Lilies of Blood
Chapter 1
All I wanted was a happy ending. Would it have been too hard for the world to just give me that? Angelina Dalles looked down at her crimson hair as the carriage jounced and remembered that day and her previous life.
Rachel had been the eldest of the family with twinkling blue eyes, creamy skin, and titian hair. Quite a prize for any well placed young gentleman, with a hefty dowry and the looks to go with it. Our parents loved both of us equally, I knew, but sometimes….it didn't seem fair. No use brooding about it. Until my fifteenth birthday came, crisp and bright and clear and dewy. September 21st. Today is my birthday..I thought satisfactorily to myself.
I sat at the vanity, carefully brushing my long red bangs, inherited from my father. I wore my bangs like this to hide my face. I hated my face. Too narrow and pointy, my red hair made me look sallow. For the second time that morning I wished I had a normal hair color, like Rachel. She was a gentle and extremely beautiful girl, but she never put on any airs, and I loved her most. I loved her amber hair the most, that was just like our mother's. I admired it so much. Red didn't suit most of my dresses and it made me stand out too much. Ah well.
Slipping on a simple yet tasteful red dress, I walked downstairs. Servants were dusting and cleaning, cooking and laundering, pruning and laughing on a footstool in the hall. Wait. Laughing? I peered closer, scrutinizing the maid's muffin cap, her plain brown dress, and white apron. Then a pair of blue slippers embroidered with gold designs peeked out. Rachel?
I walked closer and tapped her shoulder. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELINA!" Rachel yelled excitedly. I blushed and quieted her. We walked down the stairs, hand in hand. Then we came downstairs and I looked at the empty dining table. A sinking feeling came into my stomach. No...our parents wouldn't have been so cruel...or maybe they had forgotten..but that was even worse.
Rachel patted my shoulder and tried to comfort me, seeing how heartbroken I was. "It's alright...we can have a ball, just the two of us." Comfort was her specialty as the elder sister. "Ann, you're so lovely and you're smart. You should have more confidence in yourself!" I grumpily said, "If that's what you wish to think."
She left me alone. I walked outside into the sun and promptly bumped into a brown eyed, black haired man a year or two older than I was. He wore a gray coat and had a black beauty mark under his left eye. He was quite handsome, if I did say myself. Probably come to court Rachel. Now that she was 18, she was eligible to any young bachelors. Sufficiently well-to-do, of course. He tripped on a rock and fell into our rose bushes. There went the roses our gardeners had so carefully tended... I thought to myself, This man is either an idiot or just very, very, clumsy. I would hate to see him in a room full of glass. I chuckled to myself. "OW! Why don't you be more careful?" he brusquely said. I sniffed and promptly walked away, staring at the ground as if that would make him leave. "Wait, I don't know your name!" he called, rising with a catlike grace. "Why should I tell you my name when you were so rude to me?" I curtly said.
"No, stop, I'll tell you my name! It's Vincent. Vincent Phantomhive."