Chapter 2

A Chapter by Gabby

Ellie is finally thrown into the world she never knew existed

Bam! Ellie's eyes shot open and the jolt of adrenaline gave her enough energy to lunge out of bed. She looked around, still a little dazed from sleep, when another crash came from above her. Fear was heavy in her chest as she slowly looked around her room.

As a criminal detective, Ellie's father was adamant that their family should have an evacuation plan in case of emergencies. She could hear his voice in her head telling her to assess the situation to figure out the best plan of action. Ellie waited and listened. She heard glass shatter and knew instantly it had come from the attic. Ellie's mind whirled around trying to find the cause of the sound. None of the alarms had gone off, so that ruled out a fire. Any burglar would have made off with all the valuable items in the living room. There was nothing in the attic worth money.

Ellie immediately grabbed her emergency flashlight from her nightstand and went to investigate. She peered into Chad's room to find that his bed was empty. Ellie let out the breath that she didn't realize she was holding and shook her head. Mom was going to kill Chad if he was upstairs practicing his magic tricks. Last time his "magic ball" made a crash landing through the kitchen window.

Ellie swiftly crept up the attic stairs with the hopes of saving her brother from her mother's wrath. She grasped the knob and turned it.

As Ellie opened the door, she saw Chad on the floor, his eyes stared back at her, lifeless. Blood pooled around his head.

Ellie wanted to scream but nothing came out. Even worse, her legs kept her paralyzed in place as her mind worked hard to comprehend what she was seeing.

“This has to be a dream. Wake up, Ellie! It’s just a dream!” Ellie yelled inside her own head, but she knew that it was a lie, even as she said it.

A moving figure caught her attention and she looked to see her father crawling to her brother’s side, only to be grabbed from behind by a large stocky man, with blond hair that seemed to twinkle in the moonlight.

Ellie's father slammed his head backwards, hitting the stranger in the face. The man lost his grip and dropped him. Ellie's father, whose leg was clearly broken tried to limp towards his sword, which he had hanging on the wall. The stranger was faster.

Ellie watched in horror as the he appeared behind her father, pulled his head to the side and bit him. Her father grew more and more pale. When her father no longer moved, the murderer dropped him to the ground.

The strange man headed towards the far corner of the attic, where Ellie's mother was fighting a blond woman. The moon reflected off her mother's blades, making them look as if they were ablaze. She moved so quickly, Ellie could only watch in both amazement and terror. Her mother kicked the woman and sent her flying into the adjacent wall.

Her mother must have sensed Ellie's presence because she looked over at the door and saw her standing in the doorway. A look of sheer terror filled her mother's face. The female intruder used that moment of distraction to come from behind her, snapping her neck.

Tears streamed down Ellie's face, but she was still frozen in place. She could sense that someone was watching her. She looked to see a younger man, who sat in her father's old chair. Ellie stared straight into his eyes. Emotions played across his face: surprise, shame, and then hatred. Hatred so fierce that it made Ellie take a step back. The emotions were gone just as quickly as they'd come, and the stoic expression returned. His gaze fell back to his companions, who seemed to be feasting on her mother.

Ellie cursed them through her teeth. She had barely made a sound but, somehow, they'd heard her. The woman's head swiveled around to look straight at Ellie. They both dropped the body and it seemed to echo as it hit the hardwood floor.

The woman glided towards her. Ellie’s eyes moved from the woman to her family. She closed her eyes, wanting her last moment to be filled with thoughts of her family. She remembered her mother's awful attempts at cooking and the family camping trip that they went on every summer. She'd even started packing for it earlier that week. The last thing to cross her mind in those final moments was her mother's lullaby. Those were that last words her mother would ever sing to her. Ellie remembered her voice so clearly.

Needing to calm the fear that bubbled through her, Ellie began to sing her mother's lullaby first as a whisper and then louder and louder. The melody had always calmed the darkest storms within her. The love that she felt radiating from that memory seemed to warm her entire body until every inch of her tingled.

Ellie knew that the strange woman was close because she could smell her antique perfume, it smelled sickeningly sweet and made Ellie’s stomach clench in disgust.

Ellie instinctively she put her hands up to shield herself. Nothing happened. After a few seconds, Ellie wondered why the woman hadn't grabbed her yet. The woman screamed in frustration and Ellie jumped at the sound but didn't open her eyes. Her body tingled as the adrenaline shot through her.

Ellie took a deep breath, giving into her curiosity, and opened her eyes. Projecting out in front of her was a shield of blue flames. Ellie gasped when she looked down to see that the flames were coming from her hands. Her carnelian pendant was glowing so brightly in the darkness. She instantly tried to put out the flames by shaking her hands, but the flames remained. Something inside her told her to calm down. Ellie relaxed, took a deep breath and closed her hands extinguishing the flames.

Run! A woman’s voice yelled inside Ellie's head. Ellie's legs began to obey her wished and she ran.

Down the stairs, through the hall, everything was a blur. She kept running until an arm came out and viciously yanked her into the office. Ellie looked up to gaze at the three evil bloodsucking demons. The larger man tied her hands behind her back and went to stand in front of her.

Ellie finally got a good look at them. The one that was responsible for the death of her father was bulky and looked to be in his early thirties. His blond hair was spiked and messy and his piercing gold eyes matched his pale complexion. The female looked to be a little younger, with the same blond hair, which laid draped over her shoulders. She resembled a porcelain doll. Every part of her looked delicate and perfect. Her gold eyes glistened, and her lips kept their rosy color. The last one Ellie looked on was the younger male, who was slightly smaller than the other man. Unlike the other two blonds, his hair was dark-brown, and it hung in his face, and his eyes were a light green. The bigger man and the woman moved in closer and closer to Ellie. She could feel their cold breaths against both sides of her neck. She closed my eyes and awaited her fate.

"Wait," the demons paused at the sound of a voice behind them, "Don't you think that you two have had your fill? You both know you would never be able to finish her, and if you don't then that would be precious blood spilled all over the floor."

"Lucas, what are you suggesting?” the larger man asked eyeing him suspiciously.

“I thought a lot about what you said to me, and you’re right. I must make a choice.” Lucas responded, and looked down to the floor before adding, “Leave the girl with me.”

The large man took a step towards him and placed his hand on his shoulder, smiling at him.

“You’ve made the right choice, little brother.” The man then looked at the woman. “Come, Elizabeth. We should leave our little brother to his meal. We can meet him at home."

Elizabeth smiled as she pranced over to Lucas and kissed him on the cheek, "Christopher and I shall await your return, brother."

Ellie breathed a little easier as the other two left the room. She wouldn’t have been able to fight all of them, but if it were just one, perhaps she had a chance.

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D****t, why hadn't he just kept quiet? Lucas could feel his stomach churn as he looked at the shaking girl who seemed to cling to the wall behind her. This was it. Christopher had told him that it was time for him to make the transformation. Could he really do this?

He approached the girl and she shook harder and tears streamed down her cheeks. Even though she was clearly terrified, her jaw was tight, and she didn’t let her eyes drift away from him. He took another step and she kicked her leg out, aiming for his shin, but he was able to anticipate the move and sidestepped.

Stupid girl! Didn’t she know? She was dead already, no matter if he killed her or not. If he didn't kill the her now, without her mother or family to protect her, another vampire would come and finish the job. He knew how painful a vampire bite was, so perhaps he'd just break her neck and give her a quick and painless death. It was more than his siblings would have given her. He reached up and put his hand around her neck cutting off her air flow.

"P-Please," the girl barely made a sound, but Lucas's sensitive hearing picked up on the plea.

In that moment, Felicity's face swam across his mind and he was back in the barn. The straw was itchy under his skin. He could barely see Felicity through his blurred vision. He put his hand to his temple as if he was trying to hold in in place to keep it from spinning. His hand was warm and sticky on his temple and the metallic scent in the air made his stomach turn. As his vision began to focus, he saw Felicity struggling to fight the large dark headed vampire. Lucas attempted to sit up but when he tried, the world started to spin again. He clenched his teeth and rolled onto his stomach and grabbed his sword from the ground. He charged the vampire, but it was too late. His sword pierced the vampire's back, the forvarian sword turning it to dust.

The ashes fell over Felicity's body as she gasped for air. Every gasp seemed to cause more and more blood to gush from the wound on her neck. No, this couldn't be happening. He couldn't lose her.

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Ellie heard Lucas's breath catch at the sound of her voice. He simply stood there his hand clutched around her neck. The loss of oxygen started to create dots in her vision. Thoughts whirled around her head. She was about to enter the unknown. What was on the other side? Would she be with her family again? Should she be praying in her final moments? She'd never been religious. Her father had been born and raised a Catholic and mother was a pagan devoted to the Goddess, but Ellie had never chosen a path herself. Her mother said that her true path would show itself to her in time. Now, Ellie would never know that path. The thought coursed more fear into her, and Ellie tried to control her sobs, but she couldn't seem to stop them. The hand that was once crushing her throat seemed to ease the pressure and she began to gasp between sobs.

"D****t," he hissed and let out a breath of annoyance before storming over to the window and peering out of the curtains into the night. Ellie took this chance to try to creep slowly sideways to the door. Lucas looked back at her with a dangerous look in his eye which made her freeze mid-step. He made a bee line for her as he pulled a dagger from his pocket. He must have seen her try to escape, she panicked and closed her eyes as he approached. He grabbed for her wrists, which were still tied behind her and cut the ropes, "If you heat up and kill me, then there will be no saving you from my siblings, understand?" Ellie nodded, still dazed. "Go up to your room, change your clothes, and pack yourself only that you need. You won't be able to return here for a while."

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Asora breathed in the cool, chilly air as she stood under the old lamp post. The wind brushed her hair into her face. Being in the human realm made her weary. Every shadow, every sound, made her pull her cloak further around her body, the magic rippled around her shielding her from wandering eyes. The air felt heavy and the darkness seemed to grow around her.

Something was amiss. Asora was bending down to place her hand on the wet grass to call to her earth magic, when the sound of an approaching car gave her pause. She stepped out of her cloak and met the red mustang where it parked on the curb.

Through the passenger window she saw the girl, curled up asleep against the door. Asora's heart broke when she saw the girl's tear-stained face. The darkness was the cruelest to the young ones. Lucas turned the car off and walked around to where Asora stood looking at the young girl. Lucas carefully opened the passenger door, so he wouldn't disturb her. As Lucas reached for her, she seemed to flinch away subconsciously, for she was still sound asleep. Lucas patiently and gently released her seat belt and picked her up cradling her sleeping form to his chest.

Tears began to form in Asora's eyes as she remembered seeing Lucas cradle Felicity the same way so many years ago. She quickly wiped the tear away and looked up to see Lucas staring at her.

"What?" Lucas asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"Nothing, just seeing you cradling the girl reminds me of..."

"Don't," Lucas cut her off and shoved past her towards the lamp post. Asora shook her head and silently followed behind him. When Asora caught up to him she pulled her amulet from her pocket and began chanting quietly, opening the portal.

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