by G. Bailey
"What are you?" my mom asks. She isn’t scared, no, her face is just wondrous.
"A witch," he says and does a little bow.
"Okay," my mum says and grips my hand tightly. We don’t say anything as she stares at me; she read the letter and knows what I am, too.
"Can you both stay for some lunch?" my mum asks after an uncomfortable silence.
"Yes," Atti answers, and I nod.
"Keep the box and letter. They were always yours, Winter," she says, and I pick them both up. The worn letter being the last thing I had from my father, and the crown from my mother.
"What's in the box?" Atti asks as we walk out, and he goes to put his hand on the box, but I pull it away.
"An heirloom I won't be using for a while," I respond and look down at the black box. It feels like my future is inside it and already made up before I have chosen anything.
It’s a crown for a queen, and a queen is what I am.
Forty-Seven
Wyatt
“Wyatt, there has been news,” Jaxson says, stomping into the room where I was sitting with Winter quietly. Winter looks up with a smile at Jaxson. The quiet is ruined because Jaxson doesn’t know the meaning of it; he never sits fucking still for more than a second. It used to drive me mad as a kid, it still pisses me off now.
“Yes?” I ask him.
“Two of my wolves who watch the old castle say there are vampires in it. They have just returned to the pack to tell me.”
“Where’s Atti?” I ask, standing up. Winter holds my hand and smiles up at me. She is just as happy as I am that there are survivors.
“Coming,” Jaxson says, and the door slams open as Atti walks in the bedroom.
“Come on, then, let’s go and check it out. Here,” Atti throws a sword to me and one to Jaxson. We both hold them at our sides as we walk over to Atti.
“I’m coming,” Winter says with her hands on her hips as she stares us down.
“No, sweetheart, we don’t know what we are walking into,” I tell her, and she glares at me as her golden skin starts glowing blue, like it always does when she gets mad these days. Her beautiful eyes grow even more stunning as they glow a soft silver. Winter is stunning.
“Not happening, lass.”
“Atti?” she pleads after she gives a death look to Jaxson.
“We need you here, someone to protect the pack and Freddy. Who better than their queen?” Atti says. Who knew he was the smart one? Jaxson and I glance at each other, both of us wondering how he outsmarted us with Winter.
“Okay, you’re right,” Winter says, and the glow slowly disappears.
“Be back soon, Love,” Atti says and claps a hand on my and Jaxson’s shoulders. When we arrive at the castle, Atti makes us appear just outside. Big pieces of stone lay crumbled on the old staircase up to the castle doors. What once were two massive doors is now just an empty archway, with the doors covered in dust, laying on the ground. Fond memories of escaping here as a child sweep through me, this was the only place I can remember being happy. It’s clear someone has been here, the footprints on the ground an obvious sign, and the smell of blood is another. Jaxson gives me a nod as he moves behind me. He smells something. I hold my sword close as we move into the castle.
The first room is empty, other than the massive heaps of dust and destroyed walls. I hear a tiny noise up the stairs. I jump over the five missing bottom steps and onto the landing. I land silently, feeling Atti and Jaxson following me closely. They have my back; they always will.
I stop when a little boy comes out of an archway, his eyes widen when he sees me, and he starts crying. I move closer, and I know he is a vampire, I can sense him. His mother comes running out and picks him up. When she turns and sees us all, she falls to her knees with her child sobbing into her neck. Both of them look terrible–wearing old, torn clothes–and they are both pale enough that I know they need to feed. Children can go around two weeks without needing a little amount of blood, but adults can’t do that. I turn my head when Harold, a member of my father’s council, and his son Easton come out of the room. I really hope Talen, another council member, is alive, so I can fucking kill him for what he did at the castle. Injecting me with silver is a coward’s move and could have killed me. I will rip his head off for that one.
“Prince, I hoped you would find us here,” Harold says as he bows.
“How many of you are here, my friend?” I ask and move closer to the woman. I offer her a hand, and she stands up. I ruffle the little kid’s hair, and he smiles shyly at me.
“Four hundred of us escaped, but the rest were lost,” he says, and I nod. It was my job to protect them, and I didn’t. I would understand if they hated me. Whoever is left is going to have my protection and help. I don’t need to be their king or even their prince; I’m just going to help.
“How are you feeding?” I ask.
“The local hospital in town, which is only half an hour away," he says as the woman moves next to Easton, and he takes her hand as the kid hides behind her.
“It’s not nearly enough, and the people are noticing all the blood going missing. Most of us don’t believe it’s safe to leave this castle and have so little knowledge of the human world that it isn’t safe to go and find food,” he tells me. To say they have no idea is a vast understatement; they have no fucking clue. Most haven’t left the castle in their entire lives because they didn’t want to. They have always had everything spoon-fed to them. Time for a huge fucking change; like calling humans food for one. They have got to stop that shit.
“How did you know of this place?” I ask, as not many do. This is the old home of the goddess, and it’s well hidden in the middle of the Lake District in England. There’s a huge glamor that makes it impossible to find unless you know it’s there, and even then, no one ever finds it. The only reason we know of it is because Atti’s mother showed it to him. He then brought us here, and we used to come every week, no matter what. Jaxson had wolves watching the place just in case anyone ever found it.
“Those that believe in the goddess can always find her home. Your mother once told me of this place–a story really, my prince. I knew it was a risk, but we didn’t have anywhere else to go,” he tells me.
I nod, ignoring the pain from him speaking about my mother. I wish she were here to guide me, and maybe she could have stopped my father’s death. I don’t feel grief for my father, not when I know every moment of kindness he showed me growing up was a lie. The only reason he kept me alive was for the demon king, and I fell straight into his trap with Winter at my side. It was fucking stupid and won’t be happening again.
“How many women and young are there?” Atti asks, and I glance at him. “This ruin of a castle is no place for young children, look at the boy,” Atti whispers into my mind.
I nod at Harold, who finally speaks. I’ll give him credit; he hasn’t backed down in front of all these princes. “There are ten children and eight women. The rest are the guards and men that I could get out. I had an escape plan made up for weeks. Your father never told us what he was up to, but I am no idiot. I will not lose my family,” he says firmly.
“I offer you my pack and help,” Jaxson says, making Harold’s eyes widen in shock; I turn to Jaxson, ignoring the whispers I can hear down the corridor. A few still get through to my ears, and most are in shock that the princes seem like friends.
“We need to make this place liveable and sort out a delivery of blood to come here,” I tell Atti and Jaxson.
“My prince,” Harold interrupts.
“Yes?” I turn to him as he comes to my side.
“You are our king. Tell us what you wish us to do,” Harold says and lowers himself to one knee, his head bent. I walk over and put my hand on his shoulder.
“We work together,” I say, and Harold nods. I glance back at Atti who smiles like a dickhead at me, while Jaxson smirks.
The next two days, I stay at the castle and help set my people up. Atti took me into town s
o I could convince the local hospital to order in a regular delivery of the blood we need. I made a generous donation to the hospital for it, and now every week someone will bring the blood to a meeting point away from the castle. Jaxson helped using his earth powers to clean the place up, with Atti using his gifts as well.
Alex and Drake have taken over the running of the castle, while I’ve been ordering beds, clothes, and human food to be delivered to us. I also used my power on a local building company; they’re working at the castle for the next couple of weeks. That cost me a fortune. I’m lucky we have a lot of money saved up.
“This place is looking great,” Alex says, walking into the bedroom with Winter. I stop to smile at my mate. As always, she looks happy and beautiful. She must have been at training because she’s wearing tight black leggings and a small black top that stretches across her chest. I have to divert my gaze away from Winter when Alex clears her throat. I’m helping two guys sort their room out, and the beds are finally done. I’ve done twenty of the stupid, flat, pack beds today, Ikea does not make those things easy to put together.
“Hey,” Winter says, looking me over. I’m sure I look like a fucking disaster, with dust in my hair and dirt all over my clothes. I lift the spare wood over my shoulder to take outside, and both the girls sigh deeply, making me look at them.
“You totally rock the hot builder look,” Alex says, and Winter playfully hits her arm.
“That’s my mate you’re talking about,” Winter says.
Alex shrugs, “Just saying. I’m off to find Drake, and then we are going to the furniture store to pick up another delivery of stuff.”
I’m thankful for all her help, I can’t stand talking to the humans in town more than I have to. One of them spent twenty minutes telling me there was a difference in two red colours of paint. I didn’t see a difference.
“Bye,” Winter says, and Alex whispers something to her. I don’t listen in, but the red cheeks on Winter’s face tell me that I should have.
“Thank you for your help,” a teenage boy says as he sits putting together a bedside unit. This is a huge change for the older vampires, not many of them are happy about it. They have gotten used to living like kings for years, trapped inside a castle with no communication with the outside world. The teenagers and children are coping a little better. They love the iPhones I brought everyone, and I explained what the Internet is and how to use it.
“No trouble,” I say and hand him the bag full of bed sheets. I walk out holding Winter’s hand, and she looks around. Jaxson’s two wolves, who have a talent for building, managed to get plumbing and electric fitted throughout the castle yesterday.
“We found something in one of the towers,” I say to Winter and walk her towards the left tower. We only just got into it yesterday because it had a powerful ward surrounding it. Atti finally managed to get in after a lot of work. The vampires stop to bow at us as we walk past, Winter blushes every time.
“What’s in there?” Winter asks when we get to the door of the tower. It radiates a certain power; I can feel it now that the ward is down, and I’m not surprised that Winter can too.
“Come,” I say, and she nods. I love that she trusts me completely. I open the door and walk through the new ward with Winter. It only accepts Winter, me, Dabriel, and Jaxson now. Atti doesn’t need to be accepted as he created the ward and can just walk in. The stairs are high, and when we finally get to the top, Winter stops to stare.
A massive blue crystal glows in the empty room; there are no lights other than the crystal as there are no windows. A change I will make because it doesn’t seem right. The light should be able to be seen from afar; the tall tower as a beacon of hope to any supernatural who needs it. I can see this castle being the home we need to unite our people and live in peace with Winter. The outside of the crystal is like glass, and the inside filled with thousands of tiny blue lights that move in a swirl. Atti has never seen anything like it; he says it’s what protects the castle and the grounds.
Winter doesn’t say a word, but she moves closer. I go to stop her, but I’m too late as she places both of her hands on the stone. The stone threw Atti at the wall when he touched it, and it did the same for me. Winter just starts glowing the same blue as the crystal, the little lights inside the crystal moving faster into a whirlwind. The air in the room seems lost as it’s hard to breathe, yet Winter looks fine.
“Winter?” I ask her, and she turns to smile at me.
“It knows me. It sings,” she says just before she collapses to the ground. I move quickly and catch her before she hits the ground. I hold her close as the crystal returns to normal, and she stops glowing. I move down the stairs, holding her in my arms.
Atti is coming up them with a frown. “I felt something strange,” Atti says and stops talking when he sees Winter, “Winter, is she alright?” he runs up and places a hand on her forehead.
“Yes, I think so. The crystal let her touch it, and I think it spoke to her. She just passed out,” I say, and Atti strokes her cheek.
“I’ll take you both to the pack,” Atti says, placing a hand on my shoulder. He moves us, and we reappear in the kitchen of the house.
Anna is standing, washing up. “I will not get used to that,” she starts, and then she sees Winter in my arms. “Is Winter okay?” she asks, and I nod.
“I’ll return and keep the work going,” Atti says and squeezes my shoulder before he leaves. I watch him closely. The usual dickhead I have to put up with is gone, and instead he’s serious all the time. It’s not like him. He hasn’t been in my room once to move my shit around.
I move Winter up to the room I’ve been using here; it’s simple with a double bed and one dresser. I lay her on the bed, smoothing her long hair out of her eyes.
She is so innocent and beautiful. Not just on the outside but in her heart as well.
My beautiful mate.
Forty-Eight
Winter
“Winter, Winter, Winter needs to run. Run fast, child of winter, for the storm comes,” the childlike voice sings in my mind, repeating the same sentence again and again until I want to scream. I blink my eyes open and see myself standing before the very crystal I just saw with Wyatt. I think I passed out. I watch as Elissa comes into the room, heavily pregnant and with a man whose face is hidden beneath a cloak. The man is huge in his build; the cloak is split down the middle, showing off his golden chest. Elissa is wearing a purple cloak and a crown on her head, but it’s not the one I’ve seen before. This one is white.
“Elissa, you shouldn’t be up here,” the man says, his voice sounding deep and strong.
“Henrick, I wanted to check the barrier. I felt the need to. Our time is running low,” Elissa says and moves to place a hand on the crystal. She stops just before she touches it and moves back.
“We still have time. The demon bastard won’t get us. We have our own army now; the castle is protected and hidden,” the man says, and lowers his hood. His grey eyes are the first things I see; they look so much like Atti’s eyes. They even have the same build and some of the same facial features. This man is far sterner with two long scars on both sides of his cheeks. They look very old. I would guess the man is in his late forties, but, being a supernatural, he could be hundreds of years old.
“Elissa, my sweet mate, you must rest. The baby is coming soon,” he says, and she turns to him. I can’t see her expression, but I imagine her smiling.
“Very soon. My water went about an hour ago,” she says, and his eyes widen in shock. He stomps over to her and swoops her up in his arms.
“Oh, Elissa, you do love your games,” he says, and she laughs. They both disappear, and I’m just standing staring at the crystal until I close my eyes.
I shoot up, awake in the dark room I’m in, the curtains blocking out the dim light, but I can see through them. Wyatt moves next to me; his deep breaths tell me he’s still sleeping. I glance at myself; I’m just wearing the tank top from yesterday and some
knickers. Wyatt must have stripped me of everything else after I passed out. I’m not as sweaty as before, but I still need a shower after this latest weird dream. Henrick must have been Atti’s ancestor, another man who was clearly in love with Elissa.
I slide out of bed, pulling on the jeans that I find folded on the dresser, along with my boots. I pick the boots up and slide out of the room to find a shower. I knock on Jaxson’s door before I go in. The room is empty, so I quickly shower and dress in a long blue top that says, “I’m the queen” on it. Alex thought it was a funny top, but it’s the only thing clean at the moment. All my clothes are at the vampire castle, so I’m not getting them back. I find some new leggings and some socks in a bag by the door. After slipping my boots on and plaiting my hair, I leave the room to find some food. I bump into Dabriel as he walks out of the kitchen. I laugh as I nearly fall over, and he picks me up. He looks normal, well as much as he can be when he is seriously hot. His white hair is down, shaping his face. It stops near his shoulders. He’s wearing jeans and a tight black shirt; the black stands out against his large, white wings. They look white, but if you get closer, you can see the silver, shiny strands in the feathers. His hair has a little of the silver in it too, like highlights.
“Hey, you,” he smiles at me. I gasp when he kisses me before I can say anything, his hand sliding behind my neck as he pulls me closer.
“So gross,” Freddy’s voice comes from behind me, and I giggle as Dabriel leans back with me still in his arms.
“You’ll like girls one day,” Dabriel says, and I turn in time to see Freddy roll his eyes.
“That’s what bedrooms with locked doors are for,” he says, and I feel like I’m about to get a lecture from a nine-year-old. Should he even know about this stuff?
