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Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 35
(The Valley Of Temples.)The next day, Opal, Doug, Buttercup, Moonstruck and Bruce, were all shaded by umbrellas going up the road of the hill, to the temples. They stopped now and then, like the other stream of tourists, to look over the ridges at the steep drop of the pregnant countryside. Rose bushes and low shrubs ran along the roadsides that cars drove on to get to this heritage location and the fruit trees were blossoming. It was like stepping into the era of ancient Greece. The twelve-meter wall was chipped away by the axe of time, a large stone fortress that trees squeezed themselves into and grew from the curves of the rocks. Other trees and stones were thrown about on the dusty ground, scattered like toys on a kindergarten floor. Opal walked right into an oval gap in the wall and smiled at Doug's camera.******************The well-preserved temple of Concordia towered over them from a raised base. Like all the other temples, it turned its eyes eastward.The limestone col
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 36
(A Birthday Gift Gone Wrong.)It was their last night in Sicily. They had gotten what they had come here for. Opal kept the three stone tablets in her suitcase and thought of it no more. Tonight was Moonstruck's night. Today was Moonstruck's birthday.They had gone out into the town and ordered a chocolate cake from the bakery. Moonstruck loved chocolate, she was always munching on a Hershey bar every chance she got.The top of the cake was of white chocolate with brown chocolate dripping down the sides and colourful sprinkles around the bottom, set in a silver tray.Sixteen candles cast bright light upon Moonstruck's face.Sixteen was the age every girl dreamed of. The age when make-up was allowed, the leash of parenting was loosened, dreams drew closer to fulfilment and one walked the tight ropes of feeling like a woman and knowing you were not quite there as yet.Moonstruck spent the day at a spa, Doug's treat. While everyone else went out to get presents for her. Moonstruck go
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 37
(Sail your way into my heart.)"Leaving so soon."Hercules sneaked up behind Buttercup at the airport.She turned and was surprised when she saw him there, his suitcase balancing on the foot of his jeans.Earlier Hercules had seen the group dragging their bags out the hotel's front door. They hailed two cabs and instructed the driver to take them to the airport. Hercules had rushed to his room to pack, all the time hoping that he would get to the airport before they left.**************************He was out of breath, but he tried to appear as cool as possible.The two teenagers were at the water fountain lapping up the squirting liquid. The other man Hercules had seen Buttercup with and the pregnant woman, were talking to the lady at the counter, an impatient line behind them.Buttercup was just about to sit in one of the plastic chairs when Hercules came along."Didn't expect to run into you."She ran a hand down her long floral dress and sat. "These unexpected meetings."Hercul
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 38
(Love Is Crazy.)It was a brilliant first night at sea.The sky covered their heads and reminded Opal of a black sheet she sat in bed under as a child and read by flashlight countless novels, when the household had gone to sleep.The light of the moon was close and dusted her face with glowing fingertips, as the flashlight once did.The water cantered, splashed and rolled in waves around the sides of the yacht.Moments later a huge wave curled itself into monstrous shapes, rising up and opening like a paper fan before the boat. Almost like a flick of the hand, the fan snapped closed and the wave relaxed into the ocean.Opal yawned as she held on to the side of the upper deck, she whipped her hair to the side with a dash of her head and from the corners of her eyes, she saw Buttercup walk the back of the yacht. Buttercup had not seen Opal. She stood where the propellers spin the water into a sudsy strip. She transformed, spread her wings and soared.********************** Now it was j
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 39
(Freedom.)Another day at sea. Hercules put the pack of cigarette back into his shirt pocket and stood beside Doug.It was sunny and the wind smelled like that headless fish that they had in a box within the kitchen.Saltfish it was called.Buttercup was below cooking up a storm and Doug had already told him that Buttercup's cooking was a trap."A good trap or a bad trap?"Hercules had asked him.Doug had smiled."You will taste for yourself."Doug had replied.Hercules had lit a cigarette and watched as Doug walked over to Bruce. Bruce sat in a chair by the side of the boat in jeans shorts, no shirt and a broad hat. He looked every bit like a relaxed tourist.He had a fishing rod in his hands and though he had cast a line hours ago, he had caught nothing."Fish ain't taking the bait?"Hercules heard Doug say.Bruce shook his head to indicate no."Maybe it is not the right bait."Hercules kept on smoking. He watched the sails puffing its white chest out.*******************************
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 40
(The Antidote.)Jatray flew down the stairs. Sometimes she wondered why they were there, if she never physically climbed them. Yet she loved this old house. She was comfortable here to be herself. Of all her properties, this was the only one, where all her staff were Vampires. Here she kept the old ways, where Vampires stick to their own clan. Here she could be nothing else but a Vampire.She walked over to the shoe stand and laced a blue sneakers to her feet.She decided to take an evening walk.She went out the back door and towards the park.The trees made her think of strip dancers on a pole. They were almost naked as fallen leaves came winding down the bark, settling as discarded clothing on the ground.She came to the open iron gates of the park and sat on a wooden bench, observing a child's birthday party in full swing.Two portable, folding tables were loaded with refreshments and snacks. The cake was shaped like a racing car. Five candles stood in the blue icing top, that slan
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 41
(Stepping Over The Threshold.) Jatray stood under a tree that glanced over the fence. There was an electrical post beside the tree and it curled its branches around the wire. The tree had green blossoms and colonies of black berries sprouting. A blackbird sat on the electrical wire that ran through the limbs, it pecked at a yellow blossom and dropped it towards Jatray. A gift perhaps, from one blackened soul to the other. Jatray lifted to the sky.She was following a scent. The lure of passion fruit and melon. Jatray had returned to the park twice but Izzy was not there, however her scent had imprinted on Jatray's senses and she wondered if the woman was alright.Now, three days later, the scent had led her to a stone house settled on green pastures. Jatray came down behind a tree and watched Izzy hanging out the last shirt in her laundry basket on a line, with clothespins from her apron pocket. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, picked up the basket and went inside.
Beautiful Creatures. Chapter 42
(Married To The Devil.)The palm trees were close and the leaves weaved over and under each other, like the dry straws used to craft a basket. So were Jatray's thoughts woven in despair, as she lifted Journey from the back seat of her car and the girl's head rolled back and slanted over her elbow.Jatray knew as she carried Journey down the path.Izzy followed behind her and Jatray's sharp ears heard her teeth crunching nervously into each nail.Kimmy opened the door as Jatray approached. "Good evening."She said. There was curiosity hidden behind her eyes.Which was understandable, because she wasn't accustomed to seeing Jatray bringing strangers here. Especially, holding one so close."Good evening Kimmy. Can you put some tea on, something extra sweet to calm the nerves?"She looked at Kimmy and Kimmy nodded."Also get the First Aid Kit and meet me upstairs.""Surely."Kimmy replied.Jatray didn't fly up to the second floor as she did sometimes. It was not a human thing to do. Ins
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- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 70
(A New Story.) The consequence of fiddling with time is that it alters the trajectory of events. If I had not caused an earthquake that loosened the temple walls, the stone tablets would never have slipped through the cracks and floated on the waters of an underground source that led them from Sicily to the sea. The Priest were all Immortal Spirits, that were rejected by heaven because they were not pure enough and rejected by hell because they were not evil enough. They lived in limbo, between the realms of the afterlife and guarded the treasure of the Immortals. Like a safety deposit box, Immortals took to them the things they could not keep and could not let go of. In order to preserve her records of a past she could not bear to part with, Jatray had brought her stone tablets to the Priest. Trusting that whatever it was the Priest would not be tempted to look inside and uncover what was there. Priest bowed to no-one but to the Creator and Medusa. She was their queen,
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 69
(A New Sunrise.) "It is outrageous that you aim those weapons at me!" Jatray was adamant. She had watched as the Goblin boy had taken the Hybrid into the safety of the house. All was lost now. She contemplated. Izzy, the hybrid, Simeon, all because of the damn pregnant Vampire. Her mind screamed. Doug's back was towards Jatray being held captive by her own soilders. The Council cared not about his group anymore. The real threat was Jatray. Her hatred was the ultimate sin against life, nearly wiping out an entire specie. Jatray knew she was going to be executed, she had decided that if she was to die, she was taking Opal's baby with her. The fetus was already weak inside the mother and would not survive if she struck it under a newmoon. ****************************** Doug had one hand over Opal's shoulders as they watched Hercules draw back his breath into his body. His body jerked as one who had been shocked and then shaking his head, he sat up. "Is it over?" He
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 68
(The Treasured Secrets Of A Hybrid.) Maverick looked around him. There was death everywhere, and it reminded him of the day of the Great War. He laid the hybrid gently on the ground. Then, with a great roar, he lifted himself and pointing to the moon, Maverick began to chant. With both his hands towards the sky, darkness started to spread in the globe of the newmoon. Opal had told him about the effect of a new moon on a hybrid, something he had not known during the Great War. Now that he knew, there was something he could do about it. "That is goblin magic." Jatray said surprised. She hurled a wolf's corpse that she had recently bled to death aside. She wiped her lips and spun around, trying to figure out the source of this powerful craft. "Maverick?" She stated shocked. She had long considered the Goblin King to be dead. Pulling her bow from behind her, Jatray launched an arrow across the battlefield. Maverick went down on one knee after the poisoned tip struck his c
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 67
(The Battle.) Opal had again fed and bathed the hybrid. It was a sort of routine now. As Opal went about the house, it was difficult to see only memories of Moonstruck. Her bagpack, her belongings here and there. Bruce went for an early morning jog because he could not bear to touch Moonstruck's blood, while Hercules and Doug did the cleaning up of it. She went back to the hybrid's room and was surprised to see her sitting up in bed, her back supported by the pillows. "Hi." Said Opal, she was taken aback when a response arrived because she had not anticipated one. "Hi." A small voice repeated like an echo. Opal went around the room drawing aside the drapes, opening the windows and letting in fresh air. A few windows had escaped the wolves entrance and the hybrid's room was one of them. The early morning sun was gentle to a vampire, like rubbing essential oils into the skin. It was when the sun had matured in the sky that it felt like their skin was cooking. "If you
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 66
(A Day Of Farewells.) Moonstruck's body had been carried home by the wolves. All around them, lightning flashed, thunder roared and Mala wept for the daughter of the soil. Softening the earth with her tears so that the grave would be easy to dig. Lucinda had sent back word with a small wolf, around ten years old, who came through the cornfield in jeans cut off at the knees, a fade brown t'shirt and kinky black hair. The boy's chocolate toned body stood at the door that was left open all night. The sun was coming up on their sorrow, fighting it's way through the drizzling rain. The boy, drenched from head to toe, stared around at the blood in the living room. He saw the occupants of the room with watery eyes of disbelief, turned towards his presence. The group had sat in chairs and had not moved since Moonstruck's body had left the Bloomfield's house. Nothing had been touched, nothing cleaned up and the boy, though young, also felt the blow of this heavy grief. He cle
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 65
(Who killed Simeon?) You can tell much about a man by the way he drives a vehicle. Opal thought as Hercules sat behind the steering wheel and turned into the Bloomfield's mansion. He avoided every obstacle along the dirt path, then slowed to wait for a herd of goats to pass. He was a patient man, who took time to navigate his way into and around, your body and your heart. He slowed down when he sensed Opal needed to adjust herself in her seat and she did. He was an observant lover, who will take the time to give you what you needed. Opal could decipher that he was the type of man, who took pleasure in your pleasure. "Buttercup didn't stand a chance." Opal chuckled and addressed him. "What?" He spoke as he passed through the plantation's open gate. The hybrid was between Doug and Opal, the poor thing slept with her head resting on Opal's lap the entire way from the airport. Doug was dozing off on the other side of the back seat. Bruce was asleep in the front sea
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 64
(Declaration Of War.) Buttercup and Annex had put together a simple yet spendid gown. The shoulders of it was a thin string of white pearls that ran down into a square neckline of white lilly of the valley petals. Following that, white Cosmo flower petals extended from the waist. Cosmo petals also constructed a long trail sprinlkled with the yellow, seed belly of the plant. In Fairyland it was good luck and tradition to line the trail of a wedding dress with pollen. It represented conception within the family and marital prosperity. Wherever the bride went, a new generation of the flowers would spring and prosper in its species. Buttercup stood beside her Mother, who was wiping tears from her eyes and her Father had his chest puffed up because he had produced such a beautiful bride. ******************************* The venue was Sparkle Cave and on one side stood the young man's large family, on the other, stood Annex much smaller group of family members. Sparkle Cave was na
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 63
(Stolen Treasure.)Jatray fed Izzy soup while she sat up in bed.She brushed the pink hair from her forehead and stared into those brown eyes reminiscing on nothing but pain.There was nolonger a fire there.The spunk of the woman extinguished to ashes.Some people skip past the years of childhood and pre-adolosence. Leaping over each hurdle and embracing life with a positive, joyful bliss.There are some, however, who have knocked so many hurdles over, stumbling through the stages of growth. Some will rise and pick themselves up, while others will let their mind sit in the heap of their fall.In Izzy's eyes, Jatray saw that she had lost the strength to fight and she was spreading her bed in that mind of hers, to lie permanently beneath the sheets of her suffering."Don't get comfortable there Izzy. It will make you forever distrustful and bitter."Jatray said to her. Izzy turned her head to the side and silent tears rolled down her dark cheeks.Jatray placed the bowl in the tray. L
- Beautiful Creatures.
Chapter 62.
(The Rescue.) The once refined and sophisticated living room was demolished. Curtains ripped, slashed by knives and splashed with blood. Chairs and sofas overrturned, the fighting went on for far too long. Doug grabbed the foot of the piano with one hand and slammed it into Nathan, who was coming at him swiftly with a knife. Broken glass pierced Nathan's skin as he was hurled through the window. Opal had somehow snatched the woman with the chicken by her bloody apron. She reeled her in like a YoYo, turned her around and sent her fangs deep into the neck. It felt so satisfying, the thrill of letting out all she had pent up inside. The rush of fury for all the disruption in her life. The tortures she had done nothing to deserve. She drank the fresh blood, straight from a beating pulse. The woman's heartbeat slow down and just like the chicken, she convulsed in Opal's hand. "It is not enough!" Opal screamed into the room. Her rage building. Her Father bei
