'The River' Blood Brother Chronicles - Volume 1

Book excerpt: 'The River' is the first offering of 'The Blood Brother Chronicles', a dramatic series loosely based on family folklore that has been passed down through countless generations in the author's family. Many of these legends, reaching as far back as 1919, are about two (2) half brothers born in and around the turn of the century, 'Slick' and 'Skeeter'. Not much is known about the two brothers that were said to have disappeared either in New York City or on their way up North in 1927, except that they were contract killers with kind hearts that helped the poor. After an extensive two (2) year family history search, speaking with several older relatives, the author was inspired to write 'The River'. Slick and Benjamin (Skeeter) are half brothers, one white, the other creole, both growing up poor on a tobacco plantation in the late 1800's. Now grown men in the Roaring 1920's, the brothers work as contract killers for the highest bidder, often the first option for wealthy white men, the last option for the poor. Always with ears to the the underworld, the boys soon learn of white and black lynchings, bullying, land grabbing and resource stealing by big corporation. Usually killing bigots and hate-mongers for sport, stakes are raised when large multinational companies stomp into South Carolina with steel toed boots and not much of a care whom they step on, intimidating poor white, black and native American farmers for their hard earned land. Coming up with a small well thought out plan after finally locating the legal documents, Slick and Benjamin discover that the parchments have been burned in the middle of the sheriff's office after a midnight raid. This only deepens the men's suspicions as well as the mystery of whom or what owns vast amounts of land all around the Carolinas, land certain well heeled men are willing to kill whole families for. As the men travel through the dark under belly of corrupt South and North Carolina local government and the highest echelons of wealth and society, their investigation is complicated when twelve (12) young prostitutes are discovered dismembered, their body parts discovered in several Carolina rivers. Each dead girl had one thing in common; they all once worked for the infamous Madame Lolly, owner of the most exclusive 'skin-hustling' business in all of the Deep South. Rustling up clues and discovering the truth behind an investigation that will eventually take them all over the world, the killers-turn- investigators call upon a complicated cast of characters, many of which lie as easily as they tell truths, protecting wealth, heritage, family and their own lives. Slick and Benjamin have embarked on a journey they could have never imagined in darkest, wildest dreams; supernatural gods and powers, vast wealth, dark international brother hoods, all while trying to stay safe as their enemies grow more and more powerful.