Secrets in the Shadows

Chapter Two

"Maev Whitmore, If you want to go out there you have to let Samuel accompany you! And there is nothing more to discuss about this matter", Alanon Whitmore angrily said and then added with a serious tone that gave his daughter goosebumps, " and this is my final decision, accept it, or you are not going anywhere!".

For a few seconds, she was quiet as she digested her father's last sentence. She couldn't understand why he was always so hard on her. She's always been a good child, respectful and obedient to her father and still, it wasn't enough for him to go easy on her. Maybe, just maybe, if her mother was still around she could have a woman by her side to help him to understand that she was no longer a little girl.

" I surely don't understand why Samuel has to accompany me everywhere! I'm old enough to look after myself! I'm an adult", Maev replied as she stood up and ran upstairs to her bedroom, and slammed the door in a way that her father would realize that she was extremely upset. She would never use an angry tone with her father or being disrespectful in any way, she rather slammed doors or threw her pillows across the room to relieve herself from the anger brewing inside her.

" Ahhh!", she shouted angrily as she grabbed up a cushion from her bed and threw it across the room.

" I'm 26 and he still wants me to have a chaperone as if I'm a child! And of all men in this kingdom, it has to be that Samuel. As if I haven't noticed the way he looks at me. I don't like his stupid compliments and him altogether!", Maev mumbled as she laid face down on her bed, burying her face in her silk pillowcase.

Her father knocked on the door but she didn't reply as she didn't want to have another argument with him or lack any respect for him as she was too upset to have a proper conversation with anyone at the moment. She will have to calm down before she could speak to him again. Maev often wondered where she got this side of her personality from. She was often described as stubborn and hot-tempered by her friends. Maybe she took after her mother since her father was relatively a very calm man regardless of his position as the right-hand man of their Queen. He had a soft personality and often tried to find a solution to everything instead of resolving issues with violence or arguing. To sum it up her father was a man of peace. But, guess she will never know if she was like her mother or not, as no one speaks to her about who she was. Maev stood up and walked over to her dressing table, she grabbed her blonde bob wig which was hanging on a golden hook next to her dressing table. She sat on the wooden stool in front of her mirror and looked at her reflection. She neatly tied her hair in a low bun before she put the wig on her head, adjusting it with a pin to make sure it stays in place. The short bob wig fitted her diamond shape face perfectly, the blonde hair enhanced her sea-green eyes. Her eyes were a little lighter than her long natural dark emerald green hair. She had thick dark eyelashes which appeared to be fake and one glance into those sea-green eyes could easily hypnotize anyone.

Maev took a brush and gently brush the wig, she needed to do something, anything to distract herself from thinking about the conversation she had with her father. Her friends brought her loads of presents when they came back from their visit from the other side, from the mortal world. She had always wanted to know what the people looked like there, their houses, food, their hair, and clothes. She was surprised to find out that they physically looked alike, except they were Mortals and didn't have bright hair colors like them. Although they did meet a few who had dyed their hair bright colors and even if this would have helped the girls to blend in it perfectly with the mortals, they preferred to wear wigs for them not to attract the mortals curiosity. She wanted to taste those things called fast food, which her friends complained gave them an upset stomach, she didn't care, she wanted to make the most of her days there. She ran her fingers through the wig and sat down in front of the mirror looking at her reflection. She looked at the necklace around her neck and she gently touched it and it flashed a light green color. It was a necklace that all young girls received when they turned twenty-six. It contained magic to keep them safe from the outside world, but even that wasn't enough to convince her father to allow her to go out there on her own. She often wondered why he was always protecting her like that, or from who?

She grabbed her coat to go visit her old friend, old mother Fae, she was the eldest witch in the kingdom who had taught her many wise things. She was the closest person that she has in her life who was like a mother to her. Maev had often asked Mother Fae about her biological mother, but she always got the same answer, one day my child, one day. Mother Fae helps her to meditate and to maintain her sanity in this kingdom. As she opened the door to her bedroom she heard a commotion coming from downstairs. Different voices could be heard speaking loudly at the same time. Maev closed the door slowly behind her and tiptoed to the staircase and stood there at the top quietly and listened as she tried to figure out what was going on. This house has always been a quiet home, except for her father sometimes reprimanding her, thus the noise coming from downstairs had gotten her full attention making her forget about the reason why she was upset a few minutes ago. She slowly walked downstairs and quietly stood there in the corner of the staircase listening to the conversation.

" Please don't tell me that our plan went wrong! I know we couldn't have killed anyone, especially not him!", she heard her father said and saw him ran his hands nervously through his hair as he paced the room.

" I have to go and warn the Queen that the kingdom is in grave danger! They will think that we did it since they saw our men there! This is going to turn into a big mess if we don’t think of a solution. We better hurry!", Alanon said with a worried tone which gave Maev chills. Maev couldn’t keep quiet anymore even if she had never done this before , she had no other choice but to interfere in her father’s conversation as he looked extremely pale and worried. Maev hurried into the sitting room and suddenly silence filled the room. No one said anything, everyone in the room glanced at each other as they looked surprised to see her there.

" Pa what's going on here! Why do you all look so scared !?", Maev asked glancing at the men standing in her sitting room, and then she looked at her father with a serious face, and then her expression changed when she noticed something that you would never see on her father's face, fear.

" Maev, I want you to go away, as far as you could from the kingdom! Don't come back until I come to find you !", her father said as he hugged her tightly.

" Pa I'm not leaving you!  Especially now that I have this feeling that there something wrong. Please tell me what happened?", Maev asked again with a pleading tone.

" I can't explain now! I want you to go now!”, her father pleaded with her.

Suddenly the front door opened and a strong cold wind blew inside the room startling everyone as they all looked towards the doorway. A tall man in black walked in and there was an intense feeling in the room.

" Alanon Whitmore, we meet again. The King wants to see you and don't try to ask your Queen for help because we will end up killing her this time. That’s a warning from my King to your Queen", the man said to her father and Maev looked at him angrily.

" How dare you speak to my papa like that?!", she shouted at that man. He turned and looked at her from head to toe.

" Your father ?! Hmmm, the King will be happy to hear about that. So you have a daughter Alanon”, he said still with a smirk as he continued to look at Maev from head to toe.

" Leave my daughter alone. You want me ,not her. Tell your King we had nothing to do with the death of his brother. It was all a misunderstanding!", Alanon said as he stood in front of Maev to stop the man from looking at his daughter like he had discovered a treasure.

" Then you will tell him yourself. The both of you should come", he said pointing his long thin finger towards Maev.

Alanon knew that the instance that Maev would set foot in that kingdom, the King will have her killed to revenge the death of his little brother. They were not just any creatures, they were the dark vampires or often other kingdoms would refer to them as the shadow’s descendants. Those Vampires shared a great bond with their families and treated each other with loads of respect. Especially the Royal family, if one of their family members gets hurt ,they will hunt and kill whoever hurt that member of their family. They will even kill the whole family of those responsible if they have to do so, they were ruthless! Alanon knew that he will have to do something to get his daughter out of the house. But what can he do, probably there were more of his kind outside.

" Maev is not going anywhere!", Alanon shouted.

" And I said she has to come !", the Vampire growled flashing his fangs.

Alanon turned and looked at his daughter. He noticed that Maev had understood who that man was when he saw the look on her face. She stood there looking at the Vampire with fear written all over her face. He had to create a diversion for her to get away, just anything to keep her daughter alive. He suddenly turned towards the Vampire and punch him hard in the face, the sudden act on his part took the Vampire by complete surprise and he fell across the room. The other men in the room quickly pinned him down but they knew that they wouldn't be able to do so for long. Even if they all had powers they couldn't destroy that species so easily.

" Maev run now!", her father shouted at her as the Vampire started to growl louder and tried to fight off the men.

Maev looked at her father with tears in her eyes as she put on her coat.

" Pa, I can't leave you! Let me help, I'll go get the Queen!", Maev pleaded with him.

" Maev go!!", her father shouted louder.

Maev stood in the doorway and looked at him one last time.

"I will find you !", He shouted before she ran out of the house.

" Papa!", Maev shouted as she opened her eyes.

She tried to get off the bed, from the soft light coming from a candle next to her, she noticed that both of her hands were tied to the bed with a thick rope.

" What is this?! I thought I was dreaming !”, she said to herself as she anxiously breathed in and out. She shut her eyes and everything that happened to her flashed through her mind like a storybook. It must have been those Vampires who had brought her here. But where was she exactly? She looked down at her clothes and noticed that she was now wearing a long white loose dress.

" What !? Who changed my clothes? Where m I?!", she asked herself as she anxiously glanced around the room.

The door to the bedroom opened and several people walked in. Maev blinked her eyes as brighter lights filled the room from the torches along the wall. She squinted her eyes as she glanced at the unfamiliar faces around her. Then she breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on her lips when a lady in white entered the room.

" Queen Nadia!", she shouted with happiness.

" Maev! Glad to see that you are fine my dear", Queen Nadia said as she sat on the bed next to her and caressed her face.

" Queen Nadia, how's my father?", Maev asked anxiously.

" He is fine ... how are you?", Queen Nadia asked and Maev noticed that something was not right by the tone of her voice.

Why will the Queen be here!? And she didn't sound convincing when she said that father was fine!... what’s going on?, Maev silently said to herself.

" They tied me up .. why?! What's going on here your majesty!?", Maev asked anxiously.

" What's going on is that you will become the sacrifice for your people", an older man said walking into the room.

Everyone in the room bowed including the Queen.

Maev narrowed her eyes as she looked at the old man approaching the bed.Why did everyone bowed? Is he the King? Or what?, Maev said to herself.

“ You didn’t have to announce something serious like that to her in that manner”, the Queen said with a calmed tone and the old man brushed her majesty off and looked at Maev’s confused face.

" What do you mean I have to sacrifice my life for my people !?", Maev asked.

The old man frowned and looked at her from head to toe.

" Though I doubt if it will be for long! His majesty has better taste in woman than this one here", the old man said looking away from her and back to the Queen.

What does he mean by that?, Maev said to herself.

" Anyways prepare her for the wedding! We have no other choice. Your kingdom decided to seek help from all the other kingdoms putting us in the limelight, now we have to put up a big show for everyone.If we have to keep the peace and show the other kingdoms that we are "indeed at peace" then this wedding shall take place tonight ! Until the majesty thinks otherwise.Well though she is not a Princess ...but she is your niece so she will do", the old man said to the Queen and she whispered yes.

Maev couldn't believe her ears when she heard the Queen's said that she was her niece.

Why is she lying?!, Maev thought she was puzzled with what was going on. They were talking about her as if she wasn’t there.

" What do you mean ?! I'm not the Queen's niece! What is going here ?! Who is getting married!?", Maev shouted in desperation as she tried to pull her hands free.

She couldn't understand what was going on, and everyone was ignoring her. She felt her heart beating faster and tears rolled down her face.

" And please tell her to control that temper and to be a little bit more civilized!", the old man said walking away and his words only infuriated Maev even more.

" Civilized?! Who are you to use this word when your kind has a woman tied to the bed like an animal!", Maev shouted and everyone in the room stared at her with wide eyes and mouth opened.

The old man turned around and like a strike of lightning, he was back standing close to her bedside looking down at her angrily flashing his fangs.

" I'm not scared of you!", Maev said looking straight at him her sea-green eyes turning to purple which for a second puzzled the old man and he calmed down as he studied Maev’s face.

" Enough!", Queen Nadia shouted and Maev looked at her.

" May you please give me a moment with my niece", she calmly said.

The old man spoke in a different language and everyone else walked out of the room. Before he left the room he stood there in the doorway looking towards Maev and for a moment she thought she saw him smiled before he turned and walked away.