Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Five - A Fight in the Theatre

Selene went straight to the theatre. The place was mostly empty apart from stage-hands and cleaners; day-time workers preparing for the night show. These tended to be very old men, Varks, who were too old to do anything more useful than sweep floors. And the Vampires didn’t like to put young men in the same arena as young women, even if they were Varks. It led to trouble. 

On the stage there was a grand piano, and Selene sat down to practise, running her hands over the keys, tickling them gently before settling into something more demanding. She rarely took time to play nowadays, as most of her waking hours were spent dancing, but today she wanted the music to take her away. She wanted something to concentrate on, other than her own thoughts. She had played for an hour, running through various classical pieces, when she heard someone come in.  She was playing a particularly dreary piece, but she stopped at the noise, letting the echo of the keys die out. 

“You could play something a little more upbeat.” Jackie’s voice came from somewhere behind where Selene sat. She walked down one of the many aisles in the circular theatre, and jumped onto the stage at the far end of the vast hall.

“You’d like that, would you?” Selene asked, her hand flitting over the piano keys, playing a jaunty tune.  But then she stopped and stood up.  “Did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Did you tell Diana?”

“Tell Diana what?”

“About Emma.”

“No.”  Jackie shrugged, lifting her open palms to Selene in a gesture of helplessness.  Something in the movement angered Selene and she pushed the piano stool from under her and moved towards Jackie.

“I know you did. Who else could it have been?”

“They don’t need to be told!” 

“But you kept saying she was a dead woman! You never gave her a chance. Did you do it to save yourself?” Selene ran at her and threw an arm round her neck, wrestling her so that they were both bent double. Their feet scuffed along the wooden boards of the stage, shuffling awkwardly. Selene wasn’t sure what she was doing, feeling Jackie's hot muscles ride against her own. Selene wasn’t in the habit of fighting with the other girls, but today she was angry, and she needed someone to blame, feeling release in the strain of her muscles as she battled Jackie's body.

“I didn’t do it, you crazy bitch! But if they hadn’t found out I would have.” Jackie's words were stilted as she breathed heavily, struggling against Selene's arms which were wrapped around her. Both girls were strong, having trained athletically since a young age, but Jackie was thinner, her lean muscles more wiry. She freed herself from Selene and threw a punch, which caught Selene’s right cheekbone. She felt her neck jerk backwards, and it merely increased her rage. She ran at Jackie, grabbing her round the waist and pushed her to the floor. Jackie writhed and kicked beneath her, and stage-dust covered their clothes in great swathes of greyness.

“Emma didn’t deserve to die!”

“Of course she did! I’ve seen so many women get much worse than what she got for the same thing. I would never have let myself get taken down with that. Not for the sake of some pregnant little fool!”  Jackie's words incensed Selene, and she kicked at her.

“You selfish...” She left the curse unuttered.

“You’re one to talk.  ‘No, I didn’t know’.”  Jackie put on a ridiculous high-pitched voice as she spoke Selene’s words. “You denied her yourself. You didn’t want to die for her either.” Selene, fuelled by shame at the reminder of her own capitulation, heaved Jackie onto her back and sat astride her.  She was heavier, so she could hold her down, if only for a short while. She put her hand round her neck and pressed it to the floor.