The Mark of the Moon

20 | Home of Silverette

"Where is your domain, Yria?" The gargoyle beside me also got up and sat next to me, interest peaking.

"I was from Ice Desertum Pod." I finally let out the truth with a breath of relief.

"Was? You ran away?" Andros' eyes sparkled, entertained by the idea that I ran away from my home.

"Yes."

"We got a pair of royal runaways." Caius let out a low chuckle, pointing at me and Andros.

"So you're a princess. Makes sense." Andros shrugged, laughing.

"What do you mean by that?" I narrowed my eyes, feeling insulted by him.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, princess. We have a thing in common. You know what I mean." The damn vampire raised his hands in the air in surrender while he sported a playful grin.

Another hour has passed before my spell finally wore off Taylor, Solstice and Andros' body. I felt the awkward tension in the air, the redhead just shooting me glances once in a while.

"We need to get out of here." Caius broke the silence with a huff, his eyes distant but worried.

"Where are we going? We have no clue where to go." Solstice asked, scratching her hair that needs deep conditioning.

"We have a clue. We need to follow her." Taylor finally spoke, his voice deep and raw. He nodded at me, his eyes going up and down on me with judgment. "Maybe your kingdom has some intel like the vampire kingdom."

"What if there's nothing there?" I asked. I didn't want to go back to my own pod. My heart ached at the memory of my father turning his back on me when I told him I wanted to find my own identity and not just be crowned a princess and heir to the throne.

He is ashamed of me. Ashamed I am not turning out to be the child he wanted me to be.

"I'd rather take our chances doing something than doing nothing at all." Taylor interjected and they all agreed.

"My kingdom is not as welcoming as yours. They hate visitors. It disrupts the peace, order and the rules." I crossed my arms, still eager to convince them to not go. Andros waved a hand at me dismissively.

"We'll be good visitors."

"Oh really? Because the last time you visited a certain place, we're ambushed and blood was spilled." I raised a brow at the group.

"That was not our fault, Yria. We are trying to figure things out. We're not the bad guys. As much as we want to have things end here, we can't. We have a duty-" I cut off Caius' bullshit, not wanting to hear the heavy responsibilities we're having just because a cursed girl has come in the forsaken land.

"Let me stop you right there. I can walk out of here and not care for all of you. I do not know you. I only came with you because I know if I stayed there, you all won't make it out alive there if it weren't for me. If not for me, this silly little group you have will be useless."

"For you? Us useless? Are you hearing yourself, Yria? You put us under a spell and I was close to collapsing while I fought men out in the club and had to drive us to safety. What did you do? Made us incapacitated to protect anyone there. If it weren't for you, people would still be alive today. The creatures in the club would have been alive. It was murder, Yria, and you helped them! Murder!" Andros began to raise his voice at me, pointing a finger like a stab of a knife to my heart.

"Hey. Calm down." Solstice came between us, her arms spread as if trying to break off a physical fight. For a redheaded girl, she was calm.

"We need your help." She spoke to me with a soothing voice. Her eyes were full of caution and I felt like she was calculating her moves with me.