Shady Secrets

Hide and Seek

"Cause baby now we got bad blood,
you know it used to be mad love,
So take a look at what you've done,
cause baby now we got bad blood!"
- Taylor Swift (Bad Blood)

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When I woke the next morning, I was still at Hotel Tenebris. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and heard a knock on the door. I yelled out,

"Just a minute!" I quickly got up, put on some black jeggings, trainers, a low-neck black shirt with sequins and did my hair. Might as well get ready for the day ahead huh... I opened the door to see the familiar crystal eyes and black hair from the night before.

"Wanna go get breakfast?" He smiled and it made my heart melt.

"Sure."

My room was on the third out of five storeys at the hotel and I had a nice view of bushland and forests out the back window. There was no balcony, but the ledge was wide enough that James and I had sat on it looking up at the stars. Last night I'll never forget. We had a race running down the stairs, but he cheated and slid down the railing. The spiral staircase had me yearning to try it, but the last time I had copied a boy doing that, it ended badly. Instead, I started to jog down the steep steps. Again, words filled my head, but this time, I had no clue as to what they meant. Duc me ad fugam. I whispered them out loud, making sure James didn't hear me. I continued jogging down the stairs, so fast, that I felt like I was flying.

And just like in the fairytales, I was flying! James' expression held no surprise, but looked slightly impressed.

"Shut your eyes." He said, his voice echoing off the walls. I shut my eyes, and felt my feet touch the ground. I stumbled slightly, but he caught me. I smiled and kept my eyes shut. I felt him grab for my wrist, and hold it gently.

"Open them." The first thing I saw was James' smiling face. When I looked down at my wrist, I saw a bracelet of silver leaves wound together to form the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"Oh my goodness James!" I leapt into his arms and hugged him, but realising how awkward it became allowed me to let go. "Sorry," I muttered. He held my chin up to the light, then suddenly turned and started walking. I followed him until we reached a door.

"The others told me to get you, so they've already left. We are meeting them at the entrance to the woods." When he opened the door, and I saw what was waiting. The sun shone brightly in the sky, and James was watching me intently as we walked. "Is your skin burning? Tingling? Anything?" I shook my head.

"No, why?"

"Amazing..." he muttered something under his breath and we kept walking.

"Sorry, but what's amazing?" He smiled and faced me as we walked.

"In many places I have heard of your powers; but to be immune to forced changes is truly impressive." I was confused.

"Forced changes?" I questioned further, and for the first time ever, someone gave me answers to my questions.

"Forced changes is when lets say, you get turned into a vampire against your will. If you do not wish to be turned into a vampire, you won't, no matter how many times you are bitten. That goes for werewolves as well."

"So, I'm not a vampire? But how do I still have all of the enhanced powers a vampire has?" His face lit up.

"I heard that you killed someone only a few days ago. Am I right?"

I didn't want to answer, but my heart told me to continue. "Yes, I did. Accidentally. I told lightning to strike him-"

"Lightning and power stealing; Miss Sage, you are quite the full package," I stopped walking and glared at him.