The Start of a War

The scarlet eyes of Kuolema’s brother stared at Echo with a powerful gaze. Her eyes darted to the ground in embarrassment. A small deep chuckle escaped Dracula’s lips. When Echo looked up, she saw that he was towering over her. A large gray hand slipped out from under the folds of his ebony cape and started to stroke her cheek. Like Kuolema’s, Dracula’s hand was icy to her face, but his touch was so soft that Echo felt like falling asleep.

“She is so delicate,” she heard Dracula say. Her eyes darted over to Kuolema’s and she saw that his face was contorted into a snarl.

Jealousy? Echo thought to herself, quickly replacing that thought with another for she remembered that Kuolema could read minds.

When she met Dracula’s gaze again, he had a look on his face that wasn’t so menacing, bur more caring. While they were staring at each other, Dracula turned his head and looked out of the large window. His hand lowered from Echo’s cheek and hid itself back into the darkness of his cape. Without a sound, he drifted to the window and opened the fames.

“Brother,” he said in a demanding voice. Without a word Kuolema obediently went over to his brother and removed his cape. Under the thick black cloth was a body Echo never knew existed. His torso was thin but muscular. A skintight, wine-red, long sleeved shirt wrapped his upper body. Black pants ran down his long legs and the curves of muscles could be seen through the dark material.

“The sky is clear and the moon is bright,” Dracula said with a smile, as large black wings sprouted out of his back. With a pump of his legs, he was in the air and one push of his wings brought him forward and out of sight. As Echo went over to the window, she asked Kuolema, “Where is he going?”

A look of sadness appeared on Kuolema’s face. “To hunt. You have to understand, he still drinks blood. One person will die tonight.”

“How often does he hunt?”

“Every full moon.”

“The moon was full last night. Is it still full?”

“No, for some reason he didn’t hunt on the night of the full moon. He had something to attend to.”

Echo leaned on the sill of the window. “When will he be back?”

Kuolema’s head snapped around to stare at Echo. “Why do you care?” he asked with a little paranoia in his voice.

“Just wondering,” was her reply.

A long silence followed that statement. Echo’s head was wrapped up in thoughts of Dracula, and Kuolema was trying to suppress his jealousy towards the two. Finally Kuolema said, “I suppose it’s time to get you home.”

“Already?” she asked. “I want to see your castle.”

“The castle itself is too large to explore in one night. We shall have to wait a while.”

Echo was confused by the comment, but she didn’t argue.

“All right, I’ll go home,” she said to Kuolema.

He walked up to Echo and took her hands in his. She stared into his eyes; they started to glow. Brighter and brighter they became until she couldn’t see anything anymore.

When her vision was restored, she was shocked to see that her body was on her bed. A huge wave of fatigue spread over her and she fell asleep in her clothes. Before she fell into a state of unconsciousness, where fantasies became realities, however, she heard the voice of Kuolema echo through her ears, “By the way my precious Echo, the rose doesn’t wilt.”

Her eyes opened to sunlight pouring through her window. She lazily rolled over onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“It’s about time you woke up,” she heard a voice say.

Her head turned to the other side of her bed. Sitting on a chair in her room, was Kuolema, transparent from the sunlight.

“Oh!” Echo jumped up to close the blinds and he became solid once again. As she was turning around to face him, she was swept up in strong arms and they embraced for a long time. When he let her go, he sat her down on the bed and stared at her sternly.

“Now I want you to tell me something,” he said. He leaned over close to her. “Do you find my brother attractive?”

Red rushed to Echo’s face, but she didn’t answer him.

“There is no use hiding it from me Echo. I know you do.”

“I think he is attractive, but I don’t like him in that way. He has evil intentions.” She looked up at Kuolema. He was staring at the light tan wall across from the bed. Finally he turned. “I believe you.”

Their eyes stared into each other for a long time. Kuolema, without a word, moved his head closer to Echo’s. He took hold of her shoulders and moved her onto his lap. His head moved closer to hers and closer until their noses were touching. Echo smelled something sweet with every breath that came from his body. With a little bit of awkwardness, his lips touched hers and they kissed. Only for a short while, but it was the best kiss Echo had ever had.

When their lips parted, Kuolema said, “This may sound funny, but that was my very first kiss.” Echo looked closely and saw that a little color was in his cheeks.

Echo giggled, “Are you embarrassed?”

“No,” he snapped back. “Why would I be?” He stared at her with anger in his eyes. Then that anger slowly disappeared and he started laughing. Echo closed her eyes and joined in, and before she knew it she was on the bed with him on top of her. His fingers dug into her sides and she was laughing so hard, she couldn’t breathe. “Kuolema stop! It tickles!” He laughed and continued on. Finally he got off of her and stood at the foot of the bed.

“Come on,” he said to her. “Let’s go downtown.” Echo told him to hold on for a bit, while she took a shower and got herself ready.

When she came into the room Kuolema said, “Wow you girls take so long to get ready.” Echo giggled and said, “Well, we have to look our prettiest. It’s something every girl does.”

Purple eyes stared intensely into Echo’s. “You don’t have to do anything to be pretty. You’re beautiful just as you are.” Echo blushed.

Kuolema took Echo’s hand in his and they departed for the town.

The two wandered about all day, looking in shops and buying various items. They were having so much fun that they didn’t realize the sun had set. Kuolema brought Echo into a café as a treat for her. Now it was Echo’s turn. With a smile on her face, she grabbed Kuolema’s hand and ran down the street, around some corners and behind a building.

“Echo where are we?” Kuolema asked.

Echo laughed and opened a door they were standing in front of. They were met with flashing colored lights and loud music.

“Well come on!” Echo shouted over the noise. Then she turned around and disappeared into the crowd. Kuolema tried to follow but there were too many people.

“Hi what’s your name?” A voice said behind him. He turned around to meet the face of a young woman with light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her light brown eyes stared into his.

“Uh… My name is Kuolema,” he said uncertainly. She didn’t realize her attempts to woo him were failing.

“That’s an interesting name,” she said flirtatiously. “I really like it,” she concluded, moving closer to his body.

“Uh... yeah,” he replied, moving farther away from her. Turning around, he saw that most of the eyes on the dance floor were staring at him. Those eyes all belonged to the girls on the floor. Kuolema weaved his way slowly through the herd of girls. Wherever he went, all the girls gathered around, trying to just brush up against his shirt. All of the attention he was receiving was making him feel uncomfortable. His eyes searched all over for Echo. Her blonde hair caught his attention and he moved his way over to her. She was talking with someone Kuolema didn’t recognize. The stranger had bright pink hair and was wearing something that resembled a tutu.

The stranger looked at Kuolema. “Who is this Echo?”

“This is Kuolema,” Echo replied. The girl stared with a smile. “He’s a vampire isn’t he?”

Echo nodded and turned to Kuolema. “Kuolema this is Eve.”

He nodded in greeting and she responded the same way.

“Now if you don’t mind Echo,” Kuolema said. “I would like to leave.”

“Why?”

“I just want to.”

Echo sighed, took Kuolema’s hand and turned her head towards Eve with sadness.

Once they were outside Kuolema said, “Echo I need to tell you something.”

“What is it Kuolema?”

He held her tight, “My brother… well-”

“Echo!” An excited voice pierced the night. They both looked up and flapping her wings like a madwoman was Jenny. Her feet hit the ground but her wings kept flapping so she fell over on the hard pavement. Once she was on her feet, she looked at Kuolema and said, “Hi! I didn’t know you knew each other!” Kuolema looked at Jenny with a blank look. Jenny’s eyes opened wide, like he said something to her, and said, “Oh wow small world.” Echo looked at the two with a confused look spread across her face.

“I guess I better be going, Echo,” Jenny said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Once she was out of site, Kuolema turned to Echo again.

“Echo,” he said softly, her petite hands placed in his large ones. “My brother, how do I say this? My brother… wants to start a war…”

Echo’s eyes opened wide, “A war?”
Kuolema nodded with sadness in his eyes.

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Oh WOW! I haven't been on here for a long time. You see I would have submitted sooner but we were getting our computer fixed so I was without one for over a week. Then I got in trouble and had the computer taken away for like 3 more days... It was horrible!!

So! I hope you enjoy this 4th chapter. I had fun writing it!