Schemes and Dreams

The women had moved their conversation back to the house that had become something akin to a prison. The atmosphere in Forgotten Hollow was becoming claustrophobic, the dreariness felt as if it had substance. To Judith it felt like a giant unseen snake was wrapping her in a fatal embrace and was slowly squeezing the life out of her.
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She hadn't voiced that thought to Rayvn, and yet she had felt the same thing. The air of foreboding and imminent danger hung over the village like a demented Christmas garland. There were dangerous places in Del Sol Valley and the surrounding suburbs. Places where life was dirt cheap, but nothing that felt like this. Right up to the moment that Judith felt Lilith's fangs sink deeply into her neck, the idea of vampires being real had felt absurd. When they arrived the strange way that the residents dressed seemed eccentric and harmless. There were people who took cosplay seriously. Rayvn and Judith hadn't suspected anything was amiss, they had simply met seriously committed cosplayers. So they chose to pretend that the world was still stuck in the 18th century? So what? More power to them. They had been oddballs and nothing more. How wrong they had been.

Judith headed back into the library and joined conversation that Inna and Rayvn were engaged in. "I know that at one time Elle and Lilith had been bound to this place by Vladislaus Straud in the same ritual that was used on Karoly and I. It's said that they are the only two who can leave. Not even Lilith's brother Caleb can leave." Inna stopped talking but there was an air of anticipation, like she had something to add. Rayvn and Judith sat quietly as they waited for Inna to speak again. "I do not know if I should mention this or not, but my conscience is troubling me. Best to have done with it I suppose. Caleb Vatore is your husband."

"MY WHAT!?"

"HER WHAT!?"
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"Oh dear, I shouldn't have mentioned that. Anna you are such a fool" she said aloud, berating herself. "You are not officially married, but while you two were sleeping Elle betrothed you to Caleb. I believe Lilith is planning to have you moved into their home very soon."

"You didn't think to mention this to me sooner? How could you keep something like that a secret from me Inna?"

"I'm terribly sorry Rayvn. I beg your forgiveness. I was not sure the best way to break this to you. I was correct, you would not enjoy hearing of it."
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"What is a betrothal?"

"It's just an old fashioned way of saying engaged" Judith interjected.

Rayvn sat silent for a few terrible seconds as Anna's heart sank. Rayvn reached out and took her hand, "It's okay Inna. It’s not your fault and I'm sorry I shouted like that. It was a shocking thing to hear though. This is a really strange situation and I don't blame you for focusing on the far more important matter of escaping. It's just infuriating that someone feels like they can choose a spouse for someone else like that. Prearranged marriages still exist in our time, but they are considered an extreme violation of a woman's autonomy. I never thought I’d find myself caught up in an arranged marriage. This is officially the weirdest trip I’ve ever been on, and it just keeps getting weirder."

"There is so much that I have to learn about the world beyond Forgotten Hollow. I do so enjoy the thought of seeing what it's like. I'm scared to death too. I should say I would be scared to death if I wasn't technically dead already. And you say women are allowed to choose their spouses and that it’s okay? I chose Karoly, but it was considered scandalous since he was not the one my parents had given me to “

“No human being, parent or not, has the right to give another human being to someone else with or without consent. It’s doubly infuriating that they felt they could do that simply because you’re a woman.” Rayvn let out a scream of frustration and rage. "The decision of who you marry is entirely your's to make."
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“The man my parents gave me to was quite mean to me and I believe he was involved in nefarious activities. But he was rich and he offered my parents a very large dowry that made them enormously wealthy and he arranged for my father to be made a Duke."

Rayvn and Judith could not hide their shock and anger at what they were hearing. It's one thing to read about it in a novel or textbook, but to have another human being telling you it happened to them is beyond shocking. "No pressure there at all" Rayvn said.

"What does that mean? No pressure at all."

"In your case it means, you either chose a loveless marriage which benefitted your parents and your spouse but hurt you. Or you followed your heart and you would be punished by your parents and society for it. Whatever decision you made was going to have a negative effect on you, except that one decision offered at least some happiness to go along with all of the pain."

"Said like that, either decision I made would have a bad end for me. Victor, the man my parents gave me to, treated me horribly.
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He hit me if I did anything that displeased him, and he was easily displeased. Simply speaking without being asked to angered him and earned me a vicious slap. He often took his anger with other people out on me. I was kept isolated and only allowed out to see people when he wanted to parade me around like a prize possession. I hated him and he hated me, but I was useful to him for my beauty. I found my opportunity to run away from him and I took it. If I had stayed, if I had done as I was told, I would not be here living a life of torment as the twisted creature that I am, and had no desire to be. I would have been killed or discarded the minute my beauty faded, but sometimes I wish for that instead of this endless torment. Before our lives were ruined, Karoly and I were very happy together. He loved me very much and he treated me like a queen. We had that much at least.
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"Inna, please..."

"Could you call me Anna? Please? That was my name before we arrived here. Inna is the name Elle gave to me. It’s a beautiful name, and I would love it if not for that fact.”

"I'm so sorry Anna, Please do not call yourself a twisted creature" Rayvn said as she fought back her tears. "Please don't talk like that about dying either. I'm so thankful you're still here. Yes, you’re a vampire, but you never lost your humanity. God, you are an amazing woman. You are nothing like these monsters. You are a warm, sweet person which blows my mind since you've spent your entire life surrounded by vile, evil people and you didn't become one yourself. It would have been so easy to give up and go along. But you didn’t. You are going to love the world outside of this....place." Rayvn spit the word out. "My friends Tianna and Harley are going to love you, and you're going to love them too.”
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“I would love to meet them. I appreciate your wanting to have me come with you. I’ve never had another woman to talk to, or who I could call my friend. I have been so lonely since Elle took Karoly away from me. Even if she hadn’t I still wouldn’t have any other women to be around. None that I could relate to or talk to. I know the world would be a very bewildering place to me now so I am grateful that you want to help me understand it.”

Judith knew it was time to step in and be the voice of reason, a phrase rarely used to describe her. “Rayvn, have you thought at all about how you plan to get her on a plane and then into Del Sol Valley?”

Rayvn froze. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She just knew she had to help Anna escape along with them. “We can’t leave her here!" she protested. "And we can’t just turn her loose in the world. She needs to learn how the modern world works first.”
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“I agree, and I'm not saying we have to leave Anna here. I don't want that either. But you need to put the Hallmark moment on hold for now. You two need to work on the potion...thingy, I'll take care of the other issue.” Judith then focused her attention solely on Rayvn. “You are lucky you have me with you. You’re going to owe me though. Good God girl are you going to owe me! I’ll show you what celebrity perks can do. I’ll work on the details and once we’re back in Windenberg I can make a couple of calls and get everything arranged.”

“If it gets all three of us out of here, alive, I can live with owing you” Rayvn said. “Once we’re back in Del Sol Valley I will handle getting Anna set up.”

Anna brought the conversation back to the here and now. “Yes. I believe there is a potion that will break my bond to Forgotten Hollow. It is likely to be in one of the books on vampire lore. If we are lucky we may be able to locate it in your library. I believe those books contain the cure for vampirism and sunlight protection, so I hope they contain the potion to break my bond.”

“So if we locate it and we break your bond how do we get away if Elle and Lilith can also leave and chase after us?”

“In their bat and mist forms they are frightfully fast, but they can only jump so far ahead. The same can be said of Lilith's vampiric speed. They can move quickly and cover an enormous distance in one go, but they can only cover so much ground at one time and the farther they go, the longer they need to recover before they can do it again. They can travel faster than coaches in those forms however. Are these things you call cars faster than coaches?
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“In a straight line cars are much, much faster. Even most little cars are capable of doing more than 100 miles per hour. On these twisty roads they won't reach those speeds, but they will be faster than a coach."

“100 miles in an hour? Or more? That is extraordinary!
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Karoly and I could have been home almost as soon as we left Windenberg! You must make this car thing move as quickly as you can. We should be able to get away from them if you do. Especially if we get a head start.

Baked ziti and bad feelings.

Arranged marriages, mysterious potions and the perks of stardom.

I love it.

Part Two is going to be even more fun, and Three is full of surprises and packed with emotion. It's right up there with Mimi's showdown with Nancy as my favorite chapter so far. I'm super excited for next Friday so everyone can read it. It's going to be really interesting when Rayvn gets home and Tianna and Harley ask her about the trip.? How in the world do you explain that and not have people thinking you've completely lost your mind. And then there is the little matter of explaining Anna's presence.

I really like what you are doing with Inna/Anna. I think she's an interesting character with a lot of potential. I look forward to seeing how her story plays out.

I especially like how Judith and Ravyn are bonding in this experience and how Judith still frames is as "you are so going to owe me!" That is such a Judith moment.

Looking forward to part 2.

haha, sorry, hopeless romantic part of me, buried somewhere deep, is trying to rise its head :D <3

I had forgotten about the Noble Vampires until I started populating Forgotten Hollow for this story arc. Inna was always my favorite from the trio, and one of my favorite premades period. When I started working with her for this I felt certain she was going to be an interesting character that I wanted to bring into the cast. Some of the ones, like Venessa Jeong, Bristol Lee, and Holly Alto are proving difficult to work in so now Anna steps into a feature role. I keep getting myself mixed up with her name change now that she's taking back her previous identity as Anna Eros. I keep calling her Inna too.

This little detour in the story has caused me to view Rayvn and Judith a bit differently. Rayvn is less self-absorbed than I thought when I started creating their backstories. She's still determined to be the next big thing and she's not intimidated by Judith. She loves her friends Tianna and Harley and wants their careers to take off too. Judith is still Judith but she's a bit more likable. She's still very egotistical and demanding, but there is a spark of humanity in her. She has a genuine interest in helping women like Rayvn be successful, especially if she gets most of the credit for making them successful.

This story arc has been a blessing. The surprises that sprang up throughout this chapter have lent themselves to bringing my planned ending to this first 20 chapters together. I knew the bombshell that would be in chapter 20, but I was still struggling to figure out how to get there. Now I know.

I'm a hopeless romantic too. No surprise there with my storytelling. I can't say much of anything without giving things away, just that I think I have all the loose ends tied up.

Anna is going to be a lovely little bundle of fun as she learns how different the world is now. She's going to be fine. She's in good hands with Ray and her friends, though it will be a bit awkward at first. Normally when you come home from a trip the souvenirs you bring back are knick-knacks, maybe a bottle of wine, something like that, not a person and a vampire to boot. She will be taking the cure but there are reasons why she hasn't yet.