Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

was.
    He could see it now. It looked strange, as though it was something growing out of the dense forest. The tall towers that surrounded it gave it a fairytale look but he knew what horrors waited inside. The Tenebrae bloodline weren’t known for their leniency towards humans. It was no wonder the local villagers had shown them so much respect when they had arrived. They had all grown up in the proximity of the Tenebrae. Only the Devil knew how many men, women and children had been killed over the years or disappeared only to return as demons. He saw humans as nothing but food just as much as the next vampire, but he would never stoop to the level of keeping them half-alive as blood slaves, or torturing them for amusement.
    Something told him that Prophecy didn’t know what darkness really lurked inside the castle and the vampires she was about to fight. If she did, she wouldn’t appear as calm as she did now. He knew that she had more feeling towards the human race than most vampires, and that in part she was going to war in order to protect them. It wasn’t just the future of demonkind that was driving her; it was the safety of everything on the planet.
    Maybe her feelings for humans were also down to the part of her that was human.
    Maybe it was purely to do with her mother.
    He still couldn’t quite comprehend the things he’d been told. He didn’t see any difference in Prophecy, not like she saw in herself. To him, she was the same girl she had been from the moment he’d met her, only stronger for finally knowing about herself and finally having her memories intact.
    The slope of the valley began to even out. He didn’t know how long they had been walking for, but he could see they were almost halfway there. The valley was split at this point. To their right a hill rose up, the trees that covered it making it look black in the night. Walking towards an outcrop, he held his hand up and intimated for Prophecy to listen.
    “What is it?” she whispered.
    In the distance up the other valley, he could hear a noise like thunder.
    “Wait here,” he said and leapt up to the top of the rocky outcrop. Scouring the distance, he searched out the source of the noise. There seemed to be nothing but darkness in front of him. Behind him lay the castle, to his right was the valley they had come down.
    “Anything?”
    He shook his head in the negative.
    Slipping into vampire guise, he narrowed his eyes and sharpened his senses. He stared hard into the distance. It looked as though the earth was moving. Werewolves.
    “It is Dmitri’s army,” he said, looking down at her.
    “How many are there?”
    He jumped down. Slipping out of vampire guise, he ran his fingers through his hair. “A thousand at least. They are moving fast. They shall not take long to get here. Dmitri will not run them, he will want them fresh for the fight.”
    She nodded. He looked around them. The mountains began to rise up just south from where they were. Scanning the rocky face, he noticed that there was a small plateau around twenty metres up that would provide a good vantage point over the castle. Leading Prophecy towards the mountains, he kept his focus on the plateau. They needed to get a look at the castle and see what the lay of the land was. He didn’t want to go in blind, especially when he had Prophecy with him.
    He knew that she wanted to ask where they were going. He could almost sense her struggle to keep the words at bay.
    He pointed up at the plateau. “It will be the best place for us to get a look at the castle. We need to check the number of guards outside and look for a possible entrance we can use. Dmitri’s men will barge in, that is their style, but I intend to slip in. The further we can make it into the castle undetected, the better.”
    “Makes sense,” Prophecy said.
    Following Valentine, she trekked up the side of the mountain, coming to stop on a plateau high above the castle. She peered over the edge and down at it. There were men milling around outside it, their highly polished armour reflecting the warm light of the torches that burned on either side of the large arched wooden door.
    There didn’t seem to be much chance of getting past them unnoticed.
    Looking down at Valentine, she saw he was scanning the castle. His brows were knit and his eyes were narrowed. He crouched low near the edge of the plateau but she remained standing. She was wearing all black. There was no way the men near the castle would