4 What is next?

Keira was stunned, she didn’t know what to say.

“So do you believe the prophecy is about you? And how much everyone need you to fulfill it?” Asher questioned. 

“It is a lot to process, just give me a minute to take it all in”. 

An hour had passed in complete silence Asher thought Keria had frozen, she hadn’t moved or even blinked.

As the sun rose it shone through the crack in the curtains. I watched as the dust motes danced in the light. The past few hours seemed to last forever, it had only been four hours since Asher turned up at my house and yet so much had happened and my life would no longer be the same again. 

How was I supposed to get my head around the fact that I was meant to inherit all these powers? How would I be able to control them all? At the age of twenty I didn’t expect my life to be turning out like this.

“Keria…. Keria?” Asher spoke from the corner of the room. 

“So what have you decided?” he questioned.

“ Do I really have a choice? If I don’t do it everything that I have ever worked for and everyone I have ever cared about will be gone. I am scared about it all, not knowing what is expected of me and what I will have to face, but I will have to put my big girl knickers on and face it”.  

“I think that is a very wise choice and just so you know I will be with you every step of the way either in person or just a phone call away. You are not and never will be on your own”. Asher replied solemnly 

Keria smiled “thank you, I think I needed to hear that. Now what is the first step?”

“We will rest here until the night and then we will make our move. We will travel to bellever forest, the elves that we seek reside there”.

“Where is that exactly?”

“It is not that far from here, it is in Dorset . So around three hours by car or around one hour if I carry you and run”. Asher smirked.

Keria paled “ I think the car will be the better option thank you. Why are we going to the elves first”. 

“The elves and I have agreed that the time is right for you to receive the first set of powers from them. Their powers are more subtle and will be easier for you to learn control”.

I nodded

“You will learn from the best while you are among them and they will keep you safe, they know the cost if they do not”.

“Oh so you won’t be staying with me?” I asked unhopeful 

“No it is their turn to keep you safe, I have other matters to attend to. I will return to see how your training is doing”.

I waited a little while longer then I made my way to the shower, I went in hoping that the heat from the water would take the chills from me. After the shower I wondered back downstairs following the smell of eggs, bacon and toast as it drifted from the kitchen. 

“I have made breakfast for you, I thought that you might be hungry and you need it to keep up your strength”. 

“Do you, I mean can you…. Never mind”. My cheeks going bright red

“Yes I can eat food, but I do not need it, it will not nourish me and fulfil my needs”. Asher answered my unsaid question. 

“Ok, sorry I don’t mean to pry, it is just I have questions that keep cropping up and you're the only person I know that can answer them”.

“I understand and I do not mind, I have been what I am for many, many years but I know what it is like to be young and inquisitive”. 

“Can I ask you one more question for now?”.

He nodded in response

“Why were you the one sent to get me and to keep me safe”

He took a moment to think of his response before he replied

“Well I am one of the oldest and strongest vampires that exists, I am far more capable and equipped to look after you and the most experienced to help you, I have fought many wars throughout the years”.

I wolfed the food down not realising how hungry I was until now. 

As soon as the sun had gone down we packed the car up, now you would think that with Asher being a vampire that he would want an inconspicuous car but no not this vampire he was driving around in a bright yellow Lamborghini. Which also meant that no matter which way we travelled it was going to be a lot faster than what I was used to. 

Driving to Bellever, the only light to shine into the car was the bright orange street lights that kept flashing through the windows reflecting all the shadows into the car. Asher kept trying to talk to me but I had gone into some sort of trance, thinking of everything that I was about to do and everything that might happen that I didn’t even know about yet. 

I have to take in the powers of elves, vampires, wolves and witches. How is this going to work? How am I supposed to control all these different powers? when less than twenty four hours ago I thought these creatures were just something that I had read about and watched on the tv screen. 

I rested my head on my jacket pressed against the window and felt my eyelids getting heavier until they eventually closed.

Click, click…. Nails hitting the pavement, catching the scent of a young woman it turned and headed through the street, bat like ears sticking up from the head of the beast, catching the footsteps as they fell against the path. The blood from its previous kill dripped from its jaw at a constant flow. The temperature dropped once again, the female stopping and looking around as she senses something near, she starts walking again at a faster pace as her heart races.

She turns the corner and nearly walks straight into the creature, a beast so hideous, scales like leather lining its entire body. Claws designed for one thing only, the shredding of flesh. 

She froze for a moment in fear, then finally started backing away until she heard click click of the nails behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find another of these beasts had arrived to help its friend tear her apart. It was like they had rehearsed the movements perfectly the way they sprang at her at the same time she stood no chance. One in front and one from behind, she had nowhere to go.

I woke up with Asher shaking me.

“Keira , are you ok”?

Shaking I replied “they're getting worse, and more of them now will these nightmares ever stop”.

Ashers replied “ they will stop once we do what we have to do to make the prophecy come true and send these foul creatures back from where they came, remember these are not just nightmares but they are visions of what is actually happening out there”.

“ I don’t want to see these anymore, seeing these innocent people just walking home from work, or on their way to meet up with their friends and then getting ripped apart and not being able to do a thing to help them and stop it from happening, and I get to just wake up and leave the situation while they have just meer moments to live, having to see the look of fear on their faces and seeing the realisation on their face when they realise that this is it for them”. 

Ashers just looked at me like he didn’t understand what I was talking about, which maybe he didn’t, he didn’t have to see these things. 

Then sternly Asher said “do you seriously believe that you are not doing anything to help? While you're sitting in the car with a vampire on the way to the elves, to collect powers that no one knows what they are or how they will react with you after just a handful of hours after finding out about all of this, so that you can be the one to stop all of this. You will be the one person to have helped the most”. He shook his head 

“Now no more talk about how you're doing nothing to help them.

I stayed silent, not knowing how to react to Asher's words. The rest of the journey was done in silence, until we hit the edge of the woods.

“We will be going on foot from here on out”. Asher told me

We got out and got my bag from the boot of the car. Glad that I had put my boots on since we were now hiking. We started making our way through the thick covering of the conifer trees. The pathways were very narrow, so I followed behind Asher trying not to trip on the rough tracks. Seeing the beautiful colours of all the wildflowers even in the dark made me wonder what they would look like during the day, the forest was warm to say it was night time, with just a slight mist in the air. It was a treat for all my senses. I wasn’t surprised that the elves chose to live in this forest. We had to cross the river which Asher told me was called the East Dart River. The trees became even thicker and harder to get through and there were no longer any paths and I kept getting my foot caught in boggy areas of land. 

Then it all happened at once Asher stopped me and then I realised why, we were completely surrounded.