Reluctant Enemies

Chapter 15

The sun had fully set, and the stars were twinkling alongside the pale moon. The clouds in the sky were as still as a painting, yet a breeze whispered across Beth's face and rustled her cotton pajamas as she turned away from the sight below that sky.

There were perhaps twenty vampires present in the meadow outside her window, a tiny fraction of the Park clan according to Jimin and Taehyung.

The latter was still beside her, hovering by her side closer than her own shadow.

If anyone had asked her what she would think of such a situation even a month ago, she would have laughed, and said a man hovering so close would drive her insane.

Now, with a psychotic vampire after her family and the people she'd once respected and loved as parents willing to sacrifice billions of people they'd never met to the point of verbal and threats of physical abuse towards her and her siblings, she was comforted by Taehyung's protective presence.

Once the balcony doors were closed behind them, Taehyung's arms slipped around her waist and pulled her close.

"Thank you so much Beth." he whispered in her ear, his voice soft with emotion.

She blinked, confused, and looked up to meet his tender gaze. "What for?"

"For trusting me, after you heard my conversation with Gwen that day. For helping us instead of making us fight another battle to survive even though you had every reason not to. For accepting me even after I marked you without asking. For letting my protect you and not getting annoyed with me for being clingy. Thank you."

Beth allowed him  to tuck her head to his shoulder, her eyes closing to enjoy the feel of his arms around her once again. Sure he had carried her for goodness knows how long. Yes he had hovered near her since he had reluctantly set her down. But the feeling of safety and love was still as new and wonderful as when he'd caught her after she flew off of the staircase railing.

She hoped it always would be.

"It's alright." she whispered back, thinking to herself that she couldn't help trusting him.

It was a damn good thing he was on her side.

Despite her nap earlier, she found herself stifling a yawn.

Easily catching the stifled sound, Taehyung her up into his arms again, he carried her to her bed and tucked her in as though he always had. With a light peck on the forehead and a gentle squeeze of her hand he bade her goodnight.

Beth watched him leave, to tired to say anything.

But she wished she could have asked him to stay.

"Taehyung... Why did you leave now?" She wondered thoughtfully as she slipped off to sleep.

.

.

.

.

She didn't know how long later it was that she heard the shuffling of a chair being pulled up.

Her eyes fluttered open just long enough to see Taehyung sitting next to her bedside.

"I  thought... you left...." her whisper was formed with the slightest exhale. Beth was truly exhausted.

"Never. Just needed to take care of a couple things." Tae's voice was purposefully soft, so as not to wake her any more. "Get some sleep."

.

.

.

.

Glass shattered.

People were screaming.

Beth was bolt upright and out of bed in a split second.

The staff was next to her bed.

She was about to reach out and touch it when she saw the glass on her floor.

Taehyung and Bernard were standing shoulder to shoulder in the now-broken door to her balcony, and from the sound of it, the screams were coming from the vampires.

"G-guys... What's wrong? What just happened?"

Without looking away from the scene before them, Taehyung answered.

"Gwen. She's stirring up the pot again.

"Bernard, stay here and take care of Beth. they were able to complete the ceremony, so as long as you stay behind the doorway you'll be safe."

Bernard rested a heavy hand on Taehyung's shoulder briefly.

"Make sure to come back to her." he spoke softly, but Beth heard him.

Taehyung did not answer as he left.

And that terrified her.

She tried to go to the doorway to catch one last glimpse of Taehyung as he went off to do whatever it was he was doing to stop this but Bernard held her back with a hand on her shoulder similar to the way he had rested his hand on Taehyung's mere moments ago.

"You don't want to see what's going on out there Miss Beth."

It was to late. She had caught a glimpse of the bloodstained field, vampires staked to the ground through their hearts, others with body parts cut off.

Mindless, white-skinned, nearly skeletal figures inflicting the damage without reaction, let alone remorse. They made her think of vampires with their fangs, and the way one of them had latched onto the throat of a staked vampire, but they shot fear and nausea through her entire being.

It was worse than the battlefield the castle had shown her from the past.

She turned back, praying with her entire being that Taehyung would come back...

Turning her attention to the staff on the ground by her bed, she took it up and ran her hands along the oiled wood.

Something was different about it.

Cool to the touch, there was a slight hum of energy beneath its satiny surface. Shimmering despite being in the shadow, it radiated a sense of calmness and regality as though it were a person instead of a staff.

She held it carefully, but almost despite her expectations there was no reaction.

Bernard suddenly tackled her to the side and Beth heard a crash.

When Bernard sat up she saw a body had been thrown through the window.

A vampire's body.

And it wasn't disintegrating.

He couldn't have been turned long ago. His face, the only largely undamaged part of him, was that of a teen. Rather than disintegrating he simply aged a few years, to his true age.

No older than twenty-five.

Beth ran to the bathroom and threw up.

Gwen. She was doing this. And the people she'd once called Mom and Dad were, somehow, helping.

Beth made a vow then and there.

Whatever it took. She would help to end this nightmare.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Hello readers! Sorry if you were concerned about this book, I will indeed be continuing it and I have found new inspiration. I hope you're ready for the rollercoaster!

They may be shorter than you are used to, but I will be updating daily if at all possible. Thank you for sticking with me!

What do you think is going on right now?