FASTER WHEN YOU FALL

Part V

CAT'S STORY

She sat up in the darkness of her room. What had awakened her? A dream? No, there was someone, something, in her room. She blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the dim light. Slowly, a pale face appeared from the gloom, white hands hanging at their sides. A ghost? She was frightened, trembling. The thing, the apparition, seemed to be that of a girl, younger than herself by five years, perhaps. She looked strange, like no one Eskaterina had ever seen before. Dark red hair in tight curls clung to her face and green eyes gazed out at her like twin flames. The face itself was the hardest to explain. Youthful though it looked, it was somehow too smooth, to perfect. It glowed in the darkness of the room like moonlight reflected off fresh fallen snow. Very small, this figure. The eyes, those green eyes that held her gaze, the seemed to have an aura of age to them that was at odds with the childish face. Then in a blur, it all vanished. The visitation had lasted only moments, though it had seemed an eternity. It could have been a dream, but she didn't for a moment believe that any dream could be so clear. The sightings increased in the weeks that followed. She would awake in the middle of the night to see that haunting face inches above her own. She was beginning to lose sleep, and drifted off during the day when she should have been working.

"Katya, get back to work." Her father would scold. "We have far too much to do to waste time daydreaming." She tried to tell him, to explain about the girl, but he dismissed her. "Foolishness. Do not trouble me with this."

The girl began to appear other places. Near the barn or fields, but only in the dark, when Katya could not see her well. It started to drive her crazy. Finally, she could stand it no more. "What do you want, spirit? Why are you watching me?"

"Spirit?" It answered, much to her surprise. "Is that what you take me for? A foolish, vengeful specter?" It laughed, a sound like silver bells.

"If not that then what *are* you?"

"Different." More bell-like laughter.

"What do you want from me?" She cried again, in frustration.

It paused for a moment, as if in thought. "To watch you, to see how you live."

"Do you have a name at least, something I may address you by?"

"You may call me Selena." For the first time, Eskaterina noticed the accent. A sort of lit to the words, unlike any she'd heard before.

"Where do you come from..." with a start, she realized she was alone once more. Selena began to watch her almost nightly. She asked Katya questions, most of which she couldn't answer. She asked Selena a barrage of questions as well, but the only response she ever got was riddles.

"How old are you? Where do you come from?"

"From a time and place beyond mortal remembrance."

"Must you be so cryptic? I think you *are* nothing but an addle-brained phantom!"

"NO! I live as you do!" She grabbed Katya by the arm as a demonstration. Katya pulled away immediately.

"God! You're as cold as a corpse! Nothing living can be that cold!"

"I am." Then the questions would continue. She wanted to know of the modern world, a world Eskaterina had barely encountered. Selena grew frustrated. "This world is backward. It is no more advanced than my own people were. We must leave here."

"Leave here? I cannot leave my family!"

"You must. I wish for you to explain these modern times, and you cannot do that until you have lived there."

"It would cost a great deal of money to do what you say." She had said.

"Money? This is not important. I can have anything I wish." How Selena ever convinced her , she did not know, and it wasn't until years later that it occurred to her that it might not have been of her own free will. "You would have lived one mortal life on that squalid little farm, and then you would have died. Now you go on forever."

She had been amazed in those early years by the wealth that surrounded her in both England and France. She soon adapted, learning French and English quickly with Selena's help. In time, she realized that this was what Selena valued in her. This ability to adapt to the modern age, because it was something Selena could not do. Her old life was a mere memory now. In fact, she found it difficult to pinpoint much of her past. She remembered the farm clearly, her brothers and father, but if asked where she had first meet Selena, she couldn't have answered. It seemed that it had always been this way, the two of them together, traveling the world. She was no longer Eskaterina, a poor farm girl from Russia, rather, Catrina, a wealthy lady. Where Selena acquired her money, she did not ask. She really didn't care to know. But from early on, there were other things that bothered her.

"Why do you disappear at daybreak? Surly it's unnatural to keep such hours."

"You may do what you wish during the day. I ask only that you do as *I* wish at night. That is all."

"That's not what I asked."

"Enough! I do not wish to talk more on this subject." Things might have gone on like this forever had she not stumbled upon a strange sight near dawn. There were a few rooms in their house that were off-limits to her. She always wondered what was behind those locked doors, and one night, near dawn, when Selena had disappeared for the day, she set about, determined to find out. She had gone down the corridor, trying doors that were always bared to her. One after another were firmly locked against her. Near the end of the hall, she stumbled on one that moved slightly. It was locked, yes, but the bolt was not slipped firmly into the doorjamb. She threw her shoulder against it several times, and with the crack of splintering wood, it gave way. She tumbled in, and fell to the floor. Then she raised her head. There, in front of her on the floor, lay a coffin. She gasped a little. Why would there be a coffin in a locked room? She looked about the room. There was a bed, a dresser, and a desk and chair. There were personal articles scattered on their surfaces. She got up and opened the door to a wardrobe that stood along the far wall. There were clothes inside. What was more, she recognized them as belonging to Dorean, a charming young man who sometimes lived with them. He was Selena's lover, she was almost certain, and like Selena, disappeared at dawn. She had seen him just hours ago. What was a coffin doing in his room? She had to look inside. But it was a coffin, for God's sake! She crept over and slowly opened the lid. What she saw almost made her drop the lid again. "Oh God!" Dorean lay inside, eyes closed, arms crossed. Dead? How could he be dead? She had seen him only hours ago. She reached out to touch his cheek, to prove that this was all real, and not some hideous nightmare, when a hand clamped on her wrist. She opened her mouth to scream, but another hand pressed itself over her mouth. It was Selena. She struggled to get away, but her arms held her like a vice. How could she be holding her? Selena was a little more than half her size. Her mind was reeling as she was dragged from the room. Selena released her and shut the broken door as best as she could. Katya opened her mouth to speak, but Selena silenced her.

"You'd do best to forget what you just saw."

"But he was dead, Selena! What did you do to him?" Her voice was fast gaining a hysterical edge.

"I did nothing. Listen to me," she hissed, taking hold of her shoulders and shaking her. "Listen! I did nothing to Dorean. He is fine."

"Fine? Fine?! He's lying in a coffin, Selena. A coffin!"

"I know that! Go to bed, now! You'll see, tonight. He's fine! Now go!" She turned and went back into the room. A moment later, she heard the sound of a large object being moved to the door. The wardrobe, it must be. But there was no way one person would be able to move such a large piece of furniture across the room. How was Selena doing it? Then she heard another noise. She pressed her ear to the door. The sound was muffled, but she could just make out....yes...it was voices! Two voices. If she could just concentrate, she thought she could make out the words.

"Door's broken......Katya's found out........no, I'll stay here tonight, love." Then a sleepy, murmured reply she couldn't quite make out, but it was most defiantly Dorean's voice. Dorean! He was dead, she had seen him with her own two eyes! Needless to say, she got no sleep at all. She spent the day wandering the house, pausing every so often to listen for noises in the room. There were none. Eventually, she drifted off in front of the fire place. When she awoke, Selena and Dorean were in the room. She stared at him for a moment.

"You were dead!" She said finally. "This isn't possible. You were dead, in a coffin. I *saw* you.!"

He merely chuckled. "Do I look dead to you, Catrina?"

"I suppose not.....but I saw it. You were there Selena! And you held onto me. I couldn't get away. I heard you move the wardrobe. How did you do it?"

"Catrina, dearest, this was a dream, nothing more. A simple nightmare you had while dozing by the fire."

"No. It couldn't be."

"Please Catrina. See reason. I'm standing here before you, aren't I? And Selena could never have moved the wardrobe by herself. How can we prove it to you?"

"Take me to the room. Show me that it didn't really happen."

"Of course. Anything to show you it was all a dream." They had gone upstairs and Dorean opened the door for her. "See? Nothing strange here." Catrina walked over to the doorway and examined the jamb. No sign of where it had been forced open.

"Ha! I guess it was all a dream after all. Silly me. I'm sorry to have bothered you with this foolishness."

"Don't worry. It happens to us all." Selena and Dorean turned to go. "Are you going to come with us? We're going to the opera."

"No. I think I'll stay here."

"That's fine. We'll be back in a few hours."

After they departed, she set about studying the room more carefully. First she looked at the floor. There was a carpet laid down. Had it been there last night? She thought back. No, the floor had been bare; she remembered staring down at it when she had first sprawled into the room. She peeled up a corner and pulled it back to the bed. There was what she was looking for, two tracks on the floor had been made when the wardrobe had been slid hastily to the door. Next she went to the door. From a distance, she could tell that the jamb had been replaced. Great care had been taken to match it up, but the color wasn't quite right. So, it was true! Suddenly, all of those long lost memories broke the surface. She could see clearly Selena standing in the yard.

"If not that, then what *are* you?"

"Different"

She could hear that unearthly laughter, as if she were still there. And a whisper in her mind, like a soft breeze, _You will forget this_ She shivered. What on earth was going on? She had to know. She settled into a chair in front of the fireplace and waited for Selena and Dorean to return. After a while she heard the door open and close again.

"Selena?"

"Yes?"

"I need to speak with you....alone."

"Why, of course. Dorean, wait for me here. Katya, dear, why don't we go into the study?" They exited the room, and went into the study. "Now what is it you wanted to talk about.?"

"I remember. After all this time I can finally recall the first time I ever spoke with you. You touched my arm. Your hand was so cold....And now I want answers."

"Catrina, what are you talking about? Haven't we always been this way, you and I, seeing the sights of the world? You must still be confused. Forget this nonsense. The night is still young, why don't we go out?"

"No! Stop it! Stop using that tone that always makes me forget." She stepped forward and placed her hand on Selena's face. "You're warm now, burning up! What under God are you? After you left, I went back into the room. That carpet is new. There are tracks on the floor from where you moved the wardrobe, and the doorjamb has been replaced. Everything I remember, everything you said was a dream, it really happened. And now I know the truth. *You're not human!*"

"You should never have seen any of that." Selena seemed suddenly weary "I tried so hard to protect you. There's no turning back now. We've hit the point of no return. You realize this? You can't even comprehend what it is you've done." Her face was a mask of sadness.

"I want to know."

"Then let me bring Dorean in." A moment later, he stepped into the room.

"How did you do that? You didn't call him. You just stood there, and he came!"

"She did call me, Catrina, only you could not hear."

"How?"

_Like this_

Catrina jumped. "I heard your voice....in my head."

Dorean nodded. He had his hands wrapped around Selena's waist now. "Do you want me to explain?"

"No, I'll do it. I knew this day would come... You want to know what we are? I'll tell you. We are vampires. It sounds amazing I know, but it *is* true. We take the blood of the living to survive, without it, we would perish."

"And the sun?"

"It would destroy us as well." She showed Catrina a hint of her fangs.

She crossed herself. "You've damned me before God! You are from the devil!" She was horrified. The two people she cared most for in the world were demons!

"No! You must understand. What we are, we did not chose this for ourselves. We were like you once, we were children, sons and daughters. There *is* no God, no Satan! I've learned this! Please. We are only different. This is why we didn't want you to know." Dorean seemed hurt, as if she'd stuck him a blow. And Selena was crying; there was blood in her tears. These red streaks that marred her beautiful face. What had she done?

"I'm sorry, so sorry. No, I see now, you cannot help what you are. I was wrong. Foolish of me to think that you could be evil. No, not you. For how can one love evil as I love you?" She went to them, kissed their foreheads, their silky lips. No, not evil at all. Slowly, Catrina lost her faith in God. This was, after all, a godless age. After her revelation, she was definitely happier. No more secrets. The way things should be. There were a few things that still confused her, though. What was Dorean's relationship with Selena, anyway? There was a time when she thought he was Selena's lover, but now she didn't know. It was hard to tell with Dorean. She had never seen him angry, for instance, even though he and Selena had their arguments. He was always soft-spoken, while Selena yelled at the top of her voice. Catrina didn't know what they argued about. Dorean loved Selena, that was plain. She could tell just by looking in his eyes.

"Catrina, dear, I've made arrangements for you to go to the theater with a friend of mine. His name is Antoine. He'll be here soon, I expect, so go get ready."

"What will you and Selena be doing?"

"That's a secret!" He replied with a laugh.

"Oh..."

"Now, don't look at me like that! I don't know what kind of thoughts are running through your head, but you'd best forget them!"

"Dorean, do you mind if I ask a bit of a personal question?"

"Depends on the question."

"You love her, don't you?"

"I- well, yes, I guess I do."

"Than do something about it for goodness sakes! Stop mooning after her like a lost puppy."

"Is that what I've been doing?"

"Yes, it is. And frankly, I'm tired of watching it. If you don't take care of it, I'm going to tell her!"

"You wouldn't!" He teased.

"Just watch me! Oh, Selena!"

"No, don't do that!"

"To late." She replied with a giggle. "There you are Selena. Now, Dorean has something very important he wants to tell you, don't you Dorean?"

"Ah, no.. that is .." _Catrina, I'm going to get you for this_

_You wish. Now be a dear, and treat her to a nice evening. My date is here_ She left the room.

_Catrina!_

She never was quite sure what happened that evening, But Dorean seemed much happier after that night. And, she noted, Selena's mood had improved as well. She longed for those days now. At the time it seemed they would go on like that forever. Unfortunately, things had fallen apart quickly after that.

End Part V