Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

clenched her fists, struggling for control over the magic and her emotions. Elena was right. With the loss of Valentine, her feelings had become a turbulent sea of anger and discord, and it was affecting her power. If things continued like this, she would have no way of controlling her magic. She feared it would begin to control her.
    Closing her eyes when it surged through her, causing her skin to prickle and burn, she took a deep breath and told herself to calm down. It was no use. Every time she tried to calm herself down she ended up thinking about Valentine and the situation got worse.
    The threads of magic tickled as they arced along her fingers and she shook her hand, trying to rid it of them.
    “I am sorry... I should have been stronger, but... ” Elena raised her head.
    Prophecy looked at her, seeing for the first time the sorrow in her dark eyes. The sight of it caused her feelings of anger towards the witch to abate and she sighed.
    “What did they do to you?” she said, giving Elena a concerned look. “It was Arkalus and Kalinor wasn’t it?”
    Elena nodded and wrapped her arms about herself, shivering as she did so. “They... I tried to resist them... they made me weak.”
    Prophecy watched the tips of Elena’s fingers as they dug into her upper arms. She was holding herself so tightly and it made Prophecy realise that Arkalus and the lord of Aurorea had done terrible things to her. Stepping forwards, she reached out to draw the hair away from Elena’s neck but the witch jerked away from her.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” Prophecy said and brushed Elena’s hair aside to reveal the puncture marks that littered her neck.
    They were deep and surrounded by rich purple bruises that seemed to cover every inch of her throat. She dropped her eyes to the floor and stepped away from Elena. Heaving a sigh, Prophecy closed her eyes when sorrow washed through her, extinguishing all of the anger and hatred she’d been feeling. Elena had done her best, but Prophecy knew how brutal Arkalus could be, especially if he wanted something.
    “Where did they take him?” She didn’t hold out much hope of Elena knowing. Her blood-brother was clever, and from what Valentine had told her about Kalinor, she knew that he was probably even more intelligent than Arkalus. They would have devised a plan to keep the witch in the dark about their intentions for Valentine.
    “I... I do not know.” Elena sank into her chair again, curling up and holding her knees to her chest. She looked like a scared child, nothing like the powerful necromancer Prophecy had met during her last visit. “They had me transport him to St. Mark’s Square. They took him from there before any of my servants could reach it. I wanted them to report back to me. I knew you would come and you would need to know where Valentine was. If I had realised how much you and the power you hold needed him... I would have let them kill me.”
    “Don’t talk so. I will find him and I will learn to govern my power.”
    “It is not your power.”
    Prophecy frowned at the note of spite in Elena’s voice. Drawing herself up, she looked down at the witch.
    “It is my power to command.” She saw Elena’s eyes drop to her hand when she flexed her fingers. “You know where it comes from. I have seen this same star as a scar upon your hand. You have met my mother, haven’t you?”
    Elena lowered her head. “She was a powerful witch. I thought she had died many moons ago and now I know she had. To give you this gift, she would have sacrificed herself and cursed herself to an eternity wandering the earth, unable to rest. Her power should have gone to the grave with her, giving her a chance at a good afterlife.”
    “She gave this to me so I could fulfil my destiny and she lives on in my heart. She’s no wandering spirit and she isn’t cursed. I have seen her. She is at peace.” Prophecy ran the tips of her fingers over the stone of her amulet and it glowed white. Looking back at Elena, she frowned when she saw she was again staring at her hand. “Why did they take Valentine?”
    “I told you I do not know anything about their plan. I was just a small part of it. I was only told to bring him to the square.”
    “Why didn’t they take me?” Prophecy cursed the tears that rose up on saying those words. All throughout her journey to Venice she’d been plagued by that question. It haunted her, stealing her sleep during the day and pushing her to the