Neledh || ONC 2023

Chapter 7 | Tiffany

She had woken up in a room she did not recognise. Wearing clothes that were not her own, with a man sitting in the chair next to her bed.

The scream that left his throat when their eyes locked had two other people crashing into the room. A woman Tiffany vaguely recognised, in a long pale dress and a man that had frequented her nightmares.

They had quickly introduced themselves as H and Kroan, the man that had screamed and fled the room was named Wybaldicon.

A family of three. Vampire, shifter, centaur, brought together through death. And now it also contained a witch.

It took a lot of talking before Tiffany was allowed to leave her bed and room. H was, if possible, even more protective than Tiffany's own parents had been. Constantly checking on her, till she was cleared and could walk across the room without fainting.

She was right of course, she always was, as Tiffany quickly figured out in the following years.

Life was lonely in a way Tiffany hadn't yet experienced before. In her youth she had lived in a community with many others of varying ages. When she had been an adult she had travelled around, first in company of Jaylen and later alone, and a few more with Nine.

Now she spent her days with three other people who would come and go with the wind. Showing up for anything between an hour and a century, before disappearing again. It might have been a slight exaggeration, as Wybaldicon seldom left the home without someone else accompanying him. And the same went for H and Kroan, but still it felt as if no one was ever present.

No one was present when she left the house and wandered through the fields, crossing borders of fiefs and countries.

No one was present, when she boarded a boat and left for England.

No one was present, when she found a house and started living amongst the humans.

No one was present, when fear caught her by the throat. As a home went up in flames.

-

Tiffany had left the town after that incident. Though she didn't hate England enough to actually flee the country, she didn't stay close enough to her previous house to meet old acquaintances.

She had travelled around until she found another empty house with enough animals nearby to have enough to eat. The townspeople were nice enough and didn't act weird about her skin, as they were more worried about her unmarried state than the way she looked.

That was where Wybaldicon found her a few years later. She had already established her reputation as an unmarried older woman, though no one was sure about her exact age.

The village had a field day when a handsome man appeared out of nowhere. There were lots of speculations about his money and status and Tiffany feared there were already some marriage proposals waiting for him. It was funny for all of the five minutes it took for the eager people to ambush him during the ball they had been invited to.

Pleading looks had been sent her way and Tiffany had swooped in to save Wybaldicon from the young girls wanting to have a dance with him. It didn't save him from social expectations though, but now that there was at least one relative present people acted a bit more composed around him.

Her own status had risen too now that it was clear she had money and family backing her in her spinster status. But luckily for everyone involved, the novelty wore down quickly and they were left alone to a certain degree. They were still invited to balls and other social gatherings, but no longer ambushed or pushed in certain directions.

Life around them calmed down.

-

Tiffany left to meet Kroan and H in their home, they hadn't spoken to each other for quite some time. A bang resounded through the house only moments after she had arrived and was hanging her coat on the coat rack.

Agitated voices could be heard from the study upstairs and Tiffany ran, to get there as fast as possible, taking three steps at a time on the stairs. The door was locked and didn't open when Tiffany knocked on it, to be let inside.

Once it became clear no one was listening to her plea, she lowered her face and tried to listen to the conversation through the keyhole. She could distinguish Kroan's voice easily and a few moments later she could hear H too, both asking questions to a third person.

The last person must have been the reason an object had fallen on the ground, alerting everyone in the house of their arrival. And were very likely the reason Tiffany was not allowed inside. She had never heard their voice before, nor had seen anyone enter the house apart from their little family of four.

They had to be an acquaintance of Kroan and H, to be allowed inside and to talk to them like that. Yelling, screaming, mentions of eternal doom and very little polite words you would expect being said to beings older than time.

"I am warning you! They are rising up again, it will happen again and again and again. Closing your eyes to their horrors and pretending they don't concern you, won't make the world safer. You have two people living under your roof, do you have any idea how many more there are outside your safe space?"

Tiffany couldn't hear H's answer, but it was clear they were getting angry themselves too.

"You have been hiding for millennia. And yes, I understand you want to live, to be safe. But the person I knew once would never let others burn for them. It will not save you, at this moment your child is doing his duty and saving someone from that very fire. He will succeed and many more will join you in your house. Now get your asses out of here and help him!"

Another object fell on the ground and for the first time during the conversation, could Tiffany hear H's voice.

"Don't you dare walk away from me, shifter. Don't you dare shift the blame on me."

The air got sucked out of Tiffany's lungs and the air was deprived of all magic. The feeling was somehow worse than when she had drowned, no magic flowing through her veins was a worse fate than death.

"Don't you dare say you aren't running away too. Don't you dare-"

She lost consciousness before Tiffany knew who Wybaldicon had tried to save. Who had been in her house and who would be added to their home.

-

April 11, 2023