*bounces*

Page claim in the name of not-dying.

I'm getting there and the new chapter will be posted very, very soon.
I can already reveal that I have written a flashback that is a continuation from the one in my previous chapter. It will give a bit more detail and insight relating to the relation between Louie Greenthorpe and Estella Bane.
I think it looks great so far. I hope you will all enjoy it.

Look back very soon for the chapter. (Possibly even tonight.)

*blinks*

Chapter 31: Atrocity makes the heart grow yonder.



Through darkness he wandered across the fields outside of town.
Everything was new and fresh. Feelings of self-hatred were mixed with pleasure.
Innocence was hanging from the corners of his mouth.
He was responsible for the death of a young woman and liable to make the same mistake again. Over and over… until it drove him crazy.
Estella followed him. The dry grass tickled the bottom of her feet, but this was not the source of the grin that had been resting on her face since the moment of Louie’s rising from the grave. She brought eternal life to him. Her favourite creature of all.
He often broke down and cried. ‘Tears of joy because he sees everything much clearer now.’
She would place his head in her lap and gently stroke the tips of his ears.
Confusion clouded his mind. Had she blessed him with the purest gift of all or had she made him stand near the edge of hell and given him the last push.
He hated her, but he couldn’t think of anyone he would rather be with than her.
She was his mother, his murderess and his lover all in one.
‘Sleep, my baby. And wake up tomorrow to find me at your side.’
She wouldn’t leave him for the world.
He woke up the next morning and there she was. Bathing in the lake outside of Greenthorpe mansion. The sun was reflected in the tiny drops of water that hang from her fur.
Her fur was of the purest white he had ever seen and it gave her an angelic look.
He knew that she was no angel though, she was far supreme to any supernatural being.
Because she was his, and his alone.
Louie entered the body of water and could feel more then he had ever felt.
He could feel every single drop of water and he slowly moved over to Estella.
And they unified.

They spend every moment of the following months together.
Dancing, talking, hunting, feeding, unifying. Until they came…

The voices of Louie’s victims came back to haunt him.
Many a rabbit had lost their lives to him. He could hear they’re cries in the night.
When Estella’s body brushed against his and she was fast asleep.
She kept him going for a while. But the number of voices grew and it was not long before they consumed him. He could not take this life and they would never again give him peace of mind.
Until he had lost everything that he had taken from them.
Estella was everything he had and he was everything she had.
But when he was away from her, he found peace.
He would often hide in the forest surrounding Greenthorpe and he would stay away for hours.
Leaving Estella alone in the mansion. Everything changed from that time on.
He would often ignore her. Hurting himself more then she would ever know.
Louie tried to hate her, but he knew he could never do that. And so did she.
But she loved him and therefore she knew she had no choice.
When he woke up one morning, she was gone. Estella had left a little note on her pillow.

‘Dear lover,

Nothing in the world can describe the pain I will be in for the rest of my life, but to stay here with you would be intolerable cruelty. I should never have done this to you.
It is to late to regret my actions but I must face the consequences for them alone.
By the time you read this, I will be reduced to dust. And the wind will carry me across the lands. Know that in spirit I will always be with you. And know that you are the only man I have ever loved. Never forget me, for I will never forget you.
I love you dearest,

Estella.’


The note fell from Louie’s hand and found its final resting place by the foot of the grand piano. The house gave him no comfort.
Estella had left him all alone in this new world and it swallowed him whole.
He knew not what to do and with the image of Estella in mind he sank into a comfortable chair. Feeding off of rats an thinking of nothing but her for years and years to come…



* * *


“Many of you have found jobs thanks to me. Others made promises that I’ve fulfilled.
Where others talk about a better life for all of our furred friends. I delivered.
And I will continue to do so if you have faith in me. Vote not for those who will give you five more years of promises. Vote for the person that already fulfilled dozens.”

Thomas shook his head and took another sip of his ale.
He looked around the room. Strange characters had filled his house lately and the place was a mess. His lovely wife was preparing dinner in the kitchen.
Lately he felt more and more estranged from her. She turned out to be such a strong and confident woman, who was not surprised by anything and had an answer to everything.
He had been up to his nose in books about these strange creatures.
They were in front of him and he could still hardly believe his eyes.
The vampire and the zombie were involved in a deep conversation. Vampire… Zombie?
Alexander Garand sat in front of him. Recently attacked by a werewolf. A werewolf?
He still couldn’t believe this. But he had more to worry about.
Parker was running for governor. And he was sure to win the elections.
‘That man can’t be trusted. The more power he gets, the darker things will get.’
Alexander did not speak much, but when he did, people listened.
‘He has connections with the underworld. They worship him, even the werewolves are afraid of him.’ He shuddered. And so did Louie.
Werewolves were the biggest thread to his kind. A war had been going on between they’re kinds for ages. No one knew exactly how it started, but most people believe that it was because Ronahin, the first werewolf had bitten the head off of Kaijn, the first vampire.
Them being afraid of Parker was troublesome. To say the least.
Tony and Louie got up. ‘We’re going to walk over to the mansion. See how things are progressing. Does anyone care to join?”
Thomas was the only one who nodded, the rest rather stayed home for dinner.
‘Let me get my coat.’


* * *

Parker sat down on his office chair and told his secretary that she could go home today.
She was a good girl, he almost felt sorry for her. He turned the television on and was pleased to hear the news. He immediately picked up the phone and dialled the number to the Cholmondely & Smith office.
‘Cholmondely here.’ The old rabbit on the other end spoke.
‘Hey there old man, it’s Parker. Turn on your TV and watch the latest news.’
The old rabbit did as he was told. He wouldn’t dare to ignore Parker’s order.

‘…Hilda Parkers body was found this morning.
Her death came unexpected. She recovered not to long ago from an illness and had no health problems we know of…’

He did it, he killed the old bat. He’s going to make a fortune now.
‘Congratulations Gary.’ Cholmondely said coldly. ‘That makes you a multi-millionaire.’
Gary smirked. He hadn’t been this pleased in a long time.
‘It’s only the first step in the big plan.’ Gary said.
‘Contact them. Tell them to come to Carrotus.’
Cholmondely scratched his chin nervously. ‘Sure thing Gary, anything to help you.’
Parker put down the phone. They would crawl through the dust for him. Soon, they all will.


* * *

Tony looked around the dining room, it was unrecognisable.
The curtains had been torn down and the antiquities had been removed.
They must be storing them somewhere else. Many cloths lay on the floor.
Uncomfortable but welcome beds for the many refugees that would arrive the next morning.
‘Satisfied?’ Thomas asked Louie.
He nodded. ‘I hope they didn’t break anything while moving it though.’
The three of them walked around the house, the place was sure a lot more colourful and fresh then it had been before. Several men and women were still cleaning the place up.
Removing old tapestry, cleaning the walls and hard wooden floors.
‘They’re doing a great job.’ Thomas said.
‘You’ve been here for ages, you could’ve cleaned.’ Tony said jokingly.
At first he wasn’t sure Louie got the joke or not, but then he remembered he had never seen a smile on his face. ‘I think we’d best head back, dinner is probably ready and Susan has put some great effort into it.’ He said to break the silence that followed.

The three men left the mansion but stopped cold in their tracks.
The mutilated body of a young female lay only several meters away.
Dry lumps of blood stuck to her fur and it looked as if she had a difficult time breathing.
Without saying a word to each other, the three men approached her.
‘Are you alright?’ Thomas asked, trying to make his voice sound calm and nurturing.
Whether it was his voice or the girls fear they didn’t know. But she cowered at the mere sight of them. ‘Do not touch me, please leave. Please do not hurt me.’ Blood streamed down from her lips as she spoke, her voice was so soft. As if she spoke with the voice of a little child.
Whoever had done this to her had broken her spirit.
‘Poor girl, she’s lost it.’ Tony whispered. He could be so subtle.
She didn’t reply, she tried to crawl away from them burying her bloody fingers in the soft grass. Thomas noticed that an exceptional amount of blood seemed to drip down from underneath her body. ‘We have to get her to Susan before she bleeds to death.’ He said determined. ‘Whether she wants to or not is not important right now. We need to get her to my place if we want to save her life.’ Tony and Louie both looked at each other.
‘What did you have in mind?’ The first one said.
Yakira’s spirit realized that she had struggled enough for one day.
Her body wanted to continue escaping from the potential evildoers.
But she could not go on any longer. She rested on one of her arms and collapsed.
‘I guess that makes it a lot easier.’ Louie said with an indifferent tone to his voice.
Thomas squatted down next to her and rolled her over onto her back.
‘Alright Tony, you grab her legs and…’ He stopped right in the middle of his sentence.
Several letters had been spelled out across the cloth on her chest.
He looked over at Louie, as if he would somehow magically have an answer.
It looks like he did. ‘Estella Bane… This can’t be.’
‘You know who did this to her?’ Tony asked. Louie had never seen him this angry before.
He was impressed with Tony, who hadn’t thought highly off before.
But here he was standing, face to face with a vampire at least 15 times his age. And with an attitude. ‘She turned me into this… thing.’ After all of this time, he stilled found it difficult to call himself a vampire. They weren’t exactly known for they’re calm and friendly nature.
‘Let’s get this girl to the house first, he can tell us later.’ Thomas said to Tony, trying to calm him down and bring his attention back to the more important matters at hand.

‘What happened?’ Alexander said as he opened the door. ‘Who is this?’
‘We do not know, we found her at the mansion. Poor girl has been pretty roughed up.’
Tony said as he and Thomas placed her down on the couch.
Susan looked after her and healed her wounds. ‘It looks like something has attacked her eyes as well. What kind of monster could do this to her?’
‘A friend of Louie’s apparently.’ Tony said.
Yakira opened her eyes quickly, she could hardly see anything.
Several figures were surrounding her, she looked into the face of one of them.
She grabbed his hand. ‘Tell them not to hurt me.’ She said, before she drifted of again.
Her hand slid out of Louie’s who seemed dumbstruck for a moment.
He felt something soar through his body. Something he had not felt in a long time and then leaned over to her and whispered in her ear to make sure that no one else would hear him.
‘No one will as long as I’m around.’

Awesome, Slay

So who's up next? Let's not leave it a week or two before someone prods the next author.

If it's me, then I'm afraid to say I have totally forgotten what I wanted to do next and how I wanted to take my character by now, sorry D=

So you'll stop writing after you told us you still wanted to participated?
That's really awesome Risp

That was FOUR MONTHS ago. They say that a week is a long time in politics. Well, imagine how long four months are in real life? A whole four months!
A lot can happen in four months. Like, for example, MMORPGs and major school projects.
Anyway, would you have preferred it if I hadn't told you that and cost this story another month or two by not posting anything?

You are right Risp. I'm sorry about what I said, it's a shame though, I liked your writing and I'm sure we all did. You will be missed.

I believe Acid is up next, he's going to have to write an extra long chapter, because he missed out the last time.
Go for it mister Waterback!

Yays! The story lives!

Really, me next? I thought there was somebody between me and Slay. I'm currently bogged down between schoolwork and a coding project right now, but I'll get crackin' as soon as possible, which will be within a week I assure you.

So, making any progress Acid?

I've made a little progress, but it's taking a while. I figure I can do one of two things: spend a long time writing my next chapter and give you guys the good, long chapter that you deserve, or speed through it and upload a piece of crud that won't do justice to the story.

I think we all prefer quality, and we know you can provide it for us.
But please don't take to long

Well; we could get the next person to post a chapter, which will give him time to make it.

[Otherwise this story may take longer to write than the community can exist]

That won't work since this is a continuous story.

So? I can't see why a chapter from another's viewpoint posted early would affect the story that much.

Yes, but Ducky's character is close to Diamondus.
What if she decides that there will be a big fight on Carrotus, or that the refugees are coming. And Acid has already written his chapter in such a way that this contradicts with hers.
I think we should just wait for him to be finished. I know that this is annoying, but I think that it would be more annoying if there would be conflict in the timeline of our story.

Well I suppose thats true, although I think a short private discourse between the two contibutors would be able to solve any issues of clashing between chapters.

But hey, its not my story, whatever.

It's all of ours, so you have just as much to say as everyone else.

this threads been out for over 1,5 years longer, but still gets outnumbered (in posts) by the RR thread!

UNBELIEABLE!

You must be so happy.

not a crap, carry on ;]

We'll move on to the next in line in three days.

No excuses this time.

Gosh; wasn't it three days three days ago? My how time flies!

*despondent sigh*

I know, but I'm sick and tired of being the nanny for some of these people.
I asked the people who wanted to continue with this story to reply.
They knew the rules and I was hoping they'd follow them.
Come on guys, stick to your word.

(Only directed at the people who don't do anything.)

Perhaps it's time for a zero tolerance policy.

You may end up with nobody left with a zero tolerance policy :P

Not even Nobody would post under that.

But yeahs, c'mon peoples!

I always pick the worst times to go idle, don't I.

All right, I'm going to make a confession. I haven't been busy, or at least too busy to write my chapter. I simply forgot about it half the time, and didn't feel like writing for the other half.

I do have a little bit written, though, and can probably get a chapter finished soon if I put my mind to it. So, I ask this: if I were to finish my chapter before the next one is posted, would you accept it?

Hell, *I* haen't got any problem with that, just so long as someone posts something before our characters get bored and decide to finnish things themselves.

Ok, but hurry.

I don't see any hurrying.

Gaddarnit people! This si a professsional outfit!

(Filter bypass. Please refrain from doing this.. - CT)

Oh, come ON!

Perhaps we should skip Acid's chapter then?

Sooo... I be writing my chapter. *shrugshrug*

Yeah, you guys should skip me. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant that you should just go ahead and write your chapter, and I may try to slip one in if inspiration strikes. So far, it hasn't.

*sigh* another chapter bites the dust. Maybe we should just adopt a ranom post when inspiration strikes mrthod?

we could, I wouldnt mind..

(ps, DD read your 'PM yet?)