‹ Prequel: Night Shift
The Legend of Black Fire
The Legend of Black Fire
“It’s time for the stories.” Lexi Martinez- also known as Grandmother- said to her grandchildren. The children ran out of the house, pushing and shoving as they usually did. “Be Careful!” Abigail - Lexi’s daughter- shouted to the children as they scrambled out the front door. She turned to point a finger at her mother. “Don't scar them.” Abigail turned around and walked back inside the house, always too scared to listen to the stories. Besides, she had already heard this particular one before. The children gathered around the campfire, eager for Grandmother to tell her ghost story. They wondered which one it would be of today. The night was frightfully dark, as the moon's light was obscured by big, gray clouds. The only light they had was the light from the fire of burning wood, which they gathered around. A breeze blew through the campsite, and adding more of a spine-chilling effect into the eerie scenery. The children whispered amongst each other. As Grandmother sat in her little rocking chair all became quiet. “Are you going to talk about ghosts this year Grandmother?” one of the children asked. “No, Nicolas” Grandmother said, laughing. “You all are getting to old for ghost stories. I’m going to tell a story of something scarier than a ghost.” The children gasped and began to whisper again, wondering what could be scarier than a ghost as she began to talk. “I’m going to tell you the legend of Black Fire. Long ago, there lived a vile and malevolent vampire named Black Fire. She was incredibly fast, strong and beautiful. She was forever frozen at 16.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Black Fire was perched on a cliff, overlooking the city. Her yellow-blonde waist length hair flowed in the warm breeze of the August evening. Ha! She thought. I’ve killed half of their forces and none of them have even laid a hand on me. She looked back to see how far the people were. Ah, she thought again. I’ve led them on this chase for quite a while, and I’m getting quite thirsty. Black Fire chuckled at her own little joke, and turned on the villagers. An hour later, she was wondering through the streets. Black Fire was looking for everyone she hated in her past life. The people that had annoyed her, bothered her, and angered her. She started with her teachers, and then worked her way down to those who bullied her as a human. Each time she killed, she became stronger. Undoubtedly, others tried to stop her, both human and vampire alike, yet none could overthrow her. With this fact in mind, she tried to take over the southern part of Great Britain, and succeeded in doing so. Black Fire had her own kingdom, complete with slaves, an army and a palace of course. Each of her slaves and each member of her army had an image of a black claw on fire tattooed on their arms, and she had hers on a necklace. Whenever she felt bored, Black Fire would pit a handful of her slaves against each other; only the strongest could survive. She would appoint those who won to a higher position and eventually would make those who won fight against each other. She kept on this order of fight-live-die until it came down to the day when two young and in love vampires named Christine and Cody were picked to fight each other. Knowing that he would pulverize her, Cody begged Black Fire to let him go against somebody else. ‘Please Your Majesty’ Cody begged. ‘Please don’t do this to me, to her! I...I can’t fight against her because she will die if I do!’ Black Fire rolled her black eyes, which if you got close enough to looked, actually did seem to burn with a raging fire in them. ‘Oh please’ she responded ‘what’s love got to do with life? You don’t need a love to be successful’ That explains a lot on your part, Cody thought to himself. ‘But Miss!’ Cody begged in a relentless manner. Black Fire held up her hand ‘Enough of this!’ she shouted. ‘Return to where you were.’ Cody nodded remorsefully and walked away. But when he walked away, he walked away with a plan. He would gather his own army, of people who hated Black Fire. There were bound to be hundreds, the way she treated them. Soon, Cody gathered an army of roughly 300 men, all of whom were slaves and army-men. They began to march around the walls of Black Fire’s palace. The ruckus caught her attention. She rushed outside, where she was quickly ambushed. She tried to fight them off, but there were 300 of them, and 1 of her. She did manage to kill half, which was pretty impressive for a young vampyre. But then, they overpowered her. Before they killed her, she apologized for everything she’d done. It was a heartfelt apology; she really did meant it. But the people did not believe her, and she was filled with a raging hatred. Her last words were “I’ll be back!” and then they killed her before she could get another word out.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Grandmother began stopped talking right there, to see the frightened and bug-eyed expressions on her grand-children’s faces. “Well, what happened next grandmother?” urged Nicolas. “Well, some believe that Black Fire’s spirit only comes out on nights like these," she lifted her arms to the sky, and the wind seemed to swirl around her arms, lifting her dark blonde hair to the air. "When the sky is pitch black, no stars daring to come out, and the wind is harsh. Some say that only happens when someone tells her story. But the one the almost everybody who knows her story believes, is that she came back to life, and she found a new body, but she was human and lived with the non-suspecting humans until she dies” Nico’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean dies? Isn’t she supposed to be dead?” Grandmother opened her mouth to answer, but just then Abigail called out. “Okay, time for bed.” The children complained that they were not at all tired and went into the house. Once all of them were inside and out of hearing distance, Abigail went to scold her mother. “Mom, you see how close that came? You’ve got to be more careful when you tell these stories. I wouldn’t want anyone to find out that you’re-” Lexi fanned Abigail away. “Relax. I wasn’t going to tell him the truth anyway.” Abigail rolled her eyes at her mother. “Sure you weren’t.” she said sarcastically. Lexi put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a necklace, with the image of a black claw on blazing, amber flames on it. She held it up, and it reflected across the night sky, not needing any light. “Put it away mom, put it away!” Abigail whispered through clenched teeth. This time it was Lexi who rolled her eyes. “Nuh-uh” Lexi said, sticking her tongue out at Abigail in a bout of childishness. Abigail sighed and slumped her shoulders. “You know what they say,” Lexi said cheerfully “you can’t fight Black Fire.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Black Fire was perched on a cliff, overlooking the city. Her yellow-blonde waist length hair flowed in the warm breeze of the August evening. Ha! She thought. I’ve killed half of their forces and none of them have even laid a hand on me. She looked back to see how far the people were. Ah, she thought again. I’ve led them on this chase for quite a while, and I’m getting quite thirsty. Black Fire chuckled at her own little joke, and turned on the villagers. An hour later, she was wondering through the streets. Black Fire was looking for everyone she hated in her past life. The people that had annoyed her, bothered her, and angered her. She started with her teachers, and then worked her way down to those who bullied her as a human. Each time she killed, she became stronger. Undoubtedly, others tried to stop her, both human and vampire alike, yet none could overthrow her. With this fact in mind, she tried to take over the southern part of Great Britain, and succeeded in doing so. Black Fire had her own kingdom, complete with slaves, an army and a palace of course. Each of her slaves and each member of her army had an image of a black claw on fire tattooed on their arms, and she had hers on a necklace. Whenever she felt bored, Black Fire would pit a handful of her slaves against each other; only the strongest could survive. She would appoint those who won to a higher position and eventually would make those who won fight against each other. She kept on this order of fight-live-die until it came down to the day when two young and in love vampires named Christine and Cody were picked to fight each other. Knowing that he would pulverize her, Cody begged Black Fire to let him go against somebody else. ‘Please Your Majesty’ Cody begged. ‘Please don’t do this to me, to her! I...I can’t fight against her because she will die if I do!’ Black Fire rolled her black eyes, which if you got close enough to looked, actually did seem to burn with a raging fire in them. ‘Oh please’ she responded ‘what’s love got to do with life? You don’t need a love to be successful’ That explains a lot on your part, Cody thought to himself. ‘But Miss!’ Cody begged in a relentless manner. Black Fire held up her hand ‘Enough of this!’ she shouted. ‘Return to where you were.’ Cody nodded remorsefully and walked away. But when he walked away, he walked away with a plan. He would gather his own army, of people who hated Black Fire. There were bound to be hundreds, the way she treated them. Soon, Cody gathered an army of roughly 300 men, all of whom were slaves and army-men. They began to march around the walls of Black Fire’s palace. The ruckus caught her attention. She rushed outside, where she was quickly ambushed. She tried to fight them off, but there were 300 of them, and 1 of her. She did manage to kill half, which was pretty impressive for a young vampyre. But then, they overpowered her. Before they killed her, she apologized for everything she’d done. It was a heartfelt apology; she really did meant it. But the people did not believe her, and she was filled with a raging hatred. Her last words were “I’ll be back!” and then they killed her before she could get another word out.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Grandmother began stopped talking right there, to see the frightened and bug-eyed expressions on her grand-children’s faces. “Well, what happened next grandmother?” urged Nicolas. “Well, some believe that Black Fire’s spirit only comes out on nights like these," she lifted her arms to the sky, and the wind seemed to swirl around her arms, lifting her dark blonde hair to the air. "When the sky is pitch black, no stars daring to come out, and the wind is harsh. Some say that only happens when someone tells her story. But the one the almost everybody who knows her story believes, is that she came back to life, and she found a new body, but she was human and lived with the non-suspecting humans until she dies” Nico’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean dies? Isn’t she supposed to be dead?” Grandmother opened her mouth to answer, but just then Abigail called out. “Okay, time for bed.” The children complained that they were not at all tired and went into the house. Once all of them were inside and out of hearing distance, Abigail went to scold her mother. “Mom, you see how close that came? You’ve got to be more careful when you tell these stories. I wouldn’t want anyone to find out that you’re-” Lexi fanned Abigail away. “Relax. I wasn’t going to tell him the truth anyway.” Abigail rolled her eyes at her mother. “Sure you weren’t.” she said sarcastically. Lexi put her hand in her pocket, and pulled out a necklace, with the image of a black claw on blazing, amber flames on it. She held it up, and it reflected across the night sky, not needing any light. “Put it away mom, put it away!” Abigail whispered through clenched teeth. This time it was Lexi who rolled her eyes. “Nuh-uh” Lexi said, sticking her tongue out at Abigail in a bout of childishness. Abigail sighed and slumped her shoulders. “You know what they say,” Lexi said cheerfully “you can’t fight Black Fire.”