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

“Where now?” she said to fill the silence.

He picked up the bag and started walking. She hurried to catch up with him and fell into step beside him, smiling when he looked at her and spoke.

“Venice.”

Chapter 17

The ceiling above her bed was cracked and dirty. She’d never been in a room as small as the one she was currently occupying. The sun was setting outside. The call of the night had awoken her and she was giving herself a moment to wake slowly for the first time in a week. It was nice, relaxing, and something she was missing dearly.

They had arrived in darkness at the main station in Venice. The vaporetti had all finished for the night, so Valentine had made her walk all the way along the Grand Canal to their hotel. They’d found it down a tiny side street. All of them seemed to be narrow around here. It must have been a haven for her kind considering that sunlight would barely penetrate most of the city. They could probably move safely around it during the day if they needed to.

She hadn’t seen much of the city as none of the landmark buildings had been lit because of the late hour. The ornate streetlights did nothing to illuminate the murky streets but they did give Venice a feeling of antiquity. She could see the attraction for humans and demons alike. All of the pictures she’d seen of it had been beautiful, making it look like something out of a dream rather than reality.

Sitting up, she clawed her hair back out of her face and sighed. She was getting tired of it being in her eyes all of the time. She scanned the room, searching for something she could use to tie it back. Rummaging through the empty drawers in the dresser, she smiled when she found a length of string sitting discarded in the bottom of one. It would have to do until she could find something more suitable.

She pulled her hair back again and wrapped the string tightly around it before tying it off. She ran her hands over it and smiled again, satisfied with her work.

Another glance around the room brought her amulet to her attention. She retrieved it from the nightstand and slipped it on, fastening the bracelet around her wrist and wriggling her fingers to make sure it was comfortable.

She still couldn’t believe what she’d done in Paris. She’d blown the werewolf up. Ever since then, she could sense a slight edge of uneasiness in Valentine whenever he looked at the amulet, as though he wasn’t sure about the magic she suddenly had control over. She wanted to know more about where it came from just as he did, but there was no way it was going to happen any time soon. For now, she would have to deal with it without having any information about it, just as she had to deal with everything these days.

Her eyes fell to the star on her chest and she touched it lightly. Would they ever go away? Was she going to be marked forever?

The door opened, only to be quickly shut again. She dropped her hand away from her chest.

“Sorry.” Valentine’s voice drifted through the closed door.

She grabbed the shirt that was on the bed and slipped into it, buttoning it up as fast as she could before putting on her black trousers. She suppressed a giggle when she tried to picture what he looked like right now. He’d shown her such chivalry by not watching her change in Prague. He was probably mortified that he’d walked in on her when she was only in her underwear.

Opening the door, she smiled at him when she found him standing with his back to the door and his hands clasped behind him.

“You might want to knock next time,” she said.

He turned to look at her, his eyes betraying how awkward he felt.

“I was coming to see if you were ready…obviously you weren’t.” He stepped back and looked her over, his eyes settling on her bare feet. “And still aren’t.”

“I won’t be long.” She nipped back into her bedroom, pulled her socks on and then shoved her feet into her boots and tied the laces. Walking back into the other room, she leaned against the doorframe, amused by the fact that Valentine was again standing with his back to her. “Ready.”

He walked across the room and picked up a small piece of paper. She frowned.

“What’s that?” she said with a nod in the direction of his hands.

“The location of the curator. It is not far from here.” He put the piece of paper into his pocket and took his jacket off the back of the armchair in the cramped area between their bedrooms.

It had to be the smallest suite on the planet.

She watched his fingers while he buttoned his jacket up carefully, smoothing the area around each one as he fastened it. Sometimes, he was so methodical and practical that she could really see why he had wanted to be a Law Keeper. Other times, she couldn’t figure him out at all. It was as though he was two people. One was nothing more than an emotionless assassin just like a Law Keeper and the other was caring and protective, as he had been in Paris when he’d wanted to take revenge on the hunter for what he’d done to her and give him a message to never touch her again. In both, there were common qualities, like loyalty and duty, skill and determination. She wished he’d decide which one he wanted to be and stick with it, but she got the feeling that he didn’t know that yet.

If he let himself go more, he’d probably find he was the protective one, and that the emotionless side of him was only there because he felt he shouldn’t feel anything towards a vampire of another bloodline, just like she felt she shouldn’t have feelings for him.

She averted her eyes when his expression told her that he’d known she’d been staring at him.

“Shall we go?” he said.

She nodded, going straight to the door without looking at him. She wished that she could shake the feeling inside of her that said she shouldn’t care about him, but it wouldn’t shift. She didn’t care if it was wrong. The law meant nothing to her, and it meant nothing to him. If they were caught, they’d be sentenced to death regardless of the things they did now. As far as she could see, they may as well make the most of it. She reasoned that she only kept a tight hold on her emotions because Valentine did so with his. Whenever he slipped and let himself go a little, her feelings rose to the surface and she didn’t feel the need to contain them. On the Eiffel Tower, she’d felt as though the law didn’t exist, that their families meant nothing, because it was just about the two of them and that moment together. He’d been so gentle, his eyes full of tenderness, that it had only served to confuse her even further.

“You are very quiet. Are you feeling all right?” he said as they left the hotel behind them.

She came out of her thoughts long enough to smile at him. There was concern in his eyes, a flicker of his other side. Over time, he seemed to be slipping more often. He’d changed so much since they’d left Prague, but at the same time, he seemed the same. She wondered if he was really changing or just growing used to her presence and letting his guard down. Either way, she preferred him like this. It was far better than the cold, indifferent man she’d first met.

“Fine,” she said and then dropped her gaze. “How’s the shoulder?”

He looked at it with a raised brow. “Healing. You did a good job of dressing it. I never did thank you.”

She shrugged, not wanting him to thank her now because it would make her feel awkward and she didn’t want that. She was silently thankful when he didn’t say anything more on the subject. He just continued walking.

Her eyes roamed the streets around her. It was beautiful, just like it had been in the pictures, but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that said that whatever fate had in store for them, it wasn’t going to be romance and flowers like the scenery suggested.

The city was old and, for that reason alone, it was probably the favoured haunt of many different demon species. With an unknown bounty on their head, it wasn’t going to be easy to move about undetected. A dark sense of foreboding told her there were going to be fights and there was a high probability that they were going to face worse things in Venice than they had done in Paris. They were going to have to stick close together and she was going to have to learn how to use her magic if they were going to make it through.

“Whereabouts are we going?” she said, trying to dispel the silence between them.

“Campo dei Frari,” he replied, turning down another narrow street.

She wondered if he really knew where he was going. He seemed to know the city well. Had he lived here for some time too? It would be a wonderful place to live. She’d once seen a program about the carnival they held here. The people were all wearing masks and dressed in elaborate costumes. The canal was packed with boats of different shapes, sizes and colours. It had been a real Mardi Gras. It was a shame it was spring now. She would have liked to see such an event. It reminded her of the Creator Day masquerade held by the pure bloodlines.

When they came out into a square, she immediately looked around her. The buildings were all old, their plaster façades beginning to deteriorate with age. They had small windows and their roofs were low and tiled. She looked at the well in the centre. One side of the square was open and lined by a canal, with a small white bridge crossing it to the other side. As they walked further out into the open, she noticed the imposing front of the church and frowned up at it. She never could stand the sight of a cross. It made her stomach turn and her demon visage push to the forefront. Valentine didn’t seem at all bothered by it. He strode purposefully towards a building opposite them and went in.

She wove her way through the corridors and narrow stairways, following him as he moved further into the building. Her unease grew when she looked around. The building appeared to be empty, unlived in. The walls were dirty and most of the lights didn’t work. She focused, letting her senses reach out and using them to survey the area.

When Valentine stopped in front of a door on the second floor, his signature grew stronger and she realised that he was doing the same as her. He was using his senses