Stardust home of the gif.., p.1
Stardust: Home of the Gifted, page 1
Copyright © 2023 by R.E. Bond
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The ebook version of Stardust: Home of the Gifted is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited and is only legal to read on Amazon.
Cover Design: Pretty in Ink Creations.
To those who love to dance in the flames, just to feel the burn.
CONTENTS
Spotify Playlist
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Epilogue
Also by R.E. Bond
Stalk Me!
Acknowledgments
About the Author
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LaEkBJQIQZkHlMf5b3QVR?si=659d84e773854333
CHAPTER ONE
SALEM
“Newbie alert,” someone snickered as I walked through the iron gates of my new home at Stardust, Home of the Gifted. There were apparently hundreds of people living here, and I wasn’t surprised. It was a private gated community, specifically for those with supernatural powers.
If you had some kind of power, then this was the place you ended up eventually, no matter how hard you tried to avoid it.
Here, we learned to harness the powers we’d been born with, and it gave us a sense of family when many of us had been cast out from our own. I’d had no intention of coming here, being more than happy to live in peace alone in my apartment.
I was twenty-six, single, and I wasn’t exactly a people person.
Now, I was going to be assigned to one of the Stardust houses, being forced to live with a bunch of strangers for the sake of my powers.
I obtained the power of telekinesis and air, meaning I could move objects with my mind and make wind with my hands. It wasn’t common for people to hold more than one power, so I usually kept my air powers to myself.
It sounded cool, but it wasn’t when you lost control around mortals who thought you were creations of the Devil, which was why I was here.
The curse of having some kind of power was that you were born to end up here even if you rarely used your powers, joining forces with whatever house members you were placed with to increase your strength. Without those people, your powers would start going haywire.
The magic in my veins was craving the magic of others, which was why the placement of your house was so important. You were stuck with them forever once you’d been assigned.
From the way I’d thrown my dining table across the kitchen last week, I’d say my powers were starting to short-circuit without the strength of my group.
I could no longer pretend that I was a mortal.
I dragged my suitcases behind me, ignoring everyone who was staring as I passed. If I were anywhere else, I’d say they were staring because of my thick eyeliner and gothic outfit, but it was normal here from what I’d already seen.
I liked fishnet tights and the color black, sue me.
There were no classes, it wasn’t exactly what most people would classify as a school, but we were expected to train in our groups and perform tasks that arose. Who did you call when a problematic dragon needed slaying or someone’s powers turned bad?
Stardust.
I pushed through the front doors more aggressively than necessary, running straight into someone.
“Sorry,” I apologized, my chest going tight as a pair of sharp, blue eyes burned into me. They were the iciest blue I’d ever seen, so light that they appeared to be almost white. His platinum blond hair hung over his face, and the energy around him was thick with danger.
It didn’t feel like he was filled with dark magic, just anger.
The man snarled, looking me up and down with disgust as hate flared in his eyes.
“Watch where you’re fucking going.”
“I said sorry,” I huffed out as he stalked off without a backwards glance, revealing another man that had been standing behind him. This one was happier to see me as he smirked, giving me a slow inspection from head to toe before meeting my gaze, his bright amber eyes flickering with amusement.
“You sure know how to make an entrance. Probably not the best idea to piss off Frost on your first day.” His hair was a mixture of orange and red tones, and it was messy as if he’d been running his hands through it repeatedly.
I gave him a quick once over like he’d done to me, making sure my eyes didn’t linger on his toned biceps. I didn’t have time for cocky assholes. His sneakers were worn and old, same as his black skinny jeans and torn white tank top.
“I didn’t run into him on purpose,” I said with a sigh, flicking my eyes to his again so he didn’t think I was checking him out as a conquest. “His name’s Frost?”
“And I’m Smokey.” He grinned darkly, holding his palm up and causing flames to ignite across his fingertips. “I’ll give you one guess what Frost’s power is.”
“Fire and ice, how fitting for a cold, broody asshole and his arrogant side-kick,” I replied dryly before turning to walk towards the front desk, but he stopped me.
“Want to tell me your name since you’re finding ours so amusing? It’s normal to be named after our powers,” he bit out, the amusement vanishing from his face.
“I’m Salem.”
“Like the witch trials from the late sixteen hundreds?” he deadpanned, irritation burning inside of me. Everyone always called me a witch, but I wasn’t. It was a completely different power.
“No. I’m not a witch,” I hissed as I let go of my suitcases to clench my fists, earning a lazy shrug in return as a bored expression crossed his face.
“Whatever you say, witch tits. Do yourself a favor and stay out of the way. Welcome home, Salem.” He wandered off after his friend with a cocky swagger, and I almost snorted. He’d switched his mood way too fast for my liking.
I hadn’t intended on being that social here, but I didn’t want people to cause me problems either.
Once I’d filled in all the paperwork and had my new set of house keys in my hand, I followed the map through the courtyard and along a wide sidewalk, dragging my things behind me until I found the right house. It took forever since most of the houses looked the same and some of the streets were missing signs, meaning I got lost a time or two.
There were no cars here, the supernatural not trusted with licenses as if we were a danger on the road. Society really was strange with their rules.
I stood in front of the solid door while wondering if I was supposed to knock or let myself in. I ended up choosing the latter, sliding my key into the lock and letting myself inside and peeking around the massive entry as the heavy door creaked open.
The inside was pristine with fancy marble floors and massive tinted windows that wrapped around the entire place. It was silent, and if I hadn’t found multiple coffee cups on the kitchen counter as I wheeled my suitcases through, I wouldn’t have known anyone even lived here.
Once I managed to lug everything up a huge set of stairs, I was relieved to find the bedroom doors all had numbers on them to make it easy to figure out which one was mine.
I walked along the long hallway, finding my door at the far right end near a massive glass sliding door that opened onto a balcony. I opened my door and stepped inside, not expecting to walk in on some guy with dirty blond hair getting a blow-job.
His eyes narrowed as he ran his gaze over me but he didn’t stop the girl as he spoke.
“What the fuck are you doing in my house?”
“I’m Salem,” I said flatly, looking at the piece of paper in my hand to double check that I definitely had the right room before running my mouth, ignoring the fact that his cock was out. “This is assigned to me, asshole. What the fuck are you doing in here?”
His brown eyes flashed with heat as he assessed me
This was why I stayed single, men were pigs.
“No shit? I didn’t know we were expecting someone new. You can have the room across the hall, unless you want to share this one with me. I won’t complain.”
His date didn’t seem fazed by his flirting, but disgust twisted in my stomach. I’d been openly hit on before, but he literally had another woman’s lips wrapped around his junk right now.
He was attractive, and judging by how confident he was, he knew it too.
“No thanks. I don’t particularly enjoy company of your kind,” I answered lightly, turning and leaving the room without a backwards glance, his eyes burning into the back of my head the entire time.
Once safely shut in the privacy of my own room, which was directly opposite his, I double checked that the door locked before unpacking, inspecting the mattress for gross stains. It looked brand new, just like everything else in the room. It was larger than I’d expected, brightly lit up from the massive windows, and I had my own bathroom and a walk-in closet.
I couldn’t exactly complain, it was nicer than my old apartment.
I didn’t realize how long I’d been unpacking until there was a knock on the door and I noticed the sun was setting outside. I quickly finished putting my shoes away and headed towards the door, unlocking it and swinging it open to find the prick from across the hall on the other side.
“Uh, yeah?” I asked as he leaned against the doorframe with his shoulder and crossed his arms lazily, smiling warmly. It threw me off because it wasn’t a creepy, pervy smile, it was genuine.
“The others just got home with pizza and beer. There’s always plenty so come and join us. You can sit with me, I only bite when asked.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I can find something later,” I said quickly, hating the thought of the awkward staring across the table as we ate. I was more than happy to give it another day to settle in before venturing out. If they were anything like this guy, my tolerance wouldn’t cope and I’d make enemies of them all fast.
He chuckled, pushing the door open wider and gently taking my wrist with surprisingly soft hands. He definitely moisturized.
“Come on. You can’t avoid them forever. Sorry if it gets rowdy. We don’t usually have women around at dinnertime, so they’ll probably be yelling at the TV or fighting with each other. Then again, I’d be surprised if they can focus with the smell of your perfume lingering. It smells so good.”
I had no idea if his flirting should creep me out or not, so I gave him a tight smile, pulling from his hold.
“Okay, but keep your pussy fingers to yourself. I know exactly where they’ve been. Do the others know I’m here?”
“Nah. I wanted to keep you all to myself for as long as possible,” he winked, tugging me from the room and closing the door for me. “So, where are you from?”
“Northern Kinich,” I answered. “How about you? Have you been here long?”
“I moved in here when I was eighteen from Maydeira.”
At least he was nice, even if he was sleazy.
“How old are you now?”
“That’s rude,” he teased without a single sign of offense as he glanced at me, leading me down the long hallway towards the stairs. “I’m twenty-seven. My name’s Fox.”
“Let me guess. You’re fast and sneaky?” I stated and raised an eyebrow.
“Smooth and charming,” he corrected with a smirk, steering me through the massive living area and into the bright kitchen. “Hey! Make sure you don’t eat all the pizza! We’ve got ourselves a new roomie!”
My heart sank as the three guys stopped their conversation to turn around, Frost and Smokey’s eyes pinning me in place. They were the last two people that I wanted to see. The third guy ran his deep, blue gaze over me silently, and I struggled not to stare. They were like orbs of the ocean. His hair was so brown that it was almost black, a few loose pieces hanging over his face that he ignored as he assessed me.
None of them offered conversation, and the feeling of awkwardness soaked into me like I knew it would. I sucked at socializing and handling people.
“Tough crowd,” I said slowly as my stomach twisted with discomfort, making Fox laugh.
“They’re just shy. They don’t know how to handle a pretty woman.”
“Why the fuck is she here?” Frost finally snapped, my eyes landing on his cold ones. “She’s not staying here. There’s no way she was placed with us.”
“I wasn’t aware that your heart was made of ice too,” I scoffed, crossing my arms tightly against my chest. “Trust me, I’m not excited to see you either.”
“Good. Get your shit and leave. They obviously put you in the wrong house,” he argued, and Smokey chuckled.
“Well, this just got interesting. I might stay home tonight after all.” He leaned back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head to get comfortable, looking like an entitled prince on his throne.
Fox frowned, glancing between us. “You guys know each other?”
“We’ve met,” I muttered just as my stomach rumbled loudly, and Frost scowled as hate filled his eyes again. I couldn’t figure out why he was so mad at me. It was an extreme reaction to us bumping into each other.
“I mean it. Get out of my house, Salem.” They’d been bitching about me since it seemed Smokey had told him my name.
Fox groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands. “C’mon, man. Don’t be a dick. Let her eat dinner in peace.”
“She can find her own food. I didn’t buy pizza for her, she’s not getting shit from me,” he barked, and I knew he wasn’t going to share. I was hungry but I wasn’t going to beg him.
“I don’t want your shitty pizza anyway. I hope you choke on it,” I smiled sweetly and flipped him off, heading back to my room and ignoring Fox as he called for me. I’d sneak down to the kitchen later for something to eat once they were done.
I’d only been locked in my room for ten minutes when there was a knock on the door. I assumed it was Fox trying to sneak me pizza, but I was surprised when I opened the door to find the guy with the deep, blue eyes standing in front of me with a plate of pizza in his hand.
His gaze bore into mine for a moment before he offered it to me, his voice soft.
“Sorry. Frost can be a major asshole sometimes. I’m River.”
“Let me guess. You control water?” I asked, taking the plate and trying to figure out if it was a trick or not. He hadn’t seemed that interested in whether I starved to death or not when Frost was arguing with me.
“Bingo,” he chuckled, glancing behind me. “Do you have everything you need?”
“You can come in if you like,” I offered, unsure how friendly to be. I didn’t trust him but at least he was making an effort without being creepy.
He walked in and closed the door, looking around the room as if he’d never seen it before.
“Sorry about Fox, he has zero shame with flirting. You’ll probably see a lot more of him than you’d like. He walks around naked when you least expect it.”
“He lives up to his name then, I take it?” I wasn’t surprised. He seemed the type to proudly flaunt his dick around in public as if we should bow down to him.
“Definitely. He can flirt his way into a nun’s panties,” he grunted, sitting on the edge of my bed and turning his attention back to me. “What can you do? Smokey said you’re a witch.”
“I’m not a witch. I have telekinesis,” I said as I rolled my eyes, proving it as I lifted a slice of pizza to my mouth without using my hands and took a bite. None of them needed to know about my second power, I’d keep that close to my chest for now.
