In The Eyes Of Another: Resurrection

Chapter 1: Cellar Light~

"Where are we?" Dana shielded herself from the bright light hanging on two thin wires above us, blinking. Off. On. Off. Then back on again. I looked around and guessed we were in some sort of cellar. My vision was restricted to the area the bright, blinking light shone upon. I could barely see anything outside it except from a faint indication of four walls and a small door.

"No idea, but I'm willing to bet that we're someplace dangerous," I replied, holding her close.

"Well, whatever you were betting that on, you got it," an icy voice echoed against the cold concrete walls. It seemed somewhat familiar.

I whipped his head around to see a barely visible outline of someone just outside our 'spotlight'.

"Show yourself!" I yelled, voice rattling against the cold grey stone.

"Temper, temper," the icy voice tutted as a hooded figure emerged from the shadows. "Hello, Kaine." The figure pulled its hood back.

No, not her.

~~~

"It can't be you! You're dead!" Kaine stared at her, eyes filled with fear and desperation. I wasn't even sure if he was the Kaine I knew anymore.

"What's wrong? Who is she?" I urged, looking into his eyes. I winced at the filthy, artificial light hitting my skin.

He pushed me behind him, "No, Dana. Don't get involved. I don't want you hurt."

"Oh, come on!" I protested in disbelief, ignoring the bright light burning me. "I can help; I just have to stay out of this light."

I started backing away from the harsh, white circle when Kaine grabbed my arm.

"Stop: it's not safe out of the light," he said, eyes locked on the woman.

"You're seriously saying that to me?" I stared at him in shock.

"You're only safe where I can see you. That's what I mean, Dana. I can't see you out of the light, the darkness will drown you." He finally looked at me.

I gasped. "Kaine, your eyes..." I turned to the woman, the first time looking her in the face, "What have you-"

I stopped. The woman's eyes, they were like Kaine's - no, they were Kaine's. They'd swapped.

"Who are you?" I asked her warily.

"Who am I?" she responded in a sharp, cutting voice. "Kaine should be able to tell you that." She looked at him with an almost hypnotic look on her face.

"Tell her," she said, almost conversationally.

Kaine turned his face slightly away from me and tightly relented. "She's my mother."

~~~

"Your mother?" Dana stared at me.

"Yes, she's my mother, OK?" I said, flinging my arms up.

"Why have your eyes swapped? Why are you supposed to be dead?" she asked my mother.

"It's a little process called 'Substitute'. In this case we have exchanged eyes, but there are other types of substitution. Like blood subs, face subs, hair subs , power, stamina, energy, et cetera. The eye substitute lets me see how Kaine sees things as," she explained, "To him, you are beauty and currently the most important thing in his life, but then you already knew that. He sees me as dead - worse than dead. Speaking of which, why did Kaine think I was dead? Hmm, I don't know. Care to share, Kaine, darling?"

"You know why," I said. "We burned you! The Omegas and I. I saw you with my own eyes. I heard your shrieking laughter for what I thought was the last time. I saw the icy look in your eyes fade. Now I know why you were laughing; it wasn't over for you. Nothing ever is."

"You wanna know how I survived, Sweetie?" she glared at me knowingly.

"Don't call me that, Mother," I spat the word out as if it was infected. She was.

She ignored me and continued, "Sulfrite; a resurrection spell, Dana. I wouldn't expect you - a Vampire - to know anything about that. Unless, of course, Kaine told you."

"So you're the same as Kaine, then?" Dana asked, "A--"

"Sorceress, yes, I am, but far more advanced than him," she interrupted. "Well. I was. I don't know about now - he reckons himself to be pretty powerful, but somewhere in his mind he knows he's no match for me." She chuckled darkly.

"Sorry, I forgot to ask earlier, but what's your name?" Dana asked. "I mean, you know mine somehow, but I don't know yours."

"My name? I can't tell you that yet. But I'll give you a relevant name. It's Zylaar. Cross."

It hit Dana like a ton of bricks. I could feel it.

"Zy-Zylaar Cross?" Dana stuttered. "But that's--" Her voice caught in her throat.

His mother stopped her - she knew. Of course she knew. She always knew everything I knew and was always one step ahead. More like ten steps, actually. "Your sister's name, is it not?" My mother said in what she would describe as a helpful manner.

Dana nodded, too scared to speak.

"Yes, she was a very beautiful, very kind girl. Everyone loved her, especially her little sister." She cocked her head in scrutiny and mock sympathy. "Poor Dana. Left alone."

"Shut up," Dana whispered.

"With no one."

"Shut up," Dana said more forcefully, with an edge of a growl.

The revived Sorceress glared, smiling at Dana. "No one there for her." The smile widened with every wrench if the dial. "Poor little Dana." Until it reached a manic grin. "Unloved, abandoned, and alone."

"I said SHUT UP!" Dana roared, her ebony black hair flew up, her fists clenched. And her eye, the eye that was always hidden behind hair that stuck to her like cement, it was uncovered.

I drew in a sharp breath through my teeth.

"Dana," I whispered, staring at her eye. Except...

There was no eye.