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

The moon was beautiful, nothing more than a thin crescent in the deep blue sky.

“We shall discover more about the prophecy in due time.” His voice cut the silence and a frown flickered on her brow before she relaxed again.

“You mean more about me,” she said, keeping her eyes fixed on the stars.

His silence told her that he didn’t know what to say in response to that.

“I feel…” She trailed off. She felt self-conscious, unsure of whether she should be saying such things to him when she wasn’t sure if he cared about her at all.

“Go on,” he said in a gentle tone.

She brought her eyes down from the stars to rest on him. He was sitting at an angle facing her. One of his arms was resting against his knee and he leaned forwards. There was a look in his eyes that said he wanted to know what she had been about to say.

Did he really?

She wanted to believe that he did, but it was all too much to deal with. She had to speak though. The words weren’t going to stay inside her and she had to say them in order to make herself feel better. A part of her hoped that he would say something comforting. It would be easy to fool herself into believing he cared if he responded to what she was going to say with something reassuring.

“I feel like everything has been a lie. My whole life has been one big lie. I’ve spent it pretending that everything was okay, and that the little things that constantly raised questions in my head didn’t exist. I did have a sire. I did have marks once but now they’re gone. That was it. I wasn’t abnormal. The reason people weren’t allowed to speak to me was because of my standing within my family, not because I was different in some way. The looks they gave me were because of who I was, not because they feared me for some unknown reason. I’ve fooled myself for so long and now I can’t.” She closed her eyes and let her head fall backwards so she was facing the sky. “Now I realise that I’ve been living a lie all these years, and the questions I’ve held at the back of my mind won’t leave me be.”

“What questions?”

She smiled at the way his voice had maintained its gentleness.

“Valentine?”

“Prophecy?” He shifted closer to her and she opened her eyes.

“Do you remember daylight, sunrise…sunsets?” She didn’t dare look at him, not until she had control over her feelings. She forced herself to remain as calm as she appeared, even though there was a dark vortex of pain growing inside of her, consuming every shred of peace she had felt and leaving her hurting worse than she’d ever done. Now that she’d begun to remember all the times she’d fooled herself into thinking everything was okay, she couldn’t stop the questions and the sense of fear that was creeping in.

“Vaguely,” he said. “Why?”

She looked at him. “I don’t. I don’t remember anything about my human life.”

He raised a brow and inclined his head, giving her a curious look. “You don’t? Why not?”

“I don’t know…Arkalus tries to help me. Every death day of mine, he takes me to the vault where it’s quiet and he tries to help me remember. I never do.”

His expression had darkened when she’d mentioned her brother and he looked pensive. “Some vampires can repress the memory.”

It had sounded as though he was talking to himself more than to her, but she hadn’t missed what he’d said and it had raised more questions in her head, questions that she now realised she should have asked long ago. Was there a reason why all her years in the mansion had seemingly been spent in the same way?

“Are you saying that I’m—”

“No…I am saying that it might be that he is hindering your memories rather than helping you. I know someone who might be able to help you unlock them.”

“Why would he do that? Why would he tamper with my memories, Valentine? What is it that I’m not supposed to remember?”

“I do not know. I am sorry.” He started to reach out to her but then placed his hand down on the back of the bench instead. “I shall contact the person I know and see if I can get them to see you.”

She nodded, silently thanking him for his offer. Had Arkalus really repressed her memories? Everything was getting more confusing by the minute and she wished that it would stop, or at least slow down, because she felt as though she was starting to suffocate under the weight of it all. She couldn’t deal with things when they were happening so fast. She needed time to think. She needed to take her mind off it all for a while.

“Valentine?” she said and he brought his eyes down from the stars to rest on hers. He still had that look of concern that he’d been wearing since she left the room. She sighed. “Tell me about sunsets.”

He smiled briefly and looked up at the moon again. “Sunsets? Let’s see.”

She shuffled into a more comfortable position, turning to face him so she could see his profile in the near darkness as he thought about what to tell her.

He closed his eyes.

“I remember the last sunset I ever saw.” The smile teased his lips again and she wondered if he could still see it now. “The sky was blue at first. London was bustling as people went about their business. I was resting against the wall beside the Thames, looking up river. The lamps were being lit in preparation for the evening. The air smelt of damp straw and the unique scent of the water.”

She closed her eyes too, wanting to see what he was seeing. “Tell me more.”

“I watched the sky as it gradually changed, going from pale blue above me, down through subtle shades of green and yellow, and finally orange as it met the horizon. The colours intensified as the sun began to sink, becoming a glowing fireball as it edged towards the buildings, sending them into silhouette. The small streaks of clouds drifting overhead caught the dying rays, becoming threaded with gold at first and then pink as the sky began to glow a pale crimson.”

She smiled, almost able to see it in her mind. “Was it warm?”

“It had been a fine summer day. The warmth hovered in the air, wrapping everyone up like a comforting blanket and promising a mild evening. I could still feel the heat of the sun even after it disappeared. It was beautiful to behold.”

“It does sound beautiful, Valentine.”

She opened her eyes and found him looking at her. He was silent, looking deep into her eyes. She blinked slowly.

“You should have killed me.” Her tone was empty and resigned.

He shook his head. “You have a choice. You always have a choice. Mathias will help you learn more about the prophecy. You shall learn more about yourself. It has been millennia since it was interpreted. There are vampires who believe you will be the one to save us. Maybe they are right and the others are wrong.”

She sighed. “I hope so.”

He stood slowly and looked down at her.

“I have disturbed your solitude for too long. I shall leave you in peace now. No matter what happens, remember that you always have a choice, Prophecy.”

She smiled and he bowed slightly before walking back into the building. Her eyes roamed up the height of the building in front of her and stopped on the moon where it was creeping across the sky.

She felt a sense of peace inside her and wondered if Valentine knew the affect that his words had on her.

No matter what trials she faced in the future, she would stand up to them and do the best she could to overcome them.

She had a choice.

And she chose to save the world.

Chapter 9

The house was in darkness as Valentine walked through it. The only places that were lit were the study and the kitchen. He moved quickly, keeping his footsteps as light as possible so no one heard him.

When he reached the door, he realised that he’d been holding his breath. Was he that scared of someone hearing him? His species had good hearing, and it was a good enough reason to still everything that he could in the hope that he could leave without being caught by Prophecy.

He reasoned with himself that this wasn’t the answer. Running away never solved anything, but what else could he do? There was a chance, albeit a minute one, that his family wouldn’t have heard of what he’d done yet and if he went back now, they never needed to know.

He could ease back into his old life, leaving behind the chaos of the past few days, but he had to leave now or all was lost.

He opened the door enough to slip through and then shut it behind him. Turning, a sense of relief washed over him when he saw the empty street and began down the steps.

Mathias was out on the hunt, replenishing the stocks that Prophecy had been draining dry, so he would have to be careful when walking the streets. The last thing he needed was to get caught.

He watched the clouds gathering overhead and stepped out into the street.

“You’re leaving?”

Her voice carried a weight of hurt that stopped him in his tracks and hit him deep in his chest. He could almost picture what her face would look like without having to turn to see it. There would be a look of disbelief on it, her brows raised and her eyes wide as they echoed all her feelings to him, from anger to sadness. She felt everything so keenly that she could never hide it from the world.

He took a deep breath and stared at the kerb just in front of his feet. “I must.”

“Must?” she said with an air of confusion, as though that word couldn’t possibly apply to what he was doing.

“I cannot do this.” He turned to face her. He was leaving her, so he could at least do her that courtesy and prove to himself that he was strong enough to leave openly rather than skulking off in the dead of night. “I have already sentenced myself to death by aligning myself with you. I have to go now or all is lost.”

She raised her chin, looking down on him as her eyes narrowed and her arms folded protectively across her chest.

“Go then. Leave if you can. Go back to your life and your family.” All emotion in her eyes vanished and she regarded him as coldly as