Escaped the Night (16 page)

Jayce pulled me in close and
kissed my lips
. I melted
from the
sensation
of
the sweet sti
ng taking over. I
found myself wondering
,
would
this
happen
every time our lips met
?
W
as
it
because of the electric
ity flowing through us
that made our kissing linger or was it
because this still felt so new to us
?

We
stayed
on the beach
for
a while longer
enjoying
the company of my new miniature friends.
I stood
off to t
he side as a group of
girls surro
unded me. At first I felt intimida
ted by the
number
of
small beings gathering around me, but was quickly put at ease as I got
wrapped up
with
tales of
their history an
d things they’d foreseen in the
future. They
explained
everything to me,
right down to
how they lived
, their rules and laws and the
foods they ate.
They were virtually the same as us, only miniature.

I glanced over at Jayce,
who was
interact
ing
with some o
f the male fairies. I smiled, thinking
about how
much he looked like a
giant.
He smiled over at me, thinking the same thing.

Shea fluttered close by
as
the others spread out
and moved over towards Jayce. She explained to me in gr
eater detail about their hidden
homes
.
“The glowing houses
we live in resemble
ones
which
humans
would
live in…
on the inside anyway.
The number of caps tells you the size of the family
residing
there. Each cap represents a
bed
room. All houses have a basement, which is underground
so
you aren’t able to see
it
. This is the room where the entire family
gather
s
together. Families
always eat together
because
this
g
ives
the
m the
opportunity to check in
and see how everyone’
s doing.”

“That’s amazing
,
Shea. I’m so
grateful
you’re sharing this
with me
. It’s beyond my wildest dreams.” I smiled at my tiny friend.

“Let’s go join the others now.
”
She wisped
away
,
leaving a trail of sparks
.

I
followed her over
to Jayce
and
slipped
my arms around
his
waist
.

As the night went on
,
the fa
iries told
more
stories
from
their various adventures. It reminded me of sitting around a campfire
, o
nly the fairie
s’
glow was our
fire.

Jayce leane
d over and whispered,
“Once you believe
in fairies you can
always
see the
m
and their homes
. If you
don’t believe
, they
remain invisible. It’s good protection for them.”

I
looked him in the eye
and nodded.
He leaned in, planting another fiery kiss directly on my lips.
It felt like I
was in a fairy tale
. This was a perfect night
,
with
perfect scenery
,
and I had the perfect company. Nothing could ruin this evening. Absolutely nothing!

First Encounter

~ Chapter Four ~

A sliver of the moon
peaked
out from behind the thin
scattered clouds. I
was in awe
.
It
was
as if someone
had hand-painted the clouds,
just so the moon could make this brilliant appearance.

We stood s
ide by side
,
basking in its
beauty
.
But th
en a gust of wind carried
a howl
in our direction
. The mere sound
sent a shiver through
me.
“What was t
q
hat?”

Jayce
spun aro
und, d
read marking
his expressi
on. I’d never seen him like this
.
My
heart
pounded
quicker as my anxiety levels increased.
He
grabbed both of my hands
, locking
them in a tight grip.
Flashes
of different visions began racing through my mind. I closed my eyes,
trying to
focus o
n what he was showing me.

Wolves came
into
the vision. Only these wolves didn’t look like any normal
ones
I’d ever
seen
. They
were
larger and their coats
were
way more ragged. The harder I concentrated
,
the cleare
r the vision became. Their evil grey
eyes were piercing
,
no sign of a soul remained
. Razor sharp, jagged teeth lined their blood stained mouths.

My dream
started
coming back
, but
Jayce squeezed my hands
tighter
and
push
ed
more of t
he
vision on me
, com
manding
all my focus.

Dark figures strolled in a v-
formation
just behind the pack of bloodthirsty werewolves. The shadowy figures all wore similar long
,
dark
flowing attire. They a
ll
shared
relatively the same distinct
movement, a
lmost floating as their clothing and garments flew out behind their bodies
,
resembling
wings.

These were
v
ampires and t
he thought made me hold my breath.
I couldn’t believe I was witnessing
this. It
was surreal, l
ike
my own personal spy cam into the immortal world. I
carefully pieced together the visions
, but o
ne part remained unclear, w
hy was Jayce showing
me this
?

One specific f
ace emerged
and
I
instantly
knew
it was Daray
,
even before Jayce
pointed it
out.
The sight
made me take a step backwards
.
My
heart
bea
t
a strange new rhythm and
the
blood pumping through my veins
felt ice
cold.
This
sensation
felt like the fear I experienced
in my dreams
.
I
needed to
run
,
but at the same time
,
I
was
drawn to him.

I didn’t fill Jayce in on the fact
that
I
’d
recognized
Daray
or
the reaction I had
when I
first
saw him. I
tried my best to ignore
the response
, but
Jayce
picked up on the
reaction
despite my attempts
.
He
carried
on with the vision
.

Daray stood out from the oth
ers. He had a way about him, which
radiated
strength and stamina. His
dangerous
façade was both
seductive and appealing
, with
his
dark commanding eyes and
darker
hair
pulled
back
tightly
. His skin
was
pale
but
absolutely
perfect. He
was fashionably put together, even if it appeared to be
from ancient times.

Daray led the group. This was clear by the way the
werewolves walked
in front,
as if they
were
dogs on a leash.
It was also obvious
by the way the others followed his lead. F
our other
vampires
were equally spaced apart
,
making up the rear of the gr
oup.
The others
had the same dangerous, yet
luring features.
A
lone
female stood out of the crowd
.
I
focused all my attention on her
. Jayce tried to redirect m
e
, but I needed to know more about her.

She looked different. H
er
wild features weren’t nearly as alluring
,
nor did she glide gracefully
as
the others did.
She came across
as
unstable
, or
even
somewhat awkward compared to the rest of the group. She didn’t walk up front with the werewolves or walk side by side with the vampires. She was just there, mixed amongst them.
After a moment of pondering
over
the reason
why
she acted
so
different
ly
,
Jayce quickly filled
me
in on the fact
that
s
he was a half-breed,
a
half vampire and half werewolf.
‘Lakyle
e
,
’ her name
came to me
easily.

I felt pity
towards her because I’d known
a
similar
feeling
once
before
. She was alone
, one of a kind
,
and
I could
completely relate, knowing
exactly
how she felt.
I was the
only reminder
my family
ever
exi
sted,
left
to carry on
alone
.
Sometimes life was cruel.

Ja
yce ignored my empathy as he
pushed through the conclusion of his vision. He showed me the group
quickly
approaching towards…
t
he vision was lost. I couldn’t see anyth
ing except bla
ck
ness
.
I opened my eyes
only to find
the
beach surrounding us. I
watched
Jayce
wrinkle
up his face
with
concentration. His
eyes
shot open
. “They’re coming,” he said.

Panic rushed
as
I figured they
were coming for me.
The
immortal
fight was going to start tonight.
Would they
kill me
in order to
win th
is
battle?
After all,
I
was the obstacle standing
in their way
,
so it made
perfect sense
to eliminate me
.

“They’ll be here in a matter of minutes.”

I
grabbed onto J
ayce’s sleeve. “We’
re out in the middle of nowhere! No
place
to hide, no
shelter
.” Then I spotted
his car and thought,
they
could
easily
break through the glass.
Maybe
if
we
drove really fast we could outru
n them
?
“
What are we going to do? This is bad,
oh Jayce
… this is real
ly
bad!”
My voice trembled
.
I looked all over for somewhere to hide. I scanned everything high and low
, but there wasn’t
anything
big enough. There was no place to go.
The fairies scattered
in
different directions,
s
parks
flying
everywhere as the
y
searched
,
frantically
trying to help us find some kind of shelter.
T
rying
to
help
keep us safe from what was coming our way.

With all
the
chaos happening
around us,
another
vision
managed to flash
its way into my mind. I tried
blinking it
away
,
clearly
now wasn’t the
time to watch
.
I
needed
to find
somewhere to hide.
However, t
he harder I resist
ed
, the more forceful
it
became and
I was left with no choice
as I
stood
still
watch
ing
it
unfold.

I saw a figure
of a man
drop to the ground
and
concentrate
d
harder to see
him
more
clearly. I
saw
him
lying
motionless
, b
lood
pouring
from
a wound
,
just out of sight.
I knew he was dying because
of how rapidly
the
pool of blood grew
. I
looked
closer
at the man only to find out
that
the figure
was
Jayce
.
I gasped in horror, but not before
I
saw myself
.
I didn’t appear to be
as
hurt, however
I also lay dying on the ground.

Jayce
shook
me out of the vision
. “You weren’t supposed to see that
,
Shanntal. That’s not our future.
It
can always
change. It
takes a single
moment
, one different action;
please understand,
j
ust one different choice is all it takes.”

“Is that what’s happen
ing
now?”

“No,
please
believe me
. What you saw will never happen, EVER!”

I didn’t have time to argue.
Jayce
grabb
ed my arm and
dragged
me down the beach in the direction of the waterfalls and
caves
.
We reached the oppos
ite end of the beach and
Jayce
ducked
into the
first
cave we approached.
He popped back out, due to the fact
that
it was too small. We tried another,
Jayce went in first and
I quickly disappeared inside
after him.
It
smelt
musky
and
I couldn’t really see because it was too dark. I waited
, blinking
a number of times
hoping my eyes would adjust
,
but it wasn’t
any use.
I fumbled my way around in the darkness. Everything I touched felt either cold, wet or slimy.