Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

alone again, and she didn’t want to live in a world without Valentine.
    She jumped when Valentine took hold of her hand and then watched the magic weave itself around his fingers too. It flickered blue where it touched his skin and then gradually turned to red. Her chest ached, burning with a pain so fierce that she couldn’t ignore it. It seemed to calm a little when his fingers interlocked with hers, his palm flat against the stone in her amulet. The magic wound around both of their hands, joining them and glowing red as it did so.
    “What’s it doing?” she said, watching it with interest.
    “I don’t know,” Valentine answered with a smile. “It tickles a little. Does it always feel this way?”
    She smiled. “Not always. In fact, never. Usually it makes my skin itch and burn. This feels calm, almost tranquil, as though it’s a different kind of magic altogether.”
    “It is a different colour. Maybe it is a different type of magic.”
    She looked down her top and saw the star over her heart glowing the same shade of red as the magic that was intertwining their hands. It was strange that it should react to Valentine. She wondered if it had something to do with her feelings for him. She felt physically stronger, as though it was feeding off his proximity and their intimacy.
    Letting go of his hand, she frowned when the magic on hers faded to purple again and looked across at Valentine’s to see the lingering threads slowly disappearing.
    “Strange,” she said and brought her hand back to his, letting their fingers touch. The magic that moved between them became red again, tickling the tips of her fingers. “It seems to like you.”
    He smiled and cast a glance over his shoulder in the direction of the castle.
    “We should keep moving,” she said and lowered her hand, realising that now wasn’t the time for amusing themselves.
    He shouldered his axe again and walked down the hill beside her.
    Valentine glanced across at her, watching the frown wrinkling her brows while she stared at her hand. The magic was gone now. He knew she had no explanation as to why it had changed to red, or why it seemed to like it when their hands were joined. Maybe it had something to do with her feelings for him. He’d realised during the fight with the werewolf in Prague that her emotional reaction to his being in danger triggered the magic inside of her. It was why he’d thrown himself at the werewolf, even though he knew he was placing himself in grave danger doing so. She needed the extra push in order to find the strength to fight. He knew that when the battle came, he would have to again place himself in danger so her power would be at its strongest.
    He flexed his fingers around the axe handle and frowned while he thought about what lay ahead of them. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight, especially for Prophecy. Not only was she inexperienced, she had a propensity to want to protect him. He couldn’t have her preoccupied with his safety during the initial battle. She had to remain focused on fighting their enemy.
    The back of her hand brushed against his.
    He looked down at it and swallowed hard. Everything between them had changed so rapidly since Dmitri’s bastion. His admission to himself about his feelings had led to letting her get close to him. He’d spent the past few days sleeping with her in his arms and now it felt as though it had always been that way. The manner in which he’d treated her when they’d first met seemed nothing more than a distant memory.
    Moving his hand nearer to hers, he grazed her fingers with his and smiled when she looked at him.
    When he’d awoken today, he’d found her watching him. The sun had already set, and Mia and Dmitri had gone to the car to see about being taken down into the valley to the army, leaving them alone together. He’d kept his eyes closed enough that she hadn’t known he was awake and had watched her. She had idly sipped the blood he’d got for her and had run her eyes over his exposed chest for so long that he wondered if she was trying to put it to memory or whether she had even realised she’d been staring at him.
    He was tempted to mention it now just to see how awkward she would look, but decided against it. Bringing his focus back to their surroundings, he listened for signs of someone following them. They were walking along the tree line now, hidden by the long shadows of the pines and heading down into the valley where the castle