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By the Midnight Sun
CHAPTER EIGHT


Sometime during the middle of the night…
The quiet apartment echoed with a stillness to rival death. With the expensive blinds drawn, the moon’s reflected light was shut out with the rest of the world. It would have been the last thing she wanted to see anyway.

Oh, wait, she’d already seen that…

Ororo closed her eyes tightly at the image behind them, in some sad, vain attempt to forget. It was her own fault, her mind chastised her, for not calling first.

‘Oh, so they could finish up before I came over?’ Sighing, she ground the down-filled pillow into her temple, the memory making her face tingle with embarrassment. It wasn’t like she assumed he was single (who would do that, these days..?), but maybe she did assume he was alone. ‘You know what assuming does, right?’

Sighing, she sat up suddenly in her bed, as if indecisive of some action. Her mind, of course, wandered back to the scene burned there indelibly; the way the woman held onto Logan as if he were and would always be hers; his hands gripping parts of the woman’s body like she were his lifeline…like Ororo had once held him.

Shaking that thought away, she stood, stepping over to the bedroom’s door, and going down the short stairs into the spacious living room of the modest brownstone. She had checked the door probably a dozen times since sneaking back into her own apartment some hours before, along with the street outside to make sure none of her employees (and especially Forge) had decided to make an uninvited stop. She still wasn’t ready to see any of them, and had to be truthful to herself that perhaps she was using this as an excuse not to face the very real possibility that the club may have some serious repercussions if she should leave. No one dared argue the fact that the mysterious owner was a major draw to most of the patrons; sort of like a local celebrity they could have almost unlimited access to. Ororo also realized that a sudden disappearance on her part could not only hurt business, but raise suspicion among the staff. She knew she definitely didn’t need anyone else finding out about her, considering how simple it had apparently been for Logan (of course, her own careless behavior hadn’t helped…). ‘I cannot just stay here…’

The thought of continuing her existence with the need to draw blood aching just beneath the surface was so sickening to her, she stopped in the middle of the living room, consumed by the over-powering silence around her. Ororo had lived almost two decades with this disease, and now enough was enough. Stealing pharmaceuticals and relying on the honor of drug traffickers and petty thieves wasn’t her idea of survival. Her midnight jaunts into the realm of vigilantism were the only semi-positive thing to come from it all, other than the club. And now, if she took Logan up on his offer, she wouldn’t even have that.

Warring with her difficult decision, Ororo curled up on the soft cushion of one of the couches, staring into the darkness for some answer. She went back and forth, mentally making a pros and cons list. When she found herself at a draw, she decided to give it a rest. Of course, what should her mind return to? What else?

The sight of Logan with another woman bothered her; she’d admit it. Without even realizing it, she’d laid some claim on him, both physically and emotionally. The time they had spent together was undeniably part of it. It was the first time in years Ororo had reacted like that while Feeding, and even then she hadn’t turned right around to have deep emotional and philosophical conversations with the very person she’d fed on. That night, Logan had seemed so attuned to her. He listened better than anyone she knew, devoting his entire person to what she’d had to say as if they were the only two people in New York. Needless to say, he’d made an impression upon her.

They had talked for hours, beginning with a little about her unorthodox nightlife, but mostly about the plight of mutants. However, toward the end of their conversation it had turned very personal. She had been curious as to why he was away from the rest of the team. He seemed evasive, initially, and she thankfully had taken the point that maybe it was a little too personal for someone he’d just met (even if they had shared more than strangers at that point). Of course, the question of how she came to be a Vampire arose. Ororo remembered how her heart had raced with just the mentioning of that dreaded day. Evidently, Logan had sensed her angst, because he immediately reassured her that she didn’t have to talk about it if she didn’t want to. After so many years of hiding it, though, Ororo felt some sense of relief to finally verbally exorcise that emotional demon…


---

‘I was about twelve years old when It happened. I found out some years later that They call it “Turning”. At any rate, this was almost eight years after my parents’ accident. By this time I had made my way north out of Egypt, floating around the streets of London with dozens of other forgotten children, just surviving.

‘They behaved much like a family, these Young Ones, so when a shy little white-haired girl came amongst them, they accepted me unquestioningly. It was the first taste of a family I had had since my dear Mother and Father. There were older children, sort of like our Big Brothers or Sisters, less like parents, who taught us everything we needed to know to live on our own. One of them, calling himself ‘Ronin’, was our little group’s unofficial leader. He was born to do it, and I suppose in another set of circumstances he may have made a wonderful, legitimate profession out of it.

‘He was a few years older than I, and because I was so different, even among these discarded children of the world, he took me under his wing. Our relationship was just platonic, you understand…but not for lack of my own feelings. I was, admittedly, quite taken with the young man. We all were, to some degree or other. It was the first time I ever conceived to do anything so bold in my entire life…but I wanted to be His, in every way a 12-year-old woman-child could imagine. Even after all that has happened, I still credit Ronin with bringing me out of my proverbial shell, though he would never take me up on my adolescent offers of eternal love.

‘I was with the Children for about three years before I began to notice anything strange. At first, it was nothing; a child disappeared here and there, but that was the nature of our existence. Parents would come finally, or the law I guess, and send us all scurrying into the shadows like so many wounded rodents. Within the discourse of our existence, it never occurred to us that being “yanked” as we called it, could be good for us. The majority of these children were never seen again. There were a few that made it back to the group, but they never seemed quite the same to me. I always wondered why it seemed They all looked the worse for wear once they returned to Us. One day, I discovered why.

‘A girl called ‘Mouse’”she was my ‘Big Sis’”and I were on our way back from scouring for food for the group, and it was late. We usually did our illegal activity under the cover of darkness, when most of the honest-working people were asleep, and so we had made out like the bandits we were. I was floating on such an adrenaline rush, I didn’t even realize we were being followed until it was too late.

‘Mouse must have noticed Him first, because she dropped the bundles of bread and cheap wine in her hands, and I saw her unsheathe the make-shift blade we were all made to carry…

‘You’ll have to forgive me…my memory here may be unsure. Of course things happened so quickly, I’m sure my mind has had to improvise in certain spots it cannot accurately recall.

‘…I can feel the eyes watching us from the shadows. At first, I thought it was a rival group of street kids, perhaps to steal our ill-gotten goods, but that couldn’t be it. Not the way Mouse was acting. With a name as ill-suited as calling Ben Grimm ‘tiny’, she was the toughest of us all. But that night, as we held our backs to each other, waiting for battle, I saw her hands shaking. I knew then that it wasn’t simple street urchins that frightened the fight out our little warrior princess.

‘”Run, lit’l White Raven”, she said to me, her voice a shaky whisper against my back. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Mouse and I had always been a team, a duo. We promised each other never to leave the other, no matter what, and here she was now, pushing me to run away?

‘I turned to refuse, and that’s when I saw him. It was Ronin! I remember my heart leapt in my chest: We were saved!

‘…the next moments of my life I shall have to say I will remember forever. There is no blurred memory here, because every breath was caught in painstaking clarity as it occurred, and forever will remain so:
‘I broke away from Mouse, my arms outstretched to meet Ronin…my Ronin…when a shadow passed over us. I looked up into his pale face, and never did I feel such relief…until I met his gaze. There was a cool distance there, to be sure, but also something much more sinister. He smiled down at me, a sad, sort of pitying smile; as if he had read my fate in the headlines, but knew I was illiterate. “My little White Raven…”

‘As the shadow came to his side, Mouse ran up to me, pushing me out of the way, as the Man materialized right before our eyes, and raised his clawed hand, ripping the flesh from her face. My mouth opened to yell as if I’d been struck myself, though no sound came forth, as I watched Mouse’s slim little body fall to the cold concrete. I’ll never forget her eyes, still opened, as the life drained out with her blood into the cracked concrete.

‘“R-Ronin..??” I must have found my voice again, turning accusing, confused eyes to my beloved. But he didn’t respond. Ronin stepped back, the mask of cool superiority firmly in place, as a group of crimson-eyed children emerged from the shadows, the tall man stepped from behind him, over Mouse’s twitching body as if she weren’t there, and reached down, dragging me up by my neck.

‘”This is the one you told me so much of? She hardly seems worth the trouble, my son. Or the gift.” That voice. If I heard it today, out of hundreds of others, I could still identify it without question. It was the sound of the Creator yelling a war-cry, and the Destroyer whispering in love. It would be the essence of all my dreams and nightmares for years to come. It would be the last voice I heard, as a whole human…

‘As I looked at this man in horror, he met my gaze, laughing at me. I remember the sharp teeth when he opened his mouth, his head falling back. I remember the look Ronin gave me at that moment, as the man drew me to him, a small, frightened child too afraid to fight or move. I was five years old again, when my beloved parents had died under the rubble of our home and I was too frightened to do anything but watch as life slipped away from them.

‘He didn’t waste much time, crushing my trembling little body to his with one hand, while the other held my head to the side. When his razor-sharp teeth settled into the soft flesh of my neck, I felt like my entire body was lit aflame from the inside out, as his poison ran its course within me. It was only then I was able to scream, and with it came a crisp bolt of pure electricity striking the ground where we stood, marking the beginning of my life as a member of the mutant community forever. He held on to me though, as if the pain only gave him some increased sense of power”which I’m not sure it didn’t”and through the sudden tempest I had created, this man took what had been left of my childhood, and sucked it dry, leaving me with only a Mark, and a mutation.

‘I can still see his bloody face as he tossed me to the ground at his feet, laughing, daring me to stand. They all looked at me, grinning with those sharp, pointed teeth, as if they knew my fate but would never tell. All I could see then was The blood. My blood, as it fell across my shirt, and coursed down his ashen face. It was the last thing I saw before I’d lost consciousness…’


“You still belong to Me, White Raven”



With a start, Ororo nearly jumped clear off of the couch, her eyes wide as she searched around the room. The fine hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, as she sought to determine whether or not she was still asleep.

Only after checking every single room in the brownstone (twice) was she able to curl up in the corner of the couch, facing the entrances, of course, and trying to calm herself down. It had been years since she’d dreamed of that night, and she wished to keep it that way. The trauma never really re-exposed until her talk with Logan, she regretted telling him only now, as she knew it would be impossible to close her eyes without seeing that face.

Shaking uncontrollably, Ororo hugged her knees close to her chest, and rested her cheek there, allowing the tears to roll, because there was nothing else she could do…

---

Early the next morning, about 6:30 a.m….
‘Ro woke to the sound of a tentative but steady knock on her front door, which startled her up from her awkward leaning position on the couch. She looked around the still-darkened living room, then hesitantly got up, coming to stand at the door where she could look through the peep hole. Sighing heavily, she unlatched the locks above the knob, and opened the door.

Angela looked up with a mixture of relief and surprise, evidently unsure whether or not anyone would answer. “Ororo..?!”

Despite being slightly groggy, ‘Ro immediately accepted the young girl’s constricting hug as she threw herself at Ororo, near to tears. “Angela…it’s…early.” She said, unsure of the exact time, but nonetheless sure it was before eight a.m.

“I’m…I’m sorry, ‘Roro, really…” she wiped her eyes as ‘Ro ushered her past the threshold and secured the door closed again.

Ororo took her to the couch, sitting her down, and sat beside her, almost uncomfortable with the guilty feeling in realizing how upset the young woman was. “No, I think I’m the one that should apologize. I haven’t been a very good influence on you lately, have I? I didn’t mean to upset you…” she caressed the girl’s head as she leaned against her shoulder, moving the gold locks away from red-rimmed eyes.

“It’s just…all th’ rumours an’ such goin’ round th’ place…Some o’ us thought ye were really hurt…” her thick Scots-Aussie accent was even more muddled as she spoke through the tears.

“I should have at least contacted You earlier…I’m sorry. I know what a rumor mill that place can be sometimes.” She handed Angela a Kleenex, and frowned with concern as the girl wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

“I’ve been comin’ back ‘ere fer days…just knockin’…I didn’ne think ye’d be here t’day, I was gonne call the cops an’ let ‘em ‘ave it.” She laughed slightly at the end of that sentence, for the first time realizing how absurd that would have been. She turned shining grey eyes to Ororo, as if in need of reassurance. “But I got ye message…What’s ‘appened t’ye all this time?”

Realizing that question was inevitable, Ororo still wasn’t sure what or how much of it to divulge to Angela. The young mutant was as close to a sibling as ‘Ro had managed to have here in the States, and especially since Mouse, but she nevertheless hesitated from spilling it all. Could Angela be in danger if she told? (Was she in danger now??) Or would she understand, ‘Ro having kept this secret the entire length of their friendship? With so few people in her life she could depend on for any type of support, Ororo wasn’t so ready to jeopardize that.

“Angela…I…” ‘Ro hesitated, her mind searching for something that was a little less than a lie, but definitely not the whole truth.

“’Roro, please, ye’ got ‘te tell me what’s wrong.” She pleaded, needing to know her mentor and friend was alright.

“…I’m…not well.”

“Wha--?” Angela’s head snapped up, her gaze clouded with pain and puzzlement.

“Look, you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to say…not even Forge. If this gets out, it could be disastrous for the club, your jobs, and all the people who come to Xile.” ‘Well, when you put it like that…’

“I promise, ‘Roro, I swear.”

“Well, I’ve been…under private care, for the past few days. I’d been feeling under the weather for a few weeks, and decided to go in to see someone. They ran some tests…I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong with me. They tried to explain it, that it’s something that has to do with my immune system, or some glands or something…you know how doctors talk above your head sometimes.”

Angela’s eyes never left ‘Ro’s, as the realization that her friend was seriously ill dawned on her. “Oh, Ororo…”

Pushing the sharp feeling of culpability deep down, ‘Ro continued with her spontaneous lie. “I sort of had to disappear for a few days there. It’s not easy when you find out you have a serious disease. I just couldn’t face you all like that. I had to take some time off, I guess.”

“…What’re ye gonne do now?” Angela’s soft voice was barely a whisper as she leaned against ‘Ro both in support and in need of it.

“Well, it’s interesting you should ask. You remember that man that came to the club a week or so ago? The X-Man?”

Angela’s features physically twisted as she attempted to recall, then suddenly remembered. “Aye! The two wasted blokes at th’ bar. Is it true the short one broke in’te ye office one night??”

For a moment, Ororo was stunned, unsure what to say. She knew she hadn’t told anyone about Logan’s then-unwelcome visit. Perhaps he’d been seen leaving her office (the fool had left via the front door, after all). Why hadn’t Forge come to her afterwards, then, if there had been a suspected security breach? Oh, yeah, that’s right: ‘You were too busy yelling at him for not having the Shot ready.’

“No, no Angela, it wasn’t like that at all. I, um…had an appointment with him. We were trying to keep it under everyone’s radar, but evidently I wasn’t careful enough.”

“I don’ understand, ‘Roro. What’s he got ‘te do wit’ all this?”

“You know how hard it is for Us to get adequate medical care sometimes. I know my health insurance company may not cover anything they can claim as being related to my mutation, and this may qualify. Well, Logan”that’s his name”Logan knows some people upstate that would be willing to help me, at a minimal to no cost. They do this sort of thing for Mutants all the time, I guess. There’s only one catch…”

“Yeh?”

“I may be gone for a while, to their private clinic, during the treatment. I just don’t know what to do about the Xile. I can’t close it. You know that as well as anyone. But I hate to leave such a burden on the staff like this.”

Angela took Ororo’s hand in hers, the tears dried now, as she tried bravely to be strong for ‘Ro’s sake. “Don’che worry none ‘bout Xile. Forge can ‘andle things on the management end. We all know how important the place is. Ye can count on us to keep things a-goin’.”

Ororo nearly broke down then, watching the stoic resolve in the young woman, and regretting the lie she felt she had to tell for the benefit of all, but especially herself. “Angel,” she sighed the little nickname she rarely called Angela, giving her a dear smile, “I’d like it very much, if you’d accept a promotion, just until I return. We both know Forge is a capable man, but since She’s been open, the club’s had a woman at the helm. I know you can do me proud.”

“Boss…I’ll do me best..!” Angela’s excitement was barely contained as she hugged Ororo tightly, then apologized, unsure whether she’d hurt the “sick” woman.

“That’s okay, Angel. Just remember: the rest of the staff can’t know. I’ll talk to Forge before I leave. But I don’t want all the pity everyone else is sure to give me. You understand.”

The girl nodded readily, willing to accept her challenge head on. “I just wan’ che to get better, ‘Roro. Please. If this Logan and the X-Men can help ye, then I’ll do whatever it takes t’see t’that. Ye’ve got me word.”

Ororo smiled somewhat sadly, though her words were sincere. “I knew I could count on you.”

---

After Angela had left…
Ororo stood before the mirror in her bedroom, just looking at her reflection. She didn’t feel too badly about having lied bold-faced to Angela, and some part of her was disturbed by that. She tried to convince herself that it was all for the best and the safety of everyone involved, but even that, she knew didn’t ring quite true.

Now, she realized what a corner she’d backed herself into. With the lie to Angela, she really did have to go somewhere, or at least disappear for a while. Her thoughts went to Logan, who’d been so casual in offering the services of the X-Men, despite what his team may think about helping a vampire. Ororo laid a delicate hand to her chest, right above her heart as it fluttered, and tried to convince herself that it was only at the prospect of finding a cure for the disease.

Shaking her thoughts clear, she turned with some determination to the opened
cases on her bed, and continued to pack.


To Be Continued…





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