by Terra James
I am so anxious, but I am usually over-confident. What will she choose when given the choice? Will she choose yes just because the supernatural race depends on it? How will I know the difference? All of these questions have my head pounding, my hands shaking, my legs feeling like jelly. I feel as if I might just faint, too. The only difference is there is no one to catch me if I fall. If she chooses no, then I will never be complete, and my soul will always be missing it's other half. I am absolutely terrified that I might have to live this way for the rest of my life, so I have this overwhelming feeling of gloom hanging over my head when I receive the text from my dad.
Ren: How do you know for sure, son?
Dravon: All the signs are there.
Ren: Are you sure?
Dravon: Yes. Absolutely!
Ren: I will get a hold of Molly, and we will set it up. DO NOT be around her! It will be too hard for you to resist now. I urge you to listen to me for this is of the utmost of importance.
Dravon: Chill, I got this. :/
I am lost in my thoughts this morning when I see Emmaline walking in front of me. It is normal for me to be thinking about her, because she is never far from my thoughts. It took a twist this morning though when she heard my thoughts, and she responded to them out loud. I was so shocked that if it hadn't been for James, she would have just hit the ground. I couldn't get my feet to cooperate while my brain processed that I had just found my soul mate. It completely took me by surprise.
I never expected to find her here in Great Falls, Montana, because I didn't move here in search of my soul mate. I had no knowledge that I would have a perfect mate before I moved here. I moved here because I was looking for an all-encompassing area which includes the big city life with majestic beautiful waterfalls, and I was also looking for a mountainous area like The Rocky Mountains, where I can hunt. I need to be in an area where the fact that I am a vampire doesn't stand out. When my maker, whom I call my dad, called me to move out here to help him introduce our life style to some of the newborn vampires, I was happy to take him up on his offer.
We are still trying to figure out who and why these newborns were created, but we need to teach them how to control their cravings. My maker and I don't feed on humans, because we find this immoral. I know what you are asking right about now, and if it were me I would be asking the same exact question. Why on God's green Earth would a vampire have morals? The answer is that I choose to live my life while respecting everyone equally, because Ren didn't intend for me to turn into some kind of blood-crazed monster, and unlike most vampires I still have a soul. How I still have a soul is just as much a mystery to me as it is to anyone else. I guess we blame that on generations of witches or we thank them for it. I am thankful to them for their gift. It is a fact that we indeed need blood to feed, but we don't have to be savages about it.
Ren turned me, but only because he said he saw potential in me. I was a seventeen-year-old kid with leukemia in the early 1920's, before advanced medical treatment. He was a doctor at the hospital that I was dying in. One afternoon I overheard my parents out in the hallway talking to Dr. Allen, and he was telling them that I wouldn't make it through the night. I was too weak to even lift my head at this point, and I had cried until all my tears had dried up. I had accepted my fate that death would soon come, and my parents had already said their goodbyes. I knew that when they left there that day that it would be the last time I would ever see them, and the sad part is I couldn't even enjoy the last day that I had with them.
Ren had overheard the conversation that Dr. Allen had with my parents as well, but he was in the business of saving lives not losing them. He felt that I was entirely too young to die, and had a different plan for me. He could have just given me vampire blood to heal me that night, but he chose to turn me instead. Ren has never explained to me why he chose me, but he has told me that when the time was right that he would. I am just thankful that I have my second chance at life even though it may not be the one I would have chosen. I have a feeling that it may have something to do with the prophecy, but I'm not sure. I have never questioned Ren about this, because I just figure he will explain it to me when he feels it is time. I feel like that time is near, and I hope that he will decide that I need to know more.
I only slept a few hours the night I died, before things turned for the worse. My breathing became labored, my heart began to slow, and I knew I was going to die. I was so scared when I took my last breath, because there were so many things that I still wanted to explore and accomplish in my life. I died that night thinking that I had lost all those opportunities, only to wake the next day as a vampire with Renfred Davis as my maker.
I spent the next ten years with him learning how to control my cravings, and I vowed to never feed on humans in gratitude for the gift he had given me. He had given me the chance to accomplish those things I dreamed of. I will be eternally grateful for that, but being a vampire is not all rainbows and butterflies.
So you can just imagine the shock I felt this morning when Emmaline's voice enters my head, and how exciting and scary this is. It is completely awesome to be telepathic, but it is even more so that Emmaline is my soul mate. At first I was excited and then panic sets in. I have only known about the prophecy for a week when I supposedly turn seventeen. There is definite disadvantages in becoming a vampire at a young age, because it means that I have to keep moving so that no one notices that I am not aging. I had to have a birthday here in Great Falls, because Ren has me going to school here under cover. We are trying to discover the maker of all these young newborn vampires, and his hunting ground seems to be all the local high schools.
Ren came to me a week ago with what he said was important business, and we made a visit to Molly's house. Molly is Emmaline's Gran, and the soon-to-be High Priestess of Great Falls' witch coven. She had contacted Ren, because she had found the history book when cleaning out her storage. This book contained the prophecy, and Molly had a vision that Emmaline was going to be the Chosen. She said that she felt as if destiny was already happening. The Five Supernatural Immortals History book says that a Chosen's Soulmate is a vampire, and that all of the five have to be seventeen when they are bound. Since I will never be older than seventeen, Molly felt as if I would be Emmaline's soul mate. Ren was uncharacteristically silent and nearly stoic while Molly explained the prophecy to me. I caught them exchanging knowing glances the whole visit. I think they know a lot more than they are letting on but as for right now what is being revealed is almost more than I can process.
Molly wanted to discuss the signs that were to come to pass with me, so that I wouldn't panic when the gift of telepathy manifested itself. She knew she couldn't discuss the book with Em yet. Emmaline wasn't supernatural, and wouldn't be until her initiation ceremony. According to the rules, the prophecy is not to be discussed with humans or you will be punished by death. Once Em's Initiation Ceremony takes place, we have seventy two hours to complete the soul mate binding. I just feel as if it will become necessary for me to be with her before that time.
She will then become my only life source, which means that I can only live with her blood. I can never feed from anything else, and I will share my mind with her for eternity. I think this is how the whole having a soul after becoming a vampire comes into play. I will give her the gift of telepathy in return. She will be able to hear other's thoughts, but not speak back telepathically like she can with me. We have the soul mate sign, but I am not sure that her marking has appeared. We will have to wait to see if it manifests itself like it should. The Chosen marking should appear the exact time that she was born seventeen years ago, and it is only then that the soul mate marking of the infinity symbol will appear inside her marking, and will mark my left shoulder after we are bound.
I am drowning helplessly in my thoughts as I walk to class, and suddenly, I am almost brought to my knees by Emmaline screaming in my head. “Dravon!” I am surprised how fast she is adjusting to the fact she is telepathic, be
cause even after a week for adjustment I'm still in awe. Ren and Molly have worked with me almost day and night to teach me to block my thoughts with a telepathic wall, because Molly wanted to be sure that if her vision came to pass that I could block Em from finding out any information that would be punishable by death. It is hard to master a telepathic wall when you haven't yet become telepathic, but it is very important that she becomes supernatural, before anything can be revealed to her. I hated to tell Em that I couldn't eat lunch with her, but our lives depend on it. I hurriedly slam that thoroughly-practiced telepathic wall into place, and I hope like hell it will work. This is going to be even harder than Ren or Molly thought possible. I'm starting to feel that aching need for Emmaline to be near.
I don't have any classes with Emmaline, James, or Sadie, and at this point I am thanking God for small favors. I am on the college football track as my coach calls it. This fact means that my first two periods are football practice. All junior class members have the same lunch period, although I am never in the cafeteria with them.
Unfortunately for me, my lunch doesn't consist of pizza and fries, and this is information that I must keep hidden. I usually spend my lunch period at the top of the mountain or one of my favorite spots near the waterfall, because I need to hunt for my lunch in one of these places. I have all four of my core curriculum classes just like everyone else, but the difference is that I have them in the evenings. I have English III for my third period and Algebra II for my fourth period. Next semester, I will have World history for my third period and Biology II for my fourth, with the only difference being that I have basketball practice for my first two periods instead of Football. The sports count for my electives, and I am ecstatic that they do. I have always loved playing sports, and that is one of the things that make this undercover mission bearable. I have never been interested in taking a class in computer science. I am already a very skilled hacker, with the police record to prove it.
It is an awesome thing that juvenile records are sealed, but then again, none of this matters because it is all part of my cover. Once Ren and I deal with the maker of these newborns I will have to keep moving as I always have. Of course, this was my plan until Ren and Molly dropped the prophecy in my lap. It changes everything, because now it's not just me that I have to worry about. For the first time in a long time, it won't just be me.
The loneliness that I have experienced for a while now will fade, and it hopefully will be replaced with companionship. I'm not going to get my hopes up for love, because I don't want to get hurt. However, I hope that Emmaline falls in love with me, because it will make this prophecy easier to deal with. I think that I am already falling in love with her, and I thought that before I knew about the prophecy. Now, it just solidifies that feeling of unimaginable happiness. Emmaline will have to adapt to my life of travel, or other plans will have to be made. I will never be able to live my life without her now that I know that she is mine, the other half of me, and her heart beats for us.
Chapter Three
Emmaline
I am feeling uneasy and a bit queasy at this point in my morning. An overwhelming feeling of anxiety wraps my body in a vice grip. I feel as if it is a good idea to send my Gran a text, because if anything weirder happens, I think I might end up in the loony bin. I just don't know how much more my brain can process. The emotion and unanswered questions that are plaguing my mind are threatening to take over, and I am having increasingly more trouble controlling them. I sneak my phone out of my purse, and I hurriedly send Gran my text as fast as my fingers can type on my phone.
Emmaline: Gran, Can you pick me up from school? Please hurry! I am panicking and we need to talk like, yesterday. You are just not going to believe what has happened to me this morning. I need you Gran. :(
I am just sitting here in English like this is any other normal day waiting on Gran to text me back, when the itching begins again. My left shoulder has itched all morning, but I haven't paid much attention to it until now that it has become very uncomfortable. I think it is bothering me more now, because my nerves are on edge. It feels like my whole body is vibrating from head to toe. Suddenly, my shoulder is not only itching, but it is now on fire. It's almost as if someone has burnt me with scalding water, and now it has become immovable without warning. "Katie, will you look at my shoulder? I don't know what is wrong with it, but it is really hurting me." I anxiously ask the girl that sits behind me in my English class.
"Em, awesome tattoo! It is really red, but it doesn't look infected. It looks as if it may be hurting, because it is a new tattoo," she replies.
“Dravon! What the hell is on my left shoulder? Oh my God! What is going to happen next? If I sprout some sort of wings out of my ass or something, I promise I will kill you. And you better be listening to me, because I am panicking. I feel like my chest has an elephant sitting on it, and any minute I am going to pass out yet again.”
I am having a full on panic attack now. I jump up out of my seat, and run. I barely hear Mr. Aberman yelling after me, but I don't stop until I reach the girls' restroom. I'm safely inside when I implement the calm breathing techniques that I have learned. I'm desperately trying to stop the panic that is rising in my chest, because I don't want to pass out again or have an asthma attack. If one more thing happens, my sanity will be threatened, I am thinking when Dravon finally answers me.
“What do you mean? What's wrong with your shoulder? Are you okay, Em?”
I hear the panic in Dravon's voice, and it makes me panic more. I'm now sitting on the bathroom floor with my knees hugged to my chest, and I'm crying uncontrollably. Hyperventilation kicks in while trying to communicate with Dravon telepathically. It's not easy to concentrate on what is being said, or what I am trying to say through my thoughts. I use all the control that I have to just breathe through this horrible panic attack. It takes me a few minutes, but I regain enough control to finally communicate with Dravon.
“I have sent Gran a text to pick me up, because I have been uncomfortable for most of the morning. My shoulder was itching all morning, and it had become increasingly painful, so I asked a girl in my English Class to look at it for me. Imagine my surprise to find out that a freaking tattoo has appeared out of thin air. What the hell is going on?”
“Emmaline, just calm down and try to breathe. It is all going to be okay. I have an idea of what is going on. Do you know what time you were born exactly? What is the tattoo of? It is a good thing that you texted your Gran, because you need her. Where are you Em? I can wait with you until she gets here.”
Dravon is rambling on with what seems like rising anxiety, and that starts to scare me. “I was born at 9:18 a.m. Why? And it is a pentagram for God's sake! I am in the girl's....”
I hear the restroom door open, but I am too embarrassed to look. The next thing I know I am being scooped into arms that fill me with warmth from head to toe, and removed me from the bathroom floor delicately. I slam the telepathic wall into place in mid-sentence, because I am with James and I don't want Dravon to know for some reason. "James, you are in the girls' restroom. How did you know I was here and upset?" I ask.
"Are you okay, Em?" James asks as he avoids my question by asking his own.
Chapter Four
Molly
I have been sitting at this table since I awoke at five a.m. I'm waiting on Emmaline to contact me. She was born seventeen years ago today, and the book states that her marking will show up at the exact time she was born. I fully expect her to freak out, so I have been anxiously biding my time by reading the Supernatural Immortal's History book. I am convinced that Emmaline is the Chosen.
My job as High Priestess to be initiated in my Coven is to protect and keep track of all books in our underground library. It's my favorite thing in the world because I have loved to read since I was a little girl. I have read almost every book inside that library, or at least I thought I had until Ren contacted me when Dravon moved here. According to Ren's vampir
e bloodline, when traced back generations, he found that five generations ago a vampire in his bloodline was the Chosen's mate. He had called me a while back to find the book that has been hidden. This vampire wanted to make sure all rules were followed. It's very important for the survival of all supernatural races. Day and night I searched the library looking for that book to no avail.
I remember going to bed one night filled with anxiety because trying to find the book was playing hell with my nerves. That night I had a vision about Emmaline being the Chosen. I awoke in the middle of the night, and immediately went to the library to search our family tree. The vision was so vivid that I didn't even question it. I knew exactly where the family tree book was, because I have read it many times. This time was different though, because located in the back of the book were pages I had never seen. Imagine how surprised I was to find out that my great, great Grandma was a Chosen, and more so to find out that she was still alive. When my grandmother was born, she was supposed to become one as well, because my great, great Grandmother Chloe had lived out her reign. A Chosen can only reign until the next is born and she reaches her seventeenth birthday. There is only so much magic you can do before your body wears out and your magic is lost.
My grandmother, Claire, was the first generation to not produce a Chosen, because she never believed in magic at all. She never had her initiation ceremony into a coven, and her markings never appeared. It's a big mystery as to why this happened. Since she was not supernatural, her grandmother, Chloe, could never tell her about the prophecy. It would have been punishable by death, so she lived out her life and died as a mortal human.