Haze: Part Two

Charlie's dream was a strange one indeed, at the precipice of his rest, Charlie found himself lost in a deep Haze, not in the depth of his Red sea, but floating on the surface of a dark, shallow lake.

"Where am I?" He called, his voice echoing through the shadows, this place was not within himself, no, he had been pulled away that much was clear, somewhere dark and absent from the real world "Beast, Beast are You there, can You hear me?" You called, Your tone resonating in the nothingness of the lake

"Hello, Charles Drake." You tried to look around, to find the source of the voice, alas You could do nothing but float on the black lake, unaware of just who was speaking to You "I apologise, this must be very strange for You, but this was the safest option for us, other than meeting in the waking world." Her voice was cool, gentle and yet paradoxically powerful

"Who are You, what is this place?" You asked the voice, not exactly liking the strange doughy feeling that this place gave

"Oh this place, I call it the Black Lake, I created it primarily for communication, I have the ability to pull people in here for little chats, although getting into Your mind was like trying to break into Fort Knox, not to mention that... thing that runs around up there, I thought He was going to devour me!" the female voice said, it was weird, You couldn't tell if she was being enthusiastic or putting it on

"Yeah... right, well I'm guessing that Your not gonna tell me who You are, alright then, talk away then I guess?" You said, rolling Your eyes as she chuckled happily,

"Well, I just thought that introductions were in order, I am part of an organisation that has been watching You for quite some time, your recent activities do not affect us, we were actually interested in reaching out, we feel... or I feel, that You could use the assistance." She said, sounding rather official now

"What do You know of my Activities, are You a Vampire?" He asked, but the woman grunted

"Oh no, I'm not a vampire, but I am a Monster like You, Our two kinds usually keep away from each other, but I think that You could be trustworthy, considering that You destroyed an old Enemy of Mine, Corvus." She paused, but You remained silent in thought "We have foreseen Your growth, it is inevitable You see, and so I want to be on the right side of things when things start to kick off. This is an age of change Mr Drake, and in You, I sense a fire that burns brighter than any undead I 've ever met... I'm afraid that I will have to leave now, Your inner companion is still hunting for me, I look forward to observing Your progress, Mr Drake, I hope that we may be able to meet in the more traditional fashion soon, oh and by the way, I'm not sure if You noticed, but someone is watching You." Her voice was growing distant, and You called into the darkness

"Wait, hold on, I still have questions, Hello?" You asked, but in a weird way, You knew that she was gone, and with her absence, You felt the water beneath You begin to grow deeper, darker, the waters rising and beginning to engulf You, trying to struggle as the water overcame Your being, You began to sink into the depth, cries muffled by the silent lake, You thought that You might pass out or something if You were even capable of something like that in a dream, but to Your comfort, just as the shadowed lake was about to wash away Your mind, You felt a great clawed hand wrap itself around Your body, pulling you down, down further bellow to the settled, comfort that was Your mind, the Beast's smile greeting you.

Eyes flying open, You sat up from Diana's bed, eyes darting around the darkroom in panic for a second, peering around in the darkness, unlit save for a beam of moonlight that pierced through the window, You could have sworn that someone was standing in the corner, their dark eyes staring at You from the shadows... but within the blink of an eye, you saw nothing, just Diana's empty room

"Beloved?" You heard Rose asked sleepily, her red eyes looking up at You "What's wrong?" She asked furtively, You shook Your head

"Nothing, nothing is wrong, go back to sleep." You whispered with a smile, Rose huffed a tired breath, pulling You gently down so that she could rest her head on Your chest, humming happily as she quickly drifted back to sleep, You did not rest easy after that, you had this strange feeling in Your gut, just who the Hell was watching You, if not vampires then what!?

luckily, You did eventually manage to slip into rest, the Beast embracing You a little too tightly as You met in the Red Sea

I TRIED TO FIND YOU, I HONESTLY DID, ONE MINUTE YOU WERE HERE, THE NEXT YOU WERE GONE, I FOLLOWED THAT WEIRD WOMEN-THING'S SCENT AND FOUND YOU IN THAT WATER!

"Did you see her at all, what she looked like?"

WELL... YES AND NO, I SAW SOMETHING BUT IT WASN'T ANYTHING LIKE WE'VE EVER SEEN, LIKE A KIND OF GIANT, BLACK OWL OR SOMETHING, IT RIPPED YOU OUT OF HERE AND FLEW OFF.

"An owl... like this wasn't weird enough..." You said rubbing your eyes with frustration, You looked up to the Beast whose eyes had shifted into a wide toothy grin, You raised an eyebrow "What, why are you looking at me like that for, is there something else?"

UM... YES, ARE YOU GONNA FINISH THAT CROISSANT?" sighing, cringing at this unapologetic part of Yourself that stared with expectant scarlet eyes and looking at Your followers standing in the red sea, You gestured "Yeah Yeah, you did a good job getting me back, go on, knock Yourself out." You said, caving to the strange power that He had over You, the Beast, snarling with hunger, bounded into the crowd, letting You sit and relax, enjoying the peace of the red sea, despite the Beasts grunting just to You side.

Waking up during the daytime felt awfully unnatural, that was why, when Rose shook You awake, You groaned, curling up into a ball and trying to ignore her, "Good morning, Beloved." Rose whispered, kissing Your cheek lightly, lazily opening Your eyes, you smiled furtively but looked with confusion at the daylight straining to breach Diana's black curtains

"Hey... why did You wake me, It's daylight outside?" You asked, sitting up straight and rubbing Your eyes, Rose sat next to You, her eyes cool blue, hair red as winter fire, you could smell the scent of Diana's lavender shampoo emanating from her

"It is cloudy today, we need to start getting You used to move around in the day again," Rose said, groaning, You pressed Your lips together

"B-but what if the sun comes out, I'm gonna burn up!" You said, swallowing nervously, Rose touched Your shoulder

"We will wrap You up, just in case, but this exercise will begin to strip You innate fear of the Sun, remember, Your the one that wanted to build up Your resistance unless You have changed Your mind?" She asked curiously, gripping the covers of Diana's bed, You grunted stubbornly

"Of course I haven't changed my mind, it's just... a scary thought is all." You admitted, Rose smiled gently at You as You suddenly sniffed at the air "Something smells delicious!" You said happily, Rose nodded

"Pancakes, Diana was showing me how to make them." She said, Raising an eyebrow, You looked at her with terror

"And You left her with them!?" You asked in a panic, Rose's eyes widened as she burst off, going to save her pancakes before Diana ruined them, smiling in spite of the nervous twitch that being up during the day naturally brought to him.

You sat casually on the couch, flicking through the channels on TV while You heard the rustling in the kitchen, after a moment of quiet fumbling, Rose came out of the kitchen holding a plate with a stack of steaming, delicious smelling pancakes on them, with a splash of maple syrup and a slice of butter on top, Grinning boyishly, You took the excellent morning meal from Your lover, thanking Rose as she sat next to You

"Aren't You going to have any?" You asked

Rose shook her head "Human food doesn't agree well with me." She said simply, both of Your eyes looked to the kitchen as Diana walked in, holding her own plate with a grumpy look on her face

"You okay, Didi?" You inquired softly as You sister plopped herself down on the couch lazily

"Hungover... and I nearly burnt the pancakes just watching them," she said in a dry voice

"That sucks, I feel fine?" You said, very happy that Your vampirism apparently made Hangover's inert, Rose kept looking between You expectantly, a flash of curiosity in her eyes, Diana nodded, taking the cue and cutting off a piece of the fluffy stack, stuffing it into her mouth very clumsily... although as soon as it touched her tongue, Diana's eyes closed as she sighed

"This is fucking awesome, Rose!" She said, quickly stuffing more into her mouth furiously, Rose smiled, turning to You to try yours next, just like Diana, as soon as the Pancake breached your lips, You felt the sweet flavour explode in Your mouth

"Holy fucking shit." You said, the warmth mixed with the soft texture making the tense feeling in Your shoulder melt away, the simple although fantastic flavour stinking to the insides of Your cheeks and the roof of Your mouth, "How are You this good at cooking!?" You said, looking to Rose with astonishment, The redhead shrugged

"It is a combination of ingredients at the right time with the right measurements, like Alchemy." She said You smiled deeply, only Rose could make that connection, still, You certainly enjoyed the benefits of this revelation. Rose had turned her eyes to look at Diana curiously

"I have work to do with both of You, Charlie's training is going very well but we still have a lot of ground to cover, and Diana..." She said, making Your sister looked at Rose curiously, her mouth stuffed with pancakes "I intend to go into Your father's basement with You, if You would permit that, Being a Homunculus, You would benefit greatly from the passing on of My alchemical knowledge." Diana smiled at this, the way that things were going, Your sister would be less a human with recently unlocked abilities and more like a Formidable Homunculus with a sunlight sword and great alchemical power, You pictured her like this and thought that the road to that potential destination would not be a long one, she was Your sister after all and Drakes were nothing if not steadfast leaners.

"I have something that I should tell You about before we get back." You said, making the girls look expectantly at You, trying to come with a way to say it without causing any panic, You took a false breath and spoke softly

"There was an attack just before I got here last night while travelling on the rooftops, a couple of... well I'm not quite sure what they were, but they came at me, out of nowhere I could barely hear them with the way that their functions were dulled," You said, Diana's brow lowered, the wisps of alarm crossing through her pretty golden eyes

"Last night, You were attacked and You didn't tell Me?" she asked, partly worried and partly angry, shrugging You shot Her a warm smile

"I didn't want to worry You, would last night have been as good, if You were worried about Me the whole time?" Diana's lips tightened like she wanted to protest, but eventually relaxed and pushed more of her pancakes past her cherry red lips to keep quiet

"They evaded Your sense, You said?" Rose inquired, seeming to enter her usual bout of deep thought, You nodded, brushing aside one of Your, curly black hairs which had fallen forward

"They were silent, One wielded a Long sword, the other a kind of fancy Scythe, curiously, they were both blinding to the eyes." Rose nodded in recognition

"Silver... curious indeed, and You didn't see their faces?" She asked, Her frosty blue eyes flicking around as she took mental notes, You shook Your head

"They were covered head to toe, no actually, I did see the eyes, Both were brown, they weren't Vampires that was for sure. Now that I think about it, they didn't put up a very good fight, One threw something in my face, burned like hell, that was the Male, the Woman, however, seemed to want to leave shortly after taking a swipe at me with that Scythe, I think she saw the better of attacking me." You said, playing the memory of the attack over in Your mind, Rose folded her arms resolutely before nodding to herself

"I have heard tell of such people before, Human warriors wielding Holy weapons to combat the Undead... but I thought that they were rumours. hmmm Yes, they must have thought You a normal Blooded, Holy water; that's most likely what He threw ay your face, does a lot more damage to a lesser Vampire, did they use anything else, other than the silver and the Holy water?" recollecting the end of the battle, You felt a shiver creep down Your spine, the thought of that wrathful light making your skin crawl

"Yes." You said, gulping "The Noxium happened to show up, we had them outmanned four to two, but the woman, she said something in another language, Latin maybe I am not sure, but when she said it and lifted that crucifix..." You cringed at the thought of it, Rose frowned holding a hand up to stop you, she herself seemed to shudder at the description, eyes narrowed and lips curled, Rose sneered

"Divine Invocation, they used called on their god then." Rose growled, "No Human has been able to use that kind of power since the dark ages, or at least according to the Upir records, if some kind of Human sect has unlocked that source of strength, then we could have a big problem on our hands." Rose seemed to stir darkly after that, although Diana seemed curious

"So these are what Vampire-Hunters or something, if so then they must not be very smart." Diana said, setting her plate down on the coffee table, completely cleaned of its former contents "They couldn't have known that You were a Superior, otherwise they surely would have prepared better, attacking a Vampire as powerful as You clearly are, it's more than reckless." You sister said, a hint of her tactical Lawyer voice spilling out, You nodded in agreement

"Well, I sent the crew after them, My hopes are that we can learn a little more, with the little threat the pair posed to me, they still wouldn't have a chance against the Twins and the others." You stated confidently, but Rose looked grim

"You better hope so, underestimating an opponent is a direct call for a swift defeat." She instructed, however, Rose let the darkness fall from her expression, standing and sweeping up Yours and Diana's plates in her hands and dashing into the kitchen. Diana, wide eyes quickly lept from her seat, cursing at Rose as she stormed after her, that she should at least do the dishes after such a pleasant breakfast.