"Sage?" "Yeah?" She asked with a laugh. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes and let it out. "Victoria came to me in my dreams last night after I begged her to and I think she is trying to tell me something but I cannot remember exactly what she was saying." I rushed out. Sage had gone silent. I opened one eye to see her expression, she didn't look surprise at all, only had a serious face on. "I know," she replied calmly. "You know? How is it that you know?" "The very moment I stepped my feet into this house, I felt her presence, but I wasn't sure. The third night we slept here, I woke up in the middle of the night to get something to drink, but as I got closer to the kitchen, I heard someone singing while cooking. At first, I thought it was you, but when I got there, I only found an empty kitchen. The stove wasn't on, but it was hot, like someone was just using it. I pondered on that the next day, that was why I was extremely quiet. It was after you mentioned Victoria always loved cooking at night, that I realised that the singing voice did sound exactly like hers." I was shocked by the revelation, she kept it to herself. "I didn't mention it because I didn't want to scare anyone or get you all worried over nothing. Judith have seen her too, on the fifth night. According to Judith, she couldn't sleep so she went out to the balcony to look at the stars. Judith said when she got there, she saw a girl with glowing white dress staring at the stars too. She wiped her eyes but when she opened it, the girl was gone. And you know Judith, she only shrugged it off as her imagination." I took in a sharp breath and held it there. "Victoria always loved looking at the stars with Judith, they would talk for hours as they admired the stars." "My thought exactly," ~~~ All Candace wanted was to fulfill the last wish of her best friend, the girl who brought them together and made them the star they were. A simple last wish leading herself and her three friends to a small town they were more than happy to visit. Their lives could never be better, but things are not the way it seems. She finds out a secret that changes all their lives. Discovery that leads to lost, love and a future that is uncertain. Victoria is a powerful spirit more than five hundred years old and there is a darkness that blankets the not so peaceful town. One that she alone can stop.
How did it all start? It started with detention. It was about twenty five years ago, I was a simple timid and fashion blundering introvert, with no friend other than my books, my laptops and my imaginary best friend. I was just twelve, a girl with a natural given talent concealed from sociality until that day.
It was my first time in detention, still don't know or understand how I got there. The principal who detained us had gone to attend to something else, while we died of boredom and fatigue. Then all of a sudden, a girl jumped in front of the class with a giddy smile and a excited shriek.
"Let's have some fun y'all!" I knew her too well, who didn't know and admire the beautiful psycho that beared the name, Victoria Banderaz.
"Tori, can you go sit before you get us into more trouble?" A boy asked with a frown. Tori had trouble following her anywhere she went to.
"Bah!" She exclaimed with a dismissive swipe of her hand. "I have been in here over and over again like it's my father's bedroom. I know that old wench more than the back of my own clean hands. She won't come back, not until every scream of ecstasy is drawn out of her by the gardener. Let's pass time with something more useful."
"Something like what?" Judith asked plainly. She was the second queen bee of the school, a know it all.
"I dunno," Tori said with a shrug, "but I'm open for suggestions, any ideas?"
"Aha!" A girl with big bright emerald eyes exclaimed with a snap of her fingers. "How about music? I love music!" She shrieked with utter excitement. I didn't know this one much, but she was the school's dye freak. She could dye her hair to any colour and change eye lens like she changes her shoes.
"Let's sing our favourite songs, we could take turns and I volunteer to be the first," she added with the same excitement.
"That's a good idea," Tori smiled, but then looked at the girl sitting behind dye princess, "but let's start with the school's she-devil."
Her name was Sage Valentine, the school's most feared junior female. Not because she was extremely quiet with a scary face, but because she packed a strong punch for all who dares her. Sage surprisingly smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I'm not much of a singer, but I rap like hell, wanna hear?" She didn't sound as scary as my classmates made her to be. Her smile even showed the opposite of cruelness.
"Excellent," Tori said with a clap of her hand, "then let's sing my favourite song, take me back to London by..."
"Ed Sheeran!" Dye queen shouted. "that's my favourite song too!"
"Hey! Me too!" Judith shouted too. Sage only shrugged. Tori turned her eyes to me, I almost fainted when her golden eyes met mine.
"Hey, you will sing with us, no?"
"Me?" I choked.
"Yes, you Idalia." A gasp left my mouth, she knew my name. How on earth did she get that information?!
"I...I...I...I can't sing,"
"Idalia, when I point at you and you don't sing, tomorrow I'll make sure you get stoned with rotten eggs and flour. Do you want that?"
"N...n...no," I stuttered.
"Then when you see me looking at you, even if you don't know the lyrics or can't look me back in the eyes, sing." It was a simple instruction but it felt like the words were laced with an irresistible command. I nodded, I was going to sing even though I didn't want to.
Tori laughed, a sound that is worth a siren's envy. "What are your names? Mine is Lady Victoria of Wales," she said with a curtsey.
"Oh, I'm Emerald, mom named me after my eyes." She twinkled her lashes. I thought the emerald was another eye lens.
"Sage,"
"Judith, everyone knows that."
"Alrighty then! Emerald, you sing first, followed by Sage, Idalia and then me. Or I'll just coordinate myself, just follow my hand signal. Idalia, no excuses. I know how you have been singing from your mother's womb, you are from a family of generational singers."
She must have research on me or didn't, don't know. That was how we became friends. We sang from that song to another and another and eventually swapped numbers. From that day, a new bond was formed, a bond between five different girls with different personalities but similar interest. Our hates and likes were similar, our passion for music was exceptional. It was music that bonded us, love that sealed it.
About four months after we became friends, Tori and Judith, the boy crazy ones dragged us to see their favourite band. They forced Sage, Emerald and I to join them to do a challenge that would win us special tickets to see the band's face to face. A group of mid year teenagers who knew nothing else but to look pretty and flirt. Tori already wedded and bore a child for one in her head. Judith on the other hand was ready to strip to get a kiss. They could be extreme when it came to celebrity crushes.
We won the tickets and was asked to wait to see the boys. Hell! They kept us waiting, who did they think they are! I had a curfew to keep up with, a father that would literally stand at the front door with an axe to wait for me anytime I returned home late. Mother would nag me to unconsciousness if I survived the axe. The axe meant "the talk" by the way. Sage was busy clawing at her eyes so she would stay awake and Emerald, ten years gone.
Judith suggested we sing to pass time and it sounded good to us. We had playfully rewritten Eminem's lucky you song, added vocal notes and changing some words to fit the rewritten version. It was something we did all the time since we spent so much time together. While Tori and Sage did the rapping, the rest of us sang the added notes. It was easy for us to remix beat since Sage's older brother was a DJ and studio engineer, he would let us use his equipment and most times helped us for the fun of it.
We ended our song but was shocked to hear an applaud. It was a woman, a simply dressed woman. She complimented on our work and introduced herself as a talent agent. Also sister to one of the boy's manager and had come to see the show. She openly spoke of her interest in us and how we could be stars if we let her make us into one. We scoffed at it and dismissed her offer. But before I knew what was happening, we were signed into a record label two months later.
We undertook a one year training before our debut. What were we called? Vivid Kiss. Why? The director said it had a nice ring to it and gave us a very outstanding vibe. It would also suit the future brands they were going to make for us, it sounded right when called. He also gave us stage names according to our appearance and what we liked. Tori insisted on being called Lemon drop, Sage chose Karela, Judith picked honey because of her hair, and Emerald went for Sherry. I went for what my mother called me, Candy.
Within four years, we were world wide sensation. Our growth was just surprising, like magic. Our friendship never wavered, our love for each other stretched up to greater heights. Sage and I did more training than the others as we were both songwriters and composers. We learnt from others and even had others to write for us too. Our genre rotated around pop and it subgenre; electropop, technopop, dance-pop, pop-rock, poprap and few times, bubblegum pop. We also did rock, electronic dance music, R&B and in rare cases, Jazz. We loved trying different things, like Judith would playfully call it kissing every genre.
We were happy, we were perfect, no one expected what was coming. What happened? Tori died. No one knew or suspected that she had cancer, she hid it so well even us didn't know. She had found out a month after our debut, but kept shut. No one questioned her excessive dark or light makeup, no one suspected when she shaved her head and took to wigs. She was a wacko, so what were the odds? She never grew lean until her final months which she covered up with the excuse of losing weight and excessive makeup. I had only suspected after she wrote and released her first and last song and her tenth solo, Marked. One describing her pain and the afterlife.
Then she publicly announced that we were going on a break to bond, without anyone's knowledge. She made us spend two weeks making more memories and telling us – me especially – of stories her grandmother told her and revealing hidden things of her hometown. It was then it struck me, I knew she was going to die and confronted her. That day she collapsed and all was known.
Her last statement was "my departure would threaten to divide you, rip you apart with force. But don't for my sake, don't ever depart from each other. Love unconditionally, sing endlessly and do remember me. The time will come for you to stop singing, take a break and go to college, meet people and live. When that time comes, you will know. Willow Spring will hide you, Cameroon Lance's University will be your guide. Don't forget, temporarily stop when the time is right."
It made no sense to us but we nodded. I was the last person with her when she crossed over, she had held me tight by the shirt and said under her breath. "Hard times will come, bitterness would rise, but never lose sight of the path ahead. All this I did for the one, all this I did to stop what is to come. Remember the sapphire leafed Oak Tree of White Spring Lake, when you hear and see the word WHISPERS."
Sapphire's life took a dramatic turn at the tender age of six when she underwent a mysterious transformation, revealing her as a member of a werewolf lineage long feared as cursed harbingers of death and misfortune. She spent her years concealing her wolf form, and after her mother's tragic demise, she became. Her sole mission in life was to reject her destined mate, the one who could trigger the ancient curse within her. To achieve this, she willingly jumped into the arms of Alpha Ajax, a descendant from a powerful lineage of gifted werewolves that had forsaken mate bonds in pursuit of unparalleled strength. He, too, believed he could never have a mate. Unbeknownst to Sapphire, a miraculous twist of fate linked her to Alpha Ajax as his true mate. He refused to let her slip away, even though she remained oblivious to her significance to him. Yet, as Sapphire's true nature is unveiled, and long-buried secrets from the past resurface, safeguarding their extraordinary bond becomes an insurmountable challenge.
Lavender faced the ultimate betrayal after discovering that her fiancé, the man she loved most, had been using her all along. He had only dated her to seek revenge against her father and to claim everything her late mother had left her as a gift to his real fiancee. Devastated, Lavender lost everything she owned to him, and her family was plunged into dire poverty as a result. Heartbroken, she fled her past, running away from her disowned father and the agonizing pain. She dedicated her life to caring for the "blessings" her ex-fiancé had left behind. But just when Lavender thought she had found a measure of peace, everything starts falling apart again. Forced to reconcile with her ex, Lavender is torn-he is a changed man now, but to her, he remains an enemy. As her bottled-up emotions resurface, past cases reopening, and his persistent efforts to win back her affection intensify, how long can Lavender's hatred last?
Arabel Lee was tired of her boring life, even as a beloved celebrity. She wished for more, wished to return to the time when she wasn't the only one among her sisters who didn't have a love life. She felt like there was more to her existence but the shock of the truth behind everything is more than she bargained for. With her new powers comes a new responsible to bear the winter witch and protect her from her evil aunt, and with her new mission comes the package deal of a mate. But after years of protecting her daughter, Arabel met her demise, leaving the cold-hearted killer hungry for revenge. The only thing Krystal knows how to do is destroy everything in her path, and until she finds who killed her mother, she will never rest. However, when her aunt asked her to attend a school for the gifted, what she didn't expect to find was the mate she dreaded meeting, the arrogant, playboy but powerful and blessed alpha of the strongest pack and another childish playboy who she has a strange protective attraction to. The new school doesn't just bring her two devilishly beautiful guys, it came with friends and emotions she wants nothing to do with but Krystal finds out that escaping them is impossible.
Xyra Lumina Crescent, first born child to two full-blooded alphas and an alpha female. Xyra is hidden away from her pack, from the outside world and even from herself as she has no idea why she cannot shift or why she is hidden away in a temple to train, train and train. Far away from her family and younger siblings, Xyra sought freedom and to be able to be with her family. But she is trapped and watched by the ladies of the temple of females. A vision of an attack on her pack force Xyra to break free in other to save her parents who would die in the attack, and her people who would be taken hostage. Xyra returns home, but she does not just get the easy life she thought she would get. She discovers that maybe staying at the temple where life was easy was better after all. Who is Xyra? And what is The Last Daughter? ____ ‘What will happen if he finds his mate and she dies?’ I asked the most obvious question. Dad's wolf gave mine a look. ‘Xyra, did you see anything?’ ‘Yes, not clear, but a strong enough warning. He's going to run mad, isn't he?’ ‘All lycans do when they lose their mates. Which is why the goddess restrain from giving them one.’ Which was true. With how easy they lost their minds after losing their erasthasis, it was best they didn't have one. No one wanted a powerful lycan to go wild and wipe out an entire population, just because their soulmate died. It indeed was why they didn't get one too often. In fact, one could stay for a thousand years and not hear of a lycan finding a mate. They usually just fall in love and get married or get married without love. The king was the strongest like I read. If him losing his mate would turn him against the entire population of living creatures, then maybe it is my duty to protect her. Maybe, just maybe this is what I am meant to do.
She was a diamond covered by ashes.... King Dakota was known as the most Powerful Alpha King of all times - more powerful than any other King that had ruled from his lineage. He was cold hearted, introverted and dangerous in anger. Cursed by the Moon goddess, King Dakota had to get married to three wives all in search of a male child that would become his heir, but it was impossible as the curse would only let his wives bear she -wolves. But on a different day, the King meets a lady who offends him and as a punishment, he took her home as his fourth wife. Her name was Shilah. Shilah was a powerless wolf and as a result, was disregarded and intimidated by all. But, when she begins to do things that the King had never felt for years, he began to wonder who she really was. Slowly, she crawled her way into his icy heart and turned out to be something nobody ever expected - a storm.
There was only one man in Raegan's heart, and it was Mitchel. In the second year of her marriage to him, she got pregnant. Raegan's joy knew no bounds. But before she could break the news to her husband, he served her divorce papers because he wanted to marry his first love. After an accident, Raegan lay in the pool of her own blood and called out to Mitchel for help. Unfortunately, he left with his first love in his arms. Raegan escaped death by the whiskers. Afterward, she decided to get her life back on track. Her name was everywhere years later. Mitchel became very uncomfortable. For some reason, he began to miss her. His heart ached when he saw her all smiles with another man. He crashed her wedding and fell to his knees while she was at the altar. With bloodshot eyes, he queried, "I thought you said your love for me is unbreakable? How come you are getting married to someone else? Come back to me!"
Corinne devoted three years of her life to her boyfriend, only for it to all go to waste. He saw her as nothing more than a country bumpkin and left her at the altar to be with his true love. After getting jilted, Corinne reclaimed her identity as the granddaughter of the town’s richest man, inherited a billion-dollar fortune, and ultimately rose to the top. But her success attracted the envy of others, and people constantly tried to bring her down. As she dealt with these troublemakers one by one, Mr. Hopkins, notorious for his ruthlessness, stood by and cheered her on. “Way to go, honey!”
"Ahh!" She was in a moaning mess. She did not want to feel anything for this man. She hated him. His hands began to move all over her body. She gasped when he pulled down the back chain of her dress. The chain stopped at her lower waist, so when he zipped it off, her upper back and waist were exposed. "D-Don't touch m-ummm!" His fingers rolled around her bare back, and she pressed her head against the pillow. His touches were giving her goosebumps all over her body. With a deep angry voice, he whispered in her ear, "I am going to make you forget his touches, kisses, and everything. Every time you touch another man, you will only think of me." - - - Ava Adler was a nerdy omega. People bullied her because they thought she was ugly and unattractive. But Ava secretly loved the bad boy, Ian Dawson. He was the future Alpha of the Mystic Shadow Pack. However, he doesn't give a damn about rules and laws, as he only likes to play around with girls. Ava was unaware of Ian's arrogance until her fate intertwined with his. He neglected her and hurt her deeply. What would happen when Ava turned out to be a beautiful girl who could win over any boy, and Ian looked back and regretted his decisions? What if she had a secret identity that she had yet to discover? What if the tables turned and Ian begged her not to leave him?
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?