'Love is an unconditional affair created in the fires of our fate.'

***

It's hard to trust people and it's even harder to trust vampires. That's why I avoided them for so long and even took orders to kill them. I won't hesitate to kill though, if someone deserves it, they will find their own head rolling into a six foot crevice in the ground. Normally, I would know if someone was double crossing me but for some reason all of my skills have waned and I am not as good as I once was.

From the minute I saw him, Sebastian appeared to have hidden intentions and secret motives - I don't doubt that he, too, would like to see us suffer. With him being King it makes him dangerous, he can have anything in a blink of an eye, including hiring a shifter to kill me.

I keep a suspicious gaze at Sebastian who looked back with a placid expression. He wants me to come to him, away from the guards. I take a quick glance at Valentine's back and I begin walking towards him. The room was cold and basically lifeless, it was fitting for prisoners. As I walk I look left and right and notice creatures hidden in their cells, sulking in corners and contemplating their miserable lives.

"I take it you know some of these convicts," Sebastian says, breaking the hollow silence in the air. He's trying to make me feel comfortable and unfortunately for him, it's not working.

I narrow my eyes at him and answer his question. "No. I'm an assassin not a bounty hunter," I reply with ice on my tongue, instantly regretting it.

"Assassins share a similar fate as these convicts, do they not?" He returns with a strong throw.

"Yes."

I was now a meter away from him and I can see the devilish glint in his green eyes. The same green eyes that I saw just before I blacked out. "Then why are you not in a cell yourself?"

"Sebastian, I think Saphira is exempt from law, after all, she is the best."

"Best," he enunciates with doubt, "how are you so sure?"

"Why, your Highness, I suggest asking your council members. She's killed for several of them."

He smirks, knowing exactly what he means. It wasn't uncommon for a council to suddenly lose members and gain them within a fortnight. Kingdoms always have corruptions no matter how high in the government.

"Indeed," he says with a tight lipped smile, "Vampire's are notorious for murdering their own kind."

I nod stiffly and glanced quickly at Valentine who seems to be looking at me with very protective eyes. I don't think he is very fond of Sebastian but he isn't against him either.

"They are also notorious for getting away with it," I press through my teeth.

"How right you are." Sebastian looks back at me with mischievous eyes. "But unlike you, these men and women were caught."

Valentine has sensed the negative tense in the air and has subtly positioned himself between us. We are now all facing a large glass wall that slightly reflected our faces. I look inside the window and see a man with spiky black hair looking down at the ground without any expression on his face. Just like the rest of the other prisoners, he has a metallic collar placed around his neck, much like the one we removed from Chelsea's neck.

He looked neither comfortable nor disturbed and it made me feel like jumping out of my skin. There is something rather odd about him, like he is just an image on a television screen.

"Saphira, I'd like you to meet Timothy, also known at 'Echo,'" Sebastian nods towards the rogue vampire and starts to speak. "He's the Kingdom's first and only shifter and is known only to Numidia's underground community."

"Echo," I repeat, trying to familiarize myself with his name. "How do you know this is him?"

Sebastian glances at me with dissatisfaction then he presses a button on the panel just below the window and speaks into it and commands Timothy to shift and show us his powers. At first he refuses to change but after a string of threats and demands from the King, he complies and changes his face into Sebastian's.

A scowl breaks free from my face and I narrow my eyes at him. I do not like this one bit, for all we know, they could be working together - who else would want to kill me at this time?

"Can he see us?" I ask.

"No."

Then why is he looking directly at me? My face wrinkles in disgust as he stops right in front of me, giving me a sinister smile. Slowly, his face changes and his body shortens to my height and slims down to my size. I gasp inaudibly as he transforms into my own reflection. She was an exact replica of me, only I couldn't believe it. Is that what I look like now? I look so dead, so lifeless.

The shifter, who was very proud of what he was doing, gives me a wink showing me that he does know I'm here. I wanted to break through the glass and wring his neck until he can no longer morph into anyone else. A growl escapes from my throat and I twist my body to face Sebastian.

"Why keep him here? He's just going to escape and cause more havoc than before." My voice was rising and becomes more forceful.

"He'll be of good use."

"For what?" I jump towards him but Valentine grabs my arm in a tight grip and pulls me back.

"Datura's selfish actions will cause an inevitable war, not just between this Kingdom but those around it. We will need all the help we can get including help from those who have been incarcerated," he explains, "there is infinite power when people unite with a purpose."

For some reason a shot of flame travels up my spine causing me to inhale sharply and fold my arms across my chest. "He's dangerous."

"That he is, but he's got an ability no one else has, there are so many things he can do." Sebastian straightens his back and turns on his heel to leave. "besides, he's not the only one that's dangerous around here."

"You cannot keep him here," I shout.

He stops midstride and turns his head to the side. "I can, Saphira. You forget who you're talking to, I can have you placed in a cell next to his with one command, don't make me change my mind."

I clamp my mouth shut from saying much more as I watch his figure disappear from the room. I wipe my face with my hands and inhale deeply to calm myself.

Meanwhile, Valentine glances at me with confusion. "You don't really want to die, do you?"

"Now is not the time, Valentine."

He speeds towards me and stops just a few inches away. "No, it's the perfect time."

"I don't-" I shake my head and step away from him.

He takes my shoulder and squeezes them tightly. "Don't what?"

I blink my eyes and try to suppress the feelings that are wildly erupting under my skin. I don't know why my emotions are whirling like tornadoes - I feel so weak and so vulnerable, like my knees with cave and my body will drop to the floor.

Maybe it's because of his obliviousness or the fact that he's hasn't been so loyal and has not been so protective. Every woman yearns for a man to keep her like the most precious gem but it's the one thing I am not getting. He has been so cruel and so numb to everything that is going on around him. It's tearing my soul and my heart apart and I don't know if I can keep watching my life burn in ashes around him.

"I-I can't do this," I say in breathy whisper. He looks down at me with a burning gaze but I ignore his silent remarks and flee from him.

And the worst feeling comes from knowing that I allowed for all of this to happen. I could have stopped it a while ago, but I let myself fall into a series of events that created an effect like ripples in the water.

I really can't do this.

"Wait," he yells after me.

I run past the cells and past the guards, hoping to hide myself from his presence. With my strength, I speed away from him and try to lose him.

I turn around the corner and he stops me with a steel grip. I continue to shake my head and I hit him in right in the stomach making him hunch over and momentarily immobile. I slip from him again and he growls in frustration, wanting to unleash is power on me.

"Stop following me," I mutter under my breath, knowing he can hear me very well.

"No," he replies in the same tone, "we need to talk."

I scoff and keep running - I am up the staircase now and my feet are making loud thuds on the hardwood floor.

I can hear his heavy footsteps just behind me and prepare myself for the worst. I turn a corner and no longer hear his pursuit as I run down the lengthy corridor. I skid to a stop and look around me - he is nowhere in sight but that doesn't mean he still can't be lurking in the shadows.

Cautiously, I walk forward while keeping my senses awake for his presence. He's a vampire and quite a skilful one - so I expect him to be anywhere at this point. I slowly breathe in and out, glancing side to side, waiting for a safe moment to return to my room and prepare for my leave.

I gasp audibly as Valentine suddenly falls from the ceiling and lands in the space in front of me. He looks down at me with a threatening look, appearing evident that he will not stop. I retreat but he catches me between his arms and keeps me in the same spot. I breathe in broken huffs not able to escape from his grasp.

"Let go of me," I screech.

"Not until I get an answer," his cold breath fans my cheek and I almost cave at the tingling sensation.

I manage to twist out of his arms but he is quick and he pulls my arm back - once again I am back in his arms, trying to kick myself out. My back is against his chest and my head against his shoulder. Last night we were in a similar position but my cry of release this time isn't from pleasure. I can't deny the fact that both are highly intense and highly arousing.

"An answer for what?"

He pulls me into an empty room where we can get a little more privacy than an open castle hall. My body is still pressed against his with his face pressed against mine. He starts to speak and immediately my body responds to the huskiness of his voice. I give out a moan as he presses himself harder into my back, making my core melt into a messy puddle.

"You know exactly what," he says aggressively while releasing me.

I stumble and try to catch my balance on the wall in front of me.

"I don't know," I say in a whisper wanting to add more but he rudely cuts me off, showing his incredible impatience towards the matter. I blink my eyes to a close as a feeling of warmth flares around my arms and stomach from his inconsiderate efforts.

"Don't know what?"

Tingling sensations erupt at my fingertips and a buzz starts to circulate around my entire body. I squeeze my fists to fight the feeling and to suppress the reaction my body is experiencing. For some reason it gets worse and I ball my hands so tight that my nails break the skin.

"I don't know!" This time I shout in anger and anxiousness and the ground underneath me cracks. I breathe slowly and try to compose myself.

He stays quiet to listen and I gulp deeply. "Death seems to be guarding my every move, like it's waiting for me to return. People want to kill me and two were almost successful," I pause and turn to Valentine who is looking down at me with remorse. "Before I met you, I decided I would take my own life to rid myself of a meaningless existence but since then that desire has become less and less clear."

His eyes lock with mine and for a second I got a glimpse of pain from my words. "Then why make me believe that until now you wish the same?"

Valentine's voice is low and full of shock and I feel like I should close the unbearable space between us to lift the thick tension in the air.

"I don't want to keep returning from the dead only to have it done all over again."

We both stay where we are, waiting for one of us to approach the other. The ambience in the room makes it feel like I'm swimming in an ocean full of sharp glass and jagged rocks. Hurt, he stares back at me with eyes full of sympathy and sorrow.

"Aren't you glad you're alive after all this time?" he harshly says through his teeth. His neck pulses as he speaks and I had the urge to run my fingers over his veins to calm them, but he's too far away.

"I am," I utter truthfully.

"Why is it so hard for me to believe you?"

I grind my teeth as I feel an awful pressure suddenly press against my chest. My hand twitches and I wriggle them to relax the rapid rush of blood through my veins. 'Because I'm a selfish, cold and heartless creature,' My mind says, 'who can't have what she wants.'

I slump my shoulders down, not knowing what to say to and how to answer his question. What am I to say to him when he keeps looking at me like I'm about to provide an improbable answer - the truth is that I probably will give a dull one.

I swallow the lump of air stuck in my throat, never breaking the intense gaze we had on each other. I've been hiding my feelings all this time and concealing it under a myriad of masks and dishonesty.

"I don't expect you to."

He shakes his head and growls before lunging towards me, like so many of our encounters.

"I am not some child you can toy with," he growls.

"If you think I'm toying with you then you are no smarter than a child," I communicate through clenched teeth.

He pulls back slightly, his jaw tightening and clenching as he looks down at me with rage in his eyes. "Oh, don't tempt me, sweetheart, you've been playing with me from the start."

"As opposed to you?" I respond, incredulously, with wide eyes. "You're one to talk."

"What are you running from, what are you so afraid of?" He says in frustration letting me see the sharpness of his fangs. With no space between us, it felt like my body is on fire, with heat prickling wherever our bodies touched. His lips, trembling with anger, are only a breaths width away.

His question makes my emotions run wild and my body to turn cold. Am I afraid? Am I scared that he won't love me like Scarlett? I exhale a shaky breath and open my mouth to respond to his spine chilling inquiry.

"I am," I confess. "I'm scared that when all of this is over, I'll have no life to live."

He pulls back slightly, his jaw tightening and clenching as he looks down at me with rage in his eyes. "No life?" he suddenly laughs humourlessly and he drops his head towards the ground. "And last night was not proof of a life worth living?"

With my hand on his chest, I use my strength to push him back an arm's length away. "I don't even know if last night was real," I croak, unable to stop the statement from coming from my mouth.

When my words hit him he seemed struck. He then retreats from me and starts to straighten his body and he fixes his clothes.

"I think I've heard enough," he whispers. I can feel my heart break into a thousand shards at his reaction and I open my mouth to utter a positive remark but the sensation of my falling heart rendered me speechless.

He makes his way towards the door and he places his hand on the doorknob before he deeply sighs. My eyes lift with hope. The tingling feeling that erupted during our argument has now turned into an electrifying feeling, one that traveled from my ears to my toes.

"Valentine," I call back, sounding more desperate than intended.

He opens the door and cool air sweeps in to blow on my face. Full of tension, his back stays facing me and he stops. "His Majesty has given a command to start preparing for the upcoming battle. Training starts at sundown," he said assertively without a single glance. "Your attendance is highly expected."

I lift my hand to touch him but he slips through the open doorway and walks into the hall, never looking back.

***
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