The Chronicles of the Eternal Envoys: Seraphina's Story

Chapter 1 : A Happy House Pt 1

Authors Note at the end of chapter XOXO

"When you are born in a burning house, you think the whole world is on fire. But it's not." - Richard Kadrey, Aloha from hell

10 years before the main story:

School was tiring. Father said it would be, but Seraphina had no idea things would be this bad. If there weren't eyes of curiosity on her, the only child of the Goldsmith Clan, then it was eyes of resentment and jealousy.

A child of such a high position should be taking classes at home with her feet up.

"Spoiled little princess"

That was the name she often heard floating around. Circles of students much older than her whispering about her. Did they not have anything better to do, than gossip about a 7-year-old child? She knew her peers heard their defamatory remarks. She watched helplessly as they began their own circles. Circles, she wasn't invited to. Pathetic, her mother would say. Whether she would be talking about Seraphina herself, the upperclassmen, or her classmates she does not know.

Instead of dwelling on it though, as the thought passed through her mind, Seraphina pushed her small legs up the hill. Not far from the playground, the teachers had left the 1st year classes. She wasn't running away. Father said a Goldsmith never runs. So instead of crying about her lack of companionship with other young vampires, at recess, she decided she'd find a nice quiet place for herself. No eyes. No whispers. Just her and her favorite book Grandfather had bought her. After climbing to the top of the hill, she found a tall tree. A rather odd-looking one, tall and thick at its roots, Seraphina's eyes followed up the tree trunk until they came across a wooden building- what looked like a house attached to its branches. Why? How? Confusion struck the child. What was a house doing up there? How did it get there? Why was it so small, or was Goldsmith Manor just big?

"Woooow"

She jumped at the sudden voice. The book falling out of her arms. Her jaw dropped a bit revealing baby fangs as the girl beside her came into her sight. Where had she come from? Seraphina was sure she'd come alone. The girl lifted a gloved hand, her uniform coat moving up with the movement revealing a small pale brown wrist,

"It's a treehouse"

...

Present Time:

Resisting the urge to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, Seraphina sat up straighter in her chair and flinched when her nanny shot her a sharp glance. Telling her with her eyes to stop moving. Ms.Terris had been looking after her for as long as she could remember. All 17 years of her life. She could hide her emotions well. Could damn near trick the entirety of the Vampire Court but not Ms.Terris.

A tall dark-skinned woman with long black locks cascading down her back, a natural parenteral aura practically oozing off of her. The swirl of blue and lilac in her eyes pointedly observed her as she took hold of her brown box braids. Fixing them into a bun at the top of her head, leaving two out in the front and back.

"Is there something wrong my little lady?" A deep mother-like voice called to her. She shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong Ms... and please stop calling me that. I'm not so young anymore"

Ms.Terris chuckled in response. "You say that but you've yet to come of age. You're still growing. Haven't even made 50 yet", she said in a joking tone but it made the ends of Seraphina's mouth curve downwards.

A hard truth shone through and it made her stomach turn. She was not an adult, at least not by vampire standards. By the law of humans, as a 17-year-old she'd be on the cusp of adulthood. This was not the case for Vampires. You were not considered an adult until it was confirmed that you'd stopped aging. Furthermore, the de-aging process started at different times for vampires. Her mother had stopped aging at 25. Her father, 28. Genetically it made sense for the de-aging process not to proceed so early. The problem was she'd shown no signs of adulthood. Her clan mark had yet to appear. Not present on her wrist or eyes. Her powers hadn't increased in the slightest. Much to her parents' ire. The frown on her face deepened.