Omen of War

Chapter 2

Alex Santiago (P.O.V)

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I shot out of bed and looked around frantically for my sword or Lily's. Quickly finding mine, I pulled it from its sheath and looked around. The dark outline of the room had made me nervous already, but we had the light from the hall to brighten up the room at the very least when we entered the room. Right now, we didn't have any light.

Looking towards the door, I could see the faint outline of someone looking in. The sound of someone banging on the door again resonated throughout the stone room. My heart was thundering in my chest as guesses as to who it could be, ran through my mind.

Maybe it's April? No. She'd probably just walk in with little care. One of the Griffins? I doubt they'd be up so late. It couldn't be Lily. She was still asleep in bed. She looked so cute sleeping there with my shirt on.

Focus! Who could be at the door? Maybe Luke? Or could it be a vampire? Could they have found us and managed to slip through the Griffins' defenses? Impossible. I don't smell blood or death which is normally associated with vampires.

I finally decided to open the door. I held my sword firmly in my right hand, reaching for the door and taking a deep shaky breath. I paused as the memory of how I had died years ago flooded my thoughts. My sword clattered to the ground, and I took deep shaky breaths as I backed away from the door. I sat down by the bed; a hand placed against my neck as I took shaky breaths.

I heard her move before I felt her arms around me. Her voice came out as a hum as she hummed the song April always used to sing to us after Kate had gone missing. That happened to be the scariest time for me. Losing my sister terrified me and if April hadn't been there with Lily to comfort me, I don't know what I would have done. I still missed my mother and father but staying away from my old home was the better choice.

"Do you feel better?" Lily whispered as she rested her head against my neck.

"Much better. Thank you, Lily." I whispered back as I leaned my head against her shoulder.

I looked back towards the door as the person on the other side continued to bang on the door. Lily moved out of the bed and held onto my hand, looking at me with a warm smile. I held onto her hand and brought it up to my face. I kissed her hand before taking a deep breath and standing.

Invigorated by Lily's attempts to comfort me and the desire to protect her, I picked my sword up, holding it firmly in my hand. I unlocked the door and opened it with my sword prepared to jab into the person on the other side if they made a move to attack.

"Finally! Is April in there, Alex? I can't find her anywhere." The silhouette spoke with annoyance.

I immediately recognized the silhouette as Luke and lowered my sword. With a sigh of annoyance, I looked at him. His haggard appearance spoke volumes of how frantically he's been searching for April. I understood why he was frantically looking for her. She was captured and brought to the vampires the last time she was here in Culada.

Things were so tense during that time that a war could have easily broken out between the Griffins and Tiger-humans. With April missing back then, Luke was placed in charge, and he wasn't too fond of any Griffins. He still doesn't trust the Griffins from what I can tell and if I didn't know any better, wanted a war with the Griffins.

"Luke, calm down," I grumbled as I placed my sword down against the wall.

"Calm down? Alex, you do remember the vampires got her while she was in this damn mountain last time right?" He yelled at me.

My eyes narrowed as he yelled at me and I was about to yell back at him, but Lily came up from behind me. She held onto my upper arm and leaned against me as she looked at Luke with a gentle smile. With a deep sigh, I crossed my arms, careful not to pin Lily's hands against me.