Ellie's POV:
We waited all night until the sun was about to rise, giving us what was left of the dark to quickly make our way to the mayor’s home. We had the opportunity, whilst everyone was asleep to hopefully get there unnoticed. If we wanted our plan to work, the last thing we needed was to panic everyone into a loud frenzy and alerting the hunters and Lyra of our whereabouts.
We snuck past the warehouse and headed for the alleyways that passed in between the houses, keeping away from all the streetlamps. With the mayor’s house in sight, all we had to do was make it across the street where it was nicely surrounded by neatly cut hedges and blossom trees.
"We'll have to get there fast and at least we'll be hidden. No one from here could see us". Zekan spoke in a quiet voice.
"Ok, I'm kind of a fast runner, it’ll be fine".
Zekan grinned as he looked at me.
Zekan pulled me along through the forest and I tried to keep up as much as I could, but each step felt as if my feet were being pulled into the ground. They felt heavy, weighing me down as sharp pin pricks began to pierce my skin from the inside out.My hand broke away from his as I keeled over, falling to my knees. My whole body began to feel as if it was a million ants were crawling under my skin, itching and biting. I frantically slapped my arms trying to stop the intense irritation.“Ellie, are you ok?” Zekan called out as he rushed back to me.“I… I… ahh, make it stop!”. I pleaded as it only got worse.My knees started trembling and could no longer keep me up and my body fell onto the floor as my hands continued to slap and scratch away, from my arms to my stomach, my legs and back up to my neck. “Somet
Kyan’s POV:"They're not going to talk, they were never going to". I said to father as we sat in his study, having another morning meeting with Magnus and Kiko sitting in with us."I feel after last night’s news, it is too late anyway". He replied with a sigh.Last night, when the sun was beginning to set, our tower guards noticed a thick black fog surrounded by an orange glow seeping up into the sky from Bluebay town. Several of us headed to their border, to see their village hall, along with two houses close by, burned to the ground and smoke was still erupting from the fires they had put out. From what we could see, it looked as though no one was hurt but from their distressed expressions and us listening in on parts of their anxious conversations, we knew how it had started.We didn't hang around or even speak to their mayor, we knew they still wanted nothing to do w
Ellie's POV:Getting back to the castle was taking frustratingly longer than me and Zekan had wanted, but seeing as we now had so many humans with us, we constantly had to stop for them to rest, whilst me and Zekan were fuelled with energy and worry that we just wanted to zoom through the forest and get back."I'm glad we managed to join you before it was too late". Mayor Jackson said as he came to sit next to me on a fallen tree log."I am curious to know what made you all change your minds... I mean, last time I saw you, you looked...""I know". He said, before I could finish. "I think I was just in shock, Ellie. I never wanted things to turn out this way for you, after all, I've known your parents and you for a long time. I watched you grow up. You were so innocent as a child, happy and smiling all the time and.
Kyan's POV:Breakfast was pretty quiet this morning, we all knew the hunters weren't far and were watching us closely. Magnus had suggested we sneak through the windows and take them down in the night whilst hopefully most of their camp would be sleeping and I have to admit, I was fully on board until father reminded us, that we still didn't know who our traitor was and that they could easily get out fast enough to warn them the moment we started attacking the ones guarding along the tree line.I hated the power they seemed to have exerted over us! We were supposed to be feared! We were supposed to be the ones that had an advantage, not those fuckers! All we could do, was trust that when the time came, we'd be able to take enough of them down on our own."You're rather quiet today, son!". Father said as we walked from the rear hall into the main hall, one that we still didn't feel was safe enough to use yet.
Ellie's POV:We had started making our way creeping through the trees at first light, the moment Zekan had told us that the hunters had begun their move towards the castle.I could hear the heavy panicked breaths of everyone behind me, the reality sinking in that they were completely inexperienced and yet marching toward one of the biggest fights of their lives, sacrificing themselves in hopes to save their loved ones back in Bluebay town. Each and every one of them praying to return with their lives and with good news. In fact, I think that was something we were all silently hoping for. I could only imagine the horror on the townspeople's faces to see the hunters return instead of us. I know we all couldn't bear the thought of what would happen to them and all of their innocent children.We slowed down our pace even more, carefully placing our feet on the ground with every step as we could see the opening of the forest
The noise was deafening, the sound of gunshots rung every few seconds with the smell of gunpowder. I’d never get used to the blasting sound it made, every time, I felt as though my bones were jumping out of my skin, expecting to feel the sudden pain and burning of a bullet shooting through my body, or trying to quickly glance around to see who it was that had been hit, but there were just too many of us. Too many people fighting all around us for me to know who was even ok.The moment Lyra’s jaw had come away from her face, I had looked down on her wishing the fight would end there. She had felt like my true enemy, but truth is, she was actually just their follower, they had been here long before she got involved.I left her lying there and jumped up to my feet. Three hunters raised their guns to fire another round of bullets, I flashed over to them and grabbed the gun of one man smacking it around the heads of the other two before they could
I looked around at the battle that surrounded me as my father still lay in my arms. My chest heaved with sobs as I watched three or more hunters taking on one vampire between them and the defence line in front of the humans was beginning to deteriorate with the hunters all rallying to break through.I could just about see a bloody Kyan trying to hold them back by throwing them onto the ground, hard enough to crack their skulls, but there were too many and the fear on the humans was causing them to tremble and miss their shots. The only ones who held their form were the mayor’s bodyguards, trying as quickly as they could to pick up the slack, firing whatever weapon was close by and loaded, only for a hunter to slit one of their necks before Magnus could reach the hunter and kill him.A firing anger rose in me, and my body sho
The rest of that day and night was a blur. After Kiko had managed to successfully knock the rage out of me, the next time my eyes opened was to see her with Faye and Melanie washing all the blood and dirt off of me in the bathtub. I was still hazy, only keeping my eyes open for a minute at a time, as if my brain was still choosing to shut down the moment I’d wake up.“It’s ok, Ellie, we’re here. We got you”. I remember Melanie speaking softly with tears in her eyes.The next time I woke, I found myself tucked in my bed in Talon’s chambers. Clean clothes and not a trace of blood on my skin, I looked out the window to see it was almost sunset and everyone else were still outside, dragging the hunter’s bodies into a pile and carefully lining up our own that has died and the human’s side by side in front of the castle.I don’t know how, I don’t know what pa
We stood on the top deck at the railings as we saw the Island come into view and the ships horn blasted into the sea breeze. As we came in closer, I could see two figures standing at the dock, waiting for it to anchor. As the ship finally pulled in, I could see it was an older man and woman, elegantly dressed in a black suit and an emerald, green gown.“Who are they?” I asked both Kyan and Talon, but neither of them answered, Kyan just squeezed my hand, with the biggest smile on his face and Talon patted my shoulder with a knowing look. But I watched his face as he looked from me and out to them and I thought I saw him looking slightly nervous, but it was gone too quickly for me to really know.We stepped off the ship and made our way over to them as they waited with bright smiles. Well, they seem friendly enough! I thought to myself, still wondering why Talon had looked a bit uneasy.&nbs
We had arrived at Shelter Island two nights ago, and from that moment, Donny and Marina were more than welcoming as they set us up in white and cream decorated guest rooms in their own castle with beds that were big enough to fit ten people in.Their castle wasn’t as large as ours back home, but it was so elegantly decorated, bright and modern. Their main dinner hall was all painted white and a pastel blue with a long glass table set in the middle for their meals, glossed white chairs around it. They even had several cream fabric couches against the walls for everyone to calmly relax in once they’d eaten.They had a hedge maze in their rear garden that stretched out as far as the eye could see and their own lake that swept through the edge of their trees. There were other smaller houses that were only half a mile from the castle that housed some of their permanent lodgers, couples, friends, families. It was a busy island, constant music, gatherings in the n
One month later:As I packed the last of my things I knew I’d need and zipped up my bag I quickly planted a kiss on Kyan’s cheek as I left the room to find Kiko.Four weeks ago, after I had been to my old house I had come back and told Kyan all about it. That was when he suggested that it would be good for us both to take a little trip together and kept talking of how much he wanted to introduce me to some of his oldest friends and for me to see more of his world, the world that I was now a part of.We had spoken to Talon and Zekan about it straight away, with Zekan assuring us he’d be more than capable to keep things going while we were away and Talon, was all too eager to join us, only he was choosing to extend his trip a lot longer than ours.I wanted to say goodbye to everyone, to remind them we were only a phone call away should they need us, but
Two weeks later.Me and Kyan didn’t take what Talon had asked of us lightly. The very next morning we had told him that from hereon out he was to show us everything we needed to know. We spent hours going through files of different islands where other vampires lived safely in anonymity. There were four other islands that housed just vampires and two others like our own, who had certain territory on a shared human island. We had to learn all the names and current whereabouts of the well known rogues, which ones were animal based feeders, and which hunted on human blood. It would be our duty to regularly know where they are along with the lords on the other islands, and for us to always keep one another up to date.Talon had already told mayor Jackson of his decision and that he had to now only converse with Kyan or myself. I knew that would mean, Andrew Jackson would have to announce it to the town and although they tru
“Wow, this looks incredible Faye”. Talon commented as we all gathered around the table. “Faye..” he quickly said as he placed his hand on her arm just as she finished placing the potatoes down. “Once all the food is brought out, I want the rest of you to sit with us, it’s been too long since we’ve all shared a meal together. Make sure you tell Bianca and Constance too”. “Of course, Talon. I’ll tell them all now. I’ll have Stuart call for Gerald, I think he’s in his room”. “Thank you Faye”. Just as she was leaving the room, Talon nodded for us all to sit down. This was our first night back in the main hall and as I sat in my seat next to Kyan, for a minute it felt like we had suddenly gone back in time, months had passed since we were last all i
“I knew the real Ellie was still in there”. Kyan whispered as he lightly brushed his fingers through my hair. I led in the nook of his arm as the birds began to wake and start their morning song.I liked it up here, even though it had only taken us no more than ten minutes to get to the top, it somehow felt like a million miles away from all the death, the heart ache and all my fear. All those problems were down there, but up on this hill, it was just me and him, alone, peacefully minding our own business, talking and making love all night.“I’m so scared Kyan. I’m scared that the moment we go back I’m going to become something I don’t even recognise again”. “I won’t let that happen sweetheart. I’ll do whatever it takes to not lose my Ellie”. He said with a reassuring smile. &l
Ellie’s POV:I woke this morning with an anger swirling inside of me, Kyan was lying next to me, and it was him that would be in my firing line.I jumped out of bed in a huff and got dressed into my fresh clothes for the day, purposefully making enough noise for him to stir.He rubbed his eyes and looked at me in concern. “Morning. How are you feeling?” He asked cautiously.“How am I feeling?” I retorted, frowning at him. “How can you of all people even ask that!” “What do you mean, me of all people?” He asked, sitting up, giving me his full attention.“Oh, have you forgotten what you did?” “Clearly I have, so you’ll have to remind me!”
Kyan’s POV:I stared at the roaring fire that swarmed over the pile of bodies. The flicker and snap of the flames erupted into the sky as bits of ash floated along, carried by the soft breeze. I looked up at the window of Ellie’s bedroom, wishing I was up there with her instead of seeing to this mess. I had hoped with every breath that she was still alive, I’d hoped I’d see her again safe and untouched. Of course, I knew I was hoping for a lot, my realistic side of my brain always told me she would have changed one way or another, that they’d damage her to a point…Only I had expected it would be bruises, cuts, tearing her down mentally. I never thought that if I got to see her alive again, it would be with her as a vampire, one of my kind, something I knew she was too sweet and kind for. Now, not only was she one of us but they did in fact manage to change her heart too. That crazed look I saw in her eyes, the w
The rest of that day and night was a blur. After Kiko had managed to successfully knock the rage out of me, the next time my eyes opened was to see her with Faye and Melanie washing all the blood and dirt off of me in the bathtub. I was still hazy, only keeping my eyes open for a minute at a time, as if my brain was still choosing to shut down the moment I’d wake up.“It’s ok, Ellie, we’re here. We got you”. I remember Melanie speaking softly with tears in her eyes.The next time I woke, I found myself tucked in my bed in Talon’s chambers. Clean clothes and not a trace of blood on my skin, I looked out the window to see it was almost sunset and everyone else were still outside, dragging the hunter’s bodies into a pile and carefully lining up our own that has died and the human’s side by side in front of the castle.I don’t know how, I don’t know what pa