Friday 20 July 2012

The wrath of the Sisters


Aleera
I look in to his eyes as they scold through me, not a trace of my being is left within my soul; I feel strange and yet more alive than I have ever been. Something inside creeps upon me, a feeling of sheer burning, a scold within my throat. I know not what my body desires nor what I must do to suppress the pain. As I turn. the faint smell of iron seeps into my nose and that is when I see it... a large silver goblet overflowing with deep red blood; I can bear the feeling no longer and leap over until the goblet is grasped between my cold hard fingers and the lusting liquid is sliding down the inside of my neck. The burning slowly subsides and I look in to the eyes of my killer, the eyes of my creator, and for the first time I feel a sense of belonging and a sense of being. Was I destined for this all along, was my fate foreseen that I should become a ravenous killer, a poisonous plague to be inflicted upon mankind; the people I once called family. It matters no more what I feel, the sensation of immortality is overpowering...and I crave more.

             I once hunted my new found family for a living; I used to crawl within the shadows picking them off one by one. I was part of the Slayers and would watch as the Stalker I had captured burned alive until there was nothing but ash to remind us that they are truly living creatures. Now I am one of them, I am no longer the hunter, I am the hunted and I shall have to fight for my survival against the Slayers and against my father, their leader.

             A large wooden door opens and through it I see a face I recognise all too quickly. The soft auburn curls trailing to the shoulders, the emerald green eyes so vibrant they sparkle in the candlelight illuminating the room, the plump rose coloured lips which every boy in town longs to kiss, and the scar...how could I forget for it is the same as mine. We were just children when our mother was slaughtered to death by the Shifters and as a reminder to our father that they would return one day for his daughters, their leader scratched the letter X on to both mine and Ava's backs, ex marks the spot we were told; a reminder they would return one day, a reminder which has haunted us both for years. Ava is older than I and far more beautiful in every feature but I can’t help feeling smug that my new being has given me the same, if not more, attractiveness she possesses. I glide over to my creator as my withering sister stares straight at me as if begging for me to save her.
"Aleera, please, you can’t possibly be happy with what you are? You were taken from father but only yesterday and already you are embracing the thing you swore to hate! If there is any part of my sister still inside you then please, this is not you, you are not one of them, you are Aleera Waithen, a  Slayer. Don’t you remember mother? She was the one who trained us, who believed in us, how can you just let all that slip away?"
"Mother is dead and has been for 16 years, I have been invisible to you and father for so long and now I finally feel free, I can finally be the Waithen I want to be. And hear this... I will be the first Waithen in history to be remembered for joining the beings we, you've, destroyed for so many years. If we join with them just think of the power we could possess, think of the power our children could possess. Human and Stalker combined could be something great, a new generation of Earth dwellers that could rule for thousands of years, unstoppable; indestructible and nothing in this world would be able to stop us, nothing in this world could take us down. We will be strong, forever invincible. Don't you want that? Don't you want to live forever?"
"I would rather die than join the Stalkers" the room suddenly fills with a bright ultraviolet light which burns into my skin. I bolt to the darkest side of the room and shelter myself, hide myself away, for fear I may loose my new found happiness.

"Ava! Ava! Are you here? Are you alive?"
"Yes Harlan I'm here, I'm alive!" Harlan, our eldest cousin, I have not seen him in years and yet here he is on a rescue mission saving his only remaining human cousin from her venomous sister, what a return this must be. 
"Did you find her? Has the worst come to pass?"
"I'm affraid so dear cousin, yet I feel all is not lost"
"Come, let’s go!." As they rise to their feet Ava stops, Harlan stares and pulls at her hand but she ignores him and moves closer to where I am retreating.
"Aleera, I know your still here and I know there is still part of you inside, I know that you can still be saved, please... come home, where you belong. You are treading on dangerous waters. I don't want to walk the shadows at night knowing that the next Stalker I slay could be you. I never want that guilt looming over my shoulders for the rest of my life. Please, don't make the wrong choice."
I speak through the darkness with a look of anger sweeping my face, though knowing Hope cannot see I still keep my expression firmly in place. "Too late, I've already made my choice. I am a Stalker now, it’s in my blood, in my nature; I could rip out your throat with one single slice, I could destroy all of you if I wanted. I am not going back now, not with this much life careering through my veins."
"So be it. I never wanted it to come to this but you leave me no other choice. I will hunt you down, I will kill you and I won’t be alone. Today you live, tomorrow you die. Farewell dear sister." taking Harlan's hand she disappeared in to the night along with the other 25 Slayers I used to call my friends. 

            Ava's words swim through my mind and for just a second I feel loss and sadness but all to quickly the power overthrows and hatred towards my sister and the Slayers entrances my body. I snarl so loudly I begin to shake. I will not leave who I am now, if I have to defend myself then I shall. They are not my family anymore they are my enemy. They are the love I lost and the hate I found, they are gone to me and I embrace my new found form. I am new, I am young...I am reborn.