Vivienne

Instant as the memory came, the images left and Faye was once again staring down the maw of three hungry attack dogs.  Deciding on her course of action, Faye jumped free of the woodshed the instant she saw the dogs try and make their move.  Slipping between the two on the ground, Faye’s large tiger form landed safely and she looked back in time to see the three dogs tangled together.

Rushing off towards the barn, Faye shifted back to her human form and pulled the doors shut with a slam.  Devoid of the eerie low light from inside, the area outside around Faye cascaded into almost complete darkness. 

Howling and snapping at each other, the three hounds finally were able to untwist themselves and resume their hunt.  Bearing their hateful red eyes on Faye, the dogs dashed from the shed and closed the distance to the vampire within seconds.

-Wait..wait and pray this works.-  Faye held tightly to the handles of the doors and shoved them open right when the three jumped at her with their mouths open, fangs gleaming and shadow dripping from their maw.

Light splashed across the ground and just like her father’s advice, and pushed away the darkness that protected the shadow-hounds.  Screaming in both agony and anger, the three greyhounds were caught mid-flight and fell to the ground where they were penetrated by the illumination until they popped like balloons.

Pleased by the thousand pieces of shadow floating in the air, Faye looked up. “Thanks dad.”  Once she’d given praise to her father, Faye looked across the field at her beloved Vivienne.  Plowing through the waves of mindless undead, Faye felt herself captured by her fluid and graceful movement much like she had while climbing the stairs in their home. “Really not fair, Viv.”  Faye huffed and pushed back her feelings for the moment. “I know why she blotted out the moon.”

Tearing a zombie in half with no effort, Vivienne took a second to address her progeny and girlfriend. “Enlighten me, If you..”  Vivienne took out another zombie and adjusted what she intended to say. “Enlighten me, mon amour, please.”  

Faye ran to stand with Vivienne and tried to mirror her movements, “Funny you used that term.”  Faye clawed at a zombie turning it to meaty shreds. “It’s her way of using shadow things, like the dogs.  She needs darkness.”

“Astute, observation mon amour.”  Vivienne praised Faye and felt the rush of pride in her lover and partner. “Amazing as usual, Faye.” Vivienne hacked apart a couple more zombies. “I am of the impression that we need to break her concentration.”  She pointed to Denise, “Last time I tried to interfere, there was some bubble around her.  Then she slammed me to the ground with power derived from my grave.”  Vivienne touched Faye’s chest. “Where it now remains safe and sound.”

Allowing the rush of emotion to take her briefly, Faye lost her own concentration and caught a zombie claw in the shoulder for the lack of attention. “Damn it!”  Faye swiped in a ‘Z’ pattern and the zombie fell apart in three sections.  

Reflecting for a moment, Vivienne turned to face Denise as she focused on her hellish portals. “Some test, Miss Crow.”  Vivienne taunted the necromancer a bit more. “Thoroughly unimpressed.”

Responding with a light laugh, Denise aimed one of her fingers at the breaker box on the side of the barn and let a single bolt of green lighting fly, destroying it and dousing the immediate area back in darkness. “That should take care of that.”  Denise howled triumphantly. “Now then, Marion.  You wish for a more advanced test?”  Denise snapped her fingers and pointed to the dark portal. “If dogs can’t accomplish the mission, let's see what you do with true shadow.”  Using her second hand, Denise pulled more zombies from the cemetery. “Let’s keep the other one occupied.”

A single pulse and a deeper than night form pulled itself free of the portal, looking much like a inky version of a person wearing a sheet.  Pinpoint red eyes glared out from its shifting rounded head as it traveled without feet across the ground towards Vivienne.

Happy that it had finally stopped raining useless blood and bone, Vivienne looked quickly to Faye and saw her partner’s cat eyes already looking at her. “Meet in the…”

Faye winked and smiled, “..Middle, yes.” 

Planting a quick kiss on Faye’s cheek, Vivienne cleared the immediate area of zombies and winked at her lover. “Just a little breathing room, mon amour.”  Satisfied that Faye stood a reasonable chance against the line of dead bodies marching at her, Vivienne darted off in the direction of the amorphic specter Denise summoned.

Aware that she was close to the same area where she’d battled Captain Kino, Vivienne honed in on the bones of her opponent and the pile of animal bones for points of reference to Denise and Faye.  Movement from her peripheral vision alerted Vivienne exactly where her new opponent was.  Just as she was about to confront the shadow, Vivienne caught the smell of ozone. “Watch out!”  Vivienne announced in the attempt to warn Faye while she jumped to her right side.  Streaking by her in a loud scream, a skull made of obsidian landed on the ground and shattered sending needle like barbs through the area.

Shearing off bits of her nightgown and exposing more of her shapely body, Vivienne was relieved that none of the shards were able to pierce her skin.  Moments after her revelation, Vivienne realized that her small triumph was short lived when the specter grabbed her arm and she felt an icy chill numbing her muscles and bones.  Immediately thinking to pull away, Vivienne found herself trapped in the paralytic grip that the specter had. 

Slowly the feeling crept along the pathways of her nerves, trickling the poison into her body.  A drug.  Unlike the other concoctions that were meant to distort reality, Vivienne felt the chilled touch reach ever so slightly into her mind and gently tug away her concerns.  Dreamily, Vivienne offered the shade her other arm and waited for that initial frosty shock to wear off and allow the sensation of erasure to inch its way through her mind. 

No pressure, no fighting.  Nothing mattered except the specter and its empty touch.

When a set of cat-like green eyes pushed past the soothing erasure, Vivienne snapped back to herself.. -Another method of control.-  Trying once again to free herself from her captor, Vivienne first tried to use blood in the effort to clear the slow moving mass in her body.

Dedicating all that she had left, Vivienne willed the blood to regain control of her arms.  While the precious reserve did flow as she asked into her arms, it didn’t allow her to bring any extra strength to the struggle. -This isn’t right.  Impossible, blood is everything.-  Vivienne juggled the word in her quickly deteriorating mind. -Blood, blood…do I need it?- 

Seeing the green eyes fade into saucer-like soulful brown ones hidden behind big round glasses, Vivienne recalled the first time she’d touched the olive cheek and swirled her finger around those smooth features. -Who’s features?-  Vivienne stared blankly into the red mirror eyes of her new friend and saw her own half-white, half-blue eyes and marveled at their beauty. -My eyes.-  She told herself and let out an audible sigh.  -No!-  Vivienne suddenly realized she was slowly being consumed, erased and replaced.  -It feels so right though.  It’s part of me.-  Unwilling to be reprogrammed like a computer chip awaiting new instructions, Vivienne found herself holding ground against the specter. -How do I stop this?  How can you fight yourself?- 

Three millennia of torture and taunting scrolled through Vivienne’s mind, along with each of its utter failures.  Vivienne knew that she had been the victor simply because she could anticipate and beat her demon with her own will and mind. -You’ve fought this before.  Caged it, kept control of yourself.  Fought the fear of being lost.-

Almost as if the shade knew it was going to lose, the beast renewed its force upon its new host.  Vivienne felt the arctic darkness yank a recent memory of a dying woman on a large wooden table, with her broken arms wrapped desperately around Vivienne’s neck.  When Vivienne felt the precious memory begin to unravel and disappear from her, Vivienne dug within herself and found the one word she knew would save her.