Ch. 01 Before The Darkness

Long before Darkness this woman lived, a happy life- or at least a normal one. Her mother never really loved her father but she did love her child, her little Christine Jennings. Christine was not little any more at the age of 18. Yet her mom still dressed Christine up like a doll. In a way, Mrs. Jennings used her to get back at husband, trying to spend all of his fortune on new things. Christine never knew why her mother hated her father so much or why her father still loved to have her mother around. All he ever wanted was for her to love him.

When father walked in on mother and her secret lover, his young friend, Jonathan Blake, it was no surprise to her. He was so angry that he had Jonathan killed. Mother had been mourning for him for weeks before she had called for her. She went into her room bruises were all over her.

"Christine, dear," she began.

"Yes mother," she replied.

"I just want to let you know that no matter what happens I will always love you and it was not your fault."

"Mother, don't be silly. I have and always will love you no matter what happens. Everything will work out, it will all be alright soon," Christine told her reassuringly.

"That is all go along and finish your studies in the library," she told her daughter. Her eyes were red and puffy as she was chocking back a fresh set of tears.

Christine walked half way between her mother and the door. She wanted nothing more than too run back and soothes her mother but she knew she would just send her away again. So she left her mother to her tears.

Mrs. Jennings had killed herself before Mr. Jennings had come home that day. He had found her in her room with a dagger through her broken heart. Cradling her life-less body close to his body, he cried desperately for her to come back alive in his arms. He had always been so strong. Christine had never seen her father so weak and now he was as weak as she was.

Ever since that day, Christine had not left that house. She became completely numb to everything even her own feelings. Left with no sense of direction to what she should or even what she had wanted to do. She began to lose who she thought she was; becoming completely lost from her intended path as she gazed at the world with a new pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that now knows loss as they gaze observantly into the future.

Mr. Jennings could not bear to look at his daughter. One day, Christine realized why. The young woman that she had become was the mirror image of her mother. No longer could she gaze upon her own reflection in a looking glass. No longer did she torture her father with her company. She could not bear to lose another one so close to her heart for she fear that she have already lost him to bottle of alcohol.

A month after her mother's death her father told her he was marrying her off to Lord Baltimore, a man twice Christine's age. The only time the two-to-be-wed met was when she was young enough for him to bounce her on his knee. If this was how her parents married, it was quite apparent why her mother resented him so much. Christine protested vowing to not eat a bite of food and never leave her room until she had died from lack of nutrition. Christine had lost control of her life then she realized she never had.

In search of some emotional release, she had broken down and cried it all out. Yet, it was not a relief at all but it deepened her sadness. That is when she saw it. It was a mere speck of eyes gazing out at her from the shadows of her room, following her back and forth. She had really lost everything possibly even her own mentality. She would for get all of this after she had met her shadow demon. That all her future had in store for her was to become the slave of a dark king.

That she have fallen apart, unloved, with no more trust for anyone. Then she realizes she is to be alone for the rest of her life with no one but her past to haunt her. That she is not made to be in this society as her insanity consumes her along with the darkness in her heart. Each day the hallucinations become more vivid. The feelings they give her stimulated every nerve in her body.

Then after it all, her harsh reality turned into a bizarre nightmare, of being taken by a man she did not know given to his master for his pleasure, passion, and for her blood. That all it was a simply nightmare that she would wake up soon to a world familiar to her, or at least she hoped.