The Divinity Saga: Part I

First Night In

"So tonight was fun.” I giggled. 

“Very, thanks for joining me for dinner” She joked back. 

“Anytime.” I smiled. 

I leaned over to kiss her. Her lips met mine and our lips fit so perfectly as if they were made for each other. 

I pulled away shyly. 

“Well, I better get inside.” I said blushing. 

I climbed out of the car and walked over to Atia's window.

“See you tomorrow morning?” she asked me. 

“Of course” I smiled. 

I really wanted her to spend the night but I couldn’t ask her. Why was I such a coward now when I just killed two people in one day with no remorse?

She leaned her head out the window, and gave me one last kiss goodnight. 

“Goodnight.” I whispered and headed up my front porch.

I glanced back at her one last time before closing the door behind myself.

 I knew we weren’t a couple, but it felt like it. She was so amazing and she understood me the way no one else did. I don’t want to move too fast, but then again, we just killed another person how much faster could we move?

My phone ringing cut off my thoughts. 

“Rayleigh.” Chrissy said hysterically. 

“Yeah?” I said rubbing my eyes. 

“Can I come over?” She sniffled. 

“Sure, why?” I asked concerned.

“Aaron and I broke up. For good.” She broke down. 

“Of course. You have your key, and I’ll turn on Annie.” I promised. 

That was our favorite movie to watch when we were sad. Most people liked titanic or the notebook, we liked Annie. I think it was because we had both been abandoned by our parents in one way or the other.

“I’ll be there in 20.” She cried. 

15 minutes later I heard Chrissy’s feet shuffling up my stairs. My throat ached but I kept my composure.

“What happened?” I asked her as I saw her silhouette enter my room.

 My throat began to ache immediately, but I forced my craving down. I needed to be here for her, my blood thirst aside. 

“He broke up with me.” She cried loudly. “So I broke into my mom’s liquor cabinet and drank myself into depression and now I’m here.” Her voice cracked.

“Its okay, Shhh.” I tried to calm her. “What happened?” I asked concerned. 

Chrissy explained how Aaron broke her heart while Annie played in the background. He told her he wanted to experience other people and that she wasn't really playing a positive role to his future goals. 

It was four in the morning by the time I calmed her down and I was truly exhausted.

My alarm went off loud and clear at 5:30 A.M exactly and startled me out of my short sleep. I quickly turned it off so it wouldn’t wake Chrissy, but she didn’t even notice.

I knew what time it was and what I had to face today. 

School, humans - their sweet smells lingering when they walk past me. I am not ready nor am I strong enough for this, but I know that I am an honor roll student and I cannot miss anymore school if I want to maintain my GPA, and to keep the school from calling my Nana and have her rushing home from her trip. 

I remembered my phone vibrated last night. I reached over Chrissy and grabbed my phone off my nightstand and opened the text, and it was from Atia. 

It read, “Had a good time tonight. Remind me how I got so lucky? Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning.” I grinned at my screen like a middle school girl with her first crush. 

“Wake up!” I shook Chrissy awake.

“I’m up, I’m up.” She groaned. 

“I’m getting in the shower, you can use the hallway one, or the one downstairs, it has that conditioner you like.” I bribed her.

“I’ll be downstairs.” She smiled as she sat up. “Do you still have my stuff here or did you throw it all away when Atia came in the picture? Have I been replaced?”

“Are you still drunk?” I folded my arms. “Of course your stuff is still here.” I pointed.

“Good." She smiled proudly, "And no I’m not drunk, I’m actually a bit hungover.” She whined. 

“Shop in my closet I have stuff to make a  perfect hangover outfit.” I laughed as I walked into my bathroom. 

“I’m sure you do.” She grabbed her things and headed downstairs.

I stood in the shower imagining how the day was going to go. I knew it would most likely be a train wreck. I should probably eat before school starts because I couldn't imagine hunting alone. 

Still wrapped in my robe I walked into my closet to pick out clothes. I grabbed jeans, a crop top , my black leather jacket, and got dressed as I worked my way to my vanity. I sat down in the chair to do my hair. It was a quick procedure but of course I made it complicated and longer than what it had to be. 

After the most ridiculous difficult decision I put my hair in a bun nice and neat, grabbed my things and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“You look cute today!” Chrissy smiled as she walked out the bathroom in her robe. 

“Thanks, Can you get ready for school? We’re going to be late.” I complained.

“Yes Ma’am.” She joked.

“Hurry up!” I sighed as I took a bite of my bland meal.

For the next 30 minutes as she got ready, I sat at the table pretending that Nana was sitting across the table from me, eating her oatmeal and dry toast smiling. I missed her so much.

Chrissy stormed downstairs with dingy jeans, an oversized sweater and sunglasses resting in her messy bun.

“Don’t say a word.” She warned.

She never went to school like this. She was always the one to act like it was a pageant or something. Always looking like she was more of Stars' friend than mine, causing me to be constantly self conscious. 

 “Time for school.” I said as I slid my shoes on as we walked out the front door. 

"Do you think I could drive today?" Chrissy grinned.

"Definitely not." I laughed at the thought. 

“Hey.” I heard a man call after me as I opened my car door. 

“Yeah?” I responded back not knowing who it was.

I heard footsteps approach my car. We climbed in and locked my doors.

“Hey Rayleigh, it’s me Benny.” He waved.

Benny was my lifetime neighbor and  has been close to my family since before I was born. He was my mom’s first love and was always compelled to look after me and I allowed him. He was the only man I let close enough to know me, partially. 

“Oh, hey Benny.” I rolled down my windows to greet him. 

“How are you this morning?” He smiled. 

“I’m good” I lied.

“That’s good.” He nodded.

“Yeah.” I said, but that only made the conversation awkward. At least for me. 

“Have you seen this girl?” He handed me a flyer with big bold letters ‘Missing girl. Please help.’ I already knew who it was I didn’t need to look at the picture. My stomach dropped to my feet and my throat instantly got dry.

“Elsa’s missing?” I asked pretending to be shocked.

“Yes. For about a week or so I think.” He said with sadness.  

He had no idea what he was talking about. Our town had a 96 hour minimum to file a missing person and it hadn't even been 72 hours yet. I'm sure Elsa's mom found a loophole by just being her overbearing self. 

“No, but I’ll keep my eyes out for her and I’ll tell my friends too, she was truly a wonderful person.” 

"Was?" He caught my slip.

"What?" I asked pretending to seem confused. 

"You said she was a good person." He stared at me.

"I meant is. Sorry, my brain is groggy in the morning." I pretended to be flustered.

“Okay well have a good day at school.” He smiled.

“Thank you. Bye.” I said with a smile so fake you could hear the plastic in my tone. 

I backed out of my driveway and drove to school.

“Rayleigh it’s so cold in here, what the f?” Chrissy complained as she rubbed her hands together trying to keep them warm until the heater kicked in. “I know I had a breakdown last night, but I’m semi back. Dude, what’s wrong with you? You look so pale, but flawless. Did you get a new shade of concealer without telling me?” 

“Mm.” I nodded. 

I watched her veins in her neck as she stared at me. I thought I was getting used to her smell, but I was starving right now. 

“I mean I haven’t seen you in like a week and let’s not forget you completely ignoring me and ditching me at the party and – “ 

“Okay, I get it.” I cut her off “I have been M.I.A but I’m back now.” 

"Did you at least miss me?" She rolled her eyes.

“Of course I missed you!” I smiled.

"Yay!" She shrieked, “Okay let me fill you in on school drama that you missed.” 

She went on and on about our classmate drama and I pretended to care. I had my hands clenched to the steering wheel trying to hold back my tears of hunger and desperation. The drive to school was too short for my thoughts to process themselves. 

As soon as I pulled into the school parking lot I was so overwhelmed with all the different blood type aromas, some sweeter than others. My throat had the same painful glass feeling as the first day I smelled human blood as a vampire. I just wanted to go home. I parked in my usual spot and rested my head on the steering wheel. 

 Chrissy looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.

“Eff it, let’s get to class.” She shrugged at her appearance.

“Right, class.” I frowned. 

I took a deep breath, held it in, and hopped out my car. 

"Ray, look." She pointed to Atia's car across from us.

Atia made eye contact with me and my heart dropped.

“I’ll just see you in class.” I assured Chrissy. 

“Okay.” She  walked away smirking.

Chrissy always knew how to take a hint.

My heart began to pound as Atia got out of her car and started walking towards me. I stood there frozen. I watched her every move, and examined every part of her body. When I was with her my heart beat faster. I’m sure she could hear it, that’s probably why she smiles so hard when she sees me. She looked perfect today, her beautiful complexion would only be less perfect if she wore makeup. Her curls were perfectly spiral and her eyes were sparkling, she had a different look to her than when I met her. She looked relaxed and bubbly, less alert and more comfortable. I was so happy to see her that the smell of blood around me that I was so concerned about wanting, didn’t seem as important, and the burning in my throat didn’t seem as bad. The only thing that mattered in this moment was Atia.

“Hi there.” I said flirtatiously as she approached me. 

Before I knew it she grabbed me by the back of my head and locked her lips on mine. I felt everyone staring including Star. I don’t know if everyone got quiet, or if I tuned everything out because kissing Atia was beyond perfect and the moments we spent kissing were better than the moment’s I’ve spent living. We pulled away from each other smiling, everyone looked away as if they weren’t just watching us, but it was obvious they were. We joined hands and walked into the double doors into the hallway, and stopped at my locker.

 I felt everyone walking behind us watching our moves. I could smell the blood types trailing and the healthy heartbeats in my ears. I tried to ignore them as much as possible. Everyone in the hallway was staring and whispering. Atia gently pushed me against my locker and we gave them something to talk about.

“Well aren’t you guys cute” Chrissy walked up to us sniffling.

I broke the kiss and everyone who was watching faded away.

“What’s wrong with her?” Atia whispered to me, her arms still wrapped around my waist. 

“She and Aaron broke up last night.” I whispered back. 

“I know you’re talking about me, its fine. Everyone is.” She opened up her locker and grabbed her Spanish book and slammed it shut. 

“Are you okay?” Atia asked concerned.

“I’ll be fine.” She whined. “I just-“ She ran off crying into the girl’s bathroom. 

“I’ll see you after class?” I smiled and turned away.

She caught me by my wrist and pulled me close.

“I’ll miss you.” She promised. 

As soon as I walked in I could hear Chrissy weeping. I followed her whimpers to the last stall. That was our favorite stall because no one knew how to get in or out of it but the two of us.

“Chrissy.” I knocked on the stall door. “It’s me.” 

I walked in to see her in the corner sobbing. Her face was completely red and her facial expression would make anyone's eyes water. I walked over and wrapped my arms around her.

She decided to ditch school and hide out at my house, too embarrassed to face Aaron or his obnoxious crew. I drove her home and made it back to school only 30 minutes late for 1st period.

I ran down the hall to my locker and grabbed my science book. 

"No running in the halls." Dorfman said as I sped walk past him.

"Sorry." I slowed all the way down to a eager walk until no longer in his sight and continued running to my class. 

As I peeked into the open door I could see Mr. Peterson's back facing me, I took the opportunity and tried to tiptoe to my seat but before I could sit down, I was caught.

“Glad you could finally join us” He frowned.

“Sorry.” I said softly as I took my seat.

"Now pay attention." He returned to the board.

Sadly, There was nothing to pay attention to. He taught nothing. I would love to be distracted from the temptation around me. I sat there holding my breath for as long as I could until I was sure my face was purple, I’d catch my breath and do it again. My throat burned and I couldn’t hear Peterson's voice over the pounding heartbeats in my ears.

“Pop quiz!” Peterson shouted, interrupting my daydream. We all practically jumped out of our seats from startlement.

“No.” We groaned. 

“Yes! That’s the sound I love to hear, shows me none of you are prepared. Easy grading.” He snickered.

Of course I wasn’t prepared. I had no idea what we learned about last week, I sat there ready to fail. 

He walked around handing out tests to everyone. I watched everyone sigh and pout. Some we’re nervous which made their heartbeats pick up while the others stayed calm.

Mr. P reached to hand me my test as a vision flashed through my mind of ripping his throat out. I reached for my paper, my hand still shaking. 

“Are you okay?” He asked me smiling.

“Yes, I’m fine.” I said in pain, talking only made my hunger worse.

“You’ll do great. You’re one of my favorite students.” He smiled. 

I smiled and nodded, I just wanted him to leave my presence, and take the whole class with him. I needed to focus on this test. 

I looked down at my paper and wrote my name at the top, my hands still shaky but it was legible. 

 I was about to start my test when I saw an arrow at the bottom of the page, I flipped it over and there was test answers. I looked up at Mr. P  who was already grinning at me. 

I wonder what his motives were? Either way, I was more offended than flattered. I didn’t need anyone’s help or pity. I’d rather try my best and fail  than to get a grade I didn’t deserve. 

I didn’t bother looking at the answers. I tried my best, finished my test and rushed out of there. That was the best thing about P’s pop quizzes you can leave as soon as you’re done. 

I stormed into the girls bathroom with tears in my eyes. I quickly looked down and rushed to the sink. I splashed my face with water and tried to catch my breath again. 

A girl standing at the sink stared over at me as I stood there panting.

“Are you okay?” She asked concerned. 

“I’m fine.” I said, my throat feeling like glass.  “Can you get out?” I asked her nicely, trying to hold my composure.

“Excuse me?” She said confused.

“Seriously, get out!” I yelled. 

I couldn’t kill her, and I couldn’t have her trapped in here with me. 

“Weirdo” She flipped her hair and walked out the bathroom.

I closed myself in the same stall Chrissy was in, curled into a ball similar to hers and began to cry. I was losing it. I needed to gain control back, before I do something that I’d regret. I needed Atia to keep me level headed and positive. She was the good in me, and when she’s away all I see is the monster I’ve become.

The bell ringing woke me from my doze off. I quickly stood to my feet alarmed. I opened the stall door and rushed over to the sinks. I literally had two seconds to fix myself in private before a stampede rushed in to fix their pubescent imperfections.

A tall blonde girl rushed to the mirrors. She pulled out her make-up bag and began to reapply. I stared down at my sink and scrubbed my clean hands.

“Hey, you’re really pretty.” She said to me as she put on mascara under her glasses.

“Thank you” I smiled uncomfortably. 

“You’re Atia’s girlfriend right?” She turned and looked at me. 

I just smiled.

I didn’t know what to say, I froze. Was I her girlfriend? It was never said. All I knew was she was mine, and I was definitely hers. 

“I take that as a yes, I mean you two are already talk of Portland Oaks, I think you’re even in the school newspaper. You should run for winter formal Princess. You would definitely take the crown, literally." She smiled. "I mean look at you, you're gorgeous. It's no wonder Atia chose you." She smiled and walked out as the flock of girls flooded in.

I walked out of the bathroom to go to 2nd period. When I got to my class there was different students in the room. I looked down at my watch to see that it was lunch and I already missed second period.

I headed for the cafeteria. Chrissy wasn’t here, I had no one to leave and go to lunch with, or split a veggie burger with, I had other friends but none like Christina. 

I pulled opened the double doors and the smell was overwhelming, the scent of sweet blood and the sound of healthy heartbeats made my throat swell inside. I tried my best to keep my composure and walk over to my table. 

I pulled my phone out as I sat down, I went to text Chrissy but she already texted me. 

“Hey, she made me promise not to tell you, but nana is back! We’re going out for lunch now, and she wants to have a bonfire later so we’re going to get wood too. See you when you get home!” 

I smiled wide, Nana was back and I was ecstatic. That one message made everything around me feel so minor. I sat there smiling until I realized Elsa's remains were still in the pit. My day just went from made to destroyed in a matter of milliseconds. I needed to grab Atia and get home before they did. 

I scanned the entire cafeteria for Atia, she was nowhere to be found. I sat there panicking silently, where was she?

“Why aren’t you sitting with your girlfriend?” Josh teased. 

I sat there with a comeback so sinister it would spill his secret about Chrissy he's had since the 9th grade.

I heard the cafeteria doors open, before I could look - I could smell who it was.

 Finally. I was so excited to see her but I felt sick to my stomach at the same time. We needed to go, now. There was no socializing or getting food, making-out for the crowd to see, and possibly getting a PDA slip, we needed to get to my house, and I intended to at all cost. We we’re ditching, again.

I sat there waiting for Atia to approach me. She walked over to me, her face looked worrisome. I hope the expression on my face didn’t show what I was feeling on the inside. I tried my best to keep my composure for Atia and the crowd of people watching us. 

I faked a smile. 

“Hi, is everything okay?” she asked concerned as she sat next to me.

“Yeah, it's fine.” I lied as I stared at the crowd of people who were watching us. I needed to figure a way to tell her without telling the whole school as well.

“Are you hungry? Have you ate yet?” She asked putting her hand on my thigh, giving a mini show to our fans. 

“I’m starving actually. You know, nothing looks good today. Want to go out for lunch?” I asked hoping that she would take the hint that I needed to talk to her in private.

“Yeah.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me away.

We walked through the cafeteria and down the hallways. 

“Aren't you going to tell Ava you’re leaving?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah, I’ll put my keys in her locker so she can drive home.” She promised.

“She’d love that.” I chuckled as we stopped at Ava’s locker then headed for the parking lot.

“So, we are in the clear now. Are you going to tell me what this is all about?  I know this isn't just a spontaneous lunch date, although I do not mind the ditching.” She said as we walked across the parking lot. 

"I'd rather show you." I said we got into my car and sped home.

We got there within 5 minutes so I didn't bother putting my seatbelt on. We climbed out of the car and I ran up my steps and to my door. I tried to slow down but it was too late. I crashed into my door nose first. 

It was clear I  wasn’t used to the whole vampire running power trip just yet.

“I remember those days” Atia giggled. "You okay?"

“I’m fine.” I smiled embarrassed.

I unlocked my door and we walked in. I could tell my nana had been here recently. I could smell her, her sweet scent. Not even her blood, that too, but more so her presence. My smile faded as I slammed the door behind us.

“So what’s going on?” She asked confused. 

“Okay so...” I started “Good news or bad news first?"

"Just tell me all at once." She sighed heavily. 

"Chrissy texted me that my nana was at home-"

"That's great!" She smiled. 

"But," I stopped her excitement, "We're going to have a bonfire later and we haven’t done anything with Elsa’s remains yet.” I said frantically. 

“How long do we have before they get back?" She asked nervously. 

"I'm not sure. Chrissy said they were going to lunch and getting wood, so-"

"About an hour, maybe a little less." She cut me off smiling. 

"Let's clean up our leftovers shall we?" I reached for her hand.

We walked to my kitchen and grabbed all necessary supplies to erase our mess, and quickly headed for my backyard. I was determined to get this done. 

As we walked over to the pit we were greeted by burnt bones, and residue plastered to the inside. We put on our gloves and began to work. We put all the bones and ashes into trash bags, and Atia hosed the pit down with bleach and hot water afterwards. I began to scrub the pit until it was pristine. I couldn’t help but feel like I was forgetting pieces of her. Like she was still lingering around.

“Rayleigh, it's clean now.” Atia bent over to grab me. 

“No its not. Not yet.” I whispered. 

“She’s gone. No one will find her here.” She promised as she grabbed the brush from me and forced me to stand.

“What do we do with the trash bags?” I asked her. 

“Let’s bury it, that’s all we really can do in a short amount of time.” She assured me.

We grabbed two shovels from my shed and headed deep into the woods. You could see the woods from my backyard, everyone’s backyard actually, if they lived on this side of town. We were going to bury them and  Atia knew exactly where she was going, so I followed. We ran there so fast it felt like I wasn't even moving, it was amazing. I felt so free.  

She stopped me by this big oak tree in the middle of the woods. I could smell animals, fresh live ones. They smelled completely different than humans, their scent was less appealing. We began to dig a hole deep enough for the bags to fit. We threw the bags in the hole and covered it back up with dirt. The snow began to fall, I stood there waiting for Atia’s next move. 

I saw a deer out the corner of my eye but I knew now wasn’t the time to eat. 

“Let’s go home.” I said. "We're still trying to beat them."

We ran back home and hurried up stairs to wash away the evidence.

As soon as I got out the shower I heard a car pull up in the driveway. I walked into my room where Atia was already showered and sitting on my bed waiting for me. 

 “Rayleigh!” I heard Nana yell. “Come help Chrissy with the groceries.” 

“Wait here.” I smiled at Atia.

I ran down the stairs and out the door.

“Hey Ray.” Chrissy smiled at me as she walked back to the house with her arms full.

“Where’s Nana?” I asked her rhetorically. I knew exactly where she was, I could smell her.

“She’s in the kitchen I think, she’s cooking tonight.” She shouted from the doorway. 

I grabbed the rest of the groceries and walked inside. 

There Nana stood, so perfect and just how I remembered her. I smelled her scent before her blood which is the first time I could say that with direct human contact. I sat the bags down on the counter and stood facing her.

“Rayleigh.” Her eyes sparkled.