PURIFYING TOUCH...

CHAPTER ONE…

People have always said that the secret to teen power is positive thinking. Why is that? When has positive thinking really had the force to rule nations? To win the lottery? Even to rule a school? Never. The true power lies in strength, speed, agility. But most of all true teen power lies in lineage and money. If you think and will to be royalty, it’s never going to happen. Those are just things that we cannot control. Unless we marry royalty but at our age, and for my kind, that’s sort of illegal. Truth is that that saying came from humans, and that my dear, is something I’m not.

My name is Anika Rosalia Marcello, but my friends call me Niki, I am 15 years old and I am a student at St. Athenodora's Academy. Since that’s a mouthful-and-a-half, we (the students) just call it St. Ath's. St. Ath's is a school, not for humans, but for the people of MY world. My world consists of three types of creatures: The Maledizione (evil creatures that kill to feed their thirst for blood), The Della Luna (vampires too, but they only feed on those who are willing, and NEVER kill), and then there’s my kind. I am a mixture of humans and Della Luna. I am what is known as a Ibrido.

Ibridos are born from a human mother and a Della Luna father. Our mothers very rarely are aware of what our fathers are because of the fact a lot of humans, let’s face it, would run scared and never have the Della Luna’s child. This is what is needed to have the Ibrido race live on. Our mothers then raise us alone (the Della Luna fathers usually have their own family to attend to and rarely stick around) until we are 12 years old. I never knew my father he took off soon after he found out my mother was pregnant. The Ibrido children are then taken from our mothers and put into different schools all around the world. The Ibrido guards that take us also compel our mothers to forget all about us, so that we will never see or speak to them again. Once we are taken we are pretty much alone. 

On my twelfth birthday, my mother gave me a round golden locket with silver roses on the front. The locket had a photo inside of her and me when I was younger, five I would guess. this is the only thing I have to remember her by because I was taken three days later and when we are taken, we aren’t allowed to pack or take anything we are literally just picked up, and taken away by one Ibrido whilst another stays to compel the mother to forget us and to dispose of anything that would even show that I had existed in that house. I loved my mother, and I never even got to say goodbye. I had a little sister too. sure she was only a half-sister, but still she was my sister nonetheless. when I was taken my sister Skylar was only 8, she couldn’t be compelled to forget me because shes an Ibrido too but she wasn’t a liability to our secret because she didn’t know about what we were and my mother would never believe her that she had a sister because my mother was compelled not to remember even giving birth to me.

Once we are taken to an academy we are trained to be fighters, and protectors. Ibridos are created to protect to Della Luna species. We have the best traits of a human as well as the best traits of a Della Luna. We are able to compel, as the Della Luna as well as we have their strength and reflexes, only heightened. But we have human features in our looks. Where a Della Luna would be pale and lanky. We are tanned with curves and more muscle tone. All Ibridos have blue eyes. No one quite knows why that is, humans vary eye colours, as do Della Luna. However, Ibridos always have blue. Yes the blue does vary from Ibrido to Ibrido. Some Ibridos have pale blue eyes whereas other may have dark navy-blue eyes, but blue all the same. 

Once we graduate, we are assigned a Della Luna to whom we share a special bond with. A bond which we have six years to discover. If we do not find a Della Luna to which we have a bond with, we are to be "extra protection" for where ever we are needed, whether it is to protect a Della Luna, or to be palace guards. Basically, we are sold to the highest bidder. Though before we are “sold” we are given the option to be a teacher and to train the future generations of Ibridos, as you could imagine this is a common choice for many. The bond that a Ibrido and a Della Luna share is a gift. It shows each person in the bond what the other is thinking, feeling. We can even tell exactly where they are, or talk to them in their minds or dreams no matter how far apart the two are. It’s amazing. I am yet to have a bond with anyone, but hopefully I will. The idea of spending the rest of my life being sold and traded as well as ordered around, does not suit me and my personality very well.