Slave to Destiny

Its funny how every time something bad happens I wake up in Cole’s bed. Only this time was different. This time he was actually there when my eyes fluttered open this morning. His arms were resting protectively around my waist, and we were completely cocooned in his comforter. My bright emerald eyes stared up at his face. It was odd not seeing him tense and stressed out. His face was completely relaxed. I could see the slight curve of his lips pointing upward in a content smile.

“Cole,” I whispered in his ear. Naturally he attempted to bury his face in the pillow in a desperate attempt to remain asleep. “Cole,” I repeated a little louder.

“It’s still dark out,” he whined tugging me tighter against his body.

I laughed at loud. It was ludicrous. “Cole you can’t even go out in the light anyway,” I muttered at him. For the most part there were zero windows in the vampire castle as an extra precaution against sunlight. Although it wasn’t really needed. It took vampires a while to die from the sun. First they get sun burn, then it becomes more blistered, then the flesh starts to erode. A rather long process indeed.

We lay in content silence for a few short moments before I finally spoke up, “What happened to Gregory?” My question was met by silence. My eyes snapped upward to study his vacant face. I was looking for even the slightest twitch of emotion.

“I took care of him,” he mumbled after a few long moments.

At first I thought I would want to know what had happened. At first I thought I needed to know, but as Cole’s words settled in I realized I believe him. He had taken care of it. It was no longer a matter of my concern, which in my opinion was a good thing. His blood did not have to be on my hands to believe I had achieved my revenge.

“Thank you,” I whispered quietly in his ear smiling.

His eyes traced my face as if he were looking for something. He seemed bothered suddenly, as if something had just occurred to him. “Who are you?” he mumbled sitting up in bed quickly staring at me with a bewildered expression.

“I’m Gabby,” I replied forcing a smile on my face. What the hell was he talking about? Did he know? How did he figure it out?

Cole didn’t appear to be taking my response well as he whispered, “You’re something else. You can’t just be some slave. I’ve seen the old lady twice. The stuff she says doesn’t add up. I’m just really confused.” His words were coming out slurred and disorganized. It was terrifying to realize he was so close to uncovering the truth. I wasn’t really who I seemed. Fear raged through me. I could feel it under my skin. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach.

“I have to go,” I stuttered. The words were tumbling out of my mouth without any thought behind them, “I have to get working. The festivals have probably already started.” I refrained from looking at Cole’s face again before darting out of the room slamming the door shut behind me. Normally I would handle the situation with a bit more care, but given the certain circumstances I didn’t have time to think it through.

Ten minutes later I had adopted a uniform from my trunk and darted out onto the ground looking for Prince Edmund. The second day of festivals revolved around the theme blood. It was creepy watching the people that stood before me all adorning scarlet cloaks. Children’s faces had been painted with their breakfast of blood. It was drying and crusted. Needless to say I found it all to be mildly terrifying.

It took me all of five minutes to spot Edmund who was wearing one of the scarlet colored cloaks. His hood was down allowing his hair to flop wildly as he sprinted gleefully between stalls. Bennett was close behind him intent on his safety. Moments later I took off after them. Running through the crowds of red was nauseating. Everywhere I turned there was red. To onlooker it would look as if I’d accidently fell into a horror movie.

By the time I caught up to Edmund I was panting lightly. “Gabby!” he yelped wrapping his tiny arms around my waist in a hug.

“Hey kid,” I whispered hugging him. It felt like I hadn’t seen him in ages. In reality I’d seen him last night.

Quickly he began bouncing up and down in front of me with glee. “I can’t wait! I’m so excited,” Edmund told me eagerly. Bennett had taken his position a good ten feet away and began surveying the perimeter.

“Why is that?” I questioned him.

Slowly he glanced around as if making sure no one was watching, before leaning in to whisper his untold secret. “Because they’re going to have a sacrifice,” he whispered, before bouncing up and down again. My face twisted into a look of disgust and horror. Who were they going to sacrifice? I had not heard any news of this when learning about vampire customs.

It was at this moment the trumpets blared bringing the entire population in the festival to silence. I could hear the strong voice of Corban break the silence. He sounded powerful and mean. “We gather hear today to bring back an old tradition,” Corban hollered to the crowd, “A tradition that should have remained. I bring you the blood sacrifice.”

Corban’s words were met with thunderous applause. What twisted game were they playing?

Edmund grasped my hand and dragged me towards where we had just heard Corban’s voice. Bennett yelled behind, “Make way for the King.” Maybe I had lost too much blood because at the moment I felt far too dizzy. Everything felt very serene. I couldn’t quite make out what was going on.

When Edmund dropped my wrist we were at the front of the crowd. A massive platform stood before us. In the center of it all I saw it. A werewolf was tied to the platform with silver chains. It looked broken, cold, and pathetic. My heart want out to the beast as Corban grabbed ahold of it’s thick golden fur pulling it up.

For the first time it opened it’s eyes and stared right at me. They were the brightest blue I’d ever seen. I knew them so well. I smashed my hand over my mouth to muffle my scream as I watched Corban bring down a knife on the poor being.

I knew her.