Immortal life – 14 years
Mortal name – Adéle DeChanú
Known as – Little Alice
Clan – Malkavian
Embraced by – Unknown
Mental Condition – “stable”
Origin – French, (Born in Paris)
Haven – Own apartment
Strongest Discipline – Dementation
Nature – Monster
Quote –
“Oh, you'll probably go to heaven
Please don't hang your head and cry”
Alice in wonderland
Tip toe down the hall; make sure not to wake him. He’s right there, behind the curtain, and he’ll scream if you wake him. Oh yes. Good thing you hid him from the world, because even though you forced him into the mirror, he’s still there, able to hurt you, oh yes. And how did you become like this? You don’t remember do you? You remember dying? Oh it all comes back now, the illness. You need your medication, or your lungs will collapse again. That is why you are up early tonight. You have to make it to the drugstore, get your pills before they close.
You tip toe out the door, bare feet in the rain. It will make you even more ill, but you’re afraid to get inside again. Oh yes, you’re afraid to wake him up too early. He’ll get mad, the man in the mirror. Maybe you should break it? Break the mirror? Sounds dangerous, he might come out again then, be free to roam your world.
The drug store is still open, luckily. You remember to place your hat correctly, the Indian will not sell anything to you if your hat is wrong, you know that don’t you? The pills are there, on the third shelve, a big, white glass with a red pictu- wait. You stop, turn and look at the other shelve. Pills, pretty, blue pills. “Used to treat erectile dysfunction in men” it says. Maybe you need it? You’re not sure, it might help. You take it anyways, and grab the pills for your lungs. Antibiotics as well, they might come in handy later.
The Indian is looking at you behind the counter again. He’s got that stare in his eyes, and you smile and bow elegantly. He laughs a bit, and nods with his head. His mouth opens, he is going to talk. You can see his teeth move, and smell his breath. He’s going to infect you if you get closer, you know it. Maybe he send you the powder? Oh yes! The powder! You nod at his comment, not sure about what he said, hands the boxes and glasses of pills over, then pays, takes the bag, and run out into the rain. You have to get to the airport quickly, the man down there might know about the powder.
You feel a sting to your heart. Your lungs are in pain, and you take a few pills. Works every time, and you keep running, chewing on the pills. They taste nice tonight.
And it’s out there in the rain that it all comes back to you, after stuffing your face with pills. You’re actually dead. Pills won’t help the pain, won’t help the sorrow. The Cancer is spreading but it won’t cure you, because you’re dead already, so you get more ill, but nothing changes. You’re so dead you can’t even grow a beard, and I know, you’ve always wanted a beard. Yea, look into the rain water, see our reflection. Girls can’t grow beards after all.
I’ll leave you to it, you dead, miserable being, but don’t create a spectacle.
A night in wonderland
So now I’m all alone, and what am I supposed to do? My mind’s empty you see, all empty now that the babbling self is gone. Know what me told me to do? Chill?! As if I ein’t already? I mean, I am dead, I am permanently chilled. And I mean, what kind of way was that to go anyways? I died in a freakin car crash, on my wedding day, we’d been married for less than an hour, and BOOM, car crashes. There I am, lying on my stomach, thinking “It can’t get any worse now” and this bloke, whom I’ve seen like, a million times, at my sessions and things, he shows up, and goes “Let me take you down the rabbit hole.” I told him to quit his pickup lines and call the paramedics, right that second! And you know what he did? He patted my head, and told me I was dead already. Can you believe that? Dead? Me? Brought me back from the darkness, that idiot. I didn’t even feel a thing though. I mean, I’ve met a few of my kin, all talking about the pain, and the feeling of death. All I saw was darkness. Pfft, them being scared of death, being scared of the pain, of the fire, of the sun. They don’t know jack shit, you see, the only real fear out there, is the darkness.
But let’s go back to how I met Rick, whom I married and died with. Let’s start with that? Or maybe something different, like, the bloke that decided to…embrace? Me? Well, let’s go back to my parents in France, the ballet, the beauty, my beauty. The pills, the cancer, the sickness. Oh my beauty, torn by the sickness. I couldn’t dance no more. It all comes back to me now, I couldn’t dance because I got ill, and I married Rick because he loved my inner beauty. Oh yea. And there were this stalker, whom sends me all those letters. And he used to show up at all my shows, that man, who also told me I was dead that night, in the car crash. Who led me into the darkness.
Maybe it was panic, stress, or maybe it wa- That smell? I ein’t got time for more talking, you see, I got things to do. I smell her, she’s running, she’s in panic, someone’s hunting her. There’s another of my kin nearby. I can feel him, smell his dead corpse. He’s already soaked in blood? He’s been hunting more than once. Well then. I hear her scream, and in a flash I am there, watching this dark man, in a dark cloak, with a large iron pipe, standing before his prey. He hasn’t eaten her yet, he keeps talking, talking so loud, about how he’s going to rape her first, then beat her up, and then, he might give her the merciful death. I can’t let him do that. I scream out “Hey you!” he turns, stares at me, as if he knows me, and for a second, I fear my powers not working. But then he screams, he screams in fear and terror and backs against the wall, I take a step closer to him, and he grabs his head, digging his nails into the flesh, and screams. I’ve only showed him what a monster he truly is, and shown him what a comfort it must be, knowing that no one will ever love him, no one will ever care for him, not even his kindred, not even his friends and family. I show him colors, and then I step into his nightmare and hand over the mirror, so he can look at his own reflection being eaten by creatures of darkness and chaos. Those creatures I love myself, they always tug me in at night. I show him his dem- I stop tormenting him as I hear her screams. She runs towards the road from the small alley, across the road, towards the city. I can’t stop her. She’s so terrified. My love, I loved her, for a split second I felt my body love her, crave for her attention. I remove my focus from the vampire, and as fear and terror strikes my heart, I watch her shadow slammed against a truck. There’s nothing of her left, she’s dead.
I stand there, as her blood is now on my hands, I killed her, and I am not sure I am proud of it. Her lifespan was over before I touched her, I gave her seconds more to live, but I could have given her wonders instead of fears.
There are people on the road, pointing the direction of where I am standing, but I am still in the shadows, they won’t see me from that far. And that’s when I feel it. SLAM against my face. The steel smashes me around, and I fall. Feel the pain. The man who’s lunch I stole. I had forgotten him a second. But how I love the pain. It’s fresh and new. He lifts me up and shakes me. A smile upon my face, and he seems to be scared of it. But don’t stop now, Please? He tosses me away and picks up the pipe again. “What are you?” he screams in anger, I’ve shown him his true monster, and even though I lost my focus, he won’t forget it. He won’t forget what I almost made him do, go into the magical fear that would never stop until he was far away. “You! Monster!” he screams and slams the pipe against my face. I realize now, he’s new. He’s a brand new kindred, look at him. And looking closer I notice the bloodstains down his shirt are not new. He’s been feeding for some time now. “Monster?” I ask, and get up standing. He cracked my skull I think, it hurts like hell, the world is so pretty like this. “I am down the rabbit hole, the entity of reality, the modern reality that is, I mean, I ein’t the entity of the seventh hundred’s of queen what’s her face? I’m the entity of now, and you’ve made it. You’ve made it and I am proud of you!” He stops, looks at me without a clue of what is going on. “What are you?!” he screams again, he’s desperate to know. I should have known earlier how young he was, I could have used that against him instead of showing him the world as it really is. “You’re the lie, I’m the truth. Come with me Lie, I’ll buy you coffee” he doesn’t know what to do and I just place my hat back upon my head, almost hiding the wound he’s made. It’ll heal sooner or later, and I like the feel of it, the flesh is so, mortal.
We sit down, drink coffee and he keeps looking at me. I ask him if I got a bug on my face. I probably do, one big one too. He shakes his head “Are you… one of my kin?” He asks and I shake my head. “no no, you’re the Lie, I’m the Truth, don’t you see? Call me Alice, I made it down the rabbit hole, and came out on the other side. I can show you the way Lie? So you can see the truth as well?” He laughs all of a sudden “Are you going to ask me to take a blue or red pill?” “When did you die?” I ask instead, people are looking at us now inside the diner, but they just think I’m nuts, they always do. They should know better. One day I’ll scream at their faces, show them ALL the face of madness that is behind the mirror. Suddenly I hear it from the radio, news about a car crash, maybe they are going to find my friend soon. He looks nervous. And I understand why. He killed her, he did. And she was famous too? Apparently so. Killing famous people. The Kindred won’t like that. I know they won’t. I’ve been told the rules by the mirror.
When I leave the coffee place it’s for the last time. I need to find a new place to eat. At least I destroyed all the tapes, so nothing leads back to me. It’s all bloody; he’s still at it in there. I didn’t do much. I just made sure that my lunch was saved. He got scared, and I showed him why he should be scared. I mean, we all know they were all watching him. Every being inside that coffee place was staring at him, judging him, I saw it as well. How they pointed at him and blamed him for what he did. He killed that woman. She was apparently some anchor woman for some tv station. Smart move Brujah, smart move. Lies are all like that, every time I meet a new Lie, they turn out destroying things.
I count the money from the cash register, and lick my bloody fingers. He butchered them and I made sure to get my lunch after. Then I alarmed the police. Or rather, I clicked the alarm button underneath the counter. Then I turned on all the gas. It should be blowing up by n- There we go. I wonder if my friend survives. The little Lie should die in flames, but I’ve seen some of them survive. I should have taken his blood shouldn’t I? The mirror’s told me that my own kin’s blood is the most tasty, but I should be careful to drink it, because they prince will know. Oh my prince. So beautiful on his white horse. I rearrange the top hat and take my leave. The Airport is calling, and I got an appointment there. About the white powder. The white powder in my inner pocket. It might be eating off my heart as we speak.
Stories and immortality
“What are you?” She screamed, tied to a chair. Adéle smiled, twirling around to the music in her head. “I’m an artist.” She bowed her head elegantly and then clapped her hands together, turning on all the light, as well as the stereo.
“It's not easy having yourself a good time, greasing up those bets and betters, Watching out they don't four-letter”
“Oh you made my favorite song!” she laughed, but the girl just screamed for help again. “No one will come; they are used to it in this neighborhood by now. Thinking my husband’s beating me up over and over.” the girl stopped screaming, looking at Adéle. “What are you?” Adéle bowed her head, and stopped dancing. “I’m dead, that’s what I am. I’m death itself.” The poor victim shook her head “You’re that dancer. Adéle is your name.” Adéle shrieked and held her hands upon her ears “No! I am not! I died! I’m the Truth now! I’m Alice in wonderland, I’m a rabbit, I’m dead inside. Petrified, I’m death, I am the Arch angel, I am the ultimate truth! I am Chaos AND order.” “No no, you’re Adéle. You got lungcancer don’t you? I read about it a few years ago. I used to love your ar-“ “SHUT IT!”
Silence
“I can't decide, whether you should live or die; Oh, you'll probably go to heaven, please don't hang your head and cry”
“The Music is right.” Adéle said. “I don’t want to kill you. So don’t call me that name, but tell me, what do you know?” the girl shook her head. Bravely she said “Untie me first.” Adéle laughed “I’ve never tied you up, you just thought you were. Silly goose.” “Nono, there’s robe around my hands.” “Oh. How did that get there?” She danced towards the girl and untied her. “I am sorry, it must have been the entity doing it.” The girl got up standing, and for a second she wanted to run from the empty room. There was nothing there but two chairs, the skylight view, hidden speakers and large panorama windows giving them a view of the entire city at night. “What do you want to know?” She asked, and Adéle took her hands, dancing around and laughing. “You can be my new doll.” The girl shook her head “I got a husband.” “Oh. Me too.” The girl nodded, dancing slowly with Adéle. “Rick right?” Adéle nodded.”Rick. He used to love me, but I locked him inside the mirror.” The girl arched an eyebrow. “So you’ve been here for all those years? fourteen years without anyone hearing anything from you.” “I died, in a car crash.” “Oh? I heard no one was hurt by that crash.” Adéle let go of the girl, and then screamed loudly and ran head first into the wall.
“Oh I could throw you in the lake, or feed you poisoned birthday cake, I won’t deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone. Oh I could bury you alive, but you might crawl out with a knife, and kill me when I'm sleeping. That's why-“
They were silent for that moment, then Adéle charged the girl. She screamed, trying to run away, but Adéle was too fast, and she pinned her to the floor.
“What are you doing?” the girl screamed, fear in her eyes. Adéle stared at her. “How do you know about the Truth?” “How do you live here?” “Rick, he bought stocks, and as he’s not dead, they are still there.” “Where is he then?” “Dead” “But?” “I saved his corpse”. Adéle kissed her forehead and got up standing again. “I saved him from knowing he’s dead. He’s here, in my bedroom, you wanna see?” The girl got up standing, looking at the city. “So you live off of his stocks?” “Oh no, I write about life, about you, that is why I need you. You need to tell me about your life. So I can write it down, down into a book, and be made immortal.” “Immortal?” “Yes, you will live here, with me, and I’ll write a book about you. Then publish it, and you’ll die, but live on in your story.” “You are going to kill me?” “Not if you do good.” The girl studied Adéle. She didn’t seem strong and the girl then nodded her head. “Fine, I accept.” “You accept death?” “No, I accept being your muse” Adéle laughed “Oh you are not my muse, you’re my Lie, my little Lie, but I will make you truth!” the girl nodded again.”Fine fine, I’ll tell you whatever I think off, and you write it down. Then publish it?” “Yes, I have an artist’s name as well, Alice is the name, like wonderland you see. Alice C. Cooper.” “Wait? You’re A. C. Cooper?” Adéle nodded “Yea.” “You’ve written… twenty, maybe thirty books.” Adéle nodded again “Yes…” “You killed all those?” “No, I made them immortal. Like me.” “So they are all… dead?” “Oh no, They are immortalized on paper, captured and loved forever.”
Copyrighted by Cecilie Hornstrup Nemeth, DK ©
