Cursed

Epilogue

Ryan's body was already dusted over when Kate got there. She fell to her knees, and a sob escaped her. Her hand pulled at the Royal Emblem, hit his cold body, cursed and cried. He was a good guy, he didn't deserve to die.

Memories of them training together in secret, stealing blood cookies from the kitchen and sneaking through the palace to get a glimpse of the new weapons load flashed through Kate's mind. His wicked smile with his crooked teeth that made him feared by the other soldiers.

Rumors of his so-called ruthlessness had always circulated, ever since he had joined the royal military. Rumors about how wicked and wrong he was, of how he had gained those scars by mutilating his own face. Kate used to laugh at those idiots that believed those stories. If they had only taken the time to get to know Ryan, they would've known he was but a feather instead of a thorn. The corner's of the princess's lips curled up at the memory of him telling her the awkward story of how he had really gotten his scars. He had stumbled over his words, covered his face to hide his blush and he had mumbled through his hands the story of how he had fallen from a tree into a rosebush, simply because he wanted to see his neighbor again. A girl he had loved for many years from afar, too scared to ever talk to her. There hadn't been anything spectacular about his scars, simply a reminder of his idiocy. Next day he walked up to her and asked her out, even though his face was still red from the fresh wounds. 

Kate suppressed another sob. She let her head fall onto his still body.

"Why did you have to kill him?" She mumbled against the black of Ryan's clothes. 

There was still an unnatural pressure surrounding the city. And if she hadn't been distracted by the hole in her heart, she might've realized that it was the same feeling the night Jason had rescued her from the Hunter camp. 

"Why did you have to attack when you clearly didn't stand a chance? Why didn't you just run, you stupid asshole?" She hit Ryan's chest once more, while she kept crying. 

The emptiness in her chest grew. Her head started spinning like it had the night of the ritual. So much so, that Kate squeezed her eyes shut and held on to anything solid. With short breaths and a pounding heart.

Minutes passed, all while Kate's breaths became shorter and the hole in her heart grew. It was only when someone sat next to her that she shifted her head. 

White hair and gray eyes surrounded by popped blood vessels crowded her vision. Brianna didn't look much better than Kate felt. Yet she looked more awake than she had seen the teenager in days. Her eyes were wide open and her heart raced as if she had run for miles, or as if she was worried about a dear one dying. Kate's heart squeezed painfully at the thought of Ryan. She gripped his vest a little tighter so she was still holding him. She would not forget about him the way vampires seemed to forget all their lost ones. At least, the older they got, the less they remembered or cared about the first names of their long list of lost loved ones.

"Where is Sky?"

Anger rushed through her mind like a thick cloud.

"How should I know?" She replied through her teeth. Her gums were aching. So were her muscles, aching to move or to punch something. Preferably blonde, blue eyes and a foot taller than herself.

"Doesn't matter, you can tell her later." Brianna grabbed Kate's shoulders, pulled her away from Ryan's body and made her look her in the eyes. "Will you listen?"

Kate heard the urgency in her tone and the pumping of her heart, but her head swam with emotions. Mainly anger, but she also couldn't stop the worry. Where was Sky indeed? Did she run off? Had she been scared or afraid of what Kate might do? What was she going to do once she faced Sky? Her hands pressed to her ears, trying to quieten everything. Yet outside there wasn't much noise, so it didn't do much.