CHAPTER 8 - THE KINGS - AURORA'S POV
1607 Words
"When I was turned I was like any other vampire, I killed to survive." He stopped smiling, and I could see him staring at me out of the side of his eye as though afraid of frightening me again, but for some reason it didn’t bother me.
"Amelia came across me one day, and she spared me." His voice sounded evasive, as if there was more to the story, but he didn’t want me to know. This upset me, but then I remembered that we only just met, and I let it go.
"She spared you?" I asked, confused, unable to suppress all of my curiosity.
"Amelia used to work for the Kings in the great city of Agora." He explained, "It was her job to round up as many vampires as possible and mark us." He held up his arm and I saw a small black tattoo of two s’s (§)
"It means vampire." He told me, I looked at the mark, it looked familiar to me and I knew that it meant something more than vampire, but my head started stinging again, so I refocused on what Jasper was saying.
"It’s so others can know what I am." He told me, "After I was marked she was to bring me to the Kings, but she had a vision," His voice tightened as he said the word, I didn’t understand why. "She saw that I wouldn’t harm humans if she showed me another way to live, and so she brought me here like she did with everyone else, she saved my life, I owe her for everything I have, not that she’d demand anything from me as payment." He added, mostly to himself, leaving me confused again by his tone.
"What are the Kings like?"
"The Kings are four immortals that rule this land." He told me, "They built Agora thousands of years ago. All the humans look to them for guidance and protection from all other creatures in the land, and they have a great and powerful army that guards the city and its people."
"Powerful how?"
"It’s an army made up of vampires who have been forced to serve them." Jasper said as we walked on. "Only those with extra abilities are chosen, they are placed in the Corta bracelets. If any of them refuse to serve, they are poisoned and cast in stone by one of the kings."
I gasped at him open-mouthed. "That’s horrible." I managed to get out, though this all seemed very familiar to me, my head started hurting again, but I ignored it. "I can understand making them wear them in the city to protect the humans, but to force them to fight against their will, and hurting them if they refuse its, It's just so..." I couldn’t even think of a word bad enough to describe how awful what they were doing was. "Why doesn’t anyone stop this?" I asked, suddenly angry, I didn’t know why this upset me so much.
"No one knows." Jasper told me, "Everyone is told that the vampires choose to be apart of the army and no vampire argues for fear of being killed, not that any human would care anyway, they all think of us as soulless demons who should serve them or die."
"What do the kings tell people when they poison and stone them?"
"Simple," Jasper told me, "Everyone is told that the vampires being killed went back on their word not to kill humans while apart of the guard, and that they're being punished for it."
"Wait a second," I said, back tracking, "What do you mean by extra abilities?"
"Some of us have certain gifts, like mind reading, healing abilities and telekinesis." He told me quickly.
"Do you have a gift?" I wondered out loud.
"Yes," He answered, "I can teleport."
"Really. Will you show me?"
Jasper smiled, and vanished before my eyes, and I quickly looked around the area.
"Japser?!"
"Up here."
I looked up and saw him smiling and waving from a tree branch, before he vanished again, and reappeared back beside me.
"That is so cool!" I gushed excitedly, "Does it hurt you? Can you go anywhere or do have to see the area you're teleporting to? Have you ever accidentally reappeared inside a wall or something? Oh, do you?"
Jasper laughed and put his finger to my lips, and I felt the strange buzzing again, before he quickly pulled his finger back.
"Let's keep walking, and you can ask your questions along the way."
We walked on for another half an hour, Jasper patiently answering my thousands of questions about his power, or the great city and his family and all the things they could do.
I found myself fascinated by him, questions kept flowing as if I'd been bottling them up for years, and suddenly I had a chance to have them all answered.
It was so easy to be with him, it was like we’d known each other for years rather than hours.
I had all but forgotten he was showing me the perimeter of his land until he suddenly stopped. I wasn't expecting him to halt, and I ran straight into a tree when I turned to see what he was doing.
We both laughed as he helped me off the ground, his face was inches away from mine once I was on my feet.
We stopped laughing as we looked into each other's eyes. All I had to do was reach up, and our lips would touch.
Nerves filled my stomach as he moved closer to me, he still held my hand from lifting me off of the ground and his other now brushed back my hair that had fallen into my eyes, slightly obstructing my view of him. Once my hair was tucked securely behind my ear, his hand cupped my face.
"Aurora, you are so beautiful." He whispered, and then seemed shocked by his confession.
I blushed, as he’s scent filled the air around me, I felt my lips tremble with longing.
"Are you crazy?" I asked myself, "What am I doing? He could rip my throat out in an instant."
"He wouldn’t hurt me." I argued with myself.
He lent in closer, oblivious to my silent struggle.
"I could be married. I could have a mate." I told myself, "Someone could be looking for me, waiting for me."
"But Jasper is s*xy." I continued to argue with myself.
My head pricked in pain, but I ignored it once more. "What if I have a family, children?"
I froze as this thought brought me up short. I broke free of Jasper's gaze, and moved swiftly away and turned my back on him.
"I’m sorry," He said quickly, "I shouldn’t have tried, I thought you wanted."
I didn’t speak as he tried desperately to explain, instead I tried to steady my breathing.
"It alright," I said finally, "It's just that I don’t know if someone is waiting for me, or if I’m married or have kids of something, its not like I didn’t want you too."
I bit my lip and fell silent as I blushed, I hadn’t meant to tell him that last part.
"I understand, Aurora." He said kindly, "What you must think of me? I’m usually not like this, its just that I’ve been waiting for you for so long, and now you’re here, I don’t know how to act or what to say or."
He broke off mid sentence, he seemed furious with himself.
I stared wide eyes at him, my mouth slightly open in shock, I swallowed loudly before I could speak.
"What do you mean you’ve been waiting for me for so long?"
"I didn’t mean you specifically, I meant someone I like." He rushed on not meeting my gaze.
"I don’t believe you." I shot back, "It sounded like."
"Please Aurora, just let it go." He pleaded, interrupting me, "I didn’t mean anything I just meant."
Before Jasper could finish what he was saying, we heard a feral snarl from behind us.
It was Johna, and he wasn’t alone, a beautiful woman stood close by his side. Her expression was devastated, and yet she stared at me with pure hatred, it seemed to fill the air.
"This is the one." Johna spat, his gaze fell on my bracelet.
Jasper stood over me protectively. "She is on our land Johna, you can not harm her."
"Then I’ll simply move her off your land." The woman spoke furiously.
"I am sorry about Luka." Jasper tried to console her, "But as I told you earlier, I will never allow you to harm Aurora, I will kill you if you try. Go home."
So that’s where Jasper disappeared to this morning, he went to this woman to talk about me, but I was confused as to why.
"Oh, I'll go home, with her head!"
"I’m warning you Anya, do not do this." Jasper spoke very slowly and calmly, but his face was terrifying. I noticed his eyes turn black and his hands begin to shake as he spoke.
"She killed my mate!" Anya screamed loudly, hurting my ears as she shouted, her eyes darkened as well "I will have her!"
"Not today you want." Jasper shouted back.
Anya lunged at me, but Jasper grabbed my arm before she made contact.
The second Jasper touched me, I felt a sudden pull like my arm was being ripped off and then the rest of my body felt it.
It felt like I was being sucked through a small hole. I couldn’t breathe and everything went black.
- Writer
