Follow The Raven

I'm about to die. Oh my gosh, I'm going to die! And my heart is beating so fast, I think its going to burst! If the werewolf doesn't kill me, the idea of him killing me is!

Out of the blue, in the process of me dieing either way, wolfboy was pulled away from me and since he basically had me three feet in the air, I fell flat on the ground. The shock of it all just left me there. I heard the snap of the werewolf's neck, and the dropping of the corpse. Then, I got picked up just as roughly as the werewolf had and came face to face with, dum dum dum, a vampire! I only know this because he's pale, paler than me and I'm pale, he's got red eyes, and fangs. Just a guess.

"Relax, breath, you're going to attract every supernatural creature in London if you don't calm down," the vampire said, putting his hands on both sides of my neck. That's a nice way to die, all calm and serene like, but there's still one problem with that idea. I don't want to die!

"Let her go!" A new man yelled, barging in, Amy close behind him. Could people, like, stop barging in and scaring me? Is that a possibility?

"And if I don't?" Vampireman taunted, roughly turning me around and getting ready to bite me. Could people also stop roughing me up like a rag doll?

"For pity's sake, stop hurting her," Amy scolded, rushing over to me before either man could do anything. She pulled me away and started wiping the blood off my cheek.

"So you've taken her under your care, have you?" The vampire asked, turning to Amy now.

"You're doing a poor job of it then, leaving her all by herself," he said sarcastically. The newest man, human by the looks of him, stepped up, a sword in hand. Wait, where did that come from? OH! I've seen this before! Gentlemen used to have swords in their walking canes! Haha, those are pretty cool, I wouldn't mind having one of those, if I ever get a say in anything that is.

"Oh? You say you can do better?" The third man said, also in a taunting tone.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't leave a human girl that just so happens to still be alive by herself, with no protection, for her to get eaten by everything that can feel her," the vampire said, sitting down in a chair, not at all bothered by the current situation.

"Are you okay, Lara?" Amy whispered to me, trying to clean up the scratches, she seemed to be having problems with it though, as they won't stop bleeding.

"Very shooken up, but other than that, I guess I'm okay," I said, keeping my eyes on the brawl going on between the two guys.

"You were going to kill her!" The man said, his sword always pointed at the vampire. Looking at them, they're both complete opposites right off the bat. The man, a definite gentlemen by the looks of him, with blond hair and blue eyes, is probably very by the book, by the rules of etiquette. The vampire, on the other hand, probably doesn't even know what rules are, with black hair and red eyes, he seems a lot more 'go with the flow-ish'.

"Excuse me, but if I hadn't come up here, her corpse would already be torn apart by wolfman over there," he said, pointing to the former werewolf sprawled out on the floor, his head completely backwards.

"Please, enough of this bickering," Amy said, handing me the cloth to keep on my cheek and standing between them.

"What are we going to do?" She stated, crossing her arms and looking at the two expectantly.

"We? What do you mean by we?" The vampire said, standing up from his comfortable spot.

"You know of her existence, you're involved now," Amy said, as the man sheathed his cane/sword.

"I am not involved, if her heart wasn't going 200 miles an hour, probably alarming everyone in London and attracting them here, she would be my meal," he said, trying to get out of this mess. Amy didn't really seem to care about any thing he said; because she said he's involved, he's now involved.

"Yes, you are involved. If you wanted to kill her, you would have done it by now, she's right there," Amy said, putting her foot down. When I met her, she stuck me as a gentle type of person, the peacekeeper almost. She's not, she's the one in charge obviously.

"Oliver, say something," she said turning to look at the man behind her. While vampireman was still struggling with a response to her, the man, Oliver, looked up in shock, almost as if asking, 'who, me?'

"What do you want me to say Amy, if what he says is right, she's not safe here," Oliver told her, getting flushed. Wow, a guy getting flushed, that's a first.

"We have to get her out of here, its only a matter of time before her existence is common knowledge, and they come looking for her," the vampire, who's name I still don't know, warned.

"Who's they?" I asked, bringing them back to the fact that yes, I am present, I'm still here.

"I told you that this world has a horrible problem, one that seems to have no end," Amy said, turning to look at me.

"Damn fallens, trying to take over the underworld, killing and destroying everything they possibly can. Unsportsmanlike if you ask me," the vampire scoffed, a look of disgust on his face. Alright, that still doesn't help me much, but I'll just pretend like it does.

"We need a plan, she's not safe here," Amy said, racking the edges of her mind.

"Let's take her out of the country," Oliver offered.

"Yes, good idea, let's take her to another country, where the situation might be just as bad if not worse than it is here," the vampire said sarcastically, about to start another fight.

"No, that's not a bad idea. Let's say we take her to France, the trip would take at least three weeks, two of which would be at sea. Her pulse will probably slow down and she'll start changing," Amy reasoned.

"Three weeks?" I questioned. I know that the North Sea is pretty bad, but two weeks at sea?

"This world is much larger than the land of the living. A city like London or Paris is the size of Massachusetts in the living world. Everything here, land and ocean, is far greater than what it is in the living world," the vampire explained. Okay, that explains a bit, they do need to put all these dead people and apparently supernatural beings somewhere.

"Alright, we'll send her to France," Oliver concluded, making everyone's head turn. What do you mean 'send,' you're going to leave me by myself?

"We can't just ship her off by herself, she'll be killed within the hour," the vampire said, like he read my mind. Is that myth true? Can vampires read minds?

"Are you volunteering to accompany her?" Oliver questioned.

"Are you saying that you're too cowardly to step up and go with her yourself?" The vampire, who's name we still don't know!, accused.

"Well we can't send her off with you, you'll bleed her dry on day one," Oliver replied. Alright, we're not getting anywhere.

"Do I get any say in this?" I butted in, standing up and going between them.

"What, you don't like France?" The vampire asked.

"I love France, I've wanted to go there my entire life, although I did think it would be the living France, but okay," I said, saying the last part to myself.

"Alright, be happy then, because other than that you get no other say in this," the vampire declared, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. Out of reflex, I tried to pull away, but he had a good hold on me.

"Hold still, I'm not gonna bite you," he said, taking out a handkerchief and biting his tongue making blood drip over it. He wiped the handkerchief over my cheek. I cringed.

"Ew, that's gross!" I exclaimed, finally pulling away.

"Perhaps, but at least you're not bleeding anymore," he pointed out. I put my hand up to my cheek and true enough, there wasn't a single remnant of those scratches. Gross but affective.

---

"Amy, will you be coming?" I asked, turning to her as she was looking through her dresses for one that would fit me.

"Oh, I wouldn't be of any help to you," she said, handing me another dress. So far, all the dresses she handed to me are several inches too short, and everyone so far has agreed that I can't go out in my pajamas, because remember, I still haven't gotten a chance to change into something a little more suitable.

"I think that's the best we're going to get," Amy said, tying the strings of the corset. This dress is actually a little too long, but we're still in the nineteenth century in this world, and ankles are still a taboo.

"But you're the first person I met here, you're like the only person that will keep me alive, or whatever I am now," I pleaded, trying to breath with the corset. Why do I have to wear one of these again? I barely ate when I was in the land of the living, I think its safe to say that my waist actually is 18 inches.

"I can't, I'm basically of no use to you, I can't protect you, I can't even protect myself," she said, a sad tone in her voice.

"And besides, Damian will protect you," she said, trying to convince me. Finally, we learned the vampire's name, Damian Rocheburne. The "master" plan actually isn't very masterful, its more rushed than anything. Oliver offered to fund the trip and give us enough money to last a month afterwards. He already dispatched a messenger to set up a ship and a crew. We're leaving immediately, to France, where in France we're still not sure. We'll decide once we get there, I guess. Amy was trying to avoid coming, why I don't know, but I'm sure the idea of doing this must be frightful, going into the unknown, not knowing where or when its going to stop. The only reason I'm not scared at the moment is because I think I've seen enough for one day, maybe rationality will come back to me tomorrow, or when I sleep.

"I'm sure whatever you turn into Lara, you will be great," Amy said, turning me around to face her. I wanted to ask her what she meant by that. I want to know what's going on so bad, but there's always something keeping me from getting those questions out.

"Come on, the carriage is here, we have to go now," Damian said, sticking his head through the door. Night finally fell, and the streets had emptied, so the guys thought it best to get a carriage and get out of here as quickly as possible.

"I hope to see you again soon my friend," Amy said, smiling at me as we hugged.

"Best of luck, Miss Crevan," Oliver said, kissing my hand. I thanked him for the support, waved at both of them and walked out to the carriage, trying not to fall in the dress I was wearing. How do women possibly manage?