chapter 83

ARIELLA.

"Go back to my body? You mean, I'm just a spirit now?" I asked my mother, who apparently is on the moon, or a part of her is. Honestly, I don't even know. Maybe the moon is her, or she's the spirit of the moon. I still don't understand how that works myself, and I don't have the time right now to think about that.

"Yes, Ariella. You have the power to travel as a spirit, and I believe you have already used this power before. Now, go back to your body, wake up and go back in time using the power of the two necklaces. Put them together and tell it how many hours you want to go back from the current time. Just be sure that the two yous won't meet."

"I understand. Thank you again, Mother. Thank you for helping me."

"You're very much welcome, my beloved," she responded. And then everything went dark again. When I opened my eyes, I was indeed back in my body. Eli was beside me, already lifeless. The sight of him dead right next to me made me tear up again, but unlike earlier, I was able to muster the courage to stand up and fix him. I covered his body with some blanket that I found inside the cabin and then talked to him as if he could still hear me.

"Don't worry, Eli. I will bring you back. I promise that." I kissed him on his forehead before heading out. I walked back towards the building where we stayed for the night, hoping to see that Darius had won over his twin brother. They were fighting when I left them, and it would become a big problem if David were the one who emerged as the victor in their fight. I don't even know if I can beat him so I would much better like it if Darius won.

But of course, he didn't win. I arrived at the place where I left them earlier and saw that David had won. I hid behind some tall grass and looked at the scenario just a few steps away from me. Darius was on the ground, probably dead too, while Blaire and Lawrence were both badly injured. The boy was crying and Blaire was trying to comfort him. And David hit him, causing the boy to cry even louder.

"I said enough! There's no more point in whining, Lawrence! You are going back to the Northern Lair with Blaire while I search for Ariella!" David looked annoyed, but there was no doubt that he looked pleased too that he defeated his twin brother. There was blood on his face but I don't think it was his own.

"Just kill me, David," I heard Blaire say to him. She was crying too. "I don't think I could still live with you."

"As much as I want to grant your request, Blaire, I still need you alive until my nephew is born. You see, my younger brothers are useless. Just look at this one. I don't think they can replace me as the Vampire King when the time comes, so I need you and my nephew. But don't worry, I could grant your wish as soon as you give birth, but I doubt that you would still want to die after seeing your own child."

"That's the point! I don't want you to use my own child! I would prefer for us to die now than live under your cruel ruling!"

"Me? Cruel? I don't think so. I accepted you as part of my family even though you have betrayed me for how many times already? I have given you a lot of chances. But what did you do? You even supported my fool of a brother!"

"That's because Darius has a good heart unlike you," said Blaire. "He should have been the Vampire King and not you and maybe the Moon Goddess would have come back to you vampires years ago."

"Darius? Vampire King? That's funny. He is weak and immature. He can't even get over the heartbreak that he got years ago and you want him to be King?"

"Yes! Because a King also needs to be loving, and you're not capable of that! You are a monster! You're evil!"

David slapped Blaire because of that. And since Blaire's hands were tied on her back, she fell to the ground head-first. "You really want to provoke me, huh? Fine. Have it your way. I'm going to torture you and make you experience hell..." He was about to strike Blaire again when I decided to finally come out from where I was hiding. I charged towards David, knocking him out of his feet with a sucker punch. I then went straight to Darius, who I saw was still breathing.

"Thank God, you're still alive," I said as I looked for the necklace that was in his possession. Luckily, I immediately found it since he was just wearing it on his neck. I took it from him and apologized. 'I'm so sorry about this, Darius. I know you value this necklace but I need it right now."

But as I said that, I was lifted off my feet and felt like something was choking me by putting extreme pressure on my neck. It was David. He quickly recovered from my attack and was now using his ability to choke me. "There you are, Ariella. Thank you for coming back. Now, I don't need to look for you..."

"P-Put me down!"

"No... I will not let you go. Who knows what you will do again? Just like what happened in that tunnel, didn't you disappear using that necklace?" He saw that I was holding the necklace I got from Darius, so he probably thought that I was trying to escape with the necklace's help. "Oh, but that necklace is from my twin brother... I see... So there are two?"

I tried getting out of his magical reach but to no avail. It was shameful because I only needed to escape right now so that I could use the two necklaces to go back to the past. But I could not even do that as David was just too powerful, and he finally noticed the necklaces and he might take them away from me. It will be over if that happens.

"I see that you're crying. Why is that? Maybe you have seen what I did to your mate? Oh yes. I forgot to tell you earlier that I fatally injured him. Serves him right because he killed my loyal butler. Your mate must've died by now, seeing how grave his injuries were when he escaped from me..."

"You... demon!"

"Yeah, yeah, call me what you want, Ariella. I don't give a damn anyway. Now that I recaptured you, we can now resume my plans. But first, let me do this as payment for everything that you have done so far!"

Air blew out from my stomach as David gut-punched me. That caused me to drop the necklace to the ground. He was about to give me another one but I heard Lawrence shout. "Don't hurt her!" the boy yelled, and then I saw the boy run to his older brother and hit him with his hands. David disappeared and I fell back to the ground with a soft spot.

I looked at Lawrence in amazement. "Good job, Lawrence! You sent David away!"

Lawrence smiled at me. "I did... But I only sent him back to the castle... I could no longer use my powers properly as I am bleeding..." He showed me his right shoulder and he was indeed bleeding there from a big wound that I only assume David gave him. "You need to run now..." he told me, but I couldn't help but ask him one question.

"Lawrence, you're a good boy... But may I ask you why you are helping us so much? You even ran away from your brother..."

"B-Because, I don't want to become a vampire anymore..." he replied and it reduced me to tears.

"Okay, copy. Once I get back from where I'm going, I'm going to turn you into a normal person," I promised him. I then picked up the necklace on the ground, took the other one and combined them. The two pendants fit each other, forming a heart shape. It glowed magnificently.