One-shot only.
It was a cold day.
The truth was, Katy didn't mind the cold at all. Snow crunched under her old bloodstained Nikes, and all the girl wore was a thin, long-sleeved top, ripped at the sleeves, and crudely patched 3-quarter jeans. Clothes hardly appropriate for winter in London. But Katy was a little different to the normal 15-year-old girl. It might have been sub-zero degrees, but Katy would of persevered, nevertheless.
The unused gate to the cemetery creaked with disuse. The girl knew that it had been over 300 years since anyone had been buried here. Even the best archaeologist could never find the location of this spooky place. It was almost as if it was shrouded by an eerie, paranormal magic. No sane person would come here. Even mad people would most likely stay away. You didn't have to be superstitious to know that there was something odd about this place. But Katy wasn't scared. Katy was never scared.
Katy peered into a stray pool of unfrozen water. There was no mistaking her perfect reflection; her translucent skin, flawless chocolate hair, frightening scarlet eyes. She could also see the setting around her- row after row of crumbling tombstones made way to lifeless trees with gnarled, black roots and crooked branches. There was no civilisation for hundreds of miles in every direction.
Katy was sure she was finally alone.
She would have peace, at last, in her sanctuary.
Katy quickly browsed through the hundreds of tombstones that lay before her. This exclusive graveyard only housed witches, vampires, unbelievers, and those who conquered them.
No tombstone captured the girl's interest especially; they were all the same to her.
Innocent people accused of doing malicious things.
Katy thought it was hardly fair.
Katy finally slowed her lightning fast feet to carefully examine the gravestone. It was big, and more lavish than the others- delicate mosaic carnations were carefully stuck onto the base of the headstone. A large marble cross stuck out the top of the headstone, as if to ward off future evil. Katy was unfazed, however.
Katy wasn't scared of a silly cross.
Katy's long, pale fingers reached out to rub off three hundred years of dirt and grime. The words underneath the sludge were badly faded- but Katy could make them out without an issue with her super-enhanced vision.
Emerith Cullen
1609-1662
RIP
You saved us all from thy bloodsucker- time and time again.
Carlisle Cullen
1639-1663
RIP
Smitten by thy bloodsucker- but to god, good will prevail, always.
"The Cullens' were pastors,"
A sharp voice rang out from behind Katy; She whirled around, mahogany hair lashing her face. She hadn't been expecting company. After all, she hadn't smelled- or heard- anyone.
"Who are you?" Katy cried, voice unnaturally hoarse.
The figure- Katy was sure now that it wasn't human- was almost transparent, with soft snow-white skin and frightening white irises. They were perhaps even more alarming than Katy's red ones- and definitely more threatening.
"Guess." A sly smile danced across the creature's lips, stern and playful at the same time.
It glided off the gravestone it was sitting on so Katy could get a clearer glimpse.
Merena Clydeson
1639-1662
Accused of witchery- burned at the stake
"I was the last of the many hundreds of innocent people burned by him." Merena spat as she said 'him'.
Katy flinched- she had forgotten that Merena was even there.It seemed to have a habit of just melting away into thin air, disappearing from Katy's otherwise perfect memory.
"Merena?" Katy's singsong voice echoed through the moor.
"I was an unmarried, independent woman, with a powerful heritage and a great deal of money." Merena's tone was disinterested, like she had explained this many times before.
"That was unusual, actually, in those days. But I was eldest, but I had no living brothers, uncles or male cousins." Merena paused, as if she was contemplating something. "Despite this, I was always a little… different. While most people feared, or even assisted Emerith and his goody-goody son, Carlisle, I was not afraid. With all my money and power, I was certain that he would not touch me." Merena explained.
"But he did," Katy interjected.
Merena put her palm in the air as if to say, 'let me finish'.
"Then the plague found our town. Everywhere I went, people were dying, but the plague did not hurt me, so I decided to assist the dying, tried to save their lives." Merena let out a long, drawn-out sigh, which sounded like whistling wind on a stormy day.
"But I saved no one." Merena hung her head in shame. "Emerith started to think that I was a bad omen. In addition, the townsfolk were passing rumours that I was a witch. He confirmed his discovery when I 'killed' the mayor of the town. I was burned the next day, at noon."
"I'm sorry," Katy whispered softly.
"But my life didn't end completely, like I thought it would. Three days later, I woke from what seemed to be a long sleep. I had new powers of immortality, tampering with memories of others, and disappearing into thin air." Merena had resumed her place of sitting on her gravestone, and was resting her chin in her hand.
"I learned that only a week after I was reborn, the plague had taken Emerith's life, leaving Carlisle in charge. A silent victory for me, of course, but justice wasn't done… not yet.
I knew if I let Carlisle live, he would, no doubt, pass his position of pastor over to his son, who would do the same again, and the Cullens would be killing innocent people for generations to come." Merena pouted, crossing her unnaturally pale arms.
"Because I have no superhuman strength, or speed, it was impossible for me to kill him personally. So I persuaded a coven of vampires to hide in the sewers, where Carlisle and his accomplices would easily find them. There, the vampires could finish the Cullens off, once and for all."
"But the vampire who happened to prey on Carlisle abandoned him mid-feed, and he was left lying there, bleeding profusely. He was alone, the vampires had moved away, except for me, who was laughing silently in the shadows. He was one of them, now." Merena's ghostly eyes were thick with malice.
"Wow." Katy gasped. "My story is…similar."
"You… were a pastor?" Merena exclaimed, incredulous.
"No, but… I was just left, lying there in my bedroom, bleeding to death, feeling like I was being burned alive." Katy said in a small voice.
"I shouldn't let you remember this." Merena, whispered, frowning.
"Why?" Katy asked.
"I should leave. People are… expecting me." Merena said.
"Who…-"
"Go." Merena seemed to fade away. "Go." "Go." "Go."
Katy turned to Merena's crumbling tombstone, but all was silent. She was gone.
And once again, Katy was alone.