Chapter 1
Red, blood red, maybe even darker than that.Strands of the color flow in front of me.I follow the strands with my eyes to see where it’s coming from. A shoulder appears, then a neck, next an ear.There are four piercings on the ear, all silver studs.
A girl, tall maybe about 5’11 or 6’. Her hair long, grazing her curved, thick waist. I look up to see her face, but can’t see it. All I see are her pure electric blue eyes. Her facial features along with the rest of her are fading into the darkness, I can’t move and I realize that I have no voice.
I feel a sharp pain in my head; the pain spreads throughout my body, jolting me back to reality. I wake up breathless and sweating. I look at my alarm clock, 4:12 A.M. Awesome. I sit up in bed and place my feet on the cool floor.
I close my eyes and take a deep, slow breath to calm myself. I massage my temples, one of my intense headaches is starting up. I open my eyes, sitting in front of me is my 2 year old German Shepherd Lucario (yes, he is named after the Pokémon).
He places his head on my lap in comfort, I smile and pet his head and rub his ears. Just the way he likes it.“Who’s a good boy?”I whisper, Lucario responds by softly wagging his tail.
I slowly get up from bed and head to my closet to change into my workout clothes. “Guess I should start my day since I won’t be able to fall back asleep again.” I think to myself while I get dressed in a black long sleeve athletic shirt and some basketball shorts.
After putting my shoes on, I head to my bathroom. Finishing my morning routine, I grab my phone and Air Pods. Then walk out of my room with Lucario right behind me, quietly making our way downstairs.
I grab Lucario’s leash and hook it to his collar.We quietly step out of the house and onto the lawn. I stretch for a bit, pull out my phone and ear buds. I play my workout playlist on shuffle. Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer starts to play and Lucario and I begin our run.
~ An hour later, Lucario and I arrive back home and head inside. I follow Lucario to the kitchen and serve myself a glass of orange juice.
I take my glass upstairs and enter my room. I drink some of the juice and place it on my nightstand along with my phone and Air Pods. I grab some clean clothes and head to the shower.
15 minutes later, I step out of my bathroom dressed and ready for school. I notice Lucario fast asleep on his bed, gently snoring. I smile and look at the time, 5:47 A.M.
I have plenty of time to kill before heading off to school. I decide to lay back in bed, now realizing that my headache is still there. I play some soft music on my phone to help me settle in.
I quickly drift into sleep, emerging into a familiar dream. Running in a forest, peering constantly behind me. Something or someone chasing after me. I can’t sense what it is, but I create barriers with the vines and branches I summon with my earth element ability. I look ahead of me and realize too late that I’m running towards a cliff.
I stop, searching for a new route. Black figures appear and surround me. I summon a force field to protect myself and prepare for what’s to come, the black figures move closer and get ready to attack. The heat in the center of my palms alerts me of my fire coming forth, ready to be chucked at the figures.
Without warning, one of the dark figures wearing a dark grey hood appears inside my shield and grabs me from the neck. Obstructing my airway. I desperately try to free myself by throwing fireballs at him.
I hear my name from a distance, then everything starts to shake. My captor is distracted and I aim my hand, still with fire at him, attempting to light him up. A firm shake rattles over my body, everything disappears and I awake.
“Ares! Ares, wake up! You’re having a bad dream again.” I open my eyes and see my older brother, Athos above me. “You mind putting out the fire ball you’re about to chuck at me bro?” I glance at my right hand, a fireball ready to be blasted into Athos face.
I quickly absorb it, disappearing. “Sorry Athos.”He smiles and nods at me.“No problem little bro. So, what was the dream about this time?” He sits on my desk chair across from me as I sit up in bed.
I take a deep breath and sigh. “Same one I’ve been having for the past two months.” My brother pats Lucario before looking at me.“Maybe you need a new prescription for your sleeping pills if you’re constantly having your nightmares again.” I get up from bed and walk to my closet grabbing my all black Jordan’s along with my black bomber jacket to finish getting ready for school.“Yeah, maybe.”
I grab my backpack, phone andAir Pods. We walk out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen, the rest of our family getting ready for the day. “Good morning boys! Your lunches are on the counter.” Mom says as she grabs her keys and makes her way towards us.
She gives us a hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading out.“Don’t forget kids, I’ll be home late, but your father should be home an hour after you guys arrive from school. Love you all!”Mom works as a home decorator for her own company.
She’s extremely popular and well known. She’s been known to be the greatest decorator for 10 years and the hottest working/mother of the year for 8 years straight (not my words, the magazines words).
Helena Vladescu, a wavy mid shoulder length brunette with silver eyes, dark pink medium full lips, light skin tone, 5’10” and according to my dad, she has a full, fit figure that doesn’t give away that she had 5 kids.
I grab my lunch, putting it in my backpack and pull out the bottle of Excedrin from my bag. The last of the pills falling into my hand.
It’s getting stronger to the point where my brain feels like it's pulsing in my skull, not even massaging my neck is working like it does at times. “You have a headache again?” I didn’t notice Athos was behind me gathering his things, I shake my head and drink the remainder of my OJ.
“It’s the same one from yesterday.” Athos watches me as I toss the empty pill bottle. “You’re lucky Valcon had to leave early for school today, you know he would have tried to make you stay home and rest. Especially since you have dark circles under your eyes.” I sigh and nod.
Valcon is our eldest brother, he worries about us a lot, especially me. I’m glad he and our sister aren’t here.
I grab my backpack and slip it on. “Aww, is the wittle baby not feeling well?” I glance over at Derek and roll my eyes, he’s my other older brother.
At 6 feet tall, Derek is the third of five and a year and a half older than Athos and I. He’s the bulkiest of us male siblings with his broad wide shoulders and muscle built body.
My favorite nickname for the twip (idiot) is “overgrown gorilla”. I close my eyes and mentally name colors to calm the creeping anger that’s arising. I have a bit of an anger problem...well, our family doctor had a specific name for it.
Intermittent Explosive Disorder or IED for short. I was diagnosed at five and a half years old. My main trigger to anger? Derek.
I take a deep breath before opening my eyes, I catch the overgrown gorilla staring at his reflection on the fridge, he’s busy fixing his dark brown hair the way he likes it. The faint tints of silver glint from the light of the kitchen when Derek moves certain strands.
Satisfied, he turns back around and stares at me innocently.“What? Hair no good?” I bore into Derek’s dark green eyes before checking Lucario’s water and food bowl ignoring him. I say bye to Lucario and head out of the house towards Derek’s truck.
I get in the truck and wait for my brothers so we can go to school. I watch Athos come out of the house first, it’s wrong of me to think this way, but I envy my older twin brother at times. We’re supposed to be identical twins, but we do have a bit of physical differences that tells us apart. First, Athos stands at 5’11”. I’m 5’8” for some reason.
Athos is slimmer than me, he does have a bit of muscles due to the self-defense training he does like the rest of our siblings, he’s not an athletic person like I was.
His silver white hair lightly ruffles around from the light breeze of the cool morning, his normally light skin is now rosy from the exposure of the temperature difference. His pale purple eyes look up from his phone and in my direction, Athos smiles at me before opening the truck door.
I slip on my sunglasses and earbuds before resting against the seat, Derek finally enters the truck and we make the 10 minute drive to school.
I hop out of the truck once Derek parks and shuts off the engine. I sling my backpack on and walk towards the school.
I hear Derek’s loud laughter through my music, I glance over in his direction and see him joining his group of friends. I turn to the direction of the truck and see Athos barely getting out, I shake my head and enter the school.
A group of girls I walk past bye notice me and say hi, I smirk at them in acknowledgement. I lightly chuckle when I hear them giggle behind me.
I’m a bit popular in school and with the girls too, I apparently have this “exotic” look thanks to my snowy white hair and Amethyst eyes. Same goes for Athos since we’re twins, but the girls are a bit more familiar with me since I was an athlete.
Basketball and lacrosse were my sports, I had to stop when my health began to worsen last year. I miss playing, lacrosse actually helped me out a lot with my aggression.
I felt like I was able to tolerate the overgrown gorilla’s teasing and basketball helped clear my mind and keep it more focused. Now yoga and listing all the colors I know is what’s helping me stay calm when I start getting angry.
I arrive at my locker and rummage through it, I catch a glimpse of Caleb walking in my direction. His locker is next time, we’ve been best friends since we were born (our dads have known each other since preschool). “Shades on inside school? How much sleep did you get this time?” He opens up his locker and smirks.
I glance up at him before closing my locker and explain to him the same dream I’ve had for the past two months. He’s two inches taller than me so I literally do look up at him, he sighs and shakes his head.
He casually combs his shaggy dirty blonde hair out of his cool, hazel brown eyes. He closes his locker and faces me. I notice that his usual warm olive skin is a bit rosy, probably from the cold air.
Caleb crosses his arms in front of his chest while looking at me. “I thought those sleeping pills were supposed to be helping, you know, get some sleep.” I dryly laugh at his sarcasm. Caleb is more than my best friend, he’s mine and Athos Royal Warrior Guardian...which means that my family and I are royals.
No one in school knows, except the administration that is. My family is a bit of a legacy here, we’re also a known name because my family has some businesses. The oldest and most popular one is that we’re jewelry designers/makers.
We also have the talent of findings stones or materials to make jewelry too. How is it possible for us to have an odd talent you ask?
Well, we come from an ancient royal and rare blood line. Our birth of origin is named Sparks, it’s a beautiful and peaceful land. It’s known as the origin of pure fire and where all the dragons migrated after the human world turned out to be to inhabitable for their liking.
The common family power we all share is fire, but another rare and powerful gene we carry is that of a dragon. Many centuries ago, my ancestors had a dragon form. It consisted of dragon wings and a tail, at times they were able to get dragon claws.
About 100 years ago, newer family members born into the Vladescu bloodline were suddenly unable to phase into their dragon forms. No one knows why and my grandparents have been researching and trying to find out what happened and if there’s a way for us to fully gain that side of ourselves again.
We all still carry that gene which is how we’re able to find stones and materials for jewelry making. Cool thing about the family business, everyone learns how to make jewelry.
It’s always a handy trick to have up your sleeve, we as royals also mostly make our own special occasion jewelry if needed.
Focusing back to the present, I trust Caleb so I don’t hesitate on telling him the truth. “I stopped taking those pills in the summer after I ended up in the hospital due to my really bad headache. I hate the way they made me feel, I’m always tired no matter how much I sleep. It made me feel drained and also made my powers and abilities feel really weak, and I couldn’t function well either. So, I stopped taking them. No one knows except you and I want it to stay that way.” I stare at Caleb.
He nods and smiles at me. “Good, it worried me when you took those stupid pills. Wish you would have told me when you did it, but don’t worry buddy. Your secret is safe with me, and if I’m being honest. I think you got more nightmares when you were taking that crap. Sure, you’re still getting them, but not as frequent with the pills. Good call on trashing them.” I smile at my best friend, I can always count on him.
We walk to class, Caleb suddenly stops in his tracks and looks at me grabbing my shoulders. “Wait, doesn’t your mom keep count on how many pills you have left so she knows when you need a refill? How has she not caught on?” I shrug his hold on me and continue walking, Caleb at my side in an instant.
“I take the pills I need for that day and I either flush them down the toilet in my room or here at school, no biggie.” He chuckles at me, we take our seats once inside the classroom.
The bell to first period rings and the morning announcements start, I put my shades away and keep one ear bud in and tune out most of the announcements. Spirit week for homecoming starts next week and the homecoming dance is on that Friday, I’m secretly glad I was forced to take a break from sports this year.
Now I won’t have to participate in any of the spirit week or dances that fall under the sports season or the pep rallies either, I’m also grateful that tomorrow’s Friday. I got a couple of parties to attend, and god knows I could use the distraction.
The final bell rings and we all rush out of our classrooms, at least I did. Derek needed to stay after school for tutoring, since you know, he’s an idiot.
Athos, not to sure where the hell he went off to. Not my problem either. Caleb needed to go talk to our English teacher about an assignment and I didn’t want to wait. So, I figured I’d walk home since we don’t live far.
I walk out of the school and towards the designated student walking area, I turn to the student pick-up/drop off area and see Val leaning against his charcoal grey 2019 Dodge Challenger.His usually neatly kept chocolate brown hair mixed with silver is lightly disheveled from the breeze, the colors a mixture of both our parents hair colors.
He smiles at me and stands to his full 6’3” height and takes a step away from his car. I sigh and walk over to him. “I’m heading to Logan’s, wanna come with?” He knows I can never say no to seeing Logan, so I just shove him out of the way and get into the passenger side.
I hear him chuckle behind me before I close the door. I put my seat belt on and after Val gets settled, he pulls out of the school campus and drives to Logan’s shop.
It’s a five minute drive to the shop from the school, so I quickly open my backpack and look for my list of parts that I need for my bike...and by bike I mean a motorcycle hybrid I invented.
I’m really good with mechanics and computer stuff too, I’m a bit of a genius (seriously, I got tested at the age of 2). I already knew how to read and how to write some small words, my name being one of them.
I find my list and before I knew it, Val’s parking. We step out of his car and enter the shop. “Hey guys!” Logan greets us as soon as we enter. She walks out from behind the counter and heads our way.
She gives me a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek like always before going to my brother. They hug each other and practically make out on the spot, kidding, but I’m pretty sure they used tongue.
Logan and my brother are dating or as my grandparents and parents say, they’re each other’s soul mates or mates. Everyone experiences a different feeling when they meet their mates, but they all agree that in the end it feels like you’ve known each other your whole lives.
We all love Logan, she’s awesome and a major bad ass and pretty hot if I do say so myself. She’s 6’3” like my brother, she has natural and I mean growing out of her roots, dark royal blue hair with big, beautiful ember eyes.
She’s got perfectly beautiful natural full lips and some freckles you can sometimes see on the bridge of her nose, she also has a thick, full figure that reminds me a bit of Rihanna in the Ocean’s 8 movie when she’s rocking that red dress at the MET Gala.
Yup, my future sister-in-law is hot. No, they’re not engaged...yet, but Val told me he’s sketched her wedding ring.
Logan owns her own shop. She has the best parts for any type of vehicle you can think of and if she doesn’t have it, she’ll make sure she’ll get it for you no problem.
Oh, I forgot to mention something else about her. She’s a vampire and not as pale as movies and stories make them to be, she has a golden olive skin tone.
If you haven’t already picked up on it yet, we’re not really normal. But we do live in the human world, Denver, Colorado to be precise.
