I feel so different. I feel hollow, but I feel much fuller than I have ever felt in my whole life. Does that even make sense? I don't know. I feel so energetic and everything seems to be in slow motion.
Ellington dismissed the crowd and said to meet at the after party if anyone wanted to. The crowd slowly seeped out of he sanctuary. But Max and Kellen lingered behind. Max looks at me and smiles before he makes his way out of the room, but Kellen just waits by the giant wooden doors.
I have to stay behind for a little bit so Ellington can talk to me
"How are you feeling?" He asks in his ancient voice.
"I feel great."
"I'm surprised you didn't die. I'm so sorry that this went wrong. I never experienced a Changing like that before."
"Its fine. I don't feel any pain now, and I'm still breathing." I smile.
He nods, then apologized again and he dismissed me.
I make my way towards Kellen and without warning he hugs me and says,"I was so scared of losing you."
"I know. I saw."
He gives me a confused look.
"When you all thought I was dead, well, I kinda was. I saw it all. I saw all of the chaos and....I saw my own body."
I gives me a grim look. "It hurt seeing you like that."
"Doesn't everyone die when they go through a Changing?" I ask.
"Yes, but they don't scream in pain for fifteen minutes then stay dead for another fifteen. The longest a vampire stayed dead during the Changing was three minutes. So you now you know why we were all so scared." He says.
I slowly nod, then I feel arms squeeze me from behind and pick me up.
"Jewles you're okay!" Max exclaims.
I laugh and say,"yup. I feel like I can run fifteen miles."
"Don't say that. Trust me. You won't want to." Max says.
"But I'm so full of energy!" I say.
"Yeah, but vampires eventually run out of energy too." Kellen says
I nod. I already knew that. But it takes a lot for a vampire to get tired. then I tell them to start heading out to the party. They nod and grin like idiots as they exit the sanctuary and I make my way towards the Lincoln, which is parked on the secret spot.
Madeline isn't in there, she probably went with my family because I took to long.
The poparatzi are following us. Fantastic. I guess they deserve a lite bit of information about the Changing. I mean I've been avoiding them for most of my life.
We arrive at the castle and once I get out of the car, the camera lights flash. I hear a bunch of questions like
"How did it go."
"Is it true that you almost died?"
"Are you single?"
Great, yes, and yes.
I even pose for a little while for some of the covers on magazines. I finally go into the castle, and let me tell you it was packed.
I feel a tap on my shoulder and I see Madeline. She smiles and hugs me.
"How do you feel?" She asked
"Fantastic." I answer.
"Follow me." She says.
I turn to follow her, then I see Max. He calls me over, but I hold up a finger telling him to wait.
He looks disappointed, but he will manage.
I go and follow her. I thought she was going to lead Me into the party, but she takes me into the portrait room. Its really private and quiet in there so she must have to tell me something important.
"Oh, do you need to talk about something?" I ask.
"You can't win." She says in a calm manor.
I cock my head to the side. "I'm sorry, what?"
"You have more power than I thought you would" she shakes her head,"the prophecy was right. You will win him. The ancient one. He won't rise." She says. She sounds a little, exasperated.
"Well isn't that a good thing? We won't be destroyed. This means I can help. This means-"
"I got to stop this." She whispers. Her short blonde hair is in her face.
"What are you talking about?"
She chuckles a little bit,"you can't do it. He is meant to rise. You must be destroyed."
Before I knew it, she leaped on me and started clawing at me and trying to choke me.
I scream at the top of my lungs, but I know its use as because we are on the other side of the castle.
I can feel pain, and if I was mortal, I would be dead right now. I can't let her get to my heart, or I will most definitely die. I could still die right now just by her beating me up like this.
Someone I thought who was my friend was trying to kill me. Why?
Why was she on his side?
It seems as she is trying to pry my head off. I punch her in the nose and flip over her and start punching her repeatedly. I had no idea where I was punching her. But all I knew is that I was hitting some type of flesh. I pull her hair and yank some out.
Doing all of this I'm still screaming,"HELP ME!" at the top of my lungs.
She grabs my head and slammed it against the wall. My vision blurs, but I'm still determined to not let her win. I look down at my arms and see so many bruises. I can only imagine what my face looks like.
I stand up shakily and face Madeline.
"Why?" I whisper
She gives me an evil look,"because you are ruining everything. All the hard work. EVERYTHING!"
with that I lunge at her. The force was so powerful, we go through the wall. If I was a mortal, I wouldn't be able to do this. Luckily I can't feel too Much pain
After we went through the wall, she punched my nose, then I see blood drip on her hand. She grabs my head and bangs it against the stairwell. I howl with pain. It felt as if there was an explosion in my head.
I then grab her and bite her on the chest. She howled in pain, then I slammed her against the staircase, and before I knew it, we were both plummeting towards the ground. I hear a voice, which I think is Max say,"I heard the screams over here!"
Once we hit the ground, all I heard was a loud crack, then I realized that I landed on top of her.
I rolled over and stood up. Every part of my body ached. Max and Kellen look at me with shock. I look at Madeline and her body was bent at an odd angle. And don't even get me started on her legs.
She was gone.
"Juliete?"
I turn and see Max and Kellen.
Kellen gives me a horrified look.
"Take her to her room." Max says to Kellen.
Kellen comes towards me, lifts me up, and takes me to my room.
Once we are up there, I start to cry. Someone who I thought was my friend, was on the enemies side and she tried to kill me.
Kellen snaked his arm around me and I cried into his chest.
I told him all that had happened.
"She was a spy." He said.
"What are they gonna put on the news?"
"I don't know, but they won't make you look bad. I promise. It will all be on her."
I was so shocked of all that had happened today. For about twenty minutes, I just stared at the same spot.
Then, Max barges in and Kellen tells him everything. I'm glad he did because I'm not in the mood to talk.
"I'm so sorry Jewels." Max says as he hugs me.
"I hid the body for now. We will report it tomorrow. Let's go downstairs to the party. We don't wanna seem suspicious" Max says.
I just nod.
"Whoa whoa whoa. Hold up Max. She looks terrible. We gotta help her." Kellen says
"She's already healing.look"
It was true. I felt much better than I looked. Plus my. Bruises were already fading. Before I knew it, I only had a few scratches and bruises..
"I'm fine. Let's go."I say.
On the walk max says,"She was a spy for him. We know this because she wears the X necklace. That is what the enemies allys wear." He says as he pulls out a neclave with a metal X and a black chain.
"Its pretty stupid to wear a sign. You're giving yourself away. Stupid idiots." Kellen says.
Finally. Something that made me smile.
So this is what she meant when got married. It all made sense now. I never met her husband, and she's been gone a lot for the past year. She's married to the enemy's side.
Before we go into the ballroom, max stops me, puts a black bracelet with a bat as a little charm, and the bat has a ruby in the center of it.
"Happy birthday Jewels. Never take this off. Promise?"
"Thanks, but why can't I take it off?"
"This will help you have a strong mind. You won't be able to be persuaded by evil. A lot of stuff is going to happen Jewels, BAD stuff. You're going to need this."
I simply nod and say,"Thank you."
Then Kellen says,"well......I feel pretty crappy for not getting you a present. But you have me here. I'm the present." He smiles.
"Yup. As long as you're here." I laugh.
As soon as we walk in, I go straight to the blood fountain. The warm, sweet liquid seeped down my throat, and it made me feel so good. It washed my worries away.
I spent the whole party either drinking, dancing, or having small talks with people.
Every once and a while, Max or Kellen would come to check on me and they would ask,"you okay?"
My response would always be,"I'm fine."
But really, I was dying on the inside.
I practically worried the whole time. The blood was the only thing washing my worries away.