Chapter 2: Gabriel

With his gaze fixed directly on the mirror across his room while he sat on the edge of the bed with his legs hanging just a little above the ground in such a way that only the tip of his toe had contact with the ground.

     His room had a unique design, with the shape of a pentagon. It had a ceiling made of transparent glass so that he could observe the skies at night. He looked as though he was observing something important but in reality, he had escaped into a world of thoughts about the mysterious disappearance of his father Marcus Christianson. Gabriel could remember vividly all the events that played out on that very day as though it was yesterday. It had been 11 years since the incident had occurred.    

     It all happened on his tenth birthday. He woke early that morning because he was anxious about all the plans that had been made by his parents previously. He came out into the sitting room but his dad had already woken up from bed. It was normal for his dad to be up early but he noticed a sad look on his dad’s face.

     “dad are you okay?”, Gabriel asked his dad.

     “of course I am,” Marcus replied to his son, using a fake smile to cover up his true feeling “why did you ask that?” Marcus asked his son holding his hands gently

     “I thought you looked sad,” Gabriel replied to his dad as he took a few steps closer to his dad and hugged him.

     Little did he know that his tenth birthday would be the last that his father was going to be attending. As usual, his dad had to go to work that morning and come back later to join in his birthday party, but as the day went on he waited for his dad for hours, hoping that his dad would come back.

     He had finally fallen asleep on his mother’s lap on the sofa in the sitting room. The next morning his dad had not yet returned. Gabriel thought that his father had probably embarked on a business trip and would return in a few days. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and now it had been sixteen years since he saw his dad.

     He had always tried to think of a suitable reason as to why his dad Marcus Christianson, disappeared mysteriously leaving them without any message. Although his mom Chloe Christianson and other family members knew what happened, they all decided to hide the truth from Gabriel because he was too young.

     The Christiansons were a very wealthy family, they owned the largest winery in North America. Marcus also owned a bank firm that he had established a few months ago. The wealth and the winery they owned were just a facade, the Christiansons had been a legendary family of hunters for thousands of years.

     Once a child turns twelve years old in the Christianson family, the child will undergo intense training for about four years after which they were enhanced by a serum that made them stronger and faster than normal. At around sixteen years old, they would become hunters.

     Gabriel never really liked the fact that there was a battle between humans and the werewolves. He argued that not all wolves were out to kill humans, but no one listened to him, so when he turned eighteen and became independent, he left the association and focused more on the Lucid Dementia bank firm.

     As Gabriel grew older he found out the truth about his family. Once he turned eighteen, his father's bank-firm Lucid Dementia was willed to him and he had been overseeing the firm for about three years now.

     While his gaze was still fixed on the mirror, there was a slight but continuous vibration on the bed. It was the reminder on his mobile phone about the meeting he had in about thirty minutes with some clients.

     “oh my God!” he exclaimed as he jumped out of his bed.

     He grabbed his toothbrush and as he squeezed out some paste onto the brush, some of it spilled onto the floor but that did not seem to matter at this point because he was running late for the meeting.

Although he had arrived on time for the meeting, the clients were already waiting for him. The clients were from A****n, they had cone to partner with his bank.

     While he sat in his office after the meeting he remembered about the annual memorial which they normally held for his dad and it was coming up the next week. So he had to travel to Philadelphia, his home town for the ceremony.

     When he arrived in Philadelphia, Gabriel went to lodge at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which was a five star hotel owned by one of his old-time friends Thomas Walker. They where friends back in junior school until he moved to Denver to stay with his uncle after the death of his mother.

      While he was in his room unpacking his belongings, he heard a knock on the door. It was Thomas Walker his old friend.

     “hey Thomas, it has been a long time,” Gabriel said “how have you been?” he asked Gabriel as they hugged each other.

     “I have been good,” Thomas replied, “so what finally brought you back to Philadelphia after so many years?” Thomas asked Gabriel as he walked into the room.

     “I have some personal business that I came for,” Gabriel replied.

     “so how long would you be staying?” Thomas asked

     “just for a week or so,” Gabriel replied.

     Gabriel and Thomas then headed out to the bar to get a few drinks. They had a lot to talk about, it had been many years since they saw each other.

     The memorial was organized by the Christianson’s, it had been about eleven years since his father went missing. They had built a monument of Marcus in his honour. It had been a while he visited Philadelphia since he moved to Manhattan and he was pleased with the recent development of his hometown. Above all he was really happy to see his family members after a long while, he stayed in Philadelphia for about a week before he returned back to Manhattan.

     While he was waiting at the airport terminal for his flight to return to Manhattan, he saw a beautiful young lady, a short distance ahead. Coincidentally he would sit by her during the trip. She had blue eyes that reminded him of the ocean and blonde hair. Her name was Hailey Adams. They had an interesting conversation throughout the journey.