“Ok dude!” one of the Olsen Twins said while holding up a thumb to give the cool sign.
Hallie didn’t know which twin it was and quite frankly it wasn’t important. She had never seen the show Full House before and felt that as she tortured herself with the overly high saccharine intake, maybe there was a reason she hadn’t.
But despite the show’s awfully fake sweetness, she really had no other choice.
She wasn’t strapped down and forced to watch the show like a victim of the TV Terrorist would be. No, that villain was locked up months ago thanks to Hatman and CrazySugarFreakBoy!
This particular torture was self inflicted because first off, there was little else on this late at night and second, because if she did fall asleep those horrible dreams would return.
Lately several of the Legion had helped her with getting to sleep. Visionary, Epitome, the Shoggoth, Jay, CSFB, Dancer and so on all found different ways of lulling her to sleep. Upon hearing this Trickshot offered to do the same.
Of course she dreaded his appearance. His cocky, narrow-minded brashness was all she needed tonight.
As the evening turned to night and the moon climbed in the sky however, no Trickshot could be found. At first she was quite relieved at this but the later it got the lonelier and afraid she got. It’s one thing to know of the dark things of the night, but it’s something altogether deeply frightening to experience them.
Hallie was killed by one and her friends, those she felt responsible for, died as well. Their screams tear through her soul.
So now she drowns herself in sub-mental sitcoms and tried to fall asleep, even though she doesn’t want to.
Is it any wonder she starts to curse Trickshot in her mind? Listening to his stupidity would be better than trying to focus on TV while really focusing on the things that move at night.
“That little girl really is quite precocious. Don’t you think?” a voice that’s moves at night asked from behind the couch.
“AAAAIIIEE!” Hallie screamed as she leaped up, spilling the plate of fried bread on the floor.
She spun around to see a little girl with red hair and even redder eyes looking up at her. Being the keeper of the LL files she knew who it was right away. “What… it’s you! That vampire kid! What are you doing in here? You can’t come in here! I’m going to wake…”
Annabelle plopped on the couch and picked up the fried bread. She placed it on its plate and then licked her fingers. “Ah! I believe that would be very tasty to me, if I was still mortal.” She looked up at Hallie who was using her fingers to make a cross as she started to inch towards an exit.
“Please Hallie, don’t be afraid. I’m not here to hurt you or anyone else. As I’ve said before, I don’t feed on people. Please, sit down.” She patted the couch beside her.
Hallie normally would have ran to wake Sir Mumphrey or whomever she could find but there was something in Annabelle’s eyes that looked friendly, warm and gentle. She sat down on the recliner instead; her fingers still in a cross. “I think I’ll just sit here instead.”
Annabelle smirked with her little mouth and replied, “Suit your self. And you can drop the fingers. That only works for those who believe in Him and you’re not sure what you believe.” Hallie was about to object but realized she might be right.
“Besides, crosses don’t effect me anyway. They should but they don’t. Enough about me though. Let’s talk about you.”
“Wait. Hold the modem. How can you just walk right in here? This place is protected by supernatural threats and besides, you have to be invited in.”
“Your sub-human butler invited me in during that Crisis and Sir Mumphrey agreed to it. Besides, I’m no threat to anyone here. Now stop changing the subject. I know about the nightmares.”
“What? Great. Now I’ve got vampires commenting on my sleep habits.”
“You could have far worse commenting on them. I try to keep up on these things. Hallie we all have nightmares. I still see a very evil man killing my parents for example.”
Hallie could hear the deep sorrow in Annabelle’s voice. This wasn’t just a fearsome creature of the night. She was also a lost child-adult.
Annabelle continued, as she looked like she was watching something from long ago. “We were simply following this man to his cabin. It was on my father’s newly bought property in the wilds of colonial America. My parents, my older brother and I. We were fooled into believing this man was going to make arrangements with my father to share the land. He said he was allergic to the sunlight and that we had to do this at night. My mother objected but my father pushed her to it. So we went through the woods following Dominic to his cabin.”
Hallie moved a little closer in her chair.
“We honestly thought the New World would be fun adventure. Hallie we never thought of the dangers. Well…” her eyes moistened, “Well we were wrong. Dominic had the local wolf pack waiting for us. He then killed…” she forced herself through, “He killed them right in front of us. My father, my mother died… instantly. Then that monster turned his friends on us. The wolves attacked and we tried to fight them off.”
“Were they were wolves? Vampires?”
“Dominic was the only vampire at the scene. But we can command animals and that’s what he did. They were trying to kill us and if it weren’t for Eliza they would have.” She wiped some tears away.
“Eliza?”
“Dominic’s wife. She was a vampire too. She brought us to their cabin. Her abusing husband, obviously thrilled with his “meal” took off for more conquests. She hated him and cared for us. She didn’t do it to spite him. No she was genuinely concerned for us. She decided to turn us into vampires to save us from dying of blood loss.”
“She killed you to save you? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Yes. I know. But that’s what happened. My history isn’t the point however Hallie. Every day I see Dominic’s eyes. Every day in my coffin I see my parent’s eyes. The last thing I’ll ever remember about my mother was her eyes when my father was killed and then she died. It’s hard, oh so hard Hallie.”
Hallie didn’t know what to say so she let her first thought blurt out, “Why are you sharing this with me?”
“I pretend to be spooky but I’m not. Not deep down. Deep down I care and worry deeply for all people. I know what goes on here and I know why you don’t sleep. As I said, we all have nightmares or daymares. Listen. Let me tell you what I do to chase them away.”
Hallie nodded for Annabelle to go on.
“As a vampire we cant just go poof and be a bat. We have to focus on being a bat, than as we meditate on this we can turn. Because of this I’ve had quite a lot of practice in meditation. At day when I wake after a daymare I focus on calming down and meditating. I think if you try real hard you could lull yourself to sleep as well. Here, lie down.” Annabelle got up and Hallie moved onto the couch.
“Close your eyes.”
She did.
“If you could turn into an animal what animal would it be?”
“I’ve never thought of it really.”
“Hm. lets try a beautiful bird. Now concentrate. Think of a bird. Think of what they do and how they do it. The wings, the tail. Imagine what it would be like to have a tail of feathers. What would it feel like? And the wings. When you spread them how does it feel? Feel the wind blowing through your feathers.”
Annabelle continued for half an hour before Hallie’s breathing followed a rhythmic pace. She allowed herself a smile and melted into the night.
About half past for Trickshot stumbled into the room, “Hey babe! Sorry I was late but Big Thick Eddie said he could beat me at poker and… huh.”
Carl Bastion watched Hallie sleep for a moment.
“Huh. Guess you didn’t need ol’ Carl after all. Good for you kid.”
He walked up to his room to pass out on the bed.
Fini.
a.g.
Amazing Guy
Scott’s Site! Featuring Caption the Pic (where action figures talk!), Amazing Tales on the Web (stories and micros of the Parodyverse!), and JLA Micros (The entire JLA, as micro heroes!)
