Being born with a prophecy is hard. Choose between life and death. I'm stepping on both sides. The other one is on death which is always be there. The other one steps on life, which is not certain. Life can be taken. Death isn't.
My name is Artemis...
Niklaus and Cassius fight between leaving and staying there. Cassius believe that their mother could be there, maybe jailed inside in one of the houses.
"What if mom's there, Niklaus!?", malakas na sigaw niya sa kapatid.
"Then we'll rescue her. But not now that---", kaagad naman siyang pinutol ni Cassius sa isang suntok.
"Rescue? Yet we're here and not getting inside?", tanong ni Cassius.
Napahawak sa panga si Niklaus dahil sa suntok. He then massage it and laugh.
"Can you fight, huh?", mayabang na sabi niya sa kapatid. Cassius froze and Niklaus smirk at that.
"You can't fight? Does reading save you?", angil ni Niklaus. "Well it does. It gives you knowledge. But not always", he mocked Cassius.
Cassius sigh and massage his head. Niklaus is right. He can't fight. Vesper sheltered him too much at nakaligtaan na nito ang tunay na dapat niyang ginagawa na sana ngayon.
"You're right. I don't know how to fight but---", si Cassius naman ang napitlag ngayon.
"Shut up", Niklaus immediately come to him to cover his mouth.
"What are you doing?", Cassius ask in a muffled sound.
Niklaus gestured him to stay silent kaya tumahimik naman ito.
Sa pangalawang beses, isang kaluskos na naman ang kanilang naririnig. A sound of feets running on the dry leaves. The sound of tree branches.
Naalerto ang dalawa. Isang malaking net ang nalaglag galing sa isang mataas na puno. The two sprinted out of the area in opposite direction. Mabilis ang kanilang kilos. But Cassius run on the wrong side.
The Slovenia caught him. Wrap silver chains around his wrist and tied him in one of the trees there. Feed with vervain. Cassius cry in pain. He throw up blood.
Tila tuwang-tuwa pa ang ang Slovenia sa kanilang nakitang sakit na naramdaman ni Cassius.
They are one of the people who hoped the fall of the Hawthorne. Killed many vampires. Pero hindi nila alam na ang kanilang nakaharap ngayon ay isa sa mga Royals. That's beyond their strength to fight. They haven't encounter one. At ngayon lang. They usually killed strigoi who went lost in the forest. Not the vampires who's strong as the royals.
As Cassius cried in pain. Niklaus's now in his dark spirit. Ready to attack. Vervain is one of the things that makes them weak but it doesn't kill them.
"Get the other one", utos ng isang matanda.
Niklaus's eye alerted. Sampo ang nakapalibot sa kanya. Hindi kasama ang matanda at ang isa pang nagbabantay sa kay Cassius.
The Kudlak attack him.
Niklaus's eyes is now dark red. Nerve wires are visible around his eyes. Skin became pale.
Dahil hindi kilala ng Slovenian ang kanilang kaharap ay matindi nalang ang kanilang pagtataka when Niklaus controled the air spirit. Not summoning it because that's out of their ability. Only witch can summoned air. But vampires have a powers to control natures.
Vampire should master the elements. They have the ability to control them but it's the power only that Royals can do.
Sa gulat ay hindi kaagad nakagalaw ang kudlaks. The air is strong enough to hold them up. Their weapons fall to the ground.
Napatingin si Niklaus doon and he almost smirk. Seeing those hunters that only relies on their weapons. And he's not even scared of crucifix
He took the pistol and play with it. The Slovenia leader is loading his own pistol at kaagad na itinutok sa kay Niklaus. He fired his pistol and so Niklaus also did. The two bullets crash to each other and went to different direction.
"Free my brother and I let your....", he look upward. ".....whatever weak member you have live. How's that?", he smirk like a real badboy.
Walang nagawa ang leader ng Slovenia. They untied Cassius.
"Bring him to me", nagawa niya pang iutos iyon.
The moment Cassius are steps away from Niklaus. They vanished in a second. Naiwan ang mga kudlaks doon. Gasping, and getting weak.
The Kudlaks tried to chase them but the Hawthorne brothers are nowhere to be found.
"Pinuno, bakit ang lakas nila?", tanong ng isang kudlak, iyong taong nagbabantay sa kay Cassius.
Umiling ang kanilang Pinuno. He can't even understand why. Niklaus and Cassius are still not in the right age to be that strong. But carrying a Royal blood makes them do extraordinary things.
"They are from Royal families", sagot ng kanilang pinuno at pumasok na a kanilang teritoryo.
Niklaus is right. Vesper is not here. The Slovenian didn't hostage Vesper. They didn't killed her.
But the brothers didn't know where truly Vesper is.
"Abraham!", tawag ng isang binatilyo sa kay Abraham na ngayon ay nasa loob ng bahay. Vashti is pregnant. And she's crying in pain right now.
"What is it?", tanong ni Abraham sa binatilyo.
"May nakita po kaming babae sa gubat. Wala pong malay kaya dinala namin dito", sabi nito.
Napatayo si Abraham. Sakto lang din ang pagdating nga mga tauhan niya na dala ang babaeng walang malay.
Marumi ang katawan nito. She's cover with mud and her hair is covering her face.
"Ilagay sa bakanteng silid. Linisan niyo siya", sabi nito.
Ganoon nga ang ginawa ng mga iilang babaeng tauhan ni Abraham. After cleaning the woman ay hindi pa rin ito nagigising. She's still unconscious. Kaya ng mabihisan na ay pumasok si Abraham sa silid para alamin kung sino ang babaeng iyon.
Ang una niyang napansin sa babae ay ang singsing nito na may malaking letrang 'H', kulay dilaw.
Kaagad niyang nakilala kong sino iyon. 'H' stands for Hawthorne. The rings seems familiar to him dahil minsan na niya itong nakita sa daliri ng matalik na kaibigan at kapamilya.
"Vesper", tanging namutawi sa kanyang labi.
••••••••••••••••••
Author's Note: some of the chapters are short. I divided it with every scenes for the chapter titles para hindi ako malito sa next plot. Thank you, I hope you understand.
Happy Reading!
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Hawthorne's brother ring. (With a gothic characters written; "Truth and Honor")
