Chapter 1 :That Strange Emotion

Chapter 1

“I first saw her when I moved into the community, two years after my wife’s death. One morning I sat in my leather rocking chair reading a newspaper, when I heard a creaking sound. Across from my huge white house stood a dilapidated little cottage. I looked onto the porch and saw a woman, a few years younger than I was , walking slowly toward a tattered rocking chair and carefully lowering herself into it.

   “ It was as if she felt my gaze upon her, for she looked up and in the instant our eyes met, it was as if a powerful surge of electricity was coursing through my veins to the very core of my being. She gave me a heartwarming smile and I smiled back. Every morning I would sit in my rocking chair and watch as she slowly made her way onto her porch and sit in her own. When she sat comfortably, she would look over at me and smile shyly and of course I would smile back.

“The distance between our houses was not so far as to deter us from making polite conversation, but I could not bring myself to speak to her because we came from two different worlds. I was a rich, widowed octogenarian condoloid and she was a human, a poor, widowed, fragile beauty. I was rich, yet she had everything I could ever want. She had a family who visited her every weekend to take her out and I had an indolent, middle-aged house keeper who came by every day to cook my dinner and wash my clothes.

          “Though we uttered not one solitary word to each other, I would feel at peace just sitting on my porch, watching her as she watched me. As a matter of fact, I would have been content to sit watching her every day even if we never got the chance to speak with each other. I enjoyed seeing her most when her family came to visit, because her eyes would sparkle reminding me of the first time I saw her. Though I dreaded the moment she had to leave, it would warm my heart, for when I looked into her eyes, I would see a hint of sadness as though she was reluctant to leave me.

          “One day, I was surprised to see her on her porch looking longingly at my chair, as soon as I sat in it, she diverted her gaze and looked into the vacant air. Something was wrong. I could feel it in my weak bones, but my pride kept me from speaking with her. I sat there for a long time, watching her, but not once did our eyes meet. She died that night.

         “I sat on my porch the next day, watching her family, some were weeping, others looked sad, while some faces were almost devoid of emotion. I then looked at her chair with tears in my eyes and a weeping heart. I had always secretly loved her and now I will never get a chance to tell her.”

My  late grandfather’s words  reverberated in my head as my gaze travelled over the contours of her beautifully sculpted body. I sighed, the old man was crazy, he probably made up the whole thing. I mean come on; love? It’s not like I believed in that stuff. So why then did the one conversation I had with  the man keep popping up in my head?

       “love is a mystery, it has the ability to take and give life, to create and destroy. Love can drive a man insane or it can open a man’s heart, mind and soul allowing him to see the world with new eyes and that’s what love did for me, it altered me completely, I’m a different man Jasam, Julie’s brief presence in my life and the happiness she allowed me to experience is something I will cherish until the day I become one with the soil of this earth. Love is a beautiful thing Jasam and it’s something I pray you’ll find in life…”

Well the old man was right, love did drive him insane, all the better reason to stay away from such a hideous emotion. I tore my eyes from my best friend’s beautiful face and looked around the noisy cafeteria, focusing my attention on a couple arguing in a corner by a closed window. I tuned out the rest of the voices and zoomed in on theirs;

“What do you mean you’ve fallen for someone else?” her voice broke on the last word.

“I never wanted to hurt you, I-” the boy whispered, trying not to draw anyone’s attention. He looked around inconspicuously then added

“I’m sorry Liza”

“Idiots” I grumbled losing interest in the ‘conversation’. Hearing my almost inaudible favourite word, Tira looked up from her novel.

“ Eavesdropping again?” she asked her mouth turning up in a knowing smile.

“Might as well use up my special abilities” I answered, my words laden with sarcasm.

“Jasam…” Tira began softly resting her hand gently on my shoulder. I sighed and placed my forehead on the desk tuning out her words, I wasn’t interested in hearing another of her lectures on  my indifference towards  my abilities and the student body as a whole.

I  focused instead on the sound of the rain as it hit the roof, counting and differentiating between the sound of the individual droplets. I felt the wave of tranquility which never ceased to engulf me when it rained. I released a pent up breath and allowed my mind to drift to the time of our arrival to Range Mountain; my brothers Neil, Gabe and Sultan, my sister Analise and my parents, Lamont and Marie Rhett arrived in the glorious  town of Range Mountain  three years ago after the slaughtering of my grandfather Luther Rhett II. Sultan isn’t my biological brother, he’s one of my best friends who was my sworn enemy up until the biggest war the mythical world had ever experienced since the dawn of  its existence.

The thing is, despite the human world’s adamant disbelief in the super natural, the entertaining creatures of Hollywood  do indeed exist, vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, and the like with my family-including sultan- and I falling into a unique group  of creatures with various abilities called condoloids.

My brothers Gabriel and Cornelius-Gabe and Neil for short- have the ability to move objects with their minds, my sister, Analise can become one with the air, meaning she has the gene of invisibility, my parents Marie and Lamont are a teenager’s worst nightmare, they can read minds, which is why there are no secrets in my house, Sultan has super strength  and I of course am the odd one out in the family, when  I was first conceived they referred to me as the blessed child , due to the unfortunate fact that I have more than one special ability, I can run close to the speed of light, I am abnormally strong, but not a strong as Sultan,I have the ability to teleport ,my hearing ability far surpasses that of the average person, I can hear in miles rather than just kilometers and as if I needed any of this in the first place, wouldn’t you know it, I’m walking space heater . If I get too angry I burst into flames, well thank goodness it’s something I can control now, because when I was younger we had to move sixteen times, I burnt the house down. What can I say I have a temper and now all my clothes were fireproof.

My family thinks I’m ungrateful because I hate my abilities, apparently I should give thanks that I have the ability to completely macerate a person’s bones with a simple hug. I hate the feeling of not belonging, I can’t be considered a human-for obvious reasons-, I’m not an animal, nor a blood-thirsty vampire, I’m not even a condoloid, I’m different from the only people with whom I share the same blood! What am I? it has been rumored that  I share Sven’s power, he also has a wide range of talents. That’s reassuring , I share some of the same traits of the most feared creature in the world! The leader of a group of notorious miscreants called  the righteous, who havn’t been seen in three and a half years, but is still believed to be in existence.

The members of the gang were made up originally of  21 individuals, three  shape shifters, sixteen werewolves, two vampires, one condoloid and of course Sven-undefined. This group was notorious for their lack of mercy, they traversed the world killing humans and creatures alike just for the fun of it and of course the humans blamed it on their own kind, imprisoning and massacring their innocent in an attempt to squelch the fear of the human race as a whole and regain order within their  societies, while the righteous watched in joyous triumph.

The group was now proposed to be reduced to ten members as a result of the war which ensued in Italy three and a half years ago. Luther Rhett II, My late grandfather,one of the most powerful condoloids in existence at the time had made the grave mistake of attacking a member of the righteous, a shape shifter , who had killed one of his comrades in cold blood, at the time the group had split up in search of potentially entertaining victims.

Upon learning of  his friend’s death ,my grandfather went into a quiet rage resulting in the beheading of the gang’s ally. My family was residing with my grandfather when the righteous, short one member and their leader, returned  with a vengeance, due to the size of the group they found no difficulty in killing my grandfather , beheading him as he did one of their own. My family fled, it was the only thing we could do , considering the sheer size of the force, they would have slaughtered us quite easily.

After our escape they went on a rampage killing every thing in sight, this resulted in an all out war, which left thousands dead and the righteous reduced to ten members. It is still unknown to the supernatural world why  Sven was absent during such a earth- shattering event and it is still widely believed by the human community, that it was the work of  a gang of people still at large who went on a killing rampage at a time when the world was facing an economic crisis. One good thing came of that day however, Sultan, the youngest member of the group, sixteen at the time, switched sides and aided us in our escape and to ward off attackers. Of course we didn’t trust him at first but we grew to respect and love him as our own.

“ Hey bro!” Sultan greeted, with a punch on the shoulder, Emerging from my reverie I raised my head from the desk and glared at him, think of the devil and he shall appear.

“ Where you been?” I queried casually, he was seated between Tira and me and I wondered how he managed such a feat without alerting me of his presence. He shrugged, his eyes glued on Tira as she read. I sighed, Since our arrival at the university, the entire female body has been drooling at the sight of  Sultan and me, unfortunately, for them,  we were the only two boys probably in the history of the world who weren’t interested. I, because I found the human girls rather unoriginal and unnatural, what with the various powders and make-up they continuously plastered on their faces to “enhance” their beauty and Sultan because he was besotted with Tira, our only friend in this retched institution, she was also the only human- to our knowledge- who was aware of what we were.

 I  turned to look at sultan and Tira, Since the moment he saw her Sultan was ensnared, according to him, it was love at first sight -idiot- , as far as I knew, Tira seemed to be unaware of his ‘subtle’ overtures. On the other hand, it was obvious to the entire campus, so maybe she was aware but wasn’t interested or maybe she was dense, who knew, girls had been a bafflement to me since the bane of my existence, they contradicted themselves at every turn and bubbled up with conflicting emotions whenever we didn’t do what they expected of us. Females! I’ve never actually been attracted to one of these insipid creatures or even felt the need to enter into a relationship with one. Until now….

Looking past Sultan, I  stared openly at Tira once more,noticed the way her shoulder length auburn hair framed the gentle outline of her beautiful untouched face, the way the glow of the overhead   fluorescent light richocheted off her skin giving it an almost luminous glow ,her one of a kind eyes a strange shade of purple, framed by long graceful eyelashes giving her an air of mystery that had many males boiling with desire, her pert nose that dipped slightly at the end giving her that signiture look that many girls seemed to die for, my gaze  lower still and rested on her full rose pink lips that I imagined would be soft to the touch, I could almost feel them pressed against mine,igniting the flame which I had once believed to be nonexistent up on until a few weeks ago.I licked my suddenly dry lips and wondered if this was how Sultan felt when he looked at her, I  diverted my gaze and froze when they came it contact with Sultan’s icy glare. He’d obviously caught me lusting after his supposed reason for living. A lump formed in my throat.

This wasn’t the first time he’d caught me staring at her, I tried to ignore the way I felt about her , I found it hard to understand why I was so overwhelmed in her presense all of a sudden, I’d known her for more than two years and I ‘d never even thought of her in that way until two weeks ago,it was on a day like today where she sat reading, one minute I was glaring at a couple much like the one from today, the next minute I was looking at her wondering how it would be if we were  together and now I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I turned away from Sultan’s outraged expression and got up from my seat. I watched Tira rise with her eyes still glued on the book and walk through  the cafeteria door to the only class Sultan and I didn’t have with her. I was in the process of entering my calculus class when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I didn’t have to look around to know it was Sultan-my brother for all intents and purposes- I sighed and turned to him.

“Watch yourself,” he growled and entered the room. I hated when this happened, this was the one thing that would rile Sultan, someone checking out “his girl”- and considering the fact that  I’d been caught doing something so unthinkable on multiple occasions, I was bound to face his wrath sooner or later. I mean a guy could only take so much and no more  and  what made it worse was that Sultan was already unsure of Tira’s feelings for him and so for him to also  have to deal with someone -his own brother mind you- encroaching on his territory was just too much to ask. Not that I was afraid of him but I hated it when we fought,something that had been happening a lot lately.

I sat in the empty chair beside him and whispered, “why don’t you just tell her how you feel already, its been two years! She can’t read minds you know. And besides if you don’t do it soon someone might come along and-”

“ You mean someone like you?”

“N-“ I began.

“Well you can just forget about it , she’s mine got that?” He said it with such intensity that a few heads infront of us turned in shock-Sutlan and I never fought…at school anyway- upon seeing my glare of pure unadultured hatred, they quickly turned away and resumed their mindliess chatter. I hated it when people eavesdropped on my conversations,not that I was innocent of this but that was different . I stared at the desk seething with anger, it wasn’t my fault  I felt this way for Tira.

“I’m not interested in being with Tira.” This atleast was the truth, I didn’t want to be with her , I just seemed to be attracted to her. There was a difference- obviously-.

Sultan seemed to accept my statement and sat back in his seat with a wide grin.”Good to know”. I shook my head in amazement, Sultan wasn’t one to hold a grudge. In that way we were complete opposites.

“Ok everyone, in the last lecture we…” The professor began. I looked around me, everyone seemed focused on him, then I looked at Sultan, he was on the verge of falling asleep -as usual- . I turned my attention to the teacher once more and sighed. It seemed everything was back to normal. For now atleast.

                                                                  Author’s comments

<

 HEY GUYS SO AS YOU CAN SEE THE FIRST CHAP IS UP!!! LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU 

THINK AND TELL ME IF YOU WANT ME TO UPLOAD MORE CHAPTERS :)  THINK I’LL BE

UPLOADING ANOTHER CHAPTER ON FRIDAY (19/10/2012) AND AFTER THAT IMMA UPLOAD

2 OR THREE CHAPTERS A WEEK DEPENDING ON MY COURSE LOAD (^_^)/  OH AND THIS IS

THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES SO THERE’LL DEF ME MORE!!!! SO ENJOY! VOTE IF U

WANNA AND HAVE FUNN WITH IT! ALSO LEMME KNOW WHAT U THINK OF THE

CHARACTERS AND WHO U LIKE BEST  Also i know i have grammatical errors because i have yet to edit but  that will be adjusted as time goes by<3 <3 -DoUbLe.A

Chapter 2: Nightmare

Chapter 2

After school I met up with Sultan and Tira under the old overgrown hibiscus tree across the street from the campus. It had become a ritual since our first day here. It was our spot, a fact the entire school body seemed to be aware of because for some strange reason no one hung out there.Ok so maybe that was my doing, guys tended to steer clear of me and girls, while so obviously attracted, were afraid to approach me, with Tira being the exception of course, apparently I’m scary .

When Sultan and I transferred to this school, while everyone else kept their distance, Tira came over to where we stood under our tree and introduced herself, as vibrant as ever and of course, being me, I tried to scare her off, quite unsuccessfully I might add, but instead of cowering under my  cold stare she smiled. Smiled!

“ You might have everyone else fooled, but I bet you’re not as bad-ass as you look, so you might as well wipe that fierce expression off that handsome little face of yours”, she then grabbed my hand pumping it vigourously;

“Im Tira Bently by the way”, I could only stare at her in shocked disbelief, she wasn’t afraid!, she was the first human I’d ever come across who didn’t flinch under my icy glare, who didn’t take one look at my seemingly dangerous stance and flee in the opposite direction. I was secretly pleased.

People usually jumped to the conclusion that I disliked them, they’d be shocked to know that wasn’t the case at all, I was actually envious, though I never admit it. I envied them their ability to exist without having to keep what they were from the world, I envied them their ignorance, they had no idea the evil that existed on this planet.

I envied them their normalcy and their happiness, while they envied me for my wealth and good looks. They saw my family as extraordinarily opulent individuals who drove expensive vehicles and wore top of the line clothes.

I’d eavesdropped on many conversations in which people stated how they wished they had our life, so easy, so simple, so perfect. Idiots they did’nt know the half of it. Tira knew though, she understood. The same day we met, after she finally released my hand , she had turned to Sultan with that same creepy lopsided grin and intelligent eyes and he was immediately enveloped in a trance and has been since that very day. Of course after that instance, we were inseparable, in the first week of our union, we knew her inside out, her every secret, dreams and aspirations and thanks to Sultan, she knew ours, he told her everything, and she believed him, something that shocked me even more than her apparent ease around me, she took everything in stride.

She didn’t believe in the word impossible and that made my respect for her sky rocket. What we found out about her is that, while intelligent and impossibly happy, she was also very trusting, too trusting and so Sultan and I made it our duty to look out for her in every way possible, though we probably made it impossible for her to truly have a life, we were always with her and since guys feared Sultan and me, they never approached her. Not that she seemed to care anyway, before us, she never had any friends, people perceive her as being somewhat annoying and she had the gall the wonder why. The only thing we had in common was that we both came from affluent families.

Tira’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bently, were both very successful lawyers, while my parents, in eras past held various occupations; doctors, lawyers, jounalists,, novelists,entraprenours etc. Yes being immortal has its perks. Mom and Dad were a little over three hundred years, my twin brothers, were one hundred and three, my sister, eighty-seven, while Sultan and I were eighteen.

All condoloids are immortal, we stop aging whenever our subconcious deem it appropriate. Sultan and I are conveniently just passing through our first cycle and wouldn’t you know it, Sven is immortal as well. It was rumored that he and I have the ability to make others immortal, I’ve never tried of course, I have no idea how to anyway and I couldn’t care less, but….”

“ Earth to Jace!”Tira was snapping her fingers infront of my eyes.

“ You ok bro?” Sultan enquired.

“Yeah, I was just..daydreaming I guess” I inserted, clearing my throat noisily, my gaze met Sultan’s concerned one.

“ So what’re you guys up to ?”

“We’re going to my house to study for that history exam we have next Tuesday, she paused to pick up her bag and continued, so lets get going”

“ Count me out” I scowled, then did what I did best, I teleported, but not before I witnessed my brother’s pleased smile and Tira’s disapproving glare.

            I appeared in the kitchen of our sizable victorian mansion, dumped my bag on the counter and was about to raid the refridgerator when I remembered I was to receive an email from her earlier today. Teleporting to my room, I retrieved my laptop and in a flash, I was opening the one message in my inbox:

“Hey  Jace, sorry I didn’t get the chance to write you last night, its been pretty crazy here lately. In response to your last question,I won’t be able to meet with you next week, something came up. I’m sorry, but we’ll reschedule okay? I really can’t wait to see you in person, I bet your good looks reflect your personality too, by the way, with reference to your email, I think you should talk to Sultan about  how you feel about Tira, it’s best not to keep things from your family because when it boils down to it, they’re all you’ve got. Well I hope my advice helped and as always, I look forward to your next message. Goodbye for now Jay.

                                                                                                                                                -Pristine”

I reread the message and smiled despite my disappointment at not being able to see her in person next week. We’d been planning this for months, but something always seemed to come up. I craved these moments, when I could just write her, sharing in her thoughts and feelings, while divulging mine in return.

Her emails always left me with a sense of peace and even though I’d never met her I enjoyed our rather brief conversations, I felt as if I could tell her anything, she was so understanding, so sincere.I met her on a social network five months ago and after we exchanged something as simple as plesantries I was hooked and I still had trouble deciphering what it was that drew me to the computer each and every day and night, why I spent hours each day just gazing at her profile photo, yearning for the day I’d see her in person, her name truly matched her prepossessing features;Pristine.

“Hey Little Jay how’s it going?” Neil said ruffling my hair, I snapped the laptop shut and looked up at him, how was it that I didn’t hear him enter my room? I must be losing it, I sighed exasperated.

“What? You hiding things from your big bro now?” He made a grab for the computer and I teleported once more to the kitchen, the laptop clutched firmly to my chest.

Nobody knew about Pristine, not even Sultan and it would remain that way. If my nosy family found out, they’d ruin everything and not for the first time since I was old enough to lie, I thanked the heavens, my parents couldn’t read my mind, this was the one time I was thankful for my abilities, especially the trait to barricade my mind. Setting the laptop on the counter, I stared at the screen without really seeing anything, Pristine didn’t know that my family and I weren’t human and I rued the day I had to tell her .

What would be her reaction? Would she laugh in my face disbelieving me instantly? Or would she flee in fear from the knowledge that I was a monster? I could only guess.Sighing, I turned my attention to writing a reply to her email.

“ I suppose I could reschedule, I can’t wait to see you too, I lay awake fantasizing our first meeting every night, it would be great to finally meet the person behind all that great advice lol. I’ll think about telling Sultan, don’t hold your breath though. So, summer will be here soon what are you planning to do? Maybe we can meet then? I finished reading the book you suggested, you were right about the characters, but then you always are. Don’t forget, you still have’nt told me what that dream was about and since I’m the protagonist, I think it’s only fair to tell me, don’t you? ;) It was good to hear from you. Write soon.

                                                                                                                                                -Jasam”

 xxxx

(Pristine’s POV)

Pristine reread the email, then opened the attachment which enclosed a picture of Jasam, with his arms around a beautiful girl and an extremely muscular boy, whom she presumed to be Tira and Sultan respectively.

She traced her fingers along the outline of his handsome face and her eyes softened at the sheepish smile that graced his face. How she longed for the day when they would meet. Unbeknownst to him, he was her only acquaintance outside her father’s subordinates. Everytime they were to meet, her father, with his plans and clandestine schemes would get in the way. He always found some reason to server her plans, forcing her to remain within the confines of the stuffy old mansion, if not that, then they had to relocate again, precautions, he said, had to be taken in order to ensure her safety.

They’d moved here two weeks previously with six of her father’s minions and her ever present tutor. Her father had arrived the night before and already, he was making plans to transfer to another place of residence. She’d asked him on many occasions why it was necessary to move so often, and a few weeks ago he finally told her that he was  searching for some people and was getting ever closer to finding them, it was only a matter of time.

He devoted all his attention to searching for these people-whoever they were- he said he had important business to carry out with them, but knowing him, it was something more along the lines of revenge, something he so loved to exact on his enemies, who were frequent and never-ending. Her brows forrowed at the thought of her father, she many times wished she wasn’t the daughter of someone with such an evil disposition.

He often told her, he loved nothing and no one except her and if he had the chance to rid the planet of all it’s weak inhabitants, then he would do so in a heartbeat.

 She turned her thoughts once more to Jasam  her eyes filled with unshed tears, what  would he do if he found out she was nothing like him, that she wasn’t human, but a monster, a creature fathered no doubt by a being so evil and so powerful, even she sometimes cowered at the mere sight of him, the most gruesome being on the face of the planet, who could be likened only to the devil himself, if Jace did believe her and even managed to accept her, how would he react to the knowledge that she was the daughter of the leader and creator of the righteous , how would he react if he knew she was the child of Sven?

xxxxx

(Jasam’s POV)

I lay in bed, eyes closed, arms folded behind my head, listening to the latest song I’d uploaded to my I-phone, thinking about nothing in particular, I just allowed the soothing music to drift over me in melodic waves lulling me to the far from peaceful sleep I was sure to endure later.

I’d been having nightmares for the past three and a half years, ever since I watched in abject terror as the savage werewolf loped the head off my grandfather’s body, with his razor sharp, dirt stained claws.

The nightmare was always the same, I stood in a small dimly lit room,its decadent walls splattered with  grandpa’s deep crimson blood, but instead of  smelling foul dangness, I could detect the cloying scent of rich jasmine (a scent I now disliked), then I’d turn around and there he was, the monstrous werewolf, blood dripping from his massive claws,his eyes almost devoid of emotion, he would take one step forward and a slow smile would spread across his filthy and numerously wrinkled face and I would wake up in a cold sweat.

I pulled the earphones from my ears and sat up running a hand through my black short-cropped hair I felt a swift pain in my chest, God I missed the old man, something I failed to understand since I only met him two days before his ‘death’, in the short space of time it seemed we had forged a bond so strong  that even in death, the link was unbreakable.

I’d kill the bloody werewolf for this! I’d let him watch as I tore him limb from limb and while he was still screaming in sheer agony, the life quickly draining from his pathetic body, I’d rip the head from his limbless body , then I’d go after the rest of the righteous leaving Sven for last, first destroying someone ( if any) he truly cared about  so he too could feel the pain of losing something so close to his heart, then I’d end his life as I did his allies, because he was the true cause of  all our hurt….

This I vowed to myself  before I sank into a deep fitful nightmare where I was haunted by the images of blood drenched walls and my grandfather’s ruthless executor.

                                               Author’s notes

OK LOVIES! SO THE 2ND CHAP IS UP! HOPE YOU LIKE IT!  LEAVE A

COMMENT LETTING ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE STORY

AND THE CHARACTERS!…..( OH AND I KNOW SOME OF YOU PROLLY

DON’T LIKE JASAM’S ATTITUDE BUT YOU GOTTA TRY TO UNDERSTAND

WHERE HE’S COMING FROM….HE’S GOT IT ROUGH ( being the only one of his

kind and all..he’s lonely, plus he hates his abilities so yeah he’s a cynic. but who know’s somethin might change HEHEHE ;)….. EnJoY(^_^)/   OH AND CHAPTER THREE WILL BE POSTED ON SUNDAY (21/10/2012)  HOWEVER yall NEED to COMMENT AND LEMME KNOW WHAT U THINK SO THAT I CAN KNOW WHETHER OR NOT TO CONTINUE..IT’S HARD TO WRITE A STORY WITHOUT FEEDBACK BECAUSE I WON’T KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE EVEN ENJOYING IT..-DoUbLe.A

Chapter 3: We Don’t Do Baseball

Chapter 3

I exited the house with Sultan the next morning after my night of restless horror. With one black leather glove trapped between my teeth, I worked the other glove onto my right hand, flexing it to a comfortable fit, then I removed the glove from my mouth and proceeded to pull it onto my other hand,

“I was wondering, does Sven have any relatives or close friends?” I said this looking at him through the corner of my eye, my grandfather’s death was just too painful to rehash and so my family avoided the topic of Sven at all cost. Sultan looked at me, eyes narrowed in suspicion; he was privy to this unspoken rule.

“Uh….yeah he has a daughter, I had only been in the group for a little over a year so I wasn’t allowed anywhere near her, I’ve never even seen her, but the guys talked about her a lot, apparently she’s a hottie. I think her name’s  Serene or something, I don’t remember.” He cleared his throat noisily before he continued,

“ I don’t think mast- I mean Sven has any other relatives, or even friends for that matter. Why’d you ask?” he questioned, scrutinizing my facial  expression,

“Just curious.” I said with a noncommittal shrug.

It was obvious he didn’t believe me and I could see that he was going further pursue the topic so I tried to side track him;

“ So what did you and Tira do yesterday?”

“Oh you know the usual, studied, watched TV, nothing out of the ordinary.” he shrugged trying to make light of the time he spent with the girl of his dreams. I looked up at him grinning.

“What?” he demanded.

“ Nothing” my grin widened and he stared at me as if I’d gone crazy.”

“Race you there!” I shouted suddenly and I  sped across the yard, my feet barely touching the ground as I went. I appeared at the warehouse a little over thirty seconds later and spotted my parents first, they sat on the overstuffed couch in a far corner heads together as they looked at something on their laptop.

Analise stood with her fiancée Cort, a  redeemed vampire, apparently he only drank animal blood, weird guy, you wouldn’t see me going against my nature, if I was born to drink blood, I’d do it, no questions asked, but I guess it was a good thing for my sister though, I imagined it would be pretty hard being in love with someone bent on sucking the very life from your body, but then again what do I know.

I turned my attention to my brother Gabe where he stood with his condoloid girlfriend Daniel. They were bent over the engine of the 2010 Ford Mondeo that came in the previous day, Gabe was explaining to Daniel the features of the vehicle he’d be racing later that day;

“…turbocharged 2.0c Ecoboost gasoline engine with a power shift transmission, it has a six speed dual clutch….” he gushed,I was surprised she seemed to be hanging on to his every word.

I tuned them out and went over to the car I’d ordered for myself, it was a 2011 c7 corvette. I opened the hood and glanced over the interior, it was as impressive as I’d expected it to be, it had to be, considering the strings I had to pull to get the manufacturers to sell it to me-three times its worth mind you- but I didn’t mind, as long as it helped me to win the race.

I glanced over the  other cars my family had chosen, Sultan, a 2010 GT500 Shelby cobra (Red Snake), 

Neil, a 2011 mazda Rx7,

Analise, a 2011 Subaru WRX STI and my dad, a 2010 SpertWerks corvette GTR. These were the vehicles I’d be competing against today and I was confident I would arise victor of this match, just as I had the one before.

At that time I was driving a  Nissan GTR, with Sultan coming second driving the Lamburgini Gallarado. It was a great match, one I had won with ease. I glanced around the massive store room which housed a total of one hundred and seventy six cars and forty three motor bikes. Each vehicle was a testimony to the level of competition with which my family took part.

While most families played baseball and went to the movies to show their true family spirit, my family competed in car races, with my brothers taking it a little further to long range shooting and fighter jet stunts. I, however drew the line at motor bike racing, guns in my opinion were a waste of time, while aircrafts were something I tried not to think about- I had an aversion to heights-.

Whenever we got wind of a new car about to hit  the market we bought it  and on the first Saturday of each year we’d race, in the process testing their speed and durability, it was a tradition in my family. I’d been racing cars since the age of thirteen, it was something we did to keep our selves occupied since we found most other human activities unfulfilling.

“ Ok guys, let’s get going, and remember, the race doesn’t begin until I say go” My mother said looking pointedly at Gabe. She looked around and inquired, ”Where’s Sultan?”

At that precise moment Sultan entered the room, a sweaty mass of pure muscle..he looked annoyed and when his gaze found mine I smirked at him before entering the car.

            We arrived on the derelict back road off highway 27  half an hour later, and got into position at the starting line,only five of us would be racing today because we needed two people to watch the race to ensure that nobody cheated and we also needed a time keeper so my mom was the time keeper and Cort and Daniel were  referees.

At the starting line, my twin brothers were on either side of me; Gabe on my left and Neil on my right, beside him was Sultan and Analise respectively, while my Dad was positioned next to Gabe. Daniel stood at the first bend which was about a mile up the road, Cort at the second and my mom at the finish line, each person holding a pair of binoculars.

“Ok guys, get ready” my mom’s voice sounded over the speaker; “ I’m looking for a fair race, none of your underhanded tactics Gabe”. She reprimanded.

Gabe snorted over his speaker” Yeah, yeah, yeah”

I imagined him waving his hand in a way that said she should get on with it.

“I’m serious”, her tone was adamant.

“Ready”

Six sets of engines revved at her next words;

“Set”

I released a pent up breath.

“ Go!” and we were off! six high powered vehicles neck and neck speeding down the rugged dirt path, the first bend would determine the outcome of the race. I’d learned from experience that whoever got ahead at this turn had the best chance of winning.

I braced myself, pushing the clutch into turbo-drive, I outmaneuvered all five cars with ease, the car spun and then smoothly drifted around the corner taking up most of the road and forcing the other vehicles to drop back in order to avoid impact. I straightened the car and upped the speed, I was in front but I wasn’t in the clear yet, glancing in my rear-view mirror, I glimpsed Gabe’s Mondeo gaining velocity.

I was going as fast as the car would allow yet we were now side by side, I shifted gears trying to gain momentum and managed to make it an inch before him. The second bend was insight, I spotted Cort standing at the corner, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. I glanced once more in my rear-view mirror, Analise and my dad were a short distance away battling for third position, through the corner of my eyes I noticed the close proximity of Gabe’s car to mine and tried to maneuver the car farther, he followed.

“Damn, I can’t believe he’s up to his tricks again” was the thought that slithered through my mind before he slammed into the corvette’s right side.

I cringed at the sound of metal scraping viciously against metal, my car spun off the beaten track. I tried to regain control of the vehicle which spun so fast the road blurred and I had to close my eyes to stave off the wave of dizziness that engulfed me.

When I opened them, the first thing I saw was a small boulder directly in the car’s path, I tried to teleport but I was too disoriented to even move and half a second later, the car hit the rock with such force, the two windows on the car’s left side shattered, throwing splinters into the vehicle. I threw my hands up to shield my eyes and it took me two seconds to realize I was no longer in my seat. Instead, my entire body was being supported by my shoulders as the car flew upside down through the air.

After what seemed like hours, the corvette slammed into the ground with brute force, I felt a searing pain shoot up my arm and my mouth filled with warm liquid- I had bitten my tongue-. I lay there, the car still balancing on its roof. My head throbbed; I couldn’t feel my right hand and my right eye remained shut as warm liquid cascaded down my face.

In my mind’s eye I saw Gabe’s smirk before he plunged his car into mine. I growled in anger at his underhanded trick. Not for the first time I found it hard to believe I was related to that jerk, he was a hundred and three years old and he  acted like a bloody nine year old ! Anger billowed off me in waves at the thought of him winning the race, I felt my body heat up, the veins in my forehead bulged and throbbed at an unhealthy pace, I burst into a raging inferno of blue flames and the car caught fire as well.

Gabe went too far this time. I kicked what remained of the corvette’s  door open and crawled out, careful not to put any pressure on my wrist. I’d lost the race, I couldn’t believe it and it was all thanks to that cheating scumbag! Standing on two feet, I stared at the remains of my car.

“Son of a bitch!” I raged before I kicked the burning pile of useless scrap metal away from me, it flew about a hundred feet in the air and exploded when it hit the ground about a mile away. I turned and stumbled, hitting the dirt with a sickening thud, the flames died and I suddenly felt too tired to do anything but lay there covered in blood, dirt and broken glass. Not long after, I felt a pair of strong arms lift me from the ground, my head lolled to the side.

“Oh God“ a broken voice whispered,

“Little Jay,  I’m so sorry…oh God” a hand hesitantly touched my cheek and something dripped on my forehead “ Oh god”. I recognized the voice. It was Gabe’s.

“Who won?” I managed to whisper through the haze of pain. I didn’t hear his reply as I drifted into the dark and welcoming abyss.

When I awoke I was alone in my room, wrapped in about half a dozen blankets, my head propped up against my pillow. I steeled myself, waiting for the pain, but I felt surprisingly numb. My lower lip felt supersized so I stuck out my tongue and came into contact with a shallow slice. I freed myself from the quilts and sat up, realizing I was naked except for a pair of striped boxer shorts. I glanced at the mirror after dragging on the pair of jeans which was draped over a nearby chair.

A wide bandage encompassed my forehead, my wrist was wrapped in thick gauze, I sported a large bruise on my cheek, just below my left eye and an even larger one on my right shoulder. Could have been worse, I thought heading for the door, my body felt stangely numb but I was determined to do  to Gabe at least half the damage he’d done to me.

“Conniving piece of-“

“Honey what are you doing out of bed?!” My mom appeared before me, a food tray in hand.

“Mom I’m fine” I whined, brushing at the hand that came to rest on my cheek. “ Now where’s that cheating bastard?’

“Jasam! You will not use that type of that language in this house” she scolded “ Besides, he left about an hour ago, I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow and when he arrives I want no fighting, is that clear? How do you feel? The morphine should wear off soon so I’d better work fast.“

I glanced down at my wrist.

“ It’s broken, I was just coming up to set it, thank goodness you don’t have any more serious injuries” and I realized the tray was filled with an array of medical supplies. It was a bonus to have a doctor in the family because I couldn’t stand the thought of going out in the public sphere yet. When I was seated in bed, she kept up a string of complaints and concerns;

“…don’t like you doing anything so dangerous you’re so fragile, this is exactly why I didn’t want you racing in the first place…” I droned out her voice. The only reason she’d dubbed me as fragile was because I was the only one in the family who healed at a  human pace. Condoloids were born with special healing agents, they healed in a matter of seconds. I,on the other hand, had no such quality, this was probably due to the fact that I had so many other abilities, it would be quite unfair if I had extraordinary healing qualities as well, but I had to admit, it would have been an added bonus.

                                                       AUTHOR’S NOTES

YUP IT’S CHAP 3 EVERYONE(^_^)/ YES YES I KNOW IT’S SHORT BUT..MEH :p I’LL MAKE IT UP TO YA ;) AS ALWAYS I HOPE U LIKE IT, DON’T FORGET TO COMMENT LETTING ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!.<3 I’LL BE UPLOADING IN THE WEEK, MAYBE TUESDAY (21/10/2012) BUT DON’T KILL ME IF IT’S NOT UP IN TIME BECAUSE I HAVE ALOT OF OTHER WORK DOING NOW. SO VOTE, COMMENT AND ENJOY! :) (not edited… yet) -DoUbLe.A

Chapter 4 : Stranger At Your Door

Chapter 4

Armed with the knowledge that I was on the road to a quick recovery Dr. Marie Rhett exited the room instructing me to get some rest. By this time, my head was throbbing relentlessly and my entire body felt as if it had very recently been a wrestler’s punching bag or better yet, Sultan’s. It had been awhile since I’d felt this way, the last time was four years ago when I had tried to avenge my grandfather’s death;

//FLASHBACK\

After spotting my grandfather’s lifeless body slumped against the dining room wall, I’d teleported over to the predator and had barely taken a swipe at him when I found myself flying through the air and then crashing against the opposite wall. It had taken the beast just one hit to incapacitate me to such a degree that I was bedridden for days, suffering from six fractured ribs and a broken thumb.

//END OF FLASHBACK\

Releasing a pent up breath I turned spotting a small movement from the corner of my eye, I had forgotten about my little grumpy friend. I hadn’t fed him, or was it her? since yesterday morning. Tira had purchased it for me two weeks ago and I named it Bobby. Bobby was neutral right? Grabbing a bottle from a nearby table I scattered some pellets into the aquarium and watched Bobby slowly make its way over to treat.

Stooping so that I was at an eye level with the turtle, I pressed my hand to my aching temple and watched its slow progress then letting out an exasperated sigh, I reached into its glass prison and snatched it up, depositing it right before the pile of food, if not for my help, the pathetic creature would  have probably died of starvation, considering the length of  time it had taken to take a few steps.

I glared at the animal, it hadn’t even taken one bite. The ungrateful creature was trying to provoke me! But I knew I was just letting my aches and pains get the better of me. Rubbing by forehead, I hobbled over to my warn comfy bed and in minutes I was asleep.

 I woke the next morning feeling infinitesimally better, my head ache was now nothing but a dull, easily ignored throb and my wrist wasn’t as painful as the day before. I looked down at my hand, turning it this way and that to inspect the cast; I’d never worn one before. At that moment my door creaked open and Sultan’s head popped in;

“Hey, mom said I should give you this” he withdrew a small white bottle from behind the door and threw it at me. I started to stretch out my right hand before I remembered the injury and quickly switched to my left, snatching the bottle from the air. It was a bottle of non-drowsy pain medication with instructions to take one pill twice a day or whenever needed, after meals.

“How you feeling?”

“I feel great”

Sultan released a pent up breath and placed his hand dramatically over his heart, “Great, because we were all wondering if you were up for helping with dinner?”

I grinned, “Yea sure, I’ll be down in a sec”

He disappeared from view, closing the door behind him

“ He’s gonna do it!” I heard Sultan announce downstairs, then I heard sighs of relief.

            It was Sunday, which entailed Sunday dinner with the family so everyone came early to play their part in preparing dinner. It was also a chance for us to see Gabe and Analise who no longer resided with us.

When I went to Jamaica last year to visit my aunt Sheba and her twin daughters Cleo and Patra, her boyfriend Pete had taught me the many ways of  preparing pork. Armed with this knowledge, I went as far as to make roasted pork and broad beans one Sunday, it was a hit and now everyone’s favorite Sunday meal. Every other Sunday I prepared different kinds, which would explain Sultan’s anxiety over me helping with dinner today.

I shook my head, deciding to do brown stew pork today, I’d never done it before, but like the rest, I was sure it would be a success, after all, cooking was second nature to me. An assortment of smells greeted me when I entered the chaotic kitchen seventeen minutes later, from natural spices to mouth watering cookie dough.

Tira stood at the counter stirring cake mix in a large wooden bowl, with Sultan standing next to her trying to sneak some of the gooey treat. Mr. Bently, Tira’s dad, stood over an empty bowl, a cook book pushed up to his face, eyes narrowed.

“Honey, it’s only toss salad, what do you need a book for?!” his wife inquired dragging the book out of his hand. I couldn’t help smiling at that and before I could make a move, a piercing squeal of laughter went up as Tira’s four year old brother Donald ran through the kitchen being chased by an exasperated Daniel; she was trying unsuccessfully, to retrieve a jar of mayonnaise from him, not that it would do much good when she got it back since half its contents already coated the cream floor tiles. Donald was now running directly toward me, I sidestepped him and he ran into the dining room, face alight with mischief.

“Jace!” Daniel shrieked.

“What?” I asked feigning ignorance as she pushed pass me. Who was I to ruin a kid’s fun?

My mom stood at the stove stirring gravy, My dad at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes and humming to himself, trying to drown out the noise, I guessed with Neil beside him shelling the corn,  I noticed a bowl of  uncooked rice perched precariously on the edge of the sink next to his  right elbow but before I could warn him his hand accidentally hit the bowl and the rice scattered into the sink, most of it going down the wide drain.

“Shit!” Neil exclaimed lounging for the spilled rice, trying to save as much as he could.

“Cornelius Rhett!” my mom shouted, glaring at him from where she stood.. I pressed my hand to my now throbbing head.  maybe I should have stayed in bed after all .

Feeling a cool chill drifting around the room, I looked around to see Gabe opening  the refrigerator  to remove a huge un-baked turkey. He probably felt my gaze on him for he looked around and our eyes met, his gaze apologetic, mine angry. I wasn’t ready to forgive him, my head ached too much and it was his fault.

           “ Here” I looked down to see my mother depositing a pan filled to the brim with ten pounds of raw, chopped, unseasoned pork into my uninjured hand.

“Eat something, take the pill and get started on that pork.” She instructed, then turned to the sink to berate Neil over the spilled rice. I turned to the  only unused space on the wide island and began the welcome task of seasoning the pork.

xxxx

Pristine sauntered down the stairs that evening with a heavy heart, the weight hadn’t seemed to change in years. Sighing, she dumped herself onto the hard wooden chair, releasing a pent up breath, she uncovered the plate of warm food the cook had prepared  and immediately started to pick at it, as usual she had no appetite. Looking across the room and out the window she gazed at the mystical stars dotting the black vault. She experienced the cool wisp of the breeze as it carressed her upturned face.

The only sounds that could be heard were the howling of the trees as they fought the wind and the sounds of the animals as they watched the night. It was Sunday and once again she was dining alone, her father  was gone for the weekend and left three people there, Grad, Gain and Shura, three werewolves who would be guarding her until her father returned in two days. She sighed, saddened by the prospect of spending yet another day alone.

…In her minds eye she saw a crowd of cheerful zealous people entering her house, she heard laughter, the clinking of glasses, the whoosh of dresses as women waltzed about and the sweet melodious music as it drifted around the room wrapping everyone in its warm embrace.

She heard the shrill of laughter as each was filled with a sense of contentment and saw the warm faces aglow with love. There were hugs ans smiles in abundance. Pristine closed her eyes and watched the merry company of children running about. Across the room stood french polished tables and domestic furniture decorated  in all shades of red and green, upon which there were succulent fruits and food galore.

As her dancing eyes continued to witness the beauty before her, something caught and held her gaze. It was a man, the most wildly handsome guy she’d ever seen was seated on her oversized couch. He appeared utterly relaxed though she knew he was anything but, beneath his indolent pose something dynamic radiated from him like rays from the sun. Their eyes met, he rose from his seat and started towards her….

            She was immediately dragged from her trance when she heard a knock at the door, she wiped away the tears which had been silently cascading down her cheeks. When she  swung the door open, she saw before her a magnificent sight, standing in her doorway was a tall well toned man, with dark short cropped hair, his hands behind his back and feet apart.

She was mesmorized, he looked down at her flushed face and smiled, flashing his teeth, she was so captivated by his face that it took her a while to notice the the two long canines protruding from his ruby red gums. Her  eyes widened in fright and she took an involuntary step backwards. Behind him lay three dead werewolves.

“Hello Pristine”, his highly accented voice enveloped her in fear. The vampire took a step forward, his eyes drifting over her body, then lounged and a piercing scream ripped through the silent night.

xxxx

                                    AUTHOR’S NOTES

HEY GUYS..YES YES I KNOW IT’S SHORT, I KNOW, BUT I PLAN TO UPLOAD CHAPTER FIVE TONIGHT..I ACTUALLY FINISHED WRITING IT  IT’S JUST THAT I PLAN TO ADJUST IT A BIT SO PLEASE BE PATIENT :)…aLSO YOU SHOULD PROLLY KNOW THAT WHEN I FIRST WROTE THIS CHAPTER IT WAS REALLY REALLY LONG BECASUE I HAD DESCRIBED THE KITCHEN SCENE IN MORE DETAIL BUT I DECIDED THAT SCENE WASN’T IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR IT TO BE SO LONG SO I CUT IT IN HALF …IF U GUYS WANNA READ THE LONGER VERSION (which contains waay more people, more talking and laughing and fun ) THEN JUST LEAVE IT IN THE COMMENTS BELOW AND I’LL UPLOAD IT ON MY PAGE> AS ALWAYS I HOPE U ENJOY, COMMENT, VOTE, FAN…( doing these thing can really motivate a person to write more :)) LOVE YOU ALLLLL AND THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT(^_^)/ -DoUbLe.A

unedited.

Chapter 5: My heart be damned

Chapter 5

Dinner was a noisy, fun-filled affair, with everyone trying to be heard over everyone else, there was laughter in abundance, the constant clanking of utensils against delicate chinaware, the ever frequent requests to pass the potato salad or the rice or whatever food out of close range and the hushed silence which ensued whenever a seemingly exciting story was being told.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, even Cort, who couldn’t partake in the feast, was one of the smiling faces sitting around the crowded table. Sunday was my favorite day of the week because of the time I was able to spend with my family, including our new addition, Jullian, who started to share in our Sunday meals a month ago after Neil had invited her over for the first time.

She was his only human friend and though they tried very hard to hide this fact from the rest of us, everyone was aware that they were ‘secretly’ dating, they made it way too obvious and it didn’t really help that my parents could read their minds.

It was also common knowledge that Neil had yet to tell Julian that we weren’t human, it had taken a lot to convince the Bently’s, for a while  they’d even thought we were crazy, threatening to disallow Tira from spending time with us, but after a few demonstrations they’d finally wrapped their minds around the idea of having non-human friends and now they hadn’t missed a Sunday dinner in two years so we were all confident that  after he told her, things would only get better, after all, Jullian was an open minded and caring young woman, she’d definitely understand.

            At promptly 7o’clock, everyone gathered on the terrace. Soft music drifted in through the open glass doors and couples were already swaying in each other’s arms.

“The pork was great honey” my mom kissed my cheek ,then went to sit with my father on the white lawn chair.

“Thanks” I said softly.

Mr. and Mrs. Bently were enveloped in each other’s arms swaying to the music, beside them were Gabe and Daniel trapped in a kiss so intimate, I had to turn away. Neil and Jullian and Cort and Analise stood close together at the railing drinking in the sight of the beautiful star-filled sky.

Despite the euphoria I was experiencing at the sight of my family’s own happiness, I still felt a pang of regret, not for the first time that night, I wished Pristine was here to share in the festivities, I knew she would have enjoyed it. I groaned, the pain in my wrist had escalated, so I turned and entered the dining room, I glanced at the now clean kitchen as I passed but when I reached the stair case I heard a soft familiar giggle followed by an equally familiar chuckle and stoped in my tracks allowing my gaze to travel up the lengthy stair way. At the very top sat Tira and Sultan, hands intertwined faces close together.

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat at the sight of my two best friends basking in the glory of each other’s presence; I felt a strange pain in the region of my heart and a nudge of disappointment which I quickly squelched. Sultan and Tira were a perfect match, I could never love her the way he did, I didn’t even know the first thing about love.

I don’t kow why but I cleared my throat alerting them to my presence, at the sound, Tira tensed and dragged her hand from Sultan’s, they both looked down and spotted me just before I teleported to my room. After swallowing a pain pill and feeding Bobby, I grabbed my laptop off the night stand where it had lain untouched since Friday, and plopped down unto my unmade bed.

In my mind’s eye I saw the way Tira looked at Sultan, a look I couldn’t begin to understand, it was like the look my late grandfather used to get when he spoke of the lady he ‘loved’. I shivered at the thought. What I didn’t  understand  was my reaction to the sight of them on the stairs, this is what I’d been waiting for for three years, for my brother to finally man up and ask Tira to be his girl, yet I’d felt almost physically sick when I saw them holding hands, of course they’d held hands a million times, but this time it was different, almost intimate and I’d felt like an intruder, like it was a moment I had no right to have witnessed. I couldn’t wait for this pathetic attraction for the human to disappear, the sooner the better because it was driving me insane.

I dragged my left hand through my mussed hair and watched as the screen lit up. After waiting rather impatiently for the programs to load I went onto messenger, she wasn’t on, no surprise there. There were no new messages in my inbox so I began typing one.

xxxx

(Pristine’s POV)

“You’ve got mail”, the electronic voice reverberated around the room. Pristine swiped at the tears and half ran to her pc, she smiled through the sheen of  tears when she saw Jasam’s message.

“ Pristine I need  to see you. In  person.  Soon. I doesn’t matter where you are, just give me the time and place and I’ll be there. Don’t cancel this time. PLEASE.

  -Jace.

Prisine understood his urgency, she’d been dying to meet him ever since the first day they’d spoken and after the incident tonight she couldn’t wait to get out of the house, away from the life she had to endure daily, even just for a few hours. She thought back to the moment she opened the door for the vampire earlier that night.

She’d tried unsuccessfully to use her power of control over him, it had shocked her to the core when her ability had failed her, but then in the same instant she’d remembered something her tutor had said about vampires;

//FLASHBACK\

“They did not originally call themselves vampires, but as centuries passed they unconsciously adapted the human reference to what they are. These blood drinkers are truly a gruesome lot, not to be trifled with” he paused, shaking his balding head, a faraway look entered his eyes,

“ Hollywood got  it  wrong, for vampires, as well…put together as they look, have no internal organs, blood doesn’t run through their veins, they are merely empty souls born for the sole purpose of satisfying their cravings for flesh”

“What do you mean cravings for flesh ? I thought they only drank blood and you said they were born aren’t vampires created when humans are bitten ? Curiosity burned in her dark brown eyes.

“ ahh yes child, you see, once again the human world is mistaken,  vampires do not only drink the blood of their prey, it many instances they feast upon their bodies, I’m still unsure why they do this, I’ve asked the few vampires who work for your father but they refuse to explain why, it really is quite strange”

 Pristine grimaced; it was bad enough that they drank blood, but to eat the flesh of their victims? Absolutely repugnant! “What about them being born instead of created?”

“You have to be born a vampire, conceived after the coming together of two ‘mythical’ beings, but in the case of vampires, the child is a deformity, born without organs, blood, infertile and set on drinking blood.

They grow just like any other creature, though I can’t imagine how and they live for quite a long time, they are immortal I think..They are so grotesque in their… practices  that many creatures live in fear of their child being born a vampire, unfortunately it is very common, which would explain the many vampires in existence today.”

//END OF FLASHBACK\

            Which would also explain why she couldn’t control the one from earlier, she controlled the flow blood  in a person or animal in order to control their bodies and since vampires didn’t have blood, she had been fighting a losing battle. If her father hadn’t arrived home unusually early she’d be dead for sure.

She shivered at the thought and typed up a message. She would meet  with Jasam two weeks from today, her father would be out of town for a day. This time she was positive he’d leave even more protectors, but since they’d be under her command that day, as they usually were, she’d send them away, give them the day off or something, that way she could spend a few well deserved hours with Jasam and there was no way in hell she’d cancel, if she had to defy her father, then so be it, she was finally going to  meet Jasam and she couldn’t wait.

xxxx

“ Jamaica, mandeville/manchester 14 ward avenue .Thusday, June 21, 2010.

Sure you can make It?                  

 -Pristine

(Jasam’s POV)

I typed a solitary word, “ yes”, turned off the laptop and went to bed , with Pristine on my mind and determination in my heart.

        At 7:00 a.m I awoke to the ringing of my alarm clock. I slammed down the  button and the noise stopped abruptly. I yawned then sat up in bed running my hand through my hair. Usually I’d drop back into bed and sleep until 10minutes before the bell was due to ring, but today I was in a good mood.

Ever since the rather short emailing session with Pristine last night, I felt as if I was floating on a cloud of intense happiness, I had a great feeling everything was going to work out , she wouldn’t  cancel this time, I just knew it. The wait would soon be over and that  would make my days more bearable. I could hear Sultan shuffling around in his room, ever willing to rise early so he could get to school around the same time as Tira.

I hopped out of bed and grabbed the bottle of pellets from my book shelf as my door swung open and he entered, holding a shirt in each hand.

“Which one looks better?” he held them up, it was the same every morning, he had to look perfect for Tira.

“Why does it matter what you wear, she’s already your girlfriend you don’t need to dress up for her anymore, she’ll like you no matter what” I said through gritted teeth, almost half of my euphoria had vanished at the thought of them as a couple,

“About that” he switched his weight over to his left foot and cleared his throat “ she isn’t exactly my girlfriend….yet”

 I stared at him for about half a minute before I asked “ What do you mean she’s not your girlfriend, I didn’t imagine that little moment you two had on the stairs yesterday”

“ We were just holding hands”

“Just holding hands?’ I parroted “the heat between you two could boil an egg! Didn’t you see the way she was looking at you? It doesn’t get any more intimate than that…well unless-“

“Yea well I was about to ask her, but then you showed up and ruined the mood”. He grumbled and sank into the room’s only chair. So he was blaming me for his cowardice, there went my good mood. Sultan picked up on the change and looked up, hands held up as if he was trying to ward off an attacker.

“Not that I’m blaming you or anything, I’m just saying that was one reason I didn’t ask her”

“ And the other is? I enquired, eyebrows raised.

“I don’t want to ruin our friendship by asking her to be with me, I mean, what if she doesn’t feel the same way?”

It was common knowledge that boys didn’t talk about their feelings with each other, if you were sad or heartbroken you kept it to yourself. Sultan and I however, were different, other than the whole Pristine situation, we told each other everything, I knew his darkest secrets and his greatest fears and he knew mine, we were like an extension of each other, if he was hurting, then so was I.

In many cases it was as if we could read each other’s minds because we thought on the same wave length, but when it came to Tira, his thoughts seemed to be processing on another frequency all together, which was why I now felt the almost overwhelming  urge to smack him upside the head and knock some sense into his now senseless brain.

“Tira loves you Sultan, anyone with a functioning brain could see it in the way she looked at you last night, so get a grip and ask the girl to be with you”

“Yeah I …. I think I will” he said rising from the chair, but I could see he wasn’t so I added;

“ Do it before it’s too late” he looked up at me then, eyes tormented, then turned slowly and walked out of the room. Not a minute later he returned;

“ You didn’t tell me which one looks better” she grinned sheepishly.

Laughing, I pointed to the blue one and pushed him out of the room, it seemed I was going to have to take matters into my own hands to ensure Sultan and Tira’s happiness, they deserved to be happy, my heart be damned and I knew just how to make that happen.

                                                                                xxx

                                                               AUTHOR’S NOTES

SO FAR THE STORY HAS BEEN A BIT DULL BUT I WANTED TO ALLOW YOU GUYS TO GET AN INSIGHT INTO THE LIVES OF THE CHARACTERS. THE REAL ACTION BEGINS AFTER THIS AND WHILE IT WONT BE ALL FUN AND GAMES RIGHT THROUGH, THE PLOT WILL CERTAINLY GET MORE INTERESTING… TRUST ME :) AS ALWAYS LOVIES..THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, COMMENT, VOTE AND ENJOY <3 -DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter 6: A Father’s Love

Chapter 6

xxxx

(Pristine’s POV)

June 8, 2010.

World History.

Pristine headed the page, then set down her pen to listen to her tutor’s lesson.

“It was the year 1833 when the slaves of the British Caribbean were finally emancipated, at this time-“

“How is she doing?”

Pristine’s head snapped up at the sound of her father’s voice. Her eyes widened in shock when she spotted him standing next to her, she hadn’t even heard him enter the study.

“P-Pardon me master?” the tutor stuttered, her father never inquired about her lessons. Sven didn’t repeat but merely stared at the man quaking before him, his face devoid of emotion. He also never repeated himself.

“Oh, she- Pristine is doing marvelously master, she does excellently in every subject area, but I’m afraid she has…a lot of work to do on math” he finshed. Sven’s hand came to rest on Pristine’s shoulder as he spoke.

“Since when are you on a first name basis with my daughter Ronald?” he froze, his heart pounding in his chest.

“I-she, she insisted that I call her Pristine master, I was only adhering to her wishes”. He brought up a hand to swipe at his brow.

Sven laughed, a blood curdling sound that echoed through the house sending a chilling fear through the creatures standing guard outside.

“ She insisted?” he chuckled “ my daughter is but a mere child, she has not the power to insist upon anything, but she is of greater importance and status than you ,therefore you will address her as Miss Dlanor, her first name is and forever shall be off limits to everyone but me, is that understood Ronald??

“Yes sir-I mean master” he corrected.

“Now, if you will excuse my daughter from her lessons for but a few minutes, we have matters to attend to . I will deal with you later”

Ronald trembled at the softly spoken words and his eyes filled with tears he dared not shed before his master.

“Come Pristine, there is something I must show to you.” He placed a hand around her shoulders and guided her from the room. As they descended the stairs Pristine focused on controlling her breathing less her father detect any hint of fear. He always boasted that she was the one person who did not fear him and he loved her even more for it. If he knew the truth, there was no telling what he would do.

They stopped before a row of glass windows which allowed them to see outside clearly, below them, on the sun bleached grass, stood five werewolves in a perfect queue. To the left of them were three condoloids also in a line and around them stood eleven shape shifters, all creatures were looking up at Sven and his daughter.

 Sven then turned to a bewildered Pristine and spoke in well modulated tones;

“Yesterday, while I was away, the creatures standing before us in a queue were assigned to guard you, they were positioned further away from the house to act as ‘backup’ or want of a better word, to Shura, Grad and Gain, the three werewolves who were killed yesterday.

Due of their utter incompetence, they allowed an enemy of mine, a vampire whose name I refuse to even speak, to sneak pass then, murder the three wolves and enter our home, however temporary it may be” he turned from her and looked at the group before him, she mimicked his movement. He stared silently for exactly a minute before he continued,

“If I had not returned two days earlier than I had planned, it is evident that he would have….extinguished your life as well”, Sven glanced at her to see if his statement had affected her in any way, when he saw that it had not, he smiled.

“Why did you return early father?”

“Ahh…I was in Austrailia recruiting more…allies, I had just persuaded” his smile widened “ a very gifted condoloid to join our group, when your face appeared in my mind’s eye, it was a memory of you when you were younger, four I believe and you’d fallen after tripping over a rock outside our first home and you began to cry when you realized no one had yet helped you to your feet as they usually did, the memory came and went in a flash but I knew something was wrong, a gut feeling I suppose you’d call it, so I contacted my teleporter and appeared here in a flash and just in time I might add.

After my men had dealt with the vampire, I enquired as to the reason no one had come to your aid and do you know what I learned?” he paused, his eyes on Pristine. She didn’t answer for she knew it was a rhetorical question.

“Not one of the guards was in the position I had instructed them to be. They were gallivanting with each other a few miles away; their excuse was that they did not think anyone would try to harm you. Can you believe it? I gave them simple instructions and they defied me.”  He was calm as he said this.

“So now you will use your ability to punish them. I want them on their knees; heads turned up to the sky as if begging for salvation, then I’ll have someone remove their heads.” He said this as though he were discussing his plans for the day.

Pristine shuddered, “Dad you don’t need to do this, let’s just give them a warning this time” she pleaded.

Sven laughed and patted her cheek, “Your compassion never fails to amuse me Pristine” he dropped his hand and turned once more to the window, she knew she could brook no argument, he expected her to carry out his instructions and so she did, tears filled her eyes as she watched the creatures being slaughtered one by one and she cringed inwardly at the piercing screams that filled the yard as each creature, unable to move, watched as his companion’s head was unmercifully removed from his body.

A full ten minutes later, Pristine was ordered to return to her studies. As she turned to go, Sven announced “I will not punish Ronald after all”.

She entered the study to find her tutor sitting in his chair head bowed, when the door creaked open, he lifted his head and stared at her in terror, eyes red, tears cascading down his age worn cheeks. Pristine never despised her father as much as she did in that very instant.

Xxxx

(Jasam”s POV)

“Oh yea, who won the race?” I asked Sultan when we were walking down the hallway headed to our first class for the day.

Sultan rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath which sounded like ‘ dumb ass question’, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Hey guys!” we both turned to see Tira running toward us, when she caught up she squeezed herself between us and grabbed hold of our hands; my left and Sultan’s right. As we walked, people stopped and stared, whispering to each other, about my injury I guessed since I wasn’t in the mood to eavesdrop.

“You’ll never guess what I did last night!” Tira enthused.

“lemme guess, you read a very good book” Sultan concluded.

“noo, I read a great book it was…wow, about this girl on a quest to find true love”. I groaned but she ignored me.

“but the thing is, she’s not human, she’s like you guys, if you knew the horrible things she had to go through with her father and stuff, I know it doesn’t sound interesting to you two but if you read it you’d understand and she’s in love with this human-oh wow, I’ve never asked you guys to read one of my books before but this-this you got to  read!, the author is P.Dlanor, now my all time favorite novelist! But that’s only her first one, can’t wait till she writes another” she sighed the last word and as she entered the class she seemed to be floating on a cloud.

To be in love was bad enough, but to read about love and be acting this way, the more I thought about it the more I realized Grandpa had truly lost his mind, love, I scoffed, what a load a sh- then it hit me, did Tira say P.Dlanor?

“What did you say the author’s name was?”

“P.Dlanor, not sure what the P stands for though, why, you gonna read it?”

I reflected on the name for a moment,

“It can’t be.” It took me a moment to realize that Sultan and I had spoken in unison. I looked at him,

“What, you know the person?” I queried.

“ I know someone with those initials but…that’s impossible, the person I’ thinking about is pure evil, she doesn’t even know the meaning of the word love” he chuckled.

I thought about Pristine wasn’t that her surname? I was pretty sure she would tell me if she was writing a book, I’d ask her later.

We sat in our usual spot at the back of the class and I was in the process of taking out my history book when I felt the presence behind me, I looked to my left and was shocked to see a girl standing behind me. No one ever snuck up on me, I must be losing it.

“H-Hi, I’m…” she swallowed visibly “Liza, I  j-just wanted to say, I hopeyourhandgetsbettersoon” she rushed, words running into each other. She was the girl from Friday; the one who that guy broke up with in the cafeteria.

I looked away from her to see said guy staring at us, anger blazed in his eyes. I looked at the Liza girl, it was obvious she was trying to make him jealous, usually I’d be disgusted at the thought of someone using me as a means to an end but, I figured she was desperate, she was the second person from the entire student population to talk to me, had to admire her courage.

Everyone knew that I didn’t socialize with anyone but Tira and Sultan, so it would definitely be a huge deal to Liza’s ex if I spoke to her      ( Yes, if you haven’t realized by now, I’m a bit conceited). I smiled, another thing I never did at school.

“Thanks Liza” I heard her heart skip a beat in its fast pace.

“You want to sign my cast?” I added. Her as widened, as expected.

“S-Sure” she gave me a weak smile as I handed her a pen, her hand shook so much I could hardly decipher her words she scribbled but I smiled anyway and turned in my seat expecting her to disappear, instead she spoke again;

“My friends” she pointed to a group of four blushing girls sitting across the room,

“Wanted me to tell you to get better soon” her voice didn’t shake as much as before.

“Tell them thanks, better yet, tell them to come sign my cast.” I was feeling generous today for some strange reason.

“You feeling alright bro?”Sultan enquired when Liza had gone to relay the message. Tira, oblivious, continued reading.

“ I feel great” I grinned and leaned back in the chair watching a group of about 9 girls, far more than we agreed on mind you, make their way over to my table.

“Morning ladies” I said in my best husky voice. I received a few giggles for my trouble but only one girl returned my greeting, I found her extremely hard to look at, what with her face plastered with makeup, she looked more than a red apple that a Caucasian teenager. Fighting back a grimace I said “ So yall wanna sign my cast huh?”

A minute later, my once bland cast was transformed into a splash of color, from wishes to get well soon to a phone number from someone named shyniska, unfortunately for her, it was a wasted effort. This is why I wasn’t nice to people, they tended to take advantage because instead of leaving me to converse with my friends, which I would have preferred, they struck up conversation. Liza was the first to speak,   “ So what happened, were you fighting?” leave it to them to think I was doing something violent.

 “No actually, I was car racing with my family”

“Wow, you race cars?!” Didn’t I just say that?

“So what happened exactly?” I thought about Gabe and my anger returned

“I’d rather not speak of it” I said through gritted teeth.

“Oh ok so who won?”

“ No one, we stopped the race as soon as we saw Jasam’s car run off the road” Sultan had answered and Tira finally looked up from her book, eyes widening when she saw that the table was surrounded by girls, now staring at Sultan, well there went my few minutes of fame.

“Take your seats everyone, take your seats,” the teacher’s voice boomed from where he stood at the front of the class. The crowd dispersed reluctantly and I sighed in relief.

“What was that all about?” Tira questioned Sultan, her face flushed and I got the distinct impression she was jealous and that’s when I decided it was almost time to put my plan into action.

            We got through all our morning classes the same way we did every day, being ignored by our teachers. After our second week at Range mountain High, we had become somewhat of a nuisance to our professors because in each class we happened to find a fault with something they taught and so corrected them constantly.

Did I mention that sultan and I were…hmm trying to find a word that doesn’t make us sound that impossibly awesome…nope, no word for it, we were geniuses, the only reason we were referred to as such was because my father did not accept failure, it was 100% or nothing and so we studied probably more than the average person ( guess you really couldn’t call it genius, just good old fashioned hard work).

So with me trying my best not to disappoint my father, Sultan trying his hardest to fit in-even though he was already viewed by the rest of us as part of the family- and Tira, the extremely voracious reader, teachers had a hard time keeping up with our constant corrections, so they opted to conveniently overlook us during every lesson. We didn’t mind though, if they wanted to teach their students absolute rubbish, who were we to stop them.

We sat at our usual spot at lunch, Tira had finally set the book down and was picking absently at her dried up cheese burger.

“I like your shirt by the way” she smiled at Sultan. He beamed and when she turned to ask me if I’d studied for the history exam we had the next day, he gave me a thumbs up. What an idiot I thought, though I was still attracted to Tira and if I didn’t get those together soon I’d have to deal with this crap longer than I could bear.

I decided then that I’d confront her about it in our next class, Sultan had physics and we had sociology, it was the perfect time. In answer to her question, I shrugged and she turned back to Sultan after giving me an annoyed look. I’d studied of course, there was no way dad would accept another 93% and I’d rather not get on his bad side again.

“…but you always study at my house” Tira was saying to Sultan.

“Yeah, but that was before your killer cat tried to tear me to pieces. I still have the scars to prove it” he rolled up his shirt sleeves and sure enough, his arms were decorated with an array of jagged angry looking marks. Tira chose not to look at them.

“They healed the second you got them, what’s the big deal?” she countered.

“That’s not the point” he laughed ‘If I lose an eye it’s not gonna grow back.”

She cringed and dropped the subject.

            At the beginning of sociology, I’d gleaned the information necessary to carry out my plan. After a few minutes of denial, hesitation and deep scarlet blushes, Tira finally admitted to being in love with sultan, she swore me to secrecy and I told her how Sultan felt before explaining my plan. However I waited until after class to execute it. I searched the class for a decent looking male who’d also be present in our next class.

“Yo  Raymond!” I shouted to him where he stood with his friends across the room. He looked around, when he realized I couldn’t be speaking to anyone else, he slowly made his way over to me, his friends staring after him with interest.

He cleared his throat, “Yea?”

“I need you to do something for me”

“Ah- me?”

“Yeah, is there a problem?” I asked, then narrowed my eyes trying to intimidate him. It worked.

“N-no of course not, no problem at all”

“You see my friend here?” I placed my hand on Tira’s shoulder and she smiled shyly at him.

“Yeah?”

“You’re gonna ask her out” I commanded. It felt good ordering people around, no wonder mom was happy all the time.

“What?!  No way that’s Sultan’s girl!” his voice quivered as he said this

“ I know that, so when Sultan comes to class you’re gonna come over and ask her out, she’ll accept and you make a date for tonight, take her number and tell her you’ll call her later with the details, simple”

He was now sweating profusely, “ I-can’t, she’s Sultan’s girl, h-he”ll kill me!” he raised his voice, eyes darting from side to side as though he was trying to find the best escape route. I stood up then; towering a few inches over him, glared into his eyes and made my voice dangerously deep

“and what do you think I’ll do to you if you don’t do as I say?”

 He swallowed. Hard.

“I’ll do it” he choked out.

My smile was sickly sweet “ Good, what we’re trying to do here, if it isn’t painfully obvious is let Sultan see that if he doesn’t ask Tira out himself, then someone else will, in this case, you and until my brother comes to his senses, you’ll pursue her every chance you get..Ah  and Raymond?”

“yeah?”

“Be convincing, I’ll make sure Sultan gets nowhere near you. You may go, but remember, this stays between us.”

“Just one-“he licked his lips “question, should I ask her as soon as he gets here or after class?”

“After  class.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this, it’s not fair to Raymond and what if it doesn’t work?” Tira sulked.

“It will.” I smirked.

                                                                XXX 

                                                   AUTHOR’S NOTES

THERE YOU HAVE IT GUYS :) CHAPTER 6.. ENJOY AND REMEMBER TO COMMENT, READ AND FAN! -DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter 7 ;Breaking Free

Chapter seven

“… and remember I want these essays on my desk Friday morning bright and early, enjoy the rest of your day students and I’ll see you and those essays in four days.” The literature teacher exited and Raymond got up from his desk after only a brief hesitation, he took a deep breath, then turned and walked over to our desk. Sultan and Tira looked up when he cleared his throat.

His gaze skittered from mine to Sultan’s, back to mine, to Sultan’s once more and finally landed on Tira, who was seated between us. He stood there for so long without saying a word that I thought he was going to blow it, but before I could speed things along he cleared his throat and dropped into his role as Tira’s eager admirer.

“Hi Tira, I was-“he stole a glance at Sultan whose eyes were narrowed, “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me tonight, to catch a movie or something?”

“It’s a school night, plus we have an exam tomorrow, she can’t-”Sultan started.

“Actually, I could use a break from all this studying and my parents won’t mind.” She smiled up at Raymond then turned to Sultan “guess you’ll have to study alone tonight Sul.”

“Oh, that’s ok, no problem, go enjoy yourself,” he tried to make it seem as if it was no big deal but I could see that it was tearing him apart and I prayed he’d hurry up and come to his senses.

“Great, so can I have your phone number so we can sort out the details later?” Raymond smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Tira gave him the info, I gave him a brief nod and he left, relieved. Sultan looked as if he might follow Raymond out but instead dropped his head onto the desk with a sigh.

“Oh my gosh” Tira gushed “my first date ever! What am I gonna wear?!” she looked genuinely excited I began to wonder whether she actually had the hots for Raymond until she winked at me.

“You guys wanna help me pick something out?” she continued and I hid a smile.

“I think I’ll go home early today, get started on that essay.” Sultan excused himself.

“Yea me too, I gotta study for that test” I supplied.

“Ok well see you tomorrow then, I’ll tell you how the date went!” she shouted skipping from the room. Sultan looked at me, “Get me outta here, please.” He pleaded. We left the room and turned down a semi empty hall way, I touched his tense shoulder and we appeared in his room. He dropped his bag to the floor, then walked over to the window and stared sightlessly into the yard.

“I told you this would happen bro.” I spoke up. He ignored my comment but I wouldn’t let this go

“What’re you gonna do?”

“What can I do?” he gritted out “don’t you see Jace, she cancelled with me to go out with him, why should I interfere”

“So you just gonna give up. Just like that? When you thought I liked her you wanted to rip me apart, what changed?”

“I guess I just want her to be happy and plus he’s human, I’d kill him.”

“You really are an idiot” I muttered and grabbed his shirt collar, we appeared in Tira’s room, she screamed when she saw us.

“Jesus! Don’t do that!” she exclaimed, a hand over her heart.

“Ok, listen up, sultan, Tira loves you, she told me herself”

“Jace!”

I ignored her “The only reason Raymond asked her out is because we set it up so you’d finally man up and ask her to be your girl and Tira, my idiot of a brother is besotted with you, he even dresses for you every bloody morning! So, now that we’re all clear you can both stop all this bull and get on with your lives…and Sultan if you come home and tell me you too aren’t together I’ll kill you myself”

I appeared in my room and reached for my medication, my head was all but falling off my body. I swallowed two small white pills and lay back in bed.

            The week passed quickly. Sultan and Tira’s relationship was flourishing and so was mine and Pristine’s, ours took the route of friendship however, it was good to have someone to talk to especially when Sultan and Tira were too busy going crazy over each other.

Pristine and I communicated more frequently now than we had in weeks. We emailed everyday and in this one short week I learned more about her than I had in over two years.

Thursday

June 17, 2010       5:15pm

Hey Jace! How’s the arm? It must be awfully uncomfortable- so I’ve read at least. What have you been up to? My day was boring as usual, I had my lessons and read , oh yeah, how was that history test? I bet you did great, did I tell you history is my favorite subject? Did you tell Sultan how you felt about Tira yet? I’m going out of my mind with anxiety, can’t wait to see you, hope I don’t ruin the moment by being nervous or something…

                                                                                                                                -Pristine

Thursday

June 17, 2010      6:18pm

The arm itches like crazy! Uncomfortable? That’s an understatement! The exam was ok, but I don’t think I got 100% so of course my dad’s gonna kill me. I’m more of a science guy but then you already know that. History’s a pain and yeah, you’ve told me only a million times. lol. I’ve decided not to tell Sultan, they’re together now you know. I got sick of them beating around the bush, so I told Sultan how Tira felt and vice versa now they’re the happy couple! It’s disgusting, it’s just been a few days and they can’t even go a minute without saying they love each other and I know what you’re thinking, but I’m not jealous. I just think love’s a waste of time. Have you ever been in love?-doubt it. Your dad needs to let you out more. Oh and I’m going out of my mind too, J but look on the bright side, only eleven days to go; I’m kinda nervous myself.

                                                                                                                                -Jasam

 

Thursday

June 7, 2010    8:01pm

So long as you did your best, I’m sure he won’t be too disappointed, but then again what do I know.lol. Dad’s waay too busy to take me out, but I’m used to it so it’s not so bad. Just be happy for them, they really care about each other. You know I’ve never had a boyfriend. Btw I want you to read this speech, maybe it’ll help you out  

                                                                                                                                                -Pristine

I clicked on the attachment and scanned the page

Thursday

June 7,2010    8: 43pm

Wow that was a long speech felt like studying history all over again….lol jk. Don’t tell me you believe in this love rubbish too?! I should have known. I’m happy for them and I’m on the path to finally getting over Tira , I think. So other than reading and browsing the net, what did you do today?

                                                                                                                                                -Jasam

 

Friday

June 8, 2010    7:35a.m

Sorry I fell asleep on you last night, guess I was more tired than I thought. Lessons begin in less than half an hour so ttyl!

                                                                                                                                                -Pristine

(JASAM’S POV)

After classes on Friday, I stood in line in the main office with sultan and Tira waiting to collect my report card. My heart was working overtime and I had to force myself to stand still. Sultan stood before me chewing off what was left of his nails and Tira stood before him humming a tune off key. I envied her her confidence.

My eyes flashed to the other faces around me, some looked anxious, others excited. The girl at the front of the line received her card and I watched as she exited the office fighting back tears, if possible, my heart pounded even faster. After my companions collected their cards they stood by the door waiting for me until I collected mine, we usually opened them together. Once we left the tense atmosphere behind, we glanced over Tira’s shoulder as she opened hers.

Tira Bently                  . Average: 84.3%                        Position in Class: 5th                     

We read her grades and congratulated her because she was obviously proud of herself. Sultan was next. He ripped open his enveloupe, paused for a second, took a deep breath and unfolded the paper.

Sultan Liberon                Average:97%                             Position:1st                          

“Damn! a B+?” I swallowed. hard. Sultan was better at literature than I was, imagine my grade. I opened the envelope with trembling hands, my heart beat accelerating by the second. I felt my skin heat up as I unfolded the paper and upon seeing the grades I wished I was anywhere but there.

Jasam Rhett                          Grade :  96.3%                   Position:2nd                     

                                    

I still had my scholarship but would I have my life when my father was done with me?

“wow” Sultan said, his eyes pitied me. I just couldn’t wait for this day to be over.

We were about to exit the main doors when the vice principal’s voice sounded over the intercom; “Once again, the highest achiever for the academic year 2009-2010 is Sultan Liberon. Congratulations to all our high achievers and keep up the good work.”

A round of applause went up. Sultan didn’t even crack a smile, it was times like these that I wondered if Sultan regretted being a part of my family. At six that evening we stood before my father as he silently perused our report cards.

 “I’m  very disappointed in you two. Sultan, you only improved by one percent since last year, one percent! I can’t accept this! What were you thinking? Every year is the same thing with you two and Jace, what is this garbage?!” he roared, “You two need to stop this rubbish! WOULD IT KILL YOU TO TAKE UP A BOOK AND STUDY?! All you do is waste time, life doesn’t work that way!”

I couldn’t be the docile little son anymore “What are you talking about? All we do is study and you know it, we’ve never gotten a hundred percent average no matter how hard we try and you know why? Because we’re not you Dad!” He threw the cards at our feet and took a step closer to me; “It’s that blasted negative attitude that’s getting you nowhere, if you just tell yourself that you can do it and try, try for god’s sake you’ll-“

“Try? Try? That’s all we’ve been doing dad. I’ve done my best and I couldn’t care less what you think because I’m proud of myself I’m done trying to make you proud of me because you’ll never be and I’ve already accepted that.” My voice cracked on the last word and I lowered my head, no longer brave enough to meet his eyes. Sultan shifted uncomfortably beside me.

Dad grabbed the front of my shirt dragging me up so that my feet barely touched the floor “This is NOT your best Jasam-“he said behind clenched teeth.

I pushed against his chest and he released me “I’m not perfect dad, why can’t you just accept that?!”

“You don’t need to be perfect to get perfect grades Jasam, when I was your age-“

I laughed a harsh, disgusted sound that I barely recognized as my own “Forget this, I’m outta here” Before I could open the door my father spoke up “You seem to have forgotten who you’re talking to Jasam, I am your father and I deserve respect dammit!”

I turned around and looked him directly in the eyes, his angry, mine resigned as I said” respect has to be earned dad” I once again reached for the door

“If you walk through that door you are no longer welcome in this house, I will not put up with this disrespect!” he roared.

The moment he said it I knew he didn’t really mean it but I turned and smiled anyway, this was what I needed, since my grandfather’s death I’d lost my usual easy going personality, I was angry most of the time, I lost my temper at the drop of a hat, I had nightmares every night, and being around my family all the time was a constant reminder of what happened four years ago.

I just couldn’t get it out of my head, I couldn’t let it go and it was killing me. I needed to move on, to free myself from the hate , anger and sadness I was feeling and to do that I needed to get away from my family for awhile, I needed to sort my shit out but most of all I needed to find Sven and end this once and for all.

My dad offered the perfect escape. I could go without feeling I was being selfish for leaving my family behind, and instead of blaming me they would blame my dad, after all he was the one kicking me out.

“You want me gone? I’m gone. See you Lamont” I said this quietly and walked through the large mahogany doors. When I was in my room I gathered a few pieces of clothing and stuffed them in a small duffel bag.

I grabbed my laptop from the bed, storing it under my arm and then opened my bedside draw and took out the cash I’d been saving as well as my emergency credit card and stuffed them in my jeans pockets. I looked around the room, and spotted bobby, I snatched him from the aquarium, and placed him in an old shoes box.

Afterward I looked around the room once more to see if I had missed anything when the door burst open and Sultan came rushing in, when he saw my baggage his eyes turned wide and he practically screamed “ Are you out of your mind?!”

                                     I chose to remain silent as I was already beginning to have second thoughts which definitely wasn’t a good sign. So instead of replying I teleported.

At 7:30pm I found myself walking the streets of New York city alone unless you counted Bobby who was rolling around in the old shoe box tucked under my right arm. Since my departure I’d argued with myself over the pros and cons of my actions.

PROS: 1.It gave me a chance to clear my head, finally get over my grandpa’s death.

            2. I no longer had to deal with my father.

            3. I could now focus all my attention on finding Sven.

           4. I could finally get Tira out of my mind

CONS: 1. I wouldn’t be seeing my family for awhile.

             2. I would miss my friends terribly.

             3. I probably hurt my family by leaving.

It didn’t make much of a difference. I wasn’t a quitter. I got myself into it and I’d see myself through it. At the very end of the sidewalk lined with dirty homeless people, I found an empty bench situated under a dull street light. I dropped my bag and sat beside it on the semi dirty seat.

Not much traffic flowed through this side of town, with its dirty streets, dilapidated buildings, graffiti ridden walls, it was certainly not an attractive looking place… further down the street, a couple argued in their dirty rundown apartment, I heard the sound of a flesh hitting flesh and then a female whimpering, across the street a baby cried while its mother tried to sing it to sleep. I sighed, why was I here? The first place I could think of when I’d left the house was New York.

I’d landed on the deserted empire state building and watched the busy city, when I’d had enough I’d simply walked around with no particular destination in mind and ended up here. I don’t know why but it felt like the place to be, probably because the squalor and hopeless atmosphere mirrored my feelings perfectly…

I removed bobby from the cardboard prison and set him down on the bench after feeding it. It felt nice to have some company on this lonely night.

“Empty your pockets” I stared down the barrel of the thief’s gun, annoyed. Leave it to this idiot to disrupt the little peace I’d gotten all night.

“I’m not in the mood so run along”

“ Whad ya say ta me punk?!” he brought his gun down to gun butt me in the head  but I grabbed the weapon from his easily and pointed it at him. Anger had replaced annoyance and I was tempted to pull the trigger. Instead I jerked my head to the side indicating he should get lost.

He spun on his heels and sped down the road, turning left at the end of the block. I examined the weapon I held. How primitive. I closed my fingers around it and watched as it crumbled in my hand then placed what remained of it on the bench beside bobby who was now trying to escape. He/she wavered on the edge of the seat and landed feet up a folded newspaper.

I reached down and scooped him up along with the newspaper which was dated June 1,2010., I flipped to the entertainment section and my eyes landed on a story entitled From Rags to Riches.; I read the story then proceeded to go through the paper for about 15minutes before I grew bored enough to discard it. I took out my laptop and was surprised that there was actually wifi in this community.

The first thing I checked was my instant messenger and was surprised to see that Pristine was online- she rarely went on messenger-

PrissyD1392: Hey stranger how was your day?

JaYDreAmeR69: it was awful, urs?

PrissyD1392: why was it awful?

JaYDreAmeR69: my dad saw my report card, need I say more?

PrissyD1392: OMG, how’d you do? What’d he say?

JaYDreAmeR69: he was pretty pissed..he kicked me out

PrissyD1392: What?!?! He kicked you out because of a few bad grades??? Ur joking right??

JaYDreAmeR: nah..to make a long story short, he was talking shit so I told him to back off because I didn’t give a damn what he thought about me, he said he wouldn’t stand for the ‘disrespect’ so I should leave and that’s what I did…

PrissyD1392: WOW so where are you now? What are you gonna do?

JaYDreAmeR69:   idk yet, I’m in NewYork on a sidewalk..somewhere… guess I’ll try to find a place

PrissyD1392:  u have cash? When are u gonna go home?

JaYDreAmeR69:  yeah and no time soon I gotta  get my shit together

PrissyD1392:  I’m worried about you Jace, I think you should apologize to him and go home, it’s a lot safer there than on some street corner L

JaYDreAmer69: I aint apologizing to anyone, I’m doing fine on my own and I’m done talking about this

PrissyD1392: :( didn’t mean to pry…guess I won’t be seeing ya next week then

JaYDreAmeR69: I’ll be there, that hasn’t changed

PrissyD1392: ok be safe please

JaYDreAmeR69: Always..so what’d u  do today?

PrissyD1392: watched a movie, read, went for a walk, played online chess..the usual lol

JaYDreAmer69:Your dad gonna buy u a phone or what?

PrissyD1392:doubt it L

JaYDreAmeR69: don’t know why u won’t let me buy one for you..i could just ship it out there..no big deal..

PrissyD1392: No I don’t want you buying things for me, it doesn’t feel right jace

JaYDreAmeR69:well then atleast lemme get you a web cam so we can vid chat

PrissyD1392: -_-

JaYDreAmeR: ok ok I know that face..forget I said anything

PrissyD1392: :p

JaYDreAmeR69: J  ttyl I gotta go find a place to crash

PrissyD1392:kk take care

( PrissyD1392 is offline )

In the park I bade Bobby farewell after depositing him into the pond with the other turtles

“Aren’t you a little too young to be checking into a hotel alone? The person at the registry desk questioned. His name tag identified him as Larry

“Aren’t you a little too old to be working as a cashier?”

Larry glared, then mumbled under his breath…it sounded something like “insolent…bloody cashier to you?…damn kid..”

“What was that?” I enquired, eyebrow raised

He cleared his throat, “I’ll need to see some ID please”

“I’m paying cash. Why do you need my ID?” I snapped, getting impatient I just wanted to sleep was that too much to ask?

Before he could answer I slapped down a stack of hundred dollar bills on the desk. I held my hand lightly over the pile giving him a meaningful look. When he just looked at me blankly I looked around and caught the eye of a hefty middle aged man wearing a grey suit paired with a hideous striped tie.

The manager I presumed. Not a moment later, he came over to the counter, his expression annoyed until he spotted the cash. By then he had brightened considerably.

“How may I help you sir?”

“I want a room” I said simply

“Ok, what price range are you seeking?

“Doesn’t matter” I answered

His eyes widened and he licked his lips

“Oh well the best room we have is the Victorian suit, located on the top floor, it allows you the best in comfort, it’s the largest room available and the view is-”

“I want a room closer to the ground, doesn’t matter which one just tell me how much it is so I can go” I glared, I was bone tired and these idiots wouldn’t stop talking.

“Closer to the ground floor you say? That simply won’t do sir, we have a nice little-” he gushed

“Forget it, I’ll go elsewhere, you’re just wasting my time” I scooped up the bills and turned to leave. It did the trick.

“Wait, we know just the room sir!”I paused, listened as he named a price then paid him. I didn’t even care that Larry was glaring at me as he handed over the electronic swipe card. I teleported from the elevator, fell into bed and slept for eleven hours.

                                                                 AUTHOR’S NOTES

OK SO jASAM’S ON HIS OWN AND THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT MORE INTERESTING!..IN THE FIRST DRAFT I ACTUALLY TYPED THEIR GRADES SO LEMME KNOW IF YOU WANT ME TO ADD IT IN..THEY ACTUALLY DID PRETTY WELL..BUT THAT FATHER WHEW!..ANYWAY AS ALWAYS, VOTE, FAN, COMMENT AND ENJOY! <3 -DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter 8: The old man was right…Shit.

Chapter Eight

I found myself deciding that I’d hang with Neil at the shooting range before I even opened my eyes Wednesday morning. At the realization that I was still at the hotel rather than at home with my family and friends, my heart seemed to grow heavy in my chest.

 My phone rang on my way down to the lobby, it was Sultan. I’d been ignoring calls from my family since Friday night, but now I felt an intense urge to hear my brother’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Oh thank God Jace, where the hell are you?!” Sultan practically screamed in my ear.

“Around.”

He sighed, “Everybody’s going crazy here, we all miss you…please just come home” his voice sounded strained.

“What does dad have to say about that?” I wanted to know.

He hesitated “he wants you home too.”

His hesitation, however brief, said it all, “Tough”

“What the hell does that mean? He sighed “ok, take a few days more to calm down, then come home…please” he pleaded.

“Not coming home Sul” I said quietly.

“What? Jasam…ok at least… don’t do it for dad then, do it for the rest of us, it’s a mad house without you, we need you bro” he sounded anxious but I couldn’t concede, I just wouldn’t.

“You don’t understand Sul…I…since I left I haven’t had a single nightmare, that has to count for something, I think this is a good thing.”

“So you don’t have nightmares anymore…BIG DEAL… they have shrinks that could fix you right up, just come back and we’ll-“he started

“It’s not just the nightmares, I’m not angry anymore, I feel…great…I feel free you know, I don’t worry about my grades anymore, or trying to make dad proud or how I feel about Tira, I just feel like this huge load’s been lifted and if I come back it’ll go back to the way it was, I don’t want that.” I said adamantly.

“How do you feel about Tira?”

Shit I hadn’t realized I’d mentioned her. I remained silent.

When he realized I wasn’t going to respond he went on;

“Ok ok, forget I said anything. It…it doesn’t matter I swear, maybe it doesn’t have to go back to the way it was Jace, I’m sure it’ll get better, it just takes time. Come home…or at least tell me where you are so I know you’re ok”

“I’m fine, everything’s fine, tell them that. I gotta go.”

“Jace-“I ended the call before he could say more and sidestepped a group of tourists to purchase a margarita at the bar. They didn’t ask for I.D. The first few days had been a challenge but I’d gotten the hang of it and if my family, excluding my dad, was here, it would have been almost perfect.

Across the lounge sat a blond haired girl of about sixteen, she had been staring boldly at me for the past five minutes and it was hard not to feel self-conscious. Setting down the glass, I decided there was no way I was going to let a child make me feel uncomfortable and even though it felt petty I stared right back at her for almost a minute without blinking. Something about her felt…off.

“Refill sir?” the bartender asked, I looked at him and gave him a short nod, then turned my attention back to the girl, only she wasn’t sitting across the lounge but standing right next to me.

“Why are you smiling? She asked tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“Because I know what you are” I retrieved my glass and sipped the cold beverage. Refreshing .

She sniffed “What do you mean?” she asked, looking slightly apprehensive.

“Condoloid?” I asked, trying to appear nonchalant

“How…how did you know?” she looked  ready to bolt.

To appease her I dropped my hand under the counter and she followed my gaze. I harvested the heat from my body, concentrating until I held a ball of erratic but controlled flames in the palm of my hand.

“You’re…” she laughed, “wow the only other condoloid I know is my mom, this is so amazing how’d you know?”

My hand, now empty, I explained to her that a human could not have made it to my seat in the time it took her to get to me from where she sat, which was a split second.

“You need to be more careful in the future” I berated.

She blushed “You sound like my mom.” A saucy smile lit her features “I’m Mackenzie” she held out her hand

I clasped it, “Jace”.

I spent the rest of that day with her then on Thursday and  Friday I hung out with her and her mom, like her daughter, she was also light on her feet. They were an interesting pair, they described to me the places they’d been and the life they enjoyed.

I refrained from telling them anything about my family other than that they were condoloids. I didn’t trust them. I couldn’t.

On Saturday morning I wished them farewell after the hour they spent trying to convince me to join them in their travels but as fun  as travelling the world sounded It wasn’t for me.

I was to meet Pristine in less than an hour ,I had nothing appropriate to wear and my arm itched like crazy! I was tempted to rip the cast off, consequences be damned. On top of that, my head was killing me and after visiting every store on the block, I still couldn’t find anything that suited my needs.

Thirty minutes before my ‘meeting’ with Pristine I teleported to my favorite clothing store called des vêtements super  in Paris. I  didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it earlier, in 15minutes I entered a nearby restaurant,  my good arm filled with packages.

To the host I said; “Je voudrais réserver une table pour duex personnes à dix-neuf heures (I would like to reserve table for two persons at 7:00pm). I knew it was a long shot but I hoped that everything would go well when I told her about my abilities.

Dressed in my purchases, I waited, as arranged at the address she had given me at 10:00am. It turned out to be a little park surrounded by pine trees, a small water fountain stood in the center.

There were about 6 benches with flowers planted on either side and a few families were there having picnics, some were simply strolling. I was glad she’d chosen this place to meet; it had an air of tranquility that I found myself liking.

 At that moment, a figure approached from between a row of tall pine trees, as she stood surveying the area my heart caught at the sight. My breathing was shallow, almost strained and I felt a strange pull towards the creature that slowly walked toward me.

When she said my name my heart ached at the sound. I felt as if an extraordinarily powerful bolt of lightning had struck me in a place I had once thought incapable of such emotion. My fears, my sadness, my pain and my anger disintegrated, an unfamiliar warmth spread through my body, sizzling in my veins, vibrating to my very core, my very essence, my very soul.

My heart pounded soothingly in my chest, pumping awareness throughout my entire body. The feeling was paradise, three thousand times my beautiful than the lunar eclipse and infinitely more wondrous than the  sunset on the horizon.

… the old man was right…

 … My grandfather was right!

His words whirled in my mind like autumn leaves in high wind.  …  ‘Love is a mystery, it has the ability to take and give life, to create and destroy. Love can drive a man insane or it can open a man’s heart, mind and soul allowing him to see the world with new eyes, and that’s what love did for me, it altered me completely, I’m a different man Jasam, Julie’s brief presence in my life and the happiness she allowed me to experience is something I will cherish until the day I become one with the soil of this earth. Love is a beautiful thing Jasam and it’s something I pray you’ll find in life…’

Why hadn’t I felt this way when I spoke to her online? What was happening to me? My knees threatened to buckle when I began to fully register the emotion… is this…love?

Me?

The cynic?

The bad boy?

Me?

The guy who had scoffed at the thought of love since I was old enough to read?

No it couldn’t be, but then what was this feeling? She wasn’t what one would call extraordinarily beautiful but she was a lovely creature, something I had always known…

When she touched my arm I slowly brought my eyes up to meet hers…

I …love her , I acknowledged and it was then that my fate was sealed, by the very emotion I had been running from all my life.

“Hello Pristine.” I whispered.

                                        AUTHOR’S NOTES

YES I KNOW IT’S REALLY SHORT..YES I KNOW I TOOK FOREVER TO UPLOAD (SCHOOL IS A PAIN)  BUT I COULDN’T MAKE IT ANY LONGER BECASUE I HAVE ALOT OFWORK TO DO SO I DECIDED TO JUST UPLOAD WHAT I HAVE…I REALLY HOPE U GUYS LIKE IT DESPITE IT’S LENGTH AND I SAID I WAS GIVING SHOUT OUTS TO ONE FAN AND ONE READER IN EVEY CHAPTER I UPLOAD FROM NOW ON ….

SHoUt OuTs to:  AnnieR … .a dedicated reader and CRAZYbOOty a great fan! Thanks to you two for your support I really really appreciate it, you have no idea how much <3

AND THANKSTO EVERYBODY FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND KIND WORDS. ENJOY! -DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter Nine: I told her I’m a monster; she believed me

Chapter Nine

We spent most of the day in the park where we talked about everything, from school to nature, to food. We stood on the bank of a nearby lake and skipped rocks across the surface of the water then ate lunch at a little bistro a few blocks away.

At 1:00pm she bought a few books from a road side vendor after refusing my offer to foot the bill. I learned that she had a fascination with cars and I told her about the different cars we raced. She was impressed when I mentioned the Bugatti Veyron. I learned she was born in Canada on the thirteenth of January during a massive snow storm.

I spoke at length about my family and she listened, enraptured. When I mentioned Tira however she grew silent and I had to smile at the thought of what it might mean.

At 6:30pm I told her I wasn’t human.

“What if I told you I didn’t take a plane here today?” I asked scrutinizing her expression.

“What, you sailed?”

“Not exactly, no”

Her brows furrowed in confusion and I continued;

“What if I told you I…teleported here?” I swallowed hard, waiting for the laugh and disbelief that was sure to come.

“You…teleported?” she asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

My heart plummeted, this was it, this moment would determine the continuity of our ‘relationship’. Now that I’d met her life seemed absolutely lugubrious without her and I dreaded the moment it would end. I even considered taking back what I’d said, brushing it off as some lame joke because I knew that when she realized I was serious she would call me crazy and insist that I leave or she would run screaming down the street when I gave a demonstration, and the thought scared me.

“I’m a condoloid!” she blurted out, then stood apprehensively awaiting my reply. I stood staring at her blankly for a moment until I realized she was serious.

“You-, shit I had no idea…I thought…wow me too and this whole time I was just short of going crazy, wondering what you’d do if I told you…I can’t believe this!” I dragged my hand through my hair, taken aback by the news.

She sighed in relief, then laughed “I felt the same way I guess the thought of you being human seemed more realistic…you have no idea how much wanted to tell you;”

I could only smile at the thought, since when was luck on my side ?

“So you’re a teleporter…cool” she was excited now.

“Well actually, that’s not all I can do.” I thought briefly of going for the humble approach but who was I kidding I didn’t have a modest bone in my body.

“What do you mean?” she was curious now so I told her and showed her what I meant, she was amazed. I explained to her that I hated my abilities most of the time because it made me somewhat like Sven.

“But he doesn’t have your abilities, the only thing he can do is suppress a person’s power, he can’t-“

“Wait…what are you talking about, how do you know?”

“…a rumor” she said quickly, she seemed flustered for some reason.

“Yeah well I’m pretty sure your source is wrong, since I was old enough to talk, I’ve been hearing about Sven’s abilities, the whole world knows about it…well OUR world anyway” I said confidently.

“I think, maybe he uses his servants to make it seem as if he has many abilities, but I’m sure he doesn’t.” she tried to convince me.

“look it doesn’t matter anyway, I’d rather not talk about the asshole who murdered my grandfather.”

“What?! You mean my…Sven killed your grandfather?!”

“Well not directly, he just ordered his piece a shit slave to do it, that’s what started the Great War you know.”

“Great war? What are you talking about, what war?”

I chuckled in amazement “You don’t get out much do you? It happened about four years ago-: I broke off at her baffled expression and just stared at her, how could she not know about the war? Everyone knew about the war .

“Let’s save that for another time, I made reservations and we have five minutes to get there before they give away our table.” I took her hand and a second later we stood outside the restaurant.

“Welcome to Paris” I whispered in her ear. I felt her shiver in response and my smile grew.

She stared at me, flabbergasted “This is unbelievable! When did you even have time to do this? I’m not dressed appropriately” she stuttered, smoothing down the front of her blouse.

“I did it before I got to the park and don’t worry, neither am I” I grinned.

“Oh you were so sure I’d take the news well?” she smiled.

“No but I hoped”

The host escorted us to our seats and the waitress came over to take our order after we had perused the menu.

“Bonsoir, vous désirez?”

“Comme entrée, je prends la soupe à l’aignon.” I looked at Pristine, unsurprised when she also ordered in French. This girl can do everything.

“…et Je prends la salade de tomates.”

 When the waitress left she gave me her full attention.

“Now, tell me about his great war”

So I told her and she explained that at the time she had been in Alaska wither father, of course he didn’t believe in television and she hadn’t gotten her laptop until her fourteenth birthday so she hadn’t been able to keep up to date on what was going on around the world.

I figured her father was only trying to shield her from it, he was obviously very protective and I respected him for it. Pristine was too special, too precious to neglect, it would be hard not to at least try to shield her from some of the horrors of mankind.

For dessert we ordered the chocolate mousse and we joked about movies we’d watched. I stared openly at her then, I looked at  the way her soft black curls framed her face, the dimple at the corner of her mouth when she smiled, the way her intelligent dark brown eyes lit up when she was excited and if I attempted to describe her lips I would surely commit a sin. With creatures like her around it was impossible not to believe in love. This coming from the cynic.

Later that night she insisted I return her to the park instead of her home. She didn’t want me to accompany her there because her father would be pissed if he saw me she said.

So I followed her, without her knowledge of course and waited until she entered her home and locked the door behind her before I teleported to my suite in New York, looking forward to the next day for she had invited me to join her once more.

                                          AUTHOR’S NOTES

YEAH ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER BUT CHAPTER TEN WILL BE POSTED IN A FEW MINUTES SO YALL DON’T HAVE TO WORRY…I MUST ADMIT I’M NOT HAPPY WITH HOW THIS CHAPTER TURNED OUT SIGH BUT I’LL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT UNTIL IT’S TIME FOR MAJOR EDITING. 

HERE ARE THE SHOUTOUTS:

ShOuT oUtS: JuniperHunter a dedicated reader and appspps an awesome fan! Thanks so much you two for your continued support… love ya! <3

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE…AND HAPPY READING (^_^)/ -DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter 10: And the months went by…

Chapter Ten

  A/N: This chapter is a bit unorthodox..I thought it would be a fun lay out. This is the ONLY chapter that will be set in this way. Enjoy .

JULY

-I spent a week with her in July, we were mostly at the park or around the pool at my hotel. I learnt she hated spiders, loved the late Michael Jackson and hated the color yellow.

-She taught me how to play chess… I beat her in every game we played after that, what I can say I didn’t like to lose.

-I asked Carl, a friend of mine, a condoloid with the ability to track, to locate Sven for me. No luck yet.

-I spoke to Sultan four times that month, once a week but I still made no plans to return home.

-One day I got frustrated to the point where I ripped off my cast, it itched too damn much.

AUGUST

• I spent three weeks out of this month with Pristine. Her father was away on business for that long. I bought her a sombrero in Mexico and taught her how to bargain. One day we stood on the shortest pyramid in the impressive archaeological zone of Teotihuacan and admired the monumental pyramids of the sun and moon, the temple of Quetzalpapolotl, the citadel and the avenue of the dead.

-In the second week Pristine and I visited Tula, land of the Tolteca civilization, the city of eternal spring, there we sampled Mexican food-she hated it.

• For the last week we lazed around my hotel watching the tourists mill about, swimming when we felt like it and talking. Endlessly talking. I learned that she was also afraid of heights, disliked violence, her favorite flower was the black rose and her favorite scent was cucumber-melon.

-Still no luck with Sven.

SEPTEMBER

• I didn’t see Pristine that month. We emailed every night but it just wasn’t the same. Her father was getting to be too much, this level of over protectiveness was nothing short of ridiculous. I spent the entire month missing her touch, he smile, her laughter, her beauty, her voice. I was smitten.

• From one of his calls I learned that Sultan and Tira had had an argument, she wouldn’t speak

to him.

-In the second week of September I received an email from my dad. I deleted it without reading it.

-Sultan and Tira made up.

• I called my mom one day, she cried when she heard my voice and begged me to come home. It broke my heart and so I decided it would be best if I didn’t call her anymore.

• I was tempted to teleport home for even a day just so I could see their faces but I squelched the thought.

-I spoke to sultan every night that month. Tira missed me he said.

-I moved to another hotel and decided to get a room on the top floor, it wasn’t so bad, as long as I stayed away from the balcony.

-I got a fake ID that month as well. It helped considerably.

-I got a weekend job at a lawyer firm, working in the mail room because my mom threatened to cancel my credit card if I didn’t come home. I opened a separate account and saved all the money I made there. Just in case.

-Still no luck with Sven

OCTOBER

-Isaw Pristine three days that month, I told her I was sick of sneaking around and that I wanted to meet her father. She adamantly refused saying he wouldn’t accept me, no matter what. That hurt.

-On the second day, I took her to Panama where she witnessed the glory of the Panama Canal for the first time. I bought her a camera and she took pictures.

I leaned she’d never been to the beach so I took her to Savana-la-Mar. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time.

-Pristine wrote me a poem, I decided not to embarrass myself by writing her one as well.

• I learned that she was an excellent guitarist and her voice was amazing. She blushed whenever I complimented her.

• My dad called, I didn’t answer the phone.

• I visited with my Aunt in Jamaica for week.

• I met up with Mackenzie and her mom, Mackenzie had found herself a shape shifter boyfriend named Akeem, she seemed very happy.

-Still no luck with Sven.

NOVEMBER

-I told pristine I loved her. She didn’t say it back.

-DECEMBER

• I called off Carl’s search for Sven. I’d found him myself.

                                                     AUTHOR’S NOTES

  SHORT? VERY…. MY LONG CHAPTERS COME AFTER THIS!!!!!.THIS WAS AN UNUSAL CHAPTER I KNOW, BUT I ENJOYED WRITING IT, JUST WANTED TO LET YOU GUYS SEE HOW HE SPENT THOSE FEW MONTHS BEFORE HE FOUND SVEN BECAUSE I THOUGHT GIVING A BORING SUMMARY SAYING SOMETHING LIKE..“THE MONTHS FLEW BY QUICKLY WHERE HE SPENT TIME WITH PRISTINE AND BLAH BLAH BLAH…” WAS JUST LAME. NO OTHER CHAPTER WILL BE WRITTEN IN THIS FORMAT. TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT . OH! FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANTED AN INDEPTH LOOK AT JASAM AND PRISTINE’S RELATIONSHIP..NEVER FEAR THAT WILL COME.:) HERE ARE THE SHOUT OUTS:

ShOuT oUtS: To  Shazzabear a dedicated reader and Applepie123 an awesome fan. Thanks you so much you two, for your support and dedication. I really appreciate it!! <3

THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE, AND ENJOY. -DoUbLe.A

-unedited.

Chapter 11: Sven

Chapter 11

 Pristine’s POV

Pristine was happier than she’d ever been since birth. Since Jasam’s arrival her life had changed drastically. Her days were no longer filled with all-consuming boredom and monotony, instead they were filled with excitement and adventure, happiness and tranquility and she loved every moment of it. She loved his constant warm smiles and how gentle he was with her.

He treated her as if she would break with a simple touch. She loved his independence and hearing him talk about his family, she loved spending time with him and most of all she loved him. She hated that she wasn’t able to tell him how she felt, she really wanted to but she hadn’t told him about her father and so with that lie by omission between them she found it difficult to say the words.

It nearly broke her heart after seeing the look on his face when she didn’t return his words but she’d already made up her mind to tell him how she felt and about her father when she saw him next week. She prayed he’d take the news well. It was unlikely.

Xxxxxx

Jasam’s POV

I found Sven purely by accident in December. I wasn’t to see Pristine for another week, I was bored with my hotel and every two minutes my phone rang with people wishing me a happy birthday. I left my phone in my suite and teleported to Australia.

When I was a boy of seven Analise took me there for a week, it was summer and she wanted me to experience the great ‘outback’. She took me into the wild forestry where we stooped in a high tree and watched nature take its course.

The heat had been scorching but the creatures had been absolutely majestic. It was a well spent week and it was also the first and only time my sister and I spent so much time together, just the two of us.

 It was that memory that brought me here on my birthday. The lake had frozen over and there were no animals in sight, the scene was almost depressing. I was about to teleport back to the suite when I heard something in the distance…voices, lots of voices. It was strange to me that people would be out in this weather (with the exception of myself of course). I heard cheering, howling, snarling and laughing.

It made no sense to me so I ran toward the sounds and peered at the group from behind a wide oak tree. There were werewolves, vampires and other human looking creatures that I guessed to be either condoloids or shapeshifters. I counted thirty-five of them, not counting the tall black man standing on a raised platform in front of the group.

“…and destroy them once and for all.” The man was saying. A cheer went up from the creatures. I froze. They were planning to destroy something or someone, this couldn’t be good. I teleported closer and crouched behind another tree.

“I want you all to go out and find those of our own kind. Trevoc, you are in charge of the werewolves, report to him with your recruits.” He turned to his left addressing another group “Shapeshifters, find other shapeshifters, Sedecrem is in charge of you. Vampires you know what to do, Lex is in charge.

I have a special job for you condoloids, I don’t want you recruiting just any old person, you will find only the most gifted condoloids and do whatever you need to do to get them here. You are to report back to me.”

The man stepped down from the platform and continued; “Now remember, if they show any sign of resistance, you tell them that I personally sent for them.” His eyes travelled through the crowd.

“This army needs to be magnificent if we are to successfully topple the entire human and mythical race!”

More cheers went up. I couldn’t believe my ears.

An army?

I got up slowly from my crouch and stepped back only to collide with something solid. Before I could even turn to investigate something slammed into the side of my head knocking me to the ground instantly.

“Ahh!” I exclaimed and tried to get up, a wave of dizziness engulfed me and I fell face first into the grass.

When I resurfaced I was lying on my back and surrounded by werewolves. Panicking at the sight I tried to teleport. Nothing happened.

“Master he’s awake.”

The sea of creatures parted and the black man from earlier stopped before me. I flipped over trying to stand only to be kicked viciously in my side for my efforts. I heard a sickening snap and I  grunted at the pain that engulfed me.

“Look at me.” The man said.

I glanced up at him through pain hazed eyes.

“Are you human?” I stubbornly refused to answer. He continued his interrogation, unperturbed.

“I am Sven, if you are human then that name should mean nothing to you.”

My eyes widened.

What? He was Sven? I couldn’t believe it. I’d finally found the bastard! The shithead who killed my grandfather was standing right in front of me, smiling like there was no tomorrow and looking down at his nose at me !

I felt the anger, hot and wild. I was going to kill him! I felt intense heat pulse through my veins. I’d never been this angry in my life, not when I’d spotted the ugly werewolf standing over my grandfather’ body, not when Gabe had run me off the road and not when my dad had kicked me out . The veins in my head bulged, standing up in my forehead like never before. I felt the blood rushing through my body faster than it ever had.

My eyes locked with Sven’s curious ones and my body burst into flames, it ricocheted off me in waves. The creatures surrounding me squealed in pain as the flames flicked against their skins. The dizziness from earlier had dissipated and I lounged at Sven, my arms almost going around his throat when he vanished from my sight.

A condoloid had teleported him onto the platform. I prepared myself to do the same when the condoloid appeared before me and his fist slammed into my face with such force that it knocked me to the ground. I jumped up quickly only to receive another hit in the face and another and another.

Shit he was fast!

I stumbled back and was grabbed from behind by a foul smelling wolf. I flailed as he tried to squeeze the breath from my body. My flames blazed but it had no effect on the monster. I tried to focus and teleported, but instead of appearing on top of the empire state building as I’d planned I’d only appeared beside the lake in that same clearing with the creature still stuck to me.

What was wrong with me? My anger grew and so did the flames. The wolf yelped and let go of me completely.

I spotted Sven across the clearing now sitting carelessly on the platform, smiling and I imagined how it would feel to rip his stupid head from his body. After my teleportation failed to bring me to him I gave it up all together and ran instead. My feet grew heavy with each step and I felt as if I was moving in slow motion.

Sven’s smile grew and it was then that I realized that this was all his doing. He was trying to suppress my powers! Scared out of my wits, I froze where I stood and was surrounded by thirty-four  pissed off creatures.

“I don’t want him dead, I may have need of his abilities.” Sven called after them.

In rapid succession, sixteen of the creatures melted down in size and there stood before me a row of bloodthirsty cheetahs. My flames died. Thirty-four blood curdling growls went up around me and I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. I tried teleporting again but nothing happened and I was smashed into the ground by one of the swift animals.

The creature bit into my shoulder and I screamed in pain trying desperately to get him off me. A second later I found myself leaning limply against a tree, my powers weren’t completely gone. I teleported to Sven’s teleporter and swung my fist at him. It did nothing substantial to his flawless face and I growled in frustration.

My strength was depleted!

The snarling creatures descended on me once more but before they could do much damage I teleported a few feet away and fell to the ground. I crawled into a nearby brush and placed my hand against my shoulder to staunch the flow of blood.

“I will call them off if you agree to join us boy, if not I will have them end your life in the most painful way possible.”

“Go to hell!” I shouted. By now I was terrified and so I tried to teleport once more but to no avail. Cursing my luck, I stumbled to my unsteady feet and braced myself. It seemed I was going to have to do this the old fashioned way and I knew I would not survive it.

“Very  well.” Sven called back.

In less than a minute I was surrounded by the horrendous beings. The werewolf closest to me used his claws and slashed into my chest. I screamed as the excruciating pain ripped through my body and doubled over clutching my blood soaked chest. My breath came in shallow gasps and tears leaked from my eyes.

I felt something cold against my neck and two sets of amazingly sharp teeth sunk into its confines. I screamed again as the vampires began extracting the blood from my battered body. Snarls erupted in the air and the teeth left my body. I forced my eyes open to see the vampires facing each other.

“He’s mine.” One vamp spoke up.

“No way!” the other creatures shouted. They were arguing over who should get the privilege of finishing me off. I had never been so scared in my life. I realized then that I didn’t want to die like this, not before seeing my family again. As the life seeped from my body I closed my watery eyes and wished for someplace safe. I wanted to be with the people I loved. I needed to see Pristine and Sultan and my dad. I wanted  Analise and Gabe and Neil. I didn’t want to die like this. I knew then that I wasn’t immortal. I was just like any other human.

I wouldn’t be living as long as my parents had.

Their healing abilities were what kept all condoloids alive for so long, but I couldn’t heal like them. I wasn’t a condoloid. I wasn’t anything and that’s how I would die. Before I sunk into the depths of darkness from which I knew I would not return I tried one last time. I focused on my house in Range Mountain and willed myself there. I willed myself to the kitchen where my family gathered every Sunday.

I was there in an instant. I crashed into a chair and fell limply to the cold hard kitchen floor. Someone screamed.

“Jasam!” it was my mom.

I smiled at the sound. It worked; I was home where I belonged. This was my last thought before I sank into the dark abyss.

                                                  AUTHOR’S NOTES

YOU’LL NOTICE THAT THE QUALITY HAS DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THIS CHAPTER WHICH IS BECAUSE I HAVE EXAMS SO I HAVE TO STUDY..SO BASICALLY I JUST RUSHED THIS CHAPTER WHICH ORINALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONG BUT I REALLY DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO DEVOTE TO IT. I’LL CONTINUE TO UPDATE IN BETWEEN EXAMS BUT I WON’T BE ABLE TO GIVE IT MY ALL UNTIL AFTER. ENJOY..I’LL ALSO CONTINUE WITH THE SHOUTOUTS IN THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS.

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited

Chapter 12: Big news

Chapter 12

I was shocked when I regained consciousness two weeks later.

 I was supposed to be dead!

I opened my eyes, it was dark in my room. My mother slept in a recliner pushed up next to my bed, beside her sultan slept in my computer chair, his mouth hanging open as he snored softly. To move at all was painful so I kept perfectly still when I saw my father standing in the door way. I blinked up at him.

“Hi son.” He whispered. I was too weak to even open my mouth so instead I watched him try to  hold back tears. That wasn’t going too well for him.

He made his way over to my right and sat in the chair next to me and touched my swollen cheek. It hurt and I winced. He tried to keep his voice steady as he said; “I’m so sorry.”

I watched the tears stream down his face and I knew he was finally apologizing for the way he treated me over the years, you could hear it in his anguished voice and see it in his tear filled eyes. I arranged my mouth into what I hoped was a smile.

“I love you.” My father said those words to me for the first time.

I felt the tears seep from the corner of my eyes which a short while later drifted close and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next time I woke up it was morning and when I tried to sit up every muscle in my body screamed in discomfort and pain. I gasped then groaned at the sharp burning sensation that ripped through my tender chest.

What did they do to me?

I couldn’t even move my legs without feeling a vicious stab of pain. Maybe I should have died when I had the chance because this level of hurt was just too much. It was when my mom entered the room however that I knew the pain was worth it.

She gasped and placed her hand over her heart.

“Oh baby you’re awake!” she was on the verge of tears.

I tried to say something but the pain in my chest was too intense and so I kept quiet. She sat in the recliner and took my hand, squeezing it lightly.

“I thought I’d lost you.” She was sobbing now. I hated seeing her cry. I gave her hand a light squeeze and she smiled through the haze of tears.

“Guys Jasam’s awake!” she shouted and I winced.

“Jace!”

“Little J!”

“Jasam!”

Gabe, Neil and Analise entered the room all shouting different versions of my name. Analise took hold of my free hand and Neil stood at the foot of my bed staring anxiously at me. It was really great to see them.

I felt all the heart ache from not seeing them in months well up and I couldn’t stop the tears. Ever since my encounter with Sven I’d been like a bloody water fountain and I hated it but my family made it somewhat bearable.

“What’s wrong Jasam?” Analise asked when she saw the tears.

“I…missed you guys.” I whispered brokenly but refrained from saying anything else because me chest was on fire.

“Aww jace we missed you too.”

“Yeah, you have no idea how lame it was without you here.”

I smiled ant Analise’s and Neil’s words.

“You need to get some rest hon, next time you wake up we’re going to try some soup okay?” my mom said before leaning over me to plant a kiss on my forehead, then she rushed everyone out of the room.

At the door she turned; “Sultan’s at Tira’s but he’ll be home soon and Cort and Jullian are coming over later.” She smiled and pulled the door closed behind her.

It was 8:00am, a week later and my room was filled with familiar faces. My mom and dad, Sultan, Tira, Mr. and Mrs. Bently, Donald, Gabe, Daniel, Neil, Jullian, Analise, Cort, my uncle Jamie and his wife Jenna, my cousins Billy and Ebonie and even my aunt Sheba, her boyfriend Peter and her daughters Patra and Cleo had flown down to see me.

They were staying until new years which was three days away. I was touched that they all cared enough to take the time out to see me. My small work table was staked with unopened birthday and Christmas gifts as well as get-well-soon cards. There were flowers on my book shelf and both my bedside tables.

I was finally able to sit up for the first time yesterday and today I sat reading the cards and opening the gifts. I ripped the wrapping paper off a gift from Gabe then opened the box and extracted a gold medal. I looked questioningly at him.

“You would’ve won the race if I hadn’t cheated.” He said quietly and I smiled.

“Ok our next.” Sultan announced. “It’s from Tira and me.”

I brushed aside the decorative paper and took out the object from the gift bag.

“A phone.” I stated.

“Yeah you didn’t come back with your old one.” Sultan spoke up.

“Thanks guys.”

“Oh honey this came for you today.” My mother said handing me a small box wrapped in blue paper with pink hearts all over it. “It came with this.” My mom handed me a white envelope.

I opened it first. On the plain white paper were four words written in bold letters on the center of the page; “ I LOVE YOU TOO.” My heart ached at the words and I drew in a shaky breath.

With shaking hands I carefully opened the gift, taking care not to rip the wrapping paper. I slowly peeled off the clear tape and set the wrapping aside before gently lifting the lid off  the brown box. Inside was a stack of photographs of me and Pristine.

Pristine and I holding hands and smiling for the camera, we were at the Panama Canal and we’d asked a guy to take it for us.

The other was of Pristine in the park, sitting on a bench and looking down at the flower I had given her ten minutes before I’d taken the picture. The next picture was my favorite; a photographer had given it to us for free when we were in Mexico; we sat on the last step of a pyramid gazing into each other’s eyes.

It was a beautiful picture. At the time we’d turned to look at each other for some reason and the picture was snapped literally a second before we looked away by a photographer who had spotted us while passing.

“What is it honey?” my mother asked concerned. I showed her the pictures and she gasped. Everyone else moved closer to see them.

“Who is she Jace?”

“Honey she’d beautiful, where did you meet her?”

“Who is she?”

“Never seen her before, she your girlfriend?”

“Wow, you guys look so cute together.”

I couldn’t even address them, I was just blown away. Pristine loved me. She loved me! I felt the happiness wash over me and I could hardly contain myself. I had emailed her from Sultan’s computer two days ago and told her what had happened to me, for two days I’s anxiously awaited a response and the reply she’d given me was better than I could’ve hoped.

I was pretty much over the moon. If I could jump a mile I would, but instead I sat in my bed and grinned like a fool because the girl I loved loved me back.

“She’s…” I trailed off as a wave of vertigo swept over me.

“What is it sweetheart?” mom asked in concern.

“Nothing, just dizzy, may I have a glass of water please?”

“I’ll get it.” Sultan said and left  the room.

“Come on Jace tell us who she is.” Cleo said. I laughed or atleast tried to, she was incredibly perceptive for her age.

“Well her name’s Pristine and I met her in Jamaica-”

“You mean when you came to visit us in October?” Patra piped up.

“Wait, he visited you and you never told us?” my mom questioned aunt Sheba.

“Look it doesn’t matter, I’m here now and no I  met her shortly after dad…I left and we haven’t exactly made it official but I guess you could call her my girlfriend, I love her and she loves me.”

A collective gasp went up.

                                    AUTHOR’S NOTES

IT’’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING..I KNOW

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited