Amber Dusk | OLD Version

☼ Prelude ☼

picture; Meredith Reinove

song; "Through the Valley" by Shawn James

author's note; I have run around in circles with this story so many times and somehow I end up back to my original plan. The prelude of the first book has been changed many times; characters names, appearances, events, etc have been changed many times, but this is the original prelude, and I think at this point this is what it was meant to be.

I hope you all enjoy.

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Prelude: The Rouse

~ December 2nd, 2012 ~

I jolted upright in my bed as white-hot terror flooded through my veins and my fingers rushed up to clutch at my chest in a useless effort to slow my rapidly beating heart. My eyes slid across the space of my room as I took in the thick calmness of the air around me.

Everything looked untouched and all was quiet, but the feverish fear that had surged through me wasn't my own. Turning my head towards my bedroom door, I could just make out a shadow slithering slowly past and my breath hitched. Against my better judgment, I called out "Meredith?"

There was no response and I sat in the hammering silence for a few more moments, unsure of what I should do. I began to feel scared the longer I sat there.

It slinked across my skin with a quickness I'd never felt before, making my body turn cold as my heart picked up its pace again. Throwing my cover off, I moved swiftly to the door and my hand hovered over the doorknob.

My breathing became shallow and I closed my eyes. I wondered if I should call again to my mom; maybe she didn't hear me the first time? Sighing out, I dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had come.

Meredith was a Human-Vampyre; if she could hear a heart beating from across the room, she could definitely hear someone calling her name in the next room over.

My train of thought was interrupted by whispered voices coming from the hall and my eyes widened as my hand settled over the knob of the door and deftly twisted then pulled. I peeked through the crack of my now opened door and saw a man—no, not a man, a boy—facing my mother, his back to me.

My mother's eyes blazed with a coldness I had never seen before. The boy grabbed my mother by her hair and yanked her towards him. She stumbled forward and let out a quieted pained sound.

The boy began whispering to my mom again. His voice was so very familiar, but there was such an icy flatness to his tone I couldn't place where I'd heard it so many times before.

"You will tell me where Cetilayn is, Meredith. I don't have time for your bullshit games." He yanked a little harder on her hair and leaned in closer to her face. "If you don't tell me where she is," There was a long pause before he spoke again, and I could tell that it was through a devilish smile.

"I'll kill Sonya." Both my and Meredith's eyes widened simultaneously and fear skittered down my spine.

"I'm not telling you anything." My mother bit back through gritted teeth. "Cetilayn left to protect us from Darkness," Meredith's eyes slid down the boy before she curled her lips up in disgust.

"You're obviously the one she was really running from." Confusion slid through me for a moment as hurried footsteps landed on the stairs. Another man walked into my line of vision, his woodsy scent wafting to me and realization instantaneously bubbled over.