It was the blood on her lips that pulled her from her dreams into her waking nightmare of hell itself. She lay on a bed, piles of ashes around her in every direction. It had finally happened. She hadn't been able to protect her family, the people that she loved so dearly. She licked her lips and hissed at herself for it. It was not her own, and the hunger she felt within the pit of her stomach told her who's blood it was.
She'd been changed into a Night Walker, and by the bruises she bared, she understood she must have fought pretty hard. She could smell blood thick in the air mixed with the scent of ash and smoke. When she concentrated on it, she began to choke and she dove under the covers of her blacked bed. She escaped the harsh smells of outside, but she wouldn't be able to stay like that forever. She'd have to get up and leave eventually.
She wondered why no one had come to put out the fire, and why no one had woken her sooner. Her house must have been shielded from view. The view of mortals at least. The thought of never being mortal again hit her hard in that second. For it was the blood of a Night Walker on her lips. She would heal from these bruises slowly, but only because they were acquired while she was still technically human. A wound acquired during the change would be the last of anything a Night Walker healed from at the rate of a human. The mind of the Night Walker was strong and despite her hatred for them, she had to admit that their minds were much more useful than that of a mortal. They could command humans to do most actions. They could make things invisible to the human eye, and they could light things on fire with just a thought, and they could even disappear and reappear in a completely different location. Those were only a few things on a long list of talents they could perform.
She licked her lips and once again a hiss escaped her mouth. She would need to wait till nightfall in order to escape the hell she was in right now. If someone saw her leaving her bed from the middle of a house that had nothing remaining, and no survivors, she was pretty sure they'd do something like burn her at the stake.
That's what you get for falling in love with a vampire. Her sister had told her nothing good would come from loving a being of the night. She had been right, like she often was. It wouldn't matter now, because her sister was as dead as the Night Walker she'd fallen in love with. He'd been cast out for falling in love with a human, and when he went back, they'd killed him. She'd been stricken with grief, and turned into what most would refer to as a hermit, for a week before they'd come for her. The Night Walkers that had to take revenge on she who had caused Jack's dead. Jack, the love of her life.
The Night Walker she'd fallen in love with had not only been very kind to her, but powerful in the world that he lived in outside of their relationship. He'd had many fledglings and allies in his world. When he was killed on her account, she'd made a lot of enemies that she didn't need. She'd had one ally in the world of Night Walkers other than her love, and as soon as night fell she'd go to that Night Walker, pleading for help. That single Night Walker was her only hope for survival as one of their kind.
She didn't know how far off night was, but she hoped it would be coming soon. It was getting too hot under the blanket and she didn't know how long she'd be able to stay there. If she uncovered herself and didn't flee quickly though, she'd kill herself with the stench of fire and her fallen comrades. She stretched out, her feet poking out of the end of the blanket.
She was sure she didn't look the greatest either. She was bruised, hadn't brushed her hair, hadn't taken a shower, and was wearing the clothes she had the day before. On top of that, she smelled like a fire, and like rotting meat. She really needed somewhere to go, but she wouldn't be able to count on any of her "friends" helping her out. They'd only liked her when she was glamorous.
She thought for a moment of her mother, brother, sister, father, and uncle that had lived with her. She could smell them all in the air, knowing none escaped the blaze that destroyed her life. Then she thought of something. Who had set her house on fire, and who changed her? No one cared enough to do that, and she didn't remember a thing. She remembered hardly anyone from the Night Walkers her love had shown her pictures of.
I know you love him, but it's doomed. Coexistence does not exist. It was her mother that had spoken those words to her. Her mother who was always loving when it came to her family. Her family, the people who studied Night Walkers. Who had studied Night Walkers. It was horrible to think that she could never run into the house with another book to show her mother.
Then something important came back to her. This wasn't her only home. Their books were in a place that only her family knew about. No one that wasn't in her bloodline could get in, let alone burn it down around her if she stayed there. She told herself that she would go there before she went to see that Night Walker that she could ask for help.
It was only a matter of time before someone came looking for her though, so she'd have to be discreet when she left the house. She wasn't sure how she was going to do that, but she'd find a way. There was always a way when she set her mind to it. She'd escape at nightfall.