The Vetita Chronicles

Teddy pulled back the side panel to one of the lace curtains in the parlor window. She watched her Aunts scatter across the front lawn in the heavy rain and slip down the stone steps to the porte-cochère where they had parked a beaten-up old Porche. The scene made Teddy think of rats, escaping a sinking ship, causing her to laugh behind her long fingers. Their caterwauling was drowned out by thunder as they floundered into the car, the exhaust backfiring as they drove down the driveway and out of sight.

Turning away from the window satisfied with their distressed departure. Her smile quickly faded as she looked about the room with dismay. The two gruesome women had no regard for their deceased mother's personal items or house. Their lack of empathy was demonstrated by the pieces of glass that cracked under Teddys shoes as she tried to maneuver around the up-ended furniture and shattered heirlooms.

While surveying the damage, Teddy fingered the necklace that hung around her neck, the smooth faceted emerald was cool on her skin. Teddy’s chest tightened at the memory of seeing those women, especially her mother. She had forgotten how beautiful she truly was. The photographs that Teddy had tucked away in her journal held no comparison to the love and endearment in her blue eyes. The smell of her hair, a fruity floral scent of rasberries and roses, unlocked memories from her childhood. For a moment, she was a little girl in her mother's arms again.

Through the tears of her reunion, Teddy smiled at the image of her grandmother standing before her. The woman seemed to be at peace. Her thin pink lips curled up in a welcoming smile as she presented her with the necklace. Teddy wiped her tears on the back of her hands and bent for her grandmother, who clasped the necklace around her neck.

Teddy shook her head and the memory of it all. How calm and collected she was seeing the ghosts of her mother and grandmother. Then seeing them disappear in a flash of green light, as if the emerald sucked them back in. Any other sane person else would have ran at the thought of interacting with a ghost, or even died of fright seeing a room full of spirits, but not Teddy.

Not the freak.

Being a believer of ghosts, and all things supernatural, she was always a bit different then her friends in school. It was not like her grandmother tried to censor her imagination, instead, she would feed it. Telling her stories of the old country, with Ascians’, ghost-like beings with no shadows, that freely walked amongst humans. Or werewolves called Dissiri, known for their sense of humanity and loyality to kin, and yet had a violent, predatorial nature. She shook her head at the memory of one story about an ancient Dissiri who Nonna claimed they were distantly related to through marriage. Teddy laughed at the thought.

Nonna’s imagination knew no bounds.

Turning over an oak wingback chair, she sat with her head in her hands. Overwhelmed by Nonna's death and the apparitions that showed themselves. Her aunts’ behaviour, uncharacristic from the woman she knew from her childhood. She felt sick and needed a distraction. Teddy scanned the room, trying to formulate an action plan of how to clean the disaster before her. She was not able to decide where to start, or how. The European loveseat was lying on its back, one of its beige chenille cushions ripped open, its white stuffing scattered beside it. The marble coffee table was top side down and the dark brown finish was scuffed by a now broken ginger vase. The crack split right through the hummingbird that was painted on it. It laid empty from its chrysanthemums and water, which was now being absorbed by the beige and dusty rose Persian rug.

The writing board was open to the secretary’s desk and the drawers were empty of its contents and thrown to the floor. The once tidy papers were discarded, ripped or crumpled. An elegantly carved sofa table that was located on the other side of the room was still standing, but the Venus bust, that once graced the table for decades, was now shattered plaster on the floor. The only item in the room that stayed untouched was the Amethyst cathedral geode that adorned the corner table by the entryway, the manjula pothos, unfortunately, that was on the shelf below it, was not so lucky. The green and white plant ripped from its ceramic pot, the leaves were torn and bruised, its black soil was dispersed on the floor,

Teddy could feel her throat tighten against the tears and anger that threatened her earlier. She was breaking. Her thoughts were blank, except for the emerald and ghosts and magic and.., it all tugged at her at once. Her impulse was to crawl into bed and slip away from this nightmare. Yet, decency screamed at her to clean this mess and set the house to rights. “I need help.” She said to herself and reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She clicked on the comforting face in her recent call list and waited for the line to answer. “Avalyn?” Tears streamed down her face as she heard the soothing voice from the other end. “I’m at Nonna’s house. I need help.” Teddy sighed and leaned back in the chair.

“Help is on the way”. Her sister chimmed as she hung up the phone. The warmth of her sister's voice echoing in her chaotic mind. .

Teddy must have drifted off, for she woke to the sing-song voice of her sister entering the house. “I’m heeerrre!” The door closed behind the woman who was twirling in a black dress. Her velvet slippers allowed her to slide effortlessly down the polished hallway. Avalyn stopped short when she came to the parlor door and saw Teddy slumping forward with her head in her hands. “If I knew the memorial was going to become a rager, I would have stayed.” Avalyn teases' as she slid her sunglasses into her black and purple hair.

Teddy stood. “I have a story for you!” Her green eyes shined, relieved to see her sister and walked gingerly through the room. Avalyn reached out to steady her through the doorway and they walked arm-in-arm to the kitchen.

Teddy let go of her sister's arm, silently outlining the events of the day, making sure she had everything timeline and in as much detail she could. Her sister loved details. As she thought she grabbed the teapot, filled it, and placed it on the iron grate to the stove and lit the fire while Avalyn rummaged through the cabinets and grabbed two stoneware mugs, made and designed by their Nonna during her pottery phase. Neither of them spoke, knowing the silence was temporary.

Then like a thunder crack in the silence, Teddy began to regal Avalyn with the story of their lunatic Aunts ransacking the place for the necklace. then danced around the kitchen laying out cookies and finger sandwiches she had wrapped up earlier from the memorial

Neither of them knew the true intentions of the aunts and their scheme for the necklace. One theory was selling the heirloom. The sisters both agreed the chain, and adornments would be worth pennies compared to the oval emerald. The Gem was 30*40cm. Clean, with mild inclusions in the stone, and no service chips. The rich green color was deep and vivid.

Besides the silly stories that Nonna had told them growing up, the true history of the necklace was unknown, they knew it had been in the family over four hundred years and passed down to the first-born daughter.

There was always a first-born daughter born to the first-born daughter.

The deeper Teddy got into the story, the more the theories changed to the aunt’s being covert spies, sent to retrieve the magical stone for some underground cult. To stealing the gem for black-market trade for nose jobs and ass lifts to Nonna cutting them out of her will and leaving all her possessions to Teddy. They laughed at their conclusions, easing the tension that loomed heavily in the house.

The truth was closest to the latter story then anything.

When Nonna’s lawyer showed up at their apartment the day after the coroner revealed the cause of death to be heart failure due to age, he had brought with him her last will and testimony. Which she had changed and sealed on Teddy’s eighteenth birthday.

Four years prior.

Neither sister knew their grandmother had done this and when the lawyer explained his visit and read the file, the woman stared at the man in disbelief. He was unable to answer the questions they had about their grandmother removing her sisters out of her will. He was just there to inform Teddy and Avalyn they were now the sole owners of Nonna’s estate, her possessions within the estate, had access to her bank accounts and all investments.

The revelation left the sisters stunned.

Between the bites of cookies, Teddy continues to tell Avalyn that their aunts were visibly frightened once the ghosts of the woman appeared. So much so that Bessie fainted.

Avalyn placed her cup down concerned by what Teddy was telling her. Bessie and Margaret practiced in the craft of speaking with the dead and had created a small business from the art. Specializing in grief seances, summoning the spirit of the deceased for one final goodbye, or message to their loved ones.

Avalyn listened intently, her eyes tearing at the mention of their mother. She was 3 years old when she and Teddy were dropped off at her Nonna’s house. Abandoned by their father. They learned their mother was killed in a mysterious car crash. According to police documents, the engine was faulty and had exploded, sending shrapnel through the firewall and impaling her to the seat. Then the car caught fire. Avalyn remembers being told her mother had died before the fire broke out. Now hearing her sister tell her how beautiful and peaceful she looked made the last eighteen years of painful doubt wash away.

"She was at peace?” Avalyn leaned forward. Her elbows on the island counter with her hands over her mouth, fighting to suppress the tears.

“No photo or memory I have of her, compares to the beauty that I saw.” Teddy moved from the stove with the teapot, and set is down on a hot plate. She then wrapped her arms around her sisters' neck, laying a kiss on her head.

Avalyn leaned into her sister to return the hug. “So.” She paused to wipe the tears from her face. “Nonna appeared to you?” Avalyn poured the water over the loose tea leaves in her mug and did the same for Teddy. “You realize this sounds like one of Nonna’s tales., right?” She dipped her spoon in the honeypot then stirred her tea with it, amazed at the story her sister told her.

“Yea!” Teddy chuckled at her own words. “I know!” She ran her hands through her platinum blonde hair. “It’s crazy right?” Teddy asked, finding relief in being able to speak to her sister about this.

Avalyn, looked over the rim of her teacup. “Yea...totally.” Her words were not enough to even convince herself.

“What?” Teddy shoulders sagged at the lie and placed her teacup down. “What are you not telling me?”

Avalyn sighed and placed her cup down. “You know what you saw.” Avalyn placed a hand over her sisters. “We have seen and experienced things that would make people shit themselves in the theaters. Nonna, in all her crazy, would talk about things, that until recently I didn’t believe.... and I’m a “psychic” damnit!” Avalyn air quoted her profession.

Avalyn always did that, and while it bothered Teddy, she ignored it. Ava was born with a sensitivity to energy and people which made her very intuitive, and yet, she would try to play it off like it was more of a ruse then it was her true self. Teddy was proud of her sister’s gift. She wished Ava felt the same way.

"You are gifted Ava.” Teddy expressed her thoughts. “Stop air quoting.”

Avalyn looked around the kitchen, avoiding her sister's eyes and changing the subject. “This room seems pretty alright.”

“Yea, the aunts were more concerned about the parlor for some reason.” Teddy sipped at her tea.

“But the necklace wasn’t there.” Avalyn stated confused by her Aunt’s room of choice.

“No.” Teddy agreed shaking her head. “Well, I think it may have been. But it was hidden. I had to perform some kind of incantation for the necklace to appear...”

“How did you know you needed an incantation?” Avalyn peered at her sister.

“It was odd.” Teddy straightened on her stool. “Margaret flung this book off the bookshelf after shaking the pages. It fell at my feet, and I.., I just felt it.” She shrugged.

“Felt what?” Ava probed for more answers.

“Energy.” Teddy grabbed another cookie. “and when I picked up the book, it was opened to an incantation. Then, a whisper in my ear told me to, “read”. So I did.,” Teddy popped a piece of cookie in her mouth. “It was kind of like the whispering we would hear during the seances or when …, when we would play with Nonna’s ouija board.”

“And that was when the ghosts appeared?” Ava askes staring at her sister. “And you recognized them, all women from Nonna’s pictures?” She asked

“Yea.” Teddy nodded. “Well., most of them. Um.,” Teddy thought back to the woman that appeared before her. “Some of them were from a different time., my guess, before cameras, so that’s probably why I didn’t know them. Their clothing style was defiantly dated.”

“Give me a sec.,” Ava slid her hobo bag across the kitchen island and rummaged through it. “Nonna gave me a book. At first I thought it was an old sketch book. It has some fucked up things in it.” She pulled out a distressed leather journal. Avalyn unwrapped the belt closure and opened it, the stitched binding cracked under the movement. The aged pages were worn and discolored.

“Oh my god.” Teddy ran her hands along the pages. “It’s so archaic.” Fascinated by the design of the book she took it from Ava, It was sown together page by page. The paper was thin and crackled under her touch. Afraid of ripping a page she slid the book back to her sister under an repulsive stare.

“Yea.., don’t touch the book.” Avalyn crinkled her nose, not as enthused as Teddy was with the books body. She hunched her shoulders forward and raised her chin in admission “It’s bound in human skin.” She fought back the repulsion in her voice.

Teddy withdrew her hand slowly from the pages and looked up at her sister horrified. “What?” Visibly disgusted she had touched something that was once alive. Being a dedicated vegan Teddy was anti flesh of anything once living. She could barely hold herself together when she feeds Nonna’s cat, Belladonna, sardines. Her sole diet.

Avalyn exchanged a grotesque smile with her sister. “It’s also written in the blood of it’s author.”

“Why would Nonna give you something so sickening!!” Teddy reached for the dish cloth and wiped her hands.

“You know Nonna..,” Avalyn flipped through the pages. “All mystic. You get the beautiful heirloom necklace that bears generations of ancestral ghosts, and I get the book wrapped in human flesh.” Avalyn found the page she was looking for. “I should have ran away when I had the chance.” she mumbled to herself and slid the book back, opened to page to her sister.

“What am I looking at.” Teddy leaned into the page.

Ava pointed a long, freshly polished stiletto nail to the page title. “Our family lineage. Dating back to 14th century.” Ava, flips slowly through the pages. Each family has their own page, and sketches to go with it. Teddy stood up and slid the book back to Ava, moving to her side of the counter. Studying it over her sisters’ shoulder.

“Wait.” Teddy placed her hand on her sisters and flips the page back, Teddy pointed to a couple staring back at them. Teddy swears she has seen that man before, but she was unable to figure out why. Or how.

“Nikolai and Liliana Dissirison.” Ava read the caption.

Teddy gasped, “Isn’t that the fricken name of the werewolf we’re supposedly related to?”

Avalyn took the book and examined the face of the man in the drawing. He was a fairly tall with a wide muscular build. His hair was shaved from the sides of his head and was tattooed and his hair was styled with a mohawk braid that fell down his chest. He was looking down on a woman with a slim oval face. Her long dark hair was weaved together with mini braids that pulled back the hair from one side of her face. She was staring at the artist, one eye was lighter than the other. “I wouldn't say no to him.” Avalyn bit her lip.

“Gross.” Teddy took the book from her. “That’s.., he’s like your uncle..., or grandfather.”

“How many times removed?” Avalyn shrugged. “I think it washes out after a few generations.”

Teddy scowled at her sister and closed the book. “You're disgusting.” She walked away from the counter and out of the kitchen.

“Oh., come on.” Her sister hopped off the stool she was sitting on and followed her.