Crimson Angel
Chapter 1- Growing Up
Warning!: This chapter contains strong violence and adult themes, and anyone under 17 years of age, or who is not comfortable reading such content, please do not read this chapter.
The spring that Cassaera turned seven, her mother gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Cassaera held her mother's hand and changed the damp towel on her forehead as the midwife alternately urged her to push and breathe. After the baby, covered in blood, had come forth, Cassaera's mother had screamed and fainted, a fever had come upon her. For the next week the midwife had stayed in their tiny one-room cottage, watching over the sick woman and acting as a wet nurse to the newborn child. After the first day, when her mother had not yet regained consciousness, the midwife had pulled Cassaera aside and asked her to name the baby that slept a few feet away. Cassaera had glanced at her mother, unsure of what to say, then turned and looked into the almost-white, light gray eyes of her baby sister. With a confidence she hadn't known she possessed, she told the midwife.
When Rae was five and Cassaera was eleven, their mother dressed them in their best clothes and brought them to the nearby port town of Terath. They made the journey on foot, and arrived in town early. The spent the morning window-shopping, and by the time the three sat at a table in a tiny teashop, they were all exhausted. It had surprised both girls when their mother had announced that they were moving into the city. In a whisper she confessed that they had little money left, and it was time for both of them to begin learning a trade. Both girls were very quiet the rest of the day, while they visited apartments and houses, and their mother inquired about work. When they left the city that evening, Cassaera clutched a bolt of plain but pretty blue fabric, and Rae carried a book, Guide to Basic Alchemy. It would be their last night in their tiny cottage by the sea, the next morning they were going to walk to the city, and move into a small apartment above a tavern where their mother would be working. By the next week Cassaera was apprenticed to a well-respected seamstress and Rae visited Sarah, an old woman who lived on the edge of town, once a week for alchemy lessons.
On the day Cassaera turned sixteen, she came home from Madame Genault's Modern Dresses to find her mother lying on the floor in a puddle of vomit. Cassaera didn't know she was screaming until Tom, the bartender had pulled her away from their apartment into the bar and shoved a drink into her shaking hands. When she stopped, Tom had told her that help was on its way, and that she should send a message to her sister. Cassaera scribbled out a quick note, which Tom gave to one of the busboys to deliver to Rae.
The funeral was small, with only six attendants. The girls stood apart from the others, next to their mother's open grave as the anonymous priest spoke words that were meant to offer comfort but gave none. Cassaera cried and clung to her sister. Rae stood silently, letting her older sister grieve. Inside the casket, their mother lay clothed in her favorite dress, made for her by Cassaera. After the casket was lowered into the grave, each of the sisters tossed a white rose onto the casket. A week later the girls came back to the fresh earth of their mother's grave, and Cassaera watched as Rae traced a shaky-looking alchemic array on the ground next to the grave. When she was finished, she sat back on her heels and brushed the dirt off of her hands and pants. For a few minutes she simply sat beside the grave with her eyes closed. Then, without opening her eyes, she leaned forward and placed her hands on the array to activate it. The results were slow in showing, but Rae kept her hands on the array, waiting, pouring all of her energy into the transmutation. A creaking noise sounded from the earth, and a tiny twisted tree pushed its way up to the surface. Still, Rae kept her hands pressed to the earth, and with a few small popping noises, seven miniscule pink flowers opened along the branches of the deformed tree. Finally, Rae lifted her hands from the array, and sat back exhausted from her efforts. Cassaera helped her stand, and they stood at the foot of the grave. "We miss you, mom." Rae whispered, and they turned left the cemetery.
Cassaera married almost a year later. She wore a white gown that Madame Genault had helped her make. Rae wore a dress of light pink, and both girls carried bouquets of pink, star-shaped flowers. Tucked in the small purse that Cassaera had given her was the picture of their mother. Rae had snuck it off of Cassaera's vanity that morning, feeling that their mom deserved to be at the wedding of her oldest daughter. The groom was nearly twice the bride's age, but Rae knew James to be a kind and generous gentleman. Rae stood next to her sister as the vows were said, and as bride and groom kissed for the first time. She knew that Cassaera was marrying to support both of them, all the same, she wished both newlyweds long, happy lives. The ceremony was beautiful, and private, and after it was over the newlyweds brought Rae to stay with Sarah for the duration of their honeymoon. Rae smiled and waved as they disappeared down the drive.
Cassaera brought Daven with her when she left to retrieve Rae from Sarah's. The old alchemist had called Cassaera into one of the back rooms of the house, leaving Rae to play with Daven in the front parlor. On the way home the sisters walked side by side in silence. Cassaera carried her softly crying son in her arms and Rae clutched he books tightly to her chest. Both girls dreaded returning home, a dark cloud had settled over the house since James had fallen ill a few weeks earlier and it had not dispersed despite the large improvements in James' condition.
Rae and Cassaera were so lost in their own thoughts that little Daven was the first to notice that they were being followed. His cries grew louder as they entered a small alley, a shortcut that they took everyday to speed their trip home. By the time Cassaera and Rae realized that something was wrong there was noting they could do to avoid the danger. In front of them stood a large, heavily muscled man and behind them two men swinging clubs stepped out of the shadows to block the path behind them. Cassaera instinctively pushed Rae to one of the walls of the alleyway and shoved her son into her sister's arms. Cassaera stood between the men and the two people she would give her life for. The men closed around them, ignoring Cassaera's pleas that they be let go. One of the men who held a club pointed it at Daven and Rae held him tighter as she pushed herself closer to the wall. A loud crack sounded, Rae spun from the wall in time to watch her sister fall lifelessly to the floor. Seconds later, the muscled man pushed Rae back against the wall. Rae held tight to let her nephew, and unable to brace herself her head and back hit the wall with a dull thud. The last things Rae saw before her eyes closed was her sister on the ground, her long blonde hair dyed red with blood, and her nephew crying in her lap.
Rae woke with her arms tied behind the back of a stiff chair and her feet tied to its legs. A few thin rays of sunlight fell through a grimy window far up on a wall, illuminating a small patch of ground in front of Rae. Rae opened her eyes and immediately wished she could cut them out. Cinderblocks, old rusted machinery and tools lay scattered and abandoned around the warehouse floor. A dirty mattress lay on the earthen floor, and on top lay Cassaera, bound and naked. Small cuts and bruises colored her flesh while tears poured down her cheeks. Daven lay motionless a few feet from the mattress. Rae screamed when she saw his small body, even from a distance it was clear that he was dead. Rae didn't stop screaming until one of the men came in and smacked her swiftly in the face. Rae didn't scream again, and he left her crying and struggling against her bonds to turn his attention to Cassaera. He sauntered over to the mattress playing idly with a switchblade knife. He dropped his pants and pressed the edge of the knife into her sister's neck. As he violated Cassaera, his eyes never left Rae's. Every time Rae closed her eyes or turned her head he pressed the knife harder against Cassaera's flesh. When he finished, he called in the other men, then held his knife to Rae's throat as the second smaller man abused her sister.
When it came time for the muscled man's turn, Cassaera's tears seemed to infuriate him. Rae was shocked when he cut the cord that bound Cassaera, but the man with the knife leaned in and whispered that the other liked his women to fight. Rae could see her sister struggling to stop her tears, but they poured from her eyes down her cheeks as she lay trembling on the mattress. Cassaera lay there as he shouted at her to fight him, but she didn't or couldn't move. Rae screamed and begged the men to leave her sister alone, but nothing stopped them. The third man took his turn with Cassaera, backhanding her every time a sob escaped her lips. On and on it went, until after a particularly loud slap Cassaera caught sight of her son's broken body. She screamed, a sound that Rae would never forget, and fought back against the mountainous man that pinned her down. The more she struggled against him the more he fought back, hitting her and thrusting himself into her harder and harder. Cassaera screamed louder and louder as she fought to get to her baby. Rae watched as her sister managed to get hold of a wrench that lay half-hidden under the top of the mattress. She brought the weapon down and Rae prayed that it would be enough to save them, but as Cassaera brought the heavy tool down he reached up and caught her wrist. Rae watched him pull the wrench from Cassaera's hand, watched him grasp it tightly and swing it downwards. A wet crack echoed in the large room and Cassaera's body fell limp once more. The mattress absorbed the blood that flowed from the large dent in Cassaera's forehead, but the muscular man didn't stop. Over and over he brought the wrench down. Crack. Cassaera's wrist. Crack. Cassaera's ribs. Crack. Cassaera's skull. Crack, Cassarea's shoulder. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Rae could barely recognize her sister's face by the time he was through. Rae felt hate slowly replace the fear that had controlled her.
When he was done raping Cassaera's body, the muscular man pulled his pants back up and walked over to Rae. He sent the other two men away, Rae didn't know where. He stood in front of her, the wrench still held loosely in his fist, her sister's blood dripping from it onto the floor. Hate filled Rae, hate that bubbled into bloodlust, and resolve to kill the man in front of her. She glared up at the murderer in front of her, and he raised the wrench again. Rae didn't scream as he brought the heavy iron piece on her arm, she didn't utter a sound as she felt the bone in her upper arm shatter. Blood trickled down her arm from where the wrench had hit and suddenly the idea came to her. Alchemy, Alchemy could dissolve the ropes that bound her to the chair. Rae closed her eyes and drew a small array on the back of the chair, and prayed that she would be able to do something to save herself, but she doubted it. Rae had very little alchemical talent. In the eleven years she had been learning alchemy, she had barely advanced past a beginner level.
Above her the man pulled his pants back down, and raised his weapon for another strike. Cassaera prayed her array would do something, anything, grabbed her limp left hand in her right and pushed them both against the array she had drawn on the chair. Light erupted from beneath her hands, blinding Rae as her eyes opened in shock at the activation of the array. The man stumbled backwards, blinded as well, swinging the wrench wildly but missing Rae. The light intensified, and suddenly, the world went black.
Rae decided she must have passed out, because when the darkness faded she stood in a dark cavernous room at the foot of an enormous pair of doors. One of the doors creaked open, and the darkness inside was blacker than anything Rae had ever seen before. "What do you seek?" a soft whisper asked through the opening in the doors. Rae stepped forward, and replied without hesitation, "Revenge." A leering face appeared in the blackness. "And what will you give in return?" the person asked, though Rae was sure she never saw their lips move. Rae thought for a moment, but before she could answer, the voice spoke again. "Would you give your life?" Rae didn't hesitate. "Yes." "Good," Another voice chimed in, "we will give you what you need to get revenge." As soon as the voice finished, the doors flew open, revealing thousands of groping black arms that shot outwards and pulled her into the smothering dark.
Rae found herself back in the warehouse, left arm still hanging limply by her side, but the ropes that had held her had disappeared. The man was still swinging wildly and shielding his eyes. Instinct guided Rae, she dropped to her knees on the dirt floor, tapped her right hand to her left, and dropped her hands to the floor.
Rae left the warehouse covered in blood, pulling Daven and Cassaera's bodies on a cart behind her. She had laid Daven's small body in Cassaera's arms and placed her coat over them. She didn't stop for anything or anyone, but single-mindedly walked forward ignoring the people who shouted and called to her. Even the soldiers couldn't stop her; it was as if she couldn't see them. It wasn't until she collapsed from exhaustion and shock that she stopped.
The soldiers called for back-up, and while four men brought Rae and the cart home, another eight followed the trail of blood back to the warehouse. The sight that greeted them was enough to give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.
Three weeks after the funeral, Rae left home. After Cassaera and Daven's murders, James's health had failed again. On the day of the funeral, after the casket had been lowered into the plot next to their mother's, on the other side of the little tree, as the final mourner left, a tall man in a black suit approached Rae. He spoke calmly and didn't make any apologies. Rae accepted the offer he made, and agreed to everything. He handed her a pocket watch and left her standing at her sister's graveside, her new name echoing inside her head.