Saving Ana Ch. 02

Saving Ana

Free the Dancing Llamas

Chapter 2: Cloud

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Everything was so cloudy...so confusing...

Where the hell was he?

One moment he had been awake...the next just pure darkness. For however long that had been...and now this? This weird cloudiness, covering his eyes...

And silence. Stretches and stretches of silence....Julian wasn't sure how long he'd been like that as well.

Where in the hell...What had happened??

The last thing he remembered was going to bed...and then...nothing...

This was...this was terrifying.

Julian tried to move his body, even if he couldn't see maybe he could move? But nothing. Nothing in his body seemed to move. He just felt...

stuck...

His mouth too? Why couldn't he say anything, yell anything.

Whatever had happened, it wasn't good - he knew at least that.

Then...then...

was it a sound? An echo? So far in the distance it felt almost like a memory, a vague suggestion...

He willed himself to see. He knew his eyes were open so why was it just cloud and fog??

The voice grew closer, and Julian panicked, knew that surely this couldn't be good either. Was he about to die? Was all of it about to end? In such a confusing, bizarre way?

The voice came closer, and still Julian couldn't will himself to move, it was like he had no control over his body.

He tried to concentrate, really tried to focus on the voice and what it was saying. A woman's voice, he realised. One he didn't wholly recognise...but one that wasn't completely foreign either...

"Julian," her voice was sweet, low...

He'd heard it before, he just couldn't place who it belonged to. The woman sounded...worried? Maybe she knew what was going on?

Then, then...fuck...

The clouds parted, to reside at the corners of his eyes. Like he was having a weird tunnel vision experience.

The fog moved and Julian almost felt his heart jump out of his chest. He could see...sort of...He could see his feet...and a concrete floor...Where was he? This didn't look like the floor of his bedroom...

and he could feel...softness...the softest touch on his cheek...a sweet smell of lavender hitting his nose. Odd...

He willed his head to move, just even a little, and by the grace of God he managed.

He came face to face with...with...

he didn't know what she was or who she was...

just that she was...

Exquisite...with the most alarmingly bright eyes. She wasn't human, surely. Humans didn't have eyes like that...

Still that information was useless...she could be any manner of being, any person...and he didn't know who in the hell she was...just the nagging sensation that this wasn't the first time he'd ever met her.

Shit...had she done this to him? Surely not. He didn't even really know her, what motive would she have to do this to him? He would have remembered coming across the path of someone so...so...

He watched to woman's mouth move, watched her soft, plump lips form words.

"Julian." the woman knew his name, "Are you in there? It's me...Ahh... Something's happened to you."

He couldn't quite make out her name. It was weird but everything else he heard her clearly say, but all he could hear was a vague noise that he knew was supposed to be her name. Obviously they knew each other...she knew his name, looked at him with a sense of familiarity... but he couldn't remember why he knew her. It was infuriating.

Who was she? Was she his girlfriend?

No, he knew that wasn't true. He remembered his girlfriend, remembered his mistresses, all of them. Somehow he knew she wasn't in that category. But Christ, how else would he know such a striking woman?

How would he have known such a woman and not...

He thought back to the rest of her words. She knew something had happened to him. But what?

And where the hell was everyone else? He could hear vague voices in the background, but no distinct words. Could certainly see nothing else...and then...

then...it didn't matter anymore...

The woman disappeared...the clouds came over his eyes yet again...Everything disappeared into darkness and fog...

What in the hell was going on?

————

Ana watched the vampire standing there, head downcast.

He looked so unlike the Julian she had met almost a year ago now. The man she had met had been authoritative, commanding. When he had stepped into the room that first time she'd met him, she had known exactly who he was.

And his eyes? His eyes had held everything in them - the opposite of what was there now. He had held a look in his eyes as if he had known all of her secrets, as if he knew exactly what she'd been thinking, and where she was going and who she was at her very core. His eyes had been terrifying and captivating. It was an insight into why the humans were terrified to look at vampires directly.

The first time she had met Julian it had been unnerving. Had she not had her anger to focus on she would have been flustered; overwhelmed by how charismatic and magnetic he was.

She had hated him for it. In fact, perhaps it had spurned her on - it might have been the little thing that had pushed her over the edge when she'd blown up a part of The Underground.

It was like she had been trying to prove a point - more to herself than anyone else - that she wasn't going to be mollified and pushed around by a man who was so used to having his orders followed. It had taken Ana barely five minutes of conversation to realise this man was always in control of every situation, and that had included her and her sister. It had been so infuriating she had just sort of...exploded.

Although now? With the way his eyes were lifeless, now...well perhaps she had preferred his inscrutable, piercing gaze.

"Julian?" Ana tried again, opening the cage door, stepping closer and closer to the vampire until she was standing before him, looking up at him. Still no response. He stood as if he was lifeless.

What in the Goddess' name had happened to him? Who or what had done this?

"You think that's a good idea?" Lola's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"The Libra charm is holding him," Ana replied, "If he was able to overpower it, he could have done so by now."

That was a half-truth. Ana had never completed a Libra charm before and she didn't actually know whether the magic would keep him bound. But something in her brain told her he would be subdued...it wasn't fact, just instinct and she followed it.

"I didn't know you knew that kind of magic," Lola replied. Her voice was filled with a sort of curious insinuation which Ana couldn't be bothered to dissect.

Truthfully, Ana didn't realise she had known the ancient magic herself, until...well... she had, and then it had slipped out of her like breath. She'd seen the spell in one of Rhea's old books, hadn't even known what it was for... until she had needed to know. It was strange and Ana wished she had at least one of the old witches around to ask about it. But the only old witches who might be able to answer her questions were tucked away in Hong Kong; The Witch's Council. If they were still around, they'd never made themselves known. Not even to Rhea. But then, the old witches who had survived the Great War had tended to function primarily in seclusion.

"Neither did I," Ana said, focusing her attention back on the man standing motionless before her.

Ana tentatively placed a hand on Julian's cheek. She didn't know why, but she'd felt an urge to touch his skin. Maybe it was a need to connect, to see if he would respond to skin to skin contact. His face was soft, the barest hint of five o'clock shadow gracing his jaw.

She looked up, trying to search his eyes for something, for any hint or glimmer of recognition. She found herself staring at the line of his straight nose, distracted by the harsh masculine beauty of his face which seemed to be soften by a sensual mouth.

How was it fair for a man to be so beautiful?

She was wholly unprepared for his whole head to whip into focus on her. Ana jumped back, holding her hand as if it had been burned.

"Fuck me," Lola muttered, inching closer to the cage.

Ana was caught momentarily by his gaze and for a second, just split second she could have sworn his eyes had held a hint of something. Some sort of life force, some sort of energy.

"Julian." Ana repeated, "Are you in there? It's me, Ana. Something's happened to you."

He stared at her blankly and blinked. If he recognised who she was, he didn't show it.

"He's in there, isn't he?" Lola's voice so close to her ear made her jump.

"Y-yeah," Ana stuttered, moving back away from the vampire, a bit too quickly though, bumping into Lola.

"Awfully weird to see him like this, don't you think?" Lola smiled at Ana, all teeth.

"I didn't know him well before this." Ana bit off.

"Just as well - that face plus the personality," Lola nodded towards the vampire, "Well, you wouldn't have stood a chance, now would you?"

Ana just shrugged, "I don't know what you're saying - besides you may recall that I did, in fact, stand a chance the last time I faced him, damn well blew up his office and then some."

Lola snorted, "That's not what I'm talking about, you had your anger to hide behind then," How did the damnable witch read her so well? Lola continued, "No, darling, I'm talking about the here and now. I'm talking about the fact you're drooling over the guy. And I'm letting you know that he's a dangerous sort, and even like this I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him."

"I am not drooling. I was checking his face for signs of a soul," Ana rolled her eyes, "As if I'd be tempted by some second-rate Casanova. You forget that I'm the one who runs the shop and gets all those silly love potion requests to try and trap this idiot. If anything, I'm far more aware than you are."

It was true - over the last year of running the magic shop herself, Ana had served over at least twenty women all with the same obsession of capturing the man for themselves. Love potion request after love potion request. It was fortunate that Ana had the law to hide behind. Love potions were illegal, and she had spent more hours than she'd ever thought she would counselling women on their heartaches and encouraging them to move on with their lives.

She'd thought it was funny at first, all these women coming in after the same man. Eventually though, amusement had faded to disgust as she had seen how stricken the women had been, how heart-sick and obsessive they all had become. How many sleeping draughts and numbing potions had she drafted up? Too many. Love and heartbreak were always big business for magic shops, but when it came to Julian, it was on another level.

"Oh, of course," Lola leaned forward pecking Ana's cheek - her tone sounded more patronising than agreeing. Lola gave her an annoying wink before before turning to the other witches, "Ladies. I think it's time for a drink."

There was a collective sigh from the others.

"A-fucking-men," Adeline threw her hands up in the air in prayer.

"What are we going to do about him?" Lena nodded towards Julian and they all turned to assess him.

"There's a bed," Lola shrugged, "If he wants to sleep, he can do that. Otherwise I guess we just leave him here to stare into space."

"By himself?" Lena asked, "That doesn't seem right. He might get lonely."

Lola snorted, "As if. He's not in there," Lola waved a hand over the vampire's face, and there was no response, "Yoohoo! See? Nothing but blankness."

"Well, his eyes are following Ana. I think he is in there," Lena replied hands on hips, and Ana looked at the vampire and realised her sister was correct, the vampire's eyes were on her. Weird. Lena continued, "So, it wouldn't be very nice to just leave him here by himself. The sun won't rise at least for another two hours. Let's bring him up for a little bit."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Adeline interjected nervously.

"Not tonight, Lens," Ana said softly towards her sister, "I think tonight it's best if we put him to bed. If he's still okay tomorrow evening we can let him out upstairs."

Ana turned back towards the vampire, and gently grabbed his hand. It was annoying how large his hand seemed to be compared to hers. It was ridiculous how little he made her feel.

"Come on, Julian," She tugged at his hand and amazingly he began to follow. She walked to the corner of the room towards the bed, She managed to get him sitting down on it.

"Time to go to bed."

The vampire just stared blankly into space. Although he continued to sit there at least and not move. She felt a tinge of guilt leaving him there, but there was not way they could trust him above just yet.

Ana trailed after the other girls out of the basement. She noticed the red-haired priestess lagging behind the others. Ana grabbed her arm softly. There was an intense dark energy around the woman.

"Are you okay, May?"

"Yes," May turned, blue eyes holding a look of distress, "I suppose I'm just recovering from today. Those vampires made me very uncomfortable."

"Me too." Ana nodded - glad she wasn't the only one.

"Especially the terrifying one with all the weapons. He kept glaring at me," May said softly.

"Orville?"

"If that's his name...he kept giving me this look..." May squeezed her hands together uncomfortably.

"I don't think it's personal, I just think he doesn't like witches too much." Ana frowned.

Orville had been weird... there was something not quite right about that particular vampire.

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"That's not creepy," Lola mused, watching the vampire as he followed Ana around the room.

"He's been doing it all night," Ana grumbled, trying to manoeuvre around Julian as she prepared the potions, "I tried to get him to stay with Lena, but he wasn't having it."

It was true. As promised, Ana had brought up the vampire the next evening into their living space above ground. Similar to the previous night, the vampire was still in his weird state. Although today he was somewhat more responsive and as soon as Ana had brought him upstairs he had done nothing but follow her around. It was beyond frustrating. He was getting in the way of her work today and she was already behind on her tasks.

Frustrated, Ana grabbed him by the hand and lead him to the lounge, sitting Julian next to Lola.

"It's very sweet," Lena nodded, fussing around the cupboards in search of a potion ingredient no doubt, "I think he likes you, Ana."

Ana just snorted, "Yeah, well then I guess he doesn't remember our history."

Just as she turned to begin grinding the Lizard Lotus, she felt a pair of hands petting her head. Ana turned grabbing the pair of offending hands, there was Julian, blank little stare on his face standing right behind her. Goddess, he was tall. She had to strain her neck just so she could look at him properly, particularly with him standing so closely. She had to swat off his hands as they came to cup her face.

"No, Julian. No touch." Ana tried to keep her voice patient, but really his distractions were becoming too much.

Lola just snorted, stretching out on the couch gracefully, and watched in amusement.

"Oh darling, you're doing it wrong. You're supposed to say; 'yes, yes touch'." Ana could hear the amusement in the British witch's voice.

Ana ignored the blonde witch and again grabbed the vampire's hand in her own and dragged him to the couch.

"Stay," Ana said slowly, "You stay here. Lola won't bite."

Lola grinned at the vampire, chomping her teeth together for dramatic effect. The vampire took one look at her and got up again, trailing after Ana. She just about wanted to start pulling her hair out and just call it a day. Clearly this evening she wouldn't be getting any work done.

"He's like a puppy," Lena smiled, sprinkling Cordarian Moss into a mortar, "He's very sweet actually."

Sweet? Was that how Lena thought of him? Ana couldn't understand it, after everything that had happened she couldn't comprehend how Lena could even want to be in the same room as the vampire.

"Julian, go sit down," Ana said exasperated, pointing at the couch. She drew out the words slowly, hoping that he would be able to properly listen this time.

Julian looked at her blankly, either ignoring her or not understanding and continued to follow her around the shop as she prepared the lotus. Really, it was ridiculous, farcical. The man wasn't even himself and he was still managing to be a monumental pain in her rear.

"Do you want to go back in the cage?" Ana threatened, hands on hips. The vampire looked at the door to the basement and then sulked back to the couches, sitting as far away from Lola as possible.

"So he does understand." Lola said, rubbing her chin.

"Sometimes. He seems to go in and out," Ana bit out.

It was true, the whole evening Julian had seemed to go in and out of understanding, his eyes would at times have this gleam to them and for a moment she could swear it was the real Julian standing before her, staring down at her with those intense, intelligent eyes. But then it would go as quickly as it had come. It was strange, and she'd never seen anything like it in her life.

"Now that's definitely interesting." Lola stated, leaning forward to stare at the man, "He's far more responsive than last night."

"I think that amulet has helped calm and clarify him a little. Makes me think his soul is in there, but something is blocking him." Ana replied, continuing to make the potion in front of her.

"Do you think he'll ever be able to speak?" Lena asked. Her younger sister walked over to the couch and leaned toward the vampire, "Can you say 'cat'?"

The vampire blinked and remained silent.

"You try, Ana. Get him to say something, maybe he'll respond to you." Lola sat forward on the lounge and stared intently at the vampire.

Ana rolled her eyes, and sighed, "Clearly I'm not going to get any work done today-"

"Shut up and do it," Lola shot back.

Ana resisted the urge to hex the older woman, but walked towards Julian instead, bending down slightly to look at Julian.

"Say 'Lola is a bitch,'" Ana tilted her head to the side and watched as the vampire continued to stare at her. She turned her head to Lola, "See, nothing?"

"Yeah, but probably because he's distracted by your tits," Lola shrugged.

Ana looked down at herself, realising that bending over the way she was Julian did, in fact, have a very good view of her cleavage. And yes, he was definitely staring at it. Ana shot up straight, a furious blush scrawling across her face.

"He doesn't know what he's doing,"

Lola shook her head, "He always knows what he's doing."

"You know, instead of being an annoying thorn in my side, you could actually do something helpful," Ana bit out, "Like go and look through some of the old books for any ideas of what's happened to the prick."

Lola just rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine. I suppose you're right," She could feel the witch stand over her shoulder, "By the way, you're crushing the lotus too much,"

Ana looked down at the ingredient in question and frowned at the red and purple leaves all bruised and wilted. Before Ana could retort, Lola was gone, shoes clacking as she walked through the preparations room and up the stairs.