"The cruelest betrayals are the ones spoken with familiar voices."

*************

The moment the noise outside faded, the forest became quiet again.

Not ordinary quiet.

The kind that made Rosaline feel as though the entire world had stopped breathing.

The wooden house still stood deep within the silver forest, hidden beneath towering trees whose branches twisted together so tightly that the light barely touched the ground. Strange glowing flowers bloomed near the roots, their pale blue light flickering softly against the bark, and the leaves on the trees around continued waving with a sound gentle enough to calm the heart.

Yet nothing inside Rosaline felt calm.

She stood near the doorway of the cottage, her little trembling faintly as she watched the white-haired woman move quickly through the house.

Her mother.

No matter how many times the realization struck her, it still felt unreal.

The woman she had spent years mourning was not truly her mother.

The maid who raised her had only protected her.....but had also given birth to her too.

And this woman...

This woman with silver-white hair and green eyes identical to hers...

was the one who had truly given birth to her.

Now she was confused about the double birth with only her as the answer.

Rosaline’s chest tightened painfully as she watched her.

The older woman no longer looked calm the way she had beside the stream earlier. Fear lingered beneath every hurried movement now. She kept glancing toward the windows as though expecting someone to burst through them at any moment.

Little Saline moved away from the doorway and sat quietly on the floor near the fireplace, hugging her knees while confusion clouded her childish face.

The maid...the dark-haired woman Rosaline had once believed to be her mother...entered the cottage quickly after barring the door behind her.

"My lady," she whispered urgently, "they’re getting closer."

The white-haired woman nodded once.

"I know."

Her voice remained soft, but Rosaline could hear the tension hidden beneath it.

The older woman turned immediately toward the little girl and crossed the room in quick steps before kneeling before her.

Little Saline blinked up at her innocently.

"Mother?"

The word nearly shattered the older woman’s composure.

Her hand lifted slowly toward the child’s cheek, trembling faintly before finally touching her skin.

Rosaline gazed, frozen- like....as she watched tears gather in the woman’s green eyes.

"You must listen carefully to me," her mother whispered.

The child tilted her head.

"But why are you crying?"

The woman smiled weakly at that.

"I am not crying."

"You are."

A broken laugh escaped the woman before she leaned forward and kissed the little girl’s forehead gently.

The dark-haired maid, Florence looked away immediately, her own eyes beginning to redden.

"My lady," she murmured quietly, "there isn’t much time."

The white-haired woman inhaled slowly before standing again. She moved toward a wooden chest hidden beneath one of the shelves and retrieved something small wrapped in silver cloth.

Rosaline’s attention sharpened immediately.

The box.

The exact same box she had tried touching the other time.

Even now, merely looking at it made something strange twist inside her chest.

The woman carried it carefully back toward the maid before placing it into her hands.

The maid looked startled.

"My lady..."

"You must keep this safe."

The maid stared down at the silver-wrapped object like it carried the weight of the world itself.

"What is going on?" Florence asked her lady.

Giving her the box was questioning.

"You do not need to know."

"But..."

"You only need to protect it."

The softness vanished from the white-haired woman’s voice for the first time.

Her green eyes sharpened intensely as she grabbed the maid’s wrist.

"With your life if necessary."

The maid swallowed hard before nodding immediately.

"I understand."

The woman slowly released her before kneeling again before little Saline.

The child looked confused by the strange heaviness filling the room.

"Are we leaving?"

The white-haired woman smiled sadly.

"No."

"Then why is everyone scared?"

The question lingered painfully inside the cottage.

Rosaline found herself staring desperately at her mother’s face, wishing somehow the woman could see her in her little moon’s body.

Wishing she could ask questions.

Wishing she could stop whatever terrible thing was coming.

But she was nothing more than a ghost trapped inside memory.

Suddenly...

The white-haired woman’s expression changed.

Her entire body stilled.

Rosaline felt it too.

Something dark moved beyond the forest.

The air itself seemed to tighten.

The woman stood immediately.

"There’s someone here."

The maid paled instantly.

"How?"

"I don’t know."

The woman’s voice lowered dangerously as silver light flickered briefly beneath her skin.

Then something impossible happened.

A door appeared.

Rosaline’s eyes widened.

The wall beside the fireplace shimmered softly before splitting apart into an opening that had not existed before. Beyond it stretched darkness and stone steps descending somewhere beneath the house.

The maid gasped softly.

"My lady..."

"If they enter," the white-haired woman said quickly, "you take her and run through the passage."

Little Saline stood up immediately.

"Mother?"

The woman knelt again, gripping the child’s shoulders gently but firmly.

"You must be brave for me."

The child’s lower lip trembled.

"I don’t want to leave you."

Pain crossed the woman’s face so sharply that Rosaline herself nearly cried.

The woman pulled the child into her arms instantly.

"You were born brave," she whispered shakily. "You have my blood."

Little Saline began crying then, frightened by the fear she could finally hear in the adults’ voices.

The maid quickly approached them, trying desperately to soothe the child.

"It’s alright," she whispered. "Your mother is here."

But the little girl only cried harder.

The white-haired woman closed her eyes briefly before kissing the child’s forehead again.

"You must live," she whispered against her skin.

Rosaline felt her own throat tighten painfully.

Then...

Crash.

Something struck the barrier outside the house.

The entire cottage shook violently.

Little Saline screamed softly.

The maid immediately grabbed the child protectively.

The white-haired woman turned toward the entrance, silver power slowly gathering around her body like moonlight awakening.

Another impact followed.

This time the windows cracked.

Saline instinctively stepped forward.

Then something else happened.

A book fell from one of the shelves.

It struck the floor hard enough to burst open.

The moment the pages spread apart, silver light exploded outward.

Rosaline gasped.

Suddenly the world shifted.

The strange force pulling her into the child vanished instantly.

For the first time since entering the memory...

she separated.

Her spirit stumbled backward in translucent form while little Saline remained in the maid’s arms.

Rosaline looked down at herself in shock.

She could move.

Actually move.

"What...?" she asked herself as she waved her hands in front of them all..... but nothing changed.

No one heard her.....or talk more about seeing her.

The memory continued unfolding without noticing her presence.

Outside the cottage, growls echoed through the forest.

Not human growls.

Predatory.

Hungry.

The maid quickly grabbed the child tighter while rushing toward the hidden passage.

"Come on!"

Little Saline sobbed harder.

"No! Mother!"

The white-haired woman turned briefly toward them.

Fear and love filled her face so completely it nearly broke Rosaline apart.

Then the front door exploded inward.

Cold air rushed violently into the cottage.

Rosaline spun around instantly...

...and froze.

Creatures stood outside.

Tall.

Pale.

Beautiful in a terrifying way.

Their eyes glowed crimson beneath the darkness, and their fingernails looked more like claws than human hands. Some bared elongated fangs as they stepped toward the doorway slowly.

Rosaline stared in horror.....what was this?

One of them smiled coldly.

"She’s still here."

The white-haired woman stepped forward immediately, placing herself between them and the hidden passage.

Silver light burned brighter around her body.

"You are not welcome here."

One vampire laughed softly.

"That has never stopped us before."

Rosaline’s pulse thundered as she watched more figures emerge behind the creatures.

Then...

another woman stepped forward.

Rosaline’s breath caught instantly.

The woman looked almost identical to her mother.

Green eyes.

The same face.

Only colder.

Crueler...and the significant difference was that she had black hair unlike her mother.

The resemblance was so terrifying that Rosaline instinctively stumbled backward.

Her mother’s expression darkened the moment she saw the woman.

"...Selene."

The other woman smiled faintly.

"Sister."

The single word dripped with betrayal.

Rosaline’s entire body went cold.

Sister.

Her mother’s sister stood beside this creatures that looked like they were about to kill.