Chapter 1 - The night they came

"Louisa-Anne, Margaret, Jade-Marie, Emilia! What are you girls all doing awake at this hour?" My aunt hollers from the top of the staircase as my sisters scurry from the kitchen back into the living room.

"Oh, Nuah, come on. It's movie night," whines my eldest sister Louisa-Anne with the biggest bowl of popcorn you could ever imagine on her lap. I sit next to her, on her right side so I can steal away fistfuls of the salty snack without bumping into her hand. Jade-Marie and Marget make it to their seats right before the movie's about to begin.

"You girls should be asleep, we have things to do in the morning!" My aunt persists. The movie finally starts, the screen lights up with the words 'The Demon's Bride' and bathes my sister's and I in bright white light.

"Now I know you don't have Jadey sat there about to watch a horror movie—"

"I can watch a horror movie just fine! I'm not a baby," she pouts, undermining her own point.

"If it gets too scary I'll send her up to bed myself," says Louisa as she chews through a mouthful of popcorn. Her remark sends Jadey into a fit of name calling and all sorts of childish antics.

It amuses me how, despite her being three whole years older than I am, (and a great deal taller), she could be such a kid.

"Fine, fine! Watch your movie. Just be quiet and don't wake your father, alright?"

"Yes, Nuah," we all respond like trained little pups.

That's all my aunt ever needs to hear before she's satisfied. She knows that we wouldn't dare do anything to interrupt daddy's sleep, not after he comes home from working for those damn vampire bastards.

I didn't like to think about them, the monsters that rule over us, but it was a hard thing to avoid thinking about. Those Morning Star bastards are everywhere. On the covers of books, in TV commercials and magazines. Everywhere I look I see them! With their evil red eyes and ugly tattoos.

"Ew! Oh come on, do they have to ruin this too?" complains Margaret as a Morning Star pops up on the TV.

"Guess it's easier to cast one of them for a demon, they already look the part," Louisa throws some popcorn at the screen and gets a few giggles. I remember how she has more reason to hate them than I do, as my eyes unconsciously drift to the exposed skin on her right leg and the giant scars it's covered in.

A Morning Star did that to her, it smelled how sweet her blood was and tried to tear her apart. I know there are more scars. I know the biggest one on her leg goes all the way to her stomach. And I know that filthy creature wanted a lot more than just her blood, but she doesn't like to talk about that part and I don't like thinking about it too much either.

"Should we watch something else?" I suggest, knowing how hard it must be for her.

I see her smile, easy, as if she didn't even care. Nuah would always tell her she had our momma's smile. Truthfully, we're all little copies of one another. More than enough brown hair, brown eyes and plump noses to go around. Our differences are few and far between. Jadey's the tallest, and tall by any standards. She gets that from our daddy.

Louisa has the fullest figure and the thickest hair, Magaret's the skinniest and has the lightest complexion out of all of us. Then there's me, somewhere between all my sisters and momma and daddy.

"Dear Lord, ah- Emilia, shut your eyes right now!"

Before I even get a chance to question her, they all cover my eyes. I assume to protect my innocence, "Would you all stop it? I'm twenty years old for crying out loud!" I can hear them sniggering like a damn bunch of fools.

"You could be sixty for all we care, you'll never stop being the baby when you're around us. Now stop squirming, it's almost over."

—

The movie wraps up and all of us get off the couch to stretch and tidy the living room. There's nothing Nuah hates more than waking up to the house in a mess, 'I didn't raise pigs!' she would holler at us whenever we made the mistake of leaving Sweet Briar in any condition other than immaculate. Sweet Briar is a point of pride for Nuah's side of the family, it's the one thing that their mothers and fathers before them managed to keep the Morning Stars from snatching away. Sweet Briar is like a part of our family, Nuah says it all the time.

My sisters are all packed in the kitchen when I gather up the rest of the bowls and bottles, nothing they love more than a late night snack.

"You're just itching to have another tooth removed, aren't you?" I tisk at Margie, as she pours chocolate chips straight out of the bag and into her mouth.

"Would you listen to her? She's starting to sound just like Nuah."

The girls all giggle, and I join them. These moments are my happiest, when, for just a moment, we can all forget the horrors that are always lurking around us.

"What are you girls all doing awake at a time like this?"

"Daddy!" Margie drops the chocolate chips and it makes Jadey snicker.

Our daddy comes down the stairs, he holds the right side of his hip, the source of a pain from an old injury. He's all white hair and whiskers but nothing else would give away his age. I myself can't believe he's nearly seventy.

"You better pick up every last piece of chocolate on that floor, missy. The last thing any of us want is a lecture about ants from Nuah."

"Yes, daddy," Margie sighs and plops to the floor to get to work.

"Daddy you should be in bed, getting your rest," Louisa says, concerned. She puts her hands on him and tries to help him walk a little straighter.

"I came down to get something to drink, it's a hot night. You girls are the ones that need to be asleep, your aunt's got big plans in the morning."

"Ah, daddy do we—"

"What was that noise?"

All four of us turn in the direction Jadey's staring at. We go quiet and nervous.

The noise is there again, like a cat scratching against the door. The thing is, we don't have a cat.

"Emilia, go wake your aunt," daddy tells me. Louisa makes a move for the knife drawer and Jadey and Margie take off to the pantry.

I rush upstairs, shaking a little bit and my throat closing up in fear.

I don't want to think it's them. They don't have any reason to trouble us, but Morning Stars are like that. They take whatever they want, whenever they want and never with warning. I shudder at the thought of it, of what they'll take from us.

Sweet Briar is the only thing we have other than the clothes we wear and our very lives. I put it out of my mind as I make it to my aunt's door.

I knock, "Nuah? Are you awake?" I try the handle and the door isn't locked, I know something's wrong right away.

When I open it and step inside, I can smell blood and my stomach drops. Her windows are wide open, her desk lamp is still on and on the floor is her body. There's blood on her neck and both her wrists and she isn't moving.

"Nuah!" I yell but I don't get to her. Someone snatches me up from the shadows, someone big. I struggle in the grip of their unfamiliar arms but I can't get free.

"Ssshhh, you'll ruin the fun," they whisper into my ear, their cold breath making my skin raise. They put their hand on my mouth and I protest until I hear the screaming coming from downstairs.

My sister's voices all together begging and screaming.

I can't stop the tears, I can't hold anything back. My sobs are only half quiet because of the hand over my mouth.

I listen on, helplessly as my whole family is slaughtered right beneath me.

"There, there little one," coos the monster holding me in their arms. They pet my head like I'm a dog. "You don't have to be so upset, we'll be keeping you!"

The door swings open and I see the figure of a woman standing in the doorway.

Her face is half covered by the dark but I can still see her evil, red eyes glinting.

"Get off the floor, Mutt," she speaks coldly and with authority.

Mutt, as she calls them, stands, still holding me in their arms. I'm brought out into the hallway and I can see my captors.

The woman has white hair, cut in a bob that ends at the base of her ears. Some people say Morning Stars are extremely beautiful, but I never see it. To me, they all look like evil incarnate.

"She's prettier than the others at least. Take her downstairs, don't let Mikel or Daveed see her. Not yet."

She snaps her fingers and Mutt does as commanded. I'm taken back downstairs and as we approach the bottom Mutt tells me to close my eyes. I'm conflicted. . . I don't want to see the bodies of my family, torn up and shredded on the floor of our home, but if I shut my eyes to it, it would be like pretending it didn't happen. I want to see them, and I want to be angry. I want that anger to live and grow in me, because it's all I have now.

So I keep my eyes open, I stare at the bodies, pale and covered in red. I fight back the tears as I stare. I want to be strong enough to face it.

"Why are you bringing her in here, Mutt? Didn't—"

"Dahlia's orders, boy."

I can't see who's stopping us from moving, but I can hear him. He has an odd accent that I can't place and an otherworldly voice.

"She shouldn't have to see this. . . mess," he says, almost as if he cares. It seems strange that he would say anything, especially in my presence. It feels strangely sincere.

"I told her to shut her eyes, if she chose not to, that's not my problem. Now, get out of my way, Lucien." As Mutt walks away, I get a glimpse of him. He looks strange. The top of his eyes are yellow, the bottom red and at the middle they swirl into a blood orange. He's got a tawny complexion, a real complexion not like the blueish grey of the others.

"Put her down you stupid half breed," says another and Mutt drops me to the ground. I can feel my knee bump against the edge of one of the stairs and it stings. I cradle it, hoping it's not as bad as it feels.

"Look at me, girl."

I look up at the face of whoever's speaking to me now. He's a short one, with limp blonde hair and the typical Morning Star effects.

"What's your name, girl?"

"Emilia," I answer, knowing there's no point in acting brave. Not now, at least.

"Good," he approaches me and puts his cold fingers on my face, down my neck and across my collarbone. In the back of me, I hear the sounds of something heavy being dragged across the floor. My family's bodies I assume.

"You're the owner of all this now, Emilia. It would be wise of you to listen to me and do as I say so you can keep it that way."

"I don't own anything," I keep the emotion out my voice as best as I can, but the fucker is ticking me off. To say something so nasty right after ripping away the only things in the world I ever had. I wish I could kill him, but I'm not strong enough for that. I don't have the right tools, not yet.

"Of course you do, you're the only Radel left and by law— yes, even we follow some sort of laws, Ms. Radel. By law, you are Sweet Briar's owner."

"You expect me to sell it to you, then? You murdered my family to make me desperate enough to hand over th—"

"You talk quite a lot, don't you. I'm not asking, by the way. That was just an observation," he touches my hair, twirling the kinky strands that stick out from my hastily plaited braids. "Mutt, sit her down there and let me talk to the boys."

He pushes me to the couch I was sitting on not more than thirty minutes earlier. All my sisters and I. . . I start thinking about my revenge, I know I'll get it. I remember the blooksucker that got Louisa and how after she came home from the hospital, covered head to toe in bandages. Her face was swollen and she couldn't eat or speak for weeks, even after the swelling went down it took her next to a month to talk to us again.

I remember being so angry, not just because she was attacked, but because no one would do anything to give her the justice she deserved. You don't put a Morning Star in prison, you don't read them their rights and take them to court. They act as they please and they always get away with it.

Unless you take matters into your own hands.

So, I did. I took the knife daddy keeps locked up in a black box made of meteorite under his work bench in the basement. Meteorite is one of the things no vampires, not even Morning Stars, can touch or stand to be around.

The knife is made from meteorite ore too. It was made during the height of the conflict between vampires and humans, centuries ago. My ancestors called it Bloodbane, and ever since it was forged, it's been in my family. I took Bloodbane from its box and I waited for the beast that attacked my sister to show up for me. I waited for two weeks, and then he appeared, exactly like she'd described him to us. I made sure I was bleeding that night. I wanted the scent of blood to distract him from the knife and when he came, I stabbed him in his neck and watched him shrivel up like a raisin and die.

Now, sitting on my couch, waiting for them to decide my fate, I think of that night again.

I begin to calculate how much time I would need to get to the basement and get Bloodbane out of the box. I try to imagine the feeling of sinking my knife into each of their hearts, to make their deaths slower and more painful. I look behind me, trying to work out a way to sneak past their Mutt and get down stairs.

The door to the basement is also made of meteorite, they couldn't follow after me down there, even if they wanted to. All I need is a chance.

Once I get it, I'll kill every red eyed son of a whore trespassing in my house.