Ravenswynd Legends

Chapter 1. Dock of the Bay

Dock of the Bay

The sound of blood rushing past my eardrums echoed the roar of my pounding heart. What the flaming hell was I thinking? My only solace came from knowing I wasn't the only idiot waiting on a dark pier on Friday the thirteenth at exactly seven-thirteen. There were twelve others. Had anyone else noticed all the thirteens? Although I hoped that this was only a series of coincidences, an icy chill coursed through me as I tied it in with everything that my best friend, Fiona, had been saying all along about the secret party. Without question, something strange and frightening was about to take place. The air bristled with a weird intangible energy. And this weirdness was only a taste of what was to come – the party is the main entrée. I didn't even want to think about dessert.

The three of us had arrived at the Marina just before sunset, but drove around the block twice before finding a parking spot. By the time we had joined the small group of people already gathered on the dock, all traces of daylight were gone. None of us spoke, but more than a few of the people shifted about, tugging at a zipper or fiddling with a cell phone, waiting to be ushered onto the boat. The water lapping rhythmically against the creaking pier rippled through the otherwise eerie stillness of the night. My twin, Melinda, linked her arm through mine, making me wonder if she felt as uneasy as I did.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," I whispered, leaning my head toward my friend Fiona and fighting the urge to grab my sister and run back to the car.

If Fiona felt any similar impulses, she hid them well as she shrugged. But of course she didn't. Fiona was glad to be here and she smiled at the person next to her, a young man she had dubbed Random Guy because he had invited her as if on a whim. She had no idea who he was. I had accepted her invitation with little forethought – quite an uncharacteristic move on my part. And I had allowed her excitement to blind me to any possible risks involved - something she completely disregarded.

"Lizzy." Her tone was soft. "Everything will be fine. Just try to enjoy yourself for a change." Her fearlessness baffled me.

I kept both of my trembling hands in my pockets - a good place to hide my jitteriness. We stood silent for about ten more minutes. A gentle breeze blew through our hair, damp and briny and, fortunately, warmer than usual for this time of the year. My legs would have been frozen in my short dress if not for global warming. I glanced at the time on my cell phone and then peered over my left shoulder just past Fiona's Random Guy and, in the faint light of the rising moon, I counted again. Yep, thirteen idiots.

This so-called party was by invitation only, and invitation was by word of mouth. Even the location was undisclosed to most, if not all, participants. All we knew was that the only way to get there was by boat and that we were supposed to know the person who invited us. We were each allowed to invite one guest, and once I had decided to go, nothing could stop me from asking my twin sister - not the strangeness surrounding the invitation and not even the possibility that the local vampire legends might be true. And if those legends were true, as Fiona had believed her whole life, we could be opening the door to an unimaginable outcome. Or - in my sister's crude way of putting things - we might end up in some deep shit.

Melinda and I had been inseparable all of our lives, and even if my decision to go was misguided, I knew she would've been forever angry if I hadn't invited her in the first place. And the keyword here: forever.

I glanced toward the boat docked at the end of the pier, now realizing by its size that it was, in fact, a yacht. There was just enough light at the bow to see the name: Aeternus Corvus. I certainly wasn't fluent in Latin, but I could make out a few words. While musing about the name, thinking it had something to do with eternity and crows my thoughts were interrupted when I noticed someone climbing aboard a smaller boat docked directly to the front of the yacht. I stifled a low chuckle - we weren't the only mindless idiots preparing for a nighttime boat trip.