Actions reap Consequences [a log]

[Epiphany]

It had been another one of those days and she had spent a lot of it outside, much to the irritation of her skin. It itched. She could ignore it but when her mind drifted off of whatever task she was doing her skin started to itch again. Sunglasses were also her friend. By now it was obvious to her that something was wrong. The looks she got form the people at the church and the knot in her stomach that simply wasn't going away. It couldn't be apprehension but she wasn't going to admit what she thought it was either. She had to talk to someone and she wasn't going to worry Damon over it until she had more of a confirmation. This is what brought her to Aiden's door, room 113, on this evening. The sun had just started to go down. Knock knock. "Aiden? Aiden are you in?"

Where else would I be?" Aiden drawled out as he opened the door and leaned out into the hallway at her. "Well, well lookie who it is. I'd begun to think you had moved on without me again." He was in a mood this evening and peered over the top of his sunglasses at her. "Ya look different. Want to come in?" A hand waved towards the near pitch blackness of his room.

Epiphany had a strange cast of family members and seeing him reminded her that he may not know about Gwen. She would get around to that. She would. At what he said about her looking different, Epiphany only smiled.. but it wasn't one of those happy smiles "Thanks" and she pushed her way in , giving her brother a bump in the process. The darkness of the room didn't bother her.. Oddly enough. "You could have been out.. hunting or something. You do, do that still right? But I'm glad your not." She was wringing her hands together. "Do I look a lil pale to you?" Epiphany was paler than normal, like she had been spending a great deal of time out of the sun. A bit of the color was washed out of her features. Not only that, but her skin was a little cool. It wasn't cold, only felt like that of a person who had been outside on a cool day without a jacket.

There was a beauty to having a mixed cast of family members; it made things interesting and Aiden was definitely interesting. And worried. In all the time Aiden had called Pip his sister she had always greeted him in one way - pouncing him into the floor. The fact that he got a bump and a not-so-happy smile made him study her all the harder. "Pale? I've seen sheets with better color. Been living underground since I last saw ya or what?" He pulled his glasses off and frowned. "It's too early to hunt by the way." There was no way he was going outside until he was 100% sure the sun was completely down.

"That's not funny Aiden!" She pressed the ball of her hands into her eyes as she lowered her head and even bent forward. Frustration is what she sounded like even if she didn't mean it. "Argh!" and she pulled her hands down and took a few calming breaths. "I think that something may be wrong with me. I mean, sure, I've been spending a lot of time underground cause I was drafting out the specs for the underground clinic but I've been underground for days before and nothing's been like this." the 'this' was her pointing at her face as though there was something there to see. "I got this.. stomach pain and.. and my jaw hurts and that hasn't happened before. I don't get sick Aiden." could he tell that she was getting worked up over this by the way her heart rate was increasing?

"Whoa! Whoa! It was a joke! Sheese!" His frown grew by a mile and he tried reaching out to grasp her arms to help calm her down. Her increased heartrate did not go unnoticed and he licked his lips a tad nervously. He hadn't been kidding when he told her he hadn't been out to hunt and the increased beating of her heart was serving to bring the thought to the front of his mind. Swallowing, he focused on her face. "Have you done anything unusual lately?"

She wasn't in long sleeves, so her skin was exposed if he was able to feel the temperature difference there. As he had her arms now Epiphany kept herself steady and held her breath for a moment or two before slowly exhaling. "Unusual?" She had to think about that. She's done a lot of things. "You know this is me you're talking to, right? I.. do a lot of things others may consider unusual." It was the truth! She was trying and going over the past few days in her mind. "The church.. the nuns and priest have been looking at me oddly. I.. I spent time with Damon."

Having been sleeping shortly before she knocked he was dressed in simply a white undershirt and black drawstring pants so the coolness of her arms would be met by the coldness of his own and made him stare at her in surprise. "You're cool to the touch." Things were starting to add up in his mind but it couldn't be, could it? She had a point about doing a lot of unusual things though and so he amended the question. "Unusual for you? Damon?" He couldn't fully place the name but it stirred the thoughts in his head.

“Only a little..." Cold that is. It was said a bit defensively in low tone and she tugged at her arms to try and pull them from his hold. Suddenly she wanted to wrap her arms about herself. "Damon. You know, my Vampire." It was one of the ways she referenced him to other people.. It wasn't said or meant in a negative way, it was a name she had been using for him for years. With Aiden asking her these questions the thought that had been beating at her mind only hit harder but she still pushed it down with the shred of denial she had left. "I've told you about him before, haven't I? We usually, share.. blood." And it was starting to be awkward talking to her brother about this but, why not him? "But it's been a week or two since..."

For a moment Epiphany was rewarded with a sight that was rarely seen: Aiden Aurora completely silent and in shock. Vampire. Shared blood. The last puzzle piece clicked into place then and he tried recovering his shock with a cool mask that couldn't quite hold together. "How much did you... did you take?"

To his question she only gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know." It was true.. she didn't. "I haven't died, if that's what you're getting at. And..and we've done this before but.. but it.. it fades after a few handful of days." and she slowly started shaking her head. "you can't be saying.. what I think you're saying. It's just not possible." Why? She didn't know. It was a hope perhaps.

"I know you haven't died." The sound of her heartbeat confirmed that fact loud and clear. "You haven't been changed." He waved her towards his bed if she wanted to sit down. Surprisingly it was made and as neat as the rest of the room. "You are suffering the after-effects of having lamia blood in your system. It's not much different from being what I am."

"It's suppose to wear off" Epiphany spoke softly and she did wrap her arms around herself and felt the knot that was in her stomach only grow tighter. HIs waving hand resulted in her following it's leading. "I've always... I wanted...." and she sighed as she sat down. "I didn't care about what was going to happen but I thought that it would run it's course and .... wear off. I've never had this before." There she went again with the 'this'. "One time.. I had his blood before. A lot and.. then again a few days later and there were some effects. But they wore off. They wore off."

The bed sank in a bit as Aiden came to sit down beside her with a sigh. "I have heard the more you take the longer it takes for the effects to wear off." Aiden wasn't going by experience now. He was still rather young for the half breed he was and had yet to sire anyone of his own. "Have you spoken with him about this? You said it has been a few weeks now."

Quiet she was, her arms tightening around her stomach as she bent over thighs. She was sure she knew what that knot in her stomach was now. Hungry, yes, but not for regular food. "That's why they were staring at me. At the church. They still let me in, but they were looking at me like I was damned. They kept looking at me." Clearly she was focused on something and it was the church and the other thoughts going through her head. "I kept itching outside in the sun. It didn't hurt, just an.. an annoyance." Now she drew her legs up, knees to her chest and wrapped her legs around them. Epiphany leaned towards her brother. "What will happen if I don't...eat?" He knew what she meant by eating. right?

He shook his head as he reached out to draw her into a huggable embrace. "You aren't damned, no matter how they may look at you. Your heart still beats and therefore you are the same as before, just temporarily different." Yes, temporary. Aiden may have been inexperienced and was part vampire himself, but he didn't wish it on her if she wasn't ready to accept it. "You'll stay hungry if you don't eat though I doubt it will grow much worse if two weeks have passed already. . ." Two weeks without eating? Aiden couldn't go two days. He'd tried once, back in the time when he was first learning about what he was and had came close to killing one of his grandmother's maids in the madness that had taken over his mind in the result.

"And what if I get more?" asking as she was fully engulfed in the embrace. "I can't say no, Aiden, because I don't want to say no. Not if the question is whether or not I want to drink his blood because I do. Do I want more? Yes. I do because it's so.. so." She was having a hard time thinking of the word she wanted to use. It was a lot of things but maybe she could think of just one word to sum it up. "Connecting. Why would I say no to that?" And how was she going to deal with herself with that other side of hers, if the new blood in her system always was 'fresh'.

"I honestly can not say what would happen if you got more beyond it may suffice your thirst, but you must realize that in a way the thirst never fully goes away. You can sate it for a while by feeding but it will always return." He didn't want to scare her, but Vesta had one of his fangs around her neck as proof as to what the bloodlust of thirst was like. "I know how you feel. My first few times I felt intoxicated on the rush of the blood. It was more addicting than any drug could possibly be."

"He's my personal drug." She was trying to make light of a very daunting situation. A very real situation that was settling upon her. "He's always been that way to me which is why I...." trailing off she shook her head. "What if it only gets worse? If I have more and it only gets stronger? You could tell something was different about me and I haven't seen you in a long time. I'm sure Damon will know.. may even already know that something isn't quite right with me. I don't even know how this makes me feel."

There are some talks you never think you'd have with your family as this one here, Aiden never would have thought he would have with his sister. Turning so he could look at her he focused his black gaze on her. "Invetibly you will transform whether you wish for it or not. You can only share blood a number of times before you cross the point where you cannot go back. Are you ready to go there? Being a vampire comes with it's prices like anything else." He dangled the tinted glasses he had never quite let go of in front of her. "It means for most giving up the sunlight altogether and your Church." He looked sorrowful then and bowed his head. "I have not been out in the sun since I made my choice to follow the vampire's path."

Epiphany listened, and she listened good to what Aiden told her and only sighed deeply at the end. He had nice eyes. Truthfully she had never spent any time looking into his eye before - not really a brother and sister thing to do, and her head tipped to the side now as she looked into his. "Everything has it's consequences, Aiden. I wish I knew the end result of mine." Was she ready to give it all up? No, but at the same time yes. She wanted everything when she should really learn to deal with part and accept what she can have. "I enjoy the sun. even, slightly irritated as I was.. I still enjoy the sun." -

They were nice eyes, weren't they? Black as the midnight sun and deep as the ocean. Perhaps this is why he wore those tinted glasses besides the pain the sun caused to them. Looking into his eyes could be like drowning under the waves - silent and deadly. As she looked into his he was looking into hers, studying what he saw there. "If we knew the consequences we might never take the risk to get there. It is like the leap of faith from a cliff, how else do you know you can fly unless you give your wings a chance to carry you?" She still enjoyed the sun and it made him smile. "I am glad you enjoy the sun still. You never know how much you truly do until you can no longer feel it's rays on your skin again."

[Epiphany]

She crossed her right arm over a scratched on her left just above the elbow. Her lips turned down into a frown as she sat there and simply thought about what he said. 'Leap of faith... but I don't know if that leap is telling me to continue with what I'm doing and everything will be okay in the end…or if it's telling me to stop.. .and everything will be okay." Probably because one side of her wanted to continue and the other side didn't. "Our dad...do you know why he stopped being a vampire? I heard he was human when i was made?" Asking him because she didn't really know her dad - probably something to remedy.

"You never know what will be waiting for you at the bottom of the jump, that's why it's called a leap of faith." Look at that - Aiden was getting philosophical on her. "As for father I don't know why he changed himself into a human when you were made. It obviously didn't last because he was a vampire by the time he got to me and he still is." He shrugged. "I think you'll have to ask him that one yourself."

"I guess........" That didn't help her, in fact it even caused the frown she didn't know she was making to deepen. Did Aiden know about her other side? She didn't think she ever told him as there were very few that knew. "I want to be able to compromise but what am i suppose to do if I'm with the kids and one of them falls and cuts themselves.. or or.. I go to work at the clinic for volunteering and someone's bleeding, They do that in medical places you know. They bleed. If I'm already hungry...."

Nope, Aiden didn't have a clue about her other side so as far as he was concerned she was simply a human. "Compromise of any kind can be hard but I think you're getting off the track a bit . ." Was he trying to nicely say she was overreacting a bit? "Feeding before doing activities involving possible blood helps take care of any disasters that may arise." It worked in Aiden's personal experience at least.

She was good at getting off track and sometimes over reacting to things… It happened. But at the last thing he said her eyes widened and she shook her head a little bit. "I.. .I can't bite other people." She could, technically.. but the thought of it wasn't something that she looked forward to. "Though I guess it would be better than drinking his or another vampires? What if I have another’s? Does it matter? Drinking the blood of another vampire? It will just be blood right? Not the same and turning me more into one of them will it?" She knew the answer. She fully expected him to say something along the lines of vamp blood is vamp blood but still she had to ask incase there was the small bit of hope that you had to have it from the same source or something.

"There's always those black bottles you keep behind the bar downstairs." He had never tried one of them himself but supposedly they were fresh so why not? It was the next best thing to freshly tapped. To her question of whether or not it matter Aiden simply stared at her. Was she serious? The following questions proved she was and he sighed before piercing her with a serious look. "Yes it matters. Drinking another vampire's blood will give you the same effects as his did but it will taste differently and instead of him changing you it will be another. You do not drink another vampire's blood unless you are willing to be changed or are in a 'friendship' like you are with yours."

Well, there went that option. If drinking another vampire’s blood didn't matter than her next move would have been asking her brother to slit his wrist for her. He'd do it for her, wouldn't he? "There's irony in that you know. I get it for the Vampires that are here or may come through, I never intended on using it myself." she pressed her palms to her stomach for she could feel it growling even if it didn't make an audible sound. The blood in those bottles was fresh gotten from a 'source' all the time with a specialize bottle that kept the blood in the container fresh for so many days. The irony of it all would make her laugh if it wasn't so real. "Well I've gone this long... maybe I'll have a rare steak or something..." that made her shudder, though it was hard to tell if it was from the thought of eating meat, or the blood from the meat. "I need to tell him, don't I?"

It would be an interesting answer if she ever asked Aiden if he would slit his wrist for her. For a split second Aiden flashed his trademark grin at her before it settled into a more serious mask. "There is much irony in life but if you cannot bring yourself to bite another it is a way to save yourself from the pain of starving." He had seen the way she pressed her hands to her stomach. "You need to do something soon and I recommend telling him be a high priority."

She wasn't going to sigh... she wasn't... she wasn't even if her whole body felt like slumping down in one big collective sigh and turn into a puddle on his bed and drop to the floor. That's what she did in her mind and that would have to do. "I'll.. do something. I have to. And I'll.. I'll talk to him." Didn't mean she was going to rush out and hunt him down, but she would get around to it. She was going to find all the positives in this first, at least a handful, before she said anything or she was going to go crazy. "Thanks Aiden. You've helped. "

"I recommend you take the time to speak with our father as well afterwards." He nearly said 'once you are back to normal' but what if this was normal now for her? It was a possibility he hadn't wanted to voice out loud. "He may be able to tell you things I cannot. Including why he was a human when you were created."

Maybe... she should go see him first? 'Hi dad, I'm turning into a Vampire' yeah she saw that going over really well. Then again, it was the perfect opportunity for her to get to know him better? Maybe... Where there were answers in her head there were also questions and seeing either guy would only serve to answer and create more questions. "No matter how it goes I got you right?" She could always tell the head nun at the church, that will go over really well…Epiphany smiled at her brother and stood up from the bed. "Before it gets later I…I think I'll go. Maybe I can try that meat or the bar." Bottle is what she really meant.

Since he was a vampire already it might end up going over better than she thought? Aiden stood as she did and flashed her that smile again. "Course. What are brothers for?" He laughed as he crossed the room to open the door for her before turning back to face her. "If you need me you know where to find me alright?"

Reaching the door she lingered a bit and leaned on the doorway. "Good to have you." and she grinned. "Though one day I may make you regret your last statement about if I need you." It was always dangerous to simply extend invitations to Epiphany, never know what she'd do with them. "Night, Aiden." and with a small smile she turned to head out .

"Do your worst." He matched her grin for grin. "Though next time I believe you owe me a pounce hello." That's right folks, Aiden was actually asking her to pounce him! The guy was crazy after all. "Goodnight Epiphany!" He called after her.

- le fin