Lurking in the Shadows (Completed)

Chapter 19

Willow

With Henry out probably for a while, I slowly let go of our cuddle and tried to get some food from the kitchen. Juniper was being kept busy with her usual things so I tried not to bother her.

“Oh, Miss Willow. Good to see you. You haven’t visited me in a while.” She hugged me and I couldn’t help but smile.

“I met my mate.” I giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Oh, goodness congratulations!”

“I turned him…”

“Miss Willow! Your first fledgling. Are you ok? Is he ok? Tell me what happened?” I tell her what had happened last night, and she listens so closely. “Well, you need your strength! Here!” She hands me a plate full of food and a goblet of blood. “That should help. Let me know when he wakes up and I’ll make his first sun potion.”

“Of course Juniper.” I hugged her again.

“Good girl. Now I think Nyx is looking for you. She’s at the training fields.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll head over there right now.” I leave the kitchen but bring the roast beef sandwich and blood with me. “Thanks for lunch!” I shouted to her from outside with a mouth full of food. I started walking towards the training grounds and I could hear arrows flying by me.

“Watch where you're aiming that thing!” I shouted to the person taking target practice and realized it’s Azrael. “Oh, sorry.”

“Sorry back, I didn't realize that someone was on the course.” He struggles with his crossbow and gets frustrated with it. “Silly bow, stuck again.”

“What’s wrong with your bow?”

“Just needs some maintenance. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find our weapons guy.” He looks around the field looking for someone in his crew but it’s just us.

“Well, who are you looking for?” I asked him confusedly.

“Henry Mercer. Our weapons specialist.” My jaw dropped to the ground.

“He told me he was a scientist.” I spoke sheepishly.

“Technically, I suppose he is, but he’s also our weapons guy. He fixes them.”

“He didn’t tell me that… is he new to your group?”

“Just joined us within the month. Why do you want to know so much about him?”

“He’s my mate.” I growled at him. He laughs and puts the bow down.

“Oh, that explains it. No need to growl. Unfortunately, there are some weapons that need some maintenance but I suppose that can wait.”

“Good.”

“So where is he?”

“In my room.” I blush as I tell him and he just laughs harder and louder.

“Why would he be in there… unless you… you didn’t, did you?”

“Did what?”

“Change him to one of you?”

“Yes, he's my first fledgling.”

“No! Damnit! He throws a dagger into the ground. “So how long is he going to be… out?”

“Hard to say. Could be a day, could be a week.” He got his dagger back from the ground and was impressed how deep he threw it. A good inch or two into the ground.

“So our weapons are going to be useless until he gets better.”

“Unfortunately, yes. Don’t you have another weapons guy?”

“Not nearly as good as he is. He was right when he told you he was a scientist, but he’s brilliant with our weapons.”

“That’s a scary thought.” I didn’t want to think about him coming up with ways to harm our own kind, but there was only one that I wanted to seriously injure. “Sorry for the bad news?” I tried to make the mood lighter, but it only made him angrier.

“I suppose they can wait til he’s back with us. You should go back to him.”

“Yes, I shall.” I go back inside and return my lunch, but keep the blood in case Henry is awake. As I make my way to my room, I accidentally run into someone.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” I look to see and it’s Mina. “Mina? Are you ok? You still look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She snarls at me and I step back a little.

“Are you sure? Do you need one of these?” I offer my goblet and she snatches it from me and gulps it down. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Thanks, saves me a trip from going downstairs. Now I can go back to bed.” She heads towards her room and slams the door.

“You’re welcome!” I shout in the general direction of her room, but go back for another goblet. I grumble as I go back to the kitchen to get another. As I go back to my room with my second goblet and luckily Henry is still asleep. I put the goblet on the side table and went back to snuggle with him. He looks so peaceful as if he isn’t going through a painful transformation. I move a strand of hair out of his face and kiss his cheek.

“We’ll get through this together…” I snuggle up to him trying not to disturb him. Just being close to him calms me. “You’re going to be ok.” I try to encourage him even though I highly doubt he can hear me. The minutes feel like hours and he’s just so still. I tried to take a nap but I couldn’t sleep knowing he’s in pain. This is going to be a long couple of days.

Mina

I chugged that goblet that Willow had and just went back to my room. Most days I don’t leave my room much. I feel like a bird stuck in my cage lately. I haven’t felt like wanting to go back outside since I almost attacked a random drunk the other day. My so-called ‘sire’ has been on my mind since my attack this past winter… why me? Why at the ball? Why not attack some other random woman? Why my family? I hear a knock on my door but I’m in no mood for visitors.

“Go away, I'm not in the mood for company.” The knocking keeps going, and it’s louder than the first time. “Did you not hear what I just said?!” I open the door to see Victor. “Oh… come on in.” I step aside for him to come in and he does come in, but he seems angry.

“Are you ok? You seem angry.” I’m confused.

“I am angry! Every time I see you, you’re either angry or asleep. I’d like to think I’m a patient man but my patience is running out. Either have more than goblets and blood bags a day or I will reject you and you can figure out this fight on your own!” My head snapped up at him quickly.

“Victor! You wouldn’t!”

“I don’t want to, but it’s hard to watch you starve yourself!”

“I’m not starving, I'm eating food!” I cross my arms and now I’m getting angrier.

“You know that’s not what I mean, and you know it!” He growls in my face and I growl back. “When was the last time you had more than a goblet of blood?”

“Probably when I last fed off of you…”

“Mina… that was weeks ago! You gotta stop doing this! You need to substantially feed off of someone or something every day! You know this, and I even know this!”

“Yes, I know this!” I got up in his face. “For once I’m tired of being someone I’m supposed to be! I’m supposed to be this prim and proper lady and I can’t anymore!”

“Your mother is the classiest lady I know, and she’s obviously a vampire, and what about your sisters!? You’re not the only one going through this! You don’t see them pouting about this! Just because you were the first one to get attacked doesn’t mean that they’re not just as scared as you are! We can either continue this pity party and slowly hurt ourselves or we can stick it to our sire and prove to him that despite what he did we are thriving! He wants us to fail and become feral! If he could see us he’d probably feel accomplished with you! I’m slowly watching you become feral! Is that what you want?! To lose me and become feral!? Cause if that’s what you want then I’ll walk out that door and maybe get lucky with a second chance mate and slowly watch you perish!” I growl at the thought of him having another mate besides me.

“You’re mine and mine alone!”

“That’s what I thought… if you want to continue to be with me then live damn it! Stop with this pity party and be the woman you were before the attack! I want to meet that woman!” He grabs my hand and I calm down. I look at my wardrobe where my original wardrobe is still hidden with a cloth. I uncover it and the bright and floral dresses of my past self are uncovered once more. I change out my dark and depressing dress that I stole from Nyx and go back to a soft lavender Regency dress with cap sleeves. “There… that seems more yourself. Now if I remember right, gardening was your thing as well?” He offers his hand and I pull him in for a passionate kiss. I needed this. He’s right I need to get out of this awful funk I’ve been in for months. This isn’t me at all. I go back to my wardrobe and take out Nyx’s dresses.

“What are you doing with those?” He asks with a smile.

“I’m returning these back to Nyx.” I leave the room for a moment and go to her room. I knock on the door, but silence. No surprise she’s either in her room or at the training grounds. I wrote a note saying I returned her dresses and put them on her bed. I go back to Victor and just pull him for another kiss. He’s right, I need to pull myself together. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. I bite his neck and just feed off of him as I should. I could feel him melting into my arms and let out a moan. He takes me to my bed, and he bites me as well. I moan so loud that I scream and I just sink into him again. We needed this. I suck on him for maybe a couple of minutes and I feel so relaxed. More relaxed than I’ve been in a long time… he’s right I needed to get out of this funk, but I’ll start working on that tomorrow. I can feel the sun's rays of the afternoon hitting me and it doesn’t hurt too badly since I took my sun potion, but I’m worn out so I’m going to nap until sunset.