Prophecy: Child of Light (33 page)

A loud crash off to her right signalled that the werewolf wasn’t running a straight course any more. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw it use one of the statues of saints as a springboard, shattering the fragile stone under the pressure of its hind legs.

“Faster,” Valentine growled at her.

She struggled to keep her footing on the wet stone floor. She’d never had to run this fast for this long before and it was taking its toll on her. She squealed when Valentine’s fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist and he forced her to push through the pain barrier to keep up with him. Resisting a look at him, she kept her focus on the gate ahead of them. She knew that Valentine was tiring too, but they couldn’t stop and fight. The long bridge didn’t offer them the room they would need to manoeuvre and there was no cover of any kind.

She heard Valentine suck in a sharp breath and expel it slowly when she almost lost her footing again. The gate wasn’t far off now. They were no more than thirty metres from it and were closing in fast. Unfortunately, so was the werewolf. She could practically feel its breath on her neck, its signature growing stronger on her senses.

It was closing in on them faster than they were closing in on the gate.

“Move!” Valentine said and she looked over at him.

His claws were extending, the bones of his face shifting as his teeth descended. His eyes flashed like mother of pearl as they caught a streetlight.

She shook her head violently in opposition of what he was asking her to do. She wasn’t going to let him fight alone this time.

“I am not asking you, Prophecy. I am telling you.” He grabbed her wrist tightly and propelled her forwards, letting go of her just before they reached the gate. She stumbled on, unable to slow down immediately without falling over.

She turned in time to see him whip around and grab the werewolf’s forearms just as it leapt towards him.

He clenched his jaw and struggled to contain the beast. It snarled and lurched forwards, trying to bite him and growling when he skilfully dodged its jaws.

“Valentine,” she whispered and flexed her fingers, her eyes fixed on him the whole time, watching him wrestling the werewolf.

Holding her hand out by her side, the faint purple glow of the magic caught her eyes and obscured her vision, making the world seem dimmer. She tried to focus past its light so she could see Valentine.

With lightning quick speed, he twisted the werewolf’s arm around and slashed down its chest with his claws. He evaded it as it growled and lashed out at him. Coming around behind it, he sliced into the calf muscles on its hind leg.

The werewolf let out a whimper of pain and snarled. Valentine raced towards her at a flat out run. She barely had time to react when he grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the gate, leading her in the direction of the old town square.

“I thought I told you to run?” he said with a frown.

She shot him a black look. “I’m sick of running. This is my fight too... our fight.”

She relented when he glanced across at her. His features were again in human form and his green eyes were full of something akin to disbelief over what she’d said. He dragged her down a side street and they pelted along it as fast as their tiring legs would carry them.

Valentine looked over his shoulder.

A low snarl in the distance made it clear that the fight wasn’t over.

She frowned at him.

“I was just slowing him down.” He grinned and she could see a glimmer of pleasure in it that made her wonder if he thought this was fun.

She caught a glance at a street sign as they sped past it.

“This way,” she said, pulling him down a small alleyway. She smiled when they came out in the middle of the square.

He looked around in all directions. Her eyes moved quickly to take in the church at one end of the square and the old town hall that faced it. There were people milling around, enjoying the scenery and the quiet of night.

“Any ideas?” she said.

“That way.” He nodded towards another alley. Just as they were about to move, the werewolf appeared from nowhere, cutting off the route he had just pointed out and running towards them.

“Maybe not,” she whined and looked at Valentine. He wasn’t even looking at the werewolf. He was staring at a street sign that was pointing in the direction of something.

He tugged on her hand and she ran, not asking him where they were going. He knew this city better than her and they both knew that a fight was rapidly becoming inevitable. If they couldn’t escape the werewolf, they needed to lure it to somewhere that people were less likely to see them or get hurt.

She followed him as he turned a corner, following another sign. They passed a group of tourists and she didn’t look back as they screamed, she just used the sound to give her a rough measurement of how far behind them the werewolf was.

“Closing,” she said.

They sprinted around another bend and headed straight for the glowing yellow ‘M’ sign that was directly in front of them.

Thundering down the steps into the metro station, she grinned when they ran straight through the open barriers and past the ticket validation machines.

“Bless the trusting people of Prague.”

Valentine laughed and looked her over. “I hardly think someone is going to ask us for a ticket.”

She looked across at him and supposed he was right. His face was bruised, his lip was split and his black clothing made him look like some kind of sinister military officer. She knew she didn’t look much more welcoming than he did. No human in their right mind would have stopped them.

She skidded to a halt when they reached the escalator. The height of it made her tired head spin.

“No time for a rest,” he said and grabbed her hand. He ran down the escalator, his boots making a hollow metallic echo as he hit each one hard.

Watching her feet closely so she didn’t stumble and drag him down the escalator, she listened to the rhythmic pounding of his boots and breathed deeply. The air smelt of diesel and dust.

An echoing growl from up above made her look around. The werewolf was bounding down the steps and closing in on them again. When it leapt onto the long metal slope that divided the two escalators, she pushed Valentine forwards.

“Speed would be good right about now.”

He turned with a frown and scowled at the werewolf before doing as she’d instructed.

“Someone needs to learn when to quit.” He doubled his speed down the escalator.

She kept her eyes on him, not wanting to think about how easy it would be to fall. If she did, then it would all be over. The werewolf was almost on them.

There was a rush of cool earthy air and the sound of a train pulling into the station. She pushed off the last of the steps and dashed forwards, shutting out the sound of the werewolf and focusing on reaching the train before it left.

Skidding around the corner behind Valentine, hope sank in her chest when she saw the train doors close ahead of them and it started to move away. Valentine growled and turned sharply to the left when they hit the platform. He continued running for a few metres and then stopped and gave her a look that said there was nothing left now except fighting.

She nodded and rolled her shoulders to loosen up.

A snarl made her look around. The werewolf was slinking around the corner. It bared its fangs when it spotted them.

She noticed that it was limping. Valentine had slowed it down and she didn’t want to think about how different this night could have been if he hadn’t. Even when injured, the werewolf had almost out run them.

“I think it is time you tested that magic of yours again.” Valentine’s voice rang in her ears.

She shook her head. “I won’t—”

“I am afraid that you do not get a choice this time.” He cut her off.

She gasped when he shot off along the platform. Quickly flexing her fingers, she focused on him as he ran to meet the werewolf head on. Wind rushed through the tunnels, making her jacket flap open and blowing her hair around.

“Now or never.” She took a deep breath, focusing on her hand. She could feel the magic building there and she knew what it would take in order for it to come quickly.

She watched Valentine clash with the werewolf, not allowing herself to look away like she wanted to. She felt the intensity of the magic increase each time he was hit. Her skin began to itch when the werewolf caught Valentine’s shoulder and he growled. He moved quickly to evade the beast’s claws but the werewolf threw him hard against the curved wall, causing the impact to echo around the platforms. He dropped to the floor, plaster and splinters of tile raining down on his back.

Her whole body prickled and tingled. The magic arced along her fingers.

She straightened and growled when she realised that Valentine wasn’t getting up. Her hand came up, her left one tightly holding her wrist to keep it steady.

“Puppy.” She cooed and the werewolf stopped moving towards Valentine where he was struggling to stand. It looked at her and she smiled wickedly. “Here boy.”

The werewolf bounded towards her just as a train came thundering out of the tunnel behind it. Wind rushed against her, the sound of it filling her ears while the lights from the train flickered across her eyes.

She set her jaw tight and narrowed her eyes on the werewolf, looking deep into its yellow irises as it sprinted.

It pounced.

She ran at it.

The world moved in slow motion.

Prophecy could see the werewolf in mid-air and the magic leaving her hand. The purple trails crackled as they dug into the werewolf, singeing the fur and making a smell like burnt popcorn before cutting into its flesh and ripping through it. Remembering that Valentine had ended up covered in pieces of werewolf the last time she’d used her magic on one, she threw herself forwards, rolling underneath it as it sailed overhead.

She rolled onto her feet and the world sped up again. She cringed when she heard a harsh pop followed by a series of wet slaps. The scent of blood filled the air. Looking over her shoulder, she grimaced at the sight of the pieces of werewolf and blood that was splattered along a ten-foot length of platform.

“Prophecy.” Valentine’s dulcet tones roused her.

She closed her eyes when she felt him standing close behind her. Heaving a sigh, she turned and wrapped her arms around him, not caring about what his reaction would be. It was stupid of him to place himself in danger like that and she wanted to tell him just how angry she was with him, but all she felt was relief that he was all right. She was stunned when his hand moved in small, soothing circles against her back.

“Are you all right?” His voice was laced with concern.

She pulled away from him and cleared her throat, hiding how scared he’d made her and managing a scowl.

“No. You’re stupid, you know that?”

He just smiled at her and then stretched, rolling his shoulders and sighing in satisfaction. She could hear all his vertebrae cracking back into place. He really was an idiot. She glared at him, trying to show him how angry she was with him but failing dismally when he raised his brows and dusted the white plaster off his jacket. It was impossible to be angry with him when she just wanted to hold him again and breathe a sigh of relief that he hadn’t been killed.

He looked past her and she glanced at the dead werewolf.

“You did better than last time.”

She smiled at the note of admiration in his voice.

A train squealed to a halt on the other platform. She listened to the sound of his boots on the hard floor and turned to follow him. Walking away from the platform, she realised that she had done better than last time. She had more control now.

He held the door of the train open for her so she could board and she smiled into his eyes as she stepped towards him.

She took one last look at the station as the doors closed and then turned her back on it.

The train began to move.

In just over an hour they would leave Prague behind for the second time.

She would see it again.

When everything was said and done, she’d come back and free her family of Arkalus’ reign.

P
rophecy leaned back into the couch seat, listening to the steady clackety-clack of the train. They were thirty minutes outside Prague, the moon was still high in the heavens and they had a compartment all to themselves. Her eyes slid across to Valentine where he was sitting opposite her. She wondered what he was thinking as he stared pensively out of the window. He’d been quiet since their arrival at Prague station. The playful banter and light atmosphere they had enjoyed since running into each other again was gone. She wished with all her heart that it would come back. She liked being on easy terms with him. It made her feel as though some of their barriers were beginning to fall away and he was starting to let her in a little.

When his gaze left the outside world, she looked away and stared at the patch of worn leather covered couch beside his thigh.

“It is almost a day’s travel to St. Petersburg. We will need to change train several times, some of which may be during daylight hours.” His tone was emotionless, matter of fact.

She could feel his eyes boring into her. The feeling of him watching her made her want to look at him. She wanted to stare straight back at him, deep into his eyes, and search them for the reason he was suddenly so withdrawn.

“I’ll be fine,” she said and moved her gaze to rest on his knees, before dropping it to his boots.

They were scuffed now, no longer pristine and shining at her. The fight with the werewolf in Prague and the vampires in Venice had taken their toll on them. She smiled to herself. It struck her as a physical representation of what was happening to him on the inside. His mask of duty and loyalty to his family were melting away. Gone were his uniform and his allegiance to Aurorea. They had been replaced by clothes more common looking and an alliance with her. She supposed they had both changed. Her eyes had been opened and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shut them again. They had been opened to the world and opened to the man sitting opposite her. She no longer saw the other bloodlines as below her notice. They were all the same at heart. They were nothing more than vampires, nothing more than men and women. The only thing that differed between them was their ancestry.