Eyes of the Serpent

PANIC. That was the one and only emotion that flooded Josie\'s mind, body, and soul. The image of those bodies, a chunk torn from their neck, their blood drained and consumed like some food-bearing animal. It would happen to her, they would kill her, eat her, just like those poor people...Of course, sense had no place in her mind right now. All she was thinking was \'run for your life\'. She rounded the next, poorly lit corner, and skittered down the hall as fast as her drug-laden, tired legs would let her go. She didn\'t know what way was out, and she was beginning to feel a little like a lab mouse trapped in an endless maze of plain wall after plain wall, lining corridor after corridor, leading her about until she found the goal, or the the way out. The building had to have been huge; there was a long hallway in almost every direction, and the panic that was setting in deep was making it seem worse than it was. She felt her breath get tight and fast as she turned to look behind her for fear that the medic was trailing after her. The moment she found her path clear behind her, she turned to dash on, when she ran straight into a tall, sweet-smelling figure. She took in a breath to scream, but the blur of movement about her quickly found herself wrapped up in the figure\'s arms, her own clamped down to prevent flailing, and a palm clasped over her mouth. Her fear skyrocketed upwards, and she began to shake. Was this the end?



"Calm down, little one. We aren\'t going to hurt you, but those of us who don\'t know you\'re here WILL. No one but a handful knows you\'re here to be safe and protected from the werewolves, and if they see a human girl screaming and running down the hall with naught but a high-ranking member\'s coat on, I guarantee you that they will assume the worst, and will likely kill you. However, we don\'t want that to happen, as I am sure you do not. I don\'t know how to convince you otherwise, but if I wished you to die, then you would be so already. Now, I am going to set you loose, but if you scream and run, I will have to be forceful, and take you away to a medical cell until you can be trusted to be out again. Do you understand me, lass? We are not going to hurt or eat you; we would have done so already."



A slight sense of clarity rang into Josie\'s mind; his words seemed to make sense to her, and it eased her heart enough to realize he was right. She nodded softly, and relaxed. The male released her, and surprising even herself, she didn\'t run. Instead, she turned, and faced the one who had caught her. His eyes were the color of cold steel, with just a slight hint of ice blue. They were filled with darkness and numbness, but a gentle glimmer of hope and light shone through from the depths of his core. It drew her in like a moth to a flame, and something deep inside her warned her from looking too long. Her eyes shifted up to the raven black hair of the man; it too was highly maintained, and reached well down his back. His was loose and flowed with the gentle breeze that carried along down the corridors, and it looked perfect - too perfect. The man looked, with no hint of a lie, like a typical Fabio - it both attracted and repelled her. His ivory skin was young looking, even though his eyes spoke of age and wisdom.



"Who are you?" she finally spoke, breaking her analytical silence. A smirk played across his face with a curious expression, almost curious about her, like she had done something he wasn\'t quite expecting.



"You may call me anything you wish...But most call me Demitri, shortened from Demitrius Pilas. I am but a lowly soldier, but I promise you that you are safe with me." he spoke, bending over regally to her, staring deeply into her eyes with a glimmer of something she couldn\'t place. "What may we call you, lass?"



"J-josie...Josie-uh-Rae." she stumbled. Why was she so disabled by this strange Vampire? She felt no alarm, no panic, no worry with this one, much like the medic had, but on a far deeper level. Dare she suggest it, this one made her feel comfortable and safe, just by seeing and talking to him. What was it about him that arrested her fears? "How do you do it?" she asked, casting her eyes away from his. There was no sense dancing about the point. It seemed to catch him off guard, and for a moment, he didn\'t answer, and stopped to think.



"Do what, Josie?"



"This. Why am I not terrified of you? Why do you and that other one smell so inhumanly good? Why do you disarm me like this? I should by every sense of the word, terrified? I\'m surrounded by people that can kill and eat me, and I should be terrified like I was before, but I\'m not. How do you do it?..."



Demitri smiled, and she briefly noticed no fangs like they had in the movies. "Ahh, that would be one of my gifts as a vampire. We all have specific gifts that we inherit; mine just happens to be a sense of calm, and ease. It makes those around me feel the way you are." Something told her that he was leaving something out, but what, she wasn\'t sure. Before she could probe further, he continued. "So, shall I lead you to the female clothing? I\'m sure you would appreciate a feminine garment over Marian\'s overcoat." he chuckled, and did not wait for an answer as he turned around and began walking away. The further he stepped, the less of his calming aura wore off, and the more her inhibitions returned. After a moment, he stopped, and turned his head to glance back at her. "Aren\'t you coming, Josie?"



She blinked, and carried along after him with no more hesitation.



\'Lucky for me I found her, again\' Demitri thought, stepping along the hallway, with the innocent, pretty female trailing along behind her. \'If I hadn\'t\'ve, the others would have eaten our little secret alive, after raping her like the intruding human they assume she would be. That is not an image of us that we need leaving the coven, least-ways not with the most recent news plaguing the news headlines. That\'s the last bit of fuel the Rebels would need. I will have to keep her in arm\'s reach as long as I can, until Corbin smartens up and tells the rest of them, but that would imply he has made his damned decision on whether to keep her or not. His obsession with her is not healthy, I know it - but no one else can see it, so it appears, not even Corbin. I will watch my little prize like a hawk, and keep her alive as long as I possibly can. Only Corbin himself will pry my human prize away from me. She is beautiful; that must be why Corbin is so totally obsessed with the little toy. Perhaps he means to turn her, and take her for himself; I will not let this happen if I can help it. I found her, I will tame her, I will teach her, I will take the beauty as my bedside woman, and make her moan and scream for me every moment I wish her to; not him. Even if Corbin IS the master. I will challenge him if I must. She is a prize to be claimed, protected, and respected; not controlled and brainwashed like a slave, like he tended to treat his women.\' The room appeared before him, popping in through his mess of thought.



"Here; this is where the new female vampires come to chose their clothing; feel free to wander in and look; I will wait here, to take you back to Marian to have you looked at, finally. We would like to keep you in the best health that you can be." He pushed the heavy wooden door open, and let her walk past him, and in...

----

AN: Sorry for the long wait my loyal fans, college will do that to a girl! :) I will try my best to keep the posts up!