Reborn

Chapter Eighteen

"You're seriously telling me that you have an ancient book of magic spells that contain incantations for things that I can't quite believe are actually real or possible and yet the hybrid and his friends only want one fucking page?" I asked Shadow incredulously. "That's what you're telling me?"

"Since when did she get so feisty?" Alec muttered to Leah, who promptly slapped him on the back of the head.

"It is true that they only want one page," Marl confirmed Shadow's words. "The page they want contains a spell for an ancient bit of magic, one that cannot fall into the wrong hands."

"Why? It's not like it's for world domination." Rose snorted.

Marl merely stared at her flatly in response.

"So what is this spell for then?" I asked, glancing around the room. I knew that witches existed but an old, leather bound grimoire that is hundreds - possibly thousands - of years old... well, that was a concept I was still struggling to process.

"Next you'll be telling us it's written in Latin." Rose snorted.

"Why would it be written in a dead language?" Alec rolled his eyes. "Even I'm not that stupid."

"Bite me." Rose snapped, the words falling from her lips quicker than she had time to process what she'd just said. When she had, her eyes immediately widened and she shrank back into the sofa, averting her gaze. "Never mind."

Alec smirked in satisfaction. The hatred between the two hadn't gotten any better; in fact, it only seemed to get worse as the days went by. Their constant bickering was rather frustrating at times but I couldn't deny that it was also amusing. 

They were more alike than they realised.

***

The next morning, Shadow and I went hunting. We were all more on edge now that the hybrid hadn't attacked like Marl had claimed because it just didn't make sense. According to Marl, the attack would definitely take place because he'd been told by the hybrid himself when they were actually on speaking terms. It would make sense that those plans were changed when the hybrid found out Marl was actually on our side but still, not knowing any more information had us all tense.

"As much as I love everyone back home, I'm really enjoying the time away from them." I spoke up, breaking the silence that had settled over us. Walking hand in hand with Shadow, waiting to find our next meal, I should have been feeling a little nausea at the thought of ending someone else's life but the blood lust was beginning to become a problem. The burning in my throat just would not go away and like Shadow had told me countless times, it's a vampire's instinct to hunt to survive. I just had to keep thinking of it that way rather than the alternative.

"Once this is over, I'm taking you away for a while. Getting out of London would do us both some good." Shadow squeezed my hand comfortingly.

"Really?" I asked, looking over at him with a soft smile. "Where would we go?"

"It'd just be me and you, babe," Shadow said. "We can go anywhere you like."

Just the thought of getting away had a million possibilities coming to mind but one fact remained the same; it didn't matter where went as long as I was with Shadow. That's all I needed to be happy.

"How are you coping with things?" He then asked and I knew instantly what - or rather who - he was referring to.

I sighed, thinking back to all that I'd found out recently. "I don't really know. With my mum, it's given me a sense of closure to know why she left but Jane and William... they didn't deserve that. They were killed because they were seen with me and... they deserved better."