Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

when he cracked his whip and the horse began to move again. Her eyes followed him for a moment and then she looked back at the village. The buildings were made of wood and there were patches of tiles missing in their roofs. It looked as though time had forgotten the village. Behind the buildings steep mountains began to rise up, their slopes covered in dense forest and their peaks dusted with snow.
    Looking down the valley, she followed the line of the mountains until her eyes fell to rest on the distant castle. It was at least a few miles away. It had seemed closer in the vision. She looked back at the village again, watching the small number of people who were going about their business in the poorly lit street. They nodded each time they noticed she was watching them.
    Turning to face Valentine, she frowned.
    “Come,” he said, ushering her towards the inn.
    She did as instructed and followed Mia and Dmitri into the inn. The ceiling was low, forcing both Dmitri and Valentine to stoop in order to stop their heads from touching it. Valentine looked at her with concern in his eyes. She wished she knew how to ease his worry and make it disappear but everything she’d tried so far had failed. She waited for him while he spoke to the short old woman behind the bar and avoided looking around her at the patrons that had all stopped drinking in order to stare at them. It wasn’t just because they were newcomers. Her instincts told her that they knew what creatures they were in the presence of. It surprised her that they didn’t seem to mind. The old woman busily filled out the register for Valentine to sign. If they hadn’t wanted their kind here, they surely would have turned them away.
    A cursory glance around the room revealed that they were still being watched with interest. Even the barmaid had stopped her work in order to stare at them. Prophecy frowned when she realised that the barmaid wasn’t staring at them so much as just staring at Valentine. Stepping forwards, Prophecy placed herself between him and the barmaid. When it didn’t stop the woman from looking at him, Prophecy looped her arm over his. She glared at the barmaid and felt anger rise up inside of her when she found the woman was still watching Valentine. A growl rumbled quietly through her chest and her eyes switched into their demonic state for a split second.
    She smiled triumphantly when the barmaid hurriedly averted her eyes and began cleaning glasses again.
    Turning around, she found Valentine looking at her with a raised brow. She swallowed and smiled nervously, hoping he wasn’t going to bring up the laws again. She was tired of the laws. These people knew of the existence of vampires. She’d done nothing wrong by threatening the girl. In fact, the woman was lucky she had managed to control her temper so much. The temptation to leap over the bar and force her to stop staring at Valentine had been great. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of fresh, warm blood.
    She felt Valentine’s hand on her arm and looked up into his eyes. He smiled a fraction of a smile, one that reminded her of when they’d first met. He never had smiled properly as far as she could remember. No, he had smiled properly. This was his real smile. This slight curve of his lips that he seemed to share only with her. The rest of them were for show.
    She giggled to herself. He was too serious to smile broadly as Dmitri did. It wasn’t his nature to grin and laugh, that’s why he would have been such a perfect Law Keeper. His harsh and stony expression was just the way he had always looked. It hid the real him, masking the tenderness of emotion she knew existed inside of him.
    He led her through the inn and she could feel his eyes on her at all times, even when they passed the barmaid. The intensity of his look was something she would always be able to feel. It was as though he could see straight through things, straight through her and into her heart. There was nothing she could keep hidden from him. He really would have made a perfect Law Keeper.
    They followed Mia and Dmitri up the stairs to the first floor and she watched them. They were always close together. Dmitri’s heavy arm rested around Mia’s slim shoulders, marking the contrast in their build as strongly as her knowledge of them marked the contrast of their nature. Mia seemed like the epitome of graceful and elegant perfection, a well-bred and beautiful vampire, while Dmitri was rough and unpolished, a