Demons after Dark
Prologue
'Ava?'
Ava turned to look at the tall, burly, green haired and incredibly wild-looking Vancha March. Normally poised with no regrets or any betrayal of weak emotions, Vancha now stood there in front of her with a look in his eyes that frightened her to see it. It was a look of forced hope, as though something he had always wanted to happen never did, and now he was hoping it would. His eyes looked somewhat lost in a deep river of thought, and it was something that Ava never expected to see in those big eyes. His thin mouth was even thinner, as though behind those lips his teeth were clenched, as well as his fists under his huge crossed arms. He was tense, so tense the aura around them tensed with him.
Ava held her breath before she said, 'Yes?'
His expression shifted from the mix of forced emotions to a flicker of real hope, one that didn't have to be forced, 'I have something to ask you. Don't hate me for it, please, but I cannot hold it inside me any longer.'
She bit her lip, her gut clenching so tight, she felt like doubling over and throwing her intestines up. Either that or she felt like melting into a puddle and washing away into the river.
Instead, though, she managed to ask'What's that sire?'
'Will you be my mate?'
He didn't even hesitate, didn't even pause to even consider a second thought. It came tumbling out of him so fast; Ava wondered if she had heard it right. He was asking her to be his mate? He, a big, huge and much respected Vampire; a Prince? Vancha March was one of the most traditional, if not the most besides Seba Nile and Paris Skyle, and every vampire in the whole world worshipped the ground he walked on.
She didn't know what to think or say. To her it was as if her entire life just started. She had fallen in love with this man the moment he grudgingly decided to take her under his wing and train her. Every criticism, every insult and every push was more incentive for her to love him. Every time he knocked her to the ground and shouted at her to get up and every time he beat her in hand-to-hand combat was just a step towards her undying feelings for him. The entire time, she knew he would never look at her that way because he was too busy teaching her. He was the master and she was the assistant. She wanted to run into his arms and cry the happiest tears a girl could shed, tell him that she wanted to be his mate forever and ever and kiss him all over his face while he grumbled for her to get off….
But she didn't. She just stood there, her mouth shut, her entire body shaking like a leaf. He taught her lessons of strength, to never reveal to the adversary what she was thinking. But he was not her enemy, he was her master. He was her Prince. He was her everything. All this time, she thought she was the only one that felt that. She dreamt of one day being his mate and to make him as happy as Avery made Prince Mika Ver Leth happy.
'Well?' He frowned, 'Are you going to answer?'
She didn't like the pressure that he was putting her, but she held her tongue of any smart remarks and said, 'I…I…'
'You what?'
She didn't know why she did what she did. She was so frightened and scared for reasons unknown. The thought of refusing him overwhelmed to her and infiltrated her every thought process that she couldn't think about accepting. She didn't remember whispering 'No' or the expression on his face when she did. All she remembered was she never meant to run. She wasn't a coward and she almost never ran from her problems. But then was different. Then was something she wasn't used to dealing with. She remembered him calling her name, and hearing his footsteps running after her down the halls, out the doors, past the guards and into the trees. She must have been running fast, for she out ran him. He gave her a good chase for at least an hour, but then he faltered off when she just disappeared into the night, never to be seen again for a very long time.
She had refused the man she would love forever. She had refused him because she was scared. She had refused him because she had been weak. She could never face him again. Never again.
She had to promise herself to never see him again. It tore at her heart, but she had to ensure that her past mistakes didn't come back to haunt her. Seeing him would. little did she know that as she left the shelter of her creator, Evanna's, home, she would step right into the cesspool of not only facing her old master again, but a war that would threaten to tear them apart again.