Prophecy: Child of Light (Vampires Realm Series Book 1) (Reading Sample) by Felicity Heaton (best feel good books .txt) 📕

Taking a deep breath, he relaxed into his seat and let her be close to him. It was only for a short while. They were already halfway through their flight and he’d be able to have a little more freedom from her when they were on the underground heading to Gare Du Nord in Paris.

It had been hard to watch the lights of his home disappear, so hard that he’d had to close the blind. It had felt as though he was watching his life drifting into the distance rather than the city.

He turned his head away from the blind and looked at Prophecy. She was sitting with closed eyes and furrowed brows. He still couldn’t believe what he’d done. Deep inside he hoped that none of this would be in vain and that his instincts were right about her. Whenever he thought about everything he was risking in order to take her to England, his stomach turned and a part of him wanted to kill her.

Her jaw tensed and she made a small noise of pain.

He could sense how frightened she was. It wasn’t just the pain of the Hunger. It was what lay ahead of her and the prophecy. It was what lay behind her.

She was leaving her life behind too, but she’d never been out in the world. It probably all seemed so overwhelming.

He sighed and resisted the temptation to clear her red hair from her face as it slipped out from behind her ear. Instead, he ran his fingers through his dark locks, loosening them.

A person stopped nearby.

He raised his eyes to find a woman smiling at him, her red lips curving perfectly into it and her hazel eyes shining. Her tight blue uniform told him she was a stewardess.

He gave her a toothy grin and then let it fade from his face as Prophecy’s fingers curled up into tight fists of hurt.

“Is everything okay over here?” The stewardess gave an anxious glance to Prophecy and then looked back at him. He noted that the stewardess seemed more concerned with him than the girl beside him. “Is it her first time flying?”

He just nodded and forced another smile.

When she began to walk towards the rear of the plane, he looked over the seat behind him and followed her progress. She looked back at him, brushing the hair from her face and smiling broadly before disappearing into the area behind the curtains.

She’d be an easy kill. She was willing and she’d taste as sweet as she looked. All he had to do was accept the offer she’d been clearly giving him and walk to the rear of the plane. She was probably waiting for him. He could go back there, kill her silently, and drink enough to keep him going and give the rest to Prophecy.

What in the Devil’s name was he thinking?

Killing on a plane?

Feeding Prophecy?

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. The quicker they got to England, the better off he would be. He needed to place some distance between him and the girl again. She was tainting him with her closeness, corrupting his mind and making him think about doing things that were dangerous.

He’d spent years travelling across Europe and not once had he broken the rules he’d laid down for himself. He would use the contacts he had to get blood when he needed it. He wouldn’t risk people finding out about his species by killing publicly, not unless it was key to his survival.

Especially on a plane, a place where there was a one hundred percent chance of someone discovering the body before you managed to disembark.

His eyes opened as Prophecy moved in her seat again, shifting away from him. He frowned and looked at his arm where it was now void of her.

It felt odd.

He’d wanted her away but now that she was away, he almost missed the sensation of her against him.

He closed his eyes again and cursed himself.

He really needed to get to England.

* * * *

Valentine took a deep breath of the night air as he walked. He listened to the sound of his boots on the pavement and concentrated on getting to their destination. The transfer in Paris had gone smoothly. It had been a close call at Gare Du Nord to catch the train to London, but in a way, he was thankful for it as it meant that he was now certain that no one had followed them. He’d stared out of the window in the train door for as long as it took to make sure of that.

Prophecy had insisted on remaining close to him the whole time. He had the feeling that it was more out of a need to restrain herself from killing than a need for reassurance. She hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours now. The Hunger would be pushing her into feeding and she obviously didn’t trust herself. He frowned. But she trusted him to stop her? Why? Was it because he was the only person there to stop her, or had he given her reason to believe that he cared about what she did? He’d stopped her a few times on the plane but that was out of common sense. If she killed one person, she’d have to kill them all and he didn’t think he could contain that kind of a situation. He wondered if she wanted to be given leave to feed or if she was waiting for him to guide her somehow. He tried to remember how it had been all those years ago when he’d been a victim of the Hunger.

Lucya had been there for him. His precious sire had guided his hand and helped him to get through the pain of the Hunger. She had taken him out to hunt, showing him how to successfully kill and feed.

Was that what Prophecy needed?

He didn’t have time to teach her such things.

He looked at her where she walking beside him and silently cursed her when a part of him wanted to.

Something about her made him want to teach her, made him want to look after her and reassure her that everything was going to be all right. He cursed himself this time. Wasn’t it enough that he’d risked everything in order to save her from death?

Death.

He reminded himself that there was a chance that he had condemned his entire species by helping her. He had no way of knowing for certain that she wouldn’t destroy them all. At least if she did, there would be no one around to point the finger at him. He smiled slightly, amused at his thoughts, but it quickly faded. What did he do if Mathias told him that what he had seen in her blood was wrong and she really was going to kill everyone? Would he find the strength to murder her then?

He realised she’d stopped walking and turned to look at her. She was rubbing her feet. Something glinted in the light and his head inclined while he stared at it, trying to make out what it was. When she walked towards him, it became clearer.

It was a silver star dangling from a chain around her neck. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t noticed it before. He looked closer. It was intricately designed. The star was made up of five diamond shapes, all locked together, and was at least an inch across. It looked old.

“Where did you get that?” he said.

She lifted it up and frowned at it. “I’ve always had it.”

“Where did it come from?”

“I don’t know.” She let it drop again and shrugged. “I just remember having it and I never take it off. It feels wrong if I do, like I’m naked without it. Why all the questions?”

“No reason. It just caught my eye. I had not noticed it before,” he said and looked at it a moment longer before continuing along the road, heading towards the centre of the city.

It had been a long time since he’d been back to England and seen Mathias, but he was sure that he could trust him. His friend had never been one to worry about the laws that governed their species. He’d never been one to report to their lord. Mathias had always kept to himself and rarely left his home and his books.

He wondered if he would still be there after all these years. If he were, there would be questions about the things that had happened in their time apart. Sometimes he got the feeling that although Mathias was happy remaining with his books and his research, he liked to live adventures vicariously through himself. The old scribe always asked too many questions about the hunts he’d been on and whether he’d had any narrow escapes. He’d probably be thrilled that he was bringing adventure to his door.

Valentine looked up to see the building opposite him. It looked exactly as he remembered it. The imposing façade was just one of many along the broad road. Its honey-coloured sandstone was smooth and without the fancy carvings that adorned many of the other buildings in Oxford. The small turrets at the top of the building were the only extravagance. Their roofs were covered in deep brown tiles that blended with the warm stone. His eyes strayed to the sky above him and the clouds that were beginning to gather.

Stepping up to the arched wooden door, he knocked and then took a step back. He waited to see if anyone would answer.

He glanced at Prophecy where she was looking around her, taking in the new scenery. Everything here was lighter than Prague. This city didn’t have the same air of darkness as his. He’d always felt as though he was safer here than anywhere on the planet. Oxford had a low number of vampires and Mathias was the only one of them who belonged to a pure bloodline.

He knocked again and ignored the feeling of apprehension that began to settle in his stomach.

Mathias would answer. He was probably just reluctant to leave his books.

When Prophecy shifted from foot to foot and gave him a look that showed him that she was as worried as he felt, he went to knock again.

The door swung open.

Chapter 7

Valentine smiled when the door opened to reveal a dimly lit hall and then his friend. Mathias looked exactly as he remembered, his appearance that of a slim, dark-haired librarian in his late forties hiding what he really was. He supposed that Mathias spent so much time with books that he could easily qualify as a librarian, but his friend had always preferred the label of scribe. When Prophecy shifted behind him, he looked over his shoulder at her. She was standing with him directly between herself and Mathias, and was huddled up, her arms wrapped tightly around her and her hair partly obscuring her face. She looked pale. She’d need to eat something soon or the Hunger would drive her insane.

“It’s been a long