Chapter 22: The Dead can't confess.....but their murderers can.

I shivered as his eyes tore away my clothes, "Would you mind stop looking at me like a choice piece of meat," I growled, testing my limits. He didn't like that; his hand struck my face, leaving a cool stinging sensation. Slowly I turned my face, to his smirking lips; a nasty remark tingled on the tip of my tongue, threatening to beat the crap out of this guy.

"That, was unnecessary," I said instead, but even that made his eyes flash dangerously. His hand lifted again, but instinctively mine shot up, grabbing his wrist, and restraining his downward swing onto my face. A growl escaped both of our mouths, and if possible he looked even angrier. Then, all of if peeled away from his face, and a cocky smile replaced it.

"That...that will be for later," he said, lightly restrained. Effortlessly he shook off my hand on his wrist, and backed off a bit. "You look the same, Kenz,"

All I did was nod, staring straight ahead, trying to ignore him slowly circling around me, like a hawk. His eyes trailed down my body once more, before studying my face intensely. "The day is so vivid in my memories, such a happy day it was," he taunted, and I bit my lip to stop the series off sentences that would roll off my tongue. My hands clenched and unclenched, as I relived all the long wanted to be forgotten memories flooding back into my mindset.

"Oh, her sweet scream as her neck was snapped, that's not something that can be forgotten," he hissed, and I cringed away from his hand, hovering over my arm, as he stood in back off me. "Lovely voice, though" he whispered.

"What did they do to you," I said, blankly, trying to keep my focus on the brick across the room from me. He laughed lightly, "They owed me, and finally they've paid the price,"

That made my eyes focus and glance up into his, which I instantly regretted when he smiled. "They didn't 'owe' you anything," I snarled softly.

"Why, yes they did....." he said, backing off a little more, to be able to see my face more clearly, "But I guess they wouldn't have told you, even though they should've, since you were such a big part of it," he trailed off. Dang it, he had my full and utter attention. Lucas lingered in the background, on the edge, right by the door, his eyes going everywhere besides meeting my gaze. He seemed fidgety, shifting feet every couple seconds or so, and his hands clenched and unclenched in his jean pockets.

I met his eyes again, "I don't even know your name.....vampire," I whispered venomously.

His eyes widened a little at the abruptness of my sudden question, "It's none of your business, but you may call me Master," he said with another grin.

"Yeah, sure, like that's gonna happen," I said under my breath, but his eyes narrowed. There was silence, as he waited for me to ask the question of what they owed, and why it dealt with me. Tell you the truth my mind was racing inside my head, all the questions and memories of what this was about, but unfortunately I came up blank.

"Why?" I finally asked, letting the word fall into the air, not letting myself notice his huge, child-like grin. He was enjoying knowing all the answers and having me want to know all of them.

"I knew about this so called prophecy, way before anyone else did, Kenz," he whispered, his voice slightly giddy. I was seriously starting to question if all vampires were members of the insane asylum club. He was acting like a total psychopath, and even thought it wasn't scaring me, I am sure as heck it would have to other people.

"See, I have a sort of gift...." He started, "I can see the future, it's only happened once, a short sixteen years ago. I saw the prophecy and you at that age. Your parents were young then, only nineteen, and first pregnancies can be a stressful and fearful time," he smiled wickedly. Okay, what the heck did he know about pregnancies? Now, now was when I started getting scared.

"They were already debating about keeping you, since they were both so young, but when I came to them and explained about the predicament they would be put in if they had you, they signed the forms, releasing you over to my possession once you were born."

They sold me? Just because of pre-birth jitters? Not only that, but they sold me to the frickin Vampire Lord! My thoughts flashed back and forth once more, what in the world were they thinking? But then I thought of all those parents who gave up their kids on a whim, because they were too young, maybe I didn't know my parents like I thought I did.

"But they backed out," he sighed, "you were born, and like that they wouldn't give you up. They disappeared off the map, and left me straggling for answers, its taken me years to finally get my prize, but its every bit as worth it," he said, his hand going up to trace the scar on my jaw line. His skin was ice cold, with no feeling what-so-ever, a heartless monster, with nothing better to do than hunt me down.

"Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

"Then that would've given you free reign over the terms of which your prophecy would take place, like this, you have no control over it," he grinned.

"It's not a scar, you know?" He traced it once more, and I could see it flashing black in his cold eyes that were trained on my jaw. "It's a marking, that you were wanted, no one ever knew though,"

He totally backed off then, raising his hand to indicate the guards to come back into view, "I will enjoy killing you, McKenzie Gardens," then I could feel the cold metal off the hand-cuffs back around my wrists, and they started leading me away. I glimpsed Lucas slipping out the other door, right before I was turned around, back to the hallway.

I had a heavier heart, a more saddened soul, and a dampened spirit. That didn't leave me with much, I didn't even ask the guard anymore questions. I walked at a steady tempo, my footsteps reverberating off the walls, yet their's silent as a ghost.

"Where's Crazy Chick?" I asked weakly.

The guard looked at me as if I was the crazy one, but then realization dawned on his face, "Oh, Casey, she has.......other situations to deal with tonight," If I was going back to that stupid cell, at least the upside was that I wouldn't have to deal with her.

I was gently put into the cell, but it could have been a shove for all I was paying attention. I stumbled back onto the stone floor, and leaned against the wall, slowly slinking down onto the floor as I heard the doors to the cell close and lock. "Have fun," one of the guards murmured, before leaving me alone in the darkness. The light from the little window has ceased indicating it was night, not even the faint glimmer of stars shone through.

Closing my eyes, I took in the swirling colors that danced behind my eyelids. Soon those swirling colors turned into a picture, a memory. I was four again, my dad had me on his shoulders, and mom's hand was in his.

We were all looking over the sunset, an empty picnic basket hanging by the edge of the cliff. "Pretty, huh, Kenz?" father rumbled, and I giggled. "Its very pretty daddy,"

"I painted this just for you, and asked God to put it up on his wall of the sky, so all could see the image of your beauty," he smiled up at me. I looked down, ruffling his hair with my tiny hands, "Thank you, daddy,"

He set me down, "Go get us a bunch of flowers," he whispered in my ear, and I laughed, running off to the field of wild-flowers collecting them in my hands.

"How could one so lovely, be predicted to bring so much destruction?" mother whispered to father, I was way to far away to hear.

"He was making it up," Father said, but his voice betrayed him, he knew somehow that the vampire wasn't lying.

"He won't find us will he?" mom's voice shook with fright, and she wrapped her arms around father's waist. He kissed her on the top of her head, "Of course he won't,"

But he had, and it didn't end well.

Chris's P.O.V.

We were surrounded by vampires; all of the wolves flanked my sides. Growls were dying off with each step the leader of the vampire group took forward.

"Where's the girl," one vampire murmured to another in the background.

"I don't know," another answered.

My head was turning back and forth; looking for Ambrosia and Raven, including the woman we had found and left behind.

I barely noticed Lucy, who had been glancing franticly between us all, slip through the ring of vampires and disappear into the forest. "Go after her," the leader snarled and five vampires blurred off.

A call erupted from nearby, "I found three more," and Ambrosia, Raven, and the woman were pushed into the tiny clearing. All three stumbled to the ground, "What the heck was that for," Ambrosia snarled at the vampires behind her.

Jake flinched back from all the yelling, hiding in the crook of my mother's arm, who surprisingly was holding him tight to her chest. Fear was clear in all of our faces. Ambrosia then stood up and brushed herself off. "What took you people so long?" she growled, and all of the wolves looked at her like she was deranged.

"Yeah, that's right..." she said, then walked up to the lead vampire, planting a kiss on his cheek, then looking straight into my eye, " Chris, hate to inform you, but its over."