THE RAECHILD

chapter one

a requiem for the living | chapter one

A gentle downpour continued outside. Annabelle stood outside the door, waiting nervously. The blonde girl had quite a bit to be nervous about; she had woken up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and found a girl covered in blood and bruises laying in the foyer of her home.

That girl was now lying in the bedroom that Annabelle stood outside of. Annabelle's mother, Sara, was inside, tending to the girl's wounds. The rain picked up and was now furiously pounding away on the glass while Annabelle slouched against the wall contemplating the events of the previous night.

Oh, how one simple glass of water turned into a dying girl showing up inside, bleeding out onto the brand new carpets. There were only three people in the house, and none of them had bothered to try to clean up the blood and dirt off the floor. The girl dying on the bed most definitely had an excuse for not cleaning up the mess, and Ms. Grey also had a viable excuse as she was trying to prevent the one girl on the bed from dying. Annabelle's only excuse was that she didn't exactly know how she was supposed to get blood out of the carpet, as it wasn't like it was a typical occurrence or something that she really felt that she should be researching online, and also she just really didn't want to.

Annabelle sighed to herself and dropped to the floor, exhausted. She buried her hands in her hair. Exhaustion was beginning to set in, and the whole experience was incredibly overwhelming. She hadn't had a chance to go back to sleep after waking up at four o'clock in the morning and discovering the girl. Once Annabelle alerted her mother about the girl, her mother had been dashing around the house to find things to treat the girl, and occasionally sending Annabelle off to get things. Annabelle glanced back over at the door, trying to glean something about the mysterious girl that her mother reacted so calmly towards.

Who on earth acts like a dying girl materializing in your house is normal?

Annabelle eventually dozed off, the exhaustion and stress finally having forced her to sleep in the awkward position. Several hours later the door to the bedroom opened and Annabelle's mother strode out, cell phone in hand. She quickly typed in a number and a photo of an incredibly handsome and well to do businessman popped up. Being perfectly honest, the picture did not do the man justice. The phone began to ring, and Sara began to nervously pace. She knew that Theodore would most likely answer - the man didn't actually need to sleep - but she was still worried that he wouldn't pick up. The phone only rang one time before the man answered.

"Dr. T.A. Danes here, how may I be of service to you?"

"Oh thank God."

"Sara?" Theodore asked, concern in his voice. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"It's Cassandra. Something's- really wrong with her. And I don't know what exactly, but-", Sara paused not wanting to say her suspicions, not wanting to solidify her fears. "But I think I have an idea. It's, well, I just really hope I'm wrong. Because, if it's correct, it's bad, really bad. For everyone."

Theodore nodded. He understood exactly what he was trying to say. Sara didn't say anything. Theodore needed time to process that news, and she would give him as much time as he needed. He had given her the time she needed all those years ago, and she would always repay the favor. She loved him, even if she wasn't the original. That was why she loved him. He always treated her with as much love and respect as he treated all those who had come before her, but he still treated her as a separate person, not just a host for the spirit of the woman he had fallen in love with centuries ago. He knew that her role was to carry on the spirit of Mikilae, but he was also fully aware of the fact that she was a completely separate person, and he loved both sides of her equally.