Kyla

"I understand truly, I do but I have to ask." I look at Satine waiting for her to ask me the question that she has on her mind. She stands in front of me a moment, wringing her fingers and looking to the bedroom door. I know she's hoping that Diedrek or Darius will walk through the door before I can go through with anything.

"Is this really what you want to do?" She looks back towards me, biting her bottom lip. Her eyes filled with worry. Her eyes hold so much intensity I can only nod my head in answer.

Her face falls, "I was afraid you'd say that." She looks down at her feet for a moment. When she looks back up my way she has a newfound determined look in her eyes, "Well then, you're going to need my help."

"Your help?" I look at her dumbfoundedly.

I was not expecting those to be the words that came out of her mouth. I'm so surprised I simply stand there a moment. Studying her to see if I can find any deceit in her eyes. "You aren't going to try and talk me out of this?" I ask with a tilt of my hip, a hand there and a raised brow.

"I would love to try, but something tells me you're the type of person that once your mind is made up, there is no changing it." She mirrors my stance with a pointed look my way. I can't help but give off a light laugh.

She knows me so well for a girl that just met me a couple of days ago. Although, her eyes still hold hope. The hope that in some way, I will change my mind. That I'll come to my senses. I'll give her cousin a chance at explaining himself.

All that goes to the waste side. I know I could do that; I could stay here another couple of hours. Wait for him to get back from his meeting with the witches. Tell him I know all about the agreement. Every detail about it and allow him to explain. At the end of the day what will that do? Nothing really, I mean all it would cause is an argument, and in the end heartache for both of us. Me a little more than him.

"I have to go." I speak with determination lacing my voice. Letting her know I have made up my mind. She was right to assume how my personality is because there is no changing it as of now.

"I understand, really I do." She looks sad for a second, but the next she has just as much determination in her eyes as I do.

"This is what I think we should do. I have already put Darius asleep. He's snoring in the chair as we speak." She surprises me with that information. If I'm honest, it's a good thing she thought about that because I wouldn't even know what to do with him. She interrupts my train of thought continuing with, "he will be that way for at least the next hour." She walks over to the window and feels around the edge.

I stand there watching her. Once she finds what she was looking for she opens the window and pops the screen out. "I looked everywhere the first night I was here." I say incredulously. "How did you find out how to open that?" I look at her with wide eyes.

She shrugs her shoulders before saying, "Not my first time escaping. I used to sneak out of the castle all hours of the night and stay within the dark forest for days. Until my uncle and cousins would want me back for their amusement and come looking for me."

I'm not sure if it's wrong, but I feel sympathy towards her. I've gotten to know her these last couple of days, and I can honestly say she isn't the monster my uncle pegged them all to be. Having that thought, a question comes to mind.

"Why haven't I heard of you drinking human blood, or seen you gouge yourself in it?" I hope I don't come off as being rude, but I really need to find out this information. Since I was a little girl, I was told that vampires can't go long without the blood of a human. As far as I know fresh human blood is their favorite.

I can't see her face head on since she is facing away from me, but I can see a smirk form on the corner of her mouth. "Because I am one that can survive on either human blood, or regular human food."

It takes a whole minute before I can speak. When I do, only one word comes to my mind, "How?"

She turns to look at me head-on, "Because I am not a full-vampire."

My mouth falls open at her words. "What?! You're like me?" She nods her head at me. It takes me a moment to wrap my head around this new information. Although, really thinking about it a lot of things make sense now. "Wow, I had no idea." My words come out in barely a whisper.

"Few people do. My mother was a witch, and my father was a vampire. Diedrek's Uncle from his father's side. Although they were brothers, they were nothing alike. My father was a gentle soul, which my uncle despised."

She turns to face me, and I see her eyes roll briefly at that. "When he fell in love with my mother..." Her words pause as she collects herself. I know this is hard for her. I can see tears welling in her eyes. Shaking her head she tells me, "My uncle went crazy." She stops talking about that situation after that. Not being able to discuss it a moment longer.

I don't push her to tell me what happened. I know it's too personal, and to be honest from the look in her eyes it must be too hard to talk about. Instead, I walk over to her. Standing beside her I place my hand on her shoulder. I give her a sad smile. Smiling back, she wipes the lone tear that had fallen from her eye.

"Okay, so we are going to jump down from here." She says nonchalantly, like she didn't just tell me we were jumping from eight stories up.

Walking to the window, I look down to the ground. "Nope, no, no, no, I cannot do that." I shake my head as I back away from the windowsill.

"Trust me it'll be fine. I am going to hold you in my arms the entire time. There will be no way you can get hurt." She smiles my way as she gives me a wink. Trying to make light of the situation, so I don't continue freaking out.

"I don't know about this." My words come out shaky.

"Listen, you can trust me. I wouldn't ever let anything happen to you." I look at her, then to the window, and back at her once more.

Seeing how her eyes hold so much honesty and are begging me to believe her I give a small nod. Her smile is infectious. It's from ear to ear. Me saying I trust her brings her immense joy. "So, what are we doing once we hit the ground?" I ask.

"Easy," she shrugs her shoulders. "I know an invisible spell. No one will be able to see us at all."

"So..."

"We can walk right to the gate and through it without anyone noticing us." She smiles.

"It's that easy?" I ask incredulously.

"Yup." She pops the 'p.'

"Okay," I say as I walk over to her.

Looking at her now I wonder how we are going to pull this off. "Just crawl into my arms." She says holding her arms out to me.

"You're going to hold me like a big baby?" My eyebrow pops up as I try to hold in my laughter.

"Yes I am." She sings.

"Well, it's a good thing no one can see us then. We will look ridiculous." She laughs aloud at my words.

She bends down and lifts me up into her arms. I must hold onto her neck with my arms, so I don't fall. She says something under her breath and walks to the window.

"I am trusting you with my life." I give her a stern look with my eyes.

"You know that right?" I look at her hoping she can see the sincerity in my eyes.

"You won't regret it." Those are the last words she speaks before I close my eyes, and I feel her jump from the ledge.