The dreamer dreams
Is this hell? She wonders, reaching out into the blackness. Catching hold of the air she falls, down and down with nothing to grasp on to and no way to stop. There was nothing and yet everything came into sight, into being. She fell through the Earth and landed on the other side, into a web of vines which wrapped around her body soothingly, as if to catch her fall. A weary moment passed as she got to her feet, her body still broken from the battle not long since passed.
She blinks --her vision finally returning to her-- and has to shield her eyes from the blinding light above. The sun, beautiful and warming, was merciless on this day. To either side of her were more vines, a hedge, a maze. A labyrinth, she summized. Is this hell? She wondered again, getting to her feet she began to walk, trailing her hand along the ten-foot tall hedge, coming to a stop at a T-intersection. She frowned, the very thought of having to decide anything on such a beautiful day seemed so unfair, yet if it were hell she supposed her punishment would be in either direction. And as it was, there was no real way of telling which bore the worser punishment, for they both appeared the same in every way.
Shrugging her shoulders, the raven-haired woman took the right path so as to continue trailing her hand along the hedge without pause. She frowned as she went deeper into her chosen direction, for it seemed as though the light was beginning to fade, and sure enough as she glanced at the sun, it was eclipsed in total darkness, carrying that darkness to the Earth. “Don’t worry, pet,” an involuntary shudder passed through the woman, she knew very well who was speaking to her, though she could not see her.
“I’ll keep you safe in the dark,” the woman continued, her voice but a whisper. She stepped from behind a hedge; her naked body glowing in the darkness, as though she were bathed in the purest white light. The new woman smiled, her fangs showing for the briefest of instances. At first glance, she appeared as a woman in her mid-twenties, but those who knew better were well aware that she was over four hundred years old. Such was Vampirism. And yet the raven-haired woman did not utter a syllable, although her right hand had fallen to her side and was now balled into a fist. “Don’t be like that, love. It’s the most fun you’ve had since she died.”
“You shut your mouth!” The raven-haired woman lashed out, creating a rustling in the hedge nearby. The inhabitant quite annoyed with its disruption of sleep.
“Now, I’m only telling the truth. There’s no need to be snippy,” the blonde vampiress smirked, taking slow deliberate steps toward the other woman, the white light that emitted from within her seemed to grow with each step she took. “Just think of it. If she hadn’t died, then I wouldn’t have found you. I wouldn’t have made your life better. Now, tell me. What was that young girl’s name? Such a pretty thing, and older than you, my my. I see a pattern here.”
The blonde-haired woman wrapped her arms around the others shoulder, almost to hold her down if she decided to run away, yet no word passed though the raven-haired woman’s lips. Nothing but deafening silence. “Kennedy…” the vampiress scalded, “surely you haven’t forgotten?”
“Seraphine,” the woman named Kennedy lowered her head and seemed to sink into herself, if it were at all possible to sink any further. She tried to pull away from her vampire companion, but she was too strong, and the battle pointless. “Now, now. I’ll let you go in a moment,” the woman grinned, taking more out of the struggle between them than her female counterpart. “Tell me, what was the promise you made to her? Do you remember?” Without pause Kennedy answered, “yes.”
“And what was that, my dear?” The vampiress loosened her grip, but not before leaning across to take in the other woman’s scent, taking pleasure in the smell of her sweat, her fear. Intoxicated by it, she took a step away from Kennedy to allow her room to move. “To never forget,” a single tear slid down Kennedy’s cheek, and for the first time in five minutes she chanced to look up, only to find that the vampiress was no longer beside her, but walking away in the distance. “Did you really think you could try?”
The blackness came again, reaching out its tendrils to take Kennedy to another place, a place that had brought so much happiness in so few years. She was back at the Watcher’s Academy in England, a place for Watchers and Potential Slayers to train together, awaiting the time for when they might be Called. “Cheater!” She heard a voice call from a labyrinthine hall, a voice she recognised as her own. Seconds later two figures appeared in front of her, the first a slender young woman with piercing blue eyes, jet-black hair and a connecting scar under her chin. The second figure was a younger -and much happier-version of her, and to complete the illusion the younger Kennedy ran through her elder self and up a length of stairs.
“Well, you’re so much faster it only seemed fair!” Kennedy heard Seraphine call in the distance, she longed to follow the pair, but her heart was already torn and bleeding at the briefest glimpse of her first love. Yet it seemed as though the fates had other plans and in a flash she was reunited with them in their shared dorm room. “Okay, your turn,” Seraphine grinned, flipping over to lie on her back on the single bed both she and Kennedy were sharing at the time.
Kennedy rolled her eyes and smirked, “Lena Olin.”
“No, no, no,” Seraphine giggled, “Firstly, CJ. I’m afraid to say it, but she’s forty years old. Secondly!” Seraphine pronounced, raising her finger to the air, “you have to describe this perfect day with her, not name a person and leave it at that. Are we clear on the rules now, or should I start tickling some seriousness into you?”
“Well, I am leaning towards the tickling, but mostly because that leads to far more interesting things,” Kennedy purred and waited a moment for her words to sink in before continuing. “But just this once…” Kennedy rolled to her side and rested her head on Seraphine’s shoulder, she wrapped her free arm around the petite woman’s waist and began tracing circles absently. “My perfect day would involve waking up with the woman I love. Then we’d make love…” Kennedy stared fixedly at the wall, not at all wanting to look at the woman at her side out of fear of not completing her sentence. For she had given the topic lots of though (although she would never admit to it), and to have the woman she loved laugh at her was not something she could bear. “After, which, I would make her breakfast in bed. Followed by much cuddling. And then… I’d take her some place secluded, quiet, and tell her stories all afternoon. About lost kittens and camels, or something silly.”
Kennedy stopped speaking, her hand no longer doing its idle laps along Seraphine’s waistline, for the moment they were content in the silence. “Then what?” Seraphine smiled, her hand behind Kennedy’s back began a slow trail back and forth along her exposed flesh, causing the raven-haired woman to shudder. “Then…” Kennedy looked up into Seraphine’s eyes, her hand trailing up the length of the young woman’s body to find a lock of hair to twirl absently. “We’d go to a fancy French restaurant, followed by a casual stroll on the beach. Where I would then take her home and we’d fall asleep in each others arms.”
“Mmm, that sounds like heaven,” Seraphine pulled Kennedy into a deep kiss, only parting when they needed air. “And where am I during all of this?” And what was a moment ago a playful tone turned to that of complete seriousness, “I think I’d fall to pieces if I thought you were with another woman.” Kennedy’s hand trailed down Seraphine’s cheekbone down her chest to her stomach, “Still in once piece as far as I can tell.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Such a brief inspection…” Seraphine trailed off innocently, allowing Kennedy to straddle her on the bed to continue trailing her fingers along the other young woman’s body tortuously.
The present day Kennedy put her hand to her mouth and turned away from the sight, clenching her eyes tight, her tear-streaked face evidence that she was truly bereaved. After a moment of deep, calm breaths she opened her eyes to another sight. She stood at the very base of an apple tree that bore red fruit; she glanced up at it in awe and then looked down again and was startled at the sight of Eve. She was naked and wrapped around her petite frame was a rather large serpent. “Touching scene. I’m sure you’ll agree that most of the nights we spent together were pretty raunchy, but then, you never loved me, so it missed that little extra touch.”
“Who’s to say I didn’t love you?” Kennedy frowned, her grief over her first love replaced now with that of anger over her recent lover. “You took me out of a dark time and you gave me something.”
“And what was that?” Eve’s voice was full of deep regret.
“Hope?” Kennedy moved to wipe the tears from her eyes and was shocked to find the cast on her left arm now removed and the bone fully healed, along with the cuts and bruises on her face.
“Hope?” Eve laughed, her voice full of malice and far from that which Kennedy was use to. Eve wrapped her arm around the side of the great apple tree and hid behind it. Emerging on the other side, fully clothed in a very fetching apricot suit, the serpent that was wrapped around her shoulders now replaced with an apple in her hand. “Sweetie, all I did was offer you the apple.”
“Then it was never about love?” Kennedy’s eyes implored, naively.
Eve took a few steps towards Kennedy and reached a hand out to caress the young woman’s cheek, “Only you can know for sure, sweetie. But I feel I need to be honest with you, my intentions weren’t very honourable --I had orders-- but whatever came after is for you to decide.”
“I know,” Kennedy tried to smile but it came as more of a grimace, she tried to fight back the tears and the numbness that would soon follow.
“So, are you ready to wake up?” The raven-haired woman sighed and looked over her dream-scape, to her left was Darla, the four hundred year old Vampire, who stood rooted on the spot in an eighteenth century dress --her hands neatly folded in front of her-- with a knowing smile on her face. To her right was her fifteen year old self and Seraphine (as she remembered her), hands held tightly together, waiting for Kennedy to make her next move. And in front of her was Eve, holding the red apple. “How do I?”
Eve pointed behind Kennedy, to which the raven-haired woman turned and, sure enough, there was a plain old rusted door, hovering in the middle of the blackness with no sense of time or space. Kennedy moved toward it and hesitantly put her hand on the knob, “aren’t you coming?”
“No,” Eve said bluntly, as if she knew the question was coming.
Pondering this for a moment, Kennedy took one last look at the women of the past. Darla, the ancient beautiful Vampire who would never grow old or die. Eve, her recent lover and boss. Seraphine, who first introduced her to the concept of love. And her fifteen year old self, who smiled as if to wish her luck on her journey. Taking a deep breath, Kennedy forced open the door and was purged with a purifying white light to awaken on the other side.