Rayne Bolivantic

Chapter One

Did I go deaf? Holy hell, I couldn’t hear a thing. They were all laughing and chatting it up around me – about 400 people filled the foyer of my three story house. Vampires, lycans, wiccans; they were all here guzzling down my mother’s catered food. They were all gathered here tonight waiting, waiting for me to ascend into some higher being. A deaf one! All I could hear was my deep breathing. Wait, would I be able to hear that if I was deaf?

Clear and crisp from behind me, “It’s almost time.” My boyfriend Lance’s words cut through the silence and then brought all the other voices back to life. Okay, so I wasn’t deaf – just insane.

I took yet another deep breath as his fingers linked through mine, his body pressing against my back.

Ok, so today, well technically tomorrow (5 minute and 34 seconds from now) is my 17th birthday. Seventeen in my world is a pretty big number, and I mean big as in important. An immortal’s seventeenth birthday is the day their life as an active immortal member in society starts. We spend most of our adolescent lives training, more like prepping, for the amazing beings we’re gonna be in the future. Well my future’s in 4 minutes and 17 seconds.

Alright, so if you asked any other person in this state if his or her seventeenth birthday was momentous they’d say yes, but not with as much enthusiasm as me. To them it’s just like a baby step up, something that just happens. It’s normal. Well it is, but not when you’ve spent your entire life not knowing what you were meant to be.

From birth an immortal knows what they’re gonna ascend in to. If you’re the offspring of a vampire, then you’ll ascend into a vampire. If you’re the offspring of a lycan, then you’ll ascend into a lycan. The same goes for wiccans, except there are rankings. 1st degree wiccans do pretty mediocre stuff. They can barely brew a proper potion or create a decent spell, but they’ve got down most of the basics. 2nd degree wiccans are average and can do a bit above the basics. Then you’ve got your 3rd degree wiccans who are pretty special. They do all the cool witchcraft stuff you hear about. Well yea, back to the point…

You know what you are based on your parent,s and mixing the breeds is genetically impossible, so there’s no ‘Are you a lycan like your daddy or a wiccan like your mommy?’ Well little ol’ me was found ditched in the back of an immortal club owned by my current parents Natalie and Marcus Bolivantic. These two practically own every immortal establishment… in most of the world. They run the place, I’m not sure exactly how, but they do.

Well they found me two months old and equipped with a birth certificate registered to Blood Crest Memorial Hospital. I was born here on immortal soil. Yea, so they took me in, raised me as their own, and enrolled me into Bolivantic Academy. Mom had Lauraine, my sister, 2 months after she found me, so I had a companion through my early years. She became a little hateful toward me though, hating that I’m treated as if I were her real sister. I mean mom and dad even call me their first born. Well this just explains why Lauraine was making even more of a mockery of my birthday by running this bet and collecting pool money.

Over 300 people had already made bids on whether I was going to be a vampire, lycan, or witch. Right now I think that vamp was in the lead with wiccan following behind and lycan in close third. Uncle Matt threw in ‘human’ as horrid gag bet. Personally I just pray I don’t come out a first degree wiccan, which I’m expecting. I mean I wish we could’ve just figured this out ahead of time, but basically every immortal’s blood is pretty much in a neutral state before they ascend, so there was no point in testing.

It was 2 minutes until October 18, 2017. I could barely contain myself. Lance, my lycan boyfriend, was practically squeezing my hand off now. Deep down I knew he wanted me to be a lycan even though he said he’d be fine with whatever I became. I guess I understand his worry. I f I Wasn’t a lycan that meant no kids, not that I’m considering that any time soon, but society is a little tougher on immortals of different kinds getting involved. Not everyone has to reproduce and it’s not hurting anybody. If that’s the case, I don’t see why we can’t just do what we want.

I glanced across the elegantly decked foyer; the mini bar in the back left hand corner next to our long wall fountain was being restocked as my mother made her way across the foyer with a martini in her hand. She wore a long, champagne colored, silk dress that rippled graciously along her curves all the way down the floor. It dipped low in the front tying around her neck and exposing a gracious amount of her back, the fabric returning where her petite butt started. She gave me a nervous smile as she stepped in front of the long wooden dining table separating us. With crossed fingers she looked down at my all vanilla, rose petal decorated cake. She wanted me to be a vampire so badly; you know wanting to keep the line intact and all. Dad, I don’t think he cared all that much. I mean he just loved me and today was just like any other day to him, a day to make new clients. He was probably in the back speaking with some right now.

“Ten, nine, eight,” They all started counting down to 12 pm. Yep, the sun was out and everything. “…seven, six, five, four, three, two, ONE!”

My eyes immediately clamped shut. Nothing happened. I lifted one open, it darted around observing the faces. Was this normal? They all stared back at me, waiting. Oh my dear son of Lucifer. Maybe I was worse than a first degree wiccan. They kept staring, they kept waiting… something please happen!

I took a deep breath as they all held theirs… then suddenly it must’ve dawned on them as their looks of anticipation turned into those of horror… Lauraine who had been guzzling drinks down at the bar had even paused, her jaw dropped before it curled up into a more than satisfied smile.

Looks like Uncle Matt would be taking home over eight grand.

I was human…

Chapter Two

It’s been a week now and all I’ve been doing with my human self is sitting alone in my room trying to play my DX1 Dreadnought acoustic guitar – trying and failing horribly. This was so utterly depressing. What was I supposed to do with myself? I should probably just stay here – locked up in my room kept from the world that I’ve grown up knowing and living in. Maybe they’ll just ship me out across the border, drop me off in New Jersey or Connecticut, the human states. I wasn’t fit for New York no matter who my adoptive parents were.

I played another violent chord on my guitar thinking of how supportive Lance has been. He’s visited me every day since my birthday treating me the same, but differently. I couldn’t really explain it. Once again, another violent chord as I thought of my sister telling me to suck it up.

There was a snap and boing just before my hands shot up to my left eye. Mother father! My E string had gone haywire snapping off the guitar and whipping me in the eye. Ok, so new eye and new strings. I’ll just put that on the checklist.

Slightly fearful and a little pissed, I placed my guitar at the far side of my bed, scolding it. It knew about me and it was being mean. Gosh Rayne, stop being crazy. Taking a deep breath, I shook my head rubbing my eyes and ruffling my curly hair. By the time I looked back up my mother was standing in the doorway.

Her wardrobe went along perfectly with my room. She wore white, four-inch, Versace heels that blended in with my white wood floors. The white of her shoes fit with the large white bow that tied in the back of her knee high black pencil dress, the same clean black with a touch of white basically matching the 2 dressers and tall armoire I had in my room. My queen sized bed was in the center of it all with silver, silk sheets and a plush, dark red comforter. My mother too had on silver: her studs; and dark red: her lips.

She walked over to my bed with a serene smile, removing my guitar from its edge and placing it back on its stand in the corner of the room.

“Sweetie.” She smiled, taking the guitars place and taking my hands in hers. Oh God, here it comes. They were getting rid of me. God, maybe that was best. What use would I have here? “Don't worry darling, when your senior year starts in November you'll still be attending Bolivantic Academy.”

"Mom, I can't--" I started. I know she wanted things to be normal, but that couldn’t possibly work out. Yea, I’ve been acing all of my classes. They were all prep classes, just a broad range of things to prepare me for what I was gonna be, but senior year was about putting it all to real use. The super advanced stuff. I just wouldn’t be capable of doing that. They don’t have a human course there. I wouldn’t fit anywhere.

"Yes you can and you will!" she said losing her cool. Even a piece of her jet black hair had come loose from her tight ponytail. Her pale cheeks became extremely red; something my milk chocolate skin did not do easily. "I own this school! I practically own this bloody world! You will be attending!" Mom could really lose it sometimes. She was really sweet, but pissing her off would be a huge mistake. Still, this was crazy.

"What classes do you expect me to take mom...Home Economics? This isn't going to work." I continued pulling my hands from hers and slapping them down on my Indian style legs.

"Listen to me. I can't explain what happened on your birthday or what didn't happen, but you are not human. Someone would've been able to tell before this...and besides the certificate that came with you was authorized at an immortal hospital." She took my hands again and this time grabbed ‘em tight. “You are going to that school and you are going to excel. You’ve never thought anything little of yourself and I don’t expect you to start now.”

I stared back at her almost wanting to cry. There was just the biggest knot in my chest. I was scared. I’ve never doubted myself before, but this was just so much. “Ok Mom, whatever you say.”

She gave me a sweet smile, her flawless, still late 20s looking features glowing. Kissing my forehead she left. Then came Lance.

He immediately scooped me up in his arms, not allowing me to sit in shame on my bed. So we stood beside it as he pressed his lips gently against mine, his hands running along my back. I ruffled what I could of his short black hair that stopped neatly just above the ears.

I sighed pulling his arms from around me and plopping back down on the bed. “She’s in denial!” I exclaimed falling back on my pillows in distress. “She’s making me go back to school!”

"Well, no complaints here." he said in relief as he moved my legs aside, sitting, and then placing them on top of his lap rubbing my bare calves and shins. "This means I still get to see you."

"Are you crazy?!" I gasped in disbelief. "It's like a sin to be with a human. I'd be considered your little lapdog and--"

He shut me up. "Listen I love you and I don't care wh-"

"NO!" I yelled. "Everyone's gonna think you're dirt. Your parents would have a fit...they'd kill me if I wasn't the daughter of Natalie and Marques." He knew it was true. This was so freaking insane. I was gonna lose Lance too.

"Well let's just be happy you are." he said in a light tone...This was not something to be taken lightly.

"You-" I didn't get to finish my sentence because he leaned over and kissed me, deeper than before. I pulled away too early for his liking.

"Natalie and Marques can pop in at moment." I muttered, mind kinda cloudy.

Lance nodded in understanding giving me one more quick kiss.

I smiled flipping on the flat screen wall plasma to the left of my bed. Lying down on my side, Lance molded himself behind me propping himself up on an elbow as his other hand rested on my waist. Every now and then he would play with my hair or lightly kiss my head. Surprisingly, all that did was make my heart sink.

I thought back to my birthday; how he tried to hide the pain my human discovery had caused him. That hold he had on my hand had tightened in anticipation and shock then loosened in disappointment. I love him and I hope he keeps on loving me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Marques let out an unnecessarily loud throat clear at the door.

"Daddy!" I said startled, realizing that Lance's once innocent hand was now massaging my leg. My heart jumped as the two of us shot up.

Lance cleared his throat standing attentively. “Hello Mr. Bolivantic.”

Dad straightened his black, Armani suit’s tie, glaring. "Good afternoon Mr. Sheppard.”

Oh great, he was using formalities. Just call him Lance!

Eyes still on Lance, he spoke, "Your mother and I will be gone for an indefinite amount of time to Russia and I'm beginning to think that Matthew should stay here with you and Lauraine." His eyes narrowed in on Lance causing him to stiffen even more in posture. I was a little afraid. I mean Daddy could just take his head off... no questions asked.

"No need for Uncle Matt, Dad." I said standing as well. "You can trust us." I placed my hand on Lance’s shoulder coolly.

My dad was still staring Lance down. Letting out a short humph, he continued, "Fine. Well I'll be visiting the Ishloviks in Russia. They own quite a few attractive settlements that I have my eye on."

I was never quite sure why Dad told me all of this. I mean I don't give a damn about any settlements.

"Ok Dad." I said with a forced smile.

He nodded and left.

Lance immediately took a breath, probably his first since my dad came in here. “Your pops scares the shit outta me.”

I chuckled. “My mother’s the real one to fear.”

“Yet she’s not the one trying to kill me with her eyes.” His eyes never left my doorway as if expecting my dad to pop back in at any second with a flaming, silver sword. “I think I’m gonna get out of here babe. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gave me a quick kiss leaving.

I rolled my eyes playfully plopping back down on the bed.

Chapter Three

November 22, 2017. Monday Evening. A dim and early 6pm.

I sat up and stretched for a bit before getting out of bed. I felt like crap and was so not ready for school. I still can’t believe this is actually happening. For the past month I’ve been trying to get the crazy idea into my head, but I was still basically on the ‘This is Insane’ platform.

I took a deep breath. A nice shower and good breakfast should help me a little right?

I stepped into my bathroom. Well it was more Lauraine’s; she did the decorating. The color scheme was peach, pink, soft yellow, and lavender. The six-seating jet tub on the other side of our striped half -wall was a shiny, chrome-like pink with a collection of colored bubble baths along its edge. I entered the large glass shower we had, passing by the polka dotted sink and peach toilet. Oh did I mention that all the water in here was lavender?

About 5 minutes into my shower her voice shot through the door accompanied by banging. “Are you washing your hair again?! Get out! I don’t wanna be late for school!”

Late? She had a car and school was only a 15 minute walk.

“Gosh, I’m sorry!” I called back still taking time to work up a lather in my hair.

15 minutes later I was out.

“Finally!” Lauraine gasped pushing me aside to get into the bathroom, her long blonde hair whipping me in the face. I didn’t think anything of it. She’s progressively been getting worse toward me, but she’s my sister; she’d get over it.

When I entered my room the moonlight was shining in. This whole time I thought that I could navigate through the darkness because of the blood in me. Of course as a full grown immortal I’d be able to see in the darkness perfectly, but even as an adolescent one I would be able to see better than a human… but what I’m seeing now is the way a human would see it. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought. Or maybe the moon just had sympathy for me. Maybe everything up there already knew and maybe the moon just shone extra bright for me.

I collapsed onto my bed once again in depression. I need to stop this. I need to quit feeling sorry for myself, even though I am pretty pathetic. Ugh no. No, no, no. The moon needed to quit it if that was the case. I’d do just fine on my own. I’d get through this.

I dropped my towel as I got up walking over to my dresser: black bra, black panties. Then I travelled into my walk-in closet. Ok, so something inconspicuous. Yea right, as if people are just gonna let probably the only human they’ve ever seen go unnoticed. This is freakin’ history in the making – a sad, sad history. Then there was the complete hatred factor. Not all, but many immortals have a serious distaste for humans. I’m surprised Lance didn’t break up with me as soon as he found out. It’s practically impossible to have a human and immortal coupling due to the fact that coming into contact with a human isn’t something that happens every day, but Lance and I together would be considered beyond atrocious here. I’d be like his pet… and don’t get me started on vamps. If I was with a vamp I’d be a plaything, and if he were to drink from – I can’t even think about that right now. Yea, well people hear about all these situations from the other side – Immortals that have blended in with society in the human states.

Back to the point: my wardrobe.

I put on an off the shoulder, close fitting, black sweater and low rise, dark blue, snug jeans. Also, after rifling through my jewelry box I ended up with the navy blue, full moon ring Lance had gotten me on my left hand and silver hoops in my ears.

Checking myself in the mirror I left my wet curls down knowing that their mid-back length would shrivel up to my shoulders in a few hours. Really, all I had to do was pin back the front to keep the hair out of my face, which is what I did before slipping on silver sandals.

It was 6:45 now. Crap, so much for a good breakfast; psycho Lauraine was probably ready to go now even though school doesn’t start until 7:10. It was literally a five minute drive away.

I hurried down the stairs anyway, looking around our foyer. Where was she? I walked along to the back of the house entering our chrome kitchen. Her keys weren’t even on the counter. She left me. Boy I couldn’t wait until my car was shipped in from Italy. I’d just ram it right into her little hot pink buggy. She had no reason to be acting like such a bitch.

Pretty pissed, I grabbed a strawberry pop tart on my way out, exiting our three-story mansion. Rolling my eyes at the empty space in our driveway, I walked through our white gate and headed down the short road that led to the rest of our development. You see, being the family we are gets us special treatment. We had the largest yard, house, pool, and because of this road here we had privacy.

As I continued down the street I noticed a “With a Snap of Your Fingers” moving truck pulling up in front of one of the finest houses next to ours. A large three-story with many business-made rooms located in the back. They had wicked living room space. It was closed off from the rest of the house. Three doors led into it from different locations, but it wasn’t openly connected to anything. My best friends and I used to have sleepovers in the empty place all the time.

Well some skinny brunette woman seemed to be the owner. Her hair fell in waves around her face and past her shoulders as she stood in the driveway, in an outfit very much like one my mother would wear, trying to force keys into some guy’s, presumably her son’s, hand. He wore a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans and looked around my age – well most immortals look around my age, mainly vamps because they age the slowest, but there’s always a hint of maturity in an older immortal. Well I could tell that he had already ascended; he was gorgeous. That kind of beauty is usually a vampire characteristic.

Eventually the mother gave up on the battle of the keys and as I continued past the house the boy looked up at me. His dirty blonde hair complimented his gray eyes. They were pretty alluring, but not enough to distract me from how annoyed I was with the outside world right now.

I turned my head a little rudely quickening my pace a bit.

“Hey!” he called out jogging over to my side. “Do you happen to be going to Bolivantic Academy by any chance?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. Was he messing with me? “What, do I have a sign written on my head or something?”

He looked a little taken aback, but maybe like he was actually wondering whether I was going there or not. He must be the only one in this neighborhood who doesn’t know I’m human. “Uh no, I mean of course you go to Bolivantic Academy. Everyone here has or does. What I meant to ask was ‘Are you on your way there now?’”

I smirked not being able to control the little laugh that came from me. If he was about to do what I thought he was about to do he was gonna be shark bait. I can see it now ‘New Kid Walking with Human’. Well his looks might save him.

“Yea, I am.” I replied casually.

He smiled, a kind of sneakishly sweet smile that I wasn’t sure what to make of. “Well good, I’ll walk with you. I’m Chace by the way.” He held out a tanned hand as we walked.

I gave it a polite nod then continued looking straight ahead.

His jaw clenched slightly in embarrassment as his hand retreated. “So what’s your name?”

“I don’t think that’s too important.” I shrugged. “I mean we won’t be walking together again, but once we get to school I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”

Another grin appeared on his face, this one kind of cocky. “Popular huh?” I couldn’t quite decipher the look on his face. I mean I was only seeing it from my side view, but it was… proud almost? He didn’t seem to care for my walking comment. Psh, well he’d be perfectly fine with it later once he found out he was walking with the wrong kind of celebrity.

“Very.” I retorted with false enthusiasm. I could now see the school in the distance. The place get’s bigger every year: four floors of classes, ranging from math to combat. We even utilized the floor underground.

Chace, also looking ahead, spoke in the silence. “It's funny all the rumors you hear about your new town or school." I was unresponsive, but he continued. “I mean are any of them true?”

I really just wanted to be left in my thoughts. I mean the school was right freakin’ there. I needed time to mentally prep myself. I did not want to be talking to this guy right now. “Are any of what true?” There was a bit of irritation seeping through.

“The rumors.” He stated.

“For example.” I replied with a sigh.

“Like the human. It’s not like I can just go and ask the Bolivantics. They left to do some business stuff with my dad in Russia.”

My eyes widened as his cocky grin grew large.

Oh my freaking Jerusalem! He was a direct descendant of one of the five founding vampire families! Mom and Dad were going to do business with his dad! The only true blooded descendants I know are Lauraine and Mom.

I snapped out of my idiotic giddiness once the gates to the school seemed to be getting pretty close.

“I think we should part ways now.” I said with false sadness wiping the grin right off his face. “I’m just looking out for you.”

“Well I happen to be looking out for me too.” he said coolly. “And I don’t think walking to school with a beautiful girl on my arm would do much harm to my rep.”

WOW. What a charmer? Note the sarcasm. Yea whatever, he’s an Ishlovik, but when did he get a rep?

My face transformed in disgust. “On your arm? Hardly…”

He smiled to himself. “So what are you? You’ve got vampire features for sure, but I can’t smell you so you never know.”

By smelling me he meant my blood. Some vamps care capable of smelling what kind of immortal you are by the scent of your blood… it’s not always accurate. Luckily, the school emits a citrus chemical that basically disables this ability to vampires that are capable of it. Of course being the son of an Ishlovik means it’s highly probable that he’s capable of a lot.

I smirked as I looked over our large student body. I wonder if he can handle public humiliation.

All eyes turned to Chace and me as we walked through the schools courtyard, eventually making it to the office to get our schedules; some were of pure shock, some of disgust, and some actually looked a little fearful… I guess of change.

Some girls couldn’t help but to gaze at Chace. I mean he stood there in his nicely fitting black Abercrombie t-shirt and jeans with perfectly neat but messy hair as if nothing was happening. He just returned their stares with a few flirty smiles. Ugh, he probably thought all these stares were for him.

I rolled my eyes, tapping my foot impatiently before finally walking up to the front desk. Ms. Mattie, my favorite secretary, gave me a weak smile that revealed her near human, witch aging wrinkles. She chose to look that way though. There were always spells, potions, and amulets that enabled to wiccans to look younger. Well at least I’d have somebody on the staff on my side.

She handed me my schedule that I didn’t even bother to open. I just nodded with a smile as I headed back to the door.

“Chace Ishlovik.” Chace said to Ms. Mattie. She let out a little yelp and I couldn’t help but to turn around and watch the almost shameful scene. Everyone knew who the Ishlovik’s were. They were right beneath us Bolivantics on the power pyramid. You didn’t hear Ms. Mattie yelping when Lauraine spoke to her though. Well Lauraine didn’t flash her come hither smiles.

I turned back around exiting the office, and what do you know, Chace was right behind me again.

“I get the feeling you’re trying to ditch me.” he knitted his eyebrows with a little smile.

“You’ve got good intuition.” I replied slyly.