For the longest, Star had pretended to be okay, hiding the fact she was breaking to pieces, slowly madness taking hold of her and consuming her whole.
As any friend would, without thinking, Fane moved to help her. Star didn't waste time and launched herself at him going for his throat.
Instinctively, Belinda stepped forward to try to help him. She didn't get far though. Niko and Abraham held her back by the arms.
He managed to get her off him. "Stand down!" Some vampires had moved to aid Fane, but at his order, they stood back.
"I'm so thirsty." As tears streamed down her face, she held her quivering hands over her temples, letting out a cry filled with agony. Her eyes flickered scarlet for a brief moment before deepening and turning back to pitch-black. Then she was gone.
"Find her—bring her alive!"
The room emptied out within seconds.
"Elisa opened a portal, now," Belinda said.
"Where are you going?" Asked Keisha.
Fane grabbed her arm. "Stay here."
Belinda shook her head as Elisa opened a portal. "I have to get home—Denarus can help her."
"How can—" Fane's eyes darkened. "Since when?"
"Two years ago."
Fane's eyes widened before they revealed the pain within. "She's been suffering for that long...and I've never noticed."
"She hid it well," Elisa said. "We have to find her before she becomes consumed by darkness. If she changes into one of the beast—Fane, we won't be able to save her."
Belinda didn't continued to waste time and leaped through, aware that Fane would fallow. She must have had too much on her mind; they were in the forest instead of inside her house.
She began to walk as fast as she could through the woods enveloped in an silent eerie darkness. Heart palpitating like a crazed animal in cage, she paused so that she grabbed the hem of her dress and rip it to shreds.
Fane stood beside her, his silvery eyes swiveling in every direction. "She can't be that fast."
Belinda whirled around at a sound to find Star standing still as a statue. She tilted her head to the side before opening her eyes to reveal an immense darkness.
"I can—I can sense him."
Belinda's eyes widened, knowing well Denarus wouldn't have removed his bracelet. She ran forward. Star attempted to get to her, but Fane caught her hand and flung her in the air as if she weighted nothing.
"Go! I'll be fine."
Belinda hesitated before sprinting through the woods in the direction of the town. For a moment, she was thankful she continued to be fit during her pregnancy—If not, she wouldn't have been able to reach the town in time.
And perhaps the vampire blood coursing through her veins aided her as well.
When she stormed through the front door of her house, everyone glanced at her, shocked.
"What happened?" Asked her mother.
"Where is Denarus?"
"I'm right here," he said, coming from the kitchen as he dried his hands with a cloth napkin. "What kind of party did you attend?"
Her eyes narrowed when she noticed the bracelet in his hand. "You—You have it on."
"Darlin, what's going on?" Her father asked her. "Are you okay?"
"Denarus, you have to come with me—Star has completely lost control." She took his hand and pulled him out of the house before anyone could stop them.
Denarus opened his hand and his sword became visible. Belinda halted, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Don't hurt her."
"Belinda, if she has lost all control—she'll become one of the beasts—I have no other choice but to kill her."
"She's your beloved!"
His eyes grew wide. "W—What?" Something crashed against them, sending them both airborne. Belinda managed to land light on her feet, stunning herself for a moment.
Denarus stood in front of her as Belinda's heart began to ache. "Fane is hurt." She tried to go where she had left him with Star but Denarus held her back.
A distraction Star took advantage off, sinking her teeth on his shoulder. Denarus didn't scream though. He raised his weapon as it shrunk in size then shoved the blade deep into Star's stomach.
"No!" Belinda clasped her hands over lips but Star didn't fall.
She grasped the hilt of the sword and pulled it out slowly, smoke emanating from her hands. When she tossed the weapon aside, it felt to the forest floor with a loud thud, no longer any electricity flowing through it.
When Denarus swung his closed fist, Star grasped intercepted it without much effort before wrapping her fingers around his neck and lifting him a couple of inches off the ground.
"Star, stop!" Belinda moved forward but her eyes narrowed when it seemed as if something stopped her from getting to them. She placed her hands over the invisible barrier, wide-eyed. "Star!"
For a moment, Star's eyes became normal and Denarus managed to shove her away from him. He raised his hand, the sword on the floor flying right to it, lighting up the second his fingers wrapped around the hilt.
Denarus brought his sword up but as it came down, Fane appeared and held it by the blade with his bare hands, blood dripping from the evident laceration. Denarus pulled his sword back. To Belinda's astonishment, Fane's wound healed within seconds.
It should have sliced right through his hand.
Star let out an animalistic sound before launching herself at them. Fane moved to the side before she could take hold of his arm. Denarus met Star's gaze and halted.
"What are you doing?" Belinda's heart ached. "Denarus, move!"
Denarus let the sword drop to the ground as Star smiled. Belinda stared in complete disbelief, realizing that Star used compulsion.
Imposible; he wore the bracelet.
Star moved forward, clearly to attack him. A gunshot echoed through the forest, but before the bullet struck Star, she caught it right from the air. Belinda's father appeared behind Star, shoving a needle into her neck.
Star's eyes slowly turned normal before she dropped to her knees, bending over. "Forgive me."
Fane crouched in front of her and pulled her into a hug.
Sobs escaped her lips. "I'm so sorry—I should have told you the truth—but, I didn't want to worry you." When she fainted, Fane picked her up bridal style.
His gaze settled upon Belinda. "Go—We're fine."
Fane glared daggers at Denarus then vanished.
For what seemed like ages, Belinda sat on the hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to come. Once he did and made sure her twins were okay, he told her she had to be more careful.
Her parents were far from pleased with her, telling her that she should have listened to Fane and stayed in the castle until they had found Star. However, after what happened in the party, she felt far from safe in that place.
One thing was for certain: She couldn't be so reckless again. Her twins were her world. If anything happened to them, she wouldn't be able to endure it.
They didn't let her leave the hospital because they wanted to keep an eye on the twins until tomorrow after noon. Her mother brought her some clothes she could wear and some very needed food.
When Denarus walked into the room, her mother used the excuse to go get herself coffee, offering to bring one to Denarus, which he accepted. He took a seat on the bed, grabbing her hand. To her surprise, he no longer wore the bracelet.
"I shouldn't have hidden from her."
She gave his hand a squeeze. "What happened—"
"Don't...It is my fault that you were put in that situation—If I wouldn't have been selfish, none of this would have happened."
She wrapped her arms around him. "No one was hurt...That's all that matters."
Alaric stood in the opened doorway as their mother walked back in with the coffees. Her father and Corina also entered the room.
Belinda was certain she was surpassing the numbers of visitors she was allowed to have.
Denarus wouldn't look at his mother. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "This ain't your fault but mine—I should have never told you the truth before your eighteenth birthday."
He didn't say a word.
"So," Belinda began. "Are you going to give he Star a chance?"
Again, he didn't answer and she didn't push the subject. Then, her gaze lifted to Alaric. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to tell their parents everything, but of course all he did was shrug. "Alaric also has a mark."
"Really? You're going to blur it out just like that?" Alaric shook his head, but she could see the faint smile.
She shrugged. "Hey, I'm your sister—I care about you and don't want you to go insane."
Corina seeemd to be lost in her own thoughts. "We're going to have a town meeting. This can't continue to happen."
"Is she from town?" Their mother asked, but Alaric didn't answer. "Alaric."
"Yes."
"So, then you know who she is?" Corina asked. "And you've managed to keep your distance? Impressive."
"Well, it's simple." He met Belinda's gaze. "I don't want to force her into anything."
"Alaric." Their mother shot him a hard look.
"Fane didn't force me into anything, brother."
"He could have easily walked away and not forced you to sign a contract."
"He would have ended up loosing his mind like Star almost did—"
"No," Denarus whispered. "What drove her almost into madness is the fact I hid from her."
One of the nurses walked in, obviously noticing that there were way too many and kicked everyone out, saying that only one person could stay.
Her mother obviously was the one to stay with her. She sat down on the recliner beside the large window of the room and stared into the distance.
Belinda shut off the television. "Mom, something kept me protected from the fight—It was like an invisible forcefield..." Her mother met her gaze. "A lot of strange things occurred—Denarus's bracelet wasn't working anymore...Star had complete control of him."
Her mother stood and sat beside her on the bed. "We'll figure out what happened—but now, you should rest."
Belinda didn't remember when she had fallen asleep but she woke in the middle of the night, sensing Fane. He stood at the door, speaking to a nurse. Her mother sleeping on the sofa beside her bed didn't wake up at all.
"How is Star?"
"She's okay." He placed his hand on her bump after he took a seat beside her.
"They're okay."
She placed her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer so that their foreheads could touch.
"Today was a crazy day," she said, trying to smile.
His gaze didn't move from her bump as he kept his hand on it, which apparently put the babies in turbo mode. She placed her hand above his. "Fane, they're fine."
"I want you to move in with me."
Her eyes lingered on her sleeping mother.
"Love, the children—you all will be safer with me."
"At the cabin?"
He shook his head. "I want you in the mansion with me."
For the longest, she contemplated it in her head. "Fane, I've been thinking that...if I stay human—"
His face told her he already knew what she was going to say. "What Xavier said—"
"Yes." His eyes met hers. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you...as a vampire."
The corners of his lips lifted into a sweet smile. "Are you being serious?"
She cupped his face in his hands, smiling. "Of course I am." Then she kissed him. "I'm not going to lie—I'm scared but also excited." She let out a nervous laugh before claiming his lips again.
He leaned his forehead on hers. "I'll be right by your side through the entire process."
The nurse walked into the room. "Fane, you have to leave before the others notice." Hesitant, Fane stood and gave her one final kiss before leaving.
Belinda narrowed her eyes as she stared at the nurse, realizing she was not human. Her eyes shone like white pearls.
Belinda laid on her side on the bed. As she began to fall into slumber, she wondered exactly how many of the supernatural beings lived amongst humans and for how long.
The following day, she was ready to go home hours before she finally was discharged. Denarus stood next to her, drinking coffee from the cafeteria of the hospital.
Her mother came with all the discharged papers and put them in her purse. "Let's go home."
Once they were at the house, her mother headed upstairs to wake up Alaric. As she did so, Belinda walked into the kitchen to make herself something to eat, feeling her babies really active.
Her father pulled Denarus outside, presumably to have a long talk that involved Star.
"Oh, my!"
Belinda rushed to the foyer to find her brother walking down the stairs without a shirt, hair a mess and a smug smile on his face.
Her mouth dropped open when one of the girls from town descended the stairs, looking just a disheveled as Alaric, cheeks rosy.
"Damn," Denarus said from the open doorway. "Caught right in the act." He chucked.
"Since when do you two been dating?" Her mother asked.
"Since we met at the store down the street," Elif said, gaze on the floor.
"Oh, when you bought me the mango?" Belinda asked. "But why hide it? Wait, Eli you're not eighteen."
"I'm adopted...no one knows when exactly I was born since they found me abandoned in the woods."
"When did the mark appear?"
"The same day Kassie's did...I hid it from everyone because I was terrified of being killed like the rest."
At least Belinda wasn't the only one who had felt horrified by the idea of being chosen. "So, who approached who?"
Eli smiled, her face turning bright red. "I did."
With a smile, Belinda hugged her. "Well, welcome to the family." She addressed Alaric now. "You better not break her heart."
Her mother had gone to the kitchen and was muttering things under her breath as she washed the dishes. When Alaric walked over there to obviously speak to their mother, Belinda sat down with Elif on the sofa.
"I decided that I will become a vampire after giving birth."
For the longest, her father remained silent. "The boy came here to ask for permission to marry you." His eyes lingered on the ring in her finger. "I don't like the idea but it was bound to happen eventually."
Belinda stood. "I'm a little nervous."
"You should be," Denarus began. "You can die."
"Wow, thanks for being so positive."
He smiled. "Just stating facts, my friend."
"Fane's blood can help her chances of surviving the change," her father said.
At a loud bang, her father wrapped her arms around her, trying to protect her as the glass of the windows exploded inward, sending shards flying everywhere.
Screams rose all around, screams full of fear. Then animalistic sounds followed.
"Come out, Come out."
When Belinda tried to leave the house, her father held her back. "You're not going out there." He moved fast to get the weapon inside of the drawer of the console table and hand it to her.
As screams of agony resonated through the town, she covered her ears, wanting to drown them out. "I did this! I should have never stayed here!"
"Where's Eli?" Denarus asked as he ran to the kitchen. Belinda followed him. When he tried to stop her, she shoved him away and let out a scream when her gaze settled upon the motionless bodies of her mother and Alaric.
She gasped, feeling her nostrils begin to burn, but no matter how much she tried to, no air reached her lungs. The blazing burning sensation spread down her throat, her chest.
"She needs to leave the house," her father told Denarus as he checked on Alaric and her mother. "There are silver particles in the air. Get her out of here!"
Denarus didn't hesitate and took her hand against her wishes, rushing out the back door. Once outside, they didn't get far though. At the horrific sight in front of them, they both halted, too stunned for either to move.
The tree she had planted as a child with her father was bathed in blood, bodies hung from it. Belinda became immobilized at the sight of a beast like she had seen the boy turned into that had entered her home.
Except this one was clearly an adult.
After extending its enormous bat-like wings, it flun toward them. Denarus pulled her out of the way as it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth. The beast buried its teeth on his neck, drawing enough blood to soak his shirt.
"Let him go!" Belinda aimed and pulled the rigger. When nothing occurred, her eyes widened. The weapon had been tampered with.
An arrow pierced the beast's head, forcing it to release Denarus, who crumbled to the ground. Belinda rushed to him just as his mother did as well.
"I'm sorry." Belinda fought back tears. "The gun didn't work. I'm so sorry."
"Oh, God," His mother wept. "Denarus, wake up."
As she forced her self to stand, she wiped the tears away, looking at the hell that had been unleashed upon her home town.
Her father had stated there was a shield that protected the town from those lost to darkness. Clearly, that shield no longer existed.
And they were all left to the mercy of the beasts.
They had no where to run.
Not safe even in their own homes.
These beast followed no rules.
Ignoring the immense pain that threatened to devour her, she headed to the front of her home, ignoring Corina's scream to stop. Once she stood in the center of the town, she met the bright green eyes of a woman.
Her enemy.
As she stood there, smiling, Belinda wished she had the strength to make her pay for everything, but she was nothing but a mere human. Even if she was the child of two vampires, her body was fragile.
Her mother moved with unimaginable speed and grabbed the woman by the arm before kicking the back of her legs, forcing her to kneel. "Call them back!"
The woman laughed. "Oh, dear...I can't remember how to." Her mother struck the woman over and over. "Call them back!"
"Go make sure your beloved is okay," her father told Alaric, but before Alaric could even move, it was as if chains tore through the dirt and wrapped around his arms and legs, forcing him to fall to his knees.
Belinda pointed the handgun at the woman when she realized chains also held her mother down, hoping with all her might that this time it would work. "Let them go!"
The woman laughed and raised her hand, electricity flowing through them. Belinda pulled the trigger but once again nothing happen. "You slayers are nothing without your weapons."
Before anyone could react, electricity shot in her direction. Belinda brought her arms up, expecting a painful blow. Her eyes widened as the electricity flowed through her body before vanishing, as if it had been absorbed by Fane's ring.
"Protection spell." The woman glared. "Fane is smarter than I thought." Then she smiled. "But he can't protect them all." The woman shoved a blade in the center of her mother's chest.
Belinda screamed in agony as flames devoured her mother, leaving nothing behind. Tears streamed down her face as she wished with all her might she would wake up, this was just a nightmare.
Her father took her hand and forced her to move, but when the woman appeared in front of them, his weapon too was useless. The woman laughed, grabbing him by the neck after shoving Belinda to the side.
A blade tore through the woman's chest forcing her to release her father. The woman whirled around, taking the blade out and shoving it into Corina's chest.
Belinda jumped to her feet and aimed the weapon at herself and that made the woman freeze. "It's not working against you or your allies, but will it work against me?" The woman said nothing. "You protected me last night—You want me alive, why?"
"You have no idea how valuable you are—" A scream escaped her lips when someone appeared behind her and bit into her neck over and over, not stopping until her life was stripped from her.
Belinda stared wide-eyed as Denarus' wound healed and he closed his eyes, clearly relishing the taste of blood. When he reopened them, they flickered crimson.
He rushed to his mother's side, but it was too late; she was gone.
Belinda fought back as she witnessed her friend break down. Alaric stood beside her, looking just as broken as her. When she attempted to walk closer to Denarus, her legs gave out, but Alaric grasped her arm, stopping her from hitting the ground.
She let out a loud scream that could probably be heard miles away. The pain within intensified as she recalled in her head her mother's death. She shook her head, dropping the handgun on the ground.
"This can't be happening."
Alaric cupped her face in his quivering hands. "I know it's difficult but we have to remain—" she hugged him when he too couldn't hold back any longer.
"Some humans are beginning to turn," her father said before lifting a hand to show them a glowing sphere. He tossed it on the ground and it rolled across the ground. The second it stopped it opened up, making the air around it appear as of made from many pieces of crystals.
A portal.
Her father grabbed her arm but she struggled against him. "No." He attempted to push her into the portal. "I'm not leaving without you!"
Belinda realized Alaric had retrieved Eif, who also looked broken. He pushed her into the portal before she could even protest. When he grabbed Belinda's arm, she fought against him. "Dad!"
Denarus grabbed her other hand as her father took out another sphere from his pocket, but this one, was no portal, but a devised that when opened would act like an explosive.
"No!" She tried to get to him, but she was forced into the portal. Her hair floated all around her as she fought back the tears, feeling her heart shatter into a million of pieces.
Within seconds, she landed on the wet forest floor, Alaric and Denarus right beside her. She dropped to her knees and screamed at the top of her lungs. Denarus wrapped his arms around her, arms that quivered irrepressibly, revealing the immense pain he too was in.
They had lost everything.