Sleeping In A Graveyard

Marionette finished up her shopping, getting herself a small book that she would be able to finish during all her breaks between classes. She looked around the streets trying to see any sign of Lance, figuring that he would be spying on her but so far he hadn't shown up. The forest was her next choice, possibly the only place she would be secluded enough to call for Lance so that he could go meet her. Once she was in the forest she made sure she had walked in deep enough so that she could call Lance, but there was no need because he was standing right in the middle of the path, smiling at her.

"Lance!" She smiled at him gently as he took her hand.

"Promise to not ask any questions until we get there?" Marionette furrowed her brow wondering what he could possibly be talking about when Lance began to lead her off the main path and deeper into the wooded area of the forest.

They made several twists and turns, climbing over large rocks and dead trees, until they came upon a place with an old broken building. It had graffiti writing all over it, with large rocks from the building in front of it, smashed pieces from what looked like an old Moslem. She had recognized the arcitexture from all of the Moslems in her own cemetery. Broken stone coffins were within the building, large holes in the ceiling from years of being untouched or cared for, moss growing up the walls of the place. It was so beautiful to Marionette, especially when Lance showed her the sun in the sky. It sparkled as it was beginning to set, orange, red, and purple, danced around in the sky as the sun set. It was an amazing view for her and she couldn't believe that Lance even knew of this place.

"How did you know about here?" Lance chuckled and brought her over to one of the stone coffins that were in there. On the broken lid, carved into it was 'Lance & Sarah 2gether 4ever'. Marionette was completely shocked.

"A few friends, my girlfriend and I used to come up here and hang out a lot. A way to get away from the world and escape into our own. We had some great times here." Lance looked around, remembering the time when he was alive, his friends, and the fresh air he was able to breathe in because he needed it to survive unlike now where he had no real use for it. He looked over at Marionette who was staring at the carving still, looking so sullen.

"What's wrong?" Marionette looked up at him quickly, coming out of the trance she was in.

"Oh um...nothing." She didn't understand what was wrong with her, but she couldn't shake it. There was a slight tugging at her heart that made her eyes tear. It was another feeling that she was unfamiliar with.

"If you're wondering about Sarah, she was my girlfriend. Not anymore, I'm pretty sure she's moved on and had kids already." Saying that didn't ease Marionette's mind. It made her think more about what would happen if she were to have real serious feelings for him. She would do the same as that Sarah girl did, grow old and possibly have kids. And certainly Marionette wasn't ready to give up her life just to spend the rest of her afterlife with Lance. Sure, she could then do whatever she wanted, but part of her still wanted to live as Marionette Spelling.

"Marionette?" Lance questioned seeing how thoughtful she looked. He knew that her mind must've been racing with all these different thoughts about him and Sarah, and even possibly about herself and him. Mentioning Sarah brought back some wonderful memories, but it also reminded him that she was alive and he was not. It was the same with Marionette, she was alive. She needed air, food, and water to survive while he didn't. He could stay up for days, even weeks without sleep, but not Marionette. There were some major differences that he wondered if Marionette would be willing to go through.

"It's just-" Lance cut her off, knowing what she was about to say.

"I know. Let's not think about it so much, okay?" Marionette looked deeply into Lance's eyes wondering if she could put aside her thoughts, and just stare into his wonderful chocolate brown eyes.

"Have you ever been kissed?" Marionette could hear her heart beat in her chest, the words that wanted to for 'No' escaped her as she felt her chest tighten up with anticipation so the only she could do was shake her head in response to his answer. And as he leaned in to deliver her, her first kiss, Marionette could no longer feel his warm hand against her own. She looked down at his hand and confused at her actions he also looked down.

"Crap!" Lance shouted seeing that he was slowly fading away. Marionette looked at him confused when she could have sworn he was able to stay solid.

"What happened?" Lance looked at her and sighed. He was ashamed of himself. He wanted to be stronger; he wanted to be able to stay normal to make Marionette feel normal. Sadly, that wasn't to happen tonight.

"I can only hold it for so long until I fade. I don't know why but it's been like this ever since I started becoming solid. But don't worry; I'll work on it I promise." Marionette blushed, knowing that he was doing that just so that he could spend time with her. She was flattered, wished she could at least give him a small kiss on the cheek but instead she stood up and looked out into the dark forest in front of them.

"Can you lead me out so I can walk home?" Lance smiled nodding his head, however as he thought about it he worried about what would happen to her walking in the dark forest by herself.

"Um, just a second." And just like that, Lance was gone. Marionette stood there in the growing darkness slightly frightened never having been in the forest at night, or alone. She wondered where Lance could have possibly taken off to when he suddenly reappeared in front of her.

"Ready to go?" Marionette nodded her head, clutching on to her Emily Strange bag as Lance attempted to lead her out of the forest. Once she was by the entrance she bid Lance farewell and that she was see him later.

Going onto the path she realized just how close she was to the bookstore and how far she was from home. Sighing she began her journey towards home when a group of men, laughing, pushing at each other, and all dressed in dark colors, was up ahead. Marionette then realized just how afraid she was of people. Ghost, ghouls, vampires, aliens, and werewolves don't scare her at this point but the people in the real world did. She bit at her lip and continued to walk forward trying not to stare at them as they crossed paths. Unfortunately what Marionette thought was a great escape wasn't. One of the men jumped in front of her causing Marionette to jump slightly herself. He had dark piercing eyes that sent shivers down her spine. Now she was afraid.

"Aren't you pretty." He commented, looking her up at down. While he was doing so Marionette couldn't bare to look at him. Instead she noticed the small tattoo on his hand of a Crow. He circled her like one, snickering was heard in the background by his friends when a voice, a very familiar one to all of them there broke through.

"Cain! Leave her be." Cain, Marionette, and Cain friends all turned around to see Kaeden standing there, eyes glowing a deep red.

"Kaeden! Well look at this, don't tell me you know this...fine beauty?" Cain smirked as Kaeden made his way towards you, unafraid by the men surrounding him.

"Yes I do. Now take your friends and be on your way." Kaeden wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned in, feeling safe with Kaeden but still being very afraid of those men. Cain pursed his lips and then sighed.

"Tonight you get away with out a fight, Kaeden. But only because she's just so beautiful and I don't want to ruin that anymore with fear." Cain walked off with his friends as Kaeden continued to hold his grip tighten on her.

"You okay? He didn't do anything right?" Marionette was shocked by his questions as he checked her for any noticeable marks on her body that were abnormal.

"I'm fine. You came just in time." Marionette looked up at him in awe, wondering how exactly could he do that but was so happy that he did.

"Maybe I'm just that good. Your regular ol' knight in shinning armor." Kaeden chuckled to himself but then stopped seeing the tears running down Marionette's face. He was completely shocked but embraced her quickly as she started to sob, letting it all out.

"What's wrong? They didn't hurt you." He stroked her hair, trying to calm her when Lance appeared a few feet in front of them. He looked at Marionette worried, knowing he shouldn't have left her, but he had no choice. Kaeden looked at Lance confused, not knowing what he should do to help Marionette, never actually having been there or liking another woman like this since he had been turned but he knew that what she needed was comfort. Lance nodded his head indicating that he was doing a good job and then faded off. Kaeden turned his attention back to Marionette hearing her sobs quiet down a bit.

"But they could have! I saw it in his eyes, they were so...lustful, menacing. I could just feel how he was very willing to hurt me." Kaeden looked down at her...completely taken aback by what she had said never really hearing something like that said come form a mortal when they had encountered a vampire, but then again Cain wasn't exactly trying to work his charm on her either.

"But they didn't, and they won't, Marionette, I promise." She looked up at him completely confused as she shook her head.

"You can't be there all the time." Kaeden took her by the shoulders and looked at her seriously.

"Listen to me, don't question but, whenever you are in trouble Marionette...you call my name. I swear to you, I will be there."

Marionette didn't question. She just nodded her head, wondering how he could be, but decided now was not the time to wonder. Now all she wanted to do was to get home safely.