Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Alexia’s POV

I think I fainted afterwards because the next thing I knew it, I was on some kind of squishy but nice bed that supported me fairly well. The pillows were well fluffed and the blankets was soft silk.

Where the heck was I? I got up from the bed and my bare feet met the soft fur carpet, making me flinch in surprise. I wasn’t used to luxury like this. It could only be Derek’s house.

Was this his room? The sudden thought made me perk up with interest. I put my shoes that were hidden neatly in a corner and trudged my way around his room, taking in every detail. All his furniture was made with expensive wood which surprised me since I thought piercing a vampire with wood would kill them.

“Are you finding everything satisfactory to your taste?” Derek mused, entering his room.

“Is this your room?” I asked, still helping myself by looking around.

“Why yes it is,” Derek chuckled at my amazement. “Alexia.”

“Hmmm?” I said absent mindedly, staring at a beautiful painting of a landscape. I recognized it as the estate he lived in. It was beautifully painted with bright colors, making it look cheery.

“Are you OK? You said some weird stuff before you fainted,” Derek said, his lips slowly forming into a grim line. “You scared the hell out of us.”

I thought back to as far as I could remember. I felt something. I felt excitement and life as if I just found out the best thing in my life.

“OHHH” I gasped, covering my mouth in shock.

“Alexia, what’s wrong?”

“Zane,” I smiled sadly. “He found his mate.” Derek raised an eyebrow and walked towards me, standing side by side, observing the painting with me.

“How would you know that?” Derek asked softly, mostly to himself. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, letting our arms brush. “Ah, you’re connected to him.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked curiously.

“I think it will be wiser if I explained this when we’re all together,” Derek advised and walked to the door. I stood still, looking at the painting. Connected? Why was I connected to Zane of all people? “Alexia? Are you coming?”

“Yeah, coming,” I said half-heartedly and Derek led me out of his warm room and downstairs where everyone seemed to be waiting for the verdict of my condition.

“Ah, the princess is awake,” Uncle Amos smiled, giving me a warm hug.

“Uncle Amos. I’m not a princess,” I laughed but returned the hug.

“Uncle?” Gracie asked hesitantly.

“They aren’t related. Amos is a close friend of Alaric,” Derek explained.

“She’s Alaric’s daughter?!” Gracie exclaimed. I flinched and a long silence followed. No one wanted to explain the sticky situation.

“Well she was adopted but let’s get back to the main topic,” Derek said quickly. “Alexia here has informed me that Zane has found his mate,” Derek said, catching the surprised looks of Uncle Amos and Lucas.

“Did he call you?” Lucas growled and I had a small suspicion of his anger. Why would he get angry over that? I’ve been waiting for him all this time for any contact from him.

They’re hiding something. That was the second time the darkness spoke to me that day but I couldn’t help but agree. There was something wrong.

“No, of course not,” Derek snapped at Lucas, giving him a dangerous eye. Huh.  “She has a connection with Zane and probably you too because she healed both of you, bringing both of you back to life.”

“Where are you exactly going with this?” Amos spoke up, looking at his friend confusedly.

“Alexia, what did you feel when you healed them? Did you feel yourself giving part of your life source to them?” Derek asked, his electric green eyes crackling with excitement. That was exactly how it felt. I felt like I was pouring my life to them, giving a part of myself.

“Yeah,” I said slowly, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

“Are you saying that her life source was poured into Zane and Lucas and since they’re living off her life source, their minds are somehow connected?” Amos said. This time the silence droned longer and the three men looked at each other in horror.

“OK, I’m left out. What the hell is going on?” Brandon said breaking the silence loudly or maybe it was because we weren’t used to the loud noise.

“Much will be explained later but yes, Amos. What you say is exactly correct. That’s why Alexia felt his emotions of him finding his mate. Strong feelings such as those will trigger her to also feel it and vice versa,” Derek explained further. Uncle Amos and Lucas seemed to digest this with an expressionless face and even I couldn’t read off of Lucas who usually let down his guard for me to guess what emotion he put on.

“If Zane or Lucas might be injured in any way, she won’t be affected would she?” Amos asked, worried.

“No, she wouldn’t. She already gave them her life source so it’s a done deal,” Derek answered.

“Well then, this is nothing to stress over about,” Uncle Amos said, smiling easily. “It doesn’t affect anyone does it?” I tried to smile but I was disappointed. I thought I would be able to contact Zane and speak with him but since we couldn’t unless one of us had a big emotion, it might never happen again.

“Would you like to explain what’s going on? I think I missed something in the sixteen years we’ve been apart,” Gracie asked, trying to catch up with everything that was being said. Brandon sat beside her, also bearing the same expression.

Derek and Uncle Amos looked at each other and sighed. I felt like this was even more than my own history but a history of their past. Derek was the first to speak up and explain everything about my condition and the darkness to the point where we were now but he didn’t mention anything about his past.

Gracie and Brandon seemed to take it all in without a single interruption. “Do you think this is related to your drawings?” Brandon asked Gracie afterwards and by the looks of it, it seemed like she was thinking the same thing.

“What about your drawings?” Uncle Amos asked worriedly.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly, waving it away.

Uncle Amos simply nodded and spoke. “I think Alexia should go back home and rest some more. It’s probably a lot to take in right now.”

“Yes, it’s evening and I’m sure Gracie and Brandon wants to rest from their traveling,” Lucas said, getting off the couch. “I expect a phone call soon. Let’s go Alexia.” He helped me off the couch and hooked his arms around my waist and smiled.

After a half an hour walk, we were back at our house with nothing to do. We cuddled on the couch watching TV like a normal couple and I couldn’t help but smile.

“What’s so funny?” Lucas asked curiously.

“It’s just that watching TV seems so normal compared to all we’ve been through the last month.” I sighed, liking the tingling feeling by the contact of our skin.

“We have all that time to make up for it,” Lucas grinned, kissing me lightly on the cheeks.

[Not if I can help it.] It was the darkness that spoke and I couldn’t help but flinch.

“Are you OK, Alexia?” Lucas asked, worried.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Sorry,” I apologized. I didn’t want to bring up the darkness right now. Lucas already looked physically tired with heavy bags under his eyes. No need to make him worry any further.

The doorbell rang through the hallways making me flinch again.

[Brace yourself], the darkness said again.

[Leave me alone,] I snapped, annoyed. I stood up to get the door.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it,” Lucas smiled and left to answer the door. I followed him, curious about the visitor. Uncle Amos and Derek had the key to our house just in case and we never had any visitors.

[You’ll need someone to talk to soon,] smirked the darkness. I ignored the it and watched as Lucas opened the door.

The door revealed a beautiful woman with stunning blue eyes holding a little boy who looked around three years of age. He was a cute boy with piercing grey eyes and cheeks that were adorably chubby.

“Hello, can we help you?” I asked since Lucas wasn’t saying anything. I couldn’t see his face since I was behind him but I saw the small smug look on the woman’s face.

“Hello Lucas. It’s certainly been awhile,” she said in a silky voice that made me want to listen to her even more. Her voice was smooth and soft, having a melodic feel to them.

“Abigail,” Lucas finally said but it came out in a scared whisper. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t look so scared. I came here to show you our son.”

Zane’s POV

I couldn’t answer Reagan that night but I promised her that when I do find the answer, I would tell her. She went in hysterics when I didn’t say much and it took Travis’ soothing words for her to quiet down and take her into a private room. Travis sat her down and calmed her while I paced around the room, frustrated with everything around me. There was way too much going on for me to handle.

“Explain now,” Reagan said bitterly, her usual warm brown eyes swirling with anger. Travis had to drag her which humiliated her but no one stopped us either.

I sat down on the chair close by and ran my hand through my hair out of habit and forgot I gelled it for the evening. I wiped it quickly on my nice suit and situated myself to a comfortable angle. I wouldn’t need the suit after tonight.

I explained everything to her from start to finish, leaving no detail behind. Reagan grew irritated as I spoke but once I got to explain everything, her beautiful face began to soften.

“That changes things,” she said after I had finished explaining. “You might want to hear this fast before my father comes and busts the door open.” She quickly urged me to take out the prophecy note I gave her.

“You figured it out?” Travis grinned, amazed at his friend.

“Yes and it might be quite difficult to save Alexia,” she grimaced. “It’s kind of a myth though but it since it came from a prophecy, I’m sure it’s true.” Great, I had enough myths for a good decade. First Bloodwolves and The Bloodwolf’s Revenge and now this?

“Share,” I said anyways. If those two myths were true, then I didn’t have any choice but to accept what Reagan had to say.

“Have you ever heard of the Hope Diamond?” she asked. I never heard of it in my life and looked at her like an idiot.

“That cursed diamond that brings death to people?” Jessabelle asked.

“Yes, that one. It’s also called the Diamond of Death. Apparently, whoever owns it or touches it is cursed and someone close to them like a family member could die from this curse.” Reagan explained to us all the evidence from the past and with each case, my doubts for this journey was deepening.

“Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were beheaded during the French Revolution because of the blue diamond's curse. The Hope family is said to have been tainted with the diamond's curse. According to the legend, the once-rich Hopes went bankrupt because of the Hope diamond. Evalyn McLean wore the Hope diamond as a good luck charm, but others saw the curse strike her too. McLean's first born son, Vinson, died in a car crash when he was only nine. McLean suffered another major loss when her daughter committed suicide at age twenty-five. In addition to all this, Evalyn McLean's husband was declared insane and confined to a mental institution until his death in 1941.”

Reagan explained each scenario with a narrative voice that could easily scare anyone but I wasn’t just anyone. I would do this even if it was the risk of killing myself. Hopefully the curse wouldn’t affect anyone but me.

“Where is this Hope Diamond?” I asked and I heard Jessabelle gasp.

“Are you sure you want to go with this?” she asked. “It’s dangerous.”

“It’s the only way to save Alexia, right?” I grinned, feeling determined as I thought about it more. I couldn’t let the stupid old curse make me squirm like a little boy and I’ll die trying than moping around while the darkness took Alexia.

“Where is this stone located?” I asked again, looking at Reagan directly. She grinned and I felt a jolt of happiness just to receive such a smile from her.

“The Hope Diamond is located in the National Gem and Mineral Collection in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.”

Travis whistled. “That’s pretty far away.”

“Not enough to stop me,” I scoffed. “I think I should leave tonight.”

“Wait, take me with you,” Reagan begged, standing up. “I can help you navigate and it’s not like I’m just going to let you walk out of my life even if I didn’t really like you at first.”

“You’ll be much safer here,” I said and it took all my guts to say those words to her but it was true. I didn’t want her to risk her life for my sake.

“You know you need me on this mission, Zane. You don’t exactly have a choice,” she smiled smugly. “Will you be joining us too?” This time she turned her attention towards Travis and Jessabelle.

“I’m sorry Zane, but this is the part when we have to split different ways,” Travis smiled sadly.

“During the party Jessabelle and I found several humans who were ex-hunters and we talked them into joining us. Some of the werewolves are supporting us in this so we have all the money for whatever we need on this.” It seemed like Travis’ eyes were open for the first time and his mission in front of him was crystal clear.

“I support you fully, Travis,” I smiled, patting him on the back. I respected what he had to do. “Good luck you guys.”

“Uh, hey guys,” Reagan called nervously. “I don’t think you should say your ‘good-byes’ yet. I hear my father coming.” When I listened carefully, I heard the booming footsteps before the door busted open.

“Who here is the rogue wolf?” the man in the expensive suit boomed. His shoulders were broad like Wyatt’s and his sharp green eyes sparked with anger. I guess that was another title I was given. I mustered up all my strength and gut I had left and took a step forward. I had my plan set in front of me and if he was an obstacle, I wasn’t going to let him scare me. For now, I would accept the new title.

“I am the rogue wolf.”