Lilium

VII

I pulled my hair behind my ear as the wind continued to blow harshly. I was waiting for Vesper in the snowy garden. It was still very nerve racking to be outside alone, but I trusted that I would be okay thanks to Vesper and Shiva. The entire time I've been living with them they'd never really done much to purposely hurt me. I won't mention what happened with Shiva that one night. It was his bloodlust that got to him.

I was going to talk to Vesper about my nightmare the other day like Shiva had suggested. I had been waiting for a while and Vesper had been yet to show. I sighed and put my head down as I stood up. He wasn't coming.

I began walking back towards the mansion when I heard some rustling from the bushes. My heart leaped in my chest as fear shot through me. I turned towards the noise, nervously holding my hands together in front of my chest. "Vesper?" I whispered shakily.

Looking all around me, I took a tiny step forward. I trembled, both from the cold and my fear. I carefully made my way over to the bushes. I peeked through them. I gasped as I saw the beautiful, wintery forest.

However, my breath ceased entirely when a brown eye surrounded by black fur blocked my view. I stumbled back away from the hedges. "Evangeline!!" I heard an angry yell from behind me. I turned around and was met with the sight of Vesper. He quickly appeared in front of me and I jumped. "What are you doing?!" He growled, attaching his hand onto my arm.

I looked from him to the bushes again. "But-" my voice got caught in my throat as I stared at the snow covered hedges. "I thought I saw.." I trailed off. Did I really just imagine that? I gazed back up at Vesper to see him frowning at me. "I'm sorry," I mumbled guiltily.

He dragged me back towards the garden. It wasn't rough or mean, he was being gentle with me. He stopped near the entrance arch and looked down at me with a sharp glare. I would've flinched if I wasn't so used to him already. He released his grip on me and put his hand on his hip, turning his head away from me. "What did you need?" He grumbled.

My expression softened as I remembered what I called him here for. I fiddled with the sleeves of my dress as I looked down. "Well, Shiva told me to go to you about this, so here I am." I let out a nervous chuckle and glanced up at him. He was watching me expectantly. I swallowed. "I had a nightmare," I said. He narrowed his eyes back into a frightening glare. I could tell he was about to yell at me. "But it wasn't normal!!" I quickly exclaimed. "Remember when I hit my head and I told you I felt like I saw something that hadn't happened yet? What I saw, it happened," I stated. It was all so very confusing to me.

He clicked his tongue. "I know," he replied. My eyes widened at his response. I muttered out a "what" and he sighed. "I know. I had a feeling. Let me guess, Shiva sent you to me so I could help you with these visions?" He inquired knowingly.

I gaped at him. He knew then. Did he use his power? I soon nodded to his question. "Yes, he did. Can you help me?" I asked hopefully.

He simply stared at me in silence for a moment. "I don't see why I should. You've only had, what, one vision so far? Tell me, what was it that you saw? Was there anything useful? Did it scare you? Excite you? What was it?" He took a few steps closer to me every few questions.

In surprise, I stumbled back until my back made contact with the cold metal of the archway. Vesper was directly in front of me, awaiting my answer. "No. No, it wasn't- it wasn't useful," I quickly answered. My breathing picked up as I started to grow lightheaded. "Vesper," I whispered.

He huffed. "What? Are you scared?" He growled out, taking another step closer. My eyes fluttered shut as dizziness took over me. I reached out for something to grab as I lost feeling in my body. Before I could fall to the ground, I felt arms capture my body.

I took a deep breath as I woke up. I sat up and looked around. Wait, where was I? All I could see was black. As fear struck through me I hastily got to my feet. "Hello?!" I called out. The only response was the echo of my voice.

I took a few steps as I looked around. The pitch black ground rippled beneath me as if I was walking on the thickest ink. I observed around me once more.

All of a sudden, I could hear muffled voices. I started running towards them. I saw a light and I skidded to a halt in front of it. It was as if I was looking through a mirror.

Yet what I saw wasn't myself; I saw three men. One of them was glaring at the other two. However, they seemed unfazed by his angry look. "You're in dangerous lands, vampires. Leave! Now! You're not welcome here!" He demanded with a growl. His attitude almost reminded me of Vesper.

A smirk fell onto the blue eyed man's lips. "Altair, can't friends visit friends?" He hummed. His voice was sweet like honey, but somehow it sounded scary- threatening.

"Altair" didn't falter. "We were never friends. All we'll ever be is enemies. Now leave!" He shouted, baring what looked to be fangs. However, they were different than any vampire fangs I've seen. Was he not a vampire then?

At the sound of his outburst, the second male narrowed his eyes at him. His eyes... they were a hypnotizing purple. I couldn't pull my gaze away from them. I knew them. He spoke, but I didn't hear a sound. And when he was done, he made eye contact with me.

I gasped as I realized where I'd seen those eyes before. Flashes of that night whipped through my mind. It was him. The one who grazed his fangs on my neck. And he was staring right at me. He started to walk towards me and I stumbled backwards. It felt like there was some force pushing me towards him and I was fighting against it. It was then I realized that I wasn't moving at all. It felt like an illusion. All the while I couldn't tear my eyes away from his.

I screamed when he was right in front of me and he grabbed onto me. I struggled to try to get out of his grip. It seemed futile. He slowly leaned down towards my neck and I continued trying to get him off. I heard him hiss as he opened his mouth. I clenched my eyes shut as I whimpered. What was happening!?