Once outside Rossmore High school, Dravon, examining the background making sure nobody was watching them, grabbed the opportunity to teleport himself with Quinn, still in his arms.
Quinn lost notion of the world at that moment. She only knew one thing : she was with Dravon Blackwell, the hottest immortal on earth. Her body temperature which had dropped momentarily as her instinct had warned her off Morgade Whitmore earlier, had returned back to normal. Her blood warmed and she flushed scarlet in his arms. She was so close that she actually could hear his heartbeat, strong and steady, smell his strong aftershave.
She gazed at him under her long lashes as he strolled. He was far too attractive, far too charming, far too sexy for Quinn's own good.
She didn't like bad boys like him, boys who could make the world jump to their wishes, boys whose strength and charisma were all too obvious.
"Do you like the view," he murmured as he carefully put her down. It was only then that Quinn realised where she was. She stepped forward, took a deep breath and twirled in happiness.
The scene was so breathtaking that she couldn't hide her joy. She loved nature way too much. The picturesque spot featured a running river of bright turquoise water falling over the edge of the cliff. Her eyes lingered on the waterfalls and the turquoise blue water. The sun made the deep water shimmery and gave it a crystal effect. All around there were just old trees hiding this beautiful haven.
"It's so serene and exquisitely beautiful." She captured every detail with her eyes, in awe.
Dravon strode to her and whirled her to face him. "Do you have the slightest idea how upset I was when you were left alone with that creepy jerk?" Quinn bit her lower lip, suddenly upset.
"Those irresponsible members? How could they leave you like that...unprotected?!," he continued, a strange concern in his voice.
"Damn it!... I thought I would lose you." His intense eyes held hers as he caressed her cheeks. And quite suddenly, she felt his lips brush her cheek!
Quinn jerked back, shivering at the unexpected touch of his mouth.
"Scared of me, sweetheart?," he asked, an unholy gleam in his blue eye. "That wasn't much of a kiss."
And before she could a thing to stop him, he took another one!
Firm lips came down on hers, hard and insistent, demanding a response. And stunned, unable to resist him, Quinn gave him one.
Her eyes shut, and her full lips parted, opening to him, just as if he were the one she'd been waiting for all her life. The intensity of the kiss was frightening as well as fascinating.
She pushed back away from Dravon, frantic, amazed at the magnitude of her response.
"Relax." Strong fingers kneaded the taut cords of her neck. "You're safe with me."
Heart hammering, fighting against the persuasiveness of his touch, she shot a quick glance at the waterfalls before them, a desperate need to focus her mind on something else. She wasn't in control of her feelings anymore.
She knew she had fallen for the wrong guy but she couldn't help it. She wanted him. Dravon gave her the security and the feeling of being safe she longed for. Something was going on between them : the more they tried to distance themselves from each other, the more the universe brought them closer. She didn't want to stay in denial about her feelings for Dravon anymore. He mattered most to her.
She knew she was being selfish by not caring about Jade's feelings but Dravon didn't give Jade the same attention that he gave her. It felt like she was darkened by the desire to remain by his side.
"Do you like the view?," he murmured in her ear. His voice was silky. She trembled slightly. He stood right behind her, his breath fanning strands of her hair. She looked up to him and grinned. "I love it."
Dravon gave her his most devastating smile, his hands enveloping her waist. Her heartbeat fastened by his touch, his essence filled her nostrils and she burned for him.
"You know Quinn, two hundred years ago, whenever I needed solitude, I would come here. Nobody else is aware of this mesmerising view except us. I named it Stonefalls."
"Suits the place perfectly. It must be your favorite hidden haven."
"My safe haven - Stonefalls," he voiced softly. His grip tightened on her waist and he tensed.
"I can hardly imagine someone like you needed solitude too." She looked up at him and he made a face at her. "I mean as a human, you still had everything : looks, high-powered family, happiness..." He stopped her short.
"Sometimes what you see or hear isn't always the truth." His face had closed, and he seemed to be looking far away at something, something absurdly horrible and shattering that only he could see. His look was so haunted that she had gripped the arm around her waist to bring him back to reality.
"Can't believe me?" One hand lightly caressed the back of her neck. "Let me show you!" He whirled her around, touched her chin, lifting her head so that once more their eyes met. "Close your eyes, Quinn." She did.
Dravon kissed her neck tattoo. A simple gesture that cleared everything. All fears put to rest, all doubts removed. What she felt was a tenderness and a passion so strong it made her shake within. Seconds later, images of his past emerged.
His mother, serene, delicate in a white dress, sipping her tea in the living room. The door opened and was shut with a bang by Liam Blackwell.
Georgina placed her cup carefully on the table, her eyes avoided his menacing gaze.
"You went out without informing me?," he exploded. All the quietness had erupted into his white rage.
"I had some things to buy and I...I thought it would be better if I purchase them myself," she stammered.
"Were all the servants dead that you went by yourself?," he crossed the room, lifted her up so that she stood, unable to divert her gaze anymore. He shook her violently as if she was a ragged doll.
Tears shimmered in Georgina's eyes but she refrained them from running down her lovely cheek. She was vulnerable.
"Don't forget you carry the name ' Blackwell'. We are founders, for hell sake. Not normal residents. I will not tolerate gossip that despite having servants, the stupid Georgina Blackwell decided to shop herself."
"Liam, you're hurting me,"she whispered. His hands continued to twist her arms mercilessly.
"You deserve this only." He pushed her away like she was some kind of vermin and she fell on the chair.
"It's my mistake I married a poor girl with no sense of proper behaviour." Frustrated, he wiped off the porcelain tea cup and saucer with his hand, letting them shatter on the floor. Georgina bowed her head, her hands clenched in fists.
Liam bent close to his wife, his cruel eyes held her terrified gaze. He spoke slowly. "I should have kept you as one of my mistresses. At least, I would had peace of mind."
"What's going on here?" They both lifted their gaze to meet Dravon's threatening one, the door halfway open behind him.
"Nothing that concerns you," his dad replied calmly. He straightened himself, padded out of the living room and closed the door. Dravon dashed to her mom, knelt down near her feet, his expression disturbed. He could not stop himself from laying a hand on her slightly bruised arm.
"Mom, are you alright?," he asked. She didn't seem to hear him; she seemed to be adrift in her own world of misery.
"Yes." She looked down at his hand as if just realising it was there, as if it infuriated her in his audacity in touching her. Her eyes were dilated as she shook his hand off, flinging a hand to bar him from touching her again.
"Leave me alone Dravon," she muttered in a faint voice.
"As you wish mother." Dravon aghast by her mother's reaction walked away. Just as he reached for the doorknob, she heard his mom. Her words were clear and final. "Next time, don't bother to interrupt your father and me, Dravon."
Troubled by her mom's reaction, he went off in anguish.
Quinn stiffened by that memory. Dravon's voice echoed in her mind. "Whenever my dad used to dominate my mother, powerless I used this place to hide, to divert my anger. My mom always told me to keep quiet, not to take her side and always act like a normal happy family in front of society and the servants." Quinn let out a tremulous breath. There was a long pause before he continued. "The waterfall and the cold water crushing on the rocks soothed the rage inside me."
Before she could say anything to calm him, another vivid image appeared.
Dravon flung his parent's master bedroom door wide open only to his horror to find his father beating her mom with a whip. His mother, with fresh red marks on her arms and back which showed through her pale yellow chiffon gown, laid on the bed. Dravon, like a dangerous jungle cat, hungry and ready for prowl, moved. He had a pantherish sort of grace, a sense of purpose. Liam could feel it too, his eyes confused and he stepped back.
Dravon cornered his father, carefully took the whip from his father's hand, his concern replaced by a wicked smirk.
"Ah father, allow me to teach you how to rule over a dominant." Liam, agitated, parted him lips to bark his authority but Dravon pressed a finger on them, stopping the words.
"Silence, dear father." Then the whip was raised to bestow its wrath on the one using it earlier. Liam lost balance and fell on the floor, powerless. His mother cried out and pleaded to his son to stop.
But nothing could stop Dravon at that moment. For years, he had only seen his father abusing his mother without saying anything. Now he had the chance to make him repay for his sins.
Each blow of the whip was more painful and it tore the skin of Liam Blackwell. His father kept threatening him about cutting off his allowance and even went as far as to killing a spoiled brat like him.
Unfortunately, not a word that he said mattered to him. He whipped angrily till the black object bounced off his hand. He watched his father, bloodied in his own blood, for once on the floor like a prey, not a predator. Liam, stunned and weak from the pain, said nothing.
"That, my father is the result of abusing a woman over and over." He smiled wickedly. "I'm sure you feel great being in the place of my mother, having someone to lash out his rage by physical abuse." His father just gave him a dark look.
"Dravon, what have you done?" Georgina got off the bed and slapped his son. "How dare you whip your own father?" Annoyed by her mom's behaviour and hurt, he asked. "How can you still take his side, after all that he's done to you?"
Her mother raised her voice. "He's my husband. He has every right to do whatever he wants with me."
She gripped his son's arm, her nails dugged at his flesh. "Leave the house immediately and don't return until you feel sorry for your action." Dravon's blue eyes widened and her mom went on. "I'm ashamed to call you my son after the disrespecful act that you've commited. No matter how bad my husband is, it's my duty to protect the Blackwell reputation and support him in all his decisions."
Dravon framed her delicate mother's face. "Come with me mother. Forget him and his fake reputation. We'll start anew somewhere else, somewhere where he won't be able to reach us," he urged softly.
Her mother, adamant, refused flatly.
"Leave the house Dravon. NOW." He lingered his hurtful gaze on his mom, then shot a quick glance at his father. Liam gave him a cruel smile of pure triumph. He still had power over her mother and he knew it.
Dravon always witnessed the maddening love that her mother portrayed for Liam Blackwell. She had made her decision that day. She had chosen her husband over him.
Dravon turned away, that one drop of tear cascaded down his disturbed face and left the house in a fury.
Suppressing his rage, he drove off to meet his friends. They partied hard and by midnight they made him cut his birthday cake. It was his birthday and the image of her mom evaded his brain. He wondered if she remembered the occasion.
Drunk, he realised that he wanted to see his mom, if she was alright. He had left her in the hands on a dark narcissist.
Once outside, he stared down the road for a long moment, then let out his breath in a hiss. Slamming the door shut, he put the car into gear and turned it around, each motion violent. All the way, he thought whether her mother would want to see him.
The Blackwell mansion was eerily obscure that night. It was the bloody red lunar eclipse night. Not a leaf moved when he strolled to the front yard. The atmosphere seemed unusually still.
Dravon slammed the door open and turned in the direction of the master bedroom. A strange strong smell reeled his senses, the corridor smelled like dead meat. Something was wrong, it was too quiet.
He needed to see his mom desperately now. But fate played a nasty game with him, when Saul Blackwell, using his dark magic, appeared behind him and made him unconscious with a snap.
The next thing that happened when Dravon woke up was to find himself lying on the gold flooring, a red circle with black candles around him and a similar circle with strange Celtic marks and his uncle Saul inside of it. The black candles blew off as he rose and he stepped out of the circle made of blood. He shouted his uncle's name. Except Saul didn't move. He bent over and shook his uncle's body but he didn't respond. Saul Blackwell was dead. Dravon couldn't believe it. His evil uncle was amazingly powerful and nothing and no one had been able to finish him.
Still in shock, he stepped out of the room. The moment he put his feet outside, the doors behind him closed magically by themselves and sealed forever. He tried to open them, but no avail.
While he walked, the lights in the west wing turned off one by one. He felt strange and out of place. He needed to announce the death of his uncle to his parents.
He rushed down the stairs, desperate to find his mom. He took a deep breath and opened the door. What he most feared became reality.
His mom and his father were dead, the heads separated from their bodies.
And with their blood, written on the cream colored walls was :
Saul Blackwell, you can hide as much as you want in your well guarded west wing. Someday when your cowardice rusts and you dare to face reality again, you will understand how we killed your own like you killed our own. Tonight like you killed our own blood to offer your sacrifice on the lunar eclipse night, we offered our sacrifice too with these two bodies to amplify our powers. The servant quarters also have been taken care of. We destroyed everything. We Campbell witches have avenged our own.
The image faded away as Dravon moved away from her and leaned against an oak tree, his back facing him. Quinn wanted to comfort him after knowning the bitter obscure truth. She felt broken on the thought that Dravon died on his birthday, became an immortal and was left alone. He didn't get the chance to talk to his mother one last time.
Quinn hesitantly walked to his side, turned him around to see the haunted lost look again on his face. She hugged him till she felt his arms enclosed her waist.
"You have me now, Dravon. You're not alone,"she whispered in his ear. He lifted her chin and searched her chestnut brown eyes intently.
"Don't ever leave me."
"I promise." He placed a feather kiss on her forehead.
Then they both fell silent. Dravon gave her the time to digest all the truth while he stood gazing at the clear water. After a long minute, he spoke, back to his commanding self.
"After the massacre, I found out I got the curse of immortality. The Campbell witches weren't happy by that news. And they knew I would avenge the death of my mother. And I did." He faced her.
"I won't blame you for killing my ancestors, Dravon. You did what you felt was right."
"I killed only those responsible, not everyone." He shut his eyes for a second.
"They were furious against Saul Blackwell for killing their families and the fact that my uncle was conducting the immortality spell to amplify his powers and rule over." The blue sapphire eyes opened and faced her questioningly.
"But what was my mother's fault in all this?" He let out a breath and stared at the waterfalls. "After killing them, I ruled over the Shadow world, waiting for my chosen ones to help me fight the cursed prophecy. But yet I was lonely. By year 2000, I got fed up and wanted a means of escape from all this."
"What did you do?," she demanded.
"I cast a protection spell on Blue Haven and brainwashed the residents' memories."
"Did it work?" He nodded.
"Eighteen years later, when I returned, everyone remembered only one thing : I was Dravon Blackwell, the founder's son...nothing more."
Quinn could help but ask that question which bothered her mind. "When I came here, didn't it ever occur your mind that you can seek revenge on me too? After all, I have the Campbell witches' blood running in my veins."
"Oh, but it did!" He looked at her thoroughly. "Only I never wanted to execute my revenge plan."
"You see, I need you as you need me. So why live as enemies?" He grinned at her. She appreciated his honesty.
"I will help you save the world." He gave her his devastating smile.
***
The two ruthless demons, Mara and Aamon appeared in front of Morgade in the school corridor. Thankfully, the last period had ended forty minutes ago and Rossmore High School was isolated.
"Are you both crazy? What if someone sees you?" Mara sighed in exasperation. "I've worked hard to cover my tracks. You can't blow it up in one go!"
"Rest assured, we're not fond of being seen either. The prophecy chose you to be the destroyer and much to our distaste, we're stuck with you," Aamon stated. Mara gave Morgade a malicious look.
"What do you want?" Those demons can never be trusted.
"The full moon is in two days. Prepare for the ritual," Asmon gravely stated.
"Grab some mortals together for the sacrifice. Blood massacre is necessary to intensify our demonic powers." Mara examined her long nails. "The more mortals, the better!"
Morgade"s eyes gleamed. He had waited so long for this moment. Now it was approaching.
"If we succeed in increasing our powers, we'll have more chances of destroying the prince of the Shadows."
"Don't worry. It will be done."