Chapter 24

Chase allowed a shadow to appear across his face as I opened his journal. I took it from the top. It was scraggly and it read:

This book is property of Tyler Connors Chase Ross. Beware!

The lake was shimmering in the moonlight and the water was still. A gentle breeze swept through the forest. She stood in the clearing. Teardrops streamed down her cheeks, like raindrops onto the crimson leaves of the forest floor. She was bound by blood and she could never tell anyone her secret because if she did, the consequences would be great. Vines curled around her black shoes as she tried to escape, but no matter where she ran to, the demons from her past haunted her. She felt a cold hand on her bare shoulder. It sent chills down her spine and in that moment, she knew it was time. He stood on the balcony, watching the lake. He longed for her to be beside him, but he knew that was impossibility, a complete and utter impossibility. Turning away from the lake, he sighed and proceeded back to his writing desk. It was his only outlet. Ever since that one little incident, he had no other way of taking his mind off of her. It seemed that the only thing he could do was write about something different and lose himself in somebody else’s world, he would much rather do that than face the pain and suffering of his own. He couldn’t write anything - not tonight. Everything was worth nothing. All of his emotions were impossible to express in words and he was a writer - he was supposed to be the master of words. Nothing could compare to the loneliness that was building up in him and passing through every single drop of blood in his body with a daunting chill. The loneliness then transformed into anger towards whoever did this to her - whoever did this to him. She was a part of him and that would never change no matter what anybody did to try to change that. His emotions were jumbled again - he was now half-determined and half-frightened to get her back. He was like a wolf with a burning desire to join a pack, but with a frightening sensation on what they might do to him.

Despite everything, he picked up a pen and began to write about how it used to be. He would not usually write about his past experiences because it was too painful for him to even recall, but tonight was different. Tonight, he had let his guard down slightly and was welcoming in the nostalgia he had blocked out since he was fifteen years old. His pale hands glided across the page, with a tight grip on his pencil. It was one of his fondest memories of her and it played on his mind every single night before he closed his emerald eyes and was taken to the land of his subconscious. He was never any good at inception - he always got straight to the point, because it was less work for him, less painful. It didn’t matter tonight because tonight it had been exactly three years since she’d ran away. This was only a rough draft; this was only him writing exactly what was on his mind.

"Her eyes glowed like the azure crystals they were, even when they were behind a mask, I could spot her from a mile away. They were like an ocean, indecisive and at the same time, a startling certainty to them. She looked so elegant in her strapless black dress and her eye mask she wore. Her chrome coloured locket helped draw attention away from her dress and that made her parents feel more at ease. Her long black hair cascaded off her back like a waterfall, flowing freely and unrestricted. I lost myself in her gaze and was one million miles away until somebody had shocked me back into sudden consciousness. I extended my hand to her and asked her, my voice almost quivering with nervousness,

"May I have this dance?" She smiled playfully, in that special way that she always did and it made my heart skip a beat. She went to take my hand, but then walked straight past it and whispered in my ear,

"No, you may not." With those three words, I smiled and stopped her dead in tracks by placing my hand firmly on her shoulder. She didn’t respond to questions well and she never asked them. She only responded orders and only gave orders and accepted dares.

"I dare you." My voice had a lot more stealth to it, even though it was a cool whisper in her ear behind her black chasm of hair. She lifted my hand effortlessly and walked into the vast crowd of people. I followed her carefully until we reached the castle doors. She slipped out of them like a ghost and I lifted the heavy doors after her, following her to the lakefront. The castle took up most of the moonlight normally, but when the moon was low, it lit up the lake and it was a truly amazing sight to see. We walked along the lakefront until we got to what seemed like the centre of the lake. I wrapped my arm around her waist and drew her close to me. Our lips locked and like fire and water, we balanced each other out. She pulled away and smiled at me and I whispered to her, "I don’t ever want this night to end." She trapped me in a zealous embrace and I reciprocated with the same amount of passion. We stayed like that for moments on end and I just wanted to press pause and stay there for the rest of my life.

Suddenly, lightning hit the nearby oak tree and she abruptly pulled away and ran as far away from me as she could. I tried to follow after her but she was… scared of me - or scared of something. I was the only person she trusted in this town of Skeldergate. She had told me her secret, but I did not care. I loved her no matter what. She ran out of the church hall and into the forest, looking back, frightened to see if I would follow her. Of course, I followed her and then she whispered to me, her voice as cold as ice, "Go, Tyler! You should not be here, not tonight!" But I refused to leave her. A man jumped down from a tree and smiled,

"Now, my child, I want you to feed." The strange man looked at me and she winced but obeyed. I stood still. I knew she was a vampire, but I was in love with her and I did not care what she was. She whispered in Russian the words that I knew as, ‘I’m sorry, my love’ and then her fangs sunk into my neck. At first, it was excruciating but then I tuned out to it. She could have killed me, right then and there and I would not have put up a fight. When she released me, I fell to the floor, allowing my eyes to close. Before I fell into unconsciousness, I heard the man say, "And now we wait."

I awoke later in a cave. Somebody stood there. A man, with dark hair and red eyes; with a haunting voice stood over me, a Siberian husky at his side.

"We were able to get the venom out of you, just, but it comes with a consequence." The man’s face turned dark, "We had to make you a lycan - a werewolf." My eyes widened as I remembered what she had said to me. ‘We have one enemy. The lycans. They want our blood to give them eternal life but we cannot give it to them. I want you to promise me something. Please promise that you will never betray me and become a lycan; no matter what.’ I gave her my oath and I was not going to become a lycan. I refused to break my promise. If I did break my promise unintentionally, then the person who made me break it would have to pay the price.

"Why. Did. You. Do. That?" I demanded, angrily, feeling my whole body heating up with anger. The man tried to tell me that I would have died if I was not turned into a lycan. I would either die or be turned into a vampire. That would not be so bad. I could be with her forever.

His writing was hardly legible but he did not need to worry about others not being able to read it. Smiling, he thought of how she could always read his handwriting no matter how messy it was because her handwriting was worse. The smile soon faded into a frown of sadness. He put the pencil down. He couldn’t write anymore - not about this. It was too painful for both his heart and his memory. He’d clung onto this memory so tightly that it was permanently burnt into his head, engraved, like words on a tombstone. Nothing would ever get rid of it and he would never want to forget it; he would never want to forget her. He sat on his bed and then decided to close his eyes. At least when he slept, he would see nothing but black rather than wherever he looked, see a reminder of her. He would look around and no matter what; he could not shake the image, crystal clear that flowed through his mind like a waterfall; the image of the beautiful Serenity Mavra.

I closed the journal. Serenity Mavra? I wanted to demand to know who she was but I said that I wouldn’t make any comments about it. At least not any bad comments. I thought that if I read on, I would find out who she was. She was a Mavra and she was a vampire. That didn’t make any sense, considering that she was of werewolf descent. Chase was just staring at mine.

"You can read it, you know?" I told him. An eye for an eye; or in this case, a journal for a journal. "You said I would hate you for something; what was it?" He frowned and his face darkened.

"I really don’t want to say it out loud," his tone almost sounded threatening, as he opened my diary and began to read. I was thankful I didn’t have anything in there that I was ashamed of, apart from the rants I went on about the nuns and how they were the biggest b*****s you’d ever meet, but when I met Chelsea, I finally realised just how wrong I was. I began again from the last word.

He could not write anymore tonight, but he would write it all down. He had to get it off his chest somehow, but he knew he could not tell anyone. Not even his best friend, Ashley Jackson. He had given his oath to Serenity that he would always keep her secret and guard it with his life - even if they were now sworn enemies.

Finally, after months of pondering upon the same thing, he finally was able to pick up his pen and write again; even though his surroundings were different and he no longer lived in Skeldergate. Finally, he gave in and had to let nostalgia sweep him away before something new took him and erased all he knew of Serenity.

The man looked at me with a sense of sorrow, but I did not need his pity - if anything, he was the one needing pity because I would show no mercy. He made me break a promise and so he would have to pay the ultimate price. His eyes widened as I reached into my pocket took out a silver knife. The terror in his face was comforting, but it still was not enough to make him regret what he did. What would that take? I cornered the man and he smiled,

"Now, let us not be hasty, Mr. Connors," I was hasty alright. I wanted him to know how I felt when he told me I was a lycan - destroyed and defeated. I wanted him to know the pain he had caused me. Serenity was nowhere to be seen. The cave was dark, but I had the feeling it was near the forest. Coldly, I stabbed the man directly in his ice-cold heart.