The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Chapter 1



In a snowy meadow, a beacon of light glowed, and a girl named Julia Midnight Fawn stood watching the light with a soft loneliness that was slowly building in her heart. She never thought of life as a dark chasm, always to be caged. But lately, Julia was starting to wonder.

All over Scotland mothers, sisters, brothers, and sons were mourning, worrying, or anticipating the return of their loved ones; however, Julia was morose. She loved her father dearly, as much as any daughter could. But because of his abrupt departure, by order of King James VI of Scotland, she never was able to say a word to him.

“Why do I always sit here, watching this same flame, over and over again, but not find out how to pay the bills or find someone who can?” Julia sighed with frustration and sadness. The money was starting to dwindle and there was not a drop of food left in the cupboards’.

“I never complain about much these days, but sure am I hungry as of late.” Hearing her belly growl for the sixth time that month, Julia cupped her belly in her right palm and contemplated having “boot soup”, because all that was left in the cupboards’ was mead from her dad’s cellar and a canteen full of old thistle’s wart her mom used to make out of thyme, rosemary, dried up fig leaves that was ground down into a fine powder, and dragon’s blood. Yes, everyone thought her mom, Luna Crystal Fawn, was a witch, but really, she was just an old healer set in her ways.

“It will get better.” Luna Crystal Fawn said with an old, tempered voice from the hallway. “You will see…” She walked in holding a basket of clothes. The Fawn’s Family couldn’t afford a house-maid or servants, so everything had to be done by Julia or Luna.

“How can it, when all I see is nothing! No food. No water. There is barely enough money left for us to live here,” Julia looked out the window for the first time, realizing that rain was falling. “And there is no suitor that will take me as his wife. Not one! I just wish I wasn’t alone, so we can live better.” Seeing the sadness locked in her daughter’s eyes, Luna walked to Julia’s side, sat down on the bed, and smoothed out her golden brown hair.

“It will be all right. You’ll find someone soon. You just need to stay strong, my dear.”

“I know, ma. I’m just tired of waiting.” Julia and Luna stayed like that for quite some time; Luna rocking Julia, while caressing her hair, and Julia just staring blankly into the vast nothingness that was slowly becoming her life.

Then Julia got an idea and told it to her mother. “You want to see if we can salvage any roots or figs from the forest and see what we can find?”

“Yes, but first, we need to get our jackets. It is raining, and I don’t want you to catch a fever.” Gathering their jackets from the closet, Julia Fawn and Luna Fawn dashed down the steps and opened the front door to their castle-home in search of the food that will nourish their bodies.

“Why don’t you go toward the west of the forest, and I go toward the east? We will cover more ground that way.” Luna said to her daughter, trusting her to come back with a bounty as well as to not get lost in the woods.

“Okay, mother. Good luck!” Julia waved her right hand in the air and ran toward the west with her eyes scanning the terrain for a morsel of food. At this point, anything from roots to twigs would work for a fine stew. Julia and Luna were desperate, because the King took all their money for taxes and the funeral cost them every coin they could muster.

“I found some food!” Julia shouted excitedly when she managed to find a huge root system that was hiding wild onions and wild berries to everything around her and forgetting that her mother was far, too far, away to hear. However, Julia’s excitement didn’t stop her from grabbing every morsel and scrub she could find, wrapping up her treasures in her long pouch, and slinging them over her head to carry on the way back to the castle. She couldn’t remember the last time food was able to be found in the cupboards’, or even in the fields. So, rushing on home, Julia forgot to keep constant vigil on her surroundings, because bandits were known to run through from time to time.