“Luna is not a Marshall, her mother met Stephen Marshall after Fraulien was born, marrying him before she knew of his actions with the rebel witches and warlocks. But her mother never revealed the fact she was married to a rebel to her vampire handler, nor did she tell her own daughter he wasn’t her real father.” Silas explained, his words carefully chosen as if rehearsed. “Which helps explain how she has no traits from her “father” and has no desire to join the rebels, she knows their numbers have waned in recent times due to them being ineffective against us.”
I gasped when I heard the words leave his lips, Stephen wasn’t my father?! What did he mean, if he wasn’t, then who was? Who did I belong to? I rose to my feet, taking a step towards them as if in a trance; “What else do you know?” I asked him.
Marianne smiled, “Do you have proof of this?” she asked, negating my question as Silas&rsqu
“I told you Fraulein was loyal, I told you that she would obey me and you will never lay a hand on her again, not unless I give the order. Is that clear?”Marianne nodded, glancing towards me as she sighed; her tone small and seemingly understanding, something that was rare from a vampire. “I am sorry for your loss child; your mother should not have had to endure what she did under our noses. We should have noticed.”An apology from a vampire? A high ranking one at that? This was something that caught me off guard but I knew she meant it; “Thank you Ma’am, I appreciate it.” I bowed my head to show all was forgiven.“Fraulein has also given up her name to show her loyalty to me. You will call her Luna unless in another form where she will be Fraulein.” Silas added.“You are certainly lucky
I nodded, warning the prince that I would be unavailable for a while, that I was beginning training and my mind would go silent; unresponsive. I tried to push the doubt from my mind, quickly sitting in front of Marianne on the floor, my heart racing slightly as I had never done this before; my anxious mind preventing me from concentrating fully. I sighed when nothing happened, when I couldn’t transform, knowing that it was because I was distracted.That my mind would not allow me to focus. But that still didn’t help, knowing was half the battle and in the situation, the other half was more difficult than I could have imagined; unsure how to move forward I closed my eyes, sighing again when nothing happened, when I failed.Mari sighed with me, knowing straight away what was happening. “You need to relax your mind; doubt is your worst enemy right now.”“I can’t relax, if I fail it ruins
Nine days had passed since my first lesson with Marianne, the deadline drawing closer faster than I had imagined it would, my doubt returning after a few days; filling my mind with reasons why I couldn’t do it, why I never would. I had tried my best, giving it every effort with no success, my mood deflated and low as I collapsed back onto the small mattress; the freezing room oddly comforting me.I needed to rest, to have a break from the constant demands of Mari, she wouldn’t give up; she couldn’t understand why I was failing. But I could, I wasn’t as good as they believed me to me, I wasn’t as powerful as they had hoped. I was nothing.I closed my eyes, Silas had been gone from Paris for three days and for that time, our connection had been lost; it clearly didn’t work over long distances. I couldn’t feel him any longer, I couldn’t sense his presence in the city or in th
“I knew that your fear would convince you to take another form, though I wasn’t sure if it would be a bat or not.”I understood what he meant, it could have gone one of three ways, my sunlight power could have made an appearance, I could have deflected his attack or I would have transformed into another creature; luckily it turned out that I had shifted into a bat.I dread to think what would have happened if I had not used my ability to shift, if I had deflected his attack using my aura. Perhaps if I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because I would have been rendered unconscious for attacking a prince of vampires. Would he have killed me if I would have failed? What was the next step if this hadn’t have worked?“Do not worry about that now, Fraulien.” He sent, his tone soft and welcoming. “All the matters is that you have done it. You’re a bat!”
I awoke to bright candle light, it was much brighter than the one is usual in my room knowing instantly I wasn’t in the small chamber I had become accustomed to. I rubbed my eyes, removing what seemed to be a vast amount of sleep from them as I yawned, what had happened? The last thing that I remembered was my power being strained. I had done too much at once by shifting into a bat and holding the form, though I wasn’t sure how long I actually held it for. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that I was in fact not in my room, but what appeared to be a larger room which I assume would be reserved for guests. It was decorated in beautiful crimson shades, the large double bed I was laid upon more comfortable than what I was used to. Why was I in a different room, had something happened to the chamber I was given as I passed out?I tried to get up, my body defying me as every muscle was sore and aching, I placed a hand behind m
“Yes. He has been exiled back to England.”I opened my mouth to speak, though as I did, Silas burst through the door; Ezio by his side. I attempted to get back up into a seated position as Blanche bowed on the cold floor; unable to do so as my body protested. He walked past the witch, barley noticing her existence as he moved to stand beside the bed, quickly checking me over for any sign that she had harmed me.My heartrate increased as he stared down at me and scowled slightly, his fiery eyes locked onto my trembling form.I turned my head away from him, “I am sorry.” I whispered, knowing that I had disappointed him by failing; even though I had tried my best, doing all that I could to succeed.And yet, I had still somehow managed to screw it up, failing to use my ability as it should be used. Why couldn’t I just please my master, why did I have to disappoint and anger
“And when you fail, I will be here to put you back in line SLAVE.”“if Luna needs to be shown where she stands it will be me, and me alone that forces her back into submission. Am I making myself clear Ezio?!” Silas snarled barbarically, his fangs pressing into his bottom lip and he moved to stand between me and the other vampire; blocking him from my view.“What about Blanche?” Asked the prince’s advisor.“I will leave her in your care, but you are not to kill her unless I give the order.” Replied Silas, his fiery eyes locked onto the Caprotti vampire.“Very well Sire, I will abide by your wishes.”I watched them, unsure what was happening, why she needed to be controlled and watched around the clock. She was innocent! She hadn't done anything that she wasn’t commanded to do, she was docile and obedient. So, why
Blanche was laid asleep beside me on the large bed, no one coming to retrieve her when she quickly became drained from the vast amounts of training we faced; pushing our bodies to the limit. She had fallen into a deep slumber a few hours ago, her breathing slow and relaxed. We had been practicing our individual powers for hours, I had managed to shift into a bat five times before I grew too tired and got a nose bleed; my mind growing weak and slow. But I had still done it, yes; I only held it for a few moments each time, but it was a start.One that I could be proud of. Surely the prince would know this, he would realise how hard we are working on our abilities for him, how much I wished to make him proud of me.Yet, I didn’t know for sure, he had gone out of my range so that I could not hear him any longer, nor sense him within the city; our link weaker when he was gone. No one had told me he was leaving, not eve