More.

Destiny
“The glorious destiny that awaits. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?”
-Slade
He was in the forest. There was a full moon, a cliché upon his part. But he knew it had to happen. He didn’t know about the forest, but then again she had left out a lot.
If this was it, after all what else could it be? He wasn’t running. He was just standing wearing only jean cutoffs, which was odd because it was supposed to be November. Was this a test? Some people believed everything in life was a test. He looked around again.
He was alone in the moonlit dark. The moon showed him that the forest was brown, washed out. Even without the moon he could see much clearer than he would’ve been a few weeks ago. Then he realized why the forest was brown; it was dead, like it hadn’t rained in decades.
He put his hand on the dried up bark of a nearby Cedar Tree. He felt the tired beating of its heart and he groaned in its agony.
“This is your fault, you know,” a voice called out from within the trees.
Laydon spun around seeing no one there. “Who’s there?”
“This is what will happen if you do not embrace your true nature.” The voice called out again.
“Come out where I can see you,” Laydon answered.
“I’m sorry,” the voice said, closer, “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Then they stepped out of the trees.
The person had a white cloak on, and despite the dirt forest, it was spotless.
“Let me see you,” Laydon said thoroughly.
“Sorry,” the person mumbled again. She took off her hood the hood to show a long cascade of dark brown wavy hair. She was pale as well, like Evan and Loren. Despite the obviousness that she was a Damned, she had black eyes that pierced through Laydon’s soul. Without a doubt she was the incarnation of pure beauty. A beauty that should never be in the human world. Even though Laydon would have never thought it would be possible, she was more beautiful than Evan.
He took a step back, feeling who and what she really was.
“There’s no reason to be afraid,” she said slowly. “I am, and will always be, your friend.”
Laydon smiled at the Star Trek reference. “Who are you, then?” He asked. “What do you want from me?”
“Acceptance,” she answered, “In general. However, you are not the only one to see this,” she waved a hand at the dead forest, “As your Proposal.”
Laydon shook of the calm feeling she was trying to press onto him. “What does that mean?” He was frustrated. “What does any of this mean? And you didn’t even answer my first question!” He threw his hands in the air.
She just smiled. “Silly Percival. Maybe I should start at the beginning? Yes?”
He looked at her for a moment. How did she know his name? He decided against yelling and just nodded.
“My name is Anna,” she spoke slowly, letting the words sink into his mind. “I was born many more years before you, or Evan. A few years after Vladimir was born. The only proof of my birth name is Anna Isabella. That is because when I was seventeen I became Anna Isabella Dracul.”
“You’re one of Dracula’s bitches?” Laydon raised an eyebrow, unable to believe she was evil, or fell for evil. “Like in the stories? The Anna? Well except for Van Helsing…” His voice trailed off.
“Yes,” she answered softly and sat down, gesturing to Laydon to do the same. He did. “But I am not evil, Percival. I’m not all that you think. And yes,” she spoke again before Laydon even opened his mouth, “I know who you are and I know that you prefer to be called by your middle name, but I think your father was brave and you should be proud to be called by his name.”
“It was just easier,” Laydon murmured, “When he was still around.”
“I know that, too, my dear.” She smiled warmly. “And I am truly sorry.”
Laydon smiled back. “Please continue with your story.”
“I met Vladimir,” she continued. “When he was supposedly twenty, at least that’s what he said in our town. This was, of course, the time when our creatures were not just those of legends. It was love,” she painted the world into the air between them, “that drew us together and we were to be married later. When I turned seventeen I learned the truth.
“Vladimir Dracul has sold his soul to the Devil, directly,” she said it with distaste. “He made the deal and became a vampire. The first vampire as he was told. He told me that he truly did love me, and he wanted to share his immortality with me. I was too in love with him to realize the true monster he was, so I agreed.
“I was the first mortal to turn, because he could stop with the others, just drinking enough to sustain. But he turned me completely. I wasn’t the first, and Lord knows I wasn’t the last. I went into a sort of coma for sixteen days. Vladimir went into a frezy, afraid that he had killed me, he did have some compassion left in him, but the more he fed, the less human he became.”
“Like Voldemort,” Laydon understood. “The more you kill, the more you feed the more inhuman you become. So, how did you know he was in a frenzy? If you were in a coma, I mean.”
“It wasn’t exactly a coma, Percival,” Anna explained patiently. “I was aware what was going on, I just couldn’t do anything about it. It was just a trance. He fed more when I was asleep. When I woke Vlad was enthused, but not because I was with him, as I learned later, but because I had proven his new plan correct. And then they noticed the drugging of his victims. The power of the bite has endorphins…as I was saying, I was kicked out of my own home because of him.
“Because of the evilness inside,” she said bitterly. “We went to Transylvania and that was when he found his three brides. Aleera, Verona, and Marrishka. But I was his one wife. I wasn’t truly evil, I just couldn’t see beyond him. Deep down I knew his plans were not the right ones.”
“Why couldn’t you see it at the time?” Laydon asked.
“Vladimir has the power of the Veil. He possesses the way to not show his true self to those he just doesn’t want to. He did love me, but his love for power over came that. He never expected that after sixteen years since he changed me my own powers began.”
Laydon waited but she didn’t continue. After a moment more he broke the silence, “What powers?”
“Look around you, Percival,” Anna smiled at him. “What do you see?”
“I see death,” he said without hesitation. “I see a forest filled with death. And it shouldn’t be this way.”
“But you don’t recognize it?” She asked.
“No,” Laydon said. “Should I?”
“This is your Proposal,” Anna answered. “A Proposal of this sort is the fate of what matters most to your heart if you do not accept your fate; if you don’t accept your destiny.”
“I have a choice?” He asked.
“We all have choices, Percival,” she answered. “What would have happened if I said no to Vladimir? Maybe he wouldn’t even be here today. What would have happened if Evan said no to this Proposal?”
“She had this as her Proposal as well?” He pulled his eyebrows together. “How?”
“She told you that she loves the nature,” Anna said. “And her destiny was to change you. So by default this is her destiny as well.”
“And now it is mine.” It wasn’t a question.
“I want you to look at this forest again,” she said, waving her hand again and with a great change, but no sign other then the forest itself.
Laydon saw that they weren’t in a forest but in his park. And then the trees came alive, green with happiness and nutrition. And then the people began appearing as if they had been there all day, only invisible. He looked up to his rock and saw it was occupied.
By his father. Who else could it have been with the brown hair and dark skin the color of mahogany? He was drawing a picture, and Laydon knew exactly what it was of, because it now hung in his room.
Laydon looked away from his father and to the focus. He looked to the Redwood tree and his heart skipped a beat. Julia Docker sat against it, reading a book. Her white blond hair, so like Laydon’s, was pulled into two braids that Laydon had drilled into his memory. She was beautiful, as his father had said, and as he had remembered, if not more. At the thought of beautiful he looked at Anna.
“How,” he asked, almost afraid of the answer, “Am I seeing this?”
“You asked what my power was, Percival,” Anna said smiling brightly. “It is to know.”
“Huh?” He was more confused now.
“I am the past, present, and future,” Anna explained. “I am the most gifted Damned because God needed someone to make this easier, to hold back Vladimir. He blessed me so that there is hope for the true Damned tht Vladimir made. That’s why I show people the potential futures. So they know to choose good, and right.”
“And if they don’t?”
“They stay in their happiest memories forever,” she sighed. “It is a sort of limbo for them. And then I am left to figure out a way to save what they chose not to. But with you, I have no other ideas.”
The forest became dead again.
“The Blessed protect and breathe the forests. They balance us. Without them, without you Percival Laydon, Night is all and ALL is Damned. But it’s still your choice. You never know, I might have an idea somewhere.”
“Thank you for showing me this,” Laydon said getting up and brushing himself off. “So that’s how you learned about Vlad? His Veil didn’t work on you because God let you know?”
“Yes.” She got up as well.
“So if you know, how do you not know what your name is?” He asked.
“It started for the most part after I had forgotten,” she apologized. “I think you’d like to ask another question?”
He nodded. “Did Evan, really sell me out to Vlad? To kill me?” He bit his lip, afraid.
“Percival, you know she loves you, and she would do absolutely nothing to hurt you.” Anna put her hand on his shoulder. “Vladimir could’ve gotten his information on anybody else, or perhaps she didn’t realize she loves you when she told him. After all, she did bite you and put you here today. She loves you, Percival.”
Laydon nodded again. “I know,” he said softly, a tear sliding down his cheek. “I shouldn’t have said that stuff.”
“It’s alright.” Anna hugged him softly, it was like hugging his mother; ghostly. “She knows you love her too.”
“I have one last question,” Laydon said when she released him. “How do I kill Vlad?”
“His weakness,” she answered, “Is what all of ours is. Randall will guide you. So is that your choice?”
“I accept,” he breathed, “My destiny.”
“Then I have one last hint to tell you,” she said beaming. “The main reason you can exist here today, is that my sister, Elana, had my same blood, my same bloodline, unto the last. Julia.
“So good luck, our Sunet Sange,” she said before kissing his forehead.
The scene began dissolving as Laydon called out one last thing, “Wait! What does Sunet Sange mean?”
“Audio Blood,” a voice in the wind said. “Your blood sings for both of us. Damned and Blessed alike.”
And then the it was black again.


Okay, so I'm working on the Ethan part and I'm really sad because I'm going to be donw and then it's going to be awhile...grrr.

Always, as Promised,
-S.

+I love this xD