Kin of the Damned

Chapter 23

Once a old, red brick building came in view, I pushed down on the breaks of the stolen bike. Sorry, stranger. I looked up a the sign to make sure I was at the right hotel–Greyward Motel—it read.

I set the bike up against the side of the building so it was covered by bushes and other foliage to the point it was near completely concealed. After that, I entered the motel. It wasn't that bad on the outside but on the inside it certainly looked like a motel. Puke green, wallpaper peeling in the corners and the smell of smoke filled the room despite there being no one smoking nor anything burning.

"This isn't a museum. Either tell me why your here or stop gawking and leave." The harsh voice jolted me to attention and I noticed it came from a teen girl maybe only a little younger than me.

"Sorry," Rude, "I came here to see a Lilliana Smith." I gave her my most show-winning smile. Kill them with kindness.

The blue haired girl flipped through a leather-bound book before looking up, "Not here."

"Not here?" I wondered in confusion and walked closer to the table. "Can I see that?"

"For the safety of our other clients, you can't." She may have been rude but it's unlikely she's lying about this because she has noting to gain. It's also very likely that Lilliana was using an alias. I lifted my phone, about to call LIlliana before she just came striding down the stairs.

"Let's go," Lilliana said without so much as a hello. I followed her out the motel.

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Once we got to a small clearing in the woods beside the motel, we discussed what had happened over the past 2 months. Once I was done she began talking. "Be careful who you say our names around. If anyone knew that you knew me or even just knew yourself, you would be tortured for information before they strung you up to feed the dogs."

I shuddered. "But why me?"

She pinched the skins between her brows, "You are the princess of the vampire kingdom of North America, everyone hates you and wants your head on a pike."

At times like these, I want to go back to my old life and forget everything, no matter the friends or the experiences that came with this whole debacle. "Well, hopefully after taking over, I can influence the vampires to choose good so no one will be tempted to kill me."

Lilliana smiled ruefully, "Valerie, I don't want you to become jaded like me, but I also don't want one of two of my only live family members dead."

"I won't, improving the vampire's image was one of the few reasons I even took the job."

"Fine, find out the hard way but I assure you, you'll find yourself sorely mistaken." Since I was tired of a back and forth, I let the issue go.

"Anyway, you wanted to see my magic's progression?"

"Yes, to do that, you will be sparing with me." I had never fought against Lilliana before so it was mildly excited yet nervous to find out the outcome. "Get in stance."

"On the count of three, one, two," She paused before shouting, "Three!" Lilliana launched a poof of fire towards me that I just narrowly avoided. I fell back on to the forest floor on my back. She was about to punch my cheek but I was able to roll and avoid it.

"You really can't be a bit easier? What about familial privileges?" I nervously said, struggling between talking, thinking up a strategy and avoiding Lilliana's attacks.

"It's because you're my niece, if you weren't, I would stay far away from you and the blood of Rosalie." I would be upset, but it's fair—if dad was killed and I had to constantly be around the family member of his killer, It would be hard to stomach if they weren't at least my family too.

Lilliana was about to land a hit but I dropped to the ground and erected a wall of stone before she could. Her fist made contact with the wall and I heard a sickening crack that was not the stone. Sorry, Auntie.

I came out from around the corner but she was ready and caught my wrist, pulling me down to the ground so she landed on top. My body was trapped between hers and the ground with no way of getting out on my own. "Kaleidel!" I yelled and they appeared.

"Imir!" Lilliana called in response and two sets of familliars arrived. My Kaleidoscope and Lilliana's gazelle–that's certainly cool.

My butterflies and the gazelle fought but Kleidel was slipper due to their small size. A few of the butterflies slipped through and were able to get to me and began bitting at Lilliana's back. She groaned and her hold on me loosened. It was just enough to push her off of me and roll on top of her switching our positions.

"Good job." She said through her panting. I got up and extended my hand to her, she grabbed it and I pulled her up. Lilliana murmured a small: "Thanks."

"So you think I'll be ready for the war?"

Lilliana let out a short huff of laughter, "Of course not, no one is and especially not a scrawny 17 year old."

I shot her an unamused look. "But it should be enough that you won't die, just remember that these humans are not your average ones and even the coven leaders will struggle."

"I will."

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I rode the sparkly pink stolen bike back to the house I stole it from, and to make up for it, I left a 20 in the basket. I entered the dense forest and found my way back to the castle quite easily. No guards, weird. I opened the door to the castle to reveal the foyer. Usually there would be people and servants rushing around the ornate room but like outside, it was empty.

At this point, I was starting to get worried. I walked what I was sure was the entire castle without seeing anyone. I was about to head back to my room but I finally saw a head of short, black hair turn the corridor and ran over to him. "Alexios?" I asked.

His head snapped over to me suddenly. "We need to go, there's been an emergency at the Black Moon Pack." Father!

"What emergency?" I yelled.

"They were attacked by the Hunters, honestly, we were lucky to get 2 months of peace."

"My father? What happened to him?"

"Your father was kept in one of the safest areas in the packhouse, he's safe–well, as safe as you can be in an attack but they've arrived and he is alive." I released a huff of breath and felt the tension leave my body. I leaned on Alexios unknowingly, when I noticed I jolted up but he put a hand on my back before I could get away. "S-sorry." I stammered, embarrassed.

"It's okay, I get it, I'm worried for my family as well." I smiled, he was finally accepting them as family. Alexios deserves love and family more than anyone in this world, of that I'm sure. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug before slowly releasing him.

"Enough hugs now, we've got 2 families to save." I said. He looked a little disappointed when I let him go before a look of determination settled on his face. He nodded.

We went to our rooms to get ready. I put on my uniform of a black shirt and black camo pants with my pack. It was filled with only necessities. A knock sounded on the door before it opened. "You ready to go?" Xios' voice sounded out.

"Yea, lets go." In the threshold of the castle, I looked at the foyer that I walked into nearly 4 months ago. I was terrified then, I smiled. "Goodbye, mother. I'll be bringing father here to see you." I turned and shut the heavy castle doors without looking back and climbed into the large jeep.

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