Muahahahahahaha (that's the longest yet x)

Telling Ethan
“You’re the best friend that I ever had, I’ve been with you such a long time, you’re my sunshine…”
-Queen
When Laydon woke up he was still in the forest, but he knew it was present day, because the trees were green and there was laughter. The moon was still full though, and it was dark.
Laydon pushed himself off the ground, feeling much better than he had for a long time. He knew he didn’t look different, why would he? But he felt different. His sense of smell for one, his eyesight for another. But he also had a new responsibility, the world’s nature. It was all up to him.
He found his bad and put it on. Without meaning to the other Romanian words floated into his head, Sunet Sange, became, Ajutorul vine de la prieteni. Help comes from friends. He touched his shirt, remembering it was Ethan’s. “Oh shit,” he muttered, breaking into a sprint, leaving his car there. As he finally went into his fastest sprint there was a small pop and he was on all fours, like the myths. Before he knew it his bag was in his mouth, his shorts in it, although he didn’t remember doing it. The speed was like no other; it was like being an airplane, on the ground, but faster.
And as fast as it started, Laydon reached his destination closer to Pacific Beach. He pulled himself back into human and put the shorts on as soon as he knew he was out of view of people. He rang the doorbell and tapped his foot. A few paces later the door opened. And after a few more wordless paces it slammed in his face.
“Dammit,” Laydon said as he started beating his fists against the door. “Ethan! Open the damn door! I’m sorry for everything, but I need my best friend, so open the fucking door! I’m sorr—” He had to catch himself from falling when Ethan opened the door because he almost fell.
“Are you insane?” Ethan asked as he stepped outsde and closed the door.
“Possibly,” Laydon mumbled, just loud enough for Ethan to hear.
But he ignored it. “My dad is in there, man. He thought we were entering World War Three. And he so doesn’t need “Satan’s Words” to mess with his blood pressure. And thirdly—”
“I didn’t know we were counting,” Laydon mumbled just loud enough again.
Ethan glared at him, “Shut it,” he hissed. “And thirdly, you take the goddamn only thing I wanted from me and don’t tell me shit about anything.”
Forgetting he was supposed to be apologizing Laydon said sarcastically, “Satan’s words?”
Ethan glared at him again and turned to go inside, but Laydon’s new reflexes made him quicker. He put a foot back to the door and dragged Ethan to the back of the house, near the shed and away from the road.
“What the hell, Harris?” Ethan snarled when Laydon stopped.
“Harris?” Laydon raised an eyebrow. “You know that’s weak, E—sorry. Okay…Look I’m sorry about everything. You’re my best friend and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”
“But you did, Laydon,” Ethan spit. “And you knew I liked her, and you knew how much.”
“I know I did,” Laydon said shaking his head. “I can’t pretend I didn’t ‘cause I know I did. But it’s not exactly what it seams.”
“Oh?” Ethan laughed sarcastically. “You weren’t hanging out with her, alone at your house, when Jocelyn—your girlfriend—walked in on you both? It wasn’t really that?”
“Not all of it,” Laydon said. “She was helping me study. I’m failing stats, and she’s in my class.”
“Which explains why she hid from Jo,” Ethan pointed out.
“She wasn’t hiding,” Laydon tried. “She just wasn’t…there. Ethan I’m sorry, that’s all I’m going to say. I tried to stay away from her, I tried not to fall for her because I knew how much you cared for her. It worked for awhile, but I couldn’t. Not when we connected on such a level.”
“Yeah,” Ethan muttered, “This make me feel better.”
“I thought you would understand,” Laydon shook his head. “Because you were supposed to be my best friend. I thought you would understand how much I never meant to hurt you, but I couldn’t stay away from her. I’m sorry that I love her,” he admitted. “I thought you might get that.”
“Do not,” Ethan pushed him, “Put this on me. It’s your fault. You couldn’t stay away from my girlfriend.”
“Ethan,” Laydon sighed, “It’s so much more than that. It’s her. She draws me to her more than anything else. And I couldn’t stay away, even if I wanted to.”
“You know what, Lay?” Ethan smiled and walked over to him and threw an arm over his shoulders. “That’s one of the great tngs about you, no matter how much ragging on you I do, you still think it’s your fault. And you are absolutely honest, even if it’s true.”
“So I’m forgiven?” Laydon asked smiling brightly.
“I guess,” Ethan shrugged. “I know what she can be like, so I know it’s hard to resist. But you better tell me the truth before it slaps me in the face.”
“Thank you,” Laydon almost shouted and they hugged briefly. He remembered Loren’s words. “But you just better believe it.”
“Duh. So does that mean you’re going to tell me why you’ve been acting so weird lately?” Ethan asked. “I mean, sure you’ve been ‘sick’ but you don’t have mono. You ran here. That’s miles away.”
“Uhh,” Laydon thought for a second. “I, er…”
“Laydon?” Ethan looked sternly at him, “You promised.”
“So did you,” Laydon shot back. “Sorry, okay. It’s just kind of weird.”
“How bad can it be?” Ethan joked.
“Mix some Stephen Sommers with a little Danny McBride,” Laydon answered a bit timidly.
“Hollywood much?” Ethan laughed.
“And we are still missing a bit,” Laydon laughed with him. “Throw in some Teen Titan season, uh, four and Harry Potter. Maybe some Twilight and whatnot.”
“So you say. Are you serious?”
“Dead.”
“Start at the beginning,” Ethan said sitting down on the table by the shed while Laydon sat on the ground in front.
“It involves Evan,” Laydon answered. “A lot and it’s rather long.”
“Then you better start,” Ethan said shrugging.
Laydon sighed. “Vladimir Dracule introduced Evan to this life when she was fifteen.”
“Dracula?”
Laydon nodded and the story began, nothing not mentioned.
***
“Shit,” was Ethan’s only word he could manage to say. “I mean…I can’t…It’s just…shit.”
“Saying it aloud,” Laydon acknowledged, “I don’t believe it either.” The fog was sweeping in by now with a mist that began soaking Ethan’s jacket and Laydon’s sking, but neither seemed to notice. “Except that is did happen.”
“Okay,” Ethan said slowly. “Explain what happened when you were coming here again?”
Laydon groaned. “I don’t really know. I just knew I had to get here, so I ran and then I was here. I think I was on all fours, and yeah, I know it sounds stupid. But it’s what happened, and I just need you to believe me.”
“I’m trying, dude,” Ethan said apologetically. “But suddenly entering a world where fiction is reality is hard to understand. Can’t you just show me?”
“I wish I could,” Laydon shook his head. “But I just don’t know how to.” He got up and began pacing. “It just happened, I was thinking of something Loren said and it it—”
“What did Loren say?” Ethan cut him off.
“Uh,” he thought for a second. “It was in Romanian; Ajutorul vine de la prieteni, S.S.” He recited quickly. “I wasn’t sure what it meant at first.”
“And what does it mean, exactly?” Ethan asked.
“Help, or support, comes from friends, S.S.” He answered easily enough, although he wasn’t sure how he knew it in the first place.
“S.S.” Ethan repeated. “As in like a ship? The S.S. Markington,” he said in a British accent.
“Nope,” Laydon answered. He swallowed and faced Ethan. “S.S. as in Sunet Sange. Loren called me that before.” Before Ethan opened his mouth, Laydon answered the question, “It means Sound Blood, but translates better as Audio Blood. It means that my blood sings for the Damned and the Blessed alike.”
“And the Damned is Evan’s people, which is more like Vlad’s,” Ethan said checking. “And the Blessed are your father’s people, so yours.”
“Yep,” Laydon said sitting down again.
“And you accepted your Proposal,” Ethan was pacing now. “And after you accepted it, you turned? You accepted…your fate…and…That’s it!” He jumped in place and ran over to Laydon. “You understood Loren because you accepted what you were, you accepted that you are the Sunet Sange! Because you accepted your fate of who you are you changed!”
And when Ethan said it, it completely made sense. “Oh God! That’s it!” Laydon exclaimed as he jumped up.
“So do you think you can do it?” Ethan asked. “Can you change again?” Ethan’s grin was a mile wide.
“Maybe,” Laydon said, face frowning. “I don’t know.”
“Oh come off it,” Ethan said. “You can, just try. Otherwise I just might not believe you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Laydon said, but nonetheless he stood up and thought to himself, This is me. I am the Sunet Sange. I’m here to change the way of life. I have Audio Blood. And as if he was in a movie he actually felt his skin change.
“Holy shit!” Ethan shouted. He was jumping up and down and running in circles and anything else he could. “Dude! You’re a freak! You’re like a white pup, but huge! And a wolf! But sooo not. Oh gods I don’t know how to describe this!”
Laydon walked up to Ethan, as Ethan held out his hand. Laydon sniffed it. His senses, he knew, were boosted after the Proposal, but this was entirely new. Ethan had a cinnamon tint to his skin. It was natural, although Laydon could also smell the laundry detergent his half sister used on his clothes.
“How fast do you think you could run?” Ethan asked. “Because I bet it’s, like, über fast.”
Laydon shrugged, or what he hoped was a shrug.
“Well try,” Ethan said; apparently he had interpreted Laydon’s message right.
So Laydon sighed and picked a spot where no one would see in the alley. He made a sprint, running as fast as he could. He had always thought running on all fours would be annoying and hard but now he understood how much better it was.
On two legs you just had to steady yourself as you pushed at the same time, causing more concentration then necessary. But on four he could use the front two legs for steady and control, while pushing with his hind legs.
Not that he had ever really thought what it would be like, though.
Then he noticed where he was. He stopped and looked back; even with his new eyesight he could barely make it out, especially through the mist. He put an X on the wall of the nearest building and ran back. When he got close enough he concentrated on his human parts; he thought of his friends, his family, Evan.
And sure enough he was back. When he walked up to Ethan he was laughing.
“What?” Laydon asked as some carolers went by, staring.
“You’re not wearing any pants,” Ethan said laughing still. “Or shirt.” He laughed again. “Or anything.”
“Oh, shit,” Laydon said. “Give me something?”
“Nope,” he answered grinning. But when Laydon looked at him he put his hands up in surrender. “Shift again, I’ll be right back.” He ran off towards the house as Laydon shifted out of sight again.
He pawed the ground and after looking at it for a second he ran over to Ethan’s shed door. It was shiny and he wanted to see what he looked like. When he saw himself, even warped, it was amazing.
He understood why it was hard for Ethan to be unable to describe what he was; he was having trouble. His fur was white, as light as his hair was, fair, but it had a dark stripe. He thought he understood what that meant; the fur reflects your true self and his was mostly Blessed, white, with a dash of Damned, black. As he turned he saw a bright blue stripe that he wore in his hair last summer. He was confused about what it meant.
“The blue represents the cold you have seen.” A voice said behind him making him jump. He recognized the sent, a tropical, flower smell, mixed with something dark and spiced.
Laydon didn’t see anyone, even with his eyesight. He whined softly.
“Sorry,” she said. Then a shadow grew out of the ground into a small person. “I didn’t know if you would be able to see me, perhaps my aura.” It was Loren.



+I'm trying to write more, it's just hard with school and all that jaz. If I could, I would take it with me, but alas I cannot. Maybe after the last I've written?

Always, as Promised
-S.

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