Downtown Chinook, Mid September
The sun was completely hidden by the rain clouds. A cold wind was whipping around like a dog chasing it's own tail. It had been raining for most of the day. But currently the only moisture in the air was the spray from car tires getting caught by the wind. The ever changing wind was why most in the area didn't bother with umbrella's even if there was an unofficial holiday celebrating them. The cold wet day did nothing to improve Ingretta's mood. All she could do was pray to the mother of the race that all would work out.
Ingretta was terrified. For the last twenty plus years she had avoided any city that had either Anvidai or Lushidai clans living in it. In fact she had avoided any members of either race like they had the plague. It wasn't that she didn't like her people or the Anvidai. Or that she didn't want to be with or around them. It was just that her Annik, her only daughter would be in danger if her clan knew of her existence. Bearing a child that was a half breed, part Human was bad enough. A child that was part of the enemy? Her clan would never accept a child that had been sired by an Undying among them.
Ingretta wasn't completely sure how that had all worked. As far as she understood it, the Undying were soulless and not even living in the technical sense of the word. They had no heart beats, no bodily functions. They fed on pain and terror more then food or drink. Eating only the corpses of those they had tortured and then only if they had been injured. How had Mikhail pulled it off? How had he not only disguised what he was but managed to sire a child?
As soon as she was pregnant Mikhail had stopped hiding that he was an Undying. He had locked her in a suite of rooms that were nothing more then a well appointed jail. Mikhail had come and visited her often, not because of any feeling that he felt but because he reveled in her pain and despair. This had actually worked in Ingretta's favor though. The further Ingretta had gotten in her pregnancy the more complacent Mikhail had gotten until the day that she had escaped.
Mikhail had unthinkingly left her door unlocked when he had left for the day. As an Undying Mikhail no longer needed to fear the sunlight even though he had been an Anvidai before his conversion. But like all of the Undying he had to spend a certain number of hours in a meditative state, unplugged from the world around them. Communing with the Corrupter, recharging their bodies like a cell phone recharged its batteries. This wasn't the first time that Mikhail had left her door unlocked as he had thought that Ingretta was completely cowed. It was the first time, however, that it had happened during a time of day when the majority of the Undying would be meditating like he was. Mikhail had forgotten that as a Lushidai, Ingretta could go out in the full sun. She was not as Mikhail had once been, unable to go out in the sun. Her subspecies of the Anvidai handled sunlight just fine. In fact the Lushidai were the ones who dealt with the Humans because they could do sunlight. And bonus, not only was the door unlocked but he had left one of the Dark Tomes in her room as well. Ingretta had taken advantage of Mikhail's slip and ran for her life, taking the tome with her. Twenty-five years later she was still running, still hiding.
In order to hide herself and her daughter, Ingretta had never stayed in one place longer than a year. Ingretta had stumbled on an underground railroad for abused women her second year on the run just after Annik was born. Using that resource Ingretta was able to get new ID's for both of them every time they moved. She didn't mind that her daughter was home schooled since most children of the races, especially the Lushidi, generally were. She did regret that Annik had never known what it was like to really have friends. They moved far too much and Ingretta had always feared that Mikhail would find them if they got too friendly with those around them.
Ingretta had hoped that her daughter, Annik, would take after her and be a Lushidi, able to walk in the sun. But it had become obvious in the last few months that Annik took after her father and was going to be Anvidai. Ingretta knew that when the Tempering came she was going to need to have a member of the Anvidai present or her beloved daughter was going to die and they were running out of time. Annik's Tempering was going to happen soon, within the next six months at the latest. That was why they had come to Chinook. There were many clans in the Pacific Northwest and the War Prince lived in the suburbs of Chinook. The War Prince would keep Annik safe even if the clans would want to kill her. Ingretta didn't know for certain that the other clans would hate her daughter, but she knew that her home clan would. They would consider her sweet daughter to be an abomination, worse than a half Human child.
It had taken Ingretta a few weeks to figure out how to contact the War Prince safely. It would have been easier if she could have gone to the local clan head and requested a meeting. That would have caused problems though. Ingretta would have had to tell the clan head why she needed the meeting. Which would have meant telling them about Annik. And that was a risk that she wouldn't take. So instead she had sent a letter to the last address she had known for the War Prince in the hopes that it would get to him. Ingretta didn't know what she was going to do if this didn't work.
Ingretta thought about the Dark Tome as she walked home after posting the letter. The way it had come to her was so random, as was her decision to take the book with her. Ingretta had almost left the Dark Tome behind, fearing that it would give Mikhail even more of a reason to find her. She still wasn't sure why she'd taken it in the end but take it she had. The Dark Tome had been full of information about the Undying and where they had come from. Ingretta had told Annik stories from it only changing things so a child's mind could understand it. Ingretta had told her they were just fairy tales from their people. She'd never told Annik that they weren't Human or that her father was an embodiment of evil serving a God that wanted to rule the planet. The Black Lady wanted to remove free will from all the races not just the Anvidai and the Lushidi. Ingretta was going to tell Annik what they were, not the part about her father but that they were not Human. It was beyond time for her to know.
Ingretta didn't see the car parked a few car lengths down the road she was approaching. Waiting at the corner for the light to change she was all tangled in her head. Trying to find the right words to tell her daughter that they weren't Human. She didn't hear the engine rev as she stepped out into the street. Maybe keeping Annik in the dark all these years hadn't been a good thing. Ingretta was on autopilot, only paying enough attention to her surroundings to navigate it safely and none of it on a conscious level. Crossing the street when the light changed Ingretta was far too obsorbed with her thoughts to see or hear the car that struck her, rolled her onto the hood, and then down onto the street.
Ingretta knew that she was dying. Now she wished that she had told the War Prince more then just who she was and what clan she was from.That she given him their address instead of telling him to place an ad in the Free Nickle paper, I saw you section. She wished she told him who her daughter was and who her father was. That she had one of the original Dark Tomes of the Black Lady. More then anything she regretted not telling her daughter what she was. Now Annik was going to be alone and would die when her tempering came. Unless her father found her frst because Annik had no idea why they had moved so much.
Tears started to run down Ingretta's face as she heard a car door open, the pungent, sickly sweet scent of the Undying wafting over to Ingretta on the breeze. Bright Lady they had found her. The Undying had found her and now they had killed her. Ingretta could only hope that Annik would do as she had been taught and run for her life. It wasn't going to take them long to find her as well. Ingretta heard rather then saw the man who came and stood over her while she died. There was so much that Ingretta wished she had done differently. So much that Ingretta wished that she had told Annik and now it was too late. All of her time was done, gone forever. Ingretta felt moisture on her cheeks and briefly wondered if she was crying or if was it raining. Was the world crying for her? There was no longer any pain in her body but her heart was breaking at leaving her daughter alone and unprotected. Then she knew no more.
