Darkness (Book 1 of The Royals Trilogy)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

ETHAN

Everything was packed and ready. The four of us walked out of the building, my two brothers led us to the exit while I walked slowly alongside Emma, neither of us said anything as we stood outside close to the cars. "Did you get rid of all the evidence?" asked Devion looking at Ben and I.

I nodded stiffly while Benjamin just smirked and got a lighter out of his pocket, he quickly lit it on. "Let it burn," Benjamin threw the lighter towards the roof of the crumbling house. It landed right where Benjamin aimed. Slowly, flames appeared on the roof making their way closer to the ground, it was already starting to smell like burning wood. Emma yelped in surprise, I stood dumbfounded and Devion laughed darkly, he hadn't told us he was planning on burning the building to the ground, it didn't bother me, I hated that place I had never considered it a home but still, what was the purpose of burning it? It would only attract more attention from the hunters.

"Now, that that's taken care of, let's go. Our plane leaves in an hour," ordered Devion walking over to his car. Benjamin quickly followed since he didn't have a car of his own and he didn't seem too eager to go in the same car as me.

"Can I ride with Ethan in his car?" Emma quickly asked Devion. His eyes widened but he nodded, giving me a glare while looking suspicious, "Ben, you can ride with me." Even though Ben was already opening the door to Devion's car.

Emma followed me to my car in silence and we put the bags in the trunk before getting into the car quickly. "Why did you want to ride with me?" I asked clearly confused once we were on the road following Devion's car.

"I just can't stand being so close to Devion all the time," Emma said with a frown as she rolled her eyes. I chuckled and she continued, "besides, I want to know what you feel for her or at least why. And I get it, you don't get to choose your beloved but look at how Devion treats me! And I'm his beloved," she finished with venom in her words.

For a second I lost control of the car when Emma asked me that. Emma's hands tightened around the door as her eyes widened, scared. I got a hold of the car and she relaxed a bit. "Sorry," I said, I looked again at the road in front of me and my eyes met Devion's briefly, he looked frustrated and mad, it was understandable, even though Devion could be an i***t and icy, he cared for Emma, even if it was just a bit.

When I broke eye contact with Devion, I heard as Emma was gasping for air still looking terrified. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you, I can see it's still a delicate subject."

There was a heavy silence between us. "I think I'm falling for her or at least I was before Devion made us leave," I whispered barely audible but Emma had heard every word.

She turned to look at me, "but you barely know her, how can you say that you were beginning to develop feelings for her?"

I stayed silent for a minute, not sure of how to explain my thoughts and feelings, I had never this open with anyone and it made me feel vulnerable. "I know but," I hesitated, "when I'm with her she's all I think about and I have this great urge to protect her and make her happy... Always, no matter what. It's something I can't explain, it just is and it feels so natural, like it has been always meant to be." Emma nodded and didn't say anything for the rest of the ride to the airport.

When we got there, Benjamin and Devion were already there with their luggage at their feet and an inpatient look on their faces as they searched the parking lot for us. Benjamin saw us first, "what took you so long?" He asked with a scowl on his face.

I shrugged but didn't respond. For once, Devion let it go and I was glad as he led us in. We had arrived just in time to get through security and wait a half an hour in the gate's waiting area.

Once in the airplane, I started to feel uneasy and nervous. I was going to leave Ana and an unknown feeling crept through me, it was almost painful and at the same time sad. Emma, who sat next to Devion also looked down at her feet clearly uncomfortable, she loved Ana so much and didn't want to leave her after all the time they had spent separated.

The plane took off and the further it went, the harder it was to breathe. So I was right, there was a bond, which meant I hadn't been wrong about Ana being my beloved. "Ethan, are you all right?" Asked Ben and for the first time in decades he looked worried for me.

I shook my head as dizziness consumed me. As soon as the captain turned off the seat belt sign, I was up from my seat and hyperventilating. I quickly sprinted to the back of the plane, not paying attention to the worried glances from the humans I passed by.

I entered the bathroom and washed my face. My hands were closed into fist so tightly that my knuckles were white. I was trying to keep it together as I leaned on the wall of the small compartment.

"Sir, are you all right?" Asked a woman who was knocking on the door.

Even though each knock was soft, they felt like a pounds against my head. I covered my ears with my hands and fell to the ground but the pounding kept on going. Another voice joined the murmurs and I recognized Ben.

"Ethan, open the door. I've brought you something," he whispered while he, probably, leaned on the door. I opened the door and he walked in quickly before closing the door behind him so the woman outside wouldn't see me. His eyes widened as he saw the sweat that now covered my face and my bright red eyes.

Ben held out a blood bag and I stared at it, disgusted. My brothers and I had always fed on animal blood, we rarely fed from blood bags only when it was absolutely necessary we would take from the small reserve we had. "Take it, Ethan, you need it and you know it," he said, handing me the bag. I noticed then that Ben's dark hair was longer now and it was almost enough to cover his concerned eyes.

I looked at the plastic bag in front of me that contained the very dark liquid that kept our race alive. Every instinct in my body wanted to rip the bag and drain every drop of blood in that bag. Human blood wasn't like animal blood, it was better, richer and filled with sweetness. It could be compared to a candy in the human world. If I started to drink, I didn't know if I'd be able to stop. "Take that away, Benjamin!" I yelled trying to keep my vampire side calm which was becoming harder now that the beast inside of me had seen the bag. I felt as my fangs quickly elongated and I tightened my jaw and I refused to give in even though I could taste my own blood in my mouth.

"Look, Ethan, I know what's happening to you. This will help you," he argued. I shook my head but my hand, without permission, grabbed the bag and I lost control for a minute.

It only took a minute. In a minute a lot of things can happen, people die, new generations are born, crashes, fires, drownings, you name it, it can all happen. But in that minute, the monster inside of me tore the bag open and greedily started to drink the human blood. I couldn't stop, it was addictive.

Soon, the bag was empty without a drop of blood left in it. Ben stared at me with wide eyes, he had always known that I was the one that rarely lost control and the scene in front of him was unknown territory. I looked at him and saw my reflection in Ben's eyes. My mouth was red and blood stained my face. "What's happening to me?" I whispered defeated as I covered my face with my hands.

Ben leaned down beside me, "your vampire side is taking over. The blood you just drank will keep him calm for now but from what I have seen, someday, someway, he will try to win and he will if you're not strong enough to control him."

I gasped as if needing air and I tried to calm myself down. It wasn't rare that a vampire lost its control, this happened because the human part of them lost their will to fight, their humanity. Most of the time, they'd have to be killed because they would become too dangerous, violent and so irrational that they could expose our secret.

Devion's anchor was Emma and even though he didn't want to admit it, us, Ben and I knew that it was true, she kept what was left of Devion's humanity intact. Sure he's a man who is hungry for power but he'd always been like that and being granted a beloved wasn't going to change that. Ben, Ben's anchor was probably Devion and I, he had never fallen in love, I would've been able to tell.

Who was my anchor, the person who kept me rooted to the ground? At the beginning it was my brothers, but in these couple of years I had begun to lost faith in them and they became less and less my anchor, there were days I would just wish my humanity was gone so then Ben and Devion would have no choice but to end me but I was the only one that could put a stop to Devion's actions and for a while, I had thought that was enough to keep me well. But since my first encounter with her, it had all changed, my real anchor was my soul mate, Ana.

That night when we killed her parents, I was losing control, giving in to the beast inside of me. It only took one look, one horrified look to bring me back to earth. As I looked at her I realized two things, the first was that she was the reason for my existence from then and on and the second was that I never wanted to see that look on her face, much less be the cause of it. But now, I was leaving and my anchor was far away from me, too far away to help me regain my footing on humanity.

"I can't lose to him, Ben," I whispered, "help me." Ben's eyes widened as I called him by his nickname, I had stopped calling him that after I had lost hope that he would ever stand up to Devion with me, but now he could see my desperation and for one moment I saw the brother I had lost inside of him as he nodded and rested one of his hands on my shoulder comfortingly. He looked like my twin again, the one I always trusted, the one I could always count on. "We will find a way, Ethan," said Ben helping me off the ground.

There was a knock on the door. Ben unlocked it and the flight attendant's eyes widened when she saw me. "Is he all right?! Does he need a doctor?!" She asked frantically.

Ben shook his head, "he's fine, it's just a bit of a fever that left him weak."

The woman nodded but didn't look convinced as her eyes still looked at the blood, that was now dry, on my lips. Quickly I wiped the blood off with clean water.

We headed back to our seats, Devion ignored us with a scowl and Emma stared at us worriedly. She pointed to some of the blood that was still on my lips and I quickly tried to wipe it off with a napkin.

The flight ended and we walked out of the plane tense from being seated for more than six hours. Once out of sight, Devion grabbed me by the shirt and held me up off the ground. "Devion!" Cried Emma terrified of what he'd do. Ben tried to help me but Devion pushed him away.

Ignoring both of them he looked at me, "you i***t! You could've exposed us!"

"It's not his fault!" Yelled Ben getting up. Devion turned to him. Ben flinched under his glare but didn't back down as Devion had expected.

"I wasn't taking to you Benjamin!"

Ben looked ready to hit Devion. "Don't," I said looking at him and he stiffly nodded. "Devion, put me down, people are watching." They were, crowds were heading our direction and a few had already seen us, even a couple of officers looked at us suspiciously and alert, ready to intervene if necessary.

Slowly, Devion put me down but his eyes were still intense with anger. "This is not over," he whispered and I nodded.

We took a cab to the nearest dealership to buy tree cars. Devion, obviously, didn't buy the car, he probably mind controlled the salesman. I, on the other hand, had a lot of money to spend that I'd earned over the decades and I preferred to act in a civilized manner.

Devion "bought" a mustang while Ben and I decided on something different, Mini Cooper. The drive to our new lair or home was slow and quiet. Once there, we could see a cliff that could lead any human to their deaths if they fell into the freezing water and hit any rocks on their way down.

The building was smaller than the one back in Florida but it was abandoned and in need of maintenance. "Let's get settled," ordered Devion, dragging Emma to a room and closing the door behind them.

I walked to the room farthest from Devion and placed my luggage there. The first thing I took out was a picture of Ana. "Is she your anchor, or should I say, your beloved?" Asked Ben from the doorway. I nodded without thinking twice or looking at him. Ben sighed and walked in, "I'm so sorry, we'll help you through this, brother."

I tensed and stiffly nodded when he said brother, it'd been decades since he'd called me that, I'd missed it. Ben walked out before I could say anything and I was left alone in my internal battle, a battle that could end me.