When Darkness Becomes Your Last Hope

Chapter 1 in the beginning

In this story, we run from character to character to see the trial and error each person has to go through. We will view the adventures in many different eyes; the main characters are the ones who tell the story. For they where there to tell you the events that no other creature could tell. This is their story.

In The Eyes of Lorraine

I sat my bags down on a park bench and lay down. It was 4:00 in the morning and I was the only one there, my clothes where soaked and I was furious with my mother for being this stubborn. It was time for a change; my mother gave me the name, Amy Baxter. Amy means love and I could not live with myself if I had to be called a name that my mother gave me especially since she did not love me anymore. I changed inside of a public restroom into some clean clothes. I walked into the library and asked for the reference section, the librarian pointed her boney finger to a section of old books. I reached for a couple of books on names and I found the perfect name for me, Lorraine.

The next day I was sitting on the park bench eating a hot dog that the vender gave to me when I saw a figure walking towards me with a determined look on her face. The sun was glaring at her and I had to squint to make out whom it was. It was my mother with a big black bag. “Amy, I have found a place for you to stay,” she said without looking at me. I asked her where she was taking me, but she ignored me.

We road on a train and we took a taxi. On the way there, I asked her what was in the bag. ”A cloak to shield you from danger that your kind face.” she said while handing me the bag. I thanked her and the taxi stopped.”$48 miss” the driver called out the window. She paid him and told him to wait for her. It was raining so hard that I could barely stand up. “All right lady, but the meter’s running and I am not leaving without full pay!” he shouted back. My mother nodded and we walked on.

We where at a shipping dock, and the sound of rain pouring on the top of the water, thunder clapping like a constant drum beating at the same rate as the captains foot steps walking towards us, and the sound of seagulls sitting on posts cawing at me with an angry look in their eyes was the combination of sounds that where haunting me like ghosts in a old graveyard. The ship that we where walking to looked like a large cargo liner except this one had kids walking aboard with silver clamps on their wrists.

The Leslie was written on the side in old faded letters. In the books, that I had read in the library told me that Leslie meant a gray fortress, well they where right because this ship was gray. The captain was a man about in his 40’s, he had a scar over his left eye and he was missing a finger. My mother paid him $200 and he shook her hand. He shook mine and would not let go when I tried to get away he put silver clamp on my arm and told me to get in line with the others. I was the last one to get on board, when I turned around my mother cried to me, “Take good care of you, Amy!” As I put the hood over my head, I said the words that I will never forget, “No mother your wrong… my name is Lorraine.” At that, I turned away and walked on. I could here my mother crying in the background, but I did not care. She deserved to be in pain after what she did to me.

I tried to walk past one of the sailors, but he put his hand out, “You can only get on if your name is on the list. What is your name, girl?” he said to me. Mocking his tone I replied with a confident look in my face, ”Lorraine Baxter” He looked at his clip board and shook his head no. “Ughh it might say Amy Baxter.”, I scoffed impatiently and rolled my eyes at him. He looked at his list and looked back at me.” Go right ahead, Miss Baxter.” he said like a cruise director. I told him that he needed to have that name changed to Lorraine with a cocky attitude. I smiled and was directed inside.

Inside of the ship, it was dark and cold like a cave except that there were scared children inside chained to silver hooks. The sailor said to me,” You’re lucky that you mother paid extra… you get the hall with the most privacy and less noise.” He cackled like a man choking on a peanut. I tried with all of my might not to laugh, but I just could not help myself. He turned around and glared at me so I shut my mouth tight and made the gesture of zipping it shut and throwing away the key. He laughed and said “kids”

He took me to an empty hook and chained me up and sprinkled holy water onto it beside a boy. When I sat down on the floor, the guard looked at me and said, “DO NOT SMART OFF TO ANY OF THE GUARDS!” then walked away. There sitting beside me was the most beautiful face I had ever seen. I f he was not angel then I do not know what is. His beautiful brown eyes, his gorgeous smile, and his tall strong body where just a few of his quality features they drove me crazy. He was so perfect and sweet that I was overjoyed to spend the months on ship with him. I asked him if he was a vampire, he said

” Uh, uh yeah I am.”

“What’s your name?” I asked him with a sweet flirty look on my face.

“Damon Hilton. What’s yours?” he said while looking at a crack in the floor.

“Lorraine Baxter hehe” I giggled accidentally and regretted I did. He looked at me and smiled sweetly. Suddenly our moment ended when a guard stormed up and said,”HEY YOU KIDS STAY AWAY FROM EACH OTHER!” It made us furious and I screamed at him to back off. I REALLY will regret saying that because I was about to find out what the guard meant by “don’t smart off to the guards”.

He angrily grabbed his keys and unlocked the clamp. I rubbed my wrist in relief of the clamp, but in a split second, he grabbed my hands and handcuffed me and pushed me into his quarters. I sat on the bed and hoped that whatever was going to happen to me was not going to make me hurt. I was wrong it did hurt. He walked in and said with a devious smile, “I’ve wanted to do this for a LONG time.” I was scared and I did not know whether to run or scream. ”Wh-wha what do you mean.” I said with a slight stutter. I stood up with pretend confidence to make him think that I was not scared of him. He pulled his arm from be hind his back,” This is what I meant.” he was holding a bloody black whip. He laughed and slipped my handcuffs onto a hook and sprinkled holy water on it so I could not get a way when he struck me. Every lash he gave me I whimpered in pain, every time I was whipped it got less painful because he was hitting hard skin that had developed over the wounds. I refrained from screaming most of the time, until one day the guard hit me harder than ever, I screamed as loud as I could and the guard passed out. From what I hear, the guard hit his head on a rock, cracked his skull, and got amnesia. One of the guards heard the crash and thought that I hurt him on purpose. He yelled at me and dragged me back into the hall and put both of my wrists on hooks. “HOW AM I SUPPOST TO EAT OR DRINK?” I screamed at the angry guard. ”Get your BOY FRIEND to feed you!” he screamed back at me. “I’ll help you, ’Rainie’” he said to me sweetly. If I were not chained to a wall, I would have kissed him.

Speaking of feed…The food on the ship was terrible. They would throw live fish at us for breakfast, crustaceans for lunch, and seaweed covered fish for dinner. Luckily, for us the girl that sat across from Damon could breathe fire. Her name is Luna Merks, her father was a demon and her mother did not know it. For us, breakfast was smoked flounder, lunch was crab claws, lobster or shrimp, and dinner was cooked sushi. I guess that the other kids had to suck the blood. Eww!

“Luna, does it burn when you breathe fire?” I asked her while eating some lobster, but it came out…Wuna, dothet bun wan yow brayth fiya?

“Ha ha what did you say?” she laughed.

I swallowed and said, “I said Luna, does it burn when you breathe fire?” I said extremely slowly.

“Nah, but it is quite uncomfortable when my lungs fill up with smoke.,” she said in her cute British accent. We all laughed at the remark.

“Luna, where does your accent come from?” Damon asked her.

“I was born in London.,” she said looking at her feet.

The next day we where eating crab claws and telling scary stories when we heard some shouting and screaming coming from the “3^rd class” corridor, we heard a southern girl shouting, ”I won’t apologize!” ”You are so vile!” The girl sounded younger than I did, but not too much different. The guards where shouting at her about her being a stupid little girl. She shouted back that she was not little. “What’s her problem?” Damon said bluntly. I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. The guards through her down in front of me and chained her wrist up sprinkle holy water on both hooks.

“Why did they sprinkle holy water on both hooks? You’re only using one.” I asked the girl.

“I used the hook beside me to break my chain in half. I whacked a guard in the head with it and he fell off the ship.,” she said with a smile on her face.

“Why didn’t they just whip you?” I asked puzzled.

“I bit the first guard that ever tried It.,” she laughed. At that, we all laughed except Damon. The guards came back with a crab. “Here is your crab you worthless piece of ….” he said without finishing his sentence. The crab burst on the floor and the girl brought it up to her mouth to suck it. “STOP!” Luna and I screamed. She put it down and asked us what our problem was. “Try this” Luna said with a smile. She took the crab and through it straight up into the air, she took a deep breathe and Voila` cooked crab craws. We all clapped like professional critics.

“What is your name?” I asked her while taking a bite out of my seaweed role. “Valerie Di Angelo. What’s yours?” she replied while examining her seaweed. ”Luna Merks, Damon Hilton, and the one and only Lorraine Baxter!” I said with an announcer’s voice.

We all started talking about our stories about how we got here. I told them how my mother was so cruel about my sudden changes, but I did not tell them about the magical cape. “My story is totally strange,” Luna said too us with a bug eyed look.

In The Eyes of Luna

It started to rain and I did not see the car coming until the headlights flashed in front of me. The tires started screeching, but the water was too thick, the car hit me and when I flew up into the air crying I stopped. Something was holding me up. Huge black wings where on my back and long teeth had grown past my lips. Blood was on the ground from where the wings ripped through my shirt. The car that hit me was on fire and I had a dry feeling in my mouth. I realized that when I was screaming fire was coming out of my mouth like a dragon. I flew down and ripped the man out of the car and sat him on a log. When he came out of his car two jagged edges poked him in the throat, they looked like teeth marks. I checked to see if he was OK when I heard a loud explosion. It knocked me off my feet. The car’s gas tank exploded and caught some trees on fire. A helicopter spotted us and minutes later, fire trucks and an ambulance pulled up beside us. They put out the fire and checked on the man.

He was passed out from a head injury. The people turned to me and asked what happened. I made the mistake of explaining how I flew around randomly to get him out. The chief saw the holes in the man’s neck from the metal of the car scratching him and looked at me in horror. “Vampire!” he screamed to everyone. “Am I really a vampire?” I asked myself horrified. People started running around in horror, to tell the truth it was quite hysterical actually. I laughed loudly at the site of firefighters running around like idiots that had just seen a phantom. When everyone was out of breath and could not run any more, I tried to explain myself to one of the workers, but he kept screaming like a little girl and when I sighed in frustration fire came out of my mouth and he fainted. “Bloody ‘yank’!” I said to myself when the man dropped. He looked ridiculous lying there with his hand over his heart.

“Smith, aint you a preacher on the side?” the chief yelled to the driver of the truck.

The man nodded to the chief and said with an angry look in his eyes, “No, I’m a pastor 1^st and a volunteer fire fighter on the side! I already told you!”

The chief walked to him and whispered something to him. “Girl, get over here!” he screamed at me with an eager look in his beady black eyes. I was scared and was shaking so bad that I stumbled a couple of times. He reached out to shake my hand and said,

“Congratulations you’re the first vampire Smith gets to destroy. He handcuffed my wrist to the truck and the man called Smith blessed the truck’s water. They sprayed me with the Holy water, it burned my skin, but when I screamed fire came out and stopped most of the water. It was too much for me I passed out.

I woke up in a prison cell with my arms handcuffed to the bars. “Well you finally got up. You’re almost late for board.” the police officer told me with a caring look in his eyes. He opened the door and led me out to a taxi waiting outside with a man standing beside it tapping his watch. It was a long ride, about an hour to be exact. We sat in silence for the first five minutes. He started humming the same tune that I heard when my wings came out.

“You’re lucky that the man who hit you had insurance and remembered how you saved him from the explosion before he passed out. He paid a lot of money to get you on the best part of a ship for immortals to Europe.,” he said to me while looking out the window.” “So I’m not a vampire?” I asked him with a relieved look in my. I explained how it just happened. He smiled and told me that the same thing had been happening and gave me a ring with strange writings on the top. He told me that it said fire on the stone would break the frozen in time. ”I know it’s written right there.” I said to him with a confused look on my face. “The ring will keep your fire from coming out uncontrollably.,” he told me while handing me the ring. “What do you mean?” I asked him while taking a bite of a bagel I got at a gas station. He explained that my special power was given to me when the curse hit me and that this would be the one thing that will help me and that it would open up doors for me. “What do you mean?” I asked impatiently. “You will learn soon enough, the ring will also keep you from breathing fire every time you yawn, scream, or sigh.,” he said to me while looking out the window.

“$11.50!” the driver called back to us. We stepped out of the cab onto the concrete, it was raining and the wind was blowing hard enough to knock any on their back. It seemed as if the seagulls where cawing right at me. Saying leave, leave, leave. I wanted to desperately I wanted to leave this place a place that made me feel like there was no hope. We where on a shipping dock a harbor if that is what you want to call it. A dark place not even the fish call home was a place that made me wants to cry every time that I thought that I would be forced into one of the ships like a box of cargo. I could not take it so I ran. The man said something funny and I turned around and ran back to where I was “supposed” to be. It was strange, but it over came all of my strength and I could not move away.

We walked towards a man with a scar on his face. “Captain, I’ve got another one for you and she’s a fisty little devil.,” he laughed while he paid the man. “Yeah, well welcome to the luxury liner.” he cackled at me as he pointed to an old gray ship with the words The Leslie written in faded letters on the side. I smiled a fake smile and nodded to show amusement. He reached out to shake my hand, but cuffed a silver chain on my wrist. The man that brought me here smiled and said, “Its fire proof and it’s made of pure silver so your kind can’t pick it.” I was angry at the fact that ANYONE would be this cruel to people who one day woke up with wings, fangs, and fire breath. He took me aboard and put me in a hall with two people a sailor pushed me down in front of the boy, chained me to a hook and sprayed a burning water on the clamp and said,” Don’t smart off to the guards.”

He came back and through me, some seaweed covered fish. I cooked it and they where shocked. I cooked theirs too. We became friends and that is when Val came.

In the Eyes of Valerie

“Wow, that’s brutal!” I told her after she told us her story. I was shocked to know that I was not the only one there who had a background.

“Do you want to know my story?” I asked. They nodded and I started telling.

I was a sleep when I heard a loud crash I was scared, someone had broken in our house. The burglar ran in my room and screamed in agony. There was blood around my bed and feathers everywhere as he ran out the door he ran into my dad and they fell down the stairs my dad broke his arm, but the burglar did not make it, he fell on his neck and broke it. My mother called the police and when they arrived, they took my dad in for questioning. He was found not guilty and paid back him for all the damages done. The next day my mom and dad where arguing the next day. He did not like the idea of me having wings and mom was taking up for me. My parents where divorced the next week.

My mom got very sick and moved in with my aunt. She was cruel and my cousin was even worse, they made me live in the basement that was under her bedroom. She jumped on her bed and knocked dust on the chair I slept in because the bed had wholes in it. My mom was so sick that she did not realize the pain I was in. Mom was sent away to a hospital and I was left alone.

There was nothing holding them back from making my life a living nightmare. I did there chores and gardening and cooking while they went shopping and partying they never let me have a boyfriend or friends for that matter. I did the one thing I knew I had to do, I ran away. I wondered the streets and heard news of a boat leaving Boston for people called immortals, I signed up and I was shipped off on a public bus with fifty kids all going. It was a long trip and the younger kids where crying. I paid for the expenses buy working as a nurse to all of the sick kids. I was covered in puke by day and holding babies by night. I hated it, but it led me to hope.

The scariest thing that happened was the bus running into a ditch. I got all of the kids out and sat them on the grass. It was night so when some of the kids let out their tiny wings, the cars did not see them. The bus driver told us that we would have to walk so we flew. We made it and it was raining and cold.

We arrived at the boat with the words The Leslie written on the side. They loaded us up and chained us to the walls. I was across from two little boys named Michael and Peter, Michael was eleven and Peter was eight they where brothers. Other kids where chained up to wall on both sides of the corridor, but they never spoke to us. Beside me was a little girl named Anna, she was six years old and never left my side. The for us four friends, but Michael and Peter kept to themselves most of the time.

Every night the kids would cry and the guards would slap them, one night Anna missed her mother as was softly crying so that the guards would not hear her, but one did. He stormed over like a giant monster and raised his hand to slap her. When he swung at her I grabbed his wrist and twisted it until it snapped. He screamed in agony and yanked me off the wall, he pushed me down the hall and said that if he had the choice he would have killed me by now. I told him that immortals can’t die, stupid. He slapped me and more guards started pushing me down the hall. I tried as hard as I could to get back to Anna. She was crying and I did all I could to get back to her. I knew that without me, she wouldn’t last very long in this strange world. She faded in the dark and the guards shoved me into the 1^st class and chained me up beside some people. That is my story.

“Valerie, is Anna all right?” Luna asked.

“I wish I knew.” I said looking down at the floor.

I did wish that I knew if Anna was ok, but in my heart I knew that Peter and Michael would watch for her. I couldn’t tell them about how I killed a man because I was afraid that they wouldn’t trust me.

After I told my story I noticed something very odd, something was hurting my head every time I looked at Damon it was as if he was hiding something like a deep dark secret. That was it! He WAS hiding something! He was not an immortal he was a warlock. Lorraine asked him naïvely what his story was.

He started saying the biggest lie I’ve ever heard. “Uh yeah and I was pushed into like this cab and the driver had a patch over his eye and a scar on his cheek…”

“Oh what a pile of crap! Why don’t you tell everyone here who you really are Damon? If that’s your real name.” I screamed at the liar.

“What are you talking about? He is exactly what he says he is.“ Lorraine foolishly.

“Go ahead, Damon, tell them.” I said to Damon.

“All right you caught me, I’m an immortal with no powers.” he said with an ashamed look on his face.

“That’s nice, now tell them the TRUTH! I screamed impatiently.

“I am telling the truth.” he smirked.

“Guards! Guards! We have a warlock on board!” I shouted to the guards in the side corridor. The guards ran up to him and started spraying Holy water all over Damon and he screamed in agony. They had a tough time convincing Lorraine to scream to make him pass out. When I finally explained that he was going to kill us all she nodded and let out the loudest scream any one could ever imagine. He said something quietly and passed out. She cried a little and Luna asked one of the guards to get some shrinp and seaweed. We where lucky that the guard was sympathetic enough to come back with the food. He handed me the food and I peeled and devained the shrimp. Luna “grilled” the shrimp and wrapped it in fresh sea weed.Lorraine ate it slowly and sat there quietly.

”What’s an immortal?” Lorraine asked me with a sad look on her face. “It’s what we are, Rainny. Each immortal is given a special power the day that we are cursed some people have fire breathe like Luna and some people can do stuff like shrink or come invisible. We can’t die and we are given wings and long teeth that we can learn to controll when ever we want to.” I said to her hoping that it would change the subject.

“So basically we are stuck like this.”

“Yeah. Well at least until we break the curse.” I said to her with a discusted look on my face.

“What’s your power, Val?” Luna asked me with a smile on her face.

“You don’t want to here about that.” I said playfully to them.

“Yes we do!” they begged simultaneously.

“Ok Ok I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh. I can do things with my mind.” I told them blushing. “What’s yours Lorraine?”

“I don’t know. I mean my mother gave me this magical cape that blocks off any spell, but that’s not a power.” she said ashamed.

“Can I see the cape?” I smiled sweetly. The cape was soft and black with silver writing on the side in a strange language that I had never seen before. It said peace and harmony is in the knife. I looked up and told her that there was a dagger inside. She gasped and searched frantically for a dagger. I grabbed the cape before she ripped it into shreds. I closed my eyes and waved my hand over the cape, reached into the hood and pulled ot a crooked silver dagger with an emerald in the handle. It burned when I touched it, I handed it off to Rainny and it didn’t burn her.

“What can you get from this ring? Luna asked me eagerly. I read the ring and told her what it meant. It meant that she can open the passage between the two worlds with it.

“Is that all?!” she said impatiently.

I looked at her like she was crazy and said, “No, it also contains the magic to keep your fire breathe under control.”

”You mean that there is no special weapon inside of it!” she said angrily.

“No, but you breathe fire. Doesn’t that count?” I said waving my hands around. “You mean I can open paths and catch things on fire like arrows and fields. That is so awesome!” she said excitedly.

“What’s your tool?” Lorraine asked me while taking a bite out of here seaweed-shrimp.

“I have a bow-and-arrow.” I said after taking a sip of sea water.

“That’s it no special magic thingy?” Lorraine asked me.

“Uh Hello, this jewel on the handle can aim my arrow to any target I want.” I said to her.

“We need to make a promise.” Luna said to us. We all put our hands together and promised that we would be friends forever. We all agreed that if it came to the end we would stick together