A Vampire's Life Book 3

Chapter Thirty-nine - Lucas

We watched from the exterior of the ball room, Terrance insisting that the four were to approach the slayers by themselves. It is as the prophecy predicted, if they need help then we will be there for them, until then they are to deal with this alone. My father was beside me, trying to be reassuring but it was of little help. I worried for them, Scarlett more than any of them. The others had faced slayers but Scarlett hasn't. She doesn't know that they held little regard for their own lives and as for vampires, we all knew there was no common ground for any of us. They would sell their own mother to get a chance to kill us. Most of the hatred was out of fear, fear of the unknown. There was a fair few humans in the group that had never encountered a vampire before so their hatred for us was unnecessary. Of course, their fear was warranted, we were something to be feared but none of them ever bothered to approach us with an open mind. If even one of them had suggested to open negotiations for human safety, my father would have listened. Not sure on Terrance though, but I think Alina would override him instantly anyway. She held a little empathy for humans, not as much as Scarlett, but our queen was still a little pro-human. Alina was still young, she had spent the majority of her life thinking she was human, of course she would still hold just a small amount of empathy. Time would pass and for both her and Scarlett and that empathy would erode away into nothing.

The man that led this group of slayers was a war mongering liar. There was no valid reason for his hate, in his mind there was no plausible explanation as to why he was so determined to see us dead. He wasn't religious, he had never been attacked nor had any of his family or friends. In fact, he hadn't even come across someone that had lost someone to a vampire and until he started his one-man vendetta against our kind, he had never encountered one either. So what was his problem? I found walls in his mind, which was odd for a human, clearly he had encountered a vampire for long enough to learn this trick. There were no cracks, whatever was behind this wall was something serious. I left my father's side, snaking my way through the crowd to find Finn. If there was anyone that could crack a wall, it was a werewolf.

"There's a wall in his mind." I whispered.

Finn looked at me like I was crazy.

"Who?"

"The leader, the human. I can't crack it."

He turned his head back to the scene before us, staring at the man. Finn frowned as his eyes squinted, a serious scowl etching into his face. He couldn't get it, he could not get in.

"He's been taught by a werewolf." he sighed "I will speak with my father about this, there is nothing we can do about this guy now but a wolf going around teaching things to humans is against our laws. Whoever it is has knowingly aided an enemy, something that my father will not stand for."

I sighed as I turned from him, looking out over the field, the long line of men with stakes in their hands. My heart beat hard, hitting against my chest. It was telling me that I was more than worried for Scarlett, I was terrified.

Scarlett stepped out from the others, what she said, I could not hear because of the people murmuring and talking quietly. I held my breath as a young man approached her, fearful that he would attack her, but he did not. She fed from him and showed him he could survive a vampire feed. There is no need for death, just sustenance. This I knew would be Scarlett's future. I knew that she would never take a life in order to feed. I knew that was the only way she would ever drink directly from a human was if they survived it. I gaped as the young man left towards the secret entrance, soon after the rest of the group followed him. That is, all but one followed him, the one that remained, Dietrich. I knew there was a whole line of guards behind them, hidden. I also knew that they would take him down without a second thought. It was in those few seconds where a guard had crept up on him that he fired his rapid fire gun. My heart sank as Scarlett began to fall, completely impaled by a silver stake. In the seconds after the stake hit Scarlett, I was there catching her before she hit the ground. Lilly was struck too, a wooden stake skimming her hip, Patrick by her side just as fast as me. Alina freaked out, not knowing who to fix first, poor Miranda tried to calm her. Scarlett was attended to first, the blood loss was significant by comparison to Lilly's graze. It took a minute or so for Alina to get everything repaired, Finn and Phabel managed to hold off the poison trying to seep through Lilly's body. It seemed like time itself had stopped, my heart sank, I could barely keep it together. Yet again Scarlett was in my arms as she was brought back from the edge and yet again Scarlett was taking too long to come around.