Orianna's Choice

Wendy Healy-Hindmarch

Description

An uneasy truce between werewolves and vampires all rests on one girl and her decision. If Orianna doesn't become the vampire queen she was born to be, then both clans will perish at the hands of their deadly enemies. Will Orianna choose to follow her destiny and marry the werewolf king and unite the clans, or will she turn her back and let destruction reign?

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528944854
• Langue: English

Extrait

Orianna’s Choice
Wendy Healy-Hindmarch
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-01-31
Orianna’s Choice About the Author Dedication Copyright Information [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
About the Author
Wendy is married with two children and two grandchildren.
Originally from England, Wendy grew up in various states of Australia but now resides in Adelaide.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wonderful parents, husband, son-in-law and especially my daughters for all their encouragement and faith. Keep being yourselves, you are both perfect!
Also to all our faithful, loving companions.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Wendy Healy-Hindmarch (2019)
The right of Wendy Healy-Hindmarch to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528927741 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528944854 (E-Book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
[1]
Every night and every morn Some to misery are born Every morn and every night Some are born to sweet delight Every morn and every night Some are born to endless night.
William Blake (1757–1827)
Dreams are a weird kind of beast. They can leave you feeling stressed, scared and confused or they can leave you feeling happy, contented and loved. The dreams I really hate are the kind I had been having recently. You know the kind I mean; the dreams start out all nice and fuzzy and end up with you running for your life from some strange thing that you can’t identify trying to turn you into god knows what.
Until recently, I had not dreamed like this for years, not since I was a little girl. Now, however, I was having one of those dreams every single night. By morning, I was waking up as exhausted as if I had never slept. My bed looked as if I had gone to war with the sheets while I looked as if I’d been dumped into a lake.
Every morning I would wake, go to the mirror to see if I was still the same person. Still the girl with the long black, silky hair, piercing blue eyes, Angelina Jolie lips and a body that wouldn’t see me as a model but wasn’t too shabby either. Apart from looking a little paler and somehow more translucent, I seemed to be about the same. Yet I still couldn’t help but ask myself what the hell was happening to me?
Last week, I was a perfectly normal, soon to be an eighteen-year-old girl, who loved to be out in the sun with my friends, sometimes playing footy, other times just chilling, and listening to music, eating pizza. Today, however, the sunlight was almost too much for me to stomach while the thought of food was enough to make me want to throw up.
The usual thing for me to do would be to go with my friends down to the local park and just hang. Face it, no one wants to go home to grandparents, which is just what I faced every day. My parents had gone on a world tour when I was just three and left me with my mother’s parents. It was only meant to be for six months and yet here I am, fifteen years later still with them. Don’t get me wrong. I love my grandparents – they just don’t understand me.
On the rare occasion, my parents rang me to let me know they were still alive, they’d tell me it wouldn’t be for much longer. Yeah right, whatever. I’d been hearing that for so many years that I had stopped believing them.
Today, however, I just couldn’t stand the thought of the sun blazing down on me, making my head throb as if it was a bad drum solo. As I walked towards the park with my friends, I decided to head home. When I reached the corner of my street, I said bye to my friends and headed home.
I walked into the kitchen through the back door. As I let my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, I could feel the coolness seep into my bones, just what I needed. As I placed my school bag onto the kitchen table, I became aware of voices coming from the front room.
“Why don’t we let Orianna decide?” said a woman’s voice quietly.
“Because she is too young to make such an important decision,” responded my grandfather.
Now, I know that it’s rude to listen to others conversations, but when it concerns you, well, then, it’s the most natural thing in the world.
I crept up the hallway and snuck a look at the people in the room; of course, both my grandparents were sitting there looking all grandparent-y, you know what I mean, grey hair, cuddly, and wrinkly.
In front of my grandparents stood two strange-looking figures, one was the woman I had heard speaking while the other one was obviously a man. They both had long dark coats on, which was weird, considering how warm it was, they both had long black hair, the woman had hair down to her backside while the man’s was only shoulder length. The only skin I could see was their hands, and oh boy, I had never seen such white skin in my whole life. They must never have been out in the sun, their nails were so long and sharp that I swear you could stab someone with them.
As I stood there, listening to them talk, I was trying to figure out who these people were and why they wanted me.
“You will not be able to cope with Orianna, soon she will…” the woman stopped speaking in mid-sentence as the man lifted his head and seemed to smell the air.
It was the strangest thing I had ever seen, and to tell the truth, it freaked me out. Then something even weirder happened. Without turning around, the man called to me.
“Come and join us, Orianna, we don’t bite.”
“That’s not funny,” I heard my grandmother hiss as I entered the room sheepishly.
I walked pass the tall woman and heard her mutter under her breath, “Not much we don’t.”
I turned quickly; I looked into her face and saw nothing there, no emotion registered on her face at all. It was as blank as an empty piece of paper. In fact, I wasn’t sure I hadn’t imagined her speaking. I mean no one else seemed to have heard her so I must have, right?
Making a wide berth of the two weirdos, I crossed over to where my grandparents were sitting. As I sat down, joining them on the sofa, I did what I always do when I’m nervous, I cracked my knuckles until a gross popping sound could be heard. My grandmother placed her arm protectively around my shoulders.
I took this opportunity to have a closer look at these interlopers to my grandparent’s house. I looked at their eyes, they both had surprisingly nice-looking eyes, with little laughter lines at the edges and although their faces were snow white, their lips were full and lush with the deepest red colour to them, it looked as if they had applied lipstick on only seconds before; it was such a fresh, bright colour.
“Orianna, I need to introduce these…people to you,” my grandfather said, choking on the word ‘people’. “These are your parents, and they would like you to go and live with them.”
I sat stunned into silence. All I could do was stare with my mouth wide open at these two virtual strangers who held no resemblance to me or my grandparents. Besides, they looked way too young to be parents of a seventeen-year-old.
“So finally, you remembered you had a daughter?” I muttered sarcastically.
“Where are your manners?” snapped my nanna.
“Overseas, looking for them,” I answered rudely. Let’s face it, I wasn’t in the mood to be nice.
“It’s wonderful to see you, Orianna,” my mother said with a smile. “I know you must be upset with us, and we can explain.”
“How about giving us a hug?” my father added. “We have missed you.”
I didn’t want to hug them, but for some reason, I had this overwhelming urge to do as he asked. As I started to get to my feet, my grandparents grabbed hold of my arms and pulled me gently, back down onto the sofa.
“There’s no need for that,” gramps asserted forcefully. “You can’t expect the girl to run into your arms after all these years; you’re complete strangers to her now.”
“She’ll have to get over that, and fast,” Dad responded. “We will be moving on again in a few days, and she will be with us.”
“No,” cried out my nanna. “You can’t take her.”
“SILENCE,” roared my father. “There is no other way.”
It was at this point that I started to lose my temper. How dare these people come into my grandparents’ home, the place I had lived in for my whole life, where I felt safe, loved, looked after, even occasionally nagged in, and proceed to tell me that I would be leaving?
“Hey, you do remember that I’m here and I have a say in this,” I interjected as the adults started to square off for a yelling match. “How about that explanation you said you had.”
They exchanged looks, it was obvious that they had forgotten I was there listening to their bickering; they even looked a little ashamed.
“We have a lot to discuss,” gramps mumbled. “I suppose you will need somewhere to stay,” he added ungraciously.
“You will stay here with us, of course,” my nanna said suddenly remembering that her manners hadn’t gone overseas with mine.
“Thank you, Mum,” my mum spoke up before Dad could say anything. “We will be delighted. Let me help you get the spare room ready.”
Both of them bustled out of the room, Nanna scurrying like a little mouse and Mum gliding like a swan on a lake. How they could be mother and daughter was beyond me; they were so very different. That left Dad and gramps standing there glowering at each other, until my father decided he’d had enough.
“I will just go out and get our bags and take them to your mother, Orianna,” pointedly ignoring gramps.
He glided out just as Mum