Burning

Chapter 1

Two months had passed since Valdis had been revived; currently she was sitting on the roof of her apartment building and staring up at the galaxy. It was strange how at one time she just enjoyed doing this to pass the time as she waited for her father... now it was because she couldn't sleep without feeling as if she were burning. Sure she slept during the day, or used to, but ever since Master Vampire had been destroyed, ever since she'd been brought back; she felt as if a constant threat was lurking in every shadow and it sent fear shooting through her every time she saw one. That's right, a vampire, master of the night, was scared of a few shadows like a child and that only frustrated her that her mind was thinking on such an irrational fear. Valdis didn't like the change in her fears or the fact that they only increased every time she closed her eyes, even if it was to just blink; she was also a bit worried about the fact she was starting to think she was seeing people she knew to be dead, not that she would tell the others that.

            A chill spread across the roof for a moment, causing her to shiver, and footsteps slowly approached her. "Valdis..."

            The voice didn't belong to Adam or Henry, who liked to visit often, it didn't even belong to one of her other three friends, but she felt a hint of familiarity to it. "Who are you?"

            The figure stopped walking. "Don't you remember your own half brother?"

            "Ingeras?" She turned, believing there was someone tricking her, but sure enough Ingeras stood a few feet away looking like he had at thirty-seven. "Am I dead?"

            "No." He shook his head and joined her. "But you do have something to do with this."

            "Care to explain what 'this' is?" She asked, still not completely convinced what she was seeing was true. "The dead can't come back from beyond the grave."

            Ingeras sighed and held out a hand to help her stand up, which she took hesitantly. "It would be easier if I showed you, considering I'm not even sure of what happened entirely, perhaps we can figure it out together."

            She followed him slowly across the roof and down the stairs until they reached her apartment. "Should I grab anything?"

            "Some weapons may be a good idea." He said before leaning against the wall. "I shall wait out here... keep a watch for any unfriendly attention."

            "Right..." Valdis agreed, not knowing whom he meant by 'unfriendly' and hoping Henry or Adam didn't stop by and get jumped by Ingeras. "I'll uh, just be a minute."

            She opened the door and closed it quickly before rushing to her room and grabbing her belt that contained her daggers. She was about to run back out again when she stopped and, not knowing how long they'd be gone, wrote a note incase anyone stopped by. She didn't say where she was going, just that it was with a friend. Valdis left the note where her friends would see it before hesitating again, a bad feeling was coming over her again and she glanced around the room nervously, swearing she saw a shadow move and a set of black eyes glinting in the starlight. Seeing nothing else to prove what she'd seen; she walked back out of her apartment to meet Ingeras, who was staring at the wall with a sad look on his face.

            "Something wrong?"

            "Hm?" He blinked and looked at her before shaking his head. "No, just... thinking."

            "About what?"

            "How all of this began, just because of our father's need to protect his kingdom." He sighed. "Do you know what war has done to me? I was so young when I experienced it... Monsters haunted my dreams until the day I died, perhaps that is why my son tried killing you... perhaps if I had tried harder to raise him better, not told him about the war, he wouldn't have harmed you or our father."

            "Can't change that, don't beat yourself up over it." She replied, not wanting to go back to her memories of the dungeon. "You wanted to show me something, let's go I don't have all night."

            "Right." Ingeras led her down the flights of stairs and across the street where he stopped. "Fly us to the bridge at the Hudson River."

            "What?" She arched an eyebrow.

            "You'll see why."

            Valdis grabbed him and evaporated into a swarm of bats, getting to the Hudson River in half the time it would have taken to walk, before returning to human form and looking around. "I don't see what I'm looking for."

            Ingeras walked over to the bridge and motioned for her to follow him until a darker than normal shadow came into view that was hidden half way under the bridge. He seemed to think twice about going closer to it but after making sure no one was watching them went closer until he disappeared. Valdis jumped in a bit of shock and gave the apparent portal a weary look, refusing to move closer.

            Her half brother reappeared a few seconds later perfectly fine and walked back over to her. "Follow me, please, you can trust me."

            "Where does it go?" She questioned, not liking the situation.

            "Somewhere that you need to see..." He pulled her forward gently, though still firmly. "You can trust me, I only want to help, to allow things to go back to normal... So tell me, are you ready to see this for yourself?"

            "Let's go." She replied after a moment, following him through the void.