From Embers

1 - Fly Away Little Birdy

5 years later...

Mara dragged her feet, the soles of her shoes loudly scratching on the floor. Her delicate features were scrunched as she grumbled, not so quietly, about how silly her mother's decision to leave her there. Her mother didn't look down as she gripped Mara's hand tighter. The two marched towards the open door to the left.

Her grandfather was sitting at his desk, his head buried in unorganized papers. Mara's eyes filled with curiosity as she peered around the room. There were books in every nook and cranny, but her curiosity was short-lived when her mother finally let go of her wrist and closed the door. Mara stood in the hallway, her nose nearly touching the wood of the door. She rubbed her wrist and furrowed her eyebrows. Determined to not be left out, she kneeled. Pressing her ear to the small gap underneath the door, allowing her to hear snips of their conversation.

"-It's not safe-" her mother's voice sounded strained, "-been missing for weeks now."

Her grandfather mumbled a reply. Mara tensed as the sound of glass crashing filled her ears.

"Tam-"

"Don't Tamira me like I'm not a grown woman with a child to protect," her mother snarled.

"It's dangerous!"

A chair crashed to the ground.

"No, Father, you can wait and be the coward you've always been. I will not stand idly by while the rest of us are being murdered."

Her grandfather's voice sounded desperate, "You can't just charge in there and expect to come out alive."

"Watch me."

The conversation seemed to draw to an end. The young girl knew she'd be caught red-handed if she didn't move now. The door swung open and her mother stepped out.

"I'll be back in a month, two at most." Mara's mother kissed the top of her head. "Listen to your grandfather alright?"

A sense of impending doom sunk into Mara's gut as she watched her mother go. The feeling that she wouldn't see her for ages, if not ever again, scared her more than she wanted to admit. In the corner of her eye, she could see the shattered remains of a vase on the floor; orchids lay strewn.

She blinked teary eyes at the old man who put a comforting hand on her shoulder. The wrinkles on his face softened as he looked down at her.

"She'll be back," he said.

Mara couldn't tell if he was reassuring her or himself.

After a minute of silence, her grandfather returned to work. The next week passed slowly for Mara. She spent her days frustrated in her inability to find any tears. She wanted to cry for her mother, but she couldn't dig deep enough to shed any water over a woman who she hardly saw on a good day. With all adults busy and little to do, Mara spent her time wandering the many corridors.

Making what she thought were airplane sounds with her mouth as she held her plastic plane up to the windows, pretending it was flying. Her uncle had told her humans used to pilot these machines in the sky. It fascinated her to imagine traveling in a metal monster, soaring above the world, leaving any troubles and worries on the ground. She imagined the humans' felt as light as clouds when flying. As a vampire, she had the natural ability of extreme speed; it seemed only fair that they had something fast to contrast their very long, slow lives. Flying was not one of the supernatural gifts bestowed upon her kind.

Seeing birds' tweet and flutter happily outside the windows filled her with envy. She closed her eyes for a minute; in her mind's eye, her toy airplane flew out a nearby window and expanded. Stairs folded down from the plane door and her parents stood at the top, smiling, arms spread out - beckoning her to follow them. She took several steps forward before she felt something hard hit her square in the face; she'd walked into a pillar.