Guardian Angelwolf {In Editing}

Prologue

Peyton made a snoring noise.

"Matt stop; I'm scared your weirdness is so contagious it'll pass through Wifi."

"Zero, hoe." She imagined him rolling his eyes as she drove into her neighborhood.

"I going to message you when I get in. Later bitch."

"Promise me you'll think-!" the line went dead. 

  She smirked as she pulled into the driveway of her home. Her friends called the looming ivory mansion intimidating, and sometimes she saw what they meant in the large black iron gates and shadows. Okay so maybe it was a bit extravagant. Or maybe her parents were trying to build her a prison. 

  The red Audi sparkled further up in the garage suggesting they were home. She muttered a stream of curse words under her breath. Grabbing her back-pack Peyton exited her car, swinging her keys in the other hand.

 As the sun crept behind a bounty of clouds a large shadow fell over her.

She quickened her pace.

  Pulling open the front door she  became engulfed in darkness.

  Okay, that's not weird at all. 

"Mum? Dad I'm home."  Her voice only echoed in response. 

   She walked across the burgundy carpet, allowing her bag to fall onto the couch with a thud.

   The room was empty save for the goldfish in the aquarium. 

   Peyton frowned, pulling out her phone to check for new messages. Nada.

  She started for the stairway. Narrowing her eyes, her senses were on high alert. All of the blinds were closed, yet she felt a coldness creep along her spine, raising the hairs on her arms.

Her heart-beat thudded in anticipation.

 She climbed the stairs tense, fingers traipsing the banister. Maybe her parents were sleeping. it would be unusual at this time. Never in her eighteen years of life have they not been home to interrogate her after school. A part of her was relieved and wanted to go to her room and breathe. 

    A dark shadow loomed over the mahogany boards. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

  It became difficult to walk, her feet felt like they were made of lead. The hairs at the nape of her neck stirred as she reached the the top of the staircase and froze. She wasn't sure why she felt this way. 

Her heart beat faster.

  Peyton could hear voices. Whispering . She couldn't make out any of the words being said. Scrunching her brows together she drew closer.

  Heart-beat pounding through her chest she crept across the hallway, eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks. The door was ajar and she came to stand behind it, heart a fist-sized apple in her throat. Her heart was beating so hard she was sure whoever was inside must have heard it.

 "I made a deal...my deals are not broken." 

 Peyton's eyes widened-okay, so a business meeting. At home? Were her parents in trouble? Why did that guy sound so fucking weird? She had to physically restrain herself from entering the room. She clamped her hands over her mouth, heart-beat cascading down through her body. 

"I will not allow you to take my daughter away from me-I won't have her around you people . . . you disgusting creatures...if we hadn't taken her from Guyana that day....she would be-she would be-" It was her mother's voice, warped in emotion. She was in tears. If there was something she couldn't stand, it was hearing her mother cry. Where was Dad? She was about to enter, lips pursed in anger when the words ran through her mind.

Take...away...Guyana...wait-what?

  Peyton stilled as another voice interrupted her train of thoughts.  She stayed glued to the door.

 Then, a barrage of images began hitting her and she stumbled away. Eyebrows creasing, her head started to ache.

 She couldn't listen anymore.

  Peyton wanted to turn on her heels and run; but she couldn't alert her parents...or whoever else was in the room. She found herself zombie-walking down the hallway-into her parents' bedroom. It was like a wave came over her, commanding her to enter. She couldn't shake it.

Shuddering, she opened the door, sinking to her knees. She closed her eyes, heart beating hard. There was a reasonable explanation for this, she told herself. Her parents would explain everything. After taking a few calming breaths, Peyton opened her eyes, vision wavering. If she only knew what they were talking about it.

For some odd reason she felt like crying.

  Trying to distract herself she grabbed a brown folder hanging off her parents' bed. She was sure it was just some boring financial statement. Yet her curiosity was peaked-what was this doing here?

Pulling out crisp sheets, yet yellowed with age, Peyton ran her eyes over the heading, mouth hanging open.

Her throat felt dry. 

 The heading atop the sheet had the words 'Adoption Order' and Peyton shook her head, telling herself she was 'seeing things'.

 With shaking fingers she cupped a hand over her mouth.

She had been....adopted as a baby.

She flipped the pages over. 

    As she did her hands were shaking with the realization that everything she thought she knew 

was a lie.

Glossary:

'You on de road' -'Are you on the road?'

'Seeing things'-'She couldn't believe what she was seeing.