The Biker's Rules novel Chapter 1

*** POV - Melaena Blackburn - age 6 years old

"Ilkay, I m going to the park with some friends!" I shout to my brother as I close the front door, not waiting for his response. He s busy studying like usual and probably won t even hear me.

I struggle to get my helmet over my 2 blond ponytails, but manage eventually, strapping it under my chin, I quickly peddle my bike down the street to where the rest of my preschool class is waiting. We re not really going to the park, but to investigate the haunted house at the start of the wood and I just know that my bloody family would for certain kill me if they ever find out about this.

The building previously belonged to some or other rich dude, but it s been deserted for years. According to legend, the whole family disappeared overnight into thin air, never to be heard from again. Rumors have it that they were taken by the devil himself and now a demon guards the place ripping anyone who dares to trespass on the property into shreds. Well, that s where we re heading right now and there s no backing out.

Jason Steward, the class bully, dared the whole class to go investigate the place with him. Anybody that chickens out will be labeled as a namby-pamby, and knowing Jason, he ll make it stick till we graduate for sure. Yeah, I know that s a long way off, but I for one am not going through the rest of my educational experience with a coward stamp on my back, no sirree.

I look to my left meeting Kiara s grey eyes as she rides alongside me and I know that she s got my back and vice-versa. After all, it s not our first outing together – we ve been friends since the first day of kindergarten and since then landed in more trouble than I can count on my fingers. Then Jason drops his bike and walks up to the rusty gate. It makes a loud shrieking noise, leaving a trail of goosebumps on my skin – I m not scared, it s just freaking eerie.

Kiara hangs her helmet onto her steering bar and we walk up the overgrown pathway. The grass is almost as high as our shoulders, but then again, neither I nor Kiara is that big. We might just be the smallest in our class. Axel, a classmate, pushes open the wooden door and I notice some nasty purple-blue bruises on his wrist when the sleeve of his oversized hoody pulls up slightly. He s always wearing a hoody as if he s some kind of spy, the mysterious kid hiding in a corner, not talking to anybody, and always getting into fights. But I think he s a vampire, wearing those hoodies as not to sparkle in the sun or burn to ash … whichever one is real.

The door is quite impressive even though the wood is cracked and weathered by exposure. I can make out the shape of a rearing horse carved in the rotten wood and I trace my finger over the slimy, spongy surface, covered by moss and other fungi before I step into a dimly lit room.

My sneakers stick on the muggy floor tiles as I slowly move deeper into the room. My eyes follow a giant curved staircase up to the next floor and then my gaze moves up to the ceiling where an old chandelier clings in the light breeze coming from the open door. This must have been one heck of a house in its prime and suddenly I wonder what really happened here.

"Can you just sit on your but and keep your arm still, little girl." He orders me, pushing me back. Oh no, he didn t.

"You can t tell me what to do, nitwit," I yell at him but he just keeps on looking at me as if he s going to suck out my blood. Maybe he s a vampire too. Nope, his skin is not pale enough and he doesn t sparkle in the few rays of sunlight shining through the windows. I've seen Twilight and will know a vampire when I see one. But vampire or not, this guy is scary. I give a step back and swallow. Usually, I don t let the opposite sex shunt me around, having 4 older brothers I ve learned to stand my ground, but something in this boy s eyes tells me to back the hell up.

Axel comes back with another vein, but it also breaks. Then the strange boy with messy black hair, who s not in my class, by the way, jumps into the hole and pushes Kiara up while Axel pulls from the top. Then he climbs out as if he s some kind of strong demon ninja. Maybe he s the demon watching over the house. You know, I ve read somewhere that demons have strange eyes, and this boy s gaze is anything but normal.

"Thanks" Kiara smiles at him and then we hear some strange sounds coming from somewhere upstairs. "I think we better go." Axel helps Kiara onto his back, while green-eyes puts an arm around my shoulders and we move quickly to the entrance. As we leave through the mossy door, I look back and see a man standing at the top of the stairs, sparkling eyes shining in his hideous beastlike mess of a face. I swear he s looking right through me. The demon guard is not as scary as I thought him to be, but he sure is ugly.