Will Tear Me Apart...

Misinformation.

Obsession.

Abuse.

“It’s just dinner, Vinnie. Get a grip,” I muttered to myself, inhaling a deep breath and holding it in until my insides filled with pressure and I was forced to release. A yawn escaped its way between my lips and I rubbed my jaw with annoyance. Yawning hurt sometimes, especially when it was so uncontrollable and you over did it. Was I sleepy? No, no. I was fully awake, honestly. Bored? Possibly, but then again the ache in my stomach kept me preoccupied more than I was willing to admit. Dinner with a Demon Prince wasn’t the dessert on the platter I was aiming for.

I was curled up tightly on the corner of my bed watching the dimmed sun hover with a slight dark shadow cast around. Like a black cloud wrapping it’s soothing arms around it, cradling it softly as if it were anew born baby. As often as I’ve seen the sun like this, I could never shake off the growing pulling affect it had on me. It was calling me and I knew it, but where? Anyway, I thought bitterly, I have bigger issues then my intriguing fascination with Almighty Scary there. I clucked my tongue against the roof of my mouth and sighed. Who the hell were my parents?

A’cail said they were normal. Okay, that  settled that issue.  But the real mystery to that was if I was normal. Furrowing my brows, I gazed up at the cement ceiling. Pretty, I snorted the sarcasm in my head. I sat up abruptly and scooted off the bed, sitting down on a plush lounging chair that complimented the only decent thing in the room; the vanity mirror. I forced myself to stare down my reflection. Was I a mutt? Did my mother have abnormal eyes that made me this way? Maybe my father did? Who was the dark skinned one in the family? Did I have any siblings?

“Ah!” I screamed out loud and hit the mirror with my palm hard. It stung a bit but I ignored the feeling. For Goddess sakes, I didn’t even know if I had a happy home or not… And what if I really don’t want to know about them? They could have traded me away for money"It’s happened quite a few times already. Ugh, the endless possibilities were rioting around in my brain and it was giving me a massive migraine.

Suddenly there was a weird creaking sound cracking around me. I twirled around in the chair and I jumped when I heard a sudden crash on the floor, sending me toppling there as well and twisting my limbs in angles they were not meant to be in. The air from my lungs was sucked out and I gasped, trying to regain what had left. I finally managed enough to shout, “ow!” I rubbed the back of my head with annoyance and growled lightly. Wow, guess my wish for a retreating headache won’t be granted. I poked the bump forming and cursed. “Great, now I’ll have a growing horn to match my redeeming qualities!” I looked angrily around quickly for whatever had caused the scene. I wasn’t really expecting to catch anything, but there it was just slightly off to the side of me.

A book sat there, unopened and it seemed to laugh as I rubbed my head again absently. “Must have fallen off the top shelf,” I grumbled. Books seemed to be more trouble than what they were worth. “Huh.” Getting on my hands and knees"and still sore from the stupid fall, I scooted closer to the thick, brown culprit. I moved my fingers over the spine in interest. I slid my index finger over the casing and caressed it lightly. Though the cover wasn’t as bad as the spine"which indeed was torn and so badly kept together, the papers that were glued to the spine were showing, almost coming out. It was all pretty close to falling apart. . It was so damn old!

I could feel the leather furring up from the misuse and neglect. I really wanted to peek inside, so I picked it up gently and laid it flat on my palms, flipping the cover over a couple times. Where the hell was the title? “Weird.” I gave a snort and flipped through some pages first and coughed. Dust, smells moldy… Yeah, this is a book for me. I shrugged and got up from the floor finally, dusting off my knees and wincing suddenly in pain. “Oh yeah,” I sighed, “that’ll be a bruise by the end of the night.”

Glancing at the book again, a thought lit up in my mind. What if everything in here is words? I mean, I just skimmed through it, but as far as I saw it is nothing but words. Can I read it? And what if this was a forbidden book? But, it was on my bookshelf, right? Well, I mean not my bookshelf, but the one in the current room I am living in. I tilted my head in thought and absently looked at the door.

I sighed in defeat and bit my lip. No harm in just wondering, right? I could say it fell and when it accidentally opened, I read"tried to read"some stuff that was in it. He wouldn’t be coming for me or whatever anytime soon anyway, I can give a peek. I turned to the first light-yellow page and my eyes widened in fascination. It was the map of Recuron and I had it in the palm of my hands.

There was a soft knock at the door, and I kind of panicked. I threw the book under the bed and crossed my legs over my lap, cursing in my head and praying A’cail didn’t hear me. I wasn’t even dressed for dinner. D****t!

.::.

I could still hear it softly in my mind. I couldn’t make out her words or the emotions that flowed out like waves, but they were there. She was in a long thinking process, holding back what I thought was excitement. Anxiety? But for what?

I sat back in my chair and rested my head against the cold leather, closing my eyes in pure exhaustion. After researching for what seemed like days, I still found nothing as to what she could be, and time was running out. She would soon be 18, and something had to be done. There were no references, biographies or family trees that connected her to any branch of Outsiders. Ones who don’t belong, yet exist to feed off of what once was the most powerful beings in the world; demons.

I glanced out of the window from the corner of my eye and smiled at what was the only thing in Recuron that made me sane. ‘La Lune Gravure’… The Burning Moon.  I took a deep breath and steadied my growing indecencies when I felt someone approaching.

“Come in,” I sighed, twisting my chair straight and leaning my elbows lazily against the desk stacked with pointless papers. I raised my eyebrow at the small boy who hesitantly made his way towards me. “Yes?” I asked slowly, hiding back my amusement.

“Sir, the girl…”

Before he could finish I sprang from my chair and snapped my teeth together, jumping over the desk and leaving the frightened kid there. I’ll deal with him later, I fumed angrily, d****t, Vincelia. Don’t do this to me!

.::.
     

“So, where are we going?” I questioned the dude for the thousandth time. Who the hell was he anyway? The freaking butler? A slave, perhaps?

“Do you ever shut up?” He asked back, glancing my way and glaring at me with wide, soft green eyes. He said something a second later under his breath and shook his head, making his shaggy, light brown matted hair shake with it. He was pale, not to talk. And he seemed to tense every time I asked the same question. Good, I was getting on his nerves. Any minute now he’ll break and show me where the heck we’re headed to.

He had the guts! He came to my room, requesting I came with him to some Goddess knows where place that A’cail said to meet at for dinner.

“A’cail said not to leave the room unless he comes to get me. You sure he emphasized he wouldn’t be mad?” ‘Cause I swear if that’s the case, I’m heading my a*s back to my room. Then I rolled my eyes to myself and snorted. Sure, Vinnie. You don’t even know which hallway you just went down. He looked at me in disgust and I scoffed at him, challenging. “What the hell was that for?”

“You address Him by his first name?” He said, disdain seeping in every word.

Well, geez. “Yeah, you got a problem with it?” He opened his mouth to respond, but I beat him to it, “you address him like he’s some sort of God.”

“He is God around here,” I heard him grumble. To that I laughed mentally. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that where we were going was nowhere near A’cail. For one; I couldn’t feel that itching force that pressured the back of my head when he was reading my thoughts. And two; the hallway had a cold aura around it. I stopped and pursed my lips, looking around to find a close exit in case I needed to run. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, for the love of"” He grabbed my hand quickly, sending a dark and ominous shock through my body. I shivered and I smacked it off, glaring into his eyes so harshly that he flinched. “We’re almost to the garden,” he said in a whisper, rubbing the hand that I smacked slowly and looking at it like I had just bit him.

Maybe that’ll teach the slug.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I took a step back, and when his frown deepened, I ran.

“Hey! Come back here!” He called after me. I could feel him behind me, running hard. His breath was loud and uneven, giving me the motivation to run faster. “Wait!” He yelled again, huffing harshly, “he’s"”

I didn’t hear anything after that. I slowed my pace and gripped the pillar beside me, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand, good, I escaped him. I looked back, freezing in fear. The saliva in my thought stopping and I could barely swallow.

A’cail stood against the wall in all his glory, leaning ever so casually there it seemed like nothing else mattered to him and he was on an everyday stroll through the halls. His eyes were facing down, his dark hair was slightly wavy and casting a dark shadow over his features. I took a quick peek around him, trying to focus on the guy who was running after me… but he was gone.

I turned my body towards A’cail, lost in confusion. He was just there… I know he couldn’t have run that fast! He couldn’t even catch me.

I saw A’cail’s hand move into a fist and slam against the wall beside him, but that made me jump so hard I almost fell back. When he pulled his hand away, cement pieces dropped to the floor and the plaster was badly cracked. I took a step back when he straightened his body and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes swept to me like a cat hunting prey, and I couldn’t look away.

“Vincelia, come here,” he spoke slowly and softly, but there was a hidden coldness and deep authority to it. I immediately took a step but stopped just as fast. His face traveled to my feet then back at my face.

I was scared. No, scratch that. I was more than scared; I was terrified. His eyes were no longer red, but as black as the shadow encasing his body. Like thick smoke. His face had changed like I had seen before, only this time it didn’t revert back. He was paler than usual, a devilish mask taking off his once beautiful face. It reminded me of a snake. Angled different and not in the least normal. I took a step back and clenched my jaw. No way was I going near him.

He tilted his head back and he was gone, leaving a trail of smoke swirling and twisting up before it disappeared also. I spun around and glued my back to the wall, easing my way towards the double door that led to the garden, but I knew he was around here somewhere. I could feel him… No, there was something else… It was like I was a part of him at the moment. I knew he was watching me, right in my face.

And I ran... again.

But this time, of course, I didn’t get very far.

My body was thrown around and pushed crushingly against a pillar, his face inches my mine. It was relaxed, calm and cold. His hand rested uncomfortably around my throat. It didn’t hurt, but I couldn’t move my head, so it was hard to manage. His eyes scanned my face and he leaned in a bit more. I shuddered, almost daring myself to look away from those soulless eyes, but I didn’t.

“We have a lot to talk about, Vincelia,” he cooed.

Why couldn’t I have just had dinner?

Author's Note

Sorry it's so late! Finally thought of a complete plot! Criticism welcomed.