Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

that it wasn’t long until they were going to be leaving Prague behind. When she’d gone with Valentine to England, she’d been sad to leave her city behind and she’d missed it and her home. Now she felt as though she didn’t belong here, at least not at this moment. She had things to do. One day the city would feel like home to her again, but right now the whole of it felt like a prison, and she had to escape.
    Valentine had been right when he’d told her she couldn’t go back. There was no going back. Everything had changed inexorably now. Iona was gone and Arkalus had taken her place. She had seen in the eyes of her family that they feared him. She had always known in her heart that he wouldn’t be a just ruler of their family. He would run it with an iron fist, treating their kin as though they were his slaves to command rather than his family.
    Her hands curled into fists and she looked over to her left in the direction of her home. Someday, she would come back and set things right within her family. She was their Chosen Daughter. It was her duty to protect them, even if it was from one of their own.
    Silently, she vowed that she would return and defeat Arkalus.
    She brought her eyes back to the bridge and looked at another statue as they passed it. She could see the other side of the river now. The churches here were massive imposing monuments. It made her skin crawl to look at them. She dropped her gaze down from the hill, over the large trees on the right of the bridge to the gate at the far end. It was different to the one at the other end. It seemed to fit in with its surroundings more. She glanced over her shoulder and saw how far they’d come along the bridge.
    She hoped that Valentine’s apartment wasn’t far from the bridge. The quicker they were at the station, the happier she would be.
    A chill swept through her. The statues loomed all around her. The buildings seemed to grow and darken.
    “Old,” she said quietly, fearing that the city itself would answer her.
    “Dangerous,” Valentine said.
    She realised that he was right. His single word had summed up everything she’d been feeling since setting foot in the centre of the city but couldn’t quite put her finger on. The city was old. It was old to the point that it had grown dangerous. Their families had darkened it and bloodied it with so many centuries of vicious battles that the city itself seemed to have absorbed some of their deadliness. It felt as though it had feelings. Everywhere she turned, she felt malice, and it seemed to be directed at them.
    An Aurorea and a Caelestis, two from the bloodlines responsible for the city’s tortured past.
    “Prague feels so different to how it used to. I know I never really went out into it, but I spent so many nights watching it from my room or the roof of the mansion. It feels so different to Venice... ” She trailed off when she realised that she was probably sounding weird.
    Valentine smiled. “Deadlier. Venice felt safer, Paris safer still. The closer we get to the impending war, the more we’re finding ourselves in cities whose history has seen apocalyptic battles. St. Petersburg will feel even deadlier.”
    “Why?” She tried to recall if she knew anything about their next destination. All she had seen were travel programs about it on the television.
    “Two of the most powerful bloodlines have made it their home. The ever graceful Venia live in the city and the mighty Validus have been resident in the countryside just outside of it since time immemorial.”
    “Validus,” she breathed the word. They were the oldest of the bloodlines and the least populous. It was said that there hadn’t been a new child in the Validus family since the eighteenth century and it was rare to meet one since they seldom left their home. She wondered if she’d meet one. The Validus Law Keeper had been in the position for nearly six hundred years. They were exceptional fighters.
    Her eyes moved from one streetlight to the next, following the line of them as they flanked the bridge. She occasionally let her gaze linger on a statue as they passed it by.
    Nearing the other end of the bridge, she watched the reflections in the water, the lights twinkling and rippling in the gentle current. She listened to the sound of the trees swishing in the breeze.
    A low rumble interrupted her thoughts.
    Her senses sharpened to a pinpoint.
    She immediately looked at Valentine who had stopped walking. He was