Blood Daughter

Prologue

The man sighed as he told her truthfully, "I don't know, but I can prepare her for it."

Serena heard what he said, but it was as if it came through a tunnel as the smell of his blood was obliterating everything else including the safety of her own daughter.

"Protect...her," she managed before she lunged at him catching him off guard, and they fell to the floor her teeth ready to come down onto his neck.

"MOMMA!" Arlina screamed, and Serena stopped sensing her daughter's fear as it coated the room.

Serena pulled herself from the man with effort and walked over to the counter opening up one of the drawers, and she pulled out a wooden stake that she kept there for emergency purposes.

She turned and looked at her daughter before she started over to her and dropped down in front of her.

"Arlina," she told her fighting the effort to sink her teeth into her daughter's own pale neck and drain her dry. "I am one of the monsters that I told you about and you need to learn to fight the monsters like me."

She grabbed her daughter's hand and she felt how Arlina tried to pull away from her, but she gripped harder feeling her daughter's bones grind together and Arlina cried out in pain.

"You will learn to protect yourself," Serena said in a harsh voice her coal black eyes deepening with coldness. She placed the stake in her daughter's hand and told her, "Don't drop it."

"I love you, pumpkin, always remember that," Serena told her precious daughter looking over her one last time. Arlina's silver eyes were wide with fear, but Serena knew how they could brighten with laughter and although she was naturally pale, it was not the paleness of the undead.

"You are going to be beautiful, my precious girl, but I want you to learn all that you can on how to protect yourself. Do not rely on others to do it for you," Serena told her taking in her short black hair that she knew would grow long and straight. Her eyes began to narrow as the blood-lust began to take over again, and she said harshly one last thing, "You are not a vampire, Arlina, but you are what vampires will seek."

Then she growled an animal growl and lunged at her own daughter, and Arlina screamed as she raised her hand forgetting all about the stake in her hand. She felt her mother slam into her and then stop, and as she opened her eyes tears began to fall taking in what had happened.

Forgetting about the stake, Arlina had raised her arms at the same time as her mother lunged at her and the stake embedded into her mother's chest. Serena smiled as she forced herself harder onto the stake and Arlina's eyes began to close as she felt the blood began to run down the stake and onto her hands.

"You did well, my daughter," Serena murmured before she screamed and her body dissolved into a pile of ash.

Arlina began to sob as she collapsed onto the floor and she felt arms wrap around her.

She looked up into dark green eyes and for the first time, unaware of the man's shock at the color of her eyes.

"Monsters are real," she whispered.

The man nodded his head as he exclaimed, "Yes, Arlina, monsters are real. Your mother was only one of the monsters in the world."

Arlina sobbed harder and the man picked her up into his arms, and he wondered why Serena made her own daughter kill her, but he said softly, "I will protect her, Serena, to the best of my ability. I will make sure that she can take care of herself because she will need to know. When the time comes, her knowing how to protect herself may be the weapon needed to defeat what is coming."

He looked around the room and he noticed on the floor not too far away from them was a certificate of excellence, and he shook his head sadly as he clutched the little girl closer to him.

"I will come back later to get a few things," he said softly unsure if she heard him, or not but he knew where Serena kept her emergency pack just in case they had needed to leave in a hurry. That would be what Serena would want him to grab, but first he needed to get Arlina out of here.

"Will you tell me about the monsters?" Arlina sobbed as they walked out of the house, and the man froze for a second in surprise.

"Is that what you want?" He asked a few seconds later as he started walking again.

She nodded her head as she looked up at him, and he gasped at the intensity of her eyes. It was as if a blind had been lifted and the innocence that was there before was gone. In its place was a sorrow and fire that one should never see in the eyes of an eight-year-old girl.

He nodded his head slowly as he sighed, "I will tell you all that I know" he assured her before placing her in his car. He strapped her in before shutting the door and turning back to look at the house, and then he walked around to the driver's side and slid in. He started the car looking over at Arlina noticing that her eyes were trained on the house. He focused forward as he put the car in gear and drove away.

Arlina focused on the house she had known since she could remember, and her eyes filled with tears before she wiped them away. Her mother's words came back to her in a rush, I love you, Arlina, always remember that. You will learn to protect yourself. Do not rely on others to take care of you. You are not a vampire!

Arlina's small hands clenched into fists as she muttered aloud, "I am not a vampire. I will learn to protect myself."

The man next to her tightened his hands on the steering wheel hearing her repeat her mother's words aloud, and he promised himself that he would make sure that Arlina learned to do exactly that; protect herself from the monsters that will hunt her.