Chapter 1: Live and Always Live
October 31, 1901 – 12:01 am
Blood. It coated the room like the red paint of one of her mother's beautiful, ornate paintings of a rose. A deep, deadly, horrific shade of red. She had never had a problem with blood before. While other girls around England would fret at the smallest scrape, Jade took no alarm to the warm liquid. It filled the body's of everyone, every living creature, what were they so afraid of? It wasn't until this night that Jade understood. The sight of blood meant pain. It meant that someone had been hurt, it meant that flesh had been cut, or organ's ruptured. For Jade, at the moment, it meant many of those things.
She lay on the floor of the family's drawing room, her neck twisted at an odd angle and a knife protruding from her chest. Her mother lay a few feet away from her, in a much worst state than she. Her dead eyes stared at her daughter and for a moment, Jade hoped that she would blink and her mother would be smiling at her and this would have all been a terrible dream. But the pain she felt was much too real.
Her father, her damned father, was dead in his chair, his throat slit cleanly, blood drenching his white shirt and trousers. They were dead. All of them. Even her younger brother, who lay slumped in the hallway with a knife in his hand, trying to defend his sister from the men who had did this. "Money, where's the money?" They had shouted at her father before killing him and then them. She should have known her father's money problems would reach to his family, he didn't care enough about them to do anything about it.
She tried to accept death willingly. Her body was tired and aching and in oh so much pain. It wanted to die. But her mind was very much alive, thinking about the life she didn't get to live. She would never be able to have children. She wouldn't get married or watch her brother grow older. She would never live the way she wanted. She would never be able to see the world. Her mind clung to life like trying to grasp at smoke, wanting so badly to catch it only for it to slip through your hands. It slipped away from her slowly, and she could feel it. She didn't want to die. Tears slipped down her face as she began to accept her fate.
"So that's what that delicious smell was."
Jade opened her eyes to look at the woman who had interrupted her death. She was beautiful. Black hair that fell into wild curls down her back. Her eyes were the brightest of greens. She looked to be in her thirties, at least she carried herself that way, not a single wrinkle graced her face. She was flawless, perfection. She walked, no, she glided into the room, passed her father to kneel between Jade and her mother. The woman stared at her mother's dead face before looking to the younger woman's, curiosity grazing her beautiful features.
"Why child, you are supposed to be dead with this wound." she said in a delicate voice, looking over the dagger protruding from her chest. "I saw you try to fight the man who did this... your courage is quite beautiful, my child."
Jade opened her mouth to speak, but no words would form on her lips. Her throat was rough and dry and the tiniest attempt at voicing sounds caused it to ache. The woman tutted sympathetically, a sigh escaping her lips. "You are so courageous to even try and fight death. Perhaps too courageous. I hold a bit of admiration for you. But tell me child, how can you win over something undefeated in battle?" She waited for Jade to answer, but the girl merely stared at her in pain. "Come on child, speak through the pain."
Jade swallowed, tasting the metallic hint of blood on her tongue. She opened her once more, her voice hoarse from exhaustion. "Are you death?"she asked her as the woman lifted her hand to examine the silver ring that adorned one of her fingers.
The woman let a smile grace her features, but she did not look at her. "Yes."
Jade felt her body shiver at the answer. "Are you going to take me away now?"
The woman finally lifted her eyes to stare at Jade's pale face, one of her hands coming to brush her brown hair from her face. "Only if you wish me to." she told her, speaking clearly and softly. "But I will also give you another choice... Life."
Jade stared at her in confusion as she woman continued to examine her. "What?" she croaked, her body lurching forward slightly to cough violently, blood spurting from her mouth. She gave a wheeze and let her broken body relax once more against the floor, tears pricking her eyes.
The woman, Death, gave her a pitied look, taking a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the blood from her cheek. "Would you be a companion of death, my child?" she asked her. "I can see it in your eyes that death does not defeat a girl like you, you merely befriend it. I am giving you the choice to live now and always live... or die."
Jade stared at her, this mysterious woman who had interrupted her last breath and proclaimed herself Death. She didn't want to die. She was so young, she had so much to live for. She turned her head to look at her mother once more, her dead eyes boring right into her. Her mother would want her to live. She fought and died so that her daughter wouldn't have to. Jade closed her eyes tightly for a moment and reopened them to look at the woman. "I... I want to live."
The woman smiled widely, revealing her teeth. "And live you shall." she said. "Now close your eyes child. It will only hurt for a moment." Jade nodded and started to close her orbs. 'Strange. Those look like fangs.' she though in a haze before darkness overtook her. The last thing she remembered was the sting in her neck and the woman's words. "Live now and always live..."
Beck Oliver had always considered himself to be a relatively normal person. He had a normal family, friends, he went to high school. Though not everyone went to a performing arts high school, he still considered even that aspect of his life to be on a healthy level of normality. And that's what bothered him. He lived in Hollywood, California, he wanted to be an actor, he was dating one of the hottest girls in his high school and it was no secret that girls literally followed him around so why wasn't his life... less normal? Why wasn't it exciting for him anymore? His best friends, Robbie and Andre, called him insane for not loving the life he was living. He was popular, talented, good looking, why couldn't he love it more? Because... it bored him.
He walked into Hollywood Arts, coffee in his hand and his book bag hanging lazily from one shoulder as he made his way to his locker. People waved at him as they passed and he returned them with only a short nod and he sipped down the coffee, black, no sugar. The sweetness tended to bother him.
"Yo Beck!" He turned to smile at his best friend, Andre, as he approached him, guitar slung on his back and a smile fresh on his face. Andre and Beck had been friends since elementary school when Beck was still short and had braces and Andre's voice had yet to change. They had been through a lot with each other and were even planning on getting their own place once they graduated this year. It was one of the things Beck was looking forward too, graduation to he could officially begin his career as an actor. Andre was going to get himself a record deal, no doubt. Their lives would be exciting again... at least he hoped.
"Ready for this cold reading assignment?" Andre asked, opening his own locker beside him by pressing a few chords to his piano combination lock. "Sikowitz could have picked better partners man."
"Come on, you got Tori, she's great." Beck said, commenting on his girlfriend who would surely be there in a few minutes.
Andre nodded. "Yeah I know, I'm talking about you and Sinjin."
Beck shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee and slamming his locker shut. "Sinjin's not that bad he's just... a little awkward."
"A little? Dude, I saw his carrying around his collection of cactus needles, pretty sure he was talking to them to. That's not awkward, just plain weird."
Beck shook his head at his friend and checked his watch. With a heavy sigh, he lifted his head and closed his eyes, as if waiting for something. Andre gave him a strange look as he piled books into his bag. "Dude, what are you doing?"
"In 45 seconds, Tori's gonna come up behind me and cover my eyes to surprise me. Happens every Monday at 8:23 am." Beck recited as if he were reading a text book with a heavy sigh.
Andre raised an eyebrow at him. "Dude that's creepy."
"And predictable." Beck said. "And 3, 2, 1..."
As if on cue, Tori Vega reach up to shield her boyfriends eyes with her hands. "Guess who?" she whispered in his ear and Beck had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.
"Hey babe." he said, turning around and pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. Tori Vega was one of the prettiest and talented girls at Hollywood Arts. She could sing, dance and was one of the better actresses in his class. She had college acceptances lined up and scholarships popping out of everywhere. In short, Beck was lucky to have her. Any guy would be, if he and Tori didn't work out, sure enough every boy in this school would be after her.
"Hey," she said, beaming at him. "I missed you this weekend, did you have fun rehearsing with Andre?"
Beck avoided the look Andre sent him and focused his attention on her. "Yeah, it was cool. I missed you to."
"Good, because we need to spend some time together this weekend after the Full Moon Jam." she told him before pressing a kiss to his lips again. "I have to get to my Hip Hop songwriting class before I'm late. See you in Sikowitz!"
Beck watched her .walk away and his happy facade melted as he did. Andre shook his head. "Come on man, we gotta get to class." he said, tugging his friend along in the direction of their English class. "What the hell was that about?"
Beck tossed his unfinished coffee into the trash before shrugging his shoulders. "What?"
"Don't what me, dude, what was that with Tori?" his friend asked him, his expression etched in worry.
Beck sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to find the words to explain how he had been feeling lately. "Look I... its complicated. Every weekend its the same thing with Tori. We go somewhere and we talk about the exact same things, college, school, whatever new song she's working on. Tori's great, I know, its just... I don't... enjoy it anymore."
Andre's eyebrows raised in surprise at his friends words. "... So that whole blind fold thing...?"
"Happens all the time. And its not her, I think its just me." Beck said. "I mean, we're 18 man, we're about to graduate high school and get our own place. Don't you think life should be... more exciting?"
Andre shrugged. "There was that red head last night. That was pretty exciting." Andre said, smiling at the memory of the girl he had met at karaoke dokey.
Beck smirked at his friends joke and shook his head. "You know what I mean man."
"Yeah, yeah I get you. Look, you're just in a funk. The Full Moon Jam is this weekend, then the Rave and Prom and graduation. A lot of exciting stuff is happening, you'll see. You'll perk up real soon."
"Yeah..." Beck sighed.
That was when his eyes suddenly stuck to something. Someone in the midst of all the students. Long black raven hair and piercing blue eyes that turned to catch his as he stared at her. She was new, obviously, he would have noticed someone like her before. She wore a pair black ensemble of lace leggings with a black pencil skirt, black combat boots, a black fitting top all topped with, of course, a black leather jacket. Her nails were painted the deadliest of red and from what he could tell, she had a eyebrow piercing. She was listening to a an oddly colored red head girl talking, but her eyes were locked on his, staring at him with narrowed eyes as if challenging him. Well... this was new.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Andre asked as Beck suddenly stopped.
Beck held up a hand to tell him to wait as he started to approach the girl. He didn't know why he wanted to meet her. Maybe because she was new and he was a nice guy. Maybe because she was the first person that had perked his interest in awhile. She still stared at him as he got closer and she cocked her head in amusement. The red head then stopped her chattering to look at him to. He didn't think he had ever seen golden eyes like hers. Who were these girls? He stopped short to let a couple of students pass with a set design, blocking his view momentarily of the two girls, but as the set finished passing, the two girls were gone from the spot they had been standing in. It was as if they weren't there in the first place.
Andre walked up to him and tugged on his arm. "Ay, you okay man?" he asked in concern.
Beck shook his head to bring himself out of his daze and nodded, running a hand through his hair as he looked around once more for the girls, only to find that they had vanished. Beck nodded. "Yeah man, I'm fine lets just... go." he said, turning in the direction of his class, his mind still stuck on the girl with the blue eyes.
Authors Note: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Built By Moonlight! I'm really excited for the second chapter!