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

“You must go directly, before it is too late. There is no time to lose.” There was a note of desperation in Elena’s voice that made her frown.

“We have something that we need to do first,” Valentine said.

Elena’s look darkened.

Prophecy watched her closely. She reasoned that it was probably just her feelings of jealousy towards the witch that was making her suspicious of the witch. Elena had done nothing to raise alarm in Valentine. Prophecy was sure she would have seen it if the witch had.

Her eyes narrowed when the witch gently ran her hand over Valentine’s chest and smiled up into his eyes. “I always had big plans for us. We could have been wonderful together, another Ineru and River.”

Valentine removed her hand. “For that I would have to love you, and that is something I am incapable of.”

He turned and walked past her. Prophecy watched Elena smile fondly at the dogs.

“It doesn’t stop me from having plans for us,” Elena said and then looked at Prophecy. “Go to Romania. There you will find the castle of the lord of Tenebrae.”

“We have business to attend to in St. Petersburg first. Grant us safe passage from there to Romania.” Valentine held Elena’s gaze.

Prophecy noted that Elena looked uneasy about his request. The witch seemed to seriously consider it before nodding and holding her hand out to Valentine. He took it and pressed a kiss to it.

“It will be difficult to cloak you from prying eyes and protect you from such a distance, but I will try. Do not lose much time. It is against you, Valentine.”

“Always a pleasure,” he said and released Elena’s hand.

Prophecy felt his hand against her back. He turned her around and she glanced over her shoulder at Elena to see her smiling at her dogs again before she disappeared from view.

A million questions bubbled up inside of Prophecy while Valentine led the way down the stairs and over to the door. She didn’t understand what Elena had said to him about them being together. The reference to Ineru and River was lost on her and she knew that Valentine wouldn’t like her asking him about it. It had been obvious that he hadn’t liked Elena’s suggestion.

She couldn’t get past the note of panic in Elena’s voice when she’d told them to hurry and how unsure she had looked when Valentine had asked her for protection from St. Petersburg.

What was in St. Petersburg?

She looked up to see Valentine striding down the front steps of the house. He seemed intent on leaving quickly, as though he wanted to escape the place or maybe just Elena. She was the reason he’d wanted to hide her marks. There was something about the witch that he didn’t trust and she couldn’t blame him. She didn’t trust Elena either.

She reminded herself that it was just jealousy speaking. She hadn’t liked the easy way Valentine and Elena had talked, as though they’d known each other for centuries.

They were within a few feet of where the portal was when Valentine stopped and sniffed the air in the same way he had done the night before. She reached out with her senses, trying to see if something was there.

The magic that was creating the place they were in seemed to interfere with them, dulling them and making them useless.

She glanced up at Valentine and was amazed to see fear in his eyes.

She turned her head slowly as the portal shimmered into existence.

Magic hummed through her veins as it opened.

She tensed when Valentine whispered a word, his voice so full of emotion that she could almost feel it herself.

“Lucya.”

Chapter 21

Valentine couldn’t move as the portal flickered and Lucya appeared in front of him followed by Indigo. He blinked rapidly, hoping that this vision in front of him wasn’t real. She was as beautiful as ever, her golden hair reflecting the warm streetlights, her eyes clearest blue and her dangerously low cut dress leaving nothing to the imagination. The narrow waist of it emphasised her figure and the front of her skirt was pulled up to reveal her legs.

If his heart could still beat, it would be racing now.

He cleared his throat, his eyes never straying from her while the whole world around them disappeared. He could hear distant voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. There was only her. There had always been only her.

She smiled, her delicate lips curving gracefully as her eyes shone.

“Valentine,” Lucya said.

Her voice was as soft and delicate as he’d remembered it, even after two centuries apart.

“You look as dark and beautiful as ever.” Her smile widened as she stepped towards him.

“You are still as stunning as the darkest rose,” he said and narrowed his eyes on her, his lips arcing into a smile.

She lowered her head, covering her mouth with her hand and giggling. His smile widened. She tentatively raised her eyes to meet his again.

“How could I ever leave you?” Her voice was full of disbelief and regret.

He frowned at the reminder of what she’d done. She withdrew a step, a look of mild panic flickering across her features and her eyes darting to Indigo before she regained her confidence. Something wasn’t right.

The world seemed to come back into existence for a split second and he felt Prophecy close by. He growled at Lucya, furious about her attempt to place him under her thrall and annoyed at himself for falling for it as he’d always done.

A cursory glance over his shoulder brought him face to face with a very angry looking Prophecy. He looked back at Lucya and Indigo. They were both smiling at him. Their eyelashes fluttered and they gave him their most alluring looks.

“Come, Valentine.” Lucya held her hand out to him.

“War is coming, Valentine…we need you.” Indigo ducked her head and smiled up at him through her eyelashes.

“Come…” Lucya swept her hands towards herself, luring him.

He shook his head, resisting the call she was sending out to him. She was still strong. Her blood still ran in his veins, that would never change, but she didn’t control him any more, and she didn’t have a hold over his heart.

Lucya frowned for a split second and then smiled at something behind him.

“She will be your downfall.” Her tone was more serious. He looked at Prophecy and could see that she was itching to fight. “You must serve your family, Valentine. All will be forgiven if you come back to us now. It will be as if none of this had happened.”

Lucya’s words were honey in his ears, sticky and poisonous. He closed his eyes, not wanting to consider what she was offering to him but finding himself considering it anyway. He clenched his fists. Lucya didn’t want him. She had left him over two hundred years ago for a Vehemens.

He looked at her. She was swaying on the spot, her hips moving enticingly and her hands coursing up and down her body in an attempt to make sure that he noticed her fully.

Thunder echoed overhead.

“Come, Valentine, my love, my passionate child, my darkest lover. Come back to me.” Lucya held her hands out again, her expression pleading him to do as she was asking.

He swallowed hard, listening to the sound of his own ragged breathing and the thunder in the distance. She was offering him everything he’d wanted since meeting Prophecy. It was his only chance to wipe the slate clean and return to his family, leaving all this madness behind him like he wanted to.

“Come…all will be forgiven, our dutiful son. Come back to us. Kill the girl.”

Her words hit him hard in the chest and he recoiled, a frown knitting his brows.

Kill Prophecy?

“Never,” he whispered and sensed a change in the atmosphere between them. It grew cold and distant. Lucya drew herself up to her full height and glared at him.

“So be it. If you will not come back to us, you will die with her, by my hand, child.” She spat the words at him, her eyes dark as midnight as she changed into her vampire guise.

“I would sooner die with her, than live with a treacherous snake such as yourself.” He let his demon guise come to the forefront, his teeth growing into sharp points and his bones shifting. “Did Kalinor offer you redemption if you lured me back?”

She looked offended and hissed at him.

He held his hand out to one side as Prophecy moved forwards and looked across at her.

“Don’t,” he said.

Prophecy frowned at him but eased back so she was stood a few feet behind him.

“Dissention in the ranks.” Indigo shook her head. “You really should take our offer. Your declination offends our family. Kalinor has offered us both to you and you think one little Caelestis is better than us?”

“Come, Valentine.” Lucya purred at him, her hands luring him to her.

He raised a brow and straightened up, tilting his head back slightly and looking down on her as he did so.

“Did your wretch of a Vehemens leave you, Lucya? I knew that he would. I knew in time that you would attempt to secure my feelings again.” He smiled when she looked hurt. “Your power over me faded long ago. Your blood may run through my veins, but it no longer commands me to do your will. I shall not murder Prophecy for you or my family. I will not lay one finger on her to harm her. Your offer of redemption means nothing to me, because you offer it only by pain of Prophecy’s death and that it something I could never live with.”

When Lucya wrapped her arms about her, a frown settling on her face and a look of hurt showing in her eyes, he could see that his words had hit their mark. She had believed that she still had power over him, that he was still her child to command. Kalinor had probably sent her here because she had promised to bring himself back with her. There was fear in her. He could sense it. If she returned without him, Kalinor would kill her without flinching.

“My place is here, with Prophecy,” he said and felt Prophecy close behind him.

He was surprised to find that she wasn’t scared. The power was coming off her in tangible waves, washing through him and making him feel as though it was his own. She wanted to fight. She was ready to spring into action at the slightest command.

A door opened behind them and a new power echoed on the edge of his senses. Elena had joined them.

“Leave,” Elena commanded on stopping next to him.

He gave her a confused look.

“This is my place. That makes this my fight.”

He shook his head, unable to fulfil her order. “If we leave and you do not defeat them, Kalinor will know that we have been here. They will get word to him.”

“Kalinor already knows that you are here.” Lucya smiled, her confidence returning as she ran her eyes over him. “That is why we are here. This was not a chance