Red as the Dawn

Chapter 1

Red as the Dawn

Chapter 1

It was cold, freezing, in fact. I stood shivering in the darkness with the barest of lights at the edge of my vision, but as I glanced at it, it flirted away like a bird taking flight. From my right came the slight drip of water and as I took a tentative step towards it, the heavy bars of a cage slammed down in front of me, sending me backwards with a gasp of surprise. I slammed into something that gave a fleshy thud as I blindly stumbled. I screamed as I felt the warm flow of sticky blood on my hands and my back from the object I'd run into in my blind panic. I spun around to face it and tripped on the slick floor, causing me to fall backward. From the darkness in front of me, Lucas stumbled forward, clutching his chest where blood was pumping in buckets all over the front of his guard uniform. He stared down at me where I had fallen onto my butt on the slimy stone, and choked, "why, why'd you do it Mare? Did you make Cal kill his father too?"

I scrambled backwards into the bars behind me, trying to cover my face, as if pretending Lucas wasn't there would make him vanish. His blood stained hands grab mine though and yank them away from my face and I scream as he digs his nails into my skin drawing my own blood.

"You did this! Do you not see? This is all your fault!" He cries as he shakes me, snapping my neck back and forth as he does so. I yank my wrists away from him and when I do, I see the red and silver blood that stains them. Screaming, I try to wipe it off on my pants but it sinks into my skin and no matter how hard I scrape them against my pants and the stone, it doesn't vanish.

"Don't you see Mare," I flip around to see Maven behind me, a wicked grin splitting his face, "you're no better than me."

He spreads his arms out from his body as if he's inviting me to come into his embrace, with a soft smile just like I remember, he whispers, "come on Mare, you know you can't win this war. Cal's done, he's going to die and you know it will be your fault. Don't sit on that bomb Mare, at least be a few steps away to avoid the collateral damage."

Before I can do anything, my arm snaps out and latches onto his and he pulls me to him. I scream as I try to fight him, only to realize my arms are wrapped around him. I try to kick out but my body feels like a puppet with its strings begin pulled to tight. I glance over Maven's shoulder to see Elara standing in the shadows. With a flourish and a laugh she pulls her skirts away to reveal Cal lying face down, his blood pooling around him, with his clothes torn and falling off to show even more injuries. I scream his name and try to fight Maven only for him to hold me tighter and whisper in my ear, "you're just as much of a monster as me Mare, just remember that you agreed to kill them all too."

He smiles as he peels me off of him, and holds my hands up to my face. The blood is gone finally and I cry in relief until he digs his nails in and causes them to bleed again. I cry out in agony and watch in horror as silver blood leaks from my body. Maven tilts his head to the side, like a morbidly fascinated child and whispers, "look at that, you're a silver monster too."

I wake screaming, throwing my hands out in front of me to protect myself from the shadows in my mind, and the darkness was lit up for a moment by the tiny arches of lighting that danced across my finger tips. I stuff my hands between my legs when I see that, and take in heaving gasps of air to calm down. Tears continue to leak from my eyes though and my breath doesn't calm as quickly as I wish it would.

"Just a nightmare, it was just a dream." I whisper over and over again until my breathing is a little slower. I dig my nails into my skin and watch as the skin turns red, I let out a soft cry of joy and then fall back onto the stiff mattress. To my left I hear someone shift and Shade whispers into the darkness, "Mare, everything okay?"