True Darkness

Where we went or how we got there after the incident I don't know. But suddenly we were at Ashton's apartment, which was heavily decorated with black and purple furniture. Usually I'd make some comment about how morbid the place looked but, given the current circumstances, I was suddenly extremely grateful for the lack of colour.

I was carried into a bedroom, carried due to the fact that I was nothing but an empty shell incapable of moving for myself, and placed on a chair. I watched Ashton as he moved to the bed, pulled back the cover and removed a book, placing it on a beside table nearby. Anne Rice. Interview With The Vampire. Interesting. My gaze drifted back to Ashton who was coming back towards me. He lifted me again, this time placing me on my side in the bed. He then proceeded to look around the room with confusion. His gaze soon soften and he walked away, returning with a teddy bear in his hands, which he then continued to pass to me. I was covered with the quilt. I frowned a little and stared at him but he just smiled and left, turning the light off as he left.

I was left alone and I was left in darkness. I pulled the teddy closer and inhaled. It smelt like him. But not like the rest of the room. This was a scent which you could only smell when close to him. It was strangely comforting. It made me feel less alone. Alone. I was alone. My parent's are divorced. My Dad's now dead. My Mum hates me. I was going to have to leave. Worst of all? I was one of them. A freak. I gave up and sobbed.

No-one disturbed me for what seemed like hours. But I'm not complaining. At some point Ashton took a phone call. He was yelling at the other person but I didn't listen. I couldn't listen. I couldn't do anything except breathe and cry and even these were painful to do. The phone call was no doubt about me but I didn't care. Whatever it was, when he had hung up, he yelled and threw something. It smashed. But still no-one knocked. I didn't want to hear anymore so I pulled the covers over my head and curled up in a ball. But that just made me feel more alone. Alone. The very word was enough to bring tears to my eyes and here I was unable to stop the damn thing from ringing through my head. I thrashed about on the bed trying to rid myself of the torture but I stopped when there was a knock at the front door.

This time I stopped and listened. It was the only thing I could do to stop myself from breaking down into hysterics. Whoever it was cam in without a sound. Both voices stayed low meaning I couldn't hear anything that was said. But both were low in pitch so I decided that Ashton's visitor was also male. I groaned in frustration and slung myself back under the covers. I pulled Ashton's bear closer. It seemed like such a strange thing for him to have. Then I noticed something about the bear. It had the same markings as me. The same tattoos. The same colour. The same pattern.

I didn't have time to freak out like I wanted to because there was a knock on the bedroom door. I didn't answer it. I didn't move. I didn't speak. But they came in anyway.

"Libby. We're coming in." Ashton's voice cut through the darkness.

The door was pushed further open and the intrusive light hurt my eyes even from under the covers. It cut like a knife, curious to discover why it was excluded from this room. Light didn't like to be left out. Light wanted to be seen. Light wanted to be everywhere. If it wasn't it might miss something. When removed from a room for such a long amount of time the light returns with a vengeance. A painful one at that. But I didn't move.

"Libby. We need to speak to you." the second voice said from beside the bed.

Julian. He was the second voice. He was here. He was the one on the phone. He knew what Ashton had done. He knew what had happened. He knew I was a freak. I stuck my head out from under the covers and narrowed my eyes at the unlikely pair.

"Good. Now there are a few things you need to understand." Julian started.

He came and sat on the side of the bed, resting his hand on my back. I cocked my head and looked towards Ashton, who had stayed stood beside the chair in the corner of the room. I didn't say anything. He looked troubled.

"I don't think this is a good idea Julian." Ashton said unhappily.

"The longer we leave it the more time she has to doubt it ever happened. It's better we explain now. We agreed." Julian stated, his gaze snapping towards Ashton.

"I didn't have a choice. You were here before I could say no." Ashton huffed.

"We're doing this."

They both turned to look at me. I still hadn't spoken. I don't think I will if I'm honest. If you've ever had your heart broken, lost a family member and lost a pet all in the same day then you'll have some sort of idea as to how I feel. But having only experienced one of those events at a time I can only imagine that this is how it would feel. A range of emotions were flitting through my head. Anger. Confusion. Disbelief. Excitement. Sickness. Depression. Loneliness. Despair. Hysteria. All emotions possible imaginable.

If a human experiences too many emotions at once their body shuts down temporarily to prevent any further harm to their mental state. It's like your own person defensive system against the outside world. I was in that stage right now. It was almost impossible to come out of on your own. Ice Cream and Chocolate contain the stimulants to unfreeze your emotions one by one, in small enough doses to prevent the potential harm to my body. Unfortunately I had non.

"Listen Libby, you're not going to want to hear this or believe this but you're going to have to. Because the sooner you understand the sooner we can work on protecting you." Julian said, his gaze hardening into a serious tone which I didn't like.

I blinked at him confirming I had heard and understood what he had just said.

"Good. Now this wont make any sense as it goes against all human knowledge and nature. But you're not human. You're far from it." he stated.

"Nice and subtle there Julian." Ashton quipped from the other side of the room.

"We don't have time for subtle." Julian replied.

I had never seen him so serious. But deep down I already knew what he was telling me. The things I could see gave it away from the very beginning. But my bodily defences caused this piece of vital information was buried deep down in the darkest parts of my mind where they would fester and shrivel, protecting me from the unknown.

"But," Julian started, turning back to me. "You're not the only one. Libby do you know what my last name means?"

I shook my head.

"When I told you that peoples names can give you an insight into their soul I wasn't just trying to scare you. I was telling the truth." Ashton said from beside the chair, before sighing and taking a seat.

"You see my last name means Black. I don't have a soul. Because I am in fact a vampire." he stated, watching my reaction with sincere intensity.

I just frowned, my brain consuming the information as if I had starved it for months.

"What are you then?" I murmured to Julian, breaking my vow of silence in order to gain more information of the world I apparently belonged to.

"My last name's Shadow. I consume the shadow's of dead people where I then escort them to their next life. To the other side if you will. I am known as many things. Soul Catcher, Ferry Man, Death Eater or, most commonly known to you, Grim Reaper."

"You're the Grim Reaper?"

"Not the Grim Reaper. A Grim Reaper. The world is too big for one person." Julian explained cautiously.

I was surprisingly not as bothered about this new world as I probably should have been. Instead I was more intrigued at the possibilities of what the humans are unaware with. The Humans. It was difficult to not include myself in that category anymore. But after the display I gave at my Father's house I was definitely not a Human. I was far from it.

"So if you're a vampire, how come I've seen you in daylight?" I asked Ashton, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. I didn't have time for depression now.

Ashton laughed. "I'm not what you would call your stereotypical vampire. There are two types. Born vampires and Made vampires. Born vampires can live relatively normal lives, needing nothing more than the occasional fixture of blood to re-oxygenate their bodies. Made vampires cannot venture into the sunlight due to the UV rays extending their skin cells causing them to burst and disintegrate, they also need a more frequent supply of blood to keep their bodies functioning properly." he explained.

I nodded along with him, and I was surprised to discover that it actually made sense. It was all Biology in the end.

"So, if you're a Grim Reaper, we're you consuming that dead girls soul back there?" I asked getting straight to the point.

"Yes. I was." Julian said looking to the floor.

"But Ashton called you a murderer. Why?" I asked looking towards Ashton.

"Because his kind can often consume a humans soul while their close to death, unaware that the human may still pull through and therefore ending their life before their time." Ashton said sharply.

"So you killed her?!" I shrieked slightly. I was almost back to my usual self.

"No. That girl was already dead. Someone murdered her. We don't know who." Julian defended.

"If you're a vampire and you're a Grim Reaper. Then what is Lamia?" I asked Ashton.

"She's met Lamia already?!" Julian asked quickly.

"Unfortunately so, yes."

"But you know how unreliable that girl can be with keeping her cover." Julian snapped.

"I managed to discourage any questions."

"What is she?" I cut in.

"She told you herself. Do you not remember?"

"She told me her name's meaning in Latin. She said it was...." I stopped suddenly realising just how obvious it was. "Vampire."

"So she did tell her then. Great. You and your friend's Ashton. You'll get us all killed." Julian complained.

"We've known each other for years. Our lives are intertwined. It's impossible for me not to be around her." Ashton shrugged.

"Oh so you're sort of... soul mates then." I said suddenly extremely embarrassed about being in his apartment.

"Me and her? Ha! Try her being my sister." Ashton laughed.

"Oh. I see." I murmured. "Wait. Then what am I?!" I suddenly remembered.

This caused them both to laugh. I blushed heavily again, any thought of my Dad out of my head, for now.

"You are a reincarnation of Isis. The Goddess of Life and Magic. But you only have her powers and her skills. Not her form. Although the hair and eyes are miraculously similar." Julian stated eyeing me warily.

"And the Tattoo's?"

"Indications of your power and your possibilities." Ashton stated.

"So these things are going to keep coming?"

"You can see Death Libby. Your name, Libitina, means Death. You see it, you feel it, you absorb it. Your eyes are your main indicator of the emotions around you and also your biggest give away. You have unimaginable power. And that's something to be proud of." Ashton stated.

"You said something about protection?" I asked suddenly remembering this curious piece of possibly fatal information.

"Yes. We did. You see there are people out there who know about our kind. People who want to destroy us. Which is why we go to these special schools. To keep safe. You are, undoubtedly, the strongest of our kind, but also the least experienced. Your parent's are part of this organisation. We have to protect you. Or our world will end and most of us with it." Julian explained being very patient with me.

"Me? Why me? And if my parents were part of this so called organisation then why didn't they just kill me when they had the chance?!" I yelled, getting more and more frustrated at the undeniable truth that I was having to be faced with.

"They knew about you from the start. But they couldn't kill you. They wanted to deny you could be different. They wanted a normal life for you. And so they believed that if they denied that you were different and hid it from you that you would grow up normal. But as your visions developed and your powers grew they knew it was something that couldn't be deterred. And so they hated you for it but enrolled you here in hope that something good may come of it and that they may be wrong."

"But they weren't."

"No. They weren't. But they understand that you are the true ruler of our world. That you are the ruler of the True Darkness. And that you must be stopped. So that's what your Dad tried to do. He tried to stop you. But Ashton got to him first."

I turned my head to Ashton who's eyes were glued to the floor. I decided now would be the appropriate time to finally come completely out of my shell and to re-test my legs so I stood up and strolled towards him. He watched me as I moved over to him and I smiled.

"Thank you." I said and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek before letting go of him and turning back to Julian.

"So. What do we do now? Because my Mum, despite how much she hates me, is going to have to come and take me away. And what the hell are these special schools about?"

"They're schools to enhance our abilities. And to keep us safe. But mostly we're going to keep you safe. We have friends who would no doubt help but we need to be careful because there are people who we cannot tr-"

A banging at the door cut Julian off. Our gaze's snapped in the direction of the front door. Nothing but silence rung out throughout the apartment. We didn't move. We didn't breathe. The only sound I could hear was my pounding heartbeat. I went to open my mouth but Ashton lifted his finger to his lips to indicate me to stay quiet. Ashton made some sort of gesture towards Julian who nodded and slipped out the room door. Ashton took my hand and pulled me behind him, out of the room and over to a huge wardrobe. I looked around for Julian but he was no-where to be seen.

The wardrobe opened as Ashton widened his gaze. He indicated for me to go in there and I complied. As the doors shut the back of the wardrobe slid open and a room was revealed behind me. So I ventured in and the doors shut behind me, plunging me again into complete darkness.

So here's where I am now. In a wardrobe. In a boy's apartment. With two boy's willing and ready to give up their lives for a girl they met not 4 hours ago. The suspense was both thrilling and paralysing. Who's to say what happens next? If I was so powerful I would be able to save my new friends. But here I am in a wardrobe completely powerless, hoping, no wishing, that they survive. Not just for their sake but for my own selfish reason that if they died I didn't know how to survive myself. Or how to get out of this room. But who's to say what happens next? Let's find out.