The One Who Was [ON HOLD]

The Book of Darkness

A/N The normal Italicized text is a flashback. I know it's long but it's gonna be an important part of the story. I love you all! (In a creepy stalkerish way!)

--------------------The Book of Darkness------------

"................Darkness is everywhere. It inhabits every being, every place. There are few creatures that are immune to its attacks. Even fewer that it does not seduce. What humans know as vampires are those who deliver this darkness to unsuspecting innocents, changing them for eternity. While sometimes they attack only to feed the urge for blood, there are some victims that are marked by Death before they are conceived in this world. These victims are marked with a scar running diagonally across their face.

I gasped and ran my finger along my scar, that matched the description exactly. It must be a coincedence, but still....

".....................These victims are usually made all the more easier to attack by the loss of one or more of their family members.

My father! He had disappeared when I was 7.  He hadn't called, hadn't left a note, and to this day we didn't know where he was, or even if he was alive. With that thought I slipped into the warm embrace of memory.

I was lying on my bed looking around at my princess bedroom. All my dolls were lined up in a row waiting for me to play with them. It had been a near perfect day so far. We had seen the play Cinderella, as a late birthday present, and I had gotten the Prince Charming doll I was currently dressing up. The only problem was that my daddy hadn't been there with us. He had to work Mommy said, and I was sad because I thought he loved work more than me. But that sadness had quickly disappeared and now I was stretched out on my mattress, content.

I let out a sigh of satisfaction, right as my mother walked in. I smiled happily, then looked at her face and knew instantly that something was wrong. Her face was lined and worried looking and there were care lines between her eyes. The smile fell and was replaced by a look of confusion.

I reached up and grabbed her hand.

"Mommy what's wrong?"

She reached up a hand to smooth a lock of her auburn hair away from her face. It stopped halfway there and dropped back down, as if she had forgotten what she had intended.

"Sweetheart, I got a call from your father's work a second ago. They asked me where he was, and if he was sick. I told them that he was there at the office. And they replied that he had never showed up. There were no car crashes or any criminal activity today. It looks like your father has left us."

The way she said father conveyed how hurt she was feeling. I gazed at her, open-mouthed as my little brain struggled to process it.

"Daddy's gone?"

A tear ran down her cheek and she looked down at the floor as if regretting telling me anything. When she looked back up her emotions were under control. Only in her eyes could you see the ocean of agony that she was struggling to contain.

"Yes honey."

She turned and walked out and down the hallway to the room that she had shared with my father.  I heard a muffled thump and sobbing as she threw herself on the bed. That was when the floodgates opened.

I buried my face in my pillows, and poured my heart into the tears. They ran down my face, turning my eyes red and puffy.  The pillow absorbed the liquid, leaving it soggy and dripping. Eventually, I ran out of tears, and just lay there, face down, thinking thoughts no 7-year-old should think.

The flashback ended, and I looked up to see Ms. Pitterbuch the librarian leaning over the back of my chair with motherly concern in her gaze.

"Are you alright duckling?"

I grinned despite myself at her affections, and nodded. Seemingly satisfied, she pulled her glasses onto her long nose, and and strode back to sit behind her desk. When she was seated, I returned myself to reading.

"...........The scar is not any normal scar. Because of its unusual proximity to the eyes, it allows the victim to see things that other humans are unable to. This is often overlooked by 'vampires' who do not take the proper precautions."

I slammed the book closed and jumped to my feet. Enough was enough. It was like someone had written this book just for me. Everyone knew there were no such things as vampires.

Heart hammering in my chest I stalked over to the shelf I had found the book on. I shoved it back in its place, turned, and was about to leave when I heard an odd hissing sound coming from the shelf. After a split-second internal debate, I looked at it, and was treated to the oddest sight of my life.

Right behind the book, where there should have been solid wood, was a black empty space. Through it, I could glimpse the swirling shapes of galaxies, and the flickering lights of stars. A mournful keening was coming out of it, and as it increased in volume.....

time slowed down

and the book tipped slowly back into the portal as I reached for it and my hand touched the empty space where just a second ago had been a solid object. The portal closed, taking the only thing with explanations with it for eternity.

A/N Sorry for the late update. I was away over the weekend, and I had camp all week. So not my fault!!!