Arelia's POV

Once Ambrose left I took the chance to make my escape once I waited long enough to know the coast was clear.

I wanted to see Darius, I needed to see him and nothing was going to stand in my way.

After all, above all else he was my dearest friend and the only comfort I had in this dreadful place.

Ambrose may have been my so called destined partner but that didn't mean I trusted him and it certainly didn't mean I loved him in the slightest, let alone like him.

Maybe he wasn't a monster like all the rest but that didn't completely rule out the idea that he still could have been.

A wolf under sheep's clothing.

Maybe even as I was.

After all I was no docile woman he could command at any time.

I was no one's to control.

So just as I always did...and I always would...

I'll always defy anyone and anything standing in my way of what I truly wanted.

Even if a vampire would be at my throat any step of the way...

I'd kill anyone who'd dare cross me.

And before I could turn the next corner a shadow of a woman appeared.

Her voice was as that of silk, her hair the color of snow that flowed and fell off her shoulders effortlessly.

Red eyes piercing at another vampire sleeping on the job.

Her gown being the color of cobalt blue with hints of gold flecks throughout her sleeveless dress.

"Reckless idiot!" She kicked his helmet off of him as he awoke.

The guard that was a vampire and it was as though he had been guarding whatever was beyond the door he has dozed off by...and poorly at that.

"What if the prisoner got away?! What the actually heck Greer!" She then whacked him with her backhand leaving quiet the nasty mark on his face.

"Sorry Princess Nala. It won't happen again."

"It better not, my sister won't be taken for a fool and won't be tolerating any slackness in you dogs. Now get back to work before I sever your hand." Her voice became cold and stern like iron as she passed by with poise yet still.

As hot tempered as she seemed, she still somehow kept such an elegance about her.

And someone I didn't wish to ever cross.

—————

So after waiting a while I took a swift and light pace to knocking down a shelf of books across another room before circling back to the cell where Darius was located.

The guard scrambled to his feet half asleep as he went in the another room to check the noise.

I took that chance to head over to the cell the guard was looking after.

When my eyes took in what was left of Darius...my hand went straight to my mouth in horror.

His hair matted with blood, face almost unrecognizable with how his eyes shined an unusually color.

"D...Darius...is that you?"

Chains moved from any motion he made.

And as they scrapped against the floor, as he looked up at me...his soft blue eyes were no longer there.

His eyes were as red as blood with his mouth dripping with the same color.

His silver hair tangled with dirt just as much as it was covered in dried blood.

His arm replaced with a silver one...he was entirely vampire despite his arm and foot...both made from the same silver...both attached to him like he was some doll.

Someone I almost didn't recognize laid before me.

He was a contradiction to vampires...silver was their biggest weaknesses and he was now part silver.

In that instant I felt so very alone here...that was until he spoke.

"Lea...you're alive."

"I should say the same." My hands gripped the cold iron bars in between us as I knelt down to his level.

"Don't...feel ashamed for leaving me behind...I was dead...I was dead until I wasn't. And now I've been changed...into this."

I knew he was trying to comfort me but something about his words didn't seem true.

Something about his words made me waiver.

"Changed." That word echoed from my mouth as it was but a whisper.

Changed.

Or was he always like this and I never noticed.

"I have a feeling you never really changed by your tone Darius. You were always a bad liar and an even worse hunter. Even though I never wanted to admit that...you were by my side still...so how could I truly hate you. But lying to me...I can't forgive you for that."

His eyes glowed red and gold, swirling back to the blue they once were as if he was decided rather to lie or to tell the truth.

"I'm a hybrid, not a vampire."

"That's the same thing." My voice grew cold as he didn't even care to apologize to me.

"You deserve to cast hatred upon me Lea. And I will never ask for your forgiveness, so I cannot tell you I'm sorry for what I've hidden. I'd be a monster in your eyes if you ever found out the truth of me being half vampire. I knew you'd never look at me the same. But now...I do regret keeping such a truth from you. But truly...how could a mess like me truly love you without you looking at me like that."

I haven't noticed that horror was worn across my face as stumbled back.

I need time to process all this.

I needed space...somewhere.

Any where but here.

So I ran from the prisons.

I ran from the place I had been told to keep hidden in.

I ran outside and into the trees, I ran until my legs could carry me no more.

And where I landed...where my feet had led me to...the place seemed as though from a fairy tale.

A field of purple flowers washing over fields of grass.

It was as if I was in the peak of spring.

Flowers at full bloom, lush green grass soft enough to sleep on...all expect the very sky that was as dark as obsidian.

No stars shined tonight and it seemed as though like a bad omen.

Not that I really believed in something like that though.

As I sat I took I nice long and deep breath.

To have a beating heart was always a blessing to me...because it was the only thing I could treasure despite being in a world full of heartless and cold beings...which now included Darius.

My best friend was no longer human...no. He never was.

He never could be and never would be a human like me.

And as for Ambrose, he seemed more compelled to tell me the truth than Darius.

In that thought alone, I knew I could no longer trust a soul.

No one was even worth trusting anymore.

I couldn't help but feel helpless as I pulled my legs to my chest as I sat in the soft grass.

Inhaling the scent of the flowers long enough had me in a daze in which caused me to sleep.

I'm pretty sure I had just came into a field of sleeping willows but didn't realize it til now.

And then a shadow appeared...Ambrose.