Hello!! Hope you like this chapter!!!
I've just gotten my AP U.S. history assignment, and I am now being drowned in notes and essays and a curve packet. Yep, it's rough. So it might or might not be a few days until the next update.

Until then...

~Songs~

Everybody Wants to Rule the World- Lorde

Sarajevo- Trans Siberian Orchestra (yes, it's Christmas music, but it also fits!)

Edit: Me. 

Chapter Six

~Thea's POV~

I am frozen, stock-still at the sight of the... the creature in front of me. Tall, with liquid amber eyes, the young man regards me as a cat would before pouncing on a mouse. I can't move my eyes from his bloodied lips, which he licks smoothly, his eyes on me the entire time. 

I open my mouth to scream again, but he has leapt gracefully over the bodies and clapped his hand over my mouth. The whiff of the iron smell of blood from his skin hits my nostrils. 

When I try to raise the dagger in my left hand, he grabs it with the deftness of a split second. It clangs to the ground. I look at myself in the mirror, with the young man behind me, and I struggle. 

"Now, now, stop twitching," he says, his voice a purr. His other hand moves to my waist to prohibit my movements but I squeal behind his hand, his touch frightening. 

Within seconds, he has immobilized me with such skill that even Loki would be impressed. "I will let you go, Thea, if you promise you will not scream, nor try to escape." He nods his head towards the blue glow of the portal. "If you do, I will kill your little boyfriend, Jack." 

He releases me, but keeps the dagger, and I whirl around, stammering, "How...how do you know me?  What am I doing here? Who are you?!" 

He tilts his head at me as if considering my potential for a meal. "My name is Videl."

"You're a...you're a...vam-"

"If that atrocious name passes from your lips, you will find my fangs in your neck," he snarls. "I am from a race known as the Velah, who are far more superior than your petty vampire lords, my brother and I both.." 

"Brother?" I squeak, my limbs trembling. 

"Archer did not deem this meeting important enough to attend," says Videl smoothly, walking over to the corner of the room, where an owl is perched. It's ghostly white, and its amber eyes, so like Videl's are startlingly familiar. "I believe he is out hunting, and if you do not wish to join us for our meal, I suggest you listen carefully." 

I back against the wall, so that Videl will not be able to catch me by surprise anymore. "Tell me..." My voice is stronger than I feel as I subconsciously look at the three bloodied bodies at Videl's feet, "Tell me how I got here! I'm...I'm supposed to be-"

"In Asgard, yes I am aware," says Videl in a bored sort of tone. "It was only a simple matter of changing the code that your dear friend Peter sent you." As he says this, he strokes the owl, who is now calmly chewing the head off a mouse. I look away.

"How'd...how'd you change my text?! How did you even know...how do you know all of this?" I don't know if I've ever been more terrified than I am right now. The Imeldi camp is close, but at least I wasn't alone. 

Videl's laughter is bone-chilling. "You can thank Blaidd and Wairua here," he nods towards the owl, "For that. Both of them are fallen servants of my father's, transfigured into animal form to serve me for the rest of eternity." 

He pauses, holding up one bloodied finger, as if suddenly remembering something. "Although...I believe I must hold you accountable for the death of Blaidd. You naughty girl." 

I shake my head rapidly, "No, I haven't killed any...wait. The wolf! The wolf was Blaidd?"

Videl claps his hands together as if I've won a prize at a game show. "Now you've got it! And you must know that I am quite...put off about his death. He was such a lovely lapdog to have around." 

"Look, I'm sorry, but he killed my horse, and he was about to-"

Videl waves his hand and I fall silent, "Yes, yes, I'm aware. The foolish creature was not sent to kill you, but to watch you, but evidently, you looked appetizing," His eyes dart over to me, "An assumption that I cannot render incorrect." 

When he smiles at me, his fangs leer at me. I feel faint.

"What do you want from me?" I ask, my voice shaking, "You're not going to kill me, or you would have done that first. And you sent me here. What do you want?"

"The matter is simple. You have the Mantra, as you call it, in your veins. You are the only creature alive that does." 

"But what-"

Videl gestures towards the table, where a large piece of parchment lies. "Look."

 Hesitantly, I walk over to it. It's a map, an ornate and rather old one, the kind you might find in either a Chinese gift shop or Pirates of the Caribbean. "What does it lead to?"

"You believe there are nine realms, do you not?"

"...Yes?" I say, even though from Videl's tone, this is wrong.

"Incorrect. There is a tenth, cast out from the circle of the other nine thousands of millenium ago. From there, both my kind and the Imeldi- amongst other creatures- originated. It is known as Ardhigiza, the lost world. The Imeldi and the Velah lived in peace for much of the ancient world, accepting the other's culture. Naturally, as with most civilizations, this peace did not last. War broke out, and droves were decimated.

"The Velah were victorious, and the Imeldi became their slaves. Of course, they were eager to be free of such enslavement, and so began their quest for the Mantra. Until the past months, when you and your...companions...destroyed most of their numbers, they were moderately successful. Had they succeeded in re-taking the majority of the Mantra, they not only would have taken over your planet, but my word as well."

"You could say thank you," I say dryly, instantly regretting it. 

Videl's lip curls in amusement, "Unfortunately, the destruction of the Mantra means that the future of the Velah is unknown- the Mantra was used as a bargaining tool, a means of leverage, with the other nine realms, to keep such creatures as the Imeldi under wing and for Ardhigiza to remain protected from war. Our kind is now outcast and weak; my own father has fallen into the same stiff sleep that so many of the Velah are no succumbed to. Archer and I scarcely managed to escape to this pathetic planet you humans call earth. On Ardhigiza, other creatures have taken control."

"What do you want me to do?" Wow, I sound much braver than I actually am.

"There is an oracle, a prophetess by the name of Myrinea who resides in the  cosmic bridges between the world of Ardhigiza and Asgard, the highest realm. You must go to her and seek her esteemed guidance," by Videl's tone, it's evident that he doesn't think much of Myrinea. "There is a ritual, a means of bringing the Velah back to their former glory. I need to free my father, as well as the others, to take back our planet." 

"Why do you need me? You can go to Myrinea, do-"

Again, Videl holds up a finger, and I am silenced. "Did I not mention that Archer and I are weak? It is why we are forced to live in this shack and feed of of those brainless enough to cross us. We cannot make the trip to Myrinea's abode."

They're weak?! I think to myself, remembering Videl's iron grip and his sharp teeth. THIS is weak?!

"As well, the Mantra in your veins is important, as it is this substance that took our kind down. Perhaps it is important to re-claim my power, perhaps not. Regardless, the fact that the one being in the galaxies that possesses the Mantra that lead to my ruin is the same one who will bring me back to power is satisfying, is it not?"

I get it now. I'm Videl's grudge tool. I suspect that if he hadn't needed me, he would have killed me point blank. 

"I don't have to agree to this," I say staunchly, "There's nothing in it for me, is-"

"Ah, ah, ah," scolds Videl, walking up to me- I back away quickly. "You see, there is something in it for me, so there is something in it for you." 

"Although, if you hadn't wandered into this portal, I may not have had any means of communicating with you...I suppose I have you to thank for that, don't you now?" He turns me around so that I am facing the mirror, and once again, he is holding me from behind. I don't dare to move. "You see? You are frightened. I can smell your fear. And rightly so." His eyes are hooded as he looks down at me. 

"You see, Thea, if you do not do as I ask," his fingers creep over my shoulders, and I feel chills going up and down my spine, and his voice drops to a low, sinister whisper, "I will kill your precious sister, and your friends. Every...single...one." 

I swallow hard.

"You see?" he says, "It is not hard for me to get what I want. I know your weaknesses," His hand trails back down to my waist, and I bite my lip hard to stop it from trembling. "And I know your fears, and your breaking point. You will do what I say, will you not?"

I nod rapidly.

I can see him smile in the mirror, fangs out, as he looks down at me. "Oh...you've been cut here..." His finger touches the small dagger wound at the base of my neck. "What a...pity..." he breathes as he lowers his mouth to the spot. 

I whimper as his tongue swipes the blood off of my skin, rough and hard. But I don't move. I don't dare. 

"Good girl," he purrs, looking back up in the mirror so that we are looking at each other- I look beyond petrified, blanched like a drowned person as I stare into his liquid, beautifully amber eyes, that are now dilated with thirst. "Now go. Your time is short, as is my temper." 

He presses the dagger back into my hand and releases me. I skitter away from him. The last thing I see before he pushes me into the portal is him staring me down, laughing, his fangs still red with my blood.

"Until then..."

*

Jack is waiting for me as I stumble to the ground at the base of the portal. "Geez, that was fast. Did it work? Did it- Thea, what's wrong?"

Apparently, I look terrified, because he adds, "You look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?!"

I open my mouth, but only a squeal comes out, and I sway on the spot. Jack hurries forward to catch me before I fall. "Um, Thea, could you please tell me what's wrong?"

"Don't tell...anyone..." I whisper. Dear heavens, I feel light-headed. 

"Okay, I won't," says Jack, who looks rather frightened, "Would you tell me what happened?" 

"...Vampire..." I whisper before my eyes roll to the back of my head and blackness overtakes me. 

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Three Tasks Fact: 

Wairua is the Maori word for Ghost or Spirit. Ardhigiza comes from the joining of two Swahili words that mean Dark Land. :) 

Three Tasks Fact:

Videl is pronounced vee-DELL. Also, Videl is an anagram- the letters can be rearranged to spell something else... ;) 

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:D

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~Sierra