First Meeting (Caleigh)

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran sat on a wooden bench, which was placed under a large tree, producing shade from the heat. His cloak felt heavy as he leaned against the wooden frame. His hood was away from his face allowing his strong, yet beautiful features to gain full advantage from the blazing rays. He at first was self conscious of letting his face being revealed, seeing how many scars ran along it from his past fights.

He had been observing passerbys for a very long time, but had grown tired of it. Fumbling he reached inside his cloak and took out the worn picture of his little sister Nira. He sat staring at it, as he sucked on a pill to quench his hunger.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Walking out of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop Cally was wearing a black wizarding cloak with the Ravenclaw emblem embroidered on the left side over a pair of dark jeans and a purple long sleeved v-neck tee. Her long dark hair was down with her bang falling to frame her small face. In her hand she held three new quills which had been the reason she was off school grounds in the first place. Looking down to put the quills in her pocket, Cally wasn't watching where she was walking along one of the pathways through Hogsmeade Village and soon found herself stumbling over a misplaced rock and losing her balance.

Horrified, Cally hurried to collect herself hoping that no one had noticed, and that no one was laughing or anything of that nature. Standing up, the young Ravenclaw failed to notice that her glasses had fallen out of her pocket and that she was now starting to walk away from them as she hurried blushing horribly to get as far away from that location as possible.

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran hadn't noticed the girl until she fell through the air. He resisted the urge to break her fall, but he was farther away and it would raise questions on how he had noticed in the first place. As she was leaving he heard the tiny clatter, and a pair of glasses glinted in the sun. Deran quickly folded up the picture, tucking it into his pocket. He swallowed the pill, as he stood up going over to the glasses.

Bending down he carefully picked them up, checking to make sure they were not damaged from the fall. However, Deran was more worried about the girl, who as he had noticed appeared to be a Hogwarts student.

Deran quickly caught up to her. Not one for confrontation himself, he walked up next to her and softly stated. "Excuse me, Miss. You dropped these." Deran held out his hand, the glasses sitting perfectly in his pale palm. He smilled as he looked at her, being carefull not to touch her or startle her.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Taking a deep calming breath, Cally brushed her bangs behind her ear as they had fallen into her eyes and they were making it hard to see. "It's okay..." Cally muttered to herself awkwardly, "No one saw, that's what matters. Now just act cool..." Taking one last calming breath the young witch brushed off the remainder of the dirt off her cloak.

Hearing someone call out to her, Cally winced expecting them to be say something about her amazing ability to trip over really nothing at all. Turning slowly as she listened to the rest of what he was saying, Cally couldn't help but wonder what exactly she had dropped.

Noticing at first her black framed glasses which he held out to her, Cally smiled turning now to look up to see who exactly this mystery person was. It was obvious how beautiful he was, behind all the scars that covered his face, and Cally immediately felt a pang of sadness. "Thank you," She said softly taking her glasses from his hand gently and placing them in her pocket without even looking to see if they were damaged from the fall or not. "You didn't see that... Did you?" Cally asked quietly motioning back to where she fell, a slow blush creeping up into her cheeks.

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran looked at her, her actions reminding him of his sister. He noticed the way she kept brushing away her hair, and how at first she didn't look at him. He wondered what she felt when she first looked at him. Deran allowed his emotions to come forward, and he had a concerned look on his face, like one of a friend.

"I did see you fall, but many people do." Deran paused knowing he couldn't really state that he had never really tripped in his life as he had gotten older, mainly from his ability to notice every little thing...that is if he was paying attention. "Though, my main concern is if you are all right. I know your pride was hurt, but I don't think Hogwarts would take kindly on you coming back with cuts and bruises, or in an unhappy emotional state."

Deran ruffled his hair awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I'm not used to talking to people that much...it's been a very long time." Deran looked anxiously at her, realizing that it was the first seemingly normal conversation he had held since his families and clans death which happened over two hundred years ago.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Cally was a little taken aback by the concern of a stranger. It had been a long time since anyone who she didn't go to school with paid any attention to her at all, even her own father. Cally shrugged as if to prove she was tough or something. She felt a very young and child like in the presences of this man. "Just a bit of road rash," Cally said simply turning her palms to show the cuts which ran the majority of the length across her palms, and had yet to stop bleeding. "I don't think my injury's are life threatening..." she winked her eyes sparkling slightly with the whole new experience of someone actually asking her, Caleigh Fraser, how she was doing. It was so weird not being the one who had to worry about everyone else and have no one to look out for her.

Just as Cally was about to question how he knew she was from Hogwarts, she remembered that she was wearing her house cloak, and was glad that she hadn't asked before realizing, as it would have only added another embarrassing act onto today's list of activities. Cally raised a questioning brow as he stated that he wasn't used to talking to people much. She wondered how someone could live their life alone, or without human interaction. The whole idea of being seperated from human interaction sent a shiver through Cally's body. "How can you not.." Cally started to ask how he could not talk to people that much but then decided it wasn't her business and changed the topic.

"I'm Caleigh," she said simply, looking up to meet his eyes.

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran looked at her hands, silently thanking that he had spent the time last night to make some new pills. Her blood was tempting but he pushed that thought aside. He noticed her wink and he smiled in return. He nodded when she stated her name, remembering not to shake her hand so as not to hurt her.

"Nice to meet you, Caleigh. I'm Deran L Kieler....uh, you can just call me Deran." He stumbled over the words, his hands in his pockets. He fumbled around searching for a piece of cloth, he took one out, the long red fabric resting in his hands. It had belonged to his sisters favorite dress, and he had put a spell on it so as to keep it from aging. He mumbled to himself as he searched for something else, only to find himself holding the worn picture a date from 200 years ago on the back.

He had noticed her unfinished sentence, and he wondered what she was going to ask him. He looked at her, embarrassment hiding behind his eyes. "I'm sorry, I..." Deran tried holding the items in one hand while he ripped the sleeve of his cloak with the other, sending the red fabric and picture onto the ground. After producing a large amount of cloth he held it at his side, as he reached down to pick up the picture which was now face up. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to...was wondering if you wanted me to bandage your wounds, seeing how they haven't stopped bleeding." Deran returned her glance as he held the items in his hands, his silver bracelet on his right hand glinting in the sunlight.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Letting her hands fall beside her body again, Cally smiled lightly as he introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you Deran," she said softly a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as he seemed to stumble over his words. He was kinda cute in an awkward kind of way. Cally watched as he seemed to be fumbling for something in his pockets. A piece of red cloth, and a picture were the items that he pulled from his pocket and Cally furrowed her brows slightly in confusion. "What are..." She paused as he ripped his sleeve sending both the red cloth and the picture flying. Dropping her eyes to the ground not wanting to stare, Cally couldn't help but look at the picture which had landed face up. It was old, that much was obvious, and the women in it was beautiful as well. "She's beautiful", Cally said softly indicating toward the picture which had fallen. "Do you know her?"

Looking back up as he offered to bandage her palms for her, Cally smiled and nodded ever so slight,y the blush creeping back up into her cheeks again. "That would be wonderful, thank you." Around Deran's wrist was a silver bracelet, she wouldn't have noticed had the sun not reflected in the shinny surface. "I've never seen a bracelet like that," Cally murmured, not sure if Deran had heard her or not. Looking up she smiled up at him "Shall we sit or something?" She asked feeling kind of awkward just standing there.

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran nodded, "If you would like, to sit that would be fine." Deran seemed to regain his composure, only slightly and he wondered how this girl he had just met, Caleigh seemed to bring out his old self.

Deran noticed her comment on the picture. He smiled sadly as he looked at the picture. "Yes she was. She was the most beautiful thing until...." Deran paused being careful to not go further and mention that she was murdered along with the rest of his family. He turned the picture towards Caleigh, pointing at the smiling girl. "I knew her very well, and I feel as if she is still with me. You see, she was my sister, her name was Nira." He paused a slightly pained expression on his face.

"She was really the only one who could make me smile...my family were the world to me." Deran looked up at Caleigh, tucking the red fabric back into his pocket.

He noticed her comment about his bracelet, and he touched it gingerly. "It belonged to my family, or rather my father and before him, his father and so on. I guess you could call it a family heirloom. It is very important to the Kieler clan, and now I am the sole member and owner of it's promise....to the beliefs that were ingrained into our clans life." Deran walked over to the side, sitting down, as he waited for her to follow so he could bandage her wounds.

[Caleigh Fraser]

It was hard not to notice the change in Deran's expression as he looked at the picture of the beautiful woman. Biting her bottom lip Cally went quiet as she let him talk about the picture that he held in his hands. "Nira," she repeated softly. "A beautiful name to match," Cally commented lightly. Frowning at the use of passed tense while talking about his sister, Cally couldn't help but comment. "She still is your sister, always will be, and of course she's still with you," Cally said, her voice totally convincing as it was the same thing she had told herself about her mother everyday since her passing five years ago.

Cally watched Deran put the fabric and picture bakc in his pocket nodding slightly at what he said. "I know how you feel," she said under her breath. "My family was everything to me too..." She trailed off almost regretting saying anything. She hadn't lost everyone in her family. Technically her father was still alive, but he had his new life and new family now, and Cally like her mother felt dead in his eyes.

Cally reached out to touch Deran instinctively as he said he was the sole member of his family left, almost as if to comfort him. But what comfort could she, bring to him? Her breath caught quietly as her raw palm brushed against his arm. Swallowing back a whimper of pain from the burning she felt in her hands, Cally followed him to the bench and sat down beside him resting her hand in her lap lightly so he could bandage it.

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran didn't draw back at her touch, and he smiled slightly. He grew saddened at her mention of her family. "Thank you for those words, they mean a lot to me. I know she is still here, and I know it's strange but she wanted to be a bird and through all my travels this one bird has been with me...sometimes I think its her. I'm sorry...I never told anyone that, it's just that it has been a very long time....and I still haven't gotten over their deaths. I wasn't meant to survive, he told me himself that I should have died, that my family deserved to die for what we were doing to our name, and our race."

Deran stopped suddenly as he realized he had kept on talking. He noticed her mention of her family. "I know sorry's and apologies aren't really helpfull, but talking about it does...sometimes. Did you lose someone in your family as well?"

Deran sat down and began to clean away the blood, his hunger slowly coming back. He gently wrapped the cloth around her hand, as he whispered, "Do you hate them?" He didn't know who died or the events that followed, but he knew from experience that most people blamed their loved ones death on someone else, thier heart turning towards hate.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Cally listened silently to the tale of his sister and how she wanted to be a bird. It fascinated her really, the whole idea that someone could come back in a different form, and she'd heard of it before, she just wished silently that she could see proof. "Don't be sorry," Cally chided in an all so grown up voice. "But what do you mean 'he'? Who exactly is 'he'?" Cally questioned, actually slightly frightened of the figure who seemed to lurk darkly over Deran's tale.

"Talking does help sometimes," Cally agreed nodding, knowing that she herself had been the shoulder many had cried upon when bad things in there lives had happened. However Cally herself rarely talked about what had happened in her family knowing much worse had happened to others, and that she should be at least somewhat grateful her father was still alive... even if he had turned his back to his first love. When Deran asked Cally if she had lost someone, it was the first time in a really long time she had felt like opening up to someone.

Wincing slightly as he began to clean up the blood which was now drying to her hands, Cally didin't answer right away, instead waiting until he asked weather she hated them or to answer. "My mother passed away suddenly over five years ago. I don't hate her." Cally paused watching his hands move and avoiding his eyes as she took a slow breath before starting again.

"My father remarried a muggle less than a year after her passing. It was too soon, how could he be over my mother so fast if he had loved her?" Cally sighed. "I hate them. My step-mother and my father. They expect me to accept them as my family now... It's like she's all but brain washed him. He doesn't even talk about mother anymore... Not since Jacob and Kelly were born at least..." Cally shook her head and shrugger as if brushing the thoughts of her family away. "I guess I shouldn't complain. It's just I don't feel like I belong with them."

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran listened to her intently as he bandaged her wounds. "The he I mentioned was my Uncle, he was suppossed to be the leader of the clan, but his views didn't match the clans, so my father took over instead. My Uncle and a couple of his followers started to....kill the townspeople, and they blamed it on us. They raised everyone against us, and my Uncle was the one that killed my family, and then the others killed my clan. Everyone fought there, muggles, wizards, werewolves...and vampires. However, my Uncle is no longer here, when I was filled with hate towards what he had done, I killed him. Though, that was a long time ago." Deran looked up at Caleigh, wondering if the mention of him killing his Uncle would strike fear in her as it did with so many others. He had killed so many people....mainly serial killers and others who he thought were only bringing evil to the world.

Deran had finished binding her hand, and he held it as she told of her mother's death and her hatred of her family. "I can understand the feeling that you have been betrayed by someone you once loved. I know my past is different than yours, but my Uncle was like a second father to me..and what he had done I never forgave him for...even after I had killed him. I know that feeling that you don't belong anywhere, I've felt that for a very, very long time. I have people after me still, a bounty on my head so to say. People hate me for what I am, without getting to know me first...and I know it's different, that people don't hate you for what you are, but maybe what you represent."

Deran paused as he studied Caleigh. "I know what it feels like to be the person no one sees, not even the ones closest to you. You feel like a tool, only brought out into the light when they need a shoulder to cry on, or for you to do something for them. I know what it is like to be alone in the world....and you start to lose yourself, you get lost in a maze filled with hate, lonliness, despair and desperatly wishing you could change the past."

Deran took a deep breath, as he resisted the urge to hold her and comfort her. He was over three hundred years old, but he still had the look of a young adult on him...and he didn't want her to feel like he was merely trying to take advantage of her, cause what he was saying, he meant from the heart. "Caleigh, you'll never be alone. People will always look out for you, and even if it isn't your father or his new family, there will always be someone there. I never had that, but since I came back and let go of my hate...and stopped running, I realized that it wasn't the world that hated me, but I who hated the world. True, there will still be some people who won't like you, but there will be others who would die for you."

Deran squeezed her hand, "If you ever need someone, I'll be there, till the end." Deran looked up at Caleigh, a soft smile on his lips.

[Caleigh Fraser]

Cally left her hand in his as he talked about his family and what had happened in his past. The tragedy that had taken place, and how one family member could do that to their own flesh and blood was just sickening. The smile that had been playing at the corners of her pale pink lips had faded, and guilt over the pain and betrayal she felt towards her family paled in comparison to his story. When Daren said that he had been the one to finally kill his uncle, Cally looked up at him, searching for anything malicious or menacing about the man that held her wounded hand. She found nothing, and didn't move away from him, as she felt that she really had no reason to fear him. heck, if he'd wanted to kill her he'd have done it already instead of helping her.

Cally sighed quietly as her mind traveled over all the hurt she felt and had kept bundled up inside her, putting on a mask to show the rest of the world. "I don't see how anybody could hate you," Caleigh said softly her eyes dropping as a blush creeped up into her cheeks again, her heart pounding a little faster. "It's like to move on with his life he had to get rid of everything that represented my mother... He got rid of all her clothes and everything before I even had a chance to keep anything..." Cally could feel tears filling her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away refusing to be weak.

Listening, Cally was shocked by how well he could read her, and the emotions she felt. It was like he could read her mind or something crazy like that. Unable to look up and him Cally could feel the tears again and tried frantically to blink them back. How could he be so nice when really he didn't even know her, well that being said he now knew her story better than anyone else she had ever known. And he probably didn't know it, but he was almost calming all of her worst fears.

When Daren squeezed her hand and said that he would be there forever, Cally felt a tear roll down her cheek, and she looked up finally and smiled brushing it away. Gracefully she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Thank You," she said softly pulling away slightly. her blush fully taking over now. "You don't know how much that means to me".

[Deran L Kieler]

Deran listened to her words, and he thought about the many reasons why people hated him, he was afraid that if he told her what he was that her kindness, and what had grown between them would disappear. Deran noticed the tears, and restrained himself from brushing them away. When she told about her father destroying everything of her mothers, he felt a pang of saddness.

Deran was shocked when she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, it had been the first time he had been kissed. He looked into her eyes, a soft look on his face. It seemed as if from the moment he had met Caleigh a part of him that was alive when his family had been living was re-emerging.

He still held her hand, as he reached into his pocket, withdrawing the red cloth. "I believe it is me who should be thanking you. You are the first person who has shown me an act of kindness...and even affection in a very long time." Deran looked Caleigh in the eyes, "Caleigh...thank you for filling the empty void in my heart and soul."

Deran gently held the red cloth, placing it in Caleigh's hands. "I know your father destroyed all the material items of your mother, but she still lives on in your memories, heart and soul. She will always be with you, but because you were not able to recieve anything of your mother's I want to give you this."

Deran paused as he still held on slightly to the cloth, softly gripping Caleigh's hand, his head bent as if a heavy burden lay over him. "I.....I want you to know. I want to tell you...but I'm afraid....I want to tell you....," Deran looked up at Caleigh, the look of a frightened child, of being rejected across his face, "I want to tell you what I am..."