by G. Bailey
Looking at Freddy now, I don't know how I missed that he’s Wyatt’s son. They look so similar in their faces, the same nose, and same grin. The eyes are his mother's, and the blond tips on his hair must be from his dad.
"You okay? You looked at me weird," Freddy says.
"Sorry, just a long day ahead."
"My new, little buddy, I need to spell Winter, and you have training," Atti says from the doorway.
"Okay." He drags out the word and hugs me.
"He has the same moody attitude as someone else," Atti says once Freddy leaves.
"I knew I recognised it from somewhere." I chuckle.
"I made this for you, it will keep the spell on you as long as you keep it on and no silver eyes. It will make them look brown to everyone and mask your scent, so you just smell like a vampire."
Atti holds up a long necklace with a pink crystal on end.
"What kind of crystal is it?" I ask. It looks like nothing I’ve seen before, the inside of the stone has dozens of little pink things moving, and the outside is translucent.
"None that humans have ever seen or heard of. They are called Rose hearts. We grow them with our magic. We grow a lot of different crystal trees in our city. They all do different things, most are used to contain magic. Like Jaxson’s ward, there’s a large glass in the house somewhere that links his blood to it and keeps the department up. I'll have to ask him who did it for him. I did the last one for Fergus,” he says with a little hint of sadness. “This crystal keeps magic inside it. A little of mine is in it, and it will make sure my spell doesn't wear off,” he says as he walks over to me.
“Also, don’t let anyone see it; witch stones are well known to hold spells,” Atti tells me seriously.
"Okay, let's get this done," I say, getting off the bed and walking over to him. He puts the necklace over my head. His grey eyes start glowing as he speaks some words I can't understand or hear. A warm glow fills my chest by the necklace, and I look down to see it glowing before it stops.
"It's worked." Atti grins, and I smile back. Atti is so handsome when he’s this close. From a distance, he looks scary with his massive build and huge hands that look like he could squash you. It’s when you get close and see the playfulness in his eyes that the giant suddenly becomes something else. He’s handsome and perfect, every part of his face is free of any imperfections. He doesn’t have the stress or grief that follows Jaxson and Wyatt. Well, if he does, he hides it well. Dabriel is very dangerous, and I think that’s something to do with the responsibility he has in his life. Atti has been sheltered from that, but I wonder, when he takes his throne, will he change? I don’t think I want him to.
"Here, I brought you some normal food," Jaxson says, coming into the room. I realise I’ve just been staring at Atti, and I move around him. I smile at Jaxson as I accept the bacon sandwich he made me.
I finish the food and then freshen up in the bathroom. Atti gave me some of my clothes, and I change into a cream, turtleneck dress and black leggings. I slip my coat on and my knee-high black boots. My hair, I leave down, and the necklace is hidden well under my clothes. I didn't even need to do anything to my hair. It still looks like I've just walked out of a salon. Most girls would love this magic hair shit.
"Looking hot, Winter," Atti says with a whistle. Jaxson looks me over and nods at me. I know he likes it, but he doesn't have to say it.
"We need to leave," Atti says gently. Jaxson moves towards me and pulls me to him for a long kiss.
"Soon," he whispers as he lets go. I know it’s only going to be awhile, but it doesn’t feel right leaving Jaxson. Half of me wants to stay with him, but I know I need to be stronger. I need to be the kind of girl he has at his side and not an emotional wreck.
I move towards Atti, who pulls me to his chest when I get near.
"It feels weird, but just hold your breath. It helps. The first time is always the worst," he tells me before I feel myself disappearing. I can't look back at Jaxson as I have to leave him, so I close my eyes and hold my breath as Atti said. A hot sensation fills my whole body until it feels like I'm going to explode, and then my feet hit the ground. My arms are clenched around Atti.
"Winter, you’re here,” Atti whispers into my ear, and I finally find the strength to let go of him. The cold temperature is the first thing I notice. The second is that we are in the middle of snow-covered woods. High trees, covered in snow, line the sky, and the ground has several layers of snow on it. The temperature is freezing, but my coat helps a little. I’m not as cold as I think I should be. It must be another new thing to add to the “Winter's weird shit she can make” list.
"Where are we?" I ask Atti.
"Wyatt will meet us here in a bit. I have to leave and come back as an official guest. I can't come as your friend or Wyatt’s. The vampire king is doing business with my mother, and I want to find out what it is. This trip works both ways, I can look after you and find out what’s going on that scares my mother," he tells me, and I nod in understanding.
“Winter, I–” he starts, but the sound of loud horses behind me makes me turn back, and I can see a few horses coming towards us.
"Horses? Where the hell are the cars?" I mutter, and Atti chuckles.
"You can't get a car up here. It's about another half an hour on horseback to get to the castle," he tells me.
"This sounds like a fucked-up fairy tale," I mumble, but Atti hears.
"Here comes your knight in shining armour, "Atti says as he takes my hand, and I see Wyatt riding towards me on a white horse.
Wyatt looks like a real knight on a white horse, he even has a silver sword strapped to the side of the horse. I didn’t know he could use a sword, but it makes sense. How strange is my life?
Behind Wyatt are Drake and Alex on tall, brown horses. A grey horse with a young girl riding it is following them. The girl looks younger than me–around eighteen, if I had to guess. She’s pretty under her hood from what I can see, and I can just see the ends of her long, black hair. Her nearly black eyes meet mine like she knows I'm watching her. Alex and the girl are wearing big, black cloaks that cover them, and Drake has a long, black coat on. They all look snow covered, I wonder how long they’ve been riding.
"Hey," I say when Wyatt stops in front of me. The white horse is huge this close up. She or he has a long, silver mane, and its very intelligent eyes watch me. I gently stroke my hand up the horse’s nose and the horse whinnies a little.
"Come, we need to leave, Winter," Wyatt says tensely, looking around where we are.
"Thanks for the lift, I suppose I will see you in a bit," I turn to Atti.
"Remember, I'm not your friend in court. I don't want to ignore you, but I must in public. Bye, Love," he says and disappears once I step away.
"Hey, girl, it's bloody freezing," Alex shouts, and I smile over at her.
"I agree," I laugh.
Wyatt holds a hand out to me, and once I put my hand in his, he pulls me up in front of him with surprising speed. I manage to get my other leg over the horse as Wyatt holds my waist with both of his hands. He pulls me back to him, so I can rest on him as he holds the reins in front of me. Drake’s and Alex’s horses ride ahead, and the other girl nods at me as she passes to follow.
"How are you?" he asks once we set off. It takes a minute for me to get used to the feeling of riding, I hadn’t ridden a horse before but did use to ride donkeys at the beach in the summer, when I was a child. They would get them out for the tourists, but Alex and I would save up our pocket money to have a go once a week. I guess it’s not too different, but Wyatt is in charge, and I’m just holding on to him.
"A little overwhelmed, but coping with it all," I say, and I hear his grunt as a reply.
"Who is the girl?" I ask, looking over to see her just behind Drake and Alex.
"That's Drake’s younger sister. It was demanded that she come to court with us,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“She is of age and unmated.
Very unusual for vampire females. They usually have at least one mate by now," he tells me.
"Why is it unusual? She only looks eighteen," I ask.
"She is only eighteen, and we have a low survival rate for our children. Girls rarely survive past the age of five. Drake’s parents didn’t expect another child after Drake, and they lived in the human world when she born. She was brought up there, and my father allowed it. She’s the first vampire female not to be brought up in court, and that’s only because Drake’s dad used to be on the council," he says.
I rest my back against him as we speed up. “The council?”
“Yes, there are four of them, all chosen by the king and replaced every hundred years. They make the small decisions and advise the king on the big ones,” he says.
“So, they are important,” I ask.
“Very,” he replies.
“Where are we in the world?” I ask. It’s weird to think I’m not in Wales anymore.
“France. Most of the vampire population live here,” he tells me. We don’t talk anymore as the wind gets louder and the snow starts falling. My coat is slowly getting wetter, and I’m feeling a tiny bit cold now.
"Are you mad at me?" I whisper as we pass a frozen stream of water.
"No, I'm angry at myself. I didn't protect you, and I don't deserve you," Wyatt says close to my ear. His arms wrap tighter around me.
"That's utter bullshit," I say and hear him cough, I guess he didn’t expect me to say that.
"I chose to go to the pack, and I decided not to hide. It was my choice, and I'm sorry for what happened," I say, and he kisses the top of my head.
"I'm sorry also. I didn't want to bring you here. It’s taking everything in me not to turn this horse around and run away with you," he says.
"Why don't we?" I ask.
"He will kill everyone you care about, Winter. I won't let him do that, and these are my people. I am their prince," he says, and I glance at Alex on the other horse.
"I get it," I say softly.
"Just don't wind him up," he mutters, and I nod against his chest. The rest of the trip is tiring on my thighs, I'm honestly worried how I'm going to get off this horse when my legs feel locked together.
"Welcome home, prince," a loud voice shouts as we pass through a ward much like what the wolves have. The sick feeling is stronger, and I have to hold in a gasp.
My stomach is forgotten as I look up at the castle.
The castle is huge. I can’t even see all of it as we stop outside the massive, stone walls and a metal gate. The castle has dozens of towers and one huge one in the middle. The central part seems like five floors because of the rows of windows. The castle is made out of grey stone and towers into the grey sky. The long, stone path leading up to the main castle has rows of tall trees on each side. After the metal gates slide open, Wyatt rides the horse inside, with the others following. Two guards are bowing low as we pass, and I can’t see anything other than their snow-dotted blond hair. We stop as we wait for the gate to close behind us, and I stare up the scary castle. My fucked up fairy-tale is about to get a lot more real.
"By the way, you’re a princess here," Wyatt says, as he shakes the reins, and his horse rides off towards the castle.
Twenty-Five
Winter
We ride up to the castle and toward another large metal gate, which opens to a stone courtyard with a long, grey stone path leading to another level of the castle. The tall walls of the lower part of the castle surround it, and it’s quiet. Very quiet and empty. I don’t know if I expected to see lots of vampires with coffins, but this wasn’t what I saw. Other than the stone walls looking aged from the snow, the place looks well kept. There are three tunnels going off the courtyard, and I can see some tables inside one. Another looks onto a big, open grassy field that’s covered in snow. I can’t see the other one from where we are.
Getting off the horse wasn’t a problem because Wyatt got off first like a pro and then picked me up off the horse. Drake’s sister jumps off her horse and brushes her long, black hair over her shoulder as her hood falls. She walks up to Alex and Drake like it’s nothing. I honestly can’t say that I’m not jealous of her right now. Wyatt and Drake give the reins of the horses to the two vampire guards before they come back to us. The first few steps are a little uncomfortable for my thighs as we walk up the stone path and through the middle of the large, empty, stone courtyard towards two large, old, wooden doors. I glance back at Alex who seems to be having the same trouble as she’s holding onto Drake, and she winks at me. I hope there aren’t any more horse rides in the future.
Wyatt holds my hand tightly in his as we wait for the large doors to be opened. I glance behind me at Alex who nods at me; her worried face mimics mine. Who would have thought we would be here now when we were packing our bags for university only a year ago? We were happy about all the freedom we would finally have. Apparently, our freedom comes at a high price. I glance over at Drake’s sister, and I see the determined look on her face, and I force myself to look as strong as she does.
The door swings open, and the first thing I see is two middle-aged men. They both have black eyes and are standing with their arms behind their backs. They’re wearing all black, with a red crown stitched over their hearts. The older one with slightly grey hair steps forward and places his closed fist over his heart as he bows.
“Prince Wyatt. We welcome you and your new mate home,” he says, a thick accent coming out that sounds kind of French, but it’s different than I’ve heard in the movies. I’ve never been to France before, I’m taking a wild guess we won’t be going to see the Eiffel Tower anytime soon.
“We don’t need to be this formal, do we, Harold?” Wyatt asks as the man straightens up.
“Always breaking the rules, my prince,” he chuckles slightly. Harold looks me over, and my heart must be beating a million miles a minute that he will see through Atti’s spell. The necklace feels warm against my chest like it wants to remind me that it’s there.
“Always. This is Winter Masters. Winter, this is Harold Livingstone, part of my father’s council of four,” he says.
“It’s lovely to meet you,” I say.
Harold bows toward me like he did Wyatt. “The pleasure is mine, princess,” he replies smoothly.
I automatically correct him before I think about it, “I’m not a princess,” I blurt out.
“Yes, you are, my mate. I’m sorry, Winter is very new to the supernatural world,” Wyatt explains, and his thumb rubs circles on my hand in comfort.
“Understood. Your father is busy this evening and will meet you all in the morning,” Harold replies, looking at me again. The man doesn’t seem bad, but I have to remember he isn’t human. While he looks in his forties, he’s likely decades older than that.
“Fine,” Wyatt replies and looks down at me. I can’t read his expression, and it’s gone too fast for me to figure it out.
“My son, Easton, will take you all to your rooms.” Harold waves a hand towards the man who hasn’t said a word. Easton has short, blond hair, slightly shorter than Wyatt’s, and a younger looking face. He seems okay.
“Thank you, Harold,” Wyatt says, and Harold bows once more before leaving. I watch him move through the doors, and I see a girl about my age walking down the steps, on the side of the courtyard, from the corner of my eye. She looks like a zombie as she walks into the castle past us all. I am so busy watching her, I don’t notice that Drake has been talking to Wyatt.
“Leigha is staying in the room next to yours, and I will take the other side with Alex,” he says.
“That’s best,” Wyatt says quietly as he watches me. His gaze goes to the girl just before she turns around the corner, and he looks back at me. His expression is neutral, and yet I feel he wants to say something to me. I look away and notice that Leigha is staring at me. She is stunning now that we are closer. Her hair is pitch-black, and it suits her toned, dark-gold skin. She has her hair braided in the top
half, and the rest is down. She has the dark vampire eyes, a light row of freckles over her nose, and big, pouty lips. She looks a little like a doll, but her expression tells me she’s not friendly. I can see the similarities to Drake; they both have the dark hair, but Drake has a lighter skin colour.
“Winter, let me show you around my home,” Wyatt says, and Harold’s son, Easton, comes running over.
“My prince, I was told to take you to your room first.”
“You don’t need to. You will follow Drake to whatever place he wants and then tell anyone that asks that you did your job. Understood?” Wyatt asks. The power surrounding his words is almost too much for me to bear. I remember feeling the pressure in my head before when he used his powers. It’s just the same now.
I feel like a bug being squashed, and he isn’t even using it on me. I wonder what it’s like for humans to have it used on them. I remember when we first met, he tried to get me to dance with him. If I were human, I would have.
“Yes, my prince,” Easton replies robotically and turns to Drake. It looks like he will wait forever for whatever Drake asks him to do. Wyatt’s power is scary.
“Do you use your power a lot on humans?” I ask him.
“No. Only when I feel they’re scared of me and need to relax. Most humans can sense there’s something dangerous about me.”
“Is that why you tried to get me to dance when we first met?” I ask. Everyone is listening to our conversation other than Drake, who is talking to Easton.
“Yes, you looked like a little mouse about to get eaten. I wanted you to talk to me, and the way you were watching the dancers,” he shrugs as I look at him, “I thought you liked dancing,” he says and kisses my hand.
“I don’t, I have two left feet,” I say, making him smile slightly at me.
“Come with me, Winter, time for me to show you my home,” Wyatt says as he holds his hand in front of him, and I walk ahead. Wyatt moves an arm around my waist, and we walk into the vampire castle. The last place I want to be.