1 Chapter 1~ The beginning of her end.
Year 1754
"Stop! you have to listen to me Brianna!" Her mother's tear filled eyes met hers.
She turned swiftly and ran as fast as she could, her long blue dress swaying behind her. To hell with everything... She thought.
Her mother followed her, running with her legs that were no longer as strong as they used to be.
Brianna had no dreams, she didn't allow herself to dream of happiness or anything at all, because false hope was what she hated more than anything.
Especially in a world like hers, there was no hope for happiness anywhere.
All her days were bleak and lifeless, she had gotten used to it, but only because she had no other choice.
And then her so called mother sold her off to the black market... Because of reasons she did not know.
"Stop following me" Brianna said, they were running through the forest and it wasn't safe for either of them to be there, creatures of darkness were often seen lurking around, and there had been a few deaths in these same areas.
"No, Bria please listen to me, I did it to help you" her mother said, Brianna could hear the crack in her voice, it broke her heart.
To help me? What the hell did that mean?
Her feet hit on a three branch before she could reply, white blinding pain shot up from her feet to the rest of her body, she cried out.
Her mother heard her and ran to where she laid, clutching her foot.
"Bria, are you OK?" She asked looking at Brianna's feet.
The night was dark, but there were traces of moonlight, they were surrounded by the sound of crickets.
Her mother was terrified as the adrenaline was wearing off, they could get attacked literally at any time, these forests weren't safe at all, she now wondered if her daughter was suicidal.
Perhaps she was suicidal as well.
Her eyes widened when she heard a growl not too far away, and the sound of tree branches breaking.
Her heart started beating wildly, droplets of sweat formed on her forehead despite the chilly night atmosphere.
"Ava, we're not too far away from home, we have to get out of here now" her mother said, struggling to lift her up, she glanced at Brianna's foot and saw blood.
The worst had happened, the wolves in the crater forest were deeply attracted to human blood.
"Let go of me!" Brianna protested.
Ignoring her she tore her dress swiftly as her daughter tried to stand on her good foot.
She tied it around the bleeding foot in layers until there were no more traces of blood on the piece of cloth.
"Listen to me Brianna, we have to get out of here right now"
Another growl was heard.
"Ignore the pain in your feet and run, we have to survive..." Her mother had tears in her eyes.
Brianna had come to her senses and realized how risky what she did was.
She gulped before sprinting as fast ad her legs could take her, she felt like her feet was getting detached from the rest of her body with every step she took, her mother followed her closely.
They didn't stop running till they were in the safety of their tiny house.
She sat down on a wooden chair while her mother got some water to wash the injury.
"What the hell were you thinking Bria?" Her mother asked after a while, finally unleashing her anger, Bria was angry as well... More than angry, she was furious.
"No, what were you thinking?!" She yelled back, "selling me off for slavery to those demons that killed father in cold blood? How dare you?" She said through her teeth.
Tears started flowing from her mothers eyes, the woman sat on the chair, hands covering her face as she sobbed. She hated being reminded of her husbands death.
Bria, wasn't ever rude to anyone, she loved her mother as all she had in her bleak life, but the one person she trusted had sold her off for slavery... The highest level of betrayal.
Bria knew her mother must have had a very good reason for doing what she did, but it didn't matter to her, no reason was good enough to do such a thing.
Still she wanted to know.
"Why did you do it mother?" She asked holding back her tears.
"Bria, do you think you have a future here?" Her mother asked, eyes slightly red from crying.
Bria's eyes widened at her mothers words.
"This place has nothing to offer you Bria, you are beautiful, strong, and anyone can see the light in you, you deserve more than to rot in this hell hole of a place" her mother said wiping her eyes.
"But....I'm content,... I'm happy here, this little village is like a part of me" she placed her mothers hand in hers, momentarily forgetting her anger.
"You know I can see through your lies Bria, you absolutely hate this place, you've lived in the same spot for 18 years!" Her mother said " I don't want you to have an unfulfilled and uneventful life like mine" her mother placed a hand on her face "I know you Bria, good luck follows you, I know you'll end up having a good life, a better life than this"
She dropped her mothers hand.
"A better life? Getting raped and worshiping the demons that murdered father?, that's a better life than this?" She said with a small sarcastic chuckle.
"You have good luck Bria, I know you would not end up in a bad place, I know it" her mother said with a small smile.
Bria shook her head violently.
"I'll never be a slave for those demons, ever" she said getting up from the couch.
"I'm leaving, I'll find another village to live in mother, you can stay here if you want"
"You can't leave, you'll get lost, you don't know your way around anywhere, you don't know a life outside this village Bria" her mother said, Bria scoffed entering her room to pack her clothes into her small dusty battered box, their standard of living had reduced drastically since her fathers death.
"I don't care, I'd rather a wolf rip me apart than die in the hands of a vampire" she shoved her clothes into the box angrily, a piece of wood scraped her hand, she ignored it the pain.
Her hatred for vampires started when she was little, she had discovered that .vampires had control over the four kingdoms of the world, they were the reason she was suffering so much, her village was totally ignored for reasons she did not know, people were dying of hunger because of those blood sucking bastards and their immeasurable greed.
And then a vampire killed her father.
Bria had gone to visit a friend, to share some language lesson notes, she was fortunate enough to be among the few children whose parents saw learning basic language as a necessity for their children.
She was told to be careful because some high ranking vampires had come to inspect the village, she didn't want to be food.
She walked up to the front door of her house and found it open, it was unusual for the doors to be left open when her father was at home because he was an extremely careful and cautious person.
She pushed the door and stepped on something wet, her young mind did not expect what she saw when she turned up the light on her lantern, her father was laying on the floor motionless, both of his eyes were open and lifeless, blood splattered around the living room.
The traumatizing scene was etched to the back of her memory, never to be forgotten.
The mayor of the town who was a vampire himself, confirmed from the bite marks that it was indeed a vampire that murdered him.
They halfheartedly tried to find the vampire that did it, but since it was a high ranking vampire, it was basically impossible.
"Bria, if you leave, I'll die" her mother said in a low voice and Bria's hands stopped shoving the clothes.
She got up from the floor of her room and went to stand before her mother in the living room.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked narrowing her eyes.
"The slave traders are brutal, Bria, life outside this place is horrible, they'll kill me if they don't see you by morning" her mother said, her elbows on her knees, palms supporting her face as she stared ahead at nothing.
"No..." Bria whispered as she slowly sat on the floor, she had entered a tight corner, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she caused her mothers death in any way.
"I can't run away either because they will find me and kill me for wasting their time... Bunch of blood thirsty bastards" her mother whispered the last sentence to herself.
Brianna exhaled, she pretty much had no other option.
"I will go then" she said "but I will never forgive you if something bad happens to me"
Her mother smiled, a hearty smile that reached her eyes.
"You are special Bria, I know that because the day you were born the stars danced and the moon moved from its place" her mother said and Bria rolled her eyes.
"That was just a mere coincidence, the universal vibration that happened 18 years ago had nothing to do with my birth, besides, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person that was born on that day"
"You are not... You are a brighter, all the brighters were born on that particular day" her mother said looking into her confused eyes.
"What in the world are you speaking of?, what is a brighter?" Bria wondered if her mother had finally lost it.
"Let me tell you a story that you've never heard before" her mother said, still smiling.
"Long long ago, when our creator was creating the world, and the living creatures, he created a species that was higher than the human race, we know them as vampires, but among those vampires he created powerful beings, known as Nineveh, there are four of them, one for each kingdom" her mother said, confusing Bria even more.
"In order to keep their powers in control, the creator created the brighters, A Nineveh can not reach his or her full potential without his brighter" her mother added.
"Mother, how do you know all this?" Bria found what her mother just told her very hard to believe.
"Your grandmother had the gift of sight and all this was revealed to her in a vision years ago, having such a wonderful gift reduced her lifespan and she died earlier than she should have, you never got to see her" a hint of pain crossed her mothers face.
"Now, a brighter must be one from the lower society, in order to maintain the balance, because its very likely that a Nineveh is the most powerful person in their land, but because power is never enough or out of sheer curiosity, they would like to find their brighter and achieve their full potential, to see just how much powerful they can become"
"Nobody believes this , they all think its some fairy tale legend" her mother chuckled lightly.
"I don't believe it either, I can't be a brighter, I've never felt special before"
"Well, have you been having any weird dreams lately?" Her mother asked, Brianna's eyes widened, how did her mother know?
"yes I have" she said, cheeks turning slightly red at the memory.
The dreams had been recurring, repeating every night, slowly making her loose her mind.
The dreams were always about a man,she couldn't see his face but she was drawn to his body that had black markings like the body of a tiger, the black colour stood out against his pale skin, she would be naked on a bed, white sheets surrounding them and she would moan loudly while he made her feel things that drove her mad.
She had felt the urge to have sex before but she had ignored it previously, but since the dreams started, the urge had increased massively, she knew if the dreams continued for one more night she would start looking for ways to please herself.
"How do you know about them?... My dreams" she asked, her mother laughed loudly.
"You have no idea how loud your moans are at night" the woman laughed at her daughters shocked expression.
Bria covered her face with her palms, her mother had heard everything.
At first, when Ursula heard her daughter moaning in her room in the middle of the night, she thought her daughter was trying to ease her teenage hormones, the third night she decided to have a look only to find out that her daughter was moaning in deep sleep, she remembered what her mother told her, her daughter Brianna had come of age, it was time for her to meet her Nineveh.
"OK so what if I'm a brighter? How will I ever get to meet my Nineveh who is probably the most powerful man in the kingdom"
"Selling you off for slavery is the first step, a brighter will always meet her Nineveh, not even fate can stop them when the time is right" Ursula said, Bria exhaled, she felt somewhat relieved at the assurance.
"It is said the Nineveh of our kingdom is the most powerful of the 4, but his brighter holds most of his power, it has always been that way through generations and generations of Nineveh in this kingdom"
"This is too much for me to take in" Bria said rubbing her temples.
"You should probably get some sleep, tomorrow will be a massive day" her mother said and she nodded, she slowly got up from the floor and went to her room.
She fell asleep soon after and yet another dream followed.
