Dark Secrets


      Author: Aria


      Rated: UnRated



      Chapter 4
      "Serena? Serena. Wake up."
      Her eyes fluttered open and she look up into Darien's concerned face.
      "Darien?" she looked at him completely confused. "What happened?" She 
      could see the faint light of the rising sun through the fluttering 
      curtains. Everything seemed normal but she knew there was something wrong, 
      something she was forgetting.
      "I think you had another nightmare." he touched her cheek and smiled 
      warmly. "I heard you shouting and came in to find you yelling in your 
      sleep."
      She felt groggy but otherwise normal. Sitting up, Serena smiled slightly. 
      There was still something she wasn't remembering. She shook the feeling 
      away. If it was important it would come back to her.
      He searched her eyes for a moment then nodded, his eyes flitting to the 
      windows. "I have to get to work. I will see you this evening."
      "Oh, ok" she replied to his retreating back. "I'll see you later," her 
      words echoed in the room. "He must be running late," she told herself.
      She lay in the bed for a few minutes trying to get the last of the 
      drowsiness to leave her. Serena leaned to one side of the bed and tugged 
      the heavy curtains aside to let the light in. suddenly interested; she got 
      up and wandered to the window. It had been a very long time since she'd 
      seen the sun peek over the horizon.
      She stood and watched as the warm fingers of light stretched and reached 
      across the purple sky, lightening it to lavender that matched her eyes. 
      The day renewed itself, waking up the vibrant colours. Serena sighed at 
      the fresh breeze rippling through the emerald leaves of the tree outside 
      the window. She could see a brightly coloured bird wake up on its perch 
      among the branches and flit off into the now bright blue sky. Serena 
      stared at the colour for a moment. The shade was exactly that of the eyes 
      that stared back at her in the dreams.
      Serena tried to remember the dream she had that night. It must have been 
      something awful to have her calling out in her sleep. She sat down on the 
      edge of the bed and thought long and hard, but she couldn't remember 
      dreaming anything; unlike all the dreams before. She had no problems 
      remembering the vivid images they had imprinted in her mind. "Weird."
      Still, she didn't feel up to going to work. It wouldn't do any good for 
      her to go in while she was in this dazed state anyway. She's probably just 
      end up messing something up and someone would have to spend hours undoing 
      it. She walked over to the phone on the table and dialled.
      After explaining to Alan why she couldn't come in again and why he 
      couldn't come over and check up on her, she got showered and dressed ready 
      for another day in the house.
      Serena had her breakfast and wandered around the empty house for a while, 
      but the daze just wouldn't lift. She was in a very stubborn dream state 
      and there didn't seem to be a way to snap out of it.
      The frustration getting to her, Serena let out an anguished half scream 
      and headed to the room where Darien kept all of his art and sculptures in 
      a hope of distracting herself.
      She walked in and looked for a starting point. Serena let out a giggle. It 
      was like being in a museum; except here nothing was roped off and very few 
      things were kept behind glass.
      She wandered past blurry unfocussed paintings that didn't hold her 
      interest to a wall of weapons ranging from medieval to samurai. Serena 
      found herself wondering if her knew how to use them. Next were the statues 
      in the middle of the room. Several looked like Greek and Roman sculptures 
      of women and men, some were of satyrs and nymphs. They were all extremely 
      well cared for and many of them were largely undamaged. "Restored." she 
      mumbled to herself.
      Clothing hung from mannequins in various style and shapes that spanned an 
      unknown range of eras. Serena was able to pick a few out as being Regency 
      or Elizabethan, but for the most part she could only stare at their 
      splendour. Curious, she touched the fabric of one of the dresses very 
      lightly. Somehow it just made them more real to her once she did. 
      "Beautiful."
      She wandered through his collections for what seemed like hours. Each item 
      was more beautiful than the last. Darien must have one hell of a dealer to 
      get his hands on this sort of stuff. And have one hell of a bank account. 
      she mused. Serena was willing to bet that he was better stocked than some 
      museums.
      She ended her tour at the far end of the room at a display case. Inside of 
      it was some very familiar looking jewellery. Serena's eyes widened and she 
      could feel the blood abandon her face as she gazed upon them. They were 
      the same ones she had seen in her dream a few nights before. The ones that 
      were on the vanity in the bedroom.
      Awestruck, she looked at the intricate patterns and the mesmerizing glint 
      of the warm metal and she couldn't help but want to feel it against her 
      own skin. Serena took a closer look at the case. Maybe he didn't have it 
      locked. It wasn't like he ever had guests around to steal them. She looked 
      around. He wouldn't mind if she tried them on for a second. Hell, he 
      already gave her a piece, she thought as she touched the carved stone 
      hanging from her neck.
      Just in case it was locked or had an alarm, Serena thought she would check 
      it out first. No point in uselessly setting it off and having to explain 
      herself to the police. She ran her fingers around the lip of the flat of 
      the pedestal and then lightly underneath it. It was completely smooth. 
      Serena knelt down and took a look. She wasn't an expert but there didn't 
      seem to be anything there.
      Holding her breath, she lifted the case. When an alarm didn't go off and 
      the ground didn't open up and swallow her, she moved a bit faster and put 
      the glass on the floor. Her fingers couldn't wait to feel the smooth metal 
      against them. Serena scooped up the necklace first, immediately noticing 
      the weight of it. She held it up to her throat and loved the heavy, silky, 
      cool feel of it. Serena managed to close the clasp and immediately went 
      back for the earrings, bracelet and rings. In moments she was loaded down 
      with gold on just about every extremity she had. Serena found an ornate 
      mirror hanging not too far away and took a peek at herself.
      She let out a delighted giggle when she saw herself. Serena felt like a 
      little girl playing dress up and she looked like something out a 
      fairytale. The pieces all looked alike so they had to be part of a set, 
      but Serena couldn't imagine anyone wearing this much jewellery all at 
      once. It was just too much. And she couldn't take her eyes off of herself. 
      She touched the diadem, then the earrings; the necklace and so on, not 
      believing that she could be wearing anything so splendid.
      On a whim she did a silly little twirl, unfortunately all the gold weighed 
      her down somewhat and threw her off balance. Serena toppled over into the 
      arms of a suit of armour. Glad that there was no one around to witness her 
      making a fool of herself, Serena grabbed at the spear it held in an 
      attempt to pull herself up. It pulled forward before jerking to a halt and 
      sending Serena to the floor.
      She pushed the gold circlet out of her eyes when she heard a scraping 
      noise coming from the wall. A large section pushed back and slid the side 
      revealing another room.
      Mouth hung open, Serena got up to investigate. Somehow it didn't surprise 
      her that the house had a secret room. Maybe she had seen too many films 
      with spooky mansions in it, but it seemed natural.
      Sticking her head around the corner, Serena wondered what Darien could be 
      keeping in the room. He couldn't possibly have anything more valuable than 
      the things he already had on display. Not unless he had managed to procure 
      the secrets to life itself, that is. She entered and looked around. There 
      were trunks and wooden crates that were closed securely. Framed portraits 
      were stacked against the wall and draped loosely with a cloth to keep off 
      the dust. Curious, Serena lifted the corner of the dusty cloth and took a 
      look at what was hidden underneath.
      The breath froze in her lungs when she saw what was painted on the first 
      canvas. A woman that looked too much like her smiled serenely back at 
      Serena. It had to have been a coincidence. But the likeness was uncanny.
      Serena stared at the woman with her face. Her hair was pinned at her nape 
      and long tendrils curled over her shoulders to lightly dust her 
      décolletage. She winced at the way the woman's breasts were pushed up, 
      almost spilling over the low neckline. Shaking her head at what woman once 
      had to put themselves through, she moved on to the next picture.
      She was stunned to see herself plastered on canvas after canvas. The 
      styles changed both artistically and fashion wise, but the face remained 
      the same. It was her face, most often smiling, looking back at her. There 
      was several of Darien looking handsome in various styles of clothing. 
      Others were portraits of her and Darien looking very happy and very much 
      in love.
      "This is too creepy." Serena quickly put everything back where it was. She 
      looked over a pile of books and picked one up, flipping through the pages. 
      It looked like a diary of some sort. She kept it in her hand as she 
      continued to explore. She grew tired after a while and decided that she'd 
      had enough fro one day. She cleaned up her tracks as best she could and 
      walked out. A shove at the spear had the wall closing again and she shoved 
      all of the jewellery back in its place. She stumbled out into the hall and 
      realized that she was too spooked to be there right then. Maybe she could 
      do some good at work.
      Serena called a cab and left a note saying where she was and nothing more. 
      Within the hour, she was sitting at her bench with her eyes glued to a 
      microscope.
      "Serena? Serena?" she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder and looked 
      up.
      "Serena are you sure it's a good idea for you to be here?" Alan smiled at 
      her worriedly. "I've been standing here for nearly five minutes and you 
      didn't even notice."
      She blinked and nodded. "I'm fine."
      "Are you sure? You don't look very well."
      She shrugged. "I was going stir crazy at home."
      "I can imagine. A workaholic like you stuck at home all day? You must have 
      been going out of your mind."
      He said it. She was going crazy. First wild dreams, then those paintings 
      and then there was that thing that she couldn't remember.
      "Argh!" she removed the slide carelessly and cut her finger. "Dammit!" 
      Serena started to move her finger to her mouth to suck the wound but 
      stopped when she saw the blood start to bead. "Oh my god!" the sight of 
      the dark red fluid brought back the events of the previous night and they 
      came rushing back in a horrifying torrent. She could see the blood 
      dripping off of Darien's chin after he attacked the deer and she felt 
	sick.
      Alan was immediately at her side to offer support. "Serena? Are you ok?" 
      he pulled her trembling body against him when it looked like she was going 
      to fall off of the stool.
      Serena looked up at him with blank eyes. "I'll...I'll be fine." she didn't 
      think she'd ever be 'fine' again. Darien was a vampire. There was no other 
      explanation for what she saw. And it was the final link to bring 
      everything together. The way he just showed up to help her, how he ran 
      with her in his arms faster than a car could ever go, how she never saw 
      him during the day. He was a vampire! And she'd been living with him!
      Serena started to shake even more. She couldn't believe it. What did all 
      this have to do with her? Why did he constantly show up to help her? Why 
      did he offer her a place to stay knowing that she could discover his 
      secret? He didn't seem like the careless sort.
      She was brought back to reality by a shake and a voice repeating her name.
      "Serena! Snap out of it!" Alan's face was inches from her own and she 
      focussed on it.
      "Alan?"
      "That's it I'm taking you home."
      "No!"
      "No?" he looked at her curiously. "Why not?"
      "I ...I just can't." her voice was trembling even though she fought for it 
      to be level.
      "Why on earth not?"
      Serena looked at him pleadingly. "Alan, please. I don't want to get into 
      it. Can I stay with you for a little while?" she was desperate. And with 
      Alan around she would feel a little protected.
      "Oh? Of course." he helped her to her feet and nodded, holding her 
      trembling hands. "Of course. I just wished you'd tell me what's going on."
      Serena just shook her head. He'd think she was crazy if she said she was 
      living with a vampire. She needed proof to back up her claims but she 
      didn't want to go anywhere near Darien at the moment.
      The ride to Alan's place was a blur. She barely even noticed when he 
      ushered her into the large house. They walked into the living room and 
      Alan turned on the lights. Serena was observant enough to notice the 
      masculine feel of the home. The whole place was done in earth tones and 
      she liked it, though she did prefer Darien's home. Just as his name 
      crossed her mind they turned the corner and sitting there casually with 
      his ankle on his opposite knee and his chin in his hand, was Darien.
      "D...Darien?" Serena couldn't breathe; she just wanted to run as far from 
      him as she could.
      Alan stepped in front of her, sensing her fear. "Who the hell are you and 
      what the hell are you doing in my house?"
      Darien ignored him and stood up, completely focussed on the woman 
      trembling in the doorway. "Serena. We need to talk."
      Serena shook her head.
      Darien raised an eyebrow. "You know we have to talk."
      Alan put up his hand to stop Darien from walking any closer. "Stop right 
      there or I'm calling the cops." He sounded steadier than he felt when he 
      looked at the imposing man. "I mean it."
      Darien seemed to notice him for the first time and shook his head slowly. 
      "You are not going to call the police."
      Alan looked as if he was going to argue but clamped his mouth shut before 
      saying anything more. He simply moved aside when Darien walked past him.
      Serena looked at Alan. So much for feeling safer with him, a pet rock 
      would have been more protection. At least it would have doubled as a 
      weapon. She started backing out of the door. "Darien. Please. We have 
      nothing to talk about." Serena started to look around frantically for 
      something to be used as a weapon. "Just leave me lone ok?"
      Alan seemed to snap out of it for a second and jumped in Darien's face 
      again. "Get away from her!"
      Darien waved his hand in his face, and whispered. "Sleep."
      The redhead's eyes closed and he slumped over onto the couch.
      Serena's eyes widened and she started running through the house now. "Get 
      away from me!" she frenetically looked for a way out, cursing herself for 
      not paying more attention when they came in. she had no idea which way was 
      out. Not that it mattered; Darien was around every corner, looking at her 
      with that infuriating calm expression of his. Didn't he know what he was? 
      That he was scaring the hell out of her?
      "I know this scares you, Serena. But I swear, everything will become clear 
      when I explain them to you."
      Serena ran into the kitchen and put the breakfast bar between them. 
      "Before or after you suck the blood out of me?"
      "That's not fair."
      "And neither is this!" she made a dash for the back door, but Darien 
      caught her before she could turn the knob.
      "Serena, let's not do this the hard way." He hauled her up against him. "I 
      won't hurt you."
      She looked up at him and kept struggling. "Says you."
      Letting out an exasperated breath, he placed a hand on either side of her 
      head and held her still so she could look into his eyes and see that he 
      wasn't lying. "I swear it would go against everything in me to hurt you."
      She calmed a little at his words. They were sincere enough. And a search 
      of his eyes told her the same thing. But he had fooled her before. Serena 
      shrugged him off. "Fine, explain yourself."
      "Not here."
      Serena backed up again. "Well I'm sure as hell, not going back to your 
      house!"
      He put up his hands. "Fine, fine. Wherever you like"
      "Fine. Follow me." Serena stalked out of the house and into the night.
      A little while later, they were in the municipal park and walking around 
      the manicured grounds. There were other couples milling around so they 
      weren't completely isolated, but they were secluded enough to speak 
      privately, which pleased Darien.
      Serena stopped at the edge of the pond and looked at him. "So what's there 
      to explain? How you've been messing with my mind? How you've been lying to 
      me? How you're a monster?"
      The last word wounded him deeply. "I have tried everything to gain your 
      trust and yet you still think of me as a monster."
      He sounded sad, defeated and Serena felt sorry for him for a moment. Then 
      she remembered what she saw him do to that deer. "Isn't that what you are?
      "It's not what you think."
      "And what do I think?" she shot back at him.
      He knew she was testing him. He also knew that if they were going to go 
      anywhere, he would have to be straight with her. "You're thinking that I'm 
      like those things you see in the movies. That I'm a monster that will stop 
      at nothing to feed."
      "That you have the ability to read my mind," she added sarcastically.
      "Yes, I can. But only because you want me to." He replied softly.
      "Give me a break." She tossed a stone into the smooth water and watched 
      the ripples expand. "I want to know why you're interested in me. Am I like 
      some sacred demon killer?"
      He chuckled, "You're been watching too much TV."
      "It's not funny. This is too weird. I just want to know why you're so 
      interested in me."
      "I should start at the beginning."
      "That's usually a good place to start."
      "Stop being such a bitch."
      Serena was stunned. She'd never heard a vulgar word pass his beautiful 
      lips and to hear one shocked her more than what he'd called her.
      "Now that I've got your attention, just sit down and listen."
      "Fine." She sat down on the edge of the pond and waited for him to do the 
      same. Darien easily sat down next to her and stared up into the sky, 
      gazing at the stars.
      "Have you ever wondered about the afterlife?"
      "As in heaven and hell?" She shook her head. "Not as such. What's the 
      point? There is no such thing."
      He picked up a leaf and flipped it over. "And your feelings on 
      reincarnation?"
      "The same."
      "When did you become such a cynic?"
      "When have I ever been an optimist?"
      His smile grew wistful. "When we first met you were the most innocent 
      thing I had ever known."
      "And when did we meet for the first time?" she asked impishly.
      "Aren't we facetious."
      "Aren't we pompous."
      They stared at each other for a moment and knew it was time to get 
	serious.
      "When did we meet for the first time?"
      "A very long time ago," He leaned back on his elbows and seemed to be 
      thinking very deeply. "When we were known as Dal'rien and Sern'riya."
      Serena's head snapped up at the mention of the names. "You mean those 
      dreams..."
      "Are your memories surfacing?" he smiled wryly. "Yes."
      "Who were we? Where were we?" she had so many questions and they began 
      tumbling out.
      "It's hard to explain," he pondered for a moment. "Maybe I should show 
      you."
      "Show me? How are you going to do that?"
      "Maybe we should go somewhere more private." He moved to get up but she 
      put up her hand.
      She eyed him from the corner of her eye. "No, I think here will be fine."
      Sighing, he sat back again. "Have it your way then." He started unbutton 
      his shirt.
      "Whoa! What are you doing?" Serena crab-walked away from him.
      "This is the only way I can show you without it getting too intimate."
      Serena grabbed his shirt and pulled it back together. "It's already 
      getting too intimate for me." She looked around to see if anyone was 
      watching. "Maybe you're right. We should go somewhere else."
      "I thought you might see it my way." He buttoned his shirtfront again and 
      stood up, offering his hand as he did. "I think it would be best to go 
      back to my house."
      "Maybe you're right." she took his hand; there were a lot of things there 
      that she wanted to know more about.
      Serena let him lead her to his car and they drove silently back to his 
      house. The entire way she had flashes of the dreams come to her. But they 
      didn't make any sense. The fragments were too jumbled to make anything of 
      them. Sighing, she looked over at Darien and shook her head. He was too 
      beautiful to be a monster.
      They pulled up and walked in like they usually did, with Darien in front 
      and Serena bringing up the rear. They hung up they're coats and headed 
      into the gallery where she had been earlier that day.
      Darien busied himself with something as he did he called to her over his 
      shoulder. "Serena. Would you mind opening the door to the room?" he 
      grinned.
      She knew it would be a waste of time playing dumb or denying that she knew 
      what he was talking about and just yanked on the spear again. "Anything 
      else?"
      "Yes. Pull the spear on the other one as well."
      Serena hadn't even noticed another suit of armour around the other side of 
      the room. "What does this one do?"
      "Pull it and find out." He chuckled.
      Serena stuck her tongue out at him and did as she was told. Another part 
      of a wall opened up next to her revealing another room. Only this one was 
      much larger. Inside was a room matching the bedroom in her dreams, but 
      where the bed was supposed to be there was an ornate white chaise and 
      table that matched the rest of the décor. Her jawed dropped in response to 
      what she was seeing. Unbelievingly, she ran her hands over everything she 
      passed to make sure it was real. "Am I really seeing this?"
      "Yes." He walked in and led her to the chaise. "Please, sit."
      She perched herself delicately on the edge as if she was frightened to 
      damage it.
      Darien laughed and tugged her back, so she was sitting comfortably on it. 
      "For goodness sake! This is your chaise!"
      "This is mine?" her fingers ran lovingly over it.
      "Well, not exactly. It's a replica. The original was slightly lost."
      "Lost?" Serena repeated.
      "Yes. But that's not important. What's important is that you're 
      remembering." He took her hands almost in celebration. "This is the 
      quickest I've ever seen you do it," He said it proudly.
      "How many times have we met?" She let him continue to hold her hands; it 
      helped calm the confusion.
      "Quite a few."
      Just the way that he said it made her think that he was underplaying how 
      many times they actually did meet. "Will you just tell me?"
      "Eventually." He turned to her and held her gaze. "Like I said. It would 
      be easier for you to see it all yourself."
      "How could you possibly show me?"
      "There are ways." He reached over to the table and picked up a covered 
      tray and set it on his lap. Pulling of the cloth, he revealed a long 
      gleaming dagger with an ivory handle. Darien picked it up and held it 
      loosely. "Are you ready?" he started unbuttoning his shirt once again, 
      making Serena very nervous.
      "What are you going to do with that?" her pulse started to race but was it 
      because of the knife or getting a glimpse at his well built chest?
      "Don't worry. I meant it when I said I couldn't harm you. I'm going to 
      draw a little blood from myself. I don't ever remember you being squeamish 
      about blood." He stared into her eyes again. "You haven't changed in that 
      respect, have you?"
      Her chin went up a notch. "Of course not! I'm a haematologist."
      "Just checking." He flicked the knife so that the blade stood straight in 
      his grip. "I'm going to cut myself and you're going to have to drink a 
      little."
      Serena balked. "I don't think I can do that. Isn't there another way?"
      "I thought this way would be best."
      "What's the other way?"
      "We make love."
      She jumped and looked back to the curving blade. "Well, weren't you going 
      to cut yourself or something?" she kept her eyes away from his and 
      focussed on the blade as it moved to a spot just above his collarbone.
      "Just to warn you, you will start to see my memories as well as your own." 
      Darien smiled reassuringly. "It will all make sense, trust me."
      He moved the blade to his neck but Serena dragged it away. "Will it hurt? 
      You, I mean."
      Darien shook his dark head. "No. Don't worry about me. It won't harm you 
      either."
      She let his hand go and watched as he pierced his skin. A trickle of blood 
      immediately started to flow, slowly moving down his neck and toward his 
      torso. She winced even though he didn't seem to feel it. He placed a hand 
      behind her head and helped guide her to him. It was a comforting gesture 
      that Serena was glad for.
      Serena closed her eyes and she could smell his skin as the gap between 
      them closed. It was familiar and helped calm her even more. She braced 
      herself and closed her lips over the wound but she didn't feel repulsed 
      like she thought she would be. In fact it was almost exciting to be 
      pressed against him and have skin touch skin. His blood didn't taste like 
      what she was used to. When she sucked at her own cuts it tasted like she 
      was sucking on pennies. But now his was sweet, almost pleasant tasting. It 
      was icy as it went down her throat and then blazed with a searing heat 
      when it hit her stomach. She barely had a chance to recover from that 
      before the images came to her in a flash of white light.
      And she watched as their achingly clear memories played across her mind.