Hellfire - The Awakening (Complete)

Chapter One *

A/N: This novel is set in England, any references to cities such as Leeds and Bradford are referring to the English cities as opposed to the American locations.


Remember, remember the 5th of November... 

It was bonfire night, my favourite celebration of the whole year, and I was stood in front of my floor length mirror, trying to decide what clothes I could wear for a night out which would flatter a size fourteen figure.

I was going out with my so called friend Sophie, it had been a while since we'd been out together given the fact that she'd switched from my best friend to a bully who made my life hell and I had to admit I'd been surprised when she'd called and more than tempted to refuse to see her at all, but she said that there were things that needed to apologise properly and me being the naïve fool that I am had accepted her invitation.

The night had been planned out fairly well, Sophie had come to my flat in Leeds from college and once we were ready we planned on catching the bus to Bradford and meeting others there. Our main plan was to go to a fireworks display, but we'd agreed beforehand that if not we'd hit a nightclub, even though I secretly loathed those kind of outings.

I sighed as I gazed at myself in the mirror and tugged on my ever growing hips. As I wriggled out of a pair of baggy jeans I eyed Sophie in the mirror. She was sprawled across my bed in some strange, contorted shape to prevent her hair from flattening, she idly scrolled through her phone, impatiently stabbing the screen with a manicured nail when it didn't load quickly enough for her liking.

"Hannah is such a whore, she's cheated on Darren with Harry!" said Sophie gleefully.

I turned to her feigning interest, Hannah had been with Darren for two years and everyone knew that they were head over heels in love, I wasn't stupid enough to believe gossip and this particular lie was a rumour at best. The problem was that Hannah had just happened to piss off Tanya Davis (the most popular girl in school) when she'd tripped in the corridor and split a full can of Coke all over Tanya's designer handbag; within two days Hannah's reputation had been ruined.

I narrowed my eyes at Sophie in disapproval, noticing how her eyes glittered in excitement at the potential gossip.

"Come on Sophie, you know that Hannah's totally obsessed with Darren, besides Harry's with Sasha," I replied dryly.

She glared at me for a moment, then dramatically tossed her hair and sauntered towards me, elbowing me out of the way of the mirror.

"Ebony, you are such a bore," she groaned as she turned to the left and began puffing out her non-existent stomach.

“I'm so fat, clearly this no carbohydrates diet is doing nothing for me!" she continued.

I sighed at her usual over-exaggeration. That was the moment when I was supposed to massage Sophie's ego and tell her that she was gorgeous, before putting myself down in some way to make her feel better, only I wasn't in the mood. Her fishing for compliments annoyed me, Sophie was stunning and she knew it.

With her oval face, wide blue eyes and pale skin with a rose coloured undertone, Sophie was often called an “English rose.” Her hair was chocolate brown and perfectly straight, like a waterfall cascading down her back. She had a slender figure-a borderline size six to eight, long legs, a trim waist and perky breasts. She was everything I wasn't; pretty, delicate and confident to boot.

Personality-wise, she wasn't as lovely as she looked. At one point she had been my closest friend, but then she changed, and not for the better. Despite her bubbly and lively persona she was one of those teenagers where she had to be the centre of attention, and although she liked to pretend that she disliked herself, she was super confident verging on arrogant.

We're effectively polar opposites. My name is Ebony Noire, I'm eighteen years of age and I study at Leeds City College. I aim to study Journalism and dream of becoming an author. I have shoulder length, bright red hair (it's not natural), which is layered and quite frankly a total mess. When I was a child everyone thought it was cute having messy hair, now I'm older, not so much. Every day I wage battle with it and everyday it refuses to be subdued and I'm pretty sure I could win an award from the amount of hair products I've tried.

My eyes are my favourite part of my appearance, they're an olive green with a brown ring around the middle and they appear to shift colour depending on the light, which I think is pretty cool.

Unfortunately the good parts of my appearance stop there, my breasts are massive and I mean massive. Literally, I can't walk down the street without a guy ogling them, and that's without a push up bra. Constant cleavage might sound good but when bras are more expensive, people assume that you're a whore and you have constant back pain, it isn't that great. Not only am I unlucky enough to be cursed with oversized breasts but I have wide hips and a large backside. I guess you could call me voluptuous or if you were feeling mean, then fat.

A sudden thump drew me out of my critical thoughts, I looked over my shoulder to see Sophie flopping onto my bed full force causing the springs in my mattress to creak. I rolled my eyes, in irritation, my mattress was already ruined and my mum couldn't afford a new one; she was short of cash since my dad had left. Sighing, I bit back a sarcastic comment and surveyed her outfit.

She wore a pale, almost translucent shirt which revealed her red, balconette bra. The shirt was teamed with a pleated, mini skirt, black tights and killer stilettos with a heel so thin and pointed that it could easily be classified as an offensive weapon.

She caught me looking at her, met my gaze with cold eyes and then continued scrolling through her phone whilst slagging off girls from our college, two of her favourite pastimes. I turned away, clearly Sophie was not going to help me.

I dug through my wardrobe finding a black, velvet top I had forgotten about. I tried it on and examined it from all angles, it emphasised my boobs but in a good way, it hid my rounded stomach and wide hips and actually made me look like a size ten instead of the borderline size twelve to fourteen which I actually was. I pulled on black jeans to hide my thighs and slid on a worn pair of converse. I hurriedly rubbed gel through my hair and added mascara, eye-liner and lipstick to my face. I may not have looked like a model, but I felt comfortable.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Sophie raise an eyebrow at my choice. My anger flared at her scorn but I refused to react. I grabbed my drawstring bag with my favourite voodoo-doll keyring on it and jerked my thumb at Sophie, signalling to her that it was time for her to shift her critical ass off of my bed.

Once downstairs, I waved to my mum, promised to keep my phone on me and urged her to have a nice evening. Judging by her tear stained face and the fact that she had resorted to watching Coronation Street I knew that she probably wouldn't; everyone knew that she was still struggling with dad leaving.

As soon as we got outside I inhaled slowly. The air was thick with the smell of wood smoke, the black sky was illuminated by glittering sparkles in every colour, and the siren squeals of fireworks and the crackling of fire echoed in my ears. I smiled to myself, this was the reason why bonfire night was one of my favourite celebrations.

I lit up a cigarette and took a huge drag, relaxing as the bitter taste of smoke and nicotine hit the back of my throat and permeated my lungs. Sophie tutted but didn't say anything, I rolled my eyes as we headed towards the bus stop; she could be so difficult sometimes.

The entire street was strangely empty despite the fact that it wasn't that late. The fireworks stopped suddenly and the only audible sound was the clicking of Sophie's heels. A strange fear flooded my body and I had a sudden urge to grab Sophie's hand to remind myself that I wasn't alone. Her phone buzzed as she received another text message breaking the cold silence which had descended upon us. I jumped involuntarily, the simple beep seemed so much louder tonight.

I took another drag of my cigarette, there was a cold breeze, which caused the hairs on my arms to stand on end, my cigarette went out and when I exhaled I could see a plume of icy, white, smoke. There was a sudden click as my key-chain detached itself from my bag, I muttered a curse under my breath as I paused to retrieve it; my sudden edginess was putting me in a bad mood.

"Hang on a second!" I called, surprised when Sophie actually obeyed. I bent down to pick up my keyring, I never even saw it coming...

There was a hissing noise and I gasped as I sensed movement behind me. Sophie screamed, the high octave of her cry shattering the fragile silence of the night. In a flash there was someone behind me, I gulped as I felt cool metal against my throat. I waited for a moment, my heart pounding in my chest as shock and panic registered in my mind; someone was holding a knife to my throat.

"Do not make a noise," snarled an unknown voice. I shivered at the harsh command but obeyed. I squeezed my eyes shut and began doing my eight times table in my head to try and distract myself.
One times eight is eight, two times eight is sixteen, three times eight is...

There was a clattering noise from somewhere in front of me and my eyes snapped open to see Sophie sprinting away barefoot in the darkness; in blind fear Sophie had left me to save herself. Hot tears spilled out of my eyes and a single bead of sweat rolled down my back.

I waited for my captor to release me and go after her but he didn't, instead he lowered his head towards me. I could smell him, an inviting scent despite the circumstances, of a hint of sweat tinged with the familiar scent of blood and the overpowering odour of some expensive cologne. I couldn't see his face, all I could make out was the shape of well sculpted cheekbones in the pale moonlight. I squinted to try and get a closer look at him but he wore a balaclava over his face, all I knew was that he was drawing closer by the second and it terrified me.

I scrunched my eyes shut and focused on my breathing. I was paralysed in fear, the endless possibilities of what could happen to me set me on edge, I could be raped, mugged, stabbed or killed, I couldn't just stand here like this...

Panicked and not willing to wait and see what his agenda was, I struggled to get away from him. He dropped the knife and laughed a low, cold laugh and chills ran down my spine as he lunged forwards seizing my wrists in one of his large hands and pulling me up, my captor then leaned in, moving my hair away from my neck.

The world slowed down, sounds blurring together as if I'd dunked my head underwater, I could hear my heartbeat pulsating in my ears like a death knell. I felt strangely numb like this was happening to somebody else and I was merely spectating. I think I had reached the level of fear where my brain had blocked out what was happening in order to protect my sanity.

His lips brushed the lobe of my ear and I shivered in revulsion. I thought he was going to whisper something to me, probably something about how I looked like his dead wife, or that he had a passion for teenage girls. The sort of things which you know are not accepted in society yet killers seemed to tell their victims before silencing them. I sent a silent prayer to God regretting the fact that I had watched so many crime shows.

I braced myself,I knew that my muscles would be standing out, foregrounding my throbbing pulse as if daring him to slice through my carotid artery. I waited, I was expecting a confession, a lifetime of dark secrets condensed into a few short sentences, but reality was much, much worse...

I felt a white, hot pain in my neck as if I had just been injected twice into my jugular. I screamed in pain, gasping as a large, white hand clamped over my mouth. I swayed on my feet and tried to stay standing as the wound ripped wider and the searing pain in my throat increased, I was losing blood quickly, too quickly...

Large, red circles appeared before my eyes and my head throbbed with an unfamiliar ache, the redness darkened as if I was seeing the whole world through a coloured lens. I stumbled as my legs crumpled beneath me and my captor held me tighter, his hands holding up my limp body, unrelenting as he continued sucking at my neck. When everything started to blur I was vaguely aware of my captor dropping my wrists, the world narrowing and the pavement rushing up to meet me.

There was no white light, no tunnel, no spirit guides, just darkness as I fell, I was dead before I even hit the ground...