28 comments/ 30790 views/ 13 favorites Tempestuous Ch. 01 By: redwitch It was a beautiful day; the sun was out, casting its warm beams on the city below. There was a cool breeze that complimented the warmth and carried the heady smell of the lilacs through the air, filling the hall of the big brick church on Gotham Street. The sun shone through the stained glass windows casting different tones on the walls and the floors, illuminating the entire church. It was the perfect day for a baptism. The Stone and the Rush family stood before the magnificent alter inside of the massive church. The four adults stood teary eyed as the minister baptized the tiny baby, Tempest Darleen Rush. She was a beautiful baby; with a head full of deep russet curls, almond shaped eyes that were the darkest shade of gold, framed in thick inky lashes. At only a month and a half old she already had the aura of a queen; she was a natural born diva. Antoinette and Ezekiel Rush had tried for many years to have their first child and after a horrible and life altering miscarriage, they had finally given up. Antoinette took advantage of her 'God sons', Darleen's three boys, and showered them with gifts and love, treating them like she would treat her own children. Davis and Diago loved her and relished the star treatment, only Dante kept his distance; But than again, Dante kept his distance from everyone. Years later their prayers were answered and Antoinette gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The three Stone boys sat in the first pew as all of the adults faced towards the elaborate alter; only the minister stood facing them. Dante, the eldest, was 10 and sitting straight forward with his naturally scowled face contorted in suppressed fury as he elbowed his middle brother Davis in the ribs. Davis, who had just turned seven, had been a permanent knife in his elder brother's side since the day of his birth. Dante was repulsed by his obnoxious middle brother and had tried everything in his power to reform the 'soon to be hoodlum' and make him more like himself. Of course it didn't work, if anything it backfired and each year Davis grew more and more outrageous, to the point where Dante could barely stand to be in the same room with him. The reality was, Davis was charismatic and funny where Dante was reserved and already one of the grouchiest children to walk the face of the earth. Dante had no time for fun and games and abhorred the pranks that Davis liked to pull. Davis was a natural jokester and Dante hated jokes, finding nothing remotely funny about his brother's sense of humor. Davis knew better than to even cry out in pain, regardless of the fact that he was sure the blow had cracked his rib. Instead he elbowed his youngest brother in a similar fashion, just not with as much force. "I told you to stop." Davis whispered to Diago, "If you keep getting me in trouble I'm going to hide you in the basement of the church where they will never find you." he repeated the words Dante had threatened him with on numerous occasions. Diago, who was only five years old, was never one to be intimidated; so he frowned hard than slugged Davis in the stomach. Davis shoved him down the pew and Diago came back swinging his clenched little fists. It would have been an all out war if Dante hadn't of leaned forward; all he had to do was look at them and they both instantly stopped and leaned back in the pew for fear of their young lives. Their elder brother was a cruel leader who, at only ten, already had his own sense of justice and his own form of punishment. Since he was the eldest, his family often put him in charge of his two little brothers. When his father was out of town on business and the boys were being particularly incorrigible, Darleen would be forced to ask Dante to help, since they always listened to him. Dante looked up to see his mother and his god mother, Antoinette crying up a storm; his own father and his god father Ezekiel were equally misty eyed. Dante frowned and the tick in his cheek went haywire for a second. He was ready to get out of here; he had things to take care of and places to be other than the baptism of a baby who was already proving to be a nuisance. So he took advantage of his current situation and said a silent prayer that they would hurry up and get it over with soon. "You're her God mother now." Antoinette cried as she passed her beautiful baby daughter to her best friend, Darleen. The two sobbing women had grown up together and had been the best friends since the first day of kindergarten. They were both creative, stubborn, highly intelligent children who grew up to be savvy, strong willed, highly intelligent women. They were more like sisters than friends, each knowing the others deepest secrets. There was no one else in the world that Antoinette trusted more with her child, than Darleen. "Yes I am." Darleen smiled with pride looking at the tiny infant in the long white christening gown. "So if anything happens to me-" she gave her best friend 'the look'. "Nothings going to happen to you." Darleen stopped her, but saw the worry in her friend's eyes "Stop it Annie, it was just a bad dream." she whispered. Antoinette held her frown for a moment before she plastered a smile on her face. She refused to spoil this wonderful event with her anxieties over a dream. But what a dream it was, a horrible nightmare filled with long, dark never-ending roads, explosives and ending with the demise of her and her husband. It was a dream so real; she woke up in a dead sweat, screaming. It took Ezekiel over thirty minutes to calm his wife down and get her back to sleep. "Your right," she shrugged "but just in case." she said in a way that gave Darleen cold chills down her spine. Darleen didn't want to answer her, she couldn't even think about that horrible dream or even the possibility of it coming true; but she could see the worry on Antoinette's face and realized she needed to reassure her friend. "First of all your way to spoiled for anything to ever happen to you, and secondly, I have 3 equally bad boys, who would rather wrestle in the dirt than sit down and talk to their mother." she looked back at the boys arguing in the pew. "This is my only god daughter, so naturally she will be spoiled." she finished and Antoinette smiled from ear to ear. "And you have my solemn oath that I'll never leave her side." "Thank you Dar." Antoinette said with a smile full of relief. *** Dante was to find that they had one last mission to accomplish before he would be able to go home. Unfortunately it was one of the things Dante never did care for, getting his picture taken. The rickety little photographer snapped picture after picture of his family and his god parents with the baby, than it was time for the children. "Do I have to?" Dante asked he watched his brothers excitedly sit on the bench for the picture. "Yes you do." his mother smiled, realizing how hard this was on her photograph hating son. "But-" he was ready to give the reasons on why he shouldn't be in the pictures but she cut him off. "Absolutely no buts, you're getting your picture taken Dante." Darleen said directing him to sit in the middle. To add insult to injury because he was the eldest, he was forced to hold the baby and sit between his two irritating little brothers. Than to top it all off, they actually expected him to smile! They were crazy! These people were stark raving mad and he desperately wanted to stand up and voice his opinion and let everyone of them know what he thought about this predicament they were forcing upon him. But alas, doing that would only result in him having to stay longer, because no matter how much he ranted, his father would force him to sit back down and take the picture anyway. At only ten he already knew his family was teetering on the edge of insanity, he just needed to make it to his eighteenth birthday than he would leave the mad Stone house and the crazies that inhabited it. He honestly could not tolerate these people. The photographer had a fuzzy, pink bunny puppet on his hand and had decided to waive the offensive object at the children trying to get them to smile. The baby looked like she was ready to cry, Davis was smiling at the photographers beautiful assistant, Diago was squirming and ready to jump down from the bench and Dante wanted to grab the pink puppet off the old mans hand and smack some sense into him with it. What made him think that any child would want a fuzzy fake bunny shoved in their face? Did the man have no concept of the germs he was happily spreading? "Just take the picture." he said in a very controlled voice, to much control for a ten year old the old man thought. "Obviously no one is going to smile." he continued, to the shock of the photographer. He had been taking childrens pictures for years, he had met hundreds upon hundreds of children and never had he met a child like Dante Stone. After he snapped the picture Davis and Diago instantly jumped down but Dante was forced to wait for his mother to pick up the baby before he could go, than just as his mother bent to take Tempest, he felt it. The warmth spread over his lap like a broken balloon. "She peed on me!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and for the first time, Tempest smiled hard and all four parents ran over to look at her, forgetting the disgruntled and irritated ten year old who stood looking at them like they were escapees from the local mental ward. "She is just soooo beautiful!" Darleen gushed. "If only she had of done that gorgeous smile for the camera." Antoinette said kissing the babies chubby cheek. Dante watched as they all rushed to see Tempest's wide smile; ignoring the fact that he was soaked and smelled like urine. Than he turned to his right to see they were also ignoring Davis and Diago who had now taken over the portrait studio. Diago had found a fake plastic sword and was swinging it intently at the photographer who had rubbed the awful pink toy in his face. Davis on the other hand was talking to the photographer's assistant, smiling up a storm, his gigolo skills developing rapidly. Dante mumbled some choice words under his breath as he turned around and left the studio, opting to wait out in the hot car. The moment Dante stepped out of the Portrait studio doors the weather took an unexpected turn for the worse. The sun that had been shining so brightly earlier was now gone. The wind began to whip and the sky seemed to just burst open, spewing cool rain on the city below. Dante frowned and cursed under his breath as he walked to the car. The incidents that took place at the baptism would speak volumes for the disastrous tone of Dante and Tempest's relationship in the years to come. TO BE CONTINUED... Tempestuous Ch. 02 Chapter 2 - The diabolic doll It was the beginning of summer but one would never know by the unpredictable weather. The sun was attempting to shine, but it was dulled by the minor storm. The wind whistled, the swelled clouds were ready to burst and the smell of the upcoming rain dominated the air. It seemed as if the summer was still stuck in spring. There were no early summer beach days, no family picnics in the park, no big barbecue bashes in the backyard. It was proving to be a disastrous and unpredictable summer at best, but the weather would be the least of their worries. In the end it would be the very season that would change the lives of every member of the Stone family forever. *** The small framed eleven year old girl stood in the middle of the large garden, looking up at the window on the right side of the massive mansion. The wind lifted her mass of deep chestnut curls and the cute little pink dress that her god mother had just bought her whipped against her tiny tan legs. the sun made her eyes glow like a burning orange from the outside, but it was her temper that made them glow from within, showing her irrational rage and unwarranted frustration. Dante was up there in that room, ignoring her, just as he did every time he came home to visit from college. She had done everything in her power to get him to pay attention to her, but he refused to even acknowledge her. As if to spite her, he hadn't left his room once since she had arrived at the Stone family home. She felt it was time for drastic measures. She held the can of red enamel paint in her tiny hand as she stepped towards the house with a diabolical grin. The girl hell bent on anarchy was Tempest Darleen Rush, a defiant little devil disguised as an angelic faced, baby doll. She was unusually small for her age, but her size belied her mighty ego. She was ruthless, calculated and driven. She was that light breeze that you'd never expect to rip a door from its hinges; she was a hurricane at its most lethal stage, wreaking havoc and disassembling anyone who got in her way. She was raw energy; with an overly, congested mind and a body too restless to even get a good night's sleep Tempest had been born with an empowered sense of self that only a tornado could shake. She was also gifted with a remarkably high intelligence that heightened her arrogance, yet hindered her when it came to mental stimulation. She was to quickly discover that she was too clever for the trivial games of children her age and realized it would take a lot to satisfy any curiosity she had. She was prone to obsessive-compulsive behaviors; cramming her brain with all available information until she mastered the topic she was interested in. She was filled with curiosities and a desperate need for knowledge that ran as rampant as her imagination. She was brilliant and charismatic; she could have easily been the perfect child had she not also been born with a temper that matched her intellect. She was a spiteful little thing, a pint sized, caramel toned, diabolical doll that was ruled by vengeance, pranks, schemes and feelings of entitlement. Tempest was the only child of Antoinette and Ezekiel Rush, a couple who had been forced to wait so long for a baby that they thoroughly appreciated the gift bestowed upon them. They unabashedly spoiled her, doting on her every whim, granting her every wish no matter how big. They hated to see her cry and felt like their world was off kilter whenever she was upset. She was their blessing, their miracle child, the baby that every doctor in town had told them they would never be able to have; so as predicted, they spoiled her rotten. To further instigate the willful nature and feelings of entitlement within the spoiled child was her godmother, Darleen Stone. To the delight of Dorian Stone, his wife Darleen bore him three sons, but to Darleen's own dismal dismay, she was unable to have any more children and she desperately wanted a daughter. This made playing god mommy to her best friend's only child a gift she cherished deeply. Darleen herself was the worst culprit of them all, managing to spoil the girl even more than her own parents did. To Darleen, Tempest shone like the brightest star in the sky, she was the perfect little pixie who could do no wrong. She doted on her beautiful little name-sake, treating her like a pampered princess. Since the stone family was the epitome of wealth, Darleen was able to take her mission to spoil her only goddaughter to an obscene level. Tempest had her own wing at the Stone mansion, an enormous bedroom with a big canopy bed covered in a pale pink satin bed spread, and heaping with a dozen frothy and frilly, pink pillows. She had every doll ever made, a doll house that could quite possibly house a small family, a playhouse in the garden that could house a large family, and a tea set that the queen of England herself would envy. Darleen had mastered the art of spoiling Tempest so well, she was actually able to predict what the girl wanted before she even asked for it. Darleen was well aware that she went over board but she honestly could not help it- she adored the child, she absolutely loved her. What she was unaware of, was the fact that the apple of her eye was growing more and more rotten by the year, and she was unable to see Tempest for the monster she was becoming. It was an odd situation to say the least, even though Tempest was very close to the Stone family, she was not close to Dante, Darleen's eldest son, in any way, shape or form. They had never bonded and had never considered themselves family. Dante was rarely around, having left home for college at 17, and only returning home to visit on important holidays and the occasional summer. When he was home, he spent most of his time working with his father, and the rest of his time avoiding Tempest like the plague. He just seemed to genuinely dislike her and she never really understood why. Tempest preferred to believe it was the age difference that made him not care for her so much or the fact that he was never around and he just didn't know her very well, but Davis always argued that Dante hadn't liked her since the day of her baptism when she had peed on his lap. She never knew if that was the real reason that he had come to dislike her, but it was plausible, considering Dante was the type who decided if he liked someone within the first fifteen minutes of meeting them, and he also held a grudge like a functioning heart holds a beat. Tempest acted like she didn't care but it really bothered her. Even though his demeanor was cold to everyone and he avoided his own brothers, she still took it personally. As was typical for Tempest, this meant she would do something particularly nasty to him to make him mad and force him to pay attention to her. That was to be the only form of communication Tempest could rely on from Dante- his anger. She knew in her heart if she was not irritating him enough to despise her, then she would be invisible and nonexistent to him. She would never allow that, not in a million years; she would do whatever she had to do to prevent that from happening. That was how it began, one little nuisance after the other. Somewhere along the way it had escalated from accidents to deliberate, albeit semi-harmless pranks- then eventually, it had turned into all-out war. With Tempest being so intelligent, her pranks seemed way too complicated for a girl so young and usually managed to catch Dante off guard. However, one could expect no less from an obsessive child who rarely slept and spent most of her nights devising blue prints for pranks. Tempestuous Ch. 04 It was the beginning of the season, a bright new start screamed from the skies and a fresh dewy smell permeated the air. It was a season where the story started anew as it ended for good. It was an unusual spring to say the least, the rain was relentless, forcing everyone to take shelter lest the lightening lick their limbs and the thunder shake their bones. The constant down pour had become depressing and had most people staring out their windows wishing for the summer. It had been the strangest of seasons for Tempest Rush, the sun seemed washed out and gray and she couldn't smell the usual delights of spring, she could only smell doom. The thirteen year old couldn't shake the feeling that something wicked was coming her way, something that would shake and destroy her entire world. This was the season for clarity and sense for her, the season she discovered she was fighting herself. She'd recently discovered she was loosing the long- standing war with Dante, and she was the key component to her opponent's upcoming victory. She was discovering that her inner animosity was misdirected and realizing that it wasn't hatred that she felt for Dante. So while the girls around her discovered the once hated boys in their class were actually cute, and idolized the pop stars they plastered all over their walls; Tempest discovered Dante, on a whole different level. She had strange and undefined feelings for him and every time she was near him she felt a familiar thrill, a surreal tickle low in her belly. She was at war within her own body and mind- one minute she wanted to do something particularly wicked to him, spending hours formulating the prank that would out do all of her previous pranks; at other times she wanted to hug him or talk to him. Once she had to vehemently fight the urge to kiss his full lips. But during all of it she was having very strange feelings in certain parts of her body that she wasn't previously aware of. Dante had never been impressed by Tempest's antics, so whenever she did attempt to speak to him, he yelled at her and told her to get lost. He had always been a moody brute, since she could remember, and she wasn't sure why she liked him for it, but she did. She found she had admired him for many different traits over the years; that fierce competitiveness he had, that natural authority, the way he didn't seem to care what others thought. He was a genius but he never bragged, he just did his own thing, the hell with everyone else. She understood that driven demon he held at bay; she had one of her own. *** The rain had an amazing way of bringing family and friends together like nothing else could. Normally Darleen took advantage of such stormy weather and brought everyone together for a big family gathering Tonight was different, neither the ritual family congregations, nor the storm had been reasons for this gathering. Darleen and her best friend Antoinette Rush had gathered together at the Stone home to discuss a daunting issue... Her youngest son Diago was missing and they were there to come up with a plan to find him. Darleen and Antoinette sat at the end of the very long dining table so consumed in their conversation they were oblivious to anything else going on around them. Dorian Stone on the other hand was sick with grief and would take tonight off from discussing the whereabouts of his son Diago. He needed a break and Ezekiel Rush was just the distraction he needed. Dorian and Ezekiel Rush had been immediate friends since the moment they met. It wasn't just the normal our wives are best friends so we should follow suit type of friendship. They were genuinely friends and shared many of the same passions and pastimes. They also knew how to tune out the loud family and get engrossed in their ritualistic, friendly albeit contemplative game of chess. Now they sat at the same end of the dinner table discussing business sports and ignoring everyone else around them. At the other end of the very long table were Dante, Davis and Tempest. Dante was here for a small break and although he adamantly protested joining them for dinner, his mother would hear none of it. The fact that he was 23 years old was irrelevant to his mother and he knew if he did not participate there would be hell to pay. Davis on the other hand, always took advantage of a good meal and the chance to watch Tempest pester Dante. Davis looked to see that Dante was still reading the paper, not paying attention to them, then he Turned to Tempest and handed her a package wrapped in red paper. "What's this?" she asked as she eagerly snatched the present from him. "Mom said you did an amazing job at the concert and that your piano solo was the highlight of the evening." he said as he watched her tear the paper from the present. "since I wasn't able to be there-" "Cause you were out being a smut." she interjected "I figured I owed you one." he finished then smiled as he watched her eyes grow wide with excitement. "I love it!" she said holding the feminine sterling silver BB gun. "Yeah, that's just what she needs." Dante said with a look of disgust on his face, his paper folded down so he could see them. "She wanted it." Davis explained. "Just like she wanted the slingshot you gave her 2 years ago, which she promptly took to school and put a BB in a classmates leg. "Hey, Thomas Crown is a pervert who tried to grab my butt, he got what he deserved." she shook her head, "If you had of heard the things he said to me, you would have shot him too." "Stop encouraging her, Davis." Dante said in a low voice. Over the years, Tempest had formed a bond with the two younger Stone boys, Davis and Diago. Diago was five years older than her and had been the one responsible for teaching her to fight so well. Davis was seven years older than her and had been the first person to introduce her to archery. She fell in love with the sport the very first time she played it and had quickly become as good as Davis. Davis had taken an interest in Tempest's pranks early on; when he was younger he was known for his own pranks. Davis had been tired of being bullied by his brutish older brother Dante, and pulling pranks on him was the only thing that made him feel better. Dante had always been Davis' main target, despite the beat down he could expect from his older brother once the prank was executed. Naturally Davis's prior knowledge of pranks had been a key ingredient to Tempest's own schemes. It didn't take long for him to realize that Tempest was gunning for Dante like Davis had when he was her age. It was a perfect plan for a vengeful younger brother; he could live vicariously through his god sister who was too young to get in trouble, but smart and bold enough to torment the original tormenter, Mr. Dante Stone himself. Even Diago delighted in seeing the pranks, he too had been a victim of his elder brother's tyrannical ways. Even though they were significantly older than Tempest and way too old to still be involved in such childish stunts, they couldn't help it, it felt good to watch Dante get his just due. Only she was able to accomplish what they had prayed for as children, to finally get one over on Dante. While Dante was a tyrant, he wasn't a bully, per se. He would never retaliate against Tempest for obvious reasons. First of all she was a child, a little girl about the size of his leg- fighting back was not even an option. Therefore, Dante was defenseless against Tempest and his younger brothers reveled in it, wishing they had the power to do the same. "So where's Dio? Tempest asked. And don't keep telling me he's in Europe for the summer", she hadn't seen Diago since they arrived and she didn't buy that vacationing excuse. Everyone in the house was being overly secretive and dramatically suspicious and she knew something was going on. "He's um-" Davis began "He's in Europe." Dante said from behind the newspaper he was reading and Tempest glared at him, although he could not see her face. "Fine, then, I'll just find out on my own," she said, taking a sip of her strawberry soda before she turned to Davis with an angelic smile.. "or I could just text that questionable picture of you and Buffy Claire to Muffy Claire." Davis looked at her with a raised brow. Muffy and Buffy were twins who had enjoyed sharing Davis at first, however some where along the line, began fighting over him. He liked them both and as long as they were both remained willing to give it up, he was willing to take it. Davis however, also knew their tantric, acrobatic sex sessions would end if one twin knew he was still with the other one. He really enjoyed the twins' talents and was not willing to give that up just yet. "You better not." Davis said as he grinned, the child was relentless when she wanted something. "But you know I will." Tempest smiled as sweetly as she could. "He ran away." Davis answered her honestly. "Davis!" Dante snapped folding his paper in half. "She would have found out anyway." he shrugged as Dante glared at him for a moment before going back to reading his newspaper. "Yeah right." she shook her head "He did." Davis said shoveling a ridiculously large chunk of steak in his mouth "He's probably at 'el Diablo's' house." "No, he's not at Jake's." Davis shook his head as he continued to inhale his food. "So then where is he?" not believing him in the least. Diago was the golden child, he wouldn't just run away.