a/n: I'm so sorry this took so long to update!!! I've been REALLY busy lately (exams)so I've been more into those than writing, though when exams finally do arrive I know I'll be writing more, so again, I am really sorry.

---

Chapter 5

2005

As my eyes slowly slide open, I find myself still curled up in the arms of my secretive friend. Yes, I have started to think of this vampire as my friend. Besides, he did save me from that wretched room of darkness, even if he was the one that put me there, and he cared when no one else would about me when I was turned into a creature just like him, even if he didn’t have any other choice.

I take a deep breath, as if just waking, though I’ve been conscious for some moments now, and I smell an almost unappealing smell that emanates from him. It smells almost like something rotting. It smells like death.

His soft, smooth voice reaches me before I can breath again, “Good evening.”

“It’s really night?” I haven’t really opened my eyes, but from what I could tell last night, it won’t do any good if I am still in the study.

He nods a little before realizing that my eyes are closed and then adds, “You slept straight through the day. I’m genuinely surprised that you feel asleep just about the time a vampire would.”

“Why does that surprise you?” I open my eyes and find myself face to face with him.

He shrugs, “Most new vampires are a little slow to catch on to the life style, but you also fed quite well for a young vampire as well.”

I shudder at the remnants of last night’s meal for me.

He notices and smiles, “Don’t worry, you won’t be feeding tonight.”

The way he says it, it sounds like that’s supposed to comfort me. I have to burst his bubble, though, because it truly doesn’t.

He smiles, “I know that what I’m going to tell you probably won’t make you happy, no matter what I say, but now that you’re a vampire, you will have to live by the rules of the immortal. They can be quite loose, but also very strict. I wouldn’t advise breaking any. If you live by the rules, you could live for centuries.”

I moan, a human habit of mine, in disgust. I don’t want to live for centuries; I never really wanted to live when I was still human! After having my father leave me when I was seven, and literally destroying what life had existed for me, I was forced to take comfort in the rough, deaf, pages of books for comfort.

His arms loosen from around my waist and I slide out of the chair, out of his lap, away from him. He seems almost hurt by my action, but I ignore him, because it’s okay to hurt a vampire’s feelings, especially if you’re a vampire as well. He frowns a little, giving me a kicked puppy look, but I turn my back to him and I can feel more so than see the slight grin that spreads across his features and I don’t even have to turn around to see the relaxed composure that his body now holds.

He shifts slightly, and it’s a motion that I feel again. I turn and confirm that he has, indeed, moved. His body is now, though the chair is monstrously larger, seemingly covering the chair. He slumps into the just the right position, as graceful as a wild cat in his motion, and I know that this is not a bad comparison. He could be just as dangerous as a wildcat as well.
I turn my back, not wishing to stare, and also frightened by the fact that I know that if I wanted to, I could do the same thing that he’s doing. I shiver, the feeling itself of the chill that causes this spreading from my head to my toes in one quick wave. Trying to make what I have done less noticeable with the grace that I know even the weakest vampires have, I find it easy to control my body. My body, unlike before, seems not to be one solid mass, but more of a liquid that it thick and hard to swim through. I don’t know how, but I manage to blow off the shiver with a simple graceful twist, bringing me face to face with a bookshelf. I study the books and find it simple to make this seem like it had been my original intent. I smile at that fact and nearly giggle with delight, but I fight the urge. I never was one to giggle.

My mysterious friend, however, seems to have no problem with laughing though, and does not hide his amusement. I turn and sharply glare at him and I feel a flare of power. I stop for a moment, and then realize that the flare of power had come from me. My friend is now grinning over at me from his seat in the elegant chair, or maybe it’s him that’s elegant and the chair is really ugly. I shake off the thought and try to settle with the fact that it is the chair that is elegant and beautiful.

“So, Vallerie, how are you feeling?” his once beautiful and elegant voice reaches me, but suddenly it seems less appealing, and, in truth, almost that of a human.

I swallow the lump that has formed in my throat from this new discovery and squeak out, “Fine.”

He rolls his eyes, “Don’t lie to yourself. How do you really feel?”

“I’m,” I pause, “I don’t know.”

He growls in frustration, “I can tell that you’re lying, so stop lying to me and to yourself and just answer the damn question!”

The anger in his voice makes me jump, and I fear that if I were to lie again he would truly hurt me, “I’m scared.”

He smiles and nods, “Now see, isn’t it much better not to lie?” His voice seems so threatening and yet his face seems so friendly. I wish he would make up his mind.

He doesn’t seem too fazed by his sudden personality changes, though, and simply keeps going, “You have every right to be scared, but I assure you that as long as you are within this place, this library, this…”

“Prison?” I put in.

He shoots me a terribly cold glare, but then continues, “This sanctuary. As long as you stay here, you will be safe.”

I sit in one of the chairs at the table that seems more fit for a scholar than a newly born vampire. My friend doesn’t mind, though, so I get more comfortable, and find it much easier than it should have been with the chairs hard, cold back and the terrible posture that it should put one into. I sigh, not enjoying he thought of any of this, not wanting to have to think about any of this right now. I just want to leave. I want to be free.

“But that’s what you are,” his voice is a whisper.

I look over at him in sincere surprise.

“You want to be free?” he motions around the room, “You are free! Once you learn what it is to be a vampire, once I teach you how to survive, you will be able to leave this room, and then you will be able to go and do what ever the hell you want. Once you leave this room, you never are asked to return, you are only asked to remember what you learn while you are here, and to live by what you learn. If you want to leave sooner, that’s fine too, but I am not responsible for anything that happens to you.”

“And if I stay?” my voice is controlled; though I feel a slight tremor of anticipation within me.

“Then I teach you, and if you do anything wrong, it’s my neck, not yours,” he smiles.

I weigh the two options, and soon, the leaving one, no matter how much is left to me, sounds wonderful. It’s not like I haven’t been responsible like that before. I was young then, and inexperienced, but I got through it, and if I could do it then, I can do it now.

---

a/n: please review, flames are even welcome!