Descendants of the Zodiac: First Blood

By Mordecai Muleya

First blood, is a riveting fantasy novel of the events leading to the self actualization of the Zodiac Pisces.

Orphans, ANASTASIA and GARY KALVARY, lived a wealthy and sheltered life when their quaint reality was shaken by the revelations behind their parents death. The children are forced to flee from the foreseeable danger only to realise they were always fated for dangerous lives.

TATYANNA is a peculiar Zimbabwean girl who never quite fit in with her own. Once an outcast among her own people for displaying her gifts, now just a reclusive girl in the Canadian foster system. Displaced and feeling as though she is not quite where she is supposed to be, she meets GARY KALVARY she felt an instant connection with. Upon her realising this bond, Tatyanna begins to have antagonising visions of GARY dying.

Bound by tragedy, love and magic; the ancient ritual holding the very fabric of the universe, destined their paths to cross but the will of sacrifice knows no bounds.

Will the children ever come to realize their full power? If so, at what lengths will they go to attain it?

Read on in the spelling-binding, page-turner Descendants of the Zodiac: First Blood!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524610074

Mordecai Muleya

Venda-child, Mordecai Muleya, is a young, creative storyteller. While she is a college student aspiring to one day be a doctor, she also writes mainly in the genre of fantasy. When she isn’t creating mystical worlds, she is deep in meditation, learning more about herself and the spiritual world.

Book preview

Xαμένος

Chaménos. Anastasia whispered sadly into the wind finally remembering the Greek word for fear. She felt the fear almost as intensely and the great sorrow she nursed. She feared life, a long full life. A tear escaped her eye which shocked her, she did not think she was capable of anymore tears. Two long years of crying yourself to sleep could do that to a girl. The screeching sound of tires against the gravel on the mansion’s driveway was loud enough to drown out the music that filled Anastasia Kalvary’s room. Their guests were pouring once again; it was that time of the year. Anastasia stood against the windowsill examining all the different faces of the people who had brushed hands with her parents. Foreign dignitaries, politicians, the wealthy and powerful poured into their mansion. Less than last year, Anastasia counted, but a large number nonetheless for people that had been dead for felt like an eternity to her. Standing against her windowsill curiosity took over the consistent sadness that she had cradled so deeply as of late. She looked outside her window long enough to observe a tall, very masculine, blonde-haired man with ice-cold blue-eyes. He walked towards the front door of the mansion radiating so much power and authority. Behind him were two well built men in black, presumably his bodyguards, cautiously following behind him inspecting and taking in their surroundings. Anastasia shifted her gaze back to the powerful man in front; he was dressed in a sharp charcoal tuxedo. The man looked familiar; somehow; she could have sworn she knew him from somewhere. She searched her brain, but the fourteen-year-old was having a hard time thinking about anything besides her parents.

Her brain had become an endless black hole of nothingness, dysfunctional, ever since her parents died in a car accident two years ago. Their memorial was on this very sad and gloomy day, in the house that they had lived in for so long, raised their children away from the influences of the world they were born into and had lots of memories in. Today was the day she had always dreaded. Vivid memories of them, the last time Anastasia had seen they were branded in her soul forever. ‘God, Why?’ A single question with no answer, as if to show that this would be a grief with no end.

Her mother, Alice Kalvary had always loved history and when she married Ana’s wealthy father, it gave her the means to follow her dreams. Before she had a family, history was her first love. Her husband, Ben, had done anything and everything to make sure her passion never fell short, even as going as far as to gambling most of his family’s money into building an inter new company from scratch in the good faith of his wife’s wisdom and it paid off. Their services and products tore threw thier profits magins skyrocketting the young couple into a wealth unknown to any one man. Ben Kalvary had built an entire empire all to make his wife happy but like any rulers, they fell. Mighty, tragically but loved nonetheless. It was their twentieth anniversary, and Ben wanted to surprise Alice by taking her to the timeless Egyptian pyramids where they had first met unaware that they would become a thing of the past.

Ana!

Anastasia could recognize that voice anywhere; it was her grandmother Penny. She was given custody of the two orphans, Anastasia and her little brother, Gary.

Ana, where are you? Everyone is waiting for you, ANA! screamed grandma Penny. Her heels echoing in the hallway as she stormed up the stairs.

Ana could not apprehend why her grandmother made such a big fuss about the memorial? To her, it felt less like the anniversary of her parents death and more like some strained Thanksgiving gathering. It was almost as if all these people wanted to remind her and Gary of the fact that they were orphans, she thought. Or was it because they needed to find a way to remove their guilt for never trying to build a relationship with them? Alternatively, simply because they wanted to remind them that their parents were dead? In all honesty, she did not understand the purpose of the memorial, all it did was frustrate her even more and made her deal with things she didn’t want to.

She turned away from the window as Grandma Penny’s footsteps approached closer to her bedroom door.

Leave me ALONE, she yelled, I thought I made it clear that everyone should just leave me the hell alone.

Come on Anastasia, dear, her grandma cooed, ignoring Ana’s bad behavior. Normally, she did not condone such a disrespectful tone, but today she let it slip by. I thought you had promised to give it a try this year, it’s been two years, two very long years, but you still refuse start living your life again and be happy. You must learn to be content with what your life is and start anew Anastasia; you never died in that accident. She briefly stopped because she knew she was wrong; some part of Ana did die with her parents in that accident.

I tried grandma but….

Look, she said Grandma Penny pointed at the black dress and stiletto heels she had laid out the night before, on the velvet footstool that stood at the bottom of her bed. She had bought them for Ana to wear when she had ‘promised’ her grandmother that she would attend the next memorial. She turned, and wearing the very face of disappointment she said, And you’re still in your pajamas. She shook her head, I’m guessing you are not going to give it a try at all. She said sounding dejected. Her voice saddened as she walked towards the door and turned to her granddaughter for the last time, My daughter died too in that accident you know, but pushing the world away is never going to bring her back. She uttered emotionlessly, I guess I have to find a very good excuse this year as to why Mr. and Mrs. Kalvarys’ daughter cannot come to her parent’s memorial again. She said, her voice trailing down the stairs.

Anastasia walked over to her bed and fell on it helplessly. She lay there, motionless, staring at the ceiling in hope that it would open up and swallow her. Her life, her hopes, her dreams, were burnt away by the tragedy of her parents’ death.

Their death affected Anastasia’s now twelve-year-old brother, Gary, differently. Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief and when Gary realized that his parents were not coming back after two brutal months of asking one optimistic and innocent question, When are mom and dad coming home? The answer was always soon but Gary might have been ten but his mind worked well beyond him. He knew his parent were goe and and so was his happiness. He stopped having open conversations, all he did was give monosyllabic answers and just like how monosyllables sound, clunky and disjointed; they reflected how fragmented and broken he was feeling inside. Nonetheless, he was never the happy-go-lucky ten-year-old he was before the tragedy.

Anastasia’s thoughts were halted by an irritating whisper down the hallway. Why do people even whisper, she wondered irritably, what was the point? They could still be heard anyway?’ Annoyed, she jumped off of the bed and walked over to open her bedroom door. She peeped down the hallway but there was nobody in sight, though she could still hear the whispers. She angrily followed the unfamiliar voice, hissing insults under her breath. The voices grew consistently clearer and louder. Until she came to an abrupt stop, as the realisation of where the voices were coming from dawned on her. They were coming from her deceased father’s lab. Her anger was replaced by curiosity almost immediately.

The last time someone had been inside her father’s lab was a week after her parents’ funeral. A man from her father’s workplace came to leave all his belongings from work at home and Grandma Penny instructed him not to open the boxes, to leave everything in the lab.

Anastasia slid her slim body through the half-opened door and quickly hid behind a dusty shelf of books. Nobody had been in her father’s lab in a very long time. It looked old and dusty with spider webs occupying every practicle space. A strong surge of guilt came over her. Anastasia knew her dad would have never wanted his lab to be in this state, but because she was so buried in her own sorrow of the loss that she had been negligent of her parent’s belongings, all that was sadly left of them.

The voices were still low, but clear. They were coming from two strange men uneasily standing about in her father’s lab as if looking for something important. She had a feeling, that they knew they weren’t supposed to be there.

Oi, Jerry we cannot start until prompted to, boss said that he would let us know when to start looking. For all, we know Ben’s kid can be snooping around right now, you know. Said the Irish accented intruder.

Anastasia was caught by surprise at the mention of her father’s name, Ben. What did they know about dad, let the rest of the family? Ana thought. The men were unrecognizable; they were masked men wearing gloves and tyvek suits.

The other man, Jerry, chuckled, I know that brat Anastasia will, at no time, snoop around at least not here, I know her too well by now, mockingly he carried, she will never go close to anything that might risk reminding her of daddy dearest. And he began to laugh, a cruel, lasting, horrible laughter. The men had been investigating the ‘Kalvary case’ for the company for so long that they knew everything about the Kalvary children. How affected the children were by the loss of their parents.

Listening to them talk about her family was making her blood boil. It took every piece of self-control within her not to yell back at him. Out of curiosity, she kept silent, so she could hear the rest of the conversation.

You may begin the search, her grandmother has just announced that she will not be able to attend the function again this year. The boss said search everywhere. Boys, remember we only get to search once a year without any disturbances and bare in mind this time the boss is expecting results so better make sure you find something. Our household spies will be alert, and on the watch. The voice boomed from the walkie talkie. The other man with an Irish accent took out his walkie-talkie and said, Roger that. And two men started furiously raiding the lab doing as they were told ‘leaving no spot untouched’. The men tore threw the office harshly and rummaged threw Anastasia’s father’s drawers, and papers determined to find what they needed. Time and time again, they would lift documents or vintage ornaments that they suspected to be of value to their search but then just to realize that they were fakes or folders were empty. After what seemed like an eternity one of the men removes a rectangular gadget which had started beeping.

Oi, lad I don’t think we will find something in here; the energy source seems to be coming from another room after all, it’s somewhere in the house, but I don’t think its in here. He said busily pushing multiple buttons on the electronic gadget he was holding.

After a while both men gave up looking in the lab and hurriedly Jerry got out of the lab while the Irish man tried to unsuccessfully to fix the state in which Jerry had left the lab in but with a heavy sigh, he noticed it was hopeless.

Dude, come out the boss will send one of the maids spies in here to fix it up when we are gone, hurry. With that both Jerry and the other man started running down the hallway.

As the men ran into the hallway, Anastasia felt like she had only started to breathe again. Anastasia dusted her pajamas and furiously tried to take out the spider web stuck in her hair and partially on her face but to no avail, she solemnly gave up. She peered again through the door; the coast was clear. She closed the lab door and leaned against the door trying to process her current discoveries. She could not shake off the feeling that there were big secrets yet to discover. Secrets that seem like they would take a lifetime to discover. She tried making sense of what she had heard a few minutes ago, but none of it matched up.

***

They all sat stiff in the grand dinning hall, emotionless like regimental soldiers doing their obligation. The room full of the timeless women who worked hard in playing life’s dangerous balancing act between vanity, wealth and power.Women wearing expensive shades to mask their plastic, expressionless faces. The men looking on straight forward as though their minds were elsewhere with agitated, swift, trained looks at their watches and then back onto current times again.

A tear was not shed during the memorial service of Alice and Ben Kalvary with an exception of Grandma Penny; she cried herself to sleep at night. Not even Gary cried only after his speech, the single speech to be read at the memorial service.

Gary’s grandmother gave him a gentle nudge when he was to go up to the small set podium and say his speech. Gary had taken a while to write it up and after a few frustrating blank pages, he finally knew what to write down on paper.

Mom and dad were the greatest parents on earth, the best parents any boy could ever wish for. He began his speech, They would have done anything, traveled from across the world, just to make sure me, and Ana were fine. Their love filled my heart with so much joy and happiness. They left such a big hole in our lives. I do not blame Ana for never being able to come here in memory of them because they are still very much alive somewhere in her heart and so are they in mine… Love you Mum and Dad. Gary’s whisper towards the end as a tear escaped rolling down his rosy cheek. The giant ancient organ at the corner began to play again, a slow melodic yet sad tune.

Gary’s speech sent little emotion along the grand room of unfamiliar faces; friends of their parents who came one at a time to give pitiful attempts at empathy for the boy and what he was going through. Asking him questions of how him and his sister had been coping knowing that they would never check in again until next year’s memorial. Some of them hugged him though the hugs felt foreign, unpracticed and stiff knowing that they would be better off with a robotic, emotionless handshake. The world of wealth was a world without a heart.

Anastasia had been sitting on her bed listen to her little brother’s sad speech to her parents downstairs in the memorial service echoing through the haunted walls of the mansion from the microphone. Mom and dad were the greatest parents on earth… He trailed off. Anastasia felt a tear drop escape then her first soft sobs became louder and more uncontrollable drowning out the sound of Gary’s voice.

Anastasia woke up early the next morning. She was stiff, and her eyes were puffy from crying herself to sleep, which had become the only way she could sleep on most nights.

Gary, her twelve-year-old brother, had, for the most part, accepted his parent’s death. Anastasia felt as though it had been easier for Gary since he did not have as many memories of their as she did;as she was older but Anastasia knew that was a lie that Gary was hurting as much as she was. She knew that people grieve differently. Gary was unbelievably strong, intelligent for a young child his age. Anastasia looked up to him for strength not the other way around, to try to find some kind of peace with her parent’s death.

She slowly walked down the stairs. Weak and half asleep she got into the kitchen and sat by the kitchen table. Miss Kalvary what could I get you this morning. The maid asked.

Eemmm…well toast and bacon… Anastasia looked up, but she could not recognize the woman who she was speaking to, besides the fact that she had spent most of her time alone these days; She thought she knew all the maids in the mansion. Everybody who was appointed to work in the mansion was supposed to be approved by her as her parents Will stated.

Who are you? She asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. Anastasia trembled as the memory of those men in her dad’s lab yesterday came into her mind, a household spy maybe? She asked herself silently. The maid was just about to answer when she was halted by Anastasia’s shout.

Grandma! Anastasia cried and out of impulse jumped off the chair and started walking towards the door. Who on earth is this? Ana spat out, losing her composure. If it was a ‘household spy’ Ana knew they were in for a long rough ride. The men in her father’s lab looked viscous as if they would get rid of anything or anyone who would get into the way of finding what they were looking for, especially measly little kids. Anastasia said a little prayer of thanks for the fact that Gary and her were still alive.

Anastasia, honey cool down a bit, this is Vicky. Grandma said pointing the maid, she’s replacing Mandy, who left a week ago honey without an explanation at all, like she just vanished… Anyway hon, I know it was your decision to make, whether to employ Vicky or not, but you have been so stressed up and didn’t seem to care about your surrounding so I thought you wouldn’t care if I made the discussion or not. She said giving a little graceful smile.

Okay grandma, Anastasia looked back at the maid, It’s alright but next time it would be really nice to be counted as someone in this house. She passed her grandmother on her way out of the door and started the tiresome climb up the grand staircase leading to the upper level bedrooms.

Miss Kalvary. The maid called out jogging from the kitchen. Anastasia gracefully turned, should I bring your breakfast up to your room? She held the urge to shout back ‘so that you can poison me?’ But her manners kicked in, and she replied, No, Vicky dear I lost my appetite somewhere in the midst of that conversation. Which was as a sad attempt at being polite too, but she reassured herself others would have even done worse if they found out that they were people who would stop at nothing to find something that belonged to your dead parents.

Ana got inside back inside her room deciding that she would just get breakfast