A/N: I…. am…. SOOOOO…. Sorrryyyy!!!! I went on a little writing vacation because I had not been feeling well at first, then all this stuff happened, then more stuff happened….
Now, here we are, two weeks later, and I'm finally giving you the next chapter!
So, without further more, here you are, chapter 4!
My inspiration music was Poor Thing from an AMAZING movie called Sweeney Todd
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I woke up the next morning to the sweet sound of birds chirping and warm, comforting rays of light warming up my face.
At least, that's what I was hoping would happen as I prepared myself for bed.
I looked at my nightgown. It was not as comfortable as the silk one from India, but it would have to do.
Of course, I forgot to mention my life story.
My parents married at the age of sixteen. It was well-known that the earliest age deemed appropriate was seventeen. Mother gave birth to me in London. You would think that the rest of the story was like a fairy tale, and there was a happily ever after at the end.
Of course, that didn't happen. It was two years later that my mother finally told Father how she really felt. She told him that she felt as if he had locked her up. She said she wanted to roam the world. I remember her telling me in her soft, childish voice, "And the last words I said to him were, 'Charlie, this has been going on far too long. You mustn't trap me here. I deserve a life.' And with that, I left him and came to our dear home in India."
That's right. I lived in India for most of my life. It was probably the only explanation for the small freckles that decorated my nose. They matched my fiery-red hair perfectly. With the bright green eyes to match, I looked like a jungle cat.
My mother remarried Philip, an Englishman that, too, lived in India. But he was an explorer. My mother desperately wanted to be with him during his travels, but did not want to leave me alone, and so I came to England to live with my father. Before I left, my mother gave me her pendant. It was in the shape of a circle. On the back, it says 'full moon' in Latin. So I came to my father in London. Of course, being a man, my father had no idea what to do with me, so I was sent to Sporks Academy.
I climbed under the covers, sighing at the past. I had no problem with my new school; I just didn't know how much it would work out for me.
I heard a deep, scratchy noise come from Ann's bed. I turned to see her eyes closed peacefully in her sleep, her mouth hanging open. She snored again.
I covered my mouth so my laughing fit would not wake her up. The snores soon became short and rhythmic, and so I fell into a gentle sleep.
I was not awakened, though, by birds and the sun's rays. It was a loud shushing sound.
I opened my eyes reluctantly to a gray light coming from the window. Ann was rubbing my shoulder roughly, whispering, "Get up, get up," every few seconds. I grabbed her wrist gently and shook my head to let her know that I was awake.
I twisted around a bit too fast for comfort and grabbed my head to stop the world from flipping over. Even when the dizziness went away, though, the headache didn't. I put my feet down on the uninviting cold floor and slowly put all my weight onto them. I walked slowly over to my dresser and picked out my new uniform. I looked over at Ann and saw that she was already dressed and ready to go. She sat on her bed and waited for me politely. I went behind the dressing screen and began changing.
"So," I began respectfully, "What do you know about Amar and Kartik?" I tried to make my question as nonchalant as possible.
"Except for the fact that they are the two most gorgeous men I had ever seen in my life?" she giggled girlishly. "Well, they're new, mysterious, handsome, and every other thing I could possibly think of that attracts a lady. But they aren't interested in any of us, especially not Kartik. Fee would know that." I guessed that Fee was Felicity's nickname. I wondered when Kartik had turned her down.
I came out from behind the dressing screen holding out the two strings of my corset. "Do you mind awfully?" I asked Ann.
"Not at all," she said, bouncing up to come and help me. She pulled the strings as far as they were able to go until I was sure I was about to gag and tied them securely.
"Goodness, you didn't have to try to murder me," I breathed said in a very unladylike fashion. I clutched my stomach and tried taking slow, calm breaths. Ann smiled at me apologetically.
I sighed one last time and laced my arm through Ann's.
Our time in the Chapel and Dining Hall went by just as they had the night before. Soon our fun time was over, though, and it was time to go to our lessons.
I had music lessons, English lessons, Latin lessons, everything of importance to fine girls like us. We had our lunch and went to our last class; art. I walked in with Ann to my right and Felicity and Pippa behind me. The teacher, who Ann told me was Ms. Moore, was seated at a big desk in the front of the classroom. Her rich brown hair was tied in a bun at the base of her neck, and she was very pretty indeed. We took our seats, each beside an easel.
"Good morning, class," she said to us, looking up from her book. She eyed everyone with rich golden-brown eyes that seemed extremely familiar. I couldn't place my finger on it, though. Finally, her eyes landed on me. "I see we have a new student here. Would anyone care to introduce me?"
Fee twirled around gracefully towards where I was seated. When she got there she stood behind my right shoulder, placing both her hands there as if she was proud of me. "This is Miss Gemma Doyle, Ms. Moore. She came to us all the way from India."
Ms. Moore walked slowly and gracefully away from her desk towards me. She seemed to take a deep breath when she was near, and once she did her eyes softened. She held out her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Doyle."
I took her hand gently. She had smooth skin, like a babies, but very hard, as well. More than most people I had shaken hands with in the past. She was so cold that I was about to flinch, but managed to control myself. I shook her hand slowly and put my hand back on my lap when we were done. Her eyes went bright for a second and she turned sharp on her heels and walked to her desk.
"Now today as a special treat for our new student, we will take a walk to the caves for a little bit of girlish fun." All the girls squealed in unison. "Now everyone take your sketchbooks and charcoal and we'll head down."
We took our things and headed down the stairs. I donned my bonnet, since it was still too warm to wear a coat, and walked swiftly to my friends, and we all set out towards the woods together.
We took a different path this time that twisted and turned so many times, I thought it would never end. Of course, being myself, I tripped and fell dozens of times. Finally, we arrived at an old-looking cave. It had a special atmosphere to it, as if you just want to breathe in the old air and feel thousands of memories. I loved it immediately.
We stepped inside. The walls were covered in old drawings of men and women and animals.
There was one that specifically caught my attention of a man who was supposed to be handsome, by the look of the drawing. He had caught another man, who looked worn-out and frightened, after a long run. But the handsome man didn't seem tired at all. In the next pictures, the handsome man opened his mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth, which he sunk into the man's neck.
It didn't frighten me in the least; the exact opposite, in fact. I was attracted to it. It was undeniably interesting to me.
I was probably staring at it for a while, because after a few moments, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from the pictures to see who was behind me.
Felicity was staring at it, wide-eyed. "Its fantastic, isn't it?" she breathed. I simply nodded and looked back at it.
Pippa and Ann joined us. I saw out of the corner of my eye Pippa looking at the drawings with distaste. "Quite repulsive, is it not?" she asked disgustedly.
Ann immediately piped up, being the good little girl that agreed with her friends in a second. "Quite right, Pip. Very unattractive."
Felicity turned her head sharply to face Ann and raised one eyebrow. Ann shrank into herself and said quietly, "Of course, the actual drawing is very artistic, for the time and place it was drawn."
Felicity shook her head and trotted off to sit down on one of the many rocks. I followed her and slowly sat myself at the rock beside her, folding over my skirts.
"Now, ladies," Ms. Moore began, elegantly announcing her entrance in the cave. "You may draw whatever you like, as long as it is something that you see in this cave."
I began sketching the luring drawing that drew me in when I first entered the cage, but thought better of it when I remembered the carnivorous creature that was certainly not human. Instead, I drew the pendant that hung around my neck, making sure to get every little intricate line that added to its beauty.
When I was sure I had gotten it just right, I wrote the Latin words below it and, wanting to make a good first impression on my new art teacher, I walked over to Ms. Moore and asked sweetly, "How is this, Ms. Moore?"
I could have heard her breathing stop from a mile away. She stared at it, wide-eyed, and asked, "Where did you ever see this symbol?"
I pulled my necklace out from where it was tucked under my collar. I held out the pendant so she could see. Ms. Moore took it in her hands and slowly traced the symbol, every little line that was carved into it. She flipped it over and examined the writing and breathed, "Where did you ever come upon this?"
"A woman in the market back in India gave it to her, saying it would keep her safe," I replied, giving her the story my mom had told me every time I looked at it admiringly as a child.
"Do you know what it represents?" she asked.
"No. Do you know?" I asked incredulously, not believing that she would actually recognize something my mom had gotten so long ago.
"Why of course," she said, laughing. "How about I tell you the tale as you have your lemon squares?"
I frowned. "We don't have any lemon squares," I said uncomprehendingly.
She took a basket from behind a rock. "Yes we do!" she squealed like a little girl. I clapped excitedly and motioned for the rest of the girls to join us. Everyone began eating just as Ms. Moore began her story.
(A/N: I was gonna stop here, but because of the long wait for this chapter that I had given all of you, I'll be nice and keep on going!)
"There was once a man named Edward and his lover, Bella," Ms. Moore began. "But they were not a normal couple. They were vampires." We all gasped in horror and anticipation. "As you all know, in all stories, vampires are gorgeous creatures that don't sleep, don't eat, and don't drink. Well, they don't drink what we do. Vampires drink blood.
"But Edward did not appreciate the immortal life they had. He thought they were monsters. Oh, but I had gone ahead of myself, dear ones! I forgot to tell you how Bella had become a vampire.
"Edward and Bella had met. They fell in love immediately, though Edward had a lot of trouble not drinking her blood, since her blood smelled much better to him than other people for reasons unknown. But he knew that he should not since his coven, which is what they called vampire families, only drank animal blood because of their compassion to the humans. These were good vampires. One day, they could not resist each other anymore. They got married, and went to a foreign island where they lied back and thought of England." We gasped, shocked, at such a thing.
"Bella, thinking that nothing could possibly happen, went along with it. What she didn't know was that she would actually get pregnant, but she did. Her stomach grew fast, and Edward took her to his father, a medicine expert. But Carlisle had no idea what was happening, and so Bella kept growing until finally, the baby decided to come out.
"But the baby didn't come out the usual way they do. It had to bite its way through Bella's stomach, since the baby grew too fast and was too big to come out the normal way." I stuck out my tongue in disgust. "But Edward would not let it happen. He would rather have Bella as a monster than have her die. So he bit her and was able to resist drinking her blood surprisingly easily. The baby came out just like human babies, and she was one of the most beautiful creatures alive. In three days, Bella was one of them. She was a vampire.
"That is the well-known story of the beginning of vampires, but no one is completely sure that it is the very beginning. Renesmee, which was what they named Bella and Edward's baby, was a half-vampire, but after seven years, she became a true vampire. She grew fast, and when her aging stopped, she seemed to be seventeen, the age her parents were forever lost to.
"But she was not completely in control yet. One day, she was hunting deer in the forest. She left her parents for a few minutes to look for something specifically to her liking." Cecily scrunched up her nose in distaste at the meaning in Ms. Moore's words. "When they went hunting, they let go of all their normal senses and let the carnivorous animal inside them roam free. But something went wrong.
"Renesmee forgot to be careful of where she went. She picked up the scent of a hunter and caught him in a few seconds. She bit into his neck and started draining the blood out of his body. Luckily, before he died, a werewolf friend of Renesmee's named Jacob caught her and led her off as fast as possible. I'll get into the story of werewolves another time.
"They found the man, who was already becoming a vampire. Now, before I tell you the next part, you must know that when Bella became a vampire, she didn't see her human family ever again. Once or twice, she saw her father, but he had not recognized her since she had already changed appearance when becoming a vampire. But she saw him then turning changing into what she was; a vampire.
"When he was done changing, she told him the whole story, and, of course, being her father, he joined the family with open arms. But he was too new to their ways, and could not handle it anymore. He started drinking the blood of humans. One time, though, Bella saw him doing so. She already knew of his ways, but could not handle actually seeing it in her own eyes. She pulled him off, and so the vampire population grew and grew."
I tried to get my breathing back to normal. This was a lot to take in, even if it was only a tale. "And what does my pendant have to do with it?" I asked.
Ms. Moore smiled softly at me. "I was getting to that. So your pendant represents them. The early vampires from long ago had those marks imprinted around the area that they were bitten, but the newer ones are said not to have them."
I was starting to get afraid. Ms. Moore was going into such detail, as if she had seen this kind of thing with her own eyes, as if she knew everything there was to know about vampires and more. I shuddered and immediately shook my head to remove the unwanted thoughts.
"What do vampires look like?" I asked, trying to hide my enthusiasm and failing miserably.
Ms. Moore frowned at me, but I could see that there was a lot more behind that frown. "You seem quite interested in the topic, Miss Doyle. Perhaps you may search it up in a library, but for now, we must head back."
My eyes grew wide. She was avoiding my question. There was something terribly wrong, and I was determined to find out what.
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A/N: I am, again, so sorry about this chapter coming in so late! I was gone for a while and couldn't write. Please r&r!!!!! wuv u allll!!!
