85. "SERVE HIM WHO REBELS."

I rush up the stairs with Anna by my side, our quick steps echoing through the silent corridors of the castle. As soon as we enter the room we share, Anna heads straight to the old chest at the foot of her bed and pulls out our mother's worn diary.

"Here it is," she says, handing me the diary. "Mom wrote about so many things we never understood. Maybe now they'll make sense."

I carefully open the diary, flipping through the yellowed pages filled with elegant notes and detailed sketches. I pass by the enchantment I used when I had the necklace, before Alaric found us.

"She knew so much," I murmur, impressed and a bit intimidated by the knowledge she had compiled. I find instructions on ancient rituals, mystical plants, and other esoteric practices. A specific section about visions catches my attention.

"Look at this," I point out to Anna. "Mom talks about how to invoke entities to assist with visions. She says that a blood connection can strengthen the call."

"Do you think we should try it?" Anna asks, hesitant yet curious.

I nod, feeling a connection to our mother through her written words. It's worth a try, I desperately need to understand everything she went through, including what she meant in the last dream I had before I fainted.

"Let's prepare what we need and attempt the ritual tonight. If we're connected by blood, maybe it will reveal more about her secrets and help us understand why she had to run away from Elijah."

Anna agrees, her eyes reflecting a mix of determination and the fear of the unknown. We gather the necessary items listed in the diary: candles, herbs, and a small silver bowl for the ritual. As night falls, we set everything up in a quiet part of the garden, under the moonlight, hoping that whatever or whoever we call upon can shed light on the darkness surrounding our family's past.

"Let's try it. If it helps us understand the visions without the necklace, it's worth it," I say, a bit hesitant, but driven by curiosity and the need for answers.

We prepare everything according to the detailed instructions in our mother's diary: we place candles at specific points around the room and draw protective symbols on the floor with salt. Then, we hold hands, close our eyes, and begin to recite together the enchantment described by our mother.

"Ancient guardians of time and space, guides of shadows and light, connect us to the veils beyond sight, show us what is hidden, revealing the past and illuminating the future," we recite in unison.

The air in the room begins to vibrate with energy, strengthened by our connection. A cold breeze circulates, making the candles flicker and the shadows dance on the walls.

As the ritual progresses, I feel as if an invisible hand touches my consciousness, guiding me beyond the room's walls, to a space where time and reality seem to bend.

Suddenly, images start to form in my mind, but this time I see a perfect image of my young mother, full of life, in period clothes. Before, I seemed to live in her body, but now I can clearly understand her actions.

She is sitting in a lush garden, with vibrant flowers and the soft sound of a fountain in the background. On the other side, Elijah approaches, all dressed in fine clothes, as if he were a prince, if I may describe him that way. He looks at my mother with total affection and passion, different from how he is now.

"Elijah, we can't be together. Not when the entire clan is against this feeling I fought so hard not to have, when you tried to gift me with this necklace." She touches the necklace that's on her neck—the same necklace that's under my power, or was.

My mother continues, her voice trembling with emotion, "You know I belong to the clan and my loyalty should not waver. But you... you've stirred something inside me that I cannot simply ignore."

Elijah, with a look that fluctuates between conquest and a strange vulnerability, moves even closer. He holds her hands delicately, a contrast to the power I know he possesses.

"I know, my angel, and that's why we need to be together. Away from everyone who doesn't understand what we are to each other. In the castle, I can protect you, we can explore the depth of your power that so many don't believe you have." He caresses her hand, kissing the knuckles, never taking his eyes off hers.

"But at what cost, Elijah? The magic you've taught me... it's different, it's something I never imagined using. You say it's for protection, but I feel there's more. I feel that each time I use it, something in me is lost." My mother looks at the necklace, the red ruby glowing under the garden's sun.

"It's a small price to pay for the power we can have together. For control over all the vampires I've transformed over the centuries. Don't you see? I am already the most powerful pure vampire, but with you by my side, with your magic, we will be even more powerful."

The vision shifts, and I see my mother in the castle, deciding to flee. Elijah had become someone she no longer recognized. Discovering her plan, she flees while pregnant, taking the necklace and hiding it with magic, so Elijah can never find her.

In the vision, my mother still looks young, her large belly showing she's close to giving birth. She approaches a man, and his figure is strangely familiar to me.

"How do you feel?" he asks, embracing her from behind and inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Well, it was the best decision I could have made. He just wanted my power. It's time to establish my own clan and support the one who will one day rebel against him," replies my mother, her voice full of determination and free from any regret.

The scene fades, and I return to the room with Anna. She looks at me, waiting for me to share what I saw.

"Our mother decided to run away from Elijah because she realized he just wanted to use her power," I quickly explain. "She fled, hid the necklace, and planned to create a clan to support someone who would rebel against him."

Anna absorbs the information, her expression becoming more intrigued.

"That explains our isolated upbringing since she died in my birth, but why did she hide the magic from us?"

"If we think about it, she never hid it, she just didn't make me practice for some reason. She taught us to focus on elements of nature, and how to handle herbs; the diary has many spells related to that," I say, feeling the weight of our mother's legacy on me. "She wanted us to be part of something bigger, but I still don't understand who is the baby she was expecting?"

"Could she have lost the baby late in the pregnancy? After all, it was the child of a vampire, what were the chances of it ending well?" Anna questions, picking up the diary and flipping through it attentively.

"What are you looking for?" I ask, moving closer to her again and watching as she goes through page by page.

"I don't get it, there's nothing here about the baby, just spells, recitations of rituals. Especially one that breaks the bond between a Pure Vampire and a Vampire Lord," she says, furrowing her brow.

Anna's words spark a light in my mind, and I take the diary from her hand to carefully read the magic. The ritual's description is detailed and complex, speaking of the need for specific components and blood from another pure vampire. It's a powerful ritual, meant to undo the deepest bonds between a transformed vampire and their creator.

"Anna, this... this might be exactly what we need," I say, my mind spinning with possibilities. "Alaric told me he rebelled against Elijah. Perhaps he tried using something like this. He said Elijah still has control over him, but he's become strong enough to resist."

"That makes sense," Anna agrees, peering over my shoulder at the text. "But if Alaric tried, it means he has access to the blood of another pure vampire. Did the ritual fail, or is there something else we don't know?"

"I don't know," I reply, feeling a mix of frustration and doubt. "But we need to find out. And if Alaric is somehow the person Mom talked about who would rebel and the clan would have to serve him."

"We'll need more information. And we need to talk to Alaric about this. Maybe he can tell us what went wrong, or if he needs something only we can provide," Anna suggests, already thinking ahead to the next steps.

"I'll talk to him. We need to be cautious not to alert Elijah... or anyone else who might be watching," I say, closing the diary and looking around, aware that the castle walls may have ears.

"Alright, I'll wait for you. You really need to be close to him, don't you?" Anna looks at me, one eyebrow raised. Her appearance, youthful as it should be for a normal child, has changed so much since I left her. She seems so mature and responsible now.

I avert my gaze from hers, lowering my head to focus on the diary in my hands. Her saying that to me feels like she's opening up an irreversible path within me.

"I can't explain it, even though everything points to being close to Alaric always being dangerous, full of secrets. I just keep coming back to the moment when I stopped resisting the way he looks at me, touches me, drinks my blood, and gives me his." I take a deep breath, standing up. "Alaric is complex, but I feel like I still don't know anything about him, that he has layers upon layers of something that hurt him deeply."

Anna stands up with me, wrapping her arms around my waist. She gently squeezes me as if trying to comfort me.

"Maybe you yourself have the answer we're looking for, you just don't know it yet," Anna releases me, taking a step back and staring at me with that penetrating gaze that always seems to see beyond what I show.

"And when you find out, I'll be here to help," she says, giving a slight smile that brings momentary comfort to my heart.

I return my gaze to the diary in my hands, Anna's words echoing in my mind. The idea that I might hold the key to unraveling Alaric's mysteries and perhaps even more about my own story is both frightening and intriguing.

"How do you always know what to say?" I ask, half jokingly, half seriously. Anna shrugs, her smile widening.

"Maybe I don't know. Maybe I just choose to believe that, no matter how complicated it gets, there's always a way out, a path."

I kiss her forehead, stepping away from her. With the diary in hand, I leave the room, looking around. I approach the door to Alaric's room at the end of the hallway, hesitantly raising my hand to knock on the door.

I know I need to question him, but maybe I'm not ready to question myself about what I feel.