Nateline and Magena

Based on a fever dream I had. Name pronunciation: Nateline: Nate-eh-leen [like Natalie but with a long A vowel] Magena: Muh-jee-nah Fahey: Far-hey

Nateline and Magena were both vampires of sorts. Vampire was probably the closest word to describe them, as they drank the blood of their victims and avoided direct sunlight, but there were many differences between this race and the typical vampire race one thinks of.

 

Nateline and Magena lived in a large hive made from different bits of material patched together with wire in the back of a deserted playground. Planks of wood, scraps of metal, empty cans and bottles all fitted together in a patchwork collage to create their home.

The only entrances were, of course, available from the inside, as they had built the hive around them; so to exit they simply removed a plank of wood or sheet of metal and only went out one at a time so they wouldn't get stuck out of their own hive.

However, as time went on, Nateline and Magena saw fewer and fewer of their own kind, and soon came to the conclusion that they were the only two left in this part of the world. But this was okay for them. They had each other's love and company and they were content with just that.

 

Along the walls they had shelves, beds and more shelves of various lengths and breadths to put their belongings on. There wasn't much in the centre as they didn't walk, but floated, so there was no need for a staircase or anything like that. If they wanted to get to the bottom, they would float down.

Although direct sunlight burnt their delicate skin, they needed vitamin D to survive. So they built the hive with gradual light and darkness; being pitch-black at the bottom and having diluted amounts of light near the top as the hive was shaped in a sort of cone.

 

The bottom of the hive, where no light entered or escaped, was rather small. This was where they went to relax or put their most important and precious items they wanted to keep secret. Of course, there were no secrets between them, each of them having perfect night vision, but in case a wandering person came in where they shouldn't be those possessions were kept safe.

Possibly the most important possessions were two polished white eggs: one with orange markings and the other with purple. Some years ago, at the time of the brooding, they had created the eggs. Reproduction did not require two members. A vampire could create the egg out of its own body, so long as it had included all the necessary genetic material.

Nateline and Magena had decided to create them together, however, and included both of their genetic material in the eggs. The orange was Magena's, and the purple was Nateline's.

Although, even if somebody did come into the secret place, accidental or not, they wouldn't be able to get down there easily. A trap door guarded the room, and about a metre or so above the door was where the darkness started, so an ordinary person would not be able to see where and how to open the door.

 

They did have pest control problems, however. Three of the children from the village had discovered their hive some months ago and had taken a habit of poking around, looking for the entrance.

These children were very persistent, and although the hive was about three metres high, one day they had managed to climb to the top and pry open a small section of the hive and jump in. Little did they know of the floorless insides of the hive, and so they plunged to the bottom with a thud.

 

Nateline and Magena had been sleeping and were awoken with a start when they heard the thud. They both looked at each other worriedly as they saw the stream of light pouring through, just centimetres away from burning their bodies to a crisp.

All vampires had precautions for sunlight. Heavy clothing and broad-brimmed hats were a necessity, and Nateline and Magena possessed quite a few sets. They both applied them and Nateline went to the top to fix the hole whilst Magena went down to inspect the intruders.

 

Magena proceeded cautiously, hoping these intruders weren't poachers, or something of the like. When she saw they were just children, however, although she felt relieved, she was quite angry. Didn't they know better than to go prodding around in a deserted playground? Their parents surely would have warned them not to venture here, so that meant that these children were disobedient and far too curious. She didn't like them immediately.

 

The children cried for help, frightened because they couldn't see. Magena hovered above them, pondering what she should do. She decided to call for silence, and they complied.

She opened a small exit which led to a basement of sorts and one by one she carried them and dumped them out of it. She then followed and sealed the exit behind her.

The basement was very dark, but not as dark as the bottom of the hive. The bottom actually went completely underground, but the basement was only partially so.

She stuck to the ceiling, watching them shiver with fear and excitement. The blonde boy, the leader, stood up.

'Stinkin' vampire!' he called, drawing a wooden sword. 'Show yourself! I know you're in here!'

'No, don't!' the girl in pink hissed. She obviously had feelings for the boy and clung to his arm.

'I have to,' he responded dutifully. 'We have to protect our families.'

At this Magena scoffed. It echoed around the room and she watched the group huddle close together and look around. She and Nateline were minding their own business and living off the animals that strayed near their hive, unlike a few others of her kind.

'What makes you think you can take them on?' another boy with brown, short hair challenged. 'I knew this was a bad idea. You've overdone this whole thing.'

'It's better that we die trying than let them take our whole village.' The blonde replied.

'Your village!' Magena said angrily. 'What makes you think we'd want your village?'

'The same reason why every other vampire wants it! You want to eat us!' the blonde boy said. He was braver than Magena had suspected.

'In case you haven't noticed, we don't want your village. We haven't gone anywhere near it. You can't just assume every vampire wants to eat people just because a few do.' She replied.

The brown haired boy mustered the courage to step forward. 'We know. Fahey here just wants some excitement.' He said. He wrung his hands together, as if nervous. 'We're sorry we intruded, that wasn't what we were trying to do. We just kind of wanted to see what you looked like, see what you were doing, and then run away before you noticed us. But Fahey got too excited, started saying things about how we had to protect the village. Then he opened the top of your house thing, and we fell through.'

Magena furrowed her brow and didn't respond for a brief period of time. She knew not to trust people, that the only one she could trust was Nateline, but would she show herself to these children? Maybe just to scare them off.

'Magena?' she heard Nateline call from the hive. 'Where are you?'

'I'm in here,' she responded.

'Magena, huh?' the blonde - Fahey - said. 'So that's what they call you.'

The tone of his voice made her angry. She went over to the other end of the basement, the end that gradually climbed up, and opened up an exit. Soft light drifted through, but it was not harsh enough to burn her. It was light enough to see, so she went behind them, bared her fangs and let out an ear-splitting growl that sent them all running out. Once they were gone she slammed the exit shut and sealed it up stronger than before. Then she went back to Nateline who greeted her with an embrace, and both of them fell asleep curled up on one of the shelves near the bottom.

 

A few weeks had passed since that incident. Both of them had reinforced the hive and there had been no sign of the children since. Life continued as normal, but with a faint paranoia lingering about that they would return. Or worse, that they would alert stronger people who would come looking for them. Both of them checked the eggs day and night, sometimes even sleeping in the bottom of the hive to feel safer about them.

And one day, the children returned.

The girl in pink had made the mistake of raising the topic in casual conversation, and in doing so had triggered something inside of Fahey that made him boil with anger. Magena had humiliated him when she had scared him out, and he was seeking revenge this time with a real weapon: a kitchen knife. Even though the others wanted to be no part of it they came along to try and dissuade him from his intentions, but once he had reached the top of the hive again they began to lose hope and went down and around to the basement to try and warn the vampires.

'Magena!' they called. 'Magena, please, you have to listen!'

But the incoherent sound of their voices and their fists banging on the walls only irritated Magena and Nateline.

Nateline was the first to react. As soon as she floated over to tell them to go away, Fahey had dislodged a plank of wood which collapsed right on top of her head and brought her down to the very bottom where she broke through the trap door. Through bleary eyes she saw the eggs beside her and realised what had happened. Quickly she shoved the wood off her and inspected the eggs. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw they were okay and flew over to Magena to give them to her. She had handed over the purple and was about to give her the orange when Fahey jumped down on top of her and knocked the egg out of her hand. Magena let out a scream as her egg and Nateline landed heavily on the bottom. She carefully put Nateline's egg on a secure shelf and flew down to pry Fahey off Nateline, who was blindly stabbing in the dark. She could hear Nateline hissing and yelling as she tried to get him off herself, but he finally got the knife to her heart and she stopped writhing. Magena hesitated for a minute, horrified, before letting out a long string of insults and threats in a high-pitched scream which made Fahey's ears splinter and he contorted as he tried to block the noises out.

She grabbed him roughly and punched him once, twice, three times to the face, then threw him into the basement, which had recently been converted into an incinerator, and flipped a switch.

 

Nateline was still alive, but barely. Magena's egg, however, did not survive that easily and had splattered on the floor. The sight of it made Magena want to throw up in pain and horror. She forced herself not to look at it as she pulled Nateline up to one of the bed shelves. It was a long plank which led to a sort of cave inside the wall of the hive.

Nateline's breathing was laboured, and her eyes were glassy. Magena tried not to sob as tears streamed in buckets down her cheeks. She searched for the wound and found it directly on Nateline's heart, which she pressed her hands over in vain.

'Nateline,' she said, her voice breaking into a sob. 'Come on, Nateline, we can fix you.' She stood to remove a long sheet of metal to get her something to eat, but as soon as she removed it sunlight smacked her in the face and she hissed as she knelt down and slammed it shut.

'Magena…' Nateline called.

'No, it's fine, now we just need to get you something to eat, and you'll be alright, that's all,' she said, fiddling with the metal again, and repeating exactly what she had done before. The only way these vampires could die was to bleed out all the blood they had in them. They could live without drinking, but if all the blood inside them was drained, they died.

'Magena, listen.' Nateline said, reaching out for her. Magena turned to look at her, face twisted with pain.

'What?' she asked in a hushed whisper. Her hands shook as she took Nateline's in hers.

'Don't do it, love. I can't be saved.' She said.

'Yes you can. You can, you can. Don't say that!' Magena sobbed and held a hand to Nateline's face tenderly.

'No. He pierced my heart. I only have a few minutes before I drain. Feeding me would only prolong the inevitable.' She closed her eyes against Magena's hand and then opened them again. 'The egg…' she tried to turn her head, searching for it, but Magena stopped her and flew up to the shelf above where she had put it and brought it down for her.

'It's safe.' She responded.

Nateline was relieved to hear that at least. But the awful memory of Magena's egg surfaced and she held Magena's hand.

'I'm sorry... About your egg,' she said. Her words slurred together. 'I tried to s-save it, but-'

'No, no, it's alright, it's alright,' Magena said. Even though she was devastated about it, Nateline was more important to her. 'It wasn't your fault.'

Nateline closed her eyes again, as if keeping them open took a lot of effort. Her chest rose and fell unevenly, and she was breathing harder than before.

'Thank you, Magena,' she said in a hoarse whisper. 'Thank you f-for everything, my sunbeam.' And with that she let out a sigh, but her chest did not rise again.

Magena just looked at her for a few minutes, hoping with every inch of her that she was just breathing undetectably, but she could not contain herself. She let out a heart-wrenching wail and gripped Nateline close to her. She cried into her hair and stroked it softly in an effort to try and bring her back.

'No,' she moaned. 'Don't do this to me.'

The children outside had heard the wail, and had given up on trying to get through from the basement. So they climbed to the top, but instead of falling through like they had before, they stepped onto the nearest shelf and worked their way down. They saw Magena with her back to them rocking back and forth and moaning quietly, but they did not see what she was hunched over.

It was the brown-haired boy that stepped forward along the long plank that connected the children to Magena and to Nateline's corpse.

'Magena,' he said softly. 'Magena, are you alright?'

'Get out of here,' she growled between gritted teeth.

The girl in pink tugged at his shirt but he persisted. 'Magena, we can help you.'

She flew around and faced them with a tear and fury-stricken face.

'You can't help me!' she screamed.

'But if we just"'

'Go, now!'

And with that they ran out, frightened to death, all the way back to the village; forgetting about Fahey entirely. But it didn't matter, because they had guessed what had happened even if they didn’t know the details, and nobody would ever go near that deserted playground again.

 

Magena decided she had to give Nateline a proper burial. She couldn't just leave her to rot in the bed shelf, after all, and although it pained her she wore her sun-proof clothes and brought Nateline covered in a blanket to a sunny spot in the playground. The sun was setting, the last and most beautiful light of the day. She knelt beside her and hugged her dead body one last time before removing the blanket and letting her burn to ashes. It was the standard form of a funeral for vampires, and once she was gone she returned to the hive and sealed herself in with no way of entering from the outside.

She sat down on the bed and cradled Nateline's egg in her arms. This was her sole possession and responsibility now, and she would make sure no harm would ever come to it.

Author's Note

I'm happy to have anything critiqued.