Mirai

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I fell out sideways with such force that I rolled a few laps on the ground before coming to a halt. I stopped with my face down, my arms had automatically wrapped around it to lessen the impact. When I had flipped around, so I was on my back, I let out a deep sigh and stared up.

It was night time though I had just come from daylight. That had to mean I had traveled to another time zone again. Hopefully that in itself meant I wasn't far from the Library.

I only got to look at the dark blue sky through the trees for a moment before a face clouded my vision.

"Need a hand?" the face asked and I scrabbled to a sitting position and pushed myself away from him.

He had brown hair and kind eyes. A well-built body and a concerned wrinkle between his eyes. But as I moved away, his face fell slightly and a hardness entered. I regretted my instinctual reaction to him immediately. But it was instinctual and considering all I had been told of vampires, that made sense.

I wasn't sure what it was that made me aware that he was a vampire. Maybe it was simply the paleness of his skin. That was the only visual clue at least.

"I'm sorry," I said and I meant it. Because yes, all I had grown up hearing about vampires talked about their unclenching thirst for blood, but as sure as I was that the man before me was a vampire, I also knew he wasn't a threat.

He gave me a weak smile and then held out his hand for me to grab. He did it in a casual sort of way, but I knew that was his way of testing me, to see if I actually was sorry, and to know if I was worth his time.

I took hold of his hand and let him help me to my feet.

"Where am I?" I asked and looked around. A forest somewhere, and judging by the trees and the sky, somewhere in Europe. But that was all I could say.

"Shouldn't you know considering that you teleported here?" He raised his eyebrows.

"I meant to go to the Library, but was attacked as I stepped through the portal," I explained, giving him the truth because I was sure that was the right decision.

"Oh, well, you're not that far off. You're sort of between London and the Library."

"And this place? What is it? Does your clan live here?"

He chuckled lightly. "No, this area belongs to a pack. My mate's pack." He added the last bit, undoubtedly because I had looked confused.

"Okay, well, I should be off," I told him for there was no point for me to linger. In fact, it was dumb for me to linger. The coven could turn up any second and I needed to find out where Tamah was as soon as possible.

"Hey, are you sure?" the vampire asked and took hold of my arm. "You took quite a fall. You should probably get checked up."

"I don't have time." I tried to pull my arm away, but he didn't seem ready to give up.

"It wouldn't take long. There's a witch visiting that can heal you in seconds."

I shook my head and tried to pull at my arm even more. "You don't understand. I have to go now. If I don't then..."

It was like a moment from a movie. Like when a knock on the door comes at the exact right moment. Only it wasn't a knock, but the popping sound of teleporting.

My instincts took over and I moved around so I was behind the vampire before muttering a quick spell. It was a spell that would make you invisible for a short time. I had never managed to perform it before, but as soon as I finished, I knew that this time I had.

"What are you doing here?" the vampire said. Though I was invisible, I kept close behind his back so I couldn't see anything. But his voice sounded much angrier than it had when talking to me.

"We're just looking for someone. A witch. She should be here. Have you seen her?" It was the Priestess that answered and my lips turned to a smug smile at the slight tremble in her voice.

"No. And witches aren't welcome here, so if you care for you lives, I suggest you leave now."

"Come on, Priestess," someone else mumbled. "She must be on her way to the Library anyway."

The next sound that came was the witches teleporting away again. I let out a sigh and felt the spell wear off.

"Thank you, Everett," I said as he turned around.

His eyes widened, then he frowned and his muscles tightened somewhat.

"I never told you my name," he pointed out.

I frowned as well. He hadn't, hadn't he? But still, I knew for certain that it was his name. Just like my instincts had completely taken over when the witches had teleported there and I had known for certain that he would scare them off. Or rather, I had known he would protect me.

Though, it hadn't really been me that had known, not really. Because just like I knew his name was Everett, I knew it was all down to that my sight was strengthening.

"I'm gifted in sight, so it's just something I can know."

He continued to look a bit weary with somewhat narrowed eyes. "What's your name?"

"Mirai."

He nodded and tension left his eyes. "And who were they?"

"My coven."

"You're running from them?"

I nodded.

"And you're heading for the Library? Where they are waiting for you by now?"

I sighed and hung my head. "Yeah."

"Well, then you shouldn't leave for there straight away anyway. So let's go and have Crimson fix you up."

Crimson.

There it was again. A name I didn't recognize. A person I didn't know. But I knew she was a friend. Just like Morana and Danae.

But I also knew I couldn't meet her. Not yet anyway.

"No need. I can you borrow some of your blood and I can heal myself," I answered this time.

"You can't possibly still plan to go straight to the Library. They'll just attack you."

I shrugged. Yes, they would, but it was time to stop running. I had tried in so many different ways to run. It wasn't working, so I had to come up with a different approach.

"We can come with. The pack I mean. There's some more vampires here too," Everett continued and he got a boyish glint in his eyes.

"And why would you fight my battle?" I answered and tilted my head.

It was his turn to shrug. "A whole coven chasing one witch doesn't seem fair."

"How do you know they aren't chasing me for good reasons?"

He burst out laughing. "No offense, girl, but there's no way you could convince me that you have bad intentions. You don't look the part."

"Ehm, thanks, I guess. Now give me some of your blood so I can heal and be on my way."

His laughter died and he looked harshly at me. It wasn't that weird really. For him, it probably looked like I was on my way to my death. But as we had talked, what I needed to do had come to me.

It felt very strange. Like someone else whispered in my ears. But I knew that if I was in a public place, the coven couldn't attack. And the whispers told me of such a place right by the Library. They also told me of the aged owner of that place who would oblige any weird request I could think of as long as I told him the answer to a question he desperately wanted answered.

"I will be fine. I'm gifted in sight. Remember?" I told Everett. He sighed and shook his head.

"There's no changing your mind, is there?"

"Nope."

He sighed again before moving his wrist to his mouth. With his teeth, he ripped open the skin there and as a few drops of his blood came out, I cast a healing spell over myself. Ache, that I had been too distracted to really notice, disappeared.

"Thank you." I prepared to teleport, but then those whispers fed me words to say. "You do know that he would prefer a small birthday celebration with just the two of you. Don't give in to everyone else's opinions."

Then I teleported away before he could answer and found myself looking at a stone house. It was built with stones of uneven sizes being cemented together. The entrance was a wooden door and hanging over it was a sign that read Oak's Tea Room.

A familiar face! And only Zoe left to be mentioned by someone. But that might happen soon considering that Mirai is at Oak's Tea Room. I do hope you all remember that café!