Love The Void (Palaye Royale - Book 2)

Prologue - Revised

Asteria shuddered, the warm air of Los Angeles doing nothing to stop the tremors in her frail body. Blood leaked from the open wound in her shoulder, the stab wound bleeding profusely. Her pale blue sweater was ruined, splotches of blood on the areas that weren't completely soaked in the warm red liquid.

Stumbling slightly, she sways on her feet, vision tunneling and the world blurring. A flash of blonde and black is all she sees before the ground suddenly rushes towards her.

Opening her teal blue eyes, she's met with the sight of a blonde girl, maybe a few years older than her walking into the room as the thud of a door closing sounds through the building. With her back turned, she's only able to make out that she wears a lot of black, though it's not masculine in the style.

A flowing black skirt with frilled edges reaches her knees, with sheer black tights and what looks like a black off-the-shoulder t-shirt and frilled sleeves adorn her upper body, tucked into her waistband. A black corset overlays the top sitting snugly around her stomach and hugging her ribs.

A sharp pain pulses through Asterias' shoulder continuously, causing her to wince and bite her lip to keep from making too much noise. The girl at the counter turns, revealing heterochromatic eyes, one silver and one gold, and a pretty, scarred face. A loose velvet choker hangs on her neck, with a multitude of silver chain necklaces resting over her collarbones. The girl smiles, her plump lips pulling apart and stretching a scar that slashes through the side of her top lip, and brightening up the room with her happiness, though a lingering uneasiness has made its home in her gaze.

"You're awake! That's great, I was worried! My name's Elizabeth, I found you passed out on the streets. You almost bled to death." Elizabeth's words come in a haste, her excitement at the stranger being awake causing her to talk faster than normal.

As she walked towards Asteria, her black platform boots thud ever so lightly on the ground, something odd... dark... swirling slightly around her heels. It looks like ink... sort of like a shadow. She glances periodically somewhere behind Asteria, and a brief glance shows what looks like a foyer. Likely where the front door is. She seems to be anxiously awaiting something.

While Asteria is glad the woman didn't take her to a hospital as they're terribly expensive, it was odd that she didn't. Any normal person would have called an ambulance instead of bringing an injured person to their home.

"Does your shoulder hurt a lot? I mean, it probably hurts, but it's not unbearable right?" She questions, bringing a scarred hand forward to brush a strand of hair behind Asteria's ear.

The gesture is very familiar, and Asteria wonders if the girl is always up in other people's personal space. She finds she doesn't mind much, the action reminding her of her since-passed mother. Then, the girl moves to check on the wound, moving the fabric of the large black t-shirt (Asteria is unsure as to whose it is, it most certainly isn't a womens clothing item based on the cut) away from her shoulder, brushing against the slightly pink tinted bandages. Upon moving those aside ever so slightly, Elizabeth moves to take a good look at the wound. It's healing nicely for human healing rates.

Elizabeth looks up just before a door opens somewhere, light footsteps walking through the house, and her eyes seem to glimmer, the unease fading. This continues for mere seconds before a man appears in the archway to the kitchen/living room area. He is rather tall, taller than the young woman, even in her large boots, as he walks forward. He casts a glance at Asteria, giving her a friendly, sharp canined grin before kissing the cheek of Elizabeth, greeting her quietly.

"Got it. Is she doing better?" He questions, shaking his phone in his hand for emphasis, shrugging off his leather jacket.

"Mhm. Her wound should be healed up enough for her to be on her way before the week ends."

"Alright, sweetness." He smiles, "I'm Remington Leith, what's your name?" He turns his attention to Asteria, his deep brown eyes outlined by dark eyeshadow capturing her attention immediately.

"Asteria." She mutters, silently cursing herself for not talking louder.

"That's a rather lovely name." Elizabeth comments, fixing the sweater Asteria is wearing so that it lays correctly.

The injured girl murmurs her shy thanks, a bit weary of these unusually kind strangers, a strand of honey blonde hair falling in front of her face.

"The others will be back in a little while, sweetness." Remington states, ruffling his spiky black hair, "You don't mind strangers too much, do you Asteria?"

"No, no, it's fine. This isn't my home so I have no right to mind much anyway." She says in reply, though it counters her previous thought.

The day continues on. Asteria, feeling much better than the night before, was given the 'okay' to walk around a bit, though Elizabeth was slightly reluctant. The older girl was humming along to a song Asteria didn't recognize, tapping her fingers to an unheard beat on the slightly torn pages of a book she had decided to read. Remington was sitting on the loveseat, his significant other laying her head on his lap as the rest of her body was draped on the couch, legs dangling off the armrest on the other end. There was a content air surrounding the two, one Asteria didn't wish to interrupt.

Entirely unsure what to do, and a little uncomfortable at being in someone else's home, the girl sits there with her old phone in hand. She doesn't have a lot of battery left, but she's surprised it even lasted the night. The battery is rather old, like the phone itself.

"I can see if any of our chords can charge that!" Elizabeth is already making her way up the staircase by the foyer as she speaks, having gotten up from her lovers lap rather quickly.

She comes back down right as a knock sounds on the front door, it opening immediately after. Two sets of footsteps make their way through. Two men appear, one with brown hair and a very Beatles-esque haircut, wearing a suit jacket over a black tanktop and skinny jeans. The latter has longer hair than the former, messy and dark that reaches his shoulders. He wears the same thing as the other man, but without the suit jacket and his shirt flows a bit more.

"Andrew!" Elizabeth exclaims, flying the rest of the way down the stairs in her haste to get to the newcomer.

She trips on the last step, her heavy boots weighing her down, but she is quick to right herself with unnatural reflexes, throwing her arms around him in a hug. All three chuckle as the front door opens again, a light pout on the suited ones lips, his sunglasses pushed up into his hair. There is a singular footstep heard throughout the house, a pause, and then there's a boy who looks to be around Asteria's age, standing behind the others. She manages to make out a very odd hat, and old styled clothes, just barely meeting his wide hazel eyes with her own before he's gone.

A confused look is shared between the occupants of the house, but Asteria can only stare after the man. Something about him immediately captured her attention, though she couldn't say why.

Elizabeth removes herself from Andrew as Remington moves to the foyer with the other two men. The young woman is quick to follow the man up the stairs, and if Asteria was paying attention, she'd have seen the shadow tendrils clinging to the girl's feet as though trying to follow her up.