KINDRED
Book One
Realms of the Otherworld Book
By
Jana LaPelle
Text Copyright © 2016 Jana LaPelle
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. Any references to historical events, real people, etc. are used fictitiously.
No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the author.
All Rights Reserved.
Ebook cover and formatting by: www.ebooklaunch.com
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you goes out to my dear friends Dianna Simpson and Larissa Muncy. Without whom I’m not sure I would have been able to have completed this project. All your kind words, praise, encouragement, and constructive criticism did not go unnoticed and was very much appreciated. To my son Gabriel, you are my inspiration, thank you for being you and for your creative and fascinating mind.
For my family and friends and especially my son for daring me to follow my dreams and supporting me in this endeavor.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Personal Note from Jana
Prologue
A month or so ago if someone had of asked me if I believed in monsters, I would’ve laughed and my reply would’ve been something like, “Yeah, right?” I would’ve backed up my sarcastic retort with, “Maybe in movies and legends?” But knowing what I know now I’m left to ponder why parents tell their children there are no such things as monsters. I mean, really? Let’s be realistic, monsters come in all different shapes and sizes, right? For most of us a monster could be seen as a rapist, or a murderer, or even a child molester. Those are the monsters that most of us are familiar with, so yes monsters do exist. Sometimes, said monster may not look like a monster at all. What they say is true, looks can be deceiving. But monsters of legend? Not so much. For most of us, seeing is believing and I’m no different. Why do parents deny the existence of monsters to their children? I don’t know. Maybe by denying the possibility that such things exist to a child just reinforces a sense of security within themselves. Or maybe, our parents were just following a very old and passed down tradition of denying the fact that these creatures really do exist, a tradition that began long ago in an effort to soothe the fears of children and has been followed for so long that no one remembers that otherworldly creatures are really out there.
What would you do if you knew the truth? How would it shape your destiny, your fate? Most individuals will lead an ordinary life while others are destined to accomplish the inconceivable. No matter what, for most, the truth is hard to acknowledge, no matter what that truth is, it can often times be a very bitter pill to swallow. Being destined to be different, to stand apart, comes with great responsibility and sacrifice, a realization that I’m just beginning to grasp.
Chapter 1
Summer vacation! Need I say anything more? Driving back from the beach I’m left to ponder. My family and I’ve just spent four amazing weeks at the beach basking in the sun. I’ve been blessed with an awesome family and they’re not even blood relatives. I was adopted at the tender age of just one month old or so they think. My sister Audrey was a young adult when I showed up out of nowhere. Mom found me left outside the entrance to the emergency department at the hospital. Crazy right? She works there as a pediatric oncologist and took me in around the same time that her daughter, Audrey, married Daniel. Strangely enough, I had been abandoned with nothing more than the basket I was found in, a blanket, the necklace that I have always worn, and a note. Thinking back on my life I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I love my family, they’re amazing and not once have I ever felt anything but one hundred percent loved and apart of this family unit. Spending time with family this past month on vacation has been bittersweet because in less than 3 weeks I’m heading off to college, a life altering event to be sure.
The beach house we rented was amazing. Every morning we woke up to the breath taking views of the Gulf Shores and every day we spent the majority of our time on the beautiful white sandy beaches of Santa Rosa. Considering that we lived in Kentucky, nowhere near the ocean, the view was a tropical welcome change. There’s nothing like the sound of water as it comes ashore to bring on your inner calm and tranquility. It was everything we had hoped it would be. But all good things must come to an end.
It’s crazy how fast four weeks can pass you by in the blink of an eye. Four wonderful weeks of no worry about school or anything else for that matter, well there are these dreams I’ve been having since my eighteenth birthday, several weeks ago. They feel so real. I’ve never dreamt with such attention to detail and I can’t help but wonder what they mean. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind having these dreams so long as talk dark and delicious continues as my leading man. It’s really quiet bizarre. I’m not sure exactly what to think of these nightly interludes with my dream man and I’m definitely not sure about sharing them with anyone else just yet. Not even my best friend.
In these nightly escapades I’m taken to a beautiful meadow and in the distance I see him under a large weeping willow tree as if he’s waiting, just for me. The really strange thing about the dream is how it starts with me leaving my body and traveling to the scene that has become familiar and comforting. Then there’s the feeling that I know this man somehow, even though I’ve never seen him before, I’m drawn to him. It should worry me how I react to him but it doesn’t and I want more than anything for him to be real. I just wish that I could remember more after I wake. Like did we talk? If so what did we talk about? What’s his name? The one constant is his handsome face. Thank god all this started on vacation, if I had been in school I would be driven to distraction.
The drive has been quiet and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on things as we’re heading back home. Our journey has been long but uneventful and we’re just a couple of hours, if that, from home. It’s twilight as we come upon the Jellico Mountains in Tennessee and humidity is particularly heavy. As night begins to fall, a fog begins to settle on the mountains like a heavy white shroud and visibility is being impacted. I volunteered to drive so Mom could be rested and ready for her first shift back at the hospital. As I look around the vehicle, I notice Mom is dozing in the back seat and my niece Alexia, my best friend, is busy listening to her IPod and texting friends. We’re maybe two car links ahead of Audrey and the rest of her crew as we’re making our way towards Kentucky. As we begin our decent off the mountain I noticed
in the rearview mirror a semi-truck emerging from the dense fog behind us like a ghost at dusk. It’s closing in on us at an incredible rate of speed. Being in the fast lane I try to find an opening to move out of this guy’s path, but weekend traffic is absurdly heavy. Looking back a sense of dread overcomes me. I look over to Alexia and shout, “Hold on!” The fog is really heavy at this point, distorting distances and images. As I look in my rear view mirror again, I see the semi-truck is obviously out of control and about to overtake my sister’s SUV. Mom, sits up, looking around, “Ashlinn, what’s wrong?” She asks in alarm.
Everything takes place in slow motion and time seems to slow down. I vaguely hear the truck behind me lay on their horn repeatedly, sounding an alarm which is already too late. I hear the truck as it slams into Audrey’s van. The sound is indescribable. I’m still trying in vain to find a way out of the path of destruction and praying that my sister and her family will be okay. What I see unfolding behind me tells me that the worst is yet to come. Mom in the back seat is frantically looking around to see what’s happening behind us as Alexia has just now noticed the tension in the air, as the feeling of impending doom settles over us.
Suddenly the play button has been hit by some invisible force as the truck behind us rams Audrey’s van off the road. The attached trailer begins to jack knife going eighty plus miles an hour and before I know it Audrey’s SUV is totally out of control and rolling end over end, slamming into the median barrier, a crumpled mess. The trailer is now air bourn and is heading directly for us. There’s absolutely nowhere for us to go to avoid what is about to happen. My last thought, before the trailer, that is hurtling toward us collides with our vehicle? “Oh snap.”
I become aware of sounds all around me but I’m unable to move. I hear people around me talking and relaying vital signs, rushing around, bringing other people up to speed about the accident situation. I’m oddly numb as I hear voices relay, “There were only two survivors both female.” My heart is breaking. From what sounds like a million miles away I can hear the doctors and nurses frantically trying to save my live as the machine I’m hooked up to signals a flat line response to my heart stopping. Then suddenly I’m looking down upon myself, detached and numb I take in the scene below me, I appear to be covered in blood and my face and skin are ashen in contrast to the dark tan that I had gotten while at the beach. Vaguely I look around and see that Alexia is in the next room and the medical staff are busy working on her. Thank god, I think, Alexia survived. Poor Lexie is going to be all alone and then I feel a jolt and I’m pulled back to my body as an electrical pulse races through my chest jump starting my heart. I gasp for air as everything fades to black.
Where am I? It’s totally dark and I’m all alone. How long have I been here in this dark cocoon? Do I really care? Not really. In one fatal car crash my entire world has changed. Wrapped up in this dark place is not so bad, I don’t have to think. To feel… To move… Nothing…
I’m having moments of lucidity. In these moments the pain of losing my Mom and family is still so very fresh. I know there’s nothing I can do to bring them back. With that acceptance one would think that the darkness should have dissipated, but it doesn’t.
What the hell? Where am I and how do I get back? Darkness is everywhere, it surrounds me. Cocooning me from everything even my senses and I feel nothing but the ache in my heart for the loss of my family.
Now the darkness is pressing in on me and feels like a cage. A prison I need to escape but how? I’m trapped. One thing I know for sure. It’s time to wake up or figure out what the hell is going on with me. If Lexie survived she’s going to need me. Come on Ashlinn, think! You need help, so get your ass in gear and figure a way out of this seriously bad situation. Come on now, focus!
I can’t wake and it’s not like I haven’t tried. My mind keeps going back to the weird dreams that I’ve been having. I decide to try to replicate my dreams. They’ve been so realistic. At this point, what could it hurt? I think about how my dreams begin with me rising out of my body somehow tethered by a shimmering silvery cord attached to what can only be describe as my spiritual being. I concentrate on replicating this even though it seems impossible. Surprisingly without much effort, I can feel myself rise up tied to my physical person as if I’ve done this a million times before and maybe I have. For the first time in maybe days there’s no darkness surrounding me, I look down on myself, Lexie is in a wheelchair at my hospital bedside softly crying and begging me to come back to her. My heart breaks just a little more but I know instinctually that this is bigger than just me being injured. I look down to the necklace on the bed side table that I should be wearing and reach up as if to hold on to it around my ethereal neck. I have to find tall dark and handsome, the guy from my dreams. What’s his name? I’m sure that I should know it. My only thought is to get to him and then in and instant I’m on my way.
Chapter 2
Like in my dreams landscapes and scenery flash past me and then there is a feeling of being sucked into a vacuum before I pass through the other side. In the blink of an eye, I soon find myself in a beautiful meadow. I feel as if I’m actually here though I know I’m not. I look around to get my bearings; this place is secluded and breathtaking. I’ve been here before, in my dreams. My tether feels stretched taunt but begins to relax the longer I’m here as if adjusting to where I have traveled to. “Hello?” I call out. “Is there anyone here? Please, someone be here. Anyone?” I mutter more to myself than anyone else. “I should have known this wasn’t going to work.” Frustrated, I stamp my feet and say a little louder than necessary.
“Are you always so loud and needy?” an exasperated voice says.
“Who’s there?” I spin around but don’t see anyone. “Hello? I’m sorry to bother you but I’m looking for a guy. Can you help me?”
“Aren’t we all?” I hear the smile in her question. “Seriously, is that the best you’ve got? I mean really? I’m looking for a guy? Duh, who isn’t?” The voice came from the shore of the pool of water to my left.
“I’ve met him here before in my dreams, or at least I think it was in my dreams and I think he may be able to help me.” I continue to look around but have yet to see another person. “Can you please show yourself, I just need…?” I sigh. “That’s the problem, I don’t know what I need or what’s going on but I think the man from my dreams may be able to help.” I say, hating that I sound like such a helpless twit.
Giggling ensues and I catch sight of what can only be a sprite bent over at the waist laughing from behind the large rock at the water’s edge, “You’re looking for the man of your dreams to solve all your problems. That’s just rich!” she continues to giggle as she clutches her sides.
She’s only, maybe, six inches tall with silvery wings, long wavy hair that reaches almost to her feet so dark black that I see midnight blue highlights. She has brilliant crystal blue twinkling eyes in the setting of pixie like features with the most luminescent complexion I have ever seen. Her skin looks like it sparkles in the sunlight. Suddenly, she’s up and fluttering her wings until she is hovering right in front of my face.
“Alaric has tasked those of us who live here to let him know of any odd or unusual things happening here but I don’t recall Alaric ever saying anything about someone like you to me. Can you describe your dream man to me? Does he have a name?” she stifles yet another giggle.
In an effort to be civil I say, “You… are very pretty. Are you a sprite? By the way, my name is Ashlinn. What’s yours?” As I shuffle my feet and look around hoping to see this Alaric. As soon as she uttered his name I know that’s who I’m looking for. I can’t help myself as I glance around the meadow looking for him but he’s nowhere to be found and I’m stuck with the feisty sprite.
“My name? Are you sure you want my name? And yes, I am a sprite.” she says in a mischievously lilting voice.
“Well, maybe?? Why? Are there rules about obtaining a sprites name?” I ask running through all the Harry
Potter and Lord of the Rings movies in my head.
She laughs again. “No, no rules. I’m just messing with you. My name is Jasmine. My friends call me Jas.” She cocks her head to the side as she addresses me with her hands on her hips. Her silvery, glittering wings fluttering behind her and her light blue mini dress hugging her curves. She really is quite beautiful even if she is only six inches tall. She is honestly the size of those Tinkerbell dolls you would find in Walmart and I can’t help the smile that slides into place.
“It’s nice to meet you Jasmine. So, Alaric? Where might I find him?” I’m growing restless because I know my time here is short. I can feel it in my tether. For a time it was relaxed but now I’m beginning to feel it pull tight and taunt and I’m not sure how much longer I can stay. “I really need to talk to him. Can you help me Jas?” I ask as desperation leaks into my voice.
Jasmine seems to consider my request for a moment and then comes to a decision. “Alaric visits here often; I could possibly get a message to him.” She takes a good look at me before saying, “You aren’t here physically, are you? And I’m guessing that you’re not from this realm as well, but maybe you should be.” She looks me over again quizzically. “That’s a rare ability you have, not many people can astral project in this realm and certainly those that can are not able to jump realms doing so.”
I ponder what she has said for a moment but quickly file it away as I realize that I’m running out of time. “Jasmine, I’m running short on time. Can you get a message to Alaric? Can you tell him that Ashlinn is looking for him and that I’m in trouble? There’s been an accident and I’m trapped in a dark place completely void of any light. It feels like a cage and the walls are pressing in on me. It’s like I’m trapped in my body but not.” Frustrated with myself I groan, taking a deep breath I try to gather my thoughts. “I’m not explaining this very well because I’m not sure what’s going on or why I seem to be unable to wake. Hell, you’re talking about realms as if this isn’t the planet earth and obviously it isn’t because we don’t have sprites where I’m from, at least I don’t think so.” Now I’m rambling. I feel my tether pull at me and I know time is up. “Jas, please? You may be my only hope. I know somewhere deep down, like a forgotten memory, that Alaric may be the only one to help me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to come back. I’ll try, but this isn’t like my dream walking, I’m pretty sure that I’m not dreaming now. This is the only time that I’ve been able to visit this place when I haven’t been dreaming.” Before I can think about it any further I blurt out, “Tell Alaric it’s time. Tell him I need my Guardian for my awakening!”
Kindred: Book 1 A Realms of the Otherworld Book Page 1
