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This chapter is for my Amigos.

I miss you guys, heaps.

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Chapter five.

Selene had been waiting for Eric to return. Ever since the moment she’d awoken, she’d been hoping to talk to Eric about their adventures last night. She wanted to scold him, lecture him – but most importantly, hug him for making it out of there unscathed. Selene had had high doubts that the Vampires would allow them to walk away without a scratch, so it surprised her when she awoke in her own bed this morning – with yesterday’s events a bit blurry in her mind.

Selene had been sitting on the front steps of Eric’s manor when he appeared within her sight. When he spotted her, he grinned and revealed a mouthful of half chewed bread, causing Selene to wonder about where he had gone off to.

She stood up when he was close enough for her to see each individual tooth in his mouth. They were perfectly straight and white – an abnormality in their society.

“Eric!” she smiled as she stood to face him. “Where did you go?”

Eric swallowed the remaining portions of food in his mouth before replying.

“Out,” he said. “I needed to clear my head.”

Selene’s heart sunk. Eric often needed to clear his head after a long lecture from his father, but when that time came, he usually came to her. It saddened her to think that he would wander off somewhere and leave her behind.

“Are you feeling better?” was what she asked instead of voicing aloud her worries.

Eric nodded and grinned once more before pulling her down to sit with him on the stairs.

“So how are you feeling?” he asked her. “Still grumpy about yesterday?”

Remembrance of yesterday’s events caused Selene to flinch. It was unlike her to act so rude and to forget all her manners – but she blamed it on the Vampires for that. If it were not for them, she wouldn’t be having such a conversation with Eric.

“I’m…better.” She leaned her head onto Eric’s shoulder. “Because you’re here.”

Laughing softly, he laid a hand on top of her head and patted her.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Eric then leaned down and kissed her forehead gently – an action which meant nothing, but yet still sent shivers up Selene’s back. She wrapped her arms around him – molding herself to him – without a single thought of letting go.

For now, she was happy.

Eric was relieved that Selene had not asked about his whereabouts that morning. He had no intention of telling her what he had been doing – as her actions the night before proved that she disliked the Vampire race immensely. He was sure if the topic arose, a lie would have been formed and he took no pleasure in lying to his best friend.

Eric thought of Selene as family – his little sister. He was closer to her than he had ever been with Jonathon, or ever will be. The thought of losing Selene was unbearable, but Eric was pretty sure that that day would never come.

As he passed Jonathon in the hall back to his room, Eric couldn’t help but feel a little remorse.

If they had spent more time together when each was younger, would their relationship have turned out this way? Eric blamed his father for this, along with many other things. If he had not separated Eric from Jonathon when they were younger, Eric doubted their relationship would have been so fragile.

His father took him hunting, in hopes to train his body up for high endurance and muscles. He taught him how to handle weapons and how to fight with his bare hands – or paws with dagger sharp nails. And during this time, little Jonathon had always been left at the manor with their mother – who rarely left the house as she was soft and delicate.

As Eric learnt how to fight and defend himself, Jonathon learnt how harsh life could be. There were no hopes in winning your father’s affection when he had already given it to the elder son.

Jonathon had always despised Eric for taking all the attention - and still did.

Eric watched with a sunken heart as Jonathon turned around the corner and disappeared out of his sight.

How could you lose someone when you never had them in the first place?

Lily slipped into Chace’s room without bothering to knock. She knew Chace did nothing other than sleep and change clothes within this room, so the possibility of scarring herself with a vivid image was slim to zero.

Chace was coming out of the bathroom when Lily fell onto the bed – all the energy drained from her system.

Ever since leaving her special clearing in the forest, a huge headache had been developing and worming its way around her head. She grabbed a pillow and buried herself under it, willing for the pain to stop. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve such bitter torture, but she had seeked out Chace to find out.

There was a soft tug at the pillow, but Lily was unwilling to let go. The pillow muffled the sharp sounds around her, and maybe it was just her imagination, but the headache seemed to have dimmed down a notch.

“You’re only going to suffocate yourself,” Chace told her in his matter-of-fact voice whilst continuously tugging at the pillow.

“It hurts…” she mumbled into his bed sheets.

Giving up at last, Chace fell onto the bed beside Lily and stared at the pillow – the place where his sister’s head should have been.

“What hurts?”

Lily mumbled something inaudible so Chace nudged her side with his foot. Being rather ticklish, Lily immediately jumped up and let out a yelp – then instantly clutched her head as if in immense pain.

“M-my head,” she gasped out as she fell on the bed once more, and curled up into a tight ball. “It-it hurts. A lot.”

Nearly sighing with relief (as Chace had thought it would have been something more frightening – like Lily falling pregnant) he wrapped an arm around his baby sister and helped her sit up in bed.

Feeling dizzy, and almost hallucinating about stars in her vision, Lily used all her willpower to not collapse into Chace’s arms. She was taught to be strong, and she couldn’t fail herself now – not even to Chace.

“Where does it hurt?” Chace asked as he held Lily tightly to prevent her from falling off the bed. It would have been funny, but he knew she’d carve out his man hood when she got better.

Clutching her face in her hands again, Lily mumbled audibly, “My head.”

Chace may look stupid and dim-witted, but he was in fact a very educated Vampire. Being one of Marsenthorn lineage, he and Lily had been educated by the best professors possible – and he spent a lot of his free time exploring their family library, although this was his own little secret.

Grabbing both sides of Lily’s head in his hands, Chace placed his thumbs on two locations near her temples. “Does this feel better?”

Lily was slumping and her cheeks gave off a faint tint – a near impossible reaction for a Vampire as they held no warm blood to produce any colour.

“No…” she managed to whisper out softly.

Chace placed his thumbs on another two locations. “What about this?”

Lily shook her head slightly.

Defeated, and not knowing what to do, Chace laid Lily onto his bed softly and grabbed a blanket to keep her warm.

“I’m not sure what’s wrong with you,” he told her as he tucked the blanket under her, “so I’m going to go get father. He’ll call a doctor for you.”

“No!” she coughed. “They’ll stick some weird animal onto me and tell me it’s a cure, when they know for a fact that it isn’t! I don’t want another leech on my forehead, Chace!”

Suppressing a smile, Chace pinched Lily’s cheeks like he used to when she was younger and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to cure you Lily. I haven’t studied enough on medicine to define your illness, so the only thing I can do to help is to get father. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”

He left Lily and hurried down the hall in search for his father. Christopher Marsenthorn was in his office when Chace burst into the room, gasping for breath.

“Son? What’s wrong?” he pushed his chair back and stood up abruptly, rushing over to Chace. He helped Chace straighten up, and dusted him off. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.

“I-it’s Lily. She’s feeling sick.”

Alarmed, Christopher Marsenthorn rushed to get a doctor.

Dr. Sweeler was packing up his medical instruments when Christopher Marsenthorn returned with his wife. Audrey Marsenthorn – known as the most beautiful being to have ever existed – had been out at a friend’s house when her husband came rushing over to her. Alarmed at his disheveled appearance, Audrey bade farewell to her friend and rushed home with Christopher.

Seeing her daughter sprawled out on Chace’s bed with a damp cloth on her forehead made Audrey release an audibly high pitched cry, followed by quick foot steps rushing over to Lily’s side.

Kneeling beside the bed, Audrey grabbed one of Lily’s limp hands and turned to the doctor. “What has happened to her?” she practically screamed out in worry, “Is she going to be alright?”

Suppressing a grin, Dr. Sweeler snapped his medical briefcase shut and faced the two worried Marsenthorn parents. “Yes, yes, Sir and Lady Marsenthorn. Your daughter will be quite alright.” He made his way back towards the bed as Chace reentered the room with a jug of water in his hands. “She’s just a bit drained of energy today. Soaked in a bit too much sun, as a matter of fact.”

Upon hearing Dr. Sweeler’s explanation, Chace nearly dropped the jug of water in his hands. He was shocked – that Lily could have been so stupid – and also very relieved – that his sister was alright.

Laying down the jug on the bedside table, Chace stood by his father’s side and all the conscious occupants in the room watched the unconscious Lily Marsenthorn with the same thought on their minds: I can’t believe she did it again.

Chace suddenly grinned as he realised that Lily was definitely not going to die. He turned to the doctor. “Is her headache gone as well?”

Dr. Sweeler peeled his eyes off of his patient and turned them towards Chace. “Headache?” he asked cautiously.

Audrey’s eyes flickered with alarm towards the doctor. “You didn’t know?” The tone contained every little bit of accusation she could muster.

Dr. Sweeler watched Audrey with a steady gaze. He had never been affected by the effect Audrey Marsenthorn had on others – especially when she smiled. And this time was no different, he did not even flinch.

“Lady Marsenthorn, I apologise for not realising that your daughter had a headache, but you must know, there is no way for one to determine whether the patient is experiencing head pains or not when said patient is found unconscious after the doctor arrives.”

Christopher watched the doctor cautiously. His tone implied he was not mocking his wife’s words, but he couldn’t be sure.

Audrey Marsenthorn seemed to realise that she had been wrong on snapping at the doctor so suddenly. She hung her head, mumbled a small apology and diverted her attention back towards her daughter.

“Now, what is this headache you were talking about?” Dr. Sweeler asked, directing the question at Chace.

Chace gave the doctor a brief explanation of the events leading up till the time he ran off to fetch his father. Everyone in the room listened on, hoping for the best.

“Now that is quite an abnormal symptom,” the doctor remarked after Chace had ceased explaining. He paced the room, thoughts going through his head rapidly. Never had he experienced such a symptom before.

“It can’t be too rare,” Christopher spoke up. “Everyone has headaches every once in a while.”

“Yes.” The doctor paused. He watched Lily’s stone form from the other side of the bed. “But very rarely will a vampire faint from it.”

An eerie silence rang around the room. No one found the last sentence very helpful in this situation.

No, not at all.

Selene had stayed for most of the morning and left before the sun got too low in the sky. Eric had been leaning back onto the foot of his bed, deep in thought for the first time since the departure of Selene.

She had distracted him from replaying the events which occurred this morning in his head, but once she was gone, he seemed to have all the time in the world.

His thoughts flashed back to her pale face. The familiar face which he could now map out perfectly, if he just closed his eyes and thought about her hard enough. Her features were so familiar, like he’d drawn and designed her himself – but he knew he didn’t. According to reality, Eric and Lily had never met before – had they?

His eyes snapped open as her golden ones appeared before his mind. It was so vivid; he could see every stroke that formed the iris - each stroke that connected the next along with the first. Her eyes had shone and enraptured him for only a fraction of a second – yet it felt like eternity – until her heavy eyelashes had swept down briefly, and the golden eyes were gone once more.

Eric sat dazed in the same position until he had lost all sense of time. The sun had set outside, and the room was getting darker by the second.

Yet he did not care.

All Eric Morin seemed to care about right now was Lily.

Lily Marsenthorn – the Vampire.

A/N: Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated, hasn't it? At least over a month. Dx I'm really sorry, but August has been a hectic month for me. I come from the land down under, so school and everything is different for me than say - people from America. Whilst some are on Summer vacation, I'm slaving over assignments and worrying about my upcoming finals. Hence, the lack of updates. I've been trying, and I've only really had enough time to write this chapter and post it tonight.

On a happier note, I just wanted to say how ecstatic I was when Forbidden Fruit got chosen for The Ultimate Storylist and made Story of the Month at their forums. I was squealing and going wild and crashing into walls like a headless cockaroach. La yayness. TUSL is a great place with great people that'll help you find something good to read, and help you develop yourself and your writing further. So if you have time, check it out, you definitely won't regret it!

Well, I really have no idea when the next update will be, but I'll try and squeeze it in somewhere. Thanks for reading! s2

Will you take me back, back to the beginning?

p.

-copyright./forbiddenfruit/chapterfive/25.o8.o8/pepperr.