The Black Velvet Rose: Ch. 6 - "We're Born in Pairs"

   Tristan plopped down on the couch in the basement and sighed. He rubbed his head and leaned forward. The house was silent - thank God. Brandon must've been sleeping.Vanessa was oddly distant the past few days, she usually only comes around for one thing. Turning off his phone, Tristan laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling. 'Stacy Datres... a vampire?' He thought to himself, 'But how?' Before he could ponder the thought, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

 ' "Brandon..." Tristan stared in horror. His brother sat in the corner of his room. His skin was also tainted blue and his eyes were a bright gold. "Tristan..." His brother repeated, "What's happening?" The woman let go of Brandon and smiled seductively at Tristan. "You're cute." She spoke, her voice  mysterious and deceiving. Tristan narrowed his eyes, "Who are you?" She smiled, revealing fangs, "Don't you mean... what am I?" The woman grabbed Tristan and gently pulled him to her. "You will refer to me as your sire." She stated before biting his neck. ' Tristan startled himself awake and Vanessa looked down at him. "Why is it everytime I see you, you're waking up from a bad dream?" She asked, kissing his forehead. Tristan sighed, oddly relieved she was there, "It's more or less a continuing dream..." "You look exhausted..." Vanessa frowned, "Are you sick?" He shrugged, "I've been out a lot lately..." "Figures..." She muttered, sounding annoyed. "I was helping Kieth out with something..." Tristan explained, "I wasn't doing anything else, so calm down." Vanessa looked back at him, "Let me guess... he's still moping about Stacy? I told her she was going to break his heart trusting him with a secret like that and then pretending he didn't even exist." Tristan sat up, narrowing his eyes, "Wait... you knew?" She laughed, "Oh Tristan, you are naive. You didn't notice she only had party's at night? And she's home schooled? Did that never click with you?" He shrugged, "I haven't been here long enough to notice." A sense of pride flashed in Vanessa's eyes. A 'but you noticed me' look. She sighed, "Anyways... of course I knew, she's like a sister to me." "Fyi," Tristan interupted, "A sister with a possible vendetta against me, I did make her life a little bit more difficult today." Vanessa stared intently, "What did you do?" "She was agreeing to take care of Kieth if he said anything, so I turned the tables around on the real caulprit in this case... she shouldn't have opened her big mouth." Vanessa rolled her eyes and rose, walking across the room. "What was I supost to do? Just listen to a plot against my best friend?" He asked, also standing up. "You chose your mortal friend, but you have a duty to your kind." She snapped.  Tristan shook his head, "Fuck that. What have they done for me?"  Vanessa sighed, "Some day you're going to have to put your pride aside and realize who you are." "Please," Tristan bitterly interupted, "Spare me your lectures." Vanessa bowed her head, "Tristan... if you're against Stacy, you're against me...." He shrugged, without hesitation, "Okay, there's the door." She shook her head, "If only it were that easy." "Isn't it?" Tristan snapped, kicking the table over. Vanessa looked at the table and back at Tristan, "Clearly, no." "No, you're going to give me some bullshit like that.. then go." He argued. She sighed, "Tristan no matter where I go or you go, we will always be drawn together... so if we end up on opposing sides one of us will end up getting the other one killed." He laughed, "I think you're a little too into this whole vampire thing, don't you think?" "I'm just more educated on it than you are..." She stated, "We're born in pairs... two people who were turned at the exact same time.. they eventually find eachother and there's an immediate attraction... but we are eachother's weakness'... we don't have our strength when we're around eachother..."  Tristan crossed his arms and sat back down, "Right...I believe that." "Were you not drawn to me that night at the party? I felt you staring at me before you even got the gull to walk over..." She walked over and sat next to him, "Tristan, one of us will die. It's how this works."  He stared at her for a moment then rose, "I'm not listening to this, you're being ridiculous. You need to leave." Vanessa sighed, "Someday you'll see." She went to kiss his cheek then she stopped. "You know where to find me." She stated, grabbed her jacket and then started walking over to the stairs. "Don't worry," Tristan called after her, "I won't even bother looking, you've made it obvious who's side you're on. Thanks for proving your loyalty..." Vanessa paused on the first step and looked at him, "There are no sides when we're all fighting the same battle... you just need to stop fighting the battle with yourself." She jogged up the stairs and the basement door opened and closed. Tristan sighed and laid back down.

 ' Tristan stared long and hard at the female vampire as she backed away from him. "Shhh..." She comforted as his body started to convulse, reacting to the blood now running through his veins. "Why did you come here?" Tristan asked, glancing at his brother who was very still. "Simple expansion?" She quoted as if she wasn't sure herself. Tristan sighed, "What is your name?" She smiled, "You can call me.... Vanessa." ' Tristan shot up and looked around his dark basement. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and kept replaying his dream in his head. "No..." He muttered, "That's impossible!" Tristan rose and started pacing the floor. He ran his hand through his hair and muttered stuff to himself. Then, he suddenly paused. "We're not drawn to eachother because we were born in pairs..." Tristan clenched his fist, "We're drawn to eachother because she turned me ..." He closed his eyes and slammed his fist into the wall, "God dammit!"