A WAVE of anxiety started crawling back inside my system after throwing up black liquid in the sink when I woke up the next morning. I had seen Alucard throwing up the same thing when we were still in the camp. What’s the meaning of this?The coldness, I thought it was gone, but it came back and it was a lot worse today. I couldn’t move, it numbs my feet.“Swan? You’ve been in there for a while now. Are you okay?” Zachary asked and knocked on the door.“Yes, I’m okay,” I said, hoping he didn’t notice my voice trembling. “I’ll be out soon.”I looked at myself in the mirror and was horrified when I saw my eyes turning black. My veins in the neck and face protruded. I blinked twice thinking that it was only my imagination, but it was still the same.My eyes widened. My chest was thumping when I tried to step away from the sink, from the mirror, but because my feet were still numb,
“ZACH!” I screamed.I woke up and opened my eyes. I immediately turned to my left and saw Zach who also sat on the bed. His hair was still messy and his eyes were half-open as if he had just woken up because of me.“Swan, it’s still early. It’s just two in the morning. Let’s go back to bed.”“You’re alive, Zach. You’re okay. Thank God!” I whispered, relieved as I caressed his face. “This isn’t a dream, is it? You are really here beside me, safe and sound.”He put his hands over mine. “This is real. I’m real. Whatever dream you had about me, about us, that was not true. And it’s not going to happen. It was just a bad dream, swan.”I wished I could say the same.But a mage’s dream always meant something. That was the first thing I learned from them. Our dreams were either a warning or a glimpse of the future. Zachary must have been aware of that, but he was choosing to turn a blind-eye for my sake.When I remembered that my hands were the same hands who struck Zachary with a dagger, I s
(Damon)‘THE WARRIORS found two more hunters near the city. I will go investigate it myself. I will leave the Queen in your care, Damon. Lord Valencia will be here as well. Make sure to call me in case something happens.’Those were His Majesty’s last order before he departed more than an hour ago. I made a vow that I would call him, but I cannot lift my fingers. Jonathan and I ought to hurry and get moving.But we just can’t do it.The mages were weeping as they stared at Her Highness’ blank expression. She was in the room with Violet when the latter suddenly screamed. And when we got inside, the queen was already bleeding profusely.Ravena had just confirmed that Her Highness had lost the baby. She hadn’t let out a single word or a single tear since then. She just kept looking at the window. The mages were letting out the tears she could not cry. I had already anticipated it. There was no way the baby would sur
“HEY, sleepyhead. Wake up. It’s time for breakfast.”When I opened my eyes and saw Kate looking at me with an incredible smile on her face, I almost broke down. The compulsion worked. There was that familiar glow in her eyes again.She planted a kiss on my mouth. And in the most vibrant voice I had ever heard, she said, “Good morning.”I buried my face in her neck and embraced her before pressing the edge of my eyes to stop the crazy tears from falling.“Swan, I love you so much,” I whispered.I’d been lying to her and I hope she could forgive me for this.She giggled. “What’s with this confession so early in the morning?”“Nothing. I just realized that I lived my whole life thinking that there is nothing that I don’t know any more about this world. I had been so conceited.”She sounded amused when she asked, “And your point is?”
THE OLD MAN clenched his hands, but in the end, he said, “No, your highness. Please proceed with the initial punishment.”“Very well,” Swan said and patted the father’s back before turning to a female mage who was crying. She wiped the latter’s tears away before taking her in her arms. She healed Sarah and fixed her dress using a spell.“Hush now. You are okay, Sarah. You are safe,” she whispered.“Thank you for standing up for me, your highness.”She smiled. “No problem.” But when she must have realized that all eyes were on her, she bit her lower lip, and tapped her forehead as she turned to me and then to the birthday celebrant.Her cheeks were still red when she raised her chin and in a defensive voice, she said, “I am not going to apologize for hitting that drunkard. He deserved it. However, I would like to apologize for the commotion I caused. I should have dealt wi
(Zach)ALUCARD didn’t seem surprised when he found me sitting on the couch inside his living room. It was as if he knew he was being traced. I had the mages put a tracking spell on him while he was dancing with my wife. After closing the door of his apartment, he went to the wine cellar and grab two bottles of bourbon.He sat on the counter and drank straight from one bottle. Without looking at me, he raised the other bottle. “You must have been bored waiting, your majesty. ‘Want a drink?”I infused my sword with my hell fire. In a blink of an eye, I was already standing behind him, the edge of my sword was pointed at his neck.“If you tell me where the rest of the Hunters are, I will give you a quick and painless death.”“I can tell you where they are but you cannot see them anymore.” His hand bled when he held the blade. Slowly, he turned to me. “I am not an enemy, your majesty. I didn’t
(Kate)‘KILL HER!’‘Kill that wench!’‘What are you doing just staying there? You lying son of a bitch! You betrayed us!’‘We will never let you get away with this! We will drag you to hell with us, Alucard!’They say the most powerful mages could see what other supernatural beings couldn’t. It was probably true. In my case, I get to see the shadows lurking around Alucard. There were hundreds of them. And when I saw him flinch, my hunch was right. He could also hear the voices.How long had he been haunted like this?How could he endure it? If I were him, I would have gone crazy. The witches and the hunters surrounded him, they were like shackles surrounding his body, taunting him and messing with his sanity.“Why are they around you? What did you do?” I asked and held his hands. I entwined my fingers with his. In a blink of an eye, the voices disappeared and I s
AFTER I threw the last blue rose on Alucard’s grave, I received a call. It was from the butler. The mages were still in the middle of their ritual as their way of sending Alucard off when I stepped out of the cemetery. I would have wanted Swan to attend the funeral but Alucard would not want that.He might rise from his grave if I’d let her know about this.“I’m in the middle of something important right now so this phone call better be worth my time, Larry,” I said after answering the call.“This is important, your majesty. We currently have a vampire on the loose!” he reported in a tensed voice. In the background, I heard the sound of people screaming and something breaking.“Right now? Where exactly? And who?”“Here in the castle, your majesty. It’s… the Queen.”“Tell lord Valencia to lead the warriors. I will be there soon.”I clenched my ha