Timed

"To kill off the remaining ones of the species." He grasped my shoulder, combing his hand through my tangled mess of hair. He was more than just staid. He winked, his eyes pouring out grief, with a mixture of sullen.

"What species?" I implored him to direct his answer upfront.

His face had fallen into a guilty look of desperation. I gawked once more, and he demanded I really do help him. So I accepted. It wasn't meant to be risky, yet it flashed with possible hunger to find real answers to what he had meant by species.

"Tell me," I ensured. "What are you talking about?"

"The species your little boyfriend is." He had fallen into a calm state of mind. For the first time in a while, he had seemed calm.

"I still don't know what you're talking about." I whined, arms flailing in the air with increased impatience.

"He never told you, I presume," his head tilted back for a long moment, "you've never seen those paintings, weird statues, or the weird transformation that goes out on his skyline?"

I shook my head. "I mean, I admit I have seen statues. This person also transformed. I've even dreamt of it."

And like a psychologist, he had sat down on a nearby stone. "Tell me, what was it like?" He questioned, his palm sat absentmindedly under his chin, propping him up to meet eye level with me.

"It was like something that you would see in one of Da Vinci's paintings. It was as if Mozart had written a haunting medley of a creepy, yet alluring, set of statues that resembled Gargoyle's." I breathed then.

"So you think he is what?" He glared, his eyes begging me to figure out what this mess clearly was.

"A normal human being that has delusional problems?" I assumed. My head cocked to the side, causing me to get the confusion of a dog.

"No," he sighed, anger now beginning to erupt. "You worthless human... He is a Gargoyle! Don't you see it; is it that hard to figure out?"

I titled my head, and looked at him with a confused look.

"Why did you call me a human?" I asked, raising myself a bit closer to running again.

"I'm not normal either; I left one hundred and forty years ago. We were once sworn never to come near each other. I am a demon that preys on humans, like you." He whispered, voice now rising to the point of being raucous.

"You're not normal," my eyebrow twitched up, causing it to move in panic. My eye had pulsed with fright.

"I'm a vampire," he revealed, eyes now digging deep into me.

"How is this possible?" I questioned, walking in mid-length circles. "Have I been so stubborn as to not of seen it?"

"Yes," a disembodied voice called from the far side of the woods.

"He could kill me-"

"Yes, I can, I can even hear you." I was oblivious.

He couldn't sense me after leaving. At least I hope he wouldn't. I ran for a bit, to try and get as far of a distance as possible. I felt at ease then-my mouth had ejected out a loud yawn after being exposed to a much open field.

I ran farther, my legs now turning raw from the pain that had shifted in and out from the soles of my feet. Faster the speed went, slower the sky had shifted from an everlasting grey to a light purple-signaling a possibility of rain.

"Ivory." I heard another disembodied voice then, making me turn in circles, rewinding me back to the conversation between Cullen and I.

"Who is there?" I questioned, my head swiftly turning, hair crashing into my eyelids and blocking out any vision I had left.

"You know who, I want you to know it's over... No more running is needed." The voice was dead-showing no emotion.

"Dad?" I crashed then. My mind descended down, creating a new image in my mind.

"Daddy, I want you to stay." I whispered to the picture that was nearest my nightstand. I whispered, softly, a lullaby he once sang to me with my mother. "In a land, there is war. A war left undefeated, but if only they were long gone."

The memory died down then, I found myself hugging the ends of my ankles together. A fetal position it was. "Why have you returned?" I shivered from the question.

"To protect you, unlike someone that has failed." He came out from the shadows, his torso now seen with torn clothing that looked like a tiger had attacked him.

"I can't be protected." I shoved the chance away; I knew what I had to do.

"Why not?" He questioned, eyes growing wide at my abhorrence.

"I need to kill what is in my way. I already know his life expectancy." I lingered for a moment, and then tied down another response: "It's just like a clock; if I had twenty four hours to live, I wouldn't be damned if I had to die."

"Don't talk like that!" He snapped, eyes bulging out with anxiety.

"Yikes, now I know where my temper comes from." I snorted, my eyes piercing right towards his face. I lit up then, he had the same auburn hair that had thrilled any illuminating room in a home or downtown area. His face was shaped almost like a heart; however, it curved into a diamond. His eyes were the same shade of green-frozen in time, older by the century. They were nearly the shade of the exterior of a watermelon.

"I didn't know, but now I do." I let my voice fall. "I know why you had Cullen run after me, I know why Cullen was chased out-it was because of you!" I cried out. Yet, no one else was here but me and the guy I had once called 'Dad'.

"You-I didn't chase him out, sweetheart." He sweetened his voice up, and proceeded a step forward.

"How then?" I questioned, arrogance building up.

There was no answer. All we could hear were birds chirping.

"The council." He had recalled from memory.

"Good job, Kenny." Arrogance still began to subside within me.

"Get lost Cullen, I'm sticking up for you."

"And you are doing a magnificent job at it, too." He winked across from the trees that hid his presence.

He revealed himself, however, but he wasn't alone. "You can choose now, Ivory, join forces and kill him, or you can watch your own death from the head of the council."

"What if I have no choice to give you?" I questioned, eyes widening at the abundance of choices that were laid out in front of me.

"You have twenty four hours... Choose wisely." He faded then, and all that was there were my father and me.

"You know this is still your fault." I dropped my voice, letting it hang like a raindrop on a branch as it would fall into a puddle of water.

"I didn't do it..." He ended with the short response.

"Tell me... About the council." I approached with a second response, only letting it hang for a moment until he spoke up again:

"They are quite magnificent. The way they justify their system is miraculous." He moves his fingers into a clasped position, letting them rest on a propped knee that he had placed on a stump.

"How so?" I questioned, my lips parting for a moment.

"They determine just how short your life expectancy is, if you can pass their test of survival, if you can live with them for eternity." He let out a sigh of relief, the information floating around until it had kicked in.

"So, what is Ace's expectancy; were there any other's that failed to complete the task?" I questioned, legs shuffling near my chest, closing me in from the cold air.

"One of them was a man named Sir Johnson; he was well liked amongst the Council. He didn't disobey whatsoever," his ears moved slightly. "Before, they left him whatever, since he was an Elder. The Elder's were basically the keyhole to determining a younger gargoyle's future-"

"Did he die?" I questioned, cutting him off.

"Why, yes, he did." His mouth was slightly gaped, I hovered my finger's over and shut it lightly.

"He was ordered to talk to the Council that ordered the vampire's. He needed to talk to a leader, one of the youngest of them: Miles Liverstone." He tried to smile slightly; however, after one stare at me, it seemed to disappear.

"What happened to the leader?"

There was a slight pause.

"He moved on, he showed no remorse for what he had created. That is why all of vampires, werewolves and gargoyles are placed on a clock. If there is no victory, they all die-if there be one, then only a few that have exposed themselves into remorse, get the title of immortality." He clenched his fist, it seemed to hold its own breath, and he then released.

"What about Sir Johnson, did he cease?" the question I asked was vague, "I mean did he just die?"

"Well," he sighed. "He was caught by a door-a door that seemed to swallow him whole-and on the other side; he was met by the leader of the Council."

"Where is the leader?" I questioned, my voice sounding blind.

"First, he originated from France, in the Victorian Ages. Now, there has not been any sighting since the Great Depression in the 1940's."

"Well, looks like we're off to figure out where he is-even if I start from scratch." My voice fell then, my legs tousled over to a clear path, my father tagging along.

It seemed quite frightening to believe in such a thing, but I didn't care. It had to be a mission to deal with saving a life.