“Mother?”
Caitlin snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head to look at her daughter who sat up on the mat.“You are awake,” Caitlin said and smiled before standing up with the cloth in her hand. She cut the thread and straightened the dress for Kyra to look at.“Are we going somewhere?” Kyra asked, guessing what it meant.“Yes,” Caitlin replied. “We are going to see an old friend.”*Kyra walked with her mother in the night and she felt safe. Night times are the times where she did not have to worry about what the people are saying about them because they would hardly see that they are the ones walking. Caitlin made sure not to walk in the path where the street torches burnt brightly and she made her way towards an old bookshop.On getting there, she moved her eyes to look at the side before pushing the door open and as soon as they got in, the door came rushing back and it slammed itself shut.“That was a good save.”Caitlin heard a female voice and she pulled Kyra along with her as they walked past the candles that lit the narrow space. Walking to the center of the place, she saw a woman dressed in a black sleek dress and Caitlin could only see a part of her face as her body was turned towards a shelf where she was placing a book in it.“You are grieving. Did something happen?”“Hazel,” Caitlin called.“At least you remember my name,” Hazel said and she looked at her only to offer a short smile and her eyes moved to fall on Kyra whose eyes stared sharply at her. Walking over to the other side, she said, “Your daughter is all grown up.”“She is still a child,” Caitlin said and pushed her daughter behind her.“Oh well she looks more than just a child to me,” Hazel said and turned her body to look at her. “It has been eighteen years, Caitlin, since you laid your hands on that book and started seeing Aiden. And now that I get to see you again, too bad your image has been tainted. They call you a whore here, said your husband only came once and disappeared forever. And they don’t know the father of your daughter, because well, of course they never saw him. And I don’t want to assume that you are Mary mother. You and Aiden would have been a great couple by the way.”Caitlin lowered her gaze from Hazel’s piercing eyes and blinked her eyes. There were so much people did not know about her, even her family. But Caitlin knew that Aiden never came or followed her to Creeksville, instead, it was Baron, their house servant who had accompanied her on their mother’s request and she had hid Kyra inside her for more than two and a half years before finally giving birth to her when she could not hold it anymore.When Kyra held her hand a little firmly, she raised her eyes and said, “You know, back then I always wondered what kind of a relationship a priest might have with a witch. Normally, they are bad omen, deceitful, corrupt. They mostly have those traits.”“You do not know me very well.”“Maybe not, but I do know that your family were victims of the witch trials and the people solely responsible for it were the Fathers of the church. You hated them, but mainly because they killed your human fiancé.”The last words seem to fall on Hazel like a stone and she clenched her hands.“He died in your stead, to save you, a witch at that. You must really mean so much to him.”“What do you want, vampire?” Hazel asked, clearly not wanting to hear more about her life.“I do not mean to make you feel bad, Hazel. I get everything that you did. Aiden does not support what the church did during that era. He understood you and doesn’t care about the kind you are. He only wants to save the world, and so do you. And the reason you were helping him was because your fiancé would have wanted that too.”Hazel scoffed and her expression suddenly turned serious. “Don’t get it wrong, Caitlin. I am only helping Aiden because if this world comes to an end…I’ll lose. If it does come to an end, how then will I get my revenge? I am going to make sure it does not so that if by means, there is a miracle that we could go back to the past, I would go back and burn those Fathers myself and then hang their bodies at every poles of the street.”Caitlin held a little frown which didn’t look obvious. Hazel could have decided to go back to the past anytime she wants by tapping into the black magic and casting some spells, but she didn’t, instead, she was looking for some kind of a miracle. This must be one of the reasons Aiden trusted her. She is pure, maybe not by heart though, she thought.“Now tell me, what brings you here in the first place?” Hazel asked.“I want to know if you’ve found a way to stop what is going to happen,” she said and when Hazel’s eyes moved to look at the side, she added, “without involving my daughter in it.”Hazel returned her eyes to look at her and released a sigh. She went to take her seat and Caitlin followed her, taking a seat facing her. She said, “The only viable solution I have come up with for the past eighteen years now is that we let the vampires take over the world and let the worst happen. What could possibly happen that time?” she asked as if thinking to herself. “The humans would become slaves, have their bloods dried and their bones might be used as turning sticks, which would be useful for me. Or well, there could be hunters, again and war would break out. But we already know who would win.”“Or maybe there could be someone out there who will try to stop the vampires…like the Elders,” Caitlin suggested.Hazel sighed and looked at her with a bored expression. “The Elders…won’t stop this. Do you even think they will accept to lay down their immortality and live as humans? They will bring down hell if that is what it takes to not have their immortality stripped from them and the sooner we make the sacrifice, the better, because if they get to know about your daughter, they will come for her.”They suddenly heard something fall behind the shelves and they both turned their heads immediately to the direction. Looking at either sides of her, Caitlin realized her daughter was not with her and she stood up immediately with Hazel before walking to the back of the shelve where the noise came from. There, Caitlin saw Kyra standing and stretching her hand to touch an orange-haired girl of about her age who seemed to be shocked as she stared intensely at Kyra.“No!” Hazel raised her voice and quickly went to drag the orange-haired girl away while Caitlin held her daughter back.“Who is she?” Caitlin was about to ask when she noticed the girl holding the sleeve of Hazel’s dress and hiding behind her and then she raised her eyes to look at Hazel who had a look of disappointment on her face.“She is your daughter,” Caitlin stated the obvious and almost scoffed at it.“Didn’t you train your daughter to not wander around people’s place,” Hazel asked, sounding annoyed.“Well my daughter knows just where to go,” Caitlin retorted and she dipped her hand into her dress before pulling out a book. Hazel recognized it immediately. It was the book of prophecy. “Now I have decided that nothing in this book will decide what I need to do. My daughter’s fate will not be decided by a mere book. A sacrifice?” she said with a frown. “Like hell it is. I am sure you would also know how it feels if it were to be your daughter. Let this world come to an end if it must. Nothing can change that now,” she said and pushed the book into the shelf before pulling her daughter along with her and they exited the place into the night.Hazel stood there with her daughter and the book of prophecy now in her hands which she had lost years back. She opened the pages and skimmed through to the last page when she heard her daughter say;“Mother, she was nice.”Hazel raised her eyes from the book and replied her, “No Echo, she isn’t.”In the outskirts of the towns, there was another world, a world for vampires and they were divided into four sections and distributed at every parts. One of them is Arkadia, ruled by a powerful leader; Aamon. Just as the name sounds, he is the devil himself and he was the one who broke the coalition between the Vampires after Lord Rexius reign.At one side of the border was Kyle; Aamon’s loyal servant, and few other men of his coven, hiding behind the bushes and waiting for what seems to be their prey. They had gotten information that some humans were trespassing and Aamon had sent him to go inspect things himself. Being the one who receives orders directly from their leader, Kyle felt superior than other members of his coven and this gave him the authority to act like a leader himself. It was what he has always wanted, to be a leader and rule thousands of armies, to see his people adhering to every word he says. He had always thought it was his fate and he would one day achieve it. I
Kyle sat there in silence, sucking in his anger and when the wind blew in their direction, he closed his eyes and thought back on his past. He and Gazzeus have been friends since childhood. They didn’t belong in the same coven at that time but they had met on a fateful day. During those times, they still live amongst humans but hide their identities and he had followed his mother to the marketplace where she was getting foodstuffs. He had sneaked away from her side and went exploring all by himself when he got to a stand where hot buns were being sold. The aroma of the buns alone made him salivate but he didn’t have any money to buy one so he watched the vendor closely and waited until he turned to attend to something when he stole one from the tray.“Thief!” Kyle remembered the vendor catching him in time and he was in a fix where he had to decide to put the bun back and face the shame as other people were now watching them. But his greed wanted to have a taste of it and so, he ran a
Athens is known to be the largest of all Covens and it is more like a Vampire Headquarters. Vampires from all covens, from all corners of the world are gathered at the council and nothing happened in their world without their knowledge about it and in most cases, without their approval. They ruled in all matters, gave permissions or took it away. That is how powerful and respected it was and they are called the Silver-Crest Coven.After Lord Rexius reign; the man who brought about the coalition to rid the hunters, the next leader chosen was Lord Dante who married a human lady named Renee. The Vampires had all frowned on the matter and would not accept a human to be amongst them and that was what had caused the alliance to be broken which was led by Aamon. It was not long after that Lady Renee died after giving Lord Dante a heir and the Elders of the council blamed it on the humans limited life-span. And yet, they refused to accept a child born out of a human and because he did not pos
“Are you doing okay?”Lady Phoenix turned around to the sound of the voice and she saw Elder Donovan walking towards her. He joined her at the gallery and seeing her wrap her arms around her body, he pulled off his coat and covered her with it.“Thank you, Donovan,” she thanked him and looked at him briefly before staring ahead of her, into the night sky.“How is Sage? I didn’t get to talk to him,” she said, shaking her head.“He is in my room, asleep,” he let her know and didn’t take his eyes away from her. Finally breaking after few seconds, he said, “Listen, I know it is hard for you. I know how you feel, but please trust me, I never wanted this for you.”“No no, Donovan, don’t say that. You can’t be feeling pity for me now,” she said, turning fully to him. “You also lost your brother today. It might be hard now but it’s going to pass. And don’t blame yourself for any of this. It was never your fault. Renee was my friend and she would have wanted me to do the same. I couldn’t watch
Rune held his hand up at a sea side, stopping his men and keeping at alert. They had travelled several miles from Athens in just few minutes and ended up at a vast sea. From their visions, they had seen another building, probably another coven which they are not aware of. Rune had travelled through this route before but he had failed to notice the place, probably because it was always covered by a mist. After waiting for few minutes when everything had gone silent, he motioned again with his hand and they took up to the sky like a bat before descending on the grounds outside of the building. Like shadows, they sneaked inside through the window and Rune ordered them to separate, but not so fast because a strange wind blew suddenly, sending them crashing to the wall and a force held them down.“Something is wrong,” one of the men said in a strained voice and even Rune felt the power of the force that he started coughing up blood.A torch was suddenly lit and they all saw a man dressed
Rune walked with Elder Donovan on the cobblestone and they both seem to be in deep thoughts. His men sighted him and they came to him immediately.“What happened? Where is the man?” one of them asked him.Rune looked at him and said, “We didn’t find him. That is what you should say if anyone asks.”They looked at one another and Rune called their attention by saying, “Do you trust me?”They returned their eyes back to him and nodded one after the other.“Then from now on, only do as I say,” he said.“What about the Council?” another asked.“The Council have deceived us for too long. There has been a new change as I speak. Silver-Crest Coven will now be ruled by the Elders. Right now, we can only trust Elder Donovan,” he said and looked at him with a nod of approval. “Let us return to Athens.”His men turned around and at once, they leapt into the air, returning back. Rune turned to look at the building and he asked Elder Donovan, “Can you accept it? Being mortal?”“It is a hard choice
Two weeks later, Caitlin and her daughter were up, ready to go for their usual day’s activity when they heard a sudden knock on their door. Caitlin stopped moving immediately and Kyra stopped too as she looked at her mother and then at the door. No one, not even their neighbors have come knocking on their door, ever.Caitlin went to the door and asked from there in a clear voice, “Who is it?”“It is Martinez, son of Mortimer,” the person outside replied.Caitlin wondered what he was looking for this early and she opened the door to see him standing at the front. She looked at him and her eyes moved to look down at his outfit.Martinez smiled and put his hands behind him. “Caitlin,” he called, bringing her eyes back to his. “Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked, not smiling and would appreciate if he went straight to the point. “Yes, actually, a lot,” he answered and his eyes moved to the side.Noticing he was looking inside, she quickly stepped outside and closed the door
Caitlin’s eyes were fixed on the side of the bush where the leaves had moved and she could sense that someone was there, but most importantly, she could perceive the scent of blood in the air. The person must have been wounded, she thought, but still, she felt wary as she took daring steps towards the direction. The person seemed to have stopped moving as she got closer and then she brought her hand forward to part the shrub.Her eyes went wide immediately at who she saw and she called, “Bathilda?”Bathilda stared back at her, writhing, as pain dominated her face and her hands trembled as she brought it close to her left shoulder where she pulled out the arrow which had hit her. “Aunt Caitlin,” she called faintly as she struggled to breathe.“Bathilda!” Caitlin was surprised to see her here in the forest but also covered in blood. “What happened? Where is Kathryn?” she asked.“All dead,” she whispered, “they killed everyone.”“Who did?” she asked, already feeling a mix of anger and pa