Chapter 1 The Journey
The yellow school bus.
The yellow school bus looked like something from a weird dystopian book, described as taking everyone into another reality. It had a distinct look as if it had survived some kind of war, or maybe a few wars, to be precise.
The interior of the bus was worn, rusted, and the green plastic seats looked like some thraser movie had taken a knife to the seat. Worn-out black rubber mat for students to use in the aisle, and rust all over the front door. That door squeaked as it opened and closed, and the color had deteriorated over time, so it looks like a puke-yellow now.
Daisy Ellen Wolfstein rode the school bus every day with the same kids who called her names just to get a reaction out of her, but she only gave them a cold, deadly stare.
The boy who had been sitting two seats ahead said, “Hey, trailer trash.”
The girl with greenish hair said, “Freak.”
When the bus door finally opened, the mechanism let out a loud groaning protest. Daisy often wondered if it would get stuck in its current condition. The giggles and snide remarks from the other kids weren’t even the worst part; it was the crumpled pieces of paper they threw at the back of her head.
That was the part Daisy hated the most: leaving her seat to walk down the bus aisle while students hurled insults at her. No one ever helped her. There was no white knight on the horizon, so she silently endured the abuse, just as she had for the past five years.
It was around three when Daisy stepped off the bus. Her deep purple Doc Marten boots crunched down onto the potholed gravel road. She began walking just as the bus roared to life, kicking a thick cloud of black exhaust smoke.
Daisy said, “What a great prospect, being called trailer trash and a whore. Couldn’t they come up with something original?”
Lot 42 at Meadow Fields Trailer Park was where she lived, a typical unit topped with corrugated tin panneling. She had no clue that she actually owned the entire trailer park, a gift from her biological father. He belonged to a powerful werewolf lineage, and her mother was a pureblood vampire, making Daisy a hybrid being she knew absolutely nothing about.
She lived with foster parents who were something, that is for sure. They were careless parents, and it was no joke about how bad they truly were. If they went out shopping at the local store, Benday and Gary would completely forget her there. Yes, they were those kinds of parents who were more than selfish, versus caring.
Daisy was fifteen years old, petite at five-foot-two, with dark raven-black hair and a spray of freckles on the bridge of her nose. Clutching her backpack, she wore her favorite purple t-shirt, which boldly read “Girls Rock,” because in her mind, they definitely did over boys.
“I am a survivor,” Daisy sang to herself, because that is what she felt like. “May the words they say bounce off of them.”
It was right there at the edge of the property where she heard it. The main door was wide open, with only the screen door closed. Inside, Gary and Brenda were at it again, at each other’s throats in their usual fashion, where everyone could hear them.
"I can't believe you spent all that money, Gary!" Brenda screamed. "Do you know what he will do to us if he finds out? We will be dead! That money was for Daisy, not your drinking habit.”
“That man Julien won’t do a damn thing to us,” Gary scoffed, his voice dripping with alcohol smell. “You think he actually cares about that girl? He hasn’t visited her once; he just throws money at us to look after her. I think he’s full of shit. I’m going to keep spending the cash. She doesn’t need it anyway.”
“When she shows up at the student hotel with no clothes, no bedding, no pillow, or even a swimsuit, how do you think he will take it?” Brenda demanded, her voice cracking with pure panic. “You think he’s just going to take that standing?”
“It will be a slap in his face, a complete act of disrespect, and he will most likely retaliate,” Brenda warned, her voice dropping to a terrified whisper. “He killed the girl's mother, from what I heard.”
It was then that Daisy heard it, always fighting about something small. Gary was a greedy bastard, and Brenda was no better when it came to money. She was selfish, arrogant, and ready to stab you in the back the second you weren’t looking. Daisy pulled her backpack tighter against the back of her purple Girls Rock t-shirt to block out their ugly voices, focusing entirely on the sharp crunch of her Doc Martens against the gravel.
Daisy stormed up the gravel driveway to the front door of the trailer. She had heard enough of their conversation. Again, they were at it, acting like irresponsible children. She stepped inside the trailer, slammed the screen door behind her, gave them both piercing cold stares, and marched straight to her bedroom.
Today was supposed to be her last day dealing with these two idiots anyway. Neither of them could put a simple puzzle together if their lives depended on it. Daisy had no idea how they had become so incredibly entitled, but they constantly acted as if the entire world owed them something.
“We do not need to send her to that stupid special school he established,” Gary scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. “We can hide her at my parents’ place. They won’t find her out in the woods there.”
"Are you a rare kind of stupid, or just dense, Gary?" Brenda hissed, her voice shaking with rage. "Julien is not a man you can hide from; heck, he is not even a man. He would sniff her out and have his hounds on her so fast in retrieving and killing the two of us that it would not be funny."
