Solstices Story Part One

Solstice found herself alone and cold and lusting for more blood. She could not understand it. Why does she not remember anything before yesterday??? She had killed for the first time and without knowing what she was doing let her victim's blood take over her feelings for a while and that is how she came to her second victim. The latter was a fair maiden from a nearby farm who was to receive a ring with a shiny stone in it from Solstice's first victim. All Solstice can see is red. She cannot see and cannot control the beast she has become. Hiding out in the woods she has realized all of her senses are heightened.
Sensing that the blood of a passerby is infected with the same venom as hers she follows at a distance. He is unbelievably handsome and his scent is intoxicatng. Solstice wanders closer and inhaling deeply breathes in his scent. He is powerful and exotic. Like nothing she has ever sensed before in her life she closes her eyes and takes time to enjoy that scent as she breathes even deeper of the musk. And then he attacks. He pounced on her and bit her hard, leaving her bleeding and all she could do was resign to the fact that this fellow could kill her easily.
He stepped back and said "oh my I did not realize you were a newly turned vampire, I would have not done that. I thought you were after me". solstice could not believe her ears and with mouth wide open whispered "vampire?"
Vayne is the first vampire she has ever encountered and she knows he is powerful. Dare she ask questions? "Vayne why did you call me that?"
Lord Vayne explains in short that there is a place in the Lower East Side with a door marked by the sun just like the tatt Solstice bears on her right shoulder. He hands her a pamphlet and says "Go to this place and do not attack anyone before you get there they very well could be friends of mine and I would hate to have to make you a chew toy for my clan." Solstice thanks him and goes on her way afraid to even look back at him. He watches her and knows that someday this one will have to be tamed but he does not have the time or the energy tonight.
The door in itself was hard to notice except for the fact that the sun symbol and the crossed out N were blazened and glowing. Solstice sits quietly at teh back of the meeting knowing she is not anything like the people in this room. they want people to control the beast in them and only take the willing. But Solstice has already tasted terror and she loved it!! Her second victim had some of the purest thoughts that were imaginable and solstice could never have felt that feeling in her life without taking it from someone else. Who was going to throw away what they strived to obtain all their lives to be a good vampire. Ahhh I wonder what the queen would taste like? Helloooooo does anyone not get it that the work vampire means uhhh vampire. But they did say that there could be redemption in the end and we could turn to the light. hmmmm gonna have to make a decision... good vamp vs. bad vamp? No good versus darkness and so far darkness is where Solstice prefers to stay. She slips out of the meeting as the leaders are bringing out some of their still alive friends to share some blood for the hungry and to ...i guess sit in a circle and sing kumbayah. yuck!! Vayne hiding in the shadows tells some of his clan,"Watch out for this one she is gonna be one of the wildest predators around and I for one do not want to go clean up the carnage she leaves behind."
Rage is pushing Solstice to kill and kill again. She cannot help it all she knows is that she must have more more more and she will not be denied.She hears the music coming from a Goth club and decides that this will be easy pickings.

The club was hopping. Solstice ducked into the ladies room and could not believe her eyes. She looked like she belonged, pale white skin and lips that were a dark maroon outlined in black. Ohhhh gotta love the lip color that was awesome. And now she could sense someone crying.. ugh what is this? a small framed girl was hovering in the corner stall and shaking violently after being gang raped by a group of Goth Males. she did not understand why this could happen to her and was wishing for death. solstice obliged by slipping into the stall and draining her dry. Yuck... this chick takes meds for ADD/ADHD. Solstice slows for a minute and the darkest part of the goth girls feelings takes over. Solstice goes out into the club and finds the group of guys and lures 2 of them into the boys room. She takes out both of them with the swiftest of strikes sucking the first to weakness as the other watched mesmerized wanting the feeling of his neck being sucked on. silly boy ol solstice will teach you to not be a man and take advantage of a girl like that.
All of a sudden she felt something on her back and fangs sank into her shoulder. Who dares to interrupt me I will kill this vampire who just bit me!! a dark voice says "Solstice come on isn't 3 enough!" She loooks around into the eyes of her attacker and cannot believe it. Some nerve he has trying to make me stop. I will kill you over and over again if you do not leave me alone. solstice bit him hard and he turned away leading solstice out of the club into a nearby empty building. He pinned her down and held her until she quit moving. Solstice knew that since she was not strong enough to take on this vampire she would have to wait until she was stronger and not just after feeding. Ugh the ADD meds were still in her and making her slow down.
When solstice quit seeing red she just laid there quietly eyes closed while the vampire holding her loosened his grip. then she looked up into the eyes of her attacker. Perfect shade of brown with flecks of gold solstice let herself fall deep into the eyes and into the soul of Quizatt.

{Continued in the next 6 comments}

Solstice waited until Quiz relaxed and most of the Goth Girls meds had worn off and jumped up. She bit him on the front of his right shoulder so hard it was gonna leave a scar so she finished the scar by tearing a sun shaped symbol there to remind him never to mess with her again. Running as fast as she could she headed for Williamsburg. She found another mirror and could not resist, the venom of Quiz could not have taken away her new lip color that she had ... ooohhh yeahhhh it is still there but brighter.

Solstice tore through the Williamsburg clan like no one elses business. She took out their leader with a cunning lie and sent the other followers on their way to find meaning and a strong leader who truly cared about each and every one of them.. solstice being a loner herself could not become the alpha but managed to send some of the clan to some of the more superior clans she knew of and sent one very strong alpha female on the scent of Quizatt.
She came upon the scots and decided to travel to scotland to try the moors and check out some of her theories as to her origins since she cannot remember anything about herself... the name she had on her id identified her origin as viking and they had celtic ties with the clan McDonald.
Feeding on the different clan tartans in scotland proved to be bad for soltice indeed since she started being careless and checking the mirror more and more often to see the lip colors from the different tartans coloring her lips. she loved the color and went wild attacking people form different clans just to make the color changes more interesting... vanity has a price and her carelessness will catch up to her eventually. but for now she did not care the lip color and glossy venom from another vampire by biting him was the most beautiful she had ever felt...the yellows from the werewolves was awesome but this...


Solstice traveled the moors of scotland for weeks killing and killing. She went to the calanish stones on the longest day for which she was named....there were wiccans from every corner of the globe there witnessing the sun and having ceremony that lasted into the wee hours of the next morning. Humph! The longest day... that is what my name stands for... ugh...
Solstice preys on wiccans that wander off, just like a lion hunting the buffalo that wonder off from the herd. Her lips are on fire the color is starting to glow.. it is beautiful... she bites another and another and accidently leaves one near death but not quite fully drained.
That witch gets some of her strength and calls her lord to her aide. Grunt is the leader of a particularly large coven from Egypt. He finds his Annastasia and upon learining of her plight goes off after Solstice who is dancing on the moor again after her hunt. With the aide of several of his coven he gets her cornered easily and with glowing eyes looks into the soul of Solstice... it is dark and vanity has taken over all meaning. He decides to leave her alive but before he goes he tells her... You are to be reckoned with later my long lost one... i shall bestow upon you a gift to teach you a lesson about vanity and also about killing needlessly. You shall return to me in the end I can see it... it is part of your beginning. and then solstice feels something strange take over her mouth and Grunt begins to call his coven to him. He says "we take our leave and do not harm this one yet she is our future and we are her beginning" solstice trys to protest as the coven disappears.
alone she takes out the mirror she carries to look at her lips and discovers the meanest gift she could ever have been given...
She hunts again from the local clans to color her lips again but alas the bewitched tongue cleans her lips as soon as she feeds. she is cursed.

Solstice stays out in the land of the Scots trying to find out more of her heritage and learns her name came from Viking origins and she is part of the clan McDonald. She checks the mirror intermittently looking for some of the color of her kills to show.
Disappointed she slows down on killing and only kills as needed for survival and to manage the bloodlust.
It was during this time that she started realizing she is totally alone. It is not a bad situation being alone. it means that she answers only to herself, she does not have to worry about hurting anyones feelings, she can be mad and scream all she wants and no one will hear her, she can stalk the Wiccan clan that did this evil thing to her tongue... oohh yeahhh she is still infuriated about that.. how could he? He must have been showing off because of having so many followers with him he could not afford to lose face, and what did he mean that solstice was their future and they were her beginning.
is he dense? solstice is having trouble knowing her own beginning and cannot remember who she is. But surely she was not part of that world.
she finds music that is slow and lets her heart rate slow to the beat... she rests for what seems like an eternity and fights off the feeling of needing to go out and kill kill kill and kill again... ugh. the devil tongue keeps her lips wiped clean and all blood off her lips. No color for her lips is starting to have an adverse effect on her eyes. Solstice looks in a mirror and hangs her head in shame... she finds it as ugly as anything she has ever seen and it is on her.. she runs off into the caves in the moors hiding her face trying to figure out what to do... once again she steals a glance and nearly throws up at the site of her eyes...
She finds them deplorable.

Solstice is running out on the moors and catches a glimpse of a very strong entity, being ruthless and rogue and lonely has taken it's toll on solstice. she ventures very close to the woman eminating some strange aura. She attacks with a vengence knowing this is going to be fun sport.. maybe getting in a fight with a large powerful one will bring back some spark.. she bites and the woman flings her off into a rock and screams "SOLSTICE STOP IT NOW!"
Solstice cannot believe her ears.. now i know i have never seen or been around this woman before. The woman lowers her cloak and reveals herself to solstice. It is Morgana goddess of the sea. Morgana tells solstice that she would have killed anyone else for that affront but since solstice is still an underling and has no pack she will spare her life. Solstice looks her up and down trying to figure out if she can take this woman..
She tells of how she had been up to the stones and had sensed solstice the night of the summer solstice but the vitality and life have faded a lot and so Morgana came to check up on Solstice. Then she bestowed the most beautiful gift on Solstice that she has ever received, she took out the devil tongue and gave her a momento of their meeting. solstice loves her gift.. her eyes brighten for the first time in weeks and she can finally look in a mirror to see if the rainbow eyes have faded back into green . Solstice is happy again.

solstice still trying to find out who she is comes across an interesting vampire. He is named Alexander and he is for some reason trying to take out one certain clan.. McLeod. Solstice offers to help him since the clan McLeod is Lycan and she needs sport to take her mind off of her quest for a while. she stays with alexander for over a month fighting with him and has learned that he could protect her if needed.


Not wanting Alexander to get the wrong impression solstice never flirted with him but treated him as her eqal in battle. After one fight in which Solstice had been wounded badly he offered to bandage her wounds. She accepted and as he was dressing the wounds on her back he leaned in towards her and lightly kissed her between the shoulders. A tingling sensation went through her and she decided that maybe this man would not hurt her. She turned around and looking him in the eyes said "alex if I give you a small part of my heart will you keep it or would you use it to hurt me?" alex could only reply "Never my love."
solstice for the first time since awakening in the woods and her memory began let a man get close to her. She found that sleeping was better with him around because she could let down her guard, but alas, she could never trust whole heartedly. She had feelings for Alexander but knew that it was she who would in the end hurt him and realized that the longer she stayed with him the worse it would be.
She left him bewildered as she told him "I must go alone to see Morgana and find my fate." As she walked away she grabbed her sides trying to make the hurt go away. she never looked back and decided that no man would ever get this close to her again... Not even the vision that still haunts her will ever get close to her... that vision of liquid brown velvety eyes that she at times would see upon awakening. He still haunts her and she can belong to no one... she is to remain alone.
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Solstice goes back to the Scotish moors hoping to find Morgana. She is not there and with the falling temperatures and wind howling around her Solstice finally gives in to the tears that have been threatening to spill over her brimming eyes. She finally decides that her life is not worth living and curls up on the edge of the moor hoping against hope that she will meet her fate and become a shade that cannot be seen nor heard from ever again... the brown eyes still haunt her and she cannot let herself fall into them even in her thoughts ... she drifts off to sleep and cannot help it she falls. deep into those liquid brown velvety eyes..... and then she landed on a rock far below the edge of the cliff she had been laying on. Broken bleeding and wishing for an eternal death she ponders her life...
why am I here ? i know not where i came from, or if I have family, a spouse.(though I highly doubt that knowing my nature). and oohhh my stars what if I have children? ugh she cannot even begin to entertain that idea.
who am i and why are the gods allowing me to exist? or do they govern what I truly am? and what am I? ugh just let me cease to exist... and the eyes come into her sight and she drowns in them going unconscious.

Solstice for some reason just could not die.. what is it that is keeping her alive? she can barely move and is lying on the ground of the cave again.. how did I get here? and how come I am still alive> ugh.
Then she noticed fur, a big massive hunk of fur lying beside her. she was curled up on the floor of the cave with something furry it was warm and eminating a curious smell. It was not the smell of a kill or a lycan. solstice stirs slowly and raising her head takes a look at what is lying next to her to keep her warm. It is a bear, a massive brown bear. It is sleeping and does not wake as solstice slips further away from it and sits up holding her knees rocking back and forth as though she needed to hold her insides in. The bear was a good 12 feeet tall and could easily have been from a were clan. sometimes those clans had bears in with the wolves.
he stretched and moved his massive arm as to put it over the empty spot solstice had left and quickly opened his eyes looking around for her. he rose up way above her and growled. she quietly sat rocking back and forth not acknowledging his presence. Then the bear left her and came back an hour later with a deer that was still alive. Solstice took the offering of food and drank heartily, it has been a long time since she ate and she needed her strength.
the bear was silent never said a word but grabbed solstice by the hand and led her outside. then he slung her up on his back and took off. she tried to climb down bu he bit her and kept on running. at long last he came to the calanish stones and laid her down inside the circle. solstice really hated this place. and then as if by some form of unforseen magick she was transported to egypt.
sand camels and pyramids were on the horizon. How can this be and where is her bear? she is alone again and decides to find a place out of the sun. the nearest pyramid has a doorway and she enters. she hears chanting and follows the sound. It is a wiccan clan performing a ritual on a bear. her bear.
the bear was being thanked for his services and hailed as a hero to the coven. He remained silent through out the ordeal, when the ritual was over the bear was taken into the coven as a silent interloper. thus solstice just lost her bear though she only had been with it for a brief time.

She found the leader easily enough it was Grunt again. She decided to use the element of surprise and just sauntered up to Grunt and said "you were expecting me so soon:?" You said that You are my beginning and I am your future , care to elaborate?
Grunt smiled that evil grin to his clan and said "bring me the diamond back and blood of a lycan" Solstice found herself being surrounded by his wiccan clan and thought to herself how come I can not get this one by himself... or with only 4 or 5 of his coven. I could take him out but not with the entourage he usually keeps. The coven surrounded solstice and she found herself in the middle of the next ritual.
The coven has been waiting for her because her blood line has a power they wish to unleash and tame. HA thought Solstice these people have been out in the sun too long, they surely are dumber than a sack of hammers. But upon bringing out a freshly boiled skull filled with lycan blood Solstice found herself just obliging them to get this over with she drank it heartily. Being the center of attention was getting to be embarassing and there was no other way out of this situation. Then the diamond back rattle snake was brought into the area and it was hissing at Solstice. Grunt held out Solstices' arm and the snake bit her on the forearm. White fog emenated from Solstice and started spreading throughout the whole pyramid. Solstice was awakened again from a near unconscious state by the bear. Half the coven were unconscious and another good third of the remaining ones were in a daze completely paralyzed. Grunt was not effected by Solstices white fog and niether was her bear. Thus the gift of cloud minds is reborn again. Grunt explains that Solstices family bloodline had discovered cloud minds and that since they had all been assasinated by Fauztin the gift had died. Until someone discovered her at the calanish stones and pointed her out to Grunt. Her blood mixed with that of the diamond back rattlesnake venom and the lycan blood is the key to production and now he just needed her to agree to give some of her blood periodically to Grunt so he could make a potion for cloud minds. Grunt slit Solstices wrist and let the blood flow into the empty skull. Solstice could not move away. Slowly the coven began to recover from the spell she had cast.

the bear stayed by her side and Grunt explained to solstice that if she were to agree to give him blood say once a year he would reveal her past to her. Of course she willingly replied favorably.
Grunt took solstice into a hallway in the next pyramid over, the hieroglyphic pictures showed the ancestors of Solstice.. she actually had a bloodline.. and how the cloud would come from them. a part of the history was falling on the ground from crumbling like any old old ancient wall but the part on the floor still could be seen and it showed Fauztin and his clan taking out solstices family for clouding his clan during one of the first battles in the last war and his clan was nearly wiped out. Now she has a purpose in life and rage fills her. grunt tells her to think destroy with my mind and as she does it the white fog re appears. Grunt then tells her to aim it at someone and she does. he teaches her to control the fog and leave her key clansmen awake to fight.
Too bad the fog cannot emit during sleep because she would give any thing to be able to sleep and just cannot let her guard down long enough to sleep. sleep would be the best gift ever. Grunt tells solstice where to go about finding Fauztin and she takes her leave. Now she has forgiven Grunt for the devil tongue gift and she has been given her own rightful powers. clouding minds... oohhh yeahhhh there is gonna be hell to pay and she is going to start with Fauztin... she takes her leave and as she is walking out of the pyramid she sees a hieroglyph that is disturbing at best. Brown eyes that she could lose herself in. Grunt tells her that the history of many clans are on these walls and that if she has seen those eyes they belonged to that bloodline. Yep she had met one of them. Solstice looked back at her own bloodline and wondered why she was the only one left. the mark of the sun symbol on her had been on her family as well.

Solstice needed solitude to think. The bear stayed not far behind her as she wandered about the different ruins. She came upon several groups from the wiccan clan of Grunt practicing the cloud minds and as she was passing one group of younglings the tallest male and obviously the leader of this small group made a snide comment about how that Solstice was an old woman and nothing special.. Okay he is right no offense there. And then He said the one thing he should have learned not to ever say to a vampire. I can take her anyday. solstice killed him with one fluid swipe from her boot grabbing the trowing knife and fluidly sent it flying into his chest. She clouded the minds of the others as she walked up to him and let him watch her as she pulled out another knife and slit his throat. She drank the blood of this youngling and as the cloud minds started to wear off of the others she was hit by the bear. He took her by the nape of the neck and running with her in his mouth she was cussing for him to let her go. He let her down and slapped her across the face. She attacked him with the last throwing knife she had in her boot and tried to perform the cloud mind on the bear... her bear..it did not work. Having just drank the blood of another she could see the things in the vampires recent mind and could not quite understand. a meeting and all of the wiccans were being told to not tell solstice anything about herself... she will be the most viscious emeny of ... and the bear bit her so hard the vision went away. she tackled the bear pinning him easily on the ground and growled at him. he averted his eyes and threw her off of him. Why did he interrupt that vision. solstice knew she must leave for the time being and seek the answer to the rest of the wiccans thinking she is the most viscious enemy... of whom????? Probably Fauztin... gggrrrrr and he is in the orient currently... solstice looks at her bear and considers taking him out for interfering but she cannot bring herself to do it. She turns away and starts running to the coast... surely there are merchant ships that travel to the orient.
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solstice finds a ship that needs someone who can read the stars and navigate. she convinces the captain that she is capable and gets a free ride to the orient as long as she teaches the trade to the youngest member of the crew. She gladly takes sir blazen under her wing and starts with the constellations currently in the sky. the trip is taking 36 days and she will have to work quickly to bestow enough information on him for him to become an asset to any captain.

but then one night 22 days into the journey the ship is boarded by pirates.. and the only one who is awake is solstice. she starts to make easy meals of the ones sneaking up stealthily onto the deck but as she is draining one of them she hears a gasp and looks up to find the horrified face of sir blazen.

he is revolted and turns to flee and meets the scimitar of a pirate. he looks back at solstice and with a disgusted look on his face takes his last breath. Solstice fights the rest of the pirates killing them all and steals away on the pirate ship quickly making sure she is the only one on board she sets sail herself for the orient. alone again just like she was meant to be. and as she tries to get any kind of sleep it is haunted by the vision of those brown eyes again... damn him for doing this to her... why did she not just kill him at the goth club? and how on earth is he doing this to her? ggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr then she softens a little at the thought of being alone on this pirate ship with those eyes attached to the man who will haunt her for the rest of her life...

a storm brews on the eastern horizon and the red sky that came up with the sun does not look good. solstice decides to lay low for a day and let the ship drift to it's intended destination. Looking out for the other ship which she had been on she knows she is utterly alone and decides that this is the best chance in her life to actually let her guard down. she craves sleep... the kind of deep sleep you get when you are utterly exhausted and cannot move another muscle. solstice curls up on the deck on a pile of sails and tries to go to sleep,,, yes dreamless sleep... and the vision of those eyes comes back.. damn that quizatt. it must be because she saw his ancestry on the wall of the pyramid that she is seeing this vision.
A mist blankets the ocean preceeding the storm and solstice just lets herself drift away into the life that she had been meant to live... in the arms of... wait a minute this is somewhat stupid.. she was meant to go find fauztin and kill him for taking out her family tree.
the storm lasts only 7 hours. solstice gets up and wonders how far off course she is.. it is dusk and she has to wait for the stars to reveal themselves to her to get back on track. So she begins to drift back into the calming fog and as she does a mist appears on the deck and a figure appears there.. solstice is ready for battle.. she unsheaths a scimitar and holds it at the ready and out of the fog walks ... quizatt.
She is taken aback.. how could he do that? appear there on the deck ? Her eyes soften and she slowly walks towards him she sees the smile appearing on his face as he notices her and then she strikes him with a menacing blow of the scimitar. She cuts open his chest and pulls out his heart. It is still beating and he is still watching as she begins to eat it. As he is dieing she cuts out those eyes that have been haunting her and throws them into the ocean.
Maybe now she will be able to sleep without that vision of those brown liquid velvet eyes. She drifts off into dreamless sleep and drifts aimlessly about on the ocean for days. Sleep finally , aahhhhh yessss. this is what the savage in solstice really needed.

Morgana goddess of the sea is infuriated by sosltice throwing the eyes into the ocean. How dare she and has she not learned any lessons from anyone.. well grunt taught her a lesson using her vanity...aaahhh yesss sleep solstice. and while you sleep you age a year for every hour you sleep... go ahead sleep your life away.. when you awaken the spell will be broken and you will age no more, but your youth is being taken away from you and for good cause. How could you kill him?

Sosltice slept dreamlessly for over 20 hours. Aching muscles and bones and thirst caused her to wake. Ouch! I have never hurt like this before but I guess sleeping on the deck of a ship is not the best place to sleep. Stretching lazily Solstice looks at her hands and notices that the skin is no longer a creamy soft texture but loosened and leathery. she climbs below deck into the captains quarters and looked into the mirror. she was now older with graying hair and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. "what form of magic has come upon me now" ugh... she bathes and tries to wash off the old skin and bring back the beauty she once held but it was a permanent change.

the next day sosltice discovered ships and land in the distance. Welcome to aTokyo. She sets out trying to find food and chooses easy pickings out by the dock.. it is harder to move than usual and she finds herself tired after taking down 2 sailors. They should have been easy but were not. darn this magic.. I am older now and not feeling anything but the pain of lost youth.
there is a bittersweet advantage to being older... not as noticable to the male species. Oh yeah this I could handle. "The sailors memories that Solstice got showed her another vamp traveling about the same time as she... it is an unknown male... tall and very very powerful. she shall seek this one out and find out if he knows the fauztin she seeks.

While walking down the street a deep bass voice behind her says "What offense did you do to Morgana?"
"I know not what you speak of"
"Okay well it seems that the Goddess of the Sea took offense to you because you were quite a bit younger last I saw you"
Turning on this deep voice Solstice bumped into FireRaven. He smiled as he held out his hands to steady her shoulders. Pulling away solstice tells "we have never met"
"Quite the contrary we have met only recently"
"Are you someone from my past because I am searching for some answers as to my past?"
"We met at the solstice on the calanish stones and My friend Morgana pointed you out to me."
I met many many vampires at the solstice. How could I remember this one other than that he was one of the ones hanging out with Morgana.
"So what did you do to my friend Morgana to make her bestow such a gift upon you as to make you age 20 years?"
"pollution of the sea i am sure"
Fire Raven asks solstice to accompany him to the home he is staying at. As they are leaving the waterfront district Solstice realizes that they are being followed. 30 or more followers and they are spreading out to the flanks also.
"Friends of yours FireRaven?"
"Foes they are mad because I took out a couple of their hookers and they lost their income. But the memories of the blood is so bad I should ask for a refund."
The closest Oktau vampires did not take kindly to his banter and started throwing stars into FireRaven and Solstices' backs. They sting but do not go deep enough to mortally wound. Then the numbness stgarted to come over them... the stars were poisioned.
As the whole of the Oktau vampire gang came in close to cart off the bodies of FireRaven and Solstice she managed to muster the thought "Destroy with my mind" the mist clouded over teh whole area like a dense fog rolling in from the sea. All of the Oktau vampires were unconscious. Fire Raven stood and helped Solstice to her feet.
"We need to leave there are more coming and where did you learn to do that?"
"okay and where are we going... my legs are still a bit numb let me stretch them a bit"
"A friends house, How did you do that?"
Solstice stretching looked him in the eye and said "can you not just thank me for saving your butt?"
Realizing that this was a situation that had solstice not done what she did he would have been hurt badly FireRaven did the boldest thing he had done in a long long time. He offered to reward solstice with anything her heart desires....anything... fire Raven then looked at the ground. He was waiting for something very very bad or unbelievably costly as a reward... and Solstice knowing that this powerful vampire could give her anything her heart desires considered a lot of possibilities. She wished she could sleep on it and come up with a really great reward but alas she does not sleep. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
FireRaven i have my reward planned out. FireRaven winced as solstice narrowed her eyes upon him in a menacing grin. She went on to explain that more than anything in the world she needed sleep, and needed someone who would provide her a safe haven to sleep anytime anywhere. Safe Haven means guarding her as she sleeps so that she could let her guard down and actually get some rest. Fire Raven agrees and tells her anytime anywhere. Now lets go see my old friend .... Alexander.

Fireraven is already aware of the past between Alexander and Solstice and he knows he is going to bring Alexander the biggest surprise he has had in a few years. Alexander has been staying with Fireraven and the story of Solstice had come up before in conversation. Solstice does not have any memories of the old days and therefore does not know that they all knew each other before she lost her memory.
Fireraven led the way in the door of the house currently belonging to Alexander. Solstice nearly froze when she saw Alex she hung her head in shame knowing that she does not look anything like she did in her youth. Alex smiled and approached Solstice giving her a hug and telling her she was a most welcome site for sore eyes. She thanked him then something over in the corner of the room caught her eye... Fauztin.
Solstice thought "destroy with my mind" as fast as possible and Alexander froze in his tracks. Fauztin was overcome by the mist and unconscious. Solstice was going in for the kill scimitar ready and this time the head of her foe was the target, one strike.
Solstice was knocked off balance by Fireraven. He held his hands up and said "you really know how to hurt Alex don't you?" "Fireraven I will kill you if you stand in my way so I am going to tell you this one time only... step aside." Fireraven stood his ground and Solstice tried to think "destroy with my ...but Fireraven just laughed and said I already have a counter for that my dear.
Solstice backed up waiting for Fireraven to get out of the way and let her kill Fauztin and take her leave so she would not have to see the pain this would cause Alexander.
Fireraven stood his ground feet spread apart and arms folded over his chest... Solstice knew she could probably take him... then he inquired as to why young Fauztin was going to die. Alexander was coming out of the fog and solstice began explaining how that he was responsible for the death of everyone in her bloodline except for her. Alex inquired about the wiccan clan that had taught her this cloud mind mist. She told of Grunt and how they need her blood to make the potion for it. Alex looked at Fireraven and he motioned for him to go on and get more information. Solstice said okay if I am going to have to tell you this whole story I need to sit down cauz for some stupid reason I am tired. Solstice began telling of the bear finding her and the ritual that she witnessed. Fauztin began to awaken and in mid sentence solstice put up her hand and knocked him out again with another cloud of fog. Fireraven asked her to please let Fauztin wake because there are some things she needs to hear from his mouth before she kills him.
When she told of the ritual of the snake bite Fireraven sat up straighter and looked into the eyes of Alexander. Behind Solstices back he mouthed the word "stardust". Solstice told of the bear biting her and interrupting the vision of her becoming a ruthless enemy of... Fauztin was stirring and coming out of the fog.. Solstice got up and walked over to him.
She sat on his lap facing him straddling his legs and wrapping her feet around the lower legs to trip him if he tried to get up. She grabbed his shirt in both hands and as he started to open his eyes he was face to face, (no nose to nose eyes boring into his) with the meanest most evil vision he will ever have. Solstice began by "awaken and tell me one good reason for me to let these two friends of yours save you from me."

Fauztin knocks sosltices hands off of his shirt and when he tries to knock her off his lap she tightens her legs pulling him onto the ground and she rolled over backwards using the momentum of pulling him out of the chair to her advantage. she came up on top of his chest and with scimitar to his throat realized that the cold feeling on her neck was his own knife. both willing to kill each other at this moment Alexander quietly said "you two really should call a truce for a few moments".

Solstice got up and held out a hand to Fauztin. He lept onto his feet from being flat on his back with ease and came up face to face with Solstice.. "If you ever do that again I will not be stopped by our friends from killing you" Sosltice had had enough.. she turned around and grabbed at her boot. three knives out and as she rounded back onto Fauztin and Alexander was standing in the way. GGGRRRRRr how did he know she was going to do that...
Fireraven suggested they all sit and peacefully get the story of solstices ancestry out in the open and then if she still wanted to kill fauztin he would hold Alex back while she finished him off.
Solstice smiled and thanked him.. turning on Fauztin she said "You are the reason i am alone in this world" he looked from her to Alex and back to her and asked how could that be? unless she is lycan there is no way. Offended by this Fauztin found a knife nicely embedded in the dark wood paneling beside his left ear.
I saw it on the walls of the pyramids and the hieroglyphs that were on the floor still showed enough to be able to tell that Fauztin the double breed took out the whole of my bloodline.. did you try to kill me too?
Fireraven cleared his throat and said "on the floor?" the hieroglyphics are all up on the wall not the floor, and I have seen your bloodline before. lycans were set upon your family for the reason of powerful magick that is in your blood unleashed upon their race in the great war and when we were fighting the black plague."
Solstice's face slowly went from pure rage to one of confusion..."when WE were fighting?" How long have you known me Fireraven?
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Fireraven explained to Fauztin and Alexander that they need only think of Solstice and the memories they have of her will come to the surface. Those memories will be seen by all 4 of them and that way Solstice knows she is not being lied to. The truth of the betrayal will have to come to light in this exercise to prove to our dear Solstice that her bloodline was not eradicated by Fauztin. Fireraven tells solstice to get the rage out of her system so that her mind will be able to see everything and now the memories that we have will also be yours.

Solstice agrees and sets her mind to a more calm relaxed mood. She closes her eyes and Fireraven tells the others to begin please.

The first thing Solstice could see was Scotland again. Alexander was taking out a clan of lycans single handedly. Solstice said "stop this is not working I already have that memory it is not from the distant past“.. Alexander says "oh no my dear this is another time and place, you have helped me on more than one occasion. Just trust me you will see. Now clear your mind and quit interrupting us."

Scotland and Alexander was fighting about 12 lycans and was being flanked by 3 who were going to all jump at the same time while he was busy with the 2 lycans right in front of him. Solstice jumped the three and killed them as Alexander took care of the other 9 quite quickly. Alexander thanked her and asked her if she would care for a better blood to drink than lycan. she took him up on the offer. He brought out 3 vampires that had been fighting with this lycan clan and they together drained them. Solstice found out that this stranger did not hail from these parts and had been staying in one of the caves on the moors. Solstice asked him to follow her and took him to the clan den of her family. HER FAMILY!!!

Solstice had tears well up in her eyes as she was seeing her mother for the first time.. and her brothers and a sister. Alex stayed with this family for a few days and every waking moment was spent with Solstice. She realized he was very different from her family. He explained his own bloodline was from a totally different culture than her own.

Next she could see Fireraven asking her to show him her ability to cloud minds. she showed him and he began to see what he would have to do to not be affected by it. Then the scene jumped to the black plague and her coming back from retrieving Alexander. He had a new breed of creature that was part lycan. (Fireraven was ecstatic.. about a half breed. gggrrr... ) and there was a new blood lycan with them as well one who was not true to her new way of life as a lycan her name was Talia.

Fauztin has some fleeting memories pass by of Talia and then they disappear. Solstice looks up at Fauztin and he quickly averts his eyes to hide the pain of that memory from his friends.

Alexander’s memories come back up to the surface and Solstice can see the recent memories of when they were taking out the clan McLeod. He had already known her previously but never told her.. And then the most fond memory of that night when Alex was bandaging Solstices back and he kissed her ever so lightly on the back.. and the next few days that were spent in bed with Solstice and he was telling her "you feisty wench slow down you are killing me" the scene turned to the look on her face and ... Fauztin interrupted the memory by saying "Alexander, I understand your need to restore her memory, but the rest of us don't need to share the experience of your... 'extracurricular'... activities..."
Solstice was blushing so badly she laid her head in her hands... she peeked at Fireraven who had an eyebrow cocked up looking at her.

Fireraven said "it is time to show you the facts. Fauz the war." Fauztin began thinking of the great war between the creatures of the night. Solstice was close to Fauztin Fireraven Alexander and Talia fighting. the battle went on for days. wave after wave of attacks and then both sides would retreat to recuperate and strategize.... then it skipped to a scene of the stardust cabal clan... which is part of the lineage of Solstice. her family is stardust. they tell her to come over by them and fight using the combined powers of her bloodline to make the mist cloud mind. They were to win the war today by clouding minds and assassinating the enemy. Solstice did as she was told and in so doing the cloud minds against a group of lycans led by a bear ((her bear)) Solstice performed the cloud minds and as the lycans were being cut to shreds by the hunters in the stardust she noticed that one of the groups of lycans she had just helped to eradicate was Talia's clan and Talia was one of the ones being slaughtered. Fauztin stopped the memory there and closed his eyes. Solstice noted that there was anguish on his face and to this day he still loved Talia and it was Solstices fault she was dead.
Then Fireraven said now look.. he showed Solstice lying motionless on the ground and Alexander taking her body into his arms. He looked at his friends Fauztin and Fireraven and told them to leave him to mourn her. Fireraven then took Fauztin to Alaska where he could learn all that he could of Fauztin's powers and the unique qualities of this new breed. Fauztin stayed with Fireraven the whole next two years. And Solstice's family were killed right after the war. The fact is that the wall with the hieroglyphs had been altered and the part on the ground was fabricated. The true hieroglyph shows Solstices family being eaten by a bear after they clouded his family.
Solstice started getting light headed and then the pain in her head started to get intense.. burning.. she started crying.. it hurt so bad and was not letting up.. she screamed when a vicious wave of blinding pain went through her head.

Alexander moved onto the couch and softly said "Sol come here" he patted the couch beside him. She obeyed and he pulled her up to his chest and began stroking her hair to help ease the pain. Fireraven was sizing up Fauztin wondering if he would make good on the threat to kill her. Fauztin was in Tokyo when Fireraven told him about the fact that Solstice lives and does not have a memory prior to recent events. Fireraven convinced Fauztin to not kill her on site and tonight when he brought her to Alexander’s it just showed Alex that Fire and Fauztin knew he had lied to them by letting them believe that she was dead.

Solstice was shaking violently at this point and could not see. Alex asked Fire to stop everything because she could not take any more. Solstice quickly fell asleep since she was in the presence of Fireraven.

As she was drifting off to sleep she heard Fauztin say "Fireraven it was the bear that killed the whole of her bloodline?" Fireraven replied "yes and it is because her bloodline is the only one that can do cloud minds" It was for revenge.

Solstice slowly drifting out of a fog.. coming awake from a very deep sleep. Before she opens her eyes she takes stock of her surroundings... she is on the couch and alone. Ahhh good. Upon opening her eyes Fireraven says "welcome back to the land of the alert". Stretching lazily she rolls over and eyes Fireraven, sitting on a chair with his hands held together and his fingers entertwined. He rests his chin on several outstretched fingers and sizes solstice up. He is nice looking but very cocky. He then cocks up an eyebrow and asks "want to know more yet?"

solstice sits up propping her upper body against the arm of the couch and says "sure I need to know everything. But first I want to know something. I killed the beloved Talia and I am still alive. Did I overestimate Fauztin's abilities?"
Fireraven began to explain that love and friendship go a long way in this crazy world and when you live forever it is best to let go of the dead or else you will spend eternity mourning your losses and lose your true identity. Do not get caught up in the past learn from it and go on.
Solstice asks if the friendship is from Fauztin also because he really did deserve revenge. Fireraven said let me show you the depth of your friendship with Fauztin and myself. I will leave out the feelings Alexander has for you but I think you can guess. Let me show you some things before the two of them return from their hunt.

Solstice begins to clear her mind and winces at the thought of the pain she will soon be feeling. Fireraven shows her himself in a dire battle against a clan of wiccans that are using all kinds of different powers magikal powers to defeat him. Most of the powers were in the shape of visions because they were meant to confuse. Many spells are not working on Fireraven as he is a scholar of the magikal arts and has worked many painstaking hours to be able to counter spells of various nature. Warlocks are gathering together and raising staffs of different elements to bind together to make some kind of swirling black mist. Solstice knows that this vampire is now alone and his mates are dead. She thinks that this will be the end of him and that is such a waste of talent. then she gets noticed and is hit with a spell from her left flank. she is infuriated and the immediate rage makes the white fog appear from her... it is the cloud minds mist. Almost all of the wiccans become paralyzed or unconscious. the powerful warlocks conjuring the swirling black mist try to throw it over Fireraven and solstice makes the fog push it back. Fireraven is unaffected by the fog as solstice meant it not to engulf him. She tells him "uhhh you do not have long to take these guys out". Fireraven took out two large swords and began taking out the stunned wiccan clan. He left one of the warlocks alive and when the fog wore off he told him to go in peace and tell his clan to quit killing humans needlessly lest they become scarce on this continent. He then turns on Solstice and says "I thank you my dear lady, but you need to learn to control that rage".
Solstice throws a knife at him and narrowly misses. She tells him that she should have let him get some practice with that black swirling mist. Fireraven states "I truly thank you and as a show of good faith I will offer you anything your heart desires in return for saving me from what could have been very unpleasant or deadly."
Solstice thinks for a minute and wishes she could sleep without dreaming of the events she had been through with a certain dark creature named Stephan. she asks Fireraven if he can erase this memory so she can sleep and he says.. "how about I offer you safe haven". solstice does not understand this term and he says 'here come to my house and let us drink tea and I will explain it.' she followed him and upon entering his clan's house was very surprised. He was from a different culture than her Stardust clan. he had a castle dark and the north tower is where the entrance was for his own part of the castle. She asked him what is tea? He laughed and said Oh my dear solstice you have never been to england before and there are many things about my culture I will show you. Fireraven made hot tea and served his guest. The hot liquid was bitter and Fireraven asked her if she wanted it to be sweet.. she declined and just drank the tea. Stating. 'now tell me about safe haven?'
Fireraven explained that she would be able to come to him any time and he would guard over her so that she could let herself relax so deeply that she had dreamless sleep. She would have her own room in this tower and no one could be able to turn the knob to the door but herself. No one may enter besides solstice and if she ever wanted he could let someone else in. Otherwise if someone turned that knob they would find themselves outside the north tower door and it will be locked. and fireraven will be immediately notified. In the case of Solstice being unconscious he would have to cart her into the room himself.

Solstice opens her eyes and the pain is searing in her head as she says "Fireraven
you have offered me safe haven before and I wasted a perfectly good wish from you for safe haven again?" He just simply replied "yes and that just goes to show you that more than anything what you need is to be able to sleep. You sure are grumpy when you do not get sleep."
solstices closes her eyes and tries to see her room but cannot without Fireraven showing her. She tries and tries to look past the door into the room. Her head starts splitting in two and the lightening like waves of pain start to take over...
The next thing she knows she is laying against Alexander and he is trying to get her to drink some tea. she sits up and takes the cup thanking him lightly.. Alexander then says "I have something for you" He pulls out a small saucer with cut up lemon wedges on it. Solstice looks at him questioningly and he says "Here squeeze it into your tea" he does this for Sol and she takes a sip of the bitter tea now with sour lemon in it. She absolutely loves the taste. Alex laughs at the smile she immediately gets and hands her the wedge of lemon and says "not too many they are bad for your fangs". She eats the lemon and puckers her face up at the sourness of it but loves the taste. Looking up at Alex's face he tells her. "this is the way you like your tea babe."

Alexander is walking down the hallway and solstice is heard singing....

when the light begins to fade
and shadows fall across the sea,
one bright star in the evening sky.
your love's light leads me on my way.

there's a dream that will not sleep,
a burning hope that will not die.
so I must go now with the wind,
and leave you waiting on the tide.

time to fly, time to touch the sky.
one voice alone, a haunting cry.
one song, one star burning bright,
may it carry me through darkest night.

rain comes over the gray hills,
and on the air, a soft goodbye.
hear the song that I sing to you
when the time has come to fly.

when I leave and take the wind
and find the land that faith will bring,
the brightest star in the evening sky
is your love waiting far for me.

is your love waiting far for me.

Alexander smiles and thinks to himself.."maybe this time she will actually tell me goodbye"

and it becomes a legendary celtic song... ((referenceThe Soft Goodbye Celtic Women Manhattan))

Fireraven asks Alex and Fauz to come with him into the living room. There he explains that they need to do this one fast because Solstice will not be able to handle what she is going to see. All 3 of them are going to go to the betrayal of the Civilized 5. He asks them to show her what happened in a fleeting manner and to think about what she should see. It will nearly kill her to see this but she has to know what happened.

Fireraven gets Solstice to sit in front of him with Alex sitting behind her to keep her from falling. Fauztin is not asked to touch her for obvious reasons. He tells them to let him begin with the fleeting scene and just follow his lead.

Solstice is working with her Stardust Cabal on a group of lycans during one of the battles in the war. They are going to be victorious today because they all are utilizing the cloud minds together and have hunters who will kill the stunned lycans. Solstice is doing as she is told. The victory is at hand and all of the Stardust are realizing victory. Then Solstice looks over at the hunters killing the lycans and sees Talia and her brood being slaughtered. She screams "no not that one" but it is too late. Talia is dead. Her brood is dead, and a lot of the Civilized 5's ranks are dead.

Through Fauztins eyes Solstice sees the whole of the Clan of the Civilized 5 coming after her. Fauztin was going to be the one to kill her. Fireraven then placed a hand on his shoulder and said "Fauztin wait and watch". Solstice could see the faces of Fireraven and Fauztin and the look of utter hatred for what she had done. With over 50 vampires coming down on her she held out her hands to her sides. Tears streaking down her face she mouthed the word "sorry" and dropped her scimitar to the ground. The attack was swift and since she did not put up any type of fight the vampires made quick work of her and left her there while going after the other stardust members.

Alex picked up the dead body of Solstice and pulled her into his arms, there was still a small spark left in her but everyone assumed she was gone. He looked at Fireraven and Fauztin and said :"now go and let me mourn without having to look upon your faces for a while." Alex took Solstice to Egypt to the wiccan clan of Grunt. He knew that they would be able to save her, but at the price of he had to leave her there and not return for her.

Solstice fainted and Alex said "stop she is unconscious again" Maybe with what she saw she will realize that love and friendship are the only things in this world that truly live forever.

Solstice remains unconscious for over a day and the men decide to try to bring her out of it since she is not responding to any thing.

They put her on the couch beside Alex. He bites her to give her his venom and she opens her eyes but is still unconscious. Fire Raven bites her and with his venom she begins to eminate the mist of cloud minds but is still unconscious. Alex takes a black mamba and has it bite her on the wrist. the mist begins to grow and she is floating on top of it but still remains unconscious. Fauztin without prompt from his friends takes her wrist and adds his own venom biting her just above the snake bite. Solstice floats across the room rather rapidly as though the sonic boom moved her.

Then she awakened. And she wanted blood, right now. solstice jumped up and bounded out the window. the first person she ran across was a young sailor who was practicing tying knots. She sauntered up to him and said "hey could you teach me how to tie someone up with that?" He said sure and she enticed him into an alley way. As soon as he came into the shadows solstice grabbed the back of his head and with reckess abandon drained him dry. AAhhhh she had to have another and then stopped, realizing that no what she wanted was to kill and kill and kill and that was from another life. She could not waste blood for lust. So she returned to Alex's house.

fireraven looked at his watch when she bounded back through the window and proclaimed that Fauztin won the bet.. they had bet in her absence how long it would take her to kill and return. Fauztin said less than 10 minutes. Alex took 15 minutes. Fireraven had said oohhh at least 20 before she comes back she will get more than one.

Solstice gave them an evil look... betting on her capabilities of hunting? how dare they.. but then her look softened and she smiled because she knew that these were the only friends who would be there for her until the end of time. and that short list included Fauztin Fireraven and Alexander.
__________________
Solstice has been ready to leave since the day she got here. She cannot stay still and cannot stay in one place for very long has never been able to and is getting harder and harder to get her attention. She is just naturally a loner and a rogue killing machine. She will not let the feelings of closeness to even the closest of her friends overcome her need to be set free to run amok as she wants to. Without due regard for anyone. Her friends know she will return to them eventually and they have no desire to follow her and learn what it is she does when she is on her own. Fireraven knows she will seek him out for sanctuary and that she will be totally exhausted when she gets to him. If she enters the castle and enters her room he is alerted because the door has been opened. He also knows that if he is in dire need of her she somehow finds him. It is uncanny when she does this as she intuitively feels his distress. But she is of stardust and maybe that explains it. We know how Alexander can sense her in danger But Alexander is not wiccan and not stardust must be because he truly does love her. All she has to do is think of him and he somehow knows she needs him. She has never been with any other man but him.

But now there is a problem.. Her time with the wiccan clan. Alex does not know what happened to her because they were making her too weak to call out to her friends for help and they brainwashed her into thinking she needs to kill Fauztin. They referred to her as the ultimate weapon against..(then the memory halted). What else did they do to her while she was kept in a state of unconsciousness for over two years. And wiping out her memory could have been for more than one reason.. Solstice has changed in many ways after that ordeal and he just cannot seem to put his finger on the reason for some of the subtle changes, the ones that have made her actually stop and consider other people and softens easier to his attention. Maybe because she missed him.. That would be a nice thought but is not really it.

Fireraven grabs solstice by the arm and turns her to face him. The rage that is usually in her eyes after killing has changed plus she just floated across the room on top of the change clouds mist . Her rate of killing and the rage behind it is different. She actually killed for food and stopped. But that night of the summers solstice she was killing needlessly as usual. Something changed her and it is obvious now . Fireraven wants to understand what happened to her when she was with the wiccans and what that bear has over her because she had the chance to kill it and did not. That bear stopped her not out of love and definitely not out of friendship, he has some unknown leverage over her ,,,, something big.

Fauztin is watching solstice like a hawk. She is the reason Talia is dead, she threatened Talia on numerous occasions and she finally got into a position to kill her with cause. Alexander is the only reason he has not killed her to this point. And this bear that is wanting him dead by her hands.. What is with that thing? There are legends of how during the ages of famine upon the regions the bear and the wolf were hunting and they both were after the great wooly mammoth. The wolf could not take it down even with the number of its pack. The bear could not take it down without help catching it and keeping it at bay. So they teamed up together out of self preservation and the wolves hunted as a pack and the strength of the bear took it down to be killed. The wolf and the bear survived all winter because of them working together as a team and from that time on the wolf and the bear are to be kindred never to hunt each other and to come together in times of famine to lend their strengths to each other for the better of both races. This bear is lycan for sure. But a lycan that can transform into a bear is something he has never heard of. Could the bear be of two races the same as Fauztin? No it is impossible. But the old alliance between the bear and wolf has to hold the answer we seek.

Solstice has been having such bad splitting headaches from the mind melding with the guys that she has been staying to herself in her room a lot. The balcony of her room is shared with Alexander and has the most beautiful view of the mountains surrounding the area. Laying out on the lounger and wishing she had a cabana boy to bring her some tea, she noticed a shadow go across the outskirts of her vision. It was Alexander with a tray of tea and he set it down and began to cut up a lemon for her. Solstice wonders what she has ever done to deserve such a man as him. He has never taken a wife and has always been available to her. But she leaves him for months and months at a time. He is not a killer like herself. He is a soldier and his attention goes to the protection of everyone. Everyone including herself. He left her with the wiccans and had to leave her without coming back for her that is the deal they made with him in return for saving her life. But why has he never taken another woman as a wife? Maybe solstice should encourage him to seek another to fill up the rest of his existence with love and understanding.. Things she cannot give him. Because she is not the type to stick around. But the thought of telling him , or for that matter the thought of him being with another hurt her. Hurt that is a feeling she does not get often. A hard cold blooded killer does not have room in their life for love tenderness and family. But Alexander is not a hard cold blooded killer and he deserves to be happy and this is what most of the civilized clan seek. A life mate. Fireraven and Fauztin have both had life mates. And Fireraven says only to not ever dwell on the past and the ones who are gone because they are not the present and that love and friendship will last through out eternity. But I am suppose to be dead. One of the memories they share but do not dwell on.

screaming and kicking and flailing her arms. that is what the commotion was.. Solstice was having nightmares and crying. She is not sleeping well even though she is in the presence of Fireraven. She wakens to find Fauztin holding her hands and saying "Sol, it is okay girl.. wake up you are safe!" Solstice wild eyed looks at him and ponders this man who should be pulling out a knife and slitting her throat. Solstice is crying still and says "I was in such pain and they kept biting me and draining me.. they said to take me to the brink of death and keep me there." Fauztin then did something that would change the relationship they have had over all of the years that she has known him. He pulled her to his chest and stroked her hair and told her "You are safe now and I will not let them hurt you any more."
Fauztin is shaken because he realizes he just let go of the bitterness he harbors towards Solstice and has in kind forgiven her.

Fauztin asks Fire and Alex to come into the living room and please be seated. Solstice is laying on the couch still crying. Fauztin explains that Sol is having memories and that they needed to be brought to light.

The boys clear their minds and tell Solstice to think about the bear...

The bear is yelling at people to keep her drained and weak or she will call for help from her friends with her mind. Solstice looks up at the bear and smiles her devilish grin and says, "what makes you think that I cannot handle you myself?" My friends are coming for me in due time my sweet" The bear attacks Solstice she is chained and cannot move her arms. The bite marks on her face are bleeding and the bear is telling the others to drain her... suck her blood,, make her weak... but do not kill her.. she is the last of her bloodline from her mother and we cannot let her die she has to continue her bloodline.... but her dad will be next.

Solstice bolts up off of the couch and looks Alex in the eyes.. Who is my dad???? I need to go save him. Alex looks at fireraven and raises an eyebrow, "Hon you need to hear this from Fire not me".

Fireraven takes a deep breath and sighs heavily. solstice you need to not have any reaction until I finish this story otherwise you will shut down and not hear the ending of this story and that is the most important part. Solstice looks at him and sneers, "What makes you think that I am going to fly off the handle at you and some of your story?" Solstice looks around and Fauztin is laughing at her. "And what the hell is your problem?". Alex interjects,,, "She's back!" and all three men begin to laugh. Solstice is fuming mad and then Fireraven gets up walks over to her and leans over placing his face within inches of her own. He whispers "this is for your own good, gimme your neck". he fang sinks her and begins to drink an awesomely large drink and Solstice begins to feel drained. Solstice grabs his head and begins to pull back. Tears welling up in her eyes as she looks over at Alex pleading. Alex places his hand on her face and tells her "shhhhh, you need to be weakened for us to get your attention fully, we know how you are and this is for your own good, you could hurt one of us badly in a blind rage if we are not careful with you".

Fireraven can feel her pulse slowing and her body relaxing. He pulls away from her and licks his fangs, "damn sol, I need some of your venom before our next fight. That is pure raw animalistic rage you have flowing through your veins, and i would be unstoppable in this state." Solstice lays over on the couch and closes her eyes. Recuperating as fast as possible. Fireraven moves back to the chair he usually sits in and tells Alex to move away from her. No mind melting today she cannot handle it.

Fireraven begins the story by telling Solstice that she did not grow up in her house with a father. Her father had been around long enough to name her and then for the protection of her family he left. The reason he left is because his mother was looking for him and he knew that his own mother would not approve of solstices' mom. His mother is Eerie the queen of the Stardust. The queen is pure evil and has had her own family eradicated and her minion Silent Interloper has been the one following her orders. The queen known as Eerie to her clan but Solstice to her bonded has a reputation of being the most ruthless evil creature of the night in existance. there are very few who have stood up to her who are still in existance. One has been kept chained in hades' domain just because she wants to torment him forever because he is immune to her charms. His is called Suck on This and his real name is unknown. He hid your father from the evil queen before she was able to take him. Only he knows of your existance little Solstice. And only he knows how to find your father. And you have her blood in you, that is why you are so natrually evil.

Solstice comes up off the couch in a blind rage and falls to the floor too weak to walk. Fauztin jumps her holding her down and straddles her. Solstice stop it now.. you are going to make me hurt you.

Solstice instinctively reaches for her knives and they are gone. Looking up into Fauztins eyes with animalistic rage she says "I will hurt you Fauz get off of me" Fauztin says not now and throws the three knives that Solstice carries into the wall up high above Alex. Fauztin then does something that could have proven lethal, but knowing solstice is weakened he tries to get thru her rage. He pours ice water on her face. Alex and Fireraven both dive onto the floor to help him hold her down. He grabs another glass of ice water and threateningly holds it above her head and says "Calm down or you get it again". Scenes from hercaptivity come flooding back and the memories of some of the beatings to make her submissive come tothe surface. solstice cannot help it. She tries one last time to get away and flips Fauztin off of her. turns over and hides her face in her arms.
Fauztin looks at her with a new understanding and asks Alex.. "what did they do to her to make her like this?" Fireraven replied "It would have taken an unbelievable amount of pain, suffering, and time. You know how tough she was." Alex is sitting on the floor leaning against the couch and pulls her up to his chest and begins stroking her hair. He explains that the wiccans could have wiped out Sosltice's mind easily and been done with her but they kept her for two years. Somethng was done to her and they needed to make her submit to something and they kept her weak and unable to call to us for help all that time. That much time and effort was for a purpose, something important to them. She is scarred badly on her back from not only being beaten but also burned and .... she has been branded. The brand is a crescent moon. I am not aware of the significance of it. Alex looks down into Solstices eyes and says "You need to let Fireraven
finish his story to you because if we wait I will have to make you weak and you hate that. Now sit up here and listen"

Fireraven takes the glass of ice water away from Fauztin and sits back down on the chair. Continuing with the story he tells Solstice that her Grand Mother does not know of her existence and for no other reason she was named Solstice to maybe gain favor with the queen if she ever did meet her. Solstice looks up and says “Oh yeah she will meet me and soon because if she is the real reason the bear took out my family she is going to die too”. Fireraven looks at her contemplating his next statement. Solstice you cannot go.. She will have you killed before you ever set eyes on her. Queen Eerie is absolutely alone in her world and chooses whom she lets close to her. She was taking out her family for no reason other than to have no one ever stand up to her. Your father is the only son and so therefore when he came into maturity he could challenge Eerie to the throne. If he does he will be the King of the Stardust. He is the rightful heir. And after him is …. You. Solstice began laughing hysterically saying..”Oh stop it… you are cracking me up. Me a princess??? Or better yet a Queen?” Alex warned Fireraven.. “she is gaining her strength back and fast”.

Fireraven then just spills it out. “Solstice if you gain the throne then the Stardust and the Civilized 5 Cabal will be the strongest force upon the face of the earth.” Solstice jumps up stands on the couch grabbing her throwing knives and pushes them into the top of her boot. Her moccasin boots are made with extra strength at the top to accommodate the knives. Bolting for the door she turns around and looks at Fireraven and says “I will not accept the position of Queen”. She inclines her head to Fauztin saying “thank you” and then makes direct eye contact with Alexander. Tears begin to well up in her eyes and she does not make a sound and then turns around and bolts out the door.

The men look at each other and then hear a scream from outside. When Alexander reaches the door all he can see is the form of a Charonte Demon flying away in the distance. People in the street are screaming and pointing at the demon as it has something in its claws. Someone on the street says she dropped these as it took off with her, and points to Solstice’s knives and her scimitar.

Copyright 2009, Lynda Janece Stiles. Extending to all entries within this forum, no section within these pages may be copied or reproduced without the author's written consent. No character may be reproduced for publication without author's written consent. Any attempt to publish any section of this story without author's expressed verbal and written permission and or without credit of this work being given to the author will be dealt with legally