The Lady and I

Chapter One

Greta

The rain fell with unrelenting force. It was bad, even for Aberdeen, Washington; pouring down on everything, tapping on the roof and windows. The wind howled ferociously, shaking the trees next to my bedroom window and causing the branches to hit the glass repetitively, making a loud 'tap' with every strike. Each loud sound, each clap of thunder and flash of lightning shook my entire body. Nothing terrified me more than storms and this one was the worst I'd seen in years.

Even though it was midnight, I had my paper lantern on, illuminating the area of the room taken up by my bed. At least three blankets were wrapped around me. The curtains were closed and safety pinned together, but did little to cover up the storm. I cursed myself for being such a scaredy cat. My name is Greta Caruso, I'm a high school graduate, 17 years old and 5 foot 7 and 130 lbs. I was strong, intelligent and friendly. Yet, I was still afraid of a storm. It's not like the storm could reach me inside and I knew that.

That's right; the storm can't reach me inside. Come at me, lightning.

The very minute I finished the thought, the lightning lit up the sky, followed quickly by the loudest clap of thunder I'd heard that night. I screamed loudly and pulled the covers over my head, backing into the corner of my bed, against the wall.

"Greta, what's up?" I heard my younger brother Oliver call from his room.

"The storm, Oli." I stuttered.

"I know, Gret. Get into the closet and put headphones in." He said, "Or come in here."

"I'll be fine." I said, not wanting to trouble him, "Go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke you."

I put my headphones in and turned my music all the way up, shutting my eyes tightly. Before I knew it, I opened my eyes and the storm was over, leaving behind a slightly brighter sky and a light sprinkling of rain. This was my favorite part. I paused my iPod and crawled across my bed to the window. I spread the curtains, opened the window and stuck my head out a little bit, staring into the sky. The wind blew slightly and drops of water hit my face, so I withdrew and closed the window.

As the window closed, I saw the tree next to my window shake almost violently. Suddenly, I felt as if I was being watched. I shook off the feeling and pulled myself into the bed. I was way overdue for a good rest.

Days were long and boring in Aberdeen. I hated the town so much. We used to live in sunny, hot, non-stormy Avery, Texas. That was during a happier time. That was before mama left. Aberdeen, Washington was cold and rainy almost constantly. Dad knew about how storms terrified me, so I have no idea why he thought it was a good idea to move here.

I felt bad for Dad, though; he loved Mom so much. Avery, the sun, the heat, the lack of grass and cracks in the ground; it must've reminded him of her. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near there if the woman I loved left me and the sun reminded me that she was still around.

About that, I have the potential to love women. I've never been big on labels; I believe in equal opportunity. There's beauty in everyone if you look hard enough; that's what I thought. Dad knew, Oli knew, everyone did and they were all perfectly okay with it. When it came to love, it was a big thing in our house; it was a big thing to the entire family; Dad's side, at least. I couldn't say the same for mum. I guess you could say it was my fault that mum left.

Pansexual was the easiest way to tell them what I was and when I did, mum didn't take it too well. Dad told me later that it was because a girl had crushed her heart in high school. Well, when mum finally started talking to me again, it was always loud and commanding; she wasn't herself anymore. It tore me apart. I used to break down crying at random points in the day and almost every night. When she tried to tell me to get out, Dad told her either to deal with it or leave, for my sake. She chose to leave.

So, when I thought about it like that, I tried to complain as little as possible when it came to the subject of Aberdeen. The small town was boring and there was nothing to do, especially now that it was summer and my job at the local bookstore only took up so much of my time. After my shift, I had 6 hours to kill before it was a normal time to go to sleep. There was only so much to do in the stupid little town and I'd done it all.

That next day, Oliver came to see me at work just as my shift.

"Hey, sis, I know your shifts about to end. You wanna go to Kurt Memorial?" He asked.

The Kurt Cobain Memorial Park was just about the coolest thing in town. Kurt Cobain was the singer of the popular grunge band, Nirvana, just about my favorite band in existence. It was our favorite place to go and right after a storm like the previous night's was the best time; the soul reason being the significant decline in visitors.

"Yeah, bro." A sudden feeling of curiosity hit me, something I didn't understand. "I just.. I just need to go look for a book."

My body seemed to guide itself quickly as I left my place at the cashier and went through the empty bookstore to the occult section. I rarely went back here, except to restock occasionally. My hand knew exactly where to go and it found a book under the 'demons' subsection. The book's title read 'Lady Carrera of the Darkest Nights.'

"Greta, who is Lady Carrera?" Oliver asked, looking over my shoulder at the book.

"That's the thing, Oliver," I replied, "I have no earthly idea."

The Lady

I watched the young girl shiver with fright as the storm shook the small house. What I would give to make the storm stop, or be in there, in her room holding her. I couldn't, though, not yet. Being a demon, even a high ranking demon was so difficult sometimes. As demons got stronger, they gained the ability to think and feel emotions like jealousy, anger, sadness and eventually love.

Emotions, especially love, were heavy burdens too heavy for most. We are usually given the option to accept the ability or not. I chose to take it. It was obviously a huge mistake, because now I was in a tree outside of a young girl's window, watching her shake with fear, yearning to make everything stop.

Sighing, I used my teleporting abilities to go into her brother's bedroom. He could not see me because he was not the one that I was in love with; the one that I was vulnerable to. I placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him, waking him just as lightning tore the sky apart and thunder echoed, causing the girl to scream. I teleported quickly back outside to the tree.

"Greta, what's up?" He asked her, concerned.

Greta. Her name was Greta.

I waited quietly and motionless in the tree until the storm let up. Greta got up and went to the window, opening it. I told myself to leave, but I stayed in the tree unwilling to leave. She looked dreamily into the sky with her large, dark blue eyes, her long, wavy, dark colored hair swaying gently with the wind. Finally, she closed the window and I left quickly, to hell.

It was a bad idea for demons to roam in day light. We were warned since birth to never go out of hell. When we reached mid-level, we were told leaving was allowed, but only at night. At high-level, demons can change their form to disguise themselves. Leaving at day was still not advised, but there was no one to stop those of us that did. That is why I followed young Greta to the bookstore where she worked. I stayed out of sight, roaming the isles where people rarely dared to go. I was in my human form, but I could never be too careful. I found the occult section and looked through the titles. One in particular caught my eye; 'Lady Carrera of the Darkest Nights'.

'What a joke.' I thought, pulling it off the shelf and skimming the text. To my surprise, it was fairly accurate. 'What do you know, I'm a celebrity. Hm... maybe I can get acquainted with my Greta after all.'

Later in the day, the brother walked in and talked to Greta. It pained me to do so, but I influenced her thoughts and guided her to the book about me. She picked it up and looked over it thoughtfully. A quick conversation and she was gone.

I willed myself with all of my power not to follow her. Unfortunately, Love is a stronger demon than I will ever be.