Hollow

[Saiketsu]

Don\'t thank me. You would have done the same... "You\'re welcome," said he quietly, looking away from her, out towards the sea. "Sorry about the blood. I just didn\'t want you to fall." Damien felt awkwardly uncomfortable. He probably never would have saved her had she not had that connection to his Mistress. He\'d watched humans jump hundreds of times and never interveined unless he was starving.

The scent of the rain and the blood was intoxicating. He blinked a few times, trying to clear it from his mind, having little success. Memories flooded his mind as he stood cold for a few moments, looking at the sea but not really watching it. They ate him inside and he could feel himself falling mentally, his nerves almost detatching from his physical being.

Slowly, he blinked away the rain and began talking. "What did you feel when you heard my name? What did you see, Storm?" Damien refused to look at her or talk above a whisper, less he get even more enfatuated with her and her blood.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm blinked slowly. Digesting the question. How could she even answer that? How could he have even known that it sparked something inside of her? Something tore her apart every time he spoke; every feeling that was radiating out of his being. He was anxious, she knew. And he wanted blood, Storm felt that too. Somehow she didn\'t mind, but it seemed to have an odd effect on him.

The girl looked down, again, at her wrist, pushing her healing energy to the area that was wounded. Her eyes fluttered purple as emerald sparks danced on the open flesh, sewing the skin back together like mending clothing. The Akari bit her lower lip, fangs making tiny punctures in the soft skin. The taste of blood caused her eyes to be consumed in color, more of her transformed self leaking out. Surely Damien wouldn\'t notice.

"What did I see?" she repeated, softly, as if trying to recall something long ago. Storm studied him, as though trying to place an identity to the face, the name. She couldn\'t, and it was so frustrating. Who are you? she thought, furiously.

"I felt fire, pain, heat, ashes, sorrow, and screaming." Her voice was distant, eyes a muddled brown-gray. What did it mean? The Akari felt her soul stir inside of her again, restless to be released but Storm held it back, preferring herself the way she was right now. Half transformed would do.

A lone gull called out, its shrill cry piercing the thunderous ocean.

[Saiketsu]

What did it mean? ...Who are you? he heard from her. He scoffed. He had always hated wrecking innocence unless there was a need. And she was so innocent to the whole meaning. Yet in the same sense, he wanted to wreck that facade, to tear it from her and toss it into the sea if it meant getting her back. He had orders to follow after all.

Damien looked down at her slowly, threw his head back and laughed. He felt bloody tears fill his eyes faintly. What the hell am I doing? With his head still facing the darkened clouds, he spoke.

"Do you have any idea at all? What can you remember? What do you..." He paused, feeling as though he were racing. "What do you even know? About me? About you? About the army? About..." Us? Damien shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. "What the fuck," murmured the vampire. He slowed down, sighing and folding his arms, calming himself, looking at the sea.

"What does the name Isabella mean to you?" He asked hopefully, turning to her finally.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm\'s eyes flickered red with distrust. His laughter was frightening her in some way, his frustration and anxiety only adding to that. She shook her head to clear her mind of the tension. Storm didn\'t like that feeling, it was repressing and intimidating. The Akari felt like a child.

And what was he talking about? Army? Red-brown orbs probed at him through the darkness, searching his back as though it would provide some sort of an answer. Her spirit was calming down now, as though tired or relieved, Storm didn\'t bother trying to figure out which.

"What does the name Isabella mean to you?" He turned and faced her.

The Akari\'s spirit form suddenly grew wild on the inside of her mind, thrashing about as though suddenly awoken from an eternity of slumber. The only outward sign of this inward struggle was her aversion of eyes as she adjusted her cloak, pulling it tighter to her lithe frame.

This...this demon inside of me... Storm\'s mind was walled off from the outside world, keeping these thoughts in particular extremely protected from any outside minds.
If this is...If I am...Isabella? She gruffly shoved the thoughts aside, deciding that it was far too confusing to think about in her present mood. The spirit within her settled, and she could finally meet Damien\'s eyes.

"I\'m..I\'m sorry...If you\'ve mistaken me for another..." and rescued me from death without reason, she wanted to add, but refrained.

[Saiketsu]

He laughed faintly, showing his fangs, not for intimidation, but rather for understanding.

"No. I don\'t believe that, dear child. I\'ve seen far too much from you to mistake you for another..." He paused and his voice became solemn. "You don\'t spend two centuries lying next to the same women at nights to mistake her for someone else you barely know standing near you."

Damien wasn\'t sure she understood. Part of him wanted to give up and just leave. Maybe this wasn\'t Isabella incarnate after all. Maybe this was some unfortunate girl with the right looks at the wrong time.

And as much as he wanted to believe that, he couldn\'t. No, there was that something about her stance, her demener, her reactions that reeked of Isabella. And her blood... The same blood. He could bet that it even tasted the same as it did nine centuries ago. Damien laughed, fustrated.

Maybe it would have been easier if her had simply said "Hi. I\'m Damien and I\'m a vampire made hundreds of years ago by your soul. Would you come with me away from the edge of the cliff? I\'ve ben searching for you for hundreds of year and it\'d suck if you killed yourself"...

[The Cedar Witch]

That was that then. She wasn\'t Storm. She was Isabella. No question about it. There was no such thing as Storm, she is only a shadow of a much larger picture. The girl\'s expression darkened, the gray overtaking her entire eye. What was left for her then?

Isabella, the demon inside of her, felt like she was nodding in agreement. The Akari was truly just a shadow in the way of this...this Damien\'s happiness. Obviously he loved Isabella. Storm would have to be an imbecile to miss that feeling, no matter how it was covered with frustration.

What frustrated her the most was her inability to do anything about it. The Akari ran her tongue over her sharp fangs thoughtfully. This whole revelation was far too overwhelming, she could feel herself slipping into her mind again, into the dark hole of loneliness.

On her hands and knees the girl crawled to the edge of the cliff, nothing on her mind at all and everything weighing it down at the same time. She wanted to scream.

[Saiketsu]

Fustrated, Damien more or less plopped down onto the wet grass, allowing the rain to pelt him over and over again with varying strength. He felt wet and sitting down wasn\'t any more comfortable than standing, his jeans pulling and stretching to his legs. He sighed and pulled the grass up from its roots.

"Where am I even going?" He asked of Isabella, not Storm, looking out around him. Angry handfuls of grass found themselves pulled up and flying off the edge of the cliffs.

Let\'s just get the obvious stuff out of the way. "Before you decide to take that plummet, hear me out, please. I\'m a... a vampire. And before you can even fall past that ledge, I can be over there with that same wrist in my hand." His eyes were dead serious yet refrained from harshness. "I\'m sorry that it had to be you. I truly am. But if you let me explain, it may help both of us.

"Your choice, Storm. Either way I can\'t rightly let you go now." He looked back down at the grass where he was fussing with an incredibly stubborn root. Damien only watched her out of the corner of his eye.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm sighed heavily, feeling another chain adding itself to her collection of things that bound her to the realm of the living. The vampire comment didn\'t seem to phase her much. She had no reason to be afraid of him, and it only helped explain his blood lust and amazing agility.

The girl drew herself into a sitting position, knees under her chin. Her gray eyes gazed longingly out at the sea.
"So what am I to do then. Why are you here, what do you want from me? I\'ve never seen you before in my life, what interest could you possibly have in me." The Akari turned her head toward him, looking more at the ground beside her then in his direction.

Storm\'s wrist ached, healing not deep enough to prevent internal discomfort. She winced slightly, a sharp pain shooting up her arm when she turned it slightly. The Akari ached to transform completely, to let loose the frustration and confusion she was harboring inside of her. Storm, of course, refrained from doing so. She didn\'t feel like revealing anything about her to this stranger. Better to keep secrets... the girl concluded silently to herself.

[Saiketsu]

His eyes searched her figure for the umpteenth time, making sure that this was real. She was there, yet She wasn\'t. He couldn\'t see her, yet he knew she was there. The energy, faint and restless like some caged creature hiding beneath this girl\'s own energy, was uniquely Isabella.

And he already knew this, but he had to make sure for Storm\'s sake. And maybe even for his own. Damien searched her eyes. Searched for Her; and She was deffinitely there.

"For the past five centuries," he spoke in a hushed manner, "you are whom I have been searching for. And I\'m sorry if that frightens you. I know that you probably don\'t need this right now. And if you weren\'t who you are, I would have let you jump, but I\'m too close now. And I\'ll be damned if I\'m to let you wander off like any other mortal." The eyes were bright and intense now, staring at her almost menacingly.

"Isabella lives inside of you, whether you realize it or not. She... she was my... creator, my Mistress, my owner, so to speak. And I have orders to follow, Storm. I\'m sorry." Damien half fell back into reverie, from the first fatal kiss to the last dreadful night; flashes of images five hundred years old realing in his mind. It almost hurt to remember it all.

"And those orders are to find her again."

[The Cedar Witch]

(( OOC: Outside world//In Storm\'s mind ))
 

Storm\'s eyes snapped open, taken over by yellow, with a peculiar look on her face. She felt herself losing control of her motions quickly. The Akari was allowed only to observe, as though she were watching a movie through her eyes, unable to interact with the outside world.

In her mind, she was aware of her surroundings. Damien, the rain. Yet the girl knew she was inside of herself, in that place of her dreams. The open field, the battle scene, the gore, the red mist. And she was not alone either. The nameless demon, who was no longer nameless, was standing with Storm, back to back. Isabella. Storm could not turn around to face her, but she could feel her presence which was no longer as menacing. They say if you know the name of evil...

The girl stood abruptly with one fluid motion and snapped her head back at Damien. She turned around quickly and walked toward him in such a way that it was apparent that she simply "teleported" in front of him. The girl\'s face held no expression as the rain seemed to abruptly stop.

It was like watching a movie inside of her head, not unlike a vision. The "dream world" was in a way, a part of her perrifial vision, or the "real world" was more like a thought. The dream realm and reality flipped their positions. Storm was not afraid, somehow she knew that this was the only way Isabella was able to contact Damien, and that was why she had been so restless. A part of her wanted to apologize to the vampress, for keeping her bottled up inside for so long, but the Akari couldn\'t speak.

The girl stood there for a moment, staring at him but not really at him. More like in the space in front of him. With a flash of her hand, before Damien could react, she took ahold of his forehead. Her eyes flooded with purple, still holding an underlying yellow tone.

Storm became aware of so many things at once. Memories of another, Isabella, through contact with Damien\'s skin. She inhaled sharply and clutched the base of her throat (collar bone area). Details of the planned army, the desire for complete control, an empire of vampires. She was amazed at the intricacy of Isabella\'s life, epically at the speed she was receiving all of the memories; barely in the blink of an eye. It took her breath away. She was not "experiencing" them, per say, it was like reading a history book, or a diary almost.

Isabella brought Damien into Storm\'s mind. He was in front of Isabella, who was behind Storm. Storm was visible from behind her, unable to turn around, but she could feel his presence inside of her head. Storm was at peace letting Isabella control her for once. She felt the energy being sapped out of her in order to manifest the connection, allowing her to communicate with him. She was silently thankful that she meditated before hand and slept the night before.

The red misty air seemed to stand still, holding its breath as though waiting for someone to talk. Isabella seemed to hold the control, her presence weighing heavily down on the atmosphere.

[Saiketsu]

Damien gasped slightly allowed, feeling invaded by this sudden rush of movement and the closeness of this girl. He felt his face flush quickly and his eyes close out of habit. Soft hands touched his forehead and he opened his eyes to see what had actually happened to him.

He never saw the cliffs fade, nor the rain stop. He only saw a swirling of colors, a blending of textures and feelings not his own. They tore at his heart and at his mind, a strong pull behind his eyes. But he felt the fading, the disattatchment from his skin, flesh and bones. He felt his feet land on grass much like that which he had previously left.

What is this? He looked around. Red mist, fog-like, thick and concealing. But something was there, a silhouette which made his heart leap, his blood race and his breathing stop. It was her. He already knew without seeing her.

And the younger vampire approached his Mistress, slowly, measured yet reluctantly impatient. Her outline was becomming clear, her form, her beautiful curves from long ago. Long flowing hair, her tight black gown which always gave him the best views. Closer and closer until she was within feet of him.

Damien could do nothing more than just gaze upon her, almost trembling, awestruck. Memories filled him of days in her bed, of nights they shared, of the arguements they had and the centuries he wandered alone, lost without his Mistress. Kisses. Bites. Tumbles. Thrusts and moans. Anger. Fire. Betrayal.

He closed his eyes and dropped to one knee before her, finding it almost disrespectful for looking upon her with such eyes for so long after a period of absence. He wanted to tell her so much. His body ached from the agony of the centuries, yet the good servant resisted his temptations.

"I\'ve found you, my Lady." He could have cried as his voice, wavering, left his throat.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm felt the pang in Isabella\'s mind, she could not see her face twitch but she felt it. A body in front of Storm stirred, as though brought to life by this sudden new presence. It may have well been absorbing Damien\'s life energy. Disgusted, Storm loosened the dirt beneath the moving corpse and allowed it to sink into the earth.

As Damien spoke, Isabella\'s eyes drilled into him.

"It\'s been awhile." her voice held power, as though every word she spoke held vital importance. Isabella paused.

"This may be the only time I can speak to you this way, and I don\'t have much time." she sighed audibly

"This girl will take my place. Obviously, seeing as she harbors my soul. She\'s been filled in with my memories, so you don\'t have to worry about explaining everything to her..." it was as though she were listing things, keeping it short and brief. Storm noted a slight trace of exhaustion in her voice. Three souls in one mind was creating an awful lot of pressure. Another corpse stirred, Storm sighed and allowed the ground to swallow that one too. Such tedious work, she hoped Isabella would hurry up...

"I\'m sorry that I can\'t be here to guide you, I will do the best I can through her, but I can never be with you. Not physically or like this anyway." she looked at him, almost pitifully. Isabella felt the connection slipping and she glanced back at Storm. The Akari girl looked back at the vampress, finally allowed to move, and nodded silently. The fact that she could move meant that this surreal land was going to fall apart. Several other corpses began to move, one of them stood.

"You have to leave." Storm held a sense of urgency in her voice as she looked at Damien for the first time. He looked peculiar on one knee, but humble. She allowed the moving corpse closest to him to sink into the ground. This was getting tiresome.

[Saiketsu]

Her words grated against his ears, against his heart and soul. Damien looked up at her, unable to bare it any longer, this mindless servitude. Yet for some reason, he found the effort tiresome, as if his head and his body were made of lead.

"She can never take your place." But he doubted very much that she had heard him. One tear slid down his face.

"...but I can never be with you..." No. You can\'t just leave me so easily. I\'ve searched centuries and kingdoms for you. You just can\'t leave! Damien stood up, facing her. He had always been slightly taller than her. Anger and fustration laced his entire body as if daggers had been placed into his spine and heart.

"If you can never be with me," he fumed staring into her eyes sadly, "why the hell would you ever tell me to look for you again!?" Yet immidiately he felt horrible. It wasn\'t her fault. He had known that all along, only chose to ignore it. "Isabella, please," he begged. "Nothing? There\'s nothing? After so long, there\'s nothing?" His voice raced angrily.

"You have to leave," Storm said. Damien could only glare at her for a moment then replace his eyes back on Isabella, a look that begged her to stay. Yet he knew that she couldn\'t. Nothing could bring a vampire back after a second death. And knowing that, he heart felt even heavier and broken than before he had seen her.

And that obediant servant took over, bowing his head slightly as if reluctantly understanding without anymore of her words. He didn\'t want Storm. He wanted Isabella. He felt desperate for her, his undead heart racing violently, painfully in his chest.

The younger vampire embraced her tightly, pressing his lips against hers, something that had taken painful centuries to be repeated. And for a split second, her felt the same flow of passion, her fangs against his lips and vise versa. "I love you, darling." And he could feel it back, though she didn\'t say it at all.

But a pain more extreme than anything he had felt before wrapped his mind. Damien felt her lips disintergrate, her scent fade and her body melt away into pain. Colors rushed at him again, blended and mixed, pelting his mind. And the wariness. He was oh so tired. Nerves came into contact again, then bones and flesh and skin and the rain and the grass beneath his feet.

He fell down on the long grass of the cliff\'s edge, the world swirling above him. He heard himself cursing before he realized that he was doing, only half concious. The pain was fading, leaving his face numb. But he barely noticed. Damien slammed his fist down on the wet grass, creating a crater with the vampire\'s force. "Damn it!" He kept repeating to himself. Damien rolled onto his side, feeling exhausted, sick, and so utterly hollow.

[The Cedar Witch]

Storm was only mildly affected by their interaction, more irritated by the blatant show of affection. Something inside of her was insanely jealous and she couldn\'t understand why. Damien shouldn\'t have touched her. Oh no, that was indeed a dangerous thing to do.

All of the energy in "coming out" was taken from him. She felt pity, but refused to look at him when they both returned to reality. Storm walked again to the cliff\'s edge, trying to come to terms with herself. There was so much she didn\'t understand, so much she couldn\'t grasp. None of this she wanted, it was too much. She held so much responsibility. In her frustration, the Akari allowed her wings to tare from her back, sending blood splattering onto the dirt, wasted. Her skin grew a purplish black tint and her eyes darkened in their gray. Storm felt disgusted.

The girl heard Damien cursing to himself, only mildly concerned with the way he must be feeling. If she hadn\'t had the memories from Isabella, she wouldn\'t have given a damn.
You shouldn\'t have fucking touched her... she boiled inside, angry at his ignorance. It would have been better if they left her mind on their own, but he had no way of knowing what that meant. What it meant to touch someone in their own mind.

The sky refused to rain, the storm billowing off with the wind into some far corner of a distant land. The Akari wanted to follow it, on darkened wing, until she was away from this confusion. Blackness took over her eyes, her mind becoming consumed with an anger that she could not place. The girl felt her claws dig into her palms, only numbly aware of the fact that she was drawing blood.

Why, Isabella? I\'m not fit to be your replacement! Can\'t you just...take over? Take my body, you know how much I\'d rather die anyway. Storm violently thought. No reply from the vampiress, nothing but the faintest idea that the Akari had no right to question the judgment of her other half. As though Storm didn\'t even know herself well enough to say whether or not she was a good replacement. She felt a strong sense of regret in the pit of her stomach along with a feeling of urgency. It made her sick. Whatever Isabella felt, Storm felt, and vice versa. They were one in the same. And she hated it.

If killing herself would bring Isabella back for him, she would. But it was all pointless. All of this was pointless. Storm could feel her aura fuming, purple sparks running along her skin. She was the last person she would\'ve ever chosen to complete this task, to take up this leadership.

The Akari flapped her wings angrily, debating whether or not she should dive off of the cliff\'s edge simply to feel the rush of air against her skin. Not to die, but to fly, the only real escape she had.

[Saiketsu]

Damien watched her, his eyes only half working and glowering. How awkward it would be for both of them now. She had not lived as long as Isabella had, and yet she had all of her memories, all of her sacredness, most of which only she and Damien knew through long nights of sharing and wrenching hearts. And now there was some mortal girl given such precious knowledge and intricate details about Isabella\'s life simply for existing?

He figeted around slightly, weakly in his spot, uneasily. Isabella was the only person whom had ever been able to understand him, read him, to know him completely. And now Storm did, too. She knew all about him, how he was, how he acted, how he had felt, how he moved, and so on. And he hated that.

Isabella\'s voice was still echoing in his ear. Her figure was still before him, looking over the cliff into the sea, given the new name of Storm. He could feel himself withdraw from her. I hate you, he wanted to say, to walk over and drain her of her blood because it would taste so perfectly of Isabella. Because that was really as close to her as he would ever get again.

The vampire could feel himself fading, a feeling much like that of his first death, only lacking the blood loss and pleasure of her fangs. No. It was still cold and lonely, overwhelming and reluctant. The sleep was coming and the Thirst was rising and he couldn\'t explain why. The fright was coming and the anger was increasing all over again. Just fucking take me already. You\'ve killed me once. What\'s stopping you now?

He wanted to hate her, to hate Storm. Go away, he wanted to scream at her. Give me back Isabella. But he knew that wasn\'t fair to her. It wasn\'t her fault. It wasn\'t Storm\'s fault. It wasn\'t Isabella\'s. It wasn\'t anyone\'s. And so when he saw the wings sprout from her back and her eyes gaze down at the sea, Damien allowed her without interruption. Just let her go, part of him thought. The wariness prevented him from caring what else happened tonight.

Yet another part of him wanted to appologize to her for everything. She didn\'t deserve any of this. Damien fought to stay awake. "Storm," he said as loudly as he could. He really didn\'t know whether she\'d hear him or chose to listen. He wondered if she hated him yet.