Post by Awakened on Mar 7, 2006 20:54:21 GMT -5
Ok, I got this part done in time for Amelius's birthday for which I am happy. This is the first part of the fic that I said I would make in the Zeno's Redeeming Features thread in the Questions questions Forum.
I would just like to offer this portion of my writing to Amelius as a Birthday Present. Happy Birthday Amy!
Azelea flew lazily on the warm morning breeze, basking in the soft sunshine coming from overhead and taking in the scent of the flowers and grass below her. Just underneath her was a purple wildflower that she intended to begin her breakfast with. All about her mother nature was flourishing, reinvigorated by the storm that had kept the household of little monsters indoors for over a week. Inside the house she could hear the bustling of almost a dozen Horrifying Creatures That Were Never Meant To Be shouting and fighting and playing as they made their way around the house. Finally, she thought, A few minutes to myself. Though the entire household had complained to greater and lesser degrees about nature imprisoning them indoors under penalty of getting drenched and even a little bruised at times when it started raining hail stones, none had taken it quite as badly as Azelea. She had devoured every flower in the house by the end of the second day, and by the fifth she had eaten all of the sugar and honey kept in the pantry. Were it not for the Bit-O-Honey Bars that Menu had stashed by the bushel in his closet she knew she would have surely starved before the storm had finally died down.
Plunking her miniature self down on the petals of the flower Azelea began to feast. Oooh, I’ve waited so long, she thought happily as she quickly devoured the contents of the flower and looked around her for more. Not far from her meal Menu and Claire were tromping through the damp grass talking about how Menu was going to start charging Foomy rent if he didn’t stop burning the drapes, couch, and everything else he touched. In other words: things that held absolutely no interest to Azelea. She left them there by the trail which wound its way down towards the stream and to the deeper forest beyond and continued to dart from one flower to another during the early summer dawn. She planned on having a busy day and so she would need all of her strength.
* * *
“Zeno,” called Mye. “Zeno, where did you put my books?”
From under the covers of a bed in a poorly lit room a creature whose appearance could only be called “disturbing“ moaned and tossed in his bed. “Wha--”, moaned Zeno, only half awake. He had moments before been dreaming, but what it was he had been dreaming about had already begun to fade from his memory as Mye’s persistent voice roused him to wakefulness. He shuddered, feeling as if his stomach had been impaled by a blade of ice.
“Ugh”, moaned Zeno clutching his midsection. Those meds are starting to have some nasty side effects. Wish the others would let me stop taking them.
Forget it, Hexavier had said a few days before. You just be grateful I’m taking time out of my valuable day to make these for you. When you want to stop whining about how your dad tried to gamble you away on purpose during a poker game with a bunch of warlocks who wanted to use you as a sacrifice to summon Cthulhu, or how you mother had tried to feed you to your sisters because she didn’t feel like grocery shopping that one week then we’ll start talking about cutting back on your medication. As it is, every time you talk I don’t know whether I want to strangle you to make you shut up or just break out the violins for you. Johnny Cash and Edgar Allan Poe combined had better personalities than you.
Jerk, thought Zeno. “Ugh,” groaned Zeno still holding both hand over his deathly pale stomach and chest, as though his insides were on the verge of spilling out of some phantom wound. He leaned over the side of his bed and allowed himself to roll off onto the floor which his limp body hit with a thud.
“Zeno,” called Mye again, this time from the doorway.
“Just a minute,” moaned Zeno as he wriggled on the ground in a worm like fashion towards a pile of clothes he had discarded the night before. Dressing quickly in a daze he blinked his weary eyes into wakefulness and stumbled towards the door.
“Hugh,” said Zeno as he opened the door to face his girlfriend. Upon looking on her bright, smiling face Zeno stood straighter, and felt more at ease, the soreness in his stomach and chest evaporated. He returned the smile, genuinely feeling it in his heart. This is what I always want to wake up to, he thought. If he had his way he always would.
“I need my books back. I gave them to you so you could study more about the history of your race, and how they have influenced history through out the world, but I need them back now. There was a spell in one of them that I want to try. Oh, and I’m going to need some of your hair and just a little of your blood if that’s alright.”
“Sure,” Zeno said eagerly. He would have said the same thing with the same eagerness if Mye had asked “Could you please gut yourself and cut out for me, oh, say, a yard of your small intestine. And all of your pancreas.“ Zeno’s mind raced as he tried to think where he had put the books. “Um, I think I left the books with Charby. He and I were in his room last night listening to his new Linkin Park CD. Its great what sort of boot legs you can get in the market these days. I’ll get them for you”
“No, that’s alright,” said Mye. “I’ll go see Charby. You, uh, you can,” her voice trailed off as she suddenly made a deep grimace as though something was really bothering her. Zeno caught on.
“Heh, heh,” he laughed guiltily. “I was with him till three in the morning and he had the portable heater on in his room. And by the time I left I was too tired to get a shower. I’ll go wash up now. Oh, and that reminds me, I’m taking over all laundry duties starting today. It was never fair for you to do practically all of the domestic chores. Especially since your also working in your lab every chance you get.”
“Good!” Mye practically glowed at this announcement. She hated housework but had always been too nice to say or do anything. Or maybe, considering that she had been the only girl living in a house populated by males for so long, it was the simple fact that she was always the first one to break down first from the smell of dirty clothes and the sight of dirty dishes being used for their daily meals and simply fell into the role of the, as she put it, ‘community housewife’. “The soap is in the utility closet. Just follow the instructions on the box.”
“Right,” muttered Zeno, suddenly feeling a bit of sleep returning. “Just give me a few more minutes.”
“Okay, thanks sweety,” said Mye happily, as she turned to head to Charby’s room. He’s always thinking of me, she thought happily, walking down the hall.
* * *
Zerlocke splashed cold water on his face. The shock from the icy chill forced him into wakefulness as he lifted his gaze and stared at his dripping face in the mirror. Zerlocke was a handsome creature, in an otherworldly sort of way. He had raven black hair that fell all the way down to his shoulders, and eyes that were like two small wells of blood, marred only by the black pupils at their center. His skin was pale like a corpse's, yet somehow still attractive. His oddest feature of course were his wings. Two bat like wings on his back that emphasized his status as a creature of the night.
Zerlocke was an Elite Vampire. For some this made him a mortal foe to be feared and despised. To others this made him a potential tool, to manipulate as a game piece in the endless struggles for power amongst the so called 'demons' and the fae. Amongst his own kind this made him 'family' in a loose sense. The Elites had banded together in the aftermath of the previous Vampire King's death in which the Elite Vampires were quickly made known to the world at large and just as quickly were branded as a race of abominations and freaks even amongst the most horrific of races of monsters. Together the Elites had quickly formed a hierarchy amongst their own kind and had worked together for mutual protection as King Rodericke united all pure blooded and common vampires in an unholy crusade against the Elite Vampires. A crusade that threatened to pull into it all of the creatures living in the hidden world, and possibly change the dynamics of power in the hidden world of the night forever.
But here in his home all that mattered was that he was truly family in every sense of the word. "Zerlocke, I'm hungry! When are we going to eat? We need to be quick, brother! What is taking you so long? I must meet with the Elite council this morning for my annual review. Why are you taking so long in the bathroom? I want Belgium waffles."
"Ugh," moaned Zerlocke as he dried off with a towel. Another day went by, and yet nothing changes, he thought. Nothing ever changed about his family, and likely nothing ever would. Though his siblings were each over a century old, just as he, they each seemed locked into the roles in which they died. Meaning though both his sisters were powerful witches in their own right, just as skilled as he in the ways of magic, and also Vampire Elites wielding incredible powers and capable of unthinkable horror, they were still only children, just as they had always been. Just as they always would be. And though they might think and behave as adults at times, rendering him sage wisdom and vital aid, as their older brother they instinctively looked upon him as a surrogate parent in lieu of their mother and father. And he would remain so for all eternity.
"Coming, sisters. No need to shout. Belgium waffles it is." Pulling the door open he hurried down the hall to the plaintive voice of Rosemary. Zerlocke put on a happy, cheerful face for his sisters. "Good morning Rosemary, you have a review coming up today. Well we all know how well that is going to go for you. You have worked harder than the rest of us."
Rosemary however was having none of it. "What? You know how these reviews are! They never have anything positive to say about you! All these reviews are is a bunch of stuck up higher ups looking down their noses at you, trying to find anything at all they can use against you. You get judged on how well you fend off their stupid accusations that you didn't do enough, or that you should have done something differently, or that you've had a bad attitude at work. I hate them, who the hell came up with this method of performance review anyways?"
"Language, dear sister. We don't use those kind of words in this house," Zerlocke chided pleasantly.
"Sorry," said Rosemary who wrapped her arms around herself, a look of dread and anger on her face as she contemplated her annual performance review. She worked tirelessly for the Elite Council, and the only thing she hated more than her sister's boyfriend Menu was sitting in a small, short chair in the middle of a room filled with higher ranking Elite Vampires who mercilessly tore to pieces work that she knew was flawless.
"That's alright. Where is your sister Claire," asked Zerlocke, looking around the family dining room. "Was she not hungry this morning?"
"Bleagh. She went out earlier to get more doggy kisses from her boyfriend."
"Now, now sister, that is no way to speak of your sister's boyfriend. Particularly when he is such a close friend of our 'Chosen One'. You have to learn to get along with people."
"I get along with the people who matter just great! Its these freaks of nature that you and Claire keep bringing home that are getting on my nerves."
"Have you ever considered that perhaps to them we are the freaks of nature? Zombies have been around for millennia in one form or another. The same for werewolves. Only we Elite Vampires are truly new, the result of vampires breeding with other vampires for so many centuries that their descendants became something else, in turn making their bite potentially something more than what it was originally meant to be."
"Whatever," Rosemary grumbled.
Zerlocke made his special Belgium waffles that morning, a recipe that was the result of a century of refined culinary expertise that in the end boiled down to adding a little bit of extra ginger and brown sugar with some fresh squeezed orange juice in the batter before cooking to give it a little extra 'kick'.
When breakfast was over Rosemary made her way out the door and flew to the local base off operations that the Elite Council had established in that area. Zerlocke rubbed his fingers over the temple of his head and sighed. Lately, getting out of bed didn't seem worth it anymore. Lately, not much of anything seemed worth it anymore. Claire had her boyfriend, Rosemary her job, but what at the end of the day was left for him?
Oh Mye, he thought, If you would but give your love to me I would dedicate the sum of my entire existence to you. Every morning we would bask in each other's love and I would be your devoted servant through out all eternity. Why did you choose him over me? He will never love you as I do. Can't you see that? Why can't you see that?!? A tear began to trickle down his cheek and was all he could do not to sob. He shook his head, not allowing himself to get caught up in this whirlwind of emotion again. He had been down this path of thought too many times already and each time it only ended him in breaking down into sobs, choking and almost hearing his long silent heart breaking in two.
Zerlocke was determined not to be caught up in his emotions this time. Instead, he searched all about him for the first half of that morning for things he could do to take his mind off of his unrequited love for Mye. He spent a few hours cleaning the house from top to bottom, and then when he was finished he returned to his studies and experiments in the family laboratory, searching over notes and through books on how to complete one of his many potions.
I can't do this, he thought after a while. He put down the book he was holding and replaced it on the shelf beside his desk. Quietly he began to sob, his face buried in his hands. He loved her. She drove him to extremes of emotion he had not experienced before since his sire, and yet she was entirely committed to a relationship with a little boy who had once gone so far as to spurn her. This part was perhaps the most maddening part of her relationship with Zeno from Zerlocke's view point. Did this mean that if he waited long enough he might dump her again? Could there still be hope for his stillborn dreams of love and romance with Mye? Or would he be waiting in vain for all eternity for them to break up? To cast aside the love he held in his heart when their might still be a chance someday or to hold on to it forever knowing it might be all for naught? Zerlocke had endured things that would have broken lesser people and yet he had almost never felt more hopeless or broken.
I must not do this, he thought. If he gave into despair all he would gain would be more time wasted and more grief spent. He had to do something. I will go and see her, he thought. Claire kept him abreast of the going ons of the household that Mye lived in and reiterated as best she could everything that she heard while their. One of the more interesting things she had mentioned was that Mye had finally scraped up enough money over the past few months with her brother's help to buy a new spell book at the local shadow market (where everything that goes bump in the night buys their stuff).
Zeno rarely travels with her from what I can tell. Apparently Mye does not wish for him to be hanging over her all the time and needs some time away from him. I will go and find her as she journeys to the market and see her there, thought Zerlocke, a bit of his composure returning. I will take upon myself the form of a child so that she will be more comfortable with me being present. Somehow I will find away to make her love me. Perhaps if she sees that I am truly dedicated to her she will remember me should Zeno decide to dump her for a second time and then perhaps I will have a chance.
Zerlocke rose from the desk and in the blink of an eye he appeared to be no more than nine years of age. Yes, that is what I will do, he thought. Zerlocke vanished from the laboratory.
* * *
Azelea wiped her mouth on a petal. "Oooh," she sighed happily. There was just something about the way a flower tasted after being watered by a long hard rain that just made it taste so good when you ate it. Laying down on her back with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head, she rested fitfully on the top of a half eaten flower beneath the yellow light of the midmorning sun. A small breeze started to blow and her flower began to sway gently along side the field of tall grass and wild flowers that surrounded her.
Azelea immediately fell asleep.
"There you are," said Fay walking up from behind her. She had a look of frustration on her face, and more than a little annoyance.
"Uawaugh! Huh? Oh. Hey there elfy," said Azelea groggily, as she pulled her self up into a sitting position.
"You said last night we would start putting our plan in motion today! We've been working on it together for over a week in my room and now that the rain has finally let up your just lying around napping? What is the matter with you? You promised me that you would help me make Hexavier my boyfriend. So what are you doing taking a nap? And I thought you were obsessed with Zeno. Have you suddenly forgotten about that?" Fay scowled at the fairy. Though she herself was elvish (more or less, some of her heritage was unknown) and thus related to fairies, she didn't exactly bond with this creature lounging before her as she found her to be overzealous and irritating, especially with her 'prettier than thou' attitude towards all that Azelea met. In Fay's mind there was room in Menu's house for only one pretty princess type-girl and Fay wasn't budging from the throne.
"Just pacing myself," said Azelea happily, in her musical voice.
"Pacing yourself? You haven't done anything, so how can you be pacing yourself?"
Unperturbed Azelea stretched and stood up. With a flash of magical energy she suddenly stood just over five feet and was every inch the 'Enchanting Forest Princess' she had been advertising herself as.
"Well then lets get to work."
* * *
I would just like to offer this portion of my writing to Amelius as a Birthday Present. Happy Birthday Amy!
[glow=Green,2,300]Zeno's New Path[/glow]
Part 1
A new day begins.
A new day begins.
Azelea flew lazily on the warm morning breeze, basking in the soft sunshine coming from overhead and taking in the scent of the flowers and grass below her. Just underneath her was a purple wildflower that she intended to begin her breakfast with. All about her mother nature was flourishing, reinvigorated by the storm that had kept the household of little monsters indoors for over a week. Inside the house she could hear the bustling of almost a dozen Horrifying Creatures That Were Never Meant To Be shouting and fighting and playing as they made their way around the house. Finally, she thought, A few minutes to myself. Though the entire household had complained to greater and lesser degrees about nature imprisoning them indoors under penalty of getting drenched and even a little bruised at times when it started raining hail stones, none had taken it quite as badly as Azelea. She had devoured every flower in the house by the end of the second day, and by the fifth she had eaten all of the sugar and honey kept in the pantry. Were it not for the Bit-O-Honey Bars that Menu had stashed by the bushel in his closet she knew she would have surely starved before the storm had finally died down.
Plunking her miniature self down on the petals of the flower Azelea began to feast. Oooh, I’ve waited so long, she thought happily as she quickly devoured the contents of the flower and looked around her for more. Not far from her meal Menu and Claire were tromping through the damp grass talking about how Menu was going to start charging Foomy rent if he didn’t stop burning the drapes, couch, and everything else he touched. In other words: things that held absolutely no interest to Azelea. She left them there by the trail which wound its way down towards the stream and to the deeper forest beyond and continued to dart from one flower to another during the early summer dawn. She planned on having a busy day and so she would need all of her strength.
* * *
“Zeno,” called Mye. “Zeno, where did you put my books?”
From under the covers of a bed in a poorly lit room a creature whose appearance could only be called “disturbing“ moaned and tossed in his bed. “Wha--”, moaned Zeno, only half awake. He had moments before been dreaming, but what it was he had been dreaming about had already begun to fade from his memory as Mye’s persistent voice roused him to wakefulness. He shuddered, feeling as if his stomach had been impaled by a blade of ice.
“Ugh”, moaned Zeno clutching his midsection. Those meds are starting to have some nasty side effects. Wish the others would let me stop taking them.
Forget it, Hexavier had said a few days before. You just be grateful I’m taking time out of my valuable day to make these for you. When you want to stop whining about how your dad tried to gamble you away on purpose during a poker game with a bunch of warlocks who wanted to use you as a sacrifice to summon Cthulhu, or how you mother had tried to feed you to your sisters because she didn’t feel like grocery shopping that one week then we’ll start talking about cutting back on your medication. As it is, every time you talk I don’t know whether I want to strangle you to make you shut up or just break out the violins for you. Johnny Cash and Edgar Allan Poe combined had better personalities than you.
Jerk, thought Zeno. “Ugh,” groaned Zeno still holding both hand over his deathly pale stomach and chest, as though his insides were on the verge of spilling out of some phantom wound. He leaned over the side of his bed and allowed himself to roll off onto the floor which his limp body hit with a thud.
“Zeno,” called Mye again, this time from the doorway.
“Just a minute,” moaned Zeno as he wriggled on the ground in a worm like fashion towards a pile of clothes he had discarded the night before. Dressing quickly in a daze he blinked his weary eyes into wakefulness and stumbled towards the door.
“Hugh,” said Zeno as he opened the door to face his girlfriend. Upon looking on her bright, smiling face Zeno stood straighter, and felt more at ease, the soreness in his stomach and chest evaporated. He returned the smile, genuinely feeling it in his heart. This is what I always want to wake up to, he thought. If he had his way he always would.
“I need my books back. I gave them to you so you could study more about the history of your race, and how they have influenced history through out the world, but I need them back now. There was a spell in one of them that I want to try. Oh, and I’m going to need some of your hair and just a little of your blood if that’s alright.”
“Sure,” Zeno said eagerly. He would have said the same thing with the same eagerness if Mye had asked “Could you please gut yourself and cut out for me, oh, say, a yard of your small intestine. And all of your pancreas.“ Zeno’s mind raced as he tried to think where he had put the books. “Um, I think I left the books with Charby. He and I were in his room last night listening to his new Linkin Park CD. Its great what sort of boot legs you can get in the market these days. I’ll get them for you”
“No, that’s alright,” said Mye. “I’ll go see Charby. You, uh, you can,” her voice trailed off as she suddenly made a deep grimace as though something was really bothering her. Zeno caught on.
“Heh, heh,” he laughed guiltily. “I was with him till three in the morning and he had the portable heater on in his room. And by the time I left I was too tired to get a shower. I’ll go wash up now. Oh, and that reminds me, I’m taking over all laundry duties starting today. It was never fair for you to do practically all of the domestic chores. Especially since your also working in your lab every chance you get.”
“Good!” Mye practically glowed at this announcement. She hated housework but had always been too nice to say or do anything. Or maybe, considering that she had been the only girl living in a house populated by males for so long, it was the simple fact that she was always the first one to break down first from the smell of dirty clothes and the sight of dirty dishes being used for their daily meals and simply fell into the role of the, as she put it, ‘community housewife’. “The soap is in the utility closet. Just follow the instructions on the box.”
“Right,” muttered Zeno, suddenly feeling a bit of sleep returning. “Just give me a few more minutes.”
“Okay, thanks sweety,” said Mye happily, as she turned to head to Charby’s room. He’s always thinking of me, she thought happily, walking down the hall.
* * *
Zerlocke splashed cold water on his face. The shock from the icy chill forced him into wakefulness as he lifted his gaze and stared at his dripping face in the mirror. Zerlocke was a handsome creature, in an otherworldly sort of way. He had raven black hair that fell all the way down to his shoulders, and eyes that were like two small wells of blood, marred only by the black pupils at their center. His skin was pale like a corpse's, yet somehow still attractive. His oddest feature of course were his wings. Two bat like wings on his back that emphasized his status as a creature of the night.
Zerlocke was an Elite Vampire. For some this made him a mortal foe to be feared and despised. To others this made him a potential tool, to manipulate as a game piece in the endless struggles for power amongst the so called 'demons' and the fae. Amongst his own kind this made him 'family' in a loose sense. The Elites had banded together in the aftermath of the previous Vampire King's death in which the Elite Vampires were quickly made known to the world at large and just as quickly were branded as a race of abominations and freaks even amongst the most horrific of races of monsters. Together the Elites had quickly formed a hierarchy amongst their own kind and had worked together for mutual protection as King Rodericke united all pure blooded and common vampires in an unholy crusade against the Elite Vampires. A crusade that threatened to pull into it all of the creatures living in the hidden world, and possibly change the dynamics of power in the hidden world of the night forever.
But here in his home all that mattered was that he was truly family in every sense of the word. "Zerlocke, I'm hungry! When are we going to eat? We need to be quick, brother! What is taking you so long? I must meet with the Elite council this morning for my annual review. Why are you taking so long in the bathroom? I want Belgium waffles."
"Ugh," moaned Zerlocke as he dried off with a towel. Another day went by, and yet nothing changes, he thought. Nothing ever changed about his family, and likely nothing ever would. Though his siblings were each over a century old, just as he, they each seemed locked into the roles in which they died. Meaning though both his sisters were powerful witches in their own right, just as skilled as he in the ways of magic, and also Vampire Elites wielding incredible powers and capable of unthinkable horror, they were still only children, just as they had always been. Just as they always would be. And though they might think and behave as adults at times, rendering him sage wisdom and vital aid, as their older brother they instinctively looked upon him as a surrogate parent in lieu of their mother and father. And he would remain so for all eternity.
"Coming, sisters. No need to shout. Belgium waffles it is." Pulling the door open he hurried down the hall to the plaintive voice of Rosemary. Zerlocke put on a happy, cheerful face for his sisters. "Good morning Rosemary, you have a review coming up today. Well we all know how well that is going to go for you. You have worked harder than the rest of us."
Rosemary however was having none of it. "What? You know how these reviews are! They never have anything positive to say about you! All these reviews are is a bunch of stuck up higher ups looking down their noses at you, trying to find anything at all they can use against you. You get judged on how well you fend off their stupid accusations that you didn't do enough, or that you should have done something differently, or that you've had a bad attitude at work. I hate them, who the hell came up with this method of performance review anyways?"
"Language, dear sister. We don't use those kind of words in this house," Zerlocke chided pleasantly.
"Sorry," said Rosemary who wrapped her arms around herself, a look of dread and anger on her face as she contemplated her annual performance review. She worked tirelessly for the Elite Council, and the only thing she hated more than her sister's boyfriend Menu was sitting in a small, short chair in the middle of a room filled with higher ranking Elite Vampires who mercilessly tore to pieces work that she knew was flawless.
"That's alright. Where is your sister Claire," asked Zerlocke, looking around the family dining room. "Was she not hungry this morning?"
"Bleagh. She went out earlier to get more doggy kisses from her boyfriend."
"Now, now sister, that is no way to speak of your sister's boyfriend. Particularly when he is such a close friend of our 'Chosen One'. You have to learn to get along with people."
"I get along with the people who matter just great! Its these freaks of nature that you and Claire keep bringing home that are getting on my nerves."
"Have you ever considered that perhaps to them we are the freaks of nature? Zombies have been around for millennia in one form or another. The same for werewolves. Only we Elite Vampires are truly new, the result of vampires breeding with other vampires for so many centuries that their descendants became something else, in turn making their bite potentially something more than what it was originally meant to be."
"Whatever," Rosemary grumbled.
Zerlocke made his special Belgium waffles that morning, a recipe that was the result of a century of refined culinary expertise that in the end boiled down to adding a little bit of extra ginger and brown sugar with some fresh squeezed orange juice in the batter before cooking to give it a little extra 'kick'.
When breakfast was over Rosemary made her way out the door and flew to the local base off operations that the Elite Council had established in that area. Zerlocke rubbed his fingers over the temple of his head and sighed. Lately, getting out of bed didn't seem worth it anymore. Lately, not much of anything seemed worth it anymore. Claire had her boyfriend, Rosemary her job, but what at the end of the day was left for him?
Oh Mye, he thought, If you would but give your love to me I would dedicate the sum of my entire existence to you. Every morning we would bask in each other's love and I would be your devoted servant through out all eternity. Why did you choose him over me? He will never love you as I do. Can't you see that? Why can't you see that?!? A tear began to trickle down his cheek and was all he could do not to sob. He shook his head, not allowing himself to get caught up in this whirlwind of emotion again. He had been down this path of thought too many times already and each time it only ended him in breaking down into sobs, choking and almost hearing his long silent heart breaking in two.
Zerlocke was determined not to be caught up in his emotions this time. Instead, he searched all about him for the first half of that morning for things he could do to take his mind off of his unrequited love for Mye. He spent a few hours cleaning the house from top to bottom, and then when he was finished he returned to his studies and experiments in the family laboratory, searching over notes and through books on how to complete one of his many potions.
I can't do this, he thought after a while. He put down the book he was holding and replaced it on the shelf beside his desk. Quietly he began to sob, his face buried in his hands. He loved her. She drove him to extremes of emotion he had not experienced before since his sire, and yet she was entirely committed to a relationship with a little boy who had once gone so far as to spurn her. This part was perhaps the most maddening part of her relationship with Zeno from Zerlocke's view point. Did this mean that if he waited long enough he might dump her again? Could there still be hope for his stillborn dreams of love and romance with Mye? Or would he be waiting in vain for all eternity for them to break up? To cast aside the love he held in his heart when their might still be a chance someday or to hold on to it forever knowing it might be all for naught? Zerlocke had endured things that would have broken lesser people and yet he had almost never felt more hopeless or broken.
I must not do this, he thought. If he gave into despair all he would gain would be more time wasted and more grief spent. He had to do something. I will go and see her, he thought. Claire kept him abreast of the going ons of the household that Mye lived in and reiterated as best she could everything that she heard while their. One of the more interesting things she had mentioned was that Mye had finally scraped up enough money over the past few months with her brother's help to buy a new spell book at the local shadow market (where everything that goes bump in the night buys their stuff).
Zeno rarely travels with her from what I can tell. Apparently Mye does not wish for him to be hanging over her all the time and needs some time away from him. I will go and find her as she journeys to the market and see her there, thought Zerlocke, a bit of his composure returning. I will take upon myself the form of a child so that she will be more comfortable with me being present. Somehow I will find away to make her love me. Perhaps if she sees that I am truly dedicated to her she will remember me should Zeno decide to dump her for a second time and then perhaps I will have a chance.
Zerlocke rose from the desk and in the blink of an eye he appeared to be no more than nine years of age. Yes, that is what I will do, he thought. Zerlocke vanished from the laboratory.
* * *
Azelea wiped her mouth on a petal. "Oooh," she sighed happily. There was just something about the way a flower tasted after being watered by a long hard rain that just made it taste so good when you ate it. Laying down on her back with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head, she rested fitfully on the top of a half eaten flower beneath the yellow light of the midmorning sun. A small breeze started to blow and her flower began to sway gently along side the field of tall grass and wild flowers that surrounded her.
Azelea immediately fell asleep.
"There you are," said Fay walking up from behind her. She had a look of frustration on her face, and more than a little annoyance.
"Uawaugh! Huh? Oh. Hey there elfy," said Azelea groggily, as she pulled her self up into a sitting position.
"You said last night we would start putting our plan in motion today! We've been working on it together for over a week in my room and now that the rain has finally let up your just lying around napping? What is the matter with you? You promised me that you would help me make Hexavier my boyfriend. So what are you doing taking a nap? And I thought you were obsessed with Zeno. Have you suddenly forgotten about that?" Fay scowled at the fairy. Though she herself was elvish (more or less, some of her heritage was unknown) and thus related to fairies, she didn't exactly bond with this creature lounging before her as she found her to be overzealous and irritating, especially with her 'prettier than thou' attitude towards all that Azelea met. In Fay's mind there was room in Menu's house for only one pretty princess type-girl and Fay wasn't budging from the throne.
"Just pacing myself," said Azelea happily, in her musical voice.
"Pacing yourself? You haven't done anything, so how can you be pacing yourself?"
Unperturbed Azelea stretched and stood up. With a flash of magical energy she suddenly stood just over five feet and was every inch the 'Enchanting Forest Princess' she had been advertising herself as.
"Well then lets get to work."
* * *
