Shadows (Book Two of the Royals Trilogy)

Chapter Ten

SKYLAR

“You made the right call to tell us where you were,” the camp leader said after a few moments of silence. After Blair and I had filled her in with what had happened, she had remained expressionless and quiet as if it were a lot to process. “I have to admit; some parts of the story seem fishy but not because of what you told me. I meant what the witch told you, there is no record of her being that old nor her being the mother of all supernatural creatures.” Elda looked thoughtful as she looked out the window of the car.

Mark’s sire was driving, and he kept on sneaking a few glares towards Blair and I, he probably thought we were pathetic because we had called for backup. I rolled my eyes, he could think whatever he wanted, neither Blair nor I had to prove ourselves to him.

At the back of the truck, I couldn’t help but stare in confusion at the small pillar glowing green, Elda had assured us it prevented Dalia from accessing her magic since it sent tiny, painful pulses in waves to her brain. The van that was taking Dalia was in front of us and it was flanked on all sides, each truck carrying a pillar to prevent her from escaping. I didn’t even want to begin to think what would become of Dalia, she was too powerful, and I doubted the Hunters would let her go free after all that she had said, done and because she was too tainted by dark magic.

The rest of the ride was quiet, Blair hadn’t said a word after we had left the manor and Melissa was sitting on my other side, staring into space. I was glad none of them had mentioned anything to Elda about my sister being Devion’s beloved or her becoming a vampire, much less about my connection to Ethan. I was sure the Hunters wouldn’t be able to trust me if they knew any of those facts and I doubted they would let me go once all of this was over.

I sighed and closed my eyes as I leaned back into the seat. The bumpy ride made my eyes fly open and I saw the sun was beginning to set in the horizon. We reached the campsite and the four vehicles parked outside in parallel columns. All of us stepped out of the cars, “Blair, Skylar, take the pillar, we don’t know how far its power goes so we need to keep them close to Dalia,” ordered Elda and we both nodded before quickly making our way to the trunk of the truck.

As Blair and I carried the pillar, that was half our size but much heavier, Melissa stood awkwardly at the entrance of the camp, she probably didn’t know what to do now that we had brought her with us and she had no family to go back to, not close anyway. “Come, Mel, we’ll get everything sorted out once Dalia is contained,” I said trying to sound reassuring and she just gave me a sly smile before trailing behind Blair and me.

Two guards hurried Dalia across camp, her eyes were blindfolded but I could see a crease on her forehead as she grimaced in pain, her hands were tied tightly behind her in handcuffs that glowed purple, supernatural cuffs. I almost felt bad for her but then I remembered what she had put my friends and me through. Each pair of hunters carrying pillars, stood on all sides of the prisoner and we all walked in sync towards the cells located at the very back of the territory.

The Hunters and Huntresses around us looked surprised and curious as we moved whereas the children looked scared and confused, they couldn’t begin to understand what was happening, they just knew the creature that was being pushed through camp was dangerous.

The door of the prison creaked open and inside the lights slowly turned on, one-by-one along the hall. We walked towards the section specifically designed for people who could manipulate magic. Through that section, there was only one other prisoner beside Dalia, and we opted for keeping them as far apart from each other as we could.

Dalia’s blindfold was thrown aside, and she was pushed inside her cell where she landed painfully on her side. Instead of groaning or yelping in pain, she screeched and looked at us with fire in her eyes. “You cannot keep me locked away in here! I will get out! Mark my words, Huntress Skylar, I will get out and destroy everything you hold dear,” the venom in her words didn’t surprise me, but I did hope this prison and Hunter technology could contain her, I knew her threats weren’t meant to be taken lightly.

Elda stepped in front of the door of the cell, blocking Dalia’s view. The witch turned to look at her and she got up as she analyzed our leader. “I believe you are the one giving the orders around here,” she said coldly but Elda didn’t flinch.

“Yes and no, but do get comfortable, Queen of Shadows, you will be staying here a long time,” Elda responded and with the wave of her hand, she motioned for the rest of us to set the pillars in front of her cell. I saw as Dalia flinched at the proximity of the source and she stepped back slightly. “Good, you are in our territory now and you will behave, these devices are remote-controlled and if I want, I can increase the intensity which wouldn’t be pleasant for you,” Elda said calmly but her threat was clear. Dalia didn’t say anything, she just stared at her in the eyes.

With a sigh, Dalia was the first to pull away, “very well, but I cannot guarantee that your prison is going to hold me for very long.”

Elda smiled faintly, “we’ll see.” She turned around and pushed us out of the prison until she was the last one out and she locked the door using a secret passcode. “Huntresses meet me in my office in an hour, I’ll give you time to get cleaned. Oh, and take your friend with you wherever you go, we wouldn’t want her getting lost or hurt,” she said before walking away and I realized Melissa had been following us silently this whole time. She fidgeted as kept her gaze on the ground. The Hunters around us looked at us, hostile, and I knew it was because of Melissa, I knew she felt like an outsider right now but that was only at the beginning.

“Come, Melissa, we need to get ready for our meeting with the council and our leader,” Blair said, it was the first thing she had spoken for a long time and I wondered what was going on in her mind. Melissa walked beside me, and we walked in silence towards our cabin.

Inside, it was just as we had left it and it felt comforting knowing that I was back to the place I had began to call “home”. Blair was the first one to take a clean set of clothes and head for a shower. I sat down on my bed and Melissa looked uncomfortable as she stood by the door, so I patted on the bed, next to me, and she sat down.

“You probably have a lot of questions and thoughts jumbled in your mind,” I said after a while and Melissa didn’t say anything at first.

“I just can’t begin to understand how I ended up here or how you ended up here,” she whispered sounding scared, as if anyone was listening to what we were saying.

I nodded and considered on what to tell her. “I am going to summarize everything because if I tell you every detail, it is going to take us a long time.” Melissa nodded and waited for me to continue. “Okay well, the car crash in which my parents were killed was planned by the Royale Brothers, a group of old and powerful vampires, anyway, they were the ones that took Emma and I was left alive and handed over to my aunt. On my eighteenth birthday I received a note with an address where was sister was supposedly locked up, I went there, found her and realized she was also a vampire once she freed us from the building where the Royale Brothers tried to kill me. After that everything just keeps on becoming more messed up, I was almost beaten to death by the vampires, Emma was forced to leave and then I met Blair and her brother whom brought me to camp and offered me a chance to become a Huntress, find my sister and end the Royale Brothers. I accepted and here we are,” I said speaking quickly, I was kind of tired of telling the whole story over and over again, so I preferred to avoid the topic altogether.

Melissa nodded her head with a confused and shocked expression on her face, she was probably trying to process everything I had just told her. “And what are Hunters? I mean, I guessed a few things from what I have been hearing but I am not entirely sure as to what you do, how you live, what you study and the reason why I’m here,” she continued and trailed off at the end, she was probably scared of the answer.

I heard the bathroom door open behind me and Blair came out with a towel as she dried her hair. “I can explain that part,” Blair said boldly, and I nodded, she had lived like a Huntress her entire life, it would be better for Melissa to take her word for it. I gave Melissa a reassuring smile since she normally looked tense and nervous around Blair.

I took some clothes from my drawer and headed to the bathroom. Over the days, in my time at camp, I had learnt that Blair was always very clean and organized, she always cleaned after herself and put things in their place, so you could imagine my confusion when I entered the bathroom and found a few trails of water here and there and her towel thrown on the toilet. I hung her towel on its respective place before taking off my clothes and placing them on the laundry basket.

The warm water started to flow, almost instantly, and I got in and sighed in relief, because just in these short moments, I could feel like the normal teenager I had once been, before all the vampires, all the pain and the Hunters. Sometimes I wished I could go back in time and change everything, but I was a person that believed everything happens for a reason. I scrubbed all the dirt away and let my muscles relax under the warm water trailing down my body. I felt at peace.

When it was time to get out of the shower, I cut the water flow and grabbed my towel to dry myself. I was suddenly face to face with a full mirror and I cringed, I had a few cuts and bruises around my body and the scar from my trainees shot was still there. How had things ended up like this?

There was a knock on the door followed by Blair’s voice, “Sky? We should get going, Elda and the council are waiting for us.” I sighed, back to reality.

“I’m almost ready,” I said and quickly put on my clothes and dried my hair as I brushed it. I opened the door and quickly rushed out, Blair and Melissa were waiting for me out of the cabin. I took my shoes and ran out the door.

“Took you long enough,” Blair teased, but I could see she was trying to make an effort to fool us into thinking she was fine when she wasn’t.

I rolled my eyes and the three of us walked in silence towards the camp leader’s cabin. A few hunters stared but Melissa was beginning to ignore them, and I was glad she wasn’t letting herself be intimidated by a couple of Hunters.

I was about to say something when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I tensed and turned around in a guarded position. “Woah, hey, calm down, it’s just me,” he said with a teasing tone and a gleam of humor in his eyes. I blushed and relaxed knowing Mark wasn’t going to hurt me.

I turned to Blair and Melissa who were waiting for me a couple of steps ahead, “you guys go on without me, I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow while Blair shook her head in disbelief, “unbelievable,” I heard her mutter, “just make sure to make it on time.” I nodded and they kept on walking.

I looked back at Mark who looked more nervous now that we were alone. He ran a hand through his hair as he thought about what to say. “You look well Mark, you haven’t gotten a mission yet?” I asked teasingly and he chuckled.

“I don’t get hurt on missions and as a matter of fact, I do have a mission coming up,” he said proudly, and I rolled my eyes, I knew he was just playing along, he wasn’t usually that cocky. We stayed in silence for a couple of seconds before he spoke up. “I heard you got back, and I am glad you’re alright,” he said softly, and a tingling sensation ran through me. Had Mark been worried about me?

“Yeah, we made it back in one piece and with a prisoner, but the mission is far from being over,” I confessed, and he nodded. He knew what our mission was and how no other Hunter or Huntress that has ever gone on that mission has succeeded, much less returned.

“I’m sure you’ll do great,” he said reassuringly, and he raised his hand as if he wanted to touch me but just then a group of Hunters passed, and Mark stiffly pulled back. “I wanted to be there on the extracting mission, but Huntress Elda and Hunter Richard insisted Gideon and I stayed back,” he admitted, and I looked at him with understanding, Elda probably wanted to avoid feelings altogether since she knew Gideon and Mark cared for Blair and me.

“Don’t worry about it, you didn’t miss any of the action,” I said trying to lighten the mood and he smiled sweetly at me. We stood there just looking at each other for a second before I pulled away. “I should probably catch up to my friends, we’re supposed to be with Elda and the council right now.” Mark nodded and placed his hands on his pockets.

“I’ll see you soon?” he asked, and I thought I heard some hope in his voice.

I smiled and nodded, “I’ll be here.” Mark smiled and nodded before I turned around and walked through the path Melissa and Blair had taken. I let out a deep sigh and shook my head. I couldn’t encourage those feelings with Mark, it wasn’t right, and I would just end up hurting both of us because when all of this was over, I was going to leave this life behind and that would include Mark.