Bleeding Hearts

Chapter 11

*Aaliyah's P.O.V*

I was a bit too hasty with deciding I wouldn't leave my room. It was kind of hard to disobey the vampire council and the witch council. Something I had quickly learned when I had guards escort me to meet the council. To be fair it took eight of them to get me to move though so I was doing pretty good.

"You know? I think this counts as kidnapping," I inform Rana as I tilt my head back to look at her. I still had refused to walk even when the guards did manage to use magic to knock me down so now I was just being carried. Rana was walking behind the guards so I could still communicate with her.

"It might," Rana shrugs her shoulders.

"I am almost positive it does since they carried me to a different room against my will and I watched a video once that said that counted as kidnapping," I say as I try to wriggle out of the guards hold. You would think it would be easy but it was actually super hard. I wasn't going to admit that to them though.

I regain some of my dignity when they release me in front of the chamber doors. At least I can walk through the doors on my own even though I don't want to. I thought having to deal with two different councils at once was stupid. I thought they should just deal with everything separately but who was I to boss them around?

"Do you want me to come in with you?" Rana asks and I glance at her, smiling slightly. I suppose it wasn't that nice of one, I mean I wasn't smiling because I was happy but rather because I had a plan.

"No," is all I say to her before I push open the doors and step inside the room. The room is dark which isn't surprising to me. What is surprising is the candles lighting up one half of the room. Well I suppose it was too much to expect any of the witches to be able to see in complete darkness.

"Aaliyah," Grandmother's voice is suddenly right next to me. I wasn't totally surprised that she would approach me. I glance at her for a moment before looking straight ahead.

"This meeting was only decided upon minutes ago. I would have told you sooner if I knew," grandmother says and I don't really believe her. I mean I could but she had also been on the council when I had been banished so I wasn't sure that I could trust her.

"Sure you would have. Like you would have told me when I was being banished," I retort and I can see the way she stiffens when I say that. Clearly my words had hit a nerve since she doesn't say anything else, just nods before she returns to where the vampiric council was gathered. Perhaps I could have been nicer but the councils only ever brought up bad memories for me.

"So do I get to start or?" The leader of the witch council, Tenebris, asks.

"Sure Tenebris. You start us off. Since you felt the need to intrude upon the vampiric council grounds and demand that you get to go first," the other lead of the vampiric council, Raoul says. I could see why and my grandmother could run a council together, they both had the same biting retorts.

"What do you need to talk about? I need to talk with her about a mentor for her magic," Tenebris says and I sigh loudly, rolling my eyes.

"I am right here. Try speaking to me instead of just talking about me," I say as I cross my arms over my chest. My grandfather snorts from where he is standing with the vampire council and I glance at him, raising an eyebrow.

"My apologies Ms. Fadel," Tenebris says and I frown at that, tearing my gaze away from the vampire council to focus on the witch one.

"It's Aaliyah. I don't have a last name seeing as I was banished which means I forfeit my family name," I state dryly, my eyes narrowing slightly. Tenebris holds my gaze for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he seems to study me.

"You are correct. I did not expect for you to know that," Tenebris says after a moment. "You are aware of the laws?" he asks.

"I am. I had a good teacher," I say with a fake smile, my fangs showing slightly.

"Who taught you the laws?" Tenebris questions, clearly expecting for me to say my mother or her parents.

"I mean I learned from one of the best. Myrna was a lovely teacher," I smirk as I see his brown eyes darken. I can feel the crackle in the air as his magic starts to stir. It usually took a lot to stir the magic of an elder witch but Myrna seemed to be a sensitive subject for him.

"You kept in contact with Myrna after your banishment?" Tenebris almost demands to know.

"No. I got in contact with her after she tried to overthrow you. Is that how it always goes when you have two leaders?" I question as I tilt my head. I see his jaw tick slightly as he steps back, glancing at the members of the witch council that had accompanied him.

"I think my council and I will circle back to speak with you," Tenebris says. He was only saying that because he knew he was on the edge of losing control of his magic. The air was visibly crackling but I couldn't blame him for being upset. I would be mad too if my ex wife had tried to overthrow the council that we both ruled but that had never happened to me so I guess I was just better than him.

"Aaliyah, that was out of line," my grandmother says and I turn to face her.

"Out of line is the fact that your council is technically holding me against my will. I'm sure you have some legal jargon but I honestly could not care less what it is. I am going to be out of line until I get some sense of satisfaction for treating everyone who believed Elyas over me with extreme disrespect. That includes all of you as well as the witch council," I state how I feel as best as I can even though I'm terrible with my emotions. I hope my words at least convey some sense of how I feel.

By the looks on the council members' faces, I can tell that I have managed to convey how I feel. It didn't really give me satisfaction though, it actually didn't give me any sort of emotion at all. I just felt numb and cold about what I had said. I hardly even notice when Rana's arms are around me, having not even noticed that she had come in.