Chapter 7: London Calling

"I'm going to tell you my story", Fern whispered through the dirt, "I'm going to tell you because you need to know why I am such a miserable, misunderstood creature. My maker never warned me what my new life was going to be like. But I, I know better than that."

"When I first saw you I was startled by your beauty. I toyed with the idea of making you into a vampire…I even asked you out rightly so. It was no lie when I told you your eyes were crying out to me. For what would be the loss of you dying and being reborn if you were already only half-living your life? You only refused because you were afraid. I felt that fear when Eric first bit into you. Suddenly, you wanted all of your pathetic life back. Of course, we never really know what we had until we no longer have it. You'll understand that soon enough. But I want you to know that it would have been better if you made the decision. I was going to let you make the decision."

Fern let her suppressed memories wash over her. It was a memory she had never wished to reveal to any living soul. But Leo wasn't living any longer.

. . .

"My human life started in 1750- London, England. It was the eve of the Industrial Revolution; London was starting to take on a new face that many transposed to be a new era. The city was booming with businesses, wealthy people, and an outlandish amount of crime. When I was only two years old, my father was beaten to death by the hands of a "professional policeman" protecting the well being of a measly pig. My father had been desperate when he lost his job at the printing press company and could no longer pay to buy my mother and I food. This was so called "justice" in the eyes of the peace-keepers in London. You steal, and you pay for it in unnecessary brutality. As far as the poor impoverished wenches that stole what food they could manage were concerned, both the police and the criminals were doing wrong. And to each his own. My Mother was devastated when she caught wind of what had happened; it was bad news for a woman with a tiny child to lose her husband. She tried desperately to remarry a stout butcher that lived a few houses down from our small place. He was infatuated with her beauty-it was the only attribute that had gotten her way in life. But when the butcher discovered that she had a small toddler, and was pregnant again, he wanted nothing to do with her. For why would a man punish himself with bastard children? They were not his own.

We were forced to take to the streets. It was a bit of a shock, really, for my poor Mother. Going from middle-class to beggar all in but a few weeks drove her a bit mad. I don't remember much of being a human…but I remember the pain of hunger. Still, to this day. And I can see my Mother's dirt streaked face, her swollen pregnant belly hidden behind layers of rags, begging the rich people of Fleet Street to help her. Help me, help my little girl, Fern…Fern…Fern…please!

If you were to ask my how it was, exactly, that I managed to live as a human until I was 7 years old I wouldn't be able to tell you. I lived only in the moments where I found food and shelter; I talked only in the moments of tugging on a gentleman's coat and begging for a mere 2 pence. The only world I knew was the underside of London. I knew nothing better, and yet I had never been truly happy. In the years of my Mother trying to provide for both me and my younger sister, Chelsea, she had betrothed herself with the necessary position of a low-class prostitute. Sometimes she would leave me and Chelsea alone for hours while she was off with a man. She had cheap rates, but sometimes the men would beat her and rape her. I distinctly remember her crying to herself at night, her sobs reverberating off the stone bricks of an alleyway. It was a life she had never dreamed for herself.

He, had unveiled himself as a client of my mother's. It was late at night, as I recall, and my Mother sat on road with her bare legs casually sprawled across the cobblestone street. She tried to capture the gaze of men walking by, though most of them were revolted by her withered beauty and brazen display of sexuality. I was playing a skipping game with Chelsea, unaware of what my Mother was trying to accomplish. As far as my sister and I were concerned her disappearances always resulted in food. And food was always a good thing. A properly dressed man in a sharp suit and top hat had stopped in front of my Mother, and was eyeing her with curiosity.

"Good evening monsieur," she slurred, "you be interested in some proper company t'night?"

When the man spoke, my attention was wrenched away from the silly game I was playing with Chelsea, and up to those frightening blue eyes.

"I'm afraid you'll have to whore elsewhere, mademoiselle. My interest pertains to the young girl with the crimson locks behind you" said the man. He had a slight French accent, and his grin seemed to glint in the dull light of the streetlamps.

My Mother was instantly aware that the rude man was staring at me with the hungry intent of a wolf about to have its way with a sheep. She was insane, no doubt, but her motherly instincts had only been reinforced through her insanity.

"I'm sorry sir, my daughter's only but 8 years old. What could you possibly be wantin' from her, then?"

She drew herself up off the street and inched her way backwards to my sister and I. She teetered on a broken foot that had left her with a bit of gimp and folded her arms across her chest, it really was a pathetic attempt at protection against a being who could rip her apart before her heart was able to beat twice.

And that was exactly what he did.

It's more of a slow-motion blur, really…in my memories. My Mother being propelled with a mighty force against the side of a building, her body crumpling into a repugnant mash…my sister's tiny scream as he sunk his teeth into her…

And I remember what he said. It still echoes in my head sometimes.

"Pay no attention, chéri. It will be only a fortnight before you fail to remember them both."

But I never forgot.

Next chapter will be a continuation of Fern's story, I decided that I needed more than one chapter to get everything in.

Let me know what you think!