Chapter 1: The Asylum

In the early spring of the year 1918, a young girl runs through the wheat fields of Mississippi. She's being chased by the townsfolk. At about the age of 19, she possessed the gift of foresight. She doesn't know why she was chosen to have this gift, but at the moment she thought it was more of a curse than any kind of gift she could receive. As she hears her name being called by her pursuers a thick sheet of sweat forms on her brow and her hair is caked in dirt and is greasy to the touch. She cringes just to think of it.

The next thing the girl knows is her foot lands in a ditch and she falls forward. She grits her teeth in pain as she tries to get up, to run. However, she looks behind her and sees that her ankle is either sprained or broken. She can't tell. The only thing she knows now is that she needs to keep running, needs to escape or they'll send her to an asylum on the outskirts of town. She heard her mother and father talking about it before her and her little sister went to bed. At first her mother put up a fight in the argument that took place that night but her father had convinced her mom that she was a monster. "This girl isn't natural." He told his wife. "We need to send her away."

It wasn't fair. This poor girl never asked for this, this curse to be bestowed upon her, and now she was being punished for it because these close minded-people couldn't understand her plight.

As she began to crawl, a boot fell in front of her face, stalling her progress. She looks up into the face of her father. His dark hair matted to his face and sweat covering his face and body. She looked at him with anger in her eyes as he spoke.

"Well, well Mary Alice. It looks like the chase is over. It's time to come with your daddy now." The man held out his hand but the only thing Mary did was spit at his feet. That angered her father and he slapped her across the face for her transgression. "That was a warning Mary. Don't make me do that again."

Mary spit out the blood that was forming in her mouth to the side and spoke. When she did, it was like a wind chime, light and musical. "You are no father of mine. You decided to run me out of my home and send me away for what I was given. For something you don't understand. I pity you." The man brought his hand back again and when Mary never flinched he struck her even harder than before. When she never cried out the man formed a fist and punched her straight in the jaw and when he heard a crunch, he smiled maliciously. He got up then and started kicking her in the stomach.

As he did this, the men of the town caught up to the leader and just stared at what was happening to this girl. She was being beaten mercilessly by the man she called father. One boy in particular stepped out of the crowd and stared at her with tears in his eyes. All of them just stood there and did nothing as their leader kicked and beat his daughter with nothing but a smile on his face.

Mary looked up into the face of the boy and just stared at him with one eye open. Her other eye had been so swollen from the man's punches that it had stayed closed on its own accord. It was only then that the boy, only a year older than Mary herself stepped forward and spoke. "That's enough sir. You'll kill her if you keep going! If you do that sir we'd have to arrest you too and send you to prison. No woman deserves this punishment." When the man never stopped the men took him by both arms and took him away from the broken and beaten girl.

The boy knelt down beside Mary and spoke to her. "I'm sorry Mary Alice. It was never supposed to get so outta hand like that." Mary Alice simply looked up at the boy and smiled at him the best she could. "It's ok." And with that she closed her eyes and fell asleep hoping to at least dream of a better world.

Mary began to open her eyes hoping to be home in her bed but what she saw was nothing but a white room with a small bed and white sheets covering the mattress. When she tried to move her hands, she found she couldn't. She looked down at her sides and found they were bound by leather straps and buckles tied to the bed.

Mary began to thrash and cry out, her long hair covering her eyes and face. She cried out for help and she got her wish when the door opened and an old man came walking through the door. He was dressed in a white lab coat and white shirt and white pants. He held a clipboard in his hands and when he looked at her, he had a sad look in his eyes. The man sat down next to her in the only chair that had been placed in the room. When he sat he gave her his name. The man's name was Eli, at least that what it said on his name-tag. When Dr. Eli got comfortable, she spoke to him.

"Where am I?" Her eyes alone pleaded with him to give her some answers. The old man smiled at her sadly and told her that she was in an asylum. Only then did she start crying. Not only did she cry, she sobbed. She screamed at the top of her lungs and cried for the life that had been taken from her. Eli knelt down beside her and cupped her face in his hand. Mary flinched from the freezing temperature of his skin. "You won't be here for long little Alice. I promise you."

The look in that man's eyes told her everything that she wanted, needed to know. She knew that this man would be her savior. Eli, the man with the amber eyes and freezing cold skin would take her away from this place. He would give her a new life to live. "Get some sleep child. I'll see to you in the morning." Only after she found there was nothing she could do about the bindings, did little Mary Alice succumb to the magic of sleep.

That night, she had a dream. No, it was a nightmare. No it was even worse. She knew she was having a vision. She could feel the environment around her; hear the trees blowing in the warm breeze. It felt too real to be just a dream. She saw two men in the woods. One was kneeling and the other was standing. One had amber eyes and the other...had eyes as red as the blood pumping through her veins. Those blood red eyes had a murderous look in them. Almost as if Eli had done something in particular to piss him off. The man with the murderous red eyes was dressed in nothing but a fur coat made out of some kind of animal and tight swede pants with holes in the knees.

After a couple moments of staring the old doctor down, he spoke. "You took her from me old man." Eli then spoke with a hint of humor in his voice. "She will never be yours James. She will not live the monstrous life you chose when you were turned. She will live a kind and prosperous immortal life. Of course she will make her mistakes but she will learn from them. Every vampire that chooses to does. If anything you were the weak one. You let the monster take over who you were. She will not. I have faith in her." He smiled at the red-eyed man and laughed at his misfortune.

The red-eyed man then roared at the top of his lungs and Mary had to cover her ears to keep her from going deaf. The entire forest seemed to shake with fear as this man cursed the doctor from taking his next victim away from him. He then looked down at the doctor kneeling in front of him and grabbed his face with both hands. "Then I'll just have to find her and kill her then won't I?" And with that the man called James twisted Eli's head to the side and tore it right from his shoulders. After the deed was done he looked up to the sky and whispered, "I'll find you little Mary Alice Brandon. I'll find you if it's the last thing I do." Then James seemed to fade into nothing and then there was nothing but darkness.

The next morning when Mary awoke from her vision the sunlight streamed in from the window behind her bed. She wanted to rub her eyes to get the sleep out of them but then she remembered that she was bound to the bed. Mary started to cry but was interrupted by the old doctor once again. Eli had his usual wardrobe on, the clipboard in his hand and a sad look in his eyes. There was something on the agenda for her today that much was clear. Mary took her long locks in her hands and stroked them longingly. She looked at the man with a silent question in her eyes.

The doctor nodded sadly and with a heavy heart. It killed him inside to know that she was even here to begin with. But he knew about little Mary Alice and her ability to see the future. Eli knew that she would be highly misunderstood. He knew that the people would send her here in fear of her ability.

"I'm sorry my dear little Alice. I have to do this." Alice knew the doctor had his own reasons for doing this but in all reality she loved her long hair. Her mother loved braiding it at night before she went to bed. With her father sitting in his rocking chair by the fire smoking his tobacco pipe. With that memory close in her heart she felt bile rise in her throat, but thankfully she kept it down. "It's alright." As she looked at the man before her take the shears out of his pocket she swore she saw tears in his eyes but they refused to fall.

Mary Alice noticed a bunch of small things about Eli that really unnerved her. The fact that his skin was ice cold, the color of his eyes, and then the paleness of his skin. The color of his skin was like the color of the moon. Bright and pale and she thought he was sick. But she knew better than to ask the wrong question. So she kept quiet. Alice had a feeling she would get the answers she needed to her questions soon enough.

As Eli cut the long hair from her shoulders, he kept in mind to leave some for her. He knew what he had to do and he had to do it soon. He knew that the man was coming for her. Eli had one very special gift. He was a vampire, and vampires were granted one special gift. If he were to touch a person, any one human or any other creature he was able to share a specific ability that the organism had. When the doctor touched Alice's skin for the first time he was able to see the future in his own way. He was a powerful immortal but Eli knew that his time was coming to an end.

He knew that the monster of a man called James was coming for his little Mary Alice and he needed to protect her in any way that he knew how. The good doctor knew he needed to change Alice, make her one like him. It saddened Eli to do this but James was too strong and too fast for her to escape him as a human. With the strength speed and agility as a newborn she would be able to escape him. She would be able to run to make a life for herself. To make the choices she needed to.

When he was done cutting Alice's long hair Eli looked down on the floor and then turned her to face him. He smiled at her then. Alice kind of looked like a pixie with her hair cut short. "I'm sorry little Alice for what I'm about to do to you. I do this only to protect you from him. He's coming and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to stop him. Please forgive me." And with that the good doctor bit into the young girl's neck. He took some of her blood but only a few drops and replaced it with the venom that would start the change. Eli heard her grit her teeth in pain but she never cried out. 'She will be strong'. He thought. 'I will help her till he comes'. He promised to himself as well as any god who was listening. 'Just give me a place at your side when my time is up.' He prayed as he released Alice from his bite. Alice's lips formed into a smile as she felt the pain of a certain death run through her, in all reality she felt grateful.

"Thank you."