Being The Vampire King's Cinderella

6. Young Fate (part 2)

Serene

"Donya." Unease and discomfort were heavily laced within her voice. "Doesn't this feel a bit odd to you?"

Donya shook her head, sinking further into her seat with a smile on her face. "'Course not. Kinda feels a bit...awe...some."

Donya's usually cheerful face turned into one that was relaxed and unmoving, showing that she had gone into some kind of deep slumber.

Matter of fact, everyone else seemed to be in the same state. No one was talking or moving and the only sounds that resonated were of this strange jet.

Its lights had suddenly strayed from white to red without even flickering, causing everything to look like some kind of scene from a thriller movie.

In her bewilderment, something odd was picked up by her nostrils. It smelt weird. The atmosphere around her carried a scent she didn't recognize. It smelt like, oddly enough, beauty and freedom, as if that were a thing, but at the same time smelt like twisted psychology and the remains of someone diabolical. Peaceful yet dangerous.

So weird.

What was happening to them?

She got out of her seat, then spied on the passenger in front. Anime was seated there, snoring loudly. So they were sleeping. It didn’t make sense but it was happening.

Serene stayed where she was, once again observing each person. Was she really the only one that wasn’t knocked out?

Then she noticed something strange.

Some of the persons who came on the jet with her, weren't with her.

She blinked and looked again. Yes, she was positive. The annoying Winston brothers were nowhere to be seen. Ginger's powered concealer lay in on the ground next to her seat. Serene started to feel panic bubbling in her stomach.

‘They were here weren’t they? They were right here and over there. I didn't see them leave at all. They were sitting and laughing, doing whatever without a care, so how come I can't see them now?’

Then it hit her.

‘More importantly, how come I'm not one of them?’

She had no idea why that thought came to her when it did but it was already there.

Sure enough, no feeling of drowsiness or dizziness washed over her. She felt perfectly fine.

That didn't explain why she seemed to be the only one awake.

Was it because she sensed whatever-it-was come over her? And she somehow braced herself?

Nothing made sense.

The jet rocking broke her out of her thoughts. Serene sat back down and tried to steady herself. It was nothing more than turbulence.

The shaking eased but was quickly replaced by a familiar feeling.

The feeling of an elevator going down.

The feeling of falling.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The young girl stood up and handed her the bag in her lap. Serene stared at it, figuring that she wanted her to take it but she wasn’t sure if she should.

"What is it?" She asked instead.

The young girl replied, in a small but bold voice. "You want to go to the dance, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not like I can. Believe me when I say I wish it was that simple."

It didn’t come to her to question how she knew about it. Serene simply sighed and gazed toward the floor, pushing a fallen lock out of her face and behind her ear.

"Really, ‘cause I've been sitting here for some time now and all I've been doing is listen to you whisper to yourself about going there. My name is Brendava. Take this and go!"

Serene glanced at Brendava. Was this girl actually serious?

"I can't take it!" Before Brendava could speak Serene added, "come on. Your parents can’t be too far." She stood up. "They must be worried about you. Which end of the street do you live on?"

After stretching her legs and groaning, Serene lifted her arms into the sky.

"Not talking? If you don’t then we'll have to walk until someone notices you."

Brendava said nothing. She remained silent the entire time. Serene had a feeling Brendava was upset that she wasn’t listening to her, but it’s not like she could take something from a child that she didn’t even know. Maybe she should’ve measured her words more carefully in order to spare her feelings. Children are so much more sensitive than they appear.

Brendava shouted. "You want to find out what happened to your family don't you?!"

Pause.

“…what?”

Serene watched Brendava’s cheeks burn red. The end that became of her family, everyone knew that story. She dared to bring that up?! Really? Out of everything she could’ve used to get Serene’s attention, she chose that?!

Calm down, Serene, she’s only a child. Don’t get mad at her. She probably doesn’t understand how much this affects her.

Brendava’s blue eyes grew more intense. In her opinion, the little girl didn't seem so little anymore.

"Don't you want to know what happened to Brody and your mom, Mia?"

They were in a car crash, what more was there to know?

"What?" Serene hesitantly took a step forward, glaring daggers despite her mind telling her not to. "Who are you and how do you know about my family?"

Brendava became silent.

"Brendava..." Serene took her time, not wanting to scare away the child, and stooped down in front of her. "How do you know about my family?"

"The question is, how come you don't know about your family?"

Serene was slightly taken aback. She placed a hand on her chest after feeling a burning pain there at the mere mention of her older brother's name.

"W-w-what is that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone knows what really happened to your family except, ironically, the one person that’s actually in the family."

Feeling her legs getting weak beneath her, Serene took a seat back on the wall and gazed up into the horizon. Is what she was hearing actually true, or was she using posh words to play with her emotions?

"Hey," Brendava said. "I can see that you're thinking all of this out, but I'll have to leave soon, so please listen to what I am about to say because we might not have much time left."

Serene nodded her head. "But how?"

"All I can tell you is that you'll find out if you go to the dance."

Brendava looked behind her, searching for no one in particular. But moments later Serene figured out that she must have been staring straight into the remnants of the sunset, looking at it as if she's been held hostage since forever and now she's finally found her way out.

"Look, I can't say that you'll find what you're looking for now, all that I'm saying is that if you go to the dance it'll give you a head-start."

Brendava brought her attention back to the older female who had been staring at her the whole time in bewilderment. She walked closer to her and stooped down so low that it was Serene who was looking down on the other.

For a minute there all child-like expressions were erased from her features, leaving a little girl who appeared much older than her actual years.

"There are forces at work here that you are yet to understand. Thoughts will claw through your brain like thieves in the night. Just let me tell you that before you get to fully understand anything, you must have a basic knowledge, and then build on that knowledge. You need to find out the truth about your family, Serene, and all of us are here with you. We will voluntarily look out for you and help you when you’re feeling stuck."

"Who are 'we', Brendava?" Serene asked.

"Just call me Brenda and you'll find out later on. Just know that just as you have allies, you have enemies, people who may even try to kill you."

At those words, Serene's eyes widened. Would someone really do that? For what reason?

"But sadly, you’re the only member of your family left, so you'll have to pick up where the rest of your family left off. Find both queens Serene, and save both races. This is what Brodian wanted."

Upon hearing her brother's name Serene turned to look at the one who had spoken it only to see that she wasn’t there. Surprised she nearly fell off the wall, and her hand brushed against something, causing it to fall to the ground in her stead. She lifted it up and saw that it was the bag. Serene picked it up and placed it into her lap. Inside, a dress and a mask greeted her, seemingly clean and ready to be used.

They had that new clothes smell too.

Serene let out a heavy sigh.

The sun had already gone down leaving behind trails of blue, purple, pink and orange that blended perfectly with the twinkling stars over her head. Normally when her mind was racing she would sit out here in an effort to cool down and relax, but now the realization of a day has ended and a new dawn awaking made her all the warier.

Yet.

She couldn't ignore this, could she?

Someone was out for a run, she could hear them coming down the road. Serene lifted her head in time to see that person nearly trip over their own feet. She cracked a smile, she could recognize that short bouncy hairdo anywhere.

"Remember," a voice behind her says. "For Brodian."

Turning around, the only thing there was the fence, no human being present. No Brendava either. The girl got away without her knowledge.

That sucks. She had so much more she wanted to get off her chest.

When she turned back around she was taken aback by the sight of Donya standing in front of her, hands on her knees and panting heavily.

"We," she said in between breaths. "We need to talk."

"Um, is this about that text I sent you?" Serene asked.

Donya arched her back by placing her hands on her hips and pushing her belly outwards. "Darn right it is."

"Yeah, Donya, about that... Um, listen--"

"No, you listen!" Donya exclaimed. She had finally caught her breath and was now giving her bestie an expression that meant business.

Serene was beginning to get amused despite the way she felt.

"What do you mean that you're not coming to the dance just because just wrinkled-old-lady-who's-still-trying-to-look-young-again says you can't go!"

Serene shrugged. "I know, I know. But you know her. There's nothing I can do about it, but--"

"Don't keep on telling me that you know when it's obvious that you don't!" She pointed at me with one hand on her hip. "You were meant to do great things Serene, not maid service!"

"Donya you haven't even given me a chance to talk--"

"Yeah, you better talk and tell where the hell is she I wanna give her a piece of my mind! Acting like she's oh-so-perfect she deserves a good beat down that's what she deserves!"

"Donya!" Serene yelled. In a moment Donya stopped threatening an invisible Jenifer and placed her hands by her side obediently. Her breath was cut short due to her exaggerations and she found herself drawing in air rapidly. "I'm going."

Her eyes widened and a smile made its way across her face. She brought her hands together and held them against her chest as she jumped on the pavement repeatedly. Then skipped towards Serene and gave her a hug.

Where did this girl find the energy?

"Oh, Serene, I'm so happy!" She squealed. "Did she finally let you go?" Donya asked. She ceased from hugging her choosing to lay her hands on her shoulders instead.

"Well," Serene smirked, looking at the house then back at her best friend. "Who said she needed to know?"

Donya squealed again and dragged the brunette into another embrace.

Serene refrained from telling her about her strange evening and about the little girl. She still had yet to get her head around going to the dance and possibly wasting her time then returning home to face the consequences.

The only reason she had for going was that Brendava sounded so sure, and nothing about Brody and Mom's felt logical to her.

Her mother's casket was rotting away without a body inside.

"Well, we better hurry," Donya stated, excited. "The free transport is gonna be leaving in an hour."

Someone is gonna take them there for free? Nifty. After searching the venue on Google maps nothing came up, so this helped.

Serene nodded. "Okay, just let me get something." With that, she hastily made her way towards her father's house.

"Sure," Donya yelled so she could hear. "Just make it quick!"

And that's how they ended up at that private airport and how they got on that flying machine that was way too roomy to be a jet yet at the same time was way too small to be called a plane, so most of the time Serene just ended up calling it both in exception to Donya who just said, "that's one big a*s jet!"

"You better believe it," Serene nodded.

They had started to board the jet (plane?) and Serene clenched tightly to the two bags, one of which contained the dress, and the other, items she had taken from the house. She peered down at the objects slightly before sighing and taking a seat beside Donya who sat next to a window. She was sitting steadily, lost in thought. She was probably thinking about what she would say to her boyfriend about Kimberley. After spending some time gazing at the other persons on the jet Serene saw that they all had the same idea she and Donya had: to wear something casual for the flight and change clothes after they’ve landed. Students and non-students were either sitting or walking around greeting their familiars. Throwing comments or insults to various persons. Timothy was hitting on Lousia again but as usual, she was ignoring him.

That wouldn’t stop him from trying again tomorrow though.

It wasn't long before the pilot announced through the speakers that they were about ready to take flight and that everyone should remain in their seats. And before they knew it they were all soaring towards the clouds, flying further away from the private airport and away from their small town. The scenery below them contained faint lights that would’ve seemed bright when looking through the window. The sun had set long ago but bits of moonlit rays began to shine, so they were able to make out buildings and rooftops but within a minute all those precious views were gone and they were left with nothing but dark skies and faint memories clouding their visions.

But nothing could stop the joyousness that still remained. Music was being played through the speakers and teenagers were singing and snapping their fingers to the beat while others continued to talk and do their own thing. One of Adele’s songs started playing and the air was filled with voices trying to place the lyrics into perfect notes. Serene watched all of this silently while half-listening to Donya, who had recovered from her little journey, talk. All the activities would have been amusing for her if she didn’t already have something riding her mind. Like, for example:

How can a private jet not have a TV?

Well, all of that was until the atmosphere suddenly changed into a warmer one, then changed back, a little cooler than before. That’s the exact time when the commotion in the jet ceased and Serene started to suspect something.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Well, none of that mattered right now. The jet didn't crash.

Thankfully.

Yet it did arrive an hour and a half earlier than they were informed.

The longer she thought about it the more it scared the crap out of her.

The others had waken up from that strange slumber that Serene was surely gonna ask about later, but right now all she could do was stare at the snow that was falling, and at the gorgeous palace that laid ahead of them. Oh well, there's no turning back now. Just got to keep moving forward.

Ain't that right, papa...