The Other Side: Chapter 1
From the view of the sky, God observed a mermaid with an infant in one hand and the other holding a merman's hand swimming towards a small island far east of Puerto Rico. With the hearing of a bat, God heard them weep in sorrow. They are outcasts, exiles...with a baby that is theirs, so beautiful, yet so pitiful. They must leave her on this island to live a better life than to be an outcast of the mermaid kingdom. This baby will have a much better life here in this island...so they think. As the couple mourned, they covered their baby with kisses good bye, they heard the sound of people nearing them and with two last kisses, they were off into the deep blue sea.
A man and a woman came hand in hand until their eyes came across the sight of a wailing baby face down in the sand. They rushed over and took care of her, from that day on they knew they could never say good bye to that endearing face. They named her…Raven.
16 Years Later~
"Would you like some tea Raven dear?" mother questioned gently "It will help you go to sleep…"
"No..." I curled up under the covers and turned my head to gaze at the stars in the darkening night sky
"Sometimes we all have that feeling that something's going to happen…but Raven, it's late. Try to sleep?"
–Silence-
She yawned, walking to my bedroom door and blew out the candle and left. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. When I heard pitter patters of hooves on the cobblestone pave way, I knew something had to be wrong. Nobody wants to come to my little town, Ohana, at this time of night even less. It's mostly a peaceful kingdom.
My sensitive ears heard the crackle of fire and wood clink on the floor.
"Fire!" a deep loud muffled voice yelled out. He paused and the sound of feet clumping on the ground came to my ears.
"Everyone, out now!" My mother rushed in with huge, astounded blue eyes filled with terror and hissed in my ear. "Come on now let's get out Raven, wake up! There is a terrible fire in our homes." She picked me up, fear overwhelmed her as she stumbled across the room to the main door where papa was waiting.
"Mama, Papa, wait!" I whispered. "I don't know if we should listen to the voice. Let us stay mama..." my tiny hands went to her chubby cheeks as I gazed into her deep blue eyes.
"If we stay we will die." Papa's voice boomed with authority as he spoke, hiding his fear that was noticeable only when you looked into his hazelnut eyes. I observed his features. He was tall and thin with a closely shaved beard and toasted white skin and hair as auburn as can be, and mama…So short with big round eyes with choppy light brown hair that reached her ears. She was a plump woman with a good face. Oh, how I loved these people. The fire grew wild in our house; the roof began to crumble down over us. At that we were sprinting out the house and following the voice to the town square. We came to a stop in front of a magnificent beautiful grand black mustang horse. When it came into view, the horse had an hourglass shaped white splotch on its forehead. I wiggled out of my mother's arms and my black dusted shoes hit the cobblestone floor. My eyes met those of the man with the voice. He was tall to me since I was a five year old. His face was clean cut, no facial hair, and he stood out in this crowed of frightened people with black hair cut close to his scalp. His skin so white it was almost transparent and luminescent in the dark. His eyes gazed at me with hunger, determination and fierce savagery. Those golden eyes…..
Those of a predator.
It happened all so fast; he didn't even speak. Simply, with the speed of a gazelle, he dashed towards my parents. Before I could intervene, he swiftly bit both of them. With a grin on his malicious blood stained face, he looked out to the crowd and everyone darted in different directions trying to get as far away from this blood sucking demon as possible. Frozen in shock, I scrambled and crouched next to my parents still warm bodies on the floor, hot drops of salty tears falling from my eyes. Fingers numb, I stroked my mother's hair and rocked myself for comfort, unaware of the chaos around me. Suddenly, five cold strong fingers wrap around my shoulder and pull me up to my feet. I blinked away the remaining tears that blurred my vision to see the man who started it all and three children huddled around him.
"What are you doing huddled around him like that, he is a monster!" I yelled at the children. "Go on, run!" I waved my arms at them to shoo them away, but none of them moved they just looked at their shoes. The man chuckled as he looked down at me.
"You fool, don't you see by the look in their eyes that they've been turned. Pity, I thought you were a smart one. Well now… it's your turn darling. I've came on a mission to turn five children of my choice and I decided to grab a little snack as well," he grinned as he looked at what he had done to the town with pride. With one last inhale of ash infected air, he looked back down at me and neared my neck. I stared up at him with sheer terror unable to move. All that could escape my lips was "no" and I repeated it with willpower that could've made him stop and listen, but he didn't. His teeth sunk deep into my throat and right then, I heard a scream. I didn't realize at first, but that scream had escaped from my lips. Just then, a battle cry and a thousand hooves pounding the ground echoed in the hallow night. The man looked up from my neck and he hissed under his breath.
"Damn it all! Someone must have alerted the king…" he looked at me and smiled kindly.
"Come with me kid, and you'll be taught how to survive as a vampire." The other kids smiled as well and beckoned me to join them.
"I will never be like you nasty man!" I shrieked. Without realizing, my leg moved almost robotically to kick him in the shin. He growled and held the area I had kicked while I ran as far away from him as I could. I found a spot to hide behind a bush and crawled into it.
"Surrender evil being!" a man's voice boomed from the entrance. From the little spot I had chosen to hide in, I could see it was the king and his army who was stomping on this man's parade. They had not regular swords and knifes, but ones made of wood and some held torches. Not far behind the king was his spoiled daughter, Violet. They named her that because of her unique eyes. They were violet, and she had long straight jet black hair and skin so pale it was like she had never seen the sunlight. The vampire man was faced toward me eyes searching a way to escape. I could see he knew if he stayed, he had no chance of survival. With the speed of light, he was gone. There was a scream and the king's daughter was nowhere to be found.
And I just realized… He got the five children he was seeking: me, those other three kids, and now Violet. For hours the king stayed searching for the missing children and concluded that the vampire had stolen them to turn them. The king's army tried to reassure him that they would soon find his beloved daughter, but he still grieved. One soldier was searching amongst the bushes where I still sat in, hidden, and he stumbled upon me.
"King Julian! I found a child! Amongst the bushes!" he yelled out, the king looked up from his handkerchief, looking dumbfounded as he walked with no rush thinking it as some kind of joke. He thought there was no way that they could find a child here now. But when his eyes set on me, something changed in him I could see it in his eyes. The king picked me up and questioned me with pure adoration and secret motives.
"What is your name sweetheart?"
"…Raven"
"Raven," he repeated, liking the way it sounded. "What a wonderful name, and your parents? Where are they?"
"Dead," I said as a matter of fact, he cleared his throat from surprise. He never heard a child her age speak in such a way.
"Men," he addressed his soldiers as he spoke with fierce protection and authority."I shall keep her and treat her as my own. As will you all treat her of royalty. We shall never speak of this day again. Clean this town and repair it…"
The voices faded and the night became pitch black, as if I had my eyes closed in the dark. Then, I saw something. It was coming closer and closer. I have this eerie feeling that whatever it is it's not good. All of the sudden, I see his face… That vampires face, smothered in blood, and he was hissing at me. He was mocking my pitiful existence.
Raven bolted up in bed screaming. She always had that nightmare since she was five-years-old. It was always so real, as if it happened but she knew that she was adopted from the town Latsyric when the king's birth daughter died from blood loss. The king himself told her so when the questions aroused of why she did not look like him. There were three knocks on the door.
"Come in," she croaked still groggy. Her maid, Maya, stepped in the master bedroom. Maya was as close to Raven as a maid could get, practically friends. She was such a young maid at that, only sixteen. Maya adored Raven, jealous of her perfect life. Every time she stepped into her room and observed her king-sized bed with the sunset pink canopy, the walk-in-closet, the two double glass doors that lead to her balcony, the reading chair set by the window, her master bathroom, and the amount of extra space she had to do as she pleased, Maya always felt a pang of envy. Since Raven was a bookworm, she even had her own library as an attachment in her closet.
"Your bath is drawn, Lady Raven," She said kindly. "You need to prepare yourself for your father awaits you in the throne room to discuss your annual day of birth with the others."
"Thank you, Maya" Raven spoke. Maya nodded in acknowledgement and closed the door.
"Maya wait!" Raven yelled out after her. She stopped in her tracks and came back inside the room to stand at the foot of her bed.
"Yes, m'Lady?" she tilted her head to the side in curiosity.
"Please, call me Raven. Right now, I talk to you as a friend, so sit." Raven patted a vacant spot next to her. Maya sat next to her friend with concern.
"What's wrong…. Another dream?" she whispered, leaning in closer, more concerned and interested.
"Yes, lately, I have been feeling watched everywhere I go. It is like the dream is a reality. A memory of my past…" Ravens eyes began to tear up, and as she spoke, her words got choked up. "I feel like that man has come alive to get me… To end this nightmare that he started," Raven rested her head on Maya's shoulder and wept. Moments passed before she wiped her remaining tears away.
"Well now," Maya stood up and dusted off her apron "Go on, the king is waiting." she smiled kindly and left the room.
Raven sat on her bed, sheets ruffled
My bath is probably cold by now.
She stood up, collected her bath things and left. The doors of the palace where Raven's father sits in his throne heaves open to reveal the king, five others stand before him and turn to look who's coming through the doors. Raven smiled as she neared the king's throne, she came to a standstill and curtsied.
"It is so polite of you all to be here for me, thank you." She spoke.
"Not a problem, darling. You're my daughter of course, anything for you!" the king's voice boomed.
"Yes, yes it is the 1800's after all, you shall have a ball everybody will be envious of!" Raven's aunt Anastasia sang. Anastasia was beautiful and still young, being only twenty-seven, and loved Raven as her own niece when in reality, Raven was adopted. Anastasia was the loud, happy, bubbly type that gave you enormous hugs and pinches on the cheek. Her only flaw is her distaste for "peasants." She acts as if she is on a higher level; she pities them, yet treats them like dirty dogs on the street, too poor and filthy, inelegant like, to afford anything worth glancing at.
When the congregation was over, Raven went to her accommodations with a throbbing in her brain. All day, people have been pestering her on the matter of her annual day of birth ball celebration. When in truth, Raven truly did not desire a ball, at all. Maybe a new book for her library or to be let out without having guards hovering around her like any peasant on the street is out to kill her. But of course the guards are there for her safety. It was her father's orders. She knew her family would overdo something as insignificant as her day of birth.
This is going to be a long day...