Chapter 1
The air was a chilling wave washing over Esper Agnes as he walked through the street with his three friends. Richard (Rook) Thorn, Oliver Sylven, and Liam Toren walked in front of him lost in conversation. They'd become friends relatively quickly. Rook had approached Esper on his first day of school with his easy demeanor and kind gesture to show Esper around. Oliver and Liam had shown up later and had become easily friends with him. Oliver was kind but loud, plus tall with handsome features girls seemed to love. Liam on the other hand was always somewhat quiet and reserved though he would speak when he found something interesting enough.
Esper was the odd one out of the group. Not only had he moved here in the 9th grade with his uncle, but he also didn't generally fit in. His features weren't particularly beautiful. With dark eyes that did not shine in the way that blue, green, or even grey seemed to. Long wavy hair that covered one of his dull eyes 90 percent of the time. Even his height was nothing memorable. Not much socially was special either. Esper didn't engage in sports often though he was somewhat athletic- despite loving to skateboard- and instead spent most time with his headphones on and a book of some type in his hand. None but his friend group dared speak with him.
This particular day they were walking home from hanging out at an abandoned skatepark in their small community. Each one of the friends was having the time of their life but Esper was contemplating a lot. Not about much important, only the way the stars seemed to shine when they were so far away. He often thought about pointless things. For instance the term "downfall". Praying for someone's downfall was quite odd to Esper. How else would they fall? Up?
The truth was these thoughts were simply ways to distract his mind from the true issues. The crippling loneliness that ate away at him each time he spent alone in his home while his uncle was away at work for days, sometimes weeks. The fear of change, and losing everything he'd been lucky enough to gain. To Espers surprise is was one more immature thought about a girl that truly made him ponder for a good minute. He shook his head and cast his thoughts aside.
Through all his random flurries of thoughts his group had reached the separation point of their walk. Rook, Oliver, and Liam going one way- they lived in the same area-, and Esper once again going his lonely path.
"HEY ESPER," Rook called him out of his walking coma, "Tomorrow we're gonna ask out some girls to the SunRise dance. You got anyone in mind? I think we know ourselves but we haven't heard from you since you've been zoning out back here for like 15 minutes."
Esper rubbed the back of his head in awkwardness and then looked at the sky pondering whether he should tell them or not.
"Tell us tomorrow," Liam spoke up quickly, "No offense but I already have an idea of who it is and it's also getting late. You're probably gonna take another five minutes to actually get to the point. "
No one could argue with his point and so they all gave each other high fives, and fist bumps and went their separate ways. Now that Esper was alone he placed his headphones above his ears and opened his phone to look for a specific song. After looking for a while to actually decide the song he finally selected was "Maladapted" by the band Hail the Sun.
Oddly enough the sun itself was setting, turning the sky a shade of violet. Esper turned into the shortcut alley he'd found while taking this route home over and over. Its walls were somewhat close together but it was fairly easy to navigate with nothing intercepting the path forward. The path took him straight to a street that would usually need a roundabout to get to.
The open air was a nice feeling because Esper was always cooped up in his room when he wasn't hanging out with his friends. The walk was nice for a bit but then suddenly it felt as thought the air had frozen in place. The distant lights flickered then shut off completely leaving Esper in complete darkness.
It was then when the frozen silence of the night transformed. Staring as one it slowly expanded into the sound of thousands- no more like tens of hundreds- wings flapping in the open sky. Esper's eyes were not adjusted to the darkness of the night yet and he couldn't even see three feet in front of him.
The darkness set a cage but then all seemed to be inconsequential except for the blind feeling of terror. In every fiber of his being Esper was also frozen. He begged his limbs to move but they did not listen, in fact it refused to even stop trembling. That was when the sounds of birdlike voices began.
"Esper Agnes, Esper, Crow, Esper, Agnes." thousands of birds were basically shrieking his name into the area he was frozen in place with.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the sight of black birds with piercing eyes staring at him. Just as he finally registered his environment the birds dove.
With hundreds of wings around him it was not a feeling of talons he felt, but the feeling of hundred of beaks piercing his skin. Each one biting down painfully hard. Tears formed in Espers eyes, with silent prayers for anyone. . . anything to save him from this. His thoughts circled to his friends, then his uncle, and finally to the fleeting thoughts of his deceased parents.
Is this how they felt as they passed, Esper thought to himself helplessly, I have nothing. Why am I so afraid of death? Even if I continue to live I won't be someone great or someone that others understand. Why am I so scared of death?!
The pain subsided as the feeling of beaks ended and the flapping of wings receded to the sound of only one set of wings.
Esper opened his eyes to see a pair of beady eyes staring straight back at him. The same shrieky voice emerged from the bird.
"Esper Agnes, Blood of magic, heart of light, king of crows,"
And with those last words the crow turned and flew off. Esper fell to the floor as his body finally relaxed enough to listen to his brain. He was so close to death. So terrified of the way he would go. Calming himself down Esper went back to his feet and began sprinting home in an attempt to avoid any future encounters with such terrifying implications again.
Arriving at the front of the worn out building his and his uncle's apartment resided in Esper let out a breath of relief. The building was ugly. With graffiti on its outer walls and the stairs that took you to the second floor was nothing but a poorly renovated fire-escape. Most people that seemed to pass through this area thought that a drug dealer was keeping a stash there. No one was dumb enough to try and break in because of the camera the landlord had installed to deter any more break ins since he started renting it out.
Esper climbed up the fire-escape stairs and opened his front door with a little bit of a key shimmy because the knob would sometimes get stuck for some reason. Without any restraint Esper pulled off his bag and slammed it down next to the couch and ran into the bathroom turning on the water to heat it up. Peeling off his clothes he looked in the mirror to see the damage the beaks had done.
The breath left his lungs as he saw the dried blood on his body, but no open wounds from the encounter that happened only around 5 or 10 minutes ago. Even odder for some reason was the fact that something fundamental yet indistinguishable had changed in Espers features. His dark eyes were still dark but it was if they held something else in their unstirred abyss. His hair was still dark and wavy but had a different way of falling on his head that wasn't unpleasant but wasn't there at the beginning of the day. Even the skin that was usually dull seemed to glow ever so slightly with a nice sheen to it, the dark circles under his eyes seeming more like makeup then lack of sleep. No pain was pulsing anywhere Esper had been bitten so he stepped in the shower and called it a night.
After finally getting into his bed the sound of the door opening -rattling as it did- caused Esper to lose any type of exhaustion he had prior. His uncle strode in quietly. Trying his best to whisper (though Esper could hear each word) into his phone with exasperation.
"How am I supposed to go back again when I only just got home. I'm not sure if I need to remind you I still have to look after my nephew," A brief pause ensued with small yes' and mhm's coming in between the silence. Finally Espers uncle spoke up again, "- and I understand that this is important, but I haven't been present often and I'm pretty sure Esper isn't even eating properly anymore. I need to take some time off or you can give me just local assignments. At least for the next few months."
With that Espers uncle seemed relieved with the "THANK YOU!" that erupted from him. So loud that he stopped talking to probably gauge if he woke Esper up. Esper didn't move even a little bit so as to not alert his uncle of his wakefulness. Again his uncle said thank you, this time in a lower voice. His uncle set down his phone which was only known by the slight sound it made as it hit the table.
"Esper you can come out now," His uncle said quietly.
Realizing he'd been caught, Esper got up and went into the room his uncle was at. To anyone who saw Espers uncle there was always doubt in a few things. One was the age. Espers Uncle didn't appear a day over 25 in any way. Very few wrinkles outlined his face, and he was called beautiful more often than not. The second was most thought him to be Espers older brother or father. From all the pictures Esper had seen of his parents they had not looked much like him. He did have his mothers nose and the shape of his fathers eyes, but his hair and eye color were his uncles. Even the way he stood and walked matched his uncle's cadence. Of course Esper wasn't nearly as handsome as his uncle. Though that was something his uncle said was due to his current brawl with puberty. Causing Esper to reply by saying "it's more like a battle to the death. I'm the one losing too."
Espers uncle smiled faintly as Esper walked out of his room.
"So you were awake," the uncle said with a smile, "it's been a while. How's school going?"
That was always the first thing he'd ask Esper when they saw each other. To which Esper would always ignore and ask a question of his own.
"I heard you on the phone," Esper replied instead, "Are you staying for a while?"
He hadn't meant for it to sound so accusing or rude but it had come out sharp. His uncle flinched and even Esper looked the other way in shame.
"I don't like leaving you here alone so often. I really don't. It's just. . . the job. I have to go because it's not something I can really quit."
Esper had heard this many times. His uncle explaining that this was something he'd been doing for so long -that his family had been doing for so long- that he couldn't just quit. He never elaborated and only pleaded for understanding with a look of pity in his eyes.
In this instance Esper didn't really care enough to ask much and instead eagerly studied the buttons on his uncles bright yellow jacket. Not for a particular reason but because he had no idea what else to do.
"Esper," His uncle began speaking again, "Do you want to talk about anything else? Any girlfriends at this new school?"
A knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Sorry Uncle Aran, but I'm just kind of tired. Can we talk more tomorrow morning?"
His uncle nodded and let him go back to his room. Mind you this wasn't an excuse to leave. Esper was tired. It was like his body began shutting down and feeling heavier for no reason. So Esper went to his bed fell on it and was whisked away by sleep.
To his amazement the sleep was not empty. It was not something the mind could understand. Almost like being mixed in between the colors purple, black, and red. There was only the feeling of his own self being complete. Something that was missing was returned.
Just as Esper felt put together again the liquid colors he was was then poured into a human shaped mold and like a cool clay mold the colors cooled into a solid version of the mold. That was all the dream entailed. Espers mind turned to black and pulled him from the eternity that seemed to be his slumber.
The daylight shone through Espers window in a brightness that hurt each time you looked its way. Esper felt good. Like he'd woken up from a long nap. His body felt more defined. Changing his clothes Esper actually realized how correct he was. In the place of his small abs which weren't prominent there instead was a stomach with no extra fat and instead only the abs in clear view. More so than that Esper was a good few inches taller. Which made him use the clothes he had received from his uncle for the later half of the year or whenever Esper grew.
Besides his newfound height Esper was just around the same as before. With his hair over one eye, and his dull eyes. Smiling at himself in the mirror and doing a few poses Esper put in his earrings, and lip piercings.
A loud thud came from outside his room and Esper slammed his door open to go and see what had happened. Outside his uncle stood in an apron with a pan in hand and a bag of utensils on the floor. He offered a whimsical smile as he picked up the utensils, pointing at the table which was already set up with eggs, bacon, and italian bread.
"Made breakfast," He said with a smile, "go ahead and have some," He looked Esper up and down, "whenever you're ready. . ."
Esper realized he was shirtless and had a broom in his hand to smack whoever was out there with. In his defense he hadn't expected his uncle to actually be there when he woke up. Putting the broom down Esper quickly got himself ready and went to eat.
Aran Agnes sat at the table with a cup of coffee and book open when Esper sat down.
"So I heard that SunRise dance for your school is coming up. Any plans for that?" Aran questioned.
"Not really," Esper said, "probably just going with my friends."
Taking a bit of his bread filled with eggs and bacon Esper looked up to see his Uncles inquisitive gaze.
"You don't want to ask a girl out or anything?"
Esper sighed.
"I'm not really any girls type. They'd prefer to go with the cool guys, and we both know im not cool. I mean I don't even hang out with most the people i go to school with."
Aran seemed skeptical.
"Right. . . You don't need to worry about that. If you like someone just ask her out and then if she says no you can give me all these lame excuses. Now tell me who you have in mind? I'm sure she'd probably go with you."
Just like that a loud bang came from Rook entering the room confidently.
"Oh. . . Mr. Agnes," He said when he noticed Espers uncle, " Hi. I didn't know you'd be home. Sorry for barging in."
Aran simply laughed at this and told Rook to sit down. Espers uncle served Rook a plate and sat back down.
"Perfect timing Richard! I was just asking Esper who he was going to that dance with!"
Esper groaned. The took another bite of his meal. Rook cast Esper a look with a smirk on his face.
"I'm gonna say Raven Lynch." He said, causing Esper to turn a slight shade of red, "Espers always staring at her like a weirdo. Teacher even called him out once cause of it. I have secondhand embarrassment myself."
"DON'T REMIND ME ABOUT THAT," Esper said with a blush.
His uncle howled with laughter.
"Ok, so ask this Raven girl out then," His uncle replied.
Even Rook stood quiet after that. Aran looked at both of them with a questioning face before sighing and taking a bite of his meal.
"She's going with someone already?"
Rook chewed his food then talked again.
"Not exactly, but I'm pretty sure that she has someone. She's pretty private but her group hangs out with this group ar school a lot."
With that Rook suggested Esper ask her anyways and they left.
Rook and Esper walked to school like usual. This time Rook commented on Espers height a little bit. Expressing how funny it was, Esper had reached his height finally. Liam and Oliver joined in when they got together.
Eventually they got to school and each went to their own classes. They all had the same schedule except for Esper. Only having one class together. Esper headed to his first class, which happened to be english. Most people had gotten there first on this specific occasion and only left one seat open. The seat right behind a beautiful, tall girl with short black hair. Raven Lynch.
Esper sighed and sat down passing her quickly as he raced down the aisle. A second later the teacher strolled in with a smile on his face.
"WELCOME," He said with an energy he didn't usually have, and an evil smile,"I know I told you all that I would be giving you an essay for this week's assignment, but as we approach the SunRise dance I thought it would be much more fun if we did something a bit different!"
The teacher- Mr. Ellis- put something on the screen in front of the class. A diagram of a highschool structure. With a smile he turned around.
"I think this is the perfect time to discuss everyone's views on the social hierarchy of the school. To make this even more fun this is going to be a paired project. Every two people in each row turn to your pair. The person behind you. These are the people that you will be discussing social roles with and your idea of why they exist! This will be what you will be working on until the end of this week. Have fun with your partner, and use your time wisely."
At that moment she turned around. Grey eyes boring into Espers impatiently. Raven Lynch. Esper had been paired with Raven Lynch. She sighed when the class got noisy, and grabbed her stuff then turned around.
"Grab you're stuff. It's noisy in here, we're going to the library. No one should be there right now."
She walked out of the class right after leaving Esper to gather his things and follow her quickly. He reached the library to find her sitting down in the back corner. Raven Lynch turned as she heard the door closed, and smiled. Actually smiled. Esper made his way nervously to the table.
"Welcome," Raven said with a slight smirk," I don't think you and i have had a full conversation since you started going to this school. So I'll introduce myself. I'm Raven Lynch, nice to meet you!"
The girl who looked like both a model and a very emo girl talked with such a light heartedness towards Esper he felt like he might evaporate at any second. To his own disgust he imagined himself embracing her for a brief second before mentally slapping himself.
"I-i'm-"
"Esper Agnes," She replied quickly, "I know. I know who you are after that whole staring thing at the beginning of the year. Sorry i laughed by the way."
She only laughed to herself as Esper turned a shade of red tomatoes would envy. The thought that she remembered him from the time the teacher had called him out for staring at her made Esper want to die.
"Sorry about that. . ." Esper replied.
Raven's smile faltered as Esper grabbed a notebook and started writing down the name of the assignment. She grabbed a pen and reached over writing over his page.
The words she wrote read: Hey. We aren't doing this yet. Talk to me.
Esper looked up to the girl staring in his eyes pensively.
"You know." She said, with a bit of a frown," You aren't the loudest guy, even in class you sit and read when everyone else is talking. When you walk in the halls you're always wearing your headphones too."
Esper stared in shock, realizing this girl had actually been paying a bit of attention to him while he carelessly went about day to day. She continued.
"Since I already know you won't ask I'll do it myself." She said reluctantly.
Something in Esper told him not to let her complete the sentence, and instead he interrupted letting his thoughts take shape.
"Will you go to the SunRise dance with m-me?" Esper practically screamed with a voice crack, causing the few other people to turn their way. Esper looked away in embarrassment.
A hand reached out and turned his face towards Raven Lynch. She stared once more at Esper causing him to go red again.
"You're being serious?" She asked without letting emotion play on her face.
Knowing that he couldn't just take back what he said Esper nodded a yes in her direction. Raven then smiled at him warmly. In a way that he'd never seen before. Not the smile she used with friends, or the cheeky smirk he'd witnessed when she pranked someone. A smile that was so secret that when her lips closed Esper wished she would smile again.
"Good," She said, lowering her hand, "now we can start the project."
After spending the rest of the period and their shared study hall working they finally parted ways to go to their next class. Esper grabbed his things and started to walk away when a hand pulled him back. Raven stood over him with a serious look. Esper prepared for her to tell him it was all a joke and she wouldn't go to the dance with him. Instead she grabbed his things from his hands and pulled him in for a hug.
"You are a very odd person, Esper Agnes, but I really like that about you. Don't look at other girls with the look you give me ok? I like being the only girl you seem to give a dreamy eyed stare to." She laughed at this then went on, "I'm not saying don't look at other girls, but I just want to make sure you realize how much you intrigue me. Don't ever feel to scared to talk with me. I don't care who I'm with. Anyways that's all i had to say."
Raven smiled devilishly and walked out like an angel, leaving Esper there in shock. A hand flew to his shoulder turning him around so fast. Rook, Liam, and Oliver stood there in complete shock.
"Dude. What the hell was that?!" Rook said, Esper began trying to explain, "Can it dude. We were hiding behind the bookshelf over there the minute she walked in. We saw EVERYTHING."
Esper winced. He was never living this down.
"Well now everyones got a date," Liam said with a slight smile.
The group walked out to their next classes.
The day went about the same as it normally did. They ate lunch together, and then went on to finish the days.
Esper spent his last class doing his homework. At around ten minutes till the class ended he asked to go to his locker to grab his stuff.
"Esper Agnes," A voice from the corner of the hall said, "Looks like you turned. You smelled different this whole day. What faction?"
The voice belonged to a tall boy who hung out with a group of jocks. None of which Esper saw. Only the tall boy with blonde hair, cut short enough that it was barely falling over his brow stood there. His eyes were not normal however, illuminated as a violent purple color.
"I asked you a question. . ." He reiterated.
Esper looked at him in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
The boy slammed him into the locker with incredible strength.
"Don't play stupid, kid," The boys voice lost all playfulness turning into one that seemed to strike away all calm, and replace it with bloodlust. Like a predator lying in the skin of a teenage boy.
"Im serious. I don't know what you're talking about. Turned?" Esper winced as the boy once again slammed him into the wall.
"DON'T PLAY STUPID! I CAN SMELL IT ON YOU! YOU AREN'T HUMAN ANYMORE! WHAT FACTION ARE YOU FROM?! Are you a Blessed?" the boy snarled.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT?! Whats the blessed?"
Staring into his eyes for a few seconds the boy set Esper down in disbelief. He turned around of a second, and sighed heavily.
"You're serious?" He asked again. Esper nodded meekly.
"You've lucked out this time. If today had been any other day I'd be dissecting you to see exactly where you come from. However I'm on a schedule today so we'll have to save this for another day. Better figure out where you belong soon, or run away. Believe it or not I'm nice for a vampire. We're territorial and don't like it when people we don't know show up. We already put up with a few exceptions in this school."
Esper laughed to his own surprise.
"What are you laughing at? Do you want to die?" The boy said wiping the grin from Espers face.
"There's no such thing as a vampire?" Esper said, though it came out more as a question, "Are you pranking me? Those contacts look expensive though."
The boy sighed and then laughed. Striking the wall next to the lockers with enough force to make it crumble.
"You really don't know anything. Weren't you bitten by one of us? How don't you believe?" He inquired, "It doesn't matter. I don't care what you believe or not. I'm doing to a favor letting you live for now. You owe me. Your life."
The boy began to walk away then seemed to realize something and turned back for a second then walked away. Muttering only, "Wait if he was just turned then how hasn't he attacked anyone yet? Is he really a Blessed?"
Esper only stood there in shock. He grabbed his stuff and walked off. The bell rang before he even got to sit back down. So Esper ran off past his friends, past anyone who said his name, past his teachers. The air wasn't the only thing that had changed that night. Esper felt it in every pore of his body.
"I changed," He finally said out loud.