I would like to take this time and thank my agent, Amy Synoracki, for doing as awesome as she has with my books. I could not have gotten as far as I have without her help and guidance. She pushes me and gives me just the right amount of inspiration and persistence I need. When I signed my first book with her, I was skeptical but I am skeptical over a lot of people or entities. It is my second nature to second guess my actions even when they work out on my behalf. She has proved herself to me as a literary agent and I fully commend her for her efforts these past 5 months. When in fact my book is signed by a publisher, I know for sure who is being included on my dedication page! Thank you Amy for all that you do for me!
Unearthing Unearthing Sarkoczy
Recently, myself and two other writers embarked on a collaboration adventure and started writing Pursuit of Darkness, book one of Unearthing Sarkoczy series. We were part of a real life vampire community, and prospected to a house to learn more of the lore pertaining to origins of vampires for occult research. As opposed to legitimately based researched, we were met with a religious society based vampire house. On top of the disappointment of not finding the legitimate research we were looking for, we were also met with opposition from many members of this select group. Our beliefs were tore from limb to limb and opposed when it came to a “Middle Pillar/Twilight” way of life. Heinous acts were implemented in threats to us. We were told we didn’t belong and to leave. This was not the most delectable experience we thought we were to have. Instead, it was a horrible experience.
From this experience, we gained an aim for a new fiction series called Unearthing Sarkoczy Saga. It is a vampire saga and revolves around the many things we learned while in this society of greed, power, politics, sex, and drama. Although personalities and some traits of the real people of this society were used, the book is purely fiction. We molded what we experienced into a new dramatic view, kind of like Anne Rice meets Vampire Diaries. None of the scenes portrayed in the book literally happened. The names of the people in the book are purely fiction and pulled from generators for pre-1800 Hungarian baby names. All conversations are fiction and all actions portrayed are fiction.
We recently acquired a name for ourselves as “author bullies” as one of the members of this community is an author. We are in no way abusing her name in the book or portraying any real conversations we had with the author. We have not campaigned about her aside from retorting the claims and allegations of “author bullying,” plagiarism (which I will get to in a moment), hijacking a page that we ourselves had created in the beginning under our accounts, and have been accused of being drug heads and smeared in passive-aggressive fiction posts posted to said author’s walls. I myself was called “Spacey” and was said to have been as big as a bus, which was a stab at my weight issue, which is low for anyone. Yet, we seem to be the ones deemed as “author bullies” when in respect to the story the only thing we put in the book was arrogant attitudes that I must say most vampire novels have.
As many of you can see in my posts on here, I am far from being an author bully. I have a number of author spotlights for up and coming indie authors who have self-published on all types of platforms. One of my goals has been to help other indie authors achieve fandom, including said author as I shared her books to my personal Facebook page and profile for free promotion to her and asked for nothing in return.
We are 30,000 words into this novel when people started remarking that is was apparently plagiarized and stolen intellectual property. That is not true, as said series remarked as being what was copied is way before my age and I had never heard of it until told what the proposed plagiarism was. The three main characters known as the Karpati sisters are born vampires that have been pushed from countless homes after being hunted down by vampire hunters. None of their descriptions, nor the descriptions of other characters match any other material out on the market. As a matter of fact, the only resemblance that they have in the BEGINNING of the book are the way the members reacted to us when we were initiated into this community. There are blossoming romances between all three of the Karpati sisters with different members of the clan. In real life, I am married and hardly ever talk to the members of this established house unless they are females. Our first four chapters are up on this blog as well as the fan club website we set up on www.housesarkoczy.com. We did and do not live in a 200 year old plantation house and the established society we initiated into did not have stacks of humans hidden in a dungeon as snacks (that is kidnapping; if they want to claim that by gods let them; it is their funeral not mine). Face it; we are talking lush old world money and paintings from the Louvre and most of the members of the vampire community can barely make monthly bills. So for someone to see themselves in this fiction, and say we are openly writing about them being “author bullies,” then there is a need to know that personality profiles are just that; character profiles learned from mannerisms of multiple people.
Since the alleged accusations of our “smear campaign” came to light, I was removed from a writing group because she was friends with the owner of it and told the reasons were my book. There were no real life events written into this book and it being purely fiction there was no legitimate reason to remove me from the writing group. The owner of the group and a few others in the group (as well as one of the admins) are part of the vampire community. The “threat” posed to this established house offended them and they removed me because of their ties to the vampire community. I myself feel that this is wrong entirely as fiction can be written about anything and everything you choose. Since we used experiences to mold our novels to create “some” of the plots i.e. the attacks in the book were personal attacks on our characters saying we never belonged and shouldn’t belong, I do not feel as if this removal was fair just because they are friends. But, it’s Facebook and group owners can do whatever they wish to do, including emailing Anne Rice and telling her we were publicly stating an endorsement through her for the books (which the allegations were false as well).
This post is to clear our names of what we are being accused of. When writing fiction and using fictionalized characters, there is no way to smear anyone’s name unless they feel guilty about what is portrayed in the story (and I reiterate NOTHING in this book happened for real in real life). My hope is that if you hear any defamation of my character, any slander or bias as to me being a horrible person or an “author bully,” you will turn a deaf ear towards the accuser. We have posted disclaimers everywhere saying that the book is purely fiction with no real conversations that took place in real life, but they push people further into their propaganda and feed them the lies being told on the author’s actual author page on Facebook, where she clearly campaigns to unlike and block our book series/fan club page.
Going undercover for writing research for nonfiction occult books turned into research for an actual novel. We have deeply researched our character’s origins, dates, languages, specific words for architecture of places mentioned; everything. If you could, please pass this by word of mouth to counteract the attacks against my name and the other writers of this series.
In honest regards,
Kasey Hill
Late night political stance ramble
This is a controversial topic that some disagree and some agree. These are my beliefs on the stance. Please be nice comments will be deleted if derogatory. Please keep the debate clean.
Abortion
I believe the death penalty is murder. I personally am pro-choice, however, I myself would never have an abortion. I have had 3 miscarriages, so the thought of aborting a child doesn’t sit well with my conscience, but we are not entitled to determining what is best for other people. What another person does with their body shouldn’t be taken past their own privacy. Do you want to know every time someone masterbates and kills a potential child that they ejaculate? Men commit abortion all the time but no one says anything as to that. If you would want abortion to be overturned, then any masterbratory emission men make would be abortion as well for they killed the sperm that could have been a baby. Or every egg you pass during menstruation could be deemed an abortion because you didn’t properly fertilize it. Do you want people digging that deep into your life and the government watching your every move to see if you are buying pads etc. No because its your own private matter, which is the same for women who have abortions. Abortion clinics were made legal for the simple fact that women took the matters into their own hands and were ramming clothes hangers into themselves to puncture the placenta. Every woman has her own reason as to why she wants or NEEDS an abortion. The 12 year old who is raped by a man should have the right to an abortion. The mother who is dying from the fetus implanting at 4 weeks should have the right to abortion. People claim “adoption” but look at adoption statistics. There are more children in foster homes than what there are in regular homes. Children who went in after birth and were never adopted and released from the home at age 18. Adoption is not flourishing in America because of “home values.” People decide to have their own children. If they can’t, they opt for a baby, go through the entire process, find out they are pregnant and decide to not take the baby which is put in an adoption agency with no guarantee of parents. A lot of kids who spend their entire lives in a foster home come out messed up in the end, some turn into pedophiles, some murderers, and when they in fact do these things to society “Kill them by the death penalty” when in the beginning it could have all been handled through an abortion. Once you start taking rights away from people, we are no longer free or the USA but other countries that everyone frowns upon. First is human rights, then freedom to speech, and then your rolly holy beliefs go out the door and religion is banned in totality in the USA. Think before you want to take rights away from someone because in the end, when the USA takes your rights of something you hold dear, you will wish you never spoke up to begin with.
Broken Friendship
There comes a time when you realize that all of the friends that you chat to here and there… are completely lost to your life. When you no longer had money to chill with them or go out to eat or to the movies; when you finished school so had no reason to be in Roanoke anymore; started dating someone new, and they took up some of your time so they didn’t even bother to ask if you wanted to still hang out. I still wanted to be friends; I still wanted to have friends; Life happened. Now my best friends are a 5 year old, soon to be 3 year old, and a dog -.- I love my kids to death, but there is no talking to them at 2 in the morning about things I would have with my friends. I have become one of those people where the only friends I truly have are online (family does not count as friendship lol just for those who will read this and say hey we chill) Would I give up my life I have for a life with friends? No, but you shouldn’t have given up our friendship when I got a life =/ *end of rant that really wasn’t a rant but more of a life lesson and morality story* *I’m going to stop talking now*
Love Reincarnated- Chapter One excerpt
He used to stare at me for hours watching every move I made. How did I know? I always caught glimpses of him from the corner of my eye. It was comforting to me even though most would find it annoying or creepy. I had known Eric from the time I was a preschool child. He was a few years older than me, but it didn’t stop me from following him around like a puppy dog. My sister, Doreen, and he were just a few months apart, so naturally it came to the time for them to date. My prepubescent mind scrambled for a reason as to why he showed her the love and attention I craved. I licked my wounds as I listened to a Debbie Gibson album cover and cried away into my pillow.
I could never tell anyone my deep secret. Even if he had shown interest in me, I was too young to date anyway. My parents would never have gone for a thirteen-year-old seeing a ten-year-old. It sounds cute and all, but they were old fashioned. I trudged along behind my sister and him to the bus stop every morning and watched them walk hand in hand. I withdrew from their company keeping to myself and remaining quiet unless they directly spoke to me. I lost all interest in my favorite hobbies, and it got to the point that my parents began to question the sudden mood change. I was asked variants of questions as to how school was to if my friends were pushing me away. They tried to figure out my sudden disinterest in life, and could I tell them the truth? Hardly.
I waded through three years of torture from the two of them. I came home from school one day to find Doreen crying on the front porch. To my joy, Eric had dumped her; however, to my dismay, things never went back to the way they used to be. I was still invisible to him and my unsocial distraction of puberty had caused us as friends to grow apart. He was now in high school and I in my last year of middle school, which furthered the separation between us. I had hardly spoken to him in the three years he dated Doreen. I felt as if he had betrayed my heart, even though my feelings went unspoken to him.
My flourishing debut of high school came all too quickly. I had managed to make it through all the awkwardness of middle school to come out as a social butterfly in high school. Guys stopped me in the hall to talk to me just to get my attention. Even though the awkward body of the thirteen-year-old had disappeared, my awkward mind remained. So blushing, I would murmur some comment and return to my pace going to my next class. I seldom ran into Eric, and the times I did, he hardly paid me any attention at all. The only person I wanted the attention from was the one who ignored my sudden rise to popularity. It was his last year in high school and after that, I had no clue where he would go in life.
I remember one day while walking through the halls, I accidentally bumped into him as I wasn’t watching where I was walking. My books were knocked from my hands. I bent down to pick them up, and half-expected him to help. As I looked up he had already made his way down the hall from me leaving me to pick them up alone. How did the boy that had picked me up out of ditches while trying to learn to ride my bike turn into the boy who would just bump into people and leave them to clean up the mess alone?
I turned my attention from him to other boys that were my age and soon landed a date with one of the guys off the football team. I found it to be pure coincidence whenever Eric would show up at the burger joint we would go out to eat at, or when he would show up at the movie theater. The coincidences became more of frequencies and it became evident that he wasn’t just “showing up” at these places, but was really appearing anywhere I was out on a date. This was when I first noticed him watching me from a distance.
The times I had wished that I could talk to him through my eyes were not as far and few in between as I would have liked. I caught myself numerous times zoning out and my eyes straying to where he sat. The first few times I stared back at him, he looked away as if he had just looked in the general direction. The glances turned into brief eye contact moments, and then into staring in between the both of us. He never once said anything to me; he never made any gestures to me, and he never stopped following me.
Mid-freshman year, dad was laid off from work. The closest job he could take in the state was two counties away which meant we were uprooting to another location. I was irrevocably crushed by the entire situation. I could care less about leaving the school district. What tore my heart in two was leaving Eric. We started packing up the house immediately and dad put it up on the market. I had one month left in school and it felt like the hours ticked away faster than they should have.
As bittersweet moments tend to happen more often than not in my life, Eric came to the house one day after school. Of course, I was the one to answer the door as I was the only one dragging my feet to pack and run away from home. I completely understood why we had to move; that didn’t mean I had to like the reason why or like the entire situation. As the knock sounded on the door, I bounded down the steps half-expecting more delivery men to carry our boxes to our new house.
I opened the door and standing there in the black hoodie I gave him two Christmases ago was Eric. He was as gorgeous as any other day with his satin black hair falling in his eyes. He had recently gotten his lip pierced and his parents allowed him a single tattoo on his neck. He looked like the ultimate bad boy when in reality, he was lead running back for the football team with a 4.0 GPA. My heart fluttered at seeing him there and quickly crashed as I realized he was more than likely there to see Doreen.
“Hey, Eric,” I said casually. “What brings you here today?” I leaned up against the door frame with my arms crossed hating that I used the line my dad always used with him. “You here to see Doreen?”
He pulled his hood from his head and shook out his hair smoothing it down. “Actually, I’m here to see you,” he replied.
That’s when my heart literally hit the floor. There was no way he was here to see me. I do NOT know what possessed me to get snarky with him, but it slipped out.
“Why?”
He leaned in real close and whispered in my ear, “If I told you, then I’d have to kill ya’” He leaned back smiling. I rolled my eyes at him and smiled back. “Come on. It’s about time you had a proper night out on the town.”
Beauty is Fangs Deep- Chapter Three
“How the hell could you mess up this bad!”
John awoke to the sun beaming in his eyes and the arguing outside the car. He sat up in the seat and looked around to see where they were. They were back at the diner they had left last night.
“I did exactly what John said. He said to stay on the highway and wake him when we hit Colorado. I made no turns, no turn arounds, nothing,” Duke yelled back at Larissa.
“Hey, hey! It’s okay. We’ll get something to eat and then just start back on the road. It’s no big deal. There was probably an exit and this was a bypass highway that looped around,” John said pulling his hoody off.
“Whatever,” Larissa said walking to the burger joint.
“I’m sorry man, I-“ Duke began.
“It’s ok, no worries,” John said popping the trunk and changing his shirt.
He glanced through the window at Michala still reading in the front seat.
“You coming in?” he asked.
“Not hungry,” she replied turning the page.
“It might be the last stop for a while,” he said trying to urge her out of the car.
“Not hungry,” she replied yet again.
“I’ll bring you something back,” he said standing up from the window.
She was pissed at him and had good reason to be. He walked inside with the other two and ordered his meal and something for Michala. Instead of sitting inside with Larissa and Duke, he walked back outside to eat in the car.
The same car that had stopped last night beside theirs was stopped there again. Instead of the man this time, it was the woman underneath of an umbrella talking to Michala.
“Are you sure you don’t have directions,” she asked Michala.
“We got lost ourselves last night and ended up back here,” Michala said sympathetically.
She noticed John walking out of the diner, “John, maybe you can give them directions. They’re looking for…what was it…Stewart?” Michala asked the woman.
“Yes,” replied the woman.
“You past it about 50 miles back south,” John replied. “Head south on this road and take the first exit you see. That’ll put you on your way to Stewart,” he said stopping in front of the woman.
She had sunglasses on. Her hair was dark nearly black in color and she wore the most peculiar dress that looked like a Latin dancing dress. She was the palest person he had ever met before.
“Thank you, young man,” she said walking back to the car. In the sunlight, the tint was so dark, you couldn’t see inside like you could last night.
“You’re welcome,” he said waving his hand.
He climbed in the driver door and looked over at Michala who was watching them pull away.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Whenever they talk to me, it’s like, like I can’t ignore them. Like I HAVE to talk to them. I can’t explain it,” she said still slightly mystified after their departure.
“I got ya some grub,” John said handing the bag of food over to her.
“Thanks, I’m hungry all of a sudden,” she said opening the bag to see what he got her.
She pulled out the fries and started going to town eating. It was unusual behavior for her, but then again she didn’t eat last night neither, which was John’s fault.
“Here’s your drink too,” he said handing her the cup that the diner offered for drink.
She gulped it down and ate the hamburger that was in the bag. She had everything ate in under five minutes.
“I’d say you were hungry,” John said slowly chewing the food in his mouth.
She looked over at his food and then to his face. He smiled. He got the hint and handed the burger over to her along with his fries.
“Thank you,” she said taking a bite of his burger.
“No problem,” he said laughing while chewing his bite of food.
She had slowed down eating and was chewing at a normal pace. He watched her start to nitpick at the food, her tell-tale sign that she was full but didn’t want people knowing she was.
“Give it back,” he laughed taking the burger and fries back.
She continued chewing the mouthful of food as the quiet proceeded to settle in between the two of them.
“Look, about last night,” John began.
“Don’t worry about,” she said looking out the window.
“No, I truly am sorry. Things slipped my mind once I broke it off with Larissa then got the eighth degree from Duke. Apparently, they both think we were screwing around behind their backs,” he said balling the burger wrapper up and tossing it in the bag. “Everything I said in that letter, I meant every word of it,” he said pulling the ring from his pocket.
“Hey, how’d you get that? It was in my-“
“Purse,” he said smiling.
“You little sneak,” she scoffed.
“Michala, I wanted to do this last night, but better late than never,” he said holding the ring up in between them. “I’ve loved you since the day you moved in next door. No matter who I have dated, I couldn’t take my mind off of you. We spent so much time together just being ourselves, we never really did pay much mind to dating each other,” he said taking her hand in his. “I’m not asking you to marry me, I’m asking you to promise to be mine forever,” he said putting the promise ring on her finger.
She couldn’t say anything back, but didn’t get the chance to. He ran his hand up her cheek and pulled her in for their very first kiss with each other. His hands slid from her face to her hair, and she put her arms around his neck. He pulled her across the bench seat of the car closer to him. He kissed her and pulled back numerous times to look at her face. He brushed her hair back from her face and trailed his finger down her cheek.
“I’m sooo ready for the beach,” she said smiling at him.
He smiled back and kissed her one more time. She sat back down in her seat that had gotten hot due to the sun beaming on it. So, she scooted to the middle of the bench seat. Duke and Larissa made their way from the diner and climbed in the backseat.
“Everyone ready to go?” John asked.
Everyone chimed an answer of yes, and once again, they started off in the direction of Colorado.
Duke started in on the remaining beer left from his 12 pack and offered one to everyone in the car. Larissa accepted while Michala and John declined.
“You know that stuff makes me car sick,” Michala said looking at the beer disgusted.
“I’m driving,” John said laughing.
“You both lost your cool when you graduated school,” Duke laughed and chugged his beer.
John turned the radio on and everyone sang along to the radio. Michala scooted closer to him but he dared not put his arm around her in front of Larissa. He wanted a peaceful trip. The two knew mutually not to let the cat out of the bag about themselves. As John glanced in the rearview, he saw Larissa and Duke quietly talking in the backseat. She was already putting the moves on him, and he was openly flirting back. He hadn’t known that Michala and Duke had called it quits already, unless Duke was trying to make her jealous with his actions.
They had been driving for hours and nightfall was hitting when they came upon lights to the right.
“How in the hell….” John muttered and pulled over in the parking lot.
The diner they were at earlier was the final resting spot.
“See, I told yall,” Duke said leaning over toward the passenger window.
“There were no exits or anything. How is this possible?” Michala asked looking over to John.
“I don’t know,” he said putting the car in park. “Let me go ask them for directions,” he said jumping out and heading in the diner.
“This is way too creepy,” Larissa chimed in the backseat.
It hadn’t been but a few seconds that John had entered the diner that the Jaguar rolled up beside them.
“Well, I see we are all having the same experience,” the gentleman said getting out of his car.
A panic flew through Michala. A gut feeling was telling her somehow they were the ones responsible for this but she couldn’t say it out loud.
“Are yall lost too?” Larissa asked climbing out of the car.
Duke was about to do the same when Michala turned around and shook her head no.
“We have been trying to get to Stewart and followed the other young lad’s advice and still ended up right back here,” he said motioning to the car.
The woman then got out of the car and walked over beside the gentleman. Her eyes burned into Michala’s and she had to look away.
“Our friend is inside getting directions from the diner,” Larissa replied back to the gentleman.
“It won’t be any good. They couldn’t give us directions,” he replied back.
Michala pulled her cell phone out of her purse, and to her dismay, there was no signal. She felt uneasy with the strangers and there was a lull to them that made her look back to them. The woman was still watching her. She withdrew her gaze from the woman to the diner but couldn’t help peaking at her.
John walked from the diner’s doors muttering and cussing.
“So, what they say?” Michala asked glancing uneasily over at their guests.
“They couldn’t tell me anything. Useless!” he replied angrily.
He then noticed the guests at the car and slowed his steps. He looked over at Michala. Her face was white as a ghost, and she slightly shook her head relaying an unspoken message. Hearing John’s voice, the man and woman turned their gaze toward him.
“Ah, there’s the young lad. I see you’re having the same problem as we are,” he said walking toward John.
“Yea, it’s weird we drove four hours away from the diner and still ended up right back where we started,” he replied making his way over to the driver’s door. “Larissa, get back in the car. We’re going to head back towards the house and reroute,” John said jumping in the driver’s seat.
“It was nice meeting yall,” Larissa said turning around and getting back in the car.
“The pleasure is ours,” the woman said following suit.
John started the car, turned around on the highway, and drove back the way they had initially started from. It wasn’t until the lights of the diner disappeared that Michala spoke up.
“Did you feel it too?” she asked looking over at John.
“Yea, I did,” he replied.
“What are yall talking about?” Duke asked leaning up to hear them.
“The last two times we were there, they were too. I just got a creepy feeling about them. I mean how odd is it we’re heading in two different directions and are both getting lost ending up back in the same spot we started?” Michala asked looking from John to Duke.
“Well, I think they’re nice people,” Larissa said scornfully.
“That’s only your first time meeting them. I mean they’re looking for a place less than 50 miles away, driving a Jaguar, and dressed like the Addams’s family. Come on now?” Michala said irritated. “You don’t feel what I do when they come around. It’s like I can’t talk unless spoken too. I can’t think or anything. I’m just drawn into them. I can’t explain it,” Michala said sitting back right in her seat.
Everyone was silent. Michala never talked like this before and it was odd.
“Maybe we should just head home,” Duke offered. “Maybe this trip wasn’t meant to be.”
“Bull! I did not leave the state of California just to be rushed back to it because we’re lost on a highway. We’re going to the beach!” Larissa exclaimed.
“Larissa is right. We should just continue on to the beach,” Michala said solemnly.
John looked over at her. She was just staring straight ahead expressionless.
“Michala, are you okay,” John asked.
She just kept staring straight ahead without responding.
“Michala!” he yelled a bit too loud.
She jumped from being startled and looked over at him. The look on her face terrified him.
“Are you okay?” he asked pulling over on the side of the road.
She trembled and couldn’t speak. She looked into the rear view mirror as headlights appeared.
“Go,” she whispered. “Go! Its them!” she yelled as John saw the headlights in the mirror as well.
He put the car in drive and hit the gas speeding off. He was gaining speed and the headlights were being lost in the space between the two vehicles. He saw a side road and veered off onto it hoping to lose their followers. The road led to an abandoned cabin where he turned the engine and lights off. They heard a car fly by the road in the direction they had been heading. All was quiet.
The four of them climbed out of the car and gathered in front of the house.
“Now this is what creepy looks like,” Larissa said snidely.
“It’s not that bad,” John said walking up the front steps. One of the boards began to creak and bow under his weight and he jumped to the next. “Be careful walking up.”
They each took the steps carefully one by one so the steps didn’t give away to all of their weight. John pushed the cabin door open and walked inside. It was completely bare inside.
“Hello?” he called out.
There was no answer.
“It’s safe to say its empty,” he said walking further into the house.
The rest of the group followed in uneasy. The windows had been busted out and boarded up haphazardly. The curtains were shredded and barely clung to the rods above the windows. There were spider webs everywhere and newspaper littered the floor. It looked as if homeless people crashed here every once in a while.
“Let’s crash here tonight so we know we’re driving the right way tomorrow,” John said turning around to everyone.
“Are you nuts?” Larissa asked.
“I’d rather stay here than have some lunatic searching the roads for us,” John retorted.
Larissa didn’t say anything back.
“Okay, its settled. Duke, help me get the stuff out the car. I have some camping gear packed in case we broke down somewhere,” John said walking to the door.
Duke turned around and made his way carefully down the steps. The two guys unloaded the car and brought everyone’s stuff inside. John broke open one of the bags and pulled out his camping gear. He turned on a camping lamp for everyone to see inside the room.
“I have one more if anyone wants to sleep in another room tonight,” he said setting it over to the side.
He unpacked four sleeping bags, some pillows, and blankets. He pulled out a case of waters and a case of sodas and loaded the cooler packed with ice with drinks.
“I have some bread and peanut butter also,” he said holding up the loaf of bread and peanut butter for everyone to see.
Everyone grabbed a sleeping bag. Michala unrolled hers in the middle of the floor and put a pillow and blanket on it. John unrolled his a few feet away from her and followed the same steps. Larissa and Duke hesitated.
“Duke and I…are going to sleep in a different room. I just don’t like the idea anyone can open that front door and walk in here with us,” she said picking up the sleeping bag, blanket, and pillow for her.
Everyone was quiet.
“Why don’t yall really tell us the reason why,” Michala said looking at the two of them.
Duke and Larissa exchanged glanced with one another.
“You know?” Duke asked.
“I’m not stupid, Duke. We were breaking up before this trip, and you showed up at my door with her. Come on now, I’m not naïve,” she said shaking her head.
“And both of you are okay with this?” Larissa asked looking from Michala to John.
“We’re all friends. It’s cool,” John said.
“Well, ok then. Goodnight you two,” Larissa said smirking.
She and Duke walked up the stairs to one of the rooms and shut the door. John and Michala could hear giggling.
“Well, those two are going to get drunk tonight,” John said smirking.
“Huh?” Michala asked.
“He took his other 12 pack with him upstairs,” John said pointing to where the 12 pack had sat.
“Oh,” Michala said.
“You look distracted. Are you okay with those two…being together?” John asked scooting his sleeping bag closer to her.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be? They didn’t admit to sneaking around behind our backs with each other at all,” she said flopping down on her sleeping bag. “You have no idea what it’s like to be cheated on over and over,” she said tying her hair up in a ponytail.
“Yes, I do. It’s one reason it was so easy ending it with Larissa. They have been sneaking around a lot longer than you knew,” he said setting down on his sleeping bag.
She looked over at him, “You knew this whole time and didn’t tell me?”
He looked down to the floor, “I caught them once together in her dad’s car. They swore it was the first and last time…I didn’t want to break your heart being the one who told you,” he said looking up at her.
She sighed, “Well, they got the cue from us. Even though we weren’t dating we acted like we were,” she said situating herself under her blanket.
John took his shirt off. He scooted closer to her and lay back on his pillow with his one arm under his head and the other outstretched for her. She lay down on his arm and curled up beside of him pulling her blanket up over her shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead, an age old gesture the two shared. She let out a sign and traced her finger on his chest. She looked up to his eyes and saw them looking right back at her.
“It was obvious how you felt about me,” she said smiling.
“Oh, how so?” he asked flirtatiously.
“You were always staring at me in your rearview mirror, duh,” she said laughing.
He laughed with her, then it grew quiet.
“John, I have something to tell you,” she said biting her bottom lip.
“What’s that?” he asked looking down at her again.
“It’s about college,” she said timidly.
“What about it?” he asked.
“I’m thinking of going to school on the east coast,” she said.
She waited for his response. He was silent.
“There’s this really great program that I’m interested, and I got accepted,” she said.
He still didn’t respond.
“John?” she asked trying to get him to talk.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he asked in irritation.
“Because I didn’t want you getting upset. I was going to tell you when we got to the beach,” she said wishing she hadn’t brought it up.
He sat up and folded his hands together in front of him while resting them on his knees.
“You can’t go that far!” he yelled.
It startled her. She had never seen him this upset before.
“I thought you would be happy for me,” she said sitting up beside him.
“How can I visit you if your 3,000 miles away?” he asked looking at her.
“The decision was made long before your plans came into motion,” she said crossing her arms.
“Please don’t go…” he begged.
“I have no fall back schools. This is the only chance I have. They have an awesome scholarship that I was given to even go,” she said.
“I will pay for your college tuition anywhere else in California,” he said looking at her. “Please, don’t go. Don’t leave me behind.”
“Why don’t you come with me?” she asked.
“I don’t belong on the east coast,” he replied.
They were both silent.
“You promised that no matter where I went, you would be here waiting for my return. Did you mean that?” she asked.
He sighed, “Of course I did,” he said wrapping his arm around her. “It’s just the same day we decide to have a relationship; you drop this on me.”
“I know, but would you have rather me wait til the day of?” she asked.
He pulled her closer to him. He didn’t want her to go and she was too stubborn to change her mind in not going. He was getting ready to reply when there was a loud noise outside.
Sisters of Light and Darkness- excerpt
Long ago, before the creation of man, before the creation of life, lived the ultimate source of power. In the beginning, a vast space called the “Deep” reigned. Her name was Tiamat. Her loneliness echoed silently through the black space of emptiness. So, as her first real act of power, power she did not know was buried deep within her, she created a mate for herself. Her blood made of starfire churned within her bosom and created a flow to her womb where a heartbeat began. The heartbeat grew in beats and soon the heartbeat was the same speed as her own. Her belly grew larger as the heartbeat created a vessel of life inside of her. In an explosion of power, she gave birth to her love, Drac. As his head crowned in the birthing process she uttered a few small words that held an immense power.
“Let there be light.”
The baby’s first sight was of bright color so that he could gaze upon the wondrous face of pure love. The light set off a series of small explosions throughout the empty void. Planets, stars, and galaxies formed within the space. The great unknown “Deep” became a universe of multitudes of life forms. The baby grew in seconds following the full phase of metamorphosis to a wise, aged man. Tiamat smiled at her new love.
She interlocked her fingers to his and said, “We will create the most powerful beings to exist as children.”
He nodded in acknowledgement to this proclamation. They held their interlocked hands in the air and their bodies formed a circle. The blood of starfire that churned within her was now a part of him. Glorious floating red lights swarmed the two and illuminated their floating bodies. They gazed into one another’s eyes as an implosion within their bodies convulsed the two together. A red ball of fire enveloped the two and their swirled in a whirlwind into the sky. The centripetal force pulled the two apart sending one to the sky and one to the ground in a huge cataclysmic explosion. The two would never again be together physically but they were forever tethered together by a circle of repetitious life. Draco was now the sky and Tiamat was now the embodiment of Earth. Their alchemical marriage of power created the strongest bloodline of starfire to ever exist. Solve et coagula, which is as above so below, started the chain of life that exists today.
Out of this combination of great magic, they created the first of the bloodline to begin the Anannaki race. Their daughter, Ki, and son, An, became known to all of creation to follow as the Great Mother and the Great Father. The two began to mold and create their first generation of Gods and Goddesses. Their powers would be split and three were chosen to live in the light and three were chose to live in darkness.
The God of Light was named Enki and he was the supreme ruler over the Astral realm. Alongside him to rule were his sisters, Lilith and Ninlil. The God of Darkness was named Enlil and he was the supreme ruler over the umbral realm. Alongside him to rule were his sisters, Inanna and Astarte. Even though they resided in different realms, they all shared a strong bond with each other. However, the strongest bond was between the sisters who could travel from realm to realm to visit with their other brother.
Enlil was jealous over his brother’s rule of the earthly realm, so he created a wondrous place outside of the realms that existed, called the Garden of Eden. He gave the realm to his sisters as a gift. The sisters used this gift as a creation place for two human creations. They molded two bodies out of the remnants of stardust that was blowing away in the wind. They created a handsome young man named Adam. All fours sister breathed into his body and watched as his chest filled with air and it exhale. Nothing. They tried again breathing into his lungs filling him with the breath of life and again nothing happened. They turned to the second body. They shaped a beautiful young woman from the stardust whom they named Zoe. All four sisters looked to one another as they attempted with the woman what they had tried with the man. They placed all of their magic and will into their energy and breathed a breath of life into their creation and she animated before them.
Zoe was frightened. “Where am I? Why am I here?” she asked in confusion as her soul seeded deep within her body.
“You have been chosen to live in the most glorious space created,” Ninlil said walking to her. The other three sisters smiled upon her.
She looked to the ground and saw the body of a young man.
“What about him? Why isn’t he living like me?” she asked looking around to the four sisters.
“Well,” Lilith began, “We tried to animate him but it takes an act of human love to resurrect his soul into this body. Only one’s soulmate can bring one to life from nothing,” she said peering down at the small being.
Zoe stood and walked over to the body of the young man. She reached her hand out hesitantly to touch and caress his face. He was so beautiful. She had never laid eyes on a creature that placed what she felt inside of her. She was overwhelmed with the feeling bubbling inside of her. She leaned in compelled to his face and kissed his lips. When she exhaled during the kiss, the breath of life entered into his body and his eyes opened. He sat up and looked into the eyes of the woman in front of him.
“I have been waiting a long time to see those eyes again,” he said brushing his hand against her cheek.
She smiled in remembrance of his soul. “Adam.”
“You two are the only ones that exist in the peaceful place,” Astarte said to them as they stood to their feet.
“Everything has been provided for your nourishment and survival,” Inanna said motioning to the surrounding area growing fruitful with herbs and plants.
A shadow descended upon the land and they all looked heavenward as a figure emerged in the darkness.
“Brother, it’s nice to see you. Come, see what we have created with the gift you gave us,” Lilith said smiling as Enlil walked to their sides.
He frowned. “I did not create this place for you to put humans in it. It was created as a midpoint for everyone so you would not have to travel so far to see me,” he said with disgust trailing on his face.
The girls felt foolish. “We can’t undo what has been done,” Ninlil said looking to Enlil. “It goes against what mother and father have taught us to do.”
Enlil whirled away in jealousy. He was the one that was thrown into darkness unwillingly. He looked at the landscape of the garden and his eyes rested on two trees. He smiled.
“I apologize my sisters for my rude outburst,” he said bowing his head to them. “But since you have messed up the idea of my gift, can I make a few ground rules for the mortals you have created?” he asked.
The girls noticed the sinister look in his eyes and looked to one another. They knew what he would command would be awful but they could not deny his request. After all, he created the garden himself.
“Of course, brother,” Lilith said bowing her head in defeat.
He turned to the mortal creations, “You have a marvelous place to survive in for eternity. You will never have to sleep for your world is already a dreamland. However, there is one rule I have for you,” he said motioning for them to follow. He walked over to the two trees that resided in the middle of the garden. One of them had a spring of water at the base of it with beautiful flowers and appetizing fruit clung to its limbs.
“This is the Tree of Life. As long as you drink from its waters and eat from its fruit you will live forever with immortality,” he said looking to the mortals to see if they understood. They shook their head in acknowledgement.
The second tree was an ancient tree. The base of the tree had grown its roots down and then back up creating a dragon of wood. Atop the tree was the farthest branches that had twisted into the shape of a bird.
“This is the Tree of Knowledge. It contains all of the mysteries that surround creation, evolution, and the power of gods,” he said and looked to his sisters who stood there with grief stricken faces.
“Please, don’t Enlil,” Astarte begged knowing what command he was going to lay down.
He grinned to his sisters, “This fruit in one bite would grant you everlasting enlightenment. However, you may not eat from this tree. It is forbidden,” he said looking to the two mortals. “If you disobey my orders, immediate death will succumb you. Have I made myself clear?”
