Children of War

ONE- Family

Dedicated to StarStuddedRiverGirl as today is her birthday (happy birthday!), and she's been looking forward to this book for a while, so enjoy!

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We've all heard of Romeo and Juliet, which is most famous for being a Shakespearean play based on love and tragedy. But some forget that Romeo and Juliet is a story of war; the darkness beneath the light. And this particular play reminds me of what my family is up against; of what we are. My family are the Gerhardts and we have a strong rivalry with the Embertons, the second family in our town that hurts people for money. Yep, we're hitmen.

For decades, we've been competing with each other to see who is the better family. Being a Gerhardt, I'd say mine was, but I must say that the Embertons are people to respect and fear. Their leader, Earnest Emberton, knew my grandfather, Alan Gerhardt, since they were both seven years old. As they grew up, their friendly competitive streak turned sour and into a death match. But it's certainly a life worth living, and certainly not an ordinary one.

My father, Denby Gerhardt, had four children: Matthew Raine, Evelyn Willow, Octavia Storm, and me, Theodora Maple. Although, I prefer Teddy.

Matthew is my elder brother; he's twenty-one and a heartthrob at college. According to him, all the girls 'swoon over' him. I find it hard to believe because he's cocky and the biggest arsehole you'll ever meet when he's at home. I love him to bits, though.

Evelyn is eighteen and prides herself on her knowledge of poisons- arsenic is her favourite. It scares the other girls at school (particularly the teachers), but they accept her and over the last year or two, she's become quite popular.

Octavia is unlike any of us. She's quiet and shy and will only speak if spoken to. She does otherwise if he feels it's absolutely necessary. At thirteen years old, Octavia is one of the best students in her school. She's constantly coming home with A grades or above and Dad is prouder of her than any of his other children. Although, he claims to love us all equally. And I believe him; millions wouldn't.

Anyway, the story begins on a rather cool day in August. I woke up to the sound of chirping birds and a sky with a gradient of inky-purple to a brighter blue colour, which was a nice thing to see when you wake up feeling like you haven't slept in a millennia.

I was also thankful for the fact that I was on summer break from school and, to be honest, it was a pretty great feeling to have. I could have stayed in bed longer, but I just simply couldn't sleep. After putting my dressing gown on over my pyjamas (that were actually too small for me), I encouraged Mal, my daemon, to follow me downstairs to get some breakfast.

Sat at the kitchen table was my Uncle Gryffin. He was a man of average height with sleek, dark hair (which was slightly out of place, large strands falling over his forehead) and a beard. His dark blue eyes always seemed to be quite cheerful, and he was sat reading the newspaper with a bowl of cornflakes in front of him. His own daemon, Taura the border collie, was sat grooming her paws by the legs of his chair.

"Morning," I greeted, then involuntarily yawning.

"Morning," he echoed with a bright smile. "What are you doing up so early? You're not going back to school today, are ya?"

I shook my head. "Thank god I'm not."

I went to the fridge to grab the carton of orange juice, which was almost empty, so I decided to drink it straight out of the carton. My uncle stared at me and sighed.

"You know you should drink that out of a glass. If yer dad saw you, he'd have something to say about it."

"Well, luckily, he isn't up yet," I replied, carrying on drinking like I didn't hear him.