Lineage of Gaiana

One

Night had fallen in the sub-burbs of North Dakota. 

Moonlight cascaded through the windows, down the curtains and into the floor.

Nine-year-old Sabriyna Horváth rolled over in her bed. She couldn't sleep. She just wanted to play.

Her family lived right outside of St. Michael, ND. They lived dangerously close to Devils Lake. Sometimes the basement would even flood after a long rain.

Her red eyes scanned the room. She had so much she wanted to do. But, unfortunately, she was supposed to be asleep.

Sabriyna sighed, angrily before dropping her pillow on her face. Go to sleep, she thought. Her mind was racing a million miles a second.

After a couple of minutes of still not being able to sleep, Sabriyna pulled the pillow off her face and set it aside. She decided she'd go on a walk around the house to help tire her brain. Slowly, she slid out of bed, slipping her socked-feet into her tennis shoes. The shoes were new. 

Sabriyna stood up and tip-toed to the door. She glanced one last time at her four-year-old sister, Katiya. Katiya was still sleeping. Carefully and quietly, Sabriyna opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. 

Sabriyna paced for a bit in the hallways up stairs before deciding to go downstairs. But before she did, she glanced into her brothers'--Lyric, Juleiyan, and Sceaduwulf--room. She was never allowed in there. She was fine with that.

She never was relatively close to Lyric. They'd always bicker. Lyric, who was twelve, had a superiority complex. 

Sabriyna would sometimes hang out with six year old Sceaduwulf. Sometimes she spoke with Juleiyan who was only a year younger than her.

Sabriyna hung out with Katiya the most. That's probably because they were sisters. 

Sabriyna hung out with Juleiyan's twin sister, Adrasteia, quite a lot too.

Then there was Ascetyr. He was less an a year old.

Sabriyna didn't really interact with him at all. Whenever he needed something, she'd think, that's not my job. It's Mom's.

Sabriyna continued to gaze into the boys' room. Strange, she began to think. I don't see Lyric in his bed.

Sceaduwulf was asleep in his bed--so was Juleiyan, but Lyric appeared not to be. Sabriyna just shook that off.

Finally, she headed down the stairs. Sabriyna tried to go down as quiet as possible, trying not to wake anyone. She stopped in the middle of the steps.

Sabriyna had heard whispering. Sabriyna crouched on the steps, peering down into the kitchen.

"Look, Solakros, I said this once, and I'll say it again, you have no reason to be here," a feminine voice said.

Sabriyna recognized the voice. Mom, she thought. Sabriyna slowly slunk down the stairs and peered around the edge of the rail.

Gaiana, her mother, was speaking to a tall, thin man.

The man just gave Sabriyna the creeps.

"Nonsense, Gaiana. I know you have children. You're not gonna hide them from me," the man said.

"I swear, Solakros, if you even hurt a hair on any of their heads, I'll-" Gaiana was cut off.

"You'll get your buddies Perseus, Jiheuc and Michael to retaliate?" Solakros laughed. 

"No. I'll just kill you myself," Gaiana growled.

Solakros smiled. "Now that I'd like to see." He went to move forward. "Now if you don't excuse me, I need to see my children."