Prologue

Germany, 1915

 

There was no need to hold a hostage as they waited in the opening, the trees swaying side to side with the wind, the leaves dancing around them as the moonlight shone down on them, only the opening while the dark trees stayed out of the light's reach. Growls were heard and the branches stirred making the small child cringe and sob silently but her cries were loud to their ears.

The two hellhounds growled, their muzzles a few inches away from her small, round face. She scattered back, afraid at the two Doberman pinchers, curling their lip and baring their sharp teeth. Their black soulless eyes showing nothing but the ravenous monster lurking inside of them as the dark aura radiating off of them annoyed their master.

"Stand your ground." Their master's dead voice came out with pure menace, making the two hellhounds back away from the frightened girl.

"Please!" The little girl pleaded, her blond curls were tousled and soaked with unknown blood but it was human, they could smell it. "Lemme go back to Momma." Her German accent sounded like music to their ears, this little girl saying each word with perfect grammar and punctuation.

"Let's see if your 'Momma' appears, child." The dead voice replied with the same German tongue, kneeling down in front of her, grabbing her fragile chin with its index finger, forcing her to look in those wicked silvery gray eyes. "You wanted friends and I granted you friends, my sweet. Why not play with them?"

The little girl's emerald eyes darted to the dark trees where the shadows lurked, growling, roaring in hunger as they all glared at her with crimson eyes. The shadows formed into her worst nightmares, feeding off her fear and she cringed.

"They like you." The dead voice slithered to her small ears. Her peach skin was going pale, a sickly pale and her faint yellow aura was disappearing. Her fragile body was becoming weak just from the single touch of this reaper of death.

"Where is she, my dear?" The reaper asked the little girl, soothing her cold cheek with its thumb. "You've been seen with her, child. There's no need to lie."

The little German girl shook her head, hugging herself, keeping her warm from the cold as the snow begun to fall. Small flakes of snow fell on her crown and she didn't seem joyous. Most kids would giggle, sticking out their tongues and tasting the snow but she, she rather let the snow cave on her than taste it.

"Are you lying to me, child?" The reaper narrowed its eyes on the girl as she quickly shook her head. "Then? Spit it out."

Her chin quivered, her thin lips parting but nothing came out. She held it as a secret. The reaper tightened its grip on the girl's chin, lifting this small, pathetic child off the ground, her small legs dangling in the air. The dark aura around the reaper exploded and black, feathery wings unfurled, extending in the moonlight, casting a glorious violet light around the reaper. Its silvery gray eyes hardened, bending its knees and shot up in the air, letting this little girl spit out the secret she held so dearly. Spit out the place where the girl last saw her. But the small child didn't budge which aggravated the reaper even more.

The reaper released the girl, watched as the girl screamed, falling through the air, yelling for her pathetic mother. Her arms wailed out, tears glimmered from the moonlight as the silver moon was the backdrop of the reaper making it look beautiful as the moonlight cast a rainbow on the reaper's black hair, its black wings disappearing into an outline of the reaper and it suddenly vanished. The little girl screamed even more until her voice couldn't take it anymore.

"Momma!"

Something grabbed her fragile body and she held onto the person, crying softly, her tears soaking the person's black, silky shirt.

"No more tears, child." The velvety voice froze her, knowing that voice perfectly. She might not know how he looked like but Momma warned her to stop listening to his innocent, deceiving words in her dreams but now as she embraced him, afraid to let go and gaze at this angelic beauty, she couldn't. Momma warned her and here she was, taken from Momma and holding onto the man who deceived everyone. Who brought Man to their greediness, to their lust, to their jealousy, to their deaths. The man who once fallen and led a demon army to find a single being.

"Now, tell us where she is, Lucia." The man whispered and she shuddered from his velvety, cold voice. "You don't want your new friends to follow your Momma."

She shook her head, her arms frozen around his neck, she swallowed. "Don't hurt Momma." She whispered, her German accent sounding soothing to her ears, wanting her own voice to sound like Momma and calm down her sobs.

"I won't, my sweet Lucia." He soothed her blond curls and suddenly gripped a fistful of her hair in his fist. "They will." He hissed in her ear sending tremors through her.

No!