The smell of blood was everywhere, it coated the marble floors of the Crimson palace in the vampire kingdom, the walls were stained and my clothes were soaked in blood. My breaths were ragged as I staggered through the throne room leaving footprints stained with blood behind.
Bodies littered the ground, the guards, servants, royal knights, mom, dad, and my sister, all dead. The sight of their body should have shattered me, instead I felt numb maybe because the pain had become too much, or because I knew I wasn't leaving this place alive.
Tonight was meant to be the happiest day of my life, I was meant to be coronated to officially become vampire prince and the heir to the crimson throne.
Instead it had become my funeral.
The massive doors behind me burst open, I slowly turned and three familiar figures entered. My heart clenched, but because I was afraid, but because these were the people I trusted more than anyone
Adrian Ravencroft my best friend, heir to the werewolf kingdoms throne.
Lyra Evermoon a noble in the vampire kingdom the woman I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with.
And advisor Duskbane the man who trained me and thought me everything I know now.
For a moment I felt relieved “they’re alive” I whispered. Then I saw the blood on Adrian’s sword, the smile on Duskbane’s face and the blood on Lyra’s hand. Something inside me went cold,
“No…”
Adrian looked away, Lyra refused to look at me, only Duskbane smiled…a calm satisfied smile, the smile of a man who is plans had finally succeeded. Then I finally understood, it wasn’t an enemy kingdom, it wasn’t assassins, it was them.
“Why?” I asked
Duskbane folded his hands behind his back, “Because a king is only useful until a better opportunity appears”
I stared, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“You murdered my family”
“Our family” Duskbane corrected
Rage exploded inside me, my eyes glowing as vampiric energy surged inside me. The floor beneath me cracked “you traitorous…”. Then I lunged, but I was too slow pain erupted through my whole body. And then I froze, a silver blade protruded through my chest, then I looked down then at Lyra.
Tears filled her icy blue eyes, yet her grip on the sword didn’t waver. For a moment no one spoke or moved, the entire world seemed to stop.
“Lyra…” my voice cracked
Then she lowered her head “I’m sorry”, her voice cracked
The words hurt more than the blade, I felt something break inside me, not my heart but my trust, love and future. Adrian finally stepped forward, guilt flashed across his face. But he didn’t stop Lyra, didn’t help me, didn’t save me, he just stood there. The same way everyone had.
I laughed loudly and a hollow sound came out of me “so this is how it ends?”
No one answered me, blood filled my mouth, my legs gave out and the throne room floor rushed towards me. As the darkness closed in, my gaze landed on the crimson throne, the throne I would never wear. Hatred filled me, if there was another life, if fate gave me another chance, I would make them pay every single one of them.
Then darkness swallowed me whole.
I gasped, my eyes flew open. The first thing I noticed was the bright sunlight, for several seconds I simply stared, confused, disoriented, and alive. Slowly I sat upright my heart pounded, my chest, no wound, no silver blade, no blood.
Nothing!
“What…?”
My voice sounded younger, and stronger. I frowned, the room I was in felt too familiar. Dark wooden furniture, a large desk, black curtains and a blackthorn academy uniform hung beside a wardrobe. My breath caught, impossible I threw the blankets aside and rushed towards the mirror.
The reflection staring back at me made me stumble, eighteen I looked eighteen again, not twenty three, not the heir who died in a pool of blood, a seventeen year old student at blackthorn academy. Shock flooded through me, disbelief, then realization.
“No…”
I grabbed the edge of the dresser, “this isn’t possible”.
A sharp knock interrupted my thoughts, exactly three knocks my eyes widened, I knew that knock. I remembered it perfectly, because it happened every morning during my years at the academy.
“Kael”. A familiar voice called from outside
“Get up before we’re late!”
The world seemed to stop, Adrian. My pulse thundered in my ears, Adrian was outside, alive. My best friend, the person who betrayed me, my hands clenched into a fist memories flooded back. All the laughters, brotherhood, trust, then blood so much blood.
“Kael!”
Another knock, “are you sleeping or dead?”
The irony almost made me laugh, dead…I had been dead, yet somehow I was here. Back in the past at blackthorn academy, five years before the massacre in the crimson kingdom, before everything went wrong. A cold smile crossed my face.
Fate had given me another chance, this time things would be different. This time time I wouldn’t be manipulated or killed, and I would discover why I was betrayed. Then the knock came again.
“Kael?” He sounded concerned
“You okay in there?”
I stared at the door, a thousand emotions mixed inside me. Slowly I walked towards the door, one step at a time, the moment my hand touched the handle a strange sensation washed over me. My instincts screamed danger!.
For reasons I couldn’t explain, I turned towards the window and froze. Standing beneath a tree in the academy courtyard was a girl. Aurora Vale, she wasn’t looking at the academy, or the students, she was staring directly at me.
The moment our eyes met, her face lost color as though she had seen a ghost. Then to my horror tears filled her eyes, and her lips formed four words I couldn’t possibly hear. Yet somehow I knew exactly what she had said.
“You’re alive this time”
The blood drained from my face, because there was only one reason Aurora would say something like that. Only one reason.
He wasn’t the only one who had been reborn.
