| "Before The Shadow Fell"
By: Sara Angeldust --------------------------------- Part 3 "Hard Truths" ----------------------- �Spellbound� -Emily Bront� The night is darkening round me, The wild winds coldly blow; But a tyrant spell has bound me And I cannot, cannot go. The giant trees are bending Their bare boughs weighed by snow, And the storm is fast descending, And yet I cannot go. Clouds beyond clouds above me, Wastes beyond wastes below; But nothing drear can move me; I will not, cannot go. ~~~~~~~ Authors Note: I only have one thing to say�.. I�M BAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKK!!! Yes, after almost ohhhhhh 8 MONTHS of NOTHING!!! I give you EVERYTHING!!! (this is all quite long, so please sit back and relax) I finally finished this darn thing, and now it�s off to my next one�.hopefully. As you see I�ve updated all the Parts of Before the Shadow Fell. This was because I went back and re entered some information that was getting jumbled around and contradicting in certain sections of the story. (BTW, a HUGE THANK YOU goes out to wolvesaremylife1 for informing me of a contradiction in hair and eye color in Amelia�s character. They were not intentional and I would have never realized it. I owe you!!) Also, HUGE thank yous are to go out to everyone who has replied with positive information about my fics on Fanfiction.net. It was me going back and reading the reviews that you guys left that allowed me to continue this story. Thanks a lot. ^-^ I also pulled Part 2 together as one piece of work, as it should have originally been. There may be some additions to it also, because of the merge, so you may want to go back and read it. If anyone can tell, I need a reviewer badly. Anyone interested in reading all the parts of Before the Shadow Fell and telling me of any inconsistencies (i.e. hair colors, background information etc), would be greatly appreciated. Just please e-mail me (provided at the end of this part) all that you find and I�ll be sure to fix it. I do reread my stuff before I post it, but things STILL get jumbled. Thanks tons for sticking with me guys, and welcome to anyone who has just found my fics. I hope you enjoy them! p.s. This fic is rated PG-13 for language and violence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Modern Day, 2003 A blood red moon shone down from the dark night sky. The wind howled and moaned, as if angry, and therefore, restless. Yet none of this seemed to bother the seventeen year old girl. She sat cross-legged, looking out towards the darkness of the night, and the forest around her. Her eyes scanned it, hunter like, in every nook and cranny where a foe might be hiding. Looking down at the sleeping figure beside her, she sighed. Her mentor had trained her well, and it would take very much to startle this seemingly young girl. The wind blew playfully through her short, dark red hair, as it went on its course through the woods. A shiver traveled down her spine and back up as she was reminded of a time when she too, called the woods her home. But that was far too long ago, in another life, another life-time. Moving to make herself comfortable again, another shiver past up her spine. Rubbing her hands together, she created a small fire in-between them. It glowed a dark red color and comforted her. If she had no control over the environment she had been placed in, at least she could have control over her powers. Playing with the small ball of fire a bit, she grew it larger before turning it into an invisible sheet of warmth, spreading it all over her body. Now she wouldn�t shiver anymore. Hadn�t it been over 300 years before that she had been in a wooded area like this before? But not as a wondering traveler, but a part of the great wonders it beheld? Even back then she had known what she would become, the thing that kept her body warm on nights like this, but she had been so innocent then. She had been apart of something, a family, and now she was so alone in the world. Well, maybe not totally alone, she did have her mentor. Sighing, she wondered how long she had been on watch, and how much longer she had left before she too, could sleep. Looking to her left, the image of her teacher, Tianna, came into her vision. Tianna had taken her in when she had first begin to show her powers, and helped her deal with them. She wasn�t the most warm hearted of people, but her teachings were exactly what she needed. In less then two months time she had almost totally gotten used to, and almost fully in control of, her powers. An extraordinary thing for any person to accomplish. As she looked to her left again she saw her teacher staring. The time had come quicker then she had thought it would, and in a silent exchange of nods the two had switched places. The girl would sleep while Tianna stood watch, resting for the unknown journey ahead. ~~~~~~~~~ 1701- Diometra Clan Village Waking was the hardest thing she had ever done. It was as if her body had been drowned in a lake of some kind of warm, thick liquid, and she could not float to the top. She felt so heavy, yet at the same time, frighteningly at peace with her mind and body. As if all of her human muscles just decided that they didn�t feel like protesting anymore. This calmed and comforted her, yet it also scared her. Why couldn�t she feel her body? Why did the outside world feel so distant? Questions flew through her head and soon turned into a frantic quest for the truth. How was she going to get out of this one? The last thing she remembered was�.was�Vailor!!!! Her body shook at the mer thought of him so close to her, so dangerously close. Laughter erupted in her ears as voices came from everywhere. She could barely think as she heard them speak to her, laugh at her. Vampire, they chanted, Child of the Night, Satanist, Lucifer�s Spawn, all these names rang frantic bells of terror to her. Were they talking about her? Was she�? The thought of it alone fully woke Raven from her sleep as she fell over and vomited. She heard a small gasp of surprise, but could not stop herself to see where it had come from. Continuing to hurl her guts out, the laughter came again and she heard a name, a word that would mark her forever. Blood-bonded. Is that what I am? Is that what you have turned me into Vailor? I can still breathe, so that must be it. Her voice was small and timid in her head, almost pleading with the unseen vampire for it to be deemed untrue, a cruel joke. No such words came back to her, the only answer she was given was more laughter, then silence. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks. Raven had never been more scared in her intire life. What was to become of her? "Ra-Raven? Are, are you ok?" A small voice awoke her to full consciousness in a small clearing, a good distance from her village. Feeling that her body was restrained, Raven pulled only to find that her hands had been tied behind her and around a large tree. Trying to find a comfortable spot against the hard tree was all she could do to stop herself from bursting out in tears. How could her own people do this to her? "Raven?" Again, the voice came to her, and looking forward she noticed the source of it. Amelia sat about ten or so feet from the tree, her hands on either side of her, looking fearfully at the image of Raven tied to the tree like a rabid animal. She tried to evade her eyes from her little sister, but it was too late. Amelia had seen the pitch blackness that Raven knew was there. Although she was not a full vampire, she knew those black, haunting eyes would be ever so present on her face. How Raven wished to look at her sister again, how she wished to hug her and tell her that it was all going to be ok. But that would be a lie. All wasn�t going to be ok, she could feel it, and deep down she knew, that she would never again be able to look at her sister without striking fear into her heart. "You shouldn�t be here Amelia. If they find you they might outcast you." Raven said, looking down at the dark grass. Where had her torturer gone to? Had Vailor left her to the torment of her own people? Or was he just lying in wait? Waiting for an opportunity to strike? "I...I know. I just, had to see you." She said, moving to sit more comfortably on the ground, as she gathered her skirts around her. "They�re talking about a punishment." Amelia started, her voice a bit shaky. "Someone suggested to go along with the Law of Vampira, but mom persuaded them against it. She made me leave before I could see what they had decided on." Awkward silence followed. Raven thought as Amelia stayed quiet. Mostly about how the clan would react. So they had wanted to enact the Law of Vampira? She knew they would, but that they could be persuaded out of it? That was something she had yet to see. The clan didn�t change their ways for anyone. It made her think about what else they would do to her. Were there worse things then death? Unfortunately for her, there were. Much like David�s own trial, Raven never really remembered hers. Amelia had stayed beside her until the sounds of people coming closer scared her off, leaving Raven alone, sitting on the musty ground. After about two hours some male members of the clan had come to get her from the tree, never removing her bonds, they took her to the council house. There she remembered voices, both hateful and pleading. They grew in volume and softened as the conversation went on. She could only remember a few times where she was forced to answer a question, and even then it was hard for her to make any sound come out of her mouth. It was all just so unbelievable, yet, it was happening, and she was more scared then she had ever been in her intire life. In the end the voices died, the people left the room, and she was alone in the wooden room with Grand Nan standing before her, the old woman looking more serious then Raven could ever remember her being. "Raven Marlena Drathers. I have been chosen to dispense your punishment." Raven stiffened in her binds as she sat on a hard wooden chair in front of Grand Nan. Her palms were so sweaty she was sure that the sweat would drip onto the floor. "You have overstepped the boundaries of the Law of Vampira. Thus stating that no shifter in the Diometra Clan shall be turned into a vampire willingly, nor become any part there of, of the vampire lines." Raven swallowed the hard lump in her throat. The formalities were through, now would come the sentence of death. She braced herself. "As thus stating, you shall receive the following: Banishment, from all Shifter clans known in the good world." Raven gasped. There were things worse then death! A tear began to trickle down her face. "As following with this, you shall be left in these woods as the Diometra Clan moves on. If any shifter sees you come within a mile of any of their territory you shall be killed on the spot. No questions asked. Do you understand?" Raven could barely control the urge to sob. Not only was she going to be separated from her family, but all her kind in that. A surge of hatred mixed in with her sorrow washed over her. Vailor. As the first stirrings of a hate that would drive her life began, she spat at the name of her maker. She would make him pay for what he was doing to her, she swore it. But as the anger ebbed and faded, the sorrow flooded in the empty space. Tears fell in a sticky river down her cheeks now, her pain fully unprotected from Grand Nan�s eyes. "Do you understand?" Grand Nan�s forceful voice opened up a silent door in her head. She had to answer, they would kill her otherwise. "Yes." She mustered from all of her being. It sounded so calm, too calm for the torrent of sadness that plagued her heart. "Yes, I understand." "Good. Someone will be in to take you back to the tree. We will be leaving two days hence. You will not follow." With that, Grand Nan walked from the wooden cabin, never to be seen by Raven again, and as the storm of power from the old woman left, Raven�s tears unleashed, and she began to cry. ~~~~~ The two days past by as quickly and quietly as a spring shower, leaving Raven to think and to dwell on her emotions. Through the spance of these days she swore she had encountered every emotion imaginable for a soul. Everytime one threatened to overcome her, another stepped in to begin her torrent of emotions anew. She silently remembered people coming near her, not to laugh and say this was all one big joke as she had hoped, but to place food near her so she wouldn�t starve. Though she was partially vampire now, she could not live off of blood, and if that had been the case, she doubted she even could. The idea sickened her so, and made her realize how much she hated the insects even more. Those two emotions were the most frequent that she felt. Anger and sadness. One threatening to over balance the other and send her into a fit of delirium. But as she had been trained in her Shifter ways, she pulled those threats to the back of her mind, donning an expressionless mask that would be her cover for the rest of her life. Her happiness had been all but raped from her body, and the hole it had left would probably never heal. On the third day she awoke to the sounds of a huge group of people moving about. Through the past days she had heard small movements like this, and once in awhile saw a wagon appear out of nowhere. She knew exactly what was going on and stared in disbelief. So they were really going to leave her? Was this the truth of her people that David had told her she was too blind to see? She refused to believe it, although, as she sat there, tied to a tree with the ropes her Grand Nan had used to bundle wood, she realized all to well what great plan her people had in mind. They were leaving, and they weren�t coming back. ~~~~~ As the day past, the transition from morning to day, then afternoon to dusk past by so eerily silent for Raven. She barely even remembered exactly when it was that her Clan moved out, or if she had really seen that lone sad face staring at her fatigued body, sitting so limp next to the big oak tree most would have thought her dead. But whenever it was that they left, she could only remember the silence afterward. The ever growing sounds of nature taking over her once homely village. The sounds of birds became the only noise she could recount, almost completely forgetting that a group of people had ever inhabited the small village. ~~~~~ From where Raven sat, she could barely see the outline of her village, but she didn�t have to be close to know that before they had left, her clan had burned the houses. The smell of charred wood and plants came to her nose, waking her from the stupor she was in. It had taken almost three days for the houses to fully burn and for the smell to reach her. Three days that she had been tied to the tree and left. Feeling the knot where her hands were tied, Raven realized that she could break the hold of it. A task not made capable by the vampire blood in her veins now, but by her own shifter blood, which made her stronger then any human, but still weaker then a witch or vampire. That was one thing that Raven could count on, her blood was not that of a witch. Witch�s blood would have attacked the invading vampire blood in an instant, probably killing Raven in the process. But she was shifter. Although stronger then a human, her blood was nothing more then just that, human blood. The only thing it held was the ability to shape shift, making it a bit wilder, but still no better then that of a human. Is that why you came after me Vailor? Because my strength is nothing more then that of a human? Did you know my clan would not strike back because of our blood? This thought went through her head as she pulled at the ropes, eventually breaking them apart. Bringing her hands around, she rubbed her sore wrists. What was she going to do now? Blood called to blood, and she could still sense a small bit of her clan, many, many miles away now, but there none the less. The loneliness would be permanent, but for now she was coping. How long would that last? How long would it be until she broke down and could not find the strength to go on? Raven shook her head of these thoughts and stood up. Looking around her the smoke had died down, leaving a dark night to welcome her into her new life. ~~~~~ Days past weeks, past months and so far, she was making due. All but three of the houses had been completely burned to the ground. One of them the home of a former cousin, a baking house, and a storage shed. All were relatively small, but suited fine for her to live in. Why she chose to remain in the burned out remains of her village would always be a question to her, but at the time, it had been all she could think to do. She had lived there all her life, sure her relatives could just pack up and leave, but not her. Too many memories that were still fresh lived in the small wooded area, and it seemed too soon to depart from them . It was during this time that she had actually forgotten about her current predicament, and so it happened one day, as she was doing her best to weed out an old tomato patch, that her mind sensed a presence she had hoped she would never feel again. Pretending not to notice, she kept her eyes to the ground, her hands mechanically working at the stubborn green plants. Hello Raven. The voice was almost a soft whisper in her head, and barely audible, but she knew exactly where the eagle sat. Not looking up she answered the call, her hands still moving to remove the weeds. "Hello Vailor. I didn�t expect to see you back." She answered in truth. In part she never really thought that she would see him again, the purpose of his intire ploy to spite her clan, just happening to have used her in the process. But as a small chuckle escaped the changing lips of the eagle, a thought crossed her mind, maybe this was something more then just a house call. As Raven stood, wiping her hands on her skirts, she could see the all knowing in his eyes. He could read her thoughts, of course, but that didn�t mean she had to like it. "I had expected more of a hostile greeting Raven. Is it that you�ve finally come to like the state I�ve put you in?" Vailor said. He looked the same as he had the first time she had seen him. Blonde hair handsomely cascaded down to his shoulders, his black eyes always watching, laced with a calmness that if not known, would have been thought of as pity. She knew better of the snake. His good looks would not fool her a second time. She watched him as he began walking to stand about ten feet from Raven�s garden, putting his hands in the pockets of his black pants. As Raven looked at him, a wicked smile shone back at her. She so hated his cockiness. "The only one, Vailor," Raven said as she walked toward the trough to clean off her dirty hands. "who likes the �state� I�m in is you. The reason for this I assume must be just because you get a sick and twisted pleasure out of seeing people go insane. And I will not give you that satisfaction." Raven spoke her words true and without remorse. It had been true that the months had taken an effect on her. Her anger had ebbed and a quiet acceptance had slipped it�s way in, much to her great dislike, but there was little she could do about it. Wiping her wet hands on her skirt she heard Vailor chuckle again, the sound sending a wave of �something else there� through her mind. He was holding something back from her, and the very thought that she knew this disheartened her. She was getting far too used to this blood-bonded thing. "I�m sorry to disappoint you, but although I do get a sort of �sick and twisted pleasure� out of watching you try and live as normally as you can, that is not why I changed you." Vailor said, stretching like a cat ready to pounce. "Which leads me to why I came back to these hell begotten woods." This made Raven turn an eye to him. So there was more to it? Somehow though, she knew this was more then just a �hey, how ya doing� type of meeting. She stood poised, ready to take what he had to say to her, but this didn�t mean she in anyway wanted to hear it. Her acceptance had left her strangely patient, a trait she could not remember having in her past life. "Speak your peace Vailor, I have things to do." Vailor smiled at her and took his hands out of his pockets. Raven was standing next to the trough and Vailor walked the few paces to stand next to her. More of a form of intimidation then anything. She sized him up as he did, watching his every move as she had been learning to do while alone in the forest. These days had made her sensitive to movement and she surprised herself at how fast she herself could move, even in panther form which she had been reluctant to take, but if Vailor attacked her at such close quarters she didn�t know if she could defend herself. As he stood so he was about three feet from her, Raven positioned herself accordingly. Just because he wanted to �talk� didn�t mean his plans couldn�t change, and if that happened, she wanted to be prepared. She heard a small laugh her in head and she knew he could hear her thoughts. The bastard. What right did he have to pry into her head? She swiped at him mentally, a clumsy act, but one she had not even been able to fathom weeks past. As she got situated to their proximity she heard him speak, his voice soft as honey yet laced with poison. "You know Raven, I saw your family last week." He started, edging ever closer to her in the process. She ignored his movements and stood still, reluctant to let him think he was getting the better of her. " The poor souls, they looked like they were on the edge of starvation. Well how could you not be, traveling as they were, trying to get as far away from�oh I�m sorry, did I strike a nerve?" Raven�s breathing was increasing, her hands balling into fists. She had shoved the idea of her family suffering to the far reaches of her mind, and now that Vailor was so easily talking about them it was making her blood boil. The mer thought was causing more emotion then she wished for him to see, and he knew this. His smile widened and he proceeded to almost dance around her as he told his story, if a vampire could feel pure joy, she was he sure was. "Anyway, I thought to myself. Why should I leave them in that state, I mean , I do feel so very close to your family now," Raven flinched as Vailor lightly touched her right shoulder from behind. She mentally kicked herself for moving at his touch, but at the moment she was so caught up in her emotions that had she believed she could have killed him, she would have torn his arm off his body. "So I decided to be a nice guy, and left some of my other fledglings to, how can I say, "take care" of them." Raven turned on him then, anger burning like fire in her eyes. She wanted to do something to him so badly, something that would have him crying and twitching on the ground. She knew what "take care" of them meant, and she wished she hadn�t heard him say it. "You bastard!!" She turned to face Vailor and screamed, her body visibly shaking. "What did you do to my family!!" Vailor was smiling now, the sides of his lips verging to the point of laughter at Raven�s outburst. It was taking all the strength she had to stop herself from jumping on him. In an attempt to get him out of her line of vision she quickly turned around, facing the woods once again. But there he was, right in front of her, his face a huge smile. Before she could react to him he closed to space between them in and instant, holding her head up by her chin, his icy hand making her body twitch. Her hands instinctively took a submissive position at her side and she tolerated his touch. For some reason, her body was shaking, fear causing her to not move. Was she really scared of him? No. She couldn�t be. Especially not at that moment, when she was so angered with him, on the verge of pulling his dead heart out of his body. Yet, she couldn�t stop the quivering, couldn�t stop the feelings she had that she wanted to break down and cry when he touched her. She watched as he searched her eyes, his smile filling with her fear, she knew she couldn�t hide that from him, and it made her sick. "Well." He said, his black eyes still searching her red ones. "If you really want to know�" Vailor removed his hand from her chin and slipped it to the back of her head, his face moving to her opposite ear. She cringed and tried to move away from him but she couldn�t, his hold threatened to crush the base of her skull if she resisted. She could feel his breath on her left ear, he was trying to seduce her, an act which did the complete opposite that it was intended for. She wanted to spit on him, but she couldn�t move for fear of being killed. She heard Vailor laugh lightly in her ear as he gently kissed it. Ok, that�s it. I don�t care what he has to say, I�m not� "They�re all dead." Raven stopped moving, her eyes falling wide open in shock. "What?" She half whispered. She could feel the smile on his face, the horrid laughter that was rising up from the pit of his stomach. Yet all that she could do was stare unseeing at the woods behind him. "�dead?" Her voice was nothing now, her eyes staring into infinite space. The word had no effect on her. It was an empty thing. Her family couldn�t be dead, it was impossible. She stood still, frozen in her feet, the world something intangible at the moment. As she did, Vailor began walking circles around her, trying to unsteady her, but it was too late. The world seemed to fall and spin as he walked his sedating circles around her frozen form. "Yup." Vailor said, the words slipping almost happily from his lips. "They�re all gone, I made sure of it" Raven was still staring straight forward, no movement in any part of her body. It was almost impossible to tell if she was even conscious or not. Yet this unfazed Vailor, he continued to talk as he walked his slow, agonizing circles. "Oh how fun it was. To see them scurry like little mice. Nothing like the power they once were, and I remember those days. Your people were so powerful, so on top of the world. What happened Raven?" He said as he slide his hands through her silky black hair, the motion completely un fazing her. "Well, whatever happened, they weren�t much of a challenge. My fledglings easily picked them off, one by one. Oh how their screams pleased me. And guess which ones I had the most fun with Raven, sweetie." This caused Raven�s shell like body to twitch. She could feel his mind in hers, she was helpless to him, and the emotions, the images, flowed freely through her. She heard a light laugh as he felt it too, she knew he could feel her pain, her hollowness. He knew he had complete control of her in this state. Though she should have been feeling anger at this, she couldn�t. She didn�t want to anymore. Her family was dead, and he was torturing her with the fact as if the whole thing had been some party for him. It probably had been. As the anger swelled in her she let the hollowness drown it, her emotions leaving her. She felt the sensation of Vailor moving back to face her, his hands still going through her hair, petting it, as if she was some kind of doll. She could feel a small voice in her head wanting to rip the hand away, yet she could not even gain the will to move. The voice was there, then left, a whisper on the wind that was carrying her soul away from her. "Amelia." She whispered it so low that she knew he couldn�t have heard her, even with his vampire ears. "Now Raven. What do you say you come with me?" All of the sudden his voice had become sweet and calm. The change caused her unfeeling eyes to look up into his, the blackness not so dark and foreboding as it had been mere minutes before. What was this feeling that was overcoming her? "You have nothing left dear one. Nothing, except for me." She felt as his hand as it moved to the back of her neck, massaging it as if she was a small child that he was comforting. It was warm too, warm like the soft glow of a fire. Yet, how could that be? He was vampire, dead and cold, why was it so warm� "Shhh. Don�t think right now. You need to let your mind be still, rest it a bit." He was right, she did need to rest. Needed to let it all go. If it was only that easy. "Rae-Raven? Are, are you ok?" That voice, it couldn�t have been� "Amelia?" Raven�s sleepy eyes began to open. When had she closed them? As she looked around her she noticed Vailor in front of her. His eyes were as black and still as ever, his hand freezing cold on the back of her neck. She let out a small gasp and stepped back a bit. She still felt hollow, but not as tired as she had been a second before. The woods moved to the slight breeze that blew through them, an omen that hung in the air like a stale smell. "Damn it you are a persistent one." Vailor said taking his hand away from her. He had been trying to make her submit to him. Make her into one of his dogs. She glared at him as he folded his arms in thought. It was then that she realized why she had not broken down like this in the first place. It had taken all of her being not to fall in a heap when sentenced to be without her people for her eternity, yet she had not. It had been the sense, the absolute knowing in all shifters minds that they were not alone. Yet now, now she didn�t know anymore. The Diometra clan was gone, the beautiful panther tribe would never run through their forests again. "You refuse to let anyone control you, don�t you?" Raven�s mind popped back to the present, as did her eyes at Vailor�s statement. Suddenly she began to shiver and wrapped her arms around herself, staring blankly at the ground. She was going between being aware and unconscious of the emotions in her head, and it was scaring her. Then she realized it. What he meant. Raven tightened her grip around herself and let her body quake. He was trying to control her mind, she could feel it now, the weight was pressing harshly against her thoughts. No wonder she couldn�t focus on anything. It was at that moment that she knew if she could feel anything in her gradually unfeeling body, that she could feel the screaming of her instincts. Her shifter blood had not been fully overpowered, and her animal instincts told her that she needed to leave. She needed to get out of the situation, and fast. She could feel the weight of Vailor�s mind and eyes on her, but she didn�t care. Slowly she took a step backwards. Gettin |