Dark Talez Book 1 Red

Inseperable

I turned the radio up as the jagged snow-capped mountains of Mystic Hills came into view, looming over me like a foreboding warning telling me to turn around and run with my tale tucked between my legs, all the way back home.

I though about it, even turned around twice only to do a U-turn on the zigzag backroads of Tennessee, moments later. The closer I got, the more my heart raced.

It was odd...

Part of my soul was terrified to return to this place I once called home for many reasons, but the other part had always pulled me back here as if it was tied to the roots of the trees in Mystic Hills.

Mystic Hills overlooked Grimm Hollow. It sat at the back of the small town and towered over the town encircling it as if separating the town from the rest of the world.

There was only one road. One way in and one way out. The ominous Appalachian mountains too dangerous to travel on foot made the small town even more in inaccessible by any other route.

I drove deeper Into the towering trees that seemed to reach out and pull me Inside the darkness with their long finger-like branches.

The sky began too darken and a low rumble of thunder sounded In The distance. I jumped as a bright bolt of lightning snapped through the dark rolling clouds.

The Dark pavement disappeared and I heard the familiar crunching of the gravel beneath the tires of my car, as specks of rain began to pour from the sky.

Turning on my windshield wipers I wound my way around the sharp bends and twist until the lights of the town came into view.

The town of Grimm Hollow looked like something straight out of a Thomas Kinkaid painting.

Small white houses and cabins topped with mounds of beautiful untainted snow on the roof and awnings. Children sledding behind their houses and the elderly sipping their coffee in their rocking chairs perched on their front porch.

The shop lined main street, with a bench and streetlamp are ever so many feet. Beautiful window decorations and small flower pots sat outside.

I pulled up a large gate at the edge of town and rolled down my window, rain pouring inside my car as I pressed the button on the intercom and waited.

As beautiful as Grimm Hollow was on most days, there was one night every month that it was like a ghost town. A night when No one dared come out of their homes and all shops were closed.

Some spent this day locked in the church upon Hollow ground, and others stayed with their families in the comfort of their own homes, locked down in their cellars.

When night fell and the moon rose to its highest peak in the sky, the town would fall eerily silent, residents terrified as the large round orb rose in the sky and shone down on us. When howls and growls could be heard coming from Mystic Hills. This was a night that many had went missing to never be seen again. A night were, over the years, many citizens had been found dead from an obvious animal attack.

It was the night of the full moon. The night when Skinwalkers were said to be at their strongest. A night when they hunted and would stop at nothing to taste human flesh.

After a moment of waiting the rain had died down and a buzzing sounded through the fresh air that floated through my window.

I inhaled deeply enjoying the clean air as it flowed through my lungs and then slowly made my way through the now open iron gates, up the paved driveway to my families estate.

My family is one of the richest and most influential families in Grimm Hollow. My great great great grandfather was one of the first settlers and helped establish the town. My family owns a peace of the history at Grimm Hollow. A history I'm not proud to be apart of. One that contains murder, blackmail, and much worse.

Our town dynamic was unlike any other small town. Your name and status were everything. If you committed a crime it was swept under the rug or covered up. If you wanted something someone of a lesser standing had then you got it. And if you wanted someone run out of town or to have someone scared to the point that they left, there was people who eagerly took care of those things for you.

The estate came into view and I gripped the steering wheel of my black Honda Odyssey as if it was my life line. The same white stone and black shutters.

The same fountain; a tribute to our family. It held our family crest. A wolf inside a badge shape with a five point star behind it.

Ironic isn't it? Our entire town fears the wolf yet it was a symbol our family cherished.

I despised the damn thing. We feared Skinwalkers so much, yet had wolves on every damn thing in this town. Down to naming the high-school mascot, the Grimm Hollow Grey Wolves.

I was rolling my eyes at the fountain as a man dressed in an expensive black suit approached the car splashing through the puddles that had been created by the earlier storm.

Ross had been with my family since before I was born. He had worked for my grandparents and now my parents. He was a kind man, who along with our housekeeper and nanny Rosa, had helped raise my brother and I while our parents attended lunches, meetings, balls, and galas. Too busy to spend a moment with us unless it was to use us as props to appear as if we had the perfect family.

I smiled at Ross and climbed from the car.

"Ross, oh how I've missed you."

He chuckled and pulled me into his arms hugging me tightly.

"It's been to long kid. Far to long." He whispered as we embraced.

I heard footsteps approaching us quickly and instinctively knew who it was.

"Ross, quit hogging her." My childhood Nanny. Rosa squealed as she ran toward me pulling me from Ross's arms and into hers.

"Oh Rosa, I've missed these hugs." I whispered as I breathed in her familiar vanilla-scented perfume I had relished when she read me my nighttime story or held me after a nightmare.

"As much as I've missed you, the smartest thing you have ever done was leave this place." Rosa pulled back from me wiping the tears that now stained her cheeks.

I looked toward the mansion that sat in front of me.

"Everyone awaits you inside," Ross informed me to which I simply nodded my head in return.

"Come on kid, take a deep breath and let's get this over with." He smiled pulling my luggage from the car.

"Is Eric inside?" I asked as my heart raced to anticipate the answer.

My older brother and I had always been inseparable growing up. We were all each other had. He had been my protector and my best friend. When the time came for me to leave Eric had found Janine and was engaged so I hadn't thought twice about jot asking him to join me. The last time I had spoken to him he told me that I was dead to him That was 5 long years ago.

"Randon is also inside," Rosa warned me.

My heart stopped for a moment and I choked on the air in my lungs.

Finally, once I was able to catch my breath I turned to Rosa feeling my hands trembling.

"Why is he here?" I gasped.

"He was your grandmother's lawyer. He is handling her will. He took over his families law firm when his father passed away two years ago." Rosa explained.

My heart ached at the mention of Randon's father. I hadn't known that he wasn't with us anymore. He was a good man. One I admired and adored.

I grabbed my purse from my car and pulled out my medicine bottle trying to steady my hands as I tried to pry off the cap.

"Let me." Rosa smiled taking the bottle from my hands.

As Rosa handed me the tiny blue pill and I swallowed it I thought about Randon and what it would feel like seeing his face again.

Randon and I had fell in love at a young age. When I first seen him at only 10 years old, I knew that I loved him and would do anything to spend my life with him.

We spent years together. Eight to be exact. Until the day I packed my belongings in the middle of the night and left Grimm Hollow for good.

Randon had called constantly, until I changed my number. My heart ached like nothing I had felt before. Time made it easier but still not bearable.

Randon's face was still the last thing I seen when I shut my eyes at night.

I followed Rosa up the stone steps I used to play on as a child, with Ross at my heels with my luggage.

The large black door held our family crest in the center with a large door knocker at the bottom.

Rosa twisted the handle and the door opened with a groan revealing the foyer of my families mansion.

My Nana had inherited everything when her father had passed away, but she had refused to live such a lavish life, and stayed in her cabin in Mystic Hills.

My mother however, was eager to the jump on the opportunity of leaving her small home in town and moving us all to the large estate when we were still toddlers.

I looked around at my surroundings. As I had expected nothing had changed. Change was something my family wasn't familiar with. Something they refused to do.

"Hello, Katya." His voice filled my ears as it sounded behind me wrapping me in his words. His fresh tantalizing scent hit my nose and I breathed in anticipating looking into his icy pool blue eyes for the first time in five long years.

"Hello, Randon."