(This is a work in progress, and I still have quite a bit of editing to do. But here's a rough draft of the first chapter.)
The Sepulchral Legion
Prologue
13, December 1735
My Dearest [Name not legible],
By the time you are reading this, I will be on my way. I know this may all come as confusion to you, and I intend to fill any holes within this letter. As you may know, your grandfather has a fairly dark past, and as do I. And this all my come as a shock to you, but we come from a very long bloodline of [not legible] Yes, my dear, you did read that correctly. I'm almost certain you know of what these are, and you are without a doubt the last heir to the bloodline. You are the key. [Not legible] as do I. We need you to help her, so please. Wait for her time. She is the most important part to all of this. I will update you frequently with my letters. I can not write all of this at once due to where I am located at this exact moment.
With much gratitude,
Stalo Adeego
Chapter One
"Party Starters"
The day started off just as it normally does. The sun rises, the birds sing, and Mr. Eden is outside inspecting his lawn. Natasha's alarm clock wouldn't stop making noise, even after she punched the snooze button. She groaned as she finally rose from her warm bed. It was her first day back to SO AND SO college after a long week and a half break. Natasha quickly got dressed and headed out of her apartment. She was in such a rush that she didn't even notice that someone was standing right in front of her, and she ran right into them, knocking both of them over.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" She stood up and straightened herself up, when she noticed the man she ran into. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Natasha quickly became flustered and went on her way. The man chuckled to himself and kept walking.
When she arrived at school, her friend Louis was already waiting for her outside. Nat smiled as she approached him.
"You know you're going to be late now, right?" She pushed past him laughing.
"Ah, yes I do. But at least we're late together." They both giggled and headed for their English Composition class.
Natasha was very intelligent, and she could've easily gotten into Harvard, like her mother. But she chose to go to a community college with Louis to pursue her passion for Photography and Fine Arts. Her mother did not approve, saying she couldn't make enough money for a living like she would as an attorney. Natasha simply stated she did not wish to follow in her footsteps, which won her dad over. She had already been attending SO AND SO COLLEGE for a year. She has made a few close friends and acquaintances, and has always stuck with Louis and Heather. Heather had been her friend since grade school, but they soon parted ways due to the cliques they became involved in. So, Louis and Nat became incredibly close. They told each other everything. When Nat had boy trouble or when Louis had girl trouble, they were there for each other. They had a bond no one could even attempt to falter. They would do anything and everything together, so when Louis brought up a party he had heard about, there was no way she'd turn it down. Even if it was short notice.
"I heard from Sarah," Louis took a bite of an apple and talked with his mouth full. "That the party is in some abandoned barnyard place." Natasha scoffed and crossed her arms.
"There's no way in hell I'm going to some place that is abandoned!" Louis giggled and took another bite.
"Why not? Scared?"
"No! There just… must be a reason to why it's abandoned." Natasha took out a bag of pistachios and Louis scrunched his nose at her.
"Yeah, it's called 'it's old and no one lives there anymore', dumbass." Louis laughed and Nat rolled her eyes.
"You are so charming, Lou. But I am not going to that party."
"Since when do you turn down a party, big shot?" The sudden change in voice made both of them jump. Heather sat down across from Nat and took out a few cigarettes. She lit one then blew smoke Nat's way. "I've never heard those words come out of your mouth." She smiled, and Nat couldn't help but smile. Heathers smile lit up the whole room. With her long silky black hair and olive skin, she could've easily been a Greek Goddess.
"Are you going, Heather?" As interested as Nat was, she needed to sound uninterested in going to the party.
"Of course I am. Maybe for once we can go to a party without being chased out by parents or cops." They all laughed and Nat nibbled on her lip.
"She's thinking about it, Heather…" Louis smiled and leaned closer to watch her change her mind.
After a few seconds of suspense, Nat laughed then gave in. "Okay, I'll go." The other two shrieked, but got quiet when people looked over at them.
"Okay, I'll text you guys the details after my last class. I'm out!" Heather tossed her cigarette and handed two to Louis. "See ya later!"
Louis waved excitedly then sat back down with Nat.
"Well, since we're done, what do you want to do?" Nat thought about it for a minute.
"Wanna go shopping?" Louis groaned, but smiled.
"Anything for you. C'mon I'll drive."
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It wasn't until an hour before the party that Heather finally texted Natasha.
'Be over in 30!'
"Shit!" She mumbled to herself. Nat jumped up from her couch and headed straight to the bathroom. She didn't have time to shower, so she sprayed some hairspray in her thick brown hair to volumize it. Grabbing all of her makeup, she applied it as quickly as possible. Nat made sure she'd have the most time putting on her outfit she purchased at the mall. She slide on her skinny jeans with bleach spots on them, then an american flag shirt that showed off her stomach slightly. Being the smart girl she is, she decided to wear Converses with her outfit. Right on time, there was a knock at her door. Nat was in shock with the outfit Heather chose to wear.
Nat opened the door to leather pants, a black tank top with twins falling out of it, and knee high boots.
"Jesus, Heather. Are we going to a party or a strip club?" They both giggled a little bit, and Heather let herself in.
"I thought i'd look sexy, for once."
"For once? You're always insanely good looking, so don't give me that." Nat crossed her arms, now feeling a little self conscious. She wasn't as "gifted" as Heather was in the breast department. Heather could fill out any outfit she wore, and Natasha's legs didn't even touch each other. It wasn't her fault, her family was just naturally skinny.
"Well I appreciate that." She looked around Nat's apartment. "Louis isn't here?"
"I thought we were picking him up?"
"Shit! Well then let's go!" Heather grabbed Nat's arm and drug her out to her apartment.
They arrived at Louis' house a few minutes later, and he was running out, knowing they were already late. He got in the backseat, sitting in the middle.
"Do you know where this place is Heather? You're kind of really bad with directions." Heather scoffed and stared him down through the mirror.
"I do know where this place is. Once Sarah told me the address, I remembered having a keg there once." The other two rolled their eyes, not believing what she was saying. They turned up the radio as they drove an hour out. They were on a one lane road for over twenty minutes searching for one street, Honey Cove.
"I give up." Nat spoke up. "Just take me back home. This is really annoying." She crossed her arms, and slumped back in her seat.
"Oh, chill Natasha." Heather looked back and forth down the road, looking for any signs, whether it be street signs or signs of life.
"Yeah, Nat. Don't be a bummer." Louis teased, then leaned forward. Nat couldn't help but smile. No one could make her smile like Louis could. "Ah, there we go. There's that beautiful smile. Don't be in a bad mood before we even get there!"
"IF we even get there." Nat snapped back.
"AHA!" Nat and Louis jumped then looked at Heather pointing. "There it is! Honey Cove Boulevard!" There were a few cars parked off the sides of the street, so Heather parked with them. When they got out of the car, all three of them looked around.
"Now what?" Louis laughed. Heather stayed silent, looking at every car.
"I'm pretty sure she said to go into the forest through the right" Nat scoffed.
"You're pretty sure?"
"Hm. Good enough for me!" Louis took off into the forest, Heather quickly behind him. Natasha ran right after them laughing. They ran for about a minute before they could smell campfire. So for once, Heather was right about her instincts. As they approached, the sound of music increased. The three of them came across the barn, music blaring inside. They tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. So, Louis kicked it, which obviously got somebody's attention. Someone opened the barn doors and a lot of people cheered for new guests. All three of them were greeted by a fellow classmate holding three beers.
"Hell yeah!" Louis grabbed Nat's hand and brought her over to the middle of the barn They were just dancing and drinking and having a wonderful time. Natasha has been to a lot of parties, but none like this one before. It only seemed like there were friends of friends there, so no obnoxious drunks. 'Except for maybe Heather.'
Nat giggled to herself and kept dancing with Louis for what seemed like forever.
About 20 songs and 5 beers down, Natasha was feeling wonderful. Nothing could bring her down from her place right now. That is, everything except for the owner of the abandoned barn. The music was cut, which made a lot of people groan and moan. But someone stood up on a chair, looking panicked.
"Everyone please! Stay quiet!" A lot of people looked at the guy with confused looks, and annoyed looks.
"Hey! Turn the music back on!" Someone yelled back, receiving a lot of 'yeahs' as an answer.
"Everyone please!" People kept talking and making noise, and thats when someone else stood up and screamed, "THE COPS ARE HERE!" Those four words sobered everyone up quickly, and left them all scurrying away. Louis quickly grabbed Nat's hand and took off through the back of the barn. They were stumbling over sticks and mud, but still laughing. They stopped finally, hiding behind a tree. Nat had her back to the tree, and Louis was right in front of her. They both smiled, then Louis took a risky move. He leaned into Nat's lips, pausing right before he brushed his lips against hers. Nat was dazed and confused. She wanted Louis to kiss her, but she didn't know how to react about it. But she would just have to find that out. In one breath, Louis leaned in and kissed Natasha. But just as quickly as it happened, it ended. It ended with them staring at each other.
"Nat, I'm so sor-" Louis was cut off by someone pushing him to the ground. Knowing Louis, he would get back up and beat the shit out of whoever did that, but Nat panicked when he didn't get up right away. He didn't get up at all. Nat backed up against a the tree and stared in front of her. All she could see was a shadow. But as her eyes focused in the dark, the shadow was not all she saw. Bright yellow eyes caught hers, and she heard a snarl. She didn't want to stick around to find out what it was, so she took off to her left. She ran as fast as she could, feeling her legs burn with pain. Her eyes were blurring over with tears, but she never stopped running. It seemed everywhere she turned, those eyes met hers, but each time they were at different eye levels. She made her way back to the barn, seeing no one in sight. Not even Heather.
"Heather!" She screamed. There wasn't an answer. "Louis! Sarah! Anyone!" She screamed even louder. She didn't hear anything once more, only a growl behind her. She felt hot breath on her neck. 'Do I dare turn around?' Nat bit her lip, praying to god this was all a bad dream, or hoax. She began to slowly turn around and she was face to face with yellow eyes and an elongated snout. She screamed as loud as she could for not even a second before there was blackness.
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Natasha's eyes slowly opened, and she saw white.
"Am I dead..?" She spoke softly. She heard a soft laugh, and she'd recognize that laugh anywhere. Her eyes immediately opened and she saw Louis sitting across from her in the hospital. He had his arm in a sling and a bruise on his cheek."
"How..long?"
"Just two days. You were knocked out pretty bad." He moved closer to her and sat down. His fingers brushed over her face, where she had a large yellow and purple bruise. Nat started to tear up, which completely broke Louis apart. "Why are you crying, hon?" He wiped her tears away with his thumb.
"I… I can't remember anything that happened… that happened that night. Why?" Louis sighed and took her hand in his.
"The doctors said there had been some pretty nasty brain damage, which made you had some slight amnesia. So, you can't really remember a thing from the night of the party."
Nat looked in his eyes, and could see the sadness. Then it hit her.
"You… you kissed me." Louis eyes lit up like the fourth of july. "R-right?" His smile couldn't have been bigger.
"Yes, yes I did." He squeezed her hand and she smiled. She went to lift up her other hand, but screamed in pain. Louis jumped and told her to put her arm back down.
"What the fuck happened to my arm!?" She looked down at it. It was wrapped up in white gauze from her wrist to her biceps. Louis sighed, looking disappointed.
"They said you were attacked by an animal."
"Animal? What..?" Nat sat up a little, struggling due to her arm. "I was attacked by an animal?" She looked at her arm, then unwrapped her wound, completely regretting she did so.
Her wound was absolutely horrendous. There was a chunk missing out of her arm, it looked like her flesh was decaying, and there was blood still dripping from it. She gasped, and quickly wrapped it back up.
"Oh my god…" She covered her mouth and teared up a little. Did the animal have rabies or something? What the fuck kind of animal does this?!"
Louis sighed and took her hand in his once again. "Calm down, Nat. Can you do that for me?" Nat took a few deep breaths and nodded.
"Okay, here's what the police told me. They said we had disturbed a nesting area of a wolf. It had taken vacancy or some shit in that barn. And we disturbed it, so it attacked a few of us."
"Who else was attacked?" Louis sighed again.
"You, Sarah, a few people i've only seen around school, and myself. But that's it. It's because we were the ones to take off into the forest. So the wolf chased us."
Nat sat back in her hospital bed, trying to soak in all of what she just heard. "So you're telling me, a wolf took a bite out of me?" Louis nodded, and Nat smirked.
"No guys, this party will be a great idea." She mocked Louis, and he laughed.
"Hey! At least we have a story to tell our kids someday!" Nat smiled, and agreed with him.
"That we do." They both stared at each other again, and Louis began leaning in close to Nat. She moved her face a little.
"Uhh, I'm kinda sleepy!" Louis smirked, looking a little disappointed.
"I"m heading out. I'll be here to pick you up when you're released." Nat nodded and Louis was on his way.
Nat sighed and looked around the room. She wasn't tired at all. If anything, she was wide awake after what Louis had just told her. She had a hard time believing she had amnesia, but it makes perfect sense because she can't remember anything after Louis had kissed her. A realization had struck her.
'No… he wouldn't… would he…?' Nat sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe she should at least try to sleep a little. Little did Nat know, there were a pair of bright yellow eyes watching her from outside of her window.