Prologue

The cool of the night air swept through the dark forest its raw breath kissing the black trees' gnarly limbs before rushing up to the decrepit castle's balcony to meet Terrence's chilled skin. Purple tinted lips parted delicately to inhale the fresh gust while fathomless black eyes shut behind thin gray eyelids. An ever soft whirring accompanied the trickling tones of the small silver music box that rested on the table behind him. Its sad melody diffused through the still atmosphere in its lulling attitude.

Lifting a bony wrist, the spindly hand trailing behind, he swayed his long fingers back and forth with an effortless grace that seemed almost too smooth. The whine of Scarlette’s violin joined the music box in harmony from where she played atop a cracking tombstone in the cemetery at the base of the cliff.

He carried on for a while; secretly conducting his invisible orchestra with a hint of what could only be called playfulness across his sharp angled face. But soon his features melted into a morose expression and he dropped his hand to the stone balcony. The dark eyes revealed themselves again, peering out from under a thick arch of black lashes. His chest heaved beneath its torn silk shirt as a sigh escaped from somewhere deep within him.

A cold thought that had been nagging at him for a while now, made itself known once more. This was it. It didn’t get any better or worse from here. The path ahead of him was a long, dreary, and repetitive one. Lonely. Eternity, once a deliciously enticing dream, was now laughing in his face. It was time to accept fate, and give up.

The inward battle of his thoughts was interrupted by a new sound. So familiar to him, yet he was stunned to hear its foreign tones here. A scream.

Saliva pooling in his already watering mouth, Terrence lifted his head higher in the air, inhaling more deeply. The scent hit him so hard, he was nearly sent reeling. He felt drunk off of it, his mind suddenly clouded with the intoxicatingly wonderful smell of… of… yes! It was young blood.

With a sudden animal ferocity, Terrence leapt from the balcony with a snarl, rushing towards the bruised ground rapidly. He landed delicately, the impact not even causing him to blink. Scarlette paused in her haunting song for a moment. Terrence rushed past her and flashed her a look that she read immediately. This one’s mine. She slowly resumed playing, licking her lips a little hungrily.

It wasn’t hard to find her; her scent was so incredibly distinct, so vivid among the other smells of the forest. Terrence swiftly ran towards her, halting noiselessly at the edge of the clearing. A smile crept across his lips, showing staggeringly white teeth and abnormally large canines as he stared at the girl before him. She stood bathed in the moonlight, her pale white dress tattered and shredded, her dark brown hair, haloed with wilting white oleander blooms, hung in disheveled waves along her back. Her thin frame shuddered as dry sobs hiccoughed from inside her chest. She kept casting her large brown eyes behind her. Thin scratches veined her collarbone and shoulders, reaching up her neck and one particularly thick gash decorated her cheek. Terrence drank this in. So that was why he could smell her so well, she was bleeding already.

The girl stumbled backwards, landing limply in the tall sweeping grass. A high-pitched cry escaped her. Horror flooded through her face. She slapped her hands across her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, causing large tears to flood down her face.

Impatiently, Terrence diverted his attention away from her and gazed in the direction she was staring. What was she so afraid of?