Crimson Nights.

Book I. Part I.

Chapter one, Hope.

A dull glow of hope simmered through me.

Maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was making them out to be.

Maybe good ol' Uncle Theodore, whom I had never once met in my life, might actually be a nice guy, even though he had ignored my existence for the last fifteen years.

I guess there had been a reason my mother, of whom I also had never been acquainted with, had named me Hope, or maybe my namesake just inspired me to live up to it.

I didn't really know, they only thing I was certain of at this very moment in time was that my grandfather who had taken care of me since I was a wee child had just died, I was now being whisked away quickly to a docile location somewhere in Colorado to live with an Uncle who I had never even spoken to let alone heard about.

And to be completely honest, I didn't feel any type of weird emotion, except for worry that my uncle would turn out to be a complete jerk!

Sure, I had loved my granddad and I had been sad when he had passed away but I wasn't extremely close with him. Then again I wasn't extremely close with many people. Now the most dominant feeling in my system was confusion. I was confused about everything, everything seemed to be happening to quickly and so swiftly, I didn't have time to think let alone feel.

I new emotion would soon catch up with me though. And I was dreading when it finally did.

Right now I was enjoying riding in comfortable leather seats in a luxury sedan. If my uncle had sent this vehicle to come and get me from the airport, I had a feeling he was going to be well off. My whole life I had never been well off. After all my whole life had been spent with my grandfather and he had been living off a pension.

I sighed, feeling slightly elated at the thought of having lots of material possessions. The windows in the car were tinted from the outside which hindered anyone from looking in, but I could see perfectly out of the windows from inside the car.

It was the same scenery I had been staring at for the last three hours since we left Denver. Snow, mountains and surprise more snow.

I sighed; I thought autumn would be kind of warm, I guess I had been wrong. I twirled a long strand of my chocolate brown hair around my index finger, waiting impatiently until we finally reached our destination. We; being me, my cat, Snowball, who was asleep in her kennel in the seat beside me and the driver of this sedan who had introduced himself as Greg. He seemed like a nice enough guy. He told me he to lived in the town we were venturing to, Richwood was the name. I had pondered whether it was as posh as it sounded. Greg hadn't said a heck of a lot about the place, just that it was a quiet place, a small place but at no time had he said it was a friendly place.

"Nearly there Hope, just another thirty minutes or so." Greg exclaimed from the front seat.

I nodded but then realized he couldn't see me unless he was looking in the rearview mirror at me, which he wasn't, so I said, "yep."

I drummed my fingers along my knee, which just poked out beneath my checkered skirt. I didn't know how long I could sit in this car, enjoying the leather seats because, honestly, I had never been so bored in my life. I thought I might as well survey Greg.

"Do you know my uncle?" I questioned randomly. It must have been pretty random because Greg looked a little taken back for a moment, he regained his composure quickly.

"Uh yes I work for him, have for nearly thirty years."

"Wow, so you're the chauffeur or something then? Uncle Theo must be pretty loaded then? Do you think he'll mind me calling him that? Uncle Theo I mean."

Greg laughed a soft chuckle. "Yes, you're uncle Theodore is rather well off, I think you'll find his accommodation more than sufficient, in fact it will most likely be a little more extravagant than what you are used to, not that I know what you're used to. I would stick to using Uncle Theodore if were you." Greg exclaimed with a jolly smile, the small grey hairs of his moustache tickling his upper lip.

"Oh, he's a bit of a square then?" I asked.

Greg laughed but he did not reply, I took his silence as a yes. I groaned, why couldn't Greg be my uncle? I could get along with him easy.

"So seeing as you've worked for my uncle for so long, I don't suppose you might know what he thinks on the matter of me coming?"

Greg shook his head, "I'm not really acquainted with your uncle I'm sorry, I'm not the kind of person he would confide things in, but I can say he's had a room specially made up for you. The furniture is lovely, if that means anything."

I shrugged; the guy sounded as if had money to burn so I had no idea whether it meant anything.

Finally we passed a neat, sign that announced, Welcome to Richwood. Enjoy your stay.

I guess Richwood was the type of place people stayed and left, no one really ever moved here. The sign was black with gold, curvy writing. Greg had said the sign had been hand painted by someone in the town. I don't know why Greg had mentioned that, but Greg seemed to give me a running commentary of anything he knew about as we drove through the deserted roads that lead to nowhere but this small town.

We drove somewhat out of the small town and a few ten minutes later we arrived at a hill where about thirty or so old, Victorian styled houses, with thick black iron gates outside there long winding driveways were situated.

"This place is called Richmond Reserve, it's the most expensive place to live in Richwood. The further up the hill you live the richer you're bound to be. Do you see that house right at the top?"

I looked to the top of the winding hill; there standing proudly was a massive house, no mansion. It looked creepy, gargoyles and all, than again all the houses in this neighborhood looked creepy.

"Yeah…"

"That's your new house."

Oh god. I live in the creepy, haunted house. The biggest one too, which is going to make it harder to run from the creepy things that lay in side, oh the joy!

"Cool." I said unenthusiastically. Greg didn't seem to notice my unusual lack of enthusiasm because he carried on humming the same weird melody he had been humming since we arrived in this stupid, little town.

Greg pulled into a long gravel driveway; he stopped at the thick black gates, but scanned his card and the gates swung open with an unhealthy creak.

The ride up the driveway was torturous, excitement and anticipation getting the better of me.

The sedan finally came to a halt; I pushed open the door and held onto to Snowballs kennel. I heard him cry as I picked up his little box. He must have been frightened by the sudden movement of his home.

The house was even bigger up close. It was almost intimidating. I braced myself and waited for some kind of extravagant welcoming, nothing happened.

I furrowed my eyebrows as Greg led me inside carrying my few suitcases. When we first ascended into the house I almost thought I had stepped back in time. Although there were many windows in the foyer, it was still dim. Everything seemed to be made of dark wood, and there were gold tapestries hanging on the walls. A grand staircase was situated in the middle of the room, it was beautiful.

"Are you Hope then?" A careful voice to the left of me spoke.

I turned to stare at the person who had addressed me. It definitely wasn't my uncle; it was a boy who looked about my age. Tanned skin, dull, light grey irises, messy raven hair that hung just below his left eye at its longest point.

"Uh yeah." I said unsure of what to say, unsure of who the hell this guy was. Maybe I had a cousin? "Who are you?" I asked feeling kind of silly.

He ignored my question. "Follow me Theodore's in his study, I think he'll want to see you." The boy said emotionlessly.

I shrugged and followed behind him up the stairs. The hallways were even darker than the foyer, they were narrow and repetitive, every closed door we passed looked exactly the same, nothing hung on the walls, everything seemed very closed off. The hallways smelt musty and a little damp. Not extremely pleasant. As we past doors I could hear the murmurs of voices and I had a feeling that more people stayed here than I thought, they just kept to themselves, I mean why else would Theodore need such a big house and so many maids wandering around randomly.

We must have turned countless corners because already I was lost.

"Just in here," the boy said pointing to the same mahogany door that was used for every room; I nodded and knocked two times.

"Enter."

Who the hell says Enter! Seriously what is he a freaking king!

I opened the door, to see a middle aged man sitting at a large oak desk, sorting through hundreds of pieces of paper, which decorated his desk. His spectacles had slid to the very tip of his long, slender, pointed nose.

He looked up at me and looked back down at his work again almost immediately.

"Welcome Hope, I see you've met Ryke over there." Uncle exclaimed moving his head slightly in the direction of where the boy was standing glaring at nothing.

What high spirited people, I thought to myself.

"Um, yes." I replied because he seemed to be waiting for me to respond.

"I know circumstances for you right now aren't ideal. But I hope I can make this as comfortable for you as possible. If you need anything at all please do not think twice about asking one of the maids, they tend to wander around the house. There are a few rules about living here however, do not disturb me during the day whilst I am in my study, and do not venture up into the tower. Those are my two rules, clear?"

"As crystal, um if you don't mind me asking is Ryke my, er cousin?"

Theodore chuckled.

"No, no. Ryke found himself in a similar situation as you and well I bought him up."

"Oh," I said with few curt nods.

Theodore waved his hands, "you may go un-pack or explore, whatever you like now. I need to finish this off we can talk at dinner. Dinner is at six o'clock sharp every night."

Theodore seemed like the type of person who had built his life around routine, and by the looks of things he liked it that way, or at least he certainly wasn't going to change things.

I let myself out and was followed by Ryke. Ryke was a good looking boy, he was tall and lean, his eyes as beautiful as they were always looked dull and bored and his face was more of an emotionless mask, he looked as if he were constantly in a bad mood. I had a feeling if he smiled a little more I would have found him to be more attractive, but the constant glaring was a definite put off.

"I'll show you to your room," Ryke murmured.

I nodded tentatively, because honestly Ryke was an intimidating person. I followed behind him closely, trying to figure this place out. It wasn't working, everything looked the same, I decided not to do too much exploring because I would just get lost and crept out. I was hoping my room would be a little less scary. My hopes didn't help much. My room was just as dark as any other room in the house. Luckily it wasn't to far way from the staircase so I wouldn't get lost. My room was spacious in other words completely empty. There was a large for poster bed placed at the far end of the room, moth eaten drapes hung lifelessly from the carved wooden posts. There was a set of tall boy drawers beside my bed with a matching bedside cabinet that sat on the other side of my bed with a small lamp placed neatly atop of it. There was a full length mirror placed randomly in the room and the carpet was a deep maroon color. Greg had been right the furniture was great; it all looked very antique, but antique wasn't really my thing. Everything looked and felt so medieval and un-homely.

I turned to thank Ryke for showing me to my room but he had disappeared I shrugged it off, and headed towards my suitcases to un-pack. Snowball still inhabited her kennel, she looked eager to get out so I unhitched the door and let her out. She began purring against my leg. I petted her softly on her head. Snowball had been with me since I was four and I had grown attached to her, she never strayed to far from me and I very much doubted she'd leave my room much. Snowball's bell rattled as she jumped onto my bed and curled herself into a ball and closed her eyes and slept.

I sighed, if only I could feel so at home so quickly. I opened the small window in my room to let some fresh air in and possibly get out that horrible musty smell. Then I began to unpack. It didn't take long, and even with everything unpacked this place still felt distant and lonely. It was now that everything had caught up with me, all the memories, everything that had happened in these last few weeks.

Never in my life had I felt so alone, and I cried, big, wet, salty tears ran down my rosy cheeks. I closed my eyes, buried my face in my pillow that was too soft and a little lumpy and just cried for an hour straight. I grabbed my chest, searching for it. My hand came across a cold hard curved object and I had found it. The silver heart pendant, the only item I owned that had belonged to my mother, it gave me hope even in the darkest times. I ran my fingers over it, feeling all the familiarity of it. The diamonds encrusted into the front of it, the sharply cut holes in the back that I could just fit the tip of my pinky finger into. I held the necklace in my hand and squeezed onto it tightly.

*

It was dark and cold, the icy wind whipped my face, and the snow fell not gently but violently. I was stumbling, confused. Wandering through the endless snow, turrets of it, it was up to my thigh but I knew I had to trudge through it. For the weather I was dressed extremely impractically a lacey camisole top that I realized what not just a top but a long, elegant, flowing dress. It was the same color as the snow, and just as beautiful. No wonder I was finding it so hard to move, to run. But why was I running? I looked down at my beautiful dress desperately trying to remember, and then I saw it.

Blood.

Blood, stained my beautiful satin dress in the most hideous shade of deep red. My heart pounded and I felt suddenly as if my life was in danger and I had to run, I had to escape. My head hurt and I felt dizzy, I could hear him. Hear the knowing of his teeth, and his face flashed in my head, a hazy flash. His beautiful, evil face. I closed my eyes trying to forget, but every time I opened them it was that hazy, unclear face I saw. But every time I closed and opened my eyes again in hope of getting the image of him out my head, his image would get clearer. Until I saw him standing in front of me, a sadistic smile played out on his angel like face. I had never felt such terror run through my veins.

"There's no hope." He said in a deep, husky voice. Although he was meters away from me the voice seemed so close, as if he was whispering it into my ear, I could even feel the warm breath tickling my neck.

"No," I yelled, "I can escape!"

"You'll never be able to escape, you can run but I'll always be here to haunt you."

I sat up, panting, perspiration running rapidly down my forehead. I could still see the outline of him. Breathlessly I turned my lamp on; it illuminated most of my room, not quite reaching the dark corners though.

I pulled the hair that was sticking to my hot, red face, back. I began breathing normally again and I swallowed. I looked to my left, searching for Snowball. She wasn't there.

The bright moonlight streamed through my half closed curtains, it was a clear night and a full moon.

I knew there was no way I could get back to sleep after that nightmare, the best thing to do was to distract myself and look for Snowball. Then again this house was about as creepy as my dream had been. I rubbed my eyes, digging my palms deep into my eyes. I grudgingly got out of bed, it was cold. My bare feet touched the wooden floor boards, I cringed. Freezing. Slowly I pulled myself out of the comfort of warm blankets and tip toed out of my bedroom door.

The hallways were pitch black, I snuck back into my room and pulled a flashlight out of my drawer and began my exploration. I admit I was terrified, seeing this house in daylight was scary enough, but at night with a tiny light that illuminated only a partial amount of space was hell.

I wandered aimlessly down the grand stair case and into the following room which I knew to be the dining room. It was a very long, narrow room, with a massive window that had a view of the whole town. Sparkling lights was all I could see from the window at the moment. It was breath takingly beautiful. Maybe this house did have some highlights. I continued through the house, trying to remember which way I had come. I reached what seemed to be third lounge area, that's when I saw him.

I saw him walking past the door frame, the guy from my dream. The guy I seemed to know, but yet had never seen. I used to have a reoccurring nightmare about him, about him standing in a doorway watching me. In fact this was that nightmare, only I couldn't remember why it had been scary, all I knew was that in my dream I had been scared senseless. That was how I felt now, tonight had been the first night I'd had another dream about him. I saw him with the dim light of my overly white torch. He just stared menacingly at me, but then he edged closer to me, his evil grin widening with every step he took, his glowing red eyes looked lustfully at me, not because he wanted me exactly but because he wanted something from me. I closed my eyes and screamed, screamed loud and long for what seemed to be forever.

Although my eyes were closed I could see light in the back of my eyelids.

"What the hell are you screaming for?"

I opened my eyes to see Ryke standing exactly where that… thing had been standing. A look of both annoyance and tiredness on his face. That was until he saw me trembling with absolute fear. His eyes softened a fraction.

"Are you alright?" he asked a little blankly.

I nodded, but I could tell he knew that was a lie. What had I been thinking coming out to look for my cat, honestly!

"Your face is all pale, what happened?" he demanded not softly at all. He was glaring at me.

I just looked down and shivered, he groaned.

"What were you doing up anyway?" he asked in annoyance.

"I-I felt homesick a-and I was looking for m-my cat."

"Meow," Snowball emerged from behind Ryke, she was purring against his leg, which was weird considering Snowball hated people and usually bit anyone that wasn't me.

"Is this her?" Ryke asked.

I nodded.

"She was in my room; you should probably look after her better."

I was annoyed at the last comment but I was too shaken up to say anything.

"Can you walk me back to my room; I don't want him to come back."

"Who?"

I shook my head, "please you wouldn't believe me even if I told you, I just want to be safe from him."

"You think your room will be safe?" Ryke scoffed, "this whole place isn't safe, most people get bad vibes from it and stay away but if you can see the people here I doubt your room will keep you safe." Ryke said standing up.

Tears welled up in my eyes, "please don't leave me," I mumbled, I felt so pathetic. But Ryke looked at me with sympathy in his emotionless eyes. I had a feeing he had been here before; this place wasn't just creepy it was evil.

"You can sleep in my room for tonight but you'll have to get used to this place eventually."

I nodded gratefully, I felt safe when I was with Ryke. Probably because he was so intimidating I felt as if nothing would try scaring him.

Ryke's room was much the same as mine. Only he had a sofa as well and in his room hung swords and other weapons, I didn't know if they were his or Theodore's.

"You can sleep in my bed; I'll sleep on the sofa." Ryke said as he pulled a woolen rug from the side of the sofa and wrapped it around himself.

"Are you sure."

"Do you want to go back to your room?"

"No."

"Then go to sleep."

I nodded and lay in his bed that was still warm, I snuggled into his scratchy sheets and lumpy mattress.

"Thank you."

There was murmured reply, and I fell asleep almost instantly.

A/N- Hope you like it. First chapter done and dusted, this chapter hasn't really touched on much. BUT hopefully next chapter more will happen, review if you like it, or if you have some constructive criticism. Much appreciated, Emma.