The Problem

by C. G Leigh

  She smiles evilly, "Ah so you still haven't told them?" She asks, loud enough for the whole field to hear. I hiss trying to shut her up, "You haven't told them that you're their daughter huh. Their long lost daughter who volunteered to fight to the death and they may never get to talk to you again, isn’t that right Henrietta Gemini Knightly?"

  My parents both look at me, eyes wide and Dad takes a step forward wanting to stop the fight. "Stop", I shout, earning a hit from Savanna as I call out to Dad, "You know the rules of combat if you interfere we automatically lose.” He fights himself, and takes a step away.

  Savanna laughs evilly, "Whoops I guess I spilled the beans.”

  Deciding I've had enough I smash my head forward into her nose, knocking her off of me and breaking it in the process. She screams, scrambling to get distance between us. I stand up, to see my Grandparents, Deely and Jonas, moving to stand with my parents, the vampire's eyes having all turned red at the sight of blood.

  Savanna catches my eye, "Looks like the whole family is here to watch you die. Maybe after I kill you I'll wait a few years and then come back for the rest of the brood,” she laughs wickedly.

  "You're psychotic, you know that.” She gawkes and makes her move using her fists and feet to try and hit me, I dodge all her attacks, that only make contact a few times. She quickly grows angry with each miss of my body, blood pouring from her nose drenching her shirt.

  "You just always have to be first, always the best. To be a Knightly, just because you have the blood of a long line doesn't make you any better than me,” she shouts.

  I look at her, really look at her, "Savanna I'm sorry if I ever made you think my blood is superior to yours, it's not. Blood isn't what drives me and neither is some stupid legacy. What drove me was always my anger. I thought vampires had ended my family, so I trained hard, always in the back of my mind, my dead parents. I always felt so alone, I thought one day I could kill them all and that somehow would make the loneliness bearable, make the pain go away, but it never did. Not until I saw them that first day when we arrived, ever since I came to this town, I haven't felt alone since.”

  "Well aren't you just a poet. I'm not buying it,” she lashes out hitting me, this time I feel a cut on my cheek reaching my hand up, the feel the wetness brushing my fingertips, pulling my hand away. I look to see blood.

  "Big mistake,” Quincy shouts across the field.

  I smile, looking down at my blood, "What, why the hell are you smiling?"

  I laugh, "Because I have a secret.”

  "What?" She asks, confused.

  "I have always held back because I don't wanna hurt you, but now you've made me bleed and I don't have to restrain myself anymore,” I grin.

  "That's not possible", she yells as I take the offensive approach. I'm too quick for her to keep up with, smashing her over and over again. She doesn't stand a chance against me, not as I hit her hard in the abdomen. Falling to the ground she struggles breathing hard, "You can't win it's not fair,” she wheezes trying to catch her breath.

  Moving behind her I place my arms around her head in a headlock, "If you take one thing away from knowing me, it's that I showed you mercy when you wanted to hurt the people I love,” I tighten my grip until she falls unconscious.

  Releasing a relieved sigh at having won I turn away from Savanna's limp body and look towards my family. My parents move first, coming to stand before me. "Are you alright?" Mom asks, touching my split cheek.

  "I'm proud of you,” Dad whispers, pride in his eyes.

  I smile, "Thanks Mom, Dad,” I turn to each of them, they hug me tightly.

  "Ms. Knightly, this is not the end of our story,” Theseus announces, I nod in agreement challenging him as he turns away from us all and moves in retreat.

  "What no, you can't let them live. You can't let her win,” Fletcher shouts in disbelief.

  Theseus places a hand on his un wounded shoulder, "For today she has, stand down son.” With one last glare in our direction Fletcher follows as an ever loyal servant before Theseus's other loyal minions fall in line. A few steps out to get Savanna and carry her away.

  My whole family comes together and for once I feel at peace, I don't know how long it will last perhaps days, maybe years, but one thing is certain. I am home.

  Shep finds me, pulling me away from the crowd. “Will you stop fighting me now, Darlin?”

  “Didn’t you hear my grand gesture? I plan for you to sully me for the rest of my life, what do you say, you up for it?”

  He grins, “I love you my little Problem.”

  “As I love you my beast.”

  EPILOGUE

  Year 1458

  The screams of his wife and daughters, the shouting of his son ricochet throughout the cottage. They are the lucky ones, getting to escape this miserable life, with the quiet peace of death. It is he, himself who planned it all, told the rouge werewolves where to find them.

  He informed Gretchen, his wife, that he was not a good man and that one day he would ruin her, of course, the woman had laughed, and hadn't believed him, this proved to her that.

  His nature, his curse keeps him wild, but he has mastered some control, and so when his children were born he taught them control, just enough to not be a problem, but not enough to surpass him.

  He is the special one, the first cursed to be a werewolf, she had made him so. His one true love has cursed him. This knowledge wrecks his insides, and makes him into the very beast she wished him to be.

  As his children grew, he became worried that they would be better than him, be more tame. He can never allow his progeny to him. So he has decided to rid himself of them, and the weight of responsibility. He watches from the shadows as the men take the children, and kill his wife, their screams echoing throughout the village.

  He waits only until their screams are long over, and he believes them all to be dead. Fleeing to the woods to begin anew. This is his mistake, because she has lived, the youngest lay bloodied, and broken, waiting to die. Yet, death is not ready for her.

  Instead, a vampire stumbles upon the young, small child, he takes her with him. Thinking that she will make a nice pet for his middle son. A man that scares even his family, born from a witch and vampire.

  He was raised by the witch, a terrible woman who scarred his personality and mental state, who left him unable to love. He finds joy in the pain of others, and seeks to make an example out of those who offend him or his family.

  A man so brutal, is presented with this sickly, dying girl. He has no choice, only to nurse her to health or kill her, and for once he shows mercy. He raises her from pup to woman, torturing her only when he sees fit.

  He holds a seat on the Colonials, the vampire lawmakers. He is against werewolves, and interspecies relationships. Something that never changes in all the years of his life. Yet, he finds himself in a small town called Fillmore.

  But, that is another story, for another time.

  THE END

  This is not the end for Gemma and Shepard, a second book is coming 2021!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  C.G. Leigh loves to curl up with a cup of oolong tea and dig into a good book. They must be sweet, sexy and have a happy ending. When she’s not reading Romance, she’s writing it.