Nox-Cruor: A Paranormal Tale of Magic and Sacrifice

Prelude

Rayne

It was a plain morning the day that Rayne Miller lost her humanity. It just went to show that nature had nothing to do with foreboding in the long run. There were no warning signs that the world she knew was about to be flipped on its head and turned inside out.

It started when Rayne was woken from her dreams by her phone’s alarm clock app. She forced her heavy eyelids open to see the morning sun filtering in through the blinds of Lyra’s room. She frowned in thought, trying to remember when she had fallen asleep. The last thing she remembered was studying for a test and then… nothing.

The alarm kept ringing. Tempting as it was to ignore the alarm in favor of the sweet and welcoming embrace of the mattress, she had to get to school in an hour. So she pulled herself out of her best friend’s bed with herculean effort.

Said best friend, Lyra, continued sleeping without a care in the world. Rayne wasn’t sure if all that time wearing headphones had dulled her hearing or if she just blocked it out somehow. She resorted to the tried and true method of shaking her until she woke up. Lyra, wake up.

Lyra moaned as she was stirred from her slumber, opening a single crystalline-blue eye. Why?

School, Rayne said. Remember? We have mid-terms coming up.

She turned in the bed, away from Rayne. Use the shower first. I’ll… get ready after that.

Rayne shuffled across the carpet to the bathroom, where the cold tiles sent chills up her spine. She flicked on the lights and looked in the mirror to see how much time she would have to dedicate to making herself presentable after a shower. Her untamed hair would eat up most of the time, from the look of it.

The groan of the nozzle turning was soon followed by the beating of droplets on the shower floor and churning water as it spiraled the drain. Rayne tossed her sleeping pants and T-shirt into the pink laundry basket next to Lyra’s black one as the water warmed. She had spent so many nights over there, it was half-full and she’d need to do laundry later that evening.

She stepped into the shower, and the moment the water caressed her skin her mind snapped to full attention and she began to wash herself until there was a series of loud knocks against the bathroom door.

Don’t you dare use up all the hot water again! Lyra yelled through the door.

"Now she gets up, Rayne said under her breath as she stepped onto the shower mat and toweled off. Once that was done she wrapped it around herself and let Lyra in. All yours."

Lyra shamelessly stripped next to her and hopped into the water without missing a beat.

Rayne felt envy towards her roommate’s figure for a moment. Despite being the same age, Rayne was possibly the smallest eighteen-year old in her school while Lyra could pass for a model. She sighed and then dealt with her hair since she could actually do something about that with the help of a comb and the mirror.

Once her hair was fixed and she was dressed in a blouse and her favorite pants, she completed her ensemble by taking her favorite accessory out of its jewelry box on the nightstand by the bed. It was a plain but pure silver ring fixed with a jewelry chain through it that she treasured dearly. She handled it as if it were fragile while she slid the chain around her neck.

You treat that thing like it’s worth a fortune, Lyra said as she came out of the bathroom. Her modesty was only protected by the virtue of the towel wrapped around her caramel skin as she picked out an outfit to get dressed in.

Because it is to me, Rayne said softly. She had gotten it from Nikolas, her former boyfriend, before they broke up. He never said what had driven them apart, and didn’t even bother to spare her a glance when they had classes together. It was like she didn’t exist to him.

Even though she felt like she should say something or demand answers, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. A little voice in her head would stop her from wanting to know the truth. It would tell her things were better this way, but in her heart it felt like that was a lie.

There’s no use in pining over someone who left you, Lyra said as she modeled her outfit in the full-body mirror. No matter how great he seemed, how he’s treated you shows how he really is once he got what he wanted. You just have to accept that some people aren’t who you think they are and move on.

Right…. It wasn’t the fact that he left her that bothered her most. It was that he never told her why. She didn’t want to believe that everything they had was a lie, and she wouldn’t until she heard it directly from his mouth.

She put the necklace on and made for the door. Okay, let’s get going.

~~~~~

Nikolas

Nikolas Jasper had been awake since the twilight morning hours, tending to the plants in the greenhouse annex of the Amaranth Manor. He had just finished grinding dried nettle leaves down to a powder to be used at the café when he noticed the time. He would be late to class if he didn’t leave soon.

He went back into the manor, only to be greeted by his sister’s familiar, Mitra. The black, female, British Longhair cat wore a black collar that held a circular pendant with three gemstones attached in a triangular pattern. She leapt onto the counter and sat on the bundle of cloth set out for her, and then stared at him expectantly.

Is your mistress up yet? he asked.

The familiar nodded her head and pointed a paw towards the cabinet where he kept the special tea blend.

And she wants tea? Nikolas guessed.

There was another nod, which was followed up by the familiar pointing towards her feeding station.

He sighed, understanding the gist of it. Lorene was in the middle of something and wanted him to bring her his special tea, after feeding her familiar. He got to it rather than wasting time complaining.

Five minutes later, he finished straining the tea-infusion into Lorene’s favorite cup and left Mitra to her meal as he climbed the stairs. There were a number of rooms on the second floor, but he only knew what was inside a handful of them. Lorene’s family had been strict on where he and his parents could venture due to their traditions, and some of the doors literally wouldn’t open for anyone but Lorene now.

Once he reached the room at the end of the hall, he knocked on the door of her den to get her attention. The door opened and he was greeted by the poignant scent of smoldering white sage. He hoped it didn’t stick to his clothes as he ventured inside.

Lorene’s Den was lined with scarlet and gold draping that looked vibrant through the light of the chandelier above. Occult texts were scattered around the ground rather than on their shelves, contrasting the two glass cases that held a variety of precious gems, crystals, bowls, bottles, and pendulums on display. The sole window in the room was draped in thick curtains that hid the purifying light of the morning sun.

Lorene herself slouched in a comfortable velvet-lined chair in the center of the room, using her hand to prop up her head. Her amethyst-eyes stared endlessly into a scrying bowl in front of her. The distilled hydrosols and gemstones inside glowed with a soft light as they scanned for any signs of the bane of their existence.

He set the teacup down on the ebony nightstand next to her, where a smoldering pile of white sage was in a seashell large enough to take up his hand.

She reached for the cup without averting her gaze and sipped the tea in silence.

Nikolas stood off to the side to avoid breaking her concentration, looking at a map of their town on her wall. The various points dotted with colored stick-pins and yarn weaved between the pins resembled a web. Together they formed the outline of what were essentially Lorene’s eyes and ears when using her scrying spell.

Nikolas, he heard, and turned his head. Lorene was leaning back in the chair, having finished her tea and spell alike. I need for you to make another amplifier crystal before we leave, so I can expand the array. Take what you need from the case.

He nodded and grabbed a jar the size of his head filled with clear quartz. If it’s just a single amplifier, then this should do it. I’ll leave it in my workshop for you before I take my motorcycle to school.

Her luxurious black hair shook with her head. The Schwarzert is still after you. I’ll drive you myself and pick you up for work.

He groaned a bit.

I know you don’t like being babied, but I’m not risking losing you too. She rose out of her chair. The school is well-populated and you can manage there if something happens, but it would be easy for you to be taken on the road if I’m not there.

Nikolas didn’t like it, but he understood. His family had been haunted by a bogeyman called the ‘Schwarzert’ for centuries now. Every few decades, it would spirit away the previous generation, leaving the current one to pick up the pieces. But, this time, something was different.

It claimed his parents a year ago, killing Lorene’s in the process. Then it came back a few days later, waltzing in undetected through the wards that protected their home, the genius loci that protected the grounds, and the house spirit that oversaw everything else, and stole something that had been in Lorene’s family for ages. The only reason they knew that it was there was because Lorene’s familiar had woken them in time and drove it off.

Lorene’s family was that of a line of thieves that took mystic relics and arcane knowledge from various lineages and practices around the globe. They made enemies and went into hiding after that, eventually settling down here until the present. What was taken was a blood-filled flask that held the essence of a race of vampire thought long extinct, capable of creating bloodlines of them, and fast at that, if ingested.

They had to get it back or destroy it soon, providing it hadn’t already been used.

Just a little longer, Lorene said. The Evestra Memoria is almost ready. With it, we can find where the Vault is and I can find something that will put an end to your family’s curse once and for all.

Nikolas nodded and left the room, heading towards the basement. That was where he did his own work. Lorene’s family dealt with mostly spirits as mediums for spells, while Nikolas’ were alchemists.

His basement had a spare sink and refrigerator in the corner, necessary for hygienic purposes as well as preparation. The portable stove, electric boiler, and kitchenware that he used exclusively for his work were on the top shelf above the sink, with various handwritten books and journals dedicated to his craft just beneath it. Shelves and cases that held the materials he worked with were against that wall, and the opposite wall had cauldrons made from different metals and molds of various sizes.

He grabbed a small iron cauldron and an obelisk-shaping mold, which was about the length of his forearm and came to a single terminated point. He set them both in the center of the room before he grabbed as many crystals as he could hold from the jar. Then he transmuted the crystals into a liquid state with his Talent.

A Talent was a magical gift often passed down through the bloodline. Those in his family from his father’s side inherited the ability to perform Transmutation and Transmogrification with only their minds and hands. It was the gift that Aureolus, who came before, possessed and the lure that pulled his family into the role of alchemists.

Nikolas took the mental image of the stones into his mind and visualized the change taking place, and his Talent did the rest of the work. The rigid bonds that maintained the crystals as a solid item were broken as it transitioned into a liquid state. The liquid quartz drizzled into the cauldron afterwards.

He poured the contents of the cauldron into the obelisk-shaped mold when he was done and then reversed the transformation of states. The solution solidified glacially from the bottom to the top until it was done. Now all of the smaller stones were a single large crystal.

Finished now, Nikolas washed his hands and cleaned the containers before he left for class.

Chapter 1

Rayne

Rayne found herself unable to listen to the teacher during the last period of the day. Instead, her attention was fixed on Nikolas Jasper. He sat on the other side of the class, but he seemed an entire world away.

Lyra gently tapped her shoulder, having taken the seat next to her. Ray, are you going to say something or just stare at him like he’s a work of art every day?

Rayne brushed her hand aside and softly sighed. She wanted to say something—or anything really—but she couldn’t find it in herself to ask. Her fingers came up to the ring around her neck and played with it absentmindedly as she continued to stare.

Lyra looked back-and-forth between the two of them and then sighed. This is just sad.

It’s not like I want to be this way, Rayne said. I want to say something, but when I try to gather up the courage to talk to him myself… I just can’t, for some reason.

You’ll never know until you give it a try, Lyra said, before turning her attention elsewhere.

Time passed uneventfully until the final bell rang and the students stirred out of their chairs.

Rayne went to her locker to get her backpack and then headed towards where Lyra had parked her car, only to be suddenly pulled into it and made to bend down. After struggling for about a minute hopelessly, Lyra moved her hand and Rayne sat up. What gives?

Lyra started her car. We’re following your ex-boyfriend.

Rayne stared at her in stunned silence for a few moments before registering that they were following a Jeep with Nikolas inside of it. This is stalking.

No, this is getting you to do something before you go crazy. I swear you get worse every day with this and I can’t stand watching it anymore. So, you’re going to sit down and have a long talk with him and clear the air.

Rayne gave a dozen reasons why this was a bad idea. They didn’t know where they were going. She didn’t know what to say. There had to be some other way to do this.

Lyra ignored them all until they came to a stoplight. "Listen, you