Thrones of Astoria - HEAVY EDITING-

Chapter 1

It was a new world. A whole new generation of acceptance. Creatures conjugate with humans. Most of the time peace took place, but some hateful souls still fought to have segregation within species. Fighting so hard to push ideas onto other people that supernatural creatures shouldn't have the same rights. Humans could only evolve so much before a group decided that there needed to be an unnecessary fight.

Due to the high tolerance of the supernatural, a city on the coast of New York was now visible. A large city that held a mixture of people and creatures. This city was called the Civitas Amissa to the supernatural beings, known as the City of Lost by the humans. It is located outside of New York City. It was an island that most had to use a boat or magic to get there. The name confused most and made them believe it was a dangerous place. Like many other cities in America, the city was safe but had its unsafe parts.

Civitas Amissa was hidden for thousands of years from humans. It wasn't until the early 2000s that it became visible to humans. Magic protected the island and its inhabitants. Once most humans in the world started fighting for the equal rights of supernatural beings, those beings felt that humans were trusted enough to know their ancient secret.

Vampires, werewolves, demons, faeries, humans, and much more lived in sync. They each had benefits for one another. Along with the normalcy that a supernatural creature may have a blood connection to a family. A peace treaty was made so no species could threaten war unless the whole city agreed. And it was a common belief that no city would want battles that would destroy their homes.

One specific family in the States named the Thorns had made a deal with a half-demon called Ashton Star. A very famous half-demon that the whole city feared. It was hard to make a deal with him unless you had something that could indeed interest him. The Thorns? They had been so desperate to have a baby that they were willing to do whatever it took.

Peter and Claire sat in the small, black and red room. They heard of Mr. Star from a friend of theirs. That friend promised that he would donate part of his earnings to him along with the prehistoric castle the Star family resided in. When Claire was just 14 years old, she found herself with a disease that made her sick and she had to go to the doctors. Claire's mother was given heartbreaking news from the doctors before Claire was even told. Claire's mother was told that she would never have grandchildren. Claire had a disease that ate away all the eggs she ever produced.

Peter and Claire couldn't afford to have someone carry their child for them, so they searched hard and far for something to help them have children. A friend of a friend gave them a name. Ashton was a perfect answer for them. If you play his game and you win, you get what you wanted, but he comes back for something in return. You never will know what it will be or when, but if you lose the game, he gets your soul and lives on, not ever feeling a thing.

Now, the game was never spoken about. That way you couldn't cheat. Peter was nervous, holding onto his wife for dear life. She grew annoyed with him, shaking off his hand. Ashton pulled out a deck of solitary cards. He offered three cards to Claire, suggesting that she choose one. The first card he held was a Queen, then a King, and he flipped over the last card to show a jester.

"I'm confused." Peter looked at Ashton and at his wife. "Our future is being decided by a game of cards?"

"King or Queen?" Ashton asked her.

She answered with confidence, "Queen, of course."

Mr. Star flipped the cards over, no longer showing which was which. He put black glass cups over the cards, moving them around. Peter made the mistake of keeping his eyes right on Ashton while Claire looked at the cups moving around. The noise of the cups moving bothered her. Ashton kept rearranging them until the young redhead raised her left hand.

"Stop." She looked at the middle glass. "It's that one."

Her husband doubted her, "Are you sure? How can you be sure?"

"Shut up, Peter. I know it's the middle one." She silenced him.

Ashton slowly lifted the glass with a smirk on his face, flipping the card over to show the Queen with now red hair. "Well, how about that? Your lucky lady is indeed lucky."

The couple sighed with relief, looking at one another with smiles on their faces.

"Now, now. I only ask you one thing. I will grant you the ability to have children, but I will come to collect for your firstborn daughter." He said sternly. "You won't know when."

"What?" Claire gasped.

Peter quickly spoke over his wife, "Deal."

"No." She cried out. "You can't have my future daughter."

"I predict you will have one son and two daughters." He stated.

"How could we just give up our flesh and blood?" Tears fell from her eyes.

"Sweetie, he said we would have two daughters. It won't hurt to give up one." Peter tried to remain calm.

"You may have won the game, but I haven't finalized anything yet. Either you agree to give me your firstborn daughter or you get nothing." Ashton leaned back in his seat, looking at them.

It took a lot of convincing, but the couple agreed to it. The choice had to be made quickly or else he would cancel his promise. It was hard to tell who was more upset, Peter or Claire. Peter didn't want his first daughter to become this evil man's slave. Claire wanted to watch her first daughter grow up to be a strong woman, not some man's toy. She wanted her daughter to love whomever she wanted except this terrible man.

Another couple were waiting to play the game. Star dismissed the Thorns for a few minutes so he could prepare a spell and take care of everything. Before Mr. Star left, he took a drop of blood from Peter and Claire. After 10 minutes of both couples waiting, Star appeared in front of the couple and Claire felt an instant kick around her belly. She smiled, realizing that a baby was growing in her.

Peter and Claire Thorn had left the building and were about to take off in their car when they heard screaming and saw the couple inside running away. Ashton Star appeared from a sudden black smoke and grabbed the couple by their throats. The young guy and girl had both disappeared in smoke. Ashton looked at Peter and Claire and just smirked. They realized it was best for them to get into their car and leave.