Don't Blink

Chapter 1

Karen Gillan as Rose and Scarlet Kamiana.
The way to differentiate between the two is that Rose will typically be the cuter, more adorable versions of Karen, usually with her hair down and straighter. She won't have much makeup on and will be wearing comfier clothes.
Scarlet will be the slightly harsher version of Karen, usually with her hair up or curly. Her makeup will be dark and her clothes will be too.
In these two pictures, Scarlet is the first and Rose is the second.

~~~~~

Prologue:
As the time slipped by, consciousness grew harder and harder to hold on to. It was a strange feeling to be drained of your blood, like a creeping coldness that seeped through your body, starting from your fingertips and toes, slowly retreating in the direction of your heart and throat...

I didn't care much for my own suffering, the pain had faded with the first bite. The only noises I found myself able to make were pathetic attempts to talk, to stop them from finishing me off.. Only a little of their venom had entered my bloodstream, sizzling and stinging in the places my blood had fled. Each time I drifted closer to the darkness that crept along the edges of my vision, a shriek would yank me back. Scarlet's screams pierced the air; unlike me, she'd refused to stop struggling, which I could only guess increased the agony by a million.

More than once I'd tried to warn her, to tell her to stop, but the black would pull me back, drag at my words until they were simply weak moans instead of the yells and cries I intended them to be. The ocean stretched before us, a glittering ribbon of hope. Of sanctuary. I stretched a weak hand and touched the water, sighing at the cool relief, finally letting my eyes close. The water streamed slowly up my burning skin, soothing and washing away the pain on its journey. It encompassed my entire being, yet I didn't feel uncomfortable. I felt...home.

The pulling sensation ceased as the salty liquid reached my neck, and the vampire choked, entering a fit of coughing and wheezing as he stumbled away in the sand. A flicker of hope lit my heart, and I reached for Scarlet, touching her fingertips just barely, letting the water flow to her as well. Her screams turned into triumphant laughs and I opened my eyes as much as I could, peering through my lashes (and the water) at my sister, who's face was drawn with exhaustion, yet euphoric as the demons retreated, clutching their mouths and letting out wordless shrieks as they fled.

My eyes fluttered closed once more, and I fell under the darkness, succumbing to the searing pain that burned through my veins, changing, strengthening my body... It was an odd sensation, but the water made it bearable, making its own renovations to my being as it seeped through my skin and joined the venom.

~~~~~

Fifteen Years Later:
Moving again. Awesome.
Scarlet and I packed our bags in silence, sweeping the bare house for any personal belongings. There wasn't much, only two suitcases were filled before we were out of the door. That was all we had. And most of it was clothing.

"Rose," Scarlet's voice came from behind me and I turned, seeing her holding my ruby necklace. I smiled slightly.
"Thanks, Lettie," I sighed, and she stuck her tongue out, brushing my hair back to loop it round my neck and tie the clasp. She let my hair fall, it rippled down to rest over my chest. The sky was dark as we drove, our driver silent, his eyes on the road, strictly business. Scarlet and I sat in the back seats, quiet, our fingers linked. I read a book to pass the time, she glared out the window at the ocean.

She hated to move, hated to have to hide. She thought that we should just let the mortals see us, that it didn't matter if they saw we were just a bit too pure, a bit too pale... a bit too still. Two years were the most we could spend in a town before the mortals saw that we weren't... well, that we weren't ageing. She also didn't care about finding someone to settle down with.

We'd never heard of something like this happening.. Of a mortal becoming an immortal mermaid. But the sea had chosen us, and that was supposedly a great honour.

So why did I feel like it was a punishment?

Scarlet and I hadn't aged since that day. Frozen forever at sixteen. I suppose that would be any woman's dream, but it wasn't ours. Our bodies never changed. Our hair never grew, our skin never tanned... and our monthly cycle had ceased completely. If this... change was permanent... We'd never be capable of having children. That took a bit of a toll on Scarlet's mental well-being.

Children was all she'd ever wanted, though I'd wager needed would be a better fitting word. She'd been picking baby names since she'd learned to read, noting down all the ones she fell in love with, then our mum would write them down in her own neat handwriting until Scarlet's beautiful calligraphy became neater than hers. On the fridge at our parents' house, I suppose it would still be on the fridge.

Scarlet, aged 5:
Eleanor
Lily
Mia
Alfie
Alex
Luca
Leo

Now we'd never even see the list again. Even after fifteen years, our parents were not allowed to see us. Shortly after the change, we'd met with a council who managed the supernatural while still wild and crazed with confusion and fear, discovering that our very existence endangered our parents. So, try as they might, they would never be allowed to see us. And they would know if we went to see them. Instead, our older siblings acted as our guards. They'd refused to let us go, and had all but hunted down vampires themselves. Eventually, the council called them back to be changed in safety. They lived with Scarlet and I when they could, but ran and participated in undercover missions for the council most of the time. So, in a way, we'd still lost each other, though we always kept their belongings safe. Despite our meek two suitcases, the boot was stuffed with a dozen bags.

Coral, Crimson, Firenze and Blaze were their names, their ages ranging from twenty to twenty seven. They were the best older siblings a girl could ask for. I just hoped they'd get there before anything bad happened.