Chapter 12

The Turning

Curse

>a href="mailto:heero_forever@hotmail.com">Lyndaura

An hour later, Tarren and I were standing on a stage in the middle of an abandoned parking lot. There were thousands of vampires all around us. Cars were parking as far as the eye could see, and they were still piling in. Jeez, it looked like the lineup at the unemployment office. Tarren was cool, calm and collected. Occasionally one of his followers would come and ask him a stupid question, and he would answer it quickly. He was truly a great leader. But then again, he would have to be to lead a rebellion against Daemon this big.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I told Tarren as soon as his men left.

"Just relax, you just have to perform a marriage ritual with me, and that's it," Tarren smiled, "I'll do the rest."

"Again, that doesn't tell me what I'm supposed to do," I was starting to feel uneasy, but as soon as the feeling started, it went away.

"Relax, everything will be fine. After tonight, you will be the most powerful woman on Earth," Tarren smiled and kissed my hand.

"I already am the most powerful woman on Earth," I answered back.

"I know, but I am going to help you control that power and harness it for its true purpose. To free the vampires from the bondage of darkness."

All my old doubts were coming back into my mind. I didn't know if I wanted to do this. Was there another way? No, of course not. Tarren had made sure of that. I was too young and inexperienced to be able to fight off Tarren. He had been preparing this for centuries. He wasn't about to let me screw it up. He was playing on my devotion to humans, and I knew it. Strange, in order to save humans, I had to hurt them and put them into slavery.

Another one of Tarren's servants approached him and whispered something into his ear.

"Put the witches on it, I don't him coming within the boundaries of the parking lot. As for Daemon, let him come. I want him to see this."

"Daemon's here?" I don't know why I cared so much. I had already betrayed him. I knew what I had to do, there was no way out. I felt like crying. I know, I was such a baby. You could have strapped a bib and diaper on me right there and then. But at the time, I felt so helpless to everything that was going on, I felt like crying was the only thing that I could do.

"Don't worry my precious child," Tarren wrapped his arms around me, "he won't hurt you. You're safe with me."

"I'm not scared," I started to say, but then I thought about it. Why else would Daemon be here, but to kill me? He wanted to kill me, the chosen child, to stop the ritual so that he could still be the Master Vampire.

I started to tremble like the idiot that I was. Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop...

"Come, let's do this, and show Daemon that he can't oppress our people any longer," Tarren smiled at me.

"I'm ready when you are," I said, wiping away the tears. Yay! Let's get ready to destroy the world! And darn it, not even a bottle of vodka to celebrate. Enslaving the Earth is always so much more fun when you're drunk.

"Vampires, my people, for many centuries, we have been united by blood and belief. The belief that we should no longer be captives of the darkness, but we should be granted the freedom that every other thing on this planet is granted, the gift of sunlight. Now, our longtime hunger will be satisfied, as we unite once again, this time in power. Behold before you the Chosen Child! With her power, and my guidance as your Master Vampire, we shall emerge from the shadows and claim our birthright, what is rightfully ours. The day!"

The crowd erupted. It felt good. Like when they were all clapping for me back at Tarren's place. They were supporting me, looking up to me. It was the greatest feeling. I felt so alive. All my life, I had been an outcast, and looked down upon as worthless and an annoyance, a burden. Now, I was the saviour of an entire race.

"As I join together with Ferra, I shall receive her power, and we shall rise above our bondages!" Another cheer came from the audience.

Receive my power? Now something ain't right there...

"Join with me Ferra," Tarren's eyes were alive with lust. Lust for power. It was scary, where was the kind, considerate Tarren that I had seen back at his place? The one that cared for me. Was I just a source of power for him? How could I be so deceived? "In order to be joined, I must drink of your blood, then you drink of mine."

"But..." that just made things worse. I mean, there had to be another way, because I sure as hell didn't want to drink his blood.

Tarren drew closer to me, I pulled away. I was scared now, and I actually had something to be scared about. As I backed away, I bumped into someone, and I turned around. I swear I nearly pissed my pants right there.

Daemon can be a very intimidating sight when you aren't prepared.

Daemon glared at me like no one has ever glared at me before. And trust me, I have been glared at many times, by many different people. Usually people with decades of experience. But this, this was a good quality glare.

Of course, his eyes, so intense, staring me down, burning a hole through me made me back up, and bump into Tarren.

Luckily, Daemon stopped glaring at me, and started to glare at Tarren. Nice brotherly love right there. I then slipped to the back of the stage, and let Daemon and Tarren duke it out. The air was charged with the energy they brought. Now, if only I had popcorn...

"Oh shit," I whispered to myself. I heard my comment echoed by a couple of the security guards standing near me.

The audience was yelling and screaming in anticipation. I had never felt such intensity from the audience.

"Kill me Daemon and the humans get poisoned," Tarren smiled, holding up a vial of the infamous virus.

"I'm not planning on killing you," Daemon growled, "but why don't you let Ferra make her own decision instead of controlling her mind? You sick bastard, how could you make her kill her own people like that? You aren't fit to be the Master Vampire."

Hello, this is news to me. Let's rewind her. Instant replay.

"I'm not planning on killing you," Daemon growled, "but why don't you let Ferra make her own decision instead of controlling her mind? You sick bastard, how could you make her kill her own people like that? You aren't fit to be the Master Vampire."

Oh, now it makes sense. Okay, let's continue...

"Her people? She is a vampire, she belongs to us now. The humans hunt and kill us. She cannot be a friend to her enemy. Why would she help a race that hates her? Face her with any human, and they would kill her without thinking twice. I am saving her, protecting her."

"Stop your bullshit Tarren," Daemon shot back, and took a swing at Tarren.

Ouch. It looked like it hurt a lot.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt this family reunion, but I can't help but overhear that you were using mind control on me Tarren. I was just wondering, when were you planning on telling me that, before or after the mass slaughter of humans, hmm?" I was a little ticked. Really, thinking back, I should have backed off and let Daemon handle it, he was much better suited for the job than I.

I could feel Tarren trying to use his power on me again. This time though, I was prepared, and I was able to shield myself from his mind control games.

"You still haven't answered," I yelled at him, throwing a ball of energy at him.

He easily dodged it of course, which kinda took away from the effect of me being angry at him. Actually, it hit one of the vampires in the front row, and blew off his head. Oops.

I was a little too angry to care at that point though.

"Calm down Ferra," Daemon warned me.

"Calm down? Calm down? Now there's a funny one Daemon! I just nearly married a psycho so he could take over the world, and he still holds the wild card of the virus, so how am I supposed to act? Huh? Like you weren't about to kill him three seconds ago," I know, I shouldn't have been angry at Daemon, after all, he was kinda saving my ass and all. But hey, I was kinda freaking out, and a little bitching can't be helped.

"Ferra, you have to keep control of yourself and your energy," Daemon approached me, but I didn't want any vampires near me. I just wanted to get away from everything.

"Ferra, love," Tarren looked at me with puppy eyes, "I meant everything that I said, I meant that I wouldn't hurt all the humans, I meant that you would help me rule, I mean it when I said that I love you. All I did was make the decision easier for you. After all, isn't that what you wanted? To be absolved from responsibility? You didn't want to make the decision so I made it for you. You practically begged me to do it. I only did it because I care."

Tears streamed down my eyes. It was true, all I wanted was to not be apart of this. I didn't want to be responsible for what happened to the world. You couldn't place the fate of the world in a teenager's hands. It wasn't right.

Nothing felt real, this was all just a bad dream.

I collapsed to the ground, bawling my eyes out. Tarren was beside me in moments, trying to console me. The audience didn't know what to do. They had no idea what was happening. I guess I didn't fit their image of the Chosen Child. I wasn't some big strong saviour coming to the world, I was just a silly little girl, who by some freak accident got entrusted with a lot more power than she could handle.

Tarren rocked me back and forth softly. "I know you are in pain, I know that you are suffering," Tarren whispered softly. He wasn't using mind control, he was just talking to me from the heart, "say the word, and I will end all of this, I will make you happy again. I will take away all the bad things, and make your world perfect. Whatever you want, I will give you. Just say the word..." he urged me. I felt something wet streak my cheek. It was a tear. He was crying. For me.

I didn't know what to do. He was offering the only thing in the world that I wanted. I would give everything I had for that. I just wanted this to be over. The only problem was that I wasn't just giving everything I had, I was also giving what everyone else had.

"I don't know," I hated everything but yet I couldn't force myself to destroy it. It wasn't fair for everyone else.

"Get away from her Tarren," Daemon demanded, but Tarren kept holding me. I felt so safe with him, and that wasn't his powers doing it. It was just him.

"Put down your shield, let me in, and then you don't have to worry about making the decision, you don't have to worry about the consequences. Just relax, give in and everything will be better for you, everything will be fine and perfect. You will never feel anymore pain or suffering, not even guilt. Just let go..."

You have to admit, it was a very sweet deal. All I had to do was consent to let him enslave humans. Hmm...

I knew what the crowd wanted me to do, I knew what Tarren wanted me to do, I knew what the humans wanted me to do, and I knew what Daemon wanted me to do.

I looked up past my knees, and I looked past the crowds, out into the endless horizon. It was still a couple more hours till daylight. I knew what the prophecies said. I thought about it. The prophecies said that I was going to do it, free my people... I didn't exactly have a choice.

Then in the distance, just on the outskirts of the parking lot, I saw someone. I didn't so much see them as feel them. It was Riever.

"Riever," I whispered. I couldn't. It didn't matter what happened, I couldn't hurt Riever, I couldn't hurt Kara. I couldn't do it. It didn't matter what I wanted, I couldn't do it, it wasn't in me to do it.

I guess Tarren felt me slipping away from him, and he bit me! I couldn't believe it. He was holding me, and comforting me, I trusted him, and he goes and does a silly thing like that. He didn't care about me, all he cared about was my power. Mother fucking vampire. How could I be so stupid, again? Even after Daemon had told me that Tarren had been using mind control techniques on me.

It hurt so bad. His teeth were digging into my skin. The blood streamed down my dress. Everything hurt so bad. The night sky seemed to cave in on me, my eyes were going blurry.

"Ferra," Daemon rushed to my side, and I guess he must have shoved Tarren off because the next thing I knew, I was in Daemon's arms. Of course, that wasn't the wisest thing, because the crowd had decided that they really wanted to see the sun again, and so they stormed Daemon.

I tried to collect some energy, but I felt sick and tired. Everything was spinning and I was really dizzy. I lifted up my hand and with everything that I had left I made a careless sweeping motion, and pushed the crowd back. But just as some of them fell, the others behind them trampled them and rushed in towards Daemon and I.

"Stop!" I screamed. I had nothing left in me, so I must have borrowed some energy from Daemon. The crowd had no choice but to obey.

"Now please, Daemon," I gasped, trying to regain some energy, "Put me down."

Daemon softly laid me on the ground. It was so hard to move. Everything felt like lead.

The next thing I knew, Tarren was beside me, a knife drawn. Was he going to try to kill me? If I died, could he take my energy then? The possibility scared me shitless. If only the rest of the world knew what was going on. Imagine how they would feel. Imagine how Veronica would feel. I guess she would stop caring about her nails... or maybe not. I could just picture her doing her nails, because she didn't want them to be chipped when she died. Party hard, die young, leave a good looking body.

Too bad I looked like shit.

Tarren held the dagger up, and then sliced his hand open with a small flinch. Why the hell would he do that? Then it hit me. In order to finish the ceremony, I had to drink his blood. He was going to force feed me his blood.

Apparently Daemon also knew what was going to happen. I guess he took it upon himself to try to stop it. Not that I was complaining.

Daemon raised his hand and brought the stage from beneath Tarren exploding upwards. Tarren was tossed into the air, and then he came falling back into the crowd.

"Get out of here, I'll take care of Tarren," Daemon ordered me.

I don't know what snapped inside of me. I guess I knew that if I left, Daemon would die. And even though he was dying for a good cause, and he was very noble in doing so, I couldn't let him do this. This was my fight too. I just couldn't back out of it. Even though I really, really, REALLY wanted to.

I stood up, and waited for the right moment. I knew that I couldn't kill Tarren just yet, because if I did, the virus would be released, and all the humans would die anyway. I had to get rid of that threat.

"Daemon," I yelled, but he wasn't paying any attention to me.

I staggered toward him, blood still pouring all over me. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Don't you hate it when a vampire drains you of all your energy, but you know that if you give up he'll marry you and destroy the world? I hate it when that happens. Tends to ruin the day, or uh... night.

The crowd had backed away from the two fighting brothers. I had no idea what there were doing, but it looked intense and dangerous, so I stayed back a little. I tried desperately to remember what Tarren had said about the virus. He said that if he men didn't hear from him in 24 hours, that they would release the virus. Now, I just had to figure out where his men where. Great. All I had to do was read his mind.

This was going to be interesting.

"Daemon!" I shouted again, starting to gain more energy.

"What?" he shouted, but he didn't look at me, he was concentrating really hard on Tarren, and I guess distracting him would be a bad thing.

"Can you read his mind?" I asked.

"No," he answered back angrily. I tried not to take it personally. After all, I wasn't the only one who wasn't feeling peachy keen.

"I don't know how I am going to do this," I spoke to myself. I closed my eyes. I had to think. I needed to get closer to him. He could have already put up a barrier because I said something about it. Great one Ferra, you might as well just hand over the world right now. Yep, just tie a nice ribbon on it too. A little present from your future wife to you, Tarren.

I didn't know what I was doing, I just closed my eyes and tried to think of how I could get close to him without him realizing it. I could go invisible, but he would still be able to feel me. I could try to knock him out, but he had energy shields all around him, so I couldn't touch him.

Then I thought of it.

Of course, he can't put energy shields up against time. I could just stop time, get close to him, explore in his head a little, and then get the information that I needed. Afterwards, all I would need to do was contact his men through telepathy, make my mind's voice sound like Tarren's, and then they wouldn't release the virus. I could even tell them to destroy it. Come to think of it, I didn't even need to inform the men. If Tarren knew where the vials with the virus were hidden, all I needed to do was find that out, and I could probably destroy them. I could even do it with time frozen. It was perfect.

I needed more energy to freeze time though. I didn't have enough strength. I needed blood. Human blood. I looked out. Riever was watching from far away. He would hate me, but I needed to do it. I wouldn't kill him, I just needed a little...

I took a deep breath. I couldn't go that far away, time was growing short, and I knew I couldn't get close to the witches. I began to walk off the stage. Tarren noticed what I was doing, and so did Daemon, but Daemon kept Tarren busy enough so that I could get away. The crowd parted to let me through. It took a lot of energy to stop them from touching me. It physically hurt to use that energy, but I was so close. Just another hundred feet and...

I needed to stop and take a breath. Luckily the crowd had a lot of energy that I was able to use, but I couldn't use enough of it fast enough, they were beginning to close in on me. I need to get out and soon, I wouldn't be able to hold them off for long.

I decided that I was going to sprint for it. But even then, as soon as I got to Riever, they would still get me. I wasn't afraid of them killing me, but I knew that if they got me, they would hold me down, so Tarren could force feed me his blood. Mmm... talk about a wholesome midnight snack.

Riever tried to get to me, but the witches were stopping him from coming onto the parking lot property, just as Tarren had commanded. I practically crawled to the edge of the property. The crowd was so close, but they couldn't touch me.

It was the hardest thing I had ever done. I had no energy, every movement was pained and forced out of me, I felt like dying every second of the way. But there was nothing that was going to stop me, I mean, this was for the world, I couldn't exactly be selfish at this point, though it was all so tempting.

"Just give me your hand," Riever begged. I tried to stand, but I ended up falling over, but my hand reached just past the boundary, and Riever was able to grab it and pull me away from the crowd, just as they caved in on me. Riever held up a gun, and threatened anyone who came over the cement line onto the grass. Of course, if they had all charged, we wouldn't have been able to hold them off, but as soon as Riever held a gun to my head, they all stepped back. I was their saviour, and as much as they hated me, they knew that I was no use to them dead. At least I hoped I wasn't.

"Just pull the trigger," I asked Riever in a moment of weakness.

I looked up to him, and he closed his eyes, I knew that he wanted to. I could feel the hate coming off of him, and it was sickening to my stomach. He didn't need me alive, but he also knew that he couldn't kill me. He had to deal with the consequences.

"You know I can't," Riever ground his teeth. Here was the funny man, the first guy that I had seen when I woke up after getting bitten. I was half in love with him, and I knew that if given a chance, I could fall head over heels in love. But I had ruined that. There was no way that we could ever forge a relationship now. I didn't even know if I could be friends with him, let alone lovers.

"I need blood," I said after a moment of silence. I came over to get his blood so that I could save the world, and my broken heart would have to wait. Riever seemed mortified at the idea. He really didn't want to give me his blood. I guess he just wanted to kill me because of all the trouble that I had caused. "If you give me your blood, I can end this, I know how."

That last bit convinced him, and grudgingly, he pulled his shirt down, exposing his neck. His gun was still pressed against my head. He looked really pissed off. I was half scared that he would 'accidentally' press the trigger.

I pressed my teeth gently into his neck, but it didn't break the skin, I had to press harder. I hated every single second of it. I didn't want to do it, but I needed it. Finally, I felt the teeth rip through the skin, and into the vein. Hungrily I sucked the blood. I could feel Riever tense under the pain, but I needed more. I sucked harder and harder. He squeezed my shoulder, trying to tell me to stop, but I needed more. I didn't have enough. Just another two or three seconds, and I would be done. Just a little more.

Riever threw me off of him, but kept the gun pointed at me, "Do your job and fix this mess," Riever ordered me. I sat there, my face covered in blood. It looked like I was a lost puppy, and he had just kicked me, hard.

I licked my lips. I felt the energy coming back to me almost immediately. The more I waited, the more energy I got.

"Hurry!" I heard Riever yell at me. I turned and looked at Tarren and Daemon fighting. Daemon was beginning to lose.

I stood and took a deep breath, I had almost enough energy. Ironically, Riever's hate produced enough energy that I could tap into that too, and I had enough to stop time. I concentrated as hard as I could, and felt the energy leave me, as it began to freeze everything around me.

As soon as it was over, I breathed a sigh of relief. I took another moment to gain some energy. I don't know why I moved so quickly to get into Tarren's head, I mean, I had all the time there was, and more. I guess it was the urgency of everything, and the fact that I wanted everything to be over.

Tarren was hovering over Daemon, about to deliver a strong punch in the stomach. Both of them were already bleeding badly. Everyone around them were frozen in looks of anger and rage as they cheered Tarren on. It was hard being the underdog. Being the ones that were right, but not in favour. But then again, no one ever said saving the world was going to be easy. I guess that's why Guardians were chosen, not applied for. No one would do the job otherwise.

My power was a curse. I knew it now. No good could come of it. I didn't know why it even existed.

I touched Tarren's head softly. I closed my eyes and then I felt my hand go into his head. Not my physical hand, but the spirit, energy part of it. When I opened my eyes, I was inside him. I was inside his mind.

Words can't describe what I saw, what I felt. It was dark, and consuming. It was hard to separate myself from him. The anger and hate just slithered onto you. Even though he was frozen in time, I could still feel him creeping into me. It was suffocating. I thought I was going to die. I tried to stop it from coming into me, but I kinda knew that I needed to search for the information, and I couldn't do that if I didn't let some of him pass through me.

I don't know how else to explain it. But I needed to start to become him to find out who had the virus and where.

It was sickening, to feel someone rip through your soul and eat it, devour it, make it theirs. I was shaking, it felt like he was raping me, invading me, swallowing me. I tried to breath, but I couldn't. The ground beneath me was moving and I was sinking down into it like quicksand, but it was a dark oily sludge that I couldn't get away from. I just sank lower and lower, till I was completely submerged in it. I couldn't breath... it was choking me. My chest ached and burned as it begged for air.

Finally, I had no choice, it was either breathe or pass out, and I didn't want to pass out in Tarren's mind, or I would lose myself, and then everything would stay frozen forever. For a moment, it was tempting, I mean, then I wouldn't have to deal with anything. But I knew that if I had come this far, I needed to go through with it, I couldn't be so close and then give up. I owed it to myself, and to the world.

I took in a deep breath of sludge. It hurt, and my lungs still screamed out, but I could start to feel Tarren, what he was thinking, feeling... I could feel what it was like to be in his shoes. It was a horrible feeling. Suddenly I felt lucky. What I was feeling was nothing compared to the pain and frustration he felt. The ages of darkness, the hopelessness, his one chance spoiled. I felt so sorry for him.

I wanted to give in, I wanted to free him from his pain, but I knew that I couldn't do that. It wasn't an option anymore.

Finally I found what I was looking for, and then as quickly as I could, I pulled out of his mind. I couldn't stand to be in there any longer.

And I was out.

I fell to the ground panting. The fresh air felt so good, my forehead was covering in sweat, and I was drenched in blood, but the air seemed to cleanse me of all the yuckiness of Tarren (okay, I know yuckiness isn't a word, but deal with it).

I knew where the virus was. There were only three remote places. I concentrated as hard as I could and found them. It took a couple minutes, but in my mind I could see them. I smiled. All at once, I set them on fire. It took a lot of energy to do it over such a large distance, but it was worth it. It was over. All I needed now was to kill Tarren.

I guess being inside his head made it easier for me. To me, it was like freeing him from his hate and anger. It was putting him out of his misery, like the animal that he was.

I took another moment to recollect myself and then I was about to unfreeze time, when I decided I would do Daemon a favour, and move him over a little, so the punch wouldn't hit him. It was the least that I could do.

Then finally, I unfroze time.

Tarren broke the concrete with his hand. Daemon was lucky that I moved him. Both of them stopped and looked at me. It took only a second for me to materialize a gun in my hand. I had gone through a lot in the last few days, I couldn't believe it was all coming down to this. A single tear escaped my eye as I pulled the trigger. A single bullet ripped through his head and killed him.

The crowd was silent. It all happened so fast, no one had any idea of what happened.

Everyone just stood there, starring at the dead body. So many years, so much work, effort and hope, all gone in a heart beat. The first to flee the scene were the witches. I never really liked them. Then again, that might have been the whole scary writing on the mirror thing, and the helping to kidnap me... and all that other ugliness.

Daemon looked at me. I couldn't imagine what he was feeling. Sure, he had just won, but I had betrayed him, his brother was dead, and in the end, no one was better off.

"I hate this power," I looked at Daemon. I guess I was scared that he would be mad at me, I didn't want him to be mad at me. I wanted him to comfort me. It was a selfish thing to do, but I just wanted him to feel sorry for me.

"I know," Daemon got up, "Are you okay?"

"No," I sniffed childishly, "What about you? Any broken bones?"

"I'll be fine. I'll have Cirelle check me out later. Where are you hurt?" Daemon was being so mechanical and unemotional. It was driving me crazy. I was hurting emotionally, and I needed someone to understand me and to comfort me, not check to see if I bruised my ass.

"Why me?" my voice cracked. Some of the vampires were beginning to leave, but some stayed to watch the drama.

"What are you talking about?" Daemon looked at me coldly.

"Why did I have to be cursed with this power. I mean, I was used by Tarren. He didn't give a fuck about me, he only cared about himself. I was just a source of power for him, just a toy so that he could get his way. I thought he cared! I mean, that's all I want. I want someone to care for me, but I won't have that now, because I am no longer Ferra, I am the Chosen Child, holder of great power. Come and try to use me! I mean, how am I ever supposed to figure out if someone actually loves me, or if they are just in it so that they can use me? Its not fair!" I yelled, and I cried, and I kicked, and I swore, and I threw an all out temper tantrum. And it felt good.

Daemon just stared at me. I mean, I didn't even think that he knew what I was talking about. He had to know what I was talking about though. Didn't anyone ever try to be his friend just to try to use his influence as the Master Vampire? Then again, he wasn't that big with the vampires.

I just stood there swearing, feeling sorry for myself and starring at Tarren slowly bleeding. A few vampires had gotten some sheets together from odd places and were wrapping him up. He would be burned at sunrise.

"I don't want this power. I don't have any control over it, and if this proves anything, its that I am not responsible with it," I shook my head, and he finally hugged him. I felt so safe in his arms. Sure he's this big ogre/gargoyle, and he PMSes, but he was safe, and warm, and I wouldn't trust my life in any other hands.

"What are you asking of me?" Daemon drew back and looked into my eyes.

"Take it away from me. I don't want it."

"Do you know what you're asking?" Daemon didn't seem convinced that I was serious.

"I'll do whatever it takes, I don't want the power," I began to cry again.

Daemon paused for a moment, "So you want to bond?" translation, 'you wanna get hitched vampire style'?

"Would it take away the power?" I asked, I couldn't believe I was actually considering this.

"It means that I would have access to the power along with you. I would be willing to take responsibility for the power. It would remain in you, but I would take over your roles as the Chosen Child."

"Do it," I ordered him, and more tears came forth. Daemon seemed hesitant. I didn't blame him. It wasn't the ideal marriage. I mean, we could barely stand each other, but we had to do it, for political reasons of course.

So we did it. He bit my neck, it hurt like hell. I bit his neck, probably hurt like hell. And then that was it. It didn't feel any different for me, but apparently it did for him.

I never thought it would turn out like this. I never thought that I would be married to a Master Vampire, or become the Chosen Child, or have to save the vampires, or anything. A lot can happen in less than a week. I never knew just how fragile life was until it was torn apart. Those were the dark days of my life.

~End Chapter 12 - Curse~

Author's Tidbits: Well, I know, its almost over, just one more chapter and the epilogue. Hopefully I will finish those faster than I finished this chapter. Heehee... I know, it isn't funny... but soon, I promise!