Prophecy: Child of Light (2 page)

“And what have we here?” he said.

Prophecy started as the velvet-edged, strong voice roused her from her haze. For a moment, she thought about answering him by mentioning that he’d just said exactly what her last victim had, but then she caught his scent and froze.

He wasn’t human.

He was a vampire.

Her eyes shot open and she stared at him, her senses becoming painfully sharp when he stared straight back.

His eyes were sharp, narrowing as he studied her. “Who are you?”

She remained mute. She could sense a power in him that was nearly as strong as her mother’s was and she knew instinctively that he was from the other family. Her eyes remained fixed on him when thunder rumbled threateningly overhead and she blinked rapidly when fat raindrops began to fall. The sound of them filled the silence. They saturated her in a matter of seconds.

Those seconds seemed to stretch into minutes while she stared at him and he looked back at her. The dead body of the man she’d killed lay prostrate between them, marking a line that she chose as the boundary between her and the newcomer. If he stepped near it, she’d bolt in the opposite direction and head for the safety of home.

Until then, she would stand her ground.

Lightning illuminated the turbulent blanket of grey above them. She noticed that his hair was black against his skin; a tangled spiky mess that made his slim face look even thinner. He stood straight with his head tilted back a fraction and his focus wholly on her. His eyes were as green as hers were when she was in her vampire guise. They held her gaze as he stared at her with a critical coldness.

He took a step towards her and she moved back one, keeping the distance between them steady.

“Why are you alone?” His words were an obvious attempt to get her to speak. She kept silent. “Not hunting with the pack?”

She felt like turning that question against him, but his eyes mesmerised her and she answered without thinking.

“They won’t let me. I’m still learning.” It came out sounding sulky and she lifted her chin in defiance when he pulled an expression of mock sympathy.

“Learning what?” He took another step towards her. This time, she remained standing in the same spot, not letting him back her up any more.

“To hunt,” she said.

Her senses stretched out and assessed all avenues of escape around her. Now that he was closing the gap, she could feel just how powerful he was and her instincts were telling her to run before he got too close. She knew she would be able to outrun him. He was taller than her, his legs longer, but his heavier build would make him slower, even with his heightened abilities.

He laughed mockingly and then gave her a serious look when he took another step towards her, cutting the distance between them down to only a few feet.

“To hunt is in your blood.” His voice lowered, his intimate tone sending a shiver down her spine. He looked deep into her eyes and held her gaze while he moved towards her. “To kill, your nature.”

She blinked.

“Who is your sire, little one?” He purred the words at her, his sensuous voice lulling her. Her eyes closed for a split-second before she got the better of herself and they shot open.

She raised her head in an attempt to show him that she wasn’t scared of him. She wasn’t going to answer his questions and she could see he wasn’t pleased about that when a shadow of annoyance crossed his face.

Her eyes widened when his teeth extended, his eyes shifting into their blue state as he revealed his true self. She gasped when he closed the gap between them and caught hold of her before she could move. She should have run when she’d had the chance. She shouldn’t have come out alone.

Pressing her hands against his chest, she struggled against him, trying to escape his grasp as her victim had attempted to break free of hers. She flinched away from him when he held her firm and whispered words to her.

“Do not be frightened. You know what I am going to do,” he said and she closed her eyes, leaning away from him when he neared her neck.

She had to block him, had to stop him from seeing the visions of her past from her blood as he wanted to. She desperately tried to remember what she’d been taught, but forgot it the instant his lips brushed against her skin, sending shivers of desire racing through her, washing away all fear.

She swallowed hard and grimaced when his sharp incisors penetrated her, sinking deep into her. She stilled for a moment as pain swept through her, clearing the clouds of desire from her mind. He pulled on her blood and his fingers tightened around her upper arms. She struggled against him.

Escape.

She needed to escape.

* * * *

A
s the images that were swimming in his head came into order, Valentine stumbled backwards and stared at her. She was standing before him, clutching at her neck, her eyes wide and full of fear. He blinked once, twice, and then frowned when she bolted out of the cemetery gates, leaving him alone in the darkness.

He stared at the place where she’d been not two seconds before and then brought his fingers up to his mouth. He brushed the blood from his lips and thought about what had just happened. He thought about what he’d seen.

Could it be?

He glanced at the blood staining his fingers.

“Prophecy.”

W
hen he approached them, Valentine nodded at the two guards that were flanking the main entrance of his family’s house. The rain was falling fast now, the wind driving it hard against the façade of the old mansion and saturating the heavy black coats the guards wore. He mused that they wouldn’t provide much protection against the weather tonight.

Stepping out of the darkness and into the brightly lit hall of his home, he unbuttoned his long coat while he walked along the corridor and through the entrance reception room. Shaking the excess water off his jacket, he kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, ignoring the vixens of his household as they called to him. He didn’t have time for making sport tonight.

Tonight he had more serious business to attend to.

His thoughts drifted to the female vampire. She had been slim, her dark tunic top and trousers clinging to her figure as she’d defiantly stood before him in the rain. Her long hair had been soaked and had hung in loose tendrils. The darkness of it had made her face seem even paler than it probably was, drawing his attention to it. Her round dark eyes had spoken volumes to him, but all in a language that he couldn’t understand. There had been something about her that had drawn him in until he’d been powerless to resist seeing what she held in her blood. Little had he known that what he would see would only confuse him. If instinct had told him that, he would have let her go.

Let her go?

By the Devil, he wished he had.

He wished she’d answered his damn questions, wished he’d never laid eyes on her.

He stopped just short of the heavy wooden doors that led into the main reception room.

What was he doing?

He almost laughed aloud at himself while he tried to make sense of the thoughts that were running riot through his mind. He shut them down. To think such things was mutinous, disloyal. His hands curled into tight fists, his nails digging into the softer skin of his palms while he stared unseeingly at the dark doors. It was his duty to report this. It didn’t matter what he’d seen in her blood.

Taking a weary step forwards, he pushed the doors open. Everything felt heavy, his limbs, his heart, and his head. It all conspired to make him feel as though he couldn’t take another step towards his destination, and that he couldn’t tell his lord what he’d discovered tonight.

The sounds of merriment drifted into the background as he pushed on, walking into the room and closing the doors behind him. He could feel all eyes on him and he knew what they were thinking.

He didn’t belong here.

He was too young to be a part of this hallowed scene, this sanctum for the elder vampires of his family, this place where they hid themselves away from the idle play of the children. His place was here, whether they liked it or not. He’d worked hard to attain his position. He’d spent over two centuries as a loyal servant to his lord and a dutiful son of his bloodline.

He looked down at his hand, almost seeing the smear of blood that had stained his fingers not thirty minutes ago. Her blood. That’s all it was. Just blood. There was nothing more to it. It was responsible for the disquiet he felt inside. It was always a danger when drinking from another of the seven pure bloodlines. They had power, enough to intoxicate the drinker and make them believe the things that the blood whispered to them.

“Good hunting?” A voice cut through the noise and reached his ears.

Peeling his jacket off, he handed it to Cornelius who was approaching him from the side.

“No... interesting hunting,” he answered, stopping a few feet inside the room.

Cornelius arched a brow at the soaking wet coat and then neatly arranged it over his arm. Valentine gave him a look that warned him not to complain. The only reason that Cornelius could enter this area of the house was because the young vampire was his aide. That title meant bearing everything that he threw at him—even wet coats. He knew his friend would do almost anything he asked so long as it afforded him such standing amongst their family and so long as he treated him well.

“Did you run into him?” Cornelius asked.

Valentine touched a lone finger to his lower lip, remembering the sweet taste of her blood. He could smell it still, knew it continued to stain his lip for all to see.

“No... a her.”

His eyes scanned over the plush plum walls of the room, their height almost reaching forty foot. He ignored all the looks he was receiving while he searched the balcony and then the floor in front of him.

“Who?”

When he failed to find who he was searching for, his eyes fell to rest on an ornate mahogany door directly opposite him. His stomach squirmed for a moment and then settled when he reminded himself of his duty to his family. It was just her blood trying to work its will and contaminate him. That was the only reason he felt this way.

He nodded towards the door. “That would be telling. Is he in?”

Cornelius frowned. “He’s engaged with Indigo.”

“Not any more he isn’t. This is more important than pandering to that girl’s needs.” Valentine moved swiftly towards the closed door, continuing to block out the mutterings of his elders.

“What is it?” Cornelius hurried after him.

“You shall hear in time. I have to tell him first. I shall be a dead man if you know before him.”

“You already are a dead man,” Cornelius said as one of the men guarding the door stopped him and held him back as Valentine passed.

Valentine smiled and continued walking towards the door. His friend always had a habit of wanting to know everything first, but this time he couldn’t risk his lord’s anger by letting Cornelius know before Kalinor heard.

Taking a deep breath, he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to relieve some of the tension in his body and then pushed the mahogany door open, striding confidently into the room.

He ignored the alluring smile that Indigo gave him when she pulled away from her mate and slowly covered herself, drawing her black hair down over her bloodied neck. Blanking her attentions, he looked straight at Kalinor.

When his lord looked back at him, Valentine walked quickly towards him. He took Kalinor’s hand, pressed a kiss to the ring on his finger and then looked up into his eyes.

“Valentine,” Kalinor greeted him dryly with an empty smile that barely masked his annoyance over the disturbance. “Couldn’t this have waited?”

“I am afraid not, my lord.” Valentine bowed his head. He didn’t need to look up in order to see the displeased look that his lord would be giving him.

Kalinor rarely bestowed it upon him though. Usually it was one of the other vampires in the household who was on the receiving end. He’d seen it often enough to know exactly what Kalinor would look like. His lord would be leaning against the large ebony desk, his long arms folded across his chest and his blue eyes watching him intently for a sign of why he was being disturbed.

Risking a glance, Valentine saw that he looked exactly as predicted.

Kalinor preened his sandy brown hair back into place and then scratched under his thin jaw before moving around his desk. He carefully arranged the tails of his long, ornately embroidered black jacket into place and sat down. Valentine watched him wave a hand at Indigo, silently dismissing her, and then found Kalinor’s eyes meeting his again.

Valentine moved to the chair on the opposite side of the desk, sat and met Kalinor’s gaze.

The elder vampire stared at him and Valentine tried to quell the desires that were rising up inside him, rebelling against his better judgement as they whispered words of insubordination to him. He told himself it would be more than disloyal to do as they asked.

It would be a sin.

It would be illegal.

He struggled to maintain a cool façade as his lord sniffed the air and fixed him with a dark look. He knew immediately what the problem was.

He stank of blood.

Not the delicate perfume of human blood.

It was the stench of vampire blood, of Caelestis blood.

He had to tell him now. It was his duty. He swallowed hard as everything inside him told him not to.

Kalinor raised a brow.

“Is something wrong, Valentine?” Kalinor said the words with cold calculation as their eyes remained locked with each other’s. “Did something happen on the hunt? I’ve known you since you were barely turned and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you like this.”

Valentine stood sharply, bowed his head a fraction and then walked to the other side of the room. He never could keep still. He had to pace in order to get his thoughts together and clear his head of the vision her blood had given him.

He had to clear his head of the vision of her.

There was something about her, something enthralling. The tiny trace of blood he’d taken from her had tasted so sweet, like honey on his tongue, and now a part of him was fighting against his better judgement and begging him not to tell his lord about her.