“No. I won’t take anymore from you.”
“Mother, please.”
“No! We’ve taken too much already.”
I was dreaming again. It was as if I was floating above the people below, watching from afar; the same as the last time with Skye. A woman sat on what looked like a hard dirt floor, leaning against a concrete wall. Her legs were pulled up, her arms wrapped around them. Long, dirty blonde hair hung in ragged clumps around her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes full of despair. I knew who she was, who they all were. I instantly saw the resemblance and felt a connection to them that I’d never felt with anyone else before. A pull towards them that was so strong it scared me. My grandparents. My father.
“Bronwyn, you must. It is the only way.”
“It only weakens him. He needs to be strong so he can fight when the time comes. He must win the throne back from Aldric.” Her breath caught, and then she rasped, “What did we do wrong, Alec? How did our son become who he is today? How could he do this to us?”
“I don’t know, love. What I do know, is that you need to keep your strength up. I cannot rule without you by my side. You will take what Alexander is offering.”
As I watched, the man kneeling in front of her turned to look at Alec. I gasped when I got my first look at my father. A face ravaged by the hell he was going through, had been going through for years now. Deep lines etched into its pale surface, a long scar going from his temple to his chin. Eyes exactly like mine, glittering with anger and determination.
“The time is coming soon, Father. I feel it.”
“But how?” the queen whispered, her hand going to Alexander’s shoulder. “We are stuck in here with no way out. The only time anyone comes to us is when Aldric allows one of us to feed.”
“I feel them near,” he said, a pained look flittering across his face before it hardened in resolve. “My daughters are coming home to us.”
“No, they mustn’t!” Bronwyn cried, shaking her head adamantly. “Aldric will kill them!”
“I hate it as much as you do, Bronwyn,” the king said, crossing the room to lower himself down next to her. “I don’t want anything to happen to our granddaughters, but their destinies were set in place the moment they were born. If what Alex says is true, and they are on their way here, then Fate has chosen this life for them.”
Daughters? Granddaughters? As in, more than one? What were they talking about? Was this real?
“They are coming,” Alex said gruffly, raking a hand through his thick, shoulder-length hair, wincing when his fingers caught in the tangled mess. “Blayke will go to her mother. She is a huntress now. One of the chosen ones.”
“How do you know?” Bronwyn whispered, her hand going to her throat.
The prince sighed, moving to sit beside his mother, his back against the wall. “Because that’s the only reason she would come back here. If she came into her powers.”
“Maybe she just wanted to see her mother?” Bronwyn whispered, and I heard the hope in her voice. Hope Alex quickly extinguished.
“Her grandmother is a powerful sorceress. Gwen put a spell on Blayke when they sent her away so that she wouldn’t remember anything from this life. Alyiah,” Alex paused, lowering his head, “she wanted to give our daughter a chance at a normal existence. One that didn’t include vampires and hunters. One where she wouldn’t be forced to fight against the demons of the world.”
“So, our granddaughter grew up with no idea of who she really is? Who her family is?” I heard the shock in the king’s voice, saw the anger in his face. “Do you know how dangerous that is for her, Alex? What if one of our enemies found out about her? What if they tracked her down? There’s nothing we could have done to protect her.”
“It wasn’t my choice,” Alex said, his pain and agony there for all to see. “Alyiah took her from me. I had no idea where Blayke was sent. Then, not too long afterwards, Aldric turned against us. I thought, maybe it was for the better. At least, she was safe at the time.”
“And Bellame?” the king demanded. “Does she know of this world?”
“She is a vampire, Dad. She has to know some.”
“How much?”
My father shrugged helplessly, rubbing a hand over his face. “I honestly don’t know. She was just a little girl when I saw her last. Sweet, innocent. I wasn’t going to tell her about the war we were fighting against the rogues. Against my own brother!”
“Is she safe?”
“She was,” Alex said, pulling his knees up and resting his forearms on them. “I doubt that is the case anymore, since I feel her coming closer to Angel’s Pass.”
“Do you think she knows of the danger here?” the king asked, his voice tinged with worry.
“I left her a letter,” Alex said quietly. “I told her to come home. That it was up to her to defeat Aldric.”
The queen gasped, shaking her head as more tears streamed down her face. “Alexander, why would you do that? You have put her in so much danger.”
“She is a Christoph,” my grandfather stated, “she will always be in danger. And she is the rightful heir to the throne now. If we are gone, she is the true leader of the vampires. They need her.”
“But is it worth her life, Alec?”
“She was raised by one of my best soldiers, Mother. My good friend. The only one I trusted at the time to take care of her.”
“Marcus Beckman.”
“Yes, although he goes by Marcus Rose now. He promised me he would train her to fight. To defend herself, so that she would be prepared when the time came for her to join the battle against the rogues.”
Bronwyn wiped at her tears, laying her head down on her husband’s shoulder. “Does she know about us?”
Alex shook his head, saying quietly, “I don’t know. She didn’t when she was a child, but I’m sure Marcus has told her everything by now.”
“I just can’t believe it,” the king muttered, sliding his arm around his wife to hold her close.
“What?”
“Twin sisters. One destined to be a huntress of vampires, the other to someday rule over the entire vampire race.”
Twins? I not only had a sister, but she was my twin? That couldn’t be true… could it?
“Alyiah only hunted rogue vampires, Dad. She never killed the innocent.”
“Let’s hope that’s still the case after everything that’s happened,” Bronwyn whispered. “After losing you and both of your children, who knows what the woman is capable of.”
Alex’s eyes looked troubled, but he answered confidently, “It won’t matter, Mother. Alyiah will never kill an innocent. She has a good heart.”
“You still love her.”
Alexander Christoph raised his head, his eyes taking on an unnatural glow as he replied, “With all that I am.”