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Born a short 19 years ago, Zasha was still a child at heart when an "evil" moved into her village. Zasha Renai Mylan,
at 18, was a beautiful girl. With a heart of gold, she was reckoned to be the strongest force in all the lands once she had
set her mind on something. It was certain that she would catch the eye of the new villager, an evil dragon name Deavanor.
Her mother begged her to stay indoors, to avoid the demon at all costs, but to no avail. The young woman, curious as a child,
ventured out that very night to confront the village's newest mystery. When she came upon him in a dark and dusky bar, she
was unprepared for the tale he would lay before her. He started his story with one simple statement that destroyed all she
had expected to hear. "This is not my first visit here."
He proceeded to tell her the story of the first time he arrived in the village. He had been more than a little lost from
the light. He had raped a beautiful young woman then, moving on shortly after to rove to another village. In the 18 years
that followed, he had done worse, so much worse than he had done to the girl here. Only recently had he recovered his soul
again. He had returned to look upon the woman he had raped and to beg her forgiveness. He intended to take to her house that
very night.
The young lady just sighed and shook her head, leaving the tavern. She returned home, shaken, going to her room to think
over the story she had heard. Her room, decorated in alternating light and dark blues indicated her awareness of a balance
in life. The cool, silken sheets of her bed relaxing her mind until she could rest comfortably.
Waking a short two hours later, as the wind howled in the black of night and the rain lashed at her window, she heard
a loud pounding on the door. Creeping out of her bedroom, she slipped quietly through the house. She watched her mother open
the door, gasping aloud before she attempted to slam it shut. The door was kept open as a large head thrust through the opening,
holding the door still. Her mother began screaming hysterically, and as her father came to the door, it burst open. A flash
of lightning exploded through the clouds, illuminating Deavanor's figure. Zasha gasped, rushing forward to watch the scene
unfolding in the foyer of her house.
Zasha's mother screamed for her to go to her room and for Deavanor to leave at once. Zasha watched Deavanor in shock as
he looked at her, obvious confusion flooding his face. As he asked her how old she was, a thought erupted in her head; a thought
more blinding than the lightning flashing across the sky. As Zasha turned to question her mother and father, her mother slumped
into a chair, nodding before the question could even be asked. "Yes, he is your father, Zasha."
Zasha turned to stare at Deavanor, confusion dumbing her senses. She felt a floating sensation before her world went dark.
The next morning, Zasha woke in her bed. Deavanor had sat up beside her all night. As he watched her, he called himself all
kinds of stupid for not realizing sooner. Just looking at her, he could see a resemblance. In her eyes, his eyes, he could
see a strength. A strength of spirit that he had never seen in any but his children. Speaking softly, he began to question
her about her life up until now. They talked for hours there, first one and then the other, stopping only for refreshments.
Zasha's mother had decided that it might be for the best that she get to know Deavanor. The day ended all too soon for Zasha,
Deavanor had a family to return to. Zasha now knew that she had brothers and sisters in a land far from here. In a land called
Hollow, Sabine, Griff, Vash, Pappy, Aurora, and Toby all lived oblivious to her very existence. Deavanor's final words to
his daughter were an invitation. Should she ever seek him, she would be welcome in Hollow. And as quickly as he had come into
her life, he left it again.
A few months after Deavanor left, a young man came back into the village. A vampire, although, she was not to know this
until it was too late. It was actually too late the day he came back, Zasha wanted to be with him and she wouldn't fight him
anymore. Linas, was all Zasha thought she would ever need while he was with her. Kind and gentle, he made her feel worthy
and treasured. The night she gave herself into his arms, she gave all of herself; her body, heart, and soul were possessed
by him in more ways than one that night. After their whirlwind courtship, they were wed in the Grace Chapel. Everyone cried
to see it happen, they loved her. Zasha had never looked happier, or more beautiful than on her wedding day. They didn't leave
the village for their honeymoon, instead, Linas took her into his home. He had prepared the place well. His home was lit with
candles and soft blankets and pillows covered the floor in front of the fireplace. She went to him then, believing herself
to be the luckiest woman in the world. In their final moments of ecstasy, wrapped in the blanket of each other's arms, Linas
bit her. Draining her near the edge of death, he bit into his own wrist. He forced the blood soaked wound to her lips until
she took his blood with all the pleasure with which he had taken hers. After, he took her into his arms, explaining what he
was, how he had come to be, and what he had just done to her. "You'll never grow old, love. And you'll never die. Illness
and weakness will never touch you so long as you feed properly. You will live, you will survive, so long as you take blood
from other living beings. And because you are a living vampire, sunlight cannot harm you. You are free to travel the world
in whatever you desire to seek."
Zasha cried then. She felt her world flipping upside down as she lay in his arms. Linas felt her despair, felt her slipping
away from him, and in the first light of morning, left her sleeping form in his bed. Waking alone, Zasha wandered out to discover
the ashes of her village. Home after home burning to the ground before her very eyes. The dead bodies of her neighbors, her
friends, and her family were strewn about the ground, some of them taking in their final breaths. Kneeling beside her dying
mother, she bawled continuously. Her mother whispered, "There is only one way to kill the monster that did this. You
must destroy his heart." She held her mother's head against her breast as her mother took her dying breath. She stayed
away for the day, crying and cursing Linas back to the hell he had crawled from. Raising her eyes from the ashes of her home,
Zasha knew what she must do and her steps filled with determination as her eyes burned with a hatred she hoped to never feel
again.
She went back to Linas that night, standing solidly in the doorway as she stared at her love. He grinned upon seeing her
there, declaring that he had thought he would have to drag her home. Shaking her head slowly, Zasha crossed the room, pinning
Linas against the wall with her body. She reached up to caress his cheek, gently kissing him. Reaching around her back, she
tugged a rusty dagger and a wooden stake loose. Pressing the dagger against his throat, she positioned the stake over his
heart, taking a single step away from him. Zasha would never forget the surprise, fear, and pain she saw in his eyes at that
moment. "I'm sorry, Linas. If you had done this differently, maybe, we could've had a future together. I can never forgive
you for what you've done to my family. And although I don't have it in me to kill you, I cannot stay with you. My love, Linas,
if you ever come for me again, if I ever see you again, I will kill you." That said, she walked away from him, stowing
the stake in a small leather bag she had with her. She stocked the bag with enough food and drink to get her to Hollow with
a little to spare. Ignoring Linas' pleas, she pocketed what little money she had, latched the rusty dagger onto her pants,
and walked out the door.
For 10 days, Zasha walked, slept, ate, drank, and thought only of her family in Hollow. Her clothes became ragged, staining
and ripping, as Kelay came into view. Arriving at Kelay Tavern, she rented a room, marched upstairs, and fell asleep. Waking
some time later, she ventured down, reading the bulletin board on the tavern wall. She gasped, reading the notice that her
sister, Aurora, had been killed. Fleeing the tavern, she burst into tears, screaming for all of Hollow to hear, "My name
is Zasha Renai Mylan and I am seeking my father! Deavanor! Where are you?"
She was informed, much to her dismay that her father was also dead. Her life had fallen apart so much in the last short
while and she couldn't understand. She was told then, by a kind man named Elwin, to seek her sister Sabine. And so she set
out, searching all of Hollow for her sister, for what little family she had left. She searched everywhere, high and low for
days, but her sister just wasn't around. She swore not to give up, she would find her family. So she continued to search,
coming, instead, upon a secluded grove that contained another nightmare for her. Zasha wandered into the secluded nook, lost
really in her own world. Her mind was filled with turmoil. Confusion about her life and her family, and what to do now that
she was here.
"How do I help them? Why is everyone dying now that I've shown up? I'm so confused. I thought that everything would
be ok once I got here.. and it's not. Half of my family doesn't believe me.. and the other half are too busy attending family
funerals. Brothers and sisters.. people I've never met are dying. I want to help them, but I don't know what to do. I don't
know what to do..."
She knelt, crying, against the stone wall behind her as she shut her eyes tightly against the memories, against the thoughts
that plagued her mind in those days. She sniffled angrily, and shook her head, trying to whip the headache now forming in
her mind away. She opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the camp. She turned quickly around and clutched the wall close,
trying to force away the image that had shocked her so. She stepped away from the wall, swinging around again, staring at
the mangled man lying near the stone at the center of the campsite. Barely breathing, she took several slow steps towards
him. By the shape of the campsite, it was obvious that he had put up a fairly good fight before falling to his death. She
closed her eyes momentarily, trying not to be sick as she notes that his head was not attached to his body and there were
fang marks in his chest surrounded by bruises. The shape of the bruises showed that this boy had been bitten rather hard and
that no mercy had been shown in his torture. She knelt beside him, covering his body with her black cloak. As she covered
his head, she noted that he too had fangs. He was a vampire and he had been weakened before his assailant had murdered him.
As Zasha spread the cloak over the lad before her, stretching it's width to cover his body, she noticed an engagement
ring on his finger. She tenderly removed the ring, looking at it and trying not to cry as she thought about his fiancee..
maybe he had a family. Maybe this man had sisters and brothers who do not know he is dead; the thought was almost too much
as she started crying again. She put the ring back on his finger, stretching the cloak to cover his hand. She had noted an
inscription on the inside. 'I love you. Indigo' She would find this Indigo.. and she would tell her about him. And maybe,
she would find out who he was. Maybe she could find out why he had to die.
Turning to walk away, she noticed intials carved into the wall. Frowning, she wondered if these initials had always been
in this place. So much bad had seemed to happen here, why would anyone carve their initials into the wall. Noting a red stain
beneath the lettering, she walked to the wall. Touching the initials, 'L.M.S.', she studied the stain. Her eyes widened as
she realized it was blood. He was probably the murderer... and he signed in blood. She shook her head and fled the area as
fast as her legs could carry her. She had been ready to throw up.. and for a vampire, even a good one, that was a major thing.
She began screaming her questions. Trying her hardest, with little success to find out who Indigo was. That is, until
a vampriss named Lilian answered her. She wanted to know why Zasha was looking for Indigo, for fear perhaps, that she wished
to cause the girl harm. So, Zasha explained the situation to Lilian, unknowing of the fact that this was Toby's adopted sister
and that the man she had found was her own brother. She was asked into Lilian Balore's home with her two children sound asleep
on the master bed. The two women talked quietly and Zasha discovered several things. Firstly, that Indigo was to have been
her sister-in-law and was pregnant with Toby's child. Lilian also told her of some of her other family. She consoled Zasha
upon passing on the news of Griff's death. Lilian also told Zasha where she could find Sabine, Pappy, and Vash. That night,
when Zasha left Arioch's abode, she felt she had made perhaps her first real friend in Hollow.
Her ordeal was not yet finished. Zasha found her sister's within the next week, and she thought, that was the end. She
thought that she could move on from the past then. But, within a few days, she was to be confronted with the news that Vash
had been killed in a death duel. Zasha wondered, then, if she had a curse of death on her. Everywhere she went, the people
she cared for died. She considered leaving Hollow, for everyone's sake. Zasha did not leave though. She stayed for three reasons:
Lilian, Sabine, and Pappy.
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| Zasha strains against blustering winds as she travels to Hollow. |
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