Chapter 4—Melody
I woke up in what I supposed was my bed—it was a plain twin, with white sheets, one pillow and no frame. Just a mattress on the floor. My room was just as boring—white walls, white carpet, no color or splash of life anywhere in the room except me, in a blood red nightgown…
WAIT! I didn’t own any blood red night gowns! I stared in annoyed disbelief and mentally swore at Nympori for having the gall to change me in my sleep. Just as I was about to start hollering, a soft soprano voice echoed through my room.
“Good morning, Miss Alice!” she chirped from the single window. I clasped the sheets to my chest as if it were some kind of protection and spun around to see the magnificently glittering girl. She had hazel green eyes and longish, wavy, dark hair. Her face was open and light, and fangs glistened from under a dark lipped smile. She was tall and slender, beautiful in build and fascinating to the eye. I stared at her dumbly, trying to grasp why the sun was bouncing off her pale skin. She was mirror-like, in a world where I wished so badly to look like her.
“Uh…hello?” I said shyly, slowly lowering the thin sheet. She beamed at me.
“Oh how rude of me! Miss Alice, my name is Certa. Nympori is my little brother—he was oh so excited when he found you! Really, he’s been, well, we’ve all been waiting…but the point is, I’m so glad to finally meet you, Miss Alice!” she giggled, bubbly and relaxed. She glided over to the corner of my bed and sat herself down on the edge. She waited patiently for me to get a grasp of what was going on—I was still rather groggy and she was brighter than the sun outside.
“Um, Travista…is your brother. Why am I in this…?” I tugged at the satiny, sexy nightgown, lost and confused and feeling very unlike myself.
“Oh, that’s mine. Nympori liked how it made your skin look, and he insisted that I change you into it. He was here almost all night, watching you. I swear, that boy has never been so love-struck! And he was quite the flirt you know.” She said matter-of-factly, smoothing out her own billowing gown. I realized that she looked like she was from an Elizabethan era, one I’d never expected to see in this world.
“Wait, he was with me all night?” I demanded, yanking the sheets up around me again, my frantic voice shooting up at least three octaves. She giggled and waved her hand airily, a smile still open on her face.
“Why, yes, he was. Sitting right where I am now! He was glowing! He was so thrilled when he came back to the coven last night—he wouldn’t shut up about how lovely you were and how spirited and fun. I absolutely insisted that he keep an eye on you.” She busied herself with menial tasks such as pouring me a glass of water or finding a clean undershirt for my uniform, which was folded neatly on the floor next to the bed. I swung my feet to the plush carpet and giggled as it tickled my toes. I stood up and wobbled over to the bathroom to look at myself and stood in awe of the creature that looked back. The slinky red nightgown clung to my hips and slid down my legs to the floor and a flowing fountain of red satin, and my top half didn’t look too shabby, either. My shoulders looked slender and soft and my bust looked…well, impressive. It tugged at my waist and flared in both directions. It was an odd design for a nightgown, but gorgeous all the same…I felt beautiful. I felt something cold tug at my gown and I smiled at the empty mirror.
“Miss…Certa, was it? Thank you for letting me borrow this. I actually feel…pretty.” I giggled at my image and a quiet velvet voice purred in my ear.
“You’re so much more than pretty, Miss Alice.” Nympori complimented, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his cheek on my hair as he inhaled my scent. I jumped and spun around to look at him; I was surprised to see that his eyes were warm lavender. I stroked under his eyelids slowly, my curiosity burning in my chest.
“Your eyes are so light…why is that? Don’t worry, I’ll throw a fit later about you watching me sleep, but why are they so light?” he chuckled and brought me closer to his chest and smiled. I felt pretty good right now, and I still had a high from feeling pretty for once.
“I just hunted.” He explained, cradling me against his body like I was his lover…or maybe I was just fantasizing because he was so lovely and I wanted to be…his lover. At least, I did right now. I liked being in his arms and against his chest—and as I dreamed about the imaginary relationship between us, I glanced down to see a long plane of naked marble flesh. He was wearing an open vest and nothing else on his torso, and I blushed violently. My lover daydream suddenly felt so…real. He swept me off my feet and brought me back to the bed—Certa had left us in privacy, perhaps sensing the mood between us now. He laid me down and fixed the hair around my face and smiled at me, sitting close to me, his vest hanging loosely from his marvelous chest.
“Okay, you can yell at me now.” He stroked my hair softly, a teasing smile light on his lips. I took a deep breath and started out low.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You went back on our agreement! You said you’d leave me alone if I promised not to hurt myself!” I worked to look tough, but I was so comfortable and he was so beautiful…it was surreal.
“Ah, no. That wasn’t what we agreed on. That’s what I offered, but you agreed to stay safe if I apologized for my assault.” He interrupted, beaming again, “And I apologized. So I took the liberty of looking at you all night…you seemed to like it when I lay next to you.” He lay down on the bed next to me, resting his cheek on his palm and smiling as I scooted away from him slightly.
“I-I did not!” I defended myself lamely, blushing as I tried to imagine myself sleeping next to him, perhaps in his arms and I could feel my face get hot. He bit his lip and scooted close, his icy chest hovering over mine, arm lying on my waist.
“That color is delicious on you. It’s very sexy.” He murmured, moving his head to rest on my shoulder. He inhaled deeply and sighed, apparently content. I pushed him away, and he complied for once, frowning deeply and his eyes burned with his displeasure.
“You really don’t want me, do you?” he murmured. I shook my head mechanically, wondering how much I was willing to lie to keep him at bay. I was really starting to hate how I felt guilty when he looked at me like that—like he was crushed because I wouldn’t want to get close to a monster that could quite possibly be insane—after all, he repeated the whole “royalty” bit like he was serious—as if I, boring, plain-jane ugly me, could be an elegant vampire royal something or other!
“No, I really don’t. I’m terrified of you. I just want you to leave me alone and go home.” I puffed, folding my arms around my chest and trying to look serious. What I really wanted was for him to get his cold a** back on the bed and hold me again, but I’d never tell him that! Never ever would I admit my obsession with his physical being. That’s all I felt towards him anyway. He laughed slightly and crossed the room and motioned towards the window with a long sweep of his arm.
“I AM home, Alice. It’s you who’s not home.” I jumped out of bed and ran to the window, my heart racing as I stared out into an unfamiliar courtyard with bright cherry blossom trees and blood red plum blossoms falling into my brown hair from the soft breeze.
“Why the hell am I here?! Travista, how could you do this to me?!” I hollered, and he held up his hands defensively in front of him as if I could possibly, in any upside-down world, harm him.
“It was Certa’s idea, not mine.” He promised solemnly. “Anyway, Alice, I have something I must attend to, so please make yourself comfortable.”
“I’m not done with you--!” I began, but he ignored me. He instead strode over to a large, arched doorway and opened the old, rusty looking door that sat in heavily in the frame in the corner of the wide room and disappeared inside without another word, leaving me behind in a furious stupor. I jumped to my feet to chase after him and I made it all the way to the heavy door before my nervous heart began to pound again. My fingers touched the grainy surface of the door, cool and hard under my skin. It felt like it was stealing heat right from my hands. I squinted into the dark hall that it led into, and felt a shiver down my spine. I knew in the back of my skull that I didn’t want to go in after him anymore, but my feet moved me mechanically down the chilling corridor. There of course was no sunlight—but the fact that there was no light at all surprised me. I thought for sure there’d be electricity or at the very least, a torch. My pupils strained for some glimmering light to illuminate the cold stone walls. I felt my way, lost eventually, and I began to ponder the possibility of a labyrinth. Still, my feet permitted me no rest. I stopped thinking about where I was headed, because I obviously had no clue. I began to think instead of where he was, and what he was doing there. And perhaps he was using one of his dark tricks on me and was the one beckoning to my feet to come closer. It seemed like ages before I saw light again. I winced from it, used to seeing the dark for so long. It was a single beam, an orange glow from a lone torch illuminating a wide chamber. It was very dim, and still I could see nothing but a big, stone box on the floor. I slowly advanced forward, curious as to what could lay in the enigmatic, lavishly decorated box. I approached it and felt the urge to stroke the gold curves and silver linings inlaid in the beautiful ebony thing in front of me, so I let my hand caress it, feel the inlay against my skin. It was unexpectedly smooth and cool, like obsidian or marble and I found myself transfixed. It was absurd not to realize where I was immediately, but as I stroked this gorgeous box common sense told me that this was perhaps dangerous. I looked around and though dimly lit, I could see cavernous walls, large pillars carved from stone seemingly holding up the dark around me. With a sickening lurch of my stomach, I realized where I stumbled.
I was in a crypt.
The box was a large, old fashioned coffin, and on the top was an upside down silver cross. This was the sleeping chamber of a vampire, and I was rude enough to intrude. I gazed now with new eyes on the box. The gold twirling lines spelled a name, and I was awed to find that it was a female’s name.
Melody.
Lunas Aura Community Member 
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