Vampire Mates
23: The Strange Happenings
I opened my eyes to a strange yet somehow oddly familiar place. I was lying on a field of green, lush grass, in the middle of a pond of red, blue and yellow wild flowers.
I sat up, my head throbbing slightly as if I had just had a mild concussion, and saw a familiar face.
Cranelia.
She looked much younger than the last few times I’ve seen her, her face carefree, stress-free. She must’ve been in her teenage years. She was plucking a blood red flower from the soil, playing with it with her index finger, twirling it around in her hand.
“Cranelia!” I tried calling out, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice in my ears. She didn’t turn around, and I knew I was in a dream. I sighed and examined my surroundings.
It was a bright and sunny day, and Cranelia was in a white summer dress as she hummed to a lullaby and played with the flower she had picked up. Her golden hair was plaited in a pretty fishtail that cascaded down on her shoulder. The sun beat down on her hair, creating a halo.
It all looked so peaceful; all-too peaceful. Who knew it was a form of foreshadowing what was to happen next?
Then it happened, without warning, a rumble crackling through the sky, and a shot of electricity blazed down, just 20 feet away from Cranelia and me. The young girl screamed in sudden shock and terror and backed away from the source. A thunder boomed and echoed through the plain.
Rain poured down, but it only targeted an area: a small circle with the radius of 10 meters, perhaps. The rain trickled down in a perfect circle.
Then, what happened next was even more shocking. A man descended, in a cloak, his face unseen. He looked so scary, like the Grim Reaper. He was equipped with nothing but a simple glass of black liquid and a closed palm.
“Choose your path, Princess Elexandrya. Or, would you prefer Cranelia, now?” His voice was deep, so deep that it wasn’t humanely possible to emit such a sound.
Then again, I’d bet on my life he wasn’t a human.
“N-no! Get away from me!” Cranelia gasped as she cowered away quickly from the monster. He cackled, a horrible sound that would give a child nightmares for the next 10 years.
Suddenly, behind Cranelia, a bright line shone down from the sky. The light was so bright, that he overcame the darkness, and the man yelled in anguish. He shied himself from the blazing light as he hissed.
“Elexandrya Cranelia Spirit,” a soothing feminine voice said. The voice was the exact opposite of that of the monster’s. Her voice was sweet and loving, and like a melody that you can’t seem to not love. I peeked over Cranelia’s shoulder and saw a beautiful angel, donned in white garments, a halo glittering around her head, her feet a foot above the ground.
“For once, I agree with him,” The angel said as she fluttered towards Cranelia. Cranelia closed her eyes as she bathed and basked herself in the angel’s warm light. “You need to choose your path, like all the other Xlinx had in the past. Good or bad, Cranelia. You have the choice to choose.”
“Remember how your brother Demetrius Arch Spirit had left you alone, not even bothering to look for you when you left the palace for your mates?” The monster said, getting the attention of Cranelia. “You could seek revenge. With these new powers, you can do anything.”
“Anything,” Cranelia echoed. I wanted to scream at her to go to the angel. The monster screamed nothing but trouble.
“Anything,” The monster confirmed, “You could even kill that angel, if you wanted. This necklace,” He opened his palm and produced a black necklace, with a black rose pendant. “It gives you powers you never thought you had in yourself! You can even compel the strongest of the vampires. This blood… this blood would signify your loyalty to us.”
“Or you could be good. Wasn’t that what you wanted when you left the palace? To bring goodness to all; you said it was your life’s goal to make that succeed. Xlinx that become bad are casted out forever, Cranelia. Do you want that? If you become goodness, we could bring light into Alfea. Bring light into your family.”
Cranelia’s eyes turned bright and she turned to the angel. “Goodness serves better,” she muttered as she reached out for the angel. The monster growled and yelled about the pros of being on their side, but Cranelia had already made up her mind. The angel took her hand and Cranelia floated. A burst of light spread from her, blinding me for a few seconds, before an older, wiser-looking Cranelia stood before me in a golden dress.
The young Cranelia was gone. This was the present Cranelia. She stared into my eyes.
“That was my years choosing between goodness and darkness. Goodness is always correct, Rose.” Cranelia whispered she opened her hand and a streak of bright light exploded. I shielded my eyes from the blinding light.
“Which one will you choose? Goodness or darkness? Your life as a Xlinx could be spent in two different ways. You choose. ”
“I-”
“You know where to find me.” I remembered the potion she had given me. The one that would make me go to her if ever I needed help.
“Time,” Cranelia said again, “I give you two weeks. If I don’t see you then…”
“I’ll be disappointed.”
Cranelia dissipated with a serene smile on her face, and suddenly, the ground shifted, and I began falling.
----
The next day, I was in a state of depression.
Good news was: my mind was finally not spinning around one stupid boy called Demetri Arch like a ditzy star-struck high school girl.
Bad news was: I couldn’t even sleep. My mind would be repeating the same mantra over and over again if I hadn’t busied myself with anything I could find: goodness or darkness? Goodness or darkness?!
I was mixing a broth, helping Gina in the kitchen. She was talking about something that had to do with not stopping the circulatory motions my hand was making repeatedly until the broth became gooey, but somehow I couldn’t concentrate. I was listening, but I was, well, multi-tasking.
While stirring the pot of broth, my head was yet again buzzing about, as busy as a bee, wondering what to choose:
Goodness or darkness?
Usually, if a person just asks you good or bad, you would just be like, good, duh? The good guys just always seem to win. Superman does. Batman does. Spiderman does.
But, for some reasons, I couldn’t wrap my head around being good.
You know how in some books, the good girl doesn’t want to be tied down to being just good or goody-two-shoes anymore? How she wants to make this ultimate change into being the badass girl or that popular and hot chick in school?
Yeah, that was how I felt, except I wanted to try and be… bad. Stand out. Finally show Demetri what I am capable of.
Yeah, it all goes back to square one, after all: Demetri Arch.
The name suddenly struck a bell.
Your brother, Demetrius Arch Spirit, the monster in the dream, not the projection or illusion that Cranelia had given me, had said to Cranelia.
Demetrius Arch Spirit; it couldn’t just be a coincidence, right? And both the angel and the monster (light and dark) had mentioned how she had left the palace.
“Hey, Gina,” I suddenly asked. “Is… His Highness’ name,” I scanned my eyes around the kitchen. There were two guards situated at the door. No doubt they were listening to every conversations happening in the kitchen with their mighty fine vampire ears.
I leaned in a whispered as soft as I could. “Is His Highness’ name actually called Demetrius Arch Spirit?” As soon as the words left my mouth, Gina paled. Her eyes widened a fraction as she looked at me in surprise.
“H-how did you-”
“Doesn’t matter,” I mumbled as my head spun in circles. I got dizzier as I overthought the situation. “So he is…”
If Cranelia were a Xlinx, whatever the hell that is, and Demetri was her brother, did that mean Demetri was one too?
Maybe he could help me?
“You look really bad,” Gina commented as she took the broth from my hands and began stirring the pot herself. She bobbed her head towards the doors that led out of the kitchen. “Go catch a break. Rest our eyes; you look like a panda.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes before nodding. Gina smiled motherly at me and kissed my forehead. “Stop worrying.” She muttered softly to me before pushing me off to the direction of the door.
I was greeted by a cold blast of air-conditioning as I pushed open the kitchen doors. Gina had given me a quick tour before the sun had even rose and before the guards arrived. I knew that down the hall was a massive game room with things ranging from javelin throwing and archery to mind and card games. There was also a Play Station 4 and a Wii.
I hesitated before going into the room. Should I even be there?
The room was empty when I walked in. I bit my lip and shuffled towards the Wii before turning it on.
Am I allowed to?
Goodness or darkness?
I grunted as grabbed the joystick. I needed something to get my mind off these crazy, stupid things that probably don’t matter anyways.
But they do, a part of me whispered, defying myself.
“Hey there,” A voice behind me said, making me startled. I turned around and saw Demetri there by the doorframe. He looked good. He was in a tight black fitting shirt and a pair of low-slung jeans. If he were to raise his hands, his V-line would be visible.
“Hi,” I muttered before turning back to the TV. “Can I…?”
“Yeah,” Demetri waved his hands. “Can I join?”
“You’re the prince,” I smirked.
Demetri smiled and came over to me and grabbed the other joystick. As we chose a game, the door creaked open and revealed Lily, who was looking gorgeous in red skinny jeans and a white blouse with her hair tumbling past her shoulders.
“Hey guys,” She greeted chirpily. She looked over at Demetri and blushed heatedly. Demetri smirked smugly. “What are you guys doing?”
“Wii,” I answered. “You want to play? I could give you my joystick…”
Lily bit her lip, hesitating. “Um…”
Taking her hesitation as a yes, I passed the joystick into her hand. Well, so much for wanting to get my mind off things.
Lily took the joystick gratefully and walked over to Demetri. She smiled and Demetri leaned over to kiss him gently on the lips. My lips pricked at the sight and I tore my eyes away so I couldn’t see. What’s wrong with me? Can’t I even see my best friend in love?
God, I’m such a bad friend.
When I turned my head back, they were still kissing. No, they had their tongue down each other’s throat. Lily’s hands were playing with Demetri’s sandy brown locks, and Demetri’s hand around Lily’s waist. My lips burned like someone had set it on fire. My head grew dizzier and my eyesight got worse. Everything blurred into one thing. Everything except for Demetri and Lily.
“Make it stop!” I yelled furiously. My hands shot up immediately and a strong blast of bright light shot out from my hands, the force so strong that it sent me flying back against, before the light began spiralling into Lily. The shocked girl tumbled backwards and fell on the ground with a thump.
The fog in my head disappeared when I saw my best friend, lying on the ground, out cold. No parts of her were bleeding. But her chest didn’t rise and fall. No – wait, it did, but barely.
“What did you do?” Demetri growled. I backed away against the door. Demetri took a step forward, his face passive. His mind must’ve been thinking of 100 different ways to kill me.
“I-” I swallowed the lump in my throat. No, I couldn’t do this.
My hands fumbled and twisted the doorknob, pushing the door behind me wide open before I started running out of the room.
As I ran away from my faults, something, someone, in my mind whispered:
“See, darkness is already in your blood.” The monster cackled.
Authors Note:
Some of you have been wishing for Demetri and Rose to get together. Well, I have something to share: I may want to write a sequel for this book.
This book, I’ve figured, wouldn’t be straight away Rose get together with Demetri. It might have quite a number of plot-twists.
Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter! I got 20 votes for last chapter, and I’m really glad for it! Please vote and comment!!!
Love,
kky_claud
P.S: I receive banners xD just saying