Yajna Ramnath's Blog, page 3
June 13, 2015
OPHELIA: PROLOGUE
Quinn Campbell sits in a steel chair that hurts his ass. His wife is in the next room probably cuffed to the table as he was earlier. Before the forensics reports had come in. The police were on top of their game. A murder in the Hamptons? There was no way they were going to take their time investigating or solving it.
Quinn runs a shaky hand through his hair, and then glances at the one way mirror.
“I didn’t do it,” he whispers. “I know I didn’t.”
Actually he didn’t know whether or not he did. All he knows was after that last drink when she kissed him, he couldn’t remember anything. Well, he remembered a lot more after that kiss, but admitting it is something he won’t do.
Not this second. Not when he could probably incriminate himself.
The FBI had been called in when it was obvious after the first twelve hours of investigation by the Hamptons Sheriff, that no one was going to come clean all that easily.
Three people dead, and two suspects?
They were going to pull in the big guns for sure.
Agent Declan O’Donoghue walks in, a stubble covers his jaw and his has a gaze is troubled. No doubt Annalisa said nothing at all. Quinn rubbed the back of his head wishing not for the first time that he hadn’t opened his door to her that night.
The agent sprawls into the chair opposite him, rubs his hands over his tired eyes and lifts his gaze.
“Mr. Campbell, I’m at my wits end here,” he’s Irish brogue curls over the English words. “Mrs. Campbell remains silent and mutters about it being an accident, now something like that along with her fingerprints on the weapon lead me to believe that she is indeed the killer. However none of this adds up.”
Quinn glances at the agent. “What do you mean?”
“How is this all so convenient?” the agent snaps. “How can you go to bed with a strange woman in your bed and awaken with no recollection of the night before while your wife of ten years happens to be perfectly framed?”
“This is not some movie,” Quinn stares at Agent O'Donoghue. “It isn't as if I would frame my own wife of ten years.”
“She stands to gain a hefty inheritance,” Agent O’Donoghue raises a brow.
“An inheritance which she received five years ago. An inheritance which she almost totaled on our Hamptons home,” Quinn’s voice is slow and clear as if talking to a child.
“I just don’t understand how this can be so clear cut.”
Quinn snorts. “How professional of you to voice your doubt over hard facts. had that been my inheritance, had that been my body, had my wife been unfaithful… would you say the same?”
“Actually,” Agent O’Donoghue swallows. “We have proof that your wife has been in a long standing affair with someone.”
Quinn’s blood runs cold. “E-Excuse me?”
“We have found DNA reports hidden in her box of documents uplifted from your New York apartment,” the agent slides a folder across. “Miley and Scott Campbell are not your biological children.”
Quinn does not look down at the reports, instead he whispers. “What New York apartment?”
Agent O’Donoghue rises from the chair. “Would like me to give you a minute or—”
Quinn sighs. “Well, it seems my life is about to go up in flames. So, I’d rather tell you my version of the truth. The actual truth.”
Agent O’Donoghue takes out his recorder and mumbles in to the device, giving his name, position, date and time.
“Where would you like me to start, Agent?”
“Well how about the beginning, what was her name?”
Quinn looks at his pale fingers and the blood crusted under his fingernails. “Her name was Ophelia Graham.”
Quinn runs a shaky hand through his hair, and then glances at the one way mirror.
“I didn’t do it,” he whispers. “I know I didn’t.”
Actually he didn’t know whether or not he did. All he knows was after that last drink when she kissed him, he couldn’t remember anything. Well, he remembered a lot more after that kiss, but admitting it is something he won’t do.
Not this second. Not when he could probably incriminate himself.
The FBI had been called in when it was obvious after the first twelve hours of investigation by the Hamptons Sheriff, that no one was going to come clean all that easily.
Three people dead, and two suspects?
They were going to pull in the big guns for sure.
Agent Declan O’Donoghue walks in, a stubble covers his jaw and his has a gaze is troubled. No doubt Annalisa said nothing at all. Quinn rubbed the back of his head wishing not for the first time that he hadn’t opened his door to her that night.
The agent sprawls into the chair opposite him, rubs his hands over his tired eyes and lifts his gaze.
“Mr. Campbell, I’m at my wits end here,” he’s Irish brogue curls over the English words. “Mrs. Campbell remains silent and mutters about it being an accident, now something like that along with her fingerprints on the weapon lead me to believe that she is indeed the killer. However none of this adds up.”
Quinn glances at the agent. “What do you mean?”
“How is this all so convenient?” the agent snaps. “How can you go to bed with a strange woman in your bed and awaken with no recollection of the night before while your wife of ten years happens to be perfectly framed?”
“This is not some movie,” Quinn stares at Agent O'Donoghue. “It isn't as if I would frame my own wife of ten years.”
“She stands to gain a hefty inheritance,” Agent O’Donoghue raises a brow.
“An inheritance which she received five years ago. An inheritance which she almost totaled on our Hamptons home,” Quinn’s voice is slow and clear as if talking to a child.
“I just don’t understand how this can be so clear cut.”
Quinn snorts. “How professional of you to voice your doubt over hard facts. had that been my inheritance, had that been my body, had my wife been unfaithful… would you say the same?”
“Actually,” Agent O’Donoghue swallows. “We have proof that your wife has been in a long standing affair with someone.”
Quinn’s blood runs cold. “E-Excuse me?”
“We have found DNA reports hidden in her box of documents uplifted from your New York apartment,” the agent slides a folder across. “Miley and Scott Campbell are not your biological children.”
Quinn does not look down at the reports, instead he whispers. “What New York apartment?”
Agent O’Donoghue rises from the chair. “Would like me to give you a minute or—”
Quinn sighs. “Well, it seems my life is about to go up in flames. So, I’d rather tell you my version of the truth. The actual truth.”
Agent O’Donoghue takes out his recorder and mumbles in to the device, giving his name, position, date and time.
“Where would you like me to start, Agent?”
“Well how about the beginning, what was her name?”
Quinn looks at his pale fingers and the blood crusted under his fingernails. “Her name was Ophelia Graham.”
May 16, 2015
OPHELIA
Here's the link to my cover, title, synopsis, and Prologue reveal for Ophelia
http://yajnaramnathauthor.blogspot.co...
http://yajnaramnathauthor.blogspot.co...
January 8, 2015
A glimpse at CROSS FADER
Eden
I wasn’t always a cynical bitch. There was a time in my life when I loved people and made friends easily. I loved life and lived it as any child would. The thing about being a child is that you aren’t trained to see the harshness of the world. Your little mind cannot comprehend that people are being bad to you. You chalk it up to them being different. You continuously run behind them for a little attention not realizing that they don’t want to give it to you.
I started off just like that.
At eight-years-old I didn’t know that the kids at school were laughing because I was different. I didn’t realize they laughed because they thought I was a smelly old witch with ugly scars on my face and legs. When the blood clung to my white school pants and stuck the material to my opened scabs, I didn’t know that for the rest of the school year they would naturally avoid me, leaving me to sit behind my teacher’s school desk and eat my lunch. I didn’t know why some of my family members would wash their hands after touching me or plaster themselves to the wall whenever I walked down the same hall as they did.
I didn’t realize that having a condition that I couldn’t control was the reason I could never wear the pretty pink Barbie dress but instead I had to wear corduroy pants and polo necks. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have pretty long dark hair like everyone else, why did mine have to be cut off and always untidy?
But then I understood. I understood the day I went to highschool. I felt hot and took off my jersey only to here an “eew” from the girl next to me and watch her shuffle her chair away. I understood when a guy laughed and pointed to my neck thinking I had a hickey and told the entire school I was thirteen-year-old slut coming to school with love bites. I understood the day I was changing in front of my friend during a sleepover and she gasped at the red angry sores on my body and then asked whether I minded sleeping on the couch in the lounge because she just “couldn’t manage sleeping next to anyone at night.”
I understood the first time a guy slid his hands underneath my shirt and pulled it away immediately saying, “what the fuck.” I understood the day I watched all the girls get ready for prom with their fancy dates, I watched from the crowd as every girl—except for me—who waltzed in with their beautiful ball gowns. I laid in bed that night bawling my eyes out knowing that they were out there having sex or having fun while I cuddled up in my blankets and got comforted by my parents.
I understood the day I had finally found a boyfriend in college. He treated me differently. He never looked at them as scars or ugliness. He said he loved me as I was. So why wasn’t I good enough for him to stay? Why did I find out he was with a perfectly shaped girl behind my back?
It wasn’t always bad. There were a few months in sporadic years where it wouldn’t show up at all. Sometimes I could bask in wearing t-shirts, dresses and shorts. Then there were times when the condition played games with me, never appearing in winter when I had to be bundled up, but appearing in summer when I wanted to dress like any other person out there.
What also didn’t help my cause was the fact that I was so skinny. I was called various names because of my lack of boobs during highschool. I was called an ironing board, a pole, a ruler and a stick. My two big front teeth had everyone calling me bugs bunny and beaver.
I folded into myself by the time I hit twenty-two. I started realizing that people were always going to make fun of me about something or another. Yeah, I still look the same as I did when I was fifteen. The same teeth, the same body and the same condition. The only difference is that now my face is sharper, my grey eyes are dead and full lips will never smile just for the sake of being happy.
That girl who loved too much was gone. She had a few friends that saw her through her day. She had her wonderful parents who made her feel loved and cared for. She had her fuck buddies who never disappointed her with what she wanted and what she received.
Life was good.
And then I saw him and it got fucked all the way to hell.
Cross Fader
Releasing: 16/01/2015
I wasn’t always a cynical bitch. There was a time in my life when I loved people and made friends easily. I loved life and lived it as any child would. The thing about being a child is that you aren’t trained to see the harshness of the world. Your little mind cannot comprehend that people are being bad to you. You chalk it up to them being different. You continuously run behind them for a little attention not realizing that they don’t want to give it to you.
I started off just like that.
At eight-years-old I didn’t know that the kids at school were laughing because I was different. I didn’t realize they laughed because they thought I was a smelly old witch with ugly scars on my face and legs. When the blood clung to my white school pants and stuck the material to my opened scabs, I didn’t know that for the rest of the school year they would naturally avoid me, leaving me to sit behind my teacher’s school desk and eat my lunch. I didn’t know why some of my family members would wash their hands after touching me or plaster themselves to the wall whenever I walked down the same hall as they did.
I didn’t realize that having a condition that I couldn’t control was the reason I could never wear the pretty pink Barbie dress but instead I had to wear corduroy pants and polo necks. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t have pretty long dark hair like everyone else, why did mine have to be cut off and always untidy?
But then I understood. I understood the day I went to highschool. I felt hot and took off my jersey only to here an “eew” from the girl next to me and watch her shuffle her chair away. I understood when a guy laughed and pointed to my neck thinking I had a hickey and told the entire school I was thirteen-year-old slut coming to school with love bites. I understood the day I was changing in front of my friend during a sleepover and she gasped at the red angry sores on my body and then asked whether I minded sleeping on the couch in the lounge because she just “couldn’t manage sleeping next to anyone at night.”
I understood the first time a guy slid his hands underneath my shirt and pulled it away immediately saying, “what the fuck.” I understood the day I watched all the girls get ready for prom with their fancy dates, I watched from the crowd as every girl—except for me—who waltzed in with their beautiful ball gowns. I laid in bed that night bawling my eyes out knowing that they were out there having sex or having fun while I cuddled up in my blankets and got comforted by my parents.
I understood the day I had finally found a boyfriend in college. He treated me differently. He never looked at them as scars or ugliness. He said he loved me as I was. So why wasn’t I good enough for him to stay? Why did I find out he was with a perfectly shaped girl behind my back?
It wasn’t always bad. There were a few months in sporadic years where it wouldn’t show up at all. Sometimes I could bask in wearing t-shirts, dresses and shorts. Then there were times when the condition played games with me, never appearing in winter when I had to be bundled up, but appearing in summer when I wanted to dress like any other person out there.
What also didn’t help my cause was the fact that I was so skinny. I was called various names because of my lack of boobs during highschool. I was called an ironing board, a pole, a ruler and a stick. My two big front teeth had everyone calling me bugs bunny and beaver.
I folded into myself by the time I hit twenty-two. I started realizing that people were always going to make fun of me about something or another. Yeah, I still look the same as I did when I was fifteen. The same teeth, the same body and the same condition. The only difference is that now my face is sharper, my grey eyes are dead and full lips will never smile just for the sake of being happy.
That girl who loved too much was gone. She had a few friends that saw her through her day. She had her wonderful parents who made her feel loved and cared for. She had her fuck buddies who never disappointed her with what she wanted and what she received.
Life was good.
And then I saw him and it got fucked all the way to hell.
Cross Fader
Releasing: 16/01/2015
June 11, 2014
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Lets get connecting :)
If you feel like chatting about my books, need help with anything book-related like recommendations or even want to know about my own experiences with self-publishing or writing certain genres. Feel free to contact me on any of these networks
Email: yaj1802@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Yaj...
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May 16, 2014
TALES OF DRAMIR #2: REVENGE: CHAPTER ONE REVEAL!!!
Atalia
“A bird,” I gritted. “I turn into a freaking bird!”
“Yes, but a very powerful bird,” Abaddon felt the need to point out.
I glared at him and felt the flames and power of the rage lick up my body and fill my quicksilver gaze. I wanted to set fire to his body and watch as his life slipped away. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Unlike any other normal person, he wasn’t afraid of me or alarmed at the rate my rage took over. Nope, Abaddon instead looked bored and almost amused. His hair flopped over his face and his silver eyes, a dull version of mine and Akiv’s, traced my every movement as if ready to take me down.
“You cannot,” he said.
“I cannot, what?” I growled. Yep, I actually growled.
“You cannot use your rage on me.”
The power sped out of my body like a rapidly deflating balloon. “How did you even know what I was thinking? Can you read minds or something?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Abaddon smirked then chuckled. “No, I just know exactly what you are feeling right now because I have been there.”
That’s right. Abaddon and Azrael were the reason why an hour ago, Akiv and I turned into different forms of Draco. Akiv taking on half the shape of the dragon—the wings really—while I took on the full shape of a phoenix.
Confused? Let’s recap then.
Throughout the first twenty years of our lives, my twin brother Akiv and I believed our mother to be a vindictive bitch that hated us—well mostly me. A few weeks before our twenty-first birthday, we both started exuding weird vibes from the fire we produced from our palms, and the voices and even the life-like dreams. Four days ago, we decided to invade a meeting the council held and found out that our wonderful parents hid something called the Wasteland from us.
As the days went passed and Mycaia behaved abnormally—uh, more abnormal than usual—Akiv and I became suspicious and tried to find the truth. I did, through finding and stealing a book from the ancient histories in Nathan’s scroll room. We found out that Azrael was our mother and embarked on a journey to the centre of the Wasteland in order to check if she was there. She was. So was our uncle Abaddon. They told us their morbid tale of how Mycaia had used her power of illusion and made everyone believe that Azrael had preferred to leave and also made Mateo—our father—believe I was a curse for him loving Azrael while Mycaia was pregnant with his twins.
Of course the truth came out, Akiv accepted Azrael as his mom and Mateo was trying to mend the fence between him and me. However, since we only found all this out yesterday, I was still sceptical.
Six hours ago we got ready for our twenty-first birthday celebration and all was going well until Anirudhra—Akiv’s sweetie—showed up to the party with a date. Akiv was coiled tight and I had to keep my eye on him, which was hard considering Nathan was my arm-candy for the night. I overheard a conversation wherein Shikara—Akiv’s other sweetie had threatened Annie.
Almost half an hour later Akiv flew into a jealous rage and so did Kara when she realised that Akiv still wanted Annie—although how she expected him to get over his feeling that quickly was still a puzzle for me. Really supernaturals that lived for hundreds of years had no sense of time. Akiv fulfilled Tamika’s prophecy, the one where she had asked him to stay away from Annie or a lot of people will have to pay the price and lives will be lost. I ended up plunging my hand into Shikara’s chest cavity thereby killing her and starting the change of the Draco lineage.
We had to kill someone to access our powers. Since we were twins no matter which one of us killed both of us would change and we did. Although I became a full phoenix while Akiv only sprouted wings, we still needed to find out more about our mysterious change.
Phew!
“So why haven’t you said anything about these mysterious powers we’ve inherited, sensei?” I glared at Abaddon.
“Would it be fair to tell you all the juicy details while your brother is not here?” Abaddon asked in mock horror. “By the way, has he spoken to you since you killed his girlfriend?”
“It’s only been like an hour or something, he’ll come around,” I shrugged.
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself about that, Rage?” Abaddon grinned
I rolled my eyes and turned away. Nope, Akiv hadn’t spoken to me. After we changed back into ourselves, he walked away and knelt at Shikara’s body. I knew there was no way in hell that he’d want me near him, so I respected his wishes. Azrael told Abaddon to take me inside as if I was a kid that did something naughty. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about her new mother status. Akiv accepted her within minutes, but he’s a good guy. He has no idea what it’s like to lack parental love.
“Atalia.”
I glanced towards the door of the office we stood in and watched as Nathan strode in. He was all powerful man. He set my heart racing like no other. He had claimed my heart when I was just sixteen. No one else could hold a candle to the importance he had in my life—okay, maybe Akiv could. Nathan had his blue-black hair pushed back haphazardly which was a change from its usual spikes. His white t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders, moulding itself like a second skin showing off every brick and flex of muscle he had. His midnight blue eyes twinkled and his lush lips twisted in a smirk as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Hey, Red,” Nathan whispered erotically as he placed a kiss on my lips.
“Hey yourself,” I said breathlessly.
“God I am going to be sick,” Abaddon muttered from behind us.
I looked at him with faux sweetness. “Let’s hope you die from it.”
“Red, we have a bit of an issue and its best you handle it now before sunrise,” Nathan said, all trace of humour gone from his face.
“Sunrise is like in two hours, what happened?” I frowned.
“Dead body in the woods, it looks terrible. The human police have the body already surrounded,” Nathan looked annoyed on my behalf.
I nodded slowly. Of course they would come to me or Akiv for help. The police wouldn’t let anyone behind the tape besides the mayor or his children whom happened to be part of the FBI. I checked my pocket and found my fake badge and ID. Ethan Greer, our resident IT guy made them for us when a human body was found two years ago. Mateo wasn’t fond of the human medical examiner obtaining the body and so he sent Akiv and me to retrieve it. It still boggled my mind at how easily a person could be swayed by an official looking badge. I mean Akiv and I were only nineteen years old at the time and yet they still released the body to us upon seeing the badges.
“Just FYI,” Abaddon called out. “The sun doesn’t affect you anymore, Rage.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Bird-Uncle say what?”
Abaddon narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m not the bird here. I just have wings, or had, whatever. But yes, you are now Draco therefore you can go into the sun.”
“But I’m half vampire?” I really meant for that to sound like a statement.
Abaddon shook his head. “Atalia, Akiv is half vampire and half Draco because you forced his turning.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know, your mother explains all this better. Look, when you’re done, bring Akiv over and we’ll have to start your training.”
Great.
“Has Akiv been notified about this sudden death thing?” I asked Nathan as we walked down the foyer to head to the car.
“No, Mateo thinks we should give him some time to mourn Shikara.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.”
“Atalia,” Nathan stopped me just before I could throw my leg over my bike. He held on to my shoulders and kissed me hard on the mouth. “You did what you had to.”
I nodded once, revved my bike, gave him a two finger salute and took off towards the scene of the crime.
I was lucky I had a habit of keeping extra clothes on me so when my dress burned to crispy pieces of cloth, Nathan grabbed the backpack I left in his car. I had my usual ensemble, the tank top, tight jeans and heavy belt. My ass-length red-black hair was in a ponytail high on my head and my leather jacket zipped up to the collar.
Nathan was right I did what I had to do. Deep down, I didn’t feel that way. Akiv loved Shikara, even though he had strong feelings for Annie, he loved Shikara. Her dying at the hands of his sister couldn’t have been easy at all.
I saw the lines of police cars with their flashing blue and red lights all along the forest line. I hopped off the bike and walked further into the forest to see the men in blue all over the scene. The body still lay on the ground and someone was taking pictures. I flashed my FBI badge at the investigating Officer and he nodded to let me through.
“What’s going on, Detective?” I asked as I neared the scene and found Detective Jonah Sihle taking notes on his small notepad.
Detective Sihle was a dashing six-foot, dark-skinned man with the largest brown eyes I had ever seen. He wore a suit and a heavy weight jacket over it. He glanced up when I stood next to him.
“Miss. Vladimir, I didn’t expect to see you here. It seems the vic was strangled by barbed wire, there’s a loss of blood which suggests that he was moved from the original crime scene,” Detective Sihle said while glancing around with a nervous look on his face.
Or he was drained by a vampire, I thought. “Why do you look so nervous, Detective?” I asked making sure my voice wasn’t too suspicious.
“The paleness of the body indicates this was done days ago,” Detective Sihle frowned. “Although I cannot pin point when or where this could have taken place.”
“Let me have a look,” I said as I inched my way toward the body.
“I had no idea the FBI was going to brought into this,” Jonah said.
“Oh, I was in the town celebrating a family affair, I heard about this through one of the attendees. Thought I’d check it out,” I smiled at him.
I went down on my haunches and looked at the body. The victim had barbed wire around his neck, I could see the jagged edges piercing his flesh. The detective was right, there was hardly any blood. The victim’s eyes were wide open and a pale grey, I imagined that when he was alive it may have been a striking colour. His skin was ice cold and pale. Too pale. I looked at the body once more tracing every feature mentally when recognition smacked me hard in the face.
This wasn’t a human. This was a vampire.
I pulled out a pair of latex gloves from my jacket pocket and snapped them on and turned the victim’s face a bit to the side to look at the barbed wire. It was silver. Pure silver. There should have been burn marks if the vampire didn’t turn to ash. What the hell was going on?
“Find anything, Miss Vladimir?” Detective Sihle asked form beside me.
I shook my head. “No, have you identified the victim yet?”
“Yes, the result came back as Paul Jones.”
Average name, average everyday human. I suddenly remembered the vampire. Paul Jones was an online reviewer for movies and books based on the paranormal genre. He found it rather comical to watch Hollywood ruin the reality of our world. His name was in fact Gary Finn.
“Can you tell me how you were alerted by the death?” I asked out loud.
The detective raised his brows. “Interestingly enough, we had received an anonymous call that there was a body south of the woods. We tried tracing the call and it led to a phonebooth just outside MoonRock.”
MoonRock? Looks like I had to have a word with Tristin. Detective Sihle was watching my reactions, I could feel it. Thankfully I was so damn good at hiding my reactions that all he would’ve seen was confusion.
“What are you planning to do from here on out?” I asked him.
“We’re going to head off to his residence and see what we can find,” the detective shrugged. “This is the first murder in two years. One that is so brutal, we have to do something about it.”
I blew out a breath. That would not be good for the vampire population if the humans found bags of blood and no human food in Paul’s house. I thanked the detective for letting me have a look and assured him that if he needed any unofficial help from me, he would get it. I swiped my fingers across my phone and put a call through to Nathan.
“Red,” his deep voice rumbled.
“We have a problem, Bat-Boy, it seems someone found a way to kill a vampire without turning him into ash.”
Nathan was silent and I could hear the bustling of activity on his side of the phone. He was still at the city hall. “That isn’t good at all. Not for the vampires or the witches.”
I frowned, something I’ve been doing a lot for the last hour. “What do you mean witches?”
“Everyone in the supernatural contingent knows that the only way a vampire’s body can be preserved or made to look like a normal corpse—is to be spelled by a witch. That’s exactly what they’re about to do for Shikara’s body now,” Nathan spoke fast and in hushed tones.
“That’s not all, apparently an anonymous phone call was made to the PD and when the po-po traced the call it led them to a phonebooth outside MoonRock.”
“Someone is trying to start a war with the supernatural species,” Nathan said absently. “I’ll ask Mateo to call a council meeting and we’ll discuss it there.”
“How is Akiv?” I asked softly.
“Not good, Red. He blames Annie, then he blames you then he blames Azrael,” Nathan sighed. “His heart is broken and deep down I think he knows he put all this into action and he’s not dealing with it properly.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “Unfortunately, I’m the last person he’d wanna see, besides I have to get over to the vamp’s home before the humans do.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Nathan answered. “What’s the name of this vampire?”
“Paul Jones,” I replied putting away my badge and zipping up my jacket.
“Okay it says here that Paul Jones lives on—whoa!”
Just as Nathan exclaimed I heard a loud explosion. I glanced around me to see that no one else turned, great that must have been my vampire hearing, or was it phoenix hearing? Gah this was confusing as shit.
“Nathan, I just heard an explosion,” I said into the phone.
“Yeah, someone just blew up Paul Jones’s house!”
***Revenge will be released on the 1st of August 2014***
Revenge
“A bird,” I gritted. “I turn into a freaking bird!”
“Yes, but a very powerful bird,” Abaddon felt the need to point out.
I glared at him and felt the flames and power of the rage lick up my body and fill my quicksilver gaze. I wanted to set fire to his body and watch as his life slipped away. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Unlike any other normal person, he wasn’t afraid of me or alarmed at the rate my rage took over. Nope, Abaddon instead looked bored and almost amused. His hair flopped over his face and his silver eyes, a dull version of mine and Akiv’s, traced my every movement as if ready to take me down.
“You cannot,” he said.
“I cannot, what?” I growled. Yep, I actually growled.
“You cannot use your rage on me.”
The power sped out of my body like a rapidly deflating balloon. “How did you even know what I was thinking? Can you read minds or something?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Abaddon smirked then chuckled. “No, I just know exactly what you are feeling right now because I have been there.”
That’s right. Abaddon and Azrael were the reason why an hour ago, Akiv and I turned into different forms of Draco. Akiv taking on half the shape of the dragon—the wings really—while I took on the full shape of a phoenix.
Confused? Let’s recap then.
Throughout the first twenty years of our lives, my twin brother Akiv and I believed our mother to be a vindictive bitch that hated us—well mostly me. A few weeks before our twenty-first birthday, we both started exuding weird vibes from the fire we produced from our palms, and the voices and even the life-like dreams. Four days ago, we decided to invade a meeting the council held and found out that our wonderful parents hid something called the Wasteland from us.
As the days went passed and Mycaia behaved abnormally—uh, more abnormal than usual—Akiv and I became suspicious and tried to find the truth. I did, through finding and stealing a book from the ancient histories in Nathan’s scroll room. We found out that Azrael was our mother and embarked on a journey to the centre of the Wasteland in order to check if she was there. She was. So was our uncle Abaddon. They told us their morbid tale of how Mycaia had used her power of illusion and made everyone believe that Azrael had preferred to leave and also made Mateo—our father—believe I was a curse for him loving Azrael while Mycaia was pregnant with his twins.
Of course the truth came out, Akiv accepted Azrael as his mom and Mateo was trying to mend the fence between him and me. However, since we only found all this out yesterday, I was still sceptical.
Six hours ago we got ready for our twenty-first birthday celebration and all was going well until Anirudhra—Akiv’s sweetie—showed up to the party with a date. Akiv was coiled tight and I had to keep my eye on him, which was hard considering Nathan was my arm-candy for the night. I overheard a conversation wherein Shikara—Akiv’s other sweetie had threatened Annie.
Almost half an hour later Akiv flew into a jealous rage and so did Kara when she realised that Akiv still wanted Annie—although how she expected him to get over his feeling that quickly was still a puzzle for me. Really supernaturals that lived for hundreds of years had no sense of time. Akiv fulfilled Tamika’s prophecy, the one where she had asked him to stay away from Annie or a lot of people will have to pay the price and lives will be lost. I ended up plunging my hand into Shikara’s chest cavity thereby killing her and starting the change of the Draco lineage.
We had to kill someone to access our powers. Since we were twins no matter which one of us killed both of us would change and we did. Although I became a full phoenix while Akiv only sprouted wings, we still needed to find out more about our mysterious change.
Phew!
“So why haven’t you said anything about these mysterious powers we’ve inherited, sensei?” I glared at Abaddon.
“Would it be fair to tell you all the juicy details while your brother is not here?” Abaddon asked in mock horror. “By the way, has he spoken to you since you killed his girlfriend?”
“It’s only been like an hour or something, he’ll come around,” I shrugged.
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself about that, Rage?” Abaddon grinned
I rolled my eyes and turned away. Nope, Akiv hadn’t spoken to me. After we changed back into ourselves, he walked away and knelt at Shikara’s body. I knew there was no way in hell that he’d want me near him, so I respected his wishes. Azrael told Abaddon to take me inside as if I was a kid that did something naughty. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about her new mother status. Akiv accepted her within minutes, but he’s a good guy. He has no idea what it’s like to lack parental love.
“Atalia.”
I glanced towards the door of the office we stood in and watched as Nathan strode in. He was all powerful man. He set my heart racing like no other. He had claimed my heart when I was just sixteen. No one else could hold a candle to the importance he had in my life—okay, maybe Akiv could. Nathan had his blue-black hair pushed back haphazardly which was a change from its usual spikes. His white t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders, moulding itself like a second skin showing off every brick and flex of muscle he had. His midnight blue eyes twinkled and his lush lips twisted in a smirk as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Hey, Red,” Nathan whispered erotically as he placed a kiss on my lips.
“Hey yourself,” I said breathlessly.
“God I am going to be sick,” Abaddon muttered from behind us.
I looked at him with faux sweetness. “Let’s hope you die from it.”
“Red, we have a bit of an issue and its best you handle it now before sunrise,” Nathan said, all trace of humour gone from his face.
“Sunrise is like in two hours, what happened?” I frowned.
“Dead body in the woods, it looks terrible. The human police have the body already surrounded,” Nathan looked annoyed on my behalf.
I nodded slowly. Of course they would come to me or Akiv for help. The police wouldn’t let anyone behind the tape besides the mayor or his children whom happened to be part of the FBI. I checked my pocket and found my fake badge and ID. Ethan Greer, our resident IT guy made them for us when a human body was found two years ago. Mateo wasn’t fond of the human medical examiner obtaining the body and so he sent Akiv and me to retrieve it. It still boggled my mind at how easily a person could be swayed by an official looking badge. I mean Akiv and I were only nineteen years old at the time and yet they still released the body to us upon seeing the badges.
“Just FYI,” Abaddon called out. “The sun doesn’t affect you anymore, Rage.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Bird-Uncle say what?”
Abaddon narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m not the bird here. I just have wings, or had, whatever. But yes, you are now Draco therefore you can go into the sun.”
“But I’m half vampire?” I really meant for that to sound like a statement.
Abaddon shook his head. “Atalia, Akiv is half vampire and half Draco because you forced his turning.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know, your mother explains all this better. Look, when you’re done, bring Akiv over and we’ll have to start your training.”
Great.
“Has Akiv been notified about this sudden death thing?” I asked Nathan as we walked down the foyer to head to the car.
“No, Mateo thinks we should give him some time to mourn Shikara.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.”
“Atalia,” Nathan stopped me just before I could throw my leg over my bike. He held on to my shoulders and kissed me hard on the mouth. “You did what you had to.”
I nodded once, revved my bike, gave him a two finger salute and took off towards the scene of the crime.
I was lucky I had a habit of keeping extra clothes on me so when my dress burned to crispy pieces of cloth, Nathan grabbed the backpack I left in his car. I had my usual ensemble, the tank top, tight jeans and heavy belt. My ass-length red-black hair was in a ponytail high on my head and my leather jacket zipped up to the collar.
Nathan was right I did what I had to do. Deep down, I didn’t feel that way. Akiv loved Shikara, even though he had strong feelings for Annie, he loved Shikara. Her dying at the hands of his sister couldn’t have been easy at all.
I saw the lines of police cars with their flashing blue and red lights all along the forest line. I hopped off the bike and walked further into the forest to see the men in blue all over the scene. The body still lay on the ground and someone was taking pictures. I flashed my FBI badge at the investigating Officer and he nodded to let me through.
“What’s going on, Detective?” I asked as I neared the scene and found Detective Jonah Sihle taking notes on his small notepad.
Detective Sihle was a dashing six-foot, dark-skinned man with the largest brown eyes I had ever seen. He wore a suit and a heavy weight jacket over it. He glanced up when I stood next to him.
“Miss. Vladimir, I didn’t expect to see you here. It seems the vic was strangled by barbed wire, there’s a loss of blood which suggests that he was moved from the original crime scene,” Detective Sihle said while glancing around with a nervous look on his face.
Or he was drained by a vampire, I thought. “Why do you look so nervous, Detective?” I asked making sure my voice wasn’t too suspicious.
“The paleness of the body indicates this was done days ago,” Detective Sihle frowned. “Although I cannot pin point when or where this could have taken place.”
“Let me have a look,” I said as I inched my way toward the body.
“I had no idea the FBI was going to brought into this,” Jonah said.
“Oh, I was in the town celebrating a family affair, I heard about this through one of the attendees. Thought I’d check it out,” I smiled at him.
I went down on my haunches and looked at the body. The victim had barbed wire around his neck, I could see the jagged edges piercing his flesh. The detective was right, there was hardly any blood. The victim’s eyes were wide open and a pale grey, I imagined that when he was alive it may have been a striking colour. His skin was ice cold and pale. Too pale. I looked at the body once more tracing every feature mentally when recognition smacked me hard in the face.
This wasn’t a human. This was a vampire.
I pulled out a pair of latex gloves from my jacket pocket and snapped them on and turned the victim’s face a bit to the side to look at the barbed wire. It was silver. Pure silver. There should have been burn marks if the vampire didn’t turn to ash. What the hell was going on?
“Find anything, Miss Vladimir?” Detective Sihle asked form beside me.
I shook my head. “No, have you identified the victim yet?”
“Yes, the result came back as Paul Jones.”
Average name, average everyday human. I suddenly remembered the vampire. Paul Jones was an online reviewer for movies and books based on the paranormal genre. He found it rather comical to watch Hollywood ruin the reality of our world. His name was in fact Gary Finn.
“Can you tell me how you were alerted by the death?” I asked out loud.
The detective raised his brows. “Interestingly enough, we had received an anonymous call that there was a body south of the woods. We tried tracing the call and it led to a phonebooth just outside MoonRock.”
MoonRock? Looks like I had to have a word with Tristin. Detective Sihle was watching my reactions, I could feel it. Thankfully I was so damn good at hiding my reactions that all he would’ve seen was confusion.
“What are you planning to do from here on out?” I asked him.
“We’re going to head off to his residence and see what we can find,” the detective shrugged. “This is the first murder in two years. One that is so brutal, we have to do something about it.”
I blew out a breath. That would not be good for the vampire population if the humans found bags of blood and no human food in Paul’s house. I thanked the detective for letting me have a look and assured him that if he needed any unofficial help from me, he would get it. I swiped my fingers across my phone and put a call through to Nathan.
“Red,” his deep voice rumbled.
“We have a problem, Bat-Boy, it seems someone found a way to kill a vampire without turning him into ash.”
Nathan was silent and I could hear the bustling of activity on his side of the phone. He was still at the city hall. “That isn’t good at all. Not for the vampires or the witches.”
I frowned, something I’ve been doing a lot for the last hour. “What do you mean witches?”
“Everyone in the supernatural contingent knows that the only way a vampire’s body can be preserved or made to look like a normal corpse—is to be spelled by a witch. That’s exactly what they’re about to do for Shikara’s body now,” Nathan spoke fast and in hushed tones.
“That’s not all, apparently an anonymous phone call was made to the PD and when the po-po traced the call it led them to a phonebooth outside MoonRock.”
“Someone is trying to start a war with the supernatural species,” Nathan said absently. “I’ll ask Mateo to call a council meeting and we’ll discuss it there.”
“How is Akiv?” I asked softly.
“Not good, Red. He blames Annie, then he blames you then he blames Azrael,” Nathan sighed. “His heart is broken and deep down I think he knows he put all this into action and he’s not dealing with it properly.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “Unfortunately, I’m the last person he’d wanna see, besides I have to get over to the vamp’s home before the humans do.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Nathan answered. “What’s the name of this vampire?”
“Paul Jones,” I replied putting away my badge and zipping up my jacket.
“Okay it says here that Paul Jones lives on—whoa!”
Just as Nathan exclaimed I heard a loud explosion. I glanced around me to see that no one else turned, great that must have been my vampire hearing, or was it phoenix hearing? Gah this was confusing as shit.
“Nathan, I just heard an explosion,” I said into the phone.
“Yeah, someone just blew up Paul Jones’s house!”
***Revenge will be released on the 1st of August 2014***
Revenge
March 31, 2014
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January 9, 2014
RAGE**** Chapter One Reveal
Atalia
My blood boiled like hot lava, my skin was on fire, sweat fell in rivulets down my face, and my clothes stuck to me like a second skin. My breathing was heavy, mouth dry and vision blurry. The space between my shoulder blades ached like a hundred knives being plunged into the tender skin. I wanted—no, needed—to scream. The pain was unbearable. I rolled off the bed onto the Persian rug that adorned the floor. I almost rolled off it thinking I might burn the rug with my scorching skin. I crawled my way to the massive mirrored closet doors. I looked up and gasped. There were flames in my eyes, red, hot, angry flames, flames that, if let out, would cause too much destruction. My heartbeat accelerated in fear and a piercing sensation begun near my shoulder blades, my spine snapped at that moment and I let out a shriek…
“Atalia!”
I gasped and bolted up, the silk sheets clung to my sweat soaked skin as I looked around wildly. Akiv searched my eyes with worry and confusion. Of course he would be confused, Atalia Vladimir was never afraid of anything—let alone a dream.
“Are you okay?” his voice gruff from sleep.
I felt my forehead, it was clammy and my skin was still hot. I looked down at my oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts, they were drenched. It was as if someone had hosed me down with water. Boiling water.
I was okay.
It was just a dream.
“Just a really steamy dream between myself and Taylor Lautner, brother mine,” I grinned up at Akiv.
I swung my legs onto the floor and walked over to the mirror taking in myself. My hair was in tangles and my skin flushed. My large eyes looked drawn although it wasn’t something a little blood couldn’t cure. Akiv’s reflection entered my view and I noticed the similarities between us; lush dark hair with a tinge of red, quicksilver eyes—mine large, his almond-shaped, full red lips and perfectly proportioned bodies. The angles of our faces were different though, he was a lot like our father while I—I had no idea who I looked like. It definitely wasn’t Mycaia, the woman that called herself our mother. Akiv was all sharp angles and raw masculinity while I had soft features that were so feminine it tended to scare people when my face took on a menacing expression.
“Really? You had a wet dream about Taylor Lautner and that left you screaming for your life?” Akiv raised a brow at me. “You forget we’re twins, supernatural twins, which tends to take the ‘feeling what the other feels’ to a whole new level!”
I avoided his gaze and shrugged. “It was one hell of an orgasm.”
“I’ve had orgasms, Tia, I would know the difference between that and fear.” Akiv snorted. “I call bullshit.”
I sighed, turning the taps on in my rainforest designed shower. “Let it go, Akiv.”
Akiv clenched his jaw. He hated when I withdrew from him, but he also knew that I wouldn’t budge. “We’re patrolling for the Halloween street party tonight.”
“Yippee,” I said in fake enthusiasm, hopping under the steam and hot spray.
Akiv and I were part of a really old and powerful family. Antonio and Alejandro Vladimir were the first vampires created by an act of magic which has yet to be discovered, and due to a vampire’s excessive sex-drive, they ended up impregnating various women. Those women were killed off when the babies reached puberty and fed on their mothers. Gross right? Arianna and Alyssa Vladimir were the children of Alejandro. While Alexander and our father, Mateo Vladimir, were the children of Antonio.
I know it’s really confusing. Rumour has it that the four children they created were not the only ones out there, apparently there were more. No one tried looking for them and they didn’t come to Dramir so it was assumed as just a passing tale.
Samaire, Chavez, Dante, Akiv and I were the last bunch of Vladimirs’. Naturally, our parents hoped for us to carry on their legacy and pop out a few more Vlads. The vampire and human partners also added to the numbers of the Vladimir clan. We were a large family that lived in this massive castle looking thing in the very centre of the Dramir quarter. I always had a snide comment about the castle they tried so hard to make like the historical Dracula castle—they failed though. The ‘castle’ turned out to be a four story mansion surrounded by four ancient looking towers which served no purpose at all.
Dramir had been created as a solace for the supernatural contingent. Vampires, witches and werewolves convened in this city built on the coast of South Africa—the last place humans would think of finding any creatures that go bump in the night. There were more out there, but they weren’t our concern.
At least… they weren’t my concern.
The Draco had ruled this powerful land before the Vladimir's flocked here. Together they strengthened the boundaries and fought against the dark forces that threatened them at the time and next thing you know, Draco and Vladimir decide to make a pact and more than five hundred years later, we have Dramir. Sounds corny, my father and his accomplices weren’t all that intelligent now were they?
Come to think of it, I hadn’t ever cared to find out whether all this stuff they conveyed to us was true or not. Hell, the only reason I even believed in the supernatural world was because I grew up around them and I had a craving for blood all the time. My parents were not people you would call affectionate.
Dramir was basically set up into a battle ready city.
The Vladimir mansion was situated in the heart of Dramir. It seemed like a crazy idea that the city’s most powerful family lived right in the centre of the main quarter. Right?
Wrong.
It wasn’t. The Vlad mansion was surrounded by the main quarter which consisted of fancy pubs, thrift stores and various establishments owned by the witches of Dramir. A thirty story Drake tower housing more than five hundred Draco was directly behind the Vlad mansion. The element of surprise was the area of MoonRock.
MoonRock was filled with valleys, hills, gorges, waterfalls, forests and so much of wildlife. It was situated at the very end of Dramir. After all, when the city was in trouble, the werewolves needed clear access to get into the main quarter. I always made fun of that arrangement though, pointing out that the werewolves would get there after battle was over. After making that comment, I was held down by a particularly angry wolf so suffice it to say, I learnt to voice my opinions when I was battle ready.
The humans walked around clueless. They had no idea we lived among them and paid no attention to the fact that their mayor, Mateo Vladimir, hardly made any appearances during the day. They looked the other way when large beings flew about in the sky and neither did they question the howl of wolves coming from the MoonRock area. It was all part of the hex the high priestess, Saranya, cast on the city.
It was the reason Saranya was the most protected witch in Dramir, if she died then her spell lifted with her death and we’d pretty much be screwed. I still thought we should eat everyone and be done with it. No one was on board with that idea though.
Back to present events. I slid on my usual tight dark jeans, red tank and black leather jacket with biker boots. I pushed my ass-length hair back with a headband and brushed on some mascara and rimmed eye-liner around my eyes. The thin line of the black liquid brought out my quicksilver eyes. It did not help my cause that my eyes were large. I wasn’t getting dressed for the Halloween street party especially since Halloween was actually on Friday and today was only Monday. I would know because I had the misfortune of being born on Halloween.
“I don’t get why the mayor agreed to have weeklong celebrations for Halloween,” I grumbled to Akiv as we headed down the stairs.
Akiv chuckled. “The humans believe that every night during the last week of October supernatural creatures walk among them. By the way have you forgotten that the mayor is our father?”
“Nope, but I do try,” I said sweetly.
“Little do they know that we’re everywhere,” Dante said with a fake Romanian accent. Dante was a dark haired, fully muscled guy much like Akiv. He was Alexander’s son and his mother was a human that died when Dante was born. With his mischievous bright blue eyes, Dante charmed the panties off women all over Dramir. He was relentless in his pursuit of women. Our playful cousin happened to be almost nine hundred years old, but I still had the privilege of creeping him out. “Do you still hate on my poor uncle, Atalia?”
I snorted. “Dante, I hate everyone.”
“Except a certain Draco, no?” Dante grinned looking pleased with himself.
“No,” I agreed. Did I really just agree by saying no? Or am I just confusing myself and taking you with me? oh
That certain Draco shall not be spoken off until later. I often wondered that if Draco was what we called all of them collectively, what would we call them singularly, Drac? They had adapted the name Drake as a surname so maybe I could call one Draco a Drake? Or maybe I should stop hurting myself and just stick to Draco. As we walked through the mansion passageways to get to the entrance many of our family members passed us; wives, husbands, staff and even the human feeders that were actually our domestic workers. The women of the family frowned at me, nothing new there.
The Vladimir family dynamic was that the men fight and protect while the women stay at home and keep house. Very old school if you ask me, which no one did and that resorted in to me rebelling and becoming one of the toughest fighters my father had on his city security detail. I don’t think he trusted me enough to protect him; I’d probably help the person trying to off him. True story.
“I wonder how long the women in this house will think they actually look attractive dressed like Scarlett twenty four seven,” I mumbled.
Each and every woman with the last name Vladimir dressed in these vintage period dresses with tons of ruffles and corsets pushing up their chests. Being dressed regally gave them a strange personality complex—they actually believed that just by wearing the regal clothes they became something sort of important. I doubt they had any idea that the only reason Mateo put them on the council was to show equality he did not feel.
Dante snorted. “You should take that up with the council, I’m sure you’d make a few fans out of our clan.”
“Hah! The only reason father even let Atalia on the security detail is because he doesn’t really care what she does. If it was any of the other women he would have a fit. He believes women should know their place.”
Dante and I fell silent. Akiv winced and quickly opened his mouth to apologize I was sure. I held up my hand preferring not to hear it.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I said and we headed out into the cool night.
My blood boiled like hot lava, my skin was on fire, sweat fell in rivulets down my face, and my clothes stuck to me like a second skin. My breathing was heavy, mouth dry and vision blurry. The space between my shoulder blades ached like a hundred knives being plunged into the tender skin. I wanted—no, needed—to scream. The pain was unbearable. I rolled off the bed onto the Persian rug that adorned the floor. I almost rolled off it thinking I might burn the rug with my scorching skin. I crawled my way to the massive mirrored closet doors. I looked up and gasped. There were flames in my eyes, red, hot, angry flames, flames that, if let out, would cause too much destruction. My heartbeat accelerated in fear and a piercing sensation begun near my shoulder blades, my spine snapped at that moment and I let out a shriek…
“Atalia!”
I gasped and bolted up, the silk sheets clung to my sweat soaked skin as I looked around wildly. Akiv searched my eyes with worry and confusion. Of course he would be confused, Atalia Vladimir was never afraid of anything—let alone a dream.
“Are you okay?” his voice gruff from sleep.
I felt my forehead, it was clammy and my skin was still hot. I looked down at my oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts, they were drenched. It was as if someone had hosed me down with water. Boiling water.
I was okay.
It was just a dream.
“Just a really steamy dream between myself and Taylor Lautner, brother mine,” I grinned up at Akiv.
I swung my legs onto the floor and walked over to the mirror taking in myself. My hair was in tangles and my skin flushed. My large eyes looked drawn although it wasn’t something a little blood couldn’t cure. Akiv’s reflection entered my view and I noticed the similarities between us; lush dark hair with a tinge of red, quicksilver eyes—mine large, his almond-shaped, full red lips and perfectly proportioned bodies. The angles of our faces were different though, he was a lot like our father while I—I had no idea who I looked like. It definitely wasn’t Mycaia, the woman that called herself our mother. Akiv was all sharp angles and raw masculinity while I had soft features that were so feminine it tended to scare people when my face took on a menacing expression.
“Really? You had a wet dream about Taylor Lautner and that left you screaming for your life?” Akiv raised a brow at me. “You forget we’re twins, supernatural twins, which tends to take the ‘feeling what the other feels’ to a whole new level!”
I avoided his gaze and shrugged. “It was one hell of an orgasm.”
“I’ve had orgasms, Tia, I would know the difference between that and fear.” Akiv snorted. “I call bullshit.”
I sighed, turning the taps on in my rainforest designed shower. “Let it go, Akiv.”
Akiv clenched his jaw. He hated when I withdrew from him, but he also knew that I wouldn’t budge. “We’re patrolling for the Halloween street party tonight.”
“Yippee,” I said in fake enthusiasm, hopping under the steam and hot spray.
Akiv and I were part of a really old and powerful family. Antonio and Alejandro Vladimir were the first vampires created by an act of magic which has yet to be discovered, and due to a vampire’s excessive sex-drive, they ended up impregnating various women. Those women were killed off when the babies reached puberty and fed on their mothers. Gross right? Arianna and Alyssa Vladimir were the children of Alejandro. While Alexander and our father, Mateo Vladimir, were the children of Antonio.
I know it’s really confusing. Rumour has it that the four children they created were not the only ones out there, apparently there were more. No one tried looking for them and they didn’t come to Dramir so it was assumed as just a passing tale.
Samaire, Chavez, Dante, Akiv and I were the last bunch of Vladimirs’. Naturally, our parents hoped for us to carry on their legacy and pop out a few more Vlads. The vampire and human partners also added to the numbers of the Vladimir clan. We were a large family that lived in this massive castle looking thing in the very centre of the Dramir quarter. I always had a snide comment about the castle they tried so hard to make like the historical Dracula castle—they failed though. The ‘castle’ turned out to be a four story mansion surrounded by four ancient looking towers which served no purpose at all.
Dramir had been created as a solace for the supernatural contingent. Vampires, witches and werewolves convened in this city built on the coast of South Africa—the last place humans would think of finding any creatures that go bump in the night. There were more out there, but they weren’t our concern.
At least… they weren’t my concern.
The Draco had ruled this powerful land before the Vladimir's flocked here. Together they strengthened the boundaries and fought against the dark forces that threatened them at the time and next thing you know, Draco and Vladimir decide to make a pact and more than five hundred years later, we have Dramir. Sounds corny, my father and his accomplices weren’t all that intelligent now were they?
Come to think of it, I hadn’t ever cared to find out whether all this stuff they conveyed to us was true or not. Hell, the only reason I even believed in the supernatural world was because I grew up around them and I had a craving for blood all the time. My parents were not people you would call affectionate.
Dramir was basically set up into a battle ready city.
The Vladimir mansion was situated in the heart of Dramir. It seemed like a crazy idea that the city’s most powerful family lived right in the centre of the main quarter. Right?
Wrong.
It wasn’t. The Vlad mansion was surrounded by the main quarter which consisted of fancy pubs, thrift stores and various establishments owned by the witches of Dramir. A thirty story Drake tower housing more than five hundred Draco was directly behind the Vlad mansion. The element of surprise was the area of MoonRock.
MoonRock was filled with valleys, hills, gorges, waterfalls, forests and so much of wildlife. It was situated at the very end of Dramir. After all, when the city was in trouble, the werewolves needed clear access to get into the main quarter. I always made fun of that arrangement though, pointing out that the werewolves would get there after battle was over. After making that comment, I was held down by a particularly angry wolf so suffice it to say, I learnt to voice my opinions when I was battle ready.
The humans walked around clueless. They had no idea we lived among them and paid no attention to the fact that their mayor, Mateo Vladimir, hardly made any appearances during the day. They looked the other way when large beings flew about in the sky and neither did they question the howl of wolves coming from the MoonRock area. It was all part of the hex the high priestess, Saranya, cast on the city.
It was the reason Saranya was the most protected witch in Dramir, if she died then her spell lifted with her death and we’d pretty much be screwed. I still thought we should eat everyone and be done with it. No one was on board with that idea though.
Back to present events. I slid on my usual tight dark jeans, red tank and black leather jacket with biker boots. I pushed my ass-length hair back with a headband and brushed on some mascara and rimmed eye-liner around my eyes. The thin line of the black liquid brought out my quicksilver eyes. It did not help my cause that my eyes were large. I wasn’t getting dressed for the Halloween street party especially since Halloween was actually on Friday and today was only Monday. I would know because I had the misfortune of being born on Halloween.
“I don’t get why the mayor agreed to have weeklong celebrations for Halloween,” I grumbled to Akiv as we headed down the stairs.
Akiv chuckled. “The humans believe that every night during the last week of October supernatural creatures walk among them. By the way have you forgotten that the mayor is our father?”
“Nope, but I do try,” I said sweetly.
“Little do they know that we’re everywhere,” Dante said with a fake Romanian accent. Dante was a dark haired, fully muscled guy much like Akiv. He was Alexander’s son and his mother was a human that died when Dante was born. With his mischievous bright blue eyes, Dante charmed the panties off women all over Dramir. He was relentless in his pursuit of women. Our playful cousin happened to be almost nine hundred years old, but I still had the privilege of creeping him out. “Do you still hate on my poor uncle, Atalia?”
I snorted. “Dante, I hate everyone.”
“Except a certain Draco, no?” Dante grinned looking pleased with himself.
“No,” I agreed. Did I really just agree by saying no? Or am I just confusing myself and taking you with me? oh
That certain Draco shall not be spoken off until later. I often wondered that if Draco was what we called all of them collectively, what would we call them singularly, Drac? They had adapted the name Drake as a surname so maybe I could call one Draco a Drake? Or maybe I should stop hurting myself and just stick to Draco. As we walked through the mansion passageways to get to the entrance many of our family members passed us; wives, husbands, staff and even the human feeders that were actually our domestic workers. The women of the family frowned at me, nothing new there.
The Vladimir family dynamic was that the men fight and protect while the women stay at home and keep house. Very old school if you ask me, which no one did and that resorted in to me rebelling and becoming one of the toughest fighters my father had on his city security detail. I don’t think he trusted me enough to protect him; I’d probably help the person trying to off him. True story.
“I wonder how long the women in this house will think they actually look attractive dressed like Scarlett twenty four seven,” I mumbled.
Each and every woman with the last name Vladimir dressed in these vintage period dresses with tons of ruffles and corsets pushing up their chests. Being dressed regally gave them a strange personality complex—they actually believed that just by wearing the regal clothes they became something sort of important. I doubt they had any idea that the only reason Mateo put them on the council was to show equality he did not feel.
Dante snorted. “You should take that up with the council, I’m sure you’d make a few fans out of our clan.”
“Hah! The only reason father even let Atalia on the security detail is because he doesn’t really care what she does. If it was any of the other women he would have a fit. He believes women should know their place.”
Dante and I fell silent. Akiv winced and quickly opened his mouth to apologize I was sure. I held up my hand preferring not to hear it.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I said and we headed out into the cool night.
December 27, 2013
ATTENTION PARANORMAL ROMANCE LOVERS
would you like to receive an ARC copy of RAGE? If yes send me your email addresses via PMs or like my page and send me a message https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yajna-....
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December 24, 2013
Beneath Her Beautiful Giveaway!!!
Would you like an ebook copy of Beneath Her Beautiful? Email me at; yaj1802@gmail.com and receive a pdf/mobi version of the book.
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December 23, 2013
Beneath Her Beautiful is in print!!!
Beneath Her Beautiful is now available in print through amazon and createspace.
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