'Father is going to kill me when he finds out,' he thought to himself, already picturing the expression on his parents' faces. 'Maybe I should ask that hunter to kill – it would spare me having to go through that fun conversation.'
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Alisa coughed from her position on the floor, trying to push herself up slightly. She could feel a sharp pain coming from her left hand. She stood up and looked at it. A long cut, starting in the middle of her palm and ending in the middle of her forearm was bleeding profusely. She sighed, and placed a hand over the cut. She lifted her hand after a few seconds, and the cut had disappeared completely.
Alisa stood up and looked around; she appeared to be in a small ante-chamber, just off the corridor she had just been in. Upon further inspection, Alisa saw a large wooden door on the far wall. Shuffling over to it, she felt around until she found a doorknob. She tried to turn it, but it wouldn't open.
Muttering in annoyance, Alisa took a few steps back, glaring at the door agitatedly. 'Plan B', then. Alisa lifted her leg, and gave the handle of the door a harsh kick. The lock, although not exactly old, cracked from the sudden impact. The broken lock and handle fell to the ground, and the door creaked open slightly, revealing a sudden bright light. Alisa had to cover her eyes for a second, the light too bright for her eyes to handle.
Once her eyes became adjusted, she saw that she was in a huge stone hallway. Large windows lined upon one side, while stone archways with doors leading off to rooms on the other. It was clean, and looked to fairly recently fixed up.
Wooden doors lined the hallway, which as surprisingly not cold at all. Alisa moved across the hallway, approaching the first door. She tried the handle, and was delighted to find it unlocked. She pushed the door open, and what she found delighted her even more.
It was a bedroom, but one of the nicest bedrooms she had ever seen, and that was saying something. The walls were a light blue, the bed was on one side while the balcony overlooked the mountain side, providing a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. On the wall opposite the bed was a huge guilt mirror, and beside that was a pair of doors. Alisa stared at the doors curiously, before walking over and pushing them open to see a gorgeous wardrobe. It was made of dark wood and had plenty of space.
"I would happily take this room," she muttered, smiling slightly as she turned and looked around again, taking it all in.
She moved on to the next room, which happened to be a library. She opened the door, to find a room so big, that she couldn't see the end. There were shelves upon shelves of books, and some of the titles were so rare, even she had never seen a copy of them. There were marble busts mounted on pedestals and there was one of those ladders that ran up and down the shelves so you could reach books that were really high up. There was even a second floor. This was definitely her dream library.
The next room was a sitting room of sorts. There was a wall made of glass on one side, and chairs littered the floor. There was three couches, a huge chandelier hung from the ceiling, candles still in place. There was even a TV; and a huge one at that, at least 45".
"This just keeps getting better and better," Alisa grinned, moving on to the next room.
The next room was a kitchen, and it was massive! Mostly white, the counters were made of marble, so was the island. A small dining table with six chairs say at one end, and the island had four stools. A good few French windows lead out onto the balcony that had an incredible view of the mountain.
"I could definitely get used to this!" Alisa said, smiling happily.
Next room was a bathroom. Which was almost as big as the kitchen, and had just as much marble, and lastly, the spare room. This was a whole other level of awesome. It was a gothic style bedroom, no windows, no natural light. Alisa loved it, but she would never sleep in there. It was a bit too claustrophobic for her taste.
Alisa closed the door and looked around the hall again.
"Yup, this will do nicely."
She skipped off to find her stuff and unpack, whistling as she disappeared back through the tapestry.
* * *
Ben flew through the trees, his mind spinning. He could Felix have said that to him? And so close to his birthday, as well. He was probably distracted, but that was hardly an excuse. Ben was hurt, he wasn't going to lie about that. He hadn't expected his brother to lash out like that, but he supposed he should have seen it coming.
He wouldn't be able to go back now, or at least, not until the moon was almost set. He had angered his father, Felix, and probably his mother, too. He'd be murdered if he went back too soon. He didn't even want to go back, though.
He had been flying for around ten minutes, if even, when a blinding light hit him. It felt like someone was practicing voodoo magic on him, or something; the feeling was similar to having thousand of needles shoved into his skin at once. Hissing in pain, Ben dived up into the sky, trying to escape the white-hot light.
The sound of a helicopter finally reached his ears, and Ben cursed himself; he had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the helicopter as it drew closer to him until it was too late.
"Chase," he muttered, trying not to look at the large burn that was no doubtedly forming on his arm and hand.
He decided to zigzag to throw the hunter off his scent. As he began to fly, a helicopter came out of nowhere, catching Ben's arm. Yelling in pain, Ben fell out of the sky, trying desperately to fly again on it to break his fall. He managed to float long enough to drop himself to the ground.
Ben groaned in pain. Looking down, he saw a huge gash on his upper arm, just above the burn. A tiny trickle of blood was running down his skin, but it was so dark, it was almost black – Ben hadn't feed in a bit too long.
He looked around. He could see dawn was actually a lot nearer then he had first thought; he needed a place to escape the morning. Suddenly, the light was turned on again.
Ben swooped off down the road, Chase in close pursuit, the sound of the helicopter steadily growing louder. Ben searched desperately for a hiding spot, until he saw it; a huge castle, it's turrets rising up in the distance. Perfect.
Ben took a sharp turn and flew towards it, hissing as the light caught his bare ankle. He was losing momentum, and was becoming dangerously low in the sky. Then he was there, right outside of the castle gate. He flew over it, looking around desperately for an open window.
Seeing none at the front, he went to the back. He hissed again, retreating to the shadows as the sun caught his injured arm. He flew round, and searched again. Then, he heard a loud bang, like a door slamming against a wall.
Looking up, Ben saw a balcony, where the doors leading onto it had been left wide open. He raced towards the balcony and zoomed through the doors, closing them and drawing the curtains shut tightly.
He breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes for a brief second. He inhaled deeply, revelling in the unexpected success of his rather badly thought-out plan. Then, he heard a cough from behind him, followed by a voice.
"Who are you? And why are you in my room?"