It Flows in her Veins

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

This night was different, Ayreth felt as a pang of longing suddenly ran through her. So deep, it pulled her from her simple cotton sheet covered bed. Her feet seemed magnetized to the arched window that revealed total darkness as the end of her bedroom. As she stared at her reflection, shit brown eyes with matching shit brown hair suddenly changed to a deep red, a tan face with a smattering of freckles from sun exposure leeched of color to such utter paleness she looked translucent. Her heart shaped face sharpened to ridged planes. She was looking back at a stranger.

A smile worked its way into the reflection's face, sharp teeth stained with blood. Ayreth tried to back away but was shocked as her body betrayed her and pulled her closer. Her hand reached out to touch the glass, from the darkened background of the window's reflection came a responding glove covered hand dripping in blood. Instead of the bitterness of fear lacing through Ayreth, a sudden warmth invaded her as both hands touched. The blood transferred onto Ayreth's hand. Then, without warning, the hand grabbed at her and pulled her into the mirror.

Ayreth woke with a start. Deep breaths swarmed through her lungs as she inhaled deeply, a scream stuck inside her as she held onto her hand, feeling the warmth of the blood that somehow traveled through her dream. But it was her hand. Clean as a whistle. Nails bitten to tiny jagged stubs. No blood.

A chill swept through her as she stumbled out of bed, walking on the dark brown floor that led to the same window that starred in her dream. This time though, she saw her reflection and only her reflection. Ayreth reached for the latch, half expecting for her hand to go through the window and into the darkness. But it didn't. She made quick work of opening the latch.

Barely paying attention to her state of undress, she felt the cold breeze of the outside and climbed upon the window pane. A nasty looking spiraling tree trunk long since dead was a perfect ladder for Ayreth to use as she jumped onto a worn branch, scaling down efficiently more from muscle memory than natural skill. The dead bark peeled under her nails as her chilled bare feet reached the dirt ground.

Having natural night vision really helped her in this case. While Saros's innovative brain made amazing potions and Milan's inner sight capabilities were envy inducing, sometimes it was this simple extra that really helped her. Sure, it would be cool to control the elements and talk with the dead, like the many stories she had heard previously of people having these amazing extras. Of course, it would. But, she long stopped feeling bad for having this limited extra.

The city of Kelarenis was as ancient as it was magnificent, smack dab in the middle of the Selnea Forest, old stones of all kinds, from drab rocks to glowing crystals made up the main infrastructure of the city. Lush greens and restored parts were resided by those with influence, affluence, and usually a thick dose of impudence. In the area where Ayreth lived, dead trees were the main attraction. Nothing grew anywhere near her hovel. She could still remember when she asked her aunt Nerida how she came about living there. Her aunt just shrugged and said, "It was cheap and our business is made from word of mouth rather than main location so where we resided didn't matter."

Ayreth, still feeling icky over her dream, walked through her quiet neighborhood. As she strolled past all the vacant looking hovels, a twig snapping made her freeze up. As she looked around, she wished her night vision came with "see-through" vision. When she couldn't find anything, she continued on. But, again, she heard something, only this time it was the unmistakable padding of footsteps echoing her own. She stopped. It stopped. She continued. It continued. She feigned one step, only this time as she was about to step on the ground, she left her foot up in the air, breaking the pattern of her walking. But, the sound of a footstep still came, so close it could as well have been her own. Fear gripped Ayreth savagely, her breath stalled. For a second, she couldn't even move. The footsteps behind her stopped as well. Utter quiet plagued the air, not even the sound of crickets played. In that second, it felt as if she were on her own. Only, after that quiet second, came the sound of deep breathing.