The Awakening - (Evian) - Chapter One
by lala02
Through the darkness, there is light...and through that light, there
is hope...
Introducing The Awakening...
Sitting here staring down at the mortals below me, I watch closely
as they move along the busy streets of Manhattan. How I wish I could live
the life I once had before. How I wish I could see another sunrise, another
sunset without getting a severe headache, but I knew deep down that I would
never have my wish granted. I stare at the long nails on my fingertips and
run the tip of my tongue across the fangs protruding from my lips.
For a hundred and thirty-six years, I’ve lived in the shadow of darkness
with the knowledge that this wasn’t the life I had planned for myself. I
wanted to get married and start of family of my own…but it was never to be.
To this day, I don’t even know who turned me into the creature that I am now.
My once brown eyes were now light blue and my short dark hair, was now hanging
pass my shoulders. It took me nearly a century before I was able to realize
why I was able to go into the light. I was a halfling or a half-vampire, whichever
name you preferred.
Looking down again from my seat upon the gargoyle statue, I stand up slowly
and straighten out my black trench coat. Once I know my appearance is well,
I jump down…
Into the crowd of mortals I once was a part of…
Into another day of living in complete and utter hell…
Myself misery…
My reality…
Chapter I
The rain was coming down hard all over of the small town of Harmony. It
had been like this for the past two weeks now. Day in and day out, dark
clouds hovered freely above the town, causing this once beautiful town nothing
but misery. Thunderous booming sounds and bright flashes of lightning lit
up the darkened sky every so often. It was during this time, when everyone
in their right minds were indoors keeping nice and warm, that one gentlemen
decided to venture out.
He should’ve finished this assignment weeks ago, but no, he decided to
put everything off until it was too close to the deadline. Normally it would’ve
taken him less than half of his deadline to complete his research and finish
his novel, but for some reason, this novel wasn’t what he wanted it to be.
He wasn’t into it like he was his previous novel…he just wasn’t feeling this
one. Running through the soggy streets of Harmony, the gentleman finally
arrived at his destination…home.
Once inside, he removed his soaked raincoat, and kicked off his soggy
shoes and socks. Running a hand through his damp hair, he proceeded further
into the house before coming to a stop in front of a fireplace. Bringing
both of his hands up to his lips, he blew into them twice before holding
them out in front of him to let the nice, warm fire warm them up. When he
was warm enough, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can of beer from
the fridge. Then he headed back into the living room to sit down behind his
desk next to the fireplace and opened up his laptop.
As the smooth feel of the beer coated his throat, he was just about ready
to finish the last two pages of his novel when his cell phone began ringing.
“Julian Crane speaking…”
“Julian, you need to get down to the hospital right now.” The person paused.
“It’s about Meredith.”
A frantic look appeared on Julian’s face as he dropped his can of beer.
“Is she alright?”
“Julian, just get over here now.” The person said before the phone went
dead.
Getting up from behind the desk, Julian raced back to the front door and
grabbed his raincoat and shoes before running out of the house to his car.
The drive to the hospital took only fifteen minutes as he pulled up in front
then hopped out and ran inside. Once inside, he ran up to the receptionist
desk and asked for the room number of Meredith Blake.
As he waited for Meredith’s room number, a short pudgy looking man with
short gray hair, a mustache and beard approached him.
“Julian…” he called out.
Julian turned around and hugged the man tightly.
“Max, what happened? Why is Meredith here?” Julian asked as he pulled
away.
“Calm down Julian alright…” Max said then motioned for Julian to follow
him as he walked over towards the elevator. Once inside, he pushed the number
four on the right side panel then turned around to face Julian as the doors
closed.
“Well…” Julian said impatiently.
“There is no easy way to tell you this…”
“Oh my God, she’s dead?” Julian asked in a dreaded tone. His stomach suddenly
dropped.
“No, but after I tell you this you’d wish she was.”
The doors to the elevator suddenly opened and the two gentlemen walked
out.
“For the past several months, I’ve been investigating Meredith. ”
“Why were investigating my girlfriend?” Julian commanded.
“When you first introduced her to me, I thought finally you had found
a woman to settle down with. She seemed like a good person until one day
while I was out shopping, I found her in the arms of another man.”
Max stared at Julian as a puzzled look appeared on his face.
“She was cheating on me…?” Julian whispered.
“And that’s not the bad part”
‘God…that wasn’t bad part?’ Julian thought sourly.
"I decided to follow her, to see where she and the guy were going. I found
them talking on the side of the library…” Max paused. “Julian, they were
plotting to kill you.”
The breath that Julian had unknowingly been holding suddenly escaped his
lungs as it felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. An array of
emotions appeared across his face one by one…shock, heartache…betrayal! The
woman whom he came to develop feelings for wanted him dead…but why?
Silence-
His throat felt dry, “Why?” he mumbled, as that was the only word he could
come up with.
“I know this is a shock, but I just couldn’t come and tell you out of
the blue, “Hey Julian, your girlfriend wants to off you”. I needed more
evidence.” Max explained.
Julian gulped then slowly took a deep breath before speaking his next
words.
“How…How…” he stopped the clinched his fists tighter, “How was she planning
on killing me?”
“Apparently her plan was to become pregnant and then force you to marry
her. By her carrying your child and becoming your wife, she would’ve been
entitled to everything…all of your family’s wealth. Assuming the plan worked,
once the child was born and everything was in place, she and her boyfriend
would kill you and make it look like an apparent suicide. With you out of
the way, she would have all of the Crane power and be free to marry again.”
Max finished before reaching into the inside of his jacket and pulling out
a folder. “Here’s the dossier I have on her and her other boyfriend.”
Julian hesitantly reached out and took the folder from Max. Opening up
the folder, Julian read the first few lines of the dossier before picking
up the photo of Meredith. He stared at the picture of the woman who had taken
his breath away when the two of them first met. ‘How could she do this to
me?!’ Julian thought bitterly as he blinked back the tears that threatened
to escape his eyes as he crumbled up the photo. He then threw it down on the
floor before picking up the next photo. Suddenly, his breath hitched. He
knew this guy...
“Sam…”
Max looked at Julian. “You know him?”
“Samuel Bennett. We went to school together.”
“Why would he want to kill you?” Max said out loud.
“I don’t know.” Julian whispered then turned away.
Neither of them noticed it, but while they were talking they somehow arrived
at Meredith’s room. Julian stopped and then stared at the door. He didn’t
think he could do this. How could he face the woman he cared about now after
learning that she wanted him dead?
“Max…” Julian started but Max cut him off as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I know this is hard, but you have to confront her Julian.”
Closing his eyes, “I know.” Julian nodded then placed his hand on the
doorknob. It was time to get this over with.
{Flashback}
1880
They were after her again. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
She had done nothing wrong to them. No matter where she went,’ those’ people
would always be after her. Did they think that she wanted to be this way?
Could they not see how much she hated being this monster, this creature
of darkness? She wanted her parents, she wanted her sister, but they were
gone…dead.
For ten years, she had to fend for herself. During that time, she
had come to accept the fact that she wasn’t like normal people anymore, that
she was different. Looking over her shoulder as she ran through wooded area,
she could hear the sounds of dogs barking and see the flames of fire ‘those’
people held up high in the darkness as she ran for her life. While she did
this, she failed to notice the root sticking up from below as she tripped
over it and crashed down hard on the ground below, hitting her head in the
process.
She moaned painfully, then tried to sit up but couldn’t as pain engulfed
her body. Slowly, everything around her started to blur as she tried to keep
her eyes open. Footsteps could be heard around her as she once again tried
to move, but couldn’t.
She was going to die here once ‘those’ people found her.
She was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.
When it became too hard for her to keep her eyes opened, she took
a deep breath and calmly welcomed the darkness this last time, for she believed
it to be her last night of living anyways.
{Flashback ends}
The rain was still coming down hard in the town of Harmony, as a female
with piercing light blue eyes and a dark trench coat exited the taxi, instantly
becoming soaked in front of the motel. She watched as the taxi drive off
down the darkened streets, then slowly trudged herself through the motel front
doors.
Inside, the lanky looking manager of the motel was watching an old episode
of M.A.S.H. at the front desk, when he heard the front door open. Looking
up, his mouth dropped open when he saw the woman who walked through. She
was dripping wet from head to toe, but that wasn’t the first thing he noticed
about her...he was staring at her face. She was by far the most exquisite
woman he’d ever seen. Quickly standing up, he ran a hand through his greasy
hair then cleared his throat.
“Hello there sexy, what can Big Eddie do for ya?” he said as he flashed
her a lecherous smile.
“I want a room for tonight.” The female said as she unbuttoned her trench
coat and ran a hand through her shoulder length dark hair.
Eddie’s eyes grew huge as he stared at her breasts. How he wanted to place
his hands on those perfect shaped melons. Sensing that the lecher of a manager
was staring at her breasts, the female rolled her eyes and sighed. She didn’t
have time for this. She was grumpy and tired from her long travels and needed
a place to rest before the sun came up.
“If you want to keep those eyes of yours, I suggest you remove them from
my breasts now?” She snapped viciously.
“Sorry.” Eddie mumbled after being caught. “So what was that again?”
She was this close from bearing her fangs at the idiot, but decided to
remain calm.
“A room.” She said with a grimace.
“A room yeah, right this way.”
Five minutes later, she was resting as comfortably as she could on her
lumpy motel bed. She sighed; at it least it was better than the mat she slept
on in Singapore. Once she was nicely rested, first thing in the morning she
was going into town to look around, to get a better feel of this place called
Harmony.
Ever since that night she somehow managed to survive all of those years
ago, she was constantly on the move. For a hundred and twenty-six years,
she traveled all over the globe, from Japan all the way to Africa, but could
never stay for long periods of time once ‘those’ people found out about her.
The longest she ever stayed in one place was in Sydney, Australia and that
had lasted four years. Hopefully this would be the place she could finally
settle down in for a while.