• /Part One/


    Chelsea had been running for a good ten minutes before realizing that he would know where to find her, and she didn’t care either. That willow tree that hung over the pond in the park, he knew it was the only place Chelsea would go after she had run away from him like that. Connor knew that she was terrified as well, and that she was in danger. She shouldn’t have run off crying like she did. She had finally let out those bloddy words that were the fall to all humans, other than hubris of course, she had told Connor that she loved him. He had, after all, been protecting her for the past couple months from the evil that haunted her.
    “I love you...” she whispered and ran off with her face in her hands away from the cafe, when Connor stood up, gawking at her and calling for her.
    “Chelsea! Come back! Where...” He trailed off, she knew he would not even have to think of where she was going.
    She thought back on how stupid she was being, he couldn’t possibly love her, not when all he envied was that girl with the red lustered lipstick. Chelsea was plain, dark brown hair, grey stormy eyes, and pale skin. The only pretty thing about her, she thought, was her lips, full and pink. She slowed to a jog and finally a walk, letting her feet guide her to reassurance, her mind wandering. Going back to the time when Conner had first saved her, there had been a masquerade ball. Dressed in an elegant deep blue floor length gown with the plunge in the back, her ivory-coloured heels, and a masque that was made of ivory and gold lace, a white ribbon held it to her face as the night went along. She had her hair done in a half updo that allowed her long hair pour over onto her shoulder, it had been slightly curled. Chelsea smiled at the memory of being so dressed up, only for everything to be ruined, not that it mattered really, it led her to the man she loved. This ball was held in someone’s mansion, she couldn’t recall who, and it was elaborately filled with strange rooms and stairs leading to unknown places. A man had asked her to dance, and she accepted, to be a good guest.
    Later he had danced her out to the balcony somehow, then pulled her suddenly into one of the staircases that so strangely appeared, dragging her roughly by the hand up flight after flight of dark, dank spiral stairs. After she didn’t know how long, and she had gotten closer to the wall, she jerked her hand away. The strange man cursed and pulled out a dagger, but she was already running down the stairs, trying desperately not to slip. But her captor was quick, and caught her by the hand again, while she jerked around to get away from him, he had slipped on the slippery stone. Upon falling he had landed on his blade, puncturing a lung and hit his temple on the corner of a step. He was obviously dying, blood dripping down the stairs and Chelsea had screamed for the first time that night.
    Chelsea frowned while climbing up the willow, remembering how much of a coward she had been to scream. She had slipped on the blood and was starting to fall off the inner curve of the stairs, but the grip the man had on her was holding fast. When she fell she had flipped over and hit the side of that flight of stairs with a hard thud that knocked all of the air out of her. She hung, trying to figure out how to get up without falling to her death, or breaking her wrist, while she dangled the man’s blood dripped down his arm and was making her slip away. That was when she started to panic, when she thought she had no other choice than to die. Then he let go, with a harsh, raspy laugh. Chelsea screamed as she fell, it wasn’t long though until she landed heavily into someone’s arms at the bottom, and he smiled at her. Chelsea sniffed at that thought, Conner, though she had not known at the time who he was, had just saved her life, she, looking simply horrid after that, was terrified, and he just smiled. Her savior had been wearing a dashing navy suit, and a navy blue masque tied to his face with a blue ribbon, his eyes were a deep emerald green and his hair a lovely almond colour.
    He had set her down and ran up the stairs a little ways, then came back, sweat beaded his forehead. He looked her over and assessed her wrist, then her ankle, which was swollen and very red. For the first time he spoke to her.
    “It’s sprained, you should not be walking for awhile. Are you in pa...” he trailed off, he knew she wouldn’t be in pain, adrenaline would have kicked in and she wouldn’t feel it for awhile. His wasn’t a voice Chelsea knew, but it wasn’t completely a stranger’s voice either. Something about his tone relaxed her and made her feel safe. This man whom had saved her then picked her up by the waste and half carried her away from the party, keeping to the side of the room to avoid attention. He made it look as if they had been dancing, with small spins and a big smile spread across his face, but he never let her feet touch the ground. Chelsea felt relieved when they made it outside, away from wandering eyes and any questioning looks. He walked back, behind the house where there was a garden, beautiful and full of blooms even in the dark of night. White moon flowers blossomed everywhere sparkling with a chilled dew. There was several benches down the way and he carried Chelsea to one, setting her down gently and sitting next to her. She looked up at him shyly.
    “Thank you, thank you for catching me...”
    He smiled at her again, softly this time, less strained and then looked up at the stars. Chelsea lifted her hand to his cheek and cupped it lightly, then moved her hand back to untie his masque. He didn’t stop her, nor did he move. When the masque slipped off into her hands he then removed her masque, taking the ivory ribbon from the back of hers and the blue ribbon that came from his and knelt before her. He lifted her dress slightly and slipped her heels off, placing them to the side, then proceeded to wrap her ankle with the interlacing ribbons. They surprisingly matched her outfit perfectly, she giggled now thinking how that had been her biggest concern at the moment. Chelsea remembered how somber he looked when he head was slightly bent forward, but the moment their eyes met again he was always smiling.