Enjoy :)

-January 17 North of Los Vegas, NV-

My head hurts, my head really hurts.  The world is spinning I try to blink my eyes but the rotations won't stop.  Someone's screaming, I can hear that, but I can't hear what they're saying.  I place a hand on the floor and try to push, I get my head just slightly off the concrete but slip and it crashes back down.  Ringing, more pain, I just wish everything would stop spinning.

I look around at the rotating world, I see a guy with short brown hair wearing a blue button up out in the light.  I know that man... Neel.  He's screaming at the top of his lungs at the sky, why is he doing that?  I look away.  To the other direction is a girl.  She has her knees up in front of her face and has pulled herself into the corner in front of the door.  That must be Lil.

The ringing turns into a solid tone and my head hurts so much I let it flop back until I'm looking straight up.  Above me is a blue glowing circle with some sort of exotic diamond carved inside it.  That's the same symbol that was on the ground.  How'd it get up there?  Better question is what happened?  Why does everything hurt?  I lift my arm up, not to try and sit up again, but to look at it.  There's blood everywhere.  There's a gaping open gash still on my wrist, the blood inside is wet and mucky, yet it doesn't run out.  It also doesn't seem to be drying, but instead rotting there unsure what to do.

I lower my arm until it's on my chest and take a slow breath.  There's no movement from my chest.  I try to breathe faster but my body isn't able to consume more air.  A wave of panic floods my body as I look first at Lil then back to Neel, who has moved out of the driveway and began kicking a tree for no apparent reason.  I can't feel my heart.  I can't feel my stomach going in and out.  I can't feel anything.  "Neel..." I try to croak out, but find it difficult to speak, "Neel..." I whine.  He doesn't hear me and yells at the sky again, "Lil...?" I turn my head. 

She looks up at me from behind her knees, "Lil... help."  I cough, blood fills my mouth and I lean over to spit some of it out.  She doesn't come.  Instead she just sits there and looks at me.  I try to roll over but find moving to be difficult.  "Lil... help me." I reach a hand out.  My eyes burn like they're going to explode out of my skull and my head begins pounding harder and harder every second.

Her lips move but nothing comes out, at least nothing I can hear.  The ringing in my ears turns into a solid loud tone which blurs everything around me out.  I cough again and could swear one of my eyes pop out with it.  I go blind on my left side and everything grows dark.  I can hardly see anything as I put my hand on the floor and with all my strength pull myself towards Lil, "Help, please..."  What's happening to me?  Why do I feel so sick?  What happened?  I just wanted to give a little blood, why does everything hurt?  "Help..."  I want my mom, I want to go home more than ever.  I want my bed, my room, and my mother's arms.  Hell, I wouldn't mind Daniel right now.  Coming here was a huge mistake.  I should have never followed Clare.  I should have just pretended it never happened.

I close my eyes and feel tears on my cheek.  I slowly drag my legs up until they are balled up under me and hold myself as tight as I can.  I've never felt so horrible in my life.  Even when I had the flu last year it was nothing compared to this.  As I curl up a shiver goes over my body and the dying need to vomit overcomes me.  I grow more and more sick but it feels like the sickness won't ever actually come up.

Stomach wrenching pain cycles through my body and when it passes I open my eyes.  Lil is gone.  I turn to see she's not gone.  That she's actually moved around to the other side of me.  She's talking with Neel, who has calmed down and is looking into the garage at me.  With one eye still not showing any vision I reach my hand out to the pair, begging for help. 

Neel comes over.  He looks at me, then at Lil, who shrugs, "Is she dangerous?" Neel asks.

"I don't know," Lil says.

"Well, let's get her inside maybe Gilbert will know what to do."  Dangerous?  I'm not dangerous, I'm sick, I'm very sick.  It feels like my insides are turning inside out and the entire world is trying to kill me.  I might just die right here and now.  They have to get me to a hospital or something or maybe this will be my end.

"Sarah..." Neel starts, "We're going to move you inside and get some help, please... think happy thoughts.  It's going to be okay.  We had an accident but you're fine now.  Just breathe slowly and keep calm.  No sudden movements."

I can hardly move, what's he talking about?  I reach a hand out and they both back away.  Why are they afraid of me?  I lose my strength and my hand falls.  Neel goes behind me and puts his arms under mine.  With one heave he brings me up to my feet.  I can feel my feet on the floor but have no control over them.  He realizes this and begins walking backwards, dragging me.  He pulls me through the garage door with Lil's help and out into the Grand Hall.  Once there I hear him shout, "Gilbert!  Samuel!  Gilbert!" I clamp my jaw and try to hide my ears.  He's so loud it feels like my eardrums are going to burst.  "Samuel!"  He shouts once more causing that intense ringing to return full force.

A muffled voice returns, "My Lord!  What happened, you're a mess."

"Yes I know.  We had an accident, get Gilbert."

"My Lord..." His voice goes from shock to concern.

"I know, get Gilbert, now."

"Yes my Lord."

There is a brief silence before Gilbert's voice comes from a distance, "What have you done?"

"She was dying it was the only way."

Dying, what do they mean? "You have no right do this, you know the consequences?  This is going to be a disaster, we don't know how she will react, we don't know what will happen.  She sure as hell wasn't ready."

"It was the only way."  What are they talking about?  Neel lowers me to the floor and I look around to see an upside down Gilbert and Samuel both standing above me, "What's wrong with her?" Neel questions, "why is she so ill?"

Gilbert looks at me then to Neel and Lil who is sort of hiding behind Neel, "She was turned after losing far too much blood, she needs to feed, the symptoms are those of withdrawal, what happens if a vampire doesn't feed for an extended period of time."

Vampire.  Did he just say vampire.  What did Clare do?  Did she bite me?  I start breathing more heavily and looking around.  I try to place my hands on the ground to lift myself up and want to scream at the top of my lungs.  "Shhh, shhh," I hear Gilbert, "Calm down kid it'll be all right, calm down..." my anxiety lessens and my breathing stabilizes.  His voice is soothing to the ear.

"There's no one here she can bite." Neel says.

Gilbert chuckles, "We're a house of vampires, of course there is."

He turns, Samuel bows and responds, "Of course my Lord," and turns to leave.  Vampire.  I'm a vampire?  I run my tongue along my mouth, I don't feel different.  I don't have fangs, I don't feel stronger or see better, hell I can hardly see at all and my ears hurt like shit.

"The problem is her fangs won't grow in for at least a couple days, she'll need an IV, a separate room and lots of attention or she'll die before she's even really born."

Gilbert reaches down and lifts me up in his arms like he would cradle a baby.  He then takes me up the stairs.  I turn my head to see Neel following a distance behind and that Lil has refused to even go near the stairs.  He takes me to the third floor and in the direction of his room, "These rooms were designed for such a case, as turning someone isn't always pretty."  Around are dozens and dozens of rooms, all numbered starting at the number 64.  Each door is the exact same distance away from each other. 

"Why so many?" Neel asks.

"A sick turn happens quite often."

He chooses the door labeled sixteen.  The other fifteen before this one have red tags on the doors with names and dates.  A woman with brown hair tied in a bun and a white gown appears from somewhere at the start of the hall and starts asking questions, "How old?"

Gilbert looks at Neel, he shrugs, "Almost nine..." I manage to say.

"Gender, female, bitten when?"

"Half hour ago," Neel responds, "who the hell are you?"

"Nina, by who?" The nurse opens the door and Gilbert carries me into a small dark room.

"Clare."

"Where?"

"The wrist, why have I never seen you before?"

"Have you had a vampiric illness?"

"Uh, no." I get placed on a stiff small bed up against one of the walls.  The room is dim and there are white curtains over the one window which block out most of the light.

"Then that's why.  Why was she bit so young?  Who authorized this?"

"Clare did it."  The doctor looks at Neel awkwardly, "Clare..." he repeats.

She doesn't know the name, "Mother," Gilbert corrects. 

"By her will," Nina says then pauses before continuing, "on normal circumstances an unauthorized turn should be exterminated immediately, but an exception will have to be made for Mother.  Blood type?"

"I have no idea." Neel replies.

"We can test, preference?"

"Unknown." Gilbert replies before Neel can even ask what that means.

"We can also test."

"Tolerance?"

"Unknown." Gilbert replies again.

She grows tense, "Education?"

"None." Gilbert says.

She nods her head, "I don't see what Mother was thinking."

"She wasn't.  It was a moment of life or death," Gilbert says.

"Where is Mother?  I'd like to have a word with her, if possible."

They both turn to Neel, he shakes his head, "She's gone."

The nurse then turns to me, she leans over the bed.  Her eyes look into mine, "We're going to have to sedate you, okay?  You'll be fine, but it's going to take some time before you regulate.  Just look into my eyes."

I look into her eyes, "That's good, keep contact with my eyes, follow them, good girl," My eyes follow hers, her eyes change from brown to red and begin to glow.  For a second I look down and see a pair of tiny fangs just so slightly under her lips, but her eyes are too hypnotizing to pay attention to that detail for long and I lock my gaze with her.

"Listen to my voice, calm down.  Ignore the pain, it is all an illusion.  You are beyond it, you are above this.  Hush... Hush..."  I watch those eyes sway back and forth and everything begins to dull, the pain goes and the world becomes dull before it grows completely mellow.  The air around me washes across in slow waves and I relax my head on the pillow.  She pulls herself away and I hear distant speaking, "I'll have to take special care of this one, you'll have to call in Derek and Jin to manage the rest of the rooms."

The gray swaying world starts to grow in color but she brings her head back in front of me and everything grows soft and dull again.  The waves grow larger and the world becomes silhouettes.  I slowly close my eyes to let the world rock me back and forth and open them to stare at the massive waves of relaxation.  All other feeling is gone.  The headaches leaves, my shivers stops, the ringing goes quiet.  I don't even notice that she moved her head away again, only that it is gone.

She's talking again, but now I can't even hear what she's saying.  I drunkenly turn my head to see the two men nod and leave the room.  Once alone with Nina she looks back into my eyes reinforcing the general numbness and brings out a bag of murky liquid.  I don't even think about what it could be and enjoy the waves as she punctures my arm with a needle and hangs the bag from a hook above the bed. 

She then looks back into my eyes and the entire world becomes a silent gray ocean of peace and tranquility.  

-January 18 North of Los Vegas, NV-

"You," I stare right at Gilbert who is sitting upright in one of the chairs far away from the little corner the girls and I used to eat at, "are going to tell me everything... everything.  Got it?"

"I'll have to get approval from Mother."

"Mother isn't here and she won't be here for a while, now as far as I'm concerned I'm in this as much as she is, so you best tell me everything before I rip that throat of yours out."  After this Aleniese is getting an earful for taking my girl, and he sure as hell better give her back, I'm in no mood to be messed with.

He adjusts himself in the chair, clears his throat, and pulls down at the velvet vest he has over his baggy white shirt, "Very well."

Gilbert has been avoiding me for the past day, but since I saw that entire hospital wing I want answers from him more than ever.  I finally got Lil off my back, she didn't sleep all night and finally crashed this morning giving me the perfect opportunity to drill Gilbert till I get what I want.

"First, who the hell are Nina, Derek, and Jin and what was in those other rooms and what else are you keeping from me?" I half expect these secrets were things even Clare knew, she's good at not telling the full story.  Like I've said before, she has an agenda.

"Nina, Derek, and Jin are doctors, they have strong abilities of seduction, you can never really seduce a vampire, but if one is weak the same ability we use to seduce our food can be used to numb an injured vampire."

These three have to be new, hell even Gilbert must be new, as far as I know Clare made it very clear she was the last of her kind, the last of both the vampires and the werewolves-at least until we stumbled across Lil.  "How old are you?"

"Forty-five."

"Not what I meant.  As a vampire?"

"Thirteen days."

That's young, how can he know so much and be so in control if he was just turned?  "And Nina?"

"Ten days."

"How can someone only ten days old know how to subdue another vampire like that?  Is it easy?"  I thought something like that takes years of practice.  Hell, Clare still has issues with it and she's been a vampire for something like ten years.

"Vampires all died out due to a poisoned food source seven years ago.  You have to understand that though vampires all died the knowledge of them did not, nor did their legacy.  There were many hundred, thousands, of humans that knew of the blood suckers but were not yet turned.  Vampires are an ancient race, living and hiding among the human race for thousands of years.  You should know over thousands of years we've worked out a few kinks in the system.

"First, randomly turning humans was a horrible disaster that devastated not only our population, but the world as a whole.  Random turnings are what created witches in the first place and what started some of the largest wars of ancient history.  Random turnings were outlawed punishable by death around the eleventh century AD.  This started the crusades to purge the world of our mistakes, and the holy wars of the east some time before. 

"Around the eighteenth century the royal families created what we call The Residulim, a network of schools and universities around the world designed to find those with potential and teach them about our age-old ancestry.  The best of the best get turned into vampires and those who don't make the cut become our human connection to the world, completely loyal to our people.

"When our race began collapsing in late 2006 masses of information was passed down to those previously rejected humans and the brightest of the bright who had not yet been turned.  By mid-2007 ninety nine percent of the race was dead and the last few remaining sick or soon to be dead.  After 2008 I searched, I searched for days, weeks, months and came to the conclusion that not a single vampire was spared the purge.  Yes, what the werewolves did was so terrible it caused the complete extinction of the vampire race, but not before we killed every last one of them fuckers." He looks at me slowly.

"Well, not quite apparently," he let out a sigh, "But the past is the past and that doesn't really matter anymore, besides - how many of you are there really?  Three?  In the last week our numbers have swelled to over two hundred and that's not counting where and whatever David is doing.  We'll be at full force by the time you have a small pack and that's the hard truth of it," He chuckles, "You don't even know what you are.  Wolves were never as sophisticated as the vampires.  Only difference was they promoted random turnings and could, over time, create more of themselves than we ever could with our strict selection process.  It's a miracle the dumb brutes were even able to defeat such an advanced race.  My ancestors were pathetic and I'm glad their insolence is dead.  We'll make a new race, a proud race, and this time we won't lose."

"Lose to what?  What are you fighting that you could lose against?"

"The only thing left to challenge us, witches.  The only thing worse than werewolves is a second dark age."

"They attacked us.  You know that's why we came from the hospital."

"Yes." 

"Then what am I in this new world?  A slave to you?"

"Never my Lord."

"There doesn't need to be tension between our two races, we can live in harmony.  We can rewrite history and make things right."

"You can, but I cannot.  Our race keeps very good records and it's not easy to make an eternal being forget those."

"You should have started over fresh then, built up your people from the ground and not on the support beams of the past regime."

"We cannot, The Residulim never fell, it kept going with hopes that this day would come.   Even as we speak more are being turned and the web is spreading across the world visiting school after school and turning those that are ready.  Within the month our race will be ten thousand strong, worldwide, and the system will continue on as it always has. We're a patience species and we will grow in time.  Millions may take a century.  But unlike you I'll still be around on that day."

I turn to leave, unable to look at that smirk on his face any longer.  He has balls to brag to my face like that and what pisses me off more is the fact that I can't do anything about it.  He's right though, vampires can spread like water fallen on the table, but the wolves, we have nothing.  I've never been one to care about shit like this but it really pisses me off that he can rebuild his race and I'm stuck as one of the last ones.

Hell, if I died right now there'd be only two left, that's a fragile teeter-totter right there, and a simple accident could tilt it into extinction.  I need to tell Lil, we need to do something to counter this.  I feel it's only right that the werewolves get a fighting chance at surviving in this world.  She has to know someone, there has to be some infrastructure left for us to build on, the entire idea of them couldn't have been obliterated like that.

Also, how does Gilbert know for sure all the werewolves are even dead?  They missed Lil, couldn't they just as easily miss others?  Maybe we can find those others, if there's one there must be more.  Vampires were killed by a virus, okay-but werewolves were killed with tooth and nail, that's not a precise method, missing a few is entirely possible.  It's already happened.   I feel utterly obligated to do something for my people... my people, I never thought of it that way.  Maybe I'm the Father as much as the vampires call Clare Mother.  Sure I'm not the first in my chain but no one is going to respect a little girl, it's up to me to do something before it's too late.

Fucking hell, I really need Clare for this, it's been an entire day since she's gone and that really pisses me off.  Aleniese can't keep ignoring me like this, he's going to have to show up eventually and when he does I'm getting my girl back.  She needs to know that the vampires are plotting against her that the werewolves may die out anyways.  What do I do? This is so hard on my own.  I really need her right now.

-January 20, Lansel, Z.14-

I pace back and forth in the white room in front of the annoyingly circular couch and occasionally glance up at the long necked bird-like creature in front of me.  "You have to take me back, now, some serious shit happened and I need to be back with Neel, this is ridiculous,  I need to protect him."  The Queen tilts her head and looks over the all-white clothing I have on.  I think even wearing the angelic dress with the knitted long sleeved top is disgusting.  I have a hard enough time wearing the dresses and shit Gilbert's got in the closet, but this, it's almost revolting.  White's never made any sense, it's so easy to stain and that shit never comes out.

She stares back at me without a word.  It's been like this for the last three days, the feathered angel has said but one word since I got here, "Feed."  What the hell does that mean? Does she want me to bite her, there's no way I'd feed on an angel much less the Queen of them.

"You need to let me return, I demand you send me back right now."  Her glaze follows me back and forth.  Her response to my anger is reaching out one of her long arms and twisting it around so that her wrist is facing up.  My eyes lock on her wrist, I haven't bitten into someone for a good four days now, that's nothing close to my limit on waiting but it is getting to the point where I can feel small urges to bite.  It's not until day six or seven that those urges begin to become irritable and I'm required to feed before primal instincts take over and I attack someone I may not want to.

"Send me back!" I yell, "Send me back right now," I stop and move up behind that circular couch, "Send me back!" I slam my fists into the couch.  Her wings extend out from behind her back and she withdraws her wrist.  I know what will happen next.  She'll shoot up into the sky and leave me to dwell on my thoughts for another twelve hours before returning with that exact same silent demand.  "Stop," I say as her wings lift for the launch.  Defeated, I throw my hands down on the sofa, "I'll do it, I don't know why you want me to but I'll do it, just let me go back to Neel."

Her wings curl up behind her again and she reaches out one of her long arms.  A wave of sadness floods my body as I open my mouth, I really don't want to do this.  The Queen pushes her wrist closer to me and I open my mouth.  I look down, there doesn't seem to be any veins in her arm and I can't smell or sense any blood.  What will biting her do?  I lower my face close to her skinny arm, it looks like I'll bite right through her and nothing will come out.  Not only that, but I have absolutely no attraction to her blood, there's no smell, no sense, nothing.

I have to take the leap of faith, I have to just bite and hope something happens.  I sink my teeth in.  Her flesh is rubbery and it tastes like tar.  A tangy liquid fills my mouth.  A head rush, my mind grows heavy, my mouth goes numb, and thoughts become unclear.  My focus goes and I look down to see thick silver droplets on the floor.  Twenty seconds in I can take no more.  I pull my teeth out and take a step back, not even bothering to wipe the blood off my face.  The bitter silver runs down my chin and soaks into the top of my dress. 

That was disgusting.  The Queen reaches her hand second hand up, but I don't see to where.  All I can focus on is the wrist I bit into as it wraps around my back and her long fingers run through my hair as if to straighten it out, "That's good..." The Queen hums as I look drunkenly down to see her palm on my stomach slowly caressing it, "Very good.  See, that wasn't so hard."

"Why," an unexpected hiccup comes and the foggy world becomes crystal clear before sinking slowly back to the blur, "Why did I have to do that?"

"There's a darkness in everyone a darkness that needs to be flushed out," she further caresses my hair, "You must drink, every day, until that darkness is forgotten." 

Her arms pull away and her wings spread open once more, "Wait..." I stumble backwards and nearly fall over, this is worse than intoxication.

"Come my little one," she reaches her bloodied arm out.  I look at her arm as she peels her fingers open like she wants me to grab on.  I hiccup again and reach both my hands up, unsure if I would be able to do one without falling over. 

I put both my hands inside hers and she closes her fingers.  She graciously steps over the couch and pulls me close until I'm under her feathery vial.  She presses me against the silence of her chest and shoots up into the sky.  Wind rushes by my face as we rocket into the sea of light.  I forget my previous blinding and stare into the sun, noticing it doesn't burn like it did before. 

We reach the climax of our accent and her wings shoot several yards in either direction freezing us in the air like a lily floating in a pond.  She pushes her body away from mine and I separate.  My feet don't drop with gravity and instead we simply float in the air.  Below is a massive white city, stone buildings on top of stone buildings mixed with white steel and plastic.  In one direction this wonderful still city goes on forever, in the other direction a distant wall stops the infinite brightness.  In that direction there's a brewing storm over the desert.  Dark clouds fill the skies above the dust and occasionally a bright flash of light blinks into existence as a twisted bolt slams the ground. 

The Queen lets out a quick laugh and spins.  I look at her face and she looks at mine, I see myself in the reflection of her white eyes.  I'm so pretty there, I'm so perfect.  There's silver all over my chin and chest, but I look so much better here than I have in years on the run.  I like that.  I'm proud of myself for looking so good.  If only Neel could see me now.

I catch the glimpse of another lightning bolt striking the ground in the desert and my interest loses its focus on her.  I crane my neck to look at the desert in our rotations.  The laughing from the Queen stops, "You must be our champion against the coming darkness.  You need to rinse this world of it."

Our spin stops and I look into the far distance, another bolt smashes into the ground.  There's no sound, only moments of light.  I nod my head, I know I can't speak out of the oxygenated prison she's had me in for the last three days.  Even if everything isn't too clear what she says makes perfect sense.  I do need to fight for her.  I do need to save this world, maybe in saving this one I can save Earth too.

We start falling, not back into the apartment of sorts, but to an entirely different location.  We fall slowly at an angle for some time, away from the wall.  As we drift closer to the buildings I can see inside them, most are empty if not all.  I actually can't see a single living being in the city except the Queen.  How can she be the only one?  How can such a large city be so empty?  Most the buildings are tall with large glass windows I can see right through, none have the reflective glass I'm used to seeing on skyscrapers.  Inside the upper floors are neat white rooms similar to the one I've been trapped in.

Each room has clean furniture, white walls, shelves, and counters.  None of them have a single speck of dust or sign of use within them.  Is this entire massive city empty?  We go below the upper floors.  Here the windows are reflective and less frequent.  Most of what's around us becomes stone and plastic.  As we get closer to the ground the space in which the Queen can fit becomes narrow. 

We land on some sort of walking street.  There are bright lamps down the center, but there are no doors on any of the buildings.  In fact with the way the windows are positioned on some of them it looks as if the buildings just continue down and this path blocks us from being able to see what's under it.  Like in the top of the buildings this street has no sign of use.  Everything is very clean and looks new, but it also looks like these roads have never been walked on.  Maybe the Queen rules over an empty city.  There must have been life here at one point in time, what happened to it? 

"Where is everyone?" I ask as the Queen sets me down and lets go of my fingers.  My lips moved, words came out, I spoke.  Not only that, but I don't feel that knot in my throat I felt last time.  I'm still not breathing, there's still no oxygen, but I spoke.

"They are where they should be," she replies.

I walk a bit away and look at the windows.  I see a large pair of eyes pressed against the glass of one of the windows, the eyes are as large as my fists and nearly entirely a glowing blue except the small black dots in the center.  When I look at them they pull away from the window.  So someone or something lives here, but why hide?

I stumble up to the window where I saw the pair of eyes and press my face against it.  I can't see inside.  I look down, there's a small crack between the road and the building.  Something's down there.  I look down the crack.  There's another ten or fifteen stories under the road.  Way down at the bottom I can see yellow street lights illumining the otherwise dark roads.  Down there's also no one on the roads, but unlike up here which appears to have literally never been used down there I can see trash on ground, graffiti of sorts, wear and tear and other signs of general use.  Yet even now, even with me up here and them down there the streets are deserted, and by the looks of it quickly.  It's like the locals saw us coming and hid.  Why would they hide?  This city looks so perfect; the Queen is so nice and pure.  This place is like the perfect description of heaven, why do they hide?

"Come here my little one; let us not ponder with the fears of the inferior.  Imagine if an all-powerful God were to show itself in your world, people would do the same for fear of the unknown.  I do not hate them for it, for they fear what they can't understand.  Our world has been through a lot, more than you can ever imagine, and some terrible things have happened to keep its inhabitants safe.  A few residual scars are only natural.  We all had to do terrible things to protect the cities.  We all had to."

I step back and blink once.  The world is becoming clearer and that haze it had is starting to go away.  I think whatever reaction her blood had on me is beginning to fade.  "Can't you talk to them?" I question.

"If only they would listen.  They've only ever seen what I did to protect them; those images block them from being able to reason with me.  They'll come over in time, in time they will flood to the surface once more and we will truly be the great nation of Light." She turns, "Come, let us meet the others."

I follow her a little ways down the street, curious of what others she's talking about.  It sure as hell isn't the large-eyed creatures I saw in the window or the ones that live in the Undercity.  From the behind her wings press into her back so well one wouldn't even know they were there.  She actually had a tail I never really saw before that goes for about two feet before splitting in half.  She tends to lean heavily forward with her walk, yet manages to stay on two legs towering a good twenty feet into the air.  She makes me look tiny compared to her.   That tail of her sways with her steps and the massive feathers at the end sweeps the floor like a broom.

We take a left at the end of the building we landed in front of and the path grows so narrow I can see why she landed around the other side.  She looks to struggled to squeeze in, having to lean down until she's on all fours.  It's like a fat mouse trying to squeeze into its hole.  She pushes in and in the restricted space manages to take a hard left and squeeze into some kind of massive entrance, the only entrance on this entire street, hell by the looks of it in this entire city.  I follow behind.

It looks like someone went into the tight space and cut a massive half circle out of one of the buildings, taking out the glass and metal from one corner to the other forming a forty foot arch in the midst of it.

Inside the building appears to be hollow with at least a hundred feet up before there's any sign of a ceiling.  The roof is dome like with large metal bird perches sticking out like monkey bars.  Each perch jets out a good six feet before going flat for six feet and then returns it to the wall to complete the circuit.

Most these perches were not unused either.  In fact nearly all of them had massive white feathered creatures similar to the Queen on them.  None of the others looked nearly as large as the Queen or as majestic, but they must be of her species.  Each creature has its own personal appearance.  One is skinny with gray lines down its back, it has the face of a dog with a large snout and hooked toes like that of a large predatory bird, directly next to the dog-like one is a fat one with owl-like representations more similar to the Queen, yet this one has stubby hands, a large bare belly and hoofs like a mammal which looks to make it difficult to balance on the bar.

Each one of the creatures lining the walls has appearances like this, no two alike.  But they do have similarities, they are all massive, they all have wings of some sort, they are all able to stand on the metal bars, and they are all white or nearly entirely white.  This must be an assembly of angels, angels of all types and kinds from across the world congregated in an urgent meeting.  An urgent meeting that has something to do with me.

I hide behind the Queen as her voice thunders into the Grand Dome, "Our world is dying, our world is falling apart.  The world we've held tight for centuries is starting to crumble at the seams.  You all know this, you've all seen the storm over the desert, Darkness is coming back and like last time it will be unstoppable.  Our agents are working on Earth to bring light back to the world.  Dozens of our kind of sacrificed their purity in attempt to bring good back, but this failsafe may yet take longer.

"We will need to fight against the darkness as it spawns until the light can be fully returned to the surface.  We can't afford another war, the walls won't sustain another long siege, but this time we have a weapon they have never seen," she steps aside revealing me to the assembly.  Me?  I'm the weapon?  How can I possibly be a weapon in the land of giants and angels of demons and everlasting creatures?  How can a little person like me be anything to these majestic giants?

"A girl?" a voice comes from above.

"An undead one." A female one hums.

"She's useless to us, look how small she is."

"She's a witch," the Queen hushes her audience, "Yes a genuine real-in-the-flesh Witch, the same spawn of the very same creatures that have spun the Earth into a dark void incapable of supporting light to our great nation.  She is our enemy, she is our archenemy.  She is the one that causes all our problems. But," that word is loud and there is a long silence after, "She is also our salvation.  The very same dark magic that is killing us will be the only thing to keep us alive.  Remember, The Empire of Darkness ripped our world into this dimension, thrusting us into perpetual night.  But it was this exact same dimension that allowed us to link two worlds for perpetual day, their darkest weapon was our brightest salvation."

That last sentence bounces off the walls before a gentlemanly almost-British voice comes from near the very top of the dome, "What is her craft?" that's the worst question possible, that's the one they won't like the answer of, lie.  Lie for me please.

No, she's hesitating, I'll take the incentive, "Chan-"

"Blood Craft," she cuts me off.

Gasps. Voices fill the room, so many at once they are indisputable from one and another.  One of the angels from the lower tiers flies down, this one has a thick white coat like that of a freshly groomed chick.  She has a large yellow beak and her eyes have yellow rims hidden behind her lids.  This particular angel is skinny and I can see her scrawny legs since there are no feathers to cover them, "A Blood Witch!" she screeches, "We should kill it now, we should take its head off and burn the body, these do not deserve the time of my day.  I don't know what you've got planned, but this monster cannot stand."

A general cheer of agreement fills the room.

"Sharelinese." The Queen growls, "Back up or so help me I'll personally rip your head off."

Sharelinese looks up at the Queen with fear and backs away, "Yes my Lady."  With one flap she shoots herself back up and perches on her bar.

"Any other objections?" The Queen thunders.

"My Lady,"

"What!" She turns to a male Angel about three rows up.

He backs away at her rage and bows his head, "Never mind my Lady, your wish is my command."

The Queen turns to me, "Are you feeling peckish?" Hungry here?  Is she kidding?  I just fed off her and I don't plan on doing it again.  Her blood is bitter and it makes me sick.  There's also no way I'd hae such low moral to do something like that in front of her entire assembly.

"No, not really," I whisper, trying to get it so she can hear but the others cannot.  She insists by pushing her bloody wrist towards me.  At the sight and smell of her silver blood my mouth waters.  What's this?  How do I have a craving?  I literally just ate.

I take a step towards her wrist and feel my fangs come down and my mouth open.  What am I doing?  Am I really going to bite her right now with so many watching?  I already sucked too much; eating more will only make me feel sick because I overate.  But in the back of mind I have that dizzy feeling the foggy world and the sensation of bitter blood filling my mouth.  That feeling was good, right?  I wouldn't mind more of that.

I put both my hands on her wrist and look at the bite marks left behind from my previous encounter.  I could try to slip my fangs into the same holes.  I could just take a little to get the thought of that taste out of my mind.  I don't know why such an unappealing feeling and taste is so appealing right now.  Maybe I deserve it because I've sucked so many victims dry.  Maybe I deserve this bitter blood as punishment for what I've done.

I tune out the rest of the assembly and lower my mouth close to her wrist.  Her blood isn't warm like a human, but it's that not cold either.  I reach my tongue out and lick her wounds.  That tang fills my mouth like eating a bitter herb.  Even the taste sends a shock through my system, waking me up like I was previously in a dream state.  Fuck it, a little bite won't hurt.  I push my fangs slowly into the same holes I made not more than an hour ago.  I don't suck as greedily or fast as the first time, since I've already had my fill.  Instead I let the blood trickle into my mouth like a leaky faucet. 

A floating feeling feels my body, the world grows hazy and a cloud veils me, even with just the tiny taste.  I close my eyes and let the euphoria of the moment encompass me.  She runs the finger of her other hand slowly through my hair as the fingers of the one I am biting into caress my ear, her fingers moving cause the blood flow to increase and decrease causing the feeling to intensify and lessen, "That's right my little one, take as much as you want." Her voice changes direction, "Everything is under control, we'll be in this together, we'll save our world from the Darkness."  Yes, I run my tongue on her arm as I sip on her blood, we'll save our world from the Darkness.