Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

Russia.”
    She switched the television off when she heard the key scrape in the lock. Her whole body tensed while she waited to see who it was. She held her breath. The door opened.
    Relief coursed through her when she saw her maid, Serenity, standing in the doorway, her dark hair hanging loose around her shoulders, making her skin look like milk against the black of her dress. Iona had always said Serenity and herself could be twins. Their height was similar along with their build, but that was where the similarities ended as far as she could see.
    She stood to greet her friend but stopped dead when Serenity held up a dark red dress.
    Prophecy shook her head at the sight of it, as though that act alone would make it go away.
    Serenity gave her an apologetic look and hung the dress up on the wardrobe door.
    “I wasn’t expecting you to be awake,” Serenity said and sat on the edge of the bed.
    Prophecy sighed. “How could you expect me to sleep at a time like this?”
    She sank into the armchair by her desk and propped her chin up on her upturned palm.
    Serenity gave her another sorry look. She wished that she wouldn’t. She didn’t need to feel sorry for herself and that’s how her friend was making her feel.
    “So what’s he like?”
    She frowned at her. “What’s who like?”
    “The man that did that to your neck.” Serenity pointed at the marks.
    Prophecy’s fingers idly traced them and she smiled as she thought about Valentine. Serenity had always been there for her whenever she’d needed to talk about things that had happened and she’d always kept her secrets.
    She knew that it wouldn’t change now. Her friend wouldn’t care about the charges that had been made against her.
    “He’s actually quite nice, once you get past the Aurorea thing and the fact he’s overly obsessed with his duty.” She slumped further into her chair.
    “Cute?”
    “Not cute,” she said with a serious frown. “Handsome, definitely, but not cute. He’s... exceptionally skilled and always seems to know what he’s doing. I don’t think I would have made it out of England without him.”
    “You’ve been to England?” Serenity’s eyes widened in curiosity.
    “I’ve been to Paris, too, and the guards captured me in Venice. So much has happened, Serenity. I’ve learnt things about me that I never knew or thought possible.” She raised her hand up and called the magic, letting it lazily arc along her fingers.
    Serenity left her place on the bed, walking across the room to her. She looked even more curious now. Prophecy smiled at her but moved her hand out of reach when her friend went to touch it.
    “I don’t have much control of it, at least not yet anyway.” The magic died and she lowered her hand. “I wish I did. I tried to see if I could command it without my amulet last night, but I made a hole in the wall.”
    Serenity looked at the hole and then frowned at her. “So where’s this amulet thing?”
    “I guess Valentine has it. I mean, I took it off when we had to go see this witch and I put it in my pocket, only it’s not in my pocket any more. So I’m hoping that he has it.”
    “Valentine? I’d love to see him. I don’t care if it’s treason to meet him. Arkalus keeps talking about him. He seems scared. All the servants are talking about it. He denies it whenever someone mentions it of course. He just says that he’ll kill the dog when he meets him.” Serenity paused for a moment, her look turning awkward before she continued to speak. “He really bit you?”
    “Twice, I think. Once in the graveyard where I met him and then again when he’d kidnapped me.”
    “What was it like?”
    Prophecy shrugged. “It felt better when I was biting him.”
    She smiled internally at the way Serenity dropped to her knees beside her, her eyes lighting up, showing her how eager her friend was to hear more.
    Leaning over, she bit her lip and then took a deep breath.
    “It was incredible, Serenity. I was drugged at the time by the vampire hunter, but it was incredible. I can’t get it out of my head. I can still feel his fingers in my hair and his body against mine. I can taste the elation and the desire. It was like nothing I’d ever tasted before, experienced before.”
    Serenity blinked and then smiled lazily, as though she’d just experienced everything she had told her.
    “He sounds incredible.”
    “He is.” She grinned at her friend, the weight of her situation momentarily lifted by