Blood of a Singer

Click! Snap! Flash!

Aurelis sat, her legs folded underneath her with a blank expression as she watched the priest's mouth move in what seemed to be slow motion. All the people that surrounded her disappeared as she sank slowly into a melancholy trance, the words filling the air dissipating into meaningless babble. Funeral conversations were never interesting anyway. It was all black- metaphorically and visually; a certain claustrophobia settled onto her shoulders, weighing her down as she fell further and further. Standing up in the middle of the priest's ardent recollection of the dead's "memorable" life, she stood up and walked out, followed by only those who dared to shoot an admonishing glare in her direction. Each step towards the door was backed up by an immense effort, both physical and mental, as she struggled to keep a composed air and walk at the same time.

Stepped out of the ship into a sea of people. Final preparations before the show. Reux had kissed her cheek, waved good bye. Went on stage. Adjusted the mic. Something snagged. Red, blood.

Tombstones filed in and out of her vision, slowly wearing away into nothing but gray blurs as she felt her knees begin to give way. A fast pace slowed to a dull gallop as her strides grew increasingly more irregular with each turn until she collapsed among the dead, silently pleading for them to take her as their own and bury her where there were no more condolences, no more looks of pity or understanding. They didn't understand, they didn't have what she had.

One drop. One small drop. She stared, she ran. Reux watched as she left. He followed. She yelled at him.

"GO AWAY!" Aurelis yelled hoarsely, covering her ears as the sounds of the last week flooded her ears and the sounds of the natural world went deaf, un-listened to. Reux was gone, not on a trip, not to anywhere she could visit: He was dead. It was her fault, her curse's fault. Hive syndrome. The intergalactic star's blood was literal nectar for bees- except these "bees" were vampiric races and those "bees" did not calmly gather around a flower but rather rushed into ravage it. Coughing into one hand, she laughed at the bitter irony of it; her blood killed people while her voice brought them to life. It was true though; her voice was the sound that soothed the beast, erased the bloodlust. The sounding of approaching footsteps was ignored until someone grabbed her from behind and put her frail form under their arm, patting her head as he began to walk back towards the black procession.

She couldn't sing. Voice was a squeak. Rexus cried out hopelessly. They began ripping him apart. Grabbed by-

"Chatka. Let me go." The native Iopei man olive arms flexed but did not loosen their hold on her as she struggled to break free. "Chatka." The idol stared begrudgingly at her "kidnapper".

The blonde haired man of six feet or more looked down a considerable distance at her before silently slinging her over his shoulder and jogging wildly the rest of the way. Dissatisfied, Aurelis waited bouncing up and down with the rise and fall of the land until her companion flip-flopped her back to a standing position and ushered her into a waiting airship. The torrid wind whipped up by the air compulsion engine threw dust into the air and sent her hair whipping about as she moved to shield herself from view and from the assaulting wind within the confines of the ship's introductory room. Chatka followed close behind, looming over her before he set two large hands on her shoulders and steered her to the nearest couch and got her settled in.

"You need more hands around here." The native spoke clear English with no trace of an accent from his home planet, allowing the crisply said advice to sink into her mind. "Good thing we hired someone new. Our meeting with her is supposed to be now but someone had the mind to run off during the funeral for a couple of hours."

Aurelis gave a courtesy laugh, shrugging her auburn hair over her shoulders and playing with the ends as she looked down at her plain black dress. Deciding to look up again, her olive green eyes met Chatka's golden ones.

"Chatka?"

"Yes?"

"Why am I cursed?"

"You're not. Your gift balances it out."

"Let's go see our new addition."

The ship took off smoothly, leaving the two of them in silence, wondering if a gift could truly balance out a curse.

The 'new addition' was beyond annoyed. She grimaced looking down at the black digital watch's face, the thought of how it contrasted against her caramel brown skin at the back of her mind, vaguely catching the reflection of her reddish brown eyes as she once again checked the time. Four hours. She had been late to some interviews in her youth and she supposed this could somehow be deemed karmic but she placed it all upon her deep almost religious faith in irony. She was the one looking for a job but the boss was late.

Although the urge to laugh was within her the prominent feelings as a deep hurt and anger. Was it because she was a girl? However conceited it would come off; she would scream from the tops of the snowy mountains how hot she considered herself! That did not make her weak. She was tall, which gave her leverage, quick on her toes and even faster with her fists. Her mother had trained her personally.

She could handle her own. She shook her head hand rising to move the handful of tiny blue colored braids that fell into her vision. Her biggest vanity, not her strengths, shapely figure, or her eyes that seemed to change to the most amazing colors at her different varied moods, but her waist length hair that she had meticulously braided stand by tiny strand. She suddenly looked up and towards the door as she heard steps quickly coming towards the room.

"Ah, our new recruit is quite the hottie." Aurelis stifled a girlish giggle, flipping her hair over her shoulders and placing a hand on her hip, the stereotypical peace sign from all her autographed pictures gracing her free hand. "You realize this isn't an interview right? You already got the job; we just wanted to meet you."

Aurelis' eyes traveled up and down her new companion's figure, one eyebrow slowly raising to an angled look of curiosity as the dark skinned woman did the same. The singer began circling around the woman slowly, like a shark observing it's prey with a hungry smile while she whistled one of her songs. The woman had come with no resume, no credentials, nothing to their office less than a week ago and asked for the job. Aurelis liked the kind of person who had the guts to do that, even if she herself didn't have them readily available. Then again she was never one to shy away from the moment... At least she didn't used to be. Her happy exterior flickered until she forced a smile to reclaim her face, nails digging into her arm behind her back but soft enough to prevent any sign of blood.

The new woman looked annoyed so Aurelis took it upon herself to reach down into her bosom and pull out a slip of paper, handing it to the now mildly amused blue haired recruit. "Here ya go. It's your first month's payment. Oh and... Don't make me start charging you for staring." Aurelis offered her hand.

"I'm Aurelis Borealis, but I'm sure you know that unless you've been hiding under a rock the last few years. The man to my right is Chatka, my other personal bodyguard; you'll be working with him. Your name?"

Chatka grunted, already sensing how vain the girl in front of him was just by appearance. The tall man also did not relish the idea of working with anyone but Aurelis and not because he found her more attractive than any bodyguard should, but because he was a possessive monster in secret, pining away at something he would never have. Muttering to himself, Chatka settled a hand on Aurelis shoulder and stepped closer to her before nodding when she mentioned him.

“My name is Althaia Amintah,” the girl said with a smile that was half come hither and half amusement. Her right hand move to take the young beauty’s offered one shaking it formally, the left rising up to stop whatever comment the other bodyguard was going to make towards her name. “And yes it is a double A name Lord Chattington,” She said with a bit of merriness and a lot of mischievousness. Her smile widened as she saw Aurelis laugh and absently dropped the hand that she had held, instantly decided that she liked, no loved her new bosses laugh.

Althaia tilted her head to the side as she apprised the man who was apparently her partner. She took in his figure and realized that as tall as she was she had to look up slightly to look him in the eyes. He had the look of a true fighter as well causing her to look at the girl in new light. Yes she knew who the singer was and had heard about what happened recently, who hadn’t. She loved the girl’s voice with a passion, had found that it instilled within her a deep calm, made her feel almost loved, and could not honestly understand why the before had occurred nor why another bodyguard was needed.

Especially she thought with one as seemingly capable as this Chatka around. She looked back at Aurelis thinking to herself that this would take some investigating. She decided that she would go straight to the source to find out why. Giving one of her practiced smiles she caught Aurelis’ eyes with her own. “You know… We should go out and get to know each other better…” She started to say before Chatka interrupted her stepping forward and speaking with a menacing tone. “I may be deaf… but it sounds like you are asking your new boss out on a date.”

“Why Chatka…,” Althaia started with a wide smile,” It almost sounds as if you were jealous! Don’t worry! I’ll take you out next time big boy.” She finished with a wink gradually shifting into the sultriest tone she could take on as she went along.

Aurelis laughed again at Chatka’s silence and expression which seemed to be the perfect mixture of horror and insult. She took Althaia’s hand in hers and lead her to the door that she came in through. Althaia looked back at her tall blond new partner before she started a stage whisper.

“Shouldn’t we bring him along?” She asked loudly.

Aurelis giggled before answering her whole body moving with the effort. “You’re a body guard too, right? Well you should be enough. Chatka needs his rest… and don’t mind him he’s being a grumpy pants!”

Althaia laughed giving one last look back before the door began to close behind them.

“Chattanooga? Grumpy? Why that’s preposterous!”

"Well if she gets a date, I should get one too!" Chatka grumbled loudly in response, crossing his arms as he pretended to examine the door.

"Why don't you just ask her out?" Aurelis' father came up behind the towering native, scratching his five o' clock shadow groggily with a hand. "You're not very good at hiding you feelings, Chatka. I could be blind and deaf and still figure it out. You're easier to read than a giant neon billboard, kid."

"You know Aurelis doesn't like me that way; I'm like a brother to her, nothing else." Chatka sighed dejectedly, rubbing one arm with an uncomfortable tinge to his face. "Plus it's not... right.. to ask out your boss' daughter nor the person you're protecting. Don't you have any manners Seauxll?"

"Sadly, no." Seauxll grumbled, containing a burp within one hand as he stretched out on the nearest couch, brushing a handful of black hair over his shoulder while his ice blue eyes scanned over the younger man. "My mother forgot to teach me them. Anyway, you're not bad looking; You're no Reux but then again you could be. Get fixed up and take her out, kid. Who cares if it's right or wrong?"

"I care, Seauxll. I'm not here to be loved, I'm not here to love, I'm here to be a bodyguard to your daughter." Chatka left the room, leaving Seauxll pondering on the couch with one hand running through the midnight strands that surrounded him as if it were water. Looking at the ceiling emptily, he rested a hand on her forehead and sighed to himself.

"Aurelis, Aurelis, Aurelis. Such a problem causer. Such a beautiful girl with an ugly curse." Seauxll raised a pale hand to the light, examining the perfectly smooth contours of his palm, of the back of his hand. "I know how you feel, Chatka. Wanting what you can't have for what seems like forever. Of course, I literally mean forever."

Minute white tips protruded over his pallid lips, a fresh pink tongue sliding out to meet them as he let an arm slip down to touch the floor, caressing it softly. "Even if she isn't my blood daughter, she blindly believes she is. You can't touch that, the greatest taboo. Loving so blindly... even when I found her alone twenty years ago... singing to herself alone. I wonder if she still sings for herself.."