SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE | JASPER HALE

prologue

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prologue !
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The night Linnet Liserli died, the psychic had refused eye contact before the performance. That should have been the first bad omen for the night to come, but, as is often said in the business of entertainment, the show must go on.

As she tied the pure white ribbon around her neck in the dim glow of the flickering gas lamp, Linnet could never have known how violently, how suddenly, her life would meet its end.

"On in five," the bustling runner told her, barely giving Linnet a second glance.

She had nodded as she tucked a final, icy curl into place and joined the others where they stood waiting to go on stage.

The final dance number of Linnet's life was, rather fortunately, one she adored. Centre stage in all her glory. Bright as the first snow of Winter. Bound in ribbons of white, hair in perfect ringlets to frame the youthful glow that radiated from her every feature. A dress of flammable white cinched at the waist and flowing to her feet. Pure as the snowfall that had graced London with its presence overnight.

They began. Surged to life and took the stage like a storm. A flurry of snow keen to turn the world to ice. To reclaim Winter's kingdom.

Linnet held the audience in the palm of her hand and forced them along this journey of peril with her. The bliss of new romance, the rise to the height of this love, soaring up and up and up on a wire face to face with the man her heart belonged to, on and off stage.

The audience were in awe. A beautiful display, a wonderful scene. What more could they wish for than the full-blossoming drama of lovers who could never be?

High up above the stage, Linnet's entire body thrummed with life. This was her purpose. Her true love. To be the star, to entertain, and to bring joy to those below.

With the snap of a couple of wires, that life ended as Linnet plummeted.

At first, the audience thought it was all part of the show. They gasped, unable to take their eyes off the falling ice queen, graceful even then.

It was only when she crunched into the old wood of the stage, her fellow dancers rushing to her side, and did not rise to her feet in a display of untouchable glory did the audience truly realise what had happened.

As she lay upon the stretcher that carried her away to her death, Linnet's life hung on the strength of a thread once again. So fragile. So close to the release of the afterlife.

The doctor predicted she would not make it through the night. That the dance and life of Linnet Liserli would be over by dawn.

By chance and by the sheer, unpredictable luck of the girl, who would not call herself lucky by any means, one audience member had taken a particular shine to the dancer who had fallen and shattered.

The woman had found Linnet's supposed death bed in her final hours and was surprised that the girl was entirely alone. This was the star of the show. The ice beauty who took the stage by storm.

Yet, there she was.

Left to face death alone.

Breath was shallow in her lungs and shaky in her throat as she lay, unconscious, slipping away little by little with every second. A beautiful soul leeching away into the black.

The woman perched on the edge of the bed and only had to take one look at the girl before her to know she was the one.

That night Linnet Liserli died, eyes wide open, mouth screaming for mercy, and rose again with an insatiable thirst like no other.

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ah shit, here we go again!