Split in Time

Author's note:

All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, unless they are in the public forum, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention, outside of historical events, and have not been based on any current events that have happened. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned before-hand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi

This one took a little longer to get out than I like but I did enjoy my week off, didn't get much writing done though. Anyhoo, here is chapter nine I hope you enjoy it. As normal thanks goes to Kitty Hawk my editor for all her hard work and to you the reader who has stuck with me so far.

As normal please vote and all comments both the good and bad are welcome.

Have fun

Chapter 9

Amy woke with a little start as lips nuzzled at her shoulder; it took her barely a moment to know it wasn't Wolfgang. Susan snuggled closer, purring very gently as she hugged Amy to her body. Amy carefully rolled out of Susan's arms and went to the bathroom to take care of her morning needs.

When she came out of the bathroom she glared at Susan who was now draped across her bed leaving no room for Amy to crawl back in. Amy decided to start her day, in the blink of an eye she was out of her pyjamas and dressed in her favourite comfortable clothes ready to face the day. She willed herself to the kitchen and inhaled. Freshly baked bread filled her nose making her mouth water instantly.

Sally was turning tins out with several other women. "Morning," Sally said to Amy.

Amy frowned; Sally was in the exact place Amy had left her the night before, only last night they had been putting the dough in the tins for their final rise. "Sally, please, tell me you slept sometime last night?" Amy asked as Robin walked passed with heavy platers of food balanced on each arm.

"Hot food coming through." He called out in warning and people got out of his way.

Sally went a little red and Amy chuckled. "Yes I slept... eventually." She said to Amy.

"As soon as Robin let you?" Amy teased as she grabbed loaves and willed them into perfect slices and onto the tray that was waiting for them. Robin and Sally's relationship had caught no one by surprise; they had guessed, then made private bets as to when the pair would get together as they seemed to be drawn to each other.

Cleopatra chuckled as she walked out with a large pot of porridge. The food would stay warm or hot or cold by will, depending on what was needed, which meant people could start eating the moment they woke.

Crystal walked in jamming her hands into her pockets. "Can I help?" She asked as Alanna walked in with a yawn and started to wash dishes with Maria.

"Take the hot water urn out." Sally ordered as she pointed at the large steel pot with a tap on it. Crystal nodded and went to do as she was told. Twenty hectic minutes later the first lot of food for breakfast was out.

Amy clapped Sally on the back, "it's a good thing Ancients don't really need to sleep."

"Yes," D'Artagnan said, "or we would never be able to feed everyone. It also helps we can will food into fruition." He slapped a tea towel into a wash basket and made a plate, with croissants and jam, appear before he vanished to eat in peace.

Amy walked out of the kitchen and got herself breakfast before she went and joined Crystal at a table. "Where's Ghan?" Amy asked before she sipped at some coffee.

"Grabbed some food and took it back up to Keira. I swear she has him wrapped around her finger." Crystal answered before taking a mouthful of blood. Destiny joined them hesitantly as she knew Crystal's reputation for not liking other Vampires.

Amy smiled as she turned to Destiny, "Crystal have you met Destiny?" she asked.

"No," Crystal said as she shook her head and offered her hand to Destiny. Destiny put a jug down to shake Crystal's hand.

"May I join you?" Destiny asked Crystal directly instead of Amy as she knew Amy wouldn't mind her company but Crystal might. Crystal nodded without even thinking about it, she had liked the way Destiny had carried herself yesterday and was willing to give this vampire a chance because she seemed to have a decent core.

"What are you drinking?" Crystal asked curious as Destiny sat next to Amy.

"Thought I would try Kangaroo." Destiny said seriously as she glanced down at her cup, "but I have a backup, elk blood," she said as she moved the jug to be in the middle of the table as she knew Crystal was partial to it. She sat and took a mouth full and pulled a face, it was like no blood she had tasted before, gamy, oily... not unpleasant but not the nicest blood either.

Amy chuckled and the glass vanished, she scooped up some scrambled eggs and put them into her mouth as a fresh glass appeared in front of Destiny.

Destiny smiled and poured herself a new glass of blood. Sasha put her plate down next to Destiny and hopped up; she smiled at Destiny for a moment before she started eating her pancakes.

Alanna sat next to Crystal and Mayhem and Electra sat on Crystal's other side. Crystal turned to Amy, "you immortal Were are freaks, you have no problem with me but you can barely stand normal vampires."

"That's not true." Alanna said, "I like Destiny."

"Who said she was normal?" Crystal exclaimed. Destiny chuckled in reaction as she agreed with Crystal. "See... she laughs... normal vampires don't laugh."

"Yes they do." Destiny said, "sometimes... rarely... okay never..." she continued to their amused grins.

Destiny felt a nudge and turned to little Sasha, "want some?" Sasha asked offering her some of her pancakes.

Destiny didn't let surprise show at the odd request; she shook her head to Sasha.

"If you don't want it..." Crystal began but stopped as a plate appeared before her covered with pancakes drenched in maple syrup. "Never mind." She said and dug in, Destiny watched in fascination wishing silently that she could have some as it looked like fun.

"So... tell us your story." Amy coaxed Crystal.

"Fairs fair, you told me your story; I promised to tell you mine." Crystal drank some blood to wash the food down. "Okay so I was born this way, half elemental half vampire. My mother was an elemental; she was abducted by Judas when she was seven months pregnant with me. He kept her until she was close to term then he turned her, he was hoping to make a new breed of vampire." She put some food into her mouth and chewed, no one pushed they just let her tell her story in her own time.

"So he turned ma but it takes time before a human becomes a vampire, he left ma to turn alone and before her will became his she cursed her body. She poured all of her magic, even some of her life force into her curse. Her exact words were, I curse my body to never give birth to a true vampire." She told them as she cut some more of the pancakes up. "Soon after she finished turning I was born."

"Judas didn't know what to expect, so he didn't consider the fact that me having a heart beat a bad thing or that I was warm to the touch. I grew... slowly... he didn't care for me much growing up; an infant was of little use to him. As I aged he never noticed that human blood disgusted me and that I was at my most active during the day not at night, it took years to swap my sleeping pattern. He didn't know that the sun and silver held no sway over me and that I liked to eat human food. The familiars and ma managed to hide it from him until the day he killed her." She hesitated.

"He wanted me to turn someone... but I couldn't... I wouldn't... ma had taught me compassion and that humans were more than just food. Even if I could have bitten a human and fed from them I never would have turned them." She took a deep breath as she knew what she was going to say might change the way they viewed her. "He ordered me as his maker... my ma started laughing. I think she may have been mad or she may have just been pleased as she knew her un-dead life was over and that I was strong enough and old enough to protect myself. She taunted him, 'you did not make her... I did... and I free her... I her maker... free her... forever.'"

Crystal rubbed her face, "he killed her, I wasn't fast enough to save her. He tore her head off and didn't even hesitate." She closed her eyes; she hadn't truly forgiven herself for what she did next. "He destroyed my mother," she felt a hand rest on her back but she didn't open her eyes to find out who was trying to comfort her. "So I destroyed his tribe." She said with as little emotion as possible. "He had me trained well, I was his strongest warrior, the others didn't stand a chance. I made sure to kill them all in front of him, bound him with silver to make sure he watched."

She clenched her fists, "he pleaded for some of them... they were his treasures... my mother he could kill without hesitation but he cried when I killed his precious ones." Glancing up her eyes meeting Destiny's for a moment but Destiny was nodding as if agreeing with Crystal's actions. "Dawn was approaching so I gave him a warning, he was to avoid me or I would stake him out and let him burn."

Destiny nodded, agreeing with Crystal, she had heard of Crystal's rage but not the reason behind it, Katar wasn't just her mother, wasn't just her maker, she was Crystal's world and having her torn away in Judas' childish fit for not getting his own way, it was understandable and vengeance was THE emotion Vampires allowed themselves to wallow in.

"Then what happened?" Sasha asked as she put the last of her pancakes in her mouth not phased that she had just heard about a blood bath and had seen it in Crystal's mind.

Crystal smiled a little at Sasha. "I went to my mother's family where I learnt how to harness the elemental magic which resides within me."

Amy frowned, "the magic was still active? I thought that magic was lost when a vampire turned someone?"

Crystal nodded, "it is, which is why my mother couldn't teach me properly. She managed to keep me from losing control of my magic but nothing more."

"You don't wear colours," Alanna stated, she knew a few Elementals and they always wore coloured stones corresponding with the elements and a precious stone for the element they were most comfortable with.

"I do." Crystal said, she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, a small facetted blue stone sat on the barbell, "Sapphire for water." She stood and lifted her shirt to show a belly button ring on which sat a diamond cut ruby. "Ruby for fire." She pushed her shirt down and tucked her hair behind her ears. She turned her head to the left and pointed to the tear drop shaped stud in her right upper ear, "blue diamond for air." She explained and turned her head to the right before pointing to another square shaped stud in her upper ear, "emerald for earth."

"Huh? I thought Elementals were only friendly with one Element not all of them." Alanna stated.

"Generally they are, I've always had an affinity with all the Elements, freaked the crap out of my mother's people when they were testing me to find out where my powers lay. I only got the stones later when it was found out that magic was intensified when channelled through precious stones. I have a stone for each element." Crystal explained.

"So how many stones do you have?" Sasha asked.

"Nine." Crystal answered, "Fire, air, water, earth, life, the five major elements and the four minor elements derived from combining the five major elements, Hematite for metal, white sapphire for lightening, Ammolite for nature and Sugilite for weather."

"What stone do you wear for life?" Alanna asked curious.

"Fire opal." Crystal answered.

"Off track people," Destiny complained a little.

"It happens." Amy agreed, "So you had just gone to your mother's kin for training."

Crystal nodded, "they only taught me out of respect for my mother and because I needed to be trained, they were not comfortable with me. I was too different. I wandered around alone for a thousand years until I met Ghan; he became my first true friend."

"If in your position..." Destiny began, "I believe I would have done the same to Judas, only I don't know why you let him live. I would have killed the bastard."

Crystal grinned at Destiny; she really was beginning to like her. "I thought about it, but he destroyed my world so I destroyed his and I let him live with the pain. Just like he did to me."

Destiny nodded as she now understood. "I get it now... fitting."

"It would also explain why he chooses not to run a tribe anymore. He fears you would come back and do it again." Alanna said.

Destiny shook her head, "no... the conclave forbade him from creating a new tribe as punishment for defying them. They told him to stop with his experiments; it was one of the few things they could agree on before I joined their ranks."

Crystal thought for a moment, "Did they order him to destroy my blood, the blood he took from me weekly."

Destiny nodded, "yep, my suggestion. Tamor over saw it; he was the best choice for the job. He had the firm belief that Judas wanted to use the blood against him, hunted down every drop. Besides training the best Death Walkers ever, it is the only time his paranoia has served the conclave any good."

Crystal smiled, "I think I like you." She said to Destiny.

"Friends?" Destiny asked.

Crystal nodded, "I think I like that, although I've never had a vampire friend before."

Destiny thought about it for a moment, "funnily enough... neither have I unless you count staff."

Crystal shook her head.

Amy turned to Destiny, "so... any questions?"

Destiny knew Amy was referring to everything she was given last night to read. "A million, most if not all are about Were, that book you gave me only left me wanting more detailed information."

"I can understand, I've lived with Were for years and they still baffle me." Crystal sympathised.

"How do you cope?" Destiny asked interested.

Crystal shrugged, "not that hard, Vampires and Were aren't that different."

"Don't go saying that too loud, you'll make the Masters angry." Destiny said as she sipped her blood.

"And what about you, does it make you angry?" Crystal asked.

Destiny thought about it and made a little dismissive shrug, "I've always thought that Were and Vampires might have a common evolutionary ancestor... we have... too many similarities to just... ignore." Her eyes glanced around the group trying to gauge their reaction to her view, it wasn't a very popular one among the Masters, the oldest ones even more against it, and she guessed it wouldn't be widely accepted amongst Were. However no one looked alarmed or angered, which meant they had either heard this theory before and accepted it or didn't care either way.

The table went silent as everyone focused on their meals until someone could change the subject. Amy grinned, "I know a few more books which might interest you if you are still interested in learning more about Were?"

Destiny nodded vigorously.

"I'll get them later and give them to you." Amy said before she drained her mug of coffee.

"Ma..." Alanna said playing with the last of her food, "can we talk after breakfast?"

Amy nodded as she finished her plate. She stood and the used plates vanished to appear clean in the kitchen. Alanna stood and went to follow her mother out. Amy turned to Destiny, "can you get everyone moving into the conference room in about an hour."

Destiny nodded, "leave it to me."

Amy nodded and walked off, she didn't get far before Dominic, Sage, Bianca and Wolfgang joined them. Amy checked her watch. She turned back to Destiny, "make it two hours."

Destiny nodded again.

Amy nodded and walked off to a small office that she was using. She paused at the door, "forgive me but Alanna asked first, we shouldn't be long." She made chairs appear for the others before ducking into her office with Alanna on her heels.

"Ma it could have waited." Alanna complained, this wasn't really important, it wasn't like the very conflicting emotions Sage, Dominic and Bianca would have been experiencing since the revelations of yesterday.

"You have something on your mind now, you may forget later. So spill." Amy said as she sat.

Alanna sat across from her, "I've been wondering if it is possible for..." she frowned for a moment. "I know that eventually memories from my previous lives will bleed through." She said changing tactics, "but is it possible for memories from a current life in a parallel universe to bleed across?"

Amy thought for a moment before she willed a large old leather bound book into her hands, it had been years since she had picked up the book of Ancients but she remembered what she had learnt from it like it was yesterday. She didn't bother to flick it open and offer the passage in question to Alanna; she wouldn't be able read it even if Amy did since the writing was invisible to any who wasn't an Ancient. "Do you understand the concept of Deja-Vu?"

Alanna nodded, "kind of, you remember doing something or experiencing something exactly like you have before."

Amy grinned, "The book of Ancients," she stroked the cover of the book, "writes that time is a complicated thing, it's like a great big root system, and every decision you make causes a fork to form in the path of your destiny. Every decision, every path your destiny might take is laid out before you and must be either played out or closed off. It doesn't matter which path is taken, they all eventually come back together and re-join the main path of your destiny."

"So how is an alternate reality created?" Alanna asked curious.

Amy grinned, "So, most decisions won't fracture the time line and create an alternate reality. Alternate realities are created when a seemingly small decision will have a massive effect on the combined destiny of world. There is a reality where America decided not to get involved in the Second World War and another of when they chose not to drop the Hiroshima bomb."

"And Luna not creating Lupa," Alanna added to which Amy nodded. "So how is it we get deja-vu?" she asked.

"Like I said, eventually the paths come back together, even alternate realities will eventually rework their way into the main time line, it might take time, in some cases a lot of time, but eventually everything comes back together. Decisions made in each reality eventually coincide with each other and force the realities back together and onto the same path. Deja-vu is experiencing in a little way an alternate universe because there isn't two Alanna's, or even multiple Alanna's, there is only one Alanna, one source which all the different Alanna's are connected to."

"But deja-vu is meant to be vague; I clearly remembered using a feather." Alanna argued a little.

"But you are immortal, past, present and future all in one soul for eternity, you are more directly connected to your source because technically you are the source now, which means you have access to all the alternate yous out there and all the previous incarnations of your soul before you became immortal." Amy explained. "So when you experience deja-vu you not only remember clearly but you are also aware of it not being one of your memories."

"That doesn't make sense; it is still one of my memories what makes it not one of my memories when technically they are." Alanna argued.

"They are your memories, but they are not the memories you have gained in this reality and that is what you know. You know they are yours but you also know that they aren't." Amy said.

Alanna frowned and rubbed her head in confusion, it still made no sense to her but she could accept it. Her mother was Ancient; her brain worked differently and had knowledge that wasn't known to her yet. "What about this reality, how can it fuse back with the main time line when it is so drastically different?"