Child of the Shadows
A new fanfiction from me brought to life by reading excessive amounts of Bizenghast and Anne Rice, listening to Within Temptation, and playing Shadow of Destiny more than I should. Anyway...
Title: Child of the Shadows
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Rating: Pg-13
Summary: A young orphan girl is plucked from her aunt's care into a world she never dreamed existed, where vampires hold court in palatial mansions where the light of day never shines. Living in the lap of luxury under the protection of the eccentric and insane vampire Cain, she knows happiness beyond anything she's ever experienced in her lifetime. But when a tragedy strikes, she is forced to choose between the dreary mortal life where her only destiny is to grow old and die, or becoming Cain's fledgling, free to eternally wander the night and do as she pleases, at the price of her sanity, and maybe even her human soul...
DISCLAIMER: If you recognize the characters, chances are I don't own them.
Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Dinah lay awake until she was certain her aunt had gone to bed for the night. Then she slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, exchanging her nightgown for a daytime dress and slipping on her shoes and coat, quietly, quietly. Then she tiptoed over to her window, slid it up so quietly and smoothly that it made only the barest whisper against the wooden frame, and was out just as quickly and quietly as a mouse. She slid the window shut just as quietly as she had opened it, and then she was off.
Running, running, running down the main street of Bizenghast, until she came to stop below the sign that pointed to Watertown. She leaned over to catch her breath. and that's when she felt the rustling robes brush up behind her. She gasped and straightened immediately, turning to face the stranger. He was taller than anyone she'd ever seen or known, except perhaps the stiltwalkers. Pale as moonlight, and the little of his white skin that was actually exposed seemed to glimmer strangely in the wan light. His long waves of dark hair were brushed neatly back, a few curls falling to frame his intense face. His eyes glittered like polished onyx, but they still appeared gold and dead. Dinah gasped and stepped back from him.
His lips crawled away from his teeth and revealed yellowing fangs, larger and sharper than human teeth had any right to be, and Dinah knew the instant she saw them that he was no human. The man grinned down at her, and in a deep, calm voice meant to lull her and put her into a trance, he spoke. "What is a beautiful child like yourself doing, wandering the streets at such an hour? You could get hurt."
"Ah...um...well..." No excuse Dinah could think of would possibly good enough to convince this magnificent, deadly creature to leave her be. His grin grew wider, his teeth seemed impossibly large.
"Come on, little one. Let us get you in out of the cold night air before you catch your death, little beauty." He made to put his arm around her, and for an instant his arm seem disproportioately long for his body. Apelike.
"No! Don't touch me!" Dinah dodged away and ran around the fountain, seeking to put some distance between herself and the creature. It didn't work. In but a few seconds, he once again stood in front of her, smirking down at her ferally.
"Now now, little doll. If you keep carrying on so, I'll have to get rough." He lunged. His large, pale hands had just closed around her upper arms when something scraped past his face and made him drop her and recoil.
A woman now stood between him and Dinah. She was tall, though not as tall as he was, with a sheet of straight black hair longer than Dinah's. The man hissed, dropping his mannered facade.
"Bitch! Damn you!"
The woman tossed her hair ands raised her chin. Dinah got a glimpse of her facial features: full lips and slightly slanted red-brown eyes. "Well? Do you still intend to fight me over the girl? Even though it's clear that I am infinitely more powerful than you?" Her voice was like a young girl's high and silvery, and with the haughty, condescending tone one might expect from royalty.
The man scowled and vanished, and the woman turned to Dinah. Dinah was shocked to see that her savior was barely older than she, at least sixteen, and at the most, eighteen.
The woman/girl smiled and extended a slender, delicate-looking hand to Dinah. "Come on. The fool was right about one thing: a beautiful child like you shouldn't be out sol ate at night. There other, more powerful ones who would be as unable to resist your beauty as he was."
Once Dinah was standing, the other hoisted her up into her arms so that Dinah was being carried like an infant. "Wait, where are we going?" Dinah cried when the girl began to run away from Dinah's house, in the entirely opposite direction, in fact.
"We are going to my master's house. You'll be plenty safe there. And you can return to your mortal home tomorrow night if you wish."
Dinah only nodded, to shocked to respond.
The pair vanished from the streets of Bizenghast in a blur of swirling skirts.
Title: Child of the Shadows
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Rating: Pg-13
Summary: A young orphan girl is plucked from her aunt's care into a world she never dreamed existed, where vampires hold court in palatial mansions where the light of day never shines. Living in the lap of luxury under the protection of the eccentric and insane vampire Cain, she knows happiness beyond anything she's ever experienced in her lifetime. But when a tragedy strikes, she is forced to choose between the dreary mortal life where her only destiny is to grow old and die, or becoming Cain's fledgling, free to eternally wander the night and do as she pleases, at the price of her sanity, and maybe even her human soul...
DISCLAIMER: If you recognize the characters, chances are I don't own them.
Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Dinah lay awake until she was certain her aunt had gone to bed for the night. Then she slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, exchanging her nightgown for a daytime dress and slipping on her shoes and coat, quietly, quietly. Then she tiptoed over to her window, slid it up so quietly and smoothly that it made only the barest whisper against the wooden frame, and was out just as quickly and quietly as a mouse. She slid the window shut just as quietly as she had opened it, and then she was off.
Running, running, running down the main street of Bizenghast, until she came to stop below the sign that pointed to Watertown. She leaned over to catch her breath. and that's when she felt the rustling robes brush up behind her. She gasped and straightened immediately, turning to face the stranger. He was taller than anyone she'd ever seen or known, except perhaps the stiltwalkers. Pale as moonlight, and the little of his white skin that was actually exposed seemed to glimmer strangely in the wan light. His long waves of dark hair were brushed neatly back, a few curls falling to frame his intense face. His eyes glittered like polished onyx, but they still appeared gold and dead. Dinah gasped and stepped back from him.
His lips crawled away from his teeth and revealed yellowing fangs, larger and sharper than human teeth had any right to be, and Dinah knew the instant she saw them that he was no human. The man grinned down at her, and in a deep, calm voice meant to lull her and put her into a trance, he spoke. "What is a beautiful child like yourself doing, wandering the streets at such an hour? You could get hurt."
"Ah...um...well..." No excuse Dinah could think of would possibly good enough to convince this magnificent, deadly creature to leave her be. His grin grew wider, his teeth seemed impossibly large.
"Come on, little one. Let us get you in out of the cold night air before you catch your death, little beauty." He made to put his arm around her, and for an instant his arm seem disproportioately long for his body. Apelike.
"No! Don't touch me!" Dinah dodged away and ran around the fountain, seeking to put some distance between herself and the creature. It didn't work. In but a few seconds, he once again stood in front of her, smirking down at her ferally.
"Now now, little doll. If you keep carrying on so, I'll have to get rough." He lunged. His large, pale hands had just closed around her upper arms when something scraped past his face and made him drop her and recoil.
A woman now stood between him and Dinah. She was tall, though not as tall as he was, with a sheet of straight black hair longer than Dinah's. The man hissed, dropping his mannered facade.
"Bitch! Damn you!"
The woman tossed her hair ands raised her chin. Dinah got a glimpse of her facial features: full lips and slightly slanted red-brown eyes. "Well? Do you still intend to fight me over the girl? Even though it's clear that I am infinitely more powerful than you?" Her voice was like a young girl's high and silvery, and with the haughty, condescending tone one might expect from royalty.
The man scowled and vanished, and the woman turned to Dinah. Dinah was shocked to see that her savior was barely older than she, at least sixteen, and at the most, eighteen.
The woman/girl smiled and extended a slender, delicate-looking hand to Dinah. "Come on. The fool was right about one thing: a beautiful child like you shouldn't be out sol ate at night. There other, more powerful ones who would be as unable to resist your beauty as he was."
Once Dinah was standing, the other hoisted her up into her arms so that Dinah was being carried like an infant. "Wait, where are we going?" Dinah cried when the girl began to run away from Dinah's house, in the entirely opposite direction, in fact.
"We are going to my master's house. You'll be plenty safe there. And you can return to your mortal home tomorrow night if you wish."
Dinah only nodded, to shocked to respond.
The pair vanished from the streets of Bizenghast in a blur of swirling skirts.