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When Scarlet opened her eyes, her vision was blurred. Before she could gather her senses there was a knock on the wooden door to the bedroom she shared with her two best friends. The reality of what had happened consumed her. Scarlet had not just imagined her parents being attacked. It was a memory she wanted to forget and a day she had never wanted to see again. It all seemed too vivid for the repetitious flash of a nightmare. This time it was different. She felt like she had been thrown back in time, forced to relive her past over and over. Every snapping twig as she ran, the deep red of the pools of blood, the taste of the salty tears as they slid down her face and onto her lips, everything was imprinted in her mind, never to be erased.
A single tear fell from her deep brown eyes and rolled slowly down her pale cheek but Scarlet wiped it away quickly, she knew that crying could not change her past and would not help her feel better about her uncertain future.
Future?
Would she even have a future? How could she possibly know what waited for her just outside of that door? Even the things that people used to think were certain could be proved wrong. People once thought the world was flat and that werewolves, witches and vampires were the things of legends but now everyone knows the world is round and all these monsters are real and that they are so much worse than the stories.
Scarlet blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes until her vision returned to normal. She took a deep breath before getting out of bed and stumbling to the door. The handle was cold and sent a shiver down her spine. Something didn't feel right. This was not just a shiver from the cold. Scarlet had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Whatever was behind this door, Scarlet just knew it wasn't going to be good. The door opened revealing a young girl that Scarlet didn't recognize.
"Can I help you?" Scarlet asked politely.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I bring you bad news from the next tunnel," the girl replied.
There weren't many humans left since the beast returned 200 years ago and took control of everything.
The few thousand left lived in a tunnel underground away from the terrible creatures that roamed the earth.
"Drop the miss," said Scarlet, "I may be in charge here but I'm the same as everyone else, just tell me what I can do for you."
She hated being treated like she was special. Her parents were the leaders of the tunnel before they had been killed and after they'd gone, Scarlet was voted the new leader. She didn't understand what was happening at the time. Her parents had just died and people expected her to just move on like it was nothing and 'lead them', whatever that meant. She didn't want to do it but how could she refuse? These people needed someone they could look up to, someone they could trust and who would do it if she didn't? She may have only been fifteen at the time but Scarlet was not a child. Everything she did she did with confidence and she was more mature than a lot of the adults. Her parents had trained her to be a leader since the day she was born, she just hadn't expected to be put in charge so soon.
"It's Damien." Scarlet's breath caught in her chest.
No other words were needed
Damien.
The beast.
He was a vampire and he was enchanting, which was one of their more disgusting qualities. How could something so beautiful on the outside hold such an evil monster inside? His long dark hair, his piercing eyes, every inch of him perfect, but Scarlet saw past this beauty. All she saw when she thought of him was the lifeless bodies of her parents. The shocked expression on Scarlet's face turned to an angry scowl. After she was chosen as the leader of the tunnel, she swore revenge on Damien. If she ever saw him again she had promised herself and the other inhabitants of the tunnel she would destroy him.
Not long after the day Scarlet's parents were killed, there were reports coming from other tunnels saying Damien and his army of monsters had moved on across the country. He had destroyed everything the humans had built and devoured anyone he met along the way. It was a miracle humans still existed. Scarlet wanted to do something to help but she hadn't had enough experience with things like Damien to be able to help, but now it was different.
"Nate! Ryan!" Scarlet shouted to her roommates and best friends, when she finally came to her senses and realised what she needed to do. "Come on, get up, we have trouble."
There was no answer from the boys so she turned to shout them again but she saw they were already up and dressed, their faces contained serious expressions. That was a surprise. It usually took at least an hour to get up, even after Scarlet shouted them. Today however, the boys sensed the urgency in Scarlet's voice and knew this wasn't the time to lay around.
"What's going on, Red?" said Ryan, pulling on his black leather jacket, coving up the muscles shown by his white t-shirt and running his fingers through his chocolate brown hair before putting his hands into the front pockets of his tight black jeans.
Scarlet watched him closely, letting her eyes wander from his pockets up to his face taking in the rounded shape of his lips, the slope of his nose and the dazzling green of his eyes. Ryan was the only one that called her Red. She didn't know why but it only sounded right to her when it was Ryan who said it. Both of the boys had been with her since she was born and she didn't know what she would've done without them. They would act like children even though they were both seventeen but when things got serious or became difficult, they were always beside her, helping her through. Without them, Scarlet would have fallen apart long ago.
"Hello, earth to Scar. What's going on?" Nate said waving a hand in front of Scarlet's face, turning all of her attention to him. She had never realised how similar the boys looked. Nate was just an inch shorter than Ryan and had the same rounded lips and sloping nose as Ryan. Only the eyes and hair were different. Nate had blonde hair that fell just below his ears and across his forehead and eyes that were blue with curves of white around his pupil, like waves coming into the shore.
Scarlet mentally shook herself. Now was not the time for getting distracted."Damien's back. We have to find him before he hurts anyone." This statement didn't warrant a reply. She hadn't expected one.
Scarlet, Nate and Ryan started heading towards the door, ready to gather all the people in the tunnel and tell them what was going on, when the small girl spoke. Scarlet, so blinded by rage, had almost forgotten about the young girl.
"It's too late for that," she said quietly. Her head was hung so her long black hair covered her face. "Damien knows where the entrance to the tunnel is. He took someone from our tunnel and tortured him right in front of us. He told Damien everything with the hope he would get away with his life and get back in time to stop anything bad from happening but...he...he was..." The girl looked up and Scarlet saw he bloodshot eyes. "I'm sorry," the girl sobbed, "he was my brother."
Scarlet felt anger growing in the pit of her stomach as she heard those words. Again, she thought, he's ripped apart a family. First mine and now this girl's, who knew how many others. He can't get away with this, I won't let him.
"Don't worry," she was speaking out loud now "we're going to find Damien and make it so he can never hurt anybody again."
Ryan tapped Scarlet's shoulder lightly. "We need to get going," he whispered.
Scarlet could see he felt sorry for the girl but they both knew the longer they stayed there, the longer Damien had to plan his attack.
"Are you going to be okay by yourself?" he asked the girl.
"Yeah I feel a little better now I've told you, I guess crying really does help."
She knew it was selfish but Scarlet couldn't help thinking of herself. Having to hold back tears and hide them from everyone.
"I have more tunnels to warn anyway." She didn't feel like smiling but the girl smiled a little, just to show Scarlet, Nate and Ryan she was okay.