𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡 [Published]

Chapter 31: James Is Alive?

Chapter 31

"So what does Casimir have on you?" Forina asked as she circled Nora who was chained to the floor, like a predator waiting to pounce on their prey Forina smiled menacingly.

"James.." Nora coughed out in pain causing Forina to stop in mid-step. 'James, James?' Forina frowned then quickly came into realisation.

"And what does James have to do with our...grievances?" Forina asked as she grinded her teeth, 'Alec had a lot to explain.'

"When Alec sent him to me we felt a connection. We're bonded but then Casimir came a couple of months ago and James started acting weird like he was brainwashed or something." She started explaining.

"The coven in New York didn't know about Casimir being overthrown until a week after it happened but then it was too late. He had already brainwashed a good crunch of the vampires in the city. He took control of... . I didn't know what to do so I tried to get him to leave the city with me. When I failed, I was going to call Alec but Casimir found out." She sighed and dropped her shoulders.

"He found out about my connection to Alec and my power. He made me come here and he told me to target Darius if not, he'd hurt James." She finished.

"Well, it looks like there's more than meet the eyes," Forina growled as she took Nora's face in her hand, her nails piercing through the younger girls flesh.

"Hold tight darling," Forina whispered sickly sweet and walked out of the room.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Forina growled at her best friend and he took a step forward.

"In a moment, The trackers are back," Alec told her.

"So, did they find?" Forina paused and waited for the answer.

"The thing is, not all of them came back..." Alec said as he moved aside to reveal a box of heads.

"There's more." He said and handed her a card.

"If it's a secret admirer then he's doing too much. I'd be happy with just flowers for once.

Sweet Flower

I hope this gift reminds you of our years together. I always get what I want. I will have you again daughter...

And if it means killing that husband and son of yours then history just have to repeat itself.

Except, this time it, I'll have to cut out that babe in your belly.

Love Casimir, dad.

"How did he know about my..." Forina mumbled the question as she placed a handed protectively over her belly.

Andrei took the note from her and growled in anger. "He won't lay a hand on you," he growled in anger but his words brought no comfort to her.

She looked back to Alec. "Why is James still alive?" she asked him softly as she sat down. A wave of nausea hit her as she the thoughts of the heads were still fresh in her mind.

"You never told me to kill him. When you got together with Nathan then I took James to Nora so that she could teach him everything he needed to know to survive. He was innocent in all this." Alec explained.

"How? Let me tell you something, no one is innocent Alec. James hacked into the website; he went through someone's personal email and files not caring about anything other than getting what he wanted. How is that innocent? Actions have consequences, we know that first hand." Forina spoke in disappointment towards her best friend.

"Forina, he was left without a choice in the end. We both know how it feels for that to be ripped away." Alec said back causing Forina to flinch back. It was true; their choice had been ripped away from them.

"James is still under Casimir's hold as he is James's maker. Casimir will continue to have a hold on him until he releases him." Forina explained looking defeated.

They could never have peace. After all their pain and suffering, it was infinite and yet they always found some source of hope. What if they couldn't find that hope anymore.

"How do we get Casimir to release him?" Andrei finally spoke out.

"We can't... Casimir turned him with the intent of controlling him. He wanted James and me to be bonded so that he could have someone to take over the coven but still be under his thumb. At least he still had somewhat control off Nathan. I guess everyone forgot about James after we came to Romania." Forina trailer off looking in a daze as she spoke.

"Forina..." Andrei called out to his wife but was met with silence.

"Forina?" Alec called to her but again, silence.

Andrei brushed her hair off her face just in time as she went limp in his arms.

"Forina!" he screamed out as he caught her in his arms. Her skin was cold as she turned a sickly pale colour.

Everything turned into chaos in mere second, beautiful chaos and yet to her it was peace full darkness.

...

So much has been written about peace in the world, peace on earth, peace within yourself... shalom...

Peace is more, more than the absence of war and violence.

More than tolerance, more than acceptance.

There can never be peace until we are at peace with ourselves.

That inner peace that passes understanding.

...

Quick a/n: Poem was tweaked a bit but is by David Moe. I hope everyone is well. This book has taken more than a year and honestly, I am ready to move on so updates are going to be coming quickly so I can move on, this book will be finished no matter what.