Louisa's POV That was the first time I had ever seen Aegir Sea in my life. I had heard it a thousand times in Uma's bedtime stories and I had dreamed about it a million times in my mind. It was the place where giant ocean monsters emerged from the surface and waved their huge tentacles to drag poor fishermen's boats into the darkness of the deep sea in volatile waves. But on that day, the sea was quiet and gloomy. Having been stuck in the woods for days, I was relieved to see an open area with endless stretches of water for a change. Above our heads, layers of thick dark clouds were gathering. Underneath the sky of roaring waves, the sea was calm, pulsing rhythmically and breathing with cadence. I wished I could have more time to enjoy the magnificent view, but I couldn't. The spartina plants were dancing from side to side in the gentle breeze. Uma said, this wheat-like plant is the only one that can survive in the estuary area because the water contains too much sal
Louisa's POV "Why are you here?" I heard a voice in the darkness. "Mother, is that you? I miss you very much..." I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn't. I had never heard my mother's voice. But somehow I just recognized it. I would give everything to see her face and hug her. "You shouldn't be here. Go back," she said. "I can't go back, mother. I'm dead. Please let me stay with you," I begged. "Concentrate. You were born to achieve amazing things in your life, but you're always distracted." "I don't want to achieve anything. I'm not afraid now. I just want to see and be with you, mother," I murmured. "That is the very thing that is distracting you. Death isn't the only way for you to reunite with me. Death has never torn us apart. If you concentrate, you'll see that I have never left you." "Mother, I'm ready for this moment. I'm always prepared," I whispered. "You're always prepared to die, but have you ever prepared to survive?" I was speechless. "Go b
Louisa's POV The inside of the salamander's rock cave was dark and humid. Darren set up fire at the entrance of the cave, because of the smoke rising from damp firewood. "I can't believe that you've taken them back to where we live. You're so stupid," I heard the voice of the black salamander. The brown salamander explained, "They need a place to hide from the rain. They don't like water." "Can I eat that rat?" she asked. Her brother replied patiently, "He's a weasel, and no, you can't eat him. He's supposed to eat us. Not the other way around. He can't eat us because we're too big for him. We can't eat him because he's the girl's friend. Leave him alone." "I might want to eat that girl. She's tiny. But she's still meat." "She's my friend. You're impossible." "Come on, you know she'll eventually get herself killed. What kind of people in their right mind would chase a weasel into a salt marsh and get trapped? You've made too many two-legged friends. HUmans, vampire
Louisa's POV When the two giant salamanders walked into the cave, the black one didn't look happy at all. "I won," she said. "Whatever you say, sis," the brown one rolled his eyes. "I'll never talk to you again!" she said and disappeared into the darkness. The brown one didn't follow her, moved next to me, and said, "Do you want me to show you around the cave? We've got some pretty awesome wall paintings." "Let's take a look at wall paintings with Mr. Salamander," I said to Darren. Darren looked a bit doubtful. "Are you sure you want to go? The cave can be a very dangerous place. People can't breathe inside," he said. "I promise to you that I won't get myself killed this time. Let's go, Darren. I want to see wall paintings. We might find something for Mr. Weasel to eat," I dragged him and said. Mr. Weasel was sleeping soundly in the basket. Darren sighed, took up a wooden stick as a torch, and followed Mr. Salamander into the darkness of the cave. "How long h
Louisa's POV "What do you mean, Darren?" I was still in the clouds. "I guess we can let the ghost explain it to us," Darren said. Then, he suddenly moved towards a huge rock and disappeared behind it. Then, I heard a man screeching behind the rock. "Ahhhhh!" It wasn't Darren's voice. "Please don't kill me! Please!" the voice exclaimed. Then, Darren reappeared again, holding a white ghost in his hands. "That's the ghost!" the salamanders cried out together. I took up a firing wooden stick and moved it closer to the ghost. I saw a man, who was about my height, covered underneath a ragged white sheet. "You're not a ghost! You're a..." I said and pulled off the sheet bluntly. Then I saw him. A skinny boy with a round face as pale as a piece of paper. "Ahhh! Take that torch away from me!" he yelled. I saw the skin on his porcelain face melting like wax because of the light of the torch. I moved the torch away. The wounds on his face immediately healed.
Louisa's POV "Stay away from him!" I yelled, grabbing the vampire's cape with my hands as he flew past me. As soon as he realized his cape was torn off, he turned back his head. I saw a lifeless pale face with giant fangs and a pair of mad burning eyes. My heart was about to jump out of my throat. But I gathered all my courage and waved his cape in the air. "I'm here! Look at me!" I shouted at him. "What's your strategy now?" Mr. Salanmander asked me. "To get his attention," I said in a trembling voice. The vampire looked at me with a tilted head. "Now you've got his attention. What now?" Mr. Salamander asked. "Can you catch him with your tongue?" I asked. "I can catch any flying things," Mr. Salamander said, "But what for?" "I had to tell him that his son was still alive," I said. "Do you think he will understand you?" he asked. "We'll have to find out," I said. "I hate
Louisa's POV I stretched out my hand and held Vincent's hands. I couldn't believe I was holding a vampire's hands. They were as cold as the ice on the tundra. "Vincent, I was in your cave this morning. When I saw that beautiful furniture and wall decoration, I thought to myself, the person who used to live here must have been really rich and enjoyed his life. But as far as I'm concerned, possessions don't make a happy family. People make it. It takes years of heavy labor of love. I don't know exactly what happened to you and your son, but I know that you must have tried very hard..." Vincent wailed. He shook his head and said, "No. I'm not a good father..." Will yelled at his father, "No, you aren't! You're not even a hUman being! You've changed me into a vampire and you didn't even ask me if I wanted to be changed into one! You just want me to be one of your possessions, being stuck with you for a thousand years! You don't need a s
Louisa's POV The golden egg disappeared. It vanished in thin air just like that. Almost instantly, Mr. Weasel woke up. He looked weak but conscious. "What happened to me, hUman woman?" He looked up at me and said. I stroked his back with great relief, lowered my head, and kissed his fluffy head. "Ahh! He's the flying crazy man with mad eyes!" When Mr. Weasel saw Vincent, he buried his head in my hair. "He's not a crazy man. He's Vincent the Vampire Count." I said. Will looked up at his father with an incredible look on his face. I crouched down next to him and spoke to him at eye level, "Will, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. When my father did nasty things to me, I admitted that I wanted to kill him. But the truth is, I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted him to leave me alone. You would never be able to forgive yourself if you really had killed your father in the past. And that remorse would stay with you for the r
Lucas' POV "Fucking Kings and Queens! A bunch of mother fuckers and losers!" I shouted. Derek looked intimidated and turned his head towards Lucian. "Don't you fucking look at him! Nobody can fucking save you today!" I kicked him. "I should have killed you long ago! You're a fucking cancer!" He rolled on the ground for a couple of laps and coughed out some sticky muddy fluid from his mouth. "Master... I'm already dead... For a dead man, there's nothing on earth that matters... But my brother... He served you... I forced him to do a lot of bad things, but he was innocent... Please spare his life..." Derek said. "You have no right to negotiate anything with me! I'm going to let you witness I torture your brother to death!" I said angrily and grabbed his neck. "Now, break this fucking ice shield and give my fucking woman back to me. Give her back!" Then, I heard a faint voice. "Leave... my brother... alone..." It's Darren
Louisa's POV "What?!" I couldn't believe what I had heard. Pregnant? I'm pregnant with Lucas' child?! But, I have to tell Darren that I... Then, I heard a wave of hysterical laughter coming from Derek. "The prophet's true! The advent child! The Dark King rises! He who has Lycan, witch, and vampire's blood will marry his mother and be the tyrannic ruler in the Kingdom!" Every single word was like a knife, stabbing my heart. Was it a vicious curse? Or just some disturbing nonsense coming from a madman? Then, before I realized it, my ankle was grabbed fast by Derek. I tried to move back, but I couldn't. Frost started to spread all the way up from my feet at a fast rate. I didn't know what happened before my whole legs were sealed in frigid ice. "No! Stop it!" I saw Vincent and Will trying to pull Derek away from me. But they ended up pulling the remaining of his legs off his body. More sparkling ice w
Louisa's POV Vincent looked at me and didn't say anything. The look on his face was almost lamenting. "Vincent, where is Darren?" I frowned and asked. "He's inside," Vincent said. "But he's in a very bad condition. Miss Louisa, I have to brief you before letting you see him. You have to be prepared. The werewolves at the slave market tortured and humiliated him. His skin was badly burnt. His face was deformed. His head had concussions. He is completely shut down right now. He refuses to communicate with anyone and it seems that he has developed a certain mechanism to protect himself." Vincent took a pause and said, "It seems that he has lost his memory, Louisa. I doubt he will recognize you." "No... No!!!" I felt like I was struck by a bat or something. My vision was black and I fell to the ground. Vincent caught me and held me in his arms. The world was spinning in front of me. Something bitter was stuck in my throat. I curled up a
Lucas' POV "Lucian, I really should have told you about this... I really should have told you about it long ago. But I get this kind of feeling... you know, if I don't talk about it, then it means this whole thing has never happened... And Derek has never betrayed me." I said in a low voice. Lucian was silent. "Anyway," I said. "it wasn't very long until the Red Queen found out that Derek was just lying to get back to the Underground City. So the Red Queen was furious and wanted to kill him. You remember the time that I was summoned to King's Land. I was actually forced to go there to cast an imprint on Derek. I did it and I tortured him. But it was just for the Red Queen to know that I was her loyal subject. Then, I faked his death by sending a corpse back to his uncle. I was planning to hide him somewhere, but those fucking traveling druids took him away. I was enraged, so I took his brother Darren away from the brothel to replace him. I thought one da
Lucas' POV "How many secrets have you been hiding from me these years?" Lucian stared at me and asked. "I'm sorry, brother. But my woman is missing. And she might be pregnant with my child. Can we just focus on looking for her?!" I said. Lucian didn't say anything, he took the tuna head and got on horseback. Then, he rode off without saying anything. Oh, fuck. Now Lucian's not talking to me. Like I haven't got enough on my plate. "I have a good suggestion for you." I heard Finn's voice in my head. "What now?! Don't tell me shit like rubbing the back of his neck. It fucking didn't work," I said. Torrent snorted his nose, urging me to catch up with Lucian. "Fuck, Torrent. Sometimes I get the feeling that you're fucking riding me! You can get as fast as you can, I don't give a shit as long as my ass is still on the saddle. I'm busy having a conversation with my fucking wolf," I patted Torrent's neck and said.
Lucas' POV "What's on her fucking mind?" I said. I was really fed up with women in my life. They were so fucking unpredictable. Lucian said, "She's gone this morning after Louisa told her off in front of everyone. And we've lost contact with Kylo. He took away our best people and our soldiers in the camp were either killed or wounded. Louisa tried to treat some of the soldiers this morning, but it will still take a few days before they're fully recovered." "Kylo's fucking with me! He sent his fucking sister to mess up with my soldiers. His father was with me and he still dares to fuck with me! Why does he do this to me?! Why did he betray me?!" I kicked the grass on the ground and said. "I don't know. If you left that traveling druid alive, we could have asked him," Lucian said. "Stop blaming me! That fucking asshole was blabbing about my fucking identity in front of Louisa!" I said. "Why don't you just tell her who you really are?
Louisa's POV Derek put his hand into his pocket. Colt thought he was about to take out a weapon or something, so he stepped forward, trying to stop him. "This..." Derek took out an amber-colored stone from his pocket and said. "This is Amber of Star. I want to give this... to your friend. I got it from... Underground City. With this stone, people can communicate with the soul... of their beloved deceased ones... I'm sorry that..." "I don't want anything from you." Mata cried out. "You took away my brother's life and there's nothing you can do to make up for it! He's dead! You killed him! You took him away from me! I have been staying with my brother ever since I first opened my eyes, and now his eyes will never open again. He can never hold my hands when I'm scared! It's a big scary world out there and I'm always scared!" "But you can talk to your brother... As if he's still alive..." Derek tried to explain. "You just don't understand, do
Louisa's POV The fire spreading all over my body dimmed. I stared at Derek and walked closer to him. He looked panicked and desperate at the same time. "What's the matter with you?! Where's the fire?! I have just killed your friend! Why don't you kill me with that fire of yours?!" He barked at me like a mad dog. I didn't say anything but kept stepping closer to him. "Come on! Hit me with a fireball or something! Hit here!" Derek pointed at the empty void in his left chest and said. "Don't you want revenge on behalf of your friend?" I stood right in front of him. Still, I didn't say anything. In despair, he grabbed my arm and said, "Come on! Hit me!" "Where is Darren," I said. "Take me to see him." "You'll never see my brother again..." He said with a sadistic grin. Before he could finish his sentence, I strangled his neck. He didn't protest or struggle. Instead, he kept smirking at me. I did
Louisa's POV The smirk on Derek's face was gone and replaced by ferocious malice. "Let me correct you, Miss Louisa Reeds. Nobody is supposed to be dead. We were born into this world to live our lives and hug our beloved ones, not to destroy and manipulate other people's lives." He looked exasperated for a brief moment, but then he regained his cool. "I used to serve Lucas when I was young and vulnerable. He's such a hypocrite and he used my innocence and love for him to take control of me. He came into my life without notice. When he was gone, he took everything away from me, including my life... and he told me it was for my own good! He locked me up in a cave and let those monsters torture me to death! And is this for my own good?!" Derek pulled off his shirt and let me see his naked chest. I could see there was a hole in his left chest. The place where his heart used to be. I was horrified and stepped backward. At that time, I rea