The Ninth

Prologue

The First of April 2003

After Ivanka Yavuz spontaneously gave birth at age 15 in 1989, she believed that it would be a once in a lifetime event. And for the other 42 women, it was. 

When she'd keeled over in pain in the middle of a busy street, sister by her side and delivered a baby boy who she wasn't pregnant with at the beginning of the day, she was told, never again. 

And when Reginald Hargreeves showed up, offering money for the boy she turned him down. Some part of her was excited to be a mother, no matter how young she was. She knew better now. These kids were not normal, something that she found out when the boys hands glowed red when he cried. 

And so now, nearly fourteen years later, fear gripped at the woman, more then it had the first time when her stomach began swelling, the familiar pains of labor starting. "No, no, no, fuck" she sobbed, leaning against the rotting kitchen bench looking to the ceiling, "I'm sorry". 

After all these years, guilt continued to consume her very being. It was eating her alive from the inside out. A reasonable reaction after holding the baby she once held with tender love in care face down in the bathtub. Underwater where the fire couldn't come to life. 

This had to be a punishment from God. Another child with the ability to kill worse than before, in exchange for the one she'd murdered. 

Alone in a dingy Istanbul apartment, Ivanka Yavuz gave birth for the second time, to twins. She couldn't even look at them, instead sitting in the furthest corner from them letting the blood pool between her legs. Surely they'd starve soon and their cries would stifle. 

They had to. 

In the early hours of the 2nd of April, there was a knock on the door. Ivanka rushed to it, silently praying that it was the strange man here from years ago. Here to offer to take the demon children from her again. This time she'd agree. 

For the first time, her prayers came true. 

Reginald Hargreeves didn't bat an eye at the blood or tears, instead he walked right past the women and stopped beside the weak babies, still bloody and surrounded by afterbirth. They were cold and skinny, he knew he'd have to get them to Grace immediately if they were to live. 

Without any hesitation, Ivanka allowed the man to take her children. She begged him. In exchange, he gave her a bottle of water and 5 Turkish Lira's. 

An. 5 Turkish Lira's is a bit less then one dollar in the USA, I think. That's what google said.