Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

remains of the lord of Tenebrae. She had tried to hold back the magic but it had been impossible. The second she’d seen Valentine disappear, she had been powerless to stop it. It was as though it had taken over her body and ignored all her commands.
    The sound of scraping metal broke the silence and she turned, narrowing her eyes into dark slits when they came to rest on the other high guard.
    “What did he do with Valentine?” she tightly clutched her axe and advanced on the guard, her whole body trembling with raw emotion and pain. “What did he do!?”
    The guard drew his sword and growled. “We did nothing!”
    Raising her axe with shaking hands, she breathed heavily, her eyes remaining locked with his. She knew his face and knew those clear blue eyes. It was the guard she had seen in her vision.
    “You did something and now he’s gone... he’s gone... bring him back!” She swung the axe at him but he easily evaded it.
    He regarded her coolly, his dark eyes not moving from hers. She was surprised when he sheathed his sword and stepped closer to her, within striking distance of her axe.
    “We have no witchcraft here, only that which you carry. It was your army that attacked ours, yes? Why?”
    She frowned. “Because I was told that you were going to attack us.”
    She went cold when it hit her. Her whole body felt empty and numb. She’d made a mistake. The look in his eyes and the fact he wasn’t attacking her told her that he wasn’t out to kill her. He could have easily done that by now if he’d wanted to. She would have been no match for him in her weakened state.
    She looked down at the ashes on the floor and then up at the place where the portal had appeared and taken Valentine. Closing her eyes, she replayed the moment he disappeared and her stomach turned over. Valentine had told her not to attack but she’d been so scared of losing him that she hadn’t stopped to listen. She’d already been calling the magic. The marks over her chest ached and she dropped to her knees, pressing her hand to her breast and dropping her head.
    She’d made a terrible mistake.
    All she could see in her mind was the moment Valentine had gone through the portal, a portal which was now horribly familiar. She’d seen one like it before.
    Elena.
    “What have I done?” she whispered to her knees.
    The vampire beside her shifted and she raised her eyes to look at him. He was watching her with some concern, his helmet now removed to reveal his face. There was sorrow in his eyes and she knew why.
    She’d killed the lord of his bloodline.
    The Tenebrae hadn’t been forming an army in order to mount an attack. They had been coming to assist her. She could see that now. She had been foolish to rush in before having the prophecy translated. She should have listened to Valentine when he’d said that it wasn’t a good idea. His instincts had been right. This wasn’t the battle they had been destined to fight. The lord of Tenebrae hadn’t been her enemy in the vision. She hadn’t even fought him. It had been the robed person without a face. That was the person she needed to destroy in order to fulfil the prophecy.
    This whole battle had been a mistake, a wrong move. She remembered what Elena had said to her about this castle being the place where the war would begin. Was this only the first step of many? Why had Elena taken Valentine?
    Her mother’s words came back to her. She had been blinded by the words of others just as her mother had said. She had made so many mistakes and taken so many falls, but she only felt weaker for them, not stronger as she’d been told.
    Getting to her feet, she turned to face the room. It was littered with the slowly disintegrating corpses of Tenebrae warriors and the carcasses of many werewolves. She felt cold and empty. This had seemed like the right decision. Her vision had shown her this castle. Was it possible she had misinterpreted it? Or was that battle still to come?
    Dropping the axe, she listened to it clatter to the floor and then made her way towards the door opposite her. She ignored the threatening growls of the remaining Tenebrae and the way that the guard followed her. In a way she was thankful for his company. It was probably the only thing stopping the others from attacking her.
    She walked straight past Mia and Dmitri as they both rushed in, their clothes bloodied and torn. Heading for the door, she ignored their calls and warnings that the sun was rising. She