This Side Of Heaven

Chapter One- Secrets in the Shadows

"You know what must be done, Lorentate." A momentary silence fell throughout the entire space as his eyes lifted from his bloodied knuckles and rested on the wounded girl lying motionless atop his bed. His gaze fixated on her in length, memorizing the details of her appearance as her beauty rivaled any other he had encountered. She was as pure as silk, an exotic temptress worn beneath ivory skin, and a rebellious warrior left helpless from the need to survive; all things he was warned she would be. But his eyes did not look to her with astonishment or pride, instead, they lowered in regret. 

"You must kill her…" The voice continued as he turned to the origin of the order in a split second observation before returning his focus to the woman in question. 

But as he led his steps towards her, the edge of the crescent blade teasing the delicate skin of his fingertips, his eyes illuminated with hellfire made up of anger and lust in twain. He had never witnessed such chaos or beauty in one vessel, and now he was called forward to end it. However, he could not bring himself to pierce that porcelain skin decorated in sporadic beauty marks throughout her creamy complexion that left him trembling with anxiety. 

Flashes of what led him to her acquaintance roused his thoughts from recent memory as he recalled the details of his eyes first resting on her from the shadows; his crimson gaze unseen by her or her date as the headlights of this Corvette rested on the overlook of the entire midwest small town of Mattin. It was a picturesque town full of essential businesses all appearing as a storybook town from this angle, but for her, it acted as a screen for this entanglement. 

"You look beautiful, Avery…" a masculine voice spoke as the soft words of Bruno Mars played within the background while her lips were captured by her companion. Nervous as she was rather a novice in the ways of a kiss, Avery tried to relax as he suddenly retreated from her. 

"Are you comfortable? I can turn up the heat if you'd like…" he was incredibly cordial to her, contending with his reputation for being less than chivalrous. But she rejected his kind offer and felt him drag his fingers up the exposed skin of her leg concealed by a thin pair of nude tights. 

"I want you to relax, Avie. You are such a pretty girl. And pretty girls deserve to be satisfied." She became gradually nervous at his choice of words as they came with the weight of a relinquishment she was not entirely prepared to give. Having only received her first kiss seven days before this moment, she was less than comfortable with the idea of giving herself to someone; especially in the confined quarters of his father's vehicle. 

But she told herself that this was "normal". A seventeen year old girl on the crest of adulthood deserved to have the butterflies he had left fluttering about from his touch. But somehow, something pulled her away and even made her nauseated even. 

"Do you just want to listen to music or maybe look out at the stars?" She attempted to ask before feeling his hands now become sharper on her skin; more aggressive. 

"Maybe next time." He abandoned her requests, with that urbane behavior she held in appreciation to have now been whittled down by his desire. 

"Just relax, baby." Her stomach turned to his pet name, a nickname that should only be called by someone in a committed relationship, but he was no more than a few smirks passed in the hallway and a kiss from a party only given by mounds of peer pressure. 

"I can make you feel real good…" his fingers tried the inside of her skirt, before she suddenly forced his hand away and apologized to her sudden movements as his expression wore frustration, but his lips moved to a smile. 

"Would it be better if we got into the backseat? Maybe take some of these clothes off?" Her eyes now narrowed to him without a care of his feelings or his fleeting satisfaction. 

"I think I-I want to go home." She spoke nervously, understanding the smack she would get from her best friend by angering someone like Josh Preston; captain of the wrestling team, quarterback of the cliche football team, and overall stud throughout her town. However, she was not the type to submit to something so gravely different than what she was used to for the approval of anyone; especially a lustful peer. 

"Did you think I drove all the way out here to just take you back? Nah...I think you just need to relax. Take a drink-" he explained while exposing a bottle from beneath his seat and twisting the top before taking a swig for himself. Handing out to her, she denied it immediately while watching him c**k his jaw in annoyance. 

"Please...just...just take me home? I'll pay for your gas...I-"

"I don't want your money...I just want you, Avery. You are so beautiful and I just want to make you feel good…" her eyes shied away in a sheepish turn as she had been curious to know the extent of what the girls spoke of between classes. But she knew wholeheartedly that it was not something that she wanted with someone like him. 

"Please take me home!" She urged as she pulled herself as far to the door as she could as he seemed too annoyed to comment. Instead, he turned to the direction of his own reflection in the window at his side. 

"I can't let you do that. Not until I've had a bite…" his words made her draw her gaze to him as she saw a complexion changed in drastic measures. 

The romanesque features that made him attractive in social standard were sharp and sunken to appear almost sickly. The only beauty that lied in this alternate appearance was the gray hue of his irises that only existed this way as a sign that life had left his gaze. Yet, the more horrifying detail had been the sharp fangs emerging from his lateral incisors on each side of his front teeth. For a moment, she stalled in study as she tried to rationalize his appearance. Yet as she thought of it having been a set of prosthetics applied in a hurry all for the thrill of a joke or even a product of her own overactive imagination, she would not be allowed the plethora of time to navigate all potential truths before he lunged at her. 

Taking a hold of her wrist, the sudden sting of his teeth piercing her skin was enough to make her scream in pain as this sudden burn tore her from her fugue state. She was able to break his bite for a moment as she tried for the door at her side. But with the lambo doors installed for his eighteenth birthday, she was pulled back inside before they had a chance to lift in swift ascent. 

"Please!" She pleaded with the air around her, praying that someone in a nearby car or even out for some late exercise would come upon her screams. But she seemed to be ignored by both passersby and God as she was forced back into the seat. This time, however, his teeth dove into her neck. The pain was now more direct and chilling for her as she was entirely stunned at how he managed to redirect her blood into a current that then left her body. She was left feeling weak and cold, but also determined to bypass remaining as a statistic of a brainless lovesick teenager. 

Her fingers searched for anything within the car that could be of use to her, while also fighting the pull of her body yearning her into a tempting slumber. Yet, she came upon the auxiliary power outlet of the vehicle and pressed it in with the extent of her middle finger as it had been the only one within reach. Her body was jerked suddenly as his teeth deepened that much further, as her eyes began to develop black confetti throughout her failing stare. Believing the edge of the vehicular outlet was warm enough to be deemed effective, Avery used its nose to burn a perfect nickel sized circle into her opponent and succeeded in finding a release from his touch. 

Her body was both weightless and weighted by the side effect of his "feed", as she used all of her strength to lift herself out of the sunroof of the car, but found his touch to take hold of her instantly. 

"Please! Someone!" Her desperation remained at its peak, and yet her delivery was less than enthusiastic as she was beginning to approach that fine line between life and death; the first steps of the deadly tango of the undertaker playing its queue as she fought to take the lead. 

Josh's grip was strong at her legs, clawing at her, until he managed to bring her back into the direction of the passenger seat. Her eyes became incredibly heavy, falling in and out of consciousness, as she was forced to exert her last bit of energy to bear witness to what was next. 

The glass of the driver's side door came crashing against them both as Josh was drug from the car, as if he had been entirely weightless. His body was then thrown onto the hood of the vehicle, as a figure contrasting his strength brought his hand to the vampire's chest, following an extent of merciless punches. Josh's body seized in momentary fear met with urgency as the sight of his heart was brought to Avery's failing gaze. However, the figure left shrouded in the shades of moonlight returned him to the door of his side of the vehicle, lifting the gateway as he lowered his victim as if the opening was his impromptu guillotine. In a single effortless pull, the door separated Josh's head from his shoulders as her eyes fell victim to the black of her forced slumber. 

The shadow appeared at her door, lifting it without care, and bringing her into his chest. A sudden burst of searing pain emerged in a cascading form over his right shoulder blade,confirming the suspicion he held that led to him following her to begin with. But at this moment, his only focus had been to bring her somewhere safe. And so, with a graceful lift of her drained physique, he brought her the three miles back into town just as dusk began to rise, and she was safe within his apartment. 

The aesthetic of his residence was entirely windowless and colored exclusively in matte black with hints of grays and silvers embedded in appliances and fabric. Only a handful of neutral tones were found and those would rest on the bowed edges of bookshelves in the form of aged spines in wrapped papyrus and the priceless paintings of lands impossibly beautiful to exist on our plains. Finally, sprigs of green were left loosely cared for in the form of houseplants kept in certain sections of the apartment for decoration. 

His steps carried her down the single step into his kitchen, where he continued up another set of raised platforms until he was able to lie her on the flat top of his mattress to the door at his right. Immediately, he tested her vitals, which were strong enough to know she would live, but also remain unconscious in the attempt for her body to regain the strength forced from her. Understanding he had a moment to collect himself, he moved to the bathroom connected to the bedroom and turned his back into the direction of the mirror, finding the sight of fresh ink embedded into his skin of Latin orders stained indefinitely into him. He replaced his shirt in an instant before returning to the stable yet wounded girl. 

Taking a bowl of water from the kitchen and a fresh cloth from his linen closet within the hallway dividing them, he returned to cleanse the wounds left gaping and dirty. He was cautious with each movement as he was suddenly overtaken with a rush of odd and even impossibly feelings of his own. 

The pristine ease of his fingers simply tracing her own skin allowed him to feel the circuitry of her blood; cell by cell. This bled into the pulse of her heart, acting as a lullaby to his nightmarish thoughts; beat my beat. And for the first time since his memorized conception, he was no longer built on wrath or envy. Instead, the gentle presence of only her skin, just a graze beneath his own, was enough to act as a balm to his soul left raw from his own sins and tribulations. 

His eyes would suddenly spring open to the sound of the apartment door coming agape and the remembrance that this was not a residence that he had occupied alone. A beautiful celestial woman dressed in all white, her blue eyes searching the floor in caution, and an ID cane tapping the ground in a steady rhythm, made her way inside with a wide smile to this familiarity. 

"I still question why you chose a place with so many steps...one of us is bound to- '' her voice suddenly trailed off as her eyes flashed in either direction before resting in his general vicinity. "You are not alone?" She inquired, able to sense the essence of another feminine entity within the close confines, despite the fact she was visually imapired. 

"I...I found her." The words left his lips with disbelief as he had come to wait his entire existence to utter this confession. However, the words themselves emerged in lackluster confidence as she narrowed her eyes to him. 

"And she is still alive?"

"Ameleigh...Something isn't right...You said you saw her as a beast in beauty...a warrior of blood with an appetite to see red without the care of casualty...But...she...she was so frightened."

"And I mentioned she is also a descendant of mischief, Lorentate. She came to you as a wounded girl and is now a harpist to your heartstrings!" 

"She was horrified...and almost killed…There is something wrong with what you told me...There must be. She's...she's too innocent."

"Then bring me to her." Ameleigh requested as she placed her hand forward until she was escorted to the bedroom, where the body of the girl was no longer lying in rest. Sensing this, Lorentate quickly searched the room high and low for the immediate hiding spots; behind the curtains, beneath the bed, and finally the armoire set on the far wall-but was left dumbfounded. The room she was kept in was without windows or even a space to truly hide without leaving evidence. And yet, she seemingly disappeared into thin air. 

That was until a sudden surge of pain resonated through Lorenate at the feeling of something sharp making its way into his shoulder. His eyes fell to Avery, her eyes tired yet determined, as she used her last ounce of strength to try and gain her freedom. He caught her once again as Ameleigh lowered her head in pensive silence. 

"Perhaps the prophecy has changed...I must see for myself…" Ameleigh explained as she brought the cloth from around her wrist and folded it over her eyes as Avery was brought back to the bed once more. Only now, Lorentate wore the edge of a letter opener only an inch from his heart. 

Lorentate pulled it back onto its desk, where his opponent had located it, before he took a seat in the chair before the same surface. Running his fingers over the torn edges of his knuckles that still wore the evidence of his altercation with Josh, he lifted his eyes once more to Ameleigh. 

"I'm sorry. But it remains the same. She will be the end of us. You know what must be done…" The words were spoken in an echo as he was returned to his focus bringing the blade to her skin. But as his eyes washed over the beautiful woman beneath him, wearing the wounds of a rescue having come too late, he could not take his grip in a downward thrust to claim her life. Her presence had been the only thing to have brought him peace since his genesis-something he had never thought possible since his own damnation, and because of this, she was invaluable to him. 

"Perhaps she can prove herself to be an ally instead of a foe-"

"She is an abomination, Lorentate. One you have waited to cross paths with in order to end. You know it is your duty…" Ameleigh explained as he nodded, but ceased before pressing the handle of the blade onto the bedside table instead. 

"Have you gone entirely mad?!" She questioned. 

"If she was that fearful, she can't know anything about Destiny Falls or the prophecy or even a strigoi...I will not kill an innocent girl…"

"Again, you mean?" Ameleigh's harsh recollection of his sins brought him back into his self loathing before he returned Avery into his arms. The surge of serenity remained throughout his body as he held her once again. 

"Where are you taking her?" Ameleigh asked as Lorentate turned to answer with anger in his tone. 

"She just witnessed someone she knew transition into a vampire. She is going to have questions and I do not think it is in either of our interests to be the one to answer her as she saw me kill him and doesn't know you from Eve!"

"Who-"

"Someone who knows both of our worlds...but someone who will keep her alive. Just until we learn of all the possible-"

"I have told you of all of the outcomes! I have seen them, and each time, the end is the same!" Ameleigh spoke with her own frustration. 

"I am not arguing with you. I am taking her to him and I would wager it is in your best interest to not rival me." He threatened as he forced himself and Avery back to the main streets or Mattin, where he took to the shadows to keep from being uncovered by concerned citizens. All the while, he could feel the rhythm of her heart echoing into his own chest, mirroring what he could remember a pulse to feel like in his own cursed shell. He became lost in the thought of this effect she held over him before finally standing at the steps of his destination. 

He ached with the realization that once he released her into the care of this sacred ally, he would be unable to hold her in this fashion ever again. It was a bittersweet yet necessary moment that left her in the safe warmth of her teacher's couch. In a final moment as he slipped into the shadows, he turned back to her with relief; a feeling he was absent from experiencing in his lifetime, but one that faded the minute he could no longer smell her scent or hear her pulse.

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Ameleigh addressed him as he closed the door behind him in frustration. "She can never find out what she is…If she does...You know what will happen..." to her words, Lorentate slammed the door of his room and slipped away in regret, knowing he was torn between duty and whatever rested between him and Avery...