Turned

Chapter 24: Vampire and Werewolf Royalty

Currenly #424 in Vampires, thanks to all you lovely readers! Feel free to comment and suggest things to me, help and feedback is always welcomed. Remember to share, comment, and vote!

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"No! These are lies! My son is not dead!!" Nocturne practically screeched at Ralph, one of the guards. He had just been told the prgress on the search for his son and was furious about it.

"I-I'm sorry sir.. W-we found him dead.. We are currently pursuing his murderer." Ralph stuttered and stared at the ground. Afraid to even look up at the mighty king of vampires.

Nocturne's eyes were a dark, glowing black, like swirling pools of despair and shadows. "I don't care what you found. I want my son back! NOW!" He commanded, the walls shaking slightly from the power of his voice.

Peter shakily answer, "We can't sir.. We don't know how to bring back the dead-er... The undead..? But we will surely avenge your son. As Ralph said, we are intensely searching and pursuing your son's killer."

The group of guards stood rigid and silent before the king. Nocturne stood there in silence, brooding in all his rage and greif, letting the facts wash over him and slowly settle in his mind. The silence stretched on for a good amount of time like this; the guards never moving nor shifting, too afraid they may anger or set off Nocturne. Slowly Nocturne turned away from the guards and sighed. "Find his killer. I want you to bring his murder to me. I will make them suffer in front of me and from my own hands and cause... They shall be my entertainment... NOW FIND THEM!" He roared suddenly.

The guards hasitly nodded and ran out of the throne room. They had work to do. If they failed, they were certain to die or become Nocturn'es new toy instead of the murderer. They had much work to do and little time.

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 Kate sat on the thick tree branch and sighed, watching her surroundings. With her newly enhanced vision she could she far and wide, despite the darkness. The full moon painted everything in a pale light, but she felt it didn't matter much. More than likely, I can see fine without the light of the moon. Kate thought to herself. She smiled, glad to finally be out of her many cages. How long would this last? A process of altertnating between fleeing, cages, and fighting? I guess it doesn't matter much anyways... It's not like I have anything else to do. No family to return to. No friends expecting her either. 

She let out a depressed sigh and twirled a finger through her hair. Her hair was surprisingly silky and soft, also no longer a brown color as she remembered it. Turning into a vampire must have altered her physical appearance more than she had realized. Her hair was still smooth and the same legnth, but now it was a deep black color. Her skin was also significantly paler than she remembered. Was I this pale yesterday?.. She wondered to herself silently.

A bird swooped down and perched ontop of her head. It chirped and cocked its head to the side, not really seeming to understand it was ontop of a person. Kate looked up at the bird curiously and kept still. "Glad to see something isn't afraid of me." She muttered to herself and smiled, slowly reaching towards the bird. The bird chirpped loudly and pecked at her hand, drawing a bit of blood, causing her to yank her hand back.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?" Kate grumpily asked the bird.

The bird just twittered and sat on Kate's head in response.

"Right... Birds don't talk." Kate said sarcasticly to herself and shook her head to scare the bird away. It let out a few surprised chirps and took flight towards a different tree.

"I didn't realized you could talk to animals. I thought that was Snow White's job." Luke said, standing below the tree and grinning slightly up at Kate.

Kate nearly jumped, having beeen distracted by the bird she never realized Luke was nearby. "You nearly gave me a heart attack there." She called down to Luke. It on fluid motion she wrapped her legs around the tree and leaned back so she fell and hung upside down from the branch, peering down at Luke.

He chuckled a bit, "You can't have a heart attack. Your heart doesn't beat to begin with."

Kate sighed, shaking her head a bit. "It's a figure of speech still... But you are right. I can't have a heart attack. I am a dead blood, sucking, evil thing." She muttered the last part to herself.

"And I'm a freak with unatural hearing. You may be dead and drink blood, but that doesn't make you evil." Luke looked watched her, his deep brown-gold eyes sparkling with concern for Kate. Despite their species supposedly being mortal enemies, they had grown quite close over the small amount of time.

"Tell that to Roberto and your sister." Kate retorted bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest as she hung upside down.

"Bekah may understand you're not evil, but even if she did it wouldn't care. All she worries about is getting the throne, and to do that, she has to destroy me or my reputation." He paused a moment, thinking, "And who's Roberto."

Kate just went silent and turned her head away from him, trying to remain calm. The memories flooded her mind anyways. Fighting the red eyed man. The confusion. Roberto coming to help. Her fangs sinking into his neck. The taste of blood... Sweet blood... Her first time ever tasting it. Maybe she should have some more wonderful- No!

"No what?" Luke frowned and watched Kate, puzzled. Apparently she had verbally yelled out without meaning to.

"Nothing... It's nothing.." Kate said quietly muttered, squeezing her eyes shut to try and supress the hunger gnawing inside her stomach. She was going to need blood sooner or later. Her humane insticts resented the idea of drinking anymore blood, yet, the monsterous side of her wanted out. It wanted to feed.  Blood. It needed blood. Then again, she needed blood to survive now.

"You're craving." Luke stated simply after watching her. It was blatantly obvious from the hungered look covering her face. "Come on down and let's go get you some blood. I can track a deer and you can feed from it." He said the words plainly as if they were just going for a walk.

Kate's stomach churned and she had answered before realizing what she wanted herself, "Ok." Well, I said it, no going back. She thought.

Luke smiled friendly up at her waving for her to come down. With a graceful motion Kate unhooked her legs from the tree and spun in the air, letting her knees bend to absorb some of the impact  as she landed on the ground near Luke. He jumped slightly and looked at her, not completely used to her yet.

"Let's go then." Kate said and started to walk off.

"You do know there's deer that way." Luke pointed in another direction, not the way Kate was going.

"..Of course I did!... I was just seeing if you knew." She adjusted her direction to go in the way Luke had pointed, making him chuckle.

They both walked off in the same direction towards a group of deer. Luke smiled to himself. I can do this. I can use this friendly vampire to create peace in the land. I may be able to even unite vampires amd werewolves for the same cause. There will be no more bloodshed.