War was not a life that she would have chosen willingly, or easily. If she remained alive, there would be the need to constantly live in fear, to look over her shoulders. Perhaps today she would be able to escape the ‘Keepers of the Blade’ with her precognition, but until when?
Alicia Selleck would not rest till Yarra’s body was washed up lifeless in the shores of a deserted beach.
Avice stood from her bed and walked towards the window. His face was speckled in grave concern, his eyes squinting into the darkness of the night. She did not need him to tell her that they would be awaiting his return. The gun glinted on the floor, untouched. It would not kill her tonight.
Suddenly, she realized that her vision might not necessarily come true. All that she had known for the past year had to be suddenly unlearnt. Avice would not kill her. He did not want to either, knowing now that she loved him just as he loved her.
A wave of excitement surged through her body. The fact that she did not know what the future held proved exhilarating.
“Baby,” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
He did not falter when she stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his muscular body. He was no longer the awkward boy she had known twelve months ago. Tonight, he stood taller, prouder, and stronger than he had ever been. This was a warrior.
“Run away with me,” Yarra said, surprising even herself. Where did that come from?
Avice’s hiss of surprise was a sharp whisper. His hand clenched at the clasp of her arms around his body, unwilling to let go of the poignant moment.
“Either kill me and return to your family, or run away with me forever,” Yarra said. Her voice was listless, absent of wild demands. She said it with total apathy, accepting whichever decision Avice would choose to partake in. She would not harbor any ill-feelings towards him if he chose the former.
“I don’t want you to die, baby,” Avice said finally.
“And if I am to live, I don’t want a future without you in it,” she said.
Avice turned in his spot to face her. The juvenile pockmarks on his face had completely vanished to reveal a smooth, chiseled face underneath the deliberate swarthiness. Standing a head taller than her, his height radiated no strength tonight. All that was present was his feeling of vulnerability in front of the woman he loved.
“Then, all I ask for is one thing, Yarra.”
“Name it.”
“Consult your visions. Tell me what you see of our future.”
Yarra smiled widely. Closing her eyes, she imagined Avice and herself standing together in the empty black, canvas of unknown.
Slowly but surely, just as the pages of her university assignment had filled up the unwritten words, so too did an image began painting itself in real time.
She saw the future Avice and Yarra walking in a small green field, towards a small house situated in the middle of a vast meadow.
Brick homes were scattered sparsely, each too far away from another to discern with the naked eye, but it was paradise.
Birds tweeted, and the sky was a light pallor of grey and blue. They loved the superficial gloom weather.
Yarra’s vision adjusted. She could see the image of her and Avice walking quietly, holding hands. There was a clear baby bump protruding underneath her white sundress.
On Avice’s shoulder was a child approximately four years of age. She had Yarra’s nose, but Avice’s clear, ruby red eyes and tiny vampire-like fangs.
But what she also had was the healthy color of a human devoid of all paleness. And she was happy and smiling, not cold and brooding.
The place was on a plateau, in a highland somewhere in a fairy tale.
“Mummy, mummy!” the girl screamed in delight as a butterfly fluttered past them. She let out a chubby hand to grab at it but failed.
The Avice and Yarra in her vision continued to talk in voices Yarra could not hear, but knew to be pleasant conversations. Soon, the baby would be born.
She watched the happy family enter the home never to be disturbed by anyone. At the fencepost is a small wooden symbol with a delightful carving, “Home of the Davises.”
Avice took Yarra’s family name when they got married.
The vision evaporated like pollens blown in a windy day, and Yarra was back in her apartment. Avice still had his muscular arms wrapped around her dainty waists.
“Well?” he smiled. “What does our future hold for us?”
Yarra hugged him, her head resting on his chest. Without missing a beat, she told him what she saw, in true Oracle fashion.
After she was done, she closed her eyes and waited for Avice to make his decision.
Avice squeezed her shoulders and held her at arm's length. His brown eyes looked deep into hers. A warm smile broke out on across his lips, and the tears began welling in his eyes.
“Well then,” he said, “…, let us go make that vision a reality.”
Epilogue
Yarra knew that it would be a happy ending for Avice and her in the end. But, that is what it was, an ‘end.’ To reach that destination, they would have to cross convoluted bridges, slog through haranguing pathways, and schlep of tumultuous mountains. She knew that the ‘Keepers of the Blade’ would not take to kindly to Avice’s betrayal.
There would be plenty of wars to be fought before they can finally acquire their ‘happily ever after.’
And the next war will not be easy, for Avice would not be embroiled in a battle with some random enemy. He would have to fight the members of his own order. He would have to stand up to his mother. And that was not going to be easy.
As they walked in the stillness of the night, away from everything they knew, the two lovebirds swore to have each other’s back till the end of time.
A vampire, and an Oracle.
*****
THE END
About The Author
Amelia Wilson has dedicated her life to writing. She is a firm believer in the power of love to conquer all, and her works reflect this belief. Her paranormal romances are known for their love stories, action and suspense. She creates immersive worlds that are rich in detail and full of emotion.
Amelia can be contacted at her Facebook page or through her newsletter.
http://www.ameliawilsonauthor.com/
Other Books in A Vampire in Disguise Series
Preview: A Rizer Wolfpack Series Book 1
Love Beyond the Wall
A Rizer Wolfpack Series Book 1
By:
Amelia Wilson
CHAPTER ONE
Cara couldn’t sleep.
How could she? In the morning, she would be forced into a marriage with Aldrich. It didn’t matter that she didn’t want to marry him. Cara had no other alternative. Not anymore.
She could still remember what it was like before the town had walls built over ten feet high surrounding it. There were mountains in the distance, beautiful sunsets. Back then Cara thought she’d climb those mountains. She thought she would escape her father and leave all the ugliness behind.
People would talk about the big cities beyond the mountains. Cities that welcomed all walks of people, even the new race of people who changed their shape. These big cities still had the kind of things that Cara’s mother used to talk about. Taxi cabs, television, and phones that made communication possible across great distances.
The cities who did not fight against the shifters were allowed to carry on as they were. People like Cara’s family, who rejected the new race were pushed out of the established communities and forced to build new towns, and ways of surviving without any contact with the Shifter accepting cities.
Eventually war broke out among the shifter cities. At least that was what Cara heard. People left the cities, and so did the shifters. The order of the world forever changed.
Cara thought that perhaps the shifters were misunderstood by the people of her town. She wanted to believe that the world would eventually return to the kind of order it once held. She wante
d to believe that the shifters were good.
Then they came.
The creatures who walked like men but were not men at all. They were monsters, wild beasts. Every man attacked by them died. Their bodies were brought back in pieces.
It wasn’t long after the hunting party was slaughtered that the wall was built. At first it was only five feet high. When more hunters were killed outside the wall, the townspeople added to the wall. It grew higher every year, cutting out more and more light from the people inside.
For seven years Cara, and most of the people of Aldrich Town, were trapped behind the walls. It was a cage, and it was only going to get smaller for Cara when she married Aldrich.
The man was in his forties, while Cara was not even twenty years old yet. Cara knew him to be a cruel man, just like her father.
If it wasn’t for Cara’s uncle, Mortimer, she might not know that there were men who were kind.
The men of the town angered easily. Many of them took out their frustration on anyone weaker than they were. When this happened, it was up to Aldrich if the person causing trouble got to stay, or was pushed outside the wall to be killed by the shifters.
All matters were taken to Aldrich. When Cara once asked her uncle why Aldrich was in charge he said, “He owns the food. Aldrich owns the weapons. He owns the wall. Aldrich owns the people of his town because without him they starve, are defenseless, and die.”
When Cara’s father took to beating her, the neighbors called in Aldrich. Cara was thirteen years old when he came to her house that night to answer the complaint. He arrived with a rope, ready to tie up her father because he was not interested in justice so much as he was interested in not being bothered.
When he saw Cara, he entered the home and sat down at the dinner table with Cara’s father. He promised to spare him if he kept her untouched by other men.
A virgin.
Aldrich said he would return for her when she was ripe.
Cara didn’t understand most of what he’d said, but she knew she didn’t like how he looked at her. She didn’t like the way Aldrich would follow her home from the schoolhouse after that.
She was relieved when Aldrich married Paulina. Cara thought that since he’d married, Aldrich had forgotten her. Cara believed she was free of him.
Up until two days prior, Cara believed that she would be like every other young woman in town and choose who to date and who to marry. When Aldrich came knocking, Cara knew she’d been mistaken. Aldrich hadn’t forgotten her. Not at all.
Her father opened the door for Aldrich. When Cara saw him her body froze with fear. There was a rumor that Paulina died. Cara chose to believe it wasn’t true. After all, Paulina was only twenty-three. How could she die so young?
Aldrich married Paulina when she was nineteen. Cara heard people say that Aldrich never let Paulina leave his house. Since Cara’s father rarely allowed Cara to leave without an escort, she thought it must be the same kind of restrictions for Paulina.
Once though, when she passed by Aldrich’s house on her way to work, Cara saw her. Paulina was standing in the window glaring out at the light as though she’d been in darkness for so long she couldn’t adjust. She was bruised, too skinny, and she was crying.
Since Aldrich was the only kind of law in Aldrich Town, Cara felt helpless to do anything for Paulina. Cara remembered that look of desperation on Paulina’s face, it wasn’t a sight she would ever forget.
Aldrich entered Cara’s home. Cara could only think of the terror on Paulina’s face. She stood, backing away from the table. Aldrich’s brown eyes were so dark they were nearly black as they followed every move Cara made.
Cara’s hands were shaking. She fisted them. Cara didn’t like the pleased look on Aldrich’s face when he saw the clear sign of fear. Narrowing her eyes, she dared to meet his gaze.
Aldrich’s cutting eyes widened, the bloodshot vessels in his eyes darkened. His pale face and pointed chin lowered as his heated gaze ran over her. His gray teeth looked sharp as his thin lips curled back.
He pushed up the sleeves of his red shirt. “Take off your dress,” Aldrich commanded. His eyes opened wider as he spoke. His hands opening and closing like he wanted to grab her.
Cara looked to her father. He was the only one who could protect her from Aldrich. Sure, her father was hard hearted, and short tempered but he did love her. Cara was certain he would do something.
He nodded to Cara, telling her without words to obey Aldrich.
Cara’s face burned with anger at his stab of betrayal.
How can he just stand there?
“No,” Cara said.
Aldrich towered over her. He was crowding her space trying to intimidate her to his will. Cara pressed her lips together as they too began to tremble.
Aldrich’s hand shot out taking hold of her long blond braid yanking hard and pulling her head back. Tilting her chin up so that she had to look at him. His rough hands groped her breasts as he breathed into her face.
“You need to see who is in charge, don’t you?”
Cara was terrified, but she couldn’t stand his hands on her body. Reaching up she raked her nails across his face and kicked him as hard as she could.
Only a small grunt sounded before his hand wrapped around her neck. He choked her, yelling in Cara’s face as she fought for air. “I’m going to teach you to obey, Cara Warden. You will be my wife.”
Her name on his lips was a death sentence.
Aldrich held her up in the air, her feet dangling. The whites of his eyes were bright as he bared his filed teeth at her. His sharp chin stabbed into her cheek as he pressed his face into her hair. He groaned a disgusting sound.
Cara continued fighting for air but wasn’t getting any. She kicked out wildly and caught him between the legs. It was all that saved her from Aldrich choking her until she was unconscious, or dead.
He dropped her.
Cara backed away scooting across the floor. Her breath was coming fast and ragged but she couldn’t get enough. Aldrich’s eyes were crazed with rage. Cara was certain he’d kill her for what she’d done. The scary part of it was that she hoped he would.
Instead Aldrich cradled his crotch with both hands as he glared across the space at her. When he was able to stand upright again he pointed at her.
“I’m going to break you, Cara.”
Her father came forward. He grabbed Cara by the front of her dress and hit her hard in the face. It hurt but fear of what would happen next was stronger. The room was tilting as she tried to see where Aldrich had gone.
Is he coming? Is my father really going to hand me over to him? Aldrich’s worse than any creature that could be outside the walls.
“I will come for her Thursday,” Aldrich told her father. “Make certain she is here and ready for me.”
When the door slammed, Cara relaxed. She stopped struggling against the dizziness and gave in to the darkness that filled her vision.
Her father apologized when she woke. It was strange for Cara, because he did actually appear sorry. It was the only time she’d ever seen real remorse in his brown eyes.
“Aldrich will starve us if we deny him. We would both die if I refuse him.”
“I’d rather starve to death than let Aldrich take me,” Cara told him.
“I know,” he’d answered. “But I wouldn’t.”
He didn’t lock her in her room or in the house because there was no where she could go. Nowhere to run away from Aldrich. No one would hide her. If Aldrich found her hiding with anyone, he would starve the entire family.
Her uncle Mortimer and his wife were the only good people she knew. Even though her father rarely let her see them, she loved them and their children. She loved them too much to have them starve for her.
Cara sat up on the mattress that served as her bed.
Thinking of Paulina in that house, looking out like she’d forgotten what the sun felt like, made Cara feel smothered. Even the thin worn blanket on her legs was too
much. She pushed it off and onto the floor.
Cara needed to get outside. She needed to breathe in the cold air.
Pulling on her hand-me-down boots, she spotted her shawl on the hook by the door. Cara wrapped it around her shoulders. On an impulse, she grabbed the scissors from the tabletop as she passed by on her way out the front door.
As soon as she was outside she felt a little better.
The air was frosty. Her breath looked like smoke in the dark. Cara breathed hard, like she did after Aldrich choked her. She walked away from her father’s house. It was the first time in five years she’s been in the town without an escort. It was the last bit of freedom she’d ever get.
Cara walked through the small town finding herself on the main square. Aldrich’s house was up ahead. Cara looked up, spotting Paulina’s handprints still on the glass of the upper window.
Cara remembered Aldrich’s hand around her braid, his face in her hair, and his breath on her neck. Rage and revulsion burned up her fear until it was gone.
Raising the scissors, Cara chopped off her braid at the nape of her neck. Just like that she felt lighter. She knew her father would be furious, and she knew Aldrich would be too.
I’m done being afraid.
The town horn sounded, signaling a change of the guard. Cara spotted the guard climbing down the tall ladder to go report and trade places with the next guard on duty. She watched him with disbelief.
A Friend in Love Page 5