Chapter 21

Tristan Cole I was in the werewolf clinic when I woke up. I sat up in bed and let my eyes scan my surroundings. Tyler was the only one in the room with me and he was sleeping on a chair beside my bed.

“Where's Freya? Did Balan take her? What happened?”

He pulled open his eyes and took his time stretching and yawning.

“Tyler!” I snarled at him.

“Okay. Okay, keep your hair on,” he replied with a huff. “Right, well, you sorta died and had to be resuscitated. Freya assumed you were dead and Linda heard her mumbling something about her dreams coming true? Balan demanded she go with him to be his Princess, while he held her mother by the back of her neck and threatened to kill her,” he rattled off then took a long breath, which made him yawn again. 

“Tyler for God's sake! Does he have her, or not?” I yelled at him. “Because if he does I'm gonna rip his fucking head off!” I shouted while clenching my fists.

Tyler burst out laughing, making me looked at him with my brows raised in shock.

“That might be a little difficult, T. Your girlfriend already beat you to it,” he announced while twisting his hands, before pulling them upwards in a yanking motion.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I didn’t have time for charades.

“Well, Mason attacked Balan, trying to save, Freya and her mom, but Balan punched him in the face. Knocking him the fuck out. Then Freya shot this weird beam of electrical fire out of her hands. It was so fucking cool. I mean she went whoosh like this...” He explained like an excited child describing something out of a marvel comic.

“Tyler, man, come on!” I begged while rolling my eyes.

“Yeah, sorry. Anyway, Balan then yanked, Eleanor's heart out. So, Freya literally tore his head off his body and threw it across the dance floor,” he finished and took a breath while slumping back into his chair. 

“Oh my God, Eleanor. Poor Freya. I need to see her, she's going to need me!”

I jumped out of the bed and grabbed my clothes off of the side. I'd managed to get one leg into my jeans when Tyler sat forward and said in a low voice, “We don't know where she is, Tristan.”

I pulled my other leg through my jeans and fastened them.

“What do you mean you don't know where she is? Where did she go? What happened?”

I put my t-shirt on and sat on the edge of the bed facing Tyler.

“Everyone was afraid of her, T. You didn't see her, she wasn't herself anymore. She was like some evil Angel person. I mean she stepped right over her own mom's body, like it was nothing. Then she blew the fire exit door apart, before flying off into the night. We haven't seen her since.”

I sighed and placed my head in my hands.

“Freya!” I screamed as loudly as I could into our mind link.

My heart was hoping that wherever she was, she would hear my howl.

***

Freya Rose I awoke in a stunning ice blue colored room. The bed was velvety soft and the air was filled with the gorgeous scent of coffee. I stretched and stared up at the ceiling. Last night's events bombarded my mind and tears began to stream down my face when I remembered what had happened to Tristan, Mason and my mom. I couldn't believe that little bloodsucker took away three of the people I loved the most in the world. How the hell did he expect me to be with him, or love him after that? I sighed while whining the tears away from my cheeks.

Crying wasn't going to get me anywhere. It wasn't going to bring any of them back, now was it? No, what I need to do, was become strong and learn to close off my heart, so that I never got hurt again.

“Freya dear. Would you come down here please? I have someone that wants to meet you,” Selene shouted up the stairs.

“Of course, Selene. Give me one sec.”

I got out of the bed and strolled towards the bathroom.

“Now!” Selene boomed in a raspy and furious voice.

I jumped and ran straight for the stairs, I guess she doesn't like waiting, I thought while trotting down the stairs. I got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around the huge hallway, there must have been at least eight doors. Now which one is she in? I thought as I glanced at each door.

“We're in here,” I heard Selene yell from the room to my left.

I knocked on the door first, Selene seemed pretty pissed off already and I didn't want to make her angrier.

“Come in dear.”

Wow, the woman was giving me whiplash. I stepped in through the door, then closed it behind me. Turning around to find Selene, I spotted her standing a few feet away from me with a smile on her face.

“Freya my dear,” she said as she virtually floated over to me. She took my hands into hers and kissed me on both cheeks. “Freya, I would like you to meet somebody who is also very special to me. I think the two of you will get along marvelously.”

My heart filled with dread when she clapped her hands together excitedly. She swept her hand around and pointed to a guy that was standing by the window. He had his back to us, so all I could see was that he was tall and very well dressed. He was in a shirt and trousers and had really dark brown hair that was swept up in a messy but clean looking style. You could tell he'd spent time on it making it look like he hadn't touched it all. You know one of those types of hairstyles.

“I'll leave you two to get better acquainted.”

She skipped out of the room, gently closing the door behind her. I stood there in yesterday's dress, that was now crusted with dried blood. My hair was still up, but barely. By the feel of it, I guessed that it probably looked matted with all the caked in dried blood. I dreaded to think what my face looked like. I had visions of the girl from the Carrie movie. Face all smeared in blood, with mascara that had ran down and dried on my cheeks. 

“You look glorious,” Selene mind linked me. Dude, I have got to learn how to shut people out of my head. I heard her cackle with amusement.

The guy didn't move and I wondered what his problem was. He looked all stiff and rigid like he was trying his best not to be noticed. I glanced down and saw that he had his hands balled into fists. Well, he seems nice. Not! I thought to myself knowing that Selene would hear me.

“Give him a chance. Someone very close to him has just died.”

I kinda felt sorry for him. He was going through the exact same thing as me. If he was, he would probably be thinking that this meet and greet was the last thing he wanted to be doing today, because that's exactly how I felt. I moved over to the couch and sat down, I didn't particularly care if he spoke to me or not. To be honest I was still pretty exhausted. I laid my head back and closed my eyes while letting out a deep sigh.

“You sound like you need a stiff drink,” he asserted in a smooth and husky voice.

“Yeah, I had a really tough night,” I replied without moving or even opening my eyes.

I heard his shoes tap on the wooden floor, then a glass stopper from a bottle being removed. I silently listened as the liquid was poured into a glass and then another. The stopper was replaced and the tapping of his shoes began again. Each step was coming closer and closer to me, until they ceased and I felt him sit down next to me. All I could think was that his scent was divine.

I hadn't smelled that aftershave in years. It was Joop. That stuff was lethal, like an aphrodisiac to me. It could be sprayed on the ugliest, nastiest, man in the world and I would still swoon over them just because of that smell. I mean I'd run away from them like a bat out of hell once the scent wore off, but it would definitely get me into some bother, that's for sure.

I think my wolf sense of smell was beginning to kick in, as the aftershave smelled fuller than usual. It had even more of a punch and there was a burnt copper smell mixed in with it. Although, I was covered in blood so I just assumed that it must have been me. It wasn't like I could lean over and sniff the guy to find out if it was him that smelled like burnt copper, now was it?

“Here, drink this.”

The back of his hand brushed against my breast, startling me.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?” I raised my voice at him.

After opening my eyes to look down at his hand, I was surprised to see that it was still resting there on my breast.

“Sorry, what?” He asked in confusion.

He was staring at the floor with his arm stretched out. I guess he hadn't seen where he was putting his hand, but that still wasn't the damn point.

“Um… Your hand is touching my boob!” I snapped while shifting uncomfortably in my seat, trying to move my chest away from him.

“Oh, please forgive me. I didn't mean to,” he mumbled with embarrassment and promptly moved his hand away.

I snatched the drink from his hand and downed it, I definitely needed it after being felt up. He laughed and tilted his head to look at me.

“What the hell!” I screamed as I frantically scrambled backwards and lifted myself up and onto the arm of the couch.

He reached his arm out for me, so I pushed back on the couch with my feet, trying to get further away from him. My hand that was holding my glass slipped when I tried to push against the couch. It fell down onto the floor, smashing instantly upon impact. I hadn't quite thought my plan out. I was on the arm of the couch, but where was going to go from there?

Oh yeah, down! 

I cried out and I flapped my arms around like a demented chicken. My legs were kicking out, trying to catch myself.

Why do legs do that? It's not like they can grab onto things like your hands can. Why does your brain turn to complete mush in situations like that? I mean if my brain told my arms and my legs to switch roles, my legs would still be doing the same spastic moves, but my arms would be grabbing for things that could actually save me, instead of just flapping about, but nope.

I fell backwards off of the couch, closing my eyes in anticipation of the imminent impact with the floor, but that didn't happen. Instead, I was levitating in the air with the backs of my knees folded over the arm of the couch.

Phew, I must have let out some Angel power and saved myself.

I gradually opened my eyes and standing over me was the Joop guy, holding me up with one hand. He had looped his fingers and thumb through the straps of my dress, which in turn made my boobs almost pop out of the sides of it. I stared up and watched him completely ignore me, while necking his drink. He leaned over slightly towards the coffee table, moved a coaster over, then placed the empty glass on top of it.

“You really should be more careful,” he warned while gently lifting me up and placing me back down onto the couch safely. He then sat down beside me again and turned to face me.

“Why are you scared of me?”

I turned slightly to face him, I assumed if he wanted to hurt me, then he would have done it already. I mean how quickly he moved, I have never known someone to move as fast as that, not even Balan. 

“You're a vampire,” I said quietly but with emphasis. He chuckled and replied, “Yes, very perceptive of you. Now, what has that got to do with you being afraid of me? Have I ever hurt you?” He questioned me.

He made a very valid point, but he still scared the crap out of me. I began to defend myself and stated, “Well no, of course you haven't. We've only just met, but...”

He held his hand up to shush me. 

“Precisely my point. I have never hurt you, so there is no logical reason why you should have behaved like that, is there?” He ask with an eyebrow raised and a bemused look on his face. I quickly snapped back at him, “Yes, actually! If you'd had a psychopath vampire chasing you down, stalking your dreams, and killing the people you loved, wouldn't you have acted in exactly the same way?”

My eyes illuminated with anger. His own eyes widened a little, not in fear so much, but in surprise.

“It seems you do have a valid reason to be scared of vampires, but let me assure you, we are not all like my little brother, Balan.”

I gasped in shock and covered my open mouth with my hand. My eyebrows raised, but then furrowed as my expression turned to sadness.

Balan did, deserve what I'd done to him. There was no doubt in my mind about that. But looking at Samael's pain-stricken face made me feel awful. I had taken his little brother away from him and caused him the exact same pain that Balan had inflicted upon me. At this moment in time, I felt like I was no better than Balan and that made me hate myself.

“I am so sorry that I am the cause of the pain you are feeling right now.”

I reached for his hand, but he snatched it away. I sat back and rested my hands onto my lap while he stood up and picked up his glass. He went back over to the drinks cabinet and poured himself another drink. Getting another glass out, he showed it to me. I nodded and he began to pour me out another drink too. 

“You're not the cause of my pain Freya. Balan is. He didn't tell me that he'd been harassing, or stalking you. All I was told, was that he was in love with a girl. Nathaniel informed me that said girl was a hunter, but that she didn't know what she was. Balan announced that he had proposed to the girl and that she'd excepted. Last night he was supposed to bring her, home to meet the family,” he explained with his back still to me.

He gulped his drink and poured another one out, before strolling back to the couch and handing me mine.

“Thanks.”

He sat back down and continued, “I came here hell-bent on seeking revenge for my little brother’s death, but Selene explained everything to me. She told me all about you and how special you are. Balan did love you, in his own strange way, the boy just went about it all the wrong way,” he sighed and took a sip of his drink. “I don’t wish us to be enemies, Freya. If you are half as powerful as, Selene says you are, then it would be a foolish move on my part to start a war with you. Please accept my apologies on behalf of my brother and the other vampires that hurt you and your family. It will not happen again, you have my word.”

He placed his hand on his heart. Do vampires even have hearts? My mind wondered.

“Accept his apology girl!” Selene hissed through a mind link.

I smiled and rolled my eyes, Samael frowned and tilted his head slightly. I guess he was wondering why I was rolling my eyes at him.

“Oh no! Sorry, I was rolling my eyes at, Selene,” I explained.

His frown turned into one raised eyebrow as he looked around the room. I chuckled and tapped the side of my head.

“Ah, is she spying on us?” I nodded in response. “What did she say? If you don't mind me asking?”

“She told me to accept your apology.”

“And do you?”

“Yes, Samael. I was wrong to judge you on your brother's behavior. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be labelled alongside some of the other hunters. They can be right jackasses.”

He let out a little laugh and shook his head as he replied, 

“You are nothing like any other person I've ever met, Freya Rose. You are every bit as special as, Selene said. In fact, more so. I hope this will not be the last time I am graced with your company.”

He stood up and held his hand out. I stood up too and went to shake his hand. He gently took my hand and turned it over, stroking the top of my of it with his cold thumb. He then bent down and placed a soft velvety kiss on the back of my hand. I blushed when his Joop scent floated into my nose.

“It's been a pleasure, Freya Rose.”

I had no idea what came over me, but I had the overwhelming need to embrace him. I didn’t know if it was the guilt of killing his brother or the sadness that we both shared. It could have been how nice he was, or the scent of that damn Joop. Either way, I moved forwards and placed my arms around his neck to hug him. He hissed at me and thrust both of his hands into my chest sending me flying through the air and crashing into a bookshelf. I stared back at him and his face was screwed up in anger or disgust, I couldn't really work out which. His eyes were glowing red and I just glared up at him with confusion while I lay crumpled on the floor. 

“I'm so sorry Freya... I... Goodbye my love,” he mumbled softly as a tear rolled down his face.

After he vanished into thin air, I stood up and turned around to see Selene standing at the door. She shook her head at me and rolled her eyes.

“I thought something like that might happen. He's just not ready yet, poor boy.”

“Freya!” I heard Tristan faintly shout through our mind link.

I wasn't ready to speak to him, or face the world just yet, so I ignored him. I was overjoyed that he was alive, but I just couldn't deal with anything else.

“He's not ready for what yet, Selene?” I asked her in a demanding voice.

There had to be a reason why she let him come here, and wanted me to meet him so urgently.

“To be your lover and King, my dear girl. I have decided that you and Samael will be together. You are my strongest female child and he is my strongest male child. You two will make me some magnificent babies.”