Vampiru - Prologue

   Some say the world will end in fire,      
     Some say in ice.      
     From what I've tasted of desire,      
     I hold with those who favour fire.      
     But if it had to perish twice,      
     I think I know enough of hate      
     To say that for destruction ice      
     Is also great,
     And would suffice      
       
   Robert Frost      
       
       
_________________________________________________________________      
       
       
       
Day 13, Month 8, Year 256 of the Scorpion      
       
Dear Diary,      
       
As you know - I must be going crazy, talking to a diary! Anyway, as you know, I have thought long and hard of ways to see to it that things in this reality happen the way they did in my own. Now, thanks to some help from Mother, I have finally thought of that way. I will simply engineer events to make sure they are the way I remember them. Easy as pie.      
       
Speaking of pie, I'd better keep an eye on the time - that cake I'm baking for Mother should be ready soon, and I have no wish to see it turn out the way the cake I forgot to put flour in did. Once of that sort of thing was quite enough.      
       
~JT~      
       
_________________________________________________________________      
       
25th December 2009      
       
       
All was quiet at 75 Monks Way, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. 10-year-old Danielle Tamari lay awake, listening to the 2 AM silence and praying that the sun would rise soon. It was Christmas Day and she wanted to see her presents.        
       
She was just starting to fall asleep when it happened. She didn't see it at first. One minute, she was the room's only occupant and the next, a shadowy figure slipped out of the darkness in the far corner, near the door, even though she never heard it open.It made no noise as it moved towards her, appearing to hover several inches above the ground. It was standing over her by the time she saw it. Wide-eyed, she stared up at it.      
       
I'm having a nightmare      
       
The creature was wearing a cloak which hid its face. All that could be seen were two pupil-less blood red eyes shining from inside the hood. Despite the almost total blackness in the room, Dani imagined that it could see her, and was laughing silently at her terror. Her heart started racing and she found it hard to breathe. This thing was what she had always imagined death must be like. She held her breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, not wanting to see what would happen next.    
     
Something cold and sharp pressed against her throat, just over her jugular; lightly at first, but then with more pressure. It began to hurt.    
       
Oh god... I'm going to die...      
       
The sharp something pulled away from her suddenly, at the same time as a voice spoke from somewhere near the window. What was said, Dani had no idea, as it was not in English.      
       
"Ssiph, Tarrus (Stop, Terror)."      
       
There was silence for several long minutes, during which Dani kept her eyes shut and willed herself to believe it was all just a bizarre dream. Then another voice replied from somewhere over her head, in what appeared to be the same strange language.    
       
"A'riy iyaau ziesv mi esi sihseih i mislifh ralkaio ko, Solkar. Koverrs wauhhl uzos irrues esl, auso wo? (I should have know you would be here, Walnut. Keeping watch over your girl, are we?)"      
       
"A'riy ira ekvuukeba su ream invoossik kodous (I won't bother to answer that.)." The first voice said coldly. "Ku hesk kha sohr? Tha et avrae e hinev (Why do you want to hurt her? She is only human.)."      
       
What were they saying? The girl wondered. Not knowing scared her; they could be saying anything and she wouldn't have a clue. They could be sentancing her to death or something. This was certainly the strangest nightmare she'd ever had, and the most realistic.      
       
"Avui drux rho, gidiso. Aeie driw whaud addach hka hauya ir drha sesua. Doril ha war mav victorio (I need food, for one thing. And you know what effect she will have on the future. Killing her will ensure my victory.)."      
       
"Mubwu u mubwa naito. Wlotzar, arka doikr phoroduz. Tes a'riy vid well aido haelm he. (Maybe and maybe not. But whatever else, it would cause a paradox. You know the future must not be changed.)"      
 
Dani's last conscious thought before she fell asleep for real was that this whole thing must be just in her mind, brought on by watching too much sci-fi and horror.
 
She didn't know that two mortal enemies continued arguing quietly for half an hour over whether or not she would die. She didn't know that someone she had not yet met made a deal with the devil - not quite literally, but almost - to save her life. She didn't know an alien kept watch over her as she slept until the dawn came. She didn't hear them whisper "I'm sorry", didn't feel them brush a strand of blonde hair away from her face or kiss her gently. She didn't know that, two short years in the future, her life would be changed forever.      
       
Dani slept on, peaceful and unaware.