Chapter 6 – The Eternal Shadows

Zaiden was eating but was also watching Amelia who was not eating but was watching him in a  very tense manner, when their eyes met, he could see the struggle she was going through inside  her head. She needed to feed, soon before she lost control. He finished his steak sandwich  fast and got up. He noticed how she immediately tensed at his movement. “Amy, let’s go for a  walk.” She did not argue but was at his side instantly, he noticed how her nails had lengthened  and her veins were filling with venom spreading throughout her body and skin. Before the others  could ask any questions, they were out of the front door. The fresh breeze buzzed passed them  ruffling their hair and welcoming them to their natural habitat. “Wanna run?” he grinned at her  and raced off towards the thick forest that boarded around the mansion protecting it from the  outer world. As they raced through the forest, she noticed the beauty of it; she never even  knocked on a tree; hermagnified vision gave her the perfect accuracy to move through the forest  smoothly. Everything was so beautiful that it was distracting, she could notice every little detail  from the tiny pollen in the flowers to the tips of leaves in the spiky pine trees that stood like  tall giants on the forest floor. Soon she was distracted enough that she bumped on Zaiden who  hadabruptly come to a stop. 
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“Why did you stop?” she questioned quite put out by the fact that Zaiden has stopped all the fun she was having just by stopping the race. He chuckled, eyes shimmering with amusement as she scowled at him in annoyance, “close your eyes’ ‘ he whispered. For a moment she was not sure, her muscles immediately tensed. “Trust me”, he took her by the shoulders and turned her towards a creek behind them, “what do you hear?” he questioned. She did not hear much except for the loud sound of water gushing through the creak and birds chirping around them. When she repeated the sounds she heard to him, he chuckled, “concentrate, what do you hear beside the creek?” Suddenly she heard the sounds of soft sniffles and padding feet, a head of deer was grazing there. Her body became strictly alert, her fangs lengthened and venom filled her mouth, her nails lengthened into sharp claws and her body crouched ready to attack. But before she could hunt a soft growl rippled through Zaiden’s warning her of some danger that was before them that she had not noticed. Suddenly with a sharp growl a lioness jumped through the dark bushes of her hideout causing all the deer to flee with fear for their lives. A sudden flare of resentment spread through her causing her to let out a growl that thundered through the forest but before the lioness could even move, she was on her wrestling her down and sinking her lengthened fangs deep into its skin. The lioness struggled beneath her but soon went immobile with the venom spreading through her blood causing her heart to stop beneath the skin. The warm liquid filled her mouth causing her burning veins to calm down and filling her stomach until she felt all sloshy and warm. She felt her pale skin flushing with color and her shimmering ruby eyes dimmed into a darker red. Her nerves calmed and she felt strong and energized and her ability to concentrate increased after she hunted. “That’s good you’ve calmed down”, Zaiden smiled then took off his jacket to wrap it around her shoulder covering her blouse. That’s when she noticed how it was coated with thick crimson stains of blood. She looked embarrassedly at him, he smiled and took her hand, “let’s go back before they freak out.”

Zaiden was surprised, Amelia adjusted well to the forest background and hunted as if she had been doing it all her life. The more she impressed him with her talent to adjust into this life the more she feared his dream. Was she truly becoming the weapon she was meant to be? The question bothered him more than he thought it would. When they came back home everyone was busy with their own work, “your back, had a good hunt?” his father questioned eyeing the improvements on their clothes stained with blood. A soft smile of reassurance spread through Zaiden. Amelia disappeared upstairs while he sat down next to his father to tell about the hunt.

Amelia was embarrassed her jeans were shredded and white blouse was bloodied. She went to the washroom and turned on the shower in a hot blast. The warm water trickled down her body, loosening her tensed muscle, and calming her nerves. It felt good after all that hunting, after the shower she changed into shorts and a skinny top sat up in the bed putting on a movie. Her body relaxed, she could get used to this perfect life but she still had to find out about her family, her parents and the answers about her memories. Soon she drifted off to sleep which was dominated by memories which came like night mares at her. She was stuck and couldn’t breathe every time she opened her mouth, water chugged in her mouth, but she was not drowning. Soon she adjusted to the water tube and strange numbness spread; she saw several bodies moving around her and voices discussing in fearful tones. Then one face broke from the crowd and became clear, it was Clary but a much older version of her, “don’t worry I’ll keep her safe until she comes to the proper age and teach her everything to be human, when time comes she can fight to protect the prince and his circle. This was a great idea, using their own weapon against them. But there’s one problem, if she was the weapon then wouldn’t the prince be a child like her?”, the voices whispered once more. “Yes, he will be, but we’ll make sure they are friends because she is the only real threat to him and the circle, if she’s in there with them the chance of them getting hurt is less.” And then the darkness flooded back in, pulling her to deep slumber.

It felt like she had only been asleep for a few minutes when there was a gentle shake on her shoulder, “hey sleeping beauty, we are going out for dinner, get dressed.” Jessica woke her up and danced out with a smile. She moaned and got out of the bed dragging her feet to her enormous wardrobe, “going out for dinner should be special right?”, she thought as she went through her clothes. There were so many that she could not choose properly. Finally, she ended up wearing a red blouse, black jeans and high heeled boots. She grabbed a white leather jacket and sat in front of the mirror, in which she saw her reflection. She patted her long thick black hair into a braid and was about to leave, just when she noticed a small drawer in her cupboard it seemed to be compelling her to open it and look inside. When she opened it, a small gasp escaped her lips, because it contained a variety of guns and blades from small daggers to medium sized swords. They were so beautiful their hilts were made from silver, ivory and many more valuable metals. Some small voice said that maybe she should carry a few to the dinner, she feared of her dreams and the challenges that are forthcoming her way.

So, she tucked two guns, pistols in each pocket of her jeans making sure they were filled with bullets, then she took two ivory hilted daggers and tucked them inside each of her boots. A sigh of relief spread through her, but it was short lived as her sensitive ears picked up the movements downstairs as the others came down after getting ready. After overpowering her fear with confidence, grabbing her phone she walked down swiftly downstairs.

***

Zaiden was already dressed, dinner out was nothing special to his family, today they were of black jeans and a white shirt, shoes and went to the bathroom to dress up. A few minutes later he could not afford to put his guard down so he tucked two guns in each pocket and two daggers as well then grabbed a silver leather jacket and rushed downstairs. He was checking the time on his phone when he heard an audible gasp from Jessica who was curled on the sofa with Ender who also sucked his breath. When he looked up, he instantly went into shock, because in front of them stood Amelia and god she was so beautiful. With dark jeans and white blouse and leather jacket, she looked like a fighter, and a dangerous one. He could smell the metal on her, that was strange why would she have such a scent? That’s when he realized, like himself, she was fully armed.

“Hey, will I pass for dinner?” she whispered, was she worried about going to dinner with them? he chuckled despite himself, with her looks and the weapons he had a feeling that she could take on anyone. He smiled, “you pass more than for dinner.” A soft chuckle from his brother made him self-conscious, “okay, let’s get mom and dad, and get going.” There were three cars going, Zaiden was driving his Ferrari, with Amelia in the passenger seat and Clary and Liam in the back seat, Jessica and Ender were taking the Volvo. With their parents driving a BMW they drive off.

Zaiden wanted to make a good impression on Amelia so he decided to be on his best behavior, god she was so pretty that he could hardly concentrate while driving. Soon they arrived at the restaurant, it was certainly high standards from the lights to the butlers it screamed luxury. Whoever his dad was meeting today was not someone simple. Not that they didn’t have high standards, they were certainly not new to luxury but the air seemed tense. He couldn’t get the feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he was ready for anything, “shall we?” He held out his arm as an offer to Amelia who looked nervous for a second but controlled her emotions smoothly and slipped her hand in his arm as they walked through the door.

The hotel was glamorous, a waiter appeared by their side immediately and after a few words with his dad and led them into a large area which looked private as the ones around them were empty. She could almost read the person’s confusion, they were all inhumanly pretty and they wanted a private lounge, and were rich that usually attracted a lot of people. As they settled down the food was served, “let’s wait till Mr. Collins comes,” His dad said sitting down. Everyone sat down, Amelia sat beside him, he could clearly feel the tension within her. He gently placed a comforting hand on hers, “relax, think of it as a family dinner okay?” his green eyes were filled with worry. Then a tall man moved towards them. He wore a pristine suite and stood out from the crowd. He was definitely not human, she realized and something about him was very familiar. Then it came to her the voice of the man from her memory, it was the same. ‘’Who’s this, someone new to your family?” shivers ran down her spine as he focused his attention on her. The panic she felt was never shown on her but she clenched her hands tightly until her knuckles were white. Fear bubbled within her, her heart was beating fast and screams from her memory echoed within her. She could take it no longer when suddenly Zaiden placed a comforting hand on her tight fist, gently rubbing her white knuckles telling her that he knew how uncomfortable she was. Esme, gave introductions behalf of her so she was not put into an uncomfortable situation, however she could vaguely smell the scent of metal from Mr. Collins

He was “armed” and she realized whoever he was, he knew who they truly were and was not here with good intentions. She had to warn Zaiden, when Jessica, Ender and Zaiden got up to go get drinks, she knew that it was her chance. “What would you like?” he asked with his eyes wondering, “um, I’m not sure, can I come and see?” she asked, hoping she would get a chance to speak with him. He looked at her with questioning eyes, then she noticed how realization hit him, his eyes widened. Grabbing her hand, “sure, let’s go.” Excusing themselves, they walked towards the bar. When they got their Zaiden looked at the others, “go ahead, we’ll be back.” Taking her to a safe place where they won’t be overheard, “what’s wrong, you’re not okay, what made you so scared?” he gently held her arms, his long fingers gently soothing her, “This man, he’s armed Zaiden, he knows who we are.” She looked up to meet his eyes, they were calm as he absorbed the information, “do you think he might hurt us?” he asked her looking at the man who was chatting merrily with their parents. “I’m not sure, but he makes me feel insecure.” He wrapped his arms around her rubbing circles soothingly, “don’t worry I won’t let anything happen to you.” She looked up at him, her eyes filled with gratitude. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the peculiar way the man was watching them, as if he knew that they were talking about him. Nerves bubbled within her and she grabbed Zaiden’s hand worriedly, “let’s go back, so that the others won’t get suspicious.” They went back hand in hand, the others were already seated waiting for the course to be served.

Once they sat down the meal went smoothly for the rest of the night but occasionally, she noticed how the elder man watched her as if inspecting an experiment, in caution. Waiting patiently as if she would suddenly decide to go wild. She wished she could hear what he’s thinking, but by the end of the dinner tension was coiling up in her. But as they were leaving, the man grabbed her hand, “I know who you are, and you are on the wrong side, remember when time comes you will turn against them and help me.” He let go of her and walked towards the others like nothing happened, leaving her trembling with fear, his words echoing through her. She was aware that all the others were quite happy with the dinner, the girls were chirping about what a great time they had and their parents seemed quite satisfied as well. She was the only one realizing the danger they were walking into.

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