Prophecy: Child of Light (47 page)

“Mia said you want to make the little woman wholly vampire.”

The words were spoken in an unsteady voice, one that made him frown. He resisted his desire to tell Dmitri to keep his nose out of his business, and instead sighed.

“I thought she would.” He brought his eyes down and stared at the leaf litter and broken twigs on the ground. There was no point in denying what Dmitri had said. He did want to turn Prophecy. He wanted her to forever remain as she was now and he knew that she desired the same thing. She’d made him promise to never let her grow old, and it was a promise he intended to keep.

“You knew she wanted me to speak with you, no? This is why we have this hunt together?”

He nodded and smiled at his friend. “I did. I knew it was inevitable. Mia pries into others business too much.”

“I see your heart, Valentine, as clear as my love does. Have you told the little woman?”

Valentine changed guises, forcing his canines to extend while his eyes switched colour. He roared at Dmitri, unleashing the frustration inside of him and the annoyance he felt over being questioned about his intentions towards Prophecy.

“I did not think so.” Dmitri laughed, not at all bothered by the outburst.

Shaking his head, Valentine’s teeth receded and he growled quietly under his breath.

“Come, friend. I’ve not seen you sickening so much since we first met and you were under Lucya’s spell. Even then it was not so bad as the one this little woman has cast on you.” Dmitri put his arm around his shoulders.

Valentine sighed and pushed his friend away.

“Mia will tell her—” Dmitri started.

“No!” Valentine cut him off, half shouting half growling the word. “I will tell her if you will shut up about it.”

“You will tell her?” Dmitri’s expression was serious. Valentine had expected him to laugh again, not give him a look so full of concern, and it shook him a little to see it. Both Mia and Dmitri seemed to have taken to Prophecy.

“I will tell her,” he whispered. “Before this battle begins, I will find a way.”

“Then we are good, no?”

Valentine nodded. Dmitri smiled and then shifted guise, his bones changing position as fur erupted across his skin in a black wave. The werewolf growled at him and then sprinted into the forest.

Valentine stood still for a moment, attuning his senses to the scent of Dmitri and trying not to think about what he’d said. He would find a way to tell her. Time was running out, and she had to know before they went to war. Anything could happen to her, or to him. She needed to know and he had to tell her.

Slipping into his vampire guise, he picked up the bag and ran into the forest after Dmitri. He smiled when he heard a distant howl. It had been too long since they had sparred like this. He’d forgotten how thrilling it was to let his more demonic instincts take control. Whenever he fought the vampire hunters, he always remained in his human guise so they didn’t get the pleasure of seeing his true face until they were tasting death. Besides, hunters he could easily defeat without calling on the added strength and abilities unleashing his demonic guise gave him. They weren’t really a challenge. The only challenge to a vampire was another vampire or a demon, like Dmitri.

He ducked under a branch and sprinted through the trees, weaving through the trunks.

He kept his senses sharpened on Dmitri’s scent while he ran and let his thoughts drift. Werewolves weren’t the only demons that vampires shared the world with. There were the under-demons, those born of Hell, some of which were far more powerful than both himself and Dmitri. Some of which were mercenaries. He was sure that Arkalus and Kalinor had placed a princely sum on Prophecy’s and his own head, large enough to attract the most deadly breed of the mercenary demons, the Aleaeries. Even if the prophecy was fulfilled by the destruction of the lord of Tenebrae, these demons would still come for them. A price was a price. To an Aleaeries there wasn’t an expiry date on it and no vampire, not even his own Lord Kalinor, would dare to disagree with one. Prophecy and himself were going to have to be careful for the rest of their lives. The chance of spotting an Aleaeries was slim due to their shape-shifting abilities. It made them the perfect mercenary. They could slip in unnoticed to capture their prey.

Another wolf howl caught his attention, bringing it away from thoughts of the under-demons that were probably searching for them.

He barely had time to duck and roll as Dmitri pounced. He came up behind a tree, using it for cover and smiling to himself while he watched Dmitri prowling the open area on the other side of the trunk. Putting the bag down and his claws away, he waited for the perfect moment to attack. When Dmitri turned his back, Valentine ran out and leapt at him. Even in wolf guise, his old friend was bigger than him. He kicked off him and back flipped, landing firmly on the ground and springing forwards just as Dmitri ran at him. Punching him solidly across the jaw, he smirked when Dmitri growled and swiped at him. He skilfully avoided Dmitri’s claws, ducking backwards. While Dmitri was still in the process of swiping at him, he landed another punch and then another.

Just as Dmitri was about to attack him, a twig snapped in the distance. They both raised their head, sniffing at the air.

“Deer,” Valentine announced and Dmitri nodded in agreement.

He watched his friend change out of his werewolf guise and shook his head at the state of his clothes.

“Mia will kill you,” he said but Dmitri just shrugged and looked down at his torn trousers. They were going to look a state when they walked back into the village inn in just their trousers and with scratches all over them.

“Let us not think of women. Let us hunt.” Dmitri grinned and sprinted in the direction the noise had come from.

Valentine laughed. If his friend thought he could out run him on foot when he wasn’t in his werewolf guise, he’d been around werewolves too long. He bolted after him, easily passing him, and weaving through the close-knit trees. The deer wasn’t far away now, but it was running. He could hear its quickening heartbeat and could almost taste its panic. He grinned, narrowing his eyes and extending his claws. He didn’t care what he was hunting. It always made him feel the same. The pounding heartbeat, erratic breathing and sense of fear, it all combined to make an intoxicating feeling of hunger and desire burn in his veins. It was better than any drug.

Running down a steep incline towards the valley, he caught sight of the doe running barely a few metres ahead of him. He redoubled his effort, growling when fallen branches hindered him. Dmitri was less than twenty metres behind. There was no way he was going to let him get this kill.

He was closing on the deer now. The echo of its heartbeat in his ears was growing louder and the bloodlust was getting stronger. He sneered and changed into vampire guise, making the most of the impending kill.

Leaping over a fallen tree, he caught the deer around the neck and in one swift movement, snapped it. It fell to the floor, limp and lifeless, its heartbeat stopping instantly. He dropped the satchel to the floor while letting his face shifted back into its human guise. Dmitri ground to a halt a few feet from him, panting and muttering something. He looked up at him and removed a canister from the bag, holding it out to him. Dmitri took it with a frown.

“I always was faster than you,” Valentine said with a smile.

“You cheat, and I am out of practice.”

The note of moodiness in Dmitri’s voice made his smile widen. His friend had always been a sore loser.

Extending his claws, Valentine slashed the deer’s throat open, bleeding it into the canister he was holding. When it was full, he waited for Dmitri to fill his. He licked his teeth at the scent of blood that was pervading the air, calling to him and making his stomach growl.

“You will not eat?” Dmitri stood, screwing the lid onto the container.

He shook his head. “It is only a small deer. Prophecy needs the blood more than I do. The magic tires her.”

Dmitri smiled. “It is a sorry state, no? Men reduced to madness. We give them everything and leave ourselves with nothing when it is us who have killed the beast.”

He nodded. “But it is better than being lonely.”

Dmitri started walking with him back to the village. “Or hearing them complain.”

Valentine couldn’t agree more. “Arguments are something I can live without, even if it means I go hungry.”

“She will make you take some, cold or not. Your little woman cares about you. I cannot see why.”

He shot Dmitri a black look but Dmitri laughed at him. Shaking his head, Valentine smiled and sighed. Dmitri was right. Prophecy would make him drink some of the blood whether he liked it or not. If he refused, he would only worry her and he didn’t need her worrying about him during the battle.

* * * *

P
ushing the door open, Valentine nodded to Mia when he entered. Her eyebrow immediately rose on seeing the state of his clothes and his body, and she stood the second Dmitri entered. She sighed.

“You could not take off your clothes before changing, my love?” she said with a frown.

“I have brought you a present,” Dmitri said, deflecting her attention away from his ruined clothes to the canister he was holding. She smiled and took it. “It is only deer blood.”

“It is better than nothing,” she said and sat down on the couch, beckoning him to join her.

Valentine’s attention was drawn to the bed and Prophecy. She was curled up on top of the covers, still fully clothed, but without her boots. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and was flowing across the pillow. He glanced at the marks on her neck and then back at her face. She looked so peaceful.

He quietly placed the canister down on the small side table and sat beside her. Reaching out, he carefully brushed the rogue strands of hair from her face. She shifted, curling up a little more and mumbling something. He wondered if a vision was plaguing her. She needed rest, not more dreams to wake her in a panic.

“She worried herself to sleep,” Mia said in a gentle tone.

Not responding to her, he kept his focus on Prophecy. She was still wearing her amulet. Her fingers were tightly curled around the stone, as though she was clinging to it. The last time he’d seen her without it had been the night she’d threatened Dmitri. He had known that she would be angry with him for taking it from her without her noticing, but he’d had no other choice. He’d deserved the harsh words she’d thrown at him and the way she’d threatened him with her power as well. He’d sworn to himself that night that he would never do something like that to her again. In his heart, he didn’t think she’d give him reason to. She was getting stronger every day and was learning the right way to react to things.

Just as he was learning the right reactions to his feelings.

He’d wanted to interrupt Mia’s speech to Prophecy that night on the balcony, but everything she’d said had been true. He had always been hard on Prophecy because she was making him feel emotions that he didn’t know how to react to. He had learnt the right reactions, just as Mia had said he would. He’d learnt them the moment he’d finally admitted his true feelings to himself.

“You are not going to wake her?” Mia said.

He shook his head. “No, I shall let her sleep. She needs rest. She has been through so much. The blood will still be there when she wakes.”

He slipped his boots off and lay on the bed beside Prophecy. Lifting her head, he settled it against his chest and took hold of her right hand. She moved closer to him until her stomach was flat against his side and sighed in her sleep. He looked down at her hand where he was holding it above his heart. Through her fingers, he could see the soft glow of the stone in her amulet.

He heard Dmitri cross the room and looked over to see Mia resting her head against his chest.

Closing his eyes, he let his cheek rest against the top of Prophecy’s head and made the most of how good it felt to have her in his arms while he drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow, they were going into battle.

Was Prophecy going to be the end of demonkind, or would she save the world?

Only time would tell, but in his heart, he already knew the answer.

“
W
e shall meet you there.” Mia placed a hand on Prophecy’s shoulder and then briefly embraced her. Mia whispered in her ear, “Do not be afraid of war, child, it is only another battle. Valentine will be there with you. Your magic shall protect you both, I am certain of it.”

Prophecy smiled and nodded when the elder vampire pulled away. It was strange to have Mia so concerned with her after the way she’d been so distant since discovering her power and her past. She appreciated the reassurance though. Her stomach was tight and trembling, full of anticipation and nerves that wouldn’t settle no matter how hard she tried to regain control of herself. Even Valentine was having a difficult time calming her down.

“Get that army of yours moving swiftly, old friend,” Valentine said to Dmitri. The werewolf grinned.

“Do not fear. My men will be with you when it is time to fight. They would not miss such an opportunity to avenge the lives of their brothers and sisters.”

Prophecy took the double-bladed axe that Mia handed her while Dmitri presented one to Valentine. She smiled and weighed it up. She’d never really used an axe before. Most of her training fights had been with swords. Looking across at Valentine, she watched him swing the battle axe in a wide arc by his side. He seemed comfortable with it, as though he’d used one many times before. She hoped that she could use it too.

Her marks itched and burned, reminding her that she didn’t need a physical weapon when she had such potent magic at her command.

“We will see you there,” she said to Mia and Dmitri as they began towards the door. When they disappeared through it, she walked to the window and watched them getting into the car. It would take them a few hours to get to their army, around the same amount of time as it was going to take her and Valentine to walk down the valley and get the lay of the land.