Escaped the Night (50 page)

“We swe
ar to you here and now, to
protect you with our lives. To
each and every one of us you
are the most important
being in this room because y
ou have the strength to
defeat
Donovan. Y
ou have the ability to wield
power from both sides. With the power of the light and the strength of the dark, Donovan won’t
stand a chance. As long as you’
re able to walk
amongst
both worlds
,
you’
ll
have
powers from both. We’ll do whatever you ask
and
each one of us will
look out for you n
o matter the cost. Consider this, you are our leader and we’
ll follow
wherever you need us to go. This truce is becaus
e of you and none of it w
ould even be possible without you. ”

“Oh J
ayce,” I sputtered. “
I don’
t have powers like that and you can’
t
put anyone at
risk for me.”
I looked out
to the
crowd
for support
,
but found none. They
all
seemed to be
on his side
.
He was building me up too much. I was a wimp. How could I possibly go up against the likes of
Donovan? Most important person —
Ha! More like the person
most
likely to cause trouble.

“
If you really mean
it
and you take d
own the
barriers,
I’d fight for you,
”
a
vampire
announced as I made eye contact
with him
.

“I truly believe
th
is will be
a better way for all of us
,
”
I said.

“I will fight,” s
houted another vampire
,
raising her arms high.

“Same!” replied a unicorn and werewolf at the same time.

Pretty soon the entire room was filled with people
and creatures
announcing how
they
would
fight with me and for me. It w
as overwhelming. Funny
,
just
knowing they were on
my side
made me fee
l
even
stronger. S
uddenly
, I
felt invincible, l
ike nothing and no one could stop me.

“I w
ill fight for all of you
!” I yelled
to the group.
C
heers broke out across the room and
I felt like a queen
who
just found victory.

Our gathering started
breaking up as
dawn
neared
.
The nightwalkers
needed to get back to their shelters and
some needed to feed before returning.
Yawns cam
e from most of the daywalkers because w
e weren’t used to being up all night
.
It was clear
we were starting to lose
steam.

Now that
everyone was
on the same page
,
things
would be easier to
deal
with. Priority number one
:
find Daray. Priority
two
:
destroy Donovan. Their order of arrangement was not set in stone
, but I’d really hoped this would be the order
in which
things
happen
ed. I didn’t want my dream to come
true. I wanted Daray and
Lakylee
to have their chance to be happy together
and
I wanted the
opportunity
to make a
mends with Daray.
I’d gotten the privilege of seeing
both of them differently. I saw sides of them
I nev
er thought possible, but thanks to this
I now considered them bot
h friends. I wanted them to share the same happiness
I’d found with Jayce.

Our final nightwalkers guests said their thanks and good
-
byes while the elements began showing everyone else to rooms
.
Jayce and I
put
A
untie Steph and Uncle Dane in the
guest room beside
his
.

“
I n
ever thought this day would ever come
,
kiddo. You’re trul
y a gift
,
Shanntal
,
and we’
re so happy to be a par
t of
your family. You make us proud,
” Uncle Dane said as he
gave me a hug before
entering the
bedroom.
Auntie Steph
nodded
in agreement
. She
smiled as she leaned in to
hug
me
and we exchanged
our good
nights.

I had a good f
eeling about this. The
tables were
about to change. Things were going to start going my way.
My way was
good
and everyone could live as equals. Prisoners and enemies were from a past time; we were going to be friends
from this point
forward. Equals above all else!

Chapter Twelve

~ Destiny ~

Jayce and I managed to find
a few hours of rest, as did the others in the house. The majority of the daywalk
ers
had
stayed
at the grand home. Some found it an easy adjustment to sleep during the day
,
while other
s
struggled
with it
a bit more.
We decided it’
d be a good thing to
stay in groups as it allowed
people to take sleep breaks without everyone going
to sleep
at once.
It was going to be tough trying to hunt
and track
vamp
ires. In order to fight like
nightwalkers, we were going to have to
act
like them. Staying up all night
would
be our only chance of meeting up with and destroying Donovan.

I had to be extra care
ful too, if what Uncle Dane
told me earlier held any trut
h to it
,
I didn’t want to be wal
king the night too long. No way
was I ever willingly going to live that lifestyle. The thought of scrounging around in the darkness for blood made my
skin crawl and stomach turn
. I’m not sure if that’s exactly how it went for them
,
but
it
was the picture I
imagined and it was
more than enough to ensure
I
never
want
ed
to find out.

Thankfully the day passed by rather quickly. Before long, the sun began to set. This was it. We needed to get a lot done tonight. Finding Daray was at the top of the l
ist. Someone, somewhere, must’
ve seen him. He couldn’t have just disappeared. Could he?
I grew anxious as I waited by the window watching the
warm
sun make her way out of the sky. The oranges, reds,
pinks and purples were
breathtaking as they always were
,
but tonight, I
was looking forward to seeing the stars.

The sky darkened
and Sitara and her love were first out
,
making
their nightly appearance. She was so beautiful the way she sparkled. She was happy and to
tally in love with her partner
,
just
as was he with her.
I
admired
the happy couple when thoughts came into my mind. If Jayc
e really was my soul mate,
why weren’t we up in the stars celebrating our love? Would
we ever get the
chance?

‘One day
,
Shanntal, let’s not rush it. Let
’
s enjoy what we have between us now.
Enjoy the
time
down here
knowing
we will be together forever
,
and one day
,
when destiny decides
,
we will be sent
up
to the stars.’ Jayce moved silently over towards me and wrapped his arms around my mid-section pulli
ng me in tightly
.
H
is fiery hot lips
down
the back of
my neck sent little shocks zapping
everywhere he touched.
I was getting lost in the moment when red eyes caught my attention as they raced by the window. I jumped backwards
,
knocking into Jayce.

“
Something’s
out there
,
” I said
.
“We have guests.” Those freaky
red
eyes had really startled me. I still wasn’t quite used to our new union. I suppose it would take a bit of time, to let the past become the past.

Aiden walked in
to
the room, w
ith a crowd following behind
. There were at least six more new nightwalkers with him.

One of the female vampires stood out to me. She was ferocious looking
,
yet completely seductive. I single
d in on her as the group came
closer.
She moved so graciously, but
the sight of her
made
me
feel
defensive. What was it about her?
All I
really understood was
that
everything in me told me to
pay attention to her.

With her long black hair and gre
en
eyes, she daringly walked right up
,
p
ushi
ng people out of the
way as she moved closer to
me. She wasn’t messing around
or
wai
ting for proper introductions.
Another
internal
warning flag
occurred
and automatically
my defenses
went
up.

Kaleb and Kael moved
closer
. No one
wanted an up-roar in the house, but
o
ur new gue
st had a certain way
that
put
me
on edge.

“So, y
ou’re the one that walks
both worlds. Hmm…
different tha
n I imagined,” s
he huffed
,
as she
eye
d me closely. “You must already know Donovan’
s not goi
ng to be easy to
go up against.” She took a
step forward. “Y
ou don’t look like much
.
”

Kaleb and Kael both moved
forward showing
her I wasn’t alone in this fight.

“T
hose wh
o are at ends with him…
don’t
usually
last too long.”
She moved out of my space, but
continued
eyeing me
.

“
Listen up
,
vampire
!” I said, my
body ramrod straight. “Th
is
immortal world has
been ripped into two
because of Donovan
. Le
t’s get one thing
clear
here.
I’m not going anywhere and I
’m going to rid the world of Donovan in order to let the
se
changes
happen so they can grow into
something great. Everyone
else here
sees and understa
nds what I’m trying to do.”
I paused as s
he quickly gl
anced around, noticing all eyes
focused on us. “
Everyone
here will help
ensure
these
that
changes are made. Don’t you see?
It’s too late to turn back. W
e’ve
already start
ed and there’
s nothing that’s going to stop u
s
!”
I folded my arms across my chest as I stood my ground.

“Oh…
I see it alright.” This time she
moved
so
close, I smel
led
her rancid breath
.
The sight of her fangs didn’t intimidate me
,
so
I never moved
a muscle. S
he surprised
me
by smiling
and letting out
an enchanting giggle
as
she
retreated
. “The fact
that
you have th
e nerve to stand in front of me
and state your case showing no
signs of
fear
, well tha
t’s
IMPRESSIVE!”

“Thank you,
” I replied
,
slightly shocked.

“I will stand by you because I see
that
you’re true to your word. I’ve got a feeling about you
,
Shanntal…
I’ve got a feel
ing!” She pointed her finger towards
me as she made her statement.

When she started backing
off the intensity, it made me fe
el a lot be
tter. I was so involved with our
interaction
,
I’d forgotten
about
everyone
else. T
he
entire room
had
stopped
to
watch the outcome of our introduction.
She
laughed
,
noticing
a few people
letting
out
sighs
of relief.

“Relax everyone.
Everything is just fine. My name is
Sauda, the dark beauty.” She
flipped her long b
l
ack
hair. “I’ve come from afar and
heard about what you’re doing
and well…
it
intrigued me. I had to come to
see if it was everything they
said
it would be
.” She looked back over in my direction. “I
also
wanted
to
see if you were everything they
said
and
I must say, I can see why Donovan
’s
goin
g through so much trouble. You’
re
like no one I’ve
ever crossed paths with before.”

“
Thank you. It’s goo
d to meet you
,
Sauda. I’m glad to
have you on
board.”

We separated and Sauda turned around to chat with the other nightwalkers that came with her.
K
aleb and Kael stayed close
. I looke
d at them
and
gave
them
a quick nod
,
which
thanked
them without
me
having to say
the words aloud. We remained
nearby the new group of nightwalkers
,
which enabled me to overhear
Sauda as
she spoke to the others.

“Daray is going to go crazy
when he hears about all
this,
” Sauda said
.

“Daray
? Y
ou know him?
” I asked impatiently
as I spun her around
. “
Do you know where he is?”
My gut
instinct
was right.
I knew she was important. I
just
knew it!

“
Easy now.” She p
ulled herself out of my reach.
“O
f course, e
veryone knows of Daray. I had the pleasure of
spending
time with
him not too long
ago.
” She smiled. “
He’s been all over the map
,
from coven to coven
,
looking for Donovan. He’s trying to track him down
, but
I know he won’t find him
,
because
Donovan
, well
,
he’s
something else
altogether
.
”

“He just m
ight
find him
,
” I said
,
remembering my dream. I hoped with everything in me that Daray never found Donovan. I didn’t want this one coming true.

“
The
one
thing I find funny
about
this
, he’s
doing it just to try and get Donovan
to leave you alone. I
t’
s such a romantic gesture. He
searched for you for so long and now he’
s going to confront your foe
. I
wish someone like Daray
tracked me down
or s
too
d
up for me
like that
. He’s so striking, powerful
,
and
did I mention good-looking?
”