Awakening (Leila)

Leila's eyes roused with sudden awareness. The feeling of consciousness grabbed her and brought her out from nothing, from deaths shadows. She twitched her fingers but the synapses didn't fire. The she realize it didn't bother her so much, at least there weren't any dreams only death and stolen life. She waited a few more seconds as the evenings memories overpassed her and she twitched her finger again willing it to move. She slowly started to feel her body and with it a horrible ache. She got to her feet slowly the movement pained her but she did not let that show on her face.

She took in the look of the room as she stood though noting any damage that needs repair and after taking stock of this she opened the thick wood door and made her way to the living area to see who or what was stirring about.

Leila stood for a small moment appreciated the sounds of the girls voices, powerful and commanding unlike anything she'd heard before. She wondered if Toreador appreciated musical talent as an art form as much as the visual arts. They had to she surmised, there was far faster rising of fame and glory in the art of the voice than visual arts. She'd hoped to get to see they would still be singing when she was done cleaning but she needed to attend to this little space first.

She mustered her strength and began to walk to the kitchens to fetch a bucket of warm soapy water and a rag to clean the blood spatters. The thought of blood made her throat feel parched and her guts turn in knots. She was thirsty and once she'd heal this wound she'd be thirstier still, the curse of her affliction plaguing her. She tried not to move her arm but the natural sway of movement brought with it pains that she couldn't prevent. She refused to show it on her face though she wished she could cover it.

Once she arrived at the kitchens she looked for a basin and filled it with water and soap, she didn't acknowledge the slaved cooks though. She carried the water and rags back to the room and cleaned off any spots of blood she could find, using her good arm though the other still ached with each motion. But she was determined to keep her word to Pillar. After the cleaning, she put the supplies back and made her way to the living room to see the girls, expecting to see Samuel and possibly Tantra as well. She smiled and walked in.

Leila did her best not to interrupt the small concerto the beautiful girls with their beautiful voices were giving. So she slipped quietly behind the couches and then around to seat herself on the edge of a sofa nearest her sire. She nodded in greeting to the present afflicted guests and then silently revered the music. She looked admiringly at them, trying her best to tune her other senses to focus on the site of them and the sounds instead of the pain and thirst at least for as long as the girls sang such a beautiful medley.

Leila clapped after their finish. It was a courteous even clap that faded slowly when Leila noticed her sires disinterest. Still she smiled enthusiastically.

"That was a really great performance girls."

Her attention turned to Samuel, "Evening Dr. Garrison, will their talents be displayed for our Toreador gatherings over these next nights?"

Leila listened to the conversation, having figured that they were going to be bait to the Toreador.

"That sounds quite effective, what are you proposing to do with them once you have them?"

Time paused and a loop began in her mind, triggered by a sudden recognition. She was in the back of a limousine taking in the sites of the new city, snuggled against a man, no a vampire that loved her unconditionally. She was flushed and freshly deflowered yet he still loved her, cuddled her and spoke to her sweetly about life away from her father. Then he was gone and she was killed. Over and over the memory repeated in less than a second within the span of time it took him to finish that small sentence.

Leila's eyes moved towards Samuel for confirmation. Her face fell blank though. She knew it was him, no other voice could've chilled her to her core like his. Even now as dead as she was she felt something when he spoke. This wasn't the love and desire that she used to feel, it was confusion and anger brimming with rage, there was also compassion and the feeling of relief when something long lost is returned. So many emotions that she couldn't show, that she refused to show. No doubt Samuel knew her turmoil, but she'd have to deal with it alone. Not here not if it's really him, her head turned and looked over her shoulder.

Her lips curled into a dark hard smile, not nearly as light and rosy as she'd once smiled though it was still beautiful. Her hair was a mess and her clothing tattered and bloody like a zombie in a horror show. This was who she was now. Leila, darkness girl, aspiring warrior, emotions had no place in her anymore. She stood up though it pained her and studied him a second before she spoke.

"Hasani!?"

Surprise and doubt both evident in her voice. She slipped around the couch to where he was and leaned on it.

"It's good to see you again brother. Dr. Garrison told me you would be here tonight. How have the nights been treating you? What brings you back."

Leila stared at him studying him, recalling how tantalizing his stare was, how his cold yet plump lips felt when they kissed her lips or brushed against her ear in a whisper. And then there he was behind her, whispering over her shoulder, he had to know how that used to make her feel. She was furious, mad about the lies, about the false love she felt and about his abandoning her afterwards. If only he'd been there when she came to instead of Tantra, maybe she wouldn't have felt so lost, so afraid, so abandoned.

She closed her eyes in a slow blink, washing all emotions away as she remembered how Sorayya had died, but that there were pieces there in her that still wanted to hold on to her. Leila was strangling them. Even now when the largest part of Sorayya's last year of existence was looming over her she smothered the girl, his desert flower, that puny little ignorant girl that occupied Leila's temple before her. The flame in her was blown out, that girl was no more. She didn't move, only let him linger there, her head tilting slightly closer to his whispers, able to see him out of the corner of her eye without strain.

"Ahhhh. Yesssssss."

The words escaped her sounding breathy like a long exhale with the glint of the serpents hiss on the end.

"It seems you haven't met me yet. My name is Leila. That beautiful desert flower is dead. But you should know that... you brought her here to die didn't you?"

Leila brought her head back level with her body when Hasani slipped away. Her eyes were sharp as she caught her sire and Sam studying her. She heard him speak again but she wasn't about to allow herself to seek him. After all they had just met and if she was going to have some sort of chance at keeping cool and level she had to truly believe that they were not ever really acquainted.

His movement did catch her eye and she watched him walk and take a seat on the couch, still talking to her about his talents and offering a formal introduction. She didn't return to her seat, she continued to stand behind the couch though she did move a bit closer to him.

"Oh, I am sure that Sorayya enjoyed her deliverance to Oblivion. It is a pleasure to meet you brother Hasani." She grinned slowly and extended her right hand, though it pained her to do it, she didn't let it show.

"It would seem that you are very good at what you do. Your skill in deception is masterful. Perhaps we should spend a little time getting to know one another." She looked at Samuel.

"We have a lot to do this evening don't we Dr. Garrison? Should I get ready?"

Leila straightened out fully standing and managed a smile towards Hasani. She then nodded to Dr. Garrison as well.

"If I don't see you again this evening, please enjoy your evening Hasani."

She inclined her head in parting and followed her sire to her chambers.

Leila followed behind her sire, closing the door so that no one else was subject to her sire's wraith. She waited a moment to speak, judging her temperament as she moved into the room.

She smirked at her comment, then asked very respectfully and calm.

"Which one are you referring to?"

Leila looked on her sire when she didn't answer exactly who she was mad at. Tantra was starting to break her cover more and more around Leila. Hopefully that was a good thing, but she didn't want to ruin it by probing too much too soon. She looked around the room that was usually hidden to her, realizing that her sire's quarters were just as simple and sparse. The bathroom had been misleading.

She strolled through the closet without further probing and picked something that would cover her shoulder until she had some time to heal it. The pain was a constant dull ache but she was very highly aware that if she were to heal herself now, her beast would be let lose. Leila picked herself a pair of tan pants with a light shimmer and a green silk shirt with long sleeves that flowed. She placed the fabrics over the bed next to Tantra and moved to the bath, to run one for herself. She took a chance to peek down at her necklace while she took off her jeans. It'd be quite odd if the person that sired her were actually a demon but she didn't want to leave any avenues unchecked.

She glanced at Tantra occasionally while she removed her clothing as it took her quite a while to take off her jacket and t-shirt having to pick pieces off and out of her molted flesh. She did her best not to wince or show the pain. She figured if she talked through the process she could ignore it a little better but it was always a challenge talking to Tantra.

"I didn't think Samuel would bring the girls. They are too beautiful to be naturally made, he'll get us caught surely."

She took a few seconds in the privacy of the bathroom to study the necklace, what the heck did this pattern mean, why was it flashing? This necklace was perplexing. Was the necklace pointing to where Hasani and Samuel are? She'd wished she'd checked it when she was in the room with them. She realized she'd have to get better at checking it to notice its patterns.

After finally managing to pick out the clothing pieces from her flesh she started to run the bath and went to deposit her clothing in a trash.

"I agree. What's Hasani doing back in New York?"

She asked non-nonchalantly while she checked the water temperature. She was talking louder to compensate for the noise of the water.