Winter's Snowflake

Prologue

It was the dead of winter, a woman rushed through the streets with something very dear to her. She scurried around street corners and past buildings looking and hoping to find what she sought. One step after another, street by street, until she saw a dim light on a hill. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the shouts from up ahead,

"Fuck," She choked out between breaths, "How do they move so fast?"

She turned around and took off in another direction, trying to escape the city. She moved as fast as she could, but only so many streets led off the island the city rested on. As she got close to another way off she heard more shouts.

"Jesus, what did they do to shut me up?" She gasped as she caught her breath.

As she started to run for the last way off she heard someone whisper from a dark alley,

"Over here..."

She looked and saw another woman standing next to a wine cellar door. She was horrified that she was caught, but she wouldn't give up yet.

"Who are you?" she said pulling a knife out.

"I'm a friend, follow me and ill get you out of here."

Reluctantly she followed the stranger down into the cellar. When she was inside she realized it wasn't a cellar, it was another way off the island, a tunnel that looked to lead towards the mainland.

"Where does this go?"

"Off the island, but first explain why everyone is trying to kill you."

She was startled by this question, by now the entire island should know, even the basement dwellers.

"My name is Serina, and the only thing I am guilty of is sparing the life of this child."

"What does that child have to do with you being hunted?"

"I was the maid in service of the Blacks family; the youngest son, Sebastian, was born with the devil's blood in his veins. I was tasked with making sure he kept his abilities under control. However, he was a sneaky child, he would always vanish and come back covered in blood."

"That doesn't explain the child."

She didn't want to say it, what if she turned against her and became like everyone else.

"It's his daughter, she was born of a son of Satan and daughter of God."

"What? But, how?"

"One night when he vanished, I made preparations to clean him up. When he came back though, he wasn't covered in blood and a nun was with him. Immediately I knew what he did..."

She trailed off not wanting to say anymore.

"I see, well then. Her life will be difficult, but she deserves a chance. Head down this tunnel for about 3 hours and you should find another room identical to this one."

She looked down the dark tunnel preparing to leave this wretched island.

"What will become of you?" Serina said

"I'll be fine, or I'll die, I stayed true to myself either way."

"Before I go, can you tell me your name?"

"Why, my name isn't important."

"I need to know what I'll tell her when she asked who helped save her."

The stranger smiled and said,

"My name is Winter, just like the season."

"Thank you, I will never forget what you did for me."

With those words, Serina walked into the darkness and headed down the tunnel.

As she walked she didn't hear anything but her own heartbeat and the shallow breathing of the baby she held. She kept walking and walking, waiting to see something in front of her other than the pitch black nothingness that has loomed over her for the past hour or two.

After a while longer of walking, she finally saw a light, the dim candlelight of the room on the other side of the tunnel. When she got there someone helped her by giving her some money and clothes to start a living and she set off in a new land to find a new life.