Prophecy: Child of Light (38 page)

Her senses sharpened immediately, her demon visage slipping into place as the threat of an impending attack forced her to react on instinct.

She jumped and snarled when something touched her shoulder.

Valentine frowned, his hand still resting on her. “Keep calm.”

She forced her demon guise away and struggled to stop it from emerging again. Straightening up, she looked in the direction that Valentine was facing and frowned. She couldn’t see where they were going, but she could feel the growing signatures of whatever was watching them.

She moved at the same time as he did, trying to keep calm and maintain a steady pace through the forest when all her instincts were telling her to run.

The trees began to thin and her gaze was arrested by a large dark stone building just a few hundred metres from her. It looked like a castle, but it had clearly seen better days. A few of the windows were filled with a warm glow. The moon was grazing it, round and fat. It was almost as big as the castle itself.

Her senses focused on the creatures that were now skirting around behind them. Her claws extended. If she had to appear calm, she could at least be prepared. She glanced at Valentine. He was staring at the castle. He looked so relaxed and she wondered how he could manage to look that way when they had something hunting them.

“What is this place?” She moved closer to him when he started to walk through the patchy trees towards the castle.

“The last bastion of the werewolves,” he announced without emotion.

She looked behind her at the trees, still sensing the creatures where they were following them at a distance. Werewolves. She had known there was something familiar about what she had sensed. How many were there? She had seen at least three in the darkness, but her senses were telling her that there was a lot more than that and they weren’t just behind her.

“Do not mention them as we know them,” he said with a smile as though he’d known she was about to. “They were once our equals but we scattered them to the four winds. We destroyed their families and killed all that went against us. Here, they have found a place to rebuild their once-proud empire.”

She stared at the castle. Shadowy shapes moved across its grounds, as quick as any vampire. She could feel their power and could sense the danger as they approached it. Her eyes ran up the full height of the building while she walked. It was impressive. The moonlight made the stones look blue. The top of the tower in front of her and the roofline of the house were crenellated, giving it a castle-like appearance. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the werewolves that were keeping their distance while Valentine knocked on the dark wooden doors.

He seemed so relaxed. How could he be so relaxed? They were outnumbered and on the verge of being torn to shreds by werewolves. Just who were they going to see? What kind of person lived in this place?

The doors opened, revealing a dark hallway lined with columns that reached up into the gloom. She could just about make out a vaulted ceiling above her. She couldn’t see who had opened the doors as she passed them. There seemed to be no one there and she didn’t dare slip into vampire guise to heighten her vision for fear of making the werewolves behind her attack.

She followed Valentine further into the hallway and was immediately struck by how cold it was. She wrapped her arms about her shoulders and jumped when the doors slammed shut behind them, the sound of it echoing along the hall in front of her. She turned on the spot, trying to reach out with her senses to detect anything that was lurking in the shadows.

The darkness seemed to envelope them, shrouding them in its black veil as they walked deeper in the building. Her senses were a riot of signature signs and scents. Everywhere she searched with them, she found a countless number of werewolves. They were surrounded.

“Do not be scared and do not react to them. They want you to attack so they in turn can attack you.” Valentine’s voice soothed her a little. She moved closer to him, hoping that his proximity would help calm her nerves.

A dim light appeared in front of her, casting an eerie glow over everything and worsening her nerves. Her eyes darted to the walls when they appeared to move and her imagination conjured images of what was lurking there. If they chose to attack, there was no way she would escape. Death was inevitable. She edged nearer to Valentine, looking up at him when his hand brushed against hers. He was staring straight ahead, his head held high and his focus fixed on their destination.

She swallowed her nerves and tried to focus there too. She wanted to look as calm and collected as he did. She wanted to show the werewolves that she wasn’t scared of them and that she was confident she could survive any attack.

It was impossible for her to do when Valentine spoke again and sent her fear into overdrive.

“Keep your eyes forwards,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes not straying from the door at the end of the hall. “Stay close and remember that this is their world... not ours.”

She glanced over her shoulder and found herself face to face with a pack of snarling werewolves. They were stalking them, their shoulders hunched and their fangs bared. She stared straight into their narrowed yellow eyes and swallowed noisily. Her fingers flexed when she felt the tingle of magic in them.

They passed through the doors and into the more brightly lit expansive room. It was a huge chamber. The ceiling was almost as high as the hall they had just come along. The walls were dark stone, decorated only by several hangings that depicted battles. She listened to the sound of Valentine’s and her boots on the stone flags and the clip of werewolf claws that were following them.

She tried to keep her eyes locked on the massive fireplace that was directly in front of her, flanked by two dark wooden arched doors and partially obscured by the large throne-like seat that sat in front of it.

When the werewolves moved up beside her, she looked down at them. One of them growled at her and she couldn’t help but snarl back, baring her teeth and keeping her eyes locked with its.

It seemed to quickly become a battle of wills and she refused to look away while she walked. She stared deep into its yellow gaze, not letting her eyes shift and reveal her true self like it evidently wanted her to.

She thought she’d won when it slinked off to the side and then she walked into something.

She sprang back immediately, her right hand coming up to defend herself when she saw the hulking mass of man that was staring down at her. Her eyes widened when she took in his broad build. His shoulders were covered in a dark sable fur and his shoulder length black hair was plastered against his rugged face. She took a step back and her hand shook while she stared into his dark eyes and saw the deep scar that streaked directly across his right one.

Her other hand came up to support her wrist and she willed herself to stop trembling. She wanted to growl, but no sound would come to her. All she could do was stare at the man. He grinned, his stubbly square jaw shifting slightly when he did so and she furrowed her brows when sharp canines appeared in view.

She whimpered and closed her eyes when he stepped towards her. When she reopened them, she realised he’d walked straight past her and was heading for Valentine. She watched him. Valentine still looked as calm as ever as the large man limped towards him and she was surprised when Valentine knelt down on one knee, bowing his head. She cursed her shaking hands and held her right one steady, feeling the magic building in it while she waited to see what was going to happen. If he made one move to hurt Valentine, she was going to blow him to smithereens.

“Valentine,” he drawled in a thick Russian accent. His voice seemed to have a note of amusement in it, a hint of friendliness that she hadn’t expected. “You came... and with such sweet company.”

She growled when the man looked back at her and grinned.

“A present?” He turned back to Valentine.

She took swift steps towards the man and held her hand up, letting the magic build there and narrowing her eyes as she willed it to come quicker. She snarled, her teeth extending. She didn’t care what Valentine had told her about them trying to provoke her into reacting. She wasn’t about to stand here and listen to this stranger talk about her like that.

“Stand down,” Valentine said, getting to his feet.

She growled at him when he grabbed her arm and dragged her back to where he’d been kneeling. She tried to raise her hand again, but Valentine snarled at her and pushed it back down.

“I said stand down, Prophecy!” He almost roared the words at her and she recoiled, making herself as small as possible on hearing the anger in his voice.

She didn’t know what to think when he forced her to kneel in front of the man, as though she was below him, she just did as he instructed and stared at the floor.

“Prophecy?” The sound of her name spoken with such curiosity by the man made a chill run down her spine.

She kept her eyes downcast, realising that Valentine had probably wanted to keep her identity hidden and she’d ruined everything by disobeying him.

“The rumours are true then, old friend. You have left that pack of rabid dogs you once called a family and have committed sin with this girl?”

She dug her fingernails into the rough stone flags to stop herself from reacting. She could feel them both staring at her. They were all staring at her—Valentine, the werewolf that was addressing them and the pack that had surrounded them. She closed her eyes, trying to shut them all out so she could focus on just Valentine.

The man laughed.

Her rage boiled up like a volcano, pushing her into reacting.

She shot to her feet and growled. The man seemed more amused than scared.

“Is it sin to help someone?” she shouted, her anger coiling inside of her and driving her on. The werewolves around her growled and snarled, but their clamour only urged her on. “Is it sin to follow your instincts?”

She ignored Valentine’s attempts to catch hold of her hand and stepped towards the man.

He smiled knowingly and held his hand up, effectively silencing the werewolves around them.

He took a single stride in her direction and frowned down at her.

“It is sin to follow your heart when your heart is tamed by a warrior of your enemy. Dissolution of bloodlines is sin. I should know.” His voice was deep and gentle, but the strong accent made it sound threatening to her.

She held her nerve and stared into his eyes, refusing to back down even as he towered over her, his height exceeding Valentine’s and his build at least four times that of hers.

She went over his words and felt confused when she tried to make sense of them. She looked over her shoulder at Valentine. He looked pale and slowly stood.

“I don’t... Valentine... heart?”

The man behind her laughed and it echoed around the hall.

“She is young, Valentine. She’ll make a fine bride.”

She turned and stepped up to him, her claws extending. He’d overstepped the mark now and there was no way she was going to stay to hear him throw any more insults her way. The image of the red dress that Arkalus had chosen for her flickered in front of her eyes and she roared.

“I’m nobody’s bride!”

She ran past Valentine, not looking at him, and started towards the door that they had entered through, but quickly realised that leaving wasn’t going to be that easy. She slipped into vampire guise and roared at the werewolves that had moved to block her path. When they began closing in on her, she stood her ground. Raising her hand, she flexed her fingers and then realised that something was missing.

Her amulet.

She stared at her empty hand.

Her heart sank.

He wouldn’t have.

She closed her eyes and slid out of vampire guise, remembering the moment when Valentine had caught her hand to stop her from attacking the man and had forced her to kneel. She felt mortified, unable to believe that he would do something like that when he knew how important the amulet was to her.

She kept still when she felt Valentine come to stand in front of her. His fingers brushed her cheek in the slightest of caresses. Opening her eyes, she stared at his chest, still unable to believe what he’d done. She remembered what the man had said about him and frowned.

“Is it true?” she whispered. “Were you following your heart?”

There was silence and she realised that everyone was listening to them, even the man behind her.

Valentine sighed and cupped her cheek.

It was all the answer she needed.

She closed her eyes again and leaned into his touch. Everything around them seemed to disappear until all she could sense was him.

Then the man spoke.

“You’ve changed, Valentine, for the better this time. Go and rest a while. I have business to attend to but will see you before the sun rises.”

She felt Valentine’s hand against her back and followed his lead, all the while wondering what their meeting with the werewolf had in store for them and waiting for the repercussion of her actions.

Valentine wasn’t as calm as he appeared.

She could sense it.

He was angry.

He was angry with her.

P
rophecy left her room, quietly closing the door behind her and creeping across the wide hallway to the glass doors on the other side. She pushed them open and took a deep breath of the night air as she walked out onto the balcony. She went to the edge, leaning against the wall and casting a glance over the garden below her and the forest beyond it. The moon was still high enough that it cast a silvery light across everything, turning the grass pale blue and the dark pines a deep violet.

She had left her jacket back in her room. The night was warm enough that she didn’t feel the cold. It took a lot for her to feel it, but she still did. She’d felt the cold in the witches place in Paris. It had stolen all warmth from her and it had taken most of the day for her body to recover to room temperature.

Here it was warm but she felt cold whenever she thought about what was coming. It wasn’t just the impending war that was chilling her; it was the approaching talk with Valentine. He had left her at her door without saying a word and had followed the guard to his own room. He hadn’t given her back the amulet. She knew he was waiting until he had a chance to speak with her to return it. She could feel that he was going to fall back on treating her as though she was a child. No matter how much she wished he wouldn’t, her heart told her it was inevitable. She’d crossed the line again and disobeyed his rules. He was going to be madder than Hell at her.