The Vampires Pet

Chapter 40

~ Song ~ Find you - Ruelle ~

Third POV

"The tracks are completely concealed." Nicholas said as his eyes ran over the snow covered ground. "Too covered even for this weather." 

"What are you saying?" Clara asked, standing beside her cousin. 

"Witches." He growled under his breath. 

She looked at Nicholas, a million thoughts and worries flashing through her mind. "Nic, with the amount of snowfall we've had the tracks would have been covered." 

"It's magic Clara." He growled, causing her to sigh and shake her head. 

She knew that it very well could've been a witch who took Faye, or one that helped Faye be taken but she couldn't let Nicholas get swept up in it like he did with her. Nicholas was a ticking bomb waiting to explode and the last thing they needed was for Nicholas to lose control again, it wouldn't help anyone. However she could tell he was set on the idea of the perpetrators being witches. 

"Then what are we going to do Nic?" 

"We're going to find Faye." He said in an annoyed tone. 

"Yes but how Nic, if it is magic as you believe then you know better than I do that it won't be a simple task." There was desperation in Claras voice, she was desperate to stop Nicholas from falling down that hole again but she feared she was set for failure. 

"Clara is right Nicholas." Rosemary said, stepping forward from where she was standing by the front door. 

His eyes snapped to hers as he walked forward, only stopping when he got threateningly close to her. 

"Your brother." Nicholas growled. "Did he take her?" 

"No!" She knew her brother would do almost anything to mess with Nicholas but this she was sure about. "He wasn't even in Affaraon when she was taken." 

Clara went to her cousins side, her eyebrows set in a frown. "How is that possible Rose? He left earlier that day, it takes four days to get to Baltia." 

"Not if you teleport." Rosemary said, her eyes hard as she challenged Nicholas. 

"What?" 

"We all have our own powers Nicholas. Arthur has a companion who can teleport, he is too impatient to sit in a carriage for four days after all." 

She knew Arthur would be furious that she told Nicholas and Clara that, however it was needed for them to see it wasn't Arthur for once. She stared into Nicholas's eyes as they narrowed. When his mother reached out and asked her to come stay to build a better relationship with Nicholas, this was far from what she was expecting. 

Their engagement had been in place for a few years now but Nicholas ignored it, despite this Rosemary believed she could wait for Nicholas to come around. In her eyes he was the perfect husband, he was handsome, intelligent and strong. Not to mention very protective over those he cared about, unfortunately it seemed Rosemary was yet to be one of them. Those thoughts were only set in concrete as she watched her fiance losing himself over a simple human girl. 

She couldn't help but wonder why he was so bothered by it but deep down she knew why. 

"I want confirmation that he was back in Baltia when Faye was taken." Nicholas said. "Besides, we both know Arthur has others to do his dirty work. I want some of my men in his land searching for Faye." 

"Nic you can't send men there. Arthur would take it as a threat and you two are already on rocky ground, we don't want a war with Baltia." Clara said, the voice of reason as usual. 

Rosemary glanced at her. "You won't have war." She said. "I won't let my brother do that but you cannot send men there." 

Nicholas growled lowly, he was beyond irritated and everything was just testing his patience. All he knew was he needed to find Faye. He wasn't willing to let the same incident happen again, he knew he had to make sure it played out differently. 

"Then how am I supposed to believe that Faye isn't there?" 

"I'll go." Rosemary said. "Arthur can't keep things from me. If he has taken Faye, which he hasn't, I will likely be the only one to know. I want to find Faye too." 

Nicholas stared into Rosemary's eyes in search of any deception. He had known Rosemary for a decent amount of time and even he could admit that she had a big heart for a vampire. However he didn't trust her, she was still Arthur's sister in his eyes and that was all she'd ever be. 

"Please Nicholas. Trust me, I am your fiance." 

Her words were a sour taste for Nicholas but he nodded his head regardless. "Fine. You go and use Arthur's little teleporting friend on the way back. If you don't return in five days I will send my men to march into Baltia." Nicholas's voice was rough as he spoke like an army general.  

"I'll be back in two." Rosemary smiled and started to walk back inside. She turned before she entered the door. "Find Faye, she needs you almost as much as you need her." 

Nicholas watched her retreating form before turning to Clara. "Inform Cason of Fayes kidnapping." 

"I will." She said. "And Nic, we will find her." 

He gave her one last glance before heading inside and going straight to his room, ignoring the stares of all the slaves and maids in the house that had gathered from the commotion. He glanced around his room, a strange feeling overcoming him as he stared at the couch she was usually sitting on. Instead of seeing the girl he saw the cat that seemed to haunt him. 

"Not now Phantom." 

Phantom began meowing as Nicholas ignored him. He changed his coat and grabbed his holster from the draw, loading the guns and then placing them securely in the holster around his waist. The meowing was becoming incessant, irritating Nicholas beyond belief until he finally snapped. 

"What do you want cat?" 

Nicholas turned swiftly, his narrowed eyes on the meowing cat, his patience wearing thin. Phantom titled his head and moved behind the couch, scuffling around out of sight. Nicholas sighed and looked behind the couch to see Phantom brushing up against a small chest. Fayes belongings, he thought. 

He grabbed the chest out and sat at his desk, his eyes glued to the chest. He wanted to open it but a part of him felt like he shouldn't however his curiosity got the better of him. He crushed the lock between his fingers, telling himself he'd fix it later. When he opened the chest he saw the belongings Faye brought with her, her parents things. 

He eyed the worn journal that looked older than him before gently grabbing it. He opened it and flicked through the pages, there were poems, a few drawings and journal entries of which Nicholas couldn't care less about. He made it to the back of the journal where a short poem was written in small neat handwriting. 

'We are the wild people you forgot, we are the stories you thought would never be taught. They should have checked the ashes of the people they burned alive, because it takes a single wild ember to bring a whole wildfire to life.' 

His eyes narrowed as he read the words that seemed so familiar. He stood abruptly causing his chair to fall over. Why? He thought as he reached his bookshelf and ran his fingers along the spines of the many books he owned until it landed on a particular book. He pulled it out and opened it to the last page where written in small cursive handwriting was the exact same poem. 

Why did Fayes father have the very same poem in his personal journal? Faye had told him they had nothing to do with supernatural creatures, they lived secluded and didn't often see others. The poem was special, it was a prayer of sorts for the witches and was in every prophecy they had written. It taunts the humans and vampires, telling them they won't get their secrets after what they did, after the culling. 

When the witches first came about, the humans feared them, even more so when they realised the first ten could not be killed. However they soon realised the first generation could be and all the generations after, so that's what they did. They went around scooping up as many witches they could and burnt them in the village center, purposely making a spectacle about it. The vampires helped as they were threatened by the creatures with the ability to cast magic. 

It was the beginning of the hate between the species. Not long after that the first ten began disappearing without a trace until they were all gone, only for others to discover they died. No one knew how but the vampires knew they had all left behind a prophecy and those were the only things that held the answers. 

The hostility between the species goes far deeper than that though. Made to be enemies from the start, a primal hatred that drove the species to be at war. There were many stories as to why the vampires kill the witches endlessly but none of them were set in stone, they were just stories afterall. 

Few believed it was only right for the witches to rise up now and start a revolution after what the vampires did but not many knew the full story. They lacked the information needed to make a precise observation. Who started it was a question that had loomed for years, each side blaming the other. Some knew exactly who started it while others turned a blind eye, oblivious to the things that were happening under their noses. 

Nicholas refused to do that but even for him there were missing parts of the stories. However he had a compelling feeling that Faye was the key for him to find the entire truth but he had lost that key. There were so many unanswered questions when it came to the seemingly normal human girl but Nicholas wasn't one to leave questions unanswered. 

He grabbed the journal and placed it in his desk drawer, Faye could get it back once he figured out why a witches poem was in it. He grabbed the prophecy book and put it back on the bookshelf among the other books Nicholas had. He glanced back at Phantom who looked overly proud of himself. 

"That's not going to help me find Faye cat." Nicholas grumbled with his eyes narrowed. 

He looked at the small chest and Fayes other belongings in it. He picked up the opal necklace, examining the way it glowed in the reflection of the light. For a poor family it seemed like an expensive heirloom. There was what appeared to be wedding rings, no doubt belonging to her parents and a few sketches. 

Nicholas grabbed one of the sketches of a small girl playing in the rain with the biggest smile on her face. His eyes narrowed, a strange feeling tingling through him as he realised the girl was Faye. He had never seen her smile, once or twice she offered a weak one but never a genuine smile. 

When they killed the berserks she laughed freely, shocking him with the strange behaviour. Despite the fear he could feel rolling off her, she enjoyed herself. The thrill was too addicting even for Faye to ignore, perhaps that made her even more interesting. 

He knew he had to find the troublesome girl who seemed to make his life more complicated than it was, but that was mutual and he knew it. Ever since they came together, the universe seemed to be throwing obstacles at them from every angle. Perhaps it was an attempt to separate the two because alone they were special, but together they were dangerous.