Beautiful Creatures

Chapter One

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Sunlight pooled in the crease of my palm, but leisurely the rays of light slipped through my fingers to the floorboard below. I looked to the front windshield to see dust particles circulating the gap of air between my face and window, softly I released a breath letting the particles spiral through the air. Soft aromas of petrichor waft through the open window beside me as a light rain has dampened the dry land. Sunlight still manages to streak behind graying clouds and I watch it steadily rise and fill the car with rays of warmth.

"Are you going to miss the heat..." My mother's voice pierces the silence causing my eyes to waiver from the half open window.

"The sensation yes" I respond monotoned my fingertips brushing lower part of the window leaving a fogged print.

"Living in Michigan will be an adjustment, I'm sorry. But the stay is temporary...with my job taking me to London then Paris...and your father is gone now...." My mother trails off on the last subject as her grip on wheel tightens.

Emotion clotted my throat but I swallowed dislodging the intangible obstruction "You don't need to apologize...I haven't talked to Anthony in years..even at the funeral..."Much as she had I trailed off leaving the air stagnant and silent.

My brother Anthony was nine years older than me and had graduated when I was eleven .The independence Anthony had gained in graduating caused him to distance himself from us. Weeks after graduating he had quickly moved to Michigan to pursue college, the last I had seen of him was my father funeral over a three months ago. My mother had taken her respected time to mourn for the loss of her husband but she still held a deep hatred for his actions.

The night of my father's death was one shrouded in mystery and entwined in unresolved matters. My father was a reserved individual, he rarely went into public without some sort of firearm or lethal weapon and he dedicated his life to a hidden agenda, one that had detached him from his family. For long hours he would enclose himself into his study and remain there for days on end before merging drunk, babbling incoherently of monsters shrouded in the night and those who hunted them. The night we found him dead there were books on necromancy and human sacrifice littered about the room. My father was labeled demented causing our lineage name to be tarnished.

The death was labeled "accidental" as my father had that night been cleaning a revolver, that had claimed to have fired spontaneously. I found the resolution of the predicted incident is one I can't bring myself to accept. My father was an expert marksman and had honed his craft for decades, he had engineered countless firearms that have now been used and sold worldwide. The irony of his own creation killing him is too unlikely. I was the only individual who believed that his death was neither suicide or accidental. Someone had wanted my father dead.

       "Anthony loves you, Rowan you know that" My mother soothes her lips presuming a firm emotionless line.

    Anthony had come out as gay the day he left for Michigan. My mother had respected his decision but my father in his drunken state had demanded he be stripped of the family name. In a bid to prove his point he mangled all family portraits and pictures of his oldest child leaving only shreds of memory in his wake. After the rejection of his sexuality, Anthony left. He kissed my forehead told me he loved me and walked out the threshold. He never returned to the mansion on Eastbound Rd. He abandoned Christmas, birthdays, and family events. The only time he found himself back on Singer land..was my fathers funeral.

"Then why did he leave! Why did at fathers funeral he say nothing to us. Not even a 'How are you holding up'" I feel my temper flaring and I close my eyes in a bid to calm my racing pulse from my sudden outburst. I reopen my eyes blinking for a few moments before looking at my mother studying her features and expression.

My mother had a soft round face that seemed to glow in the sun, she had a fade of worry lines across the outer corners of her lips as well a dimple on her right cheek. Her hair was naturally wavy, similar to mine, however, hers was a deep rich chestnut while my lighter redder brown tone came from a combination of my fathers blonde and her brown. I got my mother's blue eyes as my fathers were a light honey brown. I sighed and brushed my hair back away from my face as the curls became aggravating. My mother lightly places a hand on my knee in comfort.

        "Anthony and your father never got along...Anthony never had the same views as your father...oh but Anthony loved you...you where his little sist-" Tear droplets trickled down my mom's cheeks as she smiled sadly through the windshield as though there were serenity and comfort on the horizon.

     "He loved you very much" she repeated completely choking up. I placed my hand on her knee identical to her own position and she smiled some through the tear streaks on her smooth cheeks

I nodded feeling guilt well in my chest causing the tears to brink onto my lashes. I batted my eyes pushing the droplets from my lashes as I gazed to the window for comfort. All the pain my family had endured circled to my father, the only member that can't be investigated upon. I knew my father had a double life as I remember distinctly him consulting others on his "monsters" and how to fight them. He would spend hours away from the people he loved...he was keeping us safe from something. The answer I knew didn't lie in Birmingham Michigan.

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I'm sure many of you are from my Promise Me writing. And for those of you who haven't read it, I highly recommend it. However, this book has no correlation to that setting. This chapter is relatively short as I'm curious about how people many people's will enjoy it. None the less I will most likely continue it because of the plot and my love for the characters. Hope the "preview" was good enough to convince you to pursue the progress and possibly my other writings as well.

~Love Doe❤️