Touching Spirits

Chapter One
‘…July thirtieth, two thousand five…’ I started as my pen hit the thin page of the black journal, ‘…Father says that we are going to be getting a new member in our clan. He is going to be a part of our district, and it has been brought to Luka’s attention that he is responsible for this newbie. From what I hear from the gossiping girls attached to Luka’s side, is that this boy is from Canada, here to play some barbaric sport and wants nothing to do with his spirit. I find that repulsive, our spirit is a gift, not a curse. The boy is supposed to be arriving any minute now. Everyone is so excited to meet this boy, but to be honest; I could care less-…’

There was a knock on the door, I looked up from the journal a closed my eyes taking a deep breath of the air, “Honestly brother, do you expect me to come down?” I spoke knowing that the person behind the door was my older brother, Luka.

“Iz, father needs you downstairs,” Luka stated as he walked into the room.

“I don’t want to go,” I said as I averted my eyes, looking back down at my journal.

“I need to you be down there,” he confessed as he walked over towards me and sat on the bed, “This is an important moment in my life, Izzy. I would really like you to be there.”
I sighed and then looked up towards my brother, “Fine, but I’m only going for you.”

“Thank you,” he smiled and I nodded my head and then pushed myself up from my bed.

I tucked the little black book under my pillow and grabbed my sneakers, quickly throwing them on as Luka waiting in the doorway. I took a deep breath and then heard a car pulling into the drive way a hundred yards away.

“He’s here,” I muttered and then Luka and I hurried down the stair case and towards the front door, where our father and mother waited, “Is it true he doesn’t like his spirit?” I whispered to my brother, but then heard my father cough, silencing me. I looked up at Luka and he nodded his head, answering my previous question, ‘…Unbelievable…’

Father stepped forward and opened the front doors in time to see four people walking up the stairs, looked to be a family, identical to ours, father, mother, older brother, younger sister. Scary, but these people were Canadians, ‘…This should be interesting…’

“Troy, good to finally meet you face to face,” my father announced as he held out his hand and the man known as ‘Troy’ took it.

“Good to meet you as well, Marcus,” they parted and my father stepped back and placed his arm on my mother’s back.

“This is my wife, Jennifer,” my father said and turned towards Luka, “My oldest, Luka, and my youngest, Isabella.”

“Pleasure to meet you all, this is my wife, Trina, my oldest, Sidney, and my youngest, Taylor,” he introduced and I nodded my head towards the family, seeing that the son was staring at me.

“Please come in, we’ll discuss your boy’s future in our district,” my father spoke as he stepped aside and allowed the family to walk into our home, “Jennifer, will you take the women into the library while the men speak?”

“Yes, of course,” my mother said as she looked towards the mother and daughter, “Come along, Isabella.”

“Have fun,” Luka whispered into my ear and I elbowed him, hearing him grunt and seeing my father give me a disapproving look.

I sighed and then followed after my mother and our guests, while my father led Luka and the father and son into his office to discuss business. My mother led the two into the library and I stood in the doorway and looked towards the office to see my father closing the room and nodding his head towards me.

“Isabella,” my mother called and I walked into the room and closed the door. I looked in to see my mother pouring some tea for the two and I shook my head, not wanting any, when she looked at me, “So your son is here for a sport?”

“Yes, hockey.”

“Oh exciting, I don’t believe I know the sport, though.”

“Ice hockey, mother,” I said as I stood by the large window showing the backyard where I saw our security walking the paths with their dogs.

“Oh, um, the Penguins? Am I correct?”

“Yes,” the mother said and I looked back and leaned against the wall, crossing my arms across my chest, “Sidney is only eighteen, but he’s going to be a professional hockey player.”

‘…Ridicules, why give up on your spirit for a sport?...’ I thought as I looked up to see the daughter looking at me, ‘…What was her name? Taylor?...’

“Are you not a fan of the sport?” she asked as she looked at me and I smirked, realizing what this girl was.

“You’re a telly?” I asked and she smirked and nodded her head, ‘…Interesting…’

“A lot of people thing that,” she said with a smug smirk on her face.

‘…They might, but I don’t care. Stay out of my head!…’ I growled as I glared at her and saw her smirk form into a frown.

“Isabella, don’t be rude,” my mother hissed and I calmed down and took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” I muttered as I dropped my arms and stood up straight.

“I apologize for my daughter, she’s um, very-“

“I don’t interact well with others is what my mother is trying to get at,” I spoke truthfully, ‘…Especially those who don’t appreciate their gifts…’

“That’s my brother, not me,” Taylor answered and I scoffed.

“Well, my son Luka will be taking responsibility for your son, Trina,” my mother spoke, trying to take the tension away, “I assure you that Sidney will be well taken care of.”

‘…Ok, that’s enough of this…’ I thought as I turned around and opened the window quietly, ‘…Nice meeting you kid…’ I knew she was still listening to me, even when I slipped out the window and jumped to the gravel ground.

I walked the path to the woods, nodding my head towards the guards that I passed and petting the heads of each dog that came up to me. I ran into the woods, stripping each piece of clothing as my pace quickened. I found a log further up the path and jump onto it and flew through the air, landing onto the grounds on all four paws. I enjoyed shifting, having the wind blowing through my fur, feeling the leaves beneath my pads, smelling the scent of adventure each time I took my place out here. I caught the scent of a rabbit and decided that it was time for a race.

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Let me start from the beginning. Erase what you know about the world, most of it is false, conspiracies and cover ups do exists, there are creatures that go bump in the dark, and humans are NOT on the top of the food chain. We are.

My name is Isabella Santarelli, I’m not your typical seventeen year old, recent high school graduate. I’m much more than that, much more than human, I’m one of those creatures that goes bump in the dark, and this bump is ready to take her spot in the family business, officially.
My family and I live in the town right outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, there are five known districts throughout the nonhuman community. If you look at Pennsylvania and cut four lines into the state, making sure that each section is the same width, then you’ll see that our district is from Erie, all the way down to the West Virginia boarder. Not only is my father the leader of this district, he is also the leader of the state.

We are called spirits; we were born special, an animal spirit embedded in our souls. Some people would call us werewolves, but we like to stick to spirits, makes us seem less vicious. There are all different kinds of species of spirits; feline, canine, lizard, bird, it goes on. It’s all different all over the country, all over the world, our state just so happens to be run by wolves. And if another spirit wants to enter another district, they must get their permission from the leader of the said district, hence this little meeting with the family.

In North America, there are a total of fifty two state leaders, one for each United States state, and then two for Canada. I place was so big that they decided that they were going to split it in half and have two people govern it. Once a year, the leaders got together and discuss everything about their states, among other things as well. Most of them like to brag about the birth of a telly, or the kill count of darklings.

Some times, something very rare and very remarkable happens. When a spirit is born, someone of them, depending the spirit, are born with a plus one on their gift invitation, a special power, along with being able to shift into an animal, this person would be known as a telekinetic, or a telly as we call them. They have the ability to either, read minds, move objects, stop someone from shifting, and if they’re really powerful, they’ll be able to kill a person without even touching them. To be honest, they scare me.

There isn’t much a spirit should fear, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing. They’re called darklings, creatures that enjoy the darkness, but have been known to come out into the sunlight. They resemble a vampire, and act quiet similar to them, they’ve the whole blood sucking thing down. However, unlike the vampire, they have a second set of teeth that appear when they’re about to eat, and their teeth are laced with poison, to make the person’s death a slow and painful one, truly horrible creatures. Each district is given a group, a special task forces that specializes in the killing of darklings. Luckily for our district, we haven’t seen many, one or two, here or there, but nothing to be afraid of. In Pennsylvania, most of them stick to down by Philadelphia, that’s where most of the crimes and most of the cover ups happen.

When a spirit turns the age of twenty, they’re given the opportunity, to either, take a fellow spirit under their wing and teach them the ways, keep an eye on them and out of trouble. Or go into training to becoming a part of the special task force that takes down the darklings. My brother, who isn’t really the fighting type, decided that he was going to take someone under his wing. This boy, Sidney, being his first student, his first chance at showing this boy that there are things that he should know about himself, Luka has been given the glue bottle, and he needs to use it, because he has to stick to Sidney like crazy.

However, there is a problem with him playing a professional sport, one that I’m sure my father is well aware of. This boy’s sport, hockey, is a contact sport, if he gets angry, he can lose control of his spirit, he could hulk out and expose us if he’s not in control of his spirit. This is why most spirits do not associate with sports; they don’t have control of their spirits. It’s happened a few times and it was very hard to cover those whole messes up. Another problem is, he’s going to be traveling a lot. Luka is going to be in-charge of making arrangements for Sidney to be in other districts, and sometimes you need to call weeks ahead of time, so this whole predicament is going to be interesting.
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I walked into my room after a good run, I watched from my bedroom window as the mother, father and sister of this boy wish their son a farewell and then leave. He was going to be staying with us, he was going to be learning our ways, and he was going to play his barbaric sport.

I shook my head and walked away from the window, decided that I would take a shower to get the leaves and dirt off of my body, and at least make myself look somewhat presentable for dinner.