Chapter 1: Sisterhood (Invite)

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

“Catch me if you can!”

A giggle rang out through the air, accompanied by the sounds of small booted feet as they ran through the hard and compacted earth.

Laughter. Pure and yet to be tarnished by the hardship of life. It continued to spill from the lips of the children as they ran and played. For the moment allowed to just be as children were meant to be. Allowed to run, to play, to laugh and enjoy life.

“Catch me!”

“Aidan! Wait up!”

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Years later. They were older now, not by much but it was time for them to focus solely on training and nothing more.

“Sage!” their leader, their mother cut through commotion like a hot knife through butter. They all just stood there and stared at Sage, who now was on the ground, her nose bloody.

It felt like an eternity while they all stood there and watched their leader approach the fallen girl, not a single ounce of caring or compassion in her eyes when she at last stood over the girl and regarded her condition. “Get up!” she snapped. For a moment Sage did not move, merely laid there and stared up at her mother. “Get up...now...” the voice lower, deadlier, finally got the young girl moving again, though as she went to stand her mother struck her across the cheek and knocked her down again.

A gasp had gone out from the rest of the students who watched, Aidan was further down the line and did not gasp. Instead her knuckles were now white as they gripped the handle of the training sword, azure eyes burned with a smoldering hatred and anger for the woman who gave her life.

“Get up,” again the order was given and again the girl was struck before she could stand fully. This continued for another three attempts, before Sage just curled up in a ball and began to sob. “Get up,” the command was still issued even in the face of the tears. “Stop the tears and get up,” this time a booted foot was drawn back as if to kick at the child and then there was Aidan.

“No!” she shouted and shoved her mother back, nearly to the ground. “Stop it! Leave Sage alone!”

There were no words said after that, not right away anyway. Instead Aidan and her mother stared one another down before her mother struck back. The strike was blocked and Aidan retaliated with one of her own that was also blocked. Another exchange and it ended with Aidan being struck across the cheek and knocked to the ground.

“Since you want to protect her,” a kick to her stomach knocked the air from her lungs. “You can take her punishment for being weak!”

Aidan lost how many times she was kicked but after a while it no longer hurt and she just became numb to it all. When the pain stopped and she was back in their room, she felt a cool rag placed on her forehead and smiled over at Sage.

“You know, they are going to punish you if they catch you in here with me....” she spoke softly, though she smiled at her younger sister.

“Aidan...” her voice soft and timid. “Why did you do it? Why did you step in for me?”

“You are my sister. I was not going to let anyone hurt you, not even our mother,” she shifted and groaned before she coughed in a fit of pain. “Besides, I thought I could take the old *****...” she smirked and looked over at Sage to see her smiling as well. “No matter what, I will always protect you. Even if you are annoying and snore at night...”

“But...we aren't....blood sisters....” Sage squeaked out.

“I was there when you were born, my mother took you in when your mother died in labor. Though not by blood you are my sister. We are all siblings....but you and I are closer....right?” she asked.

Sage merely nodded.

“Then don't question it and try to smuggle me a cookie or something, I'm starving!”

At that Sage giggled and jumped down from her chair to rush off to the door, where she paused in the doorway, “I love you, Aidan.”

“Love you too, Sage...”

Then the other girl was gone and Aidan was left there alone with her thoughts and pain.

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

Life. It felt like she was truly living it for the first time in a long time. Asteria said, yes. A word she had not been sure she would hear, to a question she had never thought she would ask anyone. That moment, when Asteria said yes, Aidan felt like her life was finally where it was meant to be. It was such a rush, such a high that she had not been sure she was even awake anymore. That this was all some kind of amazing dream and at any moment she would wake up, be back in her old life with a family that only sought to control her and in some cases hurt her.

This fear was what likely caused the memory of her sister to come back. For it to invade her dreams, to drag her back through a moment in her life that had been one of the most painful in her life. A near silent groan left her lips as she sat up in bed, careful to not wake up Asteria, she rolled out of bed and decided to do something to keep herself busy.

Cleaning.

To look at Aidan, with her tattoos and general don't give a **** attitude, people would not expect her love for cleaning. It did not even come from her upbringing, at least not in the way that people would think. Sure she had to keep her weapons and gear clean, but it went beyond that. The act of putting a room in order, in making something that was dirty clean again, it satisfied a subconscious need to have control. She was sure that Doc would have enjoyed the chance to sit her down and talk to her, really talk to her and get to the root of all her issues. Such as that extreme need to keep people at bay, while at the same time she had the desire to be a part of a family. To feel wanted, needed and appreciated.

Though, as of late, that desire had been met well over anything her family had ever done for her and that was all due to Asteria. As her thoughts wandered to the woman who made her heart feel as if it not only still beat, but also raced. Even the mere thought of her made her heart hammer in a phantom way that had never fully left her since her turning.

Asteria completed her. Loved her and made her feel loved. It was a feeling she had never thought she would have, at least not in the way that they shared. Sure she and her siblings had shared in a love for one another, Sage and she especially, but it was not the same. Not by a long shot was it even remotely the same.

With her hair, freshly dyed and twisted up atop her head. Aidan put on some music and set to work cleaning. The various paintings and drawings she had started to do again, were moved into the room that had been designated her “studio”. Lately she had been hung up on portraits, a few of them were of the d`Artois. There was Lancaster with his guitar, Pi with a softer look that Aidan favored as opposed to the usual strong and powerful matriarch. Then there was Reilly with this innocent smirk, then her sire with this bad boy persona that she knew hid a sensitive man. Lastly,Doc who stood with a look of that was hard to describe, but always seemed to chill her to the bone. Of course there were several of Asteria, as she was more often then not Aidan's muse. The sketch pad that she always carried was mostly filled with Asteria.

From her vampire family, it went into sketches from her human family. Her brothers, her sisters....Sage. It was there that she stilled in the cleaning her eyes lingered on the form of her youngest sister and she remembered the last time she had seen her.

Aidan stood there under the tree, eyes cast to the rolling hills down below, a light breeze played with a few strands of her hair.

Without a word Sage appeared beside her. The young woman having made the trip up to see her, one final time. Aidan had wondered what had happened to Sage the previous night, her sister had been no where to be found at the party that the other siblings had thrown for her. At least she was here now, which made all the world of difference to Aidan.

“Hey,” Aidan spoke up first as she looked over with a smile.

“Hey,” Sage replied quietly while she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. “Um,” she began after a moment. “I'm sorry about last night...I just....” she let the sentence end and shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah, I know” another smile and she leaned into the other woman to bump her slightly. “You going to be ok while I'm gone?” Aidan asked the one question that had been heavy on her mind for the past few days.

“Yeah. Mother leaves me alone, for the most part now and some of the others have already promised to step in place of you,” she gave the smallest smile.

“I'm sure they did. They know I would rip them a new one, literally, if they fucked up and left you to that ***** of a woman we call mother,” the last word filled with venom and disdain as she practically spat it out. A sigh and she reached behind her back to produce a knife, “Here,” she said and handed the knife over to Sage. “It was my first knife and well, I just want you to have it.”

Sage took the knife, the blade rested in her hands for a moment while tears welled up in her eyes, “Aidan....don't go.” The words were whispered out, her voice cracked with emotion before she hugged Aidan suddenly and tightly.

For a long while she did not respond, just stood there and allowed herself to be hugged. Then she wrapped her arms about her sister and hugged her tightly back. “I have to go,” she finally said amongst her own tears. “If I don't go they will kick me out and then what?”

“We can run away! The two of us!” the desperation in her voice nearly broke Aidan's heart. “I can get a job and you can get a job, then we can get an apartment and live together. Just the two of us,” her hug grew even tighter as she practically clung to Aidan.

That sounded amazing, it sounded like a dream she often had, but it was just that...a dream. Aidan had at best the equivalent of a highschool education with no degree or paper to prove it. No papers that even showed she was legally born in the country or even an actual person. Sure, they had forged papers, but they would never work if they ran away. No matter how much she wished that was the case and wished for that to be possible, she knew it never could be.

“Sage....” she fought back her own emotions. “I'm sorry...” she finally managed to say and she felt it, the moment that she crushed the other woman's dreams and hopes.

Sage pulled away from her, pushed Aidan away before she ran off and left Aidan there alone once again.

“I'm sorry....” she said a final time before she turned back to face the horizon and the now setting sun.

A deep sigh left her lips as Aidan stood before the picture of her sister, her hand stretched out to run along the stilled and lifeless cheek of her sibling. Someone whom she never thought she would see again.




The bus pulled into the depot and Sage departed, book bag over her shoulder, the thin jean jacket she wore barely of any comfort in the cold winter air. Harper Rock, a city that little knew about, but this was the last place Aidan had been seen. So, this is where Sage went to look for her. Vampires and other creatures were rumored to reside within the city as well.

All the more reason to find her sister and make sure she was alright....

[Lancaster]

The businesses were all running smoothly. Nearly everything was running smoothly. The hiccups in this life were not few—they were many. They were hiccups that would never go away, and so when times were calm, when the eye of the storm passed over, Elliot took full advantage of it. The majority of his time was spent drifting between his three businesses. Lancaster’s claimed most of his attention. The other two were smaller, the music shop running perfectly well in Aidan, Asteria, and Reilly’s capable hands. There was something comforting in hiring family. Elliot trusted each and every one of them—with perhaps a few wary exceptions—and so he was safe not to worry.

Sometimes, Elliot wondered whether, if he allowed it, his personality might split. He was happy and normal when behind the bar at Lancaster’s. When he played up on the stage, he lost himself in a world that existed on another plain; the music was a part of him, so that when he sang, he did so with unbridled passion and with complete, unhindered honesty. The guitar was an extended limb, one that he often felt naked without.

But sometimes, being happy and normal were not enough. It was something that he never admitted, and something that only Pi had ever really been witness to. There was a violence inside of him that could not be ignored. It was a violence fed by vampiric instinct, fuelled by animalistic desire. When forced to kill, Elliot enjoyed it. When embroiled in action, when wielding his custom sword, Elliot became a whole other person. When forced to defend the ones he loved, the ones he cared for, when forced to defend himself, a switch was flicked and Elliot was no longer the human he always strived to remain. He became the vampire that he was steadily growing into, the vampire that he was slowly beginning to accept, like a drug absorbed into a system that at first rejected, but later embraced.

Some nights, like tonight, Elliot would not be found at Lancaster’s. He would not be found in any of his businesses, or on any street corners busking more for the joy of it rather than for the coins that were dropped into his guitar case. He could not found at the charity down the road. He might be found in the sewers, where he’d indulge and feed his violent nature by seeking out the men and women whose sole purpose was to destroy him. But he might also be found in the Training Room.

He’d come to the conclusion—after Oliver—that he could not only indulge his need for violence when his life was threatened. It wasn’t something that he should indulge in only for the blood it might shed. It was unhealthy, to feed a desire in such a gruesome way. To feed a tame lion live prey would only teach it to resort to its base instinct. That’s not such a bad thing, where the lion is concerned. But Elliot wasn’t a lion. He was a human. Was once a human, anyway, and he did not want to lose the human penchant for civility.

And so he trained without live prey. He trained on the dummies and punching bags in the training room. He chose from different types of weaponry, dancing and thrashing at the still targets in an attempt to work on technique, to strengthen his aim and agility. He began to lose himself to the rhythm—in the background, upon the stereo, he played some AC/DC. He didn’t think about anything but the target, and didn’t stop. The momentum had caught him in its current, and he could only go with the flow.

The stereo was hooked up to his phone, through which the music played. This way, he would be alerted, should anyone try to contact him. Knowing that he was not completely out of reach, and that if he was needed, they’d all been told they could call him, he continued to train, out of sight and out of mind.

[Attire]

[Asteria]

I don’t understand a word of this, she thought for what had to be the hundredth time as she pushed the dictionary back, needing the space.

English: The bane of her existence. It was the one language, that she actively had to speak, that had rules meaning (virtually) nothing. Each rule had exceptions six ways to Sunday, which rendered them useless to learn. But, if she didn’t learn them, then she’d mess up more so, even with that taken into account. And, where only Aidan was the one that understood Greek well enough to translate, with Reilly coming up a distant second, she needed it to communicate with everyone else in the family.

Not that she spoke to too many others, but their ranks were always expanding; May as well work on it while she had the time.

Time that she had an ungodly amount of.

Where notebooks of rituals and her attempts at them (both successful and not)—along with loose-leaf paper that she’d written on when her notebook hadn’t been convenient—used to lay about the room…in their place now lay dictionaries, thesauruses, and her various notes for what she needed to work on. The computer’s screen lit up one corner of the room, the family’s CrowNet pulled up with posts past, blatantly outlining her mistakes, reminding her of what she needed to work on.

It wasn’t as though she could rely on Aidan’s colorful translations all the time, right?

Something in the other room caught her attention, the sound of Aidan moving about and cleaning pulling her out of “Webster’s” definitions and rules momentarily, long enough for a small smile to form on her lips.

It was because of Aidan that she was learning this, actively working on it instead of passively speaking it. Why? To not embarrass her anymore. Aidan may have said it was cute, but Asteria always feared she say the wrong thing to the wrong person and they’d both be worse off for it. So, because of this, she’d forgone her usual Fae language practice, her research into the arcane, and focused on the mundane language, filled with ugly sounds and contradictions.

For a few moments longer, anyway. Had it not been for hearing her, she’d have been able to continue focusing…but what little focus she’d had was now lost to the idea that she just might catch her bent over. A little ogling couldn’t hurt…if anything, it may improve my chances of concentration… Ast justified to herself, sneaking out of their bedroom, passed the living room, passed their booby traps…

…And frowned.

This wasn’t the “singing to the music and dancing awkwardly with a broom” Aidan that she’d come to expect when she had the urge to clean. Instead, she was staring at the picture, a finger tracing over the lines she’d drawn. Asteria didn’t need to see the look head on to know it wasn’t a happy one, the sigh speaking volumes.

“…Do you miss her?” she asked quietly into the otherwise quiet room, body paused at the doorway so as not to completely disturb her if she’d prefer space. It may have been an obvious question, but it was all she could think of to say in that moment, nothing better coming to mind.

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

Even before she saw her she felt her. It was an interesting bond and connection to say the very least and one that she cherished each and every day. The question at first was answered with a shrug, her eyes lingered on the picture before she turned to face the woman that she loved.

“Yes....I do...” another sigh and shrug before she approached Asteria. Arms found their proper place about her waist, face buried in the crook of her neck which was promptly kissed and nuzzled before the hug was completed with a squeeze. “I miss....my siblings. Not the life that we were forced into, but I miss them and the trouble we caused together....” she leaned back to look Asteria in the eye and smile. “I don't regret this though,” she said and leaned in to give Asteria a quick kiss on the lips. “Though I miss them, I would still have chosen to leave and come here if that meant I would meet the one person in this world who completed me the way that you do....”

Words spoken were soft, a tender whisper, while her eyes searched the eyes of the other. For what she was not sure. Perhaps just understanding? That even though she missed the people in her past that Asteria was worth more to her than any of them.

Even Sage....

[Asteria]

She couldn’t say she was surprised; The way that she’d spoken of her siblings, of Sage, she’d have been hard-pressed to believe that she didn’t miss her. It’d have been odd, to have such fond memories despite where they’d been, and not miss them. They were the ones that got her through it. And now she was cut off.

Arms wrapping about her instinctively, holding her close, her hands smoothed over her back, nuzzling her lightly as she spoke, returning the kiss. What she wasn’t completely comfortable with, though, was the way Aidan searched her eyes. It wasn’t the normal way she looked at her; not in the slightest. This one was deeper, deeper than even the night she’d proposed; instead, Aidan looked more…Asteria wasn’t sure the word, nor would she be able to pinpoint that look when she inevitably looked back at this moment for something she’d missed.

“What if you could still…see them? See her?” she asked, not returning the smile, but trying to come up with some sort of a solution. Anything was better than seeing her torn up over being so completely cut off from the loved ones she missed. “Nothing’s really stopping you, not really… And then you’d not have to miss them so much. Or even a phone call, at least. Why couldn’t you do that, agapi?”

Had she someone back home that she missed, she might have felt differently about the prospect of hearing their voice over the phone, or a short visit; That it might not be enough and could make the feelings worse. But, Ast had nothing to compare it to, and the idea, to her, was as logical as any.

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

Aidan smirked, “If I thought that would go over well....” Another shrug and kiss, “No. It's best for them and myself that they think I am dead. With my track record it would not be hard to assume that I ran a foul with some person I pissed off. Or drank myself to death.” The last bit was ended with a slight frown, but it turned into a smile again when she met Asteria's gaze once again. “Besides, I know I would have to neuter more than one of my brothers when they caught sight of my gorgeous fiancée,” that word practically purred from her lips.

“I do love that word, don't you?” she asked with a smile that did not show even the smallest hint of the sadness she felt but a moment ago. “You know that is something we should probably plan...or at least you plan and I promise to just show up clean and in whatever outfit you lay out for me,” she joked then kissed her again, just because she could and wanted to. “Am I allowed to have strippers at my party, or are you,” she bent down slightly to grip the back of her thighs and lift her up with little effort. “Going to be my entertainment that night?”

The shift in the conversation was one that she welcomed as it never helped her or pleased her to dwell on her past. It was better and more productive to focus on the eternal life that she planned to spend with the woman whom she currently held in her arms.

[Asteria]

The frown, though hastily loved on from nearly instantly, didn’t go unmissed as Aidan shifted topic yet again. At least the topic was one she could agree on, relate to, actively contribute to; The family thing, while she understood the general idea of how the relationship should be, she couldn’t fully understand what it was that Aidan clung to, remembered. So, she went along with the change, a smile finally gracing her lips as she returned the kiss, practically purring at the mention of entertainment.

“Me…let you have strippers at your party?” she repeated, as though it were a completely foreign thought. Instead she stole another kiss, this one just a bit more heated than those before it, hinting at something more primal, possessive. “Like I’d let the strippers dance all over you…without me there…Unless…”

Her features took on a more thoughtful expression, weighing her options. It wasn’t like Aidan would be the issue; It was the sluts who’d be losing their clothes to earn a buck tucked into their sweat-covered g-strings. Not that she used to mind shoving dollars anywhere on their person, but now that meant someone else would be all over Aidan. Her Aidan. Shaking her head with a laugh, her smile turning into more of a smirk, she leaned down to nip at her neck. “No, not even an ‘unless’ you’ll like. I’m your entertainment, or, agaph, you’ll have to let me choose the strippers….I can’t promise they’ll be your usual kind, but they’ll be… ‘strippers’…kind of.”

Of course she was teasing. Mostly. “Planning, I don’t do when it comes to something so...girly,” Ast added with a wrinkled nose. “You want this wedding to be good, oxi? I’m not the one to do it.”

[Aidan (DELETED 3366)]

The sharp bite made her purr and moan slightly, “I think you are more than enough entertainment for me....” her grip on Asteria firm now while she carried her out of the spare bedroom toward the room they slept in. “Maybe, we could get Reilly to do it?” she asked being obviously blunt and probably offensive. “His people are good at that kind of thing, right?” she asked with a smirk. “After all we are only good at wearing and coordinating flannel,” she joked.

Bed now in view, Aidan lowered Asteria with care atop the still unmade mattress. “So, think you can show me some of those moves you would be using for my....entertainment?”

------

Though it had taken some time to get dressed and then get out of the house, they finally did manage. Aidan’s arm hung across Asteria’s shoulders while the couple walked the streets, “We should try and get a bite to eat while we are out,” the comment made with a slight emphasis on the word bite. “We could find someone to share; it’s been a while since we have done that…”

The act of feeding could be as cold as grabbing a drink from the fridge, or as intimate as the sweet embrace of a lover. There was a certain level of intimacy when it came to the relationship between predator and prey. To feel their lives as they struggled within the palm of your hand, to know that they only live because of your will. Now, take that moment and share it with a person that you love and it is indeed something special.

[Asteria]

Her motivation to leave the house was sorely lacking after Aidan had changed the entirety of her mindset, more than content to stay in their room and explore each of the moves she could (and likely would) utilize for her entertainment. But, like all things, it came to an end—despite her efforts to draw it out—and they were out and about, close while maneuvering through the others milling out around them. With an arm about her waist, sure to keep Aidan as close as possible, she tried to steer her thoughts back to why they’d left the apartment in the first place, and the temptation of a bite.

“I suppose grabbing someone while we’re walking wouldn’t hurt,” she replied, a bit of a purr to her words at the prospect of it. “It hasbeen a while…and a while is something I’d rather not continue.” A knowing look filled her eyes, glancing in her direction with a smirk before looking out at the sprawling night before them. “Anything else you want to do while we’re out and about? It’s also been a while since we’ve done anything fun and I’m itching to rub it in people’s faces that they’re missing out on someone wonderful, oxi?”

Winking, she pressed a kiss to Aidan’s cheek. “Stars are the limit! Pick your poison!”