SOMEONE TO STAY

[07]

chapter seven

~

"And after we get rid of the factories by the coast, I was thinking that could...Eve!"

I jumped at Rosita's voice, and brushed my hair out of my face. "Do you need to take a break?" She asked. "You seem out of it."

"Oh, no I'm fine, please continue." I said to her. She continued talking to the rest of the council about her plans for the future of the kingdom, and I continued to space out.

"Did you convince him to stay? What happened?" Rosita asked as I came back to the table. I shrugged my shoulders taking a seat.

"He kissed me." I scoffed. "Then he just disappeared. He didn't even say anything."

That was a month ago. I don't know where Jamison went with his brother, and I haven't yet asked about Claire. She's either dead or locked away. Rosita and I have mended things a little. "Eve." Rosita called again. "Any input?" She asked, knowing I wasn't paying attention.

"Umm...what if we worked on construction above? We could move the Kingdom and expand? We'll have more land, resources..?" I said. "I know it's stupid I just thought-"

"No it's...it's brilliant, Evangeline." Someone spoke. "Princess?" He turned to Rosita.

"Let's take a vote. All those in favor of relocating and Expanding?" She spoke, all but two members agreed but it satisfied Rosita and everyone else nonetheless. "Then it's settled. We'll begin as soon as possible."

After the meeting, I went to head upstairs when a council member stopped me. "Miss Hastings!" He called.

         I turned around to face him, finding that he wasn't angry and in fact had a goofy smile on his face before reaching his hand out for me to shake. "I was a great friend of your mother, it's amazing seeing her daughter do great things. My name is Alexander Beau. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said as I shook his hand.

"The pleasure is mine." I smiled at him. "Do you think you could tell me anything about my mother? I was never told the truth about who she really was, just that she was a witch."

"Oh your mother was much more, Evangeline." He cut me off. "I'm busy at the moment but I can tell you everything about your mother in about an hour if you'd meet me in my office." He said. "It was great meeting you, Miss Hastings. See you soon!" He said before rushing off.

Odd. I thought to myself. I continued my way upstairs, bumping into Rosita on the way. "Oh, Eve!" She beamed. "I'm gonna need your help with the construction above ground. Come with me." She said and I did just that, following after her. She took me to a place in the castle that I didn't even know existed. It was even further underground and labyrinth-like.

"Where are we?" I asked her. She ignored my question until we reached an elevator. "Rosita?"

          "Just get in." She said. I stepped inside the elevator and pushed the only button on the wall, then the elevator began to move. When the elevator stopped Rosita stepped out before me. "Come on, Eve." Her whole demeanor changed. She wasn't as happy as she was before.

         I looked around, seeing where we were. We were above ground, outside. I covered my mouth with my hand, "Oh my god."

Nothing seemed to exist for miles and all that was left over consisted of piles of rock and metal.

"I brought you up here for two reasons, Eve. One, to show you what Jamison was protecting you from and two...to show you what we're working with. It's possible for us to do what we have to but it's more than just building and magic, we have to convince the people to want to come back. They've grown used to things down there and they're not gonna want to come back. I need you to talk to them, please. They trust you."

           Jamison knew that I'd see this one day, it's why he gave me my necklace. Looking around I realized just how much everyone lost. They lost their freedom and it wasn't even their fault. I don't wanna know how this happened because I don't care. All I care about is fixing things and moving forward. "Alright." I said to her.

          "And another thing..." Rosita sighed. "Don't fall in love with my brother, please. He'll only get you hurt. He already has but you seemed to forget."

         "What? I-I haven't fallen for Jamison and I don't plan to." I said, shaking my head.

        "Yeah you've definitely forgot." She scoffed, stepping closer to me. "Think I have to remind you just who my brother is, Eve."

        "Rosita, please, no!" I yelled right before she roughly grabbed my elbow. She forced images and memories into my head, ones that Jamison was responsible for.

"Watch your mouth!" He yelled before knocking my canvas over, ruining my painting.
*
"No!" I screamed. He grabbed her and sunk his teeth into her throat before snapping her neck. "Selena!"
*
        "Don't touch me!"

        He wrapped his hand around my neck, "I'll do so much more than just touch you if you raise your voice at me like that again, Evangeline!"
*

I snatched away from Rosita, forcing her to stop. I ran my fingers through my hair, warm tears running down my face.

"You were sixteen." She started.

"Stop!" I yelled at her.

"You talked back for the first time and do you remember what he did to you?" She asked.

"No! Stop it!"

"He took you outside the castle, Evangeline and what did he do after that?" She continued.

"Rosita, please!"

"He threw you in front of a bunch of slave owners and almost let them buy you. You were forced to stand before them, screaming for help, hiding your exposed body from them. And Jamison felt nothing. No remorse, he thought what he was doing was right."

"Leave me alone!"

"He's a monster, Evangeline." She said.

"Stop!" I screamed one last time. "Please." I said quietly. She came over and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Stop crying." She said blankly. "Let's go back inside."

~

"So my mother wasn't poor?" I questioned.

"Nope. She was the wealthiest witch in the quarter. And she didn't lie about being pregnant, she tried to hide it until someone eventually found out. Knowing the consequences, she surrendered herself only for her husband, your father, to sacrifice himself in her place. The reason they locked her away wasn't only because of her beauty, but because of her baby." Alexander explained.

"What about me? I thought she made a deal with—"

"Nope that's not what happened. The family needed to keep you alive for more than just that. They kept you alive because they planned to turn you into a vampire anyways."

"So?"

"Your father was a werewolf, Evangeline. She was pregnant with the very first hybrid."