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Seb Pov
"This is Princess Catalina" Simon started pointing to the girl on the side of the page "The reason I'm starting with her is because she is dangerous and is known for her touch of death…" Simon paused dramatically and everyone was silent; everyone except Lily
"What the hell does that mean?!" Lily hollered taking a seat Indian style on the floor.
"It means the Princess can kill with one touch. Her ability allows her to strip the life force from you. Any skin to skin contact and your dead in minutes. She always wears gloves to keep from accidentally killing someone." Simon explained.
Seb was making mental notes as the younger boy spoke. But his mind kept wandering to Ana. All he wanted was for her to be safe. If something has happened to her, he didn't know what hell he would release on earth.
"So just don't let the bitch touch you right?" Lily hypothesized while chomping on a piece of gum.
"Not exactly. We need her to keep them gloves on. If she takes them off a white mist is emitted and it acts like a poison, only the death is slower. People have survived her mist but none have survived her touch" The dread is Simon voice was clear. But he was right the princess is a danger.
Seb stood up and paced the old fashioned living room. Thoughts were running rapidly through his mind as he mulled over the new information. There were clanging noises coming from the kitchen which meant Jace still preparing his spell.
"Next we have Prince Cassius" Simon announced turning to another page. Once again they all gathered around to see the magical books sketch of him
"Wow he's handsome" Marie whispered shyly. The boys gave her weird looks and she began to blush "I-I mean h-he-"
"Oh girl don't worry about it! There's nothing wrong with calling it like you see it. Heck if the real prince looks anything like this sketch I'm right there with you" Lily added with a laugh. Seb rolled his eyes. This girl really needs a filter. He thought and hoped her wild antics didn't rub off on his innocent little sister.
"Uh anyways" Simon interject annoyed "Cassius ability is mental imagery. He can put an image into your mind and reinforce it until you submit. If he does it while he's angry you can actually feel physical pain and be driven to kill yourself too. It's an invasive ability. Luckily he can only project on two or three people at a time. Also on the down side, he's a skilled fighter." Simon pointed out.
"What about the king?" Seb asked trying to get the head of this problem. Ana's best friends had a grim look on his face he flipped through a few more pages until coming to a stop on the one he wanted.
"King Ferox page is blank." Simon gulped.
Seb's attention went to full alert. But when he looked down at the page he realized Simon was correct. There was a sketch on the side like every other but no words explaining anything about the king. This truly puzzled him. The book was magical and automatically updated all the supernatural creatures' information.
So why wasn't the kings here?
Not a moment later Jace came slowly back into the room clutching a clear liquid in a small vile. The witch had a determined look on his face. His spell must be ready
"Hey Jace, do you know why the King isn't in this book?" Simon asked. Jace shook himself from his thoughts and made eye contact with Simon.
"Oh uh I'm not sure but if he isn't there it's on purpose. Could be a dark witches doing but I'm not certain." Jace replied barely there.
He stiffly sat on the plastic covered sofa and stared at the liquid in his hand.
"Is your spell ready?" Marie asked softly. They all stared at Jace while he was lost in his thoughts no one understood what he was thinking about so hard. But it had to be important.
"Yes. When I drink this I'll go into a deep sleep and my spirit will separate from my body." Jace explained.
He removed a white napkin from his pocket. Inside was a single strand of black hair. Seb was certain that it belonged to Ana. He must have gotten it from her hair brush or something. Once he dropped the strand into the clear liquid a bright white light beamed from the vile. The light expanded throughout the room causing everyone to shield their eyes. In seconds it was gone and everything returned to normal. Jace slowly lifted the vile to his lips…
"Wait! How will we know it worked?" Simon jumped up asking, stopping Jace before he drank the potion. Jace lowered his hand.
"Well you're all human so none of you will be able to see my see my spirit leave. This could take hours or days. Cora and Zara are in the basement chanting to help keep my spirit from wandering. So if they come up before I wake up then my tie has broken and my soul is lost" Jace informed them gloomily.
The silence in the room was deafening. Everyone realized the risk Jace was taking to save Ana. Seb actually wished there was another way but there wasn't and time is running out.
Seb moved to stand by the front door while everyone else crowded around Jace. If this worked he would thank the witch for his courage when he returned. After hugging the rest of them Jace made eye contact with Seb. The unspoken words were clear. They had an understanding to do whatever it took to bring back the woman they loved.
With a final deep breath Jace quickly drank the water looking substance. As soon as it was swallowed, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body collapsed onto the sofa. Marie and Simon adjusted his body so that he was laying on his back in a comfortable position. They all sort of watched his sleeping body for any signs but nothing happened.
"Well that's it I guess. He said we wouldn't be able to tell if it worked so I'm just going to run in the kitchen and grab a snack. Anybody want anything?" Lily asked circling. After brief head nods she shrugged he shoulders and exited the room.
Waiting around would be the hardest thing Seb had to do. He was used to being a man of action and getting things done. Now that wasn't an option at the moment.
He pushed himself off the wall and was going to go for a run when he noticed something strange...
Coming off of Jace's body were light colored waves. They resembled vibrations or sound waves as they drifted off the witch. Seb glanced at the others but their faces were blank. As if they didn't see anything from the ordinary.
Seb continued to stare, and slowly he saw a blue apparition begin to separate itself from Jace.
"Are you okay? You look kind of pale?" Marie questioned watching him.
Seb glanced at his sister quickly then back to Jace. She followed his movements but only met him with confusion. It was obvious she couldn't see the blue apparition of Jace floating above his unconscious body. There was a thick silver chord that attached from Jace's core to the back of his levitating spirit.
"Seb!" Marie yelled snapping her fingers in his face "What's wrong? Do you see something?"
This was all very strange. And he couldn't answer his sister. Jace was very clear when he said humans couldn't see what was happening to him.
But what Seb didn't understand was why he could...?
Without a word he ripped the door open and took off running outside. Only one thought circled through his mind . If he wasn't human, then what the hell was he…?
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Ana Pov
Gwen and I charged like raging bulls. We slammed into each other hard, knocking ourselves to the floor. She quickly back flipped to her feet and then tried to smash her heel into me. Speedily I rolled out of the way just before impact.
I jumped to my feet just in time for her to slam me into the wall. The crash was loud and caused a crack. My right fist connected with the side of her face and then I used my knee to repeatedly hit her in the gut. She grunted before upper cutting me in the chin and side sweeping off my feet.
I hit the ground with an oomph.
Gwen jumped on top of me and started bashing my head into the floor. It was making me dizzy so I used my leg to kick her in the back of head. Once she stopped bashing my head, I punched her in the face until she fell off me. Then I grabbed her by the hair and threw her into Cassius dresser.
All his items dropped to the floor with the broken wood. While she was down I ran at her but her foot to my core sent me flying back into Cassius bedpost taking it down with me.
"You're pretty good" Gwen said getting to her feet
"You too" I replied before charging her again. We got into a fierce dance of punch and kick. I was in the zone and every time she swung at me I dodged or blocked. Until I got the upper hand and drop kicked her across the room.
"Why do you want to kill me? I haven't done anything to you!" I questioned watching her slowly get to her feet and wipe blood from her lip.
"Because I've worked so hard to get Cassius and I'm thisclose to finally getting what I want!" She shouted pulling at her disheveled skirt. Suddenly it all made sense
"You're in love with Prince Cassius" I stated profoundly. Gwen stopped pulling pieces of wood out of her hair to stare at me dumbfounded.
"Love? What are you twelve? This was never about love. This was about power. For two hundred years I've dealt with that ass of prince. Working him until the day he would have to choose a wife." Gwen was clearly frustrated making her look crazed
"What does that have to do with me" I wondered pushing my hair from my face.
"In order for King Ferox to pass the crown, Cassius needed to marry. But the whore never found a mate. So Cassius would just choose a wife instead to be next queen. That was going to be me but then you showed up!" She ranted pointing at me.
Her eyes went black again and I knew our fight wasn't over. This vampire better back off before she forces me to kill her.
Gwen flashed across the room, tackling me into the wall. Her anger was making her sloppy. I easily broke her hold and maneuvered behind her and smashed her face into the same wall.
"Look I don't want Cassius and I most certainly don't want to be queen" I declared. Gwen turned quickly removing blood from her healing broken nose.
"Of course you do" She sniped
"No I don't. I want to get the fuck out of here and back to the people I care about" I said honestly. Gwen with her cold face studied me for a moment. As if trying to figure out if I was lying or not.
"You're in love with someone else." She accused "Oh my. The mate of the prince is in love with another" She added more gleefully this time. I narrowed my eyes at her. This one has some screw loose that's for sure. How the heck could she tell I wanted someone else anyway? Maybe she's just good at reading people. Which means I'm bad at hiding my feelings.
"Alright, if you're serious. Then I'll help" She announced taking a few steps toward me. I held my ground but watched her hard.
"Help how?" I asked her suspiciously
"I'll help you escape the blood castle" She proclaimed.
But there was something in her eyes that told me Gwen couldn't be trusted….
~~~~~~
Prince Cassius Pov
"You should know I ordered our mothers awakening for tomorrow's execution" Catalina taunted from behind him.
Cassius mind flashed to his beautiful gentle mother.
It's been three hundred years since her betrayal shook the kingdom into chaos. When queen Acacia went against everything including her family by trying to flee with Marcos, it devastated him the most.
Unlike his sister, Cassius was close to his mother and because he was older, he had more time with her than Cata. To this day he didn't understand why his mother did it. Why she choose to lose her family and her crown for one man? The only conclusion that could be made was she truly loved Marcos. Since his mother never got the chance to explain, Cassius still doesn't know.
After his father punished and exiled all those involved in the attempted escaped he tortured their mother. For the first hundred years the queen was beaten with platinum chains for hours a day. They didn't feed her so after a while she couldn't heal at all.
Cass and Cata weren't allowed to see her but Cassius was haunted by his mother's screams of agony. He was finally able to convince his father to drain her of all her blood and entomb his mother's body.
That was two hundred years ago...
Since then he began to drown his self in women. His sister took her pain out on anyone that crossed her path. And his father became the most brutal and feared king in history; Ferox became heartless.
One day he hoped his father would forgive her and she could be awakened to rejoin her family. But waking her to see the death of the man she loved wasn't the way.
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#Tobecontinued....