Prologue
-Victor-
“Love weakens us more than anything,” I said. “Let her die.”
I envied him all my life. Nathan was given love and prestige by all. I was considered the weaker brother. Hell, he wasn’t even my brother. Father was insane for trusting him so much.
I hated him. But after all these years with him, I had grown to like him as my younger brother. There was no way he could fight the vampires to protect Kaitlin. I had to stop him from his own death. I knew it was going to take all my strength and it would make him my arch enemy.
“Stop it.” He whispered.
“I can snap your neck now. But that won’t kill you.” I said. I had to stop him somehow. “I can tear you apart but that would be a coward of me. Giving you not a fair share of the fight and all.”
“I don’t care about your fight.” I let him move my hand away from his neck. He stood up. “I’m going to stop the troops you sent to the village.”
“You can’t stop it.”
“You don’t understand. There are innocent families out there.” He said. There was a pain in his voice that made me wince. “You can’t kill them all.”
“A war doesn’t think about families. Either there is the winning side or the losing side.” I said balling my hands into a tight fist. Why didn’t he understand a simple point? “You are a vampire. How can you deceive your own kind?”
He stared at me for a moment. I could read his mind. He was being indecisive. The pictures of lost kids, destructed homes were filling his small mind. But then there was the figure of our father. Nathan didn’t know what to choose. He closed his eyes and pictured a smiling Kaitlin.
I had to say that she was beautiful. Her lively eyes could make up anyone’s day. She was a ray of sunshine that could take Nathan away from his darkness but she was a werewolf. I stopped reading his mind.
“I’m going,” Nathan growled with anger and helplessness.
“Where to?” I asked.
“To end it.”
I had to stop him. I grinned and let the fangs appear from my mouth. Nathan’s eyes went wide when he looked at me. He knew what I was asking for.
“You cannot end this,” I said. “This is only the beginning.”
I had to fight him.
Nathan didn’t want to hurt me but he wanted to go, so he let his fangs come out too. He was going to fight me. A brother who wasn’t his real brother but he had always believed that someday I would give him the position.
“You’re making this harder for me.” He snarled.
I lunged at him, punching him in the stomach. He winced with pain for a moment and recover soon. He punched me on the jaw. He tried to hit me again when I swiftly moved to his back, pushing him hard to the floor.
He disappeared from the floor and I turned around to see him trying to bite me. I held him by the throat and raised him in the air effortlessly. I threw him at the wall of the mansion. His scream came as he hit the wall, breaking a part of it.
“You can’t fight me,” I said. “Give up already.”
He stood up shaking his head. He rushed to me and suddenly disappeared. When I turned around I saw him with a sword that was always kept in the hand of a warrior statue in the mansion. He tried to jab me with it. I moved away.
“You aren’t playing fair,” I said in a challenging voice. “There are no swords allowed.”
“Everything is fair in love and war.” He said trying to hurt me with the sword.
I shook my head dismissively and moved to his back. I bit him on the neck and drank his blood. It didn’t do any good for me. He was on the diet of animals. I spit the blood on the floor.
The blood rushed down his neck and he held the spot with his hand, covering it. His face had the expression of pain that was killing him. The wound disappeared.
Before I could react to the situation the sword was inside my stomach.
I screamed with agony. Even if we were vampires, we could feel the pain. The wound was going to heal but the lost blood would make me weak. I fell on my knees looking at him in shock. When did he grow up so much to hurt me like this?
“I’m sorry, Victor.” He whispered.
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I tried to remove the blade out of my body, but I couldn’t. I looked at him for some help.
“I’ve to go.” He said disappearing from sight.
I fell on the ground, my eyes closing with pain and weakness. I caught the handle of the sword and tugged at it. I had to take it out of my body. The wound was closing. I closed my eyes and forced the blade out of my stomach. I screamed badly. The darkness took me in.
Blood.
I needed blood. If I didn’t get I was going to die. I tried to get up but I couldn’t. My legs gave up and my whole body screamed of bloody death.
I closed my eyes and wished for a miracle of power. It came. The power poured into me. I got up and saw Valarie standing in front of me. She had a surprised look on her face.
“What happened here?” She asked.
“I’ll answer you later.” I walked straight. “I’ve to stop Nathan before it’s too late.”
“You can’t change fate, Victor.” I heard her say before I got out of the mansion with some guards.
I knew where Kaitlin lived. I went straight to her house. I couldn’t let Nathan reach this place before I did. I felt relieved when I didn’t see him there.
I broke down the door and entered her house.
There she was standing like a statue made of stone. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. From this near, I could see how flawless her olive skin was. I knew from this instant why Nathan had fallen in love with this girl.
“Aren’t you Nathan’s brother?” Her black eyes had a hint of recognition.
“Yes,” I could say anything else.
“Has he sent you?” She asked with hope gleaming in those beautiful eyes. “Has he sent you to take me out of here? To save me?”
I hesitated in answering her. I was bewitched by her beauty. There were no words of hate that came into my mind. She was so naïve and innocent. How could I possibly kill her?
A vampire entered the house. He grinned. There was blood on his face. He already had fought and killed many of the werewolves. He rushed to Kaitlin.
I moved fast enough to catch him and snap his neck. Kaitlin watched me in awe as I did so.
I moved closer to Kaitlin and when she didn’t move back I got to know that she wasn’t afraid of me. I looked at her and stared into those innocent eyes.
“I’m not here to save you,” I said. “I’m here to kill you.”
Her eyebrows creased, draw together. She was now afraid of me.
“Then kill me.” She said.
I was taken aback. How could someone ask for her own death? I touched the strand of her dark hair which fell on her face.
“I’ve changed my decision.” I stared into her eyes to compel her.
When her eyes became fixated on mine, I began hypnotising her.
“Forget everything that you ever had with Nathan. Get out of here. I will help you too. Just don’t ever appear in front of him.” I said slowly. “I’m telling him that you’re dead. But I’ll make you immortal. You’ll be only dead to him. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” She nodded her head.
***
I saw Nathan coming near Kaitlin’s house. I smiled. He was going to love this.
“You came late,” I said with a smile.
His eyebrows went up in surprise.
“How did you reach here before me?” He asked me suspiciously.
“I told you,” I said in a matter of fact voice. “I can be powerful when I want to.”
“Capture him,” I ordered the guards.
The guards obeyed me, gripping his body. He moved, trying to get out of their grip. All in vain, he couldn’t move a little bit. He snarled like an animal held in a trap.
“This is for helping the enemy,” I said angrily.
He threw me a look of pure disgust. I didn’t care if he hated me for this.
“Free me,” He yelled.
“And this is for trying to kill me,” I said and making a signal with my hand.
A guard set Kaitlin’s house on fire. I watched the large flames consume the house. Nathan screamed and cried, trying to break the grip. I had to hear his cry. He kept crying about how much he hated me. How he was going to tear me in pieces. I remained silent.
Then he fainted.