Chapter 7 Fire always turns to ash.
He steps forward, lifting my chin with two of his fingers, the fire that still scorched my skin barely even leaving a mark on his.
My heart raced, my breath raspy and desperate.
Tears slipped from my eyes and pooled on my cheeks.
I wanted my mum.
I clenched my jaw and closed my eyes, knowing that I would die for what I had done. Though, I had avenged my mother, not entirely; but enough to go to the afterlife with some peace; and perhaps I would see them there. We could be reunited once more.
Silas lifted me from the ground, cradling me in his arms as he turned away from the house, taking one last look at the corpses. “I wouldn’t worry about dying just yet Luna. I have great plans for you.”
I gasp, staring up at him in horror as I grab onto his shirt, my body too weak to fight, and my mind not bothering to conjure enough energy to defy him.
He could do whatever he wished to me, I was nothing now, nothing but emptiness hollowed my chest.
My ability was forbidden, it would only be a matter of time before I was executed. Before it was all over for me.
“Don’t fret little witch, I am not going to hurt you. Not unless you try that shit on me.” He laughed once but it didn’t match to cool nature of his tone, his voice calm and level.
I stare up at him, frowning, did he really think that I would promise not to hurt him?
Silas Bancroft placed me into the car and slid in after me, closing the door softly. It seems like he is trying not to scare me. But that doesn’t make sense.
He taps the roof, and the car immediately sets off into the night.
He leans forward, gently pushing me onto the floor and wrapping a blanket around my shoulders. “We don’t want you to be seen now, do we?” He says with a raised brow.
I say nothing, I just stare at him, wondering how someone so handsome could be so evil.
I didn’t know where we were going, or what would await me once we got there, but I knew everything would change. My life would never be the same.
I would never be the same.
I would be trapped underground for the rest of my life, however long that may be. Locked away from the sun.
Vampires burn in the sun.
I shift nervously beside him, my heart hitting my ribcage so hard I was sure it would burst through at any second.
What would happen once we reached our destination?
What did Prince Bancroft want with me?
I turned to look up at my owner, wondering if it was because of my powers, because I could destroy vampires with the rays of the sun; or was it that I could shape-shift?
Both were rare gifts, something that not many received; nor were they something that you lived to talk about once the hierarchy found out.
Though, I was still a young witch I knew most of what magic was banned, and the power to destroy your master was one of them; so why wasn’t I already dead?
Why hadn’t he killed me as King Isambard, the father of Silas commanded? He commanded that all of my kind he eradicated.
I wonder why I am different. I wonder why I am being kept alive.
The prince was a stunning creature, so still and dashing, though I suppose that was because he had no need for breath, nor did he blink like I must.
His long brown hair was tattered and knotted, coated in Noah’s blood and the ash of his subjects that I had killed. Yet it somehow made him more attractive, it was like blood was meant to stain his skin.
He turns to stare down at me,“Do I frighten you child?” he asks me suddenly, breaking the eerie silence that had built; my fear jumping alive at the question.
Didn’t he know that his presence alone was enough to strip the colour from my hair, turning it completely white?
He did frighten me, more than any other vampire I had ever come across. Had I always belonged to him?
But I suppose that was because of his standing, because he could decide my fate with a flick of his finger and no one would be able to question him, no one would be able to prevent my death should he choose to rid me of my essence.
My breath catches in my throat, unable to release itself as I cough, chocking and spluttering.
What could I even say to a question like that?
“Yes, you frighten me.” I whisper, knowing deep in my soul that I couldn’t hold off my answer for much longer and I certainly didn’t want to anger him; not if I could avoid it.
He smiled ever so slightly, the sort of smile that I would have missed if I had blinked at the wrong time. “Is it what I am, or who I am that scares you?”
I think for a moment, a thousand answers swimming through my mind all at once, like a rollercoaster with too many loops.
It was a hard question.
“Honestly? I think it is both that scares me, you answer to no one other than your father, and even then; I heard that you are the strongest of the Bancroft tribe, so I suspect that if you wished for it, you could destroy the others and take the throne.” I say, staring down at my muddy, black feet. “Without having to wait for another war.”
“Interesting.” He smiles again, though this time, he wasn’t trying to hide it. “And what do you think would help me usurp the throne, my strength alone?”
“No one can win with strength alone, if you could, idiots would run the world.” I almost laugh at myself, idiots do run the world, I just don’t have anything to do with mortals. “I think that you have to be smart about it, strategic; use what you have around you.” the words slipped from my mouth without my permission.
I knew nothing about war, I wasn’t a part of any battles.
I was only seventeen, still in school.
“My father won with brute strength and numbers. Does that make him an idiot?” Prince Bancroft asks slightly tilting his head.
“No of course not!” I stammer, my voice low and shaky. “That isn't what I meant sir, I only meant that there are better ways to win.”
I jumped back when the Prince raises his left hand, his piercing eyes locked onto mine as I trembled; I should have kept my mouth shut, I shouldn’t have spoken my mind.
I bow my head, ready for the strike to come, ready for my punishment. This is what my mother warned me about, I could never filter my thoughts, I was a foolish witch who didn’t know her place.
So stupid.
Silas gently lifts my chin with two fingers, forcing me to look into his eyes as he spoke. “You may be more useful than I first thought, Fraulein.”
I stare into his fiery eyes, my heart skipping a beat as I attempt to pull away, my anxious mind once again stirring with thoughts; thoughts I could not control.
What did he mean by that and who was Fraulein?
I shuffle back on the floor of the moving vehicle, unsure of myself and the Prince’s intentions; what did he really want?
What plan did he have running through that dangerous mind and why must it involve me?
I couldn’t wait for him to explain any longer, I needed to know what he wanted from me; why he didn’t kill me when he saw what I could do. “Useful how?” I ask.
“Would you have preferred death?” he scowls, grabbing me by the ankle and dragging me back towards him. “Is that what you want?” His face in dangerously close to mine. “Because if it is I can kill you right now.”
My face pales, “That’s not... I don’t want to die.”
“Then you will sit there and accept that I have my reasons for keeping you alive. I have use for you, I am going to use you in the coming war, and for now; that is all you need to know.” He snarls as he speaks, baring his fangs. “Do you understand what I am telling you, witch?”
I nod mutely, bowing my head as I waited for him to release my foot, though he still grasped it tightly, staring down at me as if he was waiting for something, some kind of retaliation.
But I would show none, I knew better than that; didn’t I…? I knew not to provoke the undead creatures, not if I could avoid it.