The Beginning (Book One in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

The Trial

A/N: So...periodically through out the story, I will post videos on the side. They're part of the soundtrack. There aren't many but I figured you guys would enjoy listening to what I tend to listen to when I wrote this story. As some of you know, this story is actually complete, as is the rest of the series. Yes, new readers, this story is part of a series or saga. Which ever you prefer. Technically there are four books but I am currently working on a small novella to tie up a few loose ends. So, I hope you enjoy reading because this is a very long story...well not this particular one but as a whole, it's long. Four books long :) 

Oh and there is another song that goes with this chapter. Who I Am by Smile Empty Soul.

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As I walked in front of the High Counsel, I tried to remain calm. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was completely in the right. However, the incident involved more than one race so the High Counsel was convened to hear the case. They were to decide who was at fault and deal out the appropriate punishment. Normally, the Elder of my race would have dealt with the problem. But like most things in my life, everything didn’t go according to plan.

Not that there was a plan.

My name is Georgiana Vertigo. I am of the Slayer Race, or at least that was how I was viewed. When one is born of multiple races like I was, the parents choose which race I would be known for when I entered school. In my case, my parents didn’t get a chance to choose, one of my bloodlines chose me. In fact I was of both the Panther Race and the Slayer Race. As my mother would put it, “I was lucky to be alive.” Most races mixed well. However, the Slayer Race was never meant to breed with the Monsters and Demons of the world. If a Slayer was to become pregnant by one of these “Tainted” breeds, what usually happened would end in a miscarriage or the death of both the mother and child. I was the first of this new mixed race. My brother, Sebastis, was the second. I guess my mother just got lucky. Just because I have both bloods coursing through my veins doesn’t mean I get the benefits of both.  My eyes automatically looked at my mother and she had a calm façade on. She caught me looking at her and gave me a brief smile. After that the smile disappeared and she was once again Sybil Vertigo, strong and fair…at least that’s how everyone viewed her.  

My eyes then moved on to the man sitting next to her, my father. To the outside world my father was viewed as both wise and honored. He usually gave everyone the same look, the I-don’t-give-a-damn-what-you-say look. His smiles and laughter were reserved only for his family. He chose this moment to wink at me, something you never saw the proud Tiberius Vertigo do. I tried to hide my half smile and turned away. My father and mother both represented their respected races on the Counsel. They were Elders, something every young person dreamed of being. The Panther race was vast.

There were many separate lines and families. I could date many of them and not have to worry about inbreeding. However, the Slayer race wasn’t as vast. In the distant past, the Slayers would hunt the other races and most wouldn’t live past their twenty fifth birthday. However, when a more powerful race rose to oppose everyone, the Slayer race and the Tainted races called a truce in order to overcome a new foe: The Pale Race aka The Underworlders. No one knew exactly what they were. They were some kind of mix, almost as if they composed of all the Tainted races. Unlike the Tainted races, who can take either monster/demon form or human form, the Underworlders could only maintain a human form. They were chalk white and sickly thin with startling gray eyes. Not much was known about their race, they were reclusive, mysterious, and they could appear and disappear like the wind. The only thing they left behind was dead bodies, which they themselves closely resembled.

“This meeting will come to order!” Hekati said.

Hekati was the headmistress at my school, my mother’s best friend, and my godmother. Lucky me right? I was screwed on all fronts.