The Wishing Well

[blake]

Blake took an inhale of his cigarette. He was leaning against an old abandoned well in the middle of a forest, not a care in the world. It was around midnight, with the new moon straight overhead. What a beautiful sight. Blake always favored new moons over full ones. The full moon always snuffed out the stars, but with the new moon devoid of light, it let the glistening stars light his way in an ominous glow. And what a glow it was tonight. There were fireflies dancing around the area, and the forest was teeming with life. The little book nearby was emitting the small sound of fluid tumbling over tiny stones, creating microscopic waterfalls. With the crickets chirping and the lightning bugs flashing, it was truly a dazzling sight.

Blake took another inhale of his cigarette, when his sixth sense went off. It was so strong, it made him light headed. There was someone -- something.... near. It was hiding its presence from him, but it couldn't escape his natural paranormal sensors. He knew that it would show itself, whatever it was, so he didn't bother panicking. If it got this close to him without his knowledge, then he wouldn't be able to get away even if he did run.

Looking for something? Or perhaps... someone?

[aubrey]

Aubrey emerged slowly from the shadows, a lucid smile painted across her mouth. She stepped into his safe keep. She meant no harm. Aubrey had had enough of fighting and violence for at least a little while. If she was going to try and preserve herself outside of the coven then she was going to have to try a lot harder.

She was fascinated by the fact that he had been able to tell that she was there. She hadn't been following him, she had merely been walking around and stopped to admire the beauty in the small get away he was surrounded by. He was just an added bonus.

Aubrey laughed softly as she approached the well. The sound bubbled from her mouth. "I'm not looking for anyone or anything. I was just walking and I happened to be lucky to stumble upon your little knoll." She traced the cool stone with her fingertips as she looked down into the well. Her white lace dress flowed softly in the night air. There were no straps and the top of it formed into a sweetheart style cut.

She tucked her hair away from her eyes and smiled at him. "This is a wishing well, did you know that?" Aubrey's honey orbs sparkled with mischief as she glanced at him. "If you toss in a coin the well might grant you a wish. If you deserve it." She turned and pulled herself up to sit on the stone. She swayed her bare feet in the air.

She took the cigarette from his lips and pressed it to her own. She took in a long drag and exhaled it slowly, keeping eyes contact with him. Unblinking and Unnerving she smiled at him. "These things will kill you."

[blake]

"A wishing well? Yes, this well has granted me a wish before." Blake told this strange, wondrous woman. His sixth sense was going off like a fire alarm, screaming Leave! You must flee! FLEE!, but he payed no mind this time. He was entranced by everything about her.

Her collarbone and neck bare, her skin seemed to glow with a gentle light. It must have been the fireflies, because her beauty was beyond compare. Her lips blossomed full and luscious from her skin, her smile radiant in this moonless night. Her eyes sparkled in the starlight seductively, and he couldn't seem to look away.

She took his cigarette and breathed in its smoky content. There was a kind of grace, the way she smoked it. The kind a photographer longed to capture in a frame, or an artist with a brush, or a poet with a pen.

Blake ignored her comment about smoking. "But you know... it's not a coin that you have to throw in this well to wish." He turned so that he was leaning toward the well and shifted his gaze down toward the water. The stars that were sprucely placed in the inky black sky were perfectly mirrored in the glass-like reflection in the well.

[aubrey]

Aubrey moved her body over until she was unnervingly close to him after throwing the cigarette. She had thrown out the notion of personal space a long time ago. Her soft hair brushed against his cheek as she followed his gaze down to the water.

She watched their reflection carefully and traced his image over in her mind. Aubrey wondered why he allowed his hair to fall over his eye. Putting it out of her mind for the moment she looked back to him and smiled.

"Tell me, what is the cost to make a wish if you don't throw a coin." She had never heard of any other way to make a wish for a wishing well. her eyes watched him carefully, eager for his reply. It was her luck to stumble upon a human who was utterly fascinating.

[blake]

Blake was unused to having someone be in such close contact with him. It sent chills down his spine. Any other time they would have been chills of disgust... but this time he didn't know if they were bad or not. He didn't feel the need to back away like usual, either. He found her presence almost comforting. Though there was a definite edge to her energy, it was not unlike his own. Her unusual vibes made him think of a lark full of sorrow, forever weaving music for others, its song threading through an endless night.

Blake's eyes searched the well, attempting to find the end to its seemingly bottomless depth. He glanced at the woman's eyes reflected in the well. They were, too, a bottomless depth.

Blake turned toward her, his eyes reflecting the stars in the well and the fireflies in their harmonious dance. He took her hand, turning it palm-up, cradled in his own. With his other hand, Blake lightly ran three fingers over the artery in her wrist to her fingertips. Then he looked into her eyes and spoke solemnly;

"You must sacrifice three drops of your blood... and pray for Justice to come."

[aubrey]

Her brow rose as she watched him. For a moment Aubrey was in awe of this human. He had everything that she wanted. He was alive. Nothing in the world could replace the feeling of her heart beating. She let out a soft sigh and pulled her hand away.

She took his, turning it over slowly in her hand. She repeated his actions. Tracing from his wrist, to his palm, and then up to his fingertips. She re-traced the motions slowly. Watching his absorbing eyes.

"Three drops of blood doesn't seem like much." She pulled one of his fingers up to her mouth and brushed it softly against her lips. Did Justice come for you, love?" She bit slightly into his finger. She leaned over, squeezing three small drops into the well.

Aubrey sucked the blood from his finger and grinned at him. "Make another wish."

[blake]

Vampire.

Blake stared at her in wonder. But not in fear. Or at least, he couldn't tell that he was afraid because his adrenaline started to pump. His heart beat faster in pure excitement. A true vampire. Here. With him.

Blake wasn't sure how to react. She could just be playing with him, a cat with a mouse. She could truly be curious about him, and want to know more. More likely than not she was just waiting till he let his guard down. But he unconsciously decided that he trusted her. He didn't know why, but he did. Perhaps it was something in her eyes - they way they looked up at him and gleamed with the brightest innocence... and at the same time, knowledge. And he hated it. He wasn't used to trusting people. He's never trusted ANYONE since the Incident. He didn't WANT to trust her. But he did.

"I wish, with all my beating heart, that this precious moment last for all of the everlasting eternity."

[aubrey]

Aubrey was enthralled with his emotions. He made her look away and smile. He was so young, and stupid. She placed her hand n the side of his face. "When you have an eternity to face, there are few precious moments, love."

A sad smile formed her lips as she brought her own finger to her mouth and bit into it. She allowed her own blood to drop into the well. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. She allowed the memories of when she was alive flood her mind.

"I wish I still had a beating heart." Her soft voice carried a mournful regret. Her eyes fluttered open to look at him. She placed her hands on either side of him then leaned down and pressed her ear to his heart.

A sad sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and felt the slow beating of his heart. "This love...this is what is precious" [/b] [/color]

[blake]

Blake thought of how hard it would be, to spend all of forever roaming the earth, unable to die because their heart had long since stopped. In that moment of realization of how hard it would've been.

Blake wrapped his arms around the woman, cradling her against his body gently. Her body was soft and lush"Someone wise once told me that when you're sad, listening to the sound of someone's heart can help comfort you."

This was new. Blake had never held anyone before. Never BEEN held by anyone before. Not since the Incident. Not since then.

"You don't get that chance, do you?"

[aubrey]

"There are not many heartbeats around me." Aubrey smiled against him. He might have been young and stupid, but he was brave. Aubrey could give him that. She lingered, enfolded in his embrace for a moment. Figures danced gracefully through her mind. Things she was yearning to remember.

But they never would be. Aubrey was slowly loosing herself to The Black Nail Coven. It was taking over her entire body. Soon she would not be able to recall anything before being turned. She was fighting to keep her body relaxed.

Shaden had told her how hard it had been to control himself the first night he met her. She had pressed behind him, silently giving him permission to protect her from the vampires who had wanted her. She was a human then. Sh ehad never understood wht made it so hard. Now she did. The sweet aroma of this human filled her senses and made her want to bite into her lip. She hummed softly as she fought back the urge.

He smelled wonderful. He was so vibrant and refreshing. Before she had died, back when she was a photographer, he would have been a perfect person to capture on film. There was a raw honesty that was so intriguing about him. It should be captured and saved for someone.

Aubrey was going to pull away from him, but instead she snuggled closer. She wanted to absorb his aura and his vibrancy. "My name is Aubrey." [/color]

[blake]

Aubrey? What an interesting name... it sounded like a mix of the Germanic words "elf" and "ruler". It suited her undoubtedly well. She had the elven grace, and an air of a princess.


As Blake held her close, he knew that he shouldn't be. He knew, too, that she could devour him at any time she wished. But he couldn't let her go. Her presence was intoxicating.

"..... those who know me call me Blake." Blake closed his eyes, willing his sixth sense to go beyond its limits and let him even glimpse into Aubrey's guarded thoughts. To experience what she has had to endure. To know the wisdom that she has gathered over her years as a vampire. To see into her past.

"Do you miss it? The steady off-beat of a heart?"

[aubrey]

She nodded against him. "Yes." The word escaped her mouth like a distant whisper slowly fading off with the breeze. She felt his aura seeping into hers. She smiled against the warmth. She reluctantly sat up. Away from his beating heart.

Aubrey automatically missed the warmth his body brought to her. "What did you wish for the first time, Blake?" She watched him carefully, preparing to feed from his emotions.

She did miss something a simple as a heartbeat. What good was eternal life without actually having a life. She was sick of being hidden in the shadows. She took his hand back into hers and began tracing it. She wanted to feel the life flowing through him.

Blake was different than other humans she had met. She couldn't tell what made him so unique, but she wanted to find out. She peeked at him through her lashes waiting for his answer.

[blake]

Blake had wished at this wishing well only once before.

It was a cold time, then. The snowflakes piled on top of each other to be a foot or so off the earth, and the crystalline ice had found its way into the cracks and crevices of the well. The sun's first rays had just begun to seep through the trees. The branches were adorned with snow and hung low that morning, and the untouched white precipitation glittered rainbow diamonds. All was unnaturally quiet in the woods. All was unnaturally still.

But there was one moving creature in the forest. Blake had been wandering for some time, fantasizing about vampires and the like. What WOULDN'T he do to become a creature of the night. Blake felt no attachment to his heart -- it was an organ, nothing more. What did he care if his body was alive or dead -- his emotions were long gone; it was like he had suffered a lobotomy as a youngster but stayed aggressive. An unwanted child.

He happened to stumble upon the mysterious well, and was immediately intrigued. The water in the well had not frozen. Blake stared down into it's murky depths for some time, barely moving. Then without thinking, he whipped out his pocket knife and slit his finger. Holding it out above the well, he made sure that only three - no more and no less - drops of blood fell into the dark liquid. He wished, and then prayed for Justice, and left soon after. He did not know why he did such a thing. Weeks later, he had almost convinced himself that he might have been on a substance at the time. But deep down he knew that wasn't what it was. He just had this feeling, this drive in his instinct to do so.

Two seasons later. Blake is in the same spot. And his wish finally did come true. Well, half of it.

"I wished to meet a vampire, and spend the rest of all time with them. I have no desire to be human... I hate them."

[aubrey]

]Aubrey nodded along as she listened to his words, still slowly tracing his hand. She could almost picture him at the well. His lovely form sitting and waiting for a monster to come and take his life. Now his monster had arrived, disguised as an angel and completely enthralled with him. We couldn't say for certain that she would be able to deny him if he asked for her to take him.

Aubrey was silent for a very long time. Finally, she sighed softly as she drug her honey orbs up to study him. This beautiful little human had no idea what he was wishing for. She silently observed his face. She lifted her delicate finger to trace it.

"Blake, I don't think that you realize what you are asking for. Would you not miss your sun and your blue sky? You might hate humans, but if you become a vampire you may hate that more. That...and you may grow to resent your maker."

Aubrey's eyes clouded over as she thought of her contempt for Xavier at the moment. He had not asked her if she wanted to be turned, he simply beat her nearly too death, as well as a handful of her friends, and then carried her off and created. She hadn't asked to be apart of his coven either.

"An eternity is a long time to have hatred held up in your heart, love."

[blake]

"I have no attachment to the sun or the azure sky. For what is the sun, but a blazing ball of angry flame? But what is the sky without the stars to guide our way?"

Blake took Aubrey's hand and searched for understanding in her eyes. "An eternity of hate is what I face behind any door that opens for me. I will simply reincarnate after this pathetic body has decomposed, and the same process will be lived again. Over and over will I hate, over and over will I destroy. At least let me know that my soul is not causing hundreds of different lives to hate, but only one. Secluding the soul in one body instead of many to come."