Caddie's POV:
"Don't you have places to be?" I asked.
We had been leaning against the wall for a very long time, not talking, just wallowing in our mistakes. I wish I could have said that it was the worst time of my life and I would have nightmares about my hour alone with him- but it wasn't. He didn't try to cheer me up anymore but he also didn't leave. Originally, I had thought being alone was exactly what I needed. I had thought that I was the only person who had dealt with such catastrophic problems but Roberto, in his own way, understood as well.
"Probably," he causally rolled his shoulders, "But I don't want to be there, so why go?"
"It's your duty," I said but my voice had no conviction. I sounded like a rehearsed politician who didn't believe a word they were saying- I felt that way too.
Roberto barked a laugh, "Yes it is but sometimes it's okay to neglect responsibilities. I'm only eighteen, after all, don't I deserve my time of being a rebellious teenager like everyone else?"
My aunt would have disagreed. She would have told me to ignore him and say that it was people like him that ruined the world. I mean- he did ruin the world. But he was right. We were just kids who were shoved into a crown. We shouldn't be forced into greatness. There were so many other people that dreamed of being hero, like Dmitri. Those kinds of brave people deserved the title, not me and especially not Roberto.
"H-how do you deal with it?" I asked, hesitantly.
I knew he was the bad guy and I shouldn't have asked for advice but he was the one person who could understand. I had Heidi but she was a different case. Aunt Heidi wasn't born a Dark Witch, she was able to go through her awkward phase being completely normal. Even as the Dark Witch, she was so perfect and sophisticated. Death was just a part of life, she would say eloquently while tapping her manicured nails against her desk. I remembered her leaning back in her leather chair, her black eyes cold and calculating. She told me they were yin and yang, it was a balance that the world needed. Maybe it was because of the blend empathetic powers and my own emotions but I could never regard death in such detached manner. Even when killing Dark Ones there would be moments when I wondered about what kind of life that had before the black magic. Some of them must have had loved ones who I was taking them from. That knowledge weighed upon me consistently.
I woke up everyday knowing I was murderer.
"I suspect it could be more difficult," Roberto mused.
Even though we couldn't clearly see each other, I could feel his eyes staring intently at me. I dropped my head, looking at the darkness below me.
His stare didn't falter as he kept talking,"I'm essentially emotionless, I can't feel my own emotions but I can the emotions of others. I'm sure someone filled you in on that already. There are positives to being a heartless, soulless bastard: in the line of war, death does not effect me. And my emotions don't get in the way of my ability to make decisive decisions. But that's a problem at the same time. I'm supposed to make decisions out of the goodness of my heart but my heart is an organ that sends blood through my veins, there is no goodness there. The very people I am bound to protect mean nothing to me. I would basically be a soulless killing machine if not for the influence of other people's emotions and knowing that has never made my life easy."
The saddest part about his explanation was that his voice had lost all animation. The act that he put on for everyone, making them believe he could smile and laugh had disappeared. He actually was nothing. Just a fully-functioning, hollow body. I wondered if my mom had been the same way. The old woman from Castle Böse claimed my mother hadn't been a terrible person, all she wanted was the ability to feel for herself. The way she went about feeling was wrong but she was just trying to be normal. I could understand that. Apparently, wanting to be normal, was hereditary trait.
"I can't even imagine what it's like," I said, not knowing what else there was to say.
Roberto and I were similar but still not at all the same. I felt too much and he felt too little. We were both apart of the same bloodline but I doubted that we were dealing with same problems. It was silly of me to think he was the answer to my problems when he was also the problem.
"No you can't. No one can- wait- my mother can but she's not exactly the kind of person you can sit down and talk about your problems with. She was too much of a Dark Witch to be a real mother."
"I can relate to that," I snorted.
"You can?" Though I couldn't see it, I imagined Roberto had raised an eyebrow. I could hear the skepticism in his voice.
"Well-uh," I stuttered, trying to remember the lie Aleksander told. "There was a worker at the orphanage, I lived at. She was like my guardian but she didn't act like a parent, she just told me what to do all the time." I cringed hearing how unconvincing my voice sounded. Being manipulative really wasn't a skill of mine.
If Roberto noticed I was lying, he didn't say anything. Instead, silence fell upon us again. It wasn't as comfortable this time around. I felt as if something needed to be said or that maybe one of us should have left but I couldn't force myself to move. Aleksander, Alix and Jaxon were probably worrying themselves to death. Not about me though. No, they obviously didn't care about me. All they were worried about was the stupid prophecy. Well, they were smart they'd find a way to do it on their own, I thought. My heart clenched as doubts raced into my mind. There was always the small chance that they were in fact more worried about me than saving the world. They might just actually care. But why would I risk my peace over a possibility?
"Would you like to get out of here with me?" Roberto asked.
"I'm not going to class," I snapped.
"No definitely not class," he chuckled at the ferocity in my answer, "But how about anywhere that isn't Nox Haven?"
I picked my head up from its low hanging position and tried to peer through the dark to see him. It was a lost effort but I hoping to see whether or not he was serious. He sounded serious and he felt serious. But he was also Roberto and I couldn't trust him.
"How do I know this isn't just some elaborate scheme to lure me alone then kill me?" I asked in a light tone but I was actually curious.
"We're alone now and I haven't killed you, Amiga."
Before anything else could be said, Roberto reached out and hooked an arm around my waist. I tried to push him off but my attempts were frugal against his strength. His superior strength must have been an asset of his that only increased when he became a vampire. The world around us started shift and contort as he teleported us from the dungeon tunnel.
A bright light broke through the black abyss, pulling me into reality. A hiss escaped my lips as I held a hand over my eyes. After being in the dark tunnels for so long my eyes were too sensitive for light. After a few uncomfortable seconds the stinging in my eyes dissipated and I slowly lowered my hands.
"You're acting like a vampire. The sun isn't going to hurt you," Roberto laughed behind me.
I bit my lip to hold back a snicker. It was inappropriate to laugh at anything he said but the irony... Shaking my head, I pulled myself out of his grasp and stared at my surroundings. We were on top of a tall hill, below us grassy fields and a spotting of wild flowers stretched for miles. Birds soared high in the blue sky. Their wings were stretched wide, I could hear them cawing to one another as they passed. In the far distance, I could vaguely make out a few square buildings that resembled houses. That must have been the only settlement for miles.
"What is this place?" I asked, awed.
"My home," Roberto responded gruffly. He stood beside, his hands were stuffed in the pants of his trousers. He had ditched his fancy waist coat and necktie, leaving him only in a billowy white shirt. He had also gotten rid of his jewels and crown, making him look more like Bob.
"I grew up here, in Venezuela. I had lived in the smallest clay house, it was owned by my father. He wasn't a very good warlock, I will never understand why my mother chose him to be the father of her child, but he was good at teaching me control."
He looked at the houses through narrowed eyes. One would have thought that he hated the idea that he had been raised in poverty but I didn't think that ever mattered to Roberto. The town didn't fuel him with hate, it made him take on a determined demeanor. As if his broken past was push him towards greatness. It was intimate moment and I couldn't help but feel like I didn't belong there.
"It's beautiful here," I murmured, trying to keep the subject off of his past.
I didn't want to learn about him or become friends. Once the others sorted everything out, they were going to kill him. That was ultimately the right thing to do. Roberto needed to die. My fingers twitched. Magic surged through my veins. It would have been so easy to just kill him on the hill. But the look on his face stopped me from doing so. He was so conflicted and vulnerable.
An image of a mortal Roberto flashed before my eyes. I imagined him being a simple farmer in Venezuela, with a straw hat and bad tan lines. Though being a poor farmer was never a dream of anyone's, at least he still would have had chances. He would have gotten a chance to feel and experience all the wonderful things life has to other. But that would never come to be. The world had wronged him so many ways, it had stripped of him of his innocence and chances. I couldn't add to his list of taken things by taking his life.
"I come to this hill often when I'm confused. And you have made me more confused than ever," he said.
"How?" I asked.
He smiled cruelly. The peaceful moment we had shared had evidently past. Now, came the reason why Roberto had spent such a long time with me.
"You're unlike anyone I've ever met. On the outside you're really nothing but special but I can feel an enormous amount of power within you. And I've only felt that sort of power around a select few, the heirs to be exact. You claim to be a royal and yet a single royal could ever match an heir's power and they were our own flesh and blood. So I find myself confused by you."
My eyes widened. He could feel my power? What? No one had ever mentioned that, that was a possibility. I took a step back. The feral look on his face sent shivers down my spine. Though I hated to admit it, he scared me more as a warlock than a vampire. The power he held was undeniable and I knew I couldn't match it in a fight.
"I wonder..." He murmured.
Our eyes locked. He stared at me in a way that made me think he was trying to look into my soul. I stared back but there was no soul to be found. A sick, smirk crawled onto his face. There must have been something that he saw within me, something that confirmed his suspicion. I only wish I knew what it had been.
Raising his hand in air, he curled his fingers and his power. I stood, rooted in place as I watched a ball of black fire form in his palm. In my own hand I had seen it as a beautiful thing. It was a glossy black flame, that danced and swayed to the whim of the wind. But in his hands it was a lethal weapon. A power that solidified his place as a monster.
My mouth formed an 'o' as he drew his arm back and propelled the ball forward. I was stuck between an impossible option of dying now or dying later. As the ball increased in speed, I closed my eyes, clenched my fists and waited for something to happen to me.
Looking back on that day, I wish I would have chosen differently.
**Here is chapter 12 I hope you guys enjoyed it! The next two chapters are going to be very exciting to write so I can't wait to get to them. Please tell me what you think of this chapter and the book so far. This book is definitely going to be a crucial turning point for Caddie. For the past two books we've seen her tow the line between teenage girl and Dark Witch. Last book she was more of a Dark Witch but she also had to face a few traumatic consequences because of her actions then. This will be the book where we finally see if she is capable of accepting her fate as the Dark Witch or if she runs away.
Thank you for being so supportive. With school being so crazy and let's be honest, not a lot of fun, it's nice to check out your comments on wattpad and see your support!
XOXO,
Ro.**