Era of Greed [✔ COMPLETE] (Chrim Chronicles #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Gaspar

The tires screamed through the music and my face hit the dashboard. Rubbing my forehead, I threw a frowning look next to me. Klara shrugged and mouthed a sorry. The music started again, and the trees outside turned into a blur. In the backseat sat piles of luggage that could not fit inside the trunks of the two cars. In front of us cruised Clyde's precious Aston Martin with Clyde himself at the wheel. Next to Clyde sat Milos and Dominik in the backseat with his beast. Pepin's big head was hunched out of the window, his long tongue fluttering in the wind. Klara turned the steering wheel a little too late, causing the car to slide and my head to hit the side window. As much as I loved my sweet sister, I really wished I was in the other car.

"Do we have to stay for long?" I asked. "That town gives me negative vibes."

Klara let out a loud breath. "If I were you, I'd prepare myself for a long stay, little brother. Looks like we'll stay a few years, at least."

"Great. What do you think about all this?" I shrugged and grimaced. "I mean, nobody ever asks you."

"Yep, I'm just getting dragged along. If you ask me, we should leave this town far behind us while we still can. Nothing good ever comes from this place. Besides, with that Ordinance..." Klara chuckled. "Everybody is going to get bored. Dominik will get bored of being bossed around by Krol, Milos will get bored with all those strict rules, Clyde will get bored that there's barely a market, Deirdre is always bored even when we're in a damn rollercoaster, and you..." She surveyed me from head to toe. "This town is too small for you."

In front of us, Clyde's car slowed down and came to a halt near a white booth. Chrim was further ahead, but I could already picture it. Two centuries had not been enough to make me forget that melancholic town, or its toxic residents. But, on the bright side, here I didn't need to identify myself when entering a bar, and here I would not get laughed at when I ordered an alcoholic drink. Elias Mega would remember me. Slanting my head, I turned my eyes to the sky and caught a white shimmer. If you watched really carefully, you could sometimes catch a little gloss coming from the unseen dome.

"Something is wrong," Klara said, her chin leaning on the steering wheel.

Five guards were surrounding the silver car, and the head of another poked inside. The door opened and Clyde stepped out. The guard made calm hand gestures as he spoke. Clyde said one single word in return and nodded. To my relief, it was certainly not an argument. The last thing we needed was drama in this town. Milos was the next to step out of the car, and Dominik and Pepin soon joined. I threw the door open the door and strolled towards them, followed by the tapping of Klara's heels. The guards backed away at the sight of the large white beast slowly circling around them. Once the guards were at a safe distance, Pepin sat down near Dominik's feet, though his posture remained tense and his black eyes wary.

Before I had the chance to ask what was going on, a girl appeared in the distance. The wind ran through her raven and blue locks. I recognized her black leather costume as that of an executioner. Her stride carried the elegance and pride of a swan, her dark eyes the poison of a snake. When she stood in front of us, I noticed the glistening small stud in the corner of her lip and the freckles on her upturned nose. This is a Van Velsen. And a real sinner. This was the first time I had ever laid eyes upon someone who carried not one, but three dominant sins. The girl gleamed of purple and green and red.

I had often wondered why the two Original Seven bloodlines, the demonic families and the witch families, had been created. I had asked each of my siblings. Dominik had said that it was because our bloodlines were superior to the witch bloodlines, which was not really an answer. My sister Klara had told me that the seven witch bloodlines were divine while the seven demon bloodlines were hellbound, and that the families had been created to serve as a balance for each other. Milos' answer had been similar to Klara's, he had told me that the seven demon lines had been created because light needed darkness to exist. I thought of those words as I looked at this girl who descended from the witches of the Seven, and saw none of that light they had talked about, or anything divine. Instead, I looked at a true sinner.