RETURN OF THE HYBRID (Book III)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Cassandra left the party and went to seek Gaia. The prince had caught the bait and she could get an audience, it’s all she wanted not to kill like the ghost in the girl had asked her to. That was suicide. There was no way she would have left the palace with her head if she did that. And the people would have hated her for killing their glimmer of hope during their toughest of times. Besides, oracles were known to be harmless unless when they were acting against enemies.

"Can you show me the prince’s chambers please?"She asked a guard.

He just pointed right forward. Her instincts were right.

"Thank you" she said briskly walking towards the door.

It was locked. She knocked once and it flew open.

"Ooh" Leon said walking back.

He left the door open whether she wanted to get in or stay outside it was upon her.

"My prince where is..." She stopped when she saw Gaia lying naked lifeless at a corner, the wooden bed was broken and the room looked like a warzone.

The lights were dim. She couldn't see clearly unless she got closer. The guilt of leading Gaia to her own death had started consuming her.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Come in Cassandra, don't worry she is fine" He assured.

Cassandra went in looking scared. She went straight to check on her girl guilt sinking in. What if he had his way with her then killed her? When she bent over she heard a whooshing sound, Leon was standing in front of her. That was both fast and scary. She raised her gaze to look at him memorizing protection spells in case she needed them. He was no savior, no human and no prince. He was the beast of the night but faster, stronger and he could look almost human.

"I told you she will be fine let's talk” Leon said holding her.

Cassandra played along not acting surprised by his movement and nature but she couldn’t convince herself not to ask questions.

"Who are you? What are you?" She asked confidently breaking the formalities.

"Am Glad you dropped the formalities, am Adonis the son of Rhode and am a prince" He announced looking through the window of the castle.

It was a beautiful night outside with the moon shining brightly upon the kingdom. From a distance they could see light in people's houses spread all over, the night was cold and quiet except at the ceremonial grounds where the people were still having fun. King Rhode had announced the next day to be a holiday in honor of his son. They had no work yet taxes were to be paid. There was no holiday on taxes.

"Tell me who you really are" She said secretly getting a bread knife from the table.

The only way to confirm her worries was to cut him and see if he bled. Beasts of the night were once killed, all of them but in a different kingdom before they spread all over. If he was one of them she was wondering how he survived and why he was impersonating a prince.

"You will have to try better than that" Leon said quickly grabbing the knife.

"Am sorry but you scare me how can a man be that fast?"

"I will explain later, you seem to know why am here better than anyone and well I may have caught your enchanted bait to get an audience with you...for your information I can smell magic and it irritates me so be careful" He said giving her the knife back.

By showing his real nature and being friendly with her leon was building trust. He wanted to solve the mystery as quick as possible and get back to his time if that was possible. To go back to the love of his life and then there was Zeli and his sister Ariella he needed to kill.

"There was an ancient prophecy that a prince will be the savior of the kingdom during the biggest war of the five lands, all the sons of the king thought they were that prophecy and they died one after another but you" She stopped to look at his warm eyes.

He smiled.

"You killed Pollux the brute how did you do it, I heard his blade is enchanted with dark magic and so was his bow and arrows they never missed" Cassandra said sounding and looking surprised.

"For starters am fast and I can smell magic put it all together"

"Okay your turn" she said walking away from him.

Being around him was making it hard for her to breath. The smile was friendly but he looked cold in the eyes, sad and angry too.

"We are not done, so the prophecy did it say anything about someone being ripped from their own lives...captivity actually, and time?" He asked.

That was strange. Cassandra quickly turned around and he was standing right in front of her she gasped her heart pounding very fast.

"Can you stop doing that, it's scary" She said holding her breath.

"Sorry won't do it again"

"You said being ripped from your timeline?"

"Yes, am trusting you with this, am from the future. For years I have been a prisoner in a narcissistic wizards realm his name is Zeli when I finally broke free I found myself here instead of my home. Am sure my friends are worried sick about me I need to get back to them as soon as possible and you are the only one that can help, you seem like the only one that can help"

She did not say a word. She just stared at him like he had just dropped from his said future and he was looking like an alien.

"You think am crazy don't you?"

"No, I didn't say that. But it's not possible" she said.

"I figured you'd say that, with me nothing is impossible give me the knife" He ordered rolling up his sleeve.

Leon was overselling it he needed the palm of his hand to prove his point. She gave him the bread knife that he used to cut his palm. Cassandra moved closer. She could see the knife cutting his skin but no wound, no blood.

"Ooh my goodness what's that?" She asked her eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets.

"Believe me now? Am a hybrid" he said.

"Of what?"

"Vampire and wolf you know the ones that scream at night like dogs"

"I know what you mean and now I believe you. This is amazing!" She said still staring at his palm.

She even held his hand just to be sure what she was seeing was real.

"Can I just do it myself unless it's painful?"

"No you can have fun later after you explain the prophecy I need to know when and how am getting out of here"

"Okay according to the prophecy after the peace is restored the savior will live amongst his people before going for a greater course can I do it now?" She asked with her knife ready to pierce his skin.

"No, not yet. Just like that? No direction of the war or how he will go back nothing?"

"Yes that's all I can remember"

She messed up. When it came to remembering or making people remember Leon was a pro. He moved in super speed and kissed her. She did not fight it. While kissing he pricked her hand with his claws and got a drop of her blood. When they broke free he licked it and dropped on his knees as all her memories started flashing in his head. It was a rather painful process but he had to do it.

"Are you okay? What can I do?"

Gaia woke up. She found Cassandra trying to figure out what was wrong with the prince if anything happened to him they were as good as dead. When she passed out Leon had compelled her on what to say.

"Get out!" He screamed.

"What is wrong with him?" Gaia asked.

"I don't know we were just...never mind let's go. What did he do to you?"

"We were making love when I blacked out"

"Get the out!" He shouted again.

They rushed outside closing the door behind them. Leon was trying to absorb memories of an entire generation of oracles. His head was almost bursting as he crushed from wall to wall screaming in pain. He went back on his knees.

"Zeli" he said breathing heavily, "How did he find me?" He said before dropping cold on the carpet, he was sweating profusely.

*******

From the prince’s chambers Cassandra and her girls left the party, everyone was leaving anyway. That night she had heard and seen things that were beyond her scope of understanding. The things she only read in books. A hybrid? How could wolf and vampire coexist? According to ancient stories the two were sworn enemies. And then he was from the future. That would have taken some different kind of magic. Not even black magic could do that.

Their chariot moved slowly through the village, the lights were starting to fade and the driver had to use a lantern to see his way through some paths.

"You girls did well tonight" she said, “All of you'

"Where did you disappear to we looked all over for you?" Helen asked.

"I went to find Gaia"

The two Dahlia and Helen stared at Gaia who had not said much about her experience with royalty. She was making them curious.

"What?" Gaia asked smiling shyly.

"Tell them about your experience with the prince" Cassandra said.

She readjusted herself. Inside the chariot they were seated facing each other, Cassandra was seated with Gaia by her side and Helen with Dahlia.

"Words can't explain how sweet he is, he just made me feel different"

"Is that all?" Dahlia asked.

"I think that's enough for now we are home" She said looking through the curtain.

The girls went to their room while Cassandra used the time to go through all the available literature. Her decision was to keep his secret safe with her. She looked through the books for any information on vampires and werewolves. What she wanted to find out was if they could travel through time. Everyone was aware they were fast, she also wanted to find out if one could be both. Last time she checked they were good at wiping each other from existence.

While going through the literature she discovered her hand was pricked.

"That's strange I actually feel the pain from an old wound" she said staring at it closely.

A strong wind started blowing. Her candle went off. It was dark.

"He send you to kill me" she heard a familiar voice behind her.

Cassandra froze. That was the part she had chosen to forget.

"How did you know that and who is he?"

"I only need a drop of your blood to know everything about you, am talking about Zeli"

"The wizard who held you captive?"

"Yes, so how were you going to do it?" Leon asked changing his position.

All she heard was a whooshing sound and his voice. She had not laid her eyes in him yet.

"I was not going to" She said.

"What were you going to do?" He asked getting closer to her.

With the dim moonlight she could see him clearly, his teeth were sharp and scary, his eyes had this veins and were bloodshot.

"I" she stopped when he stood behind her.

"Just say it am not here to harm you" he promised.

"I was going to try and stop him myself"

"You failed terribly when you tried"

"I can't give up" she said.

Only Leon knew how powerful Zeli could be. His sister was younger than him but more powerful he could only imagine Zeli. And now that he was after Cassandra that made it his business. If anything happened to her would be stuck in 1823 forever.

"You can't fight him alone, how about we come together you and I and bring him down together because trust me he will hit back hard on you" he said morphing back into a charming human she had seen back at the palace.

"You look..."

"Different, I can morph at will sorry if I scared you with that face" He said.

"I was going to say handsome but anyway thank you for your explanation"

"I guess you are welcome, I should get going before Hector starts looking for me" He said walking towards the window.

"I think the door is this way" She said pointing towards it.

"I forgot to say I hate doors"

"One thing though" Cassandra said when he was just about to jump off the window.

He stopped giving her the attention.

"How did you get in without being invited in?"

"Gaia did invite me in, goodnight Cassandra" he said and jumped through the window.

It was a few meters down. A human could survive a fall from that height. She went to look if he got down safe but he was already gone.

"Goodnight too Leon from the future" she said.

He heard that.