Book 1, "Existence" Chapter 1

Here is the first chapter of book 1. I posted the prologue the week before. If you like it and want the rest, click the little hamburger menu button and there will be links to buy the books on Amazon. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Forsythea Daniels had just made the biggest decision of her twenty-five years. She had up and left her only home in Lake George, NY for a chance at a new life as a freelance photographer on Long Island. With the trust money her grandfather had left for his only granddaughter, she had secured a place to live and a new lease on life. Goodbye small town living, goodbye expected life outcomes, and goodbye old life.

She was in a town called Pellman, not exactly big city living when compared to Manhattan, but much more lively than what she was used to. Pellman was infamous for its dark deeds in the seedier parts of downtown, as well as its beautiful village with performing arts and lush shops on main street. It even had its large, million dollar estates on the water. Thea longed to break into investigative reporting, but jobs in the field were scarce and competitive. She had been lucky enough to befriend a man named Joshua Myers while in college; now he was a reporter for the Pellman Chronicle.  He often arranged some work for her, as the small paper was without a full time photographer. Since Pellman was a town where one could get anything one wanted, often at the off-the-truck discount store, Josh had suggested that Thea get her hands on a police scanner so she could get to crime scenes quickly and get the juiciest pictures of the scene in progress. 

She was on her way to one such scene now, a robbery on Main Street. It was an hour past midnight when she reached the address and saw a small group of onlookers in front of the shop; the village police were shoving them off to one side. Thea wore her press badge and started snapping pictures of the police, the shop owners and the scene around her.

It was a small, trendy clothing store, not what you would think would attract the attention of a street thug. How much cash could there really be? Through the lens of her camera, she zoomed in on the inside of the store. The racks were tossed onto their sides and clothing was strewn all around the floor. She sighed, just some vandalism. She shook her head, knowing it was bad to wish for, but disappointed all the same that the story wasn’t anything bigger. It wasn’t long before even the onlookers began to walk away.

“You are the most persistent photographer around. Thea, isn’t it?” The Suffolk County detective walked out of the store and approached her with a tired smile.

Thea smiled back. “Good morning, Detective Gordon.”

“Call me Joe. I see you at just about every crime scene so we may as well be on a first name basis.”

“Okay, Joe, what’s going on?”

Joe sighed, “Not much, really. Mostly some vandalism. The shop owners will have to go through their inventory and let us know if anything was stolen. Looks like some kids did it. There was no money in the drawer at this time of night anyway.”

Thea thought the detective looked to be about forty-five, with his black hair turning a little salt and pepper above his ears. He was a handsome, rugged looking man who had been very kind to her when they had met up at crime scenes since she arrived in Pellman. She liked that she was becoming more friendly with him each time they met, who knew what kind of doors it could open for her. “So nothing that will be getting me into the New York Times?”

“Sorry,” Joe replied as he started to walk toward his car. The officers were fully capable of wrapping up this mess. He had gotten everything from the shop owners he could right now and had ordered one of the officers to be sure to check any security footage. 

“Hey, Joe!” Thea called to him. “Hasn’t there been an increase in these sorts of petty crimes lately? Vandalism and such?”

Joe let out a small laugh. “Not really. Welcome to Pellman.” He got into his car, waved her goodbye and drove away.

Thea turned back toward the shop. Mostly everyone had gone back to their own business by now and only a few officers remained to tape off the scene. Looking to her right, she snapped one more picture of the young couple who owned the store as they consoled each other. Movement at the edge of her vision through her lens, turned her attention to the alleyway two buildings east of Dragonfly’s Clothing Shop. Instinctively she snapped a picture, and, hoping for an eyewitness, Thea started to walk toward it.

She could see cigarette smoke swirling about in the dim street lights. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk and she slowed when she approached the opening to the alleyway. “Hello?” she called trying not to sound as nervous as she was. Exactly what the hell was she doing!? “Excuse me,” her voice cracked, “I’m with the paper and I was wondering if you saw anything strange here tonight?” She could smell the cigarette now.

A man slowly stepped to the edge of the alley, but not quite out of it. He took a drag of his cigarette and blew out the smoke before he answered her. “Who are you?” He asked softly. Was that a British accent?

Thea found herself wishing she had just stayed in front of the shop. Assuring herself that the police were only a few hundred yards behind her, she straightened and forced herself to continue. No turning back now, I’m already here. “My name is Thea and I work for the Pellman Chronicle,” a small lie, “and you are?”

The man flicked his cigarette to the side and leaned against the brick wall. “Name’s Edric.”

Thea was thankful he had stayed where he was. She was having a difficult time keeping her nerves under control. What the hell was she doing in a dark alleyway with this man? She cleared her throat and shifted her weight nervously. “Well, Edric, may I ask you a few questions about what happened here tonight?”

The man sauntered silently across to Thea until he was toe to toe with her. “And what exactly do you think happened here tonight, Red?” he asked in a low tone.

Thea’s hand reflexively tucked her auburn hair behind one ear. Her heart raced. His icy blue eyes mesmerized her and his sultry voice gave her chills. He at once excited and terrified her. He stood at least six feet tall with short dark hair. He was dressed in black jeans and a royal blue button down shirt, covered in a black leather jacket. Thea was frozen where she stood. “The uh, the robbery at the, um... shop.” Her own stammering mortified her, but she just could not seem to gain control of her own voice.

Edric smiled. “Right, the robbery. Can’t say that I saw anything of interest to your paper, Red.”

Thea took a deep breath, taking in the aroma of tobacco and leather. “Well, okay then; I’ll just be getting back to the scene.” She took two steps back, not taking her eyes off of Edric, not trusting him and at the same time, wanting to remember him.

“You do that.” When she turned away he called after her, “Hey Red!”

Thea turned around again to face him. She noticed he had gone back into the darkness of the alleyway. “What?”

“You be careful around here at night. Not everyone is as innocent as you are.”

Before she could become completely enraptured in the power of this strange man's eyes, Thea turned and quickly headed back to the safety of the shop to take more pictures, and maybe get a chance to talk to the shop owners.

*****

Edric watched her go before turning back to his work. Most of the cops had already gone and after all, this was Pellman, people tended to ignore sounds in the night. He strode behind the dumpster and picked up the young girl by her hair. She had been unconscious, but quickly awoke when he grabbed her. She began flailing and spitting at him. “Let me go!”

“Not until you answer some questions.” He slapped her, sending her flying into the brick wall behind her. She looked to be about 15 and was wearing the clothes she had stolen from the shop down the street; the tags were still on them.

She turned, holding her jaw and laughing. “What do you want?”

“I want his name.”

“Screw you!” She yelled as she came off the wall and scratched at Edric’s eyes, drawing blood.

Edric's eyes narrowed. “Here's how things work around here," he approached her like the predator he was, forcing her to step back toward the brick wall behind her. "I am the law." His slap came so quickly the girl didn’t have a chance to defend herself. She staggered to her left. "I am the judge." SMACK! This time a backhand that caused the girl to whirl around to her right, catching herself on a dumpster. Edric pinned her up against the wall, his forearm on her throat. "And I am the executioner. Now, when I ask you a question, you answer me," he seethed at her. "Who made you?”

For a moment he thought this time he would get an answer, but then the little bitch apparently had delusions of grandeur, just like the rest of them had. She spat in his face and laughed at him again.

He threw her against the opposite wall with enough force to send her flying with her feet off the ground.

The young girl fell to the ground and held her head. She slowly straightened as she stood and turned to face her attacker. Her eyes turned crimson and fangs protruded from her young lips as she hissed at him. She leapt for his throat.

Edric was tired of holding back. This kid wasn’t going to give him any names. Before she had even bounced off the wall, he knew she had changed. “Want to play with the big boys, eh?” His own eyes turned scarlet and he easily dodged her lunge and shoved her forward throwing more power into her movement so that she rammed into the brick wall behind him. She spun wildly.

“What's the matter?” Edric sneered, “Daddy not teaching you how to fight off the bigger baddies than you?” He was on her in a flash and punched her in the face, feeling bone crush under his knuckles. She fell to the pavement. He continued his advancement on her. “Not teaching you how to stay outta sight!” He kicked her in the ribs.

The girl crawled away from him. This time when she turned to face him, her human façade was out. She looked pathetic to Edric; how many humans could she lure in with those young eyes? “Please, Mister, I just want to go home,” she pleaded in her most childlike voice.

Edric bent down to her and lifted her chin. “What’s his name?” He asked again, this time with his own fangs bared.

She spat in his face and laughed before kicking him in the stomach.

Edric had had enough. He took out the wooden stake from his pocket and drove it into her back and through her heart as she attempted to crawl away from him. She burst into a cloud of flames that quickly dwindled to nothing but ashes.

“Welcome to the Community; stupid child,” he said to himself as he lit another cigarette. He heard the sound of cars starting and looked out of the alley to see the last two police cars pulling away from the scene of the robbery. All this attention so the kid could get some new clothes. His eyes fell on the form of the slim redhead that had come to speak with him. She got into a small silver car and started coming his way, watching him as she passed. He locked eyes with her briefly; the demon inside of him stirred at the memory of her scent, her milky white skin and the feelings of fear and excitement he had elicited from her. His heightened senses had picked up the slight changes in her heartbeat, and it had made his demon want more.

He had always remained careful not to bring too much attention to himself where the humans were concerned, content to live quietly within the Community he had built. But this one was different. There was something about her that tugged at him. He would watch her, of that much he was sure. He walked over to the pile of ashes he had created and kicked them, spreading them into the alleyway so as to not leave any kind of pattern. “Sorry,” he said out loud. “But you were never meant to be.”

*****

Detective Joe Gordon didn’t get much sleep in the little time he had left before needing to return to the station. Something that photographer had said kept nagging at him. Had there been a rise in vandalism? Had there? Not really. Not for this town, but something had seemed different the last few months. He tossed and turned until about three o’clock and decided to just give in and get up. Something was picking at his brain, and it would not let him sleep. He put a coffee pod into his Keurig machine and poured himself a bowl of raisin bran cereal while he waited for it. 

He tried to think about all of the cases he had caught in the past few months to mentally check for a pattern. Vandalism, car theft, the occasional gang related violent crime. But these were nothing new to Pellman. Wait, he had seen more missing persons reports than usual. Mostly wayward teens who had left home and dropped out of school. He remembered calling in Child Protective Services to check in on some foster families who had been having a hard time keeping their wards safely inside their homes. 

As he drank his coffee, Joe wondered if there was some gang recruiting going on lately. It certainly would explain the increase in missing persons as well as the vandalism. He turned on the television and decided to see what shows he could watch on Netflix, hoping if he found something boring enough he might just fall back to sleep for another two hours before his alarm went off.