Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

on her. “Keep calm.”
    She forced her demon guise away and struggled to stop it from emerging again. Straightening up, she looked in the direction that Valentine was facing and frowned. She couldn’t see where they were going, but she could feel the growing signatures of whatever was watching them.
    She moved at the same time as he did, trying to keep calm and maintain a steady pace through the forest when all her instincts were telling her to run.
    The trees began to thin and her gaze was arrested by a large dark stone building just a few hundred metres from her. It looked like a castle, but it had clearly seen better days. A few of the windows were filled with a warm glow. The moon was grazing it, round and fat. It was almost as big as the castle itself.
    Her senses focused on the creatures that were now skirting around behind them. Her claws extended. If she had to appear calm, she could at least be prepared. She glanced at Valentine. He was staring at the castle. He looked so relaxed and she wondered how he could manage to look that way when they had something hunting them.
    “What is this place?” She moved closer to him when he started to walk through the patchy trees towards the castle.
    “The last bastion of the werewolves,” he announced without emotion.
    She looked behind her at the trees, still sensing the creatures where they were following them at a distance. Werewolves. She had known there was something familiar about what she had sensed. How many were there? She had seen at least three in the darkness, but her senses were telling her that there was a lot more than that and they weren’t just behind her.
    “Do not mention them as we know them,” he said with a smile as though he’d known she was about to. “They were once our equals but we scattered them to the four winds. We destroyed their families and killed all that went against us. Here, they have found a place to rebuild their once-proud empire.”
    She stared at the castle. Shadowy shapes moved across its grounds, as quick as any vampire. She could feel their power and could sense the danger as they approached it. Her eyes ran up the full height of the building while she walked. It was impressive. The moonlight made the stones look blue. The top of the tower in front of her and the roofline of the house were crenellated, giving it a castle-like appearance. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the werewolves that were keeping their distance while Valentine knocked on the dark wooden doors.
    He seemed so relaxed. How could he be so relaxed? They were outnumbered and on the verge of being torn to shreds by werewolves. Just who were they going to see? What kind of person lived in this place?
    The doors opened, revealing a dark hallway lined with columns that reached up into the gloom. She could just about make out a vaulted ceiling above her. She couldn’t see who had opened the doors as she passed them. There seemed to be no one there and she didn’t dare slip into vampire guise to heighten her vision for fear of making the werewolves behind her attack.
    She followed Valentine further into the hallway and was immediately struck by how cold it was. She wrapped her arms about her shoulders and jumped when the doors slammed shut behind them, the sound of it echoing along the hall in front of her. She turned on the spot, trying to reach out with her senses to detect anything that was lurking in the shadows.
    The darkness seemed to envelope them, shrouding them in its black veil as they walked deeper in the building. Her senses were a riot of signature signs and scents. Everywhere she searched with them, she found a countless number of werewolves. They were surrounded.
    “Do not be scared and do not react to them. They want you to attack so they in turn can attack you.” Valentine’s voice soothed her a little. She moved closer to him, hoping that his proximity would help calm her nerves.
    A dim light appeared in front of her, casting an eerie glow over everything and worsening her nerves. Her eyes darted to the walls when they appeared to move and her imagination conjured images of what was lurking there. If they chose to attack, there was no way she would escape. Death was inevitable. She edged nearer to Valentine, looking up at him when his hand brushed against hers. He was staring straight ahead, his head held high and his focus fixed on their destination.
    She swallowed her nerves and tried to focus there too. She wanted to