Fear the Dark: Prologue (Book 2 of Genesis Series)

Prologue to "Fear the Dark" (Book 2 of Genesis Series)

1921 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Fhyona's eyes widened, watching the scene before her in awe. She placed her hands on the railing of the balcony overlooking the underground bar.

Her mother, Alystra, draped herself across her father as she clapped politely at the performance, her silver hair swaying gently as it cascaded down her back. Alystra's dress sparkled in the candlelight while she held out a cigarette holder, placing the cigarette inside and looking pointedly at her husband. Larkon, Fhyona's father, lit it with his breath. Tendrils of flame carefully danced off the small object, then dissipated into thin air.

Fhyona risked being seen to lean forward straining to hear their conversation in the room over the hum of the other voices.

"Are you certain she was asleep, Larkon?" Fhyona heard her mother ask.

Alystra's crystalline eyes gleaming in the light of the warm ambient glow in the speakeasy.

Her father, Larkon, a gentle giant of a man, leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "Yes, my dear, I told Hestia to monitor her."

Fhyona grimaced to herself. That 'Minder', Hestia, had been easily fooled into thinking she was asleep. It would be morning before she realized that the darling princess wasn't in her bed.

Her mother's nails tapped impatiently on the table as she sat down crossing her slender legs and she seemed to look straight in Fhyona's direction. Panic rose in the back of Fhyona's throat.

"I think we need a new caretaker for her. She is becoming altogether unwieldy."

Her father let out a great heaving rumble of exasperation and Alystra looked away from Fhyona's hiding place.

"Can't we talk about this some other time, my love? The next performance is about to start, and I want to whisk you onto that dance floor. We rarely come overseas, and we have to meet up with the delegation soon. I hate for us to spend our last moments of peace arguing over such trivialities."

Fhyona stopped listening then to take in the rest of the room. Small, intimate tables were dispersed around the corners of the cavernous room, covered in wooden beams and imitation paneling. It was made to look as if the whole room were inside a great tree instead of a city pub. The wistful effect was made more haunting by the dark blue and orange lighting, and the sea of different races here.

Red McKenzie started playing "I Ain't Got Nobody", and Larkon plucked the cigarette from his wife's hands and led her into a slow dance across the floor effectively silencing the conversation with a lust filled look of promise making the woman's laugh chime delicately.

Everyone who was anyone in the supernatural world seemed to be present. Her mother, Alystra, represented one of the original Kindred, colloquially known as Dragons. She commanded the room in a glittering gold dress with matching golden bands dangled on her wrists. The dress stopped just short of indecent, long beaded curtains layered on one another, towards her long slender legs. One would think this dress wasn't flattering but it accentuated her thin frame. An equally decadent diamond studded necklace hung down in a thin braid to her naval, swinging about her lithe body.

Fhyona also spotted the Elandi attendant to their court, as well as some Merfolk, and a few Clarions. Even the raven-haired vampire in the back who seemed to be the only one aware of Fhyona's presence, captured her interest. His gaze was heavy with the weight of years. It was as if a chain linked those blood-red orbs to the past. She tilted her chin up brazenly, keeping his stare until he looked away first. Vampires were not equal to Dragons, and never would be.

The lower caste Elandi were handing out drinks. And on the stage the Lupus band mates were crooning their jazz piece. The Elandi eyes were downcast, and their pointed ears and gold bands on their ankles and wrists marking them for who they were — Magic users, exiled, serfs and virtually slaves of the Kindred. They were beneath further notice, except for her to find as a tool her own needs.

If only she could get one of the Elandi to enchant her so she could sneak out among the crowd and introduce herself to the compelling vampire in the corner. It was no fun being locked away all the time. Despite the Kindred's ability to live a long time, it didn't mean she had to be held in a porcelain cage until she was two-hundred surely. Fhyona sighed, regretfully.

She envied her mother, now dipped in the spotlight, all supernatural eyes on her dainty form. One day that would be her up there, with everyone's eyes on her.

Just as she settled back to enjoy the music, her mother's Elandi adviser stood up and cried out loud. The sound cut off abruptly, cast a pall of terror and confused looks, people looking for the threat. Instead they heard the sharp heavy voice of the woman rasping out her words like they were her dying breath. Her light green eyes were filmed over as she saw a scene before her no else saw. Her words were muffled by those closest to her so that Fhyona couldn't make out what she was saying.

Fhyona shuddered in the silence as the Adviser's words lay heavily in the air, damping the mood like a blanket. A trickle of sweat made its way down between her shoulder blades as she raptly watched what happened next.

A bouncer started to usher away the Elandi, daring to restore the ambiance. After a dramatic pause, the musician started over with their haunting tune, calling out about being alone but broke off when black clad figures rushed into the open area bee-lining straight for Alystra and Larkon.

The magic surrounded them, encasing them in darkness, making it impossible to determine who or what they were. They sped towards Fhyona's family, dark magic erupting from fingertips turning her mothers golden frame purple and eerie. Fhyona stumbled backwards as a large flash of indigo light caused the fire to spread and everyone scattered, screaming and shouting. The whole room erupted, the ants in the hill frantic at their Queen's demise.

In the chaos, Fhyona heard Hestia call out for her.

"Fhyona, there you are! We need to leave now- the Elandi slaves have caused a riot outside, and none of us are safe!" she screamed, gripping her arm.

Fhyona was riveted by the gruesome scene unfolding before her. She watched in horror as the fire licked up her mother's beautiful dress and hair.

Hestia pulled at her shoulders trying to drag her away and Fhyona heard herself scream as if from a distant tunnel, hands extending outwards begging for her father to come to her.

She heard her father's anguished cries echoing through the speakeasy, overshadowing any other sound, as he knelt over Alystra's twitching form. Her mother's crystalline eyes darkened, and her father tore into his Dragon form too late. In the midst of the chaos, he was half changed while succumbing to the dark magic himself, black flames eating at his body. A rictus of pain etched his face, echoed in his proud wings and tail. A misshapen form distended by the magic before he could finish his transformation.

Hestia, now a distant memory, fled, leaving the princess there, her loyalty overtaken by fear. It was then, the same vampire from the corner of the room, speeding to her so fast he was a blur in the chaos, shook her shoulders roughly.

"Come on." He commanded in a smooth voice that punctured her anguish like an anvil to iron. He grabbed Fhyona's hand, lifted her over his shoulder, and carried her to safety. All the while Fhyona continued to look at her mother's form, her eyes dry, and her heart hardening.

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