Whether it happened after a restless sleep or a deep, long meditation, Lydia Fatebane awoke from her bed in a jolt. When her eyes opened, they stared up towards the dark ceiling in fear. For a second, she felt the breath that had been stored in her lungs simply vanish from within her body, and into thin air. When her consciousness and breathing were restored momentarily, the demon pushed herself forward, and dangled her legs from off of the edge of her stiff bed. She ran her cold hands over her pale-white forehead to find that she was sweating. How long had she been out? She checked the large and rusty master clock beside her only to notice that it was now around six o'clock in the evening.
With her throat feeling groggy and her muscles tense, Lydia dropped down to the creaky wooden floor and began to walk out of her bedroom down the stairs that were chipped and broken here and there. There was a reason why her house seemed to match the girl's lacking spirit. The house in which she lived had been abandoned for many decades. It simply collected dust from the end of the street as innocent children gazed upon it, claiming the rickety home to be haunted. It was dark, freezing, tattered, lonely, and somewhat invisible to the eyes of the neighbors who lived next door. To those who entered inside, it felt like living in a coffin. In other words, the house was without a doubt Lydia's dream home.
Somehow, upon first moving to the house, the girl had found a way to get some of the water and electricity in the first floor running properly again. Because the inside of her neck felt painfully dry, the mysterious demon decided she'd get herself a glass of water. She wasn't hungry, as she had hunted earlier in the day and fed herself enough so that by afternoon, she was full of energy. She opened the cabinet, grabbed one of the untainted white glasses, and made her way towards the steel sink. Before she could even get the water running, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes giving off the impression of immediate danger.
"Hey, Lydia."
The voice was seductive, and insane-like in tone. No doubt, it was her sister's.
"Fuck off, Ruby," Lydia softly exclaimed as she took a seat at the kitchen table, reluctantly listening to her sister's telepathic message (and ultimately disregarding her need for cold water). Ruby, her younger sibling and hated "protecter", had been sending messages to Lydia's mind ever since the monotonic girl left home. Ruby Fatebane used to leave telepathic reports in her sister's head every day, but stopped once Lydia had been away from the castle where she formerly called 'home' for more than a year. Usually her messages were mocking in nature, and tended to drag on for minutes. They were a pain to listen to, and probably wouldn't have been so hard to take if Lydia possessed telepathy herself, and could respond back to her younger sister's displeasing words.
"How have you been, Lyds? I hope you haven't been causing too much trouble wherever you are. So listen: Father and have been questioning people from all over the place, and we finally know where you're hiding...well, not quite, but at least we know what country you're residing in. And you can guess that we were both...impressed by your cunning nature in regards to choosing your hiding place." Lydia rolled her eyes while Ruby chuckled for a moment. "You're a clever girl, Lyds; hiding in a warm-weather climate full of sunshine so that us Fatebanes wouldn't dare to try and find you... Anyway, we know you're either in California, or North Carolina. We'll be checking California first, so if you're there, don't worry! You still have plenty of time to start running...we'll catch up to you anyway. Some of these new members have enhanced senses of hearing and smelling...If you're in Carolina, well...unfortunately our much-anticipated family reunion will have to wait a little while, hmm? I do wish you had telepathy like me...I'm forgetting what your voice used to sound like. Anyway, I'll see you soon, Lyds."
"Love you older sister, darling..."
Lydia was inhaling deeply again, and she could feel the muscles in her face growing more tense. It was then the demon noticed the glass she had been holding earlier was not in her hand, but had been shattered into a million pieces and was now residing on the top of the table. She must have been so stiff, she broke the glass with her fingers as she heard Ruby speak. It was fine though; no glass had penetrated through her hand, and all the pieces landed on the table, nothing was on the floor. Suddenly, Lydia just felt the need to be outside. Forget water, maybe she just needed some fresh air. She'd clean the broken glass up later. The demon grabbed her hoodie, flipped up the hood, and exited through the door. When she looked forwards after closing the entrance to her home, bright lights in the distance caught her attention. Her already present scowl grew deeper as she inquired the source of the vibrant lights. What could possibly be going on at this time? She knew where they were coming from, and she had enough energy to teleport, so Lydia did so, closing her eyes in the process.
When she opened her eyes and the ebony-colored smoke surrounding her had disappeared, (smoke appeared around her every time she teleported,) Lydia found that she was in the middle of a busy street. She covered her ears once her hearing processed the booming sound of loud music. There were merchants everywhere, people dancing and smiling...it all made Lydia confused and annoyed. She shrugged and walked forward. Her head looked down towards the ground and her hands were caressed in her pockets. When she came to a stage featuring some sort of hippie-folk band playing their music much too enthusiastically, Lydia saw Noah Talon, a demon like her, smiling at the corny group as they performed. The girl had thought things were weird before, but now things were getting just plain creepy...
"The hell is that smug look on your face for?" For a split second, her face twitched into something of a smirk, and then she turned to face the band in a similar fashion as Noah. She looked at the group as she continued to speak, her hands still in her pockets. "I have no idea why everyone in this town is dancing and selling things and being happy all of a sudden, but whatever the reason, it's making me nervous."