Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

Chapter 1
    Trapped.
    That’s what she was, and what she had been for as long as she could remember.
    The walls around her had closed in over the years, making the mansion increasingly unbearable, and drawing her ever more to the world outside her bedroom window.
    Rain rattled against the windowpanes, creating an eerie melody when combined with the howl of the wind cutting through the power lines. Watching the streaks of water coursing down the windows, Prophecy ignored the ramblings of her blood-mother, Iona, and kept her focus on the dark garden outside.
    She slowly ran the brush down her long auburn hair, smoothing away the knots and tangles.
    Something stirred in the night and her gaze shifted there. The hunting group crossed the grounds towards the gates. There were eleven of them tonight, one less than last night because one had fallen. Talk of it had reached her even before her mother knew. The walls had ears in this house and Prophecy knew the owner of them.
    A chance meeting with the other bloodline that lived in this city had led to a fight in which her family had lost a son.
    Not that she cared.
    What was it to her who died out on the hunt? She didn’t know them, or anyone outside a set sphere of people.
    Her brown eyes followed the group as they reached the gates and she watched them slip into the darkness beyond. She knew where they were going. They were heading down into the city, down to a place she’d never been. Losing sight of them, she glanced at the high stone wall that surrounded the grounds.
    It was the final barrier between her and the city. The outside wall of her prison.
    A wall she longed to breach.
    “Where do they go?” she said in a distant tone of voice, sounding as disinterested as possible.
    She heard a swish of material and felt her mother close behind her.
    “To hunt,” her mother replied, matter of fact. She took the brush from her.
    Prophecy mused her mother’s answer while she stared at the rain-soaked scenery and felt the brush in her hair, her mother’s delicate fingers working through the knots.
    To hunt.
    It sounded so enthralling, so dangerous and dark. She wished she knew what it was to hunt. She had never been allowed out into the night with the others, not even with her so-called brother, Arkalus.
    “Can I go too?” She knew what the answer would be, but hoped that tonight it might be different from the thousands of times that she’d asked in the past.
    “I am afraid not.” Iona smoothed down her hair.
    “Why not?” Prophecy turned to face her.
    Iona didn’t look at all concerned by her outburst. Her face was a mask of calm and beauty. Luscious black curls framed her face and wicked red marked her lips. The layers of black and brown surrounding her eyes turned them sinfully dark and alluring against her creamy pale skin. In all the years that Prophecy could remember her, Iona had always looked this way—like a true child of the night. Her mother was a fitting master of their bloodline, never straying from the tradition of dress or habit. Never straying from the laws.
    All her life, Prophecy had obeyed the rules of their society and of their house, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to obey her mother. She could feel the lure of the outside world keenly, as though it was in her blood, and she could no longer ignore it. She had tried. She had spent night after night resisting the call of the city and the promise of excitement it whispered in her ear. Now her blood was screaming at her to escape the confines of the mansion and taste the thrill of the hunt, to take hold of it and live the life she was born to.
    “You’re too young.” A fond smile teased her mother’s lips and she raised a slim hand. She pushed Prophecy’s hair behind her ear, clearing it from her face. “Soon, maybe.”
    Prophecy allowed herself a small smile. It was the first time her mother had said such a thing and it ignited a spark of hope inside her. She glanced at the window, still smiling serenely as her eyes followed the spatter of the raindrops against the glass.
    “But first, you must complete your training.”
    A sigh escaped Prophecy’s lips. Each night she woke and went through the rigmarole of training, and each night they held her back while the others went out to hunt. All she wished for was one night of freedom.
    One thrilling night out hunting, even if it were with Arkalus.
    Then she would be happy.
    Then she would gladly spend eternity cooped up in the