Tuesday, August 22nd , 1871.
Charlotte walked through the crowds of bustling people, keeping her head facing the floor. She wasn't used to moving, especially to places as crowded as the innovating city of Chicago.
'Go look around!' Her mother had said, 'It'll be fun exploring your new home!' she had said... Yes mother, this is absolutely exhilarating...
Just as she just about had it with the busy cobblestone streets, a rain drop hit the tip of her nose.
"Oh great... is this rain?" She put her hand to the sky and felt the droplets hit the smooth skin of her hand. Of course it is.
Her mother has warned her about these so called "weather demons", but it's not like Lottie had never seen them before. She'd seen enough demons to make her fear their power. She had even once encountered one at her home back in Lansing, but her mother had killed it before it had time to do anything.
Her mother was a strong woman that Charlotte always looked up to. Even now that she was seventeen she wasn't going to take chances.
She ducked inside a nearby shop, not even bothering to check its name, and sat on the hard, dusty, wooden floor. Finally away from the wretched rain, Lottie raised her head and looked around the small dusty store.
There were only a few people strolling around in the store. No one seemed to even notice Charlotte, of course. She pushed herself up from the creaky floor and started walking around the store.
The shelves were filled with gears and tools, some even containing small automatics. Slightly impressed by the wide collection she continued to walk, her head facing the shelves.
Clearly enjoying herself, her small expedition came to an end when the side of her face collided with something hard.
Staggering back a bit, she tripped over her own shoes and landed on the floor. She put her hand to her face, "Ow! What w-" she immediately shut her mouth when she noticed a tall figure in front of her.
She had crashed straight into a boy.
She found herself looking into the warm brown eyes of the boy as he extended his hand out.
"Have you been seeing those things outside too?" The stranger asked with wonder in his eyes.
"What?" He had to be talking about the weather demons, right?
"Those black creatures with the pointy teeth and claws." He made gestures with his finger trying to show the teeth and fang. "They appeared right when it started raining a-and one of them attacked me so I ran inside my shop." He explained as he pulled her up from the ground, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Are you talking about weather demons?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"So you've been seeing them too? Okay so I'm not going insane... Good," he let out a sigh of relief.
"I should be going..." Charlotte began, a look of concern on her face.
"What? No! You have to explain these creatures to me," he grabbed her elbow in attempt to stop her from leaving.
"I hardly know you. You could be an axe murderer."
"Well, I'm Scott Clayborne and now you know me. I can show you around town, you're obviously not from around here." He said loosening his grip on her elbow, a smirk plastered on his face .
"I guess..." Charlotte sighed looking at the floor.
"Great!" Scott exclaimed, a smile replacing his previous smirk, "we can go after my shift is over."
~~~~
The sun had begun to dip under the horizon when Charlotte and Scott set out from the shop. While Scott walked in front of her, pointing out different buildings, Charlotte staggered behind. Even at sunset, there were still tons of people milling around the streets. Scott helped her weave in and out of the bustling crowds.
"Where are we going?" Charlotte asked, confused as to where they were.
"You'll see." Scott said with a little smirk.
They began walking down a smaller dirt road that had more houses and farmland than it did at the place they were before. The sky was now dark, but Scott had grabbed a lantern before they left the store so they could see where they were going.
Walking farther and farther down the dirt road, Charlotte asked, "Are we lost?"
"No," Scott replied, looking back at her, "we are almost there though."
Where was he taking me? Charlotte thought. She was beginning to think that maybe he was an axe murderer and was leading her to her harsh and gruesome death.
Scott started pointing to a little cottage with a wooden porch, its pealing paint and dusty windows giving it an eerie look.
"We're here." He whispered.
"Where ar--" Charlotte got cut off by the sound of thunder. Rain. As soon as the first drops of rain had reached the ground, the silhouettes of little black creatures began to grow, glowing neon blue. It was only a matter of time before they got to full size.
Apparently Scott had seen them too.
He began running up the long sidewalk towards the cottage screaming at the top of his lungs, "THEY'RE COMING BACK!"
Charlotte took one last look at the growing creatures before she started running after Scott.
The distance was further than she expected so they were only halfway up the pathway when the weather demons had fully grown and noticed Charlotte and Scott. Why is it always me? Charlotte thought.
Wings suddenly erupted from the backs of the demons, the glossy scales shimmering as the rain hit them. The sound of the wings flapping against the wind sounded like thunder as the demons began to fly towards them. They were going to reach the cottage before them...
"Scott! Keep running, don't look back!" Charlotte yelled, the demons flying closer and closer to them, their glistening eyes piercing the night sky.
"Okay!" Scott yelled back, the rain plastering his clothes to his body.
The demons were beginning to circle above them like vultures before they swooped down to devour their prey. They were about 40 feet above them in the air. There were only 3 of the horrific looking beasts, but she knew that would be more than enough to duel with. Her mother had only just begun to teach her how to duel, yet there were still so many lessons left untouched. At least she had some form of defending herself, though this would still be challenging for her. Looking back at Scott she saw the fear in his eyes, these demons could probably destroy him.
One of the demons had landed in front of Scott, the beast spreading out its wings and arms, as it yet put an unearthly howl. It suddenly stood up taller an opened its teeth filled mouth, it began to unhinge its jaw like a snake and promptly sprayed a greenish glob all over Scott.
"What is this? IT BURNS! GET IT OFF!" Scott screamed while running towards Charlotte.
Charlotte began to run towards the demon, only pausing slightly to give Scott a handkerchief to wipe his face off. Suddenly standing before the demon Charlotte drew out her small iron dagger that she kept inside her dress just for cases like this. The demon approached her and she charged towards it, trying to dodge every attack it threw at her. She climbed on top of the slimy creature, the beast walling out while attempting to buck her off.
Rearing up with all the strength she had, Charlotte swung her dagger forwards, stabbing it right in between the eyes. She hopped off the demon rolling slightly on the ground, right when the monster began to cry in agony, a raspy shrieking noises leaving its throat. Standing back up again, she the threw a punch at it, hitting it straight in the jaw, a cracking sound echoed promptly after. Leaving it no time to recover, she whipped out her dagger once more, aiming carefully, and stabbed it right in the heart. The beast let out a howl like thunder, clawing at the blade in its chest as it staggered backwards, it looked up at Charlotte on last time before evaporating in a black cloud of liquid and ash.
1 down, 2 to go, Charlotte thought, looking over at the other two bruiting creatures, a slight smile pulling at her lips.
She whirled around, facing another vicious beast. The demon began to fly up in the air, seeming to fly away. But Charlotte knew the demon wouldn't just fly away without trying to kill.
The demon spun around in mid-air and started diving towards Charlotte. She struck out the dagger away from her body, the blade facing out. She looked up, the demon was still flying towards her, not noticing her small dagger. Charlotte stepped aside and the demon flew past her, the blade slicing straight through its side.
The demon cried out in agony, but not before Charlotte ran up to the snarling monster and stabbed it in the face.
Charlotte scanned the sky, searching for the third demon. She knew it had to be somewhere. If the demon wasn't in the air, it had to be on the ground.
As she lowered her eyes from the sky, she heard a loud screeching sound. She spun around only to find Scott on the back of the third demon. He held a large-looking knife in his hand. He locked eyes with Charlotte, eyes filled with fear and determination. Then, he impaled the demon in the heart.
Charlotte was shocked. She hadn't thought Scott could do anything besides stand in front of a vomiting demon. She had underestimated him.
"Charlotte, I think we should head inside." Scott said, standing over the dead demon's body. It would evaporate once the sun came out in the morning.
"Uh, yeah I think we should." And they began to walk towards the cottage.
~~~~
YAYYYYY!! First chapter! That took forever! Well, I mean, there are 3 of us in different time zones so it was kinda hard to write... For some reason the picture of Charlotte wouldn't upload so we might have it up later :/ idk. School starts soon (ugh) and we might be able to get more done because we can talk about about it in person... or it might take longer cause we'll be busy... Anyways! I'm kinda tired so I'm just gonna publish this and go to bed.
Night! ~ Charlotte :)