Hey,
this is the new installment for my novel 'When Innocence Dies'. In the prologue we were introduced to two characters: Lamia & Luther (#1) and Lamia & Sangard (#2)
Chapter one jumps to near present day (2002 to be exact) and in this we meet Laura McVey just before her world and everything in it changes. I will always give the rating for my installments in this book as R (since this book will be pretty graphic for the most part).
Just to recap, scentences with < a the beginning and > at the end symbolize that the words were spoken through thoughts/ mental communication/ telepathy, etc and are not verbally vocalized.
Yes, this story is about vampires but my book will play on a whole new spin to the concept so some things might seem unusual, have never been heard of and might be seen as unconventional - but I wanted to do something different so please keep this in mind at all times. (there will be a few similarities to the generic, ie: drinking blood).
It is a long passage so if you wish to review the two segements individually that is fine 
I hope you continue to enjoy - feel free to comment, good or bad - I don't mind the harsh reviews so long as I feel you've made a valid or understandable complaint. Potential agents/ book editors and publishers won't be kind either so I'm bracing myself for the worst 
Sooooooo without further adieu - here is chapter one.
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Chapter One
February 3rd, 2002 Toronto, Ontario
Wind swept down the empty residential streets of Bamburgh Circle with gusting force. The chilly February air cut through Laura with brutal intensity as she walked hurriedly through the desperate cold of a long and dreary winter’s night. Snow drifted in clumsy flakes and skirted along the icy sidewalks. The knapsack she had heaved over one shoulder felt as though it weighed close to twenty pounds from all the burdensome textbooks she was forced to cart around day after day.
‘High school is the best years of your life. Don’t squander them.’ That was what her parents told her more often then she cared to admit. What did they know? Things had changed over the last twenty seven years since they’d been seventeen themselves, how could they possibly compare their experiences from back then to Laura’s present reality? Especially since thanks to certain Canadian political figures, grade thirteen had been abolished and all the course material that would have been carefully stretched over the period of five years was now clumsily tossed together into a scant four.
She was now facing her fourth and final year as part of the double cohort – or the ‘guinea pig generation’ as she had affectionately dubbed her age group. From the first day she’d set foot inside of Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Laura, along with the rest of her peers, had been bombarded with wave upon wave of academic expectations; with nothing but endless assignments and papers, tests and exams, essays and reports, all of it crushing against them with such brutal intensity. It was a wonder that they found time to breathe let alone think. And these were to be the ‘supposed’ best years of her life? That didn’t leave much room for a comforting thought. To make matters worse, it wasn’t like she had her life mapped out as of yet.
Already they were expecting them to plan their career paths to make life altering decisions. How was she supposed to have all the answers at only seventeen? Christ she wasn’t even allowed to vote…or drink alcohol, yet they demanded she know something as important and profound as what she wanted in life, to know where she belonged…who had these answers? From what she could gather, not even her parents knew and they were close to double her age.
The wind, as if sensing her restless thoughts, blew hard and so Laura wrapped her arms tightly around her to brace against the brutal cold tearing through her thick down filled coat. Tonight, after four long years, she was coming close to leaving it all behind. She’d finally completed her latest assignment for her philosophy class which had cost her three solid weeks to complete and so many hours in front of the computer which all together totaled just over a whole weeks worth; more late nights then she cared to recall. Snow and ice crunched loudly under her heavy winter boots and was the only sound she could hear above the wind.
It was a good twenty minute walk to her apartment building from the public library and while her mother didn’t like her wandering about once it got dark, there had been no other alternative, with her father on the road pulling his second job with a catering company there was no one able to pick her up from the plaza. And the bus was never on time after eight in the evening. She’d likely still be standing at the bus stop right now if she hadn’t decided to walk the distance instead. Besides, she liked walking. It always gave her time to think, which lately seemed to be more of a luxury then a right.
<Run.> Laura stopped in mid stride and everything around her immediately went quiet. The howling of the wind vanished, the heavy steps of her feet stilled and only the pounding of her heart filled the void. No one had spoken, at least she was sure that no one had since she was standing there – all alone, in the middle of Trafalgar Circle.
“Laura,” She chided herself loudly and with a deft jerk adjusted her heavy knapsack onto her other shoulder to ease the tension that had built in a blink of an eye. “You’re exhausted, drained and starving; therefore as a result you are not only standing in the middle of the road, talking to yourself but hearing random voices in your head to boot.” She smiled but there was no warmth in it. “You’re clearly losing it.” Rubbing a gloved hand over her eyes she took a deep breath and filled her shaky lungs with frigid air. Of course she was exhausted, aside from school she pulled a part time job at Shoppers Drug Mart that was demanding ridiculous hours; combined with her stressful love life and the constant turmoil at home with her bickering parents and feuding sisters – no wonder she was falling apart, who wouldn’t snap under such pressure?
She began to walk again, forcing any other depressing thoughts from her mind and instead tried to think of something other then the fact that the branches of the barren swaying trees resembled sinister and grasping hands that threatened to snatch her from where she stood, or that the faint haze of red around the moon didn’t leave her with an eerie sense that she was being watched … followed…pursued.
God why had she watched the Halloween movie marathon last night? The last thing she needed was to picture Michael Meyers appearing around the corner with his knife in hand ready to carve a hole in her six inches wide.
Just when she was about to laugh at how ridiculous she was being, there was a sound. It was quiet at first and would have been easy enough to miss if it hadn’t drawn closer. Laughter. The chill that crept up her spine was not the cold from the fierce wind. It was fear that gripped her now.
<Run.> The voice returned, so loud it could have come from right next to her, Laura jumped at hearing it causing her knapsack to fall from her; it tumbled at Laura’s feet with her books spilling out into the snow. With eyes scanning the surrounding area, Laura struggled to calm her senses and forced herself to think with a cool and rational head. There had been talk of a sexual predator making his way through Mississauga and picking on young high school girls, perhaps he had decided to try his luck in Scarborough since the police were on to him. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out the smooth and sleek extending bar her sister had convinced her to carry, along with a small bottle of mace that her boyfriend had given her last week.
“W…wh…whoever you are!” Laura called out, struggling to keep her voice firm and defiant. “I have a weapon and I’m not afraid to use it if I have to. I suggest you pick on someone else, do you hear me?!” Turning full circle she scanned around her but the heavy beating of her heart filled her head and blurred her vision; the terror welling up inside was making it near impossible to think. For a moment only silence greeted her and she pondered running towards the houses, someone would surely wake up … someone would surely hear…
Just then, up ahead there was movement at the top of the street. It was hard to make out at first as a figure dipped in and out of the street light. Laura felt as if she was frozen to the spot, she couldn’t think or feel or move. Everything around her was spinning and she thought she’d pass out from fear. A man stood in the dim glow, his face was shrouded in shadow but his eyes, and they shone…no burned red in his sockets. His hands flexed at his sides and she knew, even before he broke from where he stood, that he intended to charge.
<Run!> This time when the voice called to her, desperate in tone, she did as it commanded and obeyed its urgency. She did not remember dropping the mace or the extending, but she did and she would not stop or turn around or hesitate. Instead she would run and would continue to do so until her lungs gave out or she made it home and away from her assailant. Laura pumped her arms and legs furiously, careening down the street and turned sharply. Up ahead she was faced with the park and felt a small glimmer of hope. She was the fastest girl on her school’s track team. If she could make it to the park she could lose him in the ravine. She’d run there thousands of times and knew it like the back of her hand.
The air she sucked in was cold and burned her lungs like icy fire. The boots were heavy and the coat weighed her down. Every limb begun to ache and scream in protest but she would not stop. She could not stop. The steady beat of his feet behind her was beginning to grow more distant and without turning around to confirm, Laura knew that she was gaining ground. Once she broke through the tree line, she crashed down the hill and didn’t break in stride until she’d hit the small creek. Pressing her back to the thick trunk of a willow tree she greedily sucked in air and placed a hand to her chest which was laboring for breath.
Her body was trembling now from exertion but it had been worth it. She’d lost him. There would be no way for him to find her in here. She’d just have to wait it out since her cell phone was in her bag which she’d dropped, along with her wallet and keys. Laura knew she’d be unable to contact anyone and it was only another few hours until dawn.
She could wait for the sun.
The cold would keep her awake. Crouching low she brought her wool gloved hands to her lips and blew hotly against them to warm them through while the soft trickle of the creek cut through the quiet edge of the night.
Movement to her left caught her attention and just in that instant, Laura felt her blood turn as cold as the ice around her.
He stood there, as he had stood there before on the empty street. Still and unmoving but his eyes, at first they were hidden in the dark until they glowed red once more and his mouth parted in a sneer. The hands that had flexed before turned to paws and his limbs twisted and bent while his body changed and became that of a beast. When he stepped out into the light it was to reveal a creature much like that of a wolf, but far larger and sinister in appearance, bearing a savage grin with jagged teeth, claws that appeared as if able to slash through flesh and break bone along with a thick ridge of russet colored fur running down its back.
The animal surged forwards in a bounding leap; Laura turned to run but her legs were weak and stiff, she’d barely taken more then three steps before it was at her side, teeth bared it sank in deep into the flesh of her right leg and bit down until there was a sickening snap. The scream that tore through Laura was filled with indescribably agony.
Everything blurred and what had once felt cold now burned. She fell hard to the ground, body trembling she tried to crawl, tears streaming down her face. She knew she was speaking, uttering words but Laura could no longer hear or feel or think of anything other then survival.
A hand ripped at her coat, tearing it from her. Forced onto her back, Laura beheld for the first time the face of her attacker. He appeared almost perfect but there was darkness in his eyes and it contorted his features into the true face of evil. She swiped at him madly and struck hard, his face heaved back from the strength with which it was delivered, but when he turned to face her again, it was to bear a grin that gleamed as white as the moon.
“Pl…please.” Laura sobbed; tears poured down her cheeks in relentless streams. The hurt was so great now she was sure it was going to kill her. “Please.”
“Shhhh.” Finger placed against her lips he quelled her words and stroked away her tears with hands as cold as death. “They believe that end of your mortality should be the only fate for you, the prophesized. I believe different. Instead I draw you into the shadows and will give you the very thing it has been told you will come to destroy. The gift of eternity.” His lips parted in a grin and fangs lowered like the retractable claws of a cat. Laura opened her mouth to scream but all that she managed was a terrified gasp. When his teeth sank in deep, her body bowed and heaved. The flow of blood ebbing from her turned Laura’s veins to fire and ice. Air was sucked from her lungs just as he was draining her blood and with every passing second she was being drawn deeper and deeper into shadows while everything faded around her.
He gulped greedily and the hands that caged her face trembled as he was torn between his desire to stop the frenzy and the urgency to feed. Finally, he ripped himself away with great difficulty, there was a feral roar that forced its way from his throat; he struggled to contain and quell the hunger. His face inched above her with a smile bearing teeth stained crimson. Her blood had tasted so sweet. So pure and innocent.
“The prophesized.” He smirked. “I know you can hear me. It won’t be long, my sweet.” Lips closed over her mouth in a sickening kiss. “No, my beauty, it won’t be long. The Vamprioric demon will claim your body and your soul will perish. We shall see what is to come of the prophecy when you are one with the very thing you have been foretold to destroy.”
Laura’s lips parted ever so slightly. In her mind she was screaming, engulfed in a raging inferno of pain and fire which exploded from where his teeth had made their mark only to spread until it consumed her in the blaze. She wanted to cry out, to move; to breathe but she couldn’t. Instead she was frozen, locked inside a cage which had once been her body.
<Laura.> The voice called out to her again. The same voice that had told her to run; had tried to warn her was crying out on the breeze and she could hear it. So could he…
Her attacker pulled himself upright, his eyes gleaming against the soft pale skin and russet hair. His grin never dimmed, even when the rest of him broke away into a mist blacker then night; that too faded away on the chilly winter breeze, leaving her alone to sink into death and shadows.
Alone.
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It was so easy to fall into despair with guilt clawing away inside him. They had been too late to save her. Too late to catch the villain who had attacked her in the bitter cold of night. Laura had been his responsibility, his charge. From the day she had been born he’d been appointed her ‘shadow’, to watch and keep an eye on her, along with the other three whom they knew to potentially be the woman that had been foreseen by those with the sight as the one who would free all vampires from their prison; undo their curse of immortality.
It was too soon, no one had anticipated an attack, especially one that had been so carefully organized and orchestrated. That alone had cost them greatly. He’d been unable to find her in time, to come to her aide. And so he’d found her, locked away in death’s embrace and already one with the demon. Now all that remained was for the transformation to take place. And so he waited by the body, as he had been instructed to do so, all night. The sky changed from the pitch black to a deep and lazy blue which gradually lightened with each passing minute.
As soon as the suns light touched the body, the creature would coil and awaken and the struggle would commence. There was a chance that her body would lose the fight and her soul would be swallowed by the demon. If that were to be the case, then the prophecy would never come to pass as she would be lost to the evil and its ravenous hunger. But perhaps, with him here to guide her, perhaps he might be able to help her hold on – just long enough. When there was a faint rim of red peeking just though the barely visible horizon, Darius eased himself from where he sat and crouched low next to the body.
As the sun eased up further she remained still, but being a vampire, Darius was able to sense the Vamprioric demon settling within her. When her body bowed once, his hands were quick and anchored down her shoulders. The screamed that tore from her lips echoed loudly within the ravine and within his heart. He knew the tremendous agony, even though it had been close to six hundred years since the day he’d been turned, it was not something that would or could ever be forgotten. When her lashes parted the eyes that he knew to be sea green burned a scorching red, the creature was fully within her now and was waging holy war inside her body. It was like a parasite finding a host and then ripping out a vital organ to make room for its own fetid hide.
In this case, the demon was attempting to weed out her immortal soul.
<I know it hurts.> Darius willed his thoughts to enter her mind and even though the tears streamed down her dirt and blood stained cheeks, he knew she could hear him above her own pain. <Fight to hold on to it. Don’t let it go.> Laura could hear the voice, amidst the terrible and brutal sensation, something akin to having a jagged blade and clawing hands tearing deep inside her, she could hear him. There was a deft jerk somewhere inside her core, icy fingers clamping around the warmth which filled her and pulled once, twice and with each tug she felt as if she’d break.
<Fight it!> The voice urged. Biting back another anguished cry, she willed the pain to the back of her mind and instead focused on turning the heat inside her to scorching hot, filling her with searing light so hot the fingers could no longer hold on. There was a cry shattering inside her mind and it was a sound that had not come from her, it was the sound of insurmountable rage and was definitely not human. The creature that had been wriggling and stretching under her skin calmed as did the pain almost instantly.
With eyes that had been hollowed out in darkness and blinding discomfort, they now cleared and she was soon able to focus. But she was so tired, so very tired. Hands, warm hands cupped her face, skimmed along her cheek and held her there and that voice; it spoke, soft and reassuring. Then a face came into her line of sight, a face fringed with the gold of the rising sun in the early morning sky.
“You did it.” He whispered with liquid amber eyes that held hers entranced. “Rest now Ki’adoris.” It had not been issued as a command, and still she was unable to do anything other then close her eyes and drift away with the shadows of sleep; the defeated cry of the demon followed her into the dark abyss. Darius eased back on to his haunches. She’d succeeded in subduing the creature. It would make things easier, but she was not out of the woods yet. When she awoke it would be with all the raging hunger of a demon who had not fed in centuries. She would be overcome with bloodlust and it would take days if not weeks for the demon to settle and accept her authority over its own desires.
She appeared from the trees, sword strapped to hip and coat drawn tight even though he knew that like him, she was impervious to the cold. If there was anything to be said about Lamia, it was that she was as deadly and intelligent as she was beautiful with eyes the color of malt whiskey, hair near pitch black that she’d chosen to always wear loose in perfect waves down her back. Lamia dropped next to him and placed her fingertips against Laura’s temple. The evil encaged within her snarled at sensing Lamia’s ancient soul.
“So it’s begun.” Lamia whispered on a sigh. “It’s a shame we’d been too late. They’ve dealt us a heavy blow. There’s a chance everything could be ruined because of this. She’ll be weak to the Vamprioric for sometime; she could still succumb to its hunger.”
“She held her own against it so far.” Darius encouraged. For a time Lamia said nothing and he knew that she was battling with the mixed feelings, torn between guilt for not being able to spare her the fate she was now cursed to live and the rage at knowing Luther might not have only slipped through her fingers yet again, but that he also managed to potentially destroy any hope that she’d ever be free of her own demon chains.
“We’ll have to keep her in the cells and monitor her progress. A week from now we’ll assess where we stand; if she’s too volatile or if she is overpowered by the creature then she’ll have to die. I can’t risk her ruining our entire operation. We’ll see to the completion of the prophecy with or without her.” There was a growl in her tone towards the end of her statement. Darius said nothing and chose not to argue with Lamia, understanding that to do so would be useless at this point.
Lifting her body into his arms, Darius held Laura close and did his best to ignore the slight hint of vanilla scented perfume she rubbed at the base of her neck the earlier that day, or the way her body slipped against his with a sigh. For the first time in over five hundred and seventy three odd years, Darius found the urges of a man overpowering those of his inner demon.
