Coven of Blood

Chapter 7

I tugged at the black-out curtains, allowing the sunlight to stream into the bedroom. 

I had no idea where Ash and Sophia had gone. He hadn't come to find me last night, even though he'd said he wouldn't leave me alone. 

I'd been grateful for the time to recuperate. 

I'd formed myself an escape plan. 

It was a known fact that vampires couldn't walk in the sun. During the daylight hours was my time to escape. 

I padded down the darkened hallway and down the wooden staircase, ripping the blackout blinds off the windows as I went. God knows where Ash was sleeping, some coffin in a dungeon I supposed, but he wouldn't be able to chase me if the sunlight was pouring in. 

I reached the last step, feeling optimistic for the first time. This had been much easier than I had thought it would be. 

The front door was unlocked, almost inviting me to leave through it. 

I smiled, swinging the door open and breathing in the fresh air of the morning. 

The sun was high in the sky, the noise of chatter and laughter floating from the nearby market stalls lining the cobbled street outside. 

I took a step out of the door, eager to put as much distance between myself and this house of nightmares. 

"Morning." 

I jump, startled. 

A male strides up the front garden, a brown grocery bag clutched in his large hands. His dark hair has been left in unruly curls, tickling his forehead, the sunglasses he wears dark-tinted and modern. 

"Sleep well?" He asks, stopping at the bottom of the stairs leading from the front door. 

"What the fuck." I whisper. How was this possible? 

"I've got some breakfast stuff, I didn't know what you liked so I got the basics. Bacon, eggs, sausage." 

"How are you out here?" I ask, "How are you in the sun?"

Ash reaches up to remove his glasses on a smug smile. "That coven of yours really didn't teach you much, did they?" 

My previous feeling of optimism disintegrated into total and utter despair. 

"Come on, lets get you fed." 

Ash's long legs eat up the stairs, his body brushing past me as he enters the townhouse. I can do nothing but turn and follow him, my need for answers more extreme than my need to escape. 

Ash is standing in the kitchen when I enter, his hands working to remove the items from the shopping bag and laying them out on the counter top. 

"Explain." I demand, watching as the vampire expertly removes food from their packages and placing them into pans. 

"Which bit, exactly." He says without looking up. 

"How you can go out into daylight." I say. 

He flicks me amused eyes. "Like I said, I'm old and Royal. We aren't like the lesser vampires. I've always been a day walker, but younger vampires like Sophia are chained to the shadows. Can you pass me the oil, please?"

He nods towards the bottle of oil resting beside me. 

I pick it up, "So, what else can Royal vampires do?"

"All will be revealed in time." He says, taking the bottle from my hand and drizzling it over the pan. 

I narrow my eyes in his direction. I was certain my coven didn't know this about the vampires, this information was useful. I decided then that I would attempt to glean as much useful information about these powerful vampires as I could, it could help the Hunters defeat them.