Beginnings: Antique, #1

By Arielle Alia

Virgil Thomas married Ethan, a man twenty-five years her junior. After she had their son, Mark, she began to suspect that her husband is cheating on her.

 

But before she can confront Ethan, he disappeared and she and their son, Mark, are cursed by a demon.

 

The curse turned Virgil into a beautiful twenty-year-old young woman. Her son meanwhile can only exist for eight hours each day.

 

Virgil soon discovered that Ethan belonged to a clan of demon hunters. And to lift the curse and enable her son to live a normal life, she and her son must hunt down and kill the demon who cursed them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arielle Alia
• Release date: Jan 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393440376

Book preview

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead or actual events is entirely coincidental.

Find out more about the author and her upcoming books online at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arielle/261797261752

and

http://arielle-ebooks.weebly.com/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This e-book would not be possible without the help and support of a lot of people.

To my family, especially my mother, Mrs. Josefina L. Alia who helped me edit this novel.

To my friends, Macy Joy Ann P. Bilangdal, Magdalena Mangulabnan, Raquel Robles, Clarrise G. Rosal, and Emlyn Serdiña who helped me proofread this novel.

And to the girls and guys of Eternal Equinox who continued to give me support as I embark on a new stage in my life as an independent publisher/writer.

To all of these people, I give my utmost thanks and gratitude.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Aword of caution. I never write for children. I write for readers with matured minds.

My novel, Antique, is not for the faint-hearted. I wrote this out of anger. The anger I felt, I channeled into writing. It resulted to the Antique novel series. A dark, bloody, angry novel about the paranormal and a family trapped by a curse. But despite the anger, humor still managed to insert itself in some of the situations. So this novel could best be described as a paranormal/horror/black comedy.

Arielle Alia

CHAPTER 1

D o you want to see my room? Caren asked, batting her long eyelashes.

Russel swallowed. He may be only fifteen, yet the meaning of Caren's words were clear to him. Caren was eighteen, popular and among the most beautiful girls in their school. Most boys dreamed about dating her, Russel included.

But having Caren's baby sister, Gwen, as his best friend prevented Russel from doing something about his attraction to the former. Gwen and Caren had a serious sibling rivalry. Gwen also made it quite clear to Russel that if he ever tried to hit on Caren, their long time friendship would be over, and she would beat him black and blue!

But since the two lived in the same house, it was impossible for Russel to ignore or even avoid Caren.

Ahm... I just dropped by to give Gwen these free tickets for our football game next Sunday. He held up his hand to show the tickets. He had promised Gwen that he would secure her tickets for the Football League championship game.

Caren giggled.

She's not here. Probably, she has herself buried again under tons of books in the school library. She took the tickets from his hand, grabbed one of his arms, and pulled him inside the house. She then placed the tickets on a counter.

Let’s go, Russel, she said as she began to drag him upstairs.

Caren, your boyfriend will kill me if he finds out I went to your bedroom.

Harry and I have broken up. And I am currently looking for a replacement. Her hazel eyes gazed at him. Do you want to file an application? she teased.

Russel would have readily answered in the affirmative if not for Gwen. No red-blooded male would ever say no to someone as beautiful and as sexy as Caren. If Caren became his girlfriend, he would be the envy of all the guys in their school. His reputation, greatly enhanced. But the price would be losing his best friend and buddy, Gwen.

I have to go. We still have practice today. It was a lame excuse, but it was the first thing that came into Russel's mind.

Do you find me ugly, Russel?

What? No! You are beautiful! The most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life!

And I think, you have also grown up to be a very handsome man. I can no longer see the boy with unruly hair and dirt-filled shirt always playing football. You have become bigger and taller than me. What I see-

I still play football, he cut her off quickly to change the subject. In fact, I have been playing with the Random Football club as a striker for one season now. He was Random's youngest recruit.

I know. And you no longer play like a child. You play like a man. Her gaze left his face and travelled down to his pants.

Russel colored. Despite trying to leave, that part of his body was telling Caren what he really wanted. His faded jeans had now become very tight.

The strength of character Russel used to prove his detractors were wrong seemed to have left his body. His mind that enabled him to outplay other players bigger, older and much more experienced than him had turned to mush. He now found himself helplessly following Caren to her room. Raging hormones had trumped everything else!

Caren locked the door after they had entered her room. Russel's throat felt dry. She giggled and finally let go of his arm. Russel found himself rooted on the floor. Despite the small voice telling him to leave, he knew escape was no longer an option.

Caren stood before her bed, and slowly began taking off her clothes. Russel's eyes followed her movements, his breath becoming fast as each part of Caren's beautiful body was revealed to him.

When she finally stood naked before him, she motioned to him with her finger to come near.

Russel's mind had flown out of the window. What reigned now inside his mind and body was the uncontrollable passion of youth.

He took Caren into his arms and kissed her mouth. Every part of him wanted to prove to her that he was better than any man she had known before!

They fell on the bed, their mouths still tasting each other.

Make love to me, Russel! she ordered him.

It was an order Russel could never refuse.

Virgil was sitting on the bleachers. From there, she could clearly see that something was bothering her brother, Russel. All throughout the football season, Russel's skills and abilities always overshadowed the other football players, making him the target of the opponent's defensive players. Her brother, though the youngest and newest of Random's players, was the one responsible for propelling the team into this championship game. Sports writers had been comparing him to the likes of Reuben Noble-Lazarus and Ken Roberts who both started playing professional football at age fifteen.

The skill Russel showed all throughout the season was now missing. Her brother's mind didn't seem to be in the game.

She remembered that he had been keeping to himself these past few days. She thought his behavior was due to nerves brought by the upcoming championship. But now, Virgil began to suspect that something else had affected her brother to make him play like some inexperienced rookie.

Russel was Virgil's half-brother from their father's side. She was forty years old when she discovered his existence. Despite the anger she harbored for her father who had left her and her mother when she was still a child, she didn't have the heart to turn her back from Russel. Their father was already dying from cancer during that time. And because Russel's mother was already dead, there was no