Title: The Turning

Author: Lyndaura

E-mail: Heero_forever@hotmail.com

Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait...

Chapter 9- The Coming

Kara stopped and turned around, "Yeah, sure, its cool, where did you get it?"

"You don't want to know" I shook my head.

"I like the tattoo too," Kara then proceeded to run up the stairs, leaving me by myself, standing in shock and confusion. Where the hell did I get a tattoo from? I finally decided that even I didn't want to know and hurried to catch up with Kara.

The fights were amazing. I couldn't believe it. There were hundreds of people all drinking and swearing and generally partying. They were all dancing to really hard core music, and the base was so loud it was hurting. I soon got used to it, and tried not to get lost in the endless sea of people. It was then that I noticed the main attraction. There was a balcony lining the top of the huge factory like place, and everyone was crowding around it to get a glimpse of the fight. There was a small cage with barbed wire and two men fighting in it. Everyone was cheering on the resident champion while others lined up to oppose him. There were no weapons, only bare hands and a lot of adrenaline. It was my kind of fight.

I felt energy and power surge up within me as I watched mesmerized, as the two beat the shit out of each other. There were swarms of people placing bets being on who would win.

Kara led me to a bar upstairs, sitting down, we finally got away from the music downstairs.

"This place is amazing," I smiled as I watched a group of three gorgeous guys check Kara and I out. I wasn't used to the attention, but that didn't stop me from loving every second of it.

"I come here all the time to relax," Kara leaned against the counter.

"And to kick someone's ass," I smiled and Kara nodded her head. It was amazing that such a short while ago, we would have been kicking each other's asses.

"I could sure use some of that though," I eyed the blonde guy in the middle of the group of three.

"Go ahead," Kara shrugged her shoulders, ordering a drink.

"Na-uh," I interrupted the bar tender, "First of all, you aren't having any alcohol," I reminded her of the fact that she was pregnant, "And second of all, I could never get that piece of delicious ass. Mmm..." I wasn't angry, just trying to be realistic.

"So, what is it? A beer or a can of coke?" the bar tender asked impatiently.

I glared at him, "Coke."

The Kara continued to glare at me, "You, of all people, being the responsible one, I never would have imagined it."

"Come on, I can be responsible," I lied. I lied like a rug. (1)

"No, and in reference to your other little remark, you don't know what it means to be a vampire do you?" Kara laughed.

"What?" I asked innocently. I had no idea what she was talking about, "Besides, I thought that I wasn't a vampire yet."

"Well, do you have hole in your canines yet?" Kara asked.

"What?" I nearly shouted, I had no idea what she meant.

"Its how vampires breed, they have blood that comes out of their teeth, so when they don't want to make their victim a vampire, they won't, and if they do, the parasite-infected blood comes out of the holes, and infect the victim. Its actually quite an ingenious process," Kara readily accepted her coke and began to gulp it down.

I felt the back of my canine teeth with my tongue. They were huge. I hadn't really realized that my teeth had almost doubled in size, and there was a hole in the back of both of them. "I have the holes..." I said it more to myself than to anyone else. It was weird to think that I was becoming a vampire.

"Well, if you have the holes, that means that you also have the glands," Kara casually explained that the 'glands' were actually pheromone producing glands that created a dazed, suggestible and rather horny state for someone. Sure explained a lot about how I ever got in the position that I did when I got bit.

"So I could go up to one of those guys and he would just fall into my lap?" I asked smiling, maybe this wasn't that bad.

"Yep," Kara answered, "Within reason of course. Not that you want to have sex with him."

"Why wouldn't I?" I nearly yelled back with mock furry.

"You don't know anything about vampirian mating rituals do you?" Kara asked giggling.

"No," I glared at her, I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what she was about to tell me. And I was right.

"There is a lot of ritualistic mutilation and domination practices... lets just say that it isn't fun for the women," Kara rolled her eyes. "And they don't have a real ceremony either, they just suck each other's blood and their married. It wasn't called marriage for a really long time though, before it was called 'bonding'. Personally, I think the whole society is fucked up."

"Why do you always have to ruin my fun?" I asked teasingly.

"Why did you have to ruin MY fun?" Kara shot back jokingly.

"When did I do that?" I asked, I hadn't done anything to her.

"You didn't let me say hello to my dear friend alcohol," she explained, laughing. Even if she hadn't touched the liquor, she still looked drunk.

"Well, if I can't drink, and you're pregnant, then we'll both just have to suffer without our friends tonight," I said looking to the back wall that was lined with bottles, "I'm sorry Mr. Tequila, not tonight," now I was starting to act drunk. It was just something in the atmosphere.

"You want something to drink?" Kara challenged.

"Don't you dare think I can't hold my liquor now," I said back.

"Then earn it. I'll buy you whatever you want if you go up against Bruno," she pointed to the cage.

"Which one's Bruno, the big hairy ugly one, or the small bleeding dead one?" I asked. I already knew the answer. Bruno was maybe 6"7 and almost 350 pounds. Me? Even with my new physique, I'm barely pushing 100 pounds. It was a challenge I was willing to accept. I wanted to try out my new vampire chemicals on him, and maybe even some of my new vampire strength and endurance. Plus, I had just learned a lot of fighting techniques today, this would be a great chance to test them out.

"Guess," Kara instructed.

"I shall take on any man," I proclaimed and then headed for the line up to the cage. Bruno threw the small weak boy up against the cage and blood splattered on the audience, suddenly, the line up to beat the shit out of Bruno vanished. I was next in line. Great, I was hoping to pump myself up more before facing him. If worse came to worse I could always just bite him.

I was about to step into the cage when I had an incredibly bad feeling. It started in the pit of my stomach and sat there like a stone. Then it moved up and I felt like I was going to throw up. I was starting to get butterflies in my chest and I had to turn around. I was starting to breath heavily and the nausea was nearly overwhelming. Someone quickly took my place and Bruno began to beat the snot out of him.

I stumbled towards Kara awkwardly. As soon as I sat down I told her that we had to leave.

"What?" Kara demanded.

"I'm serious, we have to leave NOW!" I couldn't have sounded more pathetic or urgent. That was perfectly fine for me right then, because I was feeling like the world was about to explode, and I wasn't thinking about my dignity.

Just as I said that, there was a bright flash of light, then a wave of heat and finally I heard the terrible explosion. Kara was thrown over the bar table and I was knocked off my chair. I frantically looked to see what had happened. The entrance was now complete rubble and everyone, including me, were panicking. The large club was soon filling with smoke and I could barely breathe.

I jumped over the bar and found Kara in a pile of glass. I picked her up and shoved her over the counter. She was barely conscious, but coming back. "Kara? Kara?" I desperately shook her, trying to get her to look at me straight. She was covered with small cuts, and lots of dirt and ash. The air was burning and my throat hurt from inhaling the ash.

Kara finally looked at me with dreary eyes, "What happened?"

"Someone blew up the entrance, I can feel vampires everywhere," and it was true, there were so many powerful vampires there that they were invading my thoughts and my soul, which I wasn't used to. The invasion and intrusiveness was really getting to me, but I had bigger things to worry about. Besides, I'm Ferra, God's hacky sack.

"I'll call for help, you get the people out of here," Kara ordered, grabbing her stomach.

"Are you okay?" My thoughts immediately went to her baby. I didn't want her to lose her kid now.

"I'm in a lot of pain," Kara closed her eyes and held back the tears. I put my hand on her stomach. I didn't know what I could do. I wanted her to be okay. I wanted her to feel better and help me through this, I wanted her child to be healthy and okay, and I wanted this all to be over. "Help the people."

"Oh sure, you get the easy stuff," I rolled my eyes and then Kara laughed, but then immediately silenced herself, holding her stomach and ribs in pain.

I left her while she was getting out her cell phone to call the boys. Just as I went to try to help the people find an exit I heard gunfire on the bottom floor.

I looked down at the floor and saw a growing pile of bloodied victims. I could barely contain myself as I ran down to the bottom floor. I was pissed at these vampires. They weren't feeding or breeding, they were just killing senselessly. I really should have thought about the odds of me against thirty vampires, but at that point I really didn't care. It was weird to care for so many people so much when I hadn't even met them. I was risking my life for people that I had nothing to do with anymore. I was a vampire, or the closest thing to it. I didn't stop and think about it, but later, I realized that I was changing a lot. Before, I wouldn't have given a rat's ass about anything, but these people were innocent and I had a duty to protect them. Screw whatever logical thoughts were going through my head, I just wanted to beat the shit out of those guys.

Once I got to the bottom floor, everyone was in a panic. They were running around, hiding underneath anything they could find. I searched for the vampires. I would rip off their heads with my bare hands. Then again, I wasn't thinking of the fact that they had semi-automatic weapons.

I could see a vampire twenty feet away from me, pumping bullets into some poor girl. For a moment, I thought I recognized her. She looked exactly like Veronica. I froze and tears burst forth from my eyes. Another bullet escaped the vampire's gun, and I screamed, running towards her. No, this couldn't be happening. They couldn't take my life, and then hers. They just kept taking and taking, they weren't allowed to do this.

Everything narrowed down to one moment where everything stopped and I just watched him kill her. Before then, I hadn't really seen the real cruelness and hatred that vampires were renowned for. I had a taste of how far they would go to get what they wanted, but this was wrong. Blood was spraying everywhere as bullet after bullet sent her body jerking in every direction. It was then that I realized how much I really did love Veronica. Although she wasn't what I would say a conventional friend, she was the only one that was ever there for me.

My heart was pounding, my pulse racing, my chest was heaving and I was screaming in fury as I ran toward him. It took only seconds for Eve to appear in front of me. I rammed into her and fell to the ground. I hated her for that. I picked myself up from the ground and tried to move around her, but she grabbed my shoulder. "Stop."

It was simple enough, but it had the desired impact. I stopped and for once, I thought about what I was doing. He was pumping bullets into my friend. She was already dead, and if I went after him without help, I would be dead too.

"Damn you bitch," I tore her hand away from my shoulder. She was right, and I hated her for that too. I spat in her face and watched as she carefully and calmly wiped it away. Tears burst forth from my eyes again and I started to break down. It just kept coming and coming. It never stopped. There was no time for relief or to deal with everything that was happening.

"Shut up," Eve ordered me and I felt only more anger pour forth. Who was she to tell me to shut up? She wasn't the one who had just watched her best friend die.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had very little self control before, and now it was time for payback. I pulled back my hand and delivered a strong punch to her gut. Eve stumbled backward and clutched her stomach in pain. I just stood watching her while everyone was running around me. Eve looked up to me with rage and fury. Well, she could do that all she wanted, I had just done what I felt like doing to her every since I had met her, and I was not about to feel sorry about it or regret it in the least.

It was then that I was snapped out of my little world and the vampire that had killed Veronica was now onto another victim. I looked around frantically for Kara. I was scared that she would be next.

The vampire grabbed his victim's head and pulled it off to one side to expose the neck. I watched as he licked her neck and laughed. I felt a shudder run down my spine. It was so sick, yet I couldn't find enough strength in me to look away. The girl was struggling and hitting the vampire repeatedly, but he didn't seem to notice. Her face was completely red and tears coated her face. I had to do something, but I was powerless.

As the vampire tore into her neck a guy stopped somewhere behind me. I couldn't see him, but I could feel his fear creeping up behind me. I turned and saw him look at the vampire in horror. It was then that I realised that the girl was his girlfriend. He began to run towards the feasting vampire.

It hurt me so much to do it to him, but I reached out and hooked him around the stomach to try to stop him. He struggled to get past my arm, screaming and reaching out for his love, but I had to stop him. "She's gone." I couldn't believe how calm my voice was. I guess it was because I was still trying to process the information that Veronica was dead. It was like I was a robot. My mind was too mechanical. I felt so bad for him. I was nearly crying. I understood how he was feeling, and what it was like to have someone die before your eyes and be helpless. I didn't want to hold him back, it was too painful for me, but I knew that I couldn't think of myself now, I had to save as many lives as possible.

Finally, he stopped and dropped into my arms, too exhausted to fight me anymore. The vampire was almost done his meal. I didn't know it at the time, but he had spotted me and was coming towards me.

"What is that monster?" the boy asked me. He was about seventeen and his deep brown eyes stared at me in utter confusion and sorrow.

"Exactly that, a monster," I held him close to me. I didn't care what it looked like. There were dead bodies littering the ground around me. It was a war zone, and I was sitting in the middle of it, holding a victim. At that point, I didn't think it could get much worse, but it did.

It was then that life decided to go 'SMACK".

The vampire stood behind me, and it was then that I saw the shadow. It was too late though, he was already prying me away from the boyfriend. Before I knew what was happening, I was thrown up against a wall, my back to the vampire and my hair was being ripped away from the side of my face.

I gave a sharp jab to the vampire's ribs and turned around. It took a moment to decipher his facial expression as shock and confusion. He just stood there, pressing me against the wall. His odd behaviour kinda put me into shock myself. I had no idea what was going on. I had a vampire pinning me against the wall, my best friend had just died, I was trying to keep cool while the boyfriend of a victim was in severe shock, and I couldn't find Kara. What else was I supposed to do? I guess I could always sit down and bawl my eyes out, or maybe I could even go and kill a bunch of people. Hmm... either one sounded just as tempting.

The vampire just stood there for a second, with that same blank, shocked expression. Then he slowly began to slump to the ground. Behind him stood Kara with a bloody chair leg.

"Daemon, Riever and Tucker are here. They're trying to get people out, but its really dangerous. The vampires have control over all the exits, and they seem to be looking for someone. There are other Master Vampires in the building, and they are making things very difficult for Daemon," Kara panted. She had a blood smear across her face, and she was covered in dirt and dust.

Then I had one of my 'moments'. They was something that she was holding back. "What else is there?"

Kara looked at me, deciding whether she should say something or not. Personally, I would have preferred that she didn't, but that was after I found out what she was thinking.

Stupid me and my psychic powers. A lot of good they did me.

"I think they're after you." Wow. That was like a blow to the head. Why were they after me? It was kinda scary to consider it. "I mean, if they have Master Vampires, they should be able to find who they are looking for right away, but you have this mind block thing that Daemon was talking about. They can't get inside your head easily, and that's why they're tearing the place apart, trying to find you. Tarren tried to get you to join him before, and he even used the witches to try to get to you. Now he's killing people to get to you."

"Well, thank you for the update, now I have some vampire asses to kick," I grabbed the gun from the vampire that had tried to hurt me, and began walking toward a nearby vampire feeding off of an older teen.

"Ferra, I don't think you understand," Kara called after me, but I guess I wasn't really listening because I didn't want to hear what she was saying.

Then she said something about getting me out of there, but I just kept walking toward the vampire, ready to kill him.

Thank goodness Riever stepped in my way, taking my arm and dragging me out of the way, because it turns out that the vampire I was going after was Tarren. Boy, that would've been fun.

"Get the fuck away from me," I pulled my arm free from Riever.

"Daemon and Tucker have secured an exit and they are getting everyone out of here," Riever informed me while pushing me off into a corner. "You have to stay in hiding for now."

"Why the hell do I have to stay in hiding? I can kick ass too," I struggled against Riever, but he was already forcing me under one of the bar counters.

"Hide here until someone comes to get you. They're after you. It isn't a matter of whether you can fend them off or not, it's a matter of drawing attention to yourself and how far they'll go to make you surrender."

"I think I can take care of myself," I shot back, trying to get up.

"You're too stubborn for your own good," Riever shook his head and gave me that crooked smile. It melted me. "Just promise that you won't move from here, and I'll do all your paperwork for a month."

"I'll stay here for ten minutes, and then I'm kicking everyone's ass," I compromised.

"Okay, but don't leave here a second early," Riever winked at me, and I felt a spark of excitement in my chest. Why did he always have to do that to me?

Of course, I was too bored and impatient to wait to the full ten minutes. It was about three minutes later that I poked my head over the counter to see what was going on. Bad idea. Then life decided one SMACK wasn't enough and dealt me a second one for kicks. Welcome to unimpressed-ville, population: one more.

There was a significant decrease in the number of people there, mostly because half of them were dead, but at least I knew that some of them had made it out. I saw one of the vampires, who was covered in blood, pull a girl from underneath a table and held her out for people to see. He then proceeded to snap her neck. I could hear it over the nearby yelling. It was sickening to watch, but I told myself not to think about it. I didn't have the time or strength to concentrate on the situation. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew what was happening, but I didn't have time to feel the pain. Apparently my life depended on that fact alone.

I really wished I had gotten some alcohol into me before the world decided to screw me over, again and again and again.

The vampire that I now recognized as Tarren made his way to the middle of the dance floor. As he stepped over the various dead bodies, he found one that was still alive. He pulled him up and dragged the boy behind him by the hair. I watched, sympathetic for the boy. It was then that I realized that he was the boyfriend of the girl that I saw the vampire kill. My heart went out for him, and I told myself to block out the pain, but it still got to me. Tears welled up in my eyes and I felt sick to my stomach.

"Ferra, I know you're here," Tarren turned and looked directly at me. I ducked as soon as he started turning around to face me. I didn't know if he had seen me or not. My heart was racing. Not only was my life hanging in the balance, but so was that guy's life. Why did life have to be so complicated?

I waited quietly, trying to tell myself not to panic, but I could feel my body reacting to him. My eyes were starting to blur and the energy around me was surging. He knew what he was doing to me. I could feel him probing my mind. His hatred and fury was so deep and consuming that it was controlling his every movement. It was a scary thought that someone could become so entangled in their hatred that they were no longer in control of themselves. I was shaking so hard. I was scared of him. He wasn't human or vampire. It was like evil itself. I could smell the death coming closer, creeping down my spine. I was frozen in my spot, unable to move. A scream welled up in my throat, but I couldn't let it out.

My breathing was bordering on hyperventilating. The coldness around me snaked its way into the core of my body. It was like a fucking horror movie, but there was always an ending to horror movies, this one didn't seem to stop. I was hiding as best as I could, trying to shield my mind from Tarren, whatever that meant. I could feel him around me, holding me hostage. Tears burned my eyes, but I was forced to silence.

"Precious..." I heard the soft voice. The cold breath brushed against my neck. I whipped around to my right to see who had done that. I was scared shitless. This was far too intense for me. I felt someone grab the back of my shirt and throw me to the ground. My head hit the floor hard. I could feel the warmth of the blood spread over my face.

Tarren's hands were so cold they burned. He laughed and picked me up, holding me high above his head.

"Behold the bitch that will save us all," Tarren laughed and threw me against the wall. I was tired, dizzy and nauseous. I was trying to regain my composure when Tarren grabbed me again. I didn't particularly feel like being smashed up against a wall another time, so I did the only thing that I could, I elbowed him in the face. Unfortunately he dropped me and I hit my head really hard against the floor again. Perfect. It's a curse, nothing can go my way.

This night was going to be fun.

From God knows where, Tarren managed to pull out that guy that he had hostage before. My heart was racing, and I could barely see, but I could tell Tarren was about to kill him.

"Drop him!" I ordered, trying to stand up without falling over again. I supposed if I wanted to try to beat Tarren, standing might be a useful skill.

"Come with me and I won't kill him," Tarren smiled. I had seen this in movies a thousand times before. The villain always threatened the good guy, because the villain didn't have any morals. Well, looks like it works in the real world too.

"You'll kill him anyway," I growled. Where was Riever when I needed him. I would even settle for Daemon or Tucker, anything but being alone.

"But could you live with yourself if I killed him and you did nothing to try to stop it?" I heard a soft whimper from the boy that he was holding up.

"That is assuming that I give a fuck about him," Lie, lie, lie... I probably wouldn't have cared less than a week ago, and I would've cared about saving my own ass, but my life had already been taken away from me, it was now my job to make sure that vampires didn't do it to anyone else. Although tonight showed me what a failure I was at that. It seemed that I was a failure at everything. Before it didn't matter, but this was not just my life that was being fucked up, it was everyone's.

"Fine then," Tarren shrugged his shoulders and drew out a gun. My jaw dropped. I thought that he was going to try harder to try to get me to come to him, but apparently he had no real interest in using this particular person as a hostage. He put the gun to the man's back and I watched as his chest exploded with blood.

Tarren threw the boy toward me. The guy hit the bar top and slid off the table and hit the floor. He was covered in blood. I was right, he would've died even if I had made a bigger effort. He had lost a lot of blood and he had broken his spine. His spinal cord was still intact, but he was going to die anyway. He looked up at me with blank eyes and a bloodied mouth. He had a bullet hole through his lung and he was barely going to survive the next few minutes as best.

"Hang in there," I tried to tell him, but he could barely respond. My voice cracked too. Boy, that must have been reassuring.

"Kill," the boy started but began to cough up blood, "kill him for me," he finally finished.

"I will," tears streamed down my face. How could this happen? I felt so helpless. Everyone around me was drying. The air was so thick with the stench of blood, that I could barely breathe. He was dying, I could see death in his eyes, he was so distant. "Just hang on, everything will be fine." I guess I was telling myself that more than him, but it felt like the right thing to say.

His eyes closed and I started to panic, "Don't close your eyes, keep talking to me, please." I didn't know what to do. Later I found out that you were supposed to keep someone talking for hypothermia, and not a bullet wound to the chest, and talking more aggravated it than anything else, but I told him to keep talking anyway.

"Tell my mother that I love her," his eyes fluttered back open.

"Don't talk like that," I told him, trying to keep myself under control. He had reminded me of my mother, grief-stricken when Tucker had to tell her about my so called death. I barely was able to forgive myself for the pain that I had caused her, now I was responsible for another death and more grief. "What's your name?"

He looked at me with his deep brown eyes. His pupils were so dilated, it was hard to see the brown, "Aaron."

"Well Aaron, I promise that I'll kill that son of a bitch, and you'll be able to tell your mom that you love her to her face," but I never got to finish my sentence before he breathed his last breath.

I tried desperately to wake him, but he was just a heavy lump in my arms. Anger and grief overcame me and I tried to shake him awake. It was all a bad dream and this wasn't real. Life could not be this cruel, it wasn't allowed to be this mean.

With a new burst of energy I tried to remember what I could of CPR. I pounded on his chest as hard as I could. I thrust all my body weight into it, I had to save his life. I was crying and sobbing as I did it, watching the life drain away before me. Blood soaked my knees as I rhythmically pressed on his chest. It was about a minute into it when I felt a rib snap under my strength. A whimper escaped my lips as I drew away from him. Sweat was pouring down my face, mixed with tears and blood. I threw myself over his dead body, sobbing uncontrollably. I clenched his shirt in my hand and prayed with all my might, that whatever power may be would bring him back. I held my breath, listening for a whisper of breath, or a beat of a heart, but he was cold, silent and dead.

"Come back," I whispered into his ear. I knew that since I had become a vampire, I had gained some freaky powers, and I thought that maybe I would be able to bring him back. I had to. "Come back," I said again, and again and again. It wasn't fair. Grief slowly turned to anger and frustration as I started to scream at him to come back. "Live again, you can't leave me here, you can't die, you have to tell your mom that you love her, come back!" I tried shaking him, as if it would help. But he was gone. I sank into him in resignation. There was no hope left for him. He was gone. It was all my fault that I wasn't able to save him.

"Damn you Tarren," I sobbed into Aaron's chest. I promised myself, I would tell Aaron's mom personally what had happened. I would take full responsibility for what had happened to him. I was no longer fighting Tarren for me, but I was fighting for Aaron and Veronica too. The thought of Veronica sent another pang of pain through my body. Tarren had meaninglessly robbed Veronica and Aaron of their lives and hurt countless people in the process. And for what? I stood up with determination only to find Tarren within metres of me, waiting.

"Let's go outside," Tarren smiled at me, "I have something to show you."

I could barely control myself. He had a presence around him that made me freak out. My body was trembling and I could feel him sucking the power away from me.

I followed him blindly, vaguely noticing the absence of my other teammates. It was then that I realized what he wanted to show me. The realization that Daemon, Tucker, Riever and Kara could be dead hit me like a ton of bricks. But life had a lot worse planned for me.

Blood streamed down from my head and was getting into my eyes as I tried to keep upright. I could barely see through the pain. Everything seemed darker, more surreal. It was like Tarren was bending reality to his will.

Tarren led me to an exit, probably the same one that Daemon, Riever and Tucker had secured and was using to get the people out of the building. It led to a back alley that smelled like weed. As soon as I got out, I saw Riever, Tucker, Daemon and Kara at the exit of the alley, leading off to a main road.

They had their guns trained on the vampires at the dead end of the alley, also consequently, where I was.

"Ferra," Kara called out to me.

"What the fuck do you want?" Daemon yelled at Tarren. I had heard of sibling rivalry, but this was beyond anything that I had ever experienced.

"I want the girl, and I want you not to interfere," Tarren eyed his followers, and the guns that were trained on everyone. "I know you will try to stop us, and I want to avoid bloodshed this time Daemon." This time? There had been other times? This was worse than I thought. And of course me, stuck in the middle of it all, was clueless. But then again, when am I not clueless?

I started to wonder why Tarren didn't just shoot Daemon, and why Daemon didn't shoot Tarren. I knew that there had to be some rule about killing the Master Vampire, but why didn't Daemon just kill Tarren? He had killed Drake without any hesitation. And why was I just standing there, watching this happen? Why didn't I kick some Vampirian ass?

"I should kill you right now," Daemon growled and inched closer to Tarren, but we were at least twenty feet away, so the change in stance was barely noticeable.

"But you won't, I hold the wildcard, remember?" Tarren held up a vile and smiled, "You and your damn connections to the humans. You forget that they don't matter. We're stronger and better than them. Why do you side with the filthy bastards, when they killed our parents, grandparents and entire lineage? They even killed your fucking wife for Christ's sake! Why do you care when they are oppressing and killing us? You know why Ferra is here right now? Its because you have failed as a Master Vampire, and she is here to set things right," Tarren grabbed my shoulder, and I winced in pain, but still, I was frozen in my place. "As the heir to the throne and next Master Vampire in line, I officially declare Ferra to be the Chosen Child. She is now entitled to all rights associated with being the Chosen Child. As my proof that she is the one, I offer the mark on her neck as prophesied by our great-grandfather."

"What mark?" Daemon snapped. Oh yeah, that funny little tattoo thing. Strange, it was deciding my fate, and I hadn't even seen it before.

"The mark of the chosen child, Kara can testify to its existence," Kara was taken aback, but when questioned by Daemon, she nodded her head, saying that it fit the description of the mark to be beared by the child.

"You really believe that she's the chosen child?" Kara asked in disbelief.

"Thanks for your support," I countered and rolled my eyes.

"So you believe it too?" Tarren looked down on me with his evil eyes. I could feel him trying to penetrate my mind and bend it to his will.

"I believe that there has been too much freaky shit for something not to be up," I smiled back at him and then spat in his face. "Oops, sorry."

"You bitch," he raised his hand to hit me, but I put my hand up in defence, "You wouldn't want to hurt the chosen child, now would you?"

Tarren laughed at me. I couldn't believe it, since he was going to worship me and all, he might as well respect me some more.

"You have a lot of courage, it will be fun being married to you," Tarren grinned that evil wicked grin, and I was creeped out beyond creepiness.

"Married?" I was taken back for a second.

"Yes, you are a woman, in order to take your place on the throne, you have to marry. Me, to be exact." What was he, like three hundred years older than me? Can anyone say 'pedofile'? Plus the whole 'evil guy trying to take over the world' thing.

"As the chosen child, can I kick your lily ass?" I glared at him and tore his hand away from my shoulder. He was starting to cut off the circulation to my arm.

"As a lower vampire, I have power over you, so no, you may not, and in fact, you are supposed to obey my every command," Tarren pinned me up against the brick wall.

"Well, I ain't no ordinary vampire, so why don't you take your hands off of me,"I snarled back, trying my best to intimidate him and try not to lead on that I was scared shitless.

"Well, you can't hurt me, and I can't hurt you," Tarren backed off a little.

"So, we're at a stale mate," I tried to remember what everyone said in the movies, but my memory decided to screw me over, and that was the best I could think of.

"No," Tarren took out his gun, "You're the good guys, you have morals, we are the bad guys, we don't." Tarren turned to Riever, Daemon, Tucker and Kara at the end of the alleyway. They had seen the entire exchange, but had been unable to do anything, since the vampires had also taken out their guns and had them trained on the others.

Tarren held out his hand and Tucker was levitated and pulled over to Tarren quickly. First Tucker was with the others, and then in a blink of an eye, his throat was tightly grasped by Tarren and a gun was pressed to his temple.

"I can't physically force you to come with me Ferra, but you will come with me," Tarren angrily threatened.

I turned to Daemon, but he was just as helpless as I. "What should I do?" I asked him. I didn't want to go, it could be the end of the world as I knew it, but how could I live with the blood of another person on my hands? I glanced over at Kara who was already crying out for Tucker. She was pregnant with his child, I couldn't let her baby never know it's father. I hung my head in despair, what was I supposed to do? I lifted my head to look at Tucker's scared and frantic eyes. He was fading in and out of view as he tried to use his powers to get away, but Tarren held him tightly.

"Yes Daemon," Tarren hissed, "What is she supposed to do?"

"Put him down Tarren," Daemon ordered.

"You're mind games don't work on me Daemon," Tarren warned, pressing the gun closer to Tucker's head. "Its either Ferra or Tucker, chose now."

Daemon turned to me, "I can't chose her fate, as the chosen child, she has to do it herself."

"Fuck," I muttered. It was more than just Tucker's life in the balance, it was everything. How was a teenager supposed to handle this?

And who said I the world didn't revolve around me?

"Well Ferra, what is it? Should I shoot Tucker or shall you marry me?" Tarren turned Tucker so that he was facing me. His eyes were pleading for me. Any anger that I had had for him had long since faded. He was a person, in front of me. My mouth opened to say something, but no voice came out. I couldn't go, it wasn't fair. I refused to be the wife of Tarren so that he could try to take over the world and use whatever power I had to torture humanity.

As always, in the middle of the crisis, Eve showed up. She looked pissed. I would have tried to talk to her, but I was just a little busy at the time. "I'm sorry Ferra, but he has to die, you can't go with Tarren. The vile that he threatened Daemon with is a virus. Vampires are naturally immune to it, but humans aren't. It's the fucking war all over again, only this time the vampires have the upper hand. If you go with Tarren, not only will he kill humanity, he will rule over what is left using your power as a catalyst."

I closed my eyes. I could feel death gripped Tucker's life. His death was so near and eminent, everything began to distort, and all I could see was Tucker. I tried to breathe, but I began to choke and the world spun before me.

I didn't care what Eve said, I couldn't let Tucker die, I had let Veronica and Aaron die, and I wasn't going to let someone else close to me suffer the same fate.

With my mind made up, I began to open my mouth to say that I would go with Tarren if he let Tucker go, but Tarren beat me to it.

"Sorry, too late."

Then a loud shot rang through the alley.

~End of Chapter 9 - The Coming~

Author's Tidbits: So, whatcha think, enough plot/emotion/weirdness for you? Sorry that it took so long. Pyro George has been killing me forever to finish writing this. Well, thanks for everyone for continually pestering me about it. ^_^ More coming later rather than sooner. Sorry. Almost done though, I swear.

Index