From Dusk Till Dawn

Chapter 1

Celeste

Training was hard, my skills were sharp and my body was finely tuned. Father told me that I had to be prepared, willing to fight, to end the war within the races of my siblings and their descendants. Every day, I would train with my Father and every night, with my Mother. They taught me the ways to kill, to capture, and to hunt the vampire, the werewolf, and the witch. No one except my parents and my Aunt Astrid knew of my existence. I was only born to end the war, although, I never doubted that my family loved me. 

My brother, Drake, was the first vampire, Luke, my second brother, was the first werewolf and Helen, my sister, the first witch. Although we are siblings, they are thousands of years older than I am. It took my parents that long to figure out how to give me all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. I am immune to silver, the one thing that can kill them. I cannot die, I was born to end the war, to bring peace back to the Earth. 

"Celeste!" Father calls to me as I am out in the training field, stretching after our session. "Yes, Father." I answer. "You must go to see Drake. I have taught you all that I can." I bowed my head to my father. "I understand. Where is he now?" My Father smiles, "America, he is in a place called California. It is a big place and I am unsure exactly where he is, so you may have to spend some time there." I smile, "Of course, Father. I will leave right away." Father sighs, "Be careful, sweet girl. I know that you are strong, but you haven't had much interaction with people. Stay safe and try not to draw too much attention to yourself." I laugh, "Of course, I know the rules." He pulls me into a hug, "Good luck, Celeste. I will take you to the plane and see you off." 

Three hours later, I am flying through the air in a plane. I have learned much about the world from Aunt Astrid, she sees all. Leaving Greece is bittersweet. I am glad to be doing my job, what I was born to do, and to see more of the world. I am also sad to leave home, the only place I have ever known. After spending twenty- three years with only three people, things are a bit scary. I am nervous about meeting my Brother as well. I know what he looks like, I have a picture of him, Luke, and Helen. Astrid bought me a smart phone and taught me to use it, so I can call home whenever I need them. 

The flight was long, like almost a whole day, but as soon as I landed, I took a cab, something Astrid told me about and checked into the hotel my parents had arranged for me. After a nice shower, I called home. "Don't worry, we are watching. I think you should find an apartment, you may be there for a while." My Mother's voice said. I sighed, "Ok, and I shall start looking for that and Drake tomorrow." I told her. "Good night, sweet girl." She soothed. "Good night, Mother." After that, I was asleep.

The next morning, I went through my bag, I had ID, Passport, credit cards, my cell phone, and a silver dagger, all in my handbag. The dagger was in a case that completely concealed it, it was undetectable. I threw on a pair of khaki shorts and a blue tank top, slipped on my sandals, threw my very long hair into a ponytail, and set off in search of my brother and my new home. The streets were crowded and noisy, people were odd, to say the least. I made my way through the town, looking for signs of vampires. They always marked their territory with an invisible marker, a symbol of their clan. I had memorized each symbol and the markers were only invisible to humans. 

I found a nice looking brick apartment building with a sign that said they had a vacancy and symbol for my brother's clan below the sign. I smiled, two birds, one stone. I entered the small, clean office and a very pretty vampire woman sat behind the desk. I could smell her, but I camouflaged my scent. To her, I smelled human. "Good morning, how can I help you?" She smiled at me and I returned her smile. "I would like to know more about the apartment you have for rent, please?" Her smile grew, "Of course, My name is Angie. I am the manager here. Let me show it to you and if you like it, then we can fill out the paperwork." 

I followed Angie to the third-floor apartment. It was small, cozy, and I liked it. It had no furniture, but that would be no problem, I always wanted to go shopping. The living room was small, as was the kitchen. It had one bedroom and one bathroom. It took no time to tour the small place, but I loved it because it was just enough. "So, what do you think?" Angie asked with an excited gleam. "I like it." She was practically bouncing, "Let's go fill out some paperwork." For the next hour, I filled out paperwork, she checked my credit, my employment history, and my background info. My employer was Sun industries, my Father's company, so to speak. She giggled like it was an inside joke for her, but I knew what it was.

 "OK, Celeste. Everything checked out just fine. Here are your keys. The rent is due the first of every month, no exceptions. No pets, no smoking, no unregistered guests. This is the key to your mailbox, and the code for the door, it's locked at night. Good luck." Angie rambled. I thanked her and made my way back to the hotel for my luggage. I had two suitcases, one had weapons, the other had clothes and gear. After locking my luggage in my apartment, I went in search of furniture. I found out that everything needed to be delivered and that it would be the next day before I had anything, so I bought an air mattress for the night and some necessities before grabbing take out and crashing.