Star Child

Chapter XVIII: Sunrise

The gardens around Du Ciel Chateau were a labyrinthine stretch of flowers and other flora, mainly hedges and bushes, with a few scattered trees. As Theo ran after the thief, his feet ached in complaint. He had been running for about fifteen minutes when he tripped over a small branch and collapsed to the ground. As he hit the ground, a loud SNAP took his focus from the chase.

"Fuck!" He growled uncharacteristically, his eyes searching his body for the source of the snap. At first, he suspected he broke something, but then he realized; Hey, I probably would've felt it. Of course, he knew what a broken bone felt like, as he had broken his arm before. The memory was fleeting, because it was about at the point when he was very young.

He remembered being outside with his mother and sister, having a picnic in their garden, when he was climbing a tree. He was only about six or so at this point. His mother had warned him about falling, but he did it anyway. When he had inevitably fallen, his mother had comforted him as he cried furiously, and did her best to comfort him. The memory faded after this, but the events shortly before and after the fall were stuck in his mind.

Behind him, light footsteps hit the trimmed, grassy ground with a methodical stance. Theo hid himself behind a bush with bright, nearly glowing red roses. The sky was beginning to lighten with the rising sun, juxtaposing the roses with the sky so that they seemed to melt into the same colors.

Turning the corner was not a soldier or his mother, but the prince of the vampires himself, Soleil Du Ciel. Was he following him? What a weirdo.

"POTION BOY?!" Called the prince; in his hand was a roll of bandages, which he didn't seem to notice. Cringing at the nickname, Theo kept his eyes transfixed on the vampire through the bushes. As the sun rose, it reflected its red and pink beams like a mirror to a rose, and Soleil glowed under the light.

He called once more for the son of the witch, and then turned to leave. Against his better judgment, Theo stepped out from the bushes and into the sunlight. The other boy seemed relieved for a moment, but he hid it quickly as he caught up.

"Why are you following me?" Theo asked out of both frustration and confusion.

"Well," the Vampire prince shifted nervously, not expecting such an outburst of emotion. "I wanted to help you retrieve your... supplies?" He sounded unsure of whether that was the right word or not, which ticked Theo off even more. As the sun rose, it crept slowly across both boys' faces.

"I don't need help from you." Theo turned around and began to walk briskly toward the direction. Behind him, the trotting footsteps of the vampire prince had quickly caught up. Theo wasn't sure why he was being so harsh with the vampire boy, but it just seemed to come out. There was some sort of feeling that Nicolas was getting when he saw the boy...

"Look," explained the vampire prince. "I understand that you're upset for being captured, and all, but you have to understand; my mother is very overprotective over everything. She doesn't want anything happening after she had lost one of the higher guards to some crazed killers who burned him alive. I just... felt like I should make it up to you somehow. I mean, you were trapped in a sapphire." Theo shuddered at the comatose memory he had of it. Well, it wasn't really a memory, it was more like a lucid dream, where he knew where he was but couldn't wake up.

He sighed.

"Fine," Theo responded, moving his faded, painted arm down to his pocket to get his wand. Unfortunately, it was then that he remembered the loud CRACKING sound that he had heard before. As he removed the remnants of the wand from his pocket, he closed his eyes in frustration and felt the darkness of the shadows created by the rising sun. His frustration with himself had been growing larger lately.