Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Vampire and Wereanimal Politics ❯ She's Gone ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

Do you believe in vampires? I do. I have to. As do many others. We are all victims in one way or another. I do also because, I'm their executioner. It's my job to hunt them down and destroy them as well as other creepy crawly things that go bump in the night.

Let me tell you how I became the scourge of the supernatural…

I was 24 that fall. My grandmother had just been killed. She had died some two weeks before I was told. The last family other than my brothers and no one told me she had been gone for two weeks, or maybe they had and I just didn't know. I'm a painter. I can get so wrapped up in my work that I some how ignore everything else for a time, or maybe I had just been hiding.

My grandmother, on my mom's side had taken my two brothers and me in when my parents had died when I was four. My mom was a beautiful woman. Raven hair, pale skin and deep blue eyes that could tell you all or nothing depending on her mood. My daddy, whom grandma hated with a passion I didn't see often from her, had been tall,

almost white blonde, with silvery pale blue eyes, athletic the way momma was gorgeous, naturally. I looked and was almost exactly like him, only female. Daddy had also been an artist, though in a different way. Daddy used to draw things to come in the future and would lose himself in it as well. Not everything was beautiful; some of it was down right horrible. He turned to music, composing. His work could be used for so much, a symphony, a band, or what ever it was needed for, this power of his kept bleeding into what ever he was doing. The music often reflected that though most people didn't know why. That was his gift and curse. I have a small talent that way. Mine is I can go into a room, place, what ever and feel the leftovers of extreme emotion and magic. If it was great enough, I

could see flashes of what had happened. Grandma had hated daddy for taking momma out of her shelter world. Though Lantis, my older brother by 5 years, told me that daddy had drawing of Momma, before he ever

set eyes on her. Lantis remembered watching daddy Capture of both me and Omi, my little brother by four years, before we were even born. Grandma, Nonna, also hated daddy for diluting her perfect non-magic line,

though she never took it out on us. Maybe she realized what she had lost when Momma had died.

Lantis called me while I had been sleeping off the exhaustion caused by my work. I hadn't surface fully for almost three weeks. I fumbled for the phone by my bed. "What do you want, I was sleeping," I answered, I'm not grumpy when awoken up, yeah right.

"Get your lazy butt into gear, Serena, and find your grumpy way to Nonna's. I need you to talk to Omi; he won't come of his room." My brother's rough voice came over my phone, he sounded grumpier then me and that's hard to do. I dragged my sleep-deprived body out of bed, took a ten-minute shower and headed to my grandmother's house. She lived just off of RT 59 just outside of Schaumburg. I lived in Elgin so I had a twenty-minute drive and needed to be awake for it. When working, I'm lucky to get three hours of sleep each night, and I eat the bare minimum to survive, I had lost a lot of weight again and Nona was probably going to call me on it. Well I guess there could be worse things. And believe me there are.

The drive felt as if I hadn't even been in the car. Dazed and confused. Who me? Lantis opened the door before

I could even knock on it. Nonna was a stickler for courtesy, even though we were family. No big deal, I could live with it. Lantis was taller then me at 6'3. I only hit 5'10. He glared down at me with those closed off eyes of his. He got that from Momma and used it often. "upstairs, now" yes master, was the sarcastic reply that came to mind until he let his shield down long enough for me to wonder what I had seen in his eyes. I headed up the carpeted winding staircase and turned left and headed for the end of the hallway. Nonna's room was closed which wasn't unusual, but I hadn't seen her when I came in and when she knows we are coming, she sits by the door waiting for us.

Looking at her door I got a tingle of, something, like fear and pain from it. I frowned at the door as I moved on to Omi's sanctuary. I put it from my mind; I was more worried about my baby brother. His room was at the end of the long end of the hallway. His room was one of the biggest in the house, short of Nonna's. Lantis and I didn't mind, he really loves his room. It was the shade of blue his eyes were, like momma's, a deep blue. His room had every computer thing imaginable stuffed into it. He was a genius with `em and he was only in his sophomore year in college. Thinking of that, what was he doing home?

"Omi, where are you?" I found him in his closet, huddled around himself. Omi when standing only got to about 5'7. He had light brown hair, as if someone mixed daddy's pale hair with a little bit of momma's midnight hair. His hair was a little shaggy as if he hadn't gotten it cut for several months, and he probably hadn't. His work is just as important to him as mine is to me. He just remembers to sleep and eat more then I do. It was scary, seeing my usually laid back brother like this. You'd almost think some one had died.

I heard and echo of sound like a thud against the wall, I looked up, confused. The room next door was Nonna's. I wrapped my little brother in my arms. "Omi, what's wrong? Come on tell me I can't make it go away until you tell me." He only made a keening noise in his throat. I knew what ever had him upset was bad. It had been something we had done as children. Whenever one of us was hurt, the one who found them would say that to the other. Usually we could make the problem go away. My head jerked up as I heard the thud and felt it through the wall. What the hell is going on here? "Hold on a second, sweetie, I'll be right back." I let him go, placing him gently on his bed. He curled up on himself again, as if to hide from something. Like if he made himself so small, it wouldn't see him.

I headed to Nonna's room. Lantis was in front of it, as if he was guarding it. His arms were crossed and he stood there rooted, he shook his head at me. "Whatever you are getting from the room, ignore it until Omi is ok."

It had become my turn to shake my head. "I can't Lantis, can't you hear it? It sounds like something big and heavy is being thrown up against the wall." His eyes glinted like a sapphire, full of fire and I knew this would be the end of the conversation. "It's nothing for you to worry about. Go back to Omi." Well that was that.

Still not feeling right about the room I headed back to Omi.

Omi whimpered as I opened the door. He was just as I left him. "Omi, you have to tell me what is wrong." I was beginning to get desperate. Both my brothers were acting very funny.

"Omi, shush. It'll be alright, I promise." He was making the high noises again. I climbed up onto the bed and just held him. We both fell asleep like that. I woke up the next morning, grumbling about the sun, which never sees my room yet it was waking me up. For a moment I tried to remember where I was, until I spotted Omi, still in the clothes he was wearing last night, at the foot of the bed. He had his laptop up there as well and seemed to keep constant contact with me in some way. I shifted my legs just a little behind me, just to test my theory. With out looking up he resettled himself and the laptop so he was in easy reach of me. "Omi," I called to him softly, like our mother would have, or grandmother. "Nonna?" He looked at me and was confused for a moment. He shook his head, as if to clear it.

"Serena, why did this have to happen?" He looked at me with such sad eyes, it almost broke my heart. I played along as if I knew what had happened; he'd get around to telling me eventually. "I don't know sweetie, but now we have to but it aside and live out lives. If we don't it only gets worse." I didn't have to feign sympathy it was real as anything could be. "She shouldn't have died; she should have been there for us, forever. She can't be gone yet!" He started to cry, great big tears and wails. "Nonna shouldn't be gone yet. She promised us she would never leave us! Not like mom and dad." That took me by surprise. Nonna, gone? It couldn't be true. I held on my emotions until I could tuck Omi back into bed. "Sleep Omi, we'll get through this together." I hoped that that had sounded reassuring to him. Apparently it had, he quiet down until the only noised I heard in the room was his breathing that was slowly evening out, and that horrible thud, again.

I climbed carefully out of the bed, as not to wake Omi. I headed to the open door. My heart thudding more painfully the closer I got to leaving the room. "Nonna," I whispered and crossed into the hall. I walked the 20 feet that separated the two doors. Lantis wasn't standing guard today. I touched the doorknob and was almost overwhelmed by the feelings of hate, pain and fear. I was almost too afraid of what I would find in the room if I went in there. I pushed the door open and it felt as if it weighed a ton. I slipped across the threshold and was instantly hit by images. Nonna on the bed, she wakes, screaming. The door had slammed open. And the thing moved so fast it was almost a blur to the bed. She tried to scramble away but she wasn't fast enough. The dark shadow lifted her and threw her into the wall that her room shared with Omi's closet. The thing went back to her. Picking her up as if she were weightless, "For all the things she couldn't give me." It screamed into the room as it broke her neck. "Noooo, Nonna!" I could hear Lantis scream as he reached the door. But it had been too late for Nonna, she was already dead, and the thing was ripping her to pieces, literally. It threw a piece that my mind didn't want to identify at Lantis as it turned to him. The shadow hissed, and I could see it in the pale moonlight, that filtered into the room. It wasn't a thing; it was a man, my ex-boyfriend. I could see Darien hissing at my big brother as he lunged at him.

I was broken off from the scene; I didn't get to see how he staved the bastard off. I could hear myself scream as if I was far away from myself, and I felt air rush all around me. I realized I was falling backward and I couldn't stop it. Just as I about lost all consciousness, I could feel arms tighten around my body and keep me from hitting the ground. Blue eyes filled with worry and pain floated above my head, and I finally lost my hold on reality.

I groaned as I surfaced painfully. I didn't want to wake up, but something, horrible thoughts and images, pushed me forward. I felt a coolness touch my forehead as a long weight curled along side of my back. `Please tell me I saw wrong, that didn't really happen. `Please.' I whispered as tears wound down my face. A long slender hand wiped my tears away shush. `It'll be ok, I promise.' It sounded like…`Nonna? Is it really you?'

`No it's not, don't you recognize me?' I really sobered up fast to the sound of that deep voice. `No, no. No. NO'

I screamed.

He laughed that harsh laugh that you get from the scorned ones, `You really should have paid more attention to me while you had the chance.' That grating voice faded as I surfaced for real this time. I came up drawing breath as if to scream as I bolted upright in the bed.

"Serena!" I could hear Lantis, but not see him.

"Where are you Lantis? I can't see you!" I was panicking and hyperventilating.

"Serena. I'm here. See me? I'm right in front of you, open your eyes and I'll be here." I took comfort in his rough voice. I felt his fingers smoothing along my cheek. I grabbed the hand and followed the line up the arm. I hit the edge of a short sleeve and continued on my quest for solidarity before I could open my eyes. The t-shirt ran out and I skimmed over a scar I had inadvertently given to my older brother so many years ago Lantis I breathed his name as I got the courage to open my eyes. His deep drowning pools appeared in front of me in like fluid stages. I had never been so relieve to see him.

"Please tell me Nonna's here, alive and well." I practically begged him. His eyes filled, like a waterhole in a downpour, with sadness and pain. An intensity like he never really showed, shined through and I knew every thing I had witnessed was real and I was weeks too late to say goodbye to my grandmother. The tears rolled down my face, retracing the tracks others had created. I could sense heat behind me as Omi's arms wrapped around my waist and his chin rested on my left shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Serena. I didn't know." I could feel his tears as the hot wetness spilled on to me.

"I meant to lock the door until I could prepare you for what had happened. I figured when you didn't call me back that you were working on another piece. I had wanted to be with you when you stepped into the room. To help you. I'm so sorry." Lantis bent his head down and held it in his hands.

"This wasn't your fault. It was mine. If I had just paid more attention to Darien then this wouldn't have happened. I killed her and almost you when I got so wrapped up in my work. This is all my fault." I sobbed as if my whole life had shattered, enough of it had that I was in for some serious changes.

We spent the next several weeks cleaning out her house, the house we grew up in. Part of the reason it took so long was that I had Lantis and Omi teaching me self-defense. I never had an issue with barroom brawl style, it was the martial arts they were teaching me and more. I would need everything I had ever learned in the future.

I never did get around to asking Lantis how he had gotten away from Darien. Maybe I just wasn't ready to know.