Loreen Fortier

                    The crypt was damp and dark. The tombs were made of solid black stone and stretched high enough to lean my elbows on. On the newly built pair lay garlands made of white and green orchids and on the headstones their names had been painted in silver; Henry Fortier and Demetra Fortier. It was odd to imagine that my aunt and uncle were sealed inside those big blocks of concrete even though I had seen it with my own eyes; the shiny caskets housing their corpses slowly being lowered inside.

       A tear fell down my cheek as I relived the day of their deaths in my head, the sight of their bloodstained bodies being thrown on a pile of corpses. Even though I had turned into a vampire, I would never stop honoring the traditions I was taught as a witch. One of those traditions was something witches would say before they left to battle, in case they didn't make it back alive, and though Uncle Henry and Aunt Demetra never knew they were coming into a battle I knew that these words still implied.

Don't mourn me, avenge me.

          There is nothing wrong with doing both, I thought to myself. There was none left of our bloodline now, except for me; that one vampire member who would never bring forth a descendant to carry on the bloodline. Just as the Fynce clan, the Fortier line was now as good as extinct, and with that only five of the Original Seven witch bloodlines remained. Soon it would be four.

          The Van Velsen mansion nearly touched the sea. Pitch black of color, it was built on giant jagged boulders that stood up from the sea. I climbed across their iron gates. The two towers on both sides of the entrance were topped with spears and their front door had their family sigil carved and painted in the wood; a hissing snake twirled around a lightning bolt. But I would not be going through the front door, not on this day. I walked around the mansion until the solid ground made place for the rough rocks and I climbed up the wall, and slid through the first window.

          Two small cribs with white bedding fenced by grey wood stood side by side, separated only by a nightstand which held a lamp. A white canopy was draped over each. The only difference between the twin cribs were the names written above them; Jorvik written in blue and Jovenna written in pink. Small chubby fingers grabbed one of the bedframes. The baby made babbling sounds as he pulled himself up. I met him at the backside of his crib and stared down at Frank's son. His soft hair was brown and wavy, and his eyes bright blue. My fingers gripped the knife's blade tighter. I lifted it and placed it on the boy's soft, ribbed neck. Jorvik let out a sob, then another, and before I knew he cried so loud that I startled and fell back against the wall.

         The door swung open. Standing there was Frank van Velsen, looking at me in disbelief and surprise. At first he gave me a smile. "Loreen? What are you..." Then his eyes noticed the knife in my right hand. He locked eyes with me once more, this time with tears and fright, then ran over to his children. Spreading his arms across the cribs, Frank begged. "Please, Loreen, please don't. This isn't you. Please. Just leave before you do something you regret."

          My body started shaking. Tears fell down my eyes. From the arena I remembered, there was nothing worse than looking into the eyes of innocence before slaying them. "I don't want to, but I have to." I took a deep sniff and swallowed. "Farren killed my bloodline. Now I have to avenge them, Frank, she left me no other choice."

         Frank's cries grew louder as he kept shaking his head. "Loreen, you have a choice. Please, don't do this."

         "No, I have to." I took one step closer and raised my knife. It shook violently along with my hand. "I'm sorry." Grabbing Frank by his hair, I laid the knife's edge against his throat and sliced as deep as I could to ensure he would not suffer. Frank's body collapsed on the floor and his head fell back against the nightstand between the two cribs. I had cut him so deep that his neck was midway severed, nearly beheaded.

         The twins screamed as I dipped my hands into the pools of blood. And they didn't stop their crying as I painted words on the walls with their father's blood. Their cries were so full of despair that it seemed as if the twins knew what was happening.

           "I'm sorry," I told little Jorvik. Then I turned to the crib on my right and said to baby Jovenna, "I'm so sorry."

         Once outside, I let myself fall inside the sea. For hours on end I scrubbed my body with the seawater, I rubbed and rubbed but to no avail. This blood was forever a part of me now. No matter how hard I tried, it would always be on my hands. Frank had been a friend of mine. It was the sweetest young man I had ever known. And I killed him, left his children crying, robbed forever of a father to ever comfort them again.

        My sobs grew louder. I looked up at the sky. "I avenged you." In the sky drifted dark clouds and I could've sworn they were judging me. "Do you hear me, Uncle Henry?" My voice had turned gruff. "I avenged you. Now you can rest in peace." My knees plunged into the water, and I whispered one last time, "I avenged you."

         With my arms folded and my body hunched over I wandered past the beach leading to my home. The waves washed the beach each time they passed by, too bad they could not cleanse me. Pink colored water dropped off of me and left a trail in the sand as I went. Running footsteps approached me. When I looked up I saw Lily in the distance, running my way. I let my arms dangle and straightened my back. There walked a young man behind her, rushing to keep up with her. Tall of stature and muscular of built, a handsome face beneath brown hair. Lily wore a sideways braid, which was almost unsettling since she hadn't ever changed her tight ponytail in the years I'd known her. Maybe she did it to impress the young man who was with her.

         Lily waved as we approached one another. "Hey." She spread her arms and pressed me tightly against her. The other one lingered a little in the back. Lily looked at him. "This is Karver Moreau." A wide smile spread across her face. "A little souvenir I brought back." They laughed at one another for a moment, then Lily faced me again. "How have you been?"

        With a frown I looked away and swallowed. "I..." After a brief silence, I shook my head.

           She laid her hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze. "I know. Grieving family is never easy. Especially not when they die like this."

           "It's not just that." I locked her eyes and took her hand, sliding it off my shoulder. "I've done something terrible, Lily."

           "What have you done?"

            My arms folded again, without me wanting to, and my body rocked itself back and forth as my sobs filled the silence. "I killed Frank."

           The muscles in Lily's face tightened and her lips parted. "Oh, no." Lily bent down and I felt her hands on my bare ankle as she shoved them underneath my jeans. She started tugging at the silver anklet I wore. "We have to take this off of you." She reached inside her purse and took out a clinging set of keys, and I heard a click.

           The anklet dangled loose and with a shake of my ankle it clinked on the gravel. "Thank you."

          "Now go," Lily said.

     "Go where? I have nowhere to go."

            "The Moreau island. It's where I came from. Eileen is there, too, with all the others who have fled. It's safe there."

       I shook my head. "My home is here."

            "Your home will be the crypts if you don't leave before..." Lily's eyes grew big and fearful. I turned around. A figure fully dressed in black with blue and black hair marched towards me. Lily sauntered backwards, and said quietly, "Before Farren kills you."

       The sky grew dark all of a sudden, and loud thunder came from above. Blue cords of electricity gushed out of the lightning in the sky into her palms as she came closer. A powerful war cry stabbed through the loud thunder. Farren raised her palms while still moving closer. I leaped aside and dodged the cord flying at me. Another followed, and countless more. While ducking and darting away, I still received the occasional shock. My shoulder burned and I looked down at it, a piece was ripped and inside my flesh was a sizzling cut. A painful jolt traveled down my foot and as I crawled away it spread over my entire body, electrocuting me. My endless screams echoed loud through the thunder. Black boots appeared next to me. I tried to grab Farren's ankles as she still fired bolt after bolt my way, but I could not move.

       "Blood for blood?" Farren screamed. "I will show you blood."

         I seized the moment and clenched my hands around her neck and lowered her down onto the ground. Sounds of failing breaths emerged from her closing throat. I dropped my fangs and bit in her cheek. Farren gained control of her flailing arms and pressed her fingers on my throat, too. The shocks she gave me were weak, but enough to make me lose my grip. We rolled around as we wrestled. Farren leaped up and grabbed her hatchet with a swing behind her neck. I showed her my teeth as she rushed up at me.

        That hatchet wouldn't hurt me, I thought with a smirk. But then Farren smirked, too, and turned the hatchet around. The spear shaped handle pierced through my flesh and I tumbled on my back. It was only inches away from my heart now. I placed my feet on Farren's body and tried to push her off and she shot me more lightning. Her teeth were bared and her eyes crazed as she shoved the wooden handle deeper and deeper. I screamed through the shocks shuddering my body and pushed my legs as hard as I could. Farren flew backwards and landed her head against a rock. Streams of blood dripped from her face, yet she wasted no second and ran back at me. The handle rapidly moved near my chest. I ducked and grabbed Farren's ankle, sending her falling down. And I bit her ankle. Waves of electricity took hold of my body, which only made me bite harder. The bone crunched underneath my teeth. Farren's screams grew louder. I moved my fangs to her knee and chewed that too.

        "I'm going to kill you," Farren said through sobs as she lay on the bloodstained sand, writhing in agony. I released my bite and let go of her leg. With one hand pressed on her shattered knee and one on her shattered ankle, Farren trembled and cried. "I... I'm going to kill you."

       I stepped backwards. With the back of my hand, I wiped her blood off my mouth. Farren used her undamaged leg to move herself around, but could only get so far before her eyes closed and her body collapsed.