing that a boy called me the ex-friend's sister's name in my dream was unsettling. Yeah, that must be it....." Jessica didn't really feel sure about that statement. But she had to think about something that wasn't confusing. She had enough confusion during the school year.

I need a tablet!!!!!

2008-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

Whew! This took me two days to complete. Mostly because I had homework and a little brother to block my unending attention to this new project. But now it's finished and you people gt to see it! This is the cover to my newest story, Falling with Angels. I'll type the actual story up (sooner or later) and you guys can get the whole picture.
Feedback is always wanted! <3

Click click, add new layer, color, click click

2008-12-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

Whew, my goodness, my hand hurts. I sketched, inked, and colored these two pictures on the computer with my mouse. It took quite a long time to make both of them, with many, many mess-ups. It felt so relieving when I finished them, like I just drew, inked, and colored a drawing in the real-world. So take a look at them and tell me how you like them!

(Click on them if you want to view them in their actual sizes)

Oooh, purplez

2008-11-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well heres my latest photoshop creation!

T'is a picture of me and my new short purple hair, edited to be even MORE purple! Some cool eyes and an awesome background.

Tell me how y'all like it!
I love the feedback! <3