Prophecy: Child of Light (51 page)

He ignored the tear that slipped down his cheek when he realised that in the process of giving her that chance to live, he’d be hurting her more than anyone ever had. He’d be leaving her.

He couldn’t do that.

He’d told her that they would make it through this together.

Closing his eyes, he realised that he had to survive. He had to keep going if only for her sake but he couldn’t stop the fight. The lord of Tenebrae was waiting and there was no way he was going to let him go now. He listened hard to the sounds echoing around the room while he readied himself. He could hear his own ragged breathing, the impatient tap of the lord of Tenebrae’s foot, and the sound of vampires dying as Prophecy bravely fought them. He singled out her signature and focused on it.

He could feel it in his body, in his blood. She wasn’t just fighting to save the world, she was fighting to be with him, to end all this so they could finally be together.

“Together,” he whispered.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his head up, meeting the lord of Tenebrae’s eyes. He saw a tiny hint of fear enter their black depths. Growling low, he extended his claws and ignored the axe that lay on the floor only a few feet from him. He let his emotions fuel the fire inside of him.

He’d do this for her.

Always for her.

He roared as he rushed at the lord of Tenebrae, ignoring the pain still racing through his body, and punched him hard across the cheek. He didn’t feel the dull throb in his fingers when his fist connected with the metal helmet. He just kept hitting him, unleashing all his rage.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion when he threw another punch towards the elder vampire’s face. Valentine grimaced when the lord of Tenebrae caught hold of his fist and went to hit him with his other hand but the sound of deep laughter stopped him.

He looked down and frowned when he realised that the elder vampire had his hand tightly locked around his throat.

“Damn,” Valentine choked the word out while the vampire lifted him off the floor and then met his eyes. They were cold and dark, emotionless.

Valentine kicked him in the stomach and was rewarded by having his throat squeezed even harder.

Suddenly everything became clear and calm.

This was it. This was the moment he knew would come. Prophecy needed to see him in danger, it gave her the pain and fear she needed to fuel the magic. It gave her the feelings she needed in order to do anything to win. It used her and her love for him.

Her fear of losing him.

In Paris and Prague with the werewolves—all times where he was in danger, not her.

She needed this.

“Prophecy!” he yelled and then closed his eyes and slipped out of vampire guise when the elder vampire increased his grip.

The whole room fell silent and he saw the elder vampire’s eyes scanning the room. They stopped and his expression changed, something flickered in the depths of his eyes but Valentine couldn’t quite tell what it was.

He tried to look over his shoulder, craning his neck and pushing against the lord of Tenebrae with his free hand. He could just about see her out of the corner of his eye. She was standing only a few metres away, her eyes dark and her brows knit.

“It is the child of the prophecy,” the lord of Tenebrae said.

Valentine could see the magic building as she raised her hand, could almost sense the strength of it. A chill swept down his spine.

The lord of Tenebrae held him higher in the air, lifting him up until his feet were far off the ground.

“Now you will pay for your attack upon this castle. The child of the prophecy has come. You will face her and receive your dues.”

Valentine frowned and then his stomach dropped as it dawned on him.

“Prophecy, no!” he shouted.

Prophecy didn’t hear him. She was too busy focusing on calling the magic and making it as strong as possible. She growled when the vampire flung Valentine to one side and then her eyes widened in horror when a shimmering portal appeared.

It engulfed Valentine and vanished before she had time to react.

“No!” she screamed and tightened her grip on her wrist when her hand began to shake uncontrollably. She could feel the magic surge through her and cried out in pain when it was unleashed. The glowing orb tore through the room, heading straight for the man she recognised as the lord of Tenebrae. Tears blinded her, her throat constricting and her chest aching. Her knees wobbled, her whole body growing weak from the magic draining her energy. She barely saw the threads of magic rip through the vampire, barely heard the scream of agony that issued from his lips while he fell to the floor, his body burning up and turning to ashes.

Blinking away her tears, she ran at the platform, killing anyone that stood in her way and not stopping when one of the high guards moved to block her path. She chopped his head off with the axe and pushed his body to one side, pressing onwards to the place where empty armour now littered the floor, covered in grains of black ash.

“No,” she breathed, clutching her stomach while she stared at the remains of the lord of Tenebrae. She had tried to hold back the magic but it had been impossible. The second she’d seen Valentine disappear, she had been powerless to stop it. It was as though it had taken over her body and ignored all her commands.

The sound of scraping metal broke the silence and she turned, narrowing her eyes into dark slits when they came to rest on the other high guard.

“What did he do with Valentine?” she tightly clutched her axe and advanced on the guard, her whole body trembling with raw emotion and pain. “What did he do!?”

The guard drew his sword and growled. “We did nothing!”

Raising her axe with shaking hands, she breathed heavily, her eyes remaining locked with his. She knew his face and knew those clear blue eyes. It was the guard she had seen in her vision.

“You did something and now he’s gone... he’s gone... bring him back!” She swung the axe at him but he easily evaded it.

He regarded her coolly, his dark eyes not moving from hers. She was surprised when he sheathed his sword and stepped closer to her, within striking distance of her axe.

“We have no witchcraft here, only that which you carry. It was your army that attacked ours, yes? Why?”

She frowned. “Because I was told that you were going to attack us.”

She went cold when it hit her. Her whole body felt empty and numb. She’d made a mistake. The look in his eyes and the fact he wasn’t attacking her told her that he wasn’t out to kill her. He could have easily done that by now if he’d wanted to. She would have been no match for him in her weakened state.

She looked down at the ashes on the floor and then up at the place where the portal had appeared and taken Valentine. Closing her eyes, she replayed the moment he disappeared and her stomach turned over. Valentine had told her not to attack but she’d been so scared of losing him that she hadn’t stopped to listen. She’d already been calling the magic. The marks over her chest ached and she dropped to her knees, pressing her hand to her breast and dropping her head.

She’d made a terrible mistake.

All she could see in her mind was the moment Valentine had gone through the portal, a portal which was now horribly familiar. She’d seen one like it before.

Elena.

“What have I done?” she whispered to her knees.

The vampire beside her shifted and she raised her eyes to look at him. He was watching her with some concern, his helmet now removed to reveal his face. There was sorrow in his eyes and she knew why.

She’d killed the lord of his bloodline.

The Tenebrae hadn’t been forming an army in order to mount an attack. They had been coming to assist her. She could see that now. She had been foolish to rush in before having the prophecy translated. She should have listened to Valentine when he’d said that it wasn’t a good idea. His instincts had been right. This wasn’t the battle they had been destined to fight. The lord of Tenebrae hadn’t been her enemy in the vision. She hadn’t even fought him. It had been the robed person without a face. That was the person she needed to destroy in order to fulfil the prophecy.

This whole battle had been a mistake, a wrong move. She remembered what Elena had said to her about this castle being the place where the war would begin. Was this only the first step of many? Why had Elena taken Valentine?

Her mother’s words came back to her. She had been blinded by the words of others just as her mother had said. She had made so many mistakes and taken so many falls, but she only felt weaker for them, not stronger as she’d been told.

Getting to her feet, she turned to face the room. It was littered with the slowly disintegrating corpses of Tenebrae warriors and the carcasses of many werewolves. She felt cold and empty. This had seemed like the right decision. Her vision had shown her this castle. Was it possible she had misinterpreted it? Or was that battle still to come?

Dropping the axe, she listened to it clatter to the floor and then made her way towards the door opposite her. She ignored the threatening growls of the remaining Tenebrae and the way that the guard followed her. In a way she was thankful for his company. It was probably the only thing stopping the others from attacking her.

She walked straight past Mia and Dmitri as they both rushed in, their clothes bloodied and torn. Heading for the door, she ignored their calls and warnings that the sun was rising. She knew it was coming, she could feel it in her blood.

Her whole body was screaming danger at her.

She didn’t care. There was something that she needed to see.

Her head ached while she walked, each step seemingly echoing through it and draining a little more of her energy away.

Elena was wrong about this being the place where the war would begin. It had begun before she’d reached this place. It had begun before she was born. She was sure of it. That’s why her mother had sacrificed herself.

Stepping out into the fading darkness, she scanned the dead, werewolf and vampire alike, and those that had survived. They were looking as confused as she felt inside, all of them heading into the safety of the castle while she made her way out of it. When she’d cleared the door, giving them room to pass her without disturbing her, she raised her eyes to the distant mountain, the same mountain on which Valentine had kissed her.

All was lost. Her destiny remained unfulfilled and now she no longer had the man who had come to be her pillar of strength.

A light breeze tousled her hair, bringing a scent of pine and snow down from the mountains and calming her.

She watched the sky begin to lighten and ignored her instincts. She wasn’t going to run away from this danger she’d placed herself in. She wanted to see the sunrise with her own eyes for once.

Her heart ached.

The full weight of the world rested on her shoulders now and she could almost feel it. She was sure that she was going to buckle under the pressure of it. She couldn’t do this alone.

Remembering Valentine’s words to her, she smiled. He believed that she was strong and it was her destiny to save their species and the world. She couldn’t fail him now. Whatever was happening, was exactly what fate had intended to happen. Her mother and the Three had said that she would save Valentine just as he had saved her.

The sky began to change from blue to pink, the white peak of the mountain becoming tinted with a pale yellow glow as the sun rose behind it. She remained rooted to the spot, not hearing anyone’s words to her or even sensing their presence.

She could almost feel the warmth of the sun as it grew closer to appearing over the mountain. The sky had changed just like Valentine had said it would, only in reverse. It was beautiful.

Pressing her amulet to her chest, she waited until the last possible moment before moving into the shadows and turning to face Mia, Dmitri and the Tenebrae guard.

She wiped her eyes and looked down at the stone in her amulet. It was glowing a faint red and she remembered how it had reacted to Valentine.

He had saved her once. Now it was her turn to save him.

Glancing back at the sun as it broke the horizon, she smiled.

She would find him.

Together, they would save the world.

It was their destiny.

The End

L
ightning split the sky over Venice, echoing the tempest of feelings that Prophecy kept hidden just below the surface.

She calmly swept the strands of her wet dark hair from her face and fixed her eyes on the path ahead of her. She knew where she had to go and what needed to be done when she got there. Anger boiled up inside her when the image of Valentine disappearing through the portal flashed in front of her eyes, but sorrow swiftly followed in its wake, leaving her feeling numb.

She glanced at the man walking beside her, not the man that she wished were there, but another, one she knew hardly anything about. She hadn’t asked for his company. Right now, she would rather be alone with her thoughts and her duty.

A promise had been made.

A promise she intended to keep.

Valentine had saved her once, and now she would return the favour. She couldn’t face the impending war without him at her side. The burden of the prophecy was resting fully on her shoulders and for the first time she could feel the true weight of it. It was too heavy for her to carry alone.

She was alone.

Crossing the wooden bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal, she let the rain wash away her tears, hiding them from her companion even though she knew she couldn’t fully hide her feelings from him. At this close a distance, it would be easy for him to sense her hurt and sadness.

Sorrow had buried itself deep in her heart and she found it impossible to remove or ignore. Only Valentine’s return could fix this emptiness inside her. In her hour of need, she had found that two of the people she believed would stand by her had turned their backs instead.