NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19: Truth
Ugh. What just happened? I remember seeing someone flying towards Faith as she woke up, then I felt the heat of whatever kind of attack that was. Plasma? I don’t know. I shouted at Faith as my body instinctively threw itself in front of her, and then it went black. I assume my mind tried to shield itself from the pain of having half my body evaporated in an instant.
“Ethenia, pull yourself together, that isn’t important right now. I didn’t see much before you blacked out, but Faith recognized that girl. She looked horrified, and then she fled. She’s currently heading to your apartment based on the mark you have on her, you really need to get home. Fast.”
Oh boy. I’m standing outside my door, steeling myself for whatever is going to happen as I walk through. What should I say? I was out for food? Yeah that’s probably an excuse that can work, as I do sometimes go out for food, just not the human kind.
Opening the door and walking through, I can see Faith sitting on the floor. A sobbing mess. I have never seen her cry before. I can feel dread wash over me as I realize that whatever happened was far worse than I thought. I turn on the lights so Faith can see, and I walk towards her. She isn’t even registering that I’m here.
“Faith? What happened?”
She finally looks up, her eyes are red and bloodshot, tears streaming down her face as her body is shaking. Her clothes are a mess and her mask is lying on the floor besides her. I sit down in front of her and she instantly throws her arms around me and cries into my shoulder. She cries and cries and cries, the tears don’t stop. I can feel my stomach churning as I’m filled with worry for the crying fox girl in front of me.
We spend the next thirty minutes on the floor as Faith cries. Finally recomposing herself she looks into my eyes. I can see the anxiety, the uncertainty. It’s like she doesn’t believe what is in front of her is real.
“Nia, I saw her. It shouldn’t be possible, but I saw her. She was right in front of me. She tried to kill me, but she’s supposed to be dead. Nia what do I do?”
I’m assuming whoever she saw is the source of her trauma regarding relationships, I don’t think anything else could have shaken her up this much. I pick Faith up in my arms, and carry her over to the couch, setting her down in my lap as I gently pet her ears with one hand, and rub her back with the other.
“Faith. Do you think you’re able to tell me what happened? Seeing you like this makes me worry, I want to help you.”
Faith takes a deep breath before telling me about her past. Her entrance into high school, realizing people are stupid, that she’s different, that she lost hope, and then met a girl. Helena. She told me how they grew close, how Faith realized she was gay, and how they started dating in secret before Helena committed suicide. No wonder she was a broken mess. Her dead ex-girlfriend that she thinks she betrayed just came back from the dead to kill her. I know there’s something amiss with what happened, I’m assuming it’s something to do with Helena’s parents, but that’s not important right now.
“What happened tonight, why are you telling me this?”
I hate that I can’t be open and tell her I know what happened, I have to gently coax it out of her, I don’t think she can handle another thing right now.
“I was meeting the stupid vampire, she told me this would be the last time she’d give me her “lessons”, and then she left me on a rooftop. At least I thought she did. I suddenly heard her voice screaming at me to watch out for something, and then she was in front of me. Her entire torso was gone. She shielded me from the attack, and then I saw her face. Helena. She’s the one who attacked me. She wanted to kill me. So I ran. I ran to the only place I could feel safe, but you weren’t here.
“I’m sorry, I was out eating dinner.”
“I know, and I know it’s not fair but you weren’t here. I needed you. I waited for half an hour, thinking you’d never show up. I tried calling, sending you messages, but you never responded. I thought you didn’t want to deal with my problems. I know it’s illogical, but I’m scared, Nia, I’m so scared. And the vampire girl. I left her there. She’s probably dead. She sacrificed herself for me.”
Dead? Doesn’t she know about the immortality? I look at Nia’s face, and I’m overwhelmed with guilt. No. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to lie to this girl, the first person I’ve ever loved like this. I just can’t.
“I’m sure the vampire girl is fine, you don’t need to worry about her.”
She looks up at me.
“How do you know that?”
I gently lift Faith from my lap, placing her on the couch before me and then I stand up, in front of her view. My hair turning into a deeper colour of red, to the colour of blood. My height shrinking and my curves filling out. My clothes turn to blood as they morph to accommodate my new size. My fangs peeking out of my lips and my eyes turning green with their silhouette of a tree.
Faith looks at me, her mind trying to register what she’s seeing.
“YOU? IT WAS YOU THE ENTIRE TIME?!”
Her face contorts into anger, tails flaring and ears tensing. I knew she’d be angry. I didn’t want to do it like this, I wanted to tell her at a good time, when I knew she’d be ready to handle it. This is my mistake and I have to fix it. I don’t want to lose this girl in front of me. I hate to imprison her like this, but I have to. I revoke her access to the pocket dimension, locking her in here until I give it back to her.
The temperature of the room is rapidly falling, covering it in a layer of ice. The last thing I see is countless ice spears surging towards my body.
I wake up in my bed, seeing the back of Faith sitting at the edge.
“How long was I out?”
Faith turns to look at me, eyes full of rage.
“Only 30 minutes.”
“30 minutes huh, you must have shredded my entire body.”
“Is this a game to you? Is this fun?”
I sigh. Poor choice of words. This is one of those times where the playful nature of my vampire form doesn’t help. I transform myself into the Goddess form in front of her eyes.
“Faith. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I locked you in here. I didn’t want you to leave in rage, which would be understandable. I’m sorry I took away your choice of leaving, but can you listen to me? You only need to listen, I’ll give you the access back, and then you can leave if you want to. You can report me to HDA, you can do whatever you want with me. I deserve it.”
My mind is screaming at me that I’m surrendering control of my freedom to someone else. It goes against every fiber of my being, but I have to do this. No more lies. No more deceit. No more manipulation. Not towards her.
Faith doesn’t say anything, but she isn’t turning away or leaving either. Okay. I let out another sigh, this one of relief.
“When the shift happened. I didn’t know what was going on. Being raised in the military I didn’t read anything but material that would help me. Physics, chemistry, biology, business, the likes. I didn’t have access to novels, and I didn’t really care. The shift turned me into this. This is who I am. I was being sold out to a terrorist organisation by a traitor, the one I mentioned previously. While I was, well, “dead”, they transported me to a facility. There they experimented on me when they realized I was immortal. I died, and then I came back to life. They wanted that for themselves. They.”
I take a deep breath, something that is unneeded, as I don’t need air, but it helps me relax. I have to tell her what happened, no matter how much I don’t want to say the words.
“They cut me open. They kept me sedated, but awake, as they tore open my body. Ripped out my organs, my muscles, my tissue. Anything they could do to figure out the secrets behind my immortality. I didn’t know what I was. For a month they kept experimenting on me, each session more painful than the last. Sometime, I don’t know when, I tried eating food, only to vomit it out. My body is technically not alive anymore. I just imitate the functions. Then I smelled it. At first I thought it was an addition to drugs, I was slowly going insane. Athena pulled me out. She pulled me into her realm, explaining what I was, what I was craving, what I needed. We then made the contract. She used all the souls of the people in the facility, probably in the hundreds, to repair my soul and making me her twin sister. Elevating me to a higher being, and giving me this form. We call it goddess form. I then fled the country, moving here, creating a cover story. I was finally free. Free from missions, obligations, confinement, torture. Everything.”
Taking another deep breath, making sure Faith is listening to me, as I know I only have one chance at this.
“Then I met you. At first I was simply driven by instincts, my vampiric urges. Your blood was different, your life force was different. The first time I saw you I was driven into a trance, craving your blood. I could pick out your scent amongst a crowd. Then I encountered you at that bar. That was the first time I noticed that it wasn’t only your blood. It was also you. You drove me mad. I had to have you. Again, at first it was only sexual tension. You were so beautiful, seductive, brilliant. I couldn’t keep my eyes off you. Then I started meeting you everywhere, at school, during the terrorist incident, when you were “Devotion”, I knew it was you based on your smell. The first night that you met me in my vampiric form. I was out on a mission. I had to earn money, so I did what I do best. I’m an assassin for hire. I don’t normally kill when I feed, and I generally only go for criminals. Not really for any righteous reason, they are just the least likely to cause an incident, or report it to the police. When you and Mystica came across me, and put shackles on me, I snapped. My mind was back in the facility, chained to a table, ready to be opened, cut, torn, broken. I didn’t even realize who I was attacking until I tasted your blood. For some reason it cleared up my head, and I could restrain myself.”
“Was any of it ever real? Was it just for my blood that you’re staying with me?”
“At first, yes. It changed when you stayed over that first weekend. When you told me about not wanting attachment, I realized you probably had feelings for me, but something was holding you back. You had experienced something that made you not want to care for someone else, afraid of losing them. It was then I realized this was no game to you, nothing casual. I have never been very good with emotions, but I knew that I wanted you in my life, and I knew that the only way to do that without hurting you was to take us seriously. I let whatever I felt for you grow, and as we spent time together I let myself fall in love with you. It sounds a bit weird, probably, but you are my ideal. You’re beautiful, fun, incredibly smart, loyal. You have certain morals that can keep me in check, making me not lose myself or the value of people. I didn’t want to keep lying to you. When I first told you about my past, I had to manipulate you, deceive you, lie to you. I couldn’t let you find out what I was. As it would end my freedom. I would be hunted by all the gods and avatars for what I am, what I was turned into, or, probably always have been. I don’t think I’m a normal vampire, otherwise Ingrid would have found me. I don’t know what I am yet, but I’m trying to find out.”
“So, why tell me now? You’ve had me fooled for so many months already, why not just keep up pretenses and fool me forever?”
Her tone hurts. This is why I didn’t want to let my feelings grow at first, I knew it gives power of me, surrendering control of a part of me to someone else.
“I have wanted to tell you for a while, but I was afraid of losing both you and my freedom. Tonight I made a decision. I knew you’d be angry, and probably that you’d hate me, never speak to me again, and turn me in to HDA. I don’t care anymore. Flimsy excuse? Sure. Sounds like it, probably is it on some level, I don’t know, but I don’t care. The guilt of lying to you gnawed at me, broke me apart. So I wanted to help you, let you get familiar with my vampire self. Well, that was one reason. I also wanted to spend more time with you. After our encounter at the docks, I couldn’t drink your blood anymore. I needed your consent. You weren’t prey anymore, you weren’t a game, you were very real, you were Faith, my little cuddly snow fox. So I tried to do what I could. Help you train, get stronger, of course, a part of it was also selfish. I wanted you to get used to the vampire girl. So I could eventually reveal myself to you. I realized tonight I’ve gone about this wrong, for far too long. When I saw you hurt, I knew I had to tell you, no matter the outcome. Because I love you.”
Faith POV
“Because I love you.”
I don’t know what to think anymore. She manipulated me for months, lied to me, and deceived me. Can I even believe what she’s saying? She could very well just be a psychopath, trying to manipulate me again. I don’t know what to do.
Because I love you. She loves me? Or is that just another lie? Should I just leave? Talk to Mystica and tell her who she is? Would she actually come without a fight? Or is she just trying to have me let down my guard again? My head hurts.
“Faith. We just had a talk with Athena. She’s not lying. Athena feels her emotions, their contract, no, their bond is different than ours. They are more connected. She has spoken no lies, Athena can feel her confusion, her hesitation, and also the love she feels for you. It doesn’t make it any better, but I don’t think you truly realize how important she is to the gods. She is a vampire like nothing we’ve ever seen, she has already killed Ifrit. Feeding on his god essence, as Athena called it, until he died. She can literally kill gods through their contracted avatars. That is why she and Athena kept it from you and from us for so long. They had no choice. They couldn’t make any mistakes. Even so Ethenia kept going out to meet you, to train you, to spend time with you. Make of that what you will.”
She didn’t lie? Everything she just said was true? She’s still a psychopath, but, I’m not exactly emotionally normal myself.
I look at Nia, she’s nervous, fidgeting. Her aura is restless and panicking. She really doesn’t want me to hate her, does she. I still don’t think I understand how important it is to be a vampire, nor do I understand her situation, but, I do understand why she did what she did, how she felt. I’m not happy about it, but I honestly don’t think I would do anything different if I was her. She knew nothing of the world outside of the military, essentially a little girl masquerading as an adult, and then she’s turned into the most hated being in all of existence, something that she shouldn’t even possibly have been able to become?
I know I have to make a decision.
Ethenia POV
Does she hate me? Goddess I’m a mess. I didn’t think love could do this to a person, well, I guess I did, there’s a reason I always cut off that emotion.
“Ethenia.”
Oh no. She’s using my name.
“Yes?”
“You have one chance. No lies. No deceit. No manipulation. Not to me. I will have Athena hold you accountable to that. Can you agree to those conditions?”
Wait? Really? I wasn’t planning on doing that anyway, well, at least not to Faith. Is she really going to forgive me that easily?
“Yes, but. Um. Isn’t this too easy for me? I wasn’t going to do that anyways? I should probably just shut up.”
Faith’s face is turning into a grin. What the hell is that supposed to mean? For once I can’t read her.
“Easy? Oh Nia, you’re not getting off easy. We’re going to play by my rules. You’re going to help the HDA establishing rights, policies, teams. You’re going to train the new heroes. I’m going to work you to the ground, you are so not getting off easy. I will also stop you if I feel you go too far.”
Me and my mouth, but honestly, that’s a cheap price to pay. She’s not as morally upright as Ingrid is, she just values people’s lives more than I do.
“Yes Ma’am.” I give her a playful salute. Fuck, stupid vampiric playfulness.
Faith lets out a giggle and throws herself at me.
“Nia, can you turn back to your original form?”
Uhhh.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean my personality doesn’t change, but it does emphasize certain, traits.”
“Positive.”
Oh well, here goes nothing. For the second time today I transform into my vampire form in front of Faith. Original form huh? I guess that’s true.
“Holy shit. I mean, your, what did you call it? Goddess form? Cute name by the way. Anyways. That form is hot, but this. This is something else. I’ve always been to preoccupied whenever I’ve seen you like this, not really paying attention, but now that I have you like this, I can see how your movements change, they’re just as fluid, they’re just, more seductive.”
Faith bites her lip as she scans my entire body like I’m prey. Weird being on this side of things for a change. She leans over me and lowers her head, placing it just besides my ear.
“Hungry?”
I look into her eyes, half surprised, half confused. Is she really saying what I think she is? I give her a slight nod, eliciting a giggle as she moves her hair out of the way and tilts her head, giving me free access to her neck. I look between her eyes and her neck, asking for permission. She gives me a cocky grin, one I haven’t seen since that night on the dancefloor. I knew she was trouble.
I lick a small area at her neck before sinking my fangs into them, slowly, trying not to make it painful. I hear a slight moan escape her lips. Moan? Oh. Not painful then. Her blood and life force flowing through my fangs and into my body, sending spikes of euphoria into my brain. I can’t get enough of her taste. She rivals god essence, and I honestly think she tastes better than she did last time.
Making sure not to lose myself, not to drink too much, I pull my fangs out of her neck, falling back into my pillow as my body finally relaxes from all the tension of the night.
“Um. Nia. Is it always this uh, pleasant?”
Pleasant? Wow she wasn’t kidding with that moan, that’s weird though. All I did differently this time was licking her neck. Wait. Really? Now that’s a surprise. Letting out a low rumbling chuckle, I scratch behind her ear as I pull her into me with my other hand.
“No. Usually people only feel pain. I think my uh, for the lack of a better word, saliva, changed the effect it had.”
Faith bites her lip as she looks into my eyes.
“Never do that to anyone else.”
Oh my, jealousy? I’ll gladly comply with that.
Faith leans forward, initiating a slow, deep kiss. Her tongue playing with mine as her hand traces along my hips. I like where this is going.
“Take off your clothes.”
Yes ma’am. I turn my clothes into blood, drawing it into my body and leaving me completely naked. Faith’s eyes canvasing every millimeter of my body. Having seen what she wanted to, she sits up straight on top of me and starts undressing.
Seeing the girl you love undress in front of you is a reward in just the act. Slowly pulling her shirt over her head, leaving my eyes to look at her bra, which she slowly unhooks from the front. Oh, fronthook? That’s new.
Leaving herself equally clothed as I am, meaning none, she gently traces her tongue over my collarbone, giving it a small nibble. Who’s the vampire now?
Lowering her head yet again she nibbles on my ear, before whispering.
“There was one thing I forgot to mention. I love you too.”
Oh, my, goddess. I can’t even keep myself composed as I squeal, like I’m a schoolgirl asking her first crush out, wait, I sort of am? Huh. I can feel faith’s fingers twirling around in patterns as she traces along stomach, slowly moving up towards my chest, and then further up to my neck and cheek.
“I’m still angry at you, but I’ll work on that. We need to have another talk soon, but I’m not going to ruin this, us.”
Us? Oh. OH. I like that word.
“Thank you, my little snow fox.”
I give her a warm smile and pull her in for another kiss, we’re both still calming a bit down from everything tonight, but that probably won’t last long, I mean, we’re already naked and laying on top of each other. Faith raises an eyebrow at me as she leaves the kiss.
“Your sn-. Oh. Hm, I guess I am your “little snow fox” now, aren’t I?”
“Yes, yes you are.”
From this point on, words are unnecessary. I can feel the heat of our bodies rising, transferring back and forth like it’s own game of tag. Giving one last deep kiss, I hold Faith and roll over, reversing our positions.
Gently tracing the insides of her thighs, I let my instincts guide me. Teasing her, tracing back and forth with my fingers as I keep her pinned under me. My eyes locking with her beautiful ice blue eyes, the familiar snow, the familiar snowflakes looking back at me with passion, lust, love.
Breaking away from her gaze I move my head downwards, gently tracing along her body with my tongue, sometimes sinking my fangs into the places I’ve just licked, eliciting small moans and gasps of pleasure as I keep teasing her.
I can feel Faith’s body melting into the sheets, slightly trembling, but this time it’s a good tremble, or so I hope. I scan for her eyes just to make sure she’s alright. Good, she is.
Removing my hands from her thighs, I slowly trace around the silhouette of her chest, while my face takes on an involuntary grin, the one I used to show her during our little “hunting” sessions.
Tonight is about Faith.
Faith POV.
Oh fuck. She keeps teasing me. She wasn’t joking when she said her vampiric side is more playful, she’s never done this before. Oh her fangs feel so nice. I can’t believe I’m even thinking that right now. My mind is slowly turning into a puddle of emotions, my body melting and molding itself into Nia’s hands.
I feel her hands removing themselves from playing with my thighs, and they start their teasing yet again. My breathing is already erratic, and I’m almost at my limit. She’s been teasing me for what feels like hours, bite marks left all across my body. I give her a pleading look, please just release me from this torture.
I don’t know what I set loose when I asked for this, this stupid vampire is taking everything to another level, doing things Nia’s never done before.
“Nnh”
Oh god, I can’t even control my own body anymore. I’m letting out gasps and moans as she’s molding my boobs into her hands, squeezing, licking, nibbling. I don’t know how long I can keep my thoughts lucid before I start begging for her to please me.
I think she noticed I’ve had enough, as yet again her tongue is slowly tracing along my stomach, lower and lower. Each tiny movement sending jolts of conflicting elements into my spine. Electricity, cold, heat. Everything combining into a chaotic pleasure. I feel every bite mark she’s made on me, marking her prey. The phantom fangs still releasing spikes of euphoria into my brain, slowly turning me into a slave, addicted to her touch, her feel, her warmth, her comfort, her safety.
Why did she stop? Oh, she’s looking at me. She wasn’t joking about consent, she hasn’t asked for permission to do things to me before, is this another side of her vampire? Giving her the biggest smile I can muster in my half lucid state, I can see her lips arching into a smug grin. She knows the state I’m in, that she put me in.
An explosion of emotions, heat, pleasure hits me as her tongue enters me. Gently curving and twisting at my insides. I can vaguely feel her hands keeping my hips down, as they’re pushing at her, trying to melt into her mouth, my body begging for her to have her way with me, do whatever she wants.
I can feel the heath of her breath, the rumbling from her body as she chuckles in her oh so seductive way at my body’s honesty. Her fingers tracing along my stomach and hip, leaving behind pleasurable heat wherever they go.
I think my mind is too gone at this point. I can barely tell what she’s doing to me anymore, all I know is that I love it, that I love her, the seductive vampire pleasing me. Oh is she ever pleasing me. All I can feel is pleasure, as something grows from deep inside me. Bigger and bigger. I don’t even think I can survive the release of this cataclysmic feeling welling up inside me.
Then she does something, I can’t even tell what, I can just tell that all the gates are open, something inside me explodes, all I can see are stars dancing around inside my head, I can’t even tell where I am anymore.
I think she’s calling my name, but right now I don’t want to do anything but lose myself in this feeling. All my problems fade away, my worries, my anxiety, my insecurities, everything gone as my mind is slowly fading, drifting to another place.