Runaway Girl - The Secrets of Avelina Chronicles 1

Chapter 1

Maria was having another busy Thursday night working in the little bookshop in the middle of her small village. Customers were buzzing about looking at the summer sale items as she accepted a new order that had just arrived. It was just the three of them: the owner Kaitlin, Maria and Natalie.

And when a young police officer came in one day looking for a gift for his hippy sister, he left not only with an expensive item the savvy owner had sold him, but a past life reading for himself by the mysterious and wonderful Kaitlin.

After he left, Kaitlin noticed Maria's curious look and couldn't help but defend herself. "You may not believe it, but he's had many past lives," Kaitlin maintained.

Maria stifled her laughter as she nodded. Maria never believed in such things, but she knew that anything was possible. When she asked which past life it was—since the regular customer had previously claimed to live through four—she wasn't surprised in the least by Kaitlin's answer.

"Actually, he knew Cleopatra. The police officer was one of the people who stabbed Caesar and he had a romantic, wild fling with Cleo before he was killed," Kaitlin explained with such seriousness that Maria tried her best to play along, but she thought it was ridiculous to believe in such things. Even if there was such a thing as a past life, why would anyone remember them? Why would anyone even want to know about them? And what would they do if they found out they were someone truly evil, like a serial killer or an accident prone person who caused the deaths of a dozen people? No one would want to remember that life. And as far as Maria was concerned, there was no such thing as a past life or a second chance at life. She believed that once you were dead, you were dead. There was no changing that.

Whether or not Maria was right about past lives was debatable, but there were definitely people in her world who would disagree that to be dead was the end of things, because in Maria's world, there was the undead ... vampires.

The only drawback to Maria working at the shop was that it was her job to stay behind until two in the morning doing the books and sorting through the new deliveries to make sure there were no mistakes. They had only twenty-four hours after receiving a delivery to return anything that was wrong or faulty, so it was up to her to do it. By the time she headed home, she felt she needed some fresh air, so she decided to go for a jog.

She usually went for a nice long run in the morning but she hadn't had time this morning. She needed it every day to take away the stress of the shop, but she also loved it. Quickly, she changed into her jogging outfit and was on her way.

It was heavenly to feel the wind on her face and hear the rush of the waves attacking the sand every time they were pushed inland along the beach line. For a while that was the only thing on her mind, the sea, the wind, and the moon. That was, until she fell right over a rock and practically twisted her ankle, cursing herself for not paying more attention to where she put her feet. It wasn't until she tried to get up that she realized it wasn't a rock she fell over, but a man.

"Oh my God, are you alright?" Maria asked before stupidly realizing that he was lying on his back, his eyes closed, and unresponsive. Giving her eyes a few more minutes to adjust to the darkness, she felt around his neck for a pulse. Finding none, she sank back on her heels in disappointment. "Oh my God, you're dead. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you," she said mostly to herself, as she wiped the blood from her hand onto her tracksuit trousers.

She was about to reach for her cell phone in her back pocket when he frightened the life out of her, opening his eyes. He jumped up with his fangs bared, ready to bite her, but if he thought she was going to just run off or let him bite her, he had another thing coming. He pulled back, surprised when she slapped him hard across the face, stopping him from getting near her neck. "Behave yourself!" Maria ordered, then added, "Can you walk?"