I gave a sight as I looked down before I spoke.
"I know it is strange mum but I know it was her, I just felt it and I could tell that it was really her and not someone else. I just felt so peaceful and safe when I saw her, it was grandma but the last time I saw her it was in a dream but this time I was awake, I know I was hurt and that afterwards I fainted but I really saw Anna Falcon. Well, right now all I want is for things to get better, I just hope everything gets better now mum." I said in a soft voice as I placed the white roses on my mum's gravestone.
I gave a small sight as I looked around in the graveyard, as I looked at Eleanor's gravestone that was nearby I noticed that the rose that had a bit of my blood in one of its petals was no longer there, it was gone. Normally flowers would wit but they would change the flowers until the end of the month when they came to clean everything up but I still had a week for that to happen so who had taken the white rose?
"What's wrong?" A voice next to me asked.
I jumped startled before I gave a small smile.
"You scared me Ryder." I told him with a scoff.
"It's not my fault you're so jumpy lately." Ryder said as he walked towards me.
"I'm slightly nervous but I will be fine it's nothing to get worried about." I told Ryder as I got near him.
Ryder smiled and slightly took a step away from me keeping the distance between us clearly visible, I brushed that away and cleared my throat pretending as if that had never happened.
"So how did things end up after the meeting?" I asked Ryder in a soft voice.
After the attack, everything about Nastasia had been cleared up and now Dan, Jonathan, and some of the Spanish hunters had received a punishment meanwhile Antonio and Claire were under the custody of the guardians of the Association and now the three remaining members of the Association Cassandra, Mathew and Rachelle were discussing the new matters we all had to deal with now.
"Mathew has offered to let Selene and Eva become part of the members of the Association, both Cassandra and Rachelle have agreed to it and they want Eva to become the new Headmistress of this Academy, Eva has agreed to it but Mathew still wants you to become the new director of the Association." Ryder told me, but none of that shocked me.
I gave a small scoff.
"But I already told him that I don't want that, I'm not sure that I'm ready to run the Association. I still have a lot to prepare about myself, I know yesterday after the attack I acted like a very determinate leader but I still have lots to learn." I said as I ran my fingers through my hair.
"No matter what you or Eva say Mathew is sticking to that idea Doll, he really thinks you should be the one to call the shots from now on, he wants you to become the leader you claimed to be last night." Ryder said as he looked at me.
I gave a sight.
"And what do you think?" I asked him.
Ryder looked at me confused.
"What do I think about what?" He asked me.
"About all of this me becoming the director and all." I told him as I shrugged.
"Does my opinion matter now? I mean they had the meeting without you so why would my opinion matter now, Doll?" Ryder asked me as he met my gaze.
I gave a groan.
"It matters to me Ryder; they will listen to you and me, alright? Besides the only reason why they had the meeting without me was because I asked to be alone for a while, I wanted to be here and talk with my mum as corny as it sounds. But that is not the point; I want to hear your opinion Ryder because in a way the both of us are in this together." I said as I sat in a stone bench that was nearby.
"I don't think my opinion will weigh in on the situation, I honestly don't know how you can handle these things like that but I just can't stop thinking about what you told Mathew about Nastasia not being the leader of the attacks." Ryder said as he stood in front of me.
"I just heard Nastasia mention a he, I think Nastasia was just following orders in a way she was the puppeteer not the puppet master and we all know that whoever that man is we know he is in Russia with the rest of the vampire rebels so we have all agreed to send some of the best hunters over there to stop another attack from rising." I told him as I looked down.
"All of this is dangerous, a very risky game." Ryder told me making me look up to meet his gaze.
"I know that Ryder but that's the point about being a hunter, it's an obligation." I said in a low voice.
Ryder took a few steps around as he ran his fingers through his hair, something was really bothering him.
"I know that Doll but all of this is getting complicated." Ryder said in a frustrated voice.
"Complicated?" I asked confused.
"Sorry to interrupt but Ryder the things are ready, the plane is ready." Kole said as he walked towards us.
Ryder stopped walking and looked at Kole.
"I'll be there in a second, go get everyone else ready for the airport." Ryder told him.
"Okay." Kole said as he nodded and left.
I looked at Ryder after Kole left.
"Ryder why did Kole said that everyone is ready to go to the airport?" I asked him confused.
"We're leaving Doll; we're going back to Mount Vernon." Ryder told me in a hard tone.
"But we can't leave, not when things are like this. I have to stay here so we can't leave I'm sure you can do something about this." I told him as I looked at him.
Ryder turned away from me and didn't say a word; that was all it took to answer the doubts I had in my head.
"Hold on a second." I said as I got up from the bench.
Ryder didn't say anything he just stared away from me, his back facing me.
"On the night of the dance when you said that we would have to move from England what you really meant-?" I said trailing off, too scared to even finish the sentence.
"I meant Kole, Naomi, your dad, Mason and I, we're leaving without you." Ryder said in a low voice.
I walked towards Ryder and looked at him.
"What? What do you mean by that?" I asked him shocked.
"You know what I mean by that, you and I, us; it's never going to work." Ryder said to my surprise.
I glared at him.
"What? How is it not going to work Ryder? We're mates!" I told him raising my voice.
"In this case, it honestly doesn't matter anymore; Doll, we both know that we need to fall out of love. It would be nice if you let me try." Ryder said in a cold tone.
I looked at him shocked; I just couldn't believe what he was saying.
"But why, why would you want to do that if I love you as well?" I asked him confused wanting an answer.
"It's not right for you to be with a vampire even if you are a vampire too, you're a vampire huntress; we can't be together." Ryder said as he looked away avoiding my gaze.
"But my mum and dad were together even after all of that, we can be together as well and figure everything out." I told him as I got near him.
I just couldn't let Ryder give up on us just like that, not after everything we had gone through.
"They were together indeed but look where all of that brought them, your mother was killed because of that, I love you too much to let you die because of me, that's why I have decided to stop loving you, to leave you." Ryder said as he took a few steps away from me.
"But you love me Ryder and no matter what you say and do that will never change and I know we can get through all of this, we're almost there." I said in a calm voice.
"Doll, almost is never enough; this is the best for the both of us, for you. The story of your parents can't repeat itself with us." Ryder said before he left leaving me standing there alone.
"Ryder." I whispered as I watched him walk away.
I stood there in the graveyard for a few seconds before I reacted and went after him.
"Ryder!" I said as I followed him towards the Academy, in the front door of the Academy Kole, Naomi, Mason, Sasha and my dad where already there waiting for Ryder.
"Ryder, I'm talking to you!" I yelled at him as we reached the Academy.
Ryder stopped walking and turned around to look at me.
"How can you possibly say that Ryder, after everything that happened between us and everything you promised me, how you can say that?" I asked as I looked at him in disbelief.
"I can say it because it's the truth." Ryder said in a hard tone.
I opened my mouth shocked.
"The true, how is that the truth?" I said raising my voice.
"I tried, I tried to convince myself that this would work, that I love you but I'm tired of lying to myself, lying to you. I don't belong in your world and you don't belong in mine just because we're mates it doesn't imply that I should love you. I tried to but I simply can't, I just don't feel the same way as you, I'm tired of constantly running in danger because of you, I just want my old life back, the one I had before you came along. Whenever hunters have appeared in my life they have brought death along with them and I don't want that anymore." Ryder said in a cold voice.
"But Ryder you can't just le-." I started to say before he interrupted me.
"I was being nice to you back there in the graveyard but I'll be straight honest with you, I don't love you Alice, all of this was a huge mistake, I should have stayed away from you the very first instant I saw you." Ryder said in a harsh tone and I saw it in his brown eyes, it was nothing but the cold true.
I felt everything break, it was the first time I ever heard Ryder say my name but his voice had been so cold and distant that I would have preferred for him to call me Doll' like he always had.
I nodded as I felt my eyes get watery, but I would not cry in front of him not when he was the reason of it.
"Alright then, if you put it that way I'll have to understand, to try." I said before I walked away from him and headed to where my dad and Mason were.
"I'm sorry honey, but I have to go after him. He is still the future king and I'm under his orders." My dad said as he hugged me.
I nodded.
"I know; you don't have any choice but to leave." I said as I hugged him back.
"Please take care, sis." Mason said as he hugged me.
"You know I will, and remember to stay in touch just to check on each other." I told him as I hugged him tightly.
After I said goodbye to Naomi and Kole my dad looked at Eva.
"Please take care of her." My dad told Sasha.
Eva nodded.
"You know I will, I'll guard her with my life." Eva said as she got near me.
A car pulled by and I felt a knot on my throat, all this time this was the reason Ryder was acting so weird and after the attack he must have been planning to leave today all along.
"Ryder, just wait." I said as I walked towards him.
Ryder looked at me but didn't say anything.
"You should probably have this back." I said as I started to pull off the promise ring from my finger.
"Don't, I gave it to you. You should keep it." Ryder told me trying to stop me.
"Keep it for what? So, every time I look at it I will remember this broken promise? No thank you, this ring used to symbolize our love and now it means nothing." I said before I placed the ring on Ryder's palm and walked away.
As the car left I felt a tear roll down my face, they were gone.
I turned around abruptly and bumped into Eva.
"It's alright Alice; everything is going to be alright." Eva said as she hugged me.
I hugged her back and started to cry.
"Why would he do this to me Eva? Ryder knows how much I love him so why would he hurt me this way?" I asked her as I cried.
"I don't know darling but perhaps it's for the best." Eva said as she smoothed my hair.
"Just take me away from here; I don't want the rest to see me like this." I told Eva as I shut my eyes tightly.
Eva kept her arm around me as we went back to the Academy and I tried to deal with the simple fact that I had just lost part of my family, part of me.
"Are you ready Alice?" Beck asked me as he opened the car's door.
I placed the sunglasses on and nodded before I got out of the car. The snow was fresh on the pavement and I could feel the ice crack underneath my boots, Beck walked next to silently, ever since Ryder and the rest had left a week ago, I would no longer talk about that, not even mention their names all I would do was to focus on the new mission: stopping the war. As I entered the plane Peter looked at me.
"What is the plan mate?" He asked me as he leaned against the seats.
"It's quite simple, we go over to Russia, see what happened to their Academy, gather as much hunters as we can, find the vampire rebels' base, neutralize it and kill their leader before they can attack another Academy or worse before they can attack human kind." I told him in a clear voice.
Peter nodded.
"Alright but before you go to your seat Mathew wants to speak to you, he is in the back of the plane." Peter told me as he and Beck got to their seats.
I nodded.
"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes." I told them before I headed to the back.
When I entered to the back of the plane I saw that Mathew was standing there with some clothes in his hands.
"Here, change into this. When we arrive to Russia I don't want anyone to know that you're a huntress or that you're Falcon's granddaughter." Mathew told me as he gave me the clothes.
I nodded as I took the clothes.
"What about the others?" I asked him.
"They'll be fine like that, for the vampire rebels you are their only main target. Now go change, meanwhile I will go for Selene; she would like to speak to you briefly." Mathew said before he left.
I entered the small airplane bathroom and changed into the blue jeans, white sweater and black knee length boots Mathew had handed me. Once I was done I headed outside and saw that neither Mathew nor Selene were there.
"Mathew?" I asked as I emerged from the bathroom.
"He's not coming back, not quite yet." A voice said startling me.
I looked up and saw Claire who was sprawled between two of the plane's seats, toying with her wooden stake.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her as I glared at her.
"The security guards you left back in the Academy to keep us as prisoners are probably not the brightest or strongest." Claire said with a chuckle.
"But I'm sure I-." I started to say before she cut me off.
"Besides Daniel let us go, he's a good uncle, you know?" Claire said with a smirk.
Before I could say something back the plane took off with an explosion and I heard some screams.
"Eva." I whispered before I turned around abruptly to run back to the front of the plane but I bumped into someone nearly sending myself to the ground.
"Not so fast little one." The hunter said as he grabbed my arms.
"Antonio." I said in a small voice.
"It's time for payback." Antonio said as he restrained me.
"Eva! Pete, please help me!" I yelled as I struggled to be free, I had left all my weapons with my huntress gear in the bathroom, now I had nothing to defend myself with.
"Not so fast Alice." Claire said as she injected a huge amount of vervain in my neck.
It was more than an overdose.
"No." I said weakly though my lips as my knees gave up and I started to fall in Antonio's arms.
The last thing I saw was Antonio's midnight blue eyes staring back at mine before I was lost in the darkness.
End of Book I