Shadowed Love

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The Portal and The Memories

"Hello? Grandma? Are you here?" I knocked on grandma Rosie's door. I opened the door and let myself in when no one answered.

I saw her combing her really straight hair in front of the mirror.

I smiled and walked towards the table and kissed her cheeks before sitting down and unintentionally stared at my grandma. Even at her old age, she has no white hair but rather, it's super black and straight.

'She really is beautiful.'

"Dear, am I that beautiful?" I just realized that I was staring too much but still laughed with my grandmother.

"Oh why, grandma? I'm just like you when it comes to saying such things." I said, and we laughed.

"What do you mean? I'm always beautiful. But well, your mom was all around me when she was pregnant with you, so I absolutely don’t doubt it."

We look really close, right? Well, Grandma Rosie is my grandmother's friend on my mother side. But we treat her as family. She is always invited to every family gathering and even said that I’m already like her own granddaughter.

And we also both witnessed the nightmare that night. The nightmare I would absolutely won’t forget and forgive.

"But your beauty came from the Rie's, your mom's clan, not even your nose came from your dad. However, your attitude is just like the Anatalia's, from your dad's clan, Catte." she said, as if she was really sure about our entire family. I just laughed awkwardly.

Well, what can I expect?

"Ahehehehe." Giggle is all I can do and I placed an invisible strand of hair behind my ear shyly even though my long and smooth hair was neatly tied high up.

“By the way Catte, what brought you here?” she asked with a serious face. She always laughs and jokes around, so if she has that serious face, it means that she’s really serious. No kidding.

I can see that she already has an idea about why I am here, but I’m not really sure.

“Uh……” I don’t know how to say why I visited her. She looked at me straight in the eyes and it really looked like she knew my reason. She is just waiting for me to spill it out.

“Uhm…… grandma, that night….. we both witnessed how they killed our whole family, right? And as you said, I had my father’s attitude… so I don’t want to lose… getting revenge…" She already knows who I am talking about since we were both there that night.

“Are you saying that you want to get revenge on them? Those vampires are not even here. This is not their world.” She said with worry in her eyes and tone. I guess she already knew what I wanted to do.

“Of course, I know. How can I get my revenge if they’re not even here?” I said and smirked.

“But you don’t know anything about vampires. Especially those who killed our family.” She said, and it’s obvious that she does not want me to go.

“Then I’ll study about them there.” I said with an ‘of course’ tone.

“No. There’s no guarantee that you will safely cross the portal and enter their world.” She strongly said.

“Still, we never know until we try. And I don’t even care if I arrive there safely, what I need to do is enter their world. Injured or not.” I also said it strongly. I won’t back down, I’ll definitely kill those bastards.

“Oh no, Catte. You’re not going to do it! You’re my only family! No! I don’t want them to take you!” Grandma Rosie suddenly shouted. But I can’t say I don’t understand where she is coming from. However, it’s give and take. Those vampires gave me sorrow, so I’ll also give them that.

“Huh? Who said I’m going to die? Who do they think they are? Will I just let them kill me without avenging my family? No way, grandma. No way!” I said and moved my index finger from left to right while looking at her eyes.

“And I have a feeling that I will successfully cross the portal.” I said with a ‘don’t worry’ tone. I know she can sense my determination, so in the end, she just sighed.

“Ah fine. But listen carefully to me first.” She said and took out a box from the table’s drawer. “These things originated from your ancestors. Your grandmother asked me to keep it because she said you would need it in the future. You will need these in the vampire world.” She explained and opened the box.

“What ancestors? Do you know anything about the incident?” I am confused. Why does it look like she’s hiding something from me? She just ignored my question and continued on explaining.

“That bracelet, you should always wear that and don’t ever remove it in that world. They won’t be able to smell your human scent if you wear it. It’s stretchable so you can wear it on any part of your body.” She pointed at the bracelet I’m currently wearing on my left wrist. I looked at her arm and noticed that she also had it.

Is that why the vampires didn’t find us that night? But why just me and her?

I just raised the bracelet to the highest spot on my arm. Like just below my armpit.

“This blue necklace will maintain your strength, they won’t hurt you that much. This blue necklace will be your strongest protection.” She took a round necklace out of the box.

It looks like a sun with spikes on the sides. She leaned toward me a bit and wore it on my neck. She let me grab the red necklace that was the same design as the blue one.

"However, those necklaces have their limitations. The blue necklace will endure longer than the red. You will feel its power lowering if your body feels pain. If that’s the case, then wear the red one. It means that you only have little time to stay in that world.” She added while still having a worrying look.

“Go to the seashore before the sun sets. While the sun is setting, drown yourself in the middle of the ocean. That’s where the portal to the vampire world is located.” She said, and I smiled at her.

“Come back alive, Catte. You’re the only family I have.” She said and stood up and so did I. She hugged me tightly.

“Of course, I will definitely!” I acted strong and hugged her back and laughed. But honestly, I am also scared. A trail of a single tear flowed on my cheeks.

“Your true destiny begins here. Meet and work with them.” She said and got out of the hug. Huh? I was about to ask her when I saw that it would be sunset soon, so we bid goodbye to each other.

A/N: this seriously makes me cry, how the f**k did I make this last 2019!?

--

I took a deep breath when I got on the seashore.

It’s already sunset.

I didn’t waste any time and walked towards the deep part of the ocean. It was only just on my chest's level when I suddenly tripped because of a stone.

I tried to swim back up but realized that I was an i***t. My objective is to drown myself, so why am I swimming back up? This is my chance!

But I want to drown properly!

‘I guess it’s about time to go to their world. Hahahaha. Mom, dad, older brother, younger sister, grandma, I’ll avenge you all. I can finally avenge you.’

That was my last thought before I passed out.

--

“Mom! Dad! Come on!” I heard a girl calling out to her parents. Huh? She sounds like me.

“I’ll pass. The water is too cold!” the woman said while sitting on the beachside beside her husband. They look like mom and dad.

“Hey, don’t be a kill joy now. Why even go to the beach?—woahh…!” the girl that looked like me got pulled into the ocean by another girl.

What the hell….. are these my memories of that day?

“Hahahahaha! You still can’t swim?” I saw my younger sister ask the past me who keeps on coughing because she was almost drowning.

This memory…. I can still remember this vividly………

The calm before the storm.

“Hey, mom! Look! Rhian keeps on pulling me under the water!” I saw my past self running towards my parents but got pulled into the water by my younger sister. It caused a big splash and the scene quickly changed.

“Catte, are you having fun in your school?” I heard my dad asking my past self while currently eating dinner at the dining table. “Yep, I am actually known even at other grade levels.” The past me brag.

“You? Famous? That’s great, Catte.” My older brother sarcastically commented.

This scene…. This conversation….

“No guys, hide! Hide! f*****g hide!” I tried to shout and touch them but I’m just going through them.

“Just remember Catte, we will always love you and we will never leave your side. Ever.” I saw my mom hug me from the side.

“Noooo!!!!!” I shouted, but they didn’t hear me.

I still tried to touch them but someone grabbed me and ran.

Then it all went blank.