Silver Prophecies

The screams echoed around the house and the vampire paced the hallway outside the room. His heart ached for the woman inside but he couldn't go in. The sight of so much blood would drive him mad. He couldn't risk that happening. After hours and hours, the screams stopped and he froze, waiting for news. There was the sound of movement from inside and a door further down the hall opened.
"You can come and see the child now, Sir." He hurried into the room and looked down at the baby in the cradle. His senses told him it was a girl and he smiled, kneeling down by her side.
"Hello little one, what is your name I wonder."
"Ariana, her name is Ariana." The voice from behind him startled him and he jumped up to see an exhausted looking woman. She stumbled and he lifted her to the bed.
"Rest now my Silver One, I will watch over you and Ariana." She nodded and smiled before closing her eyes. Her breathing slowed and the vampire kissed her forehead gently. When she was asleep, he went back to the cradle and lifted the baby into his arms. She opened her eyes and he gasped. They were purple, the same as all vampires. As she moved though, he smelt something. Warm blood flowed through her veins. He laughed and raised his daughter, the first half-vampire in the world.


Sixteen Years Later
"Come on Ari. We're going to be late." She ran to catch up with her friends and listened to their conversation.
"When's the party then Tom?" Jess was smiling at her latest crush, flicking her hair with a perfectly manicured hand. Ari rolled her eyes and looked away, not wanting them to see the hurt when Tom spoke his next words.
"I don't want her there." Taking a deep breath, Ariana looked back and smiled.
"Doesn't matter, I've got curfew and creeping back in isn't as easy as it is with your parents." Jess laughed and put an arm around Ari's shoulders.
"Do you even have a life Ari?"
"At least they let me come to this school, I couldn't last in that place all the time." Jess nodded sympathetically before going off with Tom and leaving Ari alone. She headed up to English and sat down, pulling out her books and pens. Her phone vibrated and she picked it up. It was Torin. She sighed and answered it.
"What?" her teacher walked in and watched her as she spoke.
"Sorry Torin, what did you want? Could it possibly wait? I'm at school. You know, the one you sent me to?" she listened for a few seconds and her face turned serious.
"Torin, I had no idea." She became angry and raised her voice.
"Yes Torin, because I can keep my visions secret. Do you really think that I would have kept this to myself? I'm ending this conversation now, if you haven't sorted it by when I get home, we'll discuss it then." Ariana hung up and slid her phone into her bag. Looking up, she spoke.
"Sorry about that, the idiots have decided that it's my fault when one of them goes mad." Mr Benson's eyes widened but he shook his head before turning to the rest of the class. As he started to teach, Ari ran over the phone call again in her head. One of the vamps had attacked a human. That was against the rules. She should know, she'd had them drilled into her from a young age.
"Ariana?" she looked up and narrowed her eyes on confusion.
"I asked you what we were learning about today. It's just that you don't seem to be listening."
"We were learning about English." She answered straight faced. There were a few laughs around the room but most people kept still, waiting for a response.
"Well done Ariana. Now could you tell us which particular part of English we were learning about?" shaking her head, Ari glanced around the room and focused in on someone's surface thoughts.
"We were discussing Great Expectations, again." This time there were more laughs at Mr Benson's expression. He went to the door, opened it and pointed to the hallway.
"As you obviously don't need to be in my lesson, would you kindly leave?" she nodded and stood up, taking her stuff with her. She walked into the hallway and sat down next to the door. As soon as the door shut, she pulled her phone out and texted her best friend.
-What you doing?
A reply came almost instantly.
-Nothing. Why U out of class?
She cursed silently as she texted back.
-Wasn't listening to Benson, got sent out. What's going on with T?
This time there was a long pause before she got an answer.
-Not supposed to talk about it. Tell you when you get home.
Ariana sighed and turned her phone off. For the next thirty minutes, she sat silently outside the classroom and when the bell finally went, she stood up and winced at the cramp in her legs. The class streamed out and a couple of them gave her a good luck face. She nodded and waited outside the door.
"Come in Ariana." She went in and stared at Mr Benson as he collected up the textbooks. After a few seconds, he spoke.
"This is the third time this week, it's really not good enough." She nodded and waited patiently for her turn to speak.
"If it gets much worse, I'll have to phone home. I know that you want that even less than I do." He looked at her now pale face and smiled gently, gesturing to a chair. As she sat down, she spoke.
"I don't care if you put me in detention for the rest of my life, please don't phone Torin and tell him that I'm playing up here." Mr Benson shook his head and she shut up.
"You weren't playing up today Ariana, you were distracted. Are you alright over there?" Ari stood up and glared at her teacher.
"I'm fine, and even if I wasn't, it's not like anyone could do anything about it. I'm stuck there forever because the vamps want to keep me under their eyes. I'm half-vampire Mr Benson. Nothing anyone says will change that." He stood, shocked by her outburst. She turned and marched out of the room, grabbing her bag as she went.
"Ariana!" ignoring the call from behind her, Ari started to run. She sprinted across the field and into the cemetery. Her feet led her to the small stone under the willow; she needed to speak to her parents. As she knelt down, she felt calmer. Almost as though someone was listening to her and watching over her.
"I've been searching for you for ages!" It was three hours later when someone spoke. Ari turned and smiled at her best friend. Eoin's dark brown hair had fallen into his eyes as it always did when he was worried and his purple eyes shone brighter than normal; he had just fed.
"Yeah right, like you didn't know I'd be here," he shrugged before nodding.
"It took me ages to get out; they've really tightened up on security. Torin sent me out to get you and bring you back. He needs to talk to you." She shook her head and turned back to the stone.
"I would have told him if I had seen it, the visions are confusing at the moment." Eoin knelt beside her and hugged her shoulders.
"He knows that. That is why he wants to speak to you, because he's worried about you. He may be the almighty Vampire Leader, but he has a soft spot for you. You are his half-niece." She smiled and stood up, pulling him up behind her.
"I hate being half and half sometimes, I don't fit in anywhere. The humans are scared I'll drink their blood and the vamps might drink mine. I'll come home, and I'll talk to Torin, but I don't know how much help it's going to be. He still has a rogue Vampire on the loose." Eoin fell silent and she turned to look at him. As she realised what he wasn't saying, she paled.
"He's not on the loose anymore is he?" Eoin shook his head and looked down at the ground.
"Torin put him on trial but we all know what will happen to him. He'll be burnt and then it will happen again and again until we have no vampires." Ariana hugged him and they started to walk.
"That won't happen because, something that big, I'll definitely see it coming." He grinned and took her bag from her.
"I hope that's true. It'd better be true because if we get rogue vamps, we get screaming humans with fire, and we do not want that!" Ari laughed as they approached the gates to the Vampire Compound. She took a deep breath when she saw their Leader just inside, waiting.
"Let's get this over and done with then," Eoin nodded grimly as the clang of the gates shutting echoed ominously around them.