Upside Down

Chapter Three

“Valentina, take this and run!” Her grandmother shoved the amulet, chain and all, into her hands. “You cannot let him have it. You must run far away from here and never return, at least not until some one comes for you. Now go!” She gave her a shove to make her run.

“But grandmother, what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me. We are Guardians, Valentina, you know what is expected of us. Now go, child, no more argument. He cannot get the amulet.”

Valentina stared wide eyed her grandmother. Though she was in her nineties, with hair white as the snow on a mountain peak, she was a fighter. She was a kind old lady, but she could lay down the law if you stepped out of line. Valentina took a deep breath and nodded.

Valentian tore down the hall coming to a stop in front of a large painting of one her ancestors. Lifting up a flap in the painting, she turned a handle and opened the painting just enough crawl into the secret passage. She was just about to close the door when she heard it, the cold low voice of the intruder.

“Where is the amulet old woman?” He looked human, but Valentina wasn’t fooled, he radiated demonic energy. His hair was a platinum blonde and his skin was pale.

“Long gone from here, you damned demon. Be gone from here!” Her grandmother stood her ground, not faltering under the demon intense gaze.

“Do not cross me, or you will pay dearly. Where is the amulet?” His voice was harsh, cold, and dead. It sent shivers down Valentina’s spine.

“I do not have to answer to you, demon.” Her grandmother took one step back and squared herself, she then began to chant a spell that would send powerful forces after the demon.

But she didn’t have time to finish, the man gave a low growl and cut her down where she stood. Valentina bit her hand to keep back the scream that built in her throat. The demon made his way down the hall and paused in front of the portrait, gazing at it. His eyes were icy blue and cold. Full of anger and something else more powerful…

Valentina jerked awake, covered in a cold sweat, panting. Her eyes darted around the room, at first not recognizing where she was. A loud snore from her right made her jump. She looked to find the sound asleep Dante, mouth wide open emitting some of the loudest snores ever.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. After a few moments she knew that sleep was no longer an option. Sighing, she got out of bed and headed to the dresser. She pulled out a fresh tank top and shorts and went into the bathroom. She shut the door and locked it, praying that Dante wouldn’t wake and have to piss, she needed to be alone.

She stripped out her sweat soaked clothes and tossed them to the side. Climbing into the tub, she turned on the shower. She stood under it, letting it wash away the sweat and fear that the dream had provoked.

It had been weeks since she had had that dream, she had been very happy to see it go. But it came back and it seemed worse then ever. As she stood under the hot water, the eyes of the man in her dream came to the fore front of her mind. The sinister look they held made her shiver despite the hot water.

She shook her head, the haunting eyes of the man disappeared. She shut the water off and dried herself off. Whipping the steam off the mirror, she stared at her reflection, she looked like hell. Sighing she picked up her brush and ran it through her thick midnight hair. She opened the door, the blast of cool made her shiver slightly. A loud snore from the bed told her that Dante was still out cold. She went back over to the dresser and opened on of the drawers. She dug around until she found what she was looking for. Closing her hand tightly around it, she left the room.

It was dark and grey when Dante woke. He stretched and sat up. He looked over to his left and found Valentina’s side of the bed empty. He raised an eye brow in confusion but then shrugged. He climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He stripped and started up the shower. He made quick on washing himself, never one for long showers if it wasn’t necessary.

He got out and dried himself. He went back into the room and threw a pair of boxers and old torn jeans. He hung the towel around his neck, allowing his hair to drip dry. Making his way down stairs he was a bit confused at how quiet it was. If Valentina was awake, where was she?

A rustling sound caught his attention and he peered over the railing to find Valentina asleep on the couch. As he looked closer, he saw that she was holding something. Curiosity getting to him, he made his way down the rest of the rest stairs to the couch.

When he stood beside the couch, he crouched down to get a better look at what she was holding. It was and amulet, and at its heart was an amethyst stone. It reminded him of the amulet his mother had given him, just her’s was half the size of his. As he continued to look at it, it began to faintly glow. Tilting his head, he reached for the stone. Having a hold on it he carefully pulled it away. Time seemed to drag on as he slowly pulled the amulet from her.

When he only had a few millimeters left his stomach gave a loud rumble. Before he could blink he was on his back with a dagger to his throat. He looked up into the eyes of Valentina; her amethyst eyes burned with a deadly fire. But at the same time, they weren’t quite right. He lay very still and continued to stare into her eyes; he came to realize that they weren’t focused on him at all they were a clouded and focused on something completely different. Something only she could see. He slowly came to the rationalization that she was still asleep, and his actions must have triggered something in her dream that caused her to act the way she was.

“Valentina?” he kept his voice calm and low. “Hey, wake up, nothing is going to harm you. You’re dreaming. Whatever it is that you see isn’t real…C’mon, princess, it’s time to wake up…”

He watched as her body ever so slightly relaxed, her hand slowly moving from his throat. Then she blinked a few times, the cloudiness leaving her eyes. She shook her head, her eyes then meeting the cool blue of Dante’s. Dante watched her carefully, first confusion swirled in her eyes, then it quickly became anger as her eyes caught sight of his hand still enclosed around her amulet.

“What are doing with my amulet?” she growled out.

“I was simply looking at it.” He moved his arm as best he could. “Here, I meant no harm.”

Valentina snatched the amulet from him and quickly stood up, not seeming to notice or care about the position they had been in. “Don’t do that again. Next time I might end up slicing you.”

Dante snorted. “Yeah, like you could ever over power me like that a second time; you just happened to caught me off guard.”

Valentina narrowed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t touch my amulet again. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Dante said as he finally pulled himself to his feet. “What’s so special about it? It has to be more then just a family heirloom if nearly cut my throat over it.”

“That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” Valentina bit out. She turned from him and made her way upstairs, still fuming. A few moments later he heard the bathroom door close.

Dante shook his head and made himself comfy in his chair. “If this is normal, I hate to see her when she’s PMS-ing,” he mused to himself.


Yay! I wrote this in a day! I know it’s probably not very long, but I hope it’s still good. Let me know what you think.