Chapter 1

Beautiful Nightmare

Is there any such thing as having a beautiful nightmare?

No, there isn't. How can something beautiful be a nightmare, and how can a nightmare be beautiful.

My dreams lately have been both beautiful and yet traumatizing. They come every night that I sleep, if I even sleep that night. Sometimes I don't. It is so hard for me to forget who I was. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about that fateful day that Dimitri took me away from my home for his own selfish need.

I sit up from the silk sheets that I wrapped myself in before I laid down. I look over to see that Dimitri is asleep and has not noticed that I have moved. I wish not to wake him. But I have no other choice but to get up, I need to get away, so that I may think without having to worry about having a confrontation with him.

I move quickly out of bed and I feel my nightgown circle around my feet. The silk sheet is still falling silently to the bed, where I laid just a few seconds ago. Dimitri has not moved from his position. I walk silently to the closet filled with my clothes. The door creaks, I look back to see if he has stirred. He hasn't.

I enter the closet and I am surround by clothes, shoes, boots, dresses, and bags. There are so many clothes; there is an article of clothing for every occasion. I see the gear that I am required to wear when I go to fight alongside Dimitri. I see gowns that I have worn over the centuries. I open the top drawer to my dresser and pull out what is on top. I dress in a tight black pants used in combat training and a light purple tank top. I decide to put on my boots because one can never tell what will happen in the hours to come. The door creaks again as I open it to exit into the bedroom. This time I do not care if Dimitri hears. I am ready to deal with whatever may come.

I walk past the huge bay window that is in the center of the room and I see that the sun is coming up. The sky is turning a bright blue. I cannot help but stare at it and remember the last time I was awake at this time to see the sunrise. That was a much simpler time, a time where power was not as important as it is now. I miss my old life, when I had nobody after me and my family, just because we hold rank in this society of Eternals.

"Akilina, you should be asleep." I hear the smooth voice come from the bed but yet I could not find it in myself to turn around and face him. I have heard that voice ever since I was seventeen. That voice use to comfort me when I was young, when I use to wake up screaming from the nightmares. Dimitri was always by my side ready to comfort me and tell me that everything was ok and that he would not let the monsters get me; needless to say that he was the monster I was dreaming of.

I hear the bed creak as he moves to get out. He is not usually this loud but he has no need to use stealth while he is with me. I am no longer his enemy, if I were ever counted as his enemy; I was always counted as his pet until he changed me. His feet make a thumping sound as they hit the floor, I can hear everything. I can hear the swaying of his hair as he approaches, the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground heading for the stables, the sound of his steady breathing, the sound of the birds greeting the morning sun, I can even here Alaric, our son soundlessly sleeping in the room next door. I feel the warmth of his hands on my shoulders as he stands in back of me.

The feel of him next to me should bring me comfort but it does not; at least not at the moment.

"Will you come back to bed? Or do you have other plans?" There is a slight chuckle in his voice and it makes my mouth twitch at the corner. I can feel his breathing on the back of my neck. I close my eyes suddenly lost in the moment of intimacy.

After a moment I whisper, "I have other plans."

He grabs my shoulders in a tighter embrace and turns me around so that I am now facing him. I stare into his beautiful green eyes. Those eyes captivate me every time I look into them. His skin is no longer as pale as it was when I first met him; his skin now has a light golden color to it. He raises an eyebrow at me and smiles. His teeth are perfectly straight and white.

"Am I going to be included in these plans?" I can hear the hope in voice. I am often left alone because I am not held in high rank with the officers of the Eternals. I was one of the best in my class but I was not born into this world, I was created, and for that I am not treated as all the other females who were born into this world.

"Aren't you tired?"

He smiles at me; it is a tired smile but still a smile none the less. He moves away from me and goes into the closet. I focus my attention back on the sunrise but then I hear a loud noise that sounds like something has fallen, but I am not troubled by it. But I still turn my attention to the closet to see Dimitri emerge not a minute later fully dressed in jeans and black t-shirt. His hair is tied in a pony tail and there is slight smirk on his face. I look down and notice that he is holding a rather large box in his hands.

"This hit me on the head. I'm going to have Plaxe clean out that bloody closet." He throws the box on the floor and starts to walk towards the two huge doors that led into our bedroom or into the hallway. He turns towards me and smiles, "Will you join me?"

He does not wait for me to answer; he just turns around and opens the left door and leaves it open only a few inches and continues walking into the hallway. I follow him and see that he is already at the bottom of the stairs talking to Damon, his first in command. Dimitri's hand goes up and he slaps Damon across the face. Blood comes out of Damon's mouth. Damon grabs hold of his left cheek and looks at Dimitri then up at me, he nods to Dimitri and walks out of the room. Dimitri looks up to see me standing there and he has no expression on his face anymore.

Dimitri walks towards the center of the main entrance and continues walking to the door that leads to the garden and I follow behind him. I quicken my pace so that I may catch up to him and when I do catch up, he motions for me to sit. I look at the table and all around the garden before I sit down. But when I do sit down I take the seat across from him instead of the one next to him. I look at him and he looks upset and I want to know what has caused him to get this way.

"What's wrong?" I whisper. I know that he can hear me, his mouth is twitching it gives me the sense that he wishes to answer my question, but he does not know how to start.

"We found a dead pure blood outside of Xia. It was a little girl maybe the age of Alaric. Her father sent out three of my men to look for her but by the time they got there the little girl had her throat ripped out." Dimitri did not look at me while he explained what happened to the little girl he knew that there would be sadness in my eyes and hated to look upon me when I had this expression on my face.

The servants that Dimitri has were busy cleaning and preparing blood for Dimitri and I. The youngest one named Alexis came to us and looked directly at Dimitri ignoring the fact that I was there.

"My lord, is there anything you will need this morning?" The little servant girl began to blush fiercely and I could smell the blood running through her veins as she moved her short blond hair away from her neck. Her blood did smell sweet like fresh strawberries, but that didn't matter to me. I hated the way she was looking at him.

I smiled at Dimitri and I showed him my fangs. He then grabbed the girls hand and sat her on his lap. She began to blush more so that the redness has taken complete control over her cheeks, the hair that she had moved fell back into place. Dimitri moved her short blond hair out of the way again and began nuzzling her neck just as he had done to me this morning.

I moved so quickly that the girl did not see me or even notice. I grabbed her head and slammed it into the table. Blood splattered everywhere and Dimitri bared his fangs at me.

"Could you not have waited a little longer my love?" He said through clenched teeth. I knew he was not upset with me but still I felt the need to get rid of this servant girl who dared to toy with my husband right in front of me.

Dimitri must have heard my thoughts because he slowly caressed my back as I picked up Alexis and moved her so that I had more access to her neck. My fangs went into her neck and I could taste the sweet blood that came flowing from her veins. I was not even there two minutes when I felt Dimitri pull me slightly telling me to let go. I let go and I looked back at Dimitri and he was smiling again. He bit where I bit and drank till there was nothing left.

Alexis' body was then dumped on the floor, Plaxe stuck her head out the entry way and saw the body she slightly gasped but quickly got control of herself and ran to get Lev or Damon. A few moments later Lev approached us in full armor. He bowed to Dimitri and I and he simply waved his hand and Lev picked up the body and turned on his heel and walked further into the garden, where he or someone else will dispose of the body.

"You are very aggressive this morning Akili." Then he began to laugh, I continued to stare at him with a smile on my face not knowing what else to do. His laugh was always a sort of musical laugh; I suppose at one time he could make an entire room laugh with him, his laugh could be quite contagious.

"Does it bother you, my king?" I asked still smiling.

"You would have bled that young girl dry if I would have allowed it…But I decided to join in the feeding." He paused for only a moment. "Akili, why did you get so upset that she only addressed me, isn't this the way it has always been?"

I knew the answer to his question. I did not like the way she was looking at him. I am the only one who can look at him with those eyes. I cannot tell him that, for he would take pleasure in the fact that a mere mortal could make me jealous. "Because my king, I was merely stating the fact that she smelled delicious and I simply could not help myself. I had to have a bite."

He smiled at me, then asked, "Why were up so early this morning?"

I look down and notice that the table that was once white is now red, covered in the blood that belonged to that girl. The scent of blood is strong in the air and I know it will linger for an hour or two. "I dreamt."

That was my response. I tried to keep my voice even so that there would be no reason for him to question me further. But Dimitri would question me further regardless.

"What have you dreamt about? Do not lie to me Akili for I will know." He points to his head stating that he is giving me chance to tell him. He could very easily read my mind and know everything that I have dreamt about last night, but he would rather me tell him.

"A beautiful nightmare." This is the only response that I could give him. I felt like all my words that I intended to say were stuck in my throat. I swallowed and looked up at him. He gave me half a smile and nodded.

"It was about that day. The day you took me away from my village in Yerw, I could have sworn that I was actually there and it was all happening again. I saw my father die right before my eyes again and I felt the blood splatter and hit my face, I felt the warmness of your touch and I could hear people screaming and others yelling. It was like it was all happening again." I began to tremble as I was talking. Dimitri got up from his chair and walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace.

I was still trembling and I had no control of my breathing.

"Is this what has been troubling you?" I could feel his breathing in my hair. I nodded in his embrace. "You should not be dreaming of that night. It was a long time ago. Think of what you have now, a lovely home, a son, and a husband who loves you and chose you over all his suitors."

I had to smile at that. I moved away from his embrace and I could hear the sound of water in the distance. "Why are the dreams that I have so beautiful and alive but yet they turn into a nightmare, a nightmare that has traumatized me?"

Dimitri grabs my waist so that I am now standing. I am small compared to his large stature. I rest my head against his chest and he whispers, "They are only dreams, beautiful nightmares. They haunt you because you have not yet forgiven me for what I did all those years ago."

He begins to pull away from me but I grab a tighter hold of his shirt and nuzzle my face more into his chest so that I can breathe him in. His smell is the most intoxicating scent, there is no way to describe it, and his scent is simply Dimitri. I run my hands over his chest and he moans but still pulls away from me completely. I am left standing there holding my arms. Dimitri is standing just a few inches away from me but yet it feels like a mile. I stare into his green eyes and he stares into my brownish-purple eyes.

"My king?" I ask after a moment. I hear the sound of footsteps in the house; the footsteps are coming closer and closer. I do not avert my eyes from Dimitri's so I do not know who is approaching.

Dimitri's eyes never leave mine, "What is it Damon?"

"Regan has reported that the pureblood was killed by a vampire. Regan states that the wound is far too precisely done to be done by a werewolf. What will be the next thing to do, my king?" I tear my eyes away from Dimitri so that I may look at Damon and I notice that he is staring at me and not Dimitri, he is in full armor just as Lev had been.

Dimitri looks at Damon, "Send Anton, Ivan and Victor to scout the perimeter and you and Trene stay here to guard the castle."

"Understood my king." Damon was focused on Dimitri the entire time Dimitri spoke and did not even give a second look after he got his orders.

"Dimitri, what is going on?" I asked.

He looked at me and winked. "Nothing my love, just taking some precautious measures." I run to his embrace again and I feel safe and comforted in his arms. I could stay like this for all eternity.

"Daddy, Mommy?"

I quickly break away from the embrace and turn to see Alaric standing there still in his pajamas. I run over to him quickly and bring him into the castle. "Alaric, sweetie, what are you doing up during the day. This is no time for you to be awake."

Alaric looks up at me and scratches his eyes. His black hair is slightly in his face and it makes him look like his father after he comes home from battle, minus the sweat, blood, and dirt.

"But mommy, the smell of blood woke me up." He stops rubbing his eyes and I can't help but stare into his purple eyes. He has taken my eye color, but the purple is more dominant, and there is no hint of brown in his eyes.

Dimitri walks into the pallor where Alaric and I are standing and picks Alaric up into his arms and looks into his eyes. Alaric smiles at his father and Dimitri looks at me with a serious look on his face.

I can sense what he wants to say, and I have been dreading this day since Alaric was born.

"Akilina, I believe Alaric is old enough to go the Adremis."

Hey All, :)

Please R&R my book and let me know what you think and whether I should upload chapter two or not.

Let me know.

Thanks, Ashlinn

P.S. Reviews make me happy so please review. ^_^