Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

eyes darting about as she tried to locate Valentine.
    A glance at the stained glass windows told her it was night. The candelabra above her cast a warm glow on the interior of the church. Others hung above the aisle, but the candles in them were unlit.
    She jumped when a door near her creaked open and she instinctively changed, letting her demon guise come to the forefront. She hissed at the intruder.
    It was Valentine.
    She slipped out of vampire guise and frowned. “Where were you?”
    “I was on the roof, watching for danger.” He closed the door and cocked his head to one side when he finally looked at her. “Is something wrong?”
    She managed to sit up straight and rearranged her clothing so she didn’t look as dishevelled. Her fingers paused when she realised that she was wearing Valentine’s jacket and her head ached to recall the events of last night. Raising her eyes briefly to rest on him, she saw that he was waiting for her to answer his question. She stared at the floor, trying to remember what she’d seen and felt.
    “I had a dream,” she said quietly, unsure of whether she wanted him to know about it or not. If she told him, he might be able to tell her which city it was that she’d seen.
    He crouched down beside her and looked into her eyes. “Are you sure it wasn’t a vision? Dreams do not usually shake people up like this.”
    “Maybe it was... it was strange. I can’t make sense of it.”
    He sat down and smiled. “It is even harder when you are trying to make sense of someone else’s visions.”
    She smiled. She couldn’t imagine what he’d made of the things he’d seen in her blood. She had seen nothing in his last night. She remembered drinking from him and could see the marks on his neck as he sat next to her. His blood was strong, rich, and the more she’d drunk, the more she’d craved it. She still craved it.
    Dragging her eyes away from his neck, she fixed them on the floor, tracing the cracks in the cold flagstones while she tried to remember her dream.
    “I saw a city. There was a big square with a tower that seemed to reach to Heaven itself. There were a lot of people but one stood out amongst them. She was colourful when everything was dark and grey. I followed her down narrow streets with no names and when we crossed over a bridge, I saw a white church and boats that had no rowers.”
    “No rowers?” he said.
    “None. The men pushed them with a big stick,” she said and then frowned when she remembered what came next. “I followed the woman again. I felt I had to see her face. I wanted to know who she was. She had hair like mine and skin as white as snow. She kept laughing and twirling as she ran along this road that was surrounded on one side by buildings and on the other by water. She stopped at the end of it, on the wall, and fell.”
    “She fell?”
    “Straight into the water, but there wasn’t a splash. I think I ran then, ran to see what had happened to her. She was in the water, looking up at me. She told me not to be scared.”
    He frowned. “How real did it feel to you?”
    “I felt I was living it. I was there,” she said and his expression became even more pensive. “It felt like the dreams I’ve had of battles but they’d never felt as real as this. The witches told me to dream. They told me sleep would give me answers.”
    She noticed that he was staring at the floor now, lost in his own thoughts. His brows knit together into a frown and his jaw tensed. It made her uneasy for some reason.
    “Valentine?”
    “Venice. You saw Venice. This cannot be a coincidence.”
    “What can’t?” she said.
    He looked at her briefly before standing up and extending his hand to her.
    She slipped hers into it and stood with his assistance.
    “Mathias telephoned the hotel last night. He has discovered the location of a retired curator who might be able to help us discover the whereabouts of the second half of the scroll. The curator lives in Venice.”
    She could see the disbelief in his eyes and she couldn’t blame him. Her dream had been a vision. She’d been shown where to go to find what she was looking for. How? What higher power was guiding her?
    She looked at the amulet on her hand and tensed when Valentine’s hand appeared in view. He took hold of her hand and turned it over.
    “I know about the marks.” His tone was low, thick with unspoken anger. “What’s going on Prophecy?”
    Raising her eyes, she saw nothing but hardness in his.