War of Fires- chapter two

Holly stood alone in her kitchen, the bright lights bringing into sharp relief the scars that covered her entire body. She was contemplating the fridge. The fridge had a lot of food in it, courtesy of Alvis. She didn’t like that. The bright lighting also highlighted just how thin she really was.

“Weapon against everything supernatural but can’t eat a damn chocolate bar.” She muttered, as she slammed the fridge door shut. Holly decided, as always, to let the hunger burn inside her, rather than face the cupboards too. She was glad to be alone for once; Alvis had allowed that to happen so little since he had taken over her teaching. When she was with Alvis, she knew her thoughts did not long belong to her. Holly found herself mentally walking on eggshells, there were some things she just didn’t want to be questioned about.
Eventually, she returned to her friend; red wine, which had become her staple diet before she was turned and since, well sometimes the colour was weirdly comforting. Holly never drank a lot because she was such a lightweight; normally she only drank a couple. Today with Robert had been hard, so, just this once, she finished the bottle. Once the drowsy film descended, she fell into its fuzzy embrace gratefully. Falling into a dreamless sleep, for once.

A few hours later, she couldn’t be sure how many, something awoke her. Holly felt something jar with her ‘spidey senses’ or as Alvis called them ‘her enhanced perceptions and senses’. Alvis? That thought reminded her that the presence she could feel was familiar. As she glanced around the room, Holy noticed him sitting, quite at home, on the armchair opposite. Upon his face sat a beautifully tender expression, such as she had never seen across his face before. Quickly she sat up and the expression disappeared, to be replaced by the customary sarcastic smile.

“How are you?”
“I’m fine... what are you doing here?”
“Well, today... I thought... I thought you could do with some company.”
“I don’t need babysitter.” Alvis’s eyes fell on the empty wine bottle on the floor next to her and raised his eyebrows. “Alright but still, you didn’t need to come check on me.”
He frowned slightly as he gazed at her “When was the last time you ate?” Holly looked down but didn’t answer. “That’s what I thought.”
“Oh shut up.”
“Holly...”
“No, Alvis. Sometimes, I actually just need a friend.” Holly stared at the floor while she spoke. Alvis stood up and sat on the sofa by her feet, the ghost of a smile lining his lips.
“That’s got to be the most honest thing you have ever said to me.” Holly pursed her lips and looked at him with wide eyes. “Move up will you?” He said, the smile full on his lips now.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You. If only I had known that it took a bottle wine to make you tell me your thoughts, for once.” She covered her face with her hand.
“Shut up.”
“Holly...?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask something?”
“You just did.”
Alvis sighed impatiently. “Holly, be serious.” She sat up with pretend attentiveness. Alvis smiled again, a drunken Holly was the sweetest thing.
“Okay.”
“Will you at last tell me the story of those scars?” A range of emotions crossed Holly’s face, shock, panic, anger and then after staring blankly at the floor for a moment, sadness.
“Why do you need to know?”
“I am friend, a good friend would know. Sometimes you do something. Sometimes you react a certain way to something... and I need to know where that comes from. It could be important.”
“Are you asking me as a friend, or as a teacher?”
“Both.”
“Easy answer.”
“Right back at you.” Alvis felt himself becoming impatient. When he’d begun feeling, he couldn’t stop feeling. Emotions that had been in check four almost two and half centuries had suddenly been unshackled and were running riot. It was like being a teenager again.

Holly smiled at his retort. “Alright, my dad left me, you know that. My stepdad was horrible.”
“Which one?”
“The first. He was just mean generally but as things went sour between them, they both became heavy drinkers. She didn’t dump him until the first time he hurt me; he threw me down the stairs.”
“And the scars...?”
“Take your pick, the ones on my chest are from the stairs incident, others are mum’s neglect. Just stuff from over the years. Some are my own.”
“Holly!”
“What? I had a bit of a crappy time, Alvis. I hurt myself but that girl is dead, she died when I was turned. I wasn’t severely abused, I didn’t struggle at school. Everything I do is because I over dramatised it, I made myself miserable by choosing bad men, by choosing to misbehave and isolate myself.”
“Holly...”
“No, I won’t play damaged girl. Alvis, you need to believe me. That was the only time I was ever severely hurt was when he threw me down the stairs into that metal fencing. My life was not awful. The way I am, is my fault, not some sad little damaging past. You need to understand that now.”
“Drunken mum? A gazillion step dads? It’s not ideal.”
“Merely average, Alvis. It could have been far worse and it could have been better. If there’s one thing that being turned has done; it’s given me some perspective.”
“That’s good. Robert told me that you’ve always been volatile and changeable.”
The mention of Robert made her suddenly angry, how dare they call her changeable! “Why is this new to you? You said you guarded me my whole life! How could you not know all this?”
“I wanted to know if I had missed something.”
“Yes. You did. You missed me torturing myself. You spent my whole life guarding me against everyone but myself. More to the point, you just sat there and watched? My whole life?” She stood up, moving to the other side of the room.
“You have to understand Holly, you were just a mission then. Just a task. Watch, don’t interfere.”
“What am I now? Honestly, though?”
“Holly...?”
“Answer the question.”
“Holly, I care for you but...”
“Alvis, will there ever not be a ‘but’ at the end of that sentence?”
“I don’t understand you.” He stood too, crossing the room to her.
“I wish you’d choose. Do you want to be a close friend...?” She lingered on the word, and then seemed to change her mind. “Or are you my teacher?”
“Why can I not be both? I am your friend...” He too lingered upon the word. “but I have to be your teacher... that’s what you chose me for. Were magically bonded by your declaration, that’s why there is no longer a pulling force between you and Robert.”
“I know. I know all that. But it’s like we discussed earlier, the relationship between a maker and the vampire they made, it’s just an enhanced version of what they had as humans. So logically, they can just be a friend... without the need for there to be a defining difference between that person and the teacher.”
Alvis knew she was right. Knew she had a solid argument but the cards were out of his hands on this one. “Holly, when you chose me, you chose someone who is controlled by the order.”
She smiled sadly. “And there’s my answer.”
“Holly...” His words fell to silence, as suddenly she was close to him, starring into his eyes. For the second time that day he felt himself captured by them. Unable to move. Unable to do as he should.
“Tell me... did they ever say the exact words ‘you can’t’ be her friend’?”
Alvis shook his head “They didn’t need to. It’s implied. I’ve worked for them a long time. They expect me to stay distant, professional.”
“But they never said it?” Holly placed her hands around his neck.
“No.” Alvis whispered it, suddenly unable to get his vocal cords working properly as she pressed her hips against his.
“Holly listen I need to talk to...” Robert froze in the doorway. Providing the mandatory interruption needed at the moment when the scales might finally tip in favour of one side. They broke apart. An awkward silence ensued.
“Well this is fairly awkward.” Holly said eventually, breaking the tension slightly. “Alvis, can you go?”
“Yes... of course. I will see you tomorrow morning, at nine.”
“Yeah okay.” Holly was gazing at Roberts pained expression with worry, barely hearing him.
“Ummm, well, bye.”
“Bye.”

Neither of them noticed him leaving.
“Right, well. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming Hol.”
“You saw nothing. We haven’t even kissed. It was just a moment thing. He asked about the scars.”
“Oh... well that makes sense.” His voice carried a sarcastic twang. “There’s a logical link between that and almost kissing a guy.”
“It was just a moment thing. We got talking about what our relationship was like, you know, friends or not.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you meant friends.”
“With the order breathing down his neck, the best I could hope for was friend. You know that.” Robert hadn’t expected an honest answer. It wasn’t generally Holly’s forte. “Besides, you can’t just walk straight in here anymore. You might have saved yourself the trouble of seeing that.”
He saw the wine bottle and understood. Holly found it harder to lie drunk. “I’m sorry. I just had something on my mind.”
“Come on. Sit.”
“I think you should know everything now. Everything I can tell you anyway. All the stuff Alvis has been keeping secret for me. It’s really important.”
“Like ‘the reason everything magical was after me important’?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then...”
“It all comes back to your blood singing. It meant that everything magical would know that if they managed to get you as one of their own. You could be useful.”
“Everything magical?”
“It wasn’t just vampires who would hear your call. Every single type of supernatural could and that’s rare. Normally it’s just vampires because were the most powerful kind and it’s in your blood. Alvis told you about the war right?”
“Yeah, well, sort of. He just said things weren’t right.”
“The war’s like seven hundred years old and the reason it really started has been lost to the fact it was seven hundred years ago. Basically, it’s a war between the two order of fire. Golden and black.” Holly went to make a remark but Robert held up a hand to halt her. “I know their crap names but it was like seven hundred years ago, they probably sounded fancier in whatever language they spoke because each magical race used to have its own language. Anyway, each type of magical creature belonged to either council, according to their powers and what they choose to use them for. They began with the purpose of solving petty squabbles between different minor supernatural’s but ended up despising each other. So, the creatures under each councils jurisdiction began to hate each other as well. Thus, creating the two sides.”

“What’s this got to do with us or me even.”
“Well, all creatures near you feel your call, so all knew you would be powerful if they managed to turn you into their type of supernatural. You would become an asset.”
“A weapon.”
“Well... yeah that would be the eventual plan. Whichever side had you could use your powers against the rival side.”
“So, vampires won then? Which side is that?”
“They’re not on one. Vampires abdicated from the war a hundred years ago. So were neutral.”
“Why?”
“We live forever. The people who fought and killed six hundred years ago in the war are dead for the rest, ours are still alive. How could the other side forgive the one the exact people who started it? How could our killers give up the grudge? The problems war creates usually fade through the generations and grudges are forgiven, everyone moves on. We don’t fade, so the grudge wouldn’t fade and the war would never end.”
“That makes sense, I guess. So the neutral side was trying to prevent either side from getting the trump card and winning?”
“If they managed to make you do it, then yeah, you could have been the killer of thousands.”
“If vampires are neutral then why do they care?”
“Because when we broke away from our side, everyone saw it as us making our own side. Since vampires are the most powerful creature, it’s wise that they try to bump us off. Despite us not making a violent move in over a century.”
“So vampires guarded me but didn’t plan to turn me, to prevent bloodshed?”
“That was the basic plan. We prevented the others from gaining because if they had succeeded, not only would you have killed the opposing side, you would have killed thousands of mortals in the process.”
“You make me sound like a nuclear bomb.” Robert looked down and there seemed to be more behind it than he was saying. After a moment, Holly continued. “I still don’t get what this has to do with us?”
“Apart from the stuff over you, things were dying down. The war hadn’t been that violent, until you were sixteen.”
“Sixteen? But it’s not long after that you were turned...” Robert held up his hand.
“Let me explain. The black side made a big move and The Order decided that guarding you wasn’t enough. They decided that ensuring you belonged to the neutral side was the safest option, even if the other sides would see it as an open action of war. Remember the night I surprised you by coming over with that film and chocolate? Alvis had planned to turn you that night.”
“Alvis?”
“He was your main guard. Holly, you never seem to understand how much he’s under the Orders control. It didn’t matter what he thought.”
“Get to the point, what does this have to with you fucking everything that had tits.” Robert closed his eyes and sighed. “Sorry, continue”
“Alvis was ordered to turn you and he’s so against it, he has to like starve himself of blood so he’s half crazed and then just position himself near the person and attack. The night he decided to do it, I was round... and remember I left early?”
“We had that big fight and then you didn’t call for weeks... oh god.”
“He got me by mistake.”
“Oh, shit.”
“And as Alvis’s trainee vamp I was allowed in the Order meetings, where I convinced them that turning you then would be a mistake. If you were meant to be so powerful, then they should wait until you were at an age where people were more likely to take you seriously.”
“You did?” There’s was blooming shame in Holly as she realised where this was going.
“Then I started to help protect you.”
“It’s a wonder you found the time.” Holly regretted saying it instantly, what he was trying to tell her was clearly important
.
“That’s what I’m getting too. You’re a few months into the change now. Are you starting to have trouble... controlling yourself? In your emotions, your physical strength, your sexual desires.”
“Really? You’re going to blame it on that?”
“Holly, you have to understand... when a guy turns he goes wild. Alvis himself fathered three kids when he was changing and the order was controlling his every move. I never meant to be a cheat, never wanted to be one either. I thought, that you’d had so many shitty dads, so many shitty boyfriends, that I would be the exception; prove we weren’t all like that. It’s nearly killed me, the guilt from what I did. I loved you.”
“Past tense?”
“I won’t pretend I feel nothing for you now but my feelings aren’t that strong anymore.”
“So you saved me from being turned and then did it yourself?”
“I know.” He paced away, running his hands through his hair. “I fucked up, big time. But I was on watch and got attacked by some werewolves. It was broad daylight; on alley just off the main street I didn’t expect it. Werewolves are only second to us in power and I was so new for a vampire... they ripped me to shreds. I still managed to scare them off before you came back out.”
“Then I just went and leant right over a dying vampire.” Holly closed her eyes, realising that she was a dick.
“I couldn’t help it. Your neck was right there. Veins throbbing.”
“I know. I know.” Holly looked into the familiar brown eyes, wide with desperation. “I forgive you, for everything.”
He blinked. “Just like that?”
Holly smiled, “I have been drinking, I might feel differently in the morning.” He smiled too, genuine warmth spreading across his features, all the way to his eyes. “Just answer me this,” She said after a moment “are there any more things being kept from me?” Robert stared into her eyes; they read him like a book, there was no way he could successfully lie to her. “Rob, please. I don’t need to know what but I just need to know. How much does Alvis belong to them?”
“More than you know.”
“How much can I trust him?”
“As far as he can, without disobeying them.”
“Why is that, if he’s so powerful?”
“They own him, Holly. You have to understand that.”
Holly caught the fear in his eye “And by extension they own you?”
“And you. He is my maker and your surrogate maker. He is our master, Holly, and he is their servant.”
“He’s not my master.”
“He is. There is a bond between a maker and his pupil, so unexplainable, that even the Warlock’s haven’t been able to work it out. The hold they have over us is not a conscious one. They don’t mean it and neither do we. Haven’t you noticed that you will do whatever Alvis asks? That no matter how, even you, the most pig headed person I have ever met, protest, you always yield?”
“I have made a stranger my guardian.” Holly stared ahead, mixed emotions crawling through her.
“You have.”
She was silent a moment, Robert knew she was considering what she needed to know. Finally, she spoke. “Answer the question.”
Robert took a moment, give the wrong answer and he could be pronouncing his own death sentence. “There are more lies than I can tell you and it’s only going to get worse as you get more powerful.”
She leant over and hugged him, whispering in his ear “thank you.”

                                                           *

Alvis turned from the window to the shrouded behind him. “I told you the boy could be trusted.”
“He is turning her against the order.”
“He has done you no harm, she asked if she should practice caution and he agreed.”
“He did not lie.”
“They are old acquaintances and Holly is extremely perceptive. He couldn’t have lied successfully.”
“Then he is a liability.”
Alvis’s became statuesque, not appearing to even breath. “He has done no wrong.”
“He has done no right.”
“Sir...” The figure moved to him sharply, finishing an inch from his face.
“Developing a conscience, Alvis? We did not turn you so that you could think, or feel. We turned you to kill; you are weapon and nothing more. The only thing to do with a faulty weapon is to dismantle it. Do you understand?”
Alvis’s face had become blank. “Of course, master.”
“Good.” The hidden face’s tone hinted a smile. “Obey your maker.”