Serena

Chapter 3 Wingless Songbird

January 17th 1737

Xavier

The girl definitely had issues. But damn she could play a violin. It seemed to be the only achievement and good impression Serena Milan had made on her instructors, including myself. I watched her from my spot against the wall, determined on punishing the poor girl further. She had been a coward when I first laid eyes on her. I was beginning to have doubts.

"Yes, very good Serena." Belle conducted the girls.

Serena's eyes were half closed, as the violin seemed to be playing her instead. She moved with the melody, the bow moving expertly and with a finesse that was unparalleled in her opposing classes. There was no doubt that Serena was a beautiful girl, with her long chocolate brown hair pulled back from her angular face and deep brown eyes and tanned skin. Italian. I've always like Italians.

She caught me staring and quickly looked away. I had definitely scared the living daylights out of her. But that was my job. To break young girls to tiny little pieces before making them glue themselves back together into women that empowered nations. I had seen it happen before. Strong women were hot women.

The lesson ended and the girls began packing away their instruments. I decided to approach Serena.

"I didn't know you played?" I stopped before her, my arms folded over my chest.

She looked up at me nervously. "M-My grandmother." She stammered.

"What do you think she would think about you being here?"

Serena rose to her feet, she was rather tall for her age and met me at my eyes. "She doesn't even know I'm gone." I could see fire in her eyes. Unfortunately it receded in an instant. I followed her with my eyes as she left the room. She intrigued me. I would definitely be following her every move.

Serena

"Back straight!" My etiquette instructor snapped as she placed more books on my head. My neck was aching, sending shockwaves down my spine as I tried to balance on one of the beams we used for ballet. As soon as the instructor left to help someone else I lost balance. The beam fell over with a loud bang and I toppled after it. A bone in my wrist snapped audibly and I cried out.

My instructor whirled on me and swore in several languages before sitting me to the edge of the room. About ten other girls that fell during the lesson joined me in a group. We were then split from our class and taken up several flights of stairs until we opened a door to the school's roof. My breathing hitched at the glorious view. Green hills spanned the landscape and trees dotted the landscape.

Then I looked down. Below us stood our class that was staring up at us on the roof. This couldn't be good.

"A Vampire woman must have impeccable balance and show no fear." Our instructor pointed to the very peak of the roof. I stepped up onto the peak, my arms outstretched. This was lunacy. I stood on a peak of tiles that was at least twenty metres long and five centimeters in width. A gust of wind tore through me and I closed my eyes.

"Do not fall."

The girl in front of me stepped forward and I followed, my eyes on her back. I wobbled slightly and I looked down. Vertigo hit me, and the world spun. The girl in front of me slipped and with a terrified scream fell over the edge. Her body hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

Tears sprung in my eyes as I took another shaky step.

"Faster!" Our instructor yelled.

I began walking faster, wobbling more.

I looked to the sky and my eyes found a kite circling. I wished I had wings, so I could fly away.

Then I fell.

My mind awoke to unimaginable pain. I willed my eyes to open but I was shrouded in utter darkness. My spine was undeniably broken, my knees crushed and my skull fractured. I was an utter mess. I wanted to scream my pain out to the world. I suddenly realised that if I could feel pain then I mustn't be dead. I was...alive.

"You took quite a fall Serena." Xavier's voice was close to me, I could feel his presence beside me in the darkness. He didn't speak for a while. "You puzzle me."

My eyes finally opened to slits and I cringed against the bright light, begging for the darkness to return.

"Everyone fell, but you are the only one. Only one that survived." I almost detected awe in his words.

I turned my head toward him, pain shooting everywhere in my body. I look to him anyway.

"I brought you some books to read."

My eyes flicked to the stack of books on the bedside table. "Shakespeare." I croaked. I adored Shakespeare.

Xavier smirked. "I expect to see you in my classes soon." He rose to his feet. "Surviving is only the beginning Serena." I watched his back as he walked down the long room and out the door of what I assumed was a medical wing.

It would take me another three hours before I picked up the courage to reach over and snatch a book from the pile.

"The Tempest." Speaking in Italian I mirrored by mother's words. I opened the book and spent the rest of recovery pouring over the pages.

Around midnight I looked up my reading Hamlet to the sound of heels pounding along the polished floor, Imelda Crowe entered the room, candle in hand.

"How are feeling Serena?" She spoke gently in English.

I was confused at her kindness. "Sore." I replied honestly.

"Mmm, Hamlet." She flipped over the cover so she could read the cover. "I think it is wonderful, that you received a proper education." I was too stunned to move as she pulled a chair up to sit beside me. "But you need to know." She whispered. "This isn't home." Her grey eyes were as hard as stone. "Loving Shakespeare isn't enough. You have to live it." She reached out and touched my cheek with her talon like nails. "Everyone must be broken, before they can be become something beautiful." She suddenly gripped my gin with bone crunching force, muffling my wail in pain. "I will break you. Or you will die trying."

She let me go and rose to her feet, the candle playing evil planes across her face. "Fair is foul, and is fair." She spoke in an old Vampire language that was on the verge of death.

A language I knew.