Cold & True (Ava & ForeverMischievous)

[Lady Bloody Ava]

A girl and a boy. Practically raised side by side. Went to elementary school, middle school, and high school together. Playing hide and seek between their front lawns. Laughter ringing through the air and time spent at the park with one another. At the age of fifteen love was struck. Almost like fate. She loved him. How could she not? He was her first everything. First Valentine. First kiss. The first person she gave her body to. The first guy she loved. They seemed inseparable. Both voted, most likely to be wed. Even after high school it was made official. Their engagement proposed for the world to see. Rarely could you see Gabriella Eloise de Beaumont without the smile she was known for and if there was anyone who could wipe away her fears and doubts, it was the love of her life Marcus Anthon Knudsen. They were perfect. They were in love. In it's purest and rare form.

On a dark storming night the ebony haired girl sat waiting in her home for her fiance to arrive for a movie night. Deep piercing green eyes gazing out of the front window as sheets of rain began pouring. Thank heavens Marcus had left before the rainfall, but when she tried to call him, she had no luck getting a signal. Fear has long since set in. Her mind conjuring various scenarios that could have been played out. He was a smart man. Maybe he pulled over to wait the storm out. Marcus had gone to get her some ice cream when she laughed and sincerely told him that she could live without it. Yet there was a reason he was the love of her life. He left to get her the triple caramel chunk ice cream she craved.

Slender manicured fingers tangled themselves in her long black locks as she plopped herself on the sofa. Spring Hills wasn't a big place. Almost everyone knew one another and if anything happened, she would know. Right? Gabby was prepared with her tank top and yoga shorts for a fun night of drinking, food, and movies with her favorite person in the world. Out of nervousness the fingers of her left hand fiddled with the locket nestled in the valley of her modest C cup breasts. The precious jewelry being the first gift Marcus ever got her. She kissed it for luck and then the diamond in her engagement ring caught her eyes. She had lit the fire beneath the mantle. Originally for marshmallows, but now, as the lights flickered on and off, it served an even greater purpose.

Upon the sofa she waited. The storm lasting most of the night. The young twenty year old girl with the slender build to her perfectly proportional body had passed out upon the sofa with a throw blanket over her and her phone gripped in her hand. A knock sounded upon her front door and woke the young woman. With a yawn she stretched her arms above her head and walked her bare feet over to the front door where she peeked out of the peep hole. The sight of the police had her heart racing. The chain on the door, and the other two locks were undone and the door swung open to reveal the frightened look upon her face. "What's wrong?" She asked. It was not the news she had expected. Rather than news of her fiance. It was equally grave. Her best friend Jenna had been killed in the night. A statement was given that the last time she saw Jenna was yesterday morning when they went out for a jog. When the police left she cried hard and was still panicking. Marcus never made it home.

She made every phone call possible to see if anyone knew where he was. The store was just a few blocks and an intersection away. It would have only taken ten minutes to get back at most. His car was no where to be found and on the day of Jenna's funeral, she felt alone. Sudden outbursts of tears and a bout of depression. Yet she managed to put herself together after a little over a year. She still held onto the ring and the locket. She had dated here and there, but nothing ever clicked. She was on a few meds now. Nothing too serious, but they helped dull the pain. Back to school she went and got a degree in nursing. A career that would eat away at time and give her little time to think. Even three years later the questions still haunted her. She had moved away from Spring Hill a year after the incidents, but after two and half she moved back to their home. She needed it.

It felt almost nice to be back in Spring Hill. Having caught up with a few friends, she was still the homey laid back girl she once was, but without the person who made her smile. while she wore one, rarely was it genuine. She would head to the park at sunset where her and Marcus use to go as kids. It was her first time going back there in several years. Parents were taking their children home for dinner and Gabby was getting a seat upon the swings. It was to be a chilly evening she so dawned her blue sweater dress and a pair of two inch heeled boots that went up to her knees. A scarf draped about her neck and a matching blue beanie upon her head to keep her ears warm. It wasn't long before night was upon the little town. With Gabriella's house being down the street she was in no rush.

The street light reflecting off of the gold locket that hung about her neck. She was now twenty-five and still in a silent rut. She had two weeks off. This was her vacation time, but she was having difficulties enjoying herself. The swings seemed almost therapeutic. As she gently swayed back and forth. Only fond memories flooded her mind. She smiled slightly. Remembering how Marcus use to chase her around the park. How they almost got caught doing it in her bedroom, causing Marcus to hide naked beneath her bed. They lived a crazy life. How she would feign being too tired to make it up the stairs so that he would carry her to bed in his arms. She knew he wasn't dead. He couldn't be. Often she found herself wondering where he went. Was it something she did? Memories and questions continued to plague her mind as she idly swung alone in the park.

 

[ForeverMischievous]

Five cursed years... Five cursed years had passed, since any dream of a decent, proper life had ended. Back then.. Back then, he'd had a dream. A dream to live a warm and pleasant life, with the only woman in his life, he ever truly cared for, in a way that meant something. Friends. Family. But none of them meant anything, compared to his Gabriella. His little Eloise, as he'd called her when they teased one another. She always preferred her first name, or Gabby. But he always thought Eloise sounded so cute. And calling her so, didn't make her mad. Only made her giggle, and playfully hit his arm.
Oh what he would do, to hear that precious giggle once again. Just. At least in his mind. He couldn't even remember how it was. Her voice. Her touch. But he remembered one thing. The feelings she gave him. Warmth. Pleasure. Love. There was nothing like it. He'd give everything, to get all that back.

But he'd washed all that away. Everything, thrown away because of misinformation. Held back, for his own protection? To let him see his first night, for the pleasure it would give him. The surprise. The ecstasy. And his parents had been right. The ecstasy had felt great. But after a moment of bliss, blood covering his fanged teeth, the taste overwhelming his every senses. After all that, a rush of great grief and fear, had rushed over him instead. Gabriella's best friend. Best friend so, that she would have probably become a bridesmaid at their wedding. Jenna. She had been a nice girl. Fun at parties. Understanding when the two wanted a night for themselves. She often helped him find seizes fitting Gabriella, in a time where he didn't know by heart yet, the size of his lover. But then. And so sudden, her life had been ripped away from her. By his hands. Or fangs, as it be. At an age of twenty, Vampireism sprouted forth from its roots. Until that age, purebloods grew like any human would, to reach a proper age. A strong age. But then at twenty, they would undergo the Embrace. It would be a sudden rush of pure blood thirst. It hadn't been carnage. It had just been his teeth to Jenna's neck, when he'd pulled over to say hey. She didn't die painlessly. It was painful in more ways then just physically. A good friend, fiance of her best friend, suckling at her throat. Sipping every last drop of her life away.
He'd been afraid. -If- she could ever accept the monster he was. There was no doubt she'd never forgive him for this. No mater how much he explained it wasn't on purpose. No. He had to leave. No mater how much it scarred him.

And that was that. Everything ended. That night.

Now he returned to his home town. Spring Hill. The pain, had just been too severe. He could no longer resist the urge, to see all the memories again. He'd forgotten her smell. Her sounds. Her touch. He wanted all that back. It was all that kept him going. Everything that kept him standing. But now, he felt himself falling. Falling for the same blood thirsty tendencies as in the past. The thought of her warmth and love, had kept him from doing those things. He never killed, but only drank enough to last from a victim. He developed a mixture, that allowed him to put his victims asleep, so they'd only think they fainted. Then, once he'd gotten what he needed, he'd grant them two tiny drops of his blood, one on each of the puncture wounds, and they would vanish before the victim would even wake up, leaving no trace behind.

But a week ago, he'd let himself go again. Had another accident. Killed again. That is when he'd decided to return to the lovely Spring Hills. Already, memories rolled over him. His first destination, the place he'd missed the most. The park.

Oh, the park. The many fond memories here, couldn't be counted on one hand. If only he could remember. But it was all gone. All out of his mind. Memories that should never be forgotten, had faded away. That is why he was here. He needed Gabriella in his mind again. Needed the memory. Of her voice. Of her eyes. Of her touch. Anything. Everything. Just.. Something.

Walking down the narrow road, his deep dark eyes gazed out from behind a few black locks of hair, that had rebelliously dropped before his eyes. The collar of his long black trench coat, was raised behind his neck, shrouding him to most surroundings. Even in the dark, he never felt secure. He couldn't live with this existence. There was no one he could trust with his secret. No one he dared tell. He was alone, having shunned his family for keeping his true existence a secret. It was just him.

Heavy black boots carried him towards the small dam, next to the playground. Here, he took a moment, gazing into the water. The dark eyes didn't glisten in the faded light of the moon. They seemed dead and empty. And so they where. He remembered nothing. So he was nothing. Such horrid melancholy. He didn't, however, feel sorry for himself. All his pain and anguish, had been aimed at Gabriella. She was the one who lost the most. And that, all because of him.
With a shake of his head, he turned around on his heels, slowly making his way towards the playgrounds. He had to remember something there. So many hours spent. Laughing. Smiling. Not just when they where children. But as adults, they'd still find enough childishness in their hearts, to play gentle games of catch on the playgrounds at night. When enjoying a lovely moonlight walk. But now, moonlight walks was all he could take. And it made them ever so bitter and false. Not the same magical feeling, as in the past. No. The joy in most things, had long since past.

But as he made his way towards the playgrounds, he heard the familiar sound of swings, swaying. Then, he cast his eyes towards the swings, and saw something he couldn't quite believe. Was it his mind? Did he finally find an image of her again? Could he finally feel her presence once again? No. This was real. She really was there. Sitting on the swing set, so very close to him. The coward side of him, wanted so desperately to just run away, before she saw him. But even if he did so, it would already have been too late. She could see him. His face. And nothing much had changed about it. His feast last week on the poor victim, had left him as lively as it was possible for his race. She couldn't, however, see his dark eyes. See the red hint, that was now their reality. Where there was once brown pearls, was now red mists.
His lips parted. As if he was about to speak to her. But. Why? They had nothing anymore. He'd destroyed all that. What could he ever have to say to her?
"Eloise?" He faintly managed to speak, his hands feeling even heavier in their pockets in the trench coat. And that was all he could manage. Then, he was overwhelmed by memories. All those times they'd had. Smiled. Laughed. Hugged. Loved. He had dreamt of this moment. But never thought it would happen. He'd imagined himself long gone by now. Yet still, here he was. Gazing upon Gabriella, completely out of words.

 

[Lady Bloody Ava]

Gabriella's mind wandered with various thoughts. Most stemming from her former fiance's sudden absences, but some were of work. Some were of visiting her father's grave soon with a fresh bouquet of flowers and the others. It was another night alone, like countless others. Even when invitations from friends arose, half the time she preferred to relax at home rather than try and enjoy the bar and the various men her girlfriends pointed out to 'fill the void'. As her mind swarmed, something caught the corner of her eye and she looked at a person shrouded in the dark as they walked past one of the light posts in the park and even worse... he knew her name. Not just her name, but the name that only he, Marcus, would tease her with. Lips parted in awe as she gazed at him. Before she shook her head and a smile tuged at the corner of her lips. She laughed. Not loudly, but in a 'I can't believe it' sort of way. "I'm hallucinating." She said with a sigh. Reaching into her pocket to pull out a bottle of medication she carried with her. "Maybe I shouldn't have stopped taking my anti depressants." Despite the lax smile a tear did manage to escape the corner of her eye.

She that it would look crazy to any passersby but she couldn't help herself. The hallucination was still there and it looked as though he hadn't aged a day. Green eyes gazed at the bottle, filled with the pills that she dare not take. Maybe because she though she would forget and while the memories ached, she did not want to completely forget him. "Funny... I've had countess dreams, but never a hallucination." Words uttered to herself as she tucked the pills in her pocket once more. Only then did she look her hallucination in his dull lifeless eyes. "I hate you. I hate you so much Marcus. Yet... I stilllove you so much." She laughed once more before she jumped off of the swings. Taking slow and meticulous steps towards the figure that haunted her dreams and thoughts. "I guess that's what true love is, isn't it? Loving someone so much that it hurts? Well...it really does hurt." She wiped away a few tears that threatened to spill down her cheek as she stood two feet before him. Knowing damn well that she would look silly, but she didn't give a damn. "Funny... I fear touching you because I don't want you to disappear but... I know you're not real." A hard lump dodged itself in her throat and it hurt so much to swallow the truth. Or what she thought was the truth.

A soft hand hesitantly lifted. The woman clearly tempted to feel him. Her fear obvious. "I hate you and I love you." The same would happen as it did before. The second she touched him, he would vanish. As he did countless time before in her dreams. As he did in reality. The warm soft palm of her hand came to rest upon the cold flesh of her hallucination's cheek. She marveled the touch. "No..." She sighed. Tears threatening to spill any second were fiercely blinked back to little avail as they slowly began their decent down her rosy cheeks. "I hate you!" She cried out as she slapped the palm of her hand against his chest. "I hate you!" Again she hit him, waiting for the illusion to fade, but when it did she couldn't stop the tears and after hitting him a few more times, each growing weaker. As the pounding ceased she leaned her shoulder and head against his chest. His chest. Dream or hallucination, it was all too real. Far too real. "I love you Marcus Knudsen. Please come back to me." She sighed past the soft sobs and she tears. The girl had cried to the point she gave herself hiccups. Another sweet memory. Marcus use to kiss her long. Depriving her of oxygen which would cure her of her hiccups in the best of ways. "Damn you Marcus." She whispered softly with her eyes closed. This had to be a dream. There was no other explanation.

 

[ForeverMischievous]

His feelings clamped up in his throat, and after uttering one word, nothing else could come out. He was so afraid of her reaction, that he could do nothing but watch. And the first few seconds of awe, did nothing to calm his fright. And as her awe turned to disbelieving laughter, he could feel his heart drop even lower. She could never forgive him. There seemed no chance of that. So why did he linger? Why didn't he just vanish, as he'd done before. Just pop and away. But no. Something inside him, forced him to stay in place. Even as she accused him of being an hallucination, he was stone strong in his spot. His expression had seized all emotions, becoming stone cold and thoughtless. He didn't want it to show. None of it. He knew that she was real, and no hallucination of his. Although many of his kind was known to grow insane and see ghosts and things that wasn't there, but not him. His feelings for her, had made him strong in this long time of absence. And he could smell her. More thoroughly then he'd ever bee able to. Now her sweet scent, was mixed with the alluring one of his blood. It would be no trouble controlling his blood lust now, however. He was still sated. And this situation brought so many other feelings, that any other thought went flying.

A soft gaze towards her pills, showed a few seconds of a frown upon his lips, before his eyes returned to hers. He breathed in, and sighed softly with an almost inedible groan, as his eyes dropped when she spoke of her hate and love for him. She had been torn. She'd once loved him over anything, and now he'd mixed her feelings. Mate her hate him. But nothing remained in him, but his love for her. He'd never found anything to do, except curse at his parents, move from place to place, and occasionally take part in the most devious of actions. Drinking of others. No. She had been his main thought, for the last many years. As she had been the most of his life. But then, as he'd been away from her, the thoughts of her didn't always help. But hurt. The thought of something he couldn't touch. Feel. He'd been torn between two worlds. One, where all he longed for was her. And one where he had to stick to the shadows, and knew they could never be together. She could never forgive him. Nor could there ever be a place in her life for one such as him. It was over. Why couldn't he just realize that, and forget her? Was it because she couldn't forget him? Because he was afraid, that she could not get him out of her head as well? That she felt the same pain, just twice-fold?

Marcus gazed down upon her, now with a constant frown, as she'd gotten close. Afraid to touch him, fearing he'd disappear. Such symbolizm to how he'd vanished. Except, then she only let him leave to get a cup of ice cream. And then he'd just vanished. Now, she was afraid of doing something, they both loved. Touching. Caring. And he just remained silent, while she spoke. Still contemplating a vanish. Just go invisible, and she would never know, that she was not hallucinating. But the part of him who wanted to stay, remained stronger. And as her hand finally dared a touch, his eyes closed lightly, his lips parting to breathe in calmly. This was what he'd been needing. Just her touch. And seconds after, he felt her hand slap against his chest, his eyes opening again, gazing back down towards her. Her tears flooded from her now. She was no longer unable to hold them back. He couldn't cry. He couldn't allow it. If he did, she would know. His tears where no longer that of salty water, but that of thick blood. She would know. He couldn't.

He held himself back from crying, as he observed her with a weak frown, and a failing breath, clear that he had cries stuck in his throat as well but was holding them back. And with those words: 'I love you Marcus.' He could no longer restrain himself. Slowly, his hand raised from the pocket it had remained in for so long, and now moved towards his chest. His long fingers gently grasped her hand, very gently squeezing it, as his other hand approached her cheek. The second was hesitant, stopping close to Gabriella's face. Marcus closed his eyes for a moment, making a sad grimace, before his hand landed upon her cheek, and with a gently stroke of a finger, trying to lift her face back up to his. Without giving either of them time to think about it, he let their lips meet. Finally. That feeling. That taste. It was the only thing he'd needed, for so long. And now he had it. He had to do, what he'd done so often before. She hated having hiccups, but she loved getting them. Because she knew he'd kiss them away. He wanted that again. If nothing more, then just one last time. And instinctively, he knew how long he'd had to hold it. And if she didn't move, he'd kiss her until it vanished, before letting their lips part again with a longing sigh. He could've continued, but he knew that she couldn't.

His eyes, now this close, gazed into hers, and she'd see the slight difference. At this time of night, and with the amount of blood he'd taken back then, made his eyes look almost normal. But there was still those hints of death and emptiness. But the depressive expression made all the feelings clear, that the yes couldn't. And finally, he could speak.
"N.. No. Gabriella. I.. Can't come back. There is no place for me here, anymore. I should've never come. The atrocities I have wrought upon you and others, has no place in Spring Hills. With you. You must try to forget me. Find a new life. What I've b.. Done... It can never be forgiven. So.. Forget me. Please. Please, forget me, so that I can forget you as well. We can't. Be together anymore. I.." It was so desperately clear in his voice, that these words had to be fought out. That the words weren't consensual. That he wanted not to utter them. But he had to. This couldn't be.. They, could not be.

 

[Lady Bloody Ava]

It was a dream. It had to be. Yet it was all too real. The presence this figure exuded. His voice. The manner in which her body responded as she felt his touch upon her bare skin. The feeling of a warmth washing over her entire being from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. A relaxing feel she always knew him for. Green eyes looked up at the being that appeared to be her long lost fiance. The resemblance was striking. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks when they kisses. Her heat sunk like a stone in the deepest of rivers. It's real. He's real. Instinctively she revealed in the kiss before she needed to come back up for air. It felt as though someone was trying to jump start her heart, but to no avail was it sticking. He was here. This was no dream. This was not a hallucination. Marcus was here before her. She did know where to kiss him once more, slap him, or run away. It seemed as though her long lost love had a few words of his own to say. She had never been able to relive the feelings that kissing her beloved brought about before his disappearance. Yes she could describe it, but the feeling was so much more.

Marcus was asking her to forget about him? Her tears ceased for the time being as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Gabriella backed away from the man she once loved. Gawking at him and instantly missing his touch once more, but so many thoughts and feelings swarmed her when the realization that she had managed to bump into her ex fiance in the dead of night, came to. A foot of space. That was what stood between them. And although the thought of running did cross her mind, she stayed. "You were always horrible at lying to my face Mister Knudsen. And you... you wait five years. Five fucking years to ask me to forget about you?" The young female had always imagined what she would say to him if she ever saw him again, but there was no going by the script tonight. Everything seemed to spill past her lips as her heart painfully began beating within her chest. Almost as though it were fighting to leave its host. "The very least you owe me is an explanation." Arms crossed before her in a stance the spoke of her seriousness.

"Tell me why. That is what will haunt me for the rest of my life Marcus Knudsen. Why? Why did you leave me?" The shock was there. It may not have shown well, but she was well pass the point right now.The shock would no doubt settle in when she got home and she would probably kick herself for not having done something. There were a plethora of questions she had, but none as important as that. He was as handsome as she remembered. Seeming as though he hadn't aged a day since he left. Her lips still tingling from the kiss he gifted her with. A funny note... her hiccups were gone. "It isn't that easy Marc. It is not easy to forget you, nor do I expect it to be that easy for you." The organ deemed her heart occasionally stuttered. Fear? Fear that he would still disappear into a puff of smoke before her eyes? Fear that she was only dreaming? It couldn't be though. That kiss. Dear heavens that kiss.

Upon the wings she sat. This was still so much to take in and her legs weren't feeling too strong. Not to mention the walk home would feeling like miles as opposed to the few blocks it actually was. Later she would find herself thankful that the neighborhood they once lived in was well lit at night. Not to mention the tiredness that was temporarily pushed aside. The lateness had not occurred to her and lately she had been going to bed early and waking up as such for the sake of her job and it stuck. An adrenaline rush had set in, and honestly there was no questioning why.