Sparks 2, by Bluelantern 2814

Motivations

Melody overheard two people talking about what to do with immortality. One of them said that they could just wait until faster than light travel was invented, or invent it themselves.

And something as simple as that was enough to set her path.

Noetics

"Only humans of whatever kind can do... magic." Samara was still uncomfortable with the term that she fought so long during her life.

"Are you counting vampires as humans?" Yuri asked.

Samara blinked. "If you prefer the term 'people,' I will use it, but honestly, it is foolish to argue about these details. What it matters is that only creatures capable of intelligent thought can do magic."

"And you theory is that it's caused by Noetics?"

"Noetics is the science that studies the phenomenon caused by thoughts. Doesn't magic sound like that?" Samara said, unsure whether she was herself a bad teacher, or if vampires aren't the fast learners as she'd heard.

In-laws

At every unanswered question, things got tenser.

"How old are you? Where do you work? Where were you born? What are your intentions with my granddaughter? Your parents? What can you eat?!?" Richard finally shouted exasperated while his wife and daughter fell silence.

To his credit, Augustus didn't let the mask of cordiality fall. He looked over his mate and Alexis noded, trying to calm herself down and wiping the sweat in her forehead. Silently, Alexis's mother made a gesture meaning, "go on."

Augustus answered, "I am almost two thousand years old. I work for the Golden Empire Research and Development department. Rome. Staying with her for the rest of our lives. My parents died long ago... and the last answer is a bit tricky."

Heir

Mariano always wished that he had had a child before being turned, but that was not the case, and he spent a couple of centuries longing for a "heir", much more than he longed for a mate.

Until the day he had a visit from a fellow named Razi with annoyingly important news, who happened to share one bit of information that delighted Mariano so much that he couldn't even care that he no longer could eat people.

Now Mariano just needed to find a mate.

Return

It was going to be a normal day for Renée until Phil answered the door and called her, sounding confused.

Renée saw the similarities between the bald girl and her own daughter. After so long she learned to ignore thinking about her lost child, it wouldn't make her happy.

She knew Bella would want her to be happy.

"Do I look familiar?" said the girl... who was more familiar than Renée would admit... or hope for.

Heartbroken

"Please, look at me," Eric said with his new vampire voice. It was beautiful and unfamiliar, he rarely spoke before.

Julius didn't want to look at Eric, but he forced himself.

With his mind-sight he saw again, Eric didn't love him, there were bright blue circles and purple waves of gratitude and pity, but not the bright red-purple starburst of love that there was before... and absolutely no cloak of all-colored mate bond layering his entire being.

Part of Julius wanted to say, "How could you not mate to me?" but the hybrid couldn't bring himself to say the words.

Historical

Siobhan was holding the newspaper near her body, and with an uncharacteristically playful voice she said to her mate, "Liam, dear," and Liam was already at her side kissing her earlobe, "remember last week when you said that despite all things that humans can do, you don't see the point of hiding from them? Because they are harmless despite everything they came up just in the last half century?"

"Yes," Liam said slowly stopping his caress.

Almost theatrically Siobhan opened the paper to show it to her mate. "Well take note of august sixth, 1945... the day they proved you wrong."

Change of Values

Tina was a whole five months old, looking five or six, and was half-covered with blood from the small mountain lion that she killed all by herself.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she happily shouted while running to her parents. "I did it! I hunted it down and ate it without any help!" Carrying the motionless body on her back with some difficulty.

"Yes, you did!" Her father fussed with her hair. "Now get yourself clean, I think this one is in good enough condition to be stuffed."

Golden Campaign - Chapter 23: Two thousands years of unshed tears.

"So how do you like the new Blood & Gold so far?" Pleione asked.

"I stopped playing a week ago," Damien said distracted with a newspaper article.

"You did?" Pleione said, secretly wondering if she should say anything anyway.

"Yeah, the story got so," Damien made a disgusted face, "I stopped in the chapter where it explains how The Mourning Emperor lost his wife..."

"The Gleeful Empress..."

"Yes, the Gleeful Empress," Damien said rolling his eyes. "I mean, seriously, where did they come up with this stuff? I can't believe any game that ridiculous can be so popular with a story like that."

Mates

"So we are in love forever. It's that simple?"

"Yes."

Imprinting

"So you are in love with me forever?"

"Yes."

"That sounds so complicated."

"Not to me."

Hybrids dating.

"So... now what?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think I do?"

"Yes... or maybe, I don't know."

Surrounded

The doctor walked in the room, the patients' screams were loud, but he managed to hear what the others doctors are saying.

"They have been like this for three days, they won't even sleep."

"They complain of fire and their temperature keeps dropping."

"I think they started to feel something in their chest too."

The doctor got closer to one of the older women, who was holding her chest like her heart was trying to escape from her body, and then the woman jerked one last time and stopped shaking.

Contagion

"Inside this vault there are the only known samples of the Eurasian-Werewolf infection in the world," said the scientist paralyzed from the neck down.

"Do they still work?" the mysterious man asks.

"Who knows? Maybe... It's not like we can test it, and the precog can't see the potential results too."

"Perfect" The mysterious man opens the vault, taking all the samples. "Absolutely perfect."

Cape

"I'm starting to wish that we did dress up as Batman and Robin."

"I will keep saying that no one will crime-fight around me dressed as Robin."

"This is a bad idea, what if..."

And just like in the stories, they both heard the scream and jumped through rooftops to rescue.

Peaceful sleep

The car accident was terrible, Eliana died instantaneously. However, both her husband and daughter survived, and with their wolf regeneration they would wake up in just a few hours.

Teresa was the only aware of all of this and was the only family member around. The doctors were surprised that Teresa's niece and brother had survived at all, and they were assuming that neither would wake up.

Teresa knew they would wake up, and that her brother would find out that Eliana was dead. The center of his universe was dead.

Teresa asked the doctor to shut down the machines that kept her brother alive for the time being, and hoped that this meant that her brother would die peacefully.

At least Teresa would be there for her niece.

Responsibility

It was a simple thing, a miscalculated step, a random chance, a fold in the carpet, a shoe too loose. Steve fell down the stairs and unluckily hit his head and lost consciousness.

Alex was at his side a fraction of a second after Steve fell in darkness, too late to stop any damage already done, too late to call a doctor, too late for Steve to keep his heartbeat. There was no remedy in the world that could save him.

But there was one solution, which was definitely no remedy.

Alex decided that this misfortune was his responsibility; thereby he had to do the only thing that could be done to preserve Steve's life.

Senses

Smells, particles of dirt and dust in his clothes, the lingering scent of humanity, sweet and burning at same time.

Taste, the throat burned, his mouth was coated with venom, wet yet only giving him more thirst, no trace of the chocolate bar, the last "food" that he had eaten, no desire to eat more.

Sound, the heartbeat of dozen of people still turning, but beating faster than any human heart could beat, the echo of footsteps, not only his or Alec's, but from everywhere, the music of the friction and collision of every surface.

Touch, the fibers of each thread in his shirt, pants and underwear, the hair in his scalp a small unshaved strand of facial hair that escaped the razor blade.

The emptiness of his eye sockets.

It was a lot to take in one second.

Chupacabra.

"You know the real Amelia?" Peter asked Cody.

"Wow," Cody replied. "You are slow, and her name is Emily."

"Sorry, it's a lot to take," Peter said, "finding out that my favorite video game is based on real facts."

"Real facts is exaggerating," Cody replied. "I think that half of Blood & Silver is made up. The Blood & Gold series are mostly accurate. For example, vampire venom doesn't transform animals, that was added for game balance only."

Future

Melody was standing watching the sky for solid fourteen hours before being interrupted.

"You know," said Radamantes, "the stars will be there tomorrow."

"I was admiring the new constellations," Melody said softly. "Maybe they are going to point me to my next path."

Radamantes was surprised "We just got here."

"I know, but there is no reason not to think about tomorrow," Melody said smiling.