Sisters Dark

The full moon rose over the frozen Russian landscape, casting light upon the entire barren world. The gleem lit up the resin eye of a lone wolf, fighting the cold in surch of food. It stopped suddenly at the feet of two young girls, curled together in the snow under a baren tree. They did not stir from their slumber as the wolf sniffed them up and down, nor did they flinch when the wolf put its cold nose under their shirts. Slowly the wolf began t get bored of the two girls, and was about to leave, when they sprang to life, diving at the wolf, and digging small fangs into its fur. The wolf howled in pain at the two girls, twisting and fighting to get away to no avail. When the wolf finally gave up and died, the two let it go and relaxed.

"Well we won't go hungery, eh Bast?" The elder of the two sisters asked. Bast was silent as she fixed her silver hair back into a neat ponytail, and pushed her bangs behind her ears.

"I still think that it sucks to be a vampire." Bast commented, examining her elder sister Artemis with her deep green eyes. Bast had always enveyed her sisters short blood red locks, and winter blue eyes because they looked more ominous and cool.When ever people met the sisters, they always thought Bast was the elder because of her aging looks that Artemis seemed to be imune to. Artemis chuckled at her sisters comment.

"I will never understand why you hate being a vampire. We are immortal, we are atractive, we can fly, and we can learn magic. What is the down side to that?" Artemis asked, her optimisim annoying her little sister, terribly.

"The down side? Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that we can't stay in one place for long, we can't go out in sunlight, and we can only drink blood and not real food." Bast said, the sarcasim floating out of her mouth on the clouds of breath she was breathing. A sudden crunch of boots on snow, stopped the girls bickering. They listened closely for the sounds of voices, but heard only one set of footsteps. Suddenly to their right, a tall, black clad figure appeared, wearing a cowboy hat, a heavy trench coat, and thich Russian boots. The girls were on their feet imediatly.

"Who is there? What do you want?" Artemis called. The figure stopped, but did not respond. "Well?" Artemis tried again. The man did nothing for a long while, then reached into his coat and drew an ordanate silver gun, embosed with the seal of the church on it. He pointed it at Bast, then pulled the trigger. Bast dived out of the way, and the girls sprouted leathery wings, taking off into the night in fear. By the time they landed in a clearing, they were both frightened, and hungry. Bast was the first to notice the building they had landed in front of was what looked like an abandoned church. They retracted their wings, and passed threw the gate, tword the door, when it opened to reveal a priest, his bible and cross clutched close to his chest.

"Who is there?" He called out to them, and Artemis took up the reply.

"We are the sisters Dark. We were running from a man carrying a gun in the woods, and wound up here. Is there a place to stay neer by?" The priest considered Arty's question before answering.

"I have rooms here, if the two of you like. Come inside before you let in the cold." THe priest called. Artemis and Bast looked at each other. They had not entered a church since they had been bitten nine years ago, affraid of what might happen.

"We really don't have a choice, Arty." Bast said with a frown. Artemis on the other hand was wary of going anywhere neer the church.

"Don't you think there is somewhere else? I mean they don't build churches in the middle of nowhere, right?" Artemis squirmed under her sisters gaze, and their disision was made for them when they heard a shot ring out across the night. With a hurried step, the girls crossed the thresh hold into the run down church, thankfull that they hadn't burst into flames. The priest was waiting at the altar in the back or the church, praying to Jesus for something the girls couldn't hear.

"The spare rooms are down the hall that is to your right. My chamber door is open right now, so please do not take it." The priest stood, and turned to the girls. "I can tell that you both have been cursed with the blood sickness that has raveged this country and turned our people to monsters, but you cannot be evil, or you would never have been able to enter this church." Artemis and Bast shot eachother a look as if to say that this man was crazy. "The man you encountered tonight was a servant of the Vatican, and he has been roaming the countryside, slautering entire cities that he thinks have been infected. Nobody has commented on his behavior, because everyone thinks he is a saint, but I watched him slaughter my congrigation, and refuse to believe that his is anything higher that murderer. In the morning he should be to the west, and you can go safely on your way, but you must promise me that you will leave me in peace." Both girls nodded their agrement and garunteed his safety from their eating habits. The priest sighed, and turned his gaze back to Jesus. "The Lord works in mystirious ways, but even with all my years of preaching, I have never understood why good people die."

"Bacause God wants them in his kingdom, and he has been enlisting souls ever since the begining of man." Artemis said, the conviction in her voice, suprisingly stong. Bast looked at her sister, and nodded. The priest did not respond, and the girls left him to his wonderings.




The next nightfall welcomed the girls into the fresh night air. They had kept their promise to the priest, and left without food or word to him, simply a note of thanks. They took off into the nights sky, the wind whipping their hair, in and out of their glowing, night vision eyes.They were just relaxing when a shot cut through the air, inches from Arty's nose. Both girls paniced, and dropped to the ground below, where they came face to face with the man from the night before.

"Keep away from us, or we will kill you!" Bast called, her voice shaking so bad she sounded more weak than demanding. The man said nothing, just cocked his gun ah aimed at Arty's heart. Both girls scattered, as the y doged bullets and ran for their lives. Finally a bullet connected with Bast's leg, and Arty's shoulder. Both girls fell to the ground, the pain searing through their cold flesh. As the man approached, Bast could see a little of his face, just enough to know he was smiling.

"Two more devils to hel." The man commented gruffly. He stood over Arty and her sister, as the white snow began to get duller, and the moon began to disapear behind a curtain of darkness. The bullets had been silver, and they had seeped the toxic metal into the girls blood stream. Artemis was the first to go. leaving her sister to admire the soft glow of morning alone. As the first rays of sunlight burnt into her face, Bast couldn't help reflecting on what th epriest had said. I have never understood why good people die. Bast watched as the sun disinigrated her sister, then ate away at her own body. The she welcomed the blackness that enveloped her eyes, and all ws still as the first glimpse of sun waved goodby to the sister Dark.