Post by silent.lullaby on May 7, 2009 12:15:35 GMT -5
Night Children [Chapter Seventy Six] Ignorant
I looked to Griever, laying motionless on the ground, his body contorted unnaturally. The hairs on my arms and neck stood on end. I looked to Viktor, disbelief was written all over his face. The crowd was silent, or I couldn’t hear them over Alana’s sobs of grief.
My knees gave out and collided with the floor in one fluid movement. “This... can’t be.” I crawled over to where Alana had Griever’s head on her lap, cradling over him protectively. My hands glowing white pressed on his body, yet I couldn’t heal the injuries, couldn’t locate them, my powers simply wouldn’t work. Or at least, they wouldn’t work on a dead man.
I turned upon feeling a hand come down on my shoulder, Viktor knelt down beside me. “There was nothing we could have done.”
Oh but there was. We were cocky. We thought Bruce wouldn’t stand a chance against one of us, much less all of us. We were reckless, stupid, ignorant. This was our fault. No, my fault.
“It’s all my fault,” I thought for a moment I had said it aloud, but I hadn’t, it was Helena’s quiet voice. “This is all my fault.”
No one said anything for a while. The crowd dissipated, “Alana, we need to... go inside,” I said finally. Sunrise would be soon.
“No,” she responded quietly.
“Alana.”
“I’m not going!” She shouted at me viciously. “If he is dead, I will die too.”
“Alana...”
“Go Evan... just go.”
“Viktor, Markus, go inside,” I said turning to Viktor, he stared at me for a moment before nodding. Sunrise was coming quickly.
“Momma,” Adeline whispered softly as she tugged on my dress.
I looked down at her, “why is Griever not moving.”
How to explain to a one year old that someone is dead, and another was choosing suicide seemed impossible, especially at the moment. “Not right now dear.”
“But Momma, the sun is coming.”
“I know Ad-“
“We need to get him inside.”
I knelt down, then looked to Viktor who shrugged, I looked back to our daughter and took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds before releasing it slowly. “Adeline... Griever is dead.”
Adeline shook her head, “no he isn’t momma.”
“Adeline... I know it’s hard for you to understand.”
“No momma, we have to get him inside before the sun comes up. We must keep him safe in the dark till we burry him.”
“Adeline... what are you talking about.”
“A resurrection,” Viktor murmured.
“Viktor...”
“You see it happening Adeline?”
Adeline nodded, “we bury him but then he digs his way back out.”
“Everyone inside now, Markus, help me carry Griever in.” Viktor ordered.
He knelt by Griever’s body where Alana sat looking at him teary eyed, “a resurrection hasn’t worked in centuries, and they haven’t been attempted in decades.”
“Well... for decades we haven’t tried because we figured out why they weren’t working. Now... we have what we need. I would have never even thought of it though,” Viktor admitted. “So long since they have ever worked.”
“Explain inside,” Markus said taking Griever’s twisted, broken top half and Viktor grabbed his bottom half.
Once we were all in the safety of the room, we sat in the circle of comfortable chairs. Colleen was tending to Seth in the other room. He was still badly bruised and it hurt him to walk. My father had yet to change back as he had to heal his wounds first.
Adeline admitted on our way in that she had been responsible for knocking out everyone that got in their way of teaching me how to use the purple smoke.
I was sitting on Viktor’s lap, my head against his chest, curled into him completely as he spoke. “A resurrection hasn’t been performed in nearly five hundred years, and even then, for the most part, they didn’t work.” His hand was rubbing down my back comforting me. “Since we need a Soul Child Elder, the Prince of the Night Children and the King of the Moon Children.
“For the most part, back then, we helped each other but some people want to stay dead. That choice is theirs, if they want to dig their way out of their graves or not. Still only Night Children can be resurrected since... well we are kind of dead already.” Viktor spoke softly as he continued, “eventually the Soul Children, the Moon Children... they grew tired of helping us bring back our fallen comrades and refused to help. We thought we could do it on our own, but we couldn’t.”
“Why did they help in the first place?” Douglas asked.
“Best guess is if we didn’t have to replenish our numbers by biting more humans, or Soul Children in some cases, heck our venom has been known to turn even Moon Children to Night Children. The point is, if we have all of our people, we don’t need to take their numbers by making more.” Viktor answered, “eventually they got sick of it and decided to just kill us all would be the best method.”
“So how is it we go about resurrecting Griever?” Lukas asked.
“The blood of three, an Elder of the Soul Children, the Prince of the Night Children, and the King of the Moon Children.”
“How much blood?” Lukas asked wearily.
“Not much at all, I wouldn’t be suggesting a blood bath when the blood of my own son must be used.” I tensed up only now realising that the prince was now no longer Viktor, but my small son Alaric. Viktor noticed my tension and pulled me tight to his chest. “It will be just fine Angel.”
“And my blood as well,” I whispered.
It was Viktor’s turn to tense, “the decision is yours, we could talk to Melinda or Arista if you choose.”
“No, this is partially my fault, I want the chance to make it better,” I replied quietly.
“We should be getting some sleep,” Helena said quietly, “Tonight is going to be something.”
Everyone disbanded. Alana sat on the side of the bed where Griever’s pale corpse lay. If it could happen to Garret, to Griever, then that meant that Viktor wasn’t as impossible to kill as I once thought. A shiver ran down my spine as I lay in bed with Viktor, trying to sleep but finding the task impossible. He misinterpreted the shiver as I was cold and pulled up a second blanket and pulled me tighter to his body. Not that I minded.
“What if what Adeline saw was wrong?” I whispered turning in his arms to face him.
“How often are Soul Children wrong?”
I swallowed, actually a lot more than we’d care to admit. The future changes and we only get one look. One possibility, what if what Adeline saw was one future, it could happen, the resurrection could work, or we could screw it up, Griever would stay buried. I shuddered again at the thought. “We aren’t,” I said to fix the sudden panic that came upon his face. “We are never wrong.”
This made Viktor smile, “see, in a few more hours everything will be back to normal. Everything will be just fine.”
I forced a smile on my face, at least for the next few hours, it would just be me who would worry over Griever’s life, not Viktor too. “Yeah,” I whispered, “just fine.”
I looked to Griever, laying motionless on the ground, his body contorted unnaturally. The hairs on my arms and neck stood on end. I looked to Viktor, disbelief was written all over his face. The crowd was silent, or I couldn’t hear them over Alana’s sobs of grief.
My knees gave out and collided with the floor in one fluid movement. “This... can’t be.” I crawled over to where Alana had Griever’s head on her lap, cradling over him protectively. My hands glowing white pressed on his body, yet I couldn’t heal the injuries, couldn’t locate them, my powers simply wouldn’t work. Or at least, they wouldn’t work on a dead man.
I turned upon feeling a hand come down on my shoulder, Viktor knelt down beside me. “There was nothing we could have done.”
Oh but there was. We were cocky. We thought Bruce wouldn’t stand a chance against one of us, much less all of us. We were reckless, stupid, ignorant. This was our fault. No, my fault.
“It’s all my fault,” I thought for a moment I had said it aloud, but I hadn’t, it was Helena’s quiet voice. “This is all my fault.”
No one said anything for a while. The crowd dissipated, “Alana, we need to... go inside,” I said finally. Sunrise would be soon.
“No,” she responded quietly.
“Alana.”
“I’m not going!” She shouted at me viciously. “If he is dead, I will die too.”
“Alana...”
“Go Evan... just go.”
“Viktor, Markus, go inside,” I said turning to Viktor, he stared at me for a moment before nodding. Sunrise was coming quickly.
“Momma,” Adeline whispered softly as she tugged on my dress.
I looked down at her, “why is Griever not moving.”
How to explain to a one year old that someone is dead, and another was choosing suicide seemed impossible, especially at the moment. “Not right now dear.”
“But Momma, the sun is coming.”
“I know Ad-“
“We need to get him inside.”
I knelt down, then looked to Viktor who shrugged, I looked back to our daughter and took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds before releasing it slowly. “Adeline... Griever is dead.”
Adeline shook her head, “no he isn’t momma.”
“Adeline... I know it’s hard for you to understand.”
“No momma, we have to get him inside before the sun comes up. We must keep him safe in the dark till we burry him.”
“Adeline... what are you talking about.”
“A resurrection,” Viktor murmured.
“Viktor...”
“You see it happening Adeline?”
Adeline nodded, “we bury him but then he digs his way back out.”
“Everyone inside now, Markus, help me carry Griever in.” Viktor ordered.
He knelt by Griever’s body where Alana sat looking at him teary eyed, “a resurrection hasn’t worked in centuries, and they haven’t been attempted in decades.”
“Well... for decades we haven’t tried because we figured out why they weren’t working. Now... we have what we need. I would have never even thought of it though,” Viktor admitted. “So long since they have ever worked.”
“Explain inside,” Markus said taking Griever’s twisted, broken top half and Viktor grabbed his bottom half.
Once we were all in the safety of the room, we sat in the circle of comfortable chairs. Colleen was tending to Seth in the other room. He was still badly bruised and it hurt him to walk. My father had yet to change back as he had to heal his wounds first.
Adeline admitted on our way in that she had been responsible for knocking out everyone that got in their way of teaching me how to use the purple smoke.
I was sitting on Viktor’s lap, my head against his chest, curled into him completely as he spoke. “A resurrection hasn’t been performed in nearly five hundred years, and even then, for the most part, they didn’t work.” His hand was rubbing down my back comforting me. “Since we need a Soul Child Elder, the Prince of the Night Children and the King of the Moon Children.
“For the most part, back then, we helped each other but some people want to stay dead. That choice is theirs, if they want to dig their way out of their graves or not. Still only Night Children can be resurrected since... well we are kind of dead already.” Viktor spoke softly as he continued, “eventually the Soul Children, the Moon Children... they grew tired of helping us bring back our fallen comrades and refused to help. We thought we could do it on our own, but we couldn’t.”
“Why did they help in the first place?” Douglas asked.
“Best guess is if we didn’t have to replenish our numbers by biting more humans, or Soul Children in some cases, heck our venom has been known to turn even Moon Children to Night Children. The point is, if we have all of our people, we don’t need to take their numbers by making more.” Viktor answered, “eventually they got sick of it and decided to just kill us all would be the best method.”
“So how is it we go about resurrecting Griever?” Lukas asked.
“The blood of three, an Elder of the Soul Children, the Prince of the Night Children, and the King of the Moon Children.”
“How much blood?” Lukas asked wearily.
“Not much at all, I wouldn’t be suggesting a blood bath when the blood of my own son must be used.” I tensed up only now realising that the prince was now no longer Viktor, but my small son Alaric. Viktor noticed my tension and pulled me tight to his chest. “It will be just fine Angel.”
“And my blood as well,” I whispered.
It was Viktor’s turn to tense, “the decision is yours, we could talk to Melinda or Arista if you choose.”
“No, this is partially my fault, I want the chance to make it better,” I replied quietly.
“We should be getting some sleep,” Helena said quietly, “Tonight is going to be something.”
Everyone disbanded. Alana sat on the side of the bed where Griever’s pale corpse lay. If it could happen to Garret, to Griever, then that meant that Viktor wasn’t as impossible to kill as I once thought. A shiver ran down my spine as I lay in bed with Viktor, trying to sleep but finding the task impossible. He misinterpreted the shiver as I was cold and pulled up a second blanket and pulled me tighter to his body. Not that I minded.
“What if what Adeline saw was wrong?” I whispered turning in his arms to face him.
“How often are Soul Children wrong?”
I swallowed, actually a lot more than we’d care to admit. The future changes and we only get one look. One possibility, what if what Adeline saw was one future, it could happen, the resurrection could work, or we could screw it up, Griever would stay buried. I shuddered again at the thought. “We aren’t,” I said to fix the sudden panic that came upon his face. “We are never wrong.”
This made Viktor smile, “see, in a few more hours everything will be back to normal. Everything will be just fine.”
I forced a smile on my face, at least for the next few hours, it would just be me who would worry over Griever’s life, not Viktor too. “Yeah,” I whispered, “just fine.”