Meredith had always known about magic. Her family was magic, one of the most powerful mage lines out there. Having lost her parents to all the fighting though, she stayed far away from it, focusing on school and lading a primarily normal life.
Unti...
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Mer's eyes snapped open as the soft caress of fingers trailed against her own. Running them shakily down her skin, Damien intertwined his fingers with hers before he gripped her hand firmly.
Thank god. Damien was still there.
Over the stinging pain of his fangs in her neck and pounding of her heart, she began to notice the commotion going on outside her cell. A clink drew her attention, and in an instant, she was jerked up into the corner and pressed against Damien, who had hidden behind her back. Like a gentleman, he ripped off his good sleeve and tied it around her neck as the room became visible.
They had opened the snare and cell, it seemed, and she eyed the two mages behind her aunt. With terror in her eyes, Lia had formed her lunar staff again and was leering at the huddled form of Damien behind her.
"Meredith, get away from that thing. Come to me. I'll protect you!" Lia called to her, but she instead looked back at Damien, who was in no better condition than he'd been before, despite her blood.
If her aunt wanted to cast magic, it would be absorbed by her before it made it anywhere near Damien. Right now, she was his shield, and he was still too weak to do much of anything. At the very most, Damien had taken enough of her blood to keep himself conscious a few more hours but not enough to fight a mage or rejuvenate.
"No. I won't abandon him just because you tell me to! Damien is only here because he wanted to protect me," Meredith argued, and Lia narrowed her eyes at her.
"The girl is tainted with dark magic, Luna. You can't trust her not to have sided with the beasts," one of the mages said, referring to her aunt by her mage name.
While Mer wanted to believe that her aunt wouldn't think that, she saw the nervous backwards stare she gave the man. How did this have to be for her aunt– to lose another family member to dark magic? But Mer wasn't lost. She just had a head on her shoulders. Damien was kind, protective, and loyal. A beast, he was not. Ravenous in hunger, desperately trying to keep control of himself as well as stay conscious, yes, but not a beast.
"So, what, you want to turn on me like you turned on my father!" Mer spat angrily, and she gasped as Damien slid his arm around her stomach to hold. Damien was worried about her?
"Meredith, you don't know what you're talking about," Lia replied, though not angrily, more of in despair.
"You haven't told me anything!" Mer argued, and Lia lost her aggressive stance toward Damien to sink in on herself.
"Meredith," Damien's voice. "Sweet Meredith, such sad tales don't suit your ears." He nuzzled her face, and she shoved him back in annoyance.
"Not you too. I want to know. Tell me!" Mer insisted, but Lia's eyes shifted away from her.
"If I tell you, maybe it will beat some sense into you." Lia's tone was sharper than she'd ever cast toward her. "You're an adult now, I guess. Do you know of your father's madness? Regardless of how slowly or quickly it was overtaking him, it was overtaking him."
