If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn
Chapter Forty-Four
Alyssa stood on the threshold of the house she’d lived in for the past century, staring out at the manicured grass. It was just before dawn and she closed her eyes, dredging up courage for what she planned to do.
It had been almost three hundred years since she had last seen the sun. The night had been her day. She’d lived in a world that shopped and played and danced, and fucked while the sun was down. A world of excitement and intrigue and pleasure. For more than two centuries she’d had everything that money could buy. And all those around her seemed content so she’d pretended she was the same. That she didn’t miss the warmth of the sun on her face, or the way it felt to jump into a lake in the middle of a summer’s day. That she didn’t miss the way things appeared without the aid of artificial light.
And most of all she had pretended not to miss having someone truly care for her. Not because she made them feel better about themselves. Not because she gave them physical pleasure that exceeded the last one they had known. But because….because….
She couldn’t finish the thought, she’d forgotten what other reason a being would have to care. But she knew there was something else. She knew there was something she’d once felt that for a while she had longed to feel again.
She watched as the sun crested the horizon and smiled. It was time. She had made her apologies to a creator she had long since stopped thinking about, didn’t know if He even existed or whether or not He could hear her if He did. Were you invisible once you damned yourself? Was redemption possible? She didn’t know the answers, but it didn’t matter. There wasn’t anything for her now that her buffer was gone. She’d exchanged the life of a human girl for the life of Terrina, her mentor and companion, and afterwards she realized she had nothing left.
She walked out into the middle of the yard, closed her eyes and waited for the sun to receive her sacrifice.
Minutes ticked by and she could feel the heat of the orb in the sky, could see through her eyelids that it was lighting up the day. But she felt nothing. No flames engulfed her. Slowly she opened her eyes. The ground in front of her was bathed in light. She lifted her face and saw the trees were illuminated and stretching towards daylight’s origins. She looked down but no fire surrounded her.
I’m dreaming, she thought. It was the only explanation. She sank down to the ground and remained there, motionless for what seemed like hours.
She looked around periodically but nothing changed except the shadows, first shortening then lengthening.
She finally stood and walked around to the other side of the grand estate and stared at the sun which was now lowering in the western sky. She watched it go, inch by inch, and then the sky lit up with colors she’d long since forgotten. Pinks, and grays, and purples so vivid a television couldn’t capture it. She watched in utter confusion until it sank beneath the horizon.
What does this mean? She thought.
“What does this mean?” She asked aloud. She was greeted with silence and sank down on the grass, stretching out and using the crook of her arm as a pillow.
She had to be dreaming.
Have you filled your witness votes?
Vote for these passionate souls: 
