Chapter I

"I don't like it here, something makes me feel uneasy." Lawrence muttered as he made a stop at a red light.

"I think it's rather cute, you know for a small city." Blythe Torrance Richter disagreed, as she looked up from the floor to survey the area around them.

"Well, I suppose any place would be better than your home, as you've complained to me about on the way up here." He shrugged his shoulders, and tapped his thumbs on the leather finish of the steering wheel.

Blythe never commented, because she had been too busy looking around at what this small city had to offer. There were a lot of strip malls and small businesses but no skyscrapers and large parking garages like she was used to in New York. Well they had some decent stores around here like Old Navy and Maurices. Yet she saw no DKNY or any stores that she had been shopping at for as long as she could remember. That was what her life consisted of which was shopping, hanging out with her friends, clubbing, and seeing what kind of trouble they could get into at the private school she used to attend.

Now she was graduated and her father felt that she needed to learn a lesson in money management and get out on her own two feet. She argued with her father, Lucien Richter until they both became so angry that she stomped away and started blasting music so she couldn't hear her father talking away to her mother. Her mother, Lydia Torrance Richter was the other party that had to hear from her father when their daughter decided to become a quarrelsome child.

"Lucien, my dear, I am profoundly apologetic that you have to raise an eighteen-year-old girl." Would have been her mother's reply, which Blythe always imagined. It was interesting to know how different her mother had been from her father, which made her even more curious about how they married.

"What are you grinning about?" Lawrence arched a brow her way as he turned the corner to her aunt's home.

"Nothing." Blythe answered quickly as she rolled down the window to put her attention on something else.

"Whatever you say." He nodded, turning on the signal, as they pulled into her aunt's circular drive way.

Blythe was about to say something in return but her attention was distracted at the size of the house and what surrounded it. There sat a large two story looking mansion covered in growing vines up to the second story windows. In the front of the house was a large balcony supported by six pillars which made up the walkway underneath. Up top, the balcony could be accessed by two French doors, and around the house were large unattended bushes that grew in their maddened fury.

When the car came to a stop, Blythe opened her door and exited the vehicle. Before she could get a word in edgewise, a woman emerged from the house. She waved and said her greetings in a close manner. When Blythe looked, it was hard to believe this woman was her father's sister. She looked nothing like him, her frame was small and kind of plump, and her almost raven hair streaked with white was piled on top of her head by a set of chop sticks. Her clothing was very modern with her long green flowy skirt and a lighter shirt which hugged her upper torso and arms.

Around her neck was an expensive looking model of an old school camera. Blythe smiled, and she was immediately embraced like they were severely close. In all honesty, Blythe had only met her aunt once and only then it was for ten minutes. She received different things from her on Christmas and other occasions. And from the looks of it, her aunt didn't live alone, so she could be married of have children of her own. This was assumed under the condition of her aunt having two very large vehicles parked at the other end of the drive way.

"It is so good to see you midear; oh you've grown up so much." Her aunt smiled, taking her look at arm's length.

"Thanks Aunt Jennie." Blythe smiled, nodding her head.

"Well, here are her suitcases and Mr. Richter says that if there is anything you need, please call him." Lawrence stepped in to slay the awkwardness of this moment. Though it would only be temporary, she would be in this state for quite some time.

"Thank you." Jennie nodded towards him as he said his goodbye to Blythe and started towards the car. Blythe responded with the same amount of enthusiasm and was directed towards the front door of the house. "Come on Blythe."

Blythe complied with her aunt's demands as they picked up her luggage and walked into the house. When she entered the dual French doors, she was entranced by the size of the opening and how high the ceilings sat. It was a simple entrance way that looked more modern and cozy then her father's designer house that looked like something from a magazine display. And there was nothing comfortable about it, everything was expensive and probably would break if you just lightly brushed it. And now, here Blythe was in the middle of a place she had never been before, and was entering a world where she would have to learn to defend on her own.