Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
His eyes filled with concern. “Druella, it’s alright.”
“I did not come here to be bullied!” I yelled at him. “Since you have come into my life, I have lost my job and my home. I’ve been dragged from city to city, talked down to, and made fun of, but I let it all go! I didn’t blame you! Now your mother is blaming me because I didn’t jump you at first sight! Screw that! I was better off alone!”
I ran toward the doors, pushing them open to go back to the front with the statues.
He called out, “Druella wait!”
I almost made it to the door when I felt his wrist on mine. “Let go!” I spun, trying to get away, but my hand hit his cheek, slapping him as hard as I could. But this time, it was different. Everything was different, my clothes, his clothes, even the sun had switched to the moon. I could see the fullness of it through the glass roof.
“What my mother said to you was wrong,” Theseus replied, holding my wrist. But it was the mortal me. “I apologize on behalf—”
“I don’t want an apology from you!” I yelled as my eyes filled with tears. “I want one from her. I can’t help that I’m a witch! She was once a witch, so were you, so were all vampires! Why would she call me selfish for not wanting to change? I don’t want to be immortal yet!”
“I know,” he whispered, placing his hands on my face. “And no one is going to force you. I like you mortal.”
“You’d like me no matter what,” I grumbled, looking away. “Your mother, on the other hand, was very clear, and I will not hate myself because of her.”
“Nor should you have to,” he replied, kissing my forehead. “Let’s go.”
“Go? Where?”
“Where ever you want?” he said, already leading me toward the doors.
“Wherever you both go—” We turned back, and there was Rhea dressed in the very same outfit I’d seen her in—“Her coven will not let her live in peace. They will hunt you both down.”
“So be it!” Theseus said. “I am not afraid of the Axel Omeron, or any witch.”
Her eyes shifted to him. “You will have us all go to war because you would not give up your magic? You could avoid all of this by simply becoming immortal, and yet, I am the villain?”
“Mother, that is enough,” he said, stepping in front of me. “We have made our choice.”
“Such words remind me of so many mortals before they die. Stubbornness is a folly for sure.”
“Druella? Druella?”
Blinking, I looked up to find myself staring at Theseus, instead of looking at us both. Even still, I had to check around, looking up to see the blue sky instead of the moon.
“I’m back,” I whispered slowly.
“Back from where?” Ulrik questioned, walking up next us and sniffing. “You reek of magic, even more so than before. All the colors are swirling like a tornado around you. Why? Brother, what did she do?”
Theseus held onto the side of my face, forcing my attention to him “What my mother said to you was wrong.”
“Stop,” I whispered, my mind still reeling. “You’ve said this before.”
“You went back?” he questioned, surprised.
I shook my head, and I opened my mouth to explain, but I just didn’t know how. Instead, I just lifted my wrist for him.
He glanced at me for a moment and doubled checked. I nodded for him to go ahead. I needed him to see. To make sure I was, in fact, sane. Grabbing my wrist, he gently bit the skin. I was in such a daze, I didn’t even feel it. Instead, I stood staring at him, waiting for him to see. When his eyes widened, they met mine, and I asked the question I didn’t want to believe.
“Was I…was I an Omeron witch?”
“Yes,” the voice answered.
“Once all roads led to Rome, now it leads to the Omeron.” A man with a thick brown beard and long Nordic braids in his hair stepped out dressed in a grey linen Tunic and dark trousers. His accent was thick and heavy, and his fingers were covered in different kinds of markings and tribal tattoos. But the smell of him…I’d had met many old vampires, but it was different with him. Like opening an ancient book and having dust rise up and tickle your nose. When he stepped forward, Ulrik quickly stepped back.
He watched them for a moment before looking to me. “You are right, young one. My son, Theseus has always been the biggest troublemaker of my family, but I fear this time, he has outdone himself in choosing you.”
“Father—”
The ancient vampire merely held up his hand, and Theseus fell silence without question. In a gentle motion, he then outstretched that same hand for me to take. And when Theseus released his grip on me, I knew there was little choice left for me, so I gave it to the old one, expecting him to bite, too.