The Betrayal

“Of all the things you can do, what will you do?” –Cap’n Jack Sparrow, At World’s End

 

“Before we start on the negotiations, there are some things I need to know about you.”

 

 “Me?”

 

 “Yes. You.” Shaun motioned him to take a step back. He did allowing her to jump off the step. “How much of this world do you know of?”

 

 “This world… as in the supernatural.”

 

 “Well… I wouldn’t go around calling me and all vampires somewhat like me ‘supernatural’. It tends to bring out the violence in them especially when you are around bear Dire’s. Don’t ask me why, they’re just a touchy bunch. There’s a consensus that most of us prefer the word, ‘Other’. Anywho, that’s not the point.”

 

 “It’s not?” He frowned as he walked beside her, “then, what is the point.”

 

 “The pulse of the Other world.”

 

 “The pulse?”

 

 “Yes, the one being who has their pinkie on the pulse of the Other world.”

 

 “What?”

 

 “He knows all and sees all that is a happening here.” Shaun took a left down another empty street, though this one was filled old, decaying wood two story apartments.

 

 “So, how does this coincide with the negotiations.”

 

 “You see if your kind signs the compact, you are not just making a deal with the vampires. You are making a deal with a hundred different races.”

 

 “I am? There’s been no mention of other races.”

 

 “That’s because they and the vampires don’t know it, yet. Or they do and they just haven’t thought that far ahead, yet.”

 

 “And you have.”

 

 “Somewhat. I lack the natural vampire gene of planning. I get ideas and I run with them.”

 

 “So, us going to see this man and everything else… it was all just something you came up with off

the top of your head which you just go along with.”

 

 Shaun jumped onto the handrail of one building and turned to Grey, “Yeah, pretty much.”

 

 He shook his head and laughed in disbelief. “You are just stringing me along enjoying it, aren’t you?”

 

 “Nah,” she walked backwards up the hand rail, “I’m learning.”

 

 “Learning?”

 

 “About you.”

 

 “What have you learned so far?”

 

 “Not too sure.”

 

 “You are a very confusing creature, do you know that?”

 

 “I don’t consider my day complete till at least one person tells me that.”

 

 He studied her, his face unreadable. “Tell me about this man.”

 

 “What do you want to know?” Shaun jumped off when they reached the second floor.

 

 “Who is he?”

 

 “He’s Nic,” Shaun said over her shoulder as she led Grey to a door that read 2D with the D hanging upside down. She was unfazed with the loud bass booming through the door.

 

 “Just Nic?”

 

 “Well, I guess he had a last name at one point… but when I first met him he didn’t remember. Quite frankly, no one knew who he was here.” Shaun rapped out an uneven tempo on the door.

 

 “How could he forget what his last name is?”

 

“Ah, now that’s entitled under a different question. A question that you haven’t asked.”

 

Grey thought about it for a minute, his blue eyes watching for any inflection on her part. “What is he?”

 

“Wait and you shall see.” Shaun frowned and without warning pounded on the door.

 

The door swung open, slamming against the wall. Grey looked at the man standing in the doorway warily. The man’s pale blond hair stood in spikes around his face, giving him a definite Albert Einstein look. His eyes were bloodshot which almost make it impossible for Grey to notice his milky blue eyes. His skin had a Grey pallor to it and grey t-shirt hung off his frame along with blue jeans that had stains Grey didn’t even want to think about.

 

“SHAUN!” The man boomed, wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. “When did you get here?”

 

“Just now, Nic.”

 

“Oh, you did. Excellent. I think I’m understanding it.” Nic disappeared into the apartment.

 

Shaun followed him, motioning for Grey to follow.

 

“He didn’t notice me,” Grey whispered.

 

“Nic doesn’t notice a lot of things anymore. If he has some form of long term memory involving you, then, there’s a chance he’ll remember you.”

 

Grey stilled as he heard a squelching sound come from the floor exactly where he had just stepped.  He took a step back and looked down, he had just stepped onto a half eaten pizza. He slowly looked over at Shaun ‘ew’ clearly written all over his face.

 

 She smiled sympathetically at him, “Just… be careful where you step and breathe through your mouth.”

 

 “Why?”

 

 “Because the taste of the smell is better than the actual smell.”

 

 Shaun continued trying not too breathe too much less she taste the cigarette smoke that clung in the air, rotting food, and a thousand different odors that was generated by Nic’s disuse.  She glanced around the apartment, not surprised by old, yellowing newspaper clippings plastered around the walls and the ceiling.

 

 Her eye’s drifted shut since the pound of the bass began to sound more like the own beating of her heart.

 

 “I’ve never seen/Such an opening/I’ve never had/Such a plan that turned out right/It’s not right/I’m losing pride/You steal what is real from me…”  Shaun’s body yearned to start dancing to the familiar song’s urgency of the drums. She watched Nic testing to see if there was any recognition from him. But just like all the other times she had visited him, he was pulling at his blond hair, walking in circles, and muttering to himself.

 

“You try to make me break/I’ll take your pride…”

 

She wasn’t sure whether to shake him or scream and cry at him.

 

Grey touched her shoulder bringing her out of her reverie. “So, what is he talking about?”

 

Shaun tuned in to what Nic was talking about.

 

“It makes sense. It’s the perfect sense. Or is it cents. Dollars. Money. Was it for the money? Yes… the money. No, no, no. Fishies don’t care for money. What do they care for?”

 

“He’s lost.”

 

“Lost?”

 

“He gets like that sometimes. Here, I can explain.” Shaun led him into the kitchen.

 

“Take it all away, take it all away/Take it out of sight/You wonder why I’m broken/Take it all away, take it all away/Take it out of sight/You wonder why I have to lie…” The words slowly disappeared into the background when Shaun closed the kitchen door.

 

Shaun turned on the facet and filled it up halfway. She motioned at the water, “This is the world around us.” She grabbed a large glass from the cupboard above the sink and stuck it in the water. “When we go through life we leave behind impressions or ripples. Usually we sometimes get a ‘bad’ feeling around areas of strong ripples. But we just push it from our mind and continue on.” Shaun then grabbed a small glass and placed it in the water till water slowly streamed in, “This is Nic. All this stuff around him, he sees. All the ripples, he can see them and experience them, too, if they’re the right kind.”

 

Curious, Grey placed his hand on hers and pushed the glass till it touched the button of the sink.

 

“What happens when he’s like this?”

 

Shaun glanced at him he throat suddenly dry. “He’s gone. Not lost.” She looked back at the glass, “No one knows why but the visions destroy the mind. Bit by bit they lose part of themselves, till there’s nothing left. The bodies there, but the mind isn’t.”

 

Shaun released the glass and watched it stay there, “So, you understand what he is?”

 

“Why don’t you tell me just to make sure that I’m on the same page as you.”  Grey leaned his hip against the counter.

 

Shaun angled to face him. “Come on, Grey, this is Dweller 101. A three year old would’ve pieced it together by now.”

 

“Enlighten me.”

 

“Nic is Clairvoyant, Grey.” Shaun stated pushing her confusion away. A part of her felt like he genuinely didn’t know, but the other part of her thought that it couldn’t be possible.

 

“You care about him right?”

 

“As much as a vampire can care for someone.”

 

“Meaning that you do?”

 

Shaun glared at him, shaking her head. “You are so…”  Shaun searched her vocabulary for just the right word to use without totally insulting his intelligence.

 

“What? Suave? Sensitive? Smart?”  He leaned his torso forward with a smug smile of satisfaction.

 

“Mortal.”

 

“Is that a good thing?” He blinked in confusion.

 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Shaun beamed.

 

He smirked at her, “Stop trying to evade. Why does he mean so much to you?”

 

“Because,” Shaun tapped her fingers against the cupboard, “I’m the one that’s going to end his life.”

 

“Don’t push me/You are pushing me/Don’t push me/You are pushing me/Take it away form me/Take it all away/I’ll take your pride…” The music blasted into the kitchen but Shaun was oblivious to it as she and Grey stared at her. So many questions in his gaze, but he had no idea how to ask them.

 

“SHAUN! When did you get here?” Nic boomed from the doorway.

 

“Just got here,” Shaun said bitterness clearly in her eyes as they never left Grey’s.

 

Shaun checked the apartment making sure that Nic had adequate food in the fridge and made a mental note to call a cleaning company that she hadn’t used before to clean Nic’s place. Though, more and more of them have been warning each other about her and Nic so, it was getting harder and harder to find someone who’d actually clean the place without fainting dead away.

 

Shaun leaned against the wall outside the apartment; Gray took the spot next to her.

 

“Was this a social call or was this a matter that dealt with the negotiations?”

 

Shaun groaned, “Didn’t I cover this already. The negotiations aren’t just involving humans, Dire’s-maybe-, or vampires. It involves this,” she motioned around her, “don’t you have your eyes open?”

 

At Gray’s blank look she huffed out a breath and pushed off the wall and started pacing rubbing her hands repeatedly over her thighs. “Things aren’t just black and white. They never were in this world. Just when things I think things have started to change, they just revert back to the past. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' I hate that saying." Shaun sighed. "Do you know what’s going on, yeah, vampires are still getting hunted. Though, the Hunters are expanding out. They’re hunting Dire’s now, some of the Dwellers, and rarely humans. It’s senseless and stupid. Yet they still do it.”

 

Gray raised his eyebrows at her, “Is this a ranting?”

 

“Yes, it is.”

 

 “Why?”

 

 “Because I don’t want you to sign the compact.”

 

 “Excuse me?”

 

 “That’s not what I meant.” Shaun shook her head roughly.

 

 “Shaun,” he approached her and grasped her arms keeping her from pacing, “whatever you have to say, say it. Don’t speak in circles.”

 

She frowned at his hands, confused as to why they were there. She looked up at him, noticing how tall he was, how far he towered above her that the top of her head didn’t even reach his shoulders. It was all so achingly familiar. “What I mean is… don’t sign the compact until you come to a better understanding of this world of the Other world.”

 

“And you know the Other world inside and out?”

 

“You know that I was off the vampire’s radar for the last fifty years, right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Where do you think I’ve been?”

 

“You have been immersing yourself in the Other world.”

 

Shaun nodded, she jumped backwards and landed on the railing, “You wouldn’t believe the amount of fun they can have.”

 

Shaking his head, Grey headed for the stairs expecting her to just walk it the same way she had came up. He was stared in amazement as she stepped down and fell feet first to the ground.

 

“Think unconventional,” he muttered to himself, “and reckless.”

 

He calmly went down the stairway, “What happened to not doing anything that might cause you to meet the busy end of a stake?”

 

“Business end,” Shaun held out her arms, laughing, and spun in a circle, “besides who’s here to see me land on my feet when I walk off a two story building?”

 

Grey cleared his throat and nodded behind her.

 

Shaun turned and groaned.

 

 There standing jaw dropped to the ground (not really) was the girl Shaun had affectionately (hatefully), mentally named, “It’s the wannabe!” Shaun threw up her hands in exasperation.

 

“The… wannabe?” Grey asked slowly unsure of this new vampire Shaun meaning.

 

“Yeah, cause doesn’t she look exactly like that Buffy chick? Well, besides missing the ensemble of the high heels, huge hoop earrings and the little quips. She’s very much the silent type. Though, she seems to be going with this whole deal of since I tend to drink blood that makes me a big uber baddie.” 

 

Grey watched with interest as the girl who Shaun had named as ‘the wannabe’ fumbled getting her stake out of her jacket and, then, rushed at Shaun. Shaun, meanwhile, had her back to the girl and had been amiably speaking to him.

 

“Shouldn’t you be paying attention to the person who’s going to impale you with a stake?”

 

“Oh, that? Hmm. I can rectify that matter quite easily.” Shaun grinned at him when the wannabe ran right through her. “See, easy matter.”

 

The wannabe stumbled but quickly regained her balance. She whirled around to face Shaun, anger glittering in her eyes. Carefully, she approached Shaun. “I saw you die.”

 

“You saw wrong.” Shaun replied, scuffing her boot in the dirt. Malachi is going to be so pissed at me. Great. “That was my twin,” Shaun muttered for good measure.

 

The wannabe shook her head. “It didn’t say anything about you having a twin.”

 

“Well, you see not many people know- it? What do you mean ‘it’?” Shaun leaning forward, arms folder over her chest.

 

The girl smirked happy to have the tables turned. She was the one with the power.

 

Shaun yawned, “Fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll just go torture some poor virgins.” She started dancing in place singing off key, “Hunger hurts, and I want him so bad, oh it kills/ Cause I know I’m a mess he don’t wanna clean up/ I got to gold ‘cause these hands are too shaky to hold/ Hunter hurts, but starving works, when it costs too much to love/ And I went crazy again today, looking for a strand to climb-”

 

“WHAT ARE YOU BLABBLING ABOUT?” The wannabe shouted, “I’M THE ONE WITH THE STAKE YOU ARE NOT!”

 

“Ooooh,” Shaun golf clapped, “you go girl!” She gave the girl a thumb up.

 

Grey watched the whole exchange feeling like he needed subtitles or at the very least half a bottle of Advil.

 

Gleefully, Shaun watched the girl’s eye bulge out of her head.

 

“You are intolerable!”

 

“At least it’s better than being tolerated.”

 

“What?! That makes no sense whatsoever!”

 

“Made sense in my head.”

 

The girl opened her mouth to speak instead her body gave a small jerk before she dropped to the ground.

 

Shaun glanced to the girl on the ground then to Gray who had his hand outstretched fingers outward. A niggling sense told Shaun that he was the one that caused it.

 

Grey stiffened at the look on her face mistaking it for mild horror, “you walk through people like they’re not there and well,” he shrugged looking away, “I can knock them out.”

 

“Just like a ghost.”

 

“What?” He looked sharply at her.

 

 “That’s what you called me.”  Shaun frowned, “at least that’s what I think what you called me.”

 

 Grey raised an eyebrow in her direction.

 

 “Ever feel like you met someone before, but you just can’t remember when or how?” Shaun asked slowly walking up to him, curious if anything in his gaze would give him away.

 

 “Never.”

 

“You one of those annoying persons that remembers all the people you ever met in you life?”

 

 Grey looked at her, amusement in his eyes, “Not quite.”

 

Shaun examined the wannabe on the ground, “I suppose it isn’t that safe to be standing here chatting, isn’t it?”

 

“I believe that it isn’t especially safe since she wants to plant a stake through your chest.” He tilted his head at her, “Would a stake through your heart kill you?”

 

Shaun hopped over the girl, “Only if it remained there, but hey wood has to rot away at some point and time.”

 

Grey looked up to the sky, “As much as I would like to continue this exploration, I must leave.” He looked back at Shaun, “Another time?”

 

“Another time, then,” Shaun repeated watching him turn and walk away.

 

Shaun glanced down at the wannabe, not wanting to be there when the girl woke, she ran and launched onto the fire escape of the building across the street. Without looking down she climbed the building.

 

If she had looked down, she would’ve seen the girl watching her leaving.

 

The girl stood to her feet and rubbed at her neck. “Ouch, you didn’t have to use so much of it.”

 

Grey appeared by her side. “We agreed that you were not to show up.”

 

“It wasn’t my fault that she led you here. I was just walking around this area. If anybody erred it would be you.”

 

Grey lifted an arrogant eyebrow at her. “Just be careful from now on, we can’t afford for this one to suddenly disappear much less die.”

 

“Why not? She’s just like the other ones.”

 

“No, this one is different from the rest.” Grey watched the building where Shaun had disappeared.

 

The girl scoffed, “She’s a vampire.”

 

“Yes. She is.” Grey turned and leaned to whisper in her ear, “If I discover that you had any part in harming this vampire before any decision is made; I will personally see to your destruction.”

 

She whipped her head back to look at him. She studied him; his voice had been so cold promising death; his face blank, he could’ve been telling her about the weather.

 

The girl took a step back and bowed her head in acknowledgement. When she looked up he was no longer there.

Author's Note

Pic is of the wannabe!!!

Reviews

[Jocelyn Elizabeth]

I love how Grey is just kind of trailing along like a lost puppy. It's so cute. Shaun is definately whereing th pants in the relationship. Haha. I have to go to work soon and pull a twelve hour, so I have to make this review snappy.

"Shaun took a left down another empty street, though this one was filled old, decaying wood two story apartments"

Shaun took a turn down an abandoned street. Vacant apartments flanked the road like hollow wooden shacks to house the homeless.

""So, us going to see this man and everything else� it was all just something you came up with off the top of your head which you just go along with." This sentence confused me because I had no recollection of them going to see a man. I thought they were just wandering around for fun. You should say at the beginning, "You need to meet someone before you can even begin to understand." Or something along those lines.

"His skin had a Grey pallor to it and grey t-shirt hung off his frame along with blue jeans that had stains Grey didn't even want to think about." You use Grey's name to describe the pallor of his skin. Haha. Maybe you can just say, "...his skin was ashen, and his soiled t-shirt hung off his frame like an old potato sack..."

"Just when things I think things have started to change, they just revert back to the past." Repitition is okay in dialogue, but this doesn't make sense. I think you started a thought and then decided to change the wording and forgot to delete it. I'm just as guilty.

""What I mean is� don't sign the compact until you come to a better understanding of this world of the Other world." By the second "of" I think you meant "or".

ACK!!! What a HORRIBLE ENDING!! A good... but very leave-you-wanting-more sort of ending. Ugh... I must read a little more... but I also must get to work. Read now, review later. How does that sound? Mmkey.