Chapter Three: New Start

"Yes," I smiled. "You're just growing up more every day, aren't you?"

Celia beamed that baby grin up at me, her dark brown eyes twinkling. She was smaller than most babies her age, but that didn't matter. According to the Doctors, she was very healthy.

"Can't believe she's four months old today, can you?" Mom asked happily, walking over as I put Celia in her crib.

I froze. Four months old today. That meant that it had been four months since that day that had been a blessing a curse. Celia had been born, and it had been my seventeenth birthday. It was supposed to be a day of joy...

The last thing I remember is walking out of the hospital. Then, nothing, until I was woken up by a police officer...

I had no idea where I was, or who brought me here. All I knew was that the sofa I was lying on, in that big mansion I'd never seen before, was strange.

After checking me over, the doctors said I was fine, no signs of rape of molestation, but somebody, for some reason, had to have kidnapped me. Even though I didn't remember any of it, I was scared to death.

Shrinks told my parents there was no way I could get out of this without going psycho, like getting a split personality disorder or something. But so far, nothing. Yeah, my parents and boyfriend Rob hint every now and then that I've changed, but so what? I'm fine.

Mom saw that vague look in my eyes. "Faith, honey? Are you ok?"

"Yeah..." I murmured. "Fi-ow!"

I flinched and put my hand to my forehead at the sharp pain. Lately, I've been having these tiny, one-second headaches. They're just a little annoying, no damage.

"Those things are worrying me," Mom muttered, putting her hand to my temple. "Maybe we should take you to the doctor-"

"I'm fine," I repeated.

She looked hesistant, then beckoned for me to follow her into the living room. Sitting down in a chair opposit to her, I asked, "What?"

"I was wondering," Mom began cautiously. "Do you remember anyone named... Charity? Sam?"

Nothing came into my memory, and confused, I shook my head. "No. Why?"

Dodging the question, Mom shot off one more name.

"Magnus?"

Magnus.

For some reason, I thought I'd heard the name before. Oh, yeah, those history books I found in my room. I had no idea how they got there, but I'd read the name Magnus...

The passage flashed into my mind:

One of the little known legends of Arthur was when the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere first started. It is said that the Lady Josephine was starting to act very strangely, and to nobody's knowing, was a vampiress. Meanwhile, love had blossomed between Sir Magnus, who was said to originally have been King Arthur's most trusted knight of the round table, and Lady Rowena. However, what Sir Magnus didn't know was that Queen Guinivere was not the only one who was betraying her man. Rowena was cheating on Magnus with Sir Lionel, and the two employed the help of Josephine. Just as Magnus realized what was going on, she bit him, and legend has it that the two still roam the earth today, hating each other as bloodthirsty monsters.

Oh. That was where I recognized the name from.

"No," I repeated. "Doesn't ring a bell. Why are you asking me this?"

"Nothing," Mom murmured, standing. "Look, just take some pain pills before your date with Rob, got it?"

Nodding, I got a goofy smile on my face. Rob. We'd been dating before the... 'incident', but not very seriously. Now we were REALLY steadies.

After taking some Aspirin, I changed from sweats and a grungy shirt in to a red t-shirt and jeans, along with my stylish new tennis shoes. After pulling my hair back into a ponytail, I waited on my porch for Rob to pick me up.

xxx

"I can't believe I'm trying sushi," I giggled, poking the raw fish dish with a chopstick.

"You haven't really tried it at all, Faith," Rob teased, brown eyes shining with the usual good-nature. He's an all-around good-guy.

Cautiously, I took a tiny bit up and stuffed it in my mouth, chewing and swallowing. From the little taste I got from it, it wasn't bad!

"Good," I mumbled, pointing a utensil at Rob. "You picked a nice restaurant for once." Rob has a thing for Arbies, and that usually is the only place he takes us.

But Rob didn't answer. He seemed to be looking at something-or someone-behind me. Wondering what was up, I asked him what was going on.

"Don't look back," He whispered. "But this girl's staring at you, and it's kind of freaky."

Not listening to his moaned protests, I shot a glance behind me. He was right, this girl was staring. Platinum blond, pin-straight hair traveled to her shoulders, and she was wearing this weird gray uniform with a big 'S' embellished on the pocket.

Her strangely chisled face was as cold as her steel gray eyes, and as soon as she saw me looking back, she turned away, folding her arms over her chest.

At that mysterious, terribly expression on her face, I felt some flicker of recognition, but only for a minute. I'd probably seen her at one of those colleges I was checking out early, because she looked around nineteen.

Though I don't remember any of them having a uniform like that...

Ignoring that nagging feeling in my mind, I turned back to Rob and began trying to engage him into talking about that football game I know nothing about.

xxx

Charity's POV

"Four months."

"Yeah, Mag, I know. Exactly four months today since we betrayed her," I sighed, turning back to the window. Stupid gray sky. Stupid fog.

"There's no 'we'," Magnus inisted, dark circles showing clearly under his blue eyes. "I betrayed her."

"None of us betrayed her," Sam argued. "We did what was best for everyone."

"That may be," Magnus growled. "But I did it in the worst possible way."

"Please, Magnus," I snarled. "I contributed venom to that sedative! Just a much as you did, in fact."

"As did I," Sam agreed.

Our sorry little trio all fell silent. I hated this part of the country. Emphasis on 'country'. Out here, nobody's a Goth without being stared at. In fact, because of our beauty and seclusion, Sam, Magnus and I are all stared at.

"This idea the Blood Coven had will never take off," Magnus muttered. "It's hard to control the Midnight Coven from here, and there are few of us here. The recruiting thing was just a distraction."

"No duh," I said angrily, grating my black nails against the desk. Long scratch marks appeared on the oak.

Magnus, who seemed as mad as I was, kept clenching his large fist in and out, one of our little 'anger exercises' as the Blood Coven called them. He accidentally crushed the wine glass he had been holding. Luckily, it was drained of any blood.

Staring blankly at the shards of glass in his hand, Magnus began to pick them out, bit by bit. To be completely honest, Sam seemed to be the only sane one right now. Me crazy for freedom, Magnus lost without Faith. It was all I could do to keep him together.

xxx

Oooh, what do you think happened to our tragic heroes?