Chapter 1
It's been months since Kendra… left us. And I gotta admit, I'm getting on just fine.
Although the guilt never left my heart for a moment.
Sometimes I even have nightmares about her. (Most times actually). She'll yell at me and tell me that I was greedy and our mother is disappointed, It frightens me, but thanks to my new family, everything seems like it'll be okay. Yes, I'm talking about Layla, Max, Josh, Nathan, Heather, and jasmine.
The witches' den is like a home to us bow, we love having a sort of normal life, no war to worry about, there has not been even a tiny piece of information about the Prince or what he's planning.
At least he's not invading the humans or any other creature out there, For now, the atmosphere is what we can refer to as peaceful. But who knows how long it will remain like this. Whatever it is the Prince will plan, I hope we will be ready. We have been practicing and training quite hard. Especially Jasmine and me, given that we are the youngest and most inexperienced ones.
Nathan teaches us how to use our powers and stuff related to that. While max is in charge of physical combat training. That seems to be their area of expertise respectively.
Josh on the other hand does nothing but flirt with the pretty witches around. He sometimes takes us for morning jogs. He's a great runner.
Heather is now the best friend Layla never had. They spend evenings together all the time. Jasmine doesn't like her, but who am I kidding, Jasmine doesn't like a lot of people, including me. She's better off hanging around with Nathan, Josh, and sometimes, Max.
"Hey, princess, if you keep getting lost like that, you'll get knocked over by anyone, literally" Nathan said, bringing me back to reality. We have been practicing for hours. He's teaching Jasmine and I how to use our powers to fight. Not that Jasmine needs any of that if you ask me, the girl almost killed me the other day, and that was her first time.
Nathan and Max sometimes ask us to compete against each other, and unsurprisingly Jasmine always beats me to a pulp. I feel she isn't just doing it for training's sake but out of spite.
"Alright that's enough for today, seems you all aren't in the spirit today," Nathan said excusing himself.
“Aren't princesses supposed to stay In their towers?" Jasmine snorted before leaving.
Ass hole.
She feels I'm snatching her mother, but I don't think that's all. She taunts me about almost everything, making me feel like the high school wimp being bullied by the cool kid. She does have everything a high school diva should.
.
I stayed behind after Jasmine left the training ground. I need time alone to gather my thoughts. Time to think about my mom and Kendra. I know I'm not alone but the thought of not having a living relative except Max of course_ is quite depressing.
The thought of my father still being out there suddenly crossed my mind. I can't believe that even after losing my family, I still don't feel like seeing him.
I remember the day mom was killed, he called me and hurriedly informed me to keep Kendra safe and warn mom. Even if I want to meet him now, what will I tell him? That I ended my sister's life when I was supposed to take care of her?
"Kara?" Josh's voice echoed.
So much for wanting to be alone.
“Please don't ask me if I'm fine” I begged. I'm tired of people asking me the same question over and over again.
"I won't," he said.
"Because I know you are not" he added. Of course, he knows, I'm sure everyone else can see depression boldly written on my forehead.
"Come," he said, pulling my hands.
I followed him towards the exit of the witches' den.
“Is this safe?” I asked, we were leaving our safe zone.
“Trust me pretty face, it'll be fine” he reassured.
It didn't take long before we got to a little stream. It was really small but beautiful. I could see fish swimming. The surrounding had beautifully laid grass and colorful bushes. To cut it short the scene was beautiful.
“Where is this?“ I asked, barely audible.
“My comfort zone" he whispered.
We sat by the stream, dipping our feet in the water.
Josh isn't saying anything, which is so unlike him. But it was okay, I needed the silence and with the way things looked, he needs it too.
I close my eyes to absorb the peace. I don't know what josh meant when he said this is his comfort zone, but I do get the fact that the place is quite comforting.
“The pain of losing a loved one doesn't go away that easily” he said “It takes time and sometimes it never leaves”
I look up to see who the words were coming from. It doesn't sound like something Josh would say, but here we are.
“It's okay to hurt Kara, It's natural and it's something we can't control” he continued
"Healing takes time. Sometimes it takes a lifetime. Just make sure you don't get lost in your pain and forget to live your life right"
I had nothing to say, I kept staring at Josh. Everything he said made sense but I can't wrap my head around the fact that it's all coming from Josh.
"Thanks, Josh"
“Just, don't let it get to you too much. But also, don't try to force yourself to be okay or quicken the healing process, it doesn't work that way” he said, turning his face to the other direction.
"How long have you been hurting?" he seemed surprised by my question. I'm starting to understand him. He's not the cheeky playful guy, that is just a way to pretend he was okay, pretend everything was fine when it isn't.
I have seen Josh being serious and tough during the mission, that was a new thing to me, seeing the hurt Josh is more odd. He has always had that dashing smile on his face, but the pain in his eyes have also been there the whole time, but I was too blind to notice it.
"What?" He asked.
"Who did you lose?" it was obvious that the death of someone dear to him is the reason for his pain.
“Josh?“ I pressed. It seems he isn't in the mood to talk about it.
“It's okay if you don't want to talk abou…”
“…she was the best part of my life" he started.
“My mate”
“Your what?“
“Mate, every vamp has one” of course I know what a mate is, I've read about it in the library. Every vampire has one, and once you find yours, they'll be your partner for life.
“She was killed, murdered” he pointed.
"I'm so sorry" I don't know how strong the whole mate stuff is, but I'm sure losing someone you love hurts like hell.
“It's fine, it won't last forever” he assured.
“When did it happen?“
"I don't know, one and half centuries ago?" He stammers. Fuck, he's lost someone 150 years ago, and to this date he still misses her. He's still hurt and I don't think it'll go away anytime soon.
“That's a long time ago Josh” I managed to say.
"Some things don't go away, ever"
.
.
We spent the rest of the day absorbing each other's pain, staying with Josh, talking to him, and getting to see this side of him made me feel better. He also looked better after the little conversation.
"We should head back, before Max turns the whole place upside down, thinking you are lost again" Josh grinned. I didn't feel like leaving but he was right, Max would go crazy if he thinks that I'm missing. He has become extremely protective of me. Especially after the whole incident.
.
Layla's tent was quiet when we got there. It felt like no one was there.
When we got in, there were all there, seated quietly, what was going on? I wanted to ask but Max didn't give me a chance.
"Where have you been? We have been looking everywhere for you!" he yelled.
"Yeah, we've checked every corner of the den but we couldn't find you" Nathan joined in. Jeez, now they are going to find out we left the den.
"Kara wasn't feeling too well, so, I decided to take her out a little” Josh said plainly.
"You know we are not supposed to leave the den. You guys could be tracked down easily" Layla said calmly.
“I know, I'm sorry. She just needed it” he replied. I felt so bad. Now Josh had to apologize and answer them because of me.
"It's alright, someone is here to see you," Layla said, pointing to the left corner of the room.
The man was sitting quietly with a blank face.
“Jake?“ Josh said.
“What are you doing here, did something happen at the castle?" since he used to work in the castle, he had a lot of friends who help him spy on the prince. They'll report to him once they hear anything big. But none have come with any news since the time we came here.
“Yes, we need to talk," he said.
"Do you have any news about Kendra" I said, my eyes not leaving him. Although I saw her body with my own eyes, I still have this wish that she survived even though there were zero chances.
“I'm sorry, the only time I saw her was when his highness brought her corpse to the castle," he said corpse, which means she's really dead.
"Has he buried her?" I asked, I know they are vampires so they don't bury the dead. the Prince probably dumped her body to become ashes like moms.
“That's one of the reasons I'm here," he said, instantly drawing everyone in the room's attention.
“Since the day the prince brought Kendra's corpse to the castle, he has been acting differently. He locks himself up in the room that she's kept. He doesn't talk to anyone. He has stopped planning the war. All he does is stay in the room and mourn. It's surprising and weird” he took a deep breath.
“So, there's no war to worry about? That's great news!“ Jasmine chirped.
“Not from him. But now that the king has found out that his son isn't taking the war seriously, he plans to do it himself!“
“The king?“ I asked.
“Yes, and I'm sure you know how dirty things will get if he decides to handle this war” Jake assured.
