Author's Note:

Hi, Wattpad!

I'm so excited about the upcoming weeks where I will thicken the plot. I will keep the momentum of last week by continually posting three chapters a week until the book ends.

I'm sure you will notice some characters from Twilight have made the cut and others are MIA; for the wolf-pack lovers and Team Edward, sorry but those guys might not even be in one chapter. There's already a lot going on anyway.

Please enjoy this week's chapters.

Stay healthy and blessed.

And stay at home people! We still have COVID-19!

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Aro watched silently as his Master moaned over the body of a man. He was swallow skinned, rigid, with wide, dull eyes and a neck with torn skin and two blunt holes with the remnants of blood oozing from them. His Master had clotted blood dripping down his chin and blood stains on his shirt.

"Master, please. There is no time to waste, mourning this dead blood-sack. We must shelter before morning or we perish!"

His words went unheeded. He sighed; his black hair blowing on the wine's gentle teasing. Why was he gifted the second chance of life by such a weakling?

He always serenaded Aro with futile, endless tales of how they, monsters, were birthed out of love and not by the Devil, which he believed himself.

He didn't want to kill humans, said that their existence depended on us caring for the humans. None of the other immortals he sired believed his teachings so he was alone, apart from Aro, the new one. He was birthed from pity and nothing else.

Aro brushed his Master's face. He heard the inner workings of his soul.

I'm a monster! Another has fallen by my hand

His Master's hand quivered.

...Selene is this my fate without you?

Aro dropped his hand. He was fed up. He wanted to waste his immortal life crying over their food, fine but he would revel in the majesty and the sheer power it gave him.

"Master, I will find shelter for the night. I shall meet you tomorrow."

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Marcus was cloaked in darkness. A foul mood concocted by his brother Aro, no, his adopted brother. He no longer deserved that name. He had painstakingly arranged opportunity after opportunity for him to court Makayla and make his mate. But he let the meetings come and go and he lost his chances to impress her. He didn't even want to let his beloved coven or his brothers know the true extent of his feelings for the girl.

If he did not sense ties between people, he would have missed the undertones of a relationship between the two different people.

He was overly excitable and insensitive. She was excitable, yes but she was more in tune to others' moods and acted accordingly. She had cried when she saw he was hurting over Didyme. She had been cautious upon return to the castle after their tassel. She had hugged him on their reunion.

She was the only one as of late who could read him. And she had given him back some of his dignity. But she was not Didyme. She could never be. But he could be with her, if not to pass time, to give her exactly what she wanted.

But he had to be sure.

He looked up to the ceiling, hoping it had the answers.

~~~~~~~~~.........~~~~~.........~~~~~~..........-----------..........---------..........------------..............

The sun was setting on the land, from his cave Aro beheld the sun dip down the horizon. He had tracked down a young witch. She could help him free himself of his oppressive master.

He ran at the speed of sound until he entered a village. It was a village known for death and despair. He could smell the scent of a blood-drinker, a sick stench of rotting apple core, permeating the air.

There was a hut made with mud and cow faeces isolated from beautifully thatched communal housing. Barren of joy but full of a dark power Aro needed to quench his lust. He zipped forward then he felt a pain in his chest akin to that he felt the night he died.

He squirmed on the ground, a fish out of the lake. Then a candlelight shone in his face.

"Creature of the night, why have you come?"

Then Aro was introduced to a beautiful, dark-skinned woman with almond eyes, a high forehead and ginger hair hidden in a scarf.

"I have come to be set free."

She looked at him in disbelief.

"It's true madam," he coughed to look less dangerous than he actually was.

"Then you have come to the dwelling place of humans, your natural enemies?"

"I have come to someone supernatural as myself. You are fabled to be the best spell-caster in all the land."

She sighed.

"And what an honour that has been," she said sarcastically.

He regarded her in silence. He could see how lonely she was. Humans feared what they couldn't comprehend even if they were similar to them.

"I understand." Aro said sympathetically.

She gnarled her face.

"You know nothing. Tell me what you want."

"I want you to remove the curse from vampyres."

Her eyes bulged.

"Why would I inflict you vile monsters on the world like that?"

He stood his cloaks stirring.

"Believe me, you and other mortals are not safe. We are spreading at a vast rate uncontrollably and we have no authority to stipulate laws. I want to change the world. Make it safe for both our kind."

She looked at him in terror.

"I do not believe you."

"You may not now, but give me a few decades and I will do you justice, my lady."

She closed her eyes and stepped closer to her deplorable nest of dirt.

"I am not as powerful to do that...remove the curse of the Devil."

Aro smirked.

"I am not asking you to undo my immortality; you only have to remove the sun's nasty side effects and the protocol about entering homes. Those are getting a little old, if you ask me."

She put her hand on the hip covered by a cheap textile.

"I believe, no-one did ask you."

He faced his palms toward her.

"You will never starve again and you will not have to entertain village idiots to prevent being tried for your nature."

She thought about this for a second.

"If you are serious of your promise you will do a blood oath."

Aro had heard of these.

"With a vampyre?"

She nodded.

"Yes, and we can do it in my home away from prying eyes," she said reaching toward him with her empty hand.

He hesitated.

"There is one thing you must have knowledge of. I can read anyone's mind upon their skin touching mine."

She widened her eyes before nodding. He took her hand.

He was a hideous monster but at least he was honest, more than any man of her kind.

Aro felt her sadness; she thought of a young man. He took away his palm, after he started feeling sorry for her. He had to remember that feelings like this were weakness. His Master had shown him that. He closed his eyes. She looked at him and could see he has a heart. Maybe it was the dark that made him this monster; the good man was trapped inside.

She inched him in. Aro cautiously crossed the barrier. He smiled wisely realising the pain was gone. Soon, he would enter a home at will without the need for invitation.

His cloak dragged over discarded wool and felt. It smelt like drowned cat on the inside, where only one room was utilised for everything. He shows his displeasure by grating his sparkling teeth.

"Sorry, I can't afford interior decorating."

She offered a seat on her rug. He huffed but sat anyway.

"What is your name, before we enter an agreement?"

"Aro, you are?" he said.

She took up her dagger and sliced his hand. He yelped. That was painful, could she not prick him instead?

"Desdemona. Aro, vampyre, you will enter a blood pact with me from here on out. You shall provide me shelter and food, and I shall bring your plans to fruitation. But if anyone breaks this pact they shall pay with their happiness. They will live out their days alone with many enemies."

Aro read her eyes they told him don't double dross me creature.

He almost growled at the theatrics.

"My curse?"

"I cannot do anything unless I cast a spell on the first vampyre. Find him and we shall do as you requested."

Aro had half a mind to eat her. She smiled and he was hurled back from her filthy home. He wearily got up.

"Remember, the first vampyre is the key to the curse."

Then her twiggy door sealed. He was left in a stupor.

Strange little witch...