Vitrian Secrets by Dele Andersen (book club reads txt) 📕

VITRIAN SECRETS

The Healing Méndez

Dele Andersen

Copyright

Copyright © 2017 by Dele Andersen All rights reserved.

This publication or any part of it cannot and should not be distributed, reproduced or transmitted in any form, nor by any means. This includes photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. However, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This story is a work of fiction. All characters, locations, names, scenario and places are products on the author’s imagination and fantasy. No part of the novel is real, and none is written specifically to describe any known or existing incidence. Names that might look the same or situations and locations that might match are coincidental.

Editor – Tamara Hart Heiner

Cover Design – Miblart

Books by Dele Andersen

Vitrian Secrets – The Healing Méndez (Boo 1)

Vitrian Secrets – The Chosen Unveiled (Book 2)

Vitrian Secrets – The Curse Awakened (Book 3)

Vitrian Secrets – The Unexpected Arrival (Book 4)

Coming Soon

Vitrian Secrets – The Chosen and The Curse (Book 5)

Vitrian Secrets – The Prophecy (Book 6)

Prequel to Vitrian Secrets

Dele Andersen

Onslaught 1

Onslaught 2

Howbeit this kind goeth not but by prayer and fasting.

Matthew 17:21

Prologue

Pandemonium took over Celina's existence as she hurried down a set of steps in her pajamas, panting, a little boy in her arms. Although it was in the middle of the cold Scandinavian winter, running with the boy was enough to make Celina sweat. She sweated profusely as apprehension took her over.

“What is it, Mama?” The little boy watched as his mother placed him on the steps.

Her hand shook like she had an intense fever as she tried to open the door to their winter holiday home.

Fear crept across the boy's face like Celina had infected him with a disease. “We should go back to Papa!”

Celina ignored her son, knowing he couldn't understand what was about to befall him. She closed her eyes and said a brief prayer, nothing more than muttering words of, “Help, God, help!”

She turned the knob to the door again, but it didn't move.

“Oh, God!” Terrified, she tried using her slim body to force it open.

Suddenly her son screamed. She turned to see a woman snatching him up.

“No, no!” Celina screeched like a wild woman and rushed back toward the steps to get her son. A man stepped out of the shadows and prevented her from reaching him.

“Celina, can't you see that even your prayers are useless?” the man said scornfully. His face and upper body were covered by the shadows, but she could see he wore a pair of long, light brown trousers. “If they weren’t . . . you wouldn't have come here for winter break. I planned this long before now, and you cannot stop it.”

“No,” Celina said. “You are crazy.” She hit the man with her hands, but her fists had barely any impact on his broad chest. “I beg you, don't do this!” She sobbed the words out amid uncontrollable tears.

“You are lucky, Celina; that's why I'm not going to burn you along with Adrian.”

Celina raised her head at his words. He pushed her aside before she could object; she staggered backward and hit the wall.

“Adrian is only a little boy; he knows nothing of the prophecy,” Celina said, pleading for her child's life.

“Celina, you'll have another child.” The man looked back, his lips twitching like he was going to smile. “You know, I didn’t give the other parents this option—I killed them along with their children.”

“But you can't prove Adrian is The Chosen one, can you?” Celina said.

“Adrian has the traits of The Chosen in his blood, and that is enough for me. The Chosen and those with their traits must die.”

The deep venom in his voice shocked Celina. He finished speaking, took a few steps, and disappeared back into the room.

“Don't do this!” Celina rushed behind him.

The instant she stepped into the room, her heart skipped a beat. Adrian floated three feet up in midair, still dressed in his pajamas. Below him a big circle was drawn on the floor, and in the center of the circle was a pentagon, with several other symbols within it. A bluish light radiated from the circle to the roof of the room; it was the only light in the room.

“Sorcery!” Celina's eyes widened in disbelief of what this man, who she knew very well, had gotten into. “She has poisoned your mind; this is not you!” Celina shouted, pointing to a woman wearing a long red cloak.

Celina's heart palpitated. Furious, she sweated even in this empty room with no heat in it.

“Mama,” her son cried, struggling to get free from the force that had him levitated. He could only wriggle his body where he hung in midair.

Celina rushed toward him, but a forcefield a few inches from the circle pushed her back.

“Don't! Don't!” Celina shook her head and turned to the other woman. She was desperate to save her child.

“Sir.” The woman looked up.

“There shall be no more chosen’ prophecy. I shall end it even if it means ending my lineage,” the man said. He looked at the woman with a determined gaze. His pupils flashed like something else was in his eyes. "Do it!"

The woman opened her palm, and a stone-like object appeared. She said something in a strange, ancient-sounding, language; then a fire erupted from the object, burning upward out of the woman's palm.

"No!" Celina screamed and rushed to stop whatever evil the woman was conjuring.

The man caught her before she could get to the woman and threw her back. Celina slid backward and stopped by the door, her legs and hands bruised.

She ignored the pain, the bruises, and the lacerations on her skin. Celina swiveled back to face her son; the trauma of losing Adrian overwhelmed her. She watched with grave dismay as the man took the stone from the woman and threw it.

Celina screeched like a woman who had lost her senses. The stone burned with an unusual dark fire as it moved in slow motion toward the circle where Adrian was trapped. The entire area within the circle burst into flames. Adrian screamed as the dark fire burned him.

Celina rushed again to the circle and tried to get to Adrian, but the forcefield prevented her. She hit it and screamed with all her strength, but nothing happened. Celina turned to the man and rushed toward him, yelling wildly and ready to tear him apart, but the huge man pushed her back. She fell to the floor like a bag of bones. Celina shrieked, hitting the invisible shield and wailing.

She continued to hit the invisible wall blocking her from her son. Her contact with reality and life slipped away as she wailed.

Celina suddenly came back to reality and realized she was the only one left in the room. She got up and wobbled toward the door of the room. She fell outside, unable to watch her son in the horrific scene; she couldn't hear the boy anymore, only the crackling sound of the burning flames. She covered her ears, squeezed her body together on the ground with her knees bent toward her face, and wailed bitterly.

Marcus. His little daughter came to her mind, and quickly Celina searched for her phone.

"Marcus, Marcus," she said. She knew Marcus' daughter would be another target for the man.

“Celina?” Marcus answered immediately, sounding alert.

“He . . . he . . . did it,” Celina blubbered amid the tears. “He burned Adrian!”

“What?” Marcus spoke too loudly.

“He is coming for The Chosen and any other child who shows traits of The Chosen,” Celina said. Tears gushed like heavy rain from her eyes. “You have to get your daughter away, hide Wanda—”

“Wanda?” Marcus repeated. “Wanda is safe—”

Marcus broke off, and the sound of a baby’s cry carried through the phone.

“Go check on Wanda, quickly,” Celina said. She knew the baby was Marcus’s daughter.

“Sofia, we need to check on Wanda.” Celina heard Marcus talking to his wife.

A weird sound came from behind Celina. She jumped and turned to face the room where Adrian had been. She screamed, staring through the open door.

“Celina, Celina!” Marcus called.

She barely heard him. She was staring at something else in the room. She lowered the phone and backed up.

The room was ablaze. The fire had moved outside the circle and different from the previous dark flame that burnt Adrian. The new fire radiated from a tall, massive creature. The beast’s deep red eyes stared at Celina.

She swallowed hard, knowing the fire must have consumed Adrian and unleashed a demon never seen before from the Abyss. The creature took a step, leaped, and crashed through the doorframe; the brick, the wood, and everything around the door gave way. It stood in front of Celina, and she squealed in trepidation.

∞∞∞

“Celina, Celina!” Marcus shouted her name, but there was no response after her scream. He pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it in his hand. Why had Celina screamed so loud? He was already up from his bed and on his way to join his wife, Sofia, who had rushed to their little daughter’s room.

Another scream followed as Marcus looked at the phone, but this time, it was Marcus' wife. Sofia ran from the baby’s room, carrying their daughter Wanda in her arms. Marcus saw horror in his wife’s eyes as she hurried to his side. A massive, almost eight-foot-tall, bat-like, disfigured demon crashed after Sofia, making Marcus turn abruptly. The demon’s wicked eyes focused on Marcus and Sofia before settling on Wanda.

"The Night Furfur!" Sofia cried.

Before the beast could move, Marcus pulled out a massive machete with a symbol engraved on it from the wall beside him; the logo denoted healing to humans but death to demons. The symbol sparkled as Marcus launched at the creature.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Chapter 1

Students trooped out of their classrooms the instant the bell went off. Wanda stepped out of the school with her friend Tutu, talking about plans she had for the summer holiday.

“This is going to be a wonderful summer!”