obody moved. The raven, named Kito, who was still
perched on the back of Damien's chair, could sense the danger in the room and flew out into the hall, another one of its feathers floating softly to the ground as it went. Scarlet, Nate and Ryan lifted their weapons prepared.
"So" Damien mused, "the treacherous trio brought weapons did they?"
"We are not a trio, we are an army," Scarlet argued.
"Well, can your so called 'army' beat this?"
He held out his hands, his palms facing towards the three person army and focused all of his attention on his hands. After just a few seconds a small red ball of light appeared in front of his hands growing bigger and bigger by the second.
A vampire with the powers of a witch?
How many more people had to be sacrificed for that to happen? Scarlet didn't want to know but she couldn't help but wonder. This did not help her anger. While she was thinking about this, Damien launched the huge ball of pure power at Scarlet and her friends. Luckily Scarlet's reactions were quick and she used her sword to deflect the attack.
"Well, I must admit, you're better than I expected. I guess you aren't going to be killed as easily as your parents."
She felt the final snap, the elastic giving under the pressure. Scarlet felt so angry that if she didn't let some of it out she would explode. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm herself down a little. Anger could be a good thing when used carefully and properly, but if she had let out all of the anger she was feeling at that moment she would've lost control and Damien would've killed her in seconds, but she couldn't help it. Damien could have said anything he wanted about her but when he brought up her parents death, it was one step too far.
When Scarlet opened her eyes they were crimson. No iris, no pupil, just pure crimson. Before anyone knew what was happening the flames of the candles that were lit around the room joined together forming a ring around the whole room above their heads. This ring then filled with fire and crashed forward, landing on Damien.
"Scarlet!" Nate shouted, noticing her eyes and understanding she must have been controlling it, but she was too focused on ridding herself of the anger to hear him. He shouted until his throat hurt and he couldn't shout anymore. Now it was Ryan's turn to try and stop her. He stepped forward to her and whispered two words into her ear.
"Scarlet, stop." He placed a hand on her shoulder and it was this that brought her back to reality. It was only Ryan's voice that could stop her and she finally understood why.
She blinked a few times as her eyes returned to their normal deep chocolate brown and the fire was extinguished. Once again just the wick of the candles were left burning in the elaborate room.
"What was that?" Nate asked trying to process what he had just seen. Scarlet smiled.
"My mother," she said "She could control the elements like that. I must have inherited her power. I had always thought I was just an ordinary human like my father, but I guess I got my mother's powers after all." She had never felt closer to her parents than at that moment and for the first time since they died.
Scarlet let the world melt away and allowed herself to relax a little. She had chosen the wrong time.
"No!" Ryan screamed knocking Scarlet across the room as he threw himself forward, taking the full force of the ball of power Damien had thrown at her. He had used his powers to make a shield from the fire and had taken the chance while Scarlet wasn't paying attention to destroy her. He just hadn't been expecting Ryan to push her out of the way. Ryan's bones crunched as his body hit the floor resembling a child’s rag doll. It was Scarlet's turn to scream.
"No!" She ran to Ryan, not caring that she had twisted her ankle and sprained her wrist as she'd hit the ground. Ryan was in a worse condition.
The wound the keeper had given him had torn open and this time, the bleeding wasn't going to stop. She lifted Ryan's head from the floor into her lap.
"No, Ryan, you can't do this," she said staring at the pool of blood that had already started forming around them.
"Red, listen to me," he pleaded.
"You've got through this once before you can do it again, come on!"
"Red, I said listen to me, Please," he begged.
Scarlet stopped speaking.
"I don't have long left and there is something I need to tell you because this is my last chance." He cried as he spoke, the reality of the situation hitting him. He had been waiting for so long to tell her this and now was the time. As he lay dying in her arms, he would confess.
"Scarlet," he paused. Using her name felt so strange, yet so right. "I love you. I always have."
"No, Ryan, don't do this to me not now, please. I can't handle this." She could feel the tears burning her eyes already, but no matter what she said he wasn't going to stop. She already knew how he felt. As the anger had melted away with the world and he whispered softly into her ear she finally understood how he felt. She finally saw all the signs that were right in front of her.
"I can't stop, not now. I was so afraid that if I told you I loved you and you didn't feel the same way, our friendship would be over and I just couldn't live like that. I love you so much and I endured the pain so you would stay with me. It was so hard knowing that I shouldn't hold on like this but I was too in love with you to let you go. That was the worst part of falling for my best friend, knowing that was all I would ever be."
A tear rolled down Scarlet's cheek and this time she wouldn't stop them. She needed to cry. She knew it wouldn't change anything, but she had to.
Ryan continued."For me you stole the darkness and turned it to stars. You were my ray of sunlight in this endless night. I love you and as I die the only regret I have is not kissing you while I had the chance."
He was so wrong. She did love him more than she had realised, and now it was almost too late. The oracle had warned her and she hadn't listened and now Ryan was almost gone. She leaned in and gently pressed her lips to his. The salty taste of their tears mixed with the sweetness of their lips, it was the perfect kiss.
"Red," his voice shook as he spoke to her. The pain was excruciating but he wouldn't let it beat him. "Do you remember when I tried to teach you Latin?" He tried to laugh at the memory of her stuttering through the words. Scarlet nodded confused as to why he brought it up.
"Remember the first thing I said to you? I told you it was the thing I believed in most."
"Numquam periit amour." It was the only thing she could remember, but Ryan had always refused to tell her what it meant.
Ryan used his last ounce of strength to pull her close she he could whisper into her ear. He trembled as he put his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers as he uttered his last words.
"Love never dies." Ryan's heartbeat slowed, his chest tightened more and more each time he struggled to take a breath. There were no more words. He couldn't have spoken even if he tried. They stared into each other’s eyes, oblivious to their burning surroundings. Ryan closed his eyes and his hand went limp in hers. She kissed his soft lips one last time before whispering to him while she still held his hand tightly.
"I love you." One of her tears dripped onto his cheek.
She didn't notice the raven circling above her head until one of its ebony feathers drifted slowly to the ground, landing in the pool of garnet coloured blood. It was then when she made the connection between Damien and the bird he kept with him always.
Reading was one of the things she had always loved to do and the symbols of death had been strung into so many of the stories she had read. Crows, thunder, rain, bats, the obvious skull and crossbones, these things she could remember, but the one thing that had managed to slip her mind despite the fact it had been following her all day, was the most common.
The raven.
As she pulled her hand from his she noticed a red r
ibbon wrapped around his fingers. She untangled it and looked at the black writing on the ribbon which said, 'To Scarlet, with love.' She noticed that it was written in Ryan’s handwriting. The ribbon was tied to one end of a small silver charm. The charm was a silver teardrop with a bronze heart inside and a little red ruby in the centre. There was another ribbon tied to the other side of the charm that had the words 'I will always be with you' written on it.
She tied the bracelet around her wrist and held her head in her hands as she cried. In just a few minutes all the emotions she had kept locked away inside came pouring out. There was a chuckle from the other side of the room. She looked at Damien as he made his was out of the door. As he left he said, "I guess I won't kill you today after all."
Scarlet could hear the smile in his voice.
"It will be much more amusing to watch you suffer the way I have suffered before I kill you."
He was almost at the door now and Scarlet's fingers clasped tightly around the stake she still had in her belt. She had to kill him, not for herself or for her parents or Ryan, but because if he lived, things would get much worse for the humans back at the tunnel. She had come to destroy him and that's what she was going to do.
She carefully lifted Ryan's head from her knees and placed it gently on the floor before standing up and running towards Damien. She had the wooden stake she pulled from her belt raised above her shoulder ready to plunge it deep into what was left Damien's heart and end this fight for good. She was so close to him and was about to stab him when he turned and grabbed her wrist throwing her to the floor and making her drop the stake she held as pain spread through her whole arm.
"Now I don't think that's such a good idea, do you?" He smiled at her and took a step forward so he was standing over her. She felt his breath on her ear "You got lucky once today with your little friend over there saving you but don't think it will happen twice." He moved his head slowly down to her neck letting his fangs brush against her skin, before stepping back again.
Scarlet smiled back at him before sweeping her foot across the floor, tripping Damien and taking her chance to stand up. She knew he wasn't going to stay down for long so she had to be quick. She ran as fast as she could with her bad ankle to get to the stake and picked it up just before Damien could reach her. She tried to get to him again but he stopped her and tried to push her back again. This time she knew what to expect and pushed back trying he best to free her hands but he was too strong. Even without his extra strength and the fact her wrist was sprained she wouldn't have been able to win against him. He had been on this earth a lot longer than she had meaning he had so much more experience. She twisted her hands holding tightly to the stake, trying to break free, but it was too late and his fangs pierced her skin.
Pain surged through Scarlet's body but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out and beg him to stop. Nate was screaming and crying and trying to break through the shield Damien had put up around them but she could hear him over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears and could feel the blood rushing to the ice cold incisors that sank into her skin. She closed her eyes. He had won. She was going to die here and there was nothing she could do about it.
She still fought him with everything she had but she was just waiting for the darkness to come for her as the last drops of her precious blood were drained from her body. She could feel death gradually stealing her life from her and dragging it down into the deepest pits of hell. She had killed and had to be punished. She was ready to die.
9
Endless Night
amien's hand slipped from Scarlet's wrists as the
blood flowed steadily down his throat. She was just like the rest of the women he had tasted. Sweet at first with a bitter kick after the first pint had been drained. He took longer than usual; causing her pain was something he wanted to last. This was when he let go of her hands. After the first pint has gone they give up, succumb to their fate and pray for their sins to be forgiven. He released her and she let her hands drop to her sides. Damien drank deeply enjoying the taste of victory. He had triumphed and revenge was finally his. Or so he thought.
Scarlet was ready to die, but she couldn't allow herself to get away so easily. What would people think of her if they knew she had given in to him? She wouldn't be remembered for the girl who gave away not just her own life but the lives of the people who trusted her enough to protect them. So she let her hands drop as Damien let his guard down and she took her chance.
She thrust the stake into Damien's arm and he staggered backwards clinging to his arm. There was no blood and for a moment Scarlet was shocked. She had seen so much blood that day not having the stain of red appear on the white shirt was surprising. He was a vampire, he couldn't bleed, and no more blood would be shed. Damien was weak.
The moment a vampire is feeding is when they are at their weakest and Scarlet had caught him in the middle of a meal. Scarlet was not her strongest after losing a pint of blood but she was strong enough. Damien tried to move towards her again but she was quick this time. The stake plunged deep into Damien’s chest making him gasp. He was frozen to the spot and impossible or not Scarlet swore she saw the colour drain from his face. Damien’s knees buckled and he collapsed onto the floor with a thud that echoed around the room.
Scarlet limped slowly over to Nate, trying her best not to collapse from exhaustion and pain. She put her good hand lightly on his shoulder as he cried silently over Ryan's body. She remembered how many times Ryan had put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down and began to cry again, but she roughly pushed her tears away. She had to be strong, just for a little longer.
"It's over," she said "Everything, over in a split second."
"We should bury him," Nate said calming down a little. Nate and Ryan had spent so much time together they were like brothers and when Ryan died a part of him died too. "He should have a proper burial."
Scarlet nodded. "Let's take him outside."
They were about to move his body when there was a noise from behind them. When they turned around Damien was back up on his knees pulling the wood out of his chest. He got up to his feet and smiled his sly smile at them as they watched his wound heal before their eyes.
"Nice try," he said, "I really didn't think you had it in you."
"But how?" Nate asked.
"When I was brought back I told the witch to cast a spell she had found whilst searching for a way to set me free. She willingly cast the spell, giving me all her powers, after all, who would refuse Damien Night, leader of the legion of the monsters?
The first thing I did with those powers was take the energy that was keeping me alive as a vampire and put it into something no one could destroy making myself the 'living' equivalent to the endless night."
"So where is the source of your life then?" Nate asked. He was now the one that was angry over what had happened, which was a very rare thing.
"Do you think I'm stupid enough to tell you?"
Nate just shook his head and started to step forward but Scarlet held him back.
"Nate we're done here, let's go," she said calmly
"No rematch?" Damien questioned, "You hate me enough to stake me and you're just going to leave?"
"I'm sorry to disappoint you but my revenge driven power has gone. Loving someone gives you courage and being loved by someone gives you strength. I had the courage to come here because I was with the people I loved."
Nate understood that she loved him and Ryan in different ways but still appreciated the thought.
"And now I know I was loved by someone, I have the strength to give up on revenge and use the energy I usually waste on it to protect the people who need me. If you attack, I will fight you. I'll fight with everything I have and I'll probably be back here
even if you don't attack, but the next time we meet I promise you my reasoning will not be selfish. I will be stronger, not because I am driven by anger or revenge, but because I know that people rely on me and trust me."
Damien for the first time in his life was speechless. For a man who lived to seek revenge, everything Scarlet had said seemed ridiculous but he would not let her know that.
"Until next time." He said keeping his lips curved into a smug grin.
Scarlet, who had been walking over to Nate, paused for a second but then continued to walk. She would not let herself be angered by him anymore. This once she would let him have the last word.
Scarlet and Nate left the castle carrying Ryan’s body, ready to find somewhere to bury him. They walked in silence both thinking the same thing.
This fight was far from over.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends