The desert stretched endlessly before her. Sands and scorched earth dominated the landscape, dotted here and there by a few sickly plants, struggling to survive in the barren soil. Katia didn't know how she came to be in this place, but she did recognize it.. the BadLands just outside of Lost Angels, her birthplace, and the only place she ever knew. But there was something different here.. she couldn't see the mountains in the distance, or the skyscrapers of the metropolis. The horizon was flat, and seemed to go on forever.
Where is Annwyn, she wondered to herself. She couldn't see it or sense it anywhere, and her friends... gone as well. She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment, as she tended to do when nervous or just thinking, then shrugged and started walking. Which direction didn't matter, since every direction was the same. Though she could see, there was no sun to tell her which way was east or west.
She kept walking, humming softly to herself, for what seemed like hours, until the thing she dreaded the most happened... she started to get bored.
Sighing loudly, she stopped and turned around, murmuring, "Well, this is no fun at all. Where is everybody?" And then again, she called louder, "Where is everybody?!"
Then, she shuddered as she felt Something pass through her, leaving behind the fragrance of flowers and other growing things. Turning again, she could see that something else was added to the landscape... a person, lying limp on the ground. Running to it quickly, she gasped when she saw who it was... her mother....
"Mom!" she cried, "Are you hurt? How did you get out here? What happened to you?"
Katia fell to her knees next to the woman and pulled her up to cradle in her arms, off of the scorched dirt of the desert floor. "Mom? Please answer me..."
Slowly, the woman opened her eyes and smiled weakly up at the girl, but they were not the eyes of her mother, "Katia... my child... my dearest... I've been waiting for you... for a long time." As she said this, she reached her thin and starved arm up to softly brush Katia's cheek.
Seeing the starved woman she knew as her mother in her arms, Katia began to cry, red-tinged tears forming in her eyes. "Mom... I'm so sorry mom... I shouldn't have run away... I loved you so much... and I missed you so much... but but... I had to..."
"Shhhh..." the woman whispered softly, "It is alright Katia. You did what you had to do... I understand... she understands. You let her know that you were safe every week by calling... that meant so much to me.. to her...."
Katia nodded slowly, but continued to cry, the tears leaving reddish streaks down her cheeks before falling to the blasted earth below. "But mom... so much has happened since I last called... bad things mom... and some good things... so much.... but what happened to you? Why are you here? Why are you sick like this.... I don't understand...."
The emaciated hand brushed Katia's cheek gently as she spoke, "Oh my child... You love her so much. You blessed her with your happiness and your love just as she blessed you with life. But Katia dearest, I am not the woman you know as your mother. She is safe, and alive, and missing you desperately." The woman smiles again, with infinite understanding and compassion, "Call her when you can, Katia, and go to see her... she cannot prevent you from leaving now, though she would not if she could. She only wants to see you and hold you again, and know you are alive and happy."
Katia nodded slowly at that, trying to hold back the tears. "But... I don't understand... You are my mother... I know you are... I can feel it inside!"
Softly the woman laughed, "Yes.. I am... I am the Mother of everyone, Katia. How special you are that you would recognize that... So many have forgotten me, or turned away. Yet, I nourish them still..." Her smile was like the smile of any patient mother watching the folly of her children.
Finally blinking away the tears, but still remaining on the edge, Katia nodded.. "I.. I think I understand..." Gently, Katia pulled the woman further into her arms, to cradle her. "But... why do you come to me...." Nibbling on her lower lip again, she continued, "I'm just a vampire..." She pouts... "Might as well be dead if I have to feed from people... I won't...."
As if she gained strength just from Katia's embrace, the life seemed to be returning to her eyes. "Katia.... You really don't know how special you are, do you? Katia, if only you knew how many loved you... care for you... would die for you. My darling child... you represent the perfect balance between Life and Death, between the Predator and Creator... Hunger and Generosity..." She continued, strength returning to her by the moment, "Your friend Nicholas saw this within you... and we All owe him a great debt for protecting you and your vision, a debt which has been partially repaid recently.."
Katia's eyed widened, listening to it all, "You made him human again? He wanted that so much.... he was... jealous, I think, of me... because of it.... But everything is wonderful now... Thank you!"
"But all is not wonderful, Katia, as you know, as you have felt. You have seen the world through many eyes, many lives... You have seen how it has changed, how it is dying.... It is harder to see in a human lifetime, but you have been granted the vision... which is perhaps a curse, for with the vision comes grave responsibility."
Around the two women, the barren earth began to grow... green leafy plants sprouting through the scarred soil, reaching toward the sky. This brought a smile to Katia's lips, despite the morbid words from her mother, which in turn brought a smile to her mother's lips. "Katia, you look at everything with such cheer, such happiness, and love. You must cherish that, my child. Never lose your love, your vision, your dreams, and never lose hope... Hope may be the only thing that can save this world..."
Gently the greening plants continued to grow around the women, cradling both in a soft nest. And in the distance, something else grew.... Looking up, Katia gasped softly in wonder and amazement. For a distance ahead, surrounded by the barren landscape, a tree grew. Not a normal sized tree, or even as large as a redwood, but greater even still. Upon this tree was not only leaves, but also needles, buds, and flowers. No type of tree Katia had ever seen in her short life, or even any tree hidden in the recesses of her memory was left out... this was Every Tree.
"The Tree of Life, Katia.... One grew upon the Earth, from the dawn of time, as the symbol of all that is alive and growing... But, my dearest child... it is no more. During the last human war, the last of its roots were severed, and it died...."
"Nooo...." Katia cried softly, her eyes tearing up again. "How could it... But..."
Gently, her mother hugged her and cradled her now, "Without the tree, there is little hope of the world returning completely as it was before, and I fear that no trace still remains..."
Shaking her head, Katia says, "No.. but there is! I know there is... I feel it... I know it!
"If there is... it remains in a place where I cannot touch it.. in a place dead to me... but I do pray you are right.... Katia, child, if there is not.... you must find my wayward children, and convince them to return to me... They may carry the last trace with them." Smiling softly, she embraced the girl closer to her breast. "Drink from me, Katia... take my nourishment into yourself, and remember what I have said..."
Eyes wide, Katia shook her head, "No... I.. I cannot..."
Interrupting her with a gentle look, her mother held her closer, "Katia, you must take life to give it. It is the Circle of all things. But fear not for my life, child. As long as a single creature still breathes upon this Earth, so shall I."
Nodding slowly, Katia leans down and gently bites into the soft flesh, suckling from her mother as if she were a newborn infant. As the blood began to fill her mouth, it was unlike any sensation the young girl had ever felt before. Echos of memories, feelings, and the thoughts, desires and dreams of every living creature upon the earth filled her. For a moment, she was One with All... Orgasmic sensations wracked her young body as the blood filled her, better tasting and more powerful than even the blood from Nicholas or her ancient elven ancestor... The ultimate nourishment....
* * *
With a gasp and shudder, she woke... her eyes wide and wondering....