This was originally title The Great Blood Reefs and Chapter one was titled The White Moon and started in Australia, but I moved it to Ocean City, Maryland and changed a few things.
Disclaimer: This is an original fic by me, with the help of some family members.
Rating: R for some language.
The light had started to fade as pink and orange colors spread across the sky, while shapes of the land moved against the background. The different shades of color reflected off the water made it look like the sea was changing with the sky. Sounds of dolphins chattering to one another could be heard in the night air, while the waves crashed along the edge of the beach. Seagulls honked throughout the sky, looking for food as they flew over the water. The wind had picked up causing the pages of my sketch book to flap continuously. I�m in my first semester of art at Towson University and Professor Lydale, the head of the art department and my teacher, wanted us to sketch a landscape for our latest project. He gave us the assignment for an over the weekend requirement. In thinking about my landscape, I realized that plans had been made to take a trip to Ocean City for the weekend. Why not kill two birds with one stone, right? So here I am sitting on the beach, trying to sketch my landscape before losing the last bit of rays. I lost all light before finishing the final layer of the sky.
I sighed deeply then mumbled rude comments under my breath, while putting my equipment away. There were lights a glow along the board walk from the many shops, restaurants, and hotels. People were starting to go in for the night and I was left alone on a deserted beach. Pulling myself to my feet, I brushed off my shorts. I was barefoot and wearing a green one-piece bathing suit. My hair was down past the shoulders and it was died in a rich brown color. I had it pulled back from my face in a pony tail to show a round face and chipmunk cheeks. My eyes were a light brown with hints of hazel in them. I had freckles across my face, that have been there since childhood. A pair of gold rim glasses perched on the tip of my nose. My physic wasn�t small, but it wasn�t fat either. I was born big boned and have to do a lot of toning with weight lifting to keep the fat away. My height gave me an advantage and coming in at 5"6, made me taller than some of my relatives. Leaving my book bag underneath a bench, I started down to the waters edge walking along the shore line toward the south end of the beach. I glanced out across the darkened sky at nothing in particular, it was to dark to see anything anyway. The beach stretched both ways as far as the eye can see, with many shops lining both sides of the strip. It also had it�s own amusement park right on the beach. I was lost in my own little world when suddenly the crack of thunder came out of nowhere, causing me to jump an inch of the beach. I saw a streak of lightning hit the sky south of here, noticing for the first time that a storm was coming in from the sea and it was moving way to fast.
I was to involved with the storm, to hear someone creeping up behind me, until they poked me in the ribs. For the second time this evening, I jumped a few inches of the beach, but this time with a shriek. Turning around to jack slap the culprit, I found my sister Pam laughing her butt off, while trying not to drop the flash light, she was holding. She was also wearing a bathing suit, but it was in a deep burgundy to accent her cole black hair. She wasn�t wearing anything else and it showed off her skinny legs. At a hundred pounds, she looked like a model with a lean figure and beautiful black eyes. If I had to actually do a full description of her. I would say she was a shorter version of Liz Tyler
"Dammit Pam, Don�t do that. What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?" I yelled.
She just smiled at me and replied, "Sorry C.C. I just couldn�t help myself."
I snorted and headed back toward the board walk and thinking about the many ways I could get her back. My family was in a class of their own and you can tell by the way they act sometimes. What? Did I forget to introduce myself. Well in that case, your in for a treat. My name is Cecilia Chrysanthemum Duncan and I�m twenty-five years old. I�m also a witch, who comes from a long line of them, why people think my family can be a little weird sometimes. Pam is no exception to the rule and at the age of 16, she has done some weird things to freak people out. Don�t ask, you wouldn�t believe me if I told you.
I just got to the bench, when a bright light blinded me. Putting my right hand up in front of my face in order to see, I noticed a tall figure standing on the other side of the wall. There was a large stone wall separating the beach from the strip and he would have to jump over it to get to me, if I decided to scream or run. But neither came to mind because my eyes had adjusted to the light and I realized that the figure belonged to Sergeant O�Brien. He was the head of the special homicide unit of Ocean City�s police department. He was also dating my aunt, whose currently in the hospital with pneumonia. We tried to tell her not to stay out all night in that last storm we had dancing. But would she listen, No-oo-oo.
O�Brien was wearing a dark gray three-piece suit with a matching tie. The shirt he had on was an Oxford brand that was white and wrinkle free. His Penny loafers were a shining black that made him look more like a lawyer than a cop. O� Brian was six foot with hazel eyes that were shaped like almonds. He had short blond hair that looked chopped and busy. Sometimes I wondered if he cut his own hair with the way it looked. His built was like an athletes, specially one who was on a track and field team. O� Brian was very muscularly defined, with an oval face and high cheek bones. His nose was pointy, while his mouth reminded me of the joker. I kid you not on that little detail, cause every time you see him, the joker pops in your mind. Hi ears showed his elven heritage and were pointed at the tips. He glanced behind me and I turned around. Pam had made her way back to the bench and was smiling ear to ear.
Groaning inside knowing she done something or will do something to gross someone out, I turned my attention back to O�Brien and said, "Hey aren�t your suppose to be on duty."
He raised an eyebrow at me and replied, "I am on duty and what are you two doing here this late."
"I had an art project to do and Pam wanted to go shopping," I told him.
Pam threw some seaweed at me before replying, "I thought mom told you that we were going to be here today. We had planned it for a few days."
"She told me, but we have a case come up where it�s not safe for you to be on the beach after dark," he stated.
Pam and I both looked at each other and wonder what the case was about. We�ve been here all day and haven�t heard anything about any criminal activity. I was going to ask him about it, when Pam beat me to the punch, "We�ve been here all day and we haven�t heard anything about any dead bodies or anything. So why the sudden commotion about us being here after dark."
He glanced around the are a few times making sure no one else was in ear shot before replying, "Captain Fysh has put me on another weird case and it involves the beach area some how."
Pam and I just stared at him, then each other and shook our heads. Captain Fysh was the captain of Ocean City�s police department. He also directed the movements of the harbor and beach patrol. Every time Detective Garland refused a case due to bad karma, O�Brien and his team got stuck with it. How do I know all this? Well because Aunt Victoria has a big mouth and tells my mother everything. Even the stuff she�s not suppose to. Then of course I hear it from my mother, it�s no wonder our family was known as the gossip train.
Being a smart ass, Pam decided to get cute and ask, "So what�s this got to do with us."
I goosed her in the ribs with my elbow and O�Brien glared at her. He just stood there for a few moments before turning around and heading back to a couple of uniforms. He said something to us, while glancing back at us. Rut Ro, knew what that meant. We�re going to have personal escorts on the way back home tonight. Yippy, what fun. Not. O�Brien walked back to us with one of the uniforms and motioned for us to follow him. Pam went to retrieve her book bag, which I hadn�t noticed before that it was under the same bench where I had left mine. The uniform and him escorted us back to the hotel Pam and I were staying at for the weekend. It was two blocks over and it took us a couple of minutes to get there. We were staying at The Holiday Inn Express on 126th street. It was pretty cheap for a hotel on the beach. For a double bed room, it only cost Pam and I $135.00 for the weekend. The lobby was an ordinary lobby, with it�s receptionist deck, vending machines, hall way to the caf�, and it�s elevators. Once we�re in the elevators, O�Brien pulled out of his silence tone and turned to me with a serious look on his face.
"Make sure you and Pam are back inside the hotel before sunset tomorrow, unless your leaving tomorrow, then be on the road. I wished I could tell you what�s going on, but lets face it Cecilia. Your family has got a big mouth and this needs to stay hush hush. The press doesn�t know about it yet and we want to keep it that way."
Pam glanced around me to look at O�Brien sideways and stated, "You know we�ll find out eventually, so you must as well spill the beans now and get it over with."
He glared at her and I commented, "Well she�s right you know."
"Your family is the biggest gossipers in Ocean City, you know that?"
Pam and I smiled at each other, than at O�Brien and said, "Yep"
He shook his head and replied, "How do I get myself into these messes?"
The elevator opened up on our floor and I just shrugged. "Don�t ask me. You�re the one who asked to get involved with this family remember," I replied.
He just glared at me and wondered if he knew that he was getting lines under his eyes from all the glaring he does. Moving out of the elevator, we headed down the hall to our room. Pam opened the door with her key and we stepped in. The room was painted white with flower boarders. The curtains were a deep shade of brown to match the carpet and comforter on the two beds. We had a dresser, which also accounted for a TV stand. A table, one night stand that sat between the two beds and a rack for all the hanged clothes. All of the furniture was made out of varnished oak. In the bathroom, we had a microwave, a small refrigerator and a coffee maker. I walked over to pull the curtains shut and notice that the storm had moved it�s way up the coast. The rain was coming down in buckets and the wind was blowing over everything that wasn�t bolted down. Lightning streaked across the sky like it was fleeing from something in a horror movie. The thunder clapped through the air, shaking the building and rattling the windows. We were in for one hell of a storm tonight, full stop. The curtains was closed and I turned around to find Pam settled in her bed and O�Brian on the edge of mine.
Nothing could have prepared us for the sounds we�re about to hear next. Out of now where someone screamed and a pack of dogs started to howl, causing us all to jump. Pam and I knew that wasn�t a good sound and O�Brian�s face had turned a ghostly white.
I knew he knew more than he was telling us, so I made him spill it. "Ok O� Brian what�s going on?" I asked.
He turned away, got up and went to the bathroom. Pam got out of bed and we followed him. He was bent over at the sink, rinshing his face with cold water.
He was in that position for what seemed like an eternity before he looked up at us in the mirror.
"What I�m about to tell you, must stay here? You family, specially your mother and aunt must not know about it. Do the both of you understand what I�m saying," he asked.
Pam and I shook our heads and he dropped the bomb. Apparently last night before we arrived in Ocean City. Three young women, all in their thirties, were murdered in a mysterious way. They were all friends and last seen at one of the local dance clubs. The bartendar had told the police that they were wasted and had left around midnight. This morning there bodies were found three miles down the coast by the harbor patrol. They were drained of blood, but there was a puddle of sticky stuff underneath them. They had ragged wounds around their necks that were deep bites caused by fangs; like thos of a snake. The skin was then ripped away from the bodies showing broken bone, ripped muscle and ligaments. Their organs were missing and it also looked liked they had been raped and beaten pretty badly just for sport. Pam just stood there with a horror look on her face. I headed straight for the toilet and threw up all my kibble. That was the last thing I remembered.