Chapter 1 The Fight

Ashlee woke up to the sound of her alarm ringing loudly in her delicate ears.

"Come on Ash, time to get up or you will be late for school"

Her mum shouted up the stairs from the kitchen. She groaned and pulled back her duvet and got up rubbing her eyes.

"I'm up, I'm up mum!"

She shouted back smiling. She went to the bathroom and had a shower then washed her face again then went back into her bedroom and got out her uniform which was black trousers, white shirt, burgundy and white tie and a burgundy jumper with the Brackenhale School logo on it. Walking over to her floor length mirror, she grabbed her make up bag and put some mascara and eye shadow on, then she brushed her hair and left her fringe down and put it into a pony tail. Jumping down the entrance stairs two at a time Ashlee grabbed her school bag off the banister.

"Bye mum! Bye dad! See you when I get home,"

She shouted and walked out the door. Outside the gate her best fried Chloe was standing playing with her phone

"Hey Ash, finally," Chloe laughed "You ready?"

"Yes of course! Come on lets go,"

On the way to school they talked about everything that had happened since they last saw each other, but Ashlee left out that she heard a noise because she didn't think it was that important. Yawning she looked around

"Are you alright Ash? You seem really tired,"

"Yeah I am actually; I had skating last night,"

Chloe frowned at her

"On a Wednesday? Since when did you have training on a Wednesday?"

"Since the south-east finals are next week!"

Ashlee laughed, Chloe smiled

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot,"

When they were about half way to school they met Maylene, there other best friend.

"Hey guys!"

When they got to school they walked inside and found their friends and talked until the bell went. Chloe and Ashlee were in the same tutor so they walked in together and sat down. The school day went unusually quick and when Ashlee looked at the clock it was about five minutes till they could go home. They sky outside was dark grey, no sunlight was getting through and it had turned very cold. The bell went and Ashlee walked outside in the direction of home. She was walking home alone today because Chloe had dance every Thursday. A rustling came from one of the trees but she just told herself it was the wind, but it wasn't.

Because it was dark and there was no sunlight Marishka was hopping from tree to tree watching her, just checking she was alright but being very careful whilst doing it.

"Soon my dear, so soon you will be like me,"

Marishka wasn't meant to be there but she felt like she had to be, the others were watching her friends and she had nothing to do. When Ashlee got turned Marishka would be the one who would spend the most time with her and teach her. This is what she hoped would happen. Dracula agreed to it because they had been nagging him to get another bride for a while, and he was glad he agreed or he would never have found Ashlee, Verona was pleased about this because she liked having authority over the other brides and loved teaching them new things, she thought that Ashlee was a perfect choice, Aleera wanted another bride because she didn't really like being the youngest and wanted someone who understood that being young meant that you wanted to play and Ashlee seemed like that kind of person.

When Ashlee got home she went up stairs and got changed into her normal clothes and went downstairs and talked with her parents about her day, later they all sat down in the dining room and ate dinner that her mum had made earlier that day.

Later that night Dracula and his brides were all at their summer manor. Dracula had thought up a plan as to how they would get Ashlee away from her friends and family and to them.

"Now Verona and Aleera my dears, you have to go and find Ashlee friends, make them believe that Ashlee doesn't like them and turn them against her. Marishka you do the same thing to her parents, if this goes well she will run away then Verona will find her and bring her back here, do you all get it?"

They nodded and flew off leaving Dracula alone he watched his brides fly of, he shouted to them

"And beg the devil that this plan works!"

Aleera landed outside Chloe's window and watched her, she entered Chloe's mind and lied to her, twisted everything. Aleera was doing everything she could to turn Chloe against Ashlee and it was working. When she was done Chloe hated everything about Ashlee, Verona had done the same thing to Maylene. It was harder for Marishka because turning parents against their child was a very hard thing to do, she told them lies and made everything that she had done wrong seem even worse but it seemed to do the trick. They flew back to the house and landed next to Dracula on the ceiling. Aleera and Marishka were standing next to Verona and she smiled

"Master, it is done! Tomorrow night Ashlee will be with us but we have just one concern,"

He raised an eyebrow

"Oh and what would that be,"

"Her name, we all have special names, none that you would find anywhere else but hers, well, it's a bit ordinary, don't you think?"

He nodded, but he had already thought about this.

"Yes I had the same worry too. Do you like the name Nshina?"

All 3 of them nodded

"Well it's settled then, that will be her new name,"

Marishka smiled and saw that the sun was coming up, they jumped down from the ceiling and lay down in their coffins. The ice started to form around them and seal them in their coffins. No sunlight could penetrate the walls but if any ever did the ice would protect them while they slept. As the ice was just setting over their faces Marishka whispered

"Nshina,"

And smiled. She couldn't wait until the night she got to gain a new sister and friend.

When Ashlee woke up the nest morning there was no one in the house just a note from her parents saying,

Ashlee

Your not going to school today, your in BIG trouble

Stay here until we get home

Then the phone rang, she picked it up and it was her mum, shouting and screaming at her. Ashlee quickly hung up and a load of text messages came through on her phone from her friends, really horrible ones. She couldn't believe what was going on

"Why have they all turned on me? What did I do?"

Ashley sunk to the floor and began to cry. When she finally looked up and at the clock she found that she had been sitting there for an hour. Telling herself that crying wouldn't solve anything she stormed upstairs and pulled a big bag out of her wardrobe.

"Crying won't solve anything, but if I just leave everyone alone for a while, that might. All I'll do is stay away just for a few days and keep checking in on them to see what's happening, it will all be alright, I hope,"

Ashlee was always making plans like this, she was a drama queen and she knew it. As she was walking down the stairs she looked at the clock again, it was eleven am and dark outside still.

"Why is it always like this now?"

Shaking her head she walked out of the front door and into the woods behind her house. There was a clearing around and that was where she would stay, there were no noises coming from the forest, no wind, no anything which Ashlee found a bit strange. Setting her bags down she leaned against a tree and fell asleep, hoping everything would work out. If It didn't, she had no idea as to what she would do.

Animals can sense danger, all animals can and the presence of something dark creates an atmosphere, that atmosphere was all around the clearing where Ashlee was sleeping. Causing it was Verona. She was sitting in a tree watching her and being careful not to rip her dress.

Each bride wears a different out-fit. Marishka wore a vampire harem-style out-fit with bodice, metallic gold and white gauze draped trousers with V-shaped hip yoke, metallic gold and white gauze sleeves, Aleera wore a dress of pink primitive pleated silk with sleeve wings, torso of nude coloured netting, embellished with white and clear beads, choker necklace of pink beads and Verona wore a dress of green primitive pleated silk with sleeves, torso of nude colour netting with white and clear beads in the shape of two flowers, an Elizabethan inspired wire collar of nude netting, beads and crystal sheer pleated ruff. Dracula was already having Ashlee's made. It would have the top part of Marishka's out-fit and the bottom part would be a floor length skirt, the top of the skirt would be a V-shaped hip yoke, it would be blood red and white. Their bat forms were how they got around, the brides were all grey and were no clothes but you can't see anything. They had huge bat like wings, their hair colour stayed the same but their eyes turned different colours. Marishka's went gold, Aleera's went pink and Verona's went blue. Dracula wore an all black Hussar style coat with black military frog closures, black Cossack style coat with braid closures, black 2 tier cape with standing collar, braid and knot closures, copper/Aubergine crystal sheer lining. His flying form was a little bit different from his brides, like them he had bat like wings but he becomes more muscular and his skin was a red/pink colour.

Things seemed to be going well in their plan. Verona was sitting above Ashlee waiting for the right time to wake her up and take her to the others; she wanted to do a good job to please her master. As the oldest she had been with him for longer and she felt like she knew him better and knew how to be the perfect bride and in a lot of ways she did and she wanted to pass the knowledge she knew onto her sisters once they were all together.