Prologue Mortal Legacy: Fatal Flight

Prologue

Anna Daschanel

The pain was nothing like she had ever felt, but for some reason she didn’t mind it.  Overtaken by her love for her beloved Vincent, pain was only a state of mind.  She had given herself to the Vampire, body and soul.  However, Vincent’s motives for changing Anna into a vampire clouded his judgment.  Of course he did love this miraculous creature, but his infatuation with her powers enticed him to change her even more than his love. 

His power over her had grown to the point that her angelic ways were inhibited by bad ruling.  She in fact was a type of angel, a half human angel with the extraordinary abilities to heal people. Anna selflessly devoted her life to healing the sick and ailing.  Her wings were a beautiful buff that closely resembled that of an angel, but in fact she was a descendant of the oldest order of healers, the Caladrius.  These weren’t biblical beings, but instead humans with a divine purpose. 

Exposing her angelic powers to something as evil as Vincent could have been Anna’s most detrimental mistake.  He courted her and fell in love with her, and that could have been his most damaging mistake. 

Vincent had been curious about two things,  Anna’s potential as a vampire and a possible threat to his empire.  The night that they had expressed their love for one another physically, was the night she was to be born into another life.  A life of eternal death and darkness would be hers. 

Even though vampires could move around during the day, it wasn’t their natural time, in turn, it rendered them extremely weak.  In the darkness of night, is when they could live their natural lives.  Anna was unconditionally in love with Vincent, and did not care what kind of damned life she would lead, as long she shared it with him. 

Anna was surprised how tender and gentle he was when making love to her.  Vampires had been known to be vicious killers, but I some way Vincent was different.  He possessed every quality she dreamed of in a companion.  Vincent was indeed cultured, intelligent, well-spoken, and strikingly handsome. He charmed her with every word he spoke and every touch he bestowed upon her body.  It was truly a dream come true for someone as Anna, who had lived most of her long  life practically alone.  Vincent promised her the family she had always wanted but never had.

Anna was born into a wealthy family in Louisiana in the late 1800’s. She grew up on a large antebellum style cotton plantation with her parents and siblings.  Anna lived a life of privilege and splendor, however it wasn’t all pleasant.  She struggled with her psychic abilities.  Anna’s mother believed Anna to be possessed by a demon.  Her abilities were not normal or at all looked upon as a blessing, they were her curse. 

During the Civil War, most of her family members died from the Consumption, while she remained extremely healthy.  She never had been sick in her life, which was contributed to her healing abilities. 

Anna first found out about the abilities when her family fell ill, and she didn’t. The house slaves and physicians tending to her family, could not fathom why she had not contracted this highly contagious disease.  Every ones suspicions became validated one day when she should have died.

During the war, when Confederate Soldiers needed food, water, or a place to rest for the night, they often would visit plantations.  Anna’s Father, a Confederate supporter, allowed the soldiers to take refuge in his home.  Usually the visits were peaceful with no evident harm to the family, but on this particular visit, that wasn’t the case.  Anna had gone out to greet her Uncle, of whom was a Confederate Soldier, when everything went amiss.  Anna had been shot in the chest by a Yankee Soldier’s rifle.  The shot was originally meant for her Uncle, whom was a highly decorated officer, but it hit young Anna instead.  Needless to say, the soldier never gave up on his mission and finally killed the remaining Confederate Soldiers on the Daschanel’s property. The small confrontation was over as quickly as it began, leaving only Anna lying on the ground alive. 

Anna was brought into the house disoriented and very afraid, the physician was scrambling to save her life, but there was no life to save.  The blood on Anna’s purple dress was no doubt hers, but the gunshot wound was nowhere to be seen.  The physician and other care takers were in awe.  They had all witnessed the shooting, but somehow they were deceived.  Roland Daschanel, Anna’s Father, did not ask any questions, because he was ecstatic that his eldest daughter was, in  fact, alive. Roland had recently lost his twin daughters to the Consumption, or Tuberculosis, and now his wife was ill.  He could not allow his prized offspring’s demise to leave him alone at the plantation.

On Lucy Daschanel’s, Anna’s Mother, death bed, she again was unsupportive of her daughter’s gifts.  She warned Anna that people would always consider her evil and to keep her secrets very close to her.  Anna always hurt because Lucy treated her as curse instead of blessing.  When Lucy took her last breaths, Anna couldn’t have been happier.  She knew she could heal her Mother, but why should she waste her time and energy on someone that clearly resented her.  Anna id however, ended up holding her Mother’s hand for her Father’s sake as she passed away.  After Lucy’s death, it would only be her and Roland left on the plantation.

Anna and her Father had many years together on the plantation.  They never spoke about Anna’s abilities, instead Roland provided her the most normal life possible.  She studied and became cultured and fluent in five languages. Anna also studied music and dance.  She would have been a great match for equally well-read gentlemen, however she never had any gentleman callers and she was almost nineteen.  During this time period many young women were married between the ages of sixteen and twenty, Anna was nervous that her reputation for being different preceded her and no young man would be interested. 

Days, months, and weeks went by, and Anna continued using her abilities in secret, until one beautiful southern summer day.  Roland was out tending to Anna and his horses for their usual morning ride, when he had a heart attack.  Anna had an awful feeling and ran into the stables, she was too late.  Her Father had passed seconds before she got to him.  The guilt over took her, because she knew she could have saved him if she got there seconds sooner.  She became highly agitated and upset.  Her back burned with  horrible pain.  The pain escalated more to her shoulders, then something then started tearing out of her skin.  She screamed and screamed in pain, and no one came to her rescue.  The objects fully emerged from her skin.  They were two beautiful buff colored wings. Anna didn’t move in fear that something terrible would happen.  Servants arrived and were in shock when they looked upon the majestic wings of young Anna.  They jumped to conclusions and blamed the beautiful-winged Anna for Roland’s death.  The betrayal of her family of servants drove her away.  She knew she could never come back because they would no doubt try to kill her. She leaned down and kissed her dead father and flew away into the sunlight not knowing where she was going, but knowing she could never come back. 

Anna went on to live by herself in New Orleans and continued using her powers to heal the weak and suffering.  Anna stopped aging twenty when she began healing more often. 

Healing was Anna’s life force and in a sense was her own fountain of youth.  She was not completely alone in her journey, she had met others that were of the same kind. They were her friends and companions.  It made her long life a little less lonely having people that she could talk to.

It wasn’t until 1989, that Anna found love.  The chance meeting took place at a popular night club on Bourbon Street where Anna was a cocktail waitress.  It was during Mardi Gras, when, as you may know, anything could happen.  Anna had never found love nor was she looking for it.  She knew it would happen to her, but never knew when or where.  Needless to say, she did not expect to stumble upon love this specific night.

A mysterious group of people walked into the club and the atmosphere completely shifted to tenseness and fear.  It was like the earth stood still for them.  There were four males and two females in the group.  Each were strikingly beautiful that it almost seemed unreal.  Anna couldn’t help to notice one of them.  He was tall and thin with pale skin to the point he almost looked sickly.  However, his face was angelic , she couldn’t stop staring.  When his gaze met hers, it became the very representation of love at first sight. The gaze was only broken by a thirsty patron of the club.  Anna took the man’s drink order and hurried to look back to gaze upon her true love, but he was nowhere to be seen.  She scanned the crowd frantically, when she felt a presence that she had never felt before standing directly behind her. She stopped and felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck that made every hair on her body stand on end.  She felt the feelings of fear and want. 

A whisper gently resounded in her ear.  “Tue es mon amour.” She turned and there stood her beloved, the one who she had waited decades for.  Her patience finally paid off.



The love story began that night in the middle of Mardi Gras in 1989.  A love story that would begin a war, a war fought for power and possession, but eternal love would remain true, in some form.