Blood Vengeance [COMPLETED]

Chapter Forty-Five - London's Burning

Selene stared at her hands, turning them over and over, looking at the way the light glistened on her skin, amazed by the silver tint to it. Her nails shone as though they had been manicured and painted with silver polish, and her face had a perfection to it that it had never had in her human years. It was perfectly symmetrical, her lashes long, framing eyes that shone with an almost blinding silver glimmer.

The hair, though, was the greatest change. Selene had always prided herself on her dark locks, which had differentiated her from the red-haired dancers at Stanley Hall. They made her unique: they allowed the audience to single her out, to watch her move over the stage.

She fingered the long silver strands, letting them fall through her fingers.

This hair, this skin, this face, she thought as she touched her cheeks, is now immortal.

Nothing can kill me now.

Nothing.

But I am indebted to these witches: I cannot leave them. They are now my life; my life is here, because Hector tried to save it. I have been nothing but a pawn to different people throughout my whole life...can I never control it myself?

She began to weep, and mercurial tears seeped from her eyes, staining her skin with silver rivers.

She imagined it was night, but there was no sense of the hours of hte day in this place, and nowhere to sleep. But she found she was not tired; seemingly the witches had no need of sleep.

I am pure.

I am purified.

I am a virgin.

Selene chanted the words over and over to herself.

I cannot love a human man.

But the Blood Rebel is not human.

She paused and bit down on her lip, wiping the tears away, smearing the silver liquid over her hands.

A hand fell on her shoulder and clasped it with strong fingers. "Are you ready?"

She turned to face Melandrose, whose features showed compassion and understanding.

"The transition is difficult," she whispered, leaning towards Selene. "I remember. I was human too, once." She kissed Selene and wiped the remaining wetness from her eyelashes.

"Ready for what?" asked Selene.

"Ready to see the Blood Rebel. To help him take Central Control."

Selene gasped. Melandrose was really offering a chance to go to Xander, to see him, to touch him. Selene's heart leapt at the thought, if indeed there was still a heart which pumped a silver blood through her perfect form.

"Yes. I want to see him," said Selene, sniffling and wiping her nose in what she imagined was a very mortal gesture. Melandrose raised an eyebrow in disapproval.

"You must learn to inhabit your immortal form like an immortal, Selene. No sniffling. You imagine it: you have no need to do so."

"Really?"

Melandrose smiled. "Really. Your body no longer functions as a human body. You are perfect."

"Do we eat?" asked Selene, suddenly realising she had felt no bodily urges whatsoever since her purification.

"Only if you want to. There is no need to eat to live. Now," she said, standing up straighter and raising Selene up from her seated position, "are you ready?"

"Yes." She tilted her head in a gentle nod.

"Take my hand," she said, clasping Selene's tight and inviting the three ugly hags to join them with her other hand, beckoning them over. "Now, you must think only of him. Focus, as you did to expel the Vampires."