Elysian House: Silver Bullet (2)

Chapter 15: Security Breach

I was in the Temple of Light, reading my books when I heard the door open. I was hoping it would be Elpis Zoe when I looked up, but I was disappointed to find Winter standing there, giving me that cold look she always gave. I looked back down at my books and hoped she was just coming here to pray to the Light. I flicked a page over and began to read about a Knight's purpose to their Vampires. 

As I was, Winter walked down the isle and stopped at the end, where the light shined its brightest through the window. I peaked up, barely raising my head, so she wouldn't notice, and watched as she folds her hands behind her back and looks up into the sky. Though she had white hair and pale skin, she was no Bitten. She was a pure blooded Vampire, just like me. Snow made sure to remind me that she was not a friend of any sort of Bitten.

"My sister have you come in here to study now?" Winter speaks and I jump in my seat. She looks over her shoulder at me, with the same devilish glow in her black eyes. "Does the choir help you focus?"

"No, but you're not helping," I say, narrowing my eyes. "My Knight's coronation is coming up soon, Winter, and I really don't want to have to go through this again."

"Oh, you don't?" She asks me and I shake my head, saying, "Nope", and popping the "P". A moment later, my hair brushed in my face and the book was flying out of my lap and Winter was at my side so quick, I didn't see her move. I stare up into her face in shock. She was glaring down at me, as she usually ends up doing. "How many times do I have to say it before you realize your own stupidity, Rowan?"

"Oh my gods," I roll my eyes in exasperation, I'd heard this too many times now. 

"Where does this foolishness end? When will you see that my sister is not a friend to you?" Winter says. "She is a puppet master, and you are the puppet. And so is Elpis Zoe and that strange new girl she brought in."

"She has been nice to that sailor," I remind her. "She healed her, dressed her, fed her. She is a good, kind woman, who helps those in need."

"She would not help you if she did not have something to gain from all of this," a vein came popping out of her neck and she grabbed a fistful of my garb and lifted me to my feet. "Snow will turn on you faster than a poisonous rattle snake. She will end you so fast you won't even know you're dead. Once you've outlived your usefulness, you will be nothing to her."

An anger I've always felt toward Winter came surging back inside me and I quickly shoved her away, moving toward my fallen textbooks on the floor. I leaned down to pick them up and as I was doing so, she kept going. 

"She is using the Elpis Zoe girl for her own gain. She does not want to protect her, so she sends you to get killed. And just in case you die too early, she has that new girl to cover for you," Winter's shadow loomed over me on the floor. "She pretends to care for you, Rowan, but that is exactly how an abuser works. She's grooming you."

I ignored the screaming urge to turn around and clock my fist right into her face for saying this. Instead, I picked up my books. 

"She will be the end of you, Rowan. I'm trying to warn you. I'm hoping you will understand and get it through that stupid, thick skull of yours," she snarls at me. "I mean, can you really believe a lady like that would even care about you? She's a cold-hearted bitch--"

I sprung up, spinning around and hitting the flat end of my text book into Winter's face and I watched her fall to the ground, with blood spurting out onto the hard, stone floor. She coughed, and gasped in shock. Then lifted a hand up to her face and wiped away the blood smeared on her face. 

She looked down at her hand and then chuckled, her teeth stained with red. "Wow... never thought you had it in you, Rowan. Finally standing up to me?"