I sat in my room – human and alone. Everything I loved was dead. Jacob was gone – he left me for good.
Thinking of him shattered my fragile guard, tears falling quickly to the carpet.
“Why am I still alive?” I sobbed. “I’ve lost everything. My love is gone; my parents despise me; my friends are dead.” Flashes of the tragic newspaper clippings from the plane crash circled in my head. They were on the plane; it had been the annual school Europe trip.
My sorrow gripped tighter, making it hard to breathe. “I’m useless,” I whispered, fingering the knife in my hand, “I couldn’t save any of them.” I lifted the blade to my chest. “Jake, why did you leave?” I cried; memories flooding in. “I loved you!”
Determination took over. “Melissa, Cody, Jashi, Alyssa, Davis, Zane, Marshall, Logan,” I paused, eyes shut, “and especially you, Jake,” I touched the tip to my shirt.
“This is for you!” I plunged the knife into my heart, searing pain enveloping me like wildfire. Then, just as soon as it’d begun, it was over; nothing but empty darkness remaining.
* * *
I was still unconscious when I heard his voice. Was that fear I heard as he called my name? Why are you afraid, Jake? Why are you here?
A sudden pain echoed through my body, originating at my neck. It faded quickly as the hurt became numbness. Tingling sensations erupted across my being, then subsided into nothing as everything faded again.
The knives disappeared from my throat as a drop of liquid fell into my open mouth. I tried to taste it, but my mouth wouldn’t move. More of the water dripped into my mouth; a little bit finding its way down my throat.
I gasped as the water brought my body back to life, somehow rejuvenating my dead organs. As soon as I moved, something pressed against my mouth. On the surface, I tasted something slightly coppery, but laced with what seemed like chocolate. I reached up and pulled it closer to my mouth, licking what felt like someone’s arm and taking as much of the drink into my body as I could.
Suddenly, the arm jerked away and someone pressed a towel to my throat. “You’re safe now,” whispered a rough, male voice, “you’re going to live.”
I opened my eyes and looked directly into Jake’s, my gaze wandering slightly to the red stains around and on his lips. “What have you done? I wanted death.” I breathed, holding back tears.
“I’ve given you a gift to bond our love. You’re like me now. I don’t have to leave you behind anymore.” Jake smiled and the tears burst from my ducts.
“You selfish fool!” I yelled. “I hate you!” I punched him in the face and leapt off the bed, pulling out the IV and wrapping a robe around me as I sprinted out the door.
* * *
“Jake never ran after me,” I told Drake, wiping tears from my eyes as we flipped back to reality. “I tried killing myself thousands of times after that, but then I met Brendan five years later. I lived with a family who had found me in the woods. Their son, Brendan, took me in and took care of me. I fell in love with him,” I stared blankly at the wall, “I knew a little of the Council and its rules from the other vampires I met during my time as one of the Wild. I fed on anyone who wandered into my forest, but I just couldn’t kill Brendan.”
I looked at Drake. “He’d told me he wanted to be with me forever. So that night, I told him I was a vampire and then asked him if he really wished to be with me forever,” I took a deep breath, “so I turned him. I didn’t expect him to go insane, though. I watched him slaughter so many people, even his family. I didn’t realize until it was too late that he had become out of my control. I let almost a hundred people die before I finally put an end to his life.”
“How did you do it?”Drake asked, curious.
I looked him straight in the eye. “I cut his head off. I cut it off while he drained the last drop of blood from his five year-old sister’s body,” Drake was speechless, “I did what I had to, and I don’t regret killing him. I just wish I could have saved him.
“A month later another family took me in. The Jamesons. I met Arrakis on one of our trips down to Oregon. We lived up in Washington.”
“Then, on your sixteenth, they kicked you out?” Drake clarified.
“Yes. They got sick and tired of putting up with me all the time. I also killed a squirrel and put it on their bed, so that probably didn’t help them be any more fond of me,” Drake cracked a grin, “but enough about my sad and grim past. I have a future here in the Second Realm to look forward to.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Well, you passed your trials, so I expect you to see me at noon tomorrow for your first real lesson.”
I smiled. “Of course, Master. Does this mean I have until then to myself?”
“Yes. Don’t forget that Lady Alexandra requested your presence. Oh!” He paused and grabbed a bottle off the table, “wrap one of these ribbons around the base of each wing for when you don’t want anyone to see them. Good luck, Raven.”
“Thank you, Drake.” I bowed and backed out of his room, nearly smooshing another apprentice as I walked out.
“I’m so sorry ma’am!” he blubbered, “I didn’t see you leaving the Head Sorcerer’s room! I’m sorry!”
I smiled lightly as I shut the door. “It is not your fault,” I bowed my head, “’tis mine. I did not look as I exited. Besides, you have no reason to treat me as higher than you. I am only an apprentice like you.”
He looked up at me in awe. “But you look almost twenty-five! You must be really old! How can you still be an apprentice? And the wings! You’re not a Shifter, are you?”
I giggled softly. “I am only sixteen, child. Both in looks and age. I only became an apprentice this morning. I just passed my Trial,” I debated whether or not to deny his Shifter question, “and yes, I am a Shifter. What’s your name?”
His smile got big and cheesy. “I’m Bret Lo Tarov, pureblood vampire. I’m ten years old. Who are you?”
“I am Raven Mae Sera, sired by Jacob Remnis and the Warrior Mage apprentice of Head Sorcerer Drake Zynerian. I am also a Shifiter, as I’ve already told you. It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Bret.”
“Pshaw, you don’t gotta call me ‘Lord’. I’m only ten. I don’t got the rights to the title ‘till I’m eighteen!”
“Well then, Bret, it was a pleasure to meet you. But you see, I must be going. Lady Dane wishes to see me.”
Bret’s eyes got big. “Woah, you get ta go see the Lady in private? I’ve never even spoken to her, and I’m from a noble family!”
“Perhaps I’ll mention you then, Bret,” I ruffled his hair. “Maybe you’ll get to talk to her sooner than you think.” Bret smiled really big. I was surprised he didn’t rip his cheeks. “But I really must be going. Be good, Bret” We bowed and the little red apprentice ran off down the corridor. I smiled and sighed, shaking my head at the beauty of fleeting childhood.
