Constantine# 10

The people are going wild with joy,

children stream past her, laughing and jumping about in utter abandon.

Today is an absolute 180 degrees from yesterday. The once gloomy and dark feeling to Transylvania has lifted as if it never existed.

It is a festival of some sort, and for the first time in her life, Kate is enjoying it. There are no ghosts latched to people's backs, no demons she needs to hide from. She is, if only for now, as normal as you can get.

Or so she thinks.

For she doesn't see the shadows that follow her, the power that surrounds this land has weakened them, but they have not dissapeared. They follow her, slithering from one dark corner to another, staying out of the light.

She does not see them.

And yet the Romanians are aware of them. Both the human women, and the shadows that follow her.

Katie is lost somewhere in her head, before she is startled out of it. The crowd erupts in activity again, their gaze directed behind her. And following their eyes Katie is surprised.

She can swear there was nothing there a moment ago, and yet when she looked now, 5 people stood at the gate, almost as if appearing out of thin air.

It is her vivid imagination Katie decides. It can be nothing else, and yet at the same time, she of all people has no right to say it is impossible. For what has not Katie seen that would never exist for the normal man?

They are as gorgeous as they are intimidating, their features cut in stone. She backs herself into a corner even without knowing she is. It is instinctive, a camouflage from predators.

Behind our ettiquettes, manners and intelligence there is still a subconcious part of our brain that is more animal than anything else.

Good for her they ignore her, atleast until she does something to pin a glowing sign over her head.

The night air is crisp and cold, rushing past them in occasional breezes. It is all fun and games, with the occasional drunk man having to be taken away.

That is until at around midnight, when the night suddenly changes. The wind that was once soft grows harsher, an ominious howling note to it.

She looks around, and yet finds nobody else noticing anything. The night seems darker, the stars dimming to a barely there twinkle. A cloud covers the moon, and suddenly the land is drenched in darkness.

Somewhere in the forest, men stand up from their positions on the ground. Their eyes trained on the statue, fear swirling in their depths. A jolt of power rushes past them.

A call.

Katie staggers on her feet, an involuntary gasp slipping out of her. A hand steadies her , and she follows it up to pair of dark eyes.

"You okay miss?" The man is concerned and yet she isn't listening; something is calling her from the forest.

She looks at the man again, her senses mute to everything else. She doesn't notice the noise of the crowd has been silenced, nor does she notice every man, woman and child in Romania have there eyes trained on her.

"There is something in the jungle" She feels the shiver that runs through the man's hand, and yet she doesn't care.

Her heart threatens to collapse from her sorrow. Why she is sad, she does not know. Only that she must cry and scream, such is her agony.

"There is nothing here love" his voice is soft. Not wanting to frighten her anymore than she already is.

" Constanstine"

The terror on the man's face is the last thing she sees before she passes out.

*******

Stefan had his eyes on the woman the whole night. Their was something not quite right with her, nature inched away from her.

Where she stood, he could feel the earth revolt in protest. She was like a sickness to the land, and all night he had spent trying to figure out just what was going on.

However now standing before her, he realizes its not her at all. There is something else with her, covering her like a cloak. Something that isn't right, something that shouldn't be here.

The woman is a host, and the parastie latched onto her is what his land cannot bear.

Fury fills him as sudden as the strike of thunder. How dare something from the other side even think about stepping foot on his land? It is a demon, there is no doubt. The strongest being in the land of the dead.

Stefan feels his aversion to the presence of Romanians, its fear. And yet it does not leave, it keeps itself wrapped snug around the woman.

Who is she? Why would a demon be this desperate for a woman.

He looks at her features for the first time. There is nothing about her thats special.

Or so he thinks.

Because at the next moment the wind changes direction and she starts gasping as if choking to death.

He is besides her in a moment's breath, and it his good that he does, for at that moment her knees give way under her. His hand grabs hold of her, his strength more than a match for her weight.

She looks at him. And he shivers from the gnawing darkness in her eyes. It swirls in her gaze - fear and fury. Hope and helplessness.

He isn't listening to her, although he can hear her lips moving. Until she says what she does.

One word.

One word that he doesn't comprehend until after she has fainted.

Constantine.

********