Forsaken (Book #1)

After the unexpected – and unwelcome – visit from Lucian the rest of the night passed in an uneventful blur. Sleep when it finally came to me, felt brief. I was haunted with dreams of battles and blood, cries of anguish, and carnage. Upon waking, I headed downstairs and grabbed the book, flipping to one of the pages.

The book had a lot of pictures of battles and what had been in my dream earlier had seemed familiar. Like I had seen it before. Flipping through the pages I stopped on one familiar one. A city loomed in the background silhouetted by fires burning across the battleground. Ilya was standing in the middle of the battlefield, clutching a torch in one hand and a sword in the other. Beside her stood a large gray wolf with burning red eyes, and on her other side was a pale man with vibrant purple eyes.

On the other side of the picture was a horde of people dressed in black. My eyes roved over the picture. Looking at it now, it seemed remarkably similar to the dream that I had. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. Even with all the proof that Grayson had given me it was hard to believe still that New Haven, and the Afterdark were actual things that existed. That Werewolves, Vampires, Witches, and the like weren’t just made-up. That they were real.

It was unbelievable.

In a matter of days, my whole life has changed. On the eve of my 17^th birthday, I started to see things that really weren’t there. And then a few days later I find out that I’m a descendant of this ultra-powerful, amazing Valkyrie named Ilya. And now I have to save a whole community of supernatural creatures, as another supernatural community tries to raise a demon on Halloween. At the same time that they want to raise the demon, I’m supposed to be at Cassie’s party.

Grayson had these high expectations of me. New Haven had these high expectations of me and I honestly didn’t think that I would live up to their expectations. They expected that I’d be able to fight these master assassins and stop a demon from rising. I had no experience with anything like this or with fighting. Yet they expected me to be able to defend myself and them.

How?

How was I supposed to do that?

The doorbell rang and I hopped off of the stool that I had been sitting on heading to the door. I was hoping that I would see Grayson instead of Lucian. Lucian was undoubtedly attractive but he scared the crap out of me. And the fact that he was probably going to try to kill me at some point in my life was also a major turn off. Opening the door slowly I relaxed when I saw familiar purple eyes and dark hair.

Thank God it was Grayson.

“Can I come in?” He asked. Then without waiting for a reply, he brushed past me and walked into the house.

Today he was wearing a leather jacket and jeans. He looked more dangerous today and anxiety clawed at my insides. Something had happened. Bags were underneath his eyes and his face was filled with anxiety.

“What happened?” I asked him, staring at him with concern.

“There was an attack. Close to here.” Grayson said shifting on his feet. “We need to go.”

“Go?” I repeated. “What do you mean, go?”

“Go. As in leave.” Grayson snapped. “You’re not safe here, and I’m not safe here.”

“Obviously I’m not safe here!” I exploded. I took a deep breath. In a much calmer voice I said, “Lucian showed up last night Grayson. And you, my supposed to be protector was nowhere in sight. Clearly, if Lucian can just show up and you don’t even know about it then I’m not that safe.”

“Lucian was here?” Grayson said surprised.

I nodded emphatically. The expression on Grayson’s face darkened considerably and he looked murderous. I eyed him, watching his reaction. His reaction wasn’t just from Lucian being near me – although that was probably part of it. No, Grayson and Lucian had bad blood. There was a reason that Grayson hated Lucian. It wasn’t just because Lucian had been near me.

“What did he say?” Grayson questioned anger thinly veiled in his voice.

“Just wanted to know exactly what you told me.” I answered. He scowled deeper. “Why do you hate him?”

“What?” Grayson looked at, evidently surprised that I had been so blunt.

“Why do you hate Lucian?” I clarified.

He didn’t reply, just crossed his arms and looked around the room. I sighed. Fine, if he didn’t want to answer me then I wouldn’t press him. But I didn’t want his hatred for Lucian to get him killed one day. Even though I hadn’t known Grayson for that long, I cared about him a lot.

He was handsome, and he was also very kind – from what I had seen – additionally, he was going to my protector. It was imperative that we get along at least a little bit.

“We have to go.” Grayson said hurriedly.

“Go where?” I asked. “Where can we possibly go?” He didn’t answer. “Look, Grayson I would really like to preserve my life for as long as possible but we can’t just up and leave. I have friends here and my parents are supposed to come back in a week. If I’m not here there will be hell to pay. So look, I’m sorry but we can’t go.”

“We have to.” Grayson said. “You don’t get it. You’ve been living as a human too long-”

“That’s because up until you came into my life, I thought I was human!” I interrupted him. “I understand that my life is probably in danger, yada, yada, yada. But I can’t just drop my life here. That’s not an option. So we better find a way to protect me and train me to fight whatever I need to fight here, because I’m not leaving.”

Grayson narrowed his eyes at me, evidently anger and not pleased with what I had said. But I wasn’t budging. It was absolutely ludicrous for him to think that I would just drop my life here and go into hiding or something. That wasn’t something that I was able to do. Not only would everyone in my life be worried – and possibly come find me – but it’d be really hard to hide too. No, it was better if we stayed here instead of running from our problems.

I looked away from Grayson awkwardly. He didn’t agree. But what else did he expect? This was new to me. I had never been in a situation like this before; even so I wasn’t going to let him boss me around. This was my life – all of this revolved around me – and so I was going to make sure that I had a say in what was happening.

“Calla you aren’t-” Grayson said. Upon a warning look that I gave him, he fell silent. He tried again, “You’re in danger. I don’t think that you truly understand the risks. To you and to those around you.”

The danger to the people surrounding me in my life admittedly wasn’t something that I had thought a lot about. That seemed truly awful but at the time I was more concerned about possibly being crazy and then, figuring out how I fit into this mess. How I was going to fix it and learning more about the strange world that I was thrust into.

I hadn’t stopped to consider how everyone else in my life would be affected. I had only been thinking about myself. How selfish was I? Apparently very.

“Calla, we have to go. Get a bag packed.” Grayson said.

He assumed that I was in agreement. To a certain extent I was but just leaving without telling anyone would be the wrong choice. Even if I told someone the answer would still be cryptic and everyone would worry. They’d try to come and find me which would put them in more danger. That was the last thing that I wanted.

We had to stay here. That was nonnegotiable but we also had to find a way to make sure that everyone I knew would be protected.

“No. We stay.” I said my voice firm. “We just have to find a way to protect everyone.”

After a brief moment, Grayson sighed. “I know someone.”

* * * * *

The person that Grayson knew turned out to be a Witch. He had decided to call the Witch and after talking to her, informed me that she would be coming by to fashion protective charms for anyone that I wanted. An exorbitant amount of relief had flooded through my body after he had said that. My family – and friends – would be protected. They’d still be in some danger but not much.

The wait for the Witch was excruciating. I thought that she was taking a little bit too long. I was starting to get antsy. I wanted these charms as soon as possible and as the hours passed I was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t show up.

“She’ll be here Calla, you just have to be patient.” Grayson said as I began to pace. “Stop pacing.”

“I can’t help it.” I shot back. “I’m nervous. What if she doesn’t show?”

“She’ll show Calla. But pacing isn’t going to make her appear any faster.” Grayson told me.

After he had finished speaking the doorbell rang. I sped to the door throwing it open. My eyes widened. I don’t know what I expected to see – probably an old woman with gray or white hair – but this wasn’t it. This girl couldn’t possibly be the Witch. She looked too delicate for that.

She was petite in build with porcelain skin, and wide blue eyes. Her hair was blonde and curled into perfect ringlets. She looked like a doll. The girl looked nervous as she stared at me. Her eyes stared at something over my shoulder and then she was brushing past me at a near run.

I turned around just as she slammed into Grayson, her arms wrapping around his waist in a hug. Grayson chuckled a smile appearing on his face as he wrapped his arms around her. For a moment it seemed that the two forget that I was even in the room as they remained in an embrace for several minutes.

When they separated, the girl once again wiped her hands on her dress. Then she cast a furtive glance at me. Grayson rested his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me. Seeing them so familiar with each other sent a sharp, uncomfortable feeling through me.

“Anais, this is Calla. Calla this is Anais.” Grayson said introducing us.

“Pleasure.” Anais said cordially. “You’re supposed to be Ilya’s descendant then?”

“Yes.” I answered back coldly.

“Hmm…” Anais hummed. She looked unimpressed. “Well,” she sniffed, “I’ll set to work making the protection charms.”

“Thank you.” I said as sincerely as I could trying to hide my disdain for her.

If someone asked me why I hated her, I wouldn’t be able to tell them why. I just did. Maybe it was something to do with the way she was uber-friendly with Grayson or maybe it was just my subconscious saying that she was not to be trusted. But for whatever reason I did not like Anais. Not one bit.

She seemed nice enough but I didn’t like her. And she didn’t like me that was obvious. Every so often I would catch her shooting scrutinizing and venomous glares my way. Sometimes, she would comment on Ilya and from the tone of her voice I knew that she was judging me and silently comparing me to my long-dead ancestor.

After one particularly snide comment, I snapped.

“I’m sorry that you don’t like me and that I can’t possibly compare to Ilya – not like you even knew her – but I only found out that I was a Valkyrie and her descendant a couple days ago. This is all new to me and I would really appreciate it if you would stop acting like a bitch.” I snarled, my fists clenching as I glared daggers at the Witch.

Anais just raised an eyebrow delicately. Then a small smile appeared on her face. “Well,” she declared happily, “you do have some fire in you after all.” Then her tone softened, “I’m sorry for treating you horribly but Ilya had a spark within her and I wanted to see if you had that same spark. That fire in you.”

“By being a horrible person.” I summarized.

Anais winced as if I had physically wounded her. “Well obviously not my greatest plan, but I had to see. I still don’t like you but I’m a little more inclined to trust you now that I know that you aren’t an ungrateful, spineless wench.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. She had used the word wench. Seriously, who even used that word anymore? No one since the Middle Ages.

“How are the charms coming?” Grayson interjected swiftly changing the subject.

Anais’s cheeks flushed becoming bright red and she gave a light little giggle. “Perfectly fine thank you Gray,” she simpered batting her lashes at him.

Gag me.

Looking at Grayson I was pleased to see that he looked a little uncomfortable with Anais’s flirting. He glanced at me, and then looked down at the floor stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. I glanced at Anais who was staring at the concoction of herbs she had brought with a look of intense concentration. I walked over to Grayson and stood near him. Standing this close to him I could smell a scent that was distinctly Grayson. Sandalwood and axe.

“Are you okay?” I asked him quietly, keeping an eye on Anais as she took the herbs off of the counter and began laying them on the floor.

“Yeah,” He answered back just as quiet. “Just a little uncomfortable with Anais’s incessant flirting. It’s something that she’s done ever since we became teens. No matter what happens she won’t stop.”

He sounded a little confused and lost. I laughed a little and he looked at me, raising his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, you just sounded so confused.” I said after I was done laughing. “She’s flirting with you because she’s romantically interested in you dummy. How do you not know that?”

“In…New Haven, marriages are predetermined. No one gets a choice in who they want to marry or who they want to love.” Grayson divulged. “Interactions common to humans like flirting and dating are almost like a taboo.”

“Sounds kind of archaic.” I commented. “So…Who you’ll marry is set in stone, then? You don’t get a choice. You’ll just be told that you will marry this person, and you don’t get a choice. You have to do it.”

“Yes.” Grayson said with a nod of his head.

I frowned. While New Haven sounded much, much better than the Afterdark – from what I had heard anyways – this whole arranged marriage thing got under my skin. Having lived in the 21^st Century where women were practically equal with men, the idea of an arranged marriage and predetermined life choices didn’t set well with me. They were taking your choice and I couldn’t really believe that they were letting this happen. I knew that I wouldn’t.

Women for so long had fought for their independence but in New Haven, they didn’t have it. They were fully under the control of the government.

“I know that you don’t like the sound of it, Calla but this is the way that it has been for centuries.” Grayson said. “You won’t be able to change it.”

“Maybe not. But if I’m supposed to be New Haven’s savior, I’m sure going to try.”