Chapter 11

After a few hours of rest, I realized how thirsty I was so I went to go find Contessa. I walked past where Jacy and Adolph were sleeping and crept into Contessa’s tent. She heard me before I woke her up, “What is it?” “You want to go hunt with me?” “Love too.” She smiled and slipped into her black long jacket over her pants and shirt. We took off into the woods.

          After hunting down a few animals and getting our fill of blood, we just decided to explore for a bit. “I didn’t realize how thirsty I was till I tasted that blood, can never get enough of that.” Contessa was definitely in a better mood now as we walked past some abandoned houses and a few caves.

          “So do you know much longer it will be to get to the border?” asked Contessa as she fiddled with long curly red hair twirling it in her fingers. “Jacy said maybe about another day or two; depends on if we run into any problems.” I said and out of the corner of my eye I caught something lying on the ground about five feet away. Contessa noticed something caught my attention, “What is it Sevana?” I held up my hand and walked over to what was on the ground.

          I bent over to pick it up, it was an old book. I opened it up and inside was tons of pages of letters. They were smeared like it has been in water and the cover was black like it was in a fire somewhere. “What do you think it is?” I asked Contessa as I brought it over to her. She took it from me and looked it over, “It looks like some sort of diary of some kind.” She then flipped it over and gasped. “What?” I stared at her waiting for an answer. “It’s nothing I thought I saw something I recognized.”

          “Well we should get back before the guys worry about us too much.” I said as I tucked the book under my arm. We headed back just as the guys were waking up. “Where were you ladies?” asked Jacy as he stretched. “Just out for a hunt and a walk, clear our heads before we had to travel again.” I said hiding the book from his view. “Alright, me and Adolph are going to get some food, Maddox will stay here and make sure you two ladies stay safe till we get back.” Contessa rolled her eyes as she walked back to her tent and went inside.

          “Jacy we don’t need to be under constant watch all the time, we are vampires and can take care of ourselves.” I said with a little but of annoyance in my voice. “Very well, Maddox will join us then. If you need us you know how to contact me.” Jacy nodded and then was gone. I was walking back to my tent when I heard someone talking. I turned but none was behind me, so I was walking back to my tent when I heard Contessa’s voice; it almost seemed like she was talking to someone.

          As you know vampires have an acute sense of hearing so all I had to do was concentrate on what she was saying. She was whispering and I had to really concentrate on what she was saying, “She can’t know. If we tell her she will be devastated. She found that book, her mother’s diary. Thank god she can’t read it, because of it being half burned and unreadable from the elements.” Then another voice that I didn’t recognize spoke it was a male, “She must know what happened to her family, Contessa. She has the right to know like I had the right to know.”

          That was all I needed to hear, I suddenly burst through Contessa’s tent to catch whomever she was talking too, but when I looked she was the only one there. I was furious and turned to leave, “Sevana wait!” Contessa yelled behind me. I kept walking but she suddenly appeared in front of me. “Let me explain what you heard.” “I think I heard enough, you know why my parents were killed and you still want to keep it a secret from me?!” “That’s not why I kept it a secret; I did it to protect you from being killed!”

          “You better damn well tell me what the hell is going on!” I hissed. “Fine. Durstan sent an order out for your parents to be killed, and to save you for himself. He wanted you turned into a vampire so he could take your powers from you without killing you. Your parents knew about his plans through my father, which is why my parents were killed, and before they had a chance to move Durstan surprised them by an attack in their own home.”

          “Graven was the one that turned you, he is Durstan’s right hand man and he was supposed to bring you back to him after you had been turned but I found you before he could do so. This infuriated Durstan enough to kidnap you himself.” I stood there in utter shock, trying to take in all that she had said to me. “So basically you are telling me that all of this was planned?” my voice had a hint of venom in it. “Me finding you was not planned, finding Jacy and his pack was not planned, you finding out about your parents like this was not planned, but yes it has all taken place and you need to know for your own good.” Contessa’s face fell as she stared at the ground.

          “Did Jacy know about this?” I continued to stare at her as she kept looking at the ground. She whispered, “Yes.” “And yet you two didn’t bother to tell me!” I tried to keep my voice calm, but knowing they were keeping a secret like this from me was infuriating. “We were going to, we just didn’t know when would be the best time and then you found that book of your mother’s…” she couldn’t finish her sentence. “I’ve heard enough…you have lied to me long enough. I am leaving and don’t you dare send anyone after me, if you do I will kill anyone who tries to stop me.” I turned and took off towards the woods, tears streaming down my face.

Nicolas’ POV:

          I finally found an old abandoned house that would provide enough shelter for me, for now. I opened the wooden door and limped myself inside. It was dusty and dark, but there was a bed and an old chair. Then a sudden pain hit my stomach and I knew what it was…hunger. I had forgotten all about food, I was used to just living on blood and that would make me stronger. But, I was human again and if I didn’t find food or water soon I would die.

          I decided to rest for a little while, maybe sleep and then decide to find some food. I laid there on the old bed while the sunlight was creeping through the window and I felt the warmth of it on my face and I was fast asleep. I woke up stiff and sore, I was still in the same position that I had been in when I feel asleep, the sun was still shining through the window and I sat up and stretched as my muscles stiffened even more.

          I stood up and was hit by that sudden pain to eat again. So I decided to go see what I could find, maybe if I could kill an animal I could cook it for meat. I had to find a weapon first, so I searched the small house. After about 3o minutes of searching the only thing I found that might actually help was a rusty old knife. I found an old jacket in the closet so I threw that over my thin shirt, and took off into the woods.

          After about an hour and my stomach making more pains and sounds, I hadn’t had any luck on finding anything to even get close to killing. I leaned onto a trunk of a tree and tired to figure out a plan when I heard a strange hissing noise coming from behind me. I turned to see if it was an animal, and then suddenly I was on the ground and something was on top of me hissing angrily.

          I tried to push it off of me when it spoke, “What are you!” it was a woman’s voice and I thought it sounded familiar. “A person who you just jumped on.” I said in a sarcastic tone. “I could kill you human, are you working for Durstan or Contessa?” Her tone was getting more and more irritated by the minute. She had asked me about Contessa and Durstan…then it hit me, I was being pinned to the ground by Sevana. The last time she was near me she smelled me as a vampire, not a human.

          “Sevana?” I asked with a sincere tone. “Who wants to know?” she asked in a dark tone. “It’s me Nicolas. I’m human now.” I tried to sound serious but reassuring at the same time. “Prove it.” “Well, I would but you are on top of me still.” She slowly climbed off of me and I stood up and brushed the dirt off of my jacket and shook it out of my hair. She was standing with her hands on her hips, looking me directly in the eyes. “I was one that helped you escape the castle, I kissed you.” She stared at me in shock; her face went from serious to embarrassment.

          She took a step forward towards me, “Nicolas? But how?” she reached her pale hand out to touch the side of my face and I wanted to kiss her again, but refrained and took her hand from my face and held onto it firmly. “The ancient council decided that my punishment for helping you escape was to strip me of my vampric powers and make me human. So here I am.” “I’m so sorry.” Her eyes were a warm amber color and they looked at me lovingly.

          Sevana was such a beautiful woman I had ever seen and every time she was near me I wanted to hold her in my arms and just kiss her every minute, but now that I was a human that couldn’t happen. Besides she needed someone who was better than me, I wasn’t her soul mate if I was then she would be drawn to me more and more and it felt like she cared about me as a friend and nothing more. It killed me to know that she wasn’t mine, but someone else’s. Her voice brought me back to reality.

          “Is it possible for you to be turned back?” she was searching my eyes. “I really don’t know; I’m sure it would be like it was when a human is turned. Complete and utter torture. I would never ask anyone to do that to me; I would rather endure this human life then go through that again.” “What if I wanted to change you back as a favor in return for you saving my life.” She was serious; she wanted to change me back. “I couldn’t ask you to do that, Sevana.” I took her other hand in mine and stared into her beautiful amber eyes.

          “I was punished for saving you; I will take this punishment because what I did for you was more important than keeping my vampirism. You are more important than anything I could have given up. It’s not for you to change me back; you would be tied to me in a way. Blood ties.” “I know this Nicolas, but if I don’t change you…you will die.” “At least let’s go back to the house that I found so we aren’t prey for others.” She nodded and helped me back to the old dark house.

Sevana’s POV:

          We finally reached an old wooden house and I helped Nicolas inside, we reached the bed in the back and he sat down the edge. I looked at him; he looked so fragile and weak. He had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes weren’t his normal dark grey they were almost black now. I sat down next to him, he smelled so different, which was why I had attacked him in the woods in the first place. Last time I smelled him he smelled like me, pleasant.

          He had his head in his hands, staring at the floor. “Well what do I have to do now?” “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you will have to drain me of my blood and then have me drink some of yours for the transformation to take place.” “Alright you should lie down.” He nodded and then laid back onto the bed. “I’m going to apologize before hand about all the pain you will go through.” “It’s okay, I already forgive you.” I leaned down to his neck and my fangs slowly extended and then I slowly sunk them in. He let out a big gasp and tried to hold in the pain he was feeling as I drained him slowly.

          Finally after a few minutes I bit my wrist and make him drink from it. He started slow at first and then suddenly got stronger; I had to pull my hand away from him as he gasped in pain again. It killed me to do this to him, but it would be for the better. He groaned and thrashed for a few minutes, and then he completely stopped and was silent. The pain must have made him unconscious.

          It had been three days, and Nicolas has only moved once in that time. I was starting to get worried about him. Finally in the middle of the third day after I had gotten back from hunting, he was sitting up in bed, just staring. “Nicolas?” I asked with concern. I walked into the bedroom but was suddenly flown backwards against the wall with Nicolas inches from my face, I was terrified maybe the transformation had made him evil or different or…I then noticed he was smiling and then he said, “Man does it feel good to have these powers again!” He then backed up and released me.

          “You son of a…” I started to scream at him. “Oh come on Sevana I’m sure you did the same when you were first changed.” I smiled at him and turned to walk into the main room. “So you feel good?” I asked sitting down on one of the chairs. “Definitely, I feel amazing!” his fangs were sparkling white as he smiled. “Well good I was getting worried about you there for a while. But now that you are a vampire again, I don’t have to worry about you.” I teased. “Oh really? You didn’t think I could have taken care of myself?” I looked into his dark grey eyes as he got closer to me and stared into my eyes.

          “What?” I asked finding myself getting nervous as he continued to look me in the eyes. “Nothing,” he then turned around, “what were you doing out in the woods anyways?” “Well if you must know I was clearing my head.” I got up from the chair I was sitting in and paced in the room. “Clearing your head from what?” he asked as he sat down in the other chair. “From all the lies that I have believed all this time.” I started to get upset as I started pacing back and forth faster. I hadn’t even heard Nicolas get up from the chair but when I turned to walk back the other direction he was standing in front of me.

          “What lies?” he asked his hands on my shoulders. I couldn’t look up at him and I just closed my eyes as I spoke and told him everything that Contessa had told me about my parents, and Durstan. “I had no idea. All this time that I was on the council I never knew the real Durstan till I was asked to stay as a visitor in his castle and finally discovered the real him.” I still had my eyes closed and felt his hand under my chin as he lifted it up to his face, I opened my eyes and his face was inches from mine. “Nicolas….” I breathed.

          He leaned in and as his lips touched mine and my eyes closed his kiss got more passionate and filled with desire. He seemed like he was kissing me like he was never going to see me ever again. Finally the kiss ended both of us trying to catch our breaths. “What the hell was that for?” I asked finally able to speak. “I figured that would be the last time I would have the chance to do that, so I was going to take advantage of the time I had with you and make sure I don’t regret anything I didn’t do.” He smiled. “You are unbelievable Nicolas!” I walked out the door and slammed it behind me.