"9.......10, I am coming." A small eight year old Alex said finishing counting. She and her friends, Silvea and Razim were playing hide and seek on the small hill near the old graveyard.
Alex stepped out of the shadows of the brick wall on top of the hill to get a better look at where her friends could be hiding. She was really good at this. At the foot of the hill there was the old graveyard with its rusty black railing and odd yet beautifully constructed headstones and tombs. A small, narrow road led from the graveyard to the small town of Sven.
The town was nothing but a cluster of about 30 small stone cottages. There was the statue of Spen the founder of the little Strigoi town at the foot of the Demos mountains.
( in case you guys are wondering Strigois are human like beings with fangs, extremely fast reflexes, agility and strength. They are born fighter and their diet only consists of flesh.)
It was almost sundown and Alex checked the horizon for any sign of danger but there was nothing unusual. It had been a week now since she fled from Tenebris and from Aerosmith's greedy clutches. For the first few days she had been terrified that Aerosmith would come for her; but now that feeling of dread was slowly being replaced by hope and happiness.
She now lived with Silvea and her family. Here she felt happy and secure. She finally felt like she belonged somewhere, like she had a home.
Alex headed down the hill towards one of the oldest graves in the right hand corner of the graveyard. She had already spotted Silvea's bright red hair disappearing behind it.
"Caught you!" Alex squeaked jumping on Silvea from behind one of the graves. "Ah! You always manage to find me!" Silvea exclaimed. The little fangs peeking out from the sides of her broad grin made the little girl with bright red hair, deep set eyebrows and grey eyes look even more prettier.
Both the girls looked up as it became dark all of a sudden. Black clouds seemed to have come out of nowhere and cover the already darkening sky.
"It is getting dark, we should find Razim and head home." Silvea said frowning, her voice tinged with concern. Alex nodded as both of them set out to find Razim.
Silvea was two years older than her so Alex looked up to her as a sister and a best friend. "We should split up." Alex suggested.
"Good idea." Silvea replied moving towards the western part of the graveyard while Alex went to the eastern part.
"Razim!" Alex called out for the umpteenth time. She had searched high and low but there was not a single trace of Razim. Somehow Silvea had disappeared too. Alex had noticed a few minutes ago that she could not hear Silvea's voice anymore.
Scared, worried and very confused Alex headed down the small narrow road towards the town. Maybe they went home, Alex thought desperately hoping that everything was alright.
Any hope that she had was shattered as she entered the town.
The town was deserted. All the streets were empty; the doors and windows of the cottages were shut tight. An Erie silence hung in the air. As if all the residents of the town were holding their breathe.
Anxiety, fear and curiosity mingled up inside Alex as she quickened her pace. Silvea's house was almost in the center of the town, right in front of the statue of Spen.
Just as she was about to enter the town square, she heard a sniffling sound. It sounded like a girl sobbing.
She cautiously went over and peeked from behind one of the barrels stacked near the town square.
Alex went rigid and her eyes widened with pure terror and shock as she beheld the scene before her.
The square was empty except for four individuals. There were two hooded figures standing in front of the statue, arms crossed, whispering in a language Alex did not understand. Just a few feet away in a growing pool of blood lay Rahim; a dagger sticking out of his chest. Right beside Rahim's lifeless body lay Silvea. Crying and withering in pain. Trickles of blood running down her cheek, from her left eye, which was completely white with no pupil.
All of a sudden one of the men stopped talking and went over to Silvea. Without even batting am eyelash he punched her hard in the chest. Alex watched in horror as Sivea stopped struggling and went completely still, her head lolling to one side, her eyes closed.
And that was it, that was enough to snap Alex out of her sanity. Thousands of emotions washed through her but the most prominent were grief, rage and a unquenchable thirst for revenge.
Alex uttered a war cry as she charged at the two hooded figures, who were slowly backing away. Tears rolled down her cheeks defiantly. Her head felt like it would burst any moment now. She could barely see anything through her tears and the haze of pain and sorrow.
She clenched her hands into fists and gritted her teeth as she started shaking uncontrollably.
Then all hell broke loose.
Everything went pitch black, and Alex felt her feet leave the ground but she had no control over her body. It was all just a blur of wrath, despair and anguish. She could hear screams and loud booming noises but all of them were distant like they were coming from the other end of a long tunnel.
Just when Alex thought she could not take the agony anymore, like she was going to break any moment; everything stopped and all of a sudden the world went silent.
For a long moment Alex just laid there on the dry dusty ground, eyes closed, too weak to get up. All her emotions were replaced by a strange numb feeling, like her mind had just shut down, like the calm after a storm.
Mustering every ounce of strength she had left, Alex opened her eyes and got up. The death and destruction that she saw all around her was too much to process for her already weak mind.
All that was left of the town was the statue of Spem and the foundation stones of a few cottages. The rest seemed to have been ripped apart and turned to dust.
All around the town square lay the lifeless bodies of the townsfolk. There was no sign of blood or struggle everyone seemed to have just dropped dead.
The numbness was slowly wearing off and the torment of emotions was coming back, this time tinged with guilt. Alex had killed everyone, she had murdered the only people who have ever been kind to her. The huge burden of guilt weighed in on her shoulders as Alex crumbled to her knees.
The agony, the guilt, all these emotions, it was all too much. Unable to take it any more, Alex did the only thing she could to stop herself from falling apart.
She screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs. She screamed until her throat was so raw that no sound would come out; and yet she kept on screaming.
* * *
Back in castle Tenebris a fourteen year old Alex woke up screaming. She was drenched in cold sweat and her breathe came in short gasps. Still panting, Alex got up and rushed to the bathroom. With shaking hands she opened the faucet and splashed cold water on her face.
The cold water felt soothing,Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, calming herself. The nightmares are back, she thought. This particular one had kept her awake for months on end but the wound has eventually healed. Leaving behind nasty scars. It had been quite a while since Alex had any nightmares.
Maybe all the stress and tension is causing this, she thought.
Wiping her face with a towel Alex went into the walk-in closet in her room. She was about to take out a new pair of shirts when she caught her reflection in the huge ceiling to floor mirror.
She was wearing her usual white shirt with black shorts but what caught her eye was how pale she had gotten. She was chalk white as there was very less sunlight in the Death realm. She had also gotten thinner she noticed. Her Raven black hair streaked with red was tied up in a ponytail. Most people thought that she had highlighted her hair but the red streaks were infact natural. She had an angled face with high cheek bones and her sharp canines showed when she smiled. Though the eyes were the most unusual, they were black with a ring of bright red, like her eyes were ringed with wild fire.
Alex changed into a dry shirt and went back to bed. After twisting and shifting uncomfortably in bed for quite some time she finally gave up. She was not going g to get anymore sleep tonight.
She got up and checked the watch on the bed side table. It was only 4:25 and she had a whole hour before she had to go to the training room to practice with her double swords.
I have to keep myself busy or else the dream will keep haunting me, she thought. Getting up she went into the tiny library attached to her bedroom.
She picked up the scroll Aerosmith had given her from the table where she had left it last night; and settled down into an armchair. Spreading the map on the table in front of her, Alex set to work.
I am extremely sorry for the late update. I had to think a lot for this one :-P . The next chapter is going to have important hints in it, just saying ;-) . Anyway hope u guys are enjoying the story and don't forget to vote and comment. :-)
Love,
Tiyasha
