CHAPTER THIRTY ONERevelations***ElenaDracul didn't move for a moment. For what felt like an age, he just rested, taking deep breaths and regrouping. His breath was short and trembling in his chest.He seemed to have a lot on his mind, a lot on his plate. My heart pounding as I watched him, everything seemingly suspended in mid-air.I took a deep breath and held it. I didn't know if I wanted to hear the answer, but I knew that I had to. I didn't know how to move forward from here, but I knew that the truth was the first step. I had been kept in the dark for long enough."It's complicated," Dracul said, finally. His words broke the silence that was hanging between us, but somehow, he still wasn't saying much, wasn't explaining anything.Part of me wanted to be angry with him, but I was still just relieved that he was alive, relieved that he wasn't dead.I couldn't be angry with him, not really, but I could still feel the pounding disappointment in my heart. I deserved to know more,
Chapter 32Revelations***ElenaDracul didn't move for a moment. For what felt like an age, he just rested, taking deep breaths and regrouping. His breath was short and trembling in his chest.He seemed to have a lot on his mind, a lot on his plate. My heart pounding as I watched him, everything seemingly suspended in mid-air.I took a deep breath and held it. I didn't know if I wanted to hear the answer, but I knew that I had to. I didn't know how to move forward from here, but I knew that the truth was the first step. I had been kept in the dark for long enough."It's complicated," Dracul said, finally. His words broke the silence that was hanging between us, but somehow, he still wasn't saying much, wasn't explaining anything.Part of me wanted to be angry with him, but I was still just relieved that he was alive, relieved that he wasn't dead.I couldn't be angry with him, not really, but I could still feel the pounding disappointment in my heart. I deserved to know more, especial
Chapter 33No Holding Back***DraculElena's question hit me like a sledgehammer. I didn't know what to say or how to react.No one had ever asked me that before. No one had ever cared about what I was feeling before now, not really.As a child, the focus had been on survival, and I had been grown for so long now that I barely even remembered that time. I sighed and tried to rein in my emotions, which stampeded along at a great speed.Elena was something else, she was.Right now, when I should be feeling guilty for what happened between Gulliver and me, I wanted nothing more than to pull Elena into my arms. It was insane. It was absurd.But she did that to me. Even in the depth of the hardest conversation of my life, she was still here, listening. Even in the depth of the most challenging part of history, I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms.She did things to me, things that I had never felt before, things that I didn't truly understand.I turned and she was looking
Chapter 34All the Way**Elena Dracula felt incredible beneath my hands. His lips pressed against mine, and all of the breath left my body.I collapsed into him on the table as Dracul pressed his body against mine and kissed me, kissed me as he needed me for air as he needed me to survive.My head was spinning from the revelations that had just happened, everything that had passed between us. I no longer knew what I was feeling, but it was okay. Everything was okay.Because now I knew. Now, I had seen the real Dracul.And I was discovering that I liked him. I liked him a lot, flaws and all.This was different from before, somehow.This was raw and passionate but sweeter, somehow, wonderful and tender.And yet, he managed to still kiss me harder than he had ever kissed me before, his hands tangling in my hair, possessive and hard as he kissed me, his tongue pressing past my lips.I wanted this. I needed it.Now we were making love for the first time, with all secrets bare. Now, I kn
Chapter 35Nightmare Fuel***Elena Sleep came easily, curled up on Dracul's chest. Even thoughts and confusion about love weren't enough to stop me from sliding into a sweet sleep.But my dreams weren't pleasant, or sweet.On the contrary, I found myself thrown back to where this all started, to the nightmare that happened on my first day in the castle.It was like I was reliving everything again. But this time, it was warped. This time, it was wrong.I stood in the corridor, the hallway of the castle dark and twisted in my nightmare. I couldn't move, the cold seeping into my body like poison. I was helpless. I was terrified.Time seemed to slow as a second figure appeared and they both turned their eyes towards me. In the dim lighting, I saw yellow eyes staring back at me, narrowed to slits.Just like Dracul's eyes, but nowhere near as warm. The golden tones of his eyes were welcoming compared to the pale-yellow eyes that stared back at me.Just like the first time, I couldn't brea
Chapter 36Trust Issues***Elena pov"What's the matter?" Dracul said.He looked tired, sleepy, and groggy. I knew that I had woken him with my nightmare and now, there was no going back.Once I told him what was on my mind, there would be no way to return to sleep. I looked at him, sliding my eyes over his body.He looked tired and washed out, but he seemed stronger. Rest had done him a lot of good. Sleep had really helped him heal.Dragons really did heal as quickly as the rumors suggested."I, um..." I hesitated, feeling the pull in my chest. Once I told him, this lull was over. Once I told him, he would have to take action and the time we were spending together would dissolve into nothing.I had not had a chance to tell him yet. I had not had a chance to talk about it or consider my next move. But now that I did, the reality was really starting to kick in.But it was Dracul. He was doing everything he could for his kingdom and for me. He had protected me. He had put me first. He
Chapter 37Last Resort***Elena pov"What?" I stammered.Dracul's words felt like a punch to the gut. I had expected him to feel frustrated. I had expected anger. But I was not expecting this.I wasn't expecting this loss of trust, this coldness from him."You heard me." He said quietly.There was a heaviness in the way he spoke, a weight to his words that I had not heard before. I felt a jump in my stomach at the way he looked at me.Only hours ago, his gaze had been so warm on mine. I had been the one angry at him, feeling the fury of uncertainty.Now, he felt as betrayed as had. Maybe even worse, from the way he was looking at me.But it was more than that. There was a focus on him. He wasn't going to wait around, and I knew that. He was going to charge straight in, no two ways about it.I shuddered and shook my head, "Dracul, I know you're mad, but I didn't hide this from you. I didn't get two seconds to talk to you in private!"He shook his head and I could tell that he was done
THIRTY-EIGHTEnter King**Dracul pov.I sank back into the seating behind me, closing my eyes. I could still hear Elena's voice in my head, her worry and stress thundering through me.I didn't know what I was feeling right now.I needed to getaway. I needed to take action. I needed to do something other than just sit and let things happen.I had just been hit with a revelation. My world was spinning out of control in a way I had never felt before. I was usually in control. I had things under control.I never really trusted those around me. At least, not until recently. I was always weary and cynical. I was careful. I kept my guard up and my enemies close.I knew what everyone expected of me. I knew when a fight was brewing and something dark was just around the corner.And now, I knew that my kingdom was in danger. I knew there was unease in my kingdom, but I thought that everyone was working towards a common goal.For once, I had felt a strange sense of unity in my kingdom and in my
Chapter sixty sevenDraculI awoke with a feeling of intense foreboding, with my sharp ears I could hear the cries of war as it raged on not too far from me, why was I asleep, why was I not part of the fight, it didn't seem right that I wasn't part of it. Like a fog the veil was lifted and my memories fell like snow, blanketing all the crevices of my mind, Elena's scent, her voice and her tears, it seemed like she was here with me, but she wasn't, she was on her own in the battlefield, making the hardest and most terrible choice she could ever make, Elena was leaving me. The thoughts took a few seconds to settle in my head but when it did, a deadening roar escaped my lips and two leathery wings sprouted from my back, I took to the skies, angered and afraid, there was no way I'd let her do this at least not alone.The guards stationed to guard me seemed to have a field day bickering with one another, silently I unfurled my wings and took to sky burning a hole large enough for my esca
Chapter sixty sixDraculAt first I thought a sort of darkness had encroached the lands, but as we approached getting closer and closer, I realized that they were all men, dressed in armor, that resembled the very blackness of night on a closer look, with magical scouts and it was made known that the influence of Chaos had been far spread among them, drawing heavily on their very essence.The Shadow Army as I'd termed them had incited a deep fear in the once riotously psyched men and women and hushed montones and murmurings sifted it's way through the restless crowd, even the horses neighed in dismay and left to them, they'd have bolted out just like many of the faces."Sire," Alvarez's voice came through to me "They are rustlings in the group, how exactly do we win this war, we have planned but all in all this is not a man, neither is it a man's war, where exactly is Elena?"I stared on ahead, not meeting what I assume to be his heavy gaze, I could not tell him we were going to win,
chapter sixty fiveDraculaI burst out from the meeting hall, me alongside a dozen other men who were leaders in their own right. I bit back the order to send them back inside, but the chatter amidst them had already blossomed and the last thing I needed after that maddened announcement was to incite anger in our 'allies', I spotted Gulliver amidst the crowd and he clutched Elena tightly leading through the intent stares placed on her."What does the entity want with your wife?!" A loud prickly voice resonates through the fast growing crowd. The crowd seemed to part for her from her aged face, and dark eyes that glinted with a sense of maddened intelligence, the litter of her cane sent tremors through the crowd and that was what caused the parting, making way until I came eye to eye with the old crone. "Lady DaSilva of the Earthborns" She said curtsying really lowly and yet I could still sense the defiance rolling off of her "The enemy is upon us and war might begin in nothing short
Chapter sixty fourElenaMy body ached as I moved about, the castle had become more of a fortress with soldiers wide eyed and scary, and scared men alike roaming about, increasing chatters filled every nook and cranny, especially since the sky had taken on the reddish tinge and the wisps of Chaotic magic filled the air whispering and sowing vile seeds of fear in their hearts. I had enough weirdness going around from men gazing at me with reverence and communal, with a certain group of witches who seemed pretty intent on adding me into their coven.In the midst of this tumult and chaos, no pun intended, I'd barely been able to get a glimpse of Dracula, to even hope for some alone time with him was a dream I sparsely had enough time to think about it, Currently I sat listening to some sort of magical brigade intervention squad and even with the end of the world looking and everyone legitimately occupied, I'd just about had enough and I felt the insidious strain of a migraine coming on.
Chapter Sixty threeMiranda My hands shook with fears and madness, I couldn't move, a golden framework of spells netted me down, with the last of his life force Taisfet had cast two spells, One to send the wretched traitor Elena away and the other to tie me down to this damned place. Several days seemed to have passed by and the only sustenance I could get was from feeding Chaos into my body.The tree had wilted and crumbled around me and the last days of Order were wilting away, fading off and with each passing second Taisfet's spell waned off and I drowned in Chaos magic, my pale skin and blackened hands and pale almost white skin were proof of it's infestation, as I fed off it, the veins blackened and my thoughts loosened."Yes child!" Chaos Howled with glee "Embrace it! embrace the darkness, together we'll corrupt this mad world!"The golden binds flickered, I sneered at Taisfet's decomposing form, If only he'd just helped, things wouldn't have come to this, maybe Chaos was righ
chapter sixty twoGulliverThe clouds had darkened above the kingdom, between an oncoming war and a maddened unfit king, I pretty much had my hands filled up, although the straw that broke the camel's back would be Elena's sudden and abrupt disappearance with nothing but a note left behind in her stead, even as I read it over and over again, I could not get any proper emotion save for the intense burning rage that threatened to burn through me, How could she leave at a time like this?Every able bodied shifter folk had been stationed from the castle to the very border of the kingdom and yet a deep sense of foreboding filled me, almost as if I knew that she'd slip out, This was pure madness I wasn't cut out for this I wasn't-. "You know arching your back when doing the walk of intense thinking and also sitting down on that hard throne all day is bound to give you a hunch back." A voice said interrupting my spiralling train of thoughts."Whoever you are get the fuck-"The rest of the w
Chapter sixty oneElenaLeaving was the easy part, with the Chaos threat at hand, father and Gulliver were much too ingrained in their plots and defense mechanism to notice me slip out, after all they didn't see me recovering anytime soon and none of them were seemingly aware of the mystical powers that had been gifted to me by the little one growing inside of me.The hard part itself was the journey, the land had begun to heal, but not quickly enough, one false step would lead to an endless abysmal fall, Not to mention, guards were stationed everywhere even though I'd been explicit in the letter I'd left that I was not to be searched for, Gulliver the stubborn headed goat.There was a strange feeling I had, although the journey was presumably treacherous, it always did feel like I was protected from the brunt of it, like some invisible kind of shield or halo of grace that kept the most ferocious of monsters away, nevertheless I was covered up in scrapes and bruises until I reached th
Chapter SixtyMirandaThe wind howled with a ferocity as I made my way through the woods, the landscape had slowly begun to change from the lush forests to a cold and a harsh rocky terrain, the elements themselves seem to be well against me, pretty hell bent on getting me farther and farther away from him.The wind howled with a ferocity, but even with it's harshness the voice of the entity seemingly stuck in my head yelled out even harsher in my head, it was a miracle that I managed to even move given the burden that weighed down on me.I'd just made camp for the night and from the distance I could hear the faint howling of the wolves, for safety I cast another layer of protection around my tent, maybe such a huge one had been a mistake but it'd been deemed necessary along with two other guards who'd been quickly dispatched off by the teeming monsters in the woods of Valor.It was all the same to me though, I could finally drop the glamour and travel freely across the woods, not to m
Chapter fifty-NineElenaThe guards flew like they were made from putty, each hitting the hard stone walks with resounding thuds followed by the snapping of bones and pained yells, in the end, it had taken over fifteen guards to subdue Dracul enough to let us perform a higher grade ritual on him, even then he struggled madly against the luminescent chains keeping him bound and the guards had quite a problem keeping up.'Now my lady," the captain yells at me. “We cannot hold on much longer.”I glanced at Gulliver who gave a nod and together we proceeded with the spell."Zeruko.. kateak moisten dizugu zoramena lotzeko!" We chanted in unison.The words flowed out of our mouths repetitively and despite the immense drain from my still depleted sources I could see the faint inklings of the spell coming to life around him, my consciousness wavered but I needed to keep going, at least for Dracul's sake."Zeruko kateak otoizten dizugu zoramena lotzeko!" The words flowed faster and I leaned int