On The Inside

Home Part 2

My consciousness follows the vulture as he hastily makes his journey in the air. We travel so fast it is hard to make out very much, but eventually, the cold, northern air turns warm and humid. Illumination from cities and towns below as we fly through the night sky is an astonishing sight. The baby's small arms wave through the breeze, her tiny fingers attempting to grip her makeshift stork. The careful vulture has a grim appearance, suitable for the vampire baby. Swiftly, the grotesque bird turns downward to a quaint little hospital and flies through a conveniently open window. He leaves the infant in the dark, empty patient room, sparing her a black eyes glance, before making his flight back into the night. Lyra shrieks immediately from the lack of comfort. I attempt to soothe her with calming words, but I am not a physical being, just a spectator to the scene. I hear running footsteps approach the door,

"Who the hell left their baby in here?" A very familiar voice echoes in the room. I turn to observe the woman walking towards the baby, rubbing my eyes in disbelief. The woman in front of me is a petite redhead, a much younger version of my mother. Mama Tessa.

She picks up the infant and begins to soothe her, Lyra soon falls asleep in her arms.

"I wonder where your parents are. Don't worry honey I'll find them." She reassures the sleeping baby, carrying her out of the room to leave me all alone. The realization hits me hard.

No Lyra, she will never find your parents. Instead, after searching for many months, her lovely wife and herself will take you in and raise you as their own. They'll name you Marin Quinn Kelly after their mothers and love you to death.

You'll have no idea you're a lost vampire princess.

Forget that you have a real family out there searching.

Most dreadfully, you'll never know your real parents want to use you to end mankind as we know it.

Oh God, I'm Lyra! This can't be real.

I squeeze my eyes shut and pray for this nightmare to end. I just want to go home, watch cheesy Hallmark movies with my moms, and never think about this again!

When I open my eyes again I'm back to the present. A room of red eyes gleaming at me, some widened exponentially. The glass vial is shattered on the floor. Cordelia and Alexander have tears in their eyes. My real mother and father are crying for me.

"We had thought Gabrielle killed you that night. It broke us. Yet there was no body, nor any blood. So we searched for you. I thought finding you would be easy, vampires don't blend in well..." Alex- My father, I mean, drawls on.

"I hadn't anticipated that the witch had changed you. We didn't find out until a year ago when we finally tracked down Gabrielle. I tortured her for every little detail on you. She is to be executed soon for her betrayal."

He holds resentment when she is mentioned, yet softens his gaze when he looks at me. He reaches out to touch my face, a single finger tracing my features.

"You look just like your mother" He smiles at Cordelia.

"No she has your eyes" She insists. Then her own eyes widen.

"You have yet to see your true self!" She snaps her fingers and a servant wheels out a covered mirror, setting it in front of me. When he rips off the curtain, I nearly faint.

Long gone is the disguise of the past 18 years. Instead in front of me is a pretty girl, one with ruby eyes and wavy raven hair. Alabaster skin like the Queen and King, her height noticeably increased by a couple of inches. It comes to mind that I can never be the Marin of the human world. The imposter. My fate has been sealed, I am truly Lyra, Princess of Vampires. I should be horrified, and yet for the first time ever, looking into the mirror makes me feel relieved.

"Oh, Lyra how we've missed you all these years" My mother smiles brightly. I pull in the willowy woman in for an embrace. Her arms are cold but comforting. She squeezes me tightly, making me briefly think of my mothers back home. I wonder if they've noticed I'm gone. Are they looking for me? My thoughts of my mothers quickly vanish, my brain is trying to erase the thought of them. After all, how can I go back now that I have changed? They wouldn't recognize me.

"There are so many people you must meet, tonight we are having the first soiree since your disappearance. Here you will be reintroduced to vampire society." My real mother pulls me out of thought. This information is startling. I just found out they're my parents and they want to thrust me at more people?

"I know this may seem soon darling, but a great many people are desperate to see you. At your age, you are likely to find your soulmate tonight." She continues and sends a sly grin to my father.

"A soulmate? Like you and father?"

"Yes, exactly. Every vampire that is born, is promised by fate to spend eternity another vampire that they are destined to be with, it is very sacred in our society."

There been someone waiting for me all this time, no wonder I could never date, I must have been waiting for them as well. 

"Go on and get ready, we'll be waiting in the ballroom at precisely seven" Father informs me and follows mother out of the lounge. A pretty maid shows me back to my room. As soon as she closes the door I allow tired tears to fall down my face. 

So much pain and for what, Gabrielle?

A//N: 

self-critiquing, I noticed my chapters are extremely short, I'm def gonna work on that.

Thank you so much for reading, leave a vote if you like this chapter, let me know if you don't and why :)

Reader Questions:

Are you surprised over Marin's true identity?

How bad is my pacing?