Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

face the stairwell he’d just exited. This was wrong. His loyalty was to his family. It was his duty to do as his lord wished and kill the female in order to end the prophecy.
    But he couldn’t let her die. He couldn’t murder her as Kalinor commanded.
    He’d seen in her eyes that she didn’t know, couldn’t know what she was a part of. Her blood had shown him things that he needed an explanation for, but he knew she wouldn’t be able to give him one. She didn’t know about any of it.
    Turning back around, he forced himself to move forwards, continuing towards her door. He came to a halt outside one that was halfway along the corridor and looked at it. He could feel her on the other side.
    Raising his hand, he closed his eyes and extended his senses past the barrier in front of him and into her room. He resisted the temptation to smile when he found her and instead lowered his hand until it came to rest on the handle. He took a deep breath.
    He had to do this. He couldn’t let her die. As much as it pained him to go against his family and everything he’d known all his life, he had to go through with it and obey his instincts.
    He turned the handle and eased the door open.
    The room smelt like her. It was dark, lit only by a weak lamp that barely illuminated the bedside table it was sitting on and made no impact on the vast room. His eyes strayed to her. She was lying on the bed, curled up and sleeping.
    It wasn’t too late to leave.
    She stirred a little and her hair fell away from her face, revealing her neck. His eyes moved to the marks he’d placed on her not much more than two hours ago.
    He had to go forwards. This was his fault and he had to be the one to rectify it. No, it was hers too. She should have remained in the mansion. He remembered her words. They didn’t let her hunt. They’d kept her hidden from the world and he was the one to expose her. Either he rescued her now, or the next time he’d see her face would be when he was executing her.
    Shutting the door, he took a step towards her.
    But the prophecy. He’d be damning his kin, his species. He’d be damning the world.
    So why didn’t he feel as though he was doing that?
    He looked down at her pale face as she slumbered on, unaware of his presence and what was happening downstairs.
    She didn’t look dangerous but then looks could be deceiving. His eyes strayed to the marks on her neck again. Blood couldn’t lie. Blood was truthful. He’d seen it with his own two eyes. He had to help her.
    Kneeling beside her, he removed a slim wooden box from his coat pocket and placed it carefully down on the bedside table. He slipped the latch free and lifted the lid to reveal its contents. He ran his fingers along the three phials of clear liquid, moved over the three phials of black liquid and finally stopped on the first of them. Removing it, he took up the syringe and punctured the lid of the phial with the needle. Drawing the liquid out, he held it up to the light and told himself one more time that he could still leave and do his duty.
    He looked down at the female vampire where she was still sleeping.
    He couldn’t let her die.
    Edging closer to her, he slowly injected her in the neck. Her eyes opened briefly and then closed again as the drug began to take effect. Packing away the empty phial and syringe, he slipped the box back into his jacket and kept his senses locked on the world outside the door so no one could sneak up on him. He counted to ten in his head and then carefully lifted her left eyelid.
    Nothing but black swirling liquid greeted him.
    Pulling back the bed covers, he looked around the room in search of something for her to wear. There were clothes slung over the back of a chair. They were damp. They must have been the clothes she’d been wearing when he’d met her in the cemetery. He carried them to the window and touched the sill, smiling when he found it was damp too. Clearly she’d come back this way. Lifting the sash up, he took a deep breath of the cool night air as it filled the room. Now if anyone came in, they’d think she’d escaped again.
    He threw the clothes over his arm and returned to the bed, looking down at the unconscious girl. He was going to have to do this quickly or someone was going to spot him. Gathering up the girl, he cradled her in his arms and walked to the door. He opened it a fraction and peered around it. The hallway was clear.
    He slipped silently out and moved swiftly towards the