Prophecy: Child of Light (25 page)

Even Mathias had said he was acting like one.

Around her, he lost every ability and skill he had gained in his three centuries and he knew she was beginning to notice it. He’d tried to get the better of himself and maintain the professional distance he’d sworn he would, but it was growing impossible. She drew him in completely. She had enthralled him the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

The gondolier’s words haunted him and he turned his head away, as though he could physically avoid them.

She wasn’t in love, and neither was he.

It was a childish infatuation on her part, and on his, he didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t love.

He looked down at the marks on her neck, wanting to blame it on her blood but knowing that wasn’t the problem any more and it never really had been. He laughed internally at himself. This wasn’t like him. He hadn’t been like this since Lucya, and he’d sworn he’d never be like it again.

“Valentine?” Her voice reached out to him, luring him out of his thoughts.

He found himself staring at the floor, his fists clenched and his jaw set tightly as he stood rooted to the spot. People were walking past him in both directions along the narrow street. They brushed against him, making him want to growl and take everything he felt inside, all the frustration and confusion, out on them.

He raised his eyes to meet Prophecy’s. He wanted to take it all out on her. He wanted to slake his thirst and desire for her, wanted to get it out of his system in the hope that it would allow him to go back to how he’d been before she’d wandered into his life. He narrowed his eyes hungrily on her and hers widened, her hand coming up to press against her chest as her lips parted.

It would be so easy. She wouldn’t resist. Hell, she wanted it as badly as he did. The voice at the back of his mind pushed him, cajoling him into taking everything she was offering so openly. He could have her blood, her body, and her heart. He could take it all.

No.

He closed his eyes, forced those thoughts back down and turned his head away from her. He wouldn’t cross that line. It would destroy her and he didn’t want that. Even if it would rid him of his feelings towards her, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt her.

“Valentine?”

He breathed in deeply. She was close and he felt her hand on his shoulder.

“I am sorry.” He opened his eyes, staring unseeingly at the pavement.

“Don’t worry about it.” Her voice was light and he could hear a smile in it. It was probably mostly for show, but it alleviated some of the tension he felt.

He cleared his throat and managed to look at her. She was smiling. Her soft lips were curved into it and her eyes were bright. He gave her a small smile in return before heading roughly in the direction of the hotel. They had been out long enough now to satisfy her and he needed some time to pace and think.

They turned down a narrow street and followed it to where another street intersected it. He paused and inhaled, raising his head as he tried to catch another whiff of the familiar scent.

“What is it?” Prophecy frowned at him.

The sound of her voice broke his reverie and he cast his eyes around them.

“It is probably nothing. My mind must be playing tricks on me, echoing something from my past.” He felt as though he was trying to reassure himself as much as her. He could’ve sworn that he’d smelt something.

She gave him a look that spoke volumes and this time he could understand it. She knew he’d sensed something and she’d seen that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“There is someone that I think we should see. They may be able to offer us some answers about what happened to our contact.” He neglected to mention that the person in question might have answers about her powers too.

He doubled his pace through the tiny streets, using his senses and knowledge of the city to guide him back to the hotel. A quick glance in her direction showed him that she’d noticed his increased speed.

“Some answers would be nice.” Her tone was pointed but it didn’t draw him into responding.

They turned down another street and he looked back up the alley as they left it behind. He frowned again, searching the darkness for a sign, something that would tell him that his mind hadn’t been playing tricks on him.

She couldn’t be here.

Could she?

P
rophecy raised her hand to protect her eyes from the sun, which was sinking slowly towards the horizon, turning the sloping field of wheat and poppies around her into a golden sea that swayed gently in the warm breeze. It looked exactly as Valentine had described it, the sky burning with vivid bands of orange, pink and green as the blue ceiling above her began to darken. Her hand fell slowly to her side and she took a deep breath and sighed. It was beautiful. Her eyes followed the path of the sun as it continued to creep downwards until it touched the rich purple mountains in the distance, drawing her attention to the dark grey castle that was half hidden by the dense forest in the valley.

She smiled when she saw Valentine standing a short distance from her in the field. He held his hand out and she began towards him, picking up speed until she was running. She came to a halt just short of him. He surprised her by catching her hand, his fingers easing into hers and locking tightly with them as he pulled her towards him. As their bodies pressed against each other, she couldn’t stop herself from reacting. Her hand brushed over his chest and came to rest around the back of his neck. He didn’t resist when she lured his mouth down to hers. The warmth she felt from their lips barely touching made her close her eyes. She savoured the tenderness he was showing her and how real it felt.

Her eyes shot open when his hands snaked around her waist to pull her possessively against him. She pressed her hands into his chest and her eyes closed again as his mouth claimed hers, crushing her lips in a demanding kiss.

She tilted her head back as he kissed along her jaw and down her neck. She frowned when she saw the sky was rapidly darkening and everything seemed to be speeding up. Before she could blink, the moon had risen and set, risen and set, and risen again. It slowed as it arced across the sky towards the horizon and she frowned.

There had been no sunrise, no daylight.

She pulled away from Valentine only to see him change into Arkalus, then into a robed person whose face she couldn’t see. She stumbled backwards, fell over and hissed at the person when she felt the power they held.

The person’s hood fluttered in the breeze as they roared at her.

Or at least she’d thought they were roaring at her.

Another roar caught her attention and she realised it had come from behind her. She looked up to see Valentine towering above her. She moved towards him but he rushed past her, his claws and teeth extending as he ran at the masked person. She didn’t want to watch as they clashed with each other, but she couldn’t take her eyes off them.

Suddenly, she realised that they weren’t alone and they were no longer outside. Vampires, werewolves, and other under-demons surrounded her. They were dressed in armour, all fighting each other to the death. There were bodies everywhere. Blood of all species soaked the cold flagstones beneath her. She rushed to her feet, grabbing a sword from a fallen vampire as he began to quickly decay. Lunging forwards, she fought to get to Valentine. He was standing on a platform above the thousands of warriors filling the room. She paused for a second when she saw a vampire, tall and proud, stood by a large wooden door and flanked by two guards in ornate armour. Her breath caught in her throat and a chill swept through her as he said her name. Her gaze flickered to the guard on his right, her eyes meeting his rich blue ones for a second before she turned away. A scream of pain pierced the din of battle and her attention was immediately with Valentine.

She slashed and hacked at anyone standing in her way, panic growing inside her as the fight between Valentine and the robed person escalated.

As Valentine fell to his knees and the robed person raised their sword to deal the final blow, she stopped dead, her breathing the only sound in her ears.

The sword fell.

She screamed.

“No!”

Silence filled the room.

She looked around her with wide eyes. The battle had been frozen in time. She raised her hand to see the stone in her amulet glowing bright white. Her eyes darted to the platform, her body trembling. The robed person’s sword had stopped only inches from Valentine’s neck.

She tried to get to him, wanting to push the robed person away, but her limbs felt heavy and unresponsive. Panic lanced through her as the sword began to slowly fall. Her hand moved of its own volition and before she had noticed what she was doing, she’d unleashed a glowing, crackling orb of magic that tore through the room, turning everything in its path to dust as it headed directly for the robed person.

She flinched away when a blinding white light filled the room, then everything faded to black.

* * * *

P
rophecy breathed in sharply as her eyes opened. She stared at the ceiling, not seeing it but seeing the last few moments of her vision before she’d awoken. There was so much to try to make sense of.

A knock on her door made her jump and she scrambled into a sitting position, gathering her blankets to cover herself.

“Come in,” she said in a voice that betrayed how flustered she was.

The door opened and Valentine appeared in view.

“I heard a scream.”

“Um...” She tried to think of something to say but failed dismally.

“Another vision?” He took a step into the room and she noticed the way his eyes strayed to the thin blankets that were hiding her body.

She nodded, not wanting to remember it but knowing that he was going to ask her to. She pulled her knees up to her chest when he gently sat down on the bed a few feet from her. Her eyes dropped to the distance between them. There was room for him to sit closer to her, but she knew that he wouldn’t, not when it seemed to be taking him so much effort just to be in the same room as her while she was in such a state of undress. When she saw that he was staring at the marks on her shoulders, she let the covers slip a little, revealing them to his eyes. She smiled inside when he immediately stared at the patch of bed beside his thigh. It seemed strange that a vampire his age was so prudish. All of the males in her household loved to relate their sordid tales of seduction to each other. Surely, he’d seduced enough girls in his time that sitting here with her shouldn’t make him embarrassed. She felt like asking him, but decided against it. He would leave if he thought she was mocking him about something like that and she needed his company.

Looking at him again, she found he was staring at her chest and she realised that she’d been letting the covers slip while she was lost in her thoughts and was on the verge of completely exposing herself. She drew the covers back up again and caught sight of the fire in his eyes when he looked at her. Evidently, he wasn’t so prudish after all. The way he’d looked at her last night in the alley, and was looking at her now, told her that if he wasn’t in such good control of himself, she would have found out by now what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of the seductions the men of her house boasted about. She got the feeling that he’d know exactly what to do and would probably put their stories to shame.

She bit her lower lip when part of her vision came back to her and she remembered him kissing her in the field. Her eyes dropped to his mouth, taking in the tempting curve of his lips. They had felt so delicious against hers and she’d not wanted the kiss to end. She wondered if it had meant something. It had felt like a vision. If it was one, then surely it meant he was destined to kiss her, just like he had done in her dream.

“Prophecy.”

She couldn’t miss the note of desire that laced his voice and found it was still evident in his eyes when she raised hers to meet them.

“I saw... it was all so confusing,” she said, unsure of how to proceed or where to start.

“Was it Venice?” He leaned towards her.

“No.” She shook her head and stared at the far wall so she could concentrate. Whenever she looked at him, her thoughts roamed to the kiss and her eyes strayed to his lips. “I don’t know where it was.”

“Were you in a city?”

She met his question with another shake of her head. “No. It was countryside, wide-open countryside, like nothing I’ve seen before. There were mountains, and a field. You were there. And there was a castle. Then a battle. There was so much death. I screamed and it stopped, just before... before...”

She couldn’t bring herself to say what had happened.

“Before?” He pressed her. She looked deep into his eyes and didn’t hide her feelings, wanting him to see that what had happened had upset her and hoping that he’d piece it together for himself so she didn’t have to say it. He frowned. “I see.”

He was visibly shaken. A mixture of guilt and sorrow settled in her stomach, and she was overwhelmed by a sudden need to be close to him, to touch and comfort him.

She leaned forwards, reached out and placed a hand over his while her other arm held the sheet against her body. She looked up into his eyes while he stared down at their hands.

“Nothing happened. I didn’t let it happen.”

He still looked shaken when he met her eyes and smiled.

“I wouldn’t let it happen, Valentine.” She wrapped her fingers around his hand so the tips of them brushed against his palm and was surprised when he responded by curling his fingers under and holding her hand.

“I know,” he said in a gruff tone of voice that betrayed what he was feeling.

He was scared. She could see that now. Beneath the strong and confident exterior, he was hiding his true feelings. There was something about what lay ahead of them, or something about her, that scared him, that made him want to disconnect from it all and pretend that he could go back to his old life just like he’d wanted to in Oxford. She could understand. She was frightened too.

She watched his thumb brush against her fingers and could almost sense the depth of his true feelings for her.