Ravenblood

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Have you figured out what's with the weird weather yet?" asked the young girl in the hospital waiting room. "It's been twilight zone weather out there ever since we got here." She looked out the window and watched the snow start to fall from the November sky. Nothing out of the ordinary, except it was sunny only moments before.

"I've already told you why," replied an old man sitting in the seat across from her. He rubbed his knees and looked down the hall anxiously waiting to hear something from the doctors. He was a strong elder, and his eyes held story and wisdom.

"Oh grandfather," said the girl. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "you've told us this a million times, but seriously, that's just a story." She went back to looking out the window not bothering to listen to the old man's explanation again.

The old man nodded in understanding of his granddaughter's disbelief of the old stories. He knew that this was a new age of new beliefs and the story of the Ravenblood was slowly dying out and becoming only reality and truth to those who bore the gift. He knew that this child born to the family tonight would share the same gifts as him and his grandmother before him.

A little boy about ten years old wearing a Harley Davidson T-shirt and ripped jeans came running down the hall. He held a look of wonder and anticipation in his eyes when he reached his grandfather and gave him a hug whispering, "Is she here yet?" He bit his lip and looked at the old man with a smile.

The old man smiled at his grandson and patted him on the shoulder with a sigh. "She hasn't come yet Sam," replied the old man. He looked down the hall when suddenly a crack of lightening struck nearly right next to the hospital window. The old man smiled and looked back at the boy. "I think she's arrived."

The lightening and thunder rang all through the halls and only the grandfather and little boy smiled in knowing. The nurse started to walk down the hall with an over enthusiastic man with long black hair and dark brown eyes. He beamed and held his head up proudly as he followed the nurse to the waiting people in the waiting room. You could see the joy in his eyes as he announced he was the father of a baby girl.

The sky's started to calm as soon as the grandfather and boy poured into the room with the father where the baby girl was waiting. She was very small because she was a few weeks early, but the doctors all said she was strong. She opened her eyes and only to those who were capable of seeing sparks of a flame could be seen in her eyes. She would be a special one. She would be a true Ravenblood.

The little boy smiled and looked up at his grandfather with that knowing look. The grandfather just smiled back and stared with the little boy in silence at his new grand daughter. She looked back at them and it was like a silent knowing passed between the three. This was the beginning of a new and amazing tale of good and evil, and the binds of friendship.

3 and a half years later:

Raymond paced back and forth in front of the bedroom mumbling angry words to himself. He couldn't believe it was only three years ago that he was so happy to be a father. Now look at him. He looked at the scorch marks on the walls and the burst pipes in the kitchen. She was a freak and abnormal. It was all her mother's family's fault.

"Raymond please," said his wife. "She's just a little girl she didn't know any better." She was sobbing and looking down at her little girl sitting on the couch. His little girl that he loved so much, but at the same time was so afraid of. "Raymond she's only three years old maybe we can teach her not to do these things. It's not her fault don't blame her please don't blame her."

Raymond sighed and looked down at the little girl for the first time since he put out the fire that started when the yelling started. He looked into those eyes and that smile. So innocent yet he knew the evil and destruction it was capable of. No. He couldn't just let such an abomination survive to do who knows what kind of evil things. Regardless of the fact he loved his little girl so much, he had to destroy her.

He looked down at the tigger pillow on the couch and slowly picked it up gripping it and looking at his daughter. His wife sobbed and turned away kneeling down to pray to god to forgive them. She never lost faith even in the worst of the worst situations. People could never figure that out about her, but she didn't care. She prayed hard for the little girl she was about to lose because she was simply different. She was simply not human.

The little girl looked up at her father and smiled like a daughter does to their father when they want to be held and played with. She pointed at the TV and said, "catoon daddy catoon." She hadn't gotten a lot of her words quite right yet. She smiled that big smile she always had for people she loved and tugged on his sleeve a little and pointed at the TV. She was small and looked a lot younger then her actual age, but she was smart and strong. She looked back up in her father's eyes and her smile slowly faded with the knowledge that something bad was about to happen. She whispered almost inaudibly, "daddy what wrong?"

"I'm sorry baby," uttered Raymond. He swallowed hard and pinned the little girl down and covered her face with the pillow. She fought and squirmed, but he didn't dare stop now. He almost faltered when he heard her muffled little cries for him to stop and that she loved him. He felt like a monster. Like the very thing he was trying to prevent her from being. That's right. He was doing this for her own good. To protect her innocence. To protect the little girl that he loved so much, but was so afraid of. He smelt the fabric of the couch starting to burn under him and he knew he had to finish it quickly. With a little more pressure he held that pillow in place and kept the little girl's tiny body pinned under his weight and the pillow.

Just when the toddler was starting to go limp under him Raymond heard a crash and a young boy yell, "Get the hell off of her!"

He almost turned around when he was hit with what he thinks was an electrical blast. It felt like his whole body was on fire, but only his back was smoking and slightly blistered from it. He could barely move but he managed to turn and see his wife's nephew, Sam. Sam ignored Raymond and quickly ran to the little girl laying lifeless on the couch.

"Do you have any idea what you may have done Raymond," came another voice from the doorway. It was his father in law, Henry. The old man moved fast to stand between Raymond and his two grandchildren on the couch. "You don't have a clue do you Raymond." He looked with shameful eyes at his daughter who had finally gotten off her knees from praying. "You should know better. You're her mother for the sake of our ancestor why didn't' you stop him? Why have you abandoned our beliefs completely?" He didn't wait for an answer and turned to check on the little girl.

Both him and Sam exhaled the breath they didn't know they were holding when she coughed and cried. Sam held onto her and hushed her brushing her dark hair from her eyes glaring up at his uncle. Henry rubbed her back slowly and didn't waste any words when he motioned for Sam to follow him and bring the little girl with him. They said no words to the parents and left them with an empty house and empty hearts.