Chapter 7

Claire's Flashback - (Claire's tenth birthday)

'Come on, Claire!' Tracy sighs. 'You have to at least make a bit of an effort.'

Claire and Tracy are sat around the dinner table, it's evening time and it's supposed to be Claire's birthday dinner.

'My parents died in exactly half an hour from now two years ago, and you expect me to be happy?'

'Claire,' Tracy sighs. 'You can't live with the burden of your parents death forever.' Claire shakes her head and says nothing.

'Claire, you have to move forward!'

'You have no idea what you're talking about.'

'Yes, I think I do.'

'No, you don't.'

'Claire-'

'You weren't there! You have NO idea what it was like. So don't act like you know what you're talking about because you DON'T!' Claire yells, cutting her aunt off midsentence. The doorbell rings.

'I'll get that,' Tracy mutters. Claire stays where she is, staring out the window. She can vaguely hear muffled voices coming from the porch.

'Claire? Claire Danvers?' A guy asks from behind her. She turns around in her seat to see a guy with short brown hair and muddy brown eyes.

'Yeah?'

'I'm Drake, Drake Mamorio,' he introduces himself, holding out his hand.

Claire glances over to her aunt, who isn't looking at her, before shaking.

'Um... Hi,' Claire says slowly. She looks back to her aunt, she's still not looking at her.

'You're probably wondering what I'm doing in your home?'

'Kinda,' Claire nods.

'Well, Claire, as weird as this may seem… I am here to talk to you about your… destiny.'

'My... destiny?'

'Yeah.'

'Okay, this is some kind of a joke, right?'

'Look, Claire, I realise that I must sound crazy to you right now. But, please, you have to listen to me.'

Claire just stares at him for a few seconds, then she decides to humour him. I mean, why not?

'Right... Okay. Well, seeing as you asked SO nicely, I might as well hear you out.'

'Claire, you're a sacrifice!' is all Drake says. Claire snorts and is about to make some sort of smartass comment but before she can, something clicks in Claire's mind. She sees herself. She's lying down on a stone table, being watched by hundreds of people. Men, women, and children all watch her as the tears run down her cheek and fall into her hair as she lies there. She remembers the fear.

'Claire?' Tracy asks.

'Um... a sacrifice? Really? What a bunch of bull, I'm done.'

'I'm not lying, and you know I'm not.'

Claire stands up and crosses her arms. 'I know nothing, what do you want?'

'Claire, please don't deny it, the Dacoro's need you.'

'What's a Dacoro?' Claire asks.

'You, Claire, are a Dacoro.' Tracy finally looks up at Claire but doesn't say anything.

'I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about,' Claire says. 'I think you should go.'

'Claire, your powers are strong, they might be helpful!'

'I'm sorry... What powers?'

Drake opens his mouth to reply but Claire quickly cuts him off.

'Look, Drake, I'm sorry, but I think you've got the wrong person.'

He sighs. 'You see, I don't think I do, Claire.'

'Yeah, well, whatever. I'm out.' Claire starts to leave but her aunt stops her.

'Wait, you're in on this too?' Claire asks her in disbelief.

'Claire, you don't even know the half of it. Let Drake and me explain everything to you, it's your choice at the end of the day.'

Claire looks over her shoulder at Drake before sighing and sitting back down.

'Claire, you're a Dacoro, someone who isn't quite human, someone of magic. You're stronger than a human, any human. Your parents died on your eighth birthday for a reason. Everything that happens in your life happens for a reason.' Claire looks at him confused.

'So... It's like my fate?'

'Yeah. And you know I'm not lying to you because you remember, don't you? Or, at least, you remember enough.'

'I remember death, and… pain.'

'Yeah, that's because all your past lives are finding their way back into your memory.'

'M-My past lives?'

'Yeah, your main purpose in life is to be a sacrifice, but once you've been sacrificed, you get reborn,' he sighs at her expression. 'I'm sorry, I'm not explaining it very well, am I?'

'Not... Really,' Claire admits.

'Right, I'm going to lay the order of your life out for you.'

'Um... Ok.' Although, she's not really sure that she wants to know.

'On your eight birthday, your parents died. On your tenth birthday, you find out what you really are and what your true purpose is. In between your sixteenth birthday and your seventeenth birthday, you fall in love. Your one true love in this lifetime that you want to spend the rest of your life with, you could've met him before or even been friends with him for years, but it's not until then that you'll fall in love with him. On your seventeenth birthday, you have to make the choice. And on your eighteenth birthday, it's the end.'

'The end?'

'Either you will die, or all other Dacoro's will.' Claire gasps.

She knows that he's telling the truth, she's always been able to tell if someone's lying.

'Why me?'

'Oh, that goes back to the very first Dacoro's, the originals. But… that's not for me to explain, that's your aunts job. It's her job to catch you up on the past, my job's to catch you up on the future and to keep your life on track.'

Claire turns to Tracy.

'How do you know?' she asks.

'I learnt all about this the night your parents died. Drake came and explained everything. As it turns out, your mother's side of the family is part-Dacoro. Or… half-Dacoro if you prefer. It's always the same, throughout all your lives, which is why I had to take you on board after the death of your parents and your dad's brother wasn't allowed to.'

'And you didn't know about any of this, at all? Until that night, I mean,' Claire asks.

'Nope. I was as clueless about it all as you were this morning when you woke up.'

'Wait a minute… you've known about this all for TWO years?' Claire screeches. 'TWO YEARS and you never thought to tell me?'

'No. Everything has to happen in its place, Claire, the way it always has been.'

'So, I get no choice?'

'No, you have a choice, either you sacrifice yourself to save the other Dacoro's or you don't and they all die,' Drake murmurs.

'How do you know they all die?'

'Because you've done it before. You wiped out the entire species of Dacoro when you refused to make the sacrifice because you wanted to stay in that life, with your soul mate. The only thing is… you stopped aging when you hit thirty, and your soul mate didn't. You couldn't die… not without a sacrifice, but he could. And when he did you went into a major depressed mode, because you were officially alone. Eventually, though, you killed yourself when you got too lonely to bare, and so the Dacoro's were reborn. But the ones you killed when you didn't sacrifice? They never came back.'

'How is that possible?' Claire asks, her voice shaking.

'Don't know,' Drake admits. 'All Dacoro's stop aging when they hit thirty, there's nothing new there but - as to how the species came back? No one knows.'

'I'm sorry,' Tracy sighs. 'I know it's not fair.'

'Damn right it's not fair!' Claire snaps.

'Life's life, honey-' Tracy starts but Claire's too pissed to be sympathised with.

'Don't 'honey' me!' She spits. 'I still can't believe you've known about this for so long without telling me!'

Drake sighs. 'Look, my work here is done and it's obvious that you two need to take some time to talk things out. You'll remember your past lives more and more as you grow older. This isn't the last time we'll see each other but, for now at least, goodbye Claire.'

Claire doesn't say anything more, she storms up to her room and slams her door. Trying to rid herself of the images that are now running through her mind.

End of Flashback

Claire throws her phone at the wall and screams into her bunched up fists. It's all happening too quick. Her phone clatters to the floor before ringing again. She leaves it and walks back downstairs.

'Hey, honey, who was that?' Eve asks as she re-enters the kitchen.

'Oh, no one important. Just someone I used to know,' Claire replies.

As they sit down to eat their tacos, an easy conversation starts up. But there's only one thought running through Claire's mind right now.

Fuck you, Drake. She thinks.