Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

mind.
    Last night she’d caught him off guard by asking to stay with him and had then followed it by doing completely the opposite of what he’d expected when they’d arrived at his hotel room. Instead of making a move on him, she’d lain down on his bed and fallen asleep. He’d watched her the whole day, memorising the subtle curves of her body beneath the dress and the way her hair slowly worked its way out of the pins that had been holding it in place. She had such wonderful facial expressions when she was dreaming. He’d found himself wondering what it was she was seeing and whether it was another vision.
    He still couldn’t get over the one she’d revealed to him on the train. He’d realised in that moment that resisting his desire for her was futile. His future was mapped out for him already and he was destined to be with her. What she had shown him had felt so real, as though he was there in the moment rather than sitting on a train feeding from her.
    Averting his eyes when hers came up to meet them, he stared at the forest that hugged the distant hill. The moon was barely illuminating it. The stiff breeze made it look like swaying black seaweed rather than the tall pines he knew it was made from. He’d been here countless times before, but had never travelled with company.
    She was staring at him. He could almost picture how pensive her expression would be. By now, she was probably bursting with questions. If she’d only open her mouth, he’d answer every one of them as always.
    He’d never get tired of answering her questions. They seemed to give him a new view of the world, as though he was seeing it through her eyes and for the first time again.
    He turned down a narrow country lane and then vaulted a gate. She frowned, but didn’t say anything when she climbed over the gate and landed in the field on the other side.
    Walking towards the forest, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to resist questioning him now. Her new surroundings seemed to have her whole attention and judging by the fact that he had felt her sharpen her senses, she didn’t like them.
    Prophecy felt a chill sweep over her when they entered the outskirts of the forest. The trees were sparse, but she could see that they grew denser where the gentle slope up into the hills began. She had been lost in thought throughout most of their journey, replaying last night’s moonlit dance outside the hotel, but now she could no longer ignore the questions that were plaguing her. Just who were they going to see?
    Her senses sharpened when she smelt something familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. She shot a quick look around her at the closing trees. They were dark and ominous. The air was thick with the smell of damp pines and earth, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She told herself that it was just her surroundings making her nervous. There was nothing to fear in the forest.
    Pale light filtered down through the trees. Their dense branches cut it into fine shafts of silvery mist. She looked up to see where the light was coming from and was met by the bright moon appearing from behind a wisp of cloud. It was so brilliant that the night sky around it looked pallid enough that it almost could have been day.
    She shot her head around and tensed when the loud noise of birds flying their roosts punctuated the silence. Not willing to move until everything was calm again, she scanned her surroundings, searching for a sign of anything else moving in the darkness. She didn’t like this place. She didn’t like it at all. There was something about the woods that was setting her nerves alight. She couldn’t get herself to settle. Her mind kept conjuring images of the terrible things that could be lurking in the darkness.
    She hunched and turned with wide eyes when a howl sliced through the night.
    Her eyes shot to Valentine. His face was clouded but he seemed relaxed.
    “They have seen us,” he said without taking his eyes off the path ahead.
    She turned on a pinpoint when a noise came from behind her—a quiet rustling of branches and leaf litter. She growled when she saw movement in the trees, the shafts of moonlight shifting when a streak of dark fur cut through them.
    Her senses sharpened immediately, her demon visage slipping into place as the threat of an impending attack forced her to react on instinct.
    She jumped and snarled when something touched her shoulder.
    Valentine frowned, his hand still resting