RAVEN POV

Darkness approached. I felt it in my very bones. There was something lurking towards the horizons waiting to strike and summon a menacing force of a world beyond memory. This was the impression I received as I stood in my room leaning up against the wall and watched the bitter gloomy skies.

It was only about ten minutes after twelve and the skies were already darker than I had ever seen them here on this small town. The clouds were rotating and spiraling as if they were going to form a series of twisters. The rain was ravaging through the city and shivering forest. I said it before and I'll say it again. It was as if the forest was frightened.

Was it frightened of Belle? Or perhaps was it the feared and monstrous Moriatus that she spoke of? Whatever the reason was that caused the natural atmosphere of the entire town to become this distorted must be a powerful entity. It wasn't just the weather, however. I had noticed just yesterday that the animals were leaving the area.

From where I stood, I saw a whole flocks of birds flew towards the east and away from the town. I could also hear the herds of deer, and elk stampeding and pushing their way out of the forest and away. There was something here or perhaps, still headed this way that caused them a great deal of distress and was forcing their natural instincts to escape and vacate this rainy wilderness.

It had been two days since we encountered Belle. The house had been in a state of complete silence ever since. For the first time in decades, Luna, Garnet, and Gnash for once felt how fragile their immortalities could be. They had experienced a physical pain that they never thought could exist for our kind. Their bodies had been pushed to their ultimate limits as the venom worked under dire circumstances to restore the damage that had been inflicted to its hosts.

Garnet and Luna spent most of their time watching television. Their minds still hung heavily over the events of the prior night. They used entertainment to try and get their minds away from that awful experience. Neither one of them really talked to each other, let alone to anybody else. Gnash spent most of his time playing chess by himself as if trying to devise a strategy to counter the incredible force he had awoken. He had been damaged the most: mentally that was. He couldn't get it out of his mind how easily he had been taken down. He didn't even see her hand coming. All he could remember was lunging towards her and then all of a sudden, he felt this stinging and numbing pain on the right side of his face.

Scarlet. There was something wrong with Scar as well. At first, I had thought that because Gnash had been so broken and mentally wounded that it had also born a great deal of sorrow for her, but as I was currently watching her in the forest across the lake sitting on a hollow log, my mind began to wonder. She had been doing this for the past two days now. She was just far away enough in order for my telepathy to be unable to reach. She sat with her back towards me and appeared to be immobilized, although at times it seemed as if she was talking.

I wondered what she was doing. Ever since that night, the night when I saw those strange images, memories, or visions, Scar had begun to act very strange. The few times she was close enough for me to hear her thoughts, all of her focused lay solely on Gnash. It was an impenetrable wall that did not even offer one small crack for me to slip under. There was something that she was trying to hide from me, I was sure of it. My first theory had been that perhaps she had seen what I had. But then again, why would she attempt to hide it?

Tonight was the night of the small banquet that Chalice had worked so hard for to bake cinnamon rolls. It was only a small get together at the local hospital. The bigger banquet would take place a month from now in Seattle. Even though the skies were so dark and eerie, not even one of us attended school for the past two days. We thought that not showing up at all wouldn't raise as much suspicion as showing up. We had all been in such a catatonic like state that Clem and I were sure questions might have been raised.

Clemente. I felt so terrible whenever I thought of him. He knew that I knew something he didn't and refused to share it with him. I closed my eyelids over my unworthy golden orbs. It had been so hard to look at him and see the sadness, and disappointment he was trying to hide beneath his usual smile. But it wasn't my fault. I tried! I tried to tell him, but I couldn't. Why couldn't I? Why? Who or what held me on strings like a marionette? This made me think of my ghostly encounter that mild and stormy night.

What was it? It couldn't have been some sort of an apparition? No, no, no, no, NO! I did not believe in such nonsense. Those psychic mediums that supposedly saw these spiritual entities are just a huge hoax to me. A great many times when we visited the carnivals throughout the states I had seen these little brown booths where one of these so called mediums sat and attempted to tell these gullible people their fortunes. Whenever I read their thoughts, they reeked of fraud and misguidance. I didn't believe in ghosts or spirits. When you're dead, you're dead. Whatever I had seen must have been some vampiric talent of sorts that played tricks on your thoughts. I didn't believe it!

"Alright, Chalice and I are heading out."

I heard Clem's sentiment from somewhere below.

We had all been so on the edge that none of us really wanted to go to the banquet today. Instead, we all promised him that no matter what, we would be attending the even bigger one next month in Seattle. This made me feel even worse. He had been looking forward to seeing all of us at the dinner tonight, but once more, we all disappointed him.

Clem, of course, understood. As a matter of fact, we didn't technically promised him to come to the next one, but instead, he made us promised him. I guess he just wanted to show us once more that vampires can be healers instead of murderers. My relationship with him was more strained than I wanted to admit. It had been so hard to face him. It was even worse knowing that he knew. I felt so bad about it, but I deserved it. I was so weak. I couldn't get a grip over these foreign emotions as they manipulated my thoughts, and actions.

I heard a small clicking noise as the front door closed and then heard Clem and Chalice flying inside of the Mercedes. I really hoped that both of them would have a nice time today and got their minds off of us. It would be difficult for the both of them and I knew that us not going would make them think even more of us, but I still held hope.

I unglued myself from the wall and slowly trotted down the hall and started to make my way downstairs. Several times now I played with the idea of sneaking up on Scar and possibly uncovering some of what she was doing although it would be most futile. She would most certainly see me coming and she might not appreciate my curiosity. This bothered me though. What was it that she was doing?

I descended down the last step and climbed two more to get to our large living room. As I had predicted, Luna and Garnet were taking their place as couch potatoes in our family. They watched some special on the isolated islands of the pacific and what species of animals they held. They had already watched this yesterday.

For me, I was bored. I took a seat in the small loveseat next to the bigger sofa and started to watch television with them. Quite a number of times during the show, I hesitantly risked a small look towards them. They were like zombies. Their minds were silent as well. In their thoughts I saw the show they were currently viewing and heard nothing else. I couldn't believe that what seemed to have been a small incident could have turned into such a catastrophe. Clem had theorized that all three of them had been near death. Belle could have finished them off easily, but she didn't.

Though I was bored for now. I knew that I wouldn't be for long. I had a mission tonight! All three of them: Gnash, Garnet, and Luna were incredibly thirsty, and even more so than Scar or me. The healing maintenance the venom had to perform stirred up a vacuum amount of thirst within them. Their eyes were pitch black with deep, and dark purple bruises underneath them. This was another reason why we hadn't attended school or the banquet today. With this level of hunger, it was too risky to venture out into the public even with us being so well trained.

My mission was to stop them! Clem had forbidden us to hunt in the immediate forest and mountain range, but Gnash already decided to go against Clem's wishes. He was thirsty, and it was thirst that he himself had never experienced before. His mind was swimming in the thoughts of gracing the neck of a human and devouring the delicious elixir that could finally extinguish this terrible craving he had to endure for the past fifty years. Though it entered his thoughts, he would never act upon it. I knew that if he decided to go then Luna and Garnet, and quite possible Scar would want to follow. I had to stop them!

But how? I couldn't tell them even if I wanted to. I'm sure that the strange surge in my thoughts would protest and stop me from even uttering one single word about the Moriatus. I couldn't let them go. I couldn't allow what happened to Adam happen to them. But what if Belle had already caught the beast? Would she be dead then too? Could she have lost a face off with that venom thirsting monster? Somehow, though I doubted so very much. She was so strong, graceful, and swift. On the other hand, I didn't know anything about those Gargoyles other then their name and what they do!

Gnash was just finishing up his... I have lost count on how many games of chess he has now played. He kicked over the black king with the white queen and called it checkmate. I wondered for how long this would continue and when he would decide to go for a hunt. His initial idea was to wait for Clem and Chalice to leave. The essence of his thoughts held no clues to when he was going to leave. Much like Luna, and Garnet, he too was focused on what he was currently doing.

I heard the sound of steps as they brushed by the wet grass in the backyard and realized that it must have been Scar on her way back in. I wished I knew what she was doing. Her mind once more was completely compiled of images of Gnash and a recent vision.

Damn! Scar already saw Gnash and the others going out for a hunting trip. She was on her way back in to ask Gnash if he wanted to go ahead and go now. Apparently, she didn't believe the warning that Belle gave either nor would she uphold Clem's wish to stay away if Gnash wasn't going to. I guess in these circumstances I could understand her. Gnash was thirsty and it caused him misery to be as thirsty as he was. Of course, Scar would choose Gnash over Clem.

I had little under a minute until Scar would join us in the house. There was no way out. What could I say? What could I do? I wonderef if Gnash noticed the tense emotional climate between Clem and I. I couldn't do anything that would cause too much suspicion either. By all right, I would gladly tell them what I knew, but even now in this instant I felt that invisible surge or wall stiffening me and already taking precautions that would prevent me from divulging anything. I could call Clem. Would he be able to hinder their path? I began tapping my fingers on the love seat and felt very nervous the nearer Scar came.

The door opened. Scar entered with her mind set on Gnash.

"Gnash?" She called his name over the empty space in the house and danced towards the dinning room where Gnash sat and placed his chess game.

"Do you want to go ahead and hunt tonight?" Scar seemed a little down herself. Perhaps Gnash's influential ability affected her as well? But over the course of the past two days, I had been getting the impression that there was something else going on with Scar. The proof lay in her complex and shielded thoughts. Every time she was near me, all I could ever see were images of Gnash and nothing else. It was as if she used him as some sort of scapegoat to cover up something else that lay beneath.

I heard Gnash sigh, relieved. I saw his dark eyes through Scar's vision and saw his excitement about a possible hunt to quench the thirst that had been eating at him.

"Yes, yes I do, my love."

"Alright. Let's go see if the others want to go to."

Oh Scarlet, you treacherous! It wasn't her fault though, it was mine. If only I could have summoned the strength to tell them. But maybe I could get them to go some place else. Perhaps I could convince them to head down south towards Oregon and away from the forest. Would they go for it?

Gnash and Scar emerged hand in hand in the living room. Scar locked her sight with mine for a fraction of a second before quickly looking away again and towards Garnet and Luna. What was it that was hidden behind her golden orbs?

"Luna? Garnet? Would you like to join Gnash and I for a quick hunt in the forest?"

Before they could even turn their heads and take notice of Gnash and Scar, I immediately intervened.

"Clem asked us not to!" I spoke so fast that mere human ears could have never picked up on it. I would have to try everything and anything to prevent them from going. It was Gnash who breathed agitated and heavily. Scar's expression remained blank.

"Well, Clem's not here and I for one am very, very thirsty." He concealed his true feelings. In reality, he wanted to jump and hiss at me. It had been going on for the past couple of years in which Gnash at times became quite frustrated with some of Clem's decisions.

"He'll be disappointed when he finds out that you went against him. In addition, we have to consider the threat that she told..."

"Oh enough of that!"

This time, Gnash hissed at me. I tried to remain relaxed and held a firm grip on the couch.

"There is no threat! And don't even get me started when it comes to disappointment, Raven! Its you that's hiding something from us. I feel more than you know."

He did noticed. Luna and Garnet who had been quiet up until now rose from their seats and glared at me.

"Is that true?"

Luna asked disgusted. Garnet put both of his hands on his hips while all of them awaited an answer. I had been calm up until now and that's how I needed to remain. If I was unable to tell them what I truly wanted, then I had to maintain the idea that there actually was nothing to tell. The last thing I wanted was to gain their mistrust as well.

"No," I said peacefully.

Gnash's eyes narrowed viciously.

"He's lying."

"Raven! Is there something that you know about all of this that we don't? There something we ought to know about that chick that nearly killed us? Because if there is then you really should tell us!"

This I did not anticipate. They cornered me. Oh please, please let me tell them. There was nothing more that I wanted, but the more I thought about it the more I felt these walls pressing on me and stealing the necessary breath I need to tell them.

"There is nothing to tell, Garnet. Although I personally believed that we should heed Bell's warning."

Silence. All their eyes popped open wide with shock.

"Belle?" Gnash took a step closer to me.

I said her name? I guess not everything was cemented away where I could never dig deep enough. I had been thinking her name so often in my thoughts and been using it that I had completely forgotten that they didn't even know.

"Is that her name?"

Luna looked rather appalled with my need for secrecy. I was suddenly speechless. There was nothing I could say that could make this moment any worse. I was unable to share what I had learned with them, but not because I didn't want to yet I was still at fault. I was weak.

"You have been keeping that from us? What else was there that we don't know, Raven?"

Gnash was pretty mad. He was thinking far ahead. He was considering the possibility that there was something that could threaten Scar in all of this and being the over protecting goon that he was, he would surely want to find out. Unfortunately, he wasn't wrong. There was something threatening our existence out there somewhere in the dark forest.

I didn't say anything, but simply stared at Gash's attempting to keep a cool grimace.

"What do you have going on with her? Do you have little secrets or something?"

Once more, I didn't do anything, but stared at him. That foreign surge within me kept me silent. It wouldn't even allow me to whisper.

"Why would you choose her over us?"

This time, I looked down on the floor. I wasn't keeping any secrets. I didn't want to. I couldn't help it. All of a sudden, that image of Belle flashed into my mind again. When she turned her heart shaped face over her shoulder while smiling at me so confidently, strong, proud, and lovely. It was like that smile had put a magic spell on me and made me her loyal servant. The way her dark red eyes glistened with beautiful stars that had seen life times that we couldn't even imagine. She was incredible.

Suddenly, I heard Jasper gasp.

"You have got to be joking."

My eyes immediately snapped back up as I read the tenor of his thoughts. He began to chuckle, softly and half heartedly.

"What?"

Garnet asked confused. Gnash shook his head slowly while covering his eyes with drops of amusement.

"You're infatuated with her!"

Garnet let out a bear of a puff as Gnash spoke his mind. Luna shook her head while her mouth dropped to the floor. Scar's expression however, remained blank.

"Now that's a ridiculous theory." I tried to fight it. Gnash shook his head and began to laugh.

"Oh please, Rave! You might have mastered the art of lying to perfection, but your emotions are wide open field which I can grace through unchallenged. I felt what you felt. That certain desire and unknown passion that you have never before experienced is beginning to consume your electric impulses, isn't it? Yes. I can feel it even now."

I didn't know what to say. Gnash had looked deeper than I ever thought he would.

But how could he sense these emotions when they were still so alien to me? I though frustrated. Lately, I didn't even think that some of these emotions even belonged to me. It felt like there was somebody else inside of me. I had thought that Belle was gorgeous before and that there was something mysterious in her aura that had caused me to take a second look. But those emotions, my emotions, were nothing, but seedlings. They were still growing and would have to be nourished with the knowledge and essence of Belle. Yet, there were these other feelings that felt like fully blossoming trees. These emotions felt old.

"Let's go." Gnash sneered at me and turned to walk towards the entry door with Scar in his arm.

Why didn't Scar have a similar reaction to all of this like the others? Was there something else bothering her that easily overshadowed all of this somehow? Luna and Garnet both gave me a mixed look. Luna was glaring and adding this insult to the last that I had given to her. Which reminded me, I still had to apologize for that. Garnet who had always been my favorite brother wasn't all too excited about my silent tongue as well. They trailed behind Gnash and Scar and headed out the door.

Great, just great. I had once more failed in doing what I had planned to do. I was thirsty myself, but I could have held out for a few more days. What were they going to hunt anyway? Were there any animals left in the deserted and dark forest? I couldn't just let them go. No, I had to follow them and take any damage if there should be some. This was my fault and I had to make sure that I wouldn't stir any more distress.

I got up from the loveseat and bolted out the door. I reached the bottom of the steps in no time and picked up on their fresh scents leading behind the house and over the lake. With, but one simple leap, I found myself on the others side and resumed tracking their aromas into this tonight anyway, spooky forest.

As I ran through the moss covered trees and rocks, I for the first time noticed how truly empty the forest had become. There was, but a faint odor of elk and deer left that had passed here days ago. There weren't even birds in the air. I couldn't even detect the almost silent stomping of spiders, ants, and other micro insects. There was something here that had stirred them and caused them to flee in terror.

Fortunately though, they had been lucky. I could hear them somewhere ahead of me. My brothers and sisters were fortunate enough to have found some cattle that had apparently not made it out of the forest in time. Though the thirst burned in the back of my throat, I began to slow my pace. I slowed down enough until I was simply walking with human speed.

Though the red eyed monster in me screamed for me to join my brethren and devour the elixir that would strengthen the evil acid within me that would sustain me, I couldn't. This was certainly what many humans felt when they were depressed and down, they couldn't eat either. I could hear the hissing and growling in the distance as the others began to feed, but felt no need to go and join them.

I took a look at my surroundings. The forest was quiet, too quiet. I was just glad that we weren't that far into the interior and really nowhere near the mountains. We might have been just a few miles away from the house. The jog didn't take that long. Maybe we were just far enough away. Suddenly, all of these images entered my thoughts of some hideous and grotesque winged beast swiping down and picking us off one by one.

I hoped that these unpleasant visions would stay in the area of imagery. I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to any one of them because of me. But when would it be alright to venture back out into the forest? I certainly couldn't see Belle going through all the trouble to come to us and report or even tell us that it was fine to join the wilderness again. She might already be gone. I didn't like that thought, and for once, it was my own.

But, maybe, just maybe, she was still here. There was a low and nearly faded scent that covered the trees going west. I almost didn't notice if I hadn't walked so close to the trees. Carefully, I moved my nose very close to the tree and breathed in the mouthwatering scent it held. Jasmine. Freesias. Brimstone. Lavender. It was Belle's intoxicated fragrance. I smiled at the scent. It was like a festival of aphrodisiacs.

The scent was actually a couple of days old. At first, the memory of Port Angeles consumed my thoughts and of how she had lured me into that dark alley to take what she needed. But this didn't seem to be the case. This scent was perhaps four or so days old. It was already mixed with the nutty smell of squirrels, and birds. Had the Moriatus come this close to our house for Belle to have traveled this far as well?

Why did she have such a hard time tracking it? I could actually see the difficulty to some degree that concerned tracking an object that was airborne. Although, it wouldn't always stay in the air would it? It must certainly land at some point, right? I didn't know enough about this thing to draw these conclusions even though I really wanted to.

I traced my long white fingers across the earthy and wet bark of the tree. I tried to intertwine my own scent with Belle's to see how it would smell. My own scent of lilacs fused with the scent of jasmine and freesias. Unfortunately Belle's scent was too faded for me to obtain any level of serious fragrance.

Her scent trailed deeper into the forest and towards the unknown. For a second, I played with the idea of following it to see where it had gotten her. Ever since that encounter with those strange visions, I've been having the feeling and the urges to find her again. Seeing all of those strange images somehow bonded me to her, or at least that's what it felt like.

I took a look over my shoulder and could still hear the low growling of my siblings as they took down their prey. I was surprised to find that they were actually still at it. Their bodies must have been severely drained for them to take in so much blood now. Would they notice if I was gone? It would only be a second. If the trail would go to deep into the forest I would stop and turn around. At least that's what I was trying to make myself belief. She wouldn't hurt me. I don't know how I knew, but I did.

I took off into the direction Belle's scent led to. Her smell was like some strange and foreign chemical that caused all my senses to spin out of control. It was so addicting though, like some sort of drug. It simply drew me in.

Belle had been closer than I had thought. While I ran and jumped over small rocks and large roots of trees, I could see our mansion through the thick veil of leaves with my naked eye. Wait a minute. Might it have been this trail she had taken in order to get to our house and to pilfer Clem's book? It could have been.

After only a handful of seconds, I noticed that the trail became weaker and weaker. The constant rain we had to endure over the past couple of days and today almost entirely cleared the forest of that beautiful scent.

THUD.

I stopped! Whatever was left of the scent led a little further into the forest, but I had to cut off my pursue. There was a noise in the jungle ahead of me. Several times I heard that same sound and realized immediately that it was the sound of feet. Though the incoming object was foreign to me, I released a sigh of relief. My mind had immediately traveled to those dark images of some ferocious beast from that evil place in time. From what I knew and heard that night with Belle, I knew that they had wings. Big wings that they used in order to fly. Still, who's to say that they can't travel by foot? That however, would be very unwise. It would make tracking them a lot simpler.

Either way, I knew that it was not the Moriatus that Belle spoke of. These gentle rumbles in the ground did not come from any beast, but rather another kind. Vampires!

I could hear two distinct pairs of feet traveling towards me that were possibly a minute or so out. Because they were so close, it was already too late to run. If I ran now, they would more or likely attempt to track me. Of course that wasn't such a bad idea. If I found Gnash, Garnet, Luna, and Scar, they would be outnumbered. There were only three.

But if these two were capable of causing damage, then the last thing I wanted to do was lead them to my family. After all, because of my silence we were out here. It was because of me that they didn't know. I felt so ashamed.

Though I was a bit nervous at first, I relaxed so very, very little when I heard their voices. It was three vampires that I knew: three vampires that knew Belle as well.

From in-between the crowded trees, soggy leaves, and over the silver layering of mist three shadowy figures erupted from the gloomy darkness. The male stepped out with a mocking and dangerous grin plastered on his face. Next to him emerged a woman from the depth of the forest. Her flaming and soaring red curls illuminated the small dark spot in which we met. Next to her is also a male with his ever present stoic face.

Blake, Zaphara and Caleb, returned! For what I don't know even though I had a pretty good idea.

Darkness approached and now it was here.