Chapter Nine: Harming The Merchandise

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...

...

"Excuse me?!"

"Come now, don't act stupid. Auctioning is where you bid on something. The person with the highest bid gets the prize...or rather, you." She smiled.

"Um....I thought human trafficking was illegal. And besides, I refuse to be put up for sale like an antique, or something." I retorted. "Come one Pazzi, be serious. Stop messing around; let's go home."

The smile on her face vanished, leaving a fierce look.

"You have no home, you worthless, pathetic --" She was advancing towards me.

"That's enough." Tristan said quietly, stepping between us.

This situation was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

Now Tristan, the Vampire, who is fascinated by my blood, the one who I fought earlier, wants to defend/protect me?!

I think I'm just having a weird dream.

Yup, this is just an extremely vivid, detailed dream.

I should wake up any minute now.

....Yeah, any second now.

...

...

....Crap.

I pinched myself.

Nope, not a dream.

Maybe I'm just going crazy, or something.

Gawd, I hope I am.

Wow, that sounds weird. To hope that you go crazy, or are crazy.

Anyways, back to reality.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pazzi hissed.

Oh crap.

She's peeved.

I slunk as close to the wall as I could.

Tristan evaded the question and said: "Lady Topaz, we cannot harm the merchandise."

I laughed, because:

one, he called her a lady. Clearly, he hasn't been around her when she eats.

Her burps are noxious.

And two, he called me merchandise.

As if I'm going to go along with Pazzi's little scheme.

"Rafael, help her. She's suffering." Tristan suddenly directed the guy holding the red-haired bundle.

Nobody moved, however, until Topaz left the room.

"Goodbye, Peri. "She called behind her.

Tristan relaxed a little bit.

"I'll take her to the medical wing. You should do the same for Ember."

That's when I caught a glimpse of the bundle.

It was a girl, a little older than me, with pale skin. Her fiery red hair spilled out of the blanket she'd been wrapped in.

I thought she was pretty, but Tristan was more concerned with me than her, which was surprising.

I wasn't as pretty as her, so why?

Why was he concentrated on me?

As I was immersed in my thoughts, Tristan approached me cautiously.

Chapter Eight: Catfight!

The door to my cell burst open with a clang.

Tristan entered first, with a limp form in his arms.

Pazzi entered next, with several others trailing behind her.

Only Tristan, his bundle, Pazzi, and another guy entered.

By now, it was getting cramped in here.

The first thing to happen was....interesting.


Tristan handed over his bundle to the other guy, and I caught a glimpse of fiery red hair.

Then he came up to me and slapped me across the face.

Oh no.

Heck no.

Oh, no he didn't.

That's when all heck broke loose.

I reached out with my mind and broke my chains loose, then lunged at Tristan, letting a stream of curses fly out.

Then, a force brought me backwards. Again.

This was getting annoying.

My face felt warm all of a sudden.

I touched my cheek to discover a cut about the size of my pinkie, and spilling out blood.

Blood.

In front of a Vampire.

Great.


Suddenly, he was standing over me.

I didn't like the hungry look on his face.

I tried to make an energy barrier between us, but found my strength to be extremely low.

As in, if I use any more energy, I'll probably die.

Not that, you know, death is already coming for me.

Note the heavy sarcasm.

So I just closed my eyes, anticipating my death.

Instead, I felt a hand touch my face gently.

I opened my eyes cautiously.

Tristan was still standing over me, but he had blood on his fingers.

I'm guessing it's mine, since no one else seems to be bleeding on the floor.

He looked at it with pure black eyes.

Then he looked at me.

"Why?" He whispered.

I shivered. Tristan waqs creeping me out.

His blood lust was so high, I could practically feel it.

"Tristan!" Pazzi barked. "Enough!"

That's funny. She sounds like she's in charge.

I blinked, and Tristan's eyes had turned from black to dark brown. He remained where he was, however.

"Topaz....What's going on?" I asked shakily. After all, I was suffering from blood loss and loss of strength.

"Peri, Peri, Peri. Always so naive." She scolded with an air of dominance and power.

"You, my dear 'friend', are being put up for auction."

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"Excuse me?!"

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance With a Twist -- Chapter Six: My Own Prison

The first thing I felt was pain.


It slammed into my head, making it throb.

It forced my eyes open.

I was too dizzy to take in my surroundings.

I closed my eyes, hoping relief would come in the form of unconsciousness, but no such luck.

I opened my eyes slowly this time, and observed where I was.

Oh. My. God.

This was the smallest room I'd been in, not counting an elevator.


Four cement walls surrounded me. The entire room looked to be about 5'x8'.

The only thing in here was me,

and the chains...

that were....

....

There are chains bolting me to the wall.

I started to panic, hyperventilation looming closer. I forced myself to calm down.

Inhale, exhale.


I despise small rooms. I suffer from claustrophobia.

I know, mind over matter.

But I still avoid elevators whenever I can.


An idea hit me.

If I open my mind, I won't really be in a tiny room.

I relaxed as best as I could against my chains and closed my eyes. I tried to drop the barriers around my mind, but something was holding them up.


Or someone was screwing around with me.

I tried again, harder. Nothing.

Sweat appeared on my forehead.


I gathered my strength and rammed against the walls.

They still held.

That's when my claustrophobia took over.

"LET ME OUT!" I screamed.

My breath was coming in short gasps.



Then my stomach got confused and I dry-heaved.

Ow.

And my eyes filled with tears.

No way. I'm not going to cry.

Breath in. Breath out. Repeat.

I returned back to my mind, searching my "mind-walls" for any weakness whatsoever.

Nothing.

Yet.

I slammed into them, once, twice, three times more.


My body was spazzing from the effort.


Blood and sweat trickled down from my scalp.

I searched the walls for any weaknesses again.


A small crack appeared.

I nearly laughed in triumph, but then whoever was holding me here would assume I was psychotic.


That wouldn't be cool.

I summoned the image of a dagger in my mind, making it as real and lifelike as possible.

This should scare the crap out of whoever's doing this.

I smirked.

When I was satisfied with my work, I thrust it into the cracked wall with all of my strength.

I think the walls actually cringed.

Weird.

But so is this whole situation.

I did it again, and the walls just...faded. Vanished.

I heard a distant scream from somewhere outside my prison and in my mind.

Creepy.

I let my mind, now free, float over wherever the heck I was.

I picked out several beings; one I could identify as the vampire I met earlier, Tristan.

Another was a Tele, but their life was fading rapidly.

I picked up several unfamiliar traces as well, before returning to my own mind, leaving it "open".

The "walls" incident scared me too bad to put up my usual barriers.

I tried to remember what happened to make me be in a freaking prison, but my memory was coming up short.

All I remembered was Pazzi's screaming face....

Oh my God. Pazzi.

I let my mind roam again, trying to detect her.

I sighed in relief.

She was rapidly approaching my cell, with Tristan and the fading Tele, as well as several undistinguished others.

I think two or three.

For a second, I felt a spasm of worry for the fading Tele. Someone should get her to a doctor, and fast.

I shook it off. I was going to see Pazzi soon. Everything would be all right.

But if they'd done anything to Pazzi, especially the Vampire, I was going to make them get a taste of death.

I summoned up the remainder of my strength and waited.

Three...

Two...

One.

Chapter Five: What The Government Doesn't Know....

I picked it up, grateful for the interruption. Whoever was calling had just saved me from a lecture from Dad.





"Hello?"





"Peri! I've got a problem with my email again." Pazzi was using a code for: "Get your butt over here so we can capture Tristan!!"





See, on the phone and over the Internet, we have to use codes to get our message across.





Since the Patriot Act, the Government has been listening in on everyone's phone calls.





That's a problem for us, since the Government doesn't know we exist.





Otherwise, we'd be captured and put in science labs.





No, thank you.





So we have to use codes every time we contact one another.





And that's why our sects assign us missions.





To make sure that the Government never knows we exist.





"All right, I'll be right over." I replied and hung up.





"That was Topaz. I need to pick her up." I explained to my parents. Surprisingly, they're okay with me going out on missions randomly.





"Okay, Hun, I'll set out a plate for you for when you get back!"





"You mean we're eating that garlicky glop tonight?!" Dad asked.





"For your information, I'm trying to make spaghetti, and --"





That was definitely my cue to leave.





I slipped out of the house unnoticed, and back into my car. I got in and drove to Pazzi's place.





She was standing on her front porch, an impatient look on her face and her laptop in her arms. She quickly jumped into the car.





"All right, head for out of town, northwest."





She continued to give me directions until we pulled onto a random gravel road.





"Pazzi, are you sure that this is the right way? We're in the middle of freaking nowhere."





"Relax, Peri," Topaz said, "I've got everything under control." She smiled at me.





I trust Pazzi, so I just nodded and looked ahead.





Then, the gravel road ended abruptly.





"Okay, this is where my usefulness ends." Topaz said and got out. I turned off the car and got out, too.





"Peri, see if you can sense him." I obediently closed my eyes and relaxed, letting my mind drift over the area around us.





It was all pretty much forest...





and animals...





and....





There.There he was.





I opened my eyes and strode off into the woods to my left. Pazzi followed. I let my mind stay open, silently tracking him.





After about half a mile, I stopped, motioning for Pazzi to do so as well.





"Be on guard, Pazzi." I sent the thought to her. She nodded. Then she bent over and placed her hands on the ground. Her eyes closed and I felt her mind drift open.





"Spirits of the Earth, hear my call." She whispered.





A breeze drifted lazily towards her.





She stood up, armed and ready, and opened her eyes.





When she changes like this, she goes from bubbly to serious.





Sometimes, it scares me.





I suppressed a shiver.





"Let's go." She said quietly, and I led the way.





Suddenly, we came into a clearing.





He was sitting in a tree, looking straight at us.





"About time. Let's get this over with, already." He leapt down from his "seat".





Suddenly, a breeze blew from our direction. It was heading straight for him.





He stiffened, and I noticed that his eyes darkened. A hazy look came over his face.





Then the breeze stopped, and he snapped to attention. His eyes rested on me.





"It sings to me." He spoke.





...


...


...um...





WTF?! What is singing, freak?!





Then he was between me and Pazzi, in the blink of an eye.





Big Mistake.





I sent up a barrier of energy around him, while Pazzi started to form an earth cage. He smirked, and his eyes rested on me once more.





So piercing.





My breath caught in my throat, and my focus shattered.





A Vampire. He was a Vampire.





This would be our first fight against one.





I had no idea on how to contain him.





While my thoughts were scrambling together, he had gotten behind Pazzi.



"Pazzi!" I screamed, but it was too late.



He flung her into the air, not realizing she controlled that, too. She landed gracefully on the ground, on her feet.



His beautiful --- I-I mean, erm...weird eyes narrowed.



Dang. He's hot.



Why was my brain being retarded?! Ugh!!



My mind reached out to a tree, uprooting it and sending it flying towards him. In one fluid move, he punched it in half and the pieces went to either side of him.



He's good. And I'm virtually useless, here.



Stupid Vampire.



He ran towards Pazzi again. She set up an earth barrier to protect herself.



What happened next was both incredible and terrifying.



I blinked, and he had Pazzi in his grasp.



Behind him was a Vampire-shaped hole in her earth barrier.



So not only can he run super fast and punch through trees, now he can run through solid rock walls.



Be afraid. Be very afraid.



Every nerve in my body was screaming for me to get the heck outta there, but I had to save Pazzi.



"Peri!" She screamed, a hand reaching out to me.



Rage filled my spirit. How dare he try to hurt Topaz!



I formed a fist and started running towards him.



Something caught me and pulled me back, knocking the breath out of me. I started to look up, and something hit my head.



Then the darkness came.

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance With a Twist -- Chapter Four: Sect Council

As soon as I got home, I went straight into the kitchen. Out of all the rooms in the house, she'd most likely be in here.

Or else in the backyard gathering herbs. She has a strange hobby of gardening. I say strange because she's a doctor, and most doctors work all the time, and don't have time for a hobby.

But anyways.

Yeah, she was in the kitchen, boiling something that smelled like garlic on the stove top.

"Oh, hey, you're home! How's school?"

I ignored her and went around the kitchen, closing windows and blinds.

"It's going to smell worse if you do that." She warned.

When I was finished, I sat down at the kitchen table and stared at her.

She sighed, then came over to the table and sat down across from me. "Okay, what is it?"

"What are the sects?" I asked bluntly.

"Peridot," She scolded, "you know this! Tell me what you remember offhand."

"Light, Dark, Human, Life/Tele, Element." I replied.

Mom flicked my nose. "Lycan," She recited, "Vampire, Demon," she shuddered at the word, "Fey, Fauna."

I frowned. "Fauna? Like animals?"

She hesitated, and returned to her garlic brew.

"Yes. The Fauna are...unpredictable. People who can change into an animal at will. But not like Lycan. Lycans can change when sick, angered or at the full moon. They experience pain when they change, and it takes time, like five minutes or so, for the transformation to be complete. Some even suffer from schizophrenia." Her voice was calm and steady, her back was to me, but I could feel her sadness for these people.

"Fauna can change in the blink of an eye, or let their transformation last long enough to let you see it. The longer it takes, the more gruesome it gets."

She shuddered again. "Their animal is chosen upon the age of sixteen. From until they are twenty years of age, they are trained vigorously; in martial arts, the 'art' of transforming, languages, cultures. Many other things as well, but that is all their sect will reveal at council."

One last thing. Two highly respected members of a sect are sent to a local (like, citywide)council once a year, to review activities, problems, concerns, discoveries, and lots more I won't bore you with. Most problems are sects clashing with each other over where to settle down and not cross boundary lines.

For example, Vampires and Lycans are very territorial. So are the Fey, for that matter. Lights and Darks clash all the time, simply because they're bored and looking for a fight.

It gets annoying.

"You're just lucky our sect doesn't make us do the same thing. Otherwise, you'd be in hardcore training right now." Dad walked in, shaking his finger at me.

Just then, my cell phone chose to ring.

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance with a Twist -- Chapter 3: Escaping My Grasp

Sorry this is sooooo late!! Gomen ne!



Yupp, I'm a telekinetic. Oh, and I'm also a telepathic. I'm practically tele- everything, telephone, telecommuter, etc.

Just Kidding.

I got it from my parents. My mom can heal stuff with her mind, and my dad is also a telepathic.

No chance of me ever sneaking out.

I haven't been able to heal stuff yet, but mom's determined to find the power in me.

Our family belongs to a sect, or group, of tele-whatevers called "Life".

Personally, I think it's a lame title. But most tele-'s believe that our powers give others life, or something. I don't know. Just...whatever, man.

Anyway, Topaz and her parents belong to a sect called "Element".

You know that clothing line, Element? Yeah, that's where they get their profits from.

Greedy little people.

Vy controls water and earth, and Luke, Pazzi's dad, controls air and fire. Yeah, her dad's practically schizo.

So Topaz inherited all of it. She's ranked as a Super, just two below Ultimate. Yepp, her sect has ranks. They all have superiority issues, except a few like Pazzi and Vy.

Her dad, I'm not so sure about, but I know Vy's got him under control.

Which reminds me, never tick Pazzi off. She's got her father's temper.

Pazzi and I work as a team, which is unusual. Most sects tend to stick to themselves.

But hey, what works is what works.

Both of our sects assign us missions via email. I'm just glad they don't use snail mail anymore.

I drove home, thinking about our mission. What was this Tristan guy? I know there's other sects, but I don't remember most.

Light, Dark, Human, Life, Element...what else? Something obvious was escaping me.

I'd have to ask mom.

SORRY

I'll post tommorrow, I SWEAR!! I didn't have time!! SO SORRY!! *bows*

Quizilla Update! Who else is mad?!

Grrrs.

Quizilla ticks me off right now.

They went and changed a perfectly good website and made it look like another myspace!! I mean, my gawd!! The new one freaking blinds you!!

A lot of people are ticked off. Some say they're going back to fanfiction.net *shudder* and mibba.com. I was like "what is a mibba?!" LOL

But yeah. Until Quizilla can shape up and get their act together, I won't be posting on there for a while.

I'm really disappointed with them, guys. They really didn't need to make all those changes.

Plus, Now I can't even read my favorite stories on there, b/c half of them are missing!!! How ahnnoying is that?!

~Kairi-san {Disappointed and Angry}

Updates!!

2 POsts in 1 day!!

I'm on a freeaking roll, here!!

Like mah sushi roll!!!!!

XD

But, Chapter 1 part 2 was supposed to be up yesterday. I didn't have enough time for it, though... TT_TT

() /)
(^.~)
c( ") (")

Bunneh Sit down. ^___________________________________^

GUYS!! I've decided on the characters!!!

hehehehe...

^_^

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance With a Twist -- Chapter Two: Peri & Pazzi

"Peri!" A familiar voice called from behind me. I turned and saw my best friend Topaz running towards me."Peridot! Jeez, did the shrink just now let you out? Classes are over already, and I wanted to tell you so much!"

Her pouty expression made me laugh."Relax, Pazzi, we can talk in my car." We began walking to the parking lot together.

My name is Peridot Maire Johnson. I am 16 years old and am a Junior at Arcadia High School. I have caramel-brown, below shoulder-length hair with bright green eyes.

Hence the name Peridot.

Topaz Mariposa Banks is my best friend. She calls me Peri, and I call her Pazzi. Pazzi has auburn, mid-back hair with brown eyes. People get creeped out by her appearance, but I like it. It distracts you from her bubbly personality. She's a Junior, like me. I drive her home everyday.

Neither of us like school very much, but we understand that we need an education if we want to do good in this world.

Our mothers were in pregnancy fitness classes together. One thing led to another, and soon they were friends, coming up with names for their babies.

They obviously settled on gemstone names.Strangely enough, both our mothers were named after flowers.

My mom's name is Hyacinth (people call her Cynthia, or sometimes Cindy). Topaz's mom's name is Violet (but most people call her Vy.)

Pazzi's family comes over for dinner on Sundays. It's been a tradition since the pregnancy classes.

Mom and Vy are still great friends. It's funny, because Mom's so laid back and easygoing, while Vy is a busybody and is always doing something for others.

We got in my white, 2004 Honda Civic, with the little rainbow butterfly ornament hanging from the rear view mirror."Okay, Pazzi, what is it?" I asked. She was practically squirming in anticipation. She pulled her laptop (I know! She has a laptop! Her parents are freaking loaded !!) out of her book bag and started clicking away at something.

I leaned over to see what she was doing. Topaz pulled up her email and clicked on one called "Practice makes Perfect!".

A picture of a guy came up. He had pitch-black hair with piercing golden eyes. He looked to be in his early twenties, maybe even 19 or so.

I blinked, then groaned. "Pazzi, don't tell me we have another mission!" She grinned at me.

"Then I guess I won't tell you what this hottie's name is, then."

"Pazzi, we just finished an assignment last week! And we practically destroyed a whole freaking neighborhood doing it!"

"But, but, Peri !! This time could be fun!" She pouted.

I just laughed."Alright, fine. But this time, can we capture him in a field or something? I feel bad when we destroy people's houses." I turned the key in the ignition and drove out of the parking lot.

On the way to Pazzi's house, she chattered on about this guy we were supposed to hunt down.

"His name's Tristan. Gawd, look at those eyes! He's freaking gorgeous!!" She swooned.

"Don't drool in my car." I warned.

"Peri! Ew!" She made a face and I laughed again. I pulled into her driveway.

"Come, on, admit it!! He's cute, right?" She said, making no move to get out of the car.

I sighed.

"I guess so...

but his eyes...

they hold another depth...

one that speaks of...

darkness....

We need to be careful when we fight him."

She looked at me weird for a moment, then got out."I'll call ya later when I have more info! See ya!!" She called over her shoulder, skipping to the front door.

I looked over and noticed that she left the door open.

"Dang it, Pazzi!"

I closed my eyes and reached out to the door. The I closed it with my mind.

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance With a Twist -- Chapter 1 Part 2

" -- well, looks like our time is up. I hope you benefited from this talk." She said, looking at her wristwatch. I got up from my corner and headed for the door.

"Oh, and I signed you up for the Anger Management classes. I thought you might need it."

...
...
...
Okay, this lady was on my list.

Pasting a smile on my face, I turned and spoke: "Well, I must say, this was an excellent session, as well as the others before. But I'm afraid I must know, what is your name?"

I smiled at her hurt expression and left before she could say anything else.

Title!!!

I found a title to go with my story!!

And I made it on Quizilla!!!

{All Hearts Beat The Same} -- A Romance With a Twist

Well, I like it. ^________________^

Feedback is welcomed with open arms (unless it's hate mail!) !!!!

~Kairi-chan

Guys, I don't have a title yet. I'm also still looking for pictures for some of the characters. I apologize. *bow*

Thanks for taking the time to read my story!! IT'S NOT BLOCKED ANYMORE!!!!

Btw, I updated yesterday on quizilla. I'll do that on here hopefully later today.

~Kairi-hime