Sorry. I meant to have this up on Halloween but... shrugs You know how it is. For the record, I meant for this story to have kind of a sweet ending. I have no idea what happened there. Must talk to the doctors about cutting down my dosage I think...
And a word of advice...? Never EVER trust your friends with what scares you. glares in Erika-chan's general direction
Lyrics and title are stolen from Siouxsie and the Banshees.
"I dreamt of sin and aftermath
I dreamt of centuries laid bare
And when I woke not knowing I knew
I led the Double Life"
~ Siouxsie and the Banshees
Zelgadis Greywers tapped a spoon against his thigh impatiently. Idly he wondered if he hammered it on his leg if he could bend it. Hmm. Seemed more than likely. With an irritated sigh he put down the silverware and stood up, eyes scanning the dining hall restlessly. He walked over to the windows and peered outside, annoyed that Amelia was taking so long. She was due to have dinner with him twenty minutes ago! He scowled at the window, arms crossed over his chest. Gods, he hated to be kept waiting.
"Sorry I'm late, Zelgadis-san," purred a voice almost directly in his ear. Zelgadis whirled and nearly fell backwards through the window.
"Amelia," he said with some relief. "Where were you?"
"I had to get changed," Amelia explained with a smirk. Zelgadis, who had been pondering how strange it was that he hadn't heard her enter, felt his brain grind to a screeching halt. All mental processes ceased for a second or two as his eyes soaked up the sight presented before him. At first his poor mind could only register a more than ample amount of cleavage. Amelia was wearing a dress of dark carmine with a neckline that plunged all the way to her navel. There were slits up either side of the dress, working to display even more supple flesh.
Zelgadis tried gallantly to fend off a nosebleed.
"Amelia!" he managed to choke out at last. "What are you wearing?!!"
"You don't like it?" she pouted, biting coyly at her thumbnail and looking at him with big doe eyes. "I could take it off."
Zelgadis sputtered. "WHAT did you say?" he finally managed to gasp out. He could feel his face flushing as he tried without much success to peel his eyes away from everything Amelia's dress was not covering, which was quite a bit.
"Zelgadis," Amelia said and moved closer, her arms going around his neck. His arm grazed one of her breasts and he flinched as though he'd been scalded. He could feel his EARS blushing now...
Amelia sighed, her breath tickling his neck. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I know you don't have any romantic feelings for me but..." She sobbed a little. "Oh Zelgadis, I just couldn't help myself. Seeing you again..." She murmured the words against his ear and Zelgadis tried to swallow past a blockage that had suddenly appeared in his throat. His tongue felt like a hunk of dust.
"Amelia," he managed after he'd produced a sufficient amount of saliva to talk without croaking. "It's okay. Maybe you should go get changed though."
Amelia nodded and drew away a little; her eyes half lidded and warm. "Of course. But first... Will you dance with me, Zelgadis?"
Zelgadis tried to say no and was appalled when instead his head nodded up and down like an automaton. A seductive smirk pulled Amelia's red mouth up at the corners and she took him gently by the hand and led him to a clear space in the hall. She placed his hand on her waist and stepped in close, leading him in a slow, sensual dance that spun them around the hall. The repeated turns were starting to make Zel feel slightly dizzy, and the fact that Amelia kept snuggling up to him far closer than was appropriate wasn't helping his mental state one iota.
When they stopped and she closed her mouth over his he hardly even registered that what was happening was in fact reality. His first instinct was to flee the sudden contact, but another part of him made him be still, accepting the sweet taste of those crimson lips. He had been alone for so long...
But... AMELIA?
Amelia was a close friend, and although she was indeed attractive he had never considered her in... that way. The thought caused him to open his eyes, peering carefully at the small form crushed against him. He found trying to look at something so close up was a strain on his eyes however and so shifted his gaze to a mirror hanging nearby. He expected to see her body enfolded in his and so was shocked when he found that the only person in the mirror was himself.
Zelgadis pushed Amelia away roughly, mind reeling. What was she? A vampire of some sort? What? Amelia stared at him for a second with hurt eyes, and then her face smoothed out into an expressionless mask. "I see you know something is not right," she told him in a cold voice, one eyebrow cocking in a sarcastic manner.
"Who are you? What have you done with Amelia?!"
"At the top of the stairs is a locked room," the Amelia creature chanted in a low, dead voice. "My secret chamber that no outsider views, for entry is forbidden. Behind this door is my other self." Suddenly she was leaping at him, hands stretched into claws that went straight for his eyes. Zelgadis was knocked to the floor, the hissing twisting thing above him spitting and cursing as it tried to swipe at his face. Grunting he threw it aside and jumped to his feet. The creature, which now resembled a dark fog in human form glared at him balefully with shining yellow lamps of eyes and then moved backwards into the mirror. The glass surface rippled like water. Zelgadis stared, and then whirled as he saw reflected in the mirror that someone was coming up behind him.
Nothing was there, but he felt cold, string hands grasp him about the throat and yank him backwards. He expected the sound of shattering glass as his back hit the mirror but instead there was only a numbing cold that spread throughout his entire being. Darkness warmed over his mind even as he flailed his limbs in desperation...
The candles flickered in eternal vigilance, reflected back for all time by the mirrored walls and the polished mahogany floor. A figure sat on the ivory cushioned couch in the centre of the room, watching as her companion paced restlessly, his image reflected back over and over and over.
"Zelgadis-san..." she said gently. He did not reply but instead fell to his knees suddenly, one hand touching the glass before him.
"Trapped," he muttered.
"Don't worry Zelgadis-san, I'm sure we'll get out of here... one day..."
"And how many days has it been already?" He sighed, holding back ears that would shatter upon hitting the floor. Amelia did not answer, and she did not go to comfort him. She just looked at her hands and wondered....
All I ever needed was twice removed...
Amelia hummed to herself delightedly as she ran a brush through her hair and checked her earrings. She was going to have dinner, ALONE, with Zelgadis-san! Of course, he was just a friend and all, but she still wanted to look her best. Grinning, she looked herself over in the mirror. She'd changed into a dress, but nothing so fancy as to make Zelgadis uncomfortable. The neckline was a V, showing just the tops of her breasts. She wondered if maybe it was a little risqué, but then remembered her older sister had had a penchant for much lower necklines than she would ever wear.
Humming again she reached for a necklace, lowering her eyes to the vanity table for a second in order to find one. She looked back up and froze. There was someone behind her.
Herself.
Her mouth dropped open as she pulled in breath to scream but she never got the chance. Her twin seemed to move forward and then everything was consumed by blackness.