Prophecy: Child of Light (Vampires Realm Series Book 1) (Reading Sample) - Felicity Heaton (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📗

time, Valentine.” The well-spoken voice of Mathias roused Valentine from his perusal of her and he returned his attention to his friend.

“Too long, and unfortunately the circumstances surrounding my visit are dire to say the very least.”

“You’d best come in then,” Mathias said and Valentine went to follow him into the house but the old scribe paused just inside the door. He didn’t look around as he spoke. “Tell her not to worry. I’m not going to hurt her.”

Valentine looked back at Prophecy who had remained standing in the same spot.

“He’s an Aurorea.” Her voice was quiet and he could hear the mistrust in it. The last thing he needed was her making a scene in front of his old friend. She should have known that Mathias would be one of his bloodline.

He walked back down the steps to her.

“It’s safe. Mathias may be my kin, but he has no interest in reporting to Kalinor.”

She looked up at him through her hair and kept her eyes fixed on his for a brief moment before moving past him towards the door.

Turning on the spot, he followed her up the steps and into the building. He looked out into the street as he closed the heavy door, checking that no one had seen them enter, and then went to find Mathias.

He didn’t need to look behind him to know that Prophecy was following. He could feel her. All he had to do was reach out with his senses the tiniest amount and she was there. He kept them locked on her as he walked, leading her deeper into the house. All of the corridors were dimly lit by low burning lamps on the walls and on tables around the rooms.

“You really should start using this modern invention called electricity,” he remarked as he found Mathias pawing over a stack of books.

Mathias removed his glasses and looked around him.

The room was lit more brightly than the others they had passed through, but the walls were so dark it appeared gloomy. There were books everywhere, stacked in haphazard piles, some of them open but most of them closed. They lined the walls, covered the tables and even took up some of the chairs.

Valentine cleared one of them off and intimated for Prophecy to sit in it. He removed the books from the other chair by the fire and carried them over to Mathias where he had remained at the table, his fingers skimming down a page of a tome that looked as old as he was.

“It hurts my eyes,” Mathias answered him and then closed the book and began searching for another.

“A thousand years and you’ve spent every one of them with your nose in a book, old man. Surely you’ve read them all by now?” He picked up the book Mathias had been reading and raised a brow. “The lights would not hurt your eyes if you did not spend all your time in the darkness. I cannot see why you insist on wearing those glasses. You would not have a problem with reading if you changed.”

“I can’t. Emily may see.”

Valentine nearly dropped the book. “Emily?”

“My housekeeper.”

Valentine looked around at the messy room again and then back at his friend. “You have a housekeeper? I have to say she is not doing a very good job. I would find a new one.”

“And do what with Emily? She has no family to go to,” Mathias said and turned his back.

Valentine frowned as he realised why.

“She is human?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The whole world had gone insane. It wasn’t just him. “You have a human housekeeper?”

Mathias glanced at him and then went back to rearranging the books. “Don’t give me that look.”

“Get rid of her. She will find out what you are one day and then you shall have the Law Keepers coming for you. It is a sin to reveal our existence to them. You know it is.”

“Valentine, do not tell me what to do. You have come to my house with a Caelestis.”

He leaned against the table and looked at Prophecy. She was sitting in the old high backed leather armchair idly flicking through one of the books he’d cleared off the chair.

Mathias was right. He had committed a worse sin than keeping a human. At least Mathias could say that he intended to kill her or turn her. What excuse did he have if the Law Keepers found him?

“What are you doing, Valentine, aligning yourself with a Caelestis? Is this what you’ve worked your way towards all of your life?”

“Do not remind me.” He looked away from her and toyed with the corner of a book. He stared at it while he picked at the frayed edge of the thick cover. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Mathias. He didn’t want to see the look in his eyes. “I need your help.”

“With her?” Mathias said and he nodded in confirmation. “Why?”

“She is…it’s hard…I had to bring her here, you understand. There was nowhere else to take her. I knew that she would be safe here.” He continued to pick at the book, keeping his eyes downcast while he waited for the inevitable question. He told himself again that this was the right decision. Prophecy would be safest here.

“Safe from what?”

“Everyone and everything.” He raised his eyes to meet Mathias’. “She is the child of the prophecy.”

Mathias didn’t say anything. He just stared across the room at her.

Valentine waited to see what his friend’s reaction would be. Mathias was always researching one thing or another, and he loved to look into prophecies more than anything. Surely, he knew something that could help. Valentine knew there had to be a reason he’d seen those things in her blood. There had to be something about the prophecy that he hadn’t been told.

“She’s young,” Mathias said. “So very small. I always thought it would be a male.”

Valentine smiled faintly.

“What is she doing?” Mathias frowned and nodded towards her.

Valentine looked across to see her sucking on the back of her hand while she read the book. He frowned too.

“She does not realise that she is doing it. She had her first kill the other night. You know…” He didn’t need to say anything more in order for Mathias to understand.

“It’s been a millennia since my Hunger, but I can’t forget it. There is fresh blood in the refrigerator. She’s welcome to it.”

Valentine looked thankful for his offer and then let his eyes stray back to Prophecy. “She wanted my blood when we were travelling here.”

“I presume you refused. She isn’t strong enough.”

“Of course I refused, but I think she’s stronger than she looks. She threw me across a room in Prague. I underestimated her.” His hand moved to his stomach and he remembered what it had felt like to be flung against the wall like a rag doll. Everything about her seemed to be strong, including her blood.

Mathias smiled broadly. “An easy mistake to make when they look so frail. Feed her. She’ll need to be strong if she’s to cope with everything that is happening. The Hunger will only make things worse.”

He gave Mathias another smile of gratitude and then walked over to Prophecy. She looked up at him as he approached, her hand leaving her mouth and her eyes wide. He extended his hand to her and intimated the door with his other one. When she placed hers into his, he tensed his jaw and steeled himself against his desire to take his away. Her fingers were soft against his palm and it felt strange to have her hand in his.

He closed his eyes and cursed himself when her hand slipped from his and she walked past him towards the door. He shouldn’t have helped her stand. He should have kept his distance and just told her where to go to get blood to feed her Hunger. Why did he feel the need to help her? Why did he want to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be fine whenever he saw her struggling to come to terms with her new life?

Glancing across at Mathias, he found his friend was watching them, or more specifically him, with a look of curiosity. He gave Mathias a warning look and walked past him. It was bad enough that he felt like this inside without someone picking him up on it.

He found Prophecy waiting just the other side of the door in the hall. She looked lost. He realised that in more than one way she was. He’d turned her world upside down, had stolen her family from her, and the life she’d known. She had a lot to deal with and if she wanted to be close to him then he shouldn’t stop her. It didn’t mean anything. The things he felt were nothing. It was just remnants of her blood and a strange sense of duty to her caused by what he’d done. He felt nothing. She was a Caelestis. He was only helping her because he was responsible for her discovery. That was it. It was nothing that he felt for her. It was forbidden.

He ignored the confused look on her face when he realised that he’d been silently staring at her while lost in his thoughts. Leading her down the hall, he held the door to the kitchen open for her. He flicked the light switch and she immediately took in her surroundings. To him, it just looked like any other kitchen—empty white cupboards, white refrigerator, and dirty work surfaces.

Opening a cupboard, he shook his head when he found they weren’t empty any more. Mathias had clearly been maintaining a good façade for his human housekeeper. There were all kinds of vile food piled up on the shelves, stacked as poorly as the books in the other room.

He opened the refrigerator and bypassed the various foodstuffs as he searched for the blood. He found it at the back in a steel canister. Taking it out, he unscrewed the lid and raised a brow. He’d never been one for cold blood, not unless it was absolutely necessary. He took a deep breath. Still, it was good blood.

Taking down a glass, he filled it up and almost felt like teasing Prophecy with it when she immediately reached out to him for it. She sidled up close and licked her lips, her eyes pleading with him to let her have it. She looked like a child who was waiting for her first taste of blood—eager and desperate. He handed it to her. She stared at it for a few seconds and then began to drink. She was hungry. In under a second, she’d downed the glass and was looking to him for more.

He checked the refrigerator to make sure there was more than just the canister he held and then refilled her glass.

She took a sip and then stopped, looking at him with questioning eyes.

“It’s human blood.”

He nodded. “Were you expecting animal blood? Mathias drains the body of every last drop so he doesn’t have to go out to hunt as often. It draws less attention to him. It is a good way of working if you can stomach it being cold.”

“Can’t you?” she said.

He looked down at the canister. The thought of cold blood turned his stomach. “If I have to, but only when I am desperate.”

“That’s a no then,” she said and finished off the blood. She placed the empty glass down on the work surface and licked her lips.

When she looked up at him, her eyes dropped to his neck and she frowned. She stepped towards him, her eyes remaining locked on his throat as her hand came up.

“That’s some scar.” She reached out and went to touch it but he evaded her fingers and moved away from her.

When he looked back at her, she was still standing with her hand raised and ready to touch him. She looked at him with eyes full of