The Definer

Chapter 9

Dean showed me all the way through the fey streets to a beautiful front yard. Garden beds lay on either side of the stone path leading up to a beautiful red door. The door had a small bat carved into the middle of it.
"What does that mean?" I asked curiously.
"It is a sign of what I am. The faeries have a set of wings, the petalfolk have a flower, the garden folk have a clover, the Ma-" he explained.
"Ok, ok. You lost me at faeries." He let out a slight chuckle. "Can you actually turn into a bat?" I asked.
He looked deep in thought for a moment before answering.
"No, personally, I cannot. I have heard tales though, of very few vampires that have been powerful enough to shapeshift and a bat was a common choice. I'm not sure if I believe it though. Apparently only about three in history have actually been able to do it."
I looked at him with a questioning look but he didn't take much notice of it.
"Should I show you inside or should we just stand here like statues, looking at the outside." He said as he began pulling me toward the door.

Inside of his little cottage, house thing, was quite small. It only had four rooms by the look of it but each room was about half the size of my bedroom. As you walked in the door, the kitchen came first with just the normal things you would have in a kitchen- a sink, a stove, a fridge, a few cupboards and some empty benches. In the centre was a small table with two chairs. Hanging in mid air near the roof were a bunch of lit candles, that gave light to the whole room.
"I got the idea off Harry Potter." He said proudly.
I'd never seen Parry Hotter or whatever his name is, but I had heard Em talk about the Wizards and witches from the movie.
Dean led me into a small lounge room that had soft carpet covering the floor and recliner lounges along one wall. Directly across from them was a floating white board that went from just above the floor, to just below the ceiling.
"I'll show you how it works." Dean said, pulling my back into his chest with one arm and holding me from behind. He waved his other arm upwards and a picture appeared on the board. It was of us, laughing and talking in the tree. I let out a joyful giggle.
"How did you do that?" I asked.
"Memories. I had Ariana set it up so that I can control it with a thought and a flick of my hand. Lately, I haven't been able to get many things other than of you."
"Why not?" I asked, "Is it broken?"
"No. It's because you are all I can think about." He said smiling.
I flushed to the temples and looked down at my feet. He moved around so he was in front of me. He moved his fingers under my chin, lifting it up until I was eye level with him.
"I love you." He said.
I smiled and kissed him softly. I then put my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him tight against me. He returned the gesture and we just stood there in each other's embrace.

About five minutes later, we heard a knock on the door. Dean kissed my forehead and went to open it. I watched him as he opened the door and greeted whoever was there. I walked up and peeked over his shoulder. A guy was standing there in a black outfit. He had milky coloured hair and large muscles.
"Sorry, I didn't know you had company." The man said.
Dean looked back at me and smiled.
"This is my partner, Joel." Dean said to me.
"Hi." I said shyly and quietly.
"Aleric demands your presence in 5 minutes." Joel stated.
"Ok" Dean replied.
Joel disappeared in an instant and Dean turned to me.
"I guess I have to go. You can just stay here and look at the rest of the house or something. Just make yourself at home, my love." He said kindly to me.
"I want to come." I blurted out quickly. "You know, I could visit Mark or Ariana."
"Ok. But if I'm going to get there on time then you're going to have to get on and not let go." He said excitedly.
He turned around and gestured for me to get on his back. I jumped up onto his back and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. He walked outside and shut his door before darting off. The streets and all the houses and people went by in a blur. The wind blew my hair back behind my shoulders as he ran. His footfalls were so swift and smooth that it felt like we were flying.

It only took seconds before we were standing in front of the palace. I slid off his back and put my hands on my knees, trying to recover from the speed. Dean put his pale hands against the giant door and whispered something under his breath. I couldn't hear what it was but as soon as he opened his eyes and looked up, the doors creaked open. He walked inside and I followed right behind him. As we walked through the common room, servants that were passing us looked at me and instantly dropped down into a deep bow. Dean looked as startled as I was. We walked down the halls like royals as everyone who saw us dropped to the ground. We abruptly turned into a room and in the end were three seats. Two were empty but the one in the middle held a bad tempered Aleric.
"Some of my spies have told me of your lovey dovey acts around town. I don't appreciate it and you both know that she is going to marry a prince. The prophecies say so and they nev-"
"Never change and never lie. I know." Dean interrupted. "But I love her and even if I know she isn't going to be mine forever, I want to cherish the time we do have together."
"Well, I'm ordering you to stay away from her. You never disobey an order." He stated firmly.
I stepped forward in front of Dean.
"Him being here is the only reason I'm here. If he isn't allowed near me... then... then I have no reason to stay!" I warned.
Aleric looked between Dean and I with a defeated look on his face.
"Very well." He said calmly.
"That's it? I can still see her?" Dean asked, completely confused.
"She is The Definer and she gets what she wants. If she wants you to stay... then you stay. Did you not notice the extra respect of the servants around the palace. She is to be treated as the Queen herself." He said
Dean and I looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and shock. That was much easier than we were expecting. We turned and walked out of the room.
"Do you know Mark?" I asked.
"I've heard of him. He's an elite guardian apparently." He replied simply.
"Have you been to his room?" I asked.
"No." He answered.

I led him to Mark's room, discussing my amazement of its beauty as we walked. We walked through his door and as soon as he laid eyes on the room, his face covered over with pure astonishment. I led him over to the table in the centre of the room, under the chandelier. We sat down and looked over the table spread.
"This room is amazing. I can't believe I haven't been in here. Are you sure he won't mind?"
"He told me I could come in whenever I wanted so, I guess not." I answered.
Just then, pain struck me from within. It was a cold, dark pain piercing right into my soul. I clenched my eyes shut and grasped my chest.
"Jess!" He yelled, coming to my side. "Are you alright? What's happening? I'm not doing it this time!"
I didn't have time to think about what he was saying before I was pulled into a vision.

We were sitting at the same table in the same room. Dean was by my side with a worried look on his face. We heard a loud clash and the chandelier came down on top of us. I jumped out of the way but I could see Dean under the rubble with a large piece of glass impaled in his back. A fallen candle had lit his leg on fire and it was spreading up his body. Knowing that he was already gone and there was nothing I could do, I looked up at the ceiling, tears pouring down my face. Raining from the ceiling, were hundreds of small, ugly creatures. They were about half the size of Dean but they now littered the floor. They ran out the door towards the common room. As one ran past me, it readied its sword and stabbed it straight through my chest.

I returned back to present time.
"We have to go!" I shouted at Dean.
At first he looked taken aback at my shout but then quickly recovered.
"Wha-"
I jumped out of the chair and grabbed his shirt. I yanked him up and grabbed his hand and ran away from the table. Milliseconds later, I heard the loud clash and the shattering of glass on the tiled floor. Dean glanced back quickly and as he turned back around, his face was now as white as a ghost. He pushed forward faster, picking me up and throwing me roughly over his shoulder. I could see them quickly gaining on us. They were faster than Dean? How is that even possible?
"Help!" Dean shouted.
It only took seconds as we were running down the halls for more than two dozen people to be standing in the hall making a shield. I saw Aleric and Emane rush to defend their palace also. Dean ran straight through the crowd of approaching people. He placed me down right in front of Ariana near the door of the palace.
"Please, please, please take care of her. Take her back to the Human Realm and have her house protected or something... Just please promise me that you won't let any harm come to her. I need to help in the halls."
"I will protect her but you must go outside. The people need protecting also. Evacuate them to one of the caves and make sure that you have elites guarding it and witches or wizards place protecting spells, hiding spells or whatever they can on them!" She shouted over the noise that surrounded us.
He looked at me for a moment and then back to her.
"Don't worry son. I'll protect her." She promised.
With that, Dean quickly gave me a kiss on the forehead and took off before I could say anything.
"Grab hold of my arm." Ariana said.
I obeyed and found myself spinning and tumbling at a hundred miles per hour through time and space.

We came out in the meadows. The sky was dark. Before we could move any further, we were surrounded by the same horrid creatures. There was just one in the front that was different. It looked like a mix up of about ten different animals or people.
"Pyrotoser." Ariana disgustedly whispered under her breath.
The creatures closed in on us from all sides. Ariana quickly outstretched her arms in front of her, yelling a word from another language as she did so. It knocked a couple of them off their feet, sending them flying in different directions. The other hundred or so that remained standing just chuckled at her. They then all charged at us at once. Ariana quickly held up a shield but the impact of their bodies against it almost cracked it instantly.
"When I say so, you have to run as fast as you can. You will only have seconds to get away and you mustn't stop running until you are inside. Ok." I nodded at her. "One... Two... Three!"
There was a small explosion and a few of them flew off of us. I ran and ran, my legs pumping underneath me. I had barely gotten five metres before a creature tackled me, sending me into darkness.