Beauty And The Vampire: It All Started With A Rose #1

0

Shining can be hard. Shining when one has an extremely beautiful elder sister and two equally handsome brothers would be next to impossible.

Izabelle Edwards knew that and unlike most, she didn't care. She would rather have the attention of her trustworthy books than that of the judgmental society.

The winters were harsh and for the Edwards, they were one of the worst. Izabelle's father was a businessman whose ships would sail past many islands up north and sell the goods returning great deal of profit. Mainly goods that required a lot of money to buy or produce and gave equally high returns like Coffee.

Mr. Edwards was a lucky man indeed. He had a beautiful wife, four children and a great mansion back in the day. They lived like royalty even though they were but mere merchants. The Lady of the house, Barbara Edwards required for nothing and needed not to use her hands or feet for things other than walking and eating. The oldest child of the house, Giselle, had the latest fashion to flaunt in front of the court during her various visits to the balls. The second oldest, Gilbert, had the best of the teachers just like the youngest, Ash. Both the boys, blessed with princely looks and wealth, were often the topic of chatter amongst the ladies across the capital of Alera. All of them relished in the knowledge of how brightly they shinned when they walked down the streets of the capital.

The strangest of them all however was Izabelle. Mostly known as Belle, also meaning beauty, she was the diamond who would rather be away from the crowd than be a part of it like her family. No one gave her that much of a thought unless she stood amongst her sibling. She was weird, they said, but also the most alluring of them all. A siren, with her nose stuck in books going to places that the writers create and worlds that don't exist.

Unfortunately, the glamour was lost one eventful year when Robert's cargo was lost in the sea. That year's investment had been the biggest till date involving investments from others and soon because of such a huge loss the family went under great debt. Days after days people would knock at the house of the Edwards hoping to get back the investment money. They had all put in the money knowing not what was to come if the ship was to get lost. They trusted the Edwards and were blinded by the glitz of the family. It was a quite sea anyway, the Edwards feared not of anything ever getting lost in storm for none ever arose on their trading route. If it ever did, there never were casualties. The route was set and altered again and again by none other than the business experts in the Edwards family, father and grandfathers of Robert Edwards himself. They were the ones who brought the family to where it was. A family with a name and wealth enough to make the Nobles jealous.

It was chilled but not a sad atmosphere in the Edwards current house. A small rusty cottage with just one floor and four rooms somewhere near the current border of Aleran Kingdom. After the heavy loss, the family house they were once proud of was sealed off to pay part of the debt. However an even greater part was left and the Edwards had to run to save themselves. After a few years of misery and odd jobs to keep alive, Mr. Edwards had found out that his ship had somehow managed to reach the docks. 'The famous lost ship returns' was the headlines of the newspaper Far and wide. Upon hearing the news Robert Edwards had dashed out of the door and to the dock with promises to return with gifts for all. The family was now eagerly waiting for the arrival of the head of their house. The door was supposed to be knocked any moment now for today was the day of his expected arrival.

"Gisele! Would you mind opening the door please?" Mrs. Edwards called out to her eldest daughter from the small warm kitchen in her ever so shrill voice. The knock on the door was heard by all present in the house and Gisele was already ready to be up and about. By the grace of Selene, Robert and Barbara had two beautiful daughters and two equally handsome sons. Even in the tough times they had none of the children had been snotty or rude about their situation. They were just ever so hopeful that one day they could be back to who they were. Until then they contributed in their own small ways.