A Love Written in Blood

A Short Story

As my eyes flew open, my heart started to race. Something was wrong. I didn't know what. I couldn't explain it. I just knew that something had changed while I slept. I climbed out of bed and immediately hissed as my bare feet touched the freezing wooden floor. The room was dark except for the pale moonlight slipping through my curtains. My head felt like it was going to explode. Then the flashes began. Her face. Blood. A dark hallway. Her screaming. My best friend. Lena. I stumbled backward, gripping the edge of my desk as another image slammed into my mind. Lena stood outside her house. She was crying. And someone was standing behind her. A woman. Tall. Dressed in black. Her face was hidden. I gasped and the vision disappeared. I hated these visions. They have been passed from woman to woman in my family for generations. Every daughter born into the Ashley family inherited them eventually. My mother called them a gift. I called them a curse. The worst part was that the visions never showed me enough. I never knew when something would happen. I never knew where. And most importantly, I never knew whether what I saw could actually be changed. I looked toward the clock. 6:14 a.m Morning. The vision had shown Lena leaving her house. That meant I still had time. I grabbed my jacket, shoved my feet into my boots, and ran outside. The cold air slapped my face. I didn't care. Lena was in danger. I reached her house just as her front door opened. She stepped outside. Alive. Safe. For a moment, relief flooded through me. Then I saw her. The woman from my vision. She was standing across the street. Black coat. Dark hair. Pale skin. And those eyes. They were fixed directly on me. My stomach dropped. Lena followed my gaze. "Oh," she said quietly. I looked at her. "You know her?" Lena smiled. Not the nervous smile I expected. A real one. "Yeah." She walked across the street. I followed, my pulse pounding. The woman looked at Lena first. Then me. "So," she said, her voice almost amused. "You're the Ashley girl." My blood went cold. "How do you know my family?" She stepped closer. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. Something dark and floral. "I know your family very well." "Who are you?" She smiled. "Raven." Lena touched my arm. "She's helping me." I stared at her. "Helping you with what?" Neither of them answered. Raven simply looked at me. And suddenly another vision struck. Lena kissing her, Lena screaming, Lena lying dead on the floor. Raven standing over her. And me... holding Raven's hand. I snapped back into reality, breathing hard. Raven caught me before I fell. Her arms wrapped around my waist. For a second, everything stopped. Her eyes met mine. And something inside me shifted. Something dangerous. Something I didn't want to feel. "You saw something," Raven whispered. I swallowed. "How did you know?" "Because," she said, brushing a strand of hair away from my face, "I've been waiting for you to see it." My heart, hammered. "What does that mean?" Raven smiled. "It means you finally remember me." I froze. "Remember you?" She leaned closer. "You don't remember the night you died, do you?" The world went silent. "I've never died." Raven's smile disappeared. "Not in this life." I stepped away from her. Lena suddenly grabbed my hand. Her fingers were shaking. "I wanted to tell you." "Tell me what?" Lena looked at Raven. Then back at me. "The visions aren't showing you the future." My blood ran cold. "Then what are they showing me?" Raven answered. "The past." I stared at her. She continued. "You were murdered twelve years ago." I laughed nervously."That's impossible." Raven reached into her coat and pulled out an old photograph. She handed it to me. My breath caught. It was me. Standing beside Lena. Except we weren't children. We were older. And we were holding hands. Behind us stood Raven. I looked at the date printed on the photograph. October 13, 2014. My hands began to tremble. "That's not possible." Lena's eyes filled with tears. "It is." I looked at her. "Why don't I remember you?" She stepped closer. "Because I begged Raven to bring you back." I couldn't breathe. "Bring me back?" Lena nodded. "I loved you." Her voice broke. "And when they killed you, I couldn't let you stay dead." I looked at Raven. "Who killed me?" Raven's expression became unreadable. Then she whispered, "Lena." I turned toward my best friend. She was crying. But she didn't deny it. "I didn't mean to," she whispered. "I loved you too much." My stomach twisted. "You killed me?" Lena stepped toward me. "I was afraid you'd leave me." Raven grabbed my wrist. "Don't." Lena's expression changed. For the first time, I saw something terrifying behind her tears. Possession. Obsession. Love twisted into something ugly. "I waited twelve years for you," Lena whispered. Then she smiled. "Do you really think I'm going to lose you again?" The visions returned. But this time they weren't flashes. They were memories. Lena holding a knife. My blood covered her hands. Raven screaming. My own voice begging them to stop. And finally, Raven kissing me as I died. I looked at her. She looked back at me. And suddenly I remembered everything. Raven hadn't killed me. She had tried to save me. Lena had been the one who murdered me. And Raven had brought me back. But there was one thing Raven hadn't told me. The reason I had returned wasn't because she loved me. It was because she needed me. Because twelve years ago, before I died, I had made a promise. A promise written in blood. I would love Raven in every lifetime. And now that I remembered... I realized the visions weren't warning me about what was coming. They were reminding me of what I had already promised. I looked at Raven. She smiled. "Welcome back, my love." Behind her, Lena began screaming.

Lena's scream echoed through the empty street. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I could only stare at Raven. "My love." The words felt familiar. Too familiar. Like something my body remembered even though my mind didn't. Raven slowly released my wrist. "You remember now." I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. "I remember dying." Raven's expression softened. "But not everything." I looked at Lena. She was crying now, but there was something else in her eyes. Fear. "Why did you kill me?" Lena shook her head. "I didn't want to." "You put a knife through my chest." "I know." "You watched me die." "I know!" She collapsed onto the pavement. "I loved you!" Her words cut deeper than they should have. Raven stepped between us. "Don't listen to her." I stared at Raven. "Why?" "Because she loved you in a way that made you hers." Raven glanced over her shoulder. "She couldn't stand the thought of you choosing someone else." I swallowed. "Someone else?" Raven looked at me. "Me." The silence was suffocating. I remembered pieces now. A different house. A different life. A rainy night. Raven sitting beside me on a rooftop. Her fingers intertwined with mine. Her laughing. Me telling her I was afraid. Her promising she would never let anyone hurt me. Then Lena. Angry. Jealous. A knife. Blood. Raven holding me. And my final words. Find me. I touched my chest. There was no scar. But I could feel it. The wound. Like my body had remembered what my mind had forgotten. "How long?" I whispered. Raven tilted her head. "How long what?" "How long have you been waiting?" Her eyes darkened. "Twelve years." I stared at her. "You've been alive this whole time?" "Yes." "And you knew I would come back?" "I knew you would find me." "That's not the same thing." "No." She stepped closer. "I wasn't sure if you'd remember me." I looked into her eyes. "And if I didn't?" Raven smiled sadly. "I would've loved you anyway." Something about those words broke through me. I hated that they affected me. I hated that standing this close to her felt natural. I hated that I wanted to touch her. And most of all, I hated that part of me already knew exactly what her lips felt like. Raven noticed. She always noticed. Her fingers brushed mine. "You're afraid." "Of you?" "Of wanting me." I pulled my hand away. "I don't even know you." Raven's eyes held mine. "Your soul does." Before I could answer, Lena stood. She wiped her tears away. "You can't have her." Raven didn't even look at her. "She's not yours." Lena's face twisted. "She was mine before you." "She was never yours." "She loved me." Raven finally turned. "She pitied you." Lena froze. I looked between them. "Stop." Neither listened. Lena stepped forward. "You don't understand." "No," I said. "I don't." Lena's eyes found mine. "You were dying because of me. I was terrified. I thought if I could just make you stay..." "You killed me." "I brought you back!" "No." Raven's voice was quiet. "I brought her back." Lena looked at her. Raven continued. "You didn't save her. You found her body and ran." Lena's face went pale. I turned toward Raven. "What did you do?" She hesitated. "Something forbidden." "What does that mean?" Raven looked toward the dark woods beyond the street. "It means your family wasn't the only family with a gift." The wind suddenly stopped. Every sound disappeared. Raven reached into her coat and pulled out a small black box. She opened it. Inside was a ring. Silver. A tiny black stone sat in the center. I recognized it immediately. My fingers began tingling. "I wore that." Raven nodded. "You gave it to me." "When?" "Before you died." I reached for it. The moment my fingers touched the ring, another vision exploded through my mind. A woman standing in a basement. Candles surrounded her. Blood covered the floor. Raven was kneeling in the center. And I was standing opposite her. Older. Different. But still me. There was a book between us. The woman holding it spoke. "One life for another." Raven looked at me. "Take mine." I screamed. The vision vanished. I fell into Raven's arms. She caught me. "What did you see?" I stared at her. "You didn't bring me back." Raven said nothing. "You traded something." Still nothing. "What did you give them?" Her eyes filled with something I had never seen before. Fear. "I gave them my future." "What does that mean?" Raven's voice barely came out. "It means I'm not supposed to be alive either." My heart stopped. "Then how are you?" She looked at me. "Because you're alive." I didn't understand. Raven took my hand and placed it over her heart. Nothing. No heartbeat. I stared at her. She smiled. "I died twelve years ago too." I pulled my hand away. "Then what are you?" Raven leaned closer. Her lips nearly touched mine. "Exactly what you promised to love." Behind us, Lena whispered, "Don't kiss her." I looked at her. "Why?" Lena's face had gone completely white. "Because once you do..." She swallowed. Raven smiled and kissed me. The world disappeared. And suddenly, I remembered. Everything. I remembered loving Raven. I remembered dying. I remembered Lena's knife. I remembered the ritual. I remembered coming back. But there was one memory neither Raven nor Lena had wanted me to see. I hadn't been innocent. I hadn't been the victim. I had been the one who started it all. And before I died, I had chosen Lena and Raven for a reason. They weren't my best friend and my lover. They were my sacrifices. I opened my eyes. Raven was staring at me. She knew. Lena knew. Neither woman spoke. I smiled slowly. Because now I finally remembered the truth. I hadn't returned to them. They had returned to me.