Valerian raised my face to his by pinching my chin.His eyes were downturned, as if grinning, and glistened with sadness.I could see how I had harmed him over the years.He desired acceptance from me in the same way that I desired acceptance from society and my parents.I felt bad because, like the rest of the world, I consistently avoided him.Why did I treat him so harshly when I didn't want anyone else to feel that way?I could have attempted to be more cooperative.I honestly didn't know how to handle things in a more civil manner, but I could have tried.As a young child, I developed new skills, acquired a new self-image, and experienced emotions I didn't understand.Although it was not an excuse, it was the most plausible explanation I had aside from the obvious, which was that I detested him for initially "buying" me.I might have missed something else about the circumstance.Perhaps he saw a poor girl being abused and thought this would be the most effective strategy for rescuing her.I f
I smiled and said, "Good evening, Dad." "You little dem-" he started, but stopped abruptly when Valerian started up the lawn behind me."May I please enter the house?"I pushed past him and entered our house for probably the last time, I said, before he could respond.I said, "Good evening, Mom," to her.Her nose continued to run, giving the impression that she had been crying.Her face was tightly pulled back, and she was dressed in a white T-shirt and Dad's gray sweatpants.What have you done to him, exactly?She inquired.I felt my father's scorching breath on the back of my neck as he looked down at Balrus after coming up from behind me."Is that blood I see running down the front of his shirt?" I ask.My mother gasped as soon as he asked.After entering the house, Valerian slammed the door a little louder than was necessary, took a seat, and did not attempt to interfere with the conversation.It appeared as though he was simultaneously acknowledging that this was a family affair and r
“Witch?”As I stumbled a few steps back, I asked.Perhaps Valerian was merely attempting to ridicule her.Perhaps there was no supernatural significance to everything.I prayed that it was, at least, because if it wasn't, it would mean that Balrus and I were both witches.Did I have any human features?Or was I really the freak that my classmates said I was?Catelyn, "Yes.I am a witch and high priestess.She sat down at the kitchen table and her eyes narrowed in shame.Dragos and Valerian, the vampire king, carried out a raid on our coven.Before continuing with her story, she gave him a disgusted look.My mother was killed by Dragos by being tied to a wood cross and being set ablaze by his mind.He then took me for himself after he forced me to sit there and watch her burn to ashes."What was he up to with you?"Fearing that I already knew the answer, I questioned."So many terrible things"While slowly shedding tears, she choked on the lump in her throat.I would be verbally abused, beaten, and ra
"How long ago did all of this occur?"She let out a sigh and started shaking her head."Catelyn, there is nothing to be gained from—" "I am the one that decides whether or not I will gain anything from your answers, Mom, not you," said the mother.My tone of voice was even audible to my ears.It made a growl-like sound.She said, "Hundreds of years ago."“How old are you now if this happened when you were twenty-five, hundreds of years ago?”From his seat at the dining table, Sirius said, "Now you are just being rude."As he always did, he was scowling at me.I did not completely rotate my chin in the direction of his voice.He was not ignored by me, but I was ignoring him.My mother responded, "I am 578 years old."We did not live past the age of 25, but neither were we immortals in my coven.Due to the fact that I have lost all of my powers, I look slightly older than that.I nodded."Would you ever tell me anything if I hadn't asked or shot flames from my palms today?"I didn't think you
"This is nothing."As I continued to try to claw my way to his wound, he shoved me away once more.Get in the vehicle.We must move quickly.I obliged him and jumped into the front seat.Before I could even fasten my belt, he was behind the wheel thanks to his supersonic speed.His knuckles turned white as a result of the tight grip he had on the steering wheel.He tried to calm himself by taking deep breaths and glaring straight ahead.I wasn't sure if he was mad at me, in agony because of his wound, or hungry because of the smell of blood.He just sat there, depressed and ensnared in his own thoughts.I desired to speak with him or intervene to break the tense silence.The desire to ramble was growing on my trembling lips because I was anxious about leaving with him."You really ought to let me look at that injury," he said.To prevent word vomit, I quickly bit my lip."I promised you I would be fine,"I have frequently treated my wounds on my own.If you allow me, I can easily handle that.Even
“Did you know that Eden’s family members moved out of the country only a few weeks after his death?” I turned to Valerian and began. He clenched his jaw and tried to ignore me. “His mother had been deceased for a few years now, but his father could barely go on after Eden’s body was found.”I was met with more silence and I didn’t care. I thought that if Valerian didn’t want some music then he could deal with me for the rest of the ride.“From what I heard, Eden’s father took to drinking, stopped eating, and began wandering the streets at night calling out for Eden. Kind of breaks your heart doesn’t it?”Then I muttered, “if you have one that is,” under my breath but loud enough for him to hear.Valerian took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and exhaled it slowly. I smiled in the dark. My idea was working.“You know,” I went on, “there were several strange things that came up during the investigation after Eden’s body was fished out of that river. For instance, my interrogatio
A rogue vampire snuck past Valerian and raced toward the vehicle as I was being sucked into a deep panic.She wore knee-high black boots, tight black leather pants, and a matching leather jacket.She was short, only five feet tall.Her high cheekbones were covered in what appeared to be war paint.She was a terrifying force.As she climbed onto the car's hood and growled at me from the other side of the windshield, I recoiled in my seat.When Valerian saw what was going on, he tried to rush to the scene but was tackled to the ground by another vampire who ran after him."You are going to be so delicious!"I was heckled by her.I was fighting the urge to faint from fear as all the blood rushed to my head.I closed my eyes in anticipation of the shards of glass hitting my face as she reeled her fist back to break the windshield.But there was never any effect.A group of vampires appeared from behind the iron gate when I opened my eyes, and they began to assist Valerian in defeating the rogues.
He didn't respond immediately, but when he did, he said coldly, "I'm fine."After that, he got behind the wheel and started driving.He shut me out right away after putting on his mask once more.Again.I was almost moved to tears by it.What happened recently?This time, what did I do?How did he manage to do this so easily?Talk to me for one minute as if I were the center of his entire world, and then completely lose interest in me the next?Due to our connection, I was also experiencing his pain, and I felt his emotional withdrawal from me strongly.I could tell that the most recent attack had left him with more serious injuries.Before Ivan and the others arrived, Valerian had been losing to the rogue vampires who had snuck up on us and appeared to be stronger.The bone-deep cut under his left arm was bleeding profusely, and I could feel it.I felt his breathing as if it were my own and could feel the pain in his lower back.However, he had just excluded me.I turned around in my chair to face
[APPRECIATION]Dear Readers, I aspired to be a writer for a significant portion of my life.It began when I was a young child. When I first started writing, I began to realize the power of words. I can recall those early days. From sonnets to brief tales, I started to string words together, making my craft gradually Even then, I realized how deeply words could connect with other people's experiences and how validating that could be.I began to write more as I got older. I wrote poetry and short stories in journal after journal. I spent every spare moment jotting down my thoughts on napkins and torn notebook pages. I was courageous in offering my work to other people, and it seemed like I could write constantly.The shift started in college. I had little time for anything other than studying and working full-time as a college student. My writing ceased gradually. I switched from undergraduate to graduate school and increased my work responsibilities.I wed someone. I had a family. Beca
“Guys, we can hear you from the reception room,” they said.We both jumped and then we burst out in laughter. Valerian lowered me to my feet, grinned like a little boy, and kissed my birthday. He danced as he dressed in his tux and he blew me a kiss before he left.“I’ll see you downstairs, Mire. Hurry down, we’ve got some unfinished business.”I sat naked for a few more minutes and thought of the turn my life had taken. Dragos was gone, I was about to marry the man I loved, and we already had a baby on the way. I giggled in delight, hopped off the bed, and started to get dressed.I walked down the stairs ten minutes later and was delighted to find the staircase decorated with flowers. Rafael was going to give me away, and he smiled when he saw me coming down. I held my flowers with my left hand and extended my right to him.“Are you ready to become our new Vampire Queen?” he asked.I smiled as I hooked my arm around his. “I have never felt more alive. Or more ready, Rafael.”Rafael g
[Epilogue]2 MONTHS LATERMy wedding dress was draped over the armchair next to the window. The curtains were drawn slightly and Valerian’s tux had been folded away neatly into the top drawer in our room. There were representatives of the twelve most powerful vampire covens downstairs, and the witches took quiet tours of our home as they waited for the ceremony to begin.I lay naked on the bed, wearing only my diamond ring and bridal garter. Valerian’s head was buried in between my legs. My head fell back on the pillow and I cupped my left breast, rolling the nipple around with perfectly manicured fingers. Valerian was stark naked and his tongue pushed in deeper with each moan that escaped my lips.I looked down my belly and I met his eyes. They glinted wickedly as Valerian thrust his tongue in deeper. I fell back to the bed, grabbed the bedsheets with both hands and arched my back. Valerian pushed me to the edge, brought me back, and pushed me right back. My hair stuck to the sweat o
The thought was a balm for my grief. For a long while, I just rested in Ivan’s arms, tears soaking what was left of his torn and bloody clothes. I felt him crying too.“There feels like something is missing from me,” Ivan confessed.“Me too,” I said. “I feel like I will never again be whole, despite this power that flows through me.”I turned around. “Thank you for everything you suffered for me. I know you went through a lot. How are your hands?” He raised them to show her that the wounds he received from the spear were still not healed.“I can help you with that,” I said, and took his hands in mine. I closed my eyes and once again accessed the power that felt like an inferno in my body. I rubbed the wounds, and they slowly closed under my touch.I then focused on his other wounds. I sent waves of my healing power flowing through his whole body. I saw other cuts and scrapes close. His cheeks also regained their colour.“Thank you,” Ivan said. “One rogue stabbed me in my side. I thoug
I glared at Dragos and he gave me a cocky smile. I gave him the same smile right back. I was going to defeat this Vampire King, one way or another.I let all the anger and hate I felt for Dragos flow through my body and into the Emerald Tablet. I felt my bond with Valerian fading away, and the fear of losing him threatening to split my soul in two. I tried to steady my nerves as I locked my eyes on Dragos’.His smirk was gone now, his arms suspended directly above his armour where it hung, as if he couldn’t decide between letting it hang there or picking it up to wear it again. He looked worried and concerned as he looked around him. He might have sensed that I was connecting to the Emerald Tablets, but I didn’t think he knew that I was harnessing the One Power. I was stealing his dream from right in front of him, and the thought warmed me.I felt the energy I had directed to the Emerald Tablet flood back into my body. It started in my fingertips and didn’t stop until it had spread to
I looked around to see if anyone around me could help. I saw Ivan out of the corner of my eye, fighting some invisible force, as was Rafael. They appeared pinned where they stood, with Ivan having a sword in hand poised to pierce someone, but he wasn’t moving. Rafael looked like he was running towards me, but his feet seemed glued to the floor. Both were totally unable to help Vale and I. Still the witches’ chanting continued, and I knew they were responsible for holding my two friends in place.Was there a way I could stop the witches? I looked around for anything to help. There were no weapons nearby, except for the sword piercing Valerian’s heart. I was too afraid of pulling it out. I figured that would only make his blood loss increase, causing him to die quicker.I looked back towards Ivan and Rafael. Rafael met my eyes, and I could sense that he still cared for and loved me. He had tried his hardest to defend me, but that plot also failed. I felt hopeless and leaned back over Va
I focused on the faces of Valerian’s soldiers who I had grown to love. I focused on the clashing of their swords and the flood of relief I had felt when Rafael barged into the room with those familiar faces behind him. I focused on Ivan and Balrus, but most of all I let my love for Valerian well up in my mind. Like a cool stream of water, I felt it pool up and gently flow through my head, seizing my mind power back from the spells being cast by the witches. I couldn’t reach out to Valerian through our bond. Something or someone seemed to be blocking our connection, but I wasn’t worried. I knew that whatever spell that was, it could only last for so long. “Once I end Dragos’ life,” I thought, “this sandstorm will clear and everything else will return to normal.”I regained control of my thoughts and I instantly began to feel better. My senses opened up once more, and I was able to fully sense the movement all around me. Someone ran past me, knocking their shoulders into mine, and I was
Dragos looked down at his armour angrily. He had likely paid a pretty penny for that armour or, more likely, he had stolen it. It might be ornate, but it did its job. I could not get any successful body shots in. Neither I, nor Valerian and Ivan, had armour on, so we were much more vulnerable to his attacks, and Dragos knew it.I assessed the room. Valerian was finally rising from the ground and was readying himself to begin attacking his sire again. Ivan was leaning heavily on the marble platform I had been laying on. Too much blood loss. I am not sure how I did it, but I sent a wave of energy to both Valerian and Ivan and watched them perk up in seconds. Both stood straighter and their eyes glistened with uncontrolled rage.Valerian began approaching Dragos at a run, but Dragos merely raised his hand and said, “Stop, Valerian.” And, against his will, he was once again under mind control. But I could feel he was defeating it through our mind link. He was focusing on me in his mind. I
The vampire fell, clutching at his chest as he struggled to breathe.“Thank you,” I said, my voice overwhelmed with gratitude. “you just saved my life.”Ivan flashed me his signature smile and shrugged. “That was nothing, you would do the same thing for me.”We stood back to back and watched the vampire guards box us in a circle. Somewhere in the background, I heard Valerian and Dragos grunting and hitting each other brutally. I didn’t turn around to see, there were about sixteen vampires surrounding Ivan and I, so I couldn’t afford the distraction.One of them suddenly ran towards Ivan. The guy went to step around him, his arm stretched out, trying to grab me. “Let him go!” I screamed.I shot out flames in the shapes of little daggers and I aimed it right. I hit him in the temple, causing him to bounce off the wall and drop like a puppet with its strings cut.Ivan turned to the vampire nearest to the fallen guy. “This is your final chance. Pick up your trash and leave. Or don’t, and