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    Chapter 5

    Kristina heard a sharp contact of skin on skin. She blinked to focus her eyes on the scene in front of her.

    “Enough of this madness you buffoon!” Trandafira yelled in front of her, “Aren't you stronger than this?”

    Kristina looked over to who Trandafira was talking to. It was Chris, who was now hanging limp in Dracul's arms, presumably unconscious. Kristina moved around to see if anything was broken, which it wasn't.

    “You think you hit him hard enough?” Kristina sighed.

    “No.” Dracul pouted. “She should have just smacked Nikolai out of him.”

    “Enough...” Trandafira groaned, rubbing her brow.

    “So what are we going to do? We can't just leave him unsupervised.” Dracul muttered, looking down at the unconscious body in his arms. Dracul, getting tired of sitting on the ground, picked himself up and cradled Chris in his arms.

    Trandafira looked at Dracul and gave an exasperated sigh.

    “You are one of the single, most conflicting immortals I have ever known.” Trandafira growled.

    “What? Why?” Dracul questioned.

    “First you get angry at him and your terrified of him, yet you cradle him as if he's your own son.” Trandafira said.

    “Aren't all fathers terrified of their sons?” Dracul said bluntly.

    “Statistically speaking, no.” Kristina huffed.

    “Oh, right, you exist in these circumstances.” Dracul sarcastically muttered.

    Chris shifted slightly in Dracul's arms, Trandafira and Kristina at the ready. Dracul just stared at them and looked back at Chris, hoping Nikolai wouldn't surface.

    “But doesn't he look like a baby sleeping?” Dracul asked.

    .

    Sherry paced around her room, chewing at her nails. It had recently come into light of Trandafira that Nikolai had started awakening once more. All suspicions had gone to her and Vlad automatically. This time she had no part in waking Nikolai. Last time, she had only taken advantage of the situation and in a way, used Nikolai, but she wasn't one for Nikolai. Her not being into him helped a bit too.

    “Well he was a huge asshole anyway!” Sherry said out loud. “No way the heavens were going to put us together! He sickens me! He's a child! I was only in it for fun and power, nothing else! Then he has to up and fall for me!!!”

    Sherry kept complaining to herself, not even noticing when her brother came in.

    Vlad watched as Sherry paced around them room and yawned. He wasn't quite one for people speaking aloud.

    Sherry kept ranting out loud to herself as Vlad kept watching her yell. When she finally noticed him, she screamed:

    “What do you want Vlad?!” Sherry yelled.

    “A; to figure out who you're talking to, cause talking out loud is weird. B; Trandafira just called a meeting.” Vlad said.

    “I'm talking to Talon! Who else?!” Sherry yelled, pointing over to another.

    Talon waved from the bed. Vlad, finally taking notice of the young woman, jumped back.

    “Shadows be damned!” Vlad cursed, clutching his chest.

    “I do that to everyone.” the woman spoke softly, she then turned back to Sherry. “If there is a meeting, we should go. We can talk more later if you need.”

    Sherry growled in frustration, but sighed. “Fine, let's go...”

    Talon looked over to Sherry's vanity and slipped through to a reflection on the other side, disappearing from Vlad's sight.

    “Uh...” Vlad thought out loud, a bit dumbfounded.

    “She does that to everyone, now are we going?” Sherry demanded. Vlad, slipping back to reality grabbed her shoulder and dissolved the both of them into shadows.

    .

    “Ah...Excuse me Miss Trandafira...” a young woman clothed in traditional garb said softly, “May I ask...why you have called a meeting so late at night?” she finished timidly, cowering behind her shawl.

    “The details of the meeting will be discussed later on, if you would please hold back your questions.” Trandafira muttered, stressed at the moment.

    “Actually, this is unlike you Trandafira.” Allan said.

    “As I have said, the details of the meeting will be discussed later on. Let me think in peace until my brother arrives...” Trandafira groaned, rubbing her hand on her head, as if to make a headache go away.

    “Of course...I-I didn't mean to be a burden...” Neerma whispered and seemed to shrink back into the chair.

    “You're not being a burden.” Gantulga comforted her, “Trandafira's just stressed over something.”

    Suddenly, the grand room doors opened. Two figures walked through the doors, voices raised, clearly irritable about something. The two not even speaking a known language on top of that.

    “Vlad and Sherry...of course...” Trandafira grumbled, she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

    Vlad and Sherry's seats were seated across from each other, so even while they were walking to their respected places, they were yelling at each other.

    Neerma sank deeper into her chair, a bit nervous and frightened by the two of them. To which Gantulga kept reassuring her that she was in no harm.

    Trandafira watched irritated, they had sat down at this point, as they kept fighting. Vlad being right next to her did not help.

    Dracul suddenly reconstructed himself in his seat. The two siblings went silent, of course, everyone went silent.

    “Well then, since I seem to be the center of attention. Why don't we get this meeting started?” Dracul smiled.

    “On a matter of the current situation with Nikolai...” Trandafira started. In which the room erupted into loud murmurs of disbelief, which Dracul had to silence once again.

    “Chris is currently losing control over his body, and because of that, Nikolai is trying to find a weakness.” Trandafira continued.

    Most of the Majors were listening completely, they had known what she was talking about. The Minors on the other hand, were a tad bit confused at the current situation, most being born after the Catalyst war.

    Chrissie glanced up from her notebook, frowning. She of all people knew of the current events, but even she never saw this part in the future. Or did she? She flipped through her notebook as Trandafira continued on about a possibility for another war if it came down to that. Chrissie was now half paying attention to the meeting and trying more to find this meeting in her notebook. She flipped all the way to the beginning.

    Odd. She thought. I normally write something this important down...perhaps it was not important enough for me to see?

     The small goddess of fortunes was thoroughly confused with the situation and closed her eyes to think of when she foresaw this, being careful not to glimpse into the future.

     Vlad's eyes shifted over to Chrissie as she was flipping about her notes. Laughing to himself as she seemed to chronologize everything she saw.

     Chrissie's head jerked up and turned to face him.

     “What are you laughing at?” she whispered, pouting. Vlad blushed and smiled sheepishly.

    “Ahem!” Trandafira scowled. Her glare seemed to say that they should know better. Across the table, Sherry was getting irritated, which didn't help Dracul sitting next to her. Dracul was keeping an eye on Vlad, more for Chrissie's sake than anything. His gaze shifted from Vlad and Chrissie as they seemed to fight here and there, Trandafira not always paying attention to them.

    “Something not right in your visions?” he sniggered softly. Chrissie seemed to pout even more, her lower lip sticking out a bit.

    “It's not that.” she whispered back. “I just don't remember this...I always write down when the meeting is...”

    Chrissie seemed to get really upset in herself for not remembering all of this.

    Allan sighed, normally Chris was here to talk to, but since the meeting was about him he probably wouldn't be here then. He glanced over across the table to Dmmitri, who was sitting in his sister's seat once again. Or was it his seat? Dmmitri and Kristina always switched, so there was no telling on whose seat was whose, they just rolled with it. Dmmitri kept glancing at a timepiece every now and them, seeming to get pretty fidgety as the hour ticked by. Allan laughed inside, he rarely got to see Dmmitri get anxious over something.

     “...and that concludes todays meeting. Make your choice people.” Trandafira said sternly, finishing whatever sentence that Allan wasn't paying attention to.

    Darn it...I didn't pay attention to that last part... Allan thought angrily.

     Kristina and Dmmitri flew out of the room as quick as they came, Gantulga and Neerma walking out, talking. Vlad was still watching Chrissie write, but like a predator. Sherry was no where to be seen...

    Dracul walked straight over to Chrissie and took her away from Vlad. Something that was fairly habitual since he raised her and Chris.

    “What?” Vlad laughed nervously at Dracul. The two of them were never on the best of terms, which was fairly annoying seeing how they are.

    “Leave Chrissie alone.” Dracul growled, “In fact, stay away from her.”

    Chrissie wasn't exactly paying attention to the squabble happening between the two since she was writing something she saw down.

     The two kept bickering for a few minutes after, Chrissie still not paying attention, and Trandafira just getting more and more irritable. Sherry decided to pipe up and yell-

     “Why don't you two fuck already?! The sexual tension is killing us!”

     The two black haired men both turned to look at her, words still processing.

     “NO!” they both shouted.

     Dracul rubbed his face, trying to put out Sherry's words from his thoughts. He roughly pulled out his chair and plopped down, hoping to zone out from the vulgar siblings.

    Dracul leaned back from the table, balancing his chair on its hind legs. Watching the usually emotionless god of secrets blunder through another conversation became less and less entertaining as the new meeting continued.

    "...acul... Dracul..."

    Suddenly the Dracul was much more acquainted with the ground as Trandafira stood over him. The other gods averted their eyes, trying in vain to stifle their laughter.

    "Yes Trandafira?" he responded a bit nervously, embarrassed.

    "If you don't mind, we're trying to discuss something here, and you're distracting everybody. People were betting on when you'd fall-"

    "And I won!" Allen called from across the room.

    "-instead of paying attention to the meeting. So please sit normally from now on."

     "Yes, Trandafira" Dracul muttered as he righted himself.

    "The mighty god of earth bends to his little sister's will." Vlad cackled from his seat.

    "What a riot." His patronizing laughter died down.

    Chrissie frowned at Vlad.

    "Enough, don't be mean to Dracul.”

    Dracul opened his mouth to retort, but closed it at seeing the toxic stare Trandafira gave him. Dracul looked at the ground, noticing something he reached for the object. His hand clenched tightly around something, stuffing it in his pocket. A torn, crumpled piece of paper peeked out of his pocket. It was filled corner to corner with a messy, indecipherable script.

    "Back to our original topic at hand...." Trandafira continued. "I've called you all here today to discuss a very pressing matter at hand. A great, destructive, evil force is about to resurface. An evil force known by many names throughout the centuries- Perses, Bandua, Mars, Xipe-Totec, among others. But you know him as Nikolai, the God of Destruction. He is cold, ruthless, and he lived up to his title in every sense of the word. Many would go to war to kill him, were he not immortal. We risk loosing Chris if we allow Nikolai to resurface, but there are no clear ways to prevent this. Does anyone have any ideas?"

    The room was deathly quiet as the gods and goddesses contemplated her words.

    Chrissie's face knotted in concentration. Something...something relevant was just playing on the edge of her memory. It was teasingly close, but detailed enough that it couldn't be remembered. Her head ached at the effort. Something about Nikolai that weakened him considerably.

    .

    As the meeting let out, Allan strolled lazily over to Chris' house. The sea-worn dock creaked softly under his feet. He stopped promptly in front of the door, knocking gently. The door groaned softly as it opened to reveal Chris.

    “Oh hey Allan, what's up?” Chris smiled widely at the volcano god. Allan paused at the door, he wasn't sure why he came to see Chris now. Perhaps it was something at the meeting that made him want to see Chris once more? He had been acting so odd lately, and he had wanted to know why.

    “You wanted to tell me something?” Allan asked.

    “Eh?” Chris blushed, “Never mind, it wasn't that important.”

    Allan thought for a moment.

    “Well, I guess I'll leave then.” Allan sighed and started turning to leave. His arm jerked as Chris grabbed onto his arm.

    “Why're you leaving?” Chris asked to the taller immortal, taking note of how warm Allan's arm felt in his hands.

    “Well...” Allan turned away from Chris, red in the face.

    “Well what?” Chris voice went up a pitch.

    Allan turned back to Chris. Chris' eyes were slightly watery.

    “Do you...” Chris whimpered. “Do you not like me-”

    “Chris...” Allan muttered, gently taking hold of Chris' chin and tilting it up slightly.

    “Hu-” Chris breathed as Allan brushed his lips.

    Chris melted into Allan's warmth as their kissed deepened.

Description

    Chapter 5

    Kristina heard a sharp contact of skin on skin. She blinked to focus her eyes on the scene in front of her.

    “Enough of this madness you buffoon!” Trandafira yelled in front of her, “Aren't you stronger than this?”

    Kristina looked over to who Trandafira was talking to. It was Chris, who was now hanging limp in Dracul's arms, presumably unconscious. Kristina moved around to see if anything was broken, which it wasn't.

    “You think you hit him hard enough?” Kristina sighed.

    “No.” Dracul pouted. “She should have just smacked Nikolai out of him.”

    “Enough...” Trandafira groaned, rubbing her brow.

    “So what are we going to do? We can't just leave him unsupervised.” Dracul muttered, looking down at the unconscious body in his arms. Dracul, getting tired of sitting on the ground, picked himself up and cradled Chris in his arms.

    Trandafira looked at Dracul and gave an exasperated sigh.

    “You are one of the single, most conflicting immortals I have ever known.” Trandafira growled.

    “What? Why?” Dracul questioned.

    “First you get angry at him and your terrified of him, yet you cradle him as if he's your own son.” Trandafira said.

    “Aren't all fathers terrified of their sons?” Dracul said bluntly.

    “Statistically speaking, no.” Kristina huffed.

    “Oh, right, you exist in these circumstances.” Dracul sarcastically muttered.

    Chris shifted slightly in Dracul's arms, Trandafira and Kristina at the ready. Dracul just stared at them and looked back at Chris, hoping Nikolai wouldn't surface.

    “But doesn't he look like a baby sleeping?” Dracul asked.

    .

    Sherry paced around her room, chewing at her nails. It had recently come into light of Trandafira that Nikolai had started awakening once more. All suspicions had gone to her and Vlad automatically. This time she had no part in waking Nikolai. Last time, she had only taken advantage of the situation and in a way, used Nikolai, but she wasn't one for Nikolai. Her not being into him helped a bit too.

    “Well he was a huge asshole anyway!” Sherry said out loud. “No way the heavens were going to put us together! He sickens me! He's a child! I was only in it for fun and power, nothing else! Then he has to up and fall for me!!!”

    Sherry kept complaining to herself, not even noticing when her brother came in.

    Vlad watched as Sherry paced around them room and yawned. He wasn't quite one for people speaking aloud.

    Sherry kept ranting out loud to herself as Vlad kept watching her yell. When she finally noticed him, she screamed:

    “What do you want Vlad?!” Sherry yelled.

    “A; to figure out who you're talking to, cause talking out loud is weird. B; Trandafira just called a meeting.” Vlad said.

    “I'm talking to Talon! Who else?!” Sherry yelled, pointing over to another.

    Talon waved from the bed. Vlad, finally taking notice of the young woman, jumped back.

    “Shadows be damned!” Vlad cursed, clutching his chest.

    “I do that to everyone.” the woman spoke softly, she then turned back to Sherry. “If there is a meeting, we should go. We can talk more later if you need.”

    Sherry growled in frustration, but sighed. “Fine, let's go...”

    Talon looked over to Sherry's vanity and slipped through to a reflection on the other side, disappearing from Vlad's sight.

    “Uh...” Vlad thought out loud, a bit dumbfounded.

    “She does that to everyone, now are we going?” Sherry demanded. Vlad, slipping back to reality grabbed her shoulder and dissolved the both of them into shadows.

    .

    “Ah...Excuse me Miss Trandafira...” a young woman clothed in traditional garb said softly, “May I ask...why you have called a meeting so late at night?” she finished timidly, cowering behind her shawl.

    “The details of the meeting will be discussed later on, if you would please hold back your questions.” Trandafira muttered, stressed at the moment.

    “Actually, this is unlike you Trandafira.” Allan said.

    “As I have said, the details of the meeting will be discussed later on. Let me think in peace until my brother arrives...” Trandafira groaned, rubbing her hand on her head, as if to make a headache go away.

    “Of course...I-I didn't mean to be a burden...” Neerma whispered and seemed to shrink back into the chair.

    “You're not being a burden.” Gantulga comforted her, “Trandafira's just stressed over something.”

    Suddenly, the grand room doors opened. Two figures walked through the doors, voices raised, clearly irritable about something. The two not even speaking a known language on top of that.

    “Vlad and Sherry...of course...” Trandafira grumbled, she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

    Vlad and Sherry's seats were seated across from each other, so even while they were walking to their respected places, they were yelling at each other.

    Neerma sank deeper into her chair, a bit nervous and frightened by the two of them. To which Gantulga kept reassuring her that she was in no harm.

    Trandafira watched irritated, they had sat down at this point, as they kept fighting. Vlad being right next to her did not help.

    Dracul suddenly reconstructed himself in his seat. The two siblings went silent, of course, everyone went silent.

    “Well then, since I seem to be the center of attention. Why don't we get this meeting started?” Dracul smiled.

    “On a matter of the current situation with Nikolai...” Trandafira started. In which the room erupted into loud murmurs of disbelief, which Dracul had to silence once again.

    “Chris is currently losing control over his body, and because of that, Nikolai is trying to find a weakness.” Trandafira continued.

    Most of the Majors were listening completely, they had known what she was talking about. The Minors on the other hand, were a tad bit confused at the current situation, most being born after the Catalyst war.

    Chrissie glanced up from her notebook, frowning. She of all people knew of the current events, but even she never saw this part in the future. Or did she? She flipped through her notebook as Trandafira continued on about a possibility for another war if it came down to that. Chrissie was now half paying attention to the meeting and trying more to find this meeting in her notebook. She flipped all the way to the beginning.

    Odd. She thought. I normally write something this important down...perhaps it was not important enough for me to see?

     The small goddess of fortunes was thoroughly confused with the situation and closed her eyes to think of when she foresaw this, being careful not to glimpse into the future.

     Vlad's eyes shifted over to Chrissie as she was flipping about her notes. Laughing to himself as she seemed to chronologize everything she saw.

     Chrissie's head jerked up and turned to face him.

     “What are you laughing at?” she whispered, pouting. Vlad blushed and smiled sheepishly.

    “Ahem!” Trandafira scowled. Her glare seemed to say that they should know better. Across the table, Sherry was getting irritated, which didn't help Dracul sitting next to her. Dracul was keeping an eye on Vlad, more for Chrissie's sake than anything. His gaze shifted from Vlad and Chrissie as they seemed to fight here and there, Trandafira not always paying attention to them.

    “Something not right in your visions?” he sniggered softly. Chrissie seemed to pout even more, her lower lip sticking out a bit.

    “It's not that.” she whispered back. “I just don't remember this...I always write down when the meeting is...”

    Chrissie seemed to get really upset in herself for not remembering all of this.

    Allan sighed, normally Chris was here to talk to, but since the meeting was about him he probably wouldn't be here then. He glanced over across the table to Dmmitri, who was sitting in his sister's seat once again. Or was it his seat? Dmmitri and Kristina always switched, so there was no telling on whose seat was whose, they just rolled with it. Dmmitri kept glancing at a timepiece every now and them, seeming to get pretty fidgety as the hour ticked by. Allan laughed inside, he rarely got to see Dmmitri get anxious over something.

     “...and that concludes todays meeting. Make your choice people.” Trandafira said sternly, finishing whatever sentence that Allan wasn't paying attention to.

    Darn it...I didn't pay attention to that last part... Allan thought angrily.

     Kristina and Dmmitri flew out of the room as quick as they came, Gantulga and Neerma walking out, talking. Vlad was still watching Chrissie write, but like a predator. Sherry was no where to be seen...

    Dracul walked straight over to Chrissie and took her away from Vlad. Something that was fairly habitual since he raised her and Chris.

    “What?” Vlad laughed nervously at Dracul. The two of them were never on the best of terms, which was fairly annoying seeing how they are.

    “Leave Chrissie alone.” Dracul growled, “In fact, stay away from her.”

    Chrissie wasn't exactly paying attention to the squabble happening between the two since she was writing something she saw down.

     The two kept bickering for a few minutes after, Chrissie still not paying attention, and Trandafira just getting more and more irritable. Sherry decided to pipe up and yell-

     “Why don't you two fuck already?! The sexual tension is killing us!”

     The two black haired men both turned to look at her, words still processing.

     “NO!” they both shouted.

     Dracul rubbed his face, trying to put out Sherry's words from his thoughts. He roughly pulled out his chair and plopped down, hoping to zone out from the vulgar siblings.

    Dracul leaned back from the table, balancing his chair on its hind legs. Watching the usually emotionless god of secrets blunder through another conversation became less and less entertaining as the new meeting continued.

    "...acul... Dracul..."

    Suddenly the Dracul was much more acquainted with the ground as Trandafira stood over him. The other gods averted their eyes, trying in vain to stifle their laughter.

    "Yes Trandafira?" he responded a bit nervously, embarrassed.

    "If you don't mind, we're trying to discuss something here, and you're distracting everybody. People were betting on when you'd fall-"

    "And I won!" Allen called from across the room.

    "-instead of paying attention to the meeting. So please sit normally from now on."

     "Yes, Trandafira" Dracul muttered as he righted himself.

    "The mighty god of earth bends to his little sister's will." Vlad cackled from his seat.

    "What a riot." His patronizing laughter died down.

    Chrissie frowned at Vlad.

    "Enough, don't be mean to Dracul.”

    Dracul opened his mouth to retort, but closed it at seeing the toxic stare Trandafira gave him. Dracul looked at the ground, noticing something he reached for the object. His hand clenched tightly around something, stuffing it in his pocket. A torn, crumpled piece of paper peeked out of his pocket. It was filled corner to corner with a messy, indecipherable script.

    "Back to our original topic at hand...." Trandafira continued. "I've called you all here today to discuss a very pressing matter at hand. A great, destructive, evil force is about to resurface. An evil force known by many names throughout the centuries- Perses, Bandua, Mars, Xipe-Totec, among others. But you know him as Nikolai, the God of Destruction. He is cold, ruthless, and he lived up to his title in every sense of the word. Many would go to war to kill him, were he not immortal. We risk loosing Chris if we allow Nikolai to resurface, but there are no clear ways to prevent this. Does anyone have any ideas?"

    The room was deathly quiet as the gods and goddesses contemplated her words.

    Chrissie's face knotted in concentration. Something...something relevant was just playing on the edge of her memory. It was teasingly close, but detailed enough that it couldn't be remembered. Her head ached at the effort. Something about Nikolai that weakened him considerably.

    .

    As the meeting let out, Allan strolled lazily over to Chris' house. The sea-worn dock creaked softly under his feet. He stopped promptly in front of the door, knocking gently. The door groaned softly as it opened to reveal Chris.

    “Oh hey Allan, what's up?” Chris smiled widely at the volcano god. Allan paused at the door, he wasn't sure why he came to see Chris now. Perhaps it was something at the meeting that made him want to see Chris once more? He had been acting so odd lately, and he had wanted to know why.

    “You wanted to tell me something?” Allan asked.

    “Eh?” Chris blushed, “Never mind, it wasn't that important.”

    Allan thought for a moment.

    “Well, I guess I'll leave then.” Allan sighed and started turning to leave. His arm jerked as Chris grabbed onto his arm.

    “Why're you leaving?” Chris asked to the taller immortal, taking note of how warm Allan's arm felt in his hands.

    “Well...” Allan turned away from Chris, red in the face.

    “Well what?” Chris voice went up a pitch.

    Allan turned back to Chris. Chris' eyes were slightly watery.

    “Do you...” Chris whimpered. “Do you not like me-”

    “Chris...” Allan muttered, gently taking hold of Chris' chin and tilting it up slightly.

    “Hu-” Chris breathed as Allan brushed his lips.

    Chris melted into Allan's warmth as their kissed deepened.