Chapter 3

I thought that I was dead at first, but if I was, I wouldn't be feeling this very hurtful pain right now. And plus, everything was dark when I opened my eyes and I still feel the heavy push against my body.

I tried to push the ceiling up with my strength, but I'm afraid that I wouldn't be strong enough to push it. To my surprise, my strength was actually good enough and I pushed the ceiling off my side in a second. When it came off, I felt something trickle down my cheek and I soon realized that it along with my forehead was bleeding when I touched it.

It hurts a lot and I was suppose to heal like other vampires, but apparently, I'm too young to heal quickly. And plus, this is the first time I ever got hurt. To prevent any more bleeding, I tore a piece of my shirt off with my hands and I wrapped it around my head. I hope that could calm it down.

When I was done wrapping my wound, I then realized that the battle was over and all the lycans were dead. Blood and guts covered the floor, along with loose weapons and dead vampires. Still shaking from my accident, I stood up and looked around to see nobody moving, nothing is alive. Wait a minute, if nobody around here isn't alive, then where's my friends and my parents?

Now feeling scared and worried, I called out for my loved ones. "Mother! Father! Tabitha! Wyatt!"

I ran. To the safe room, the emergency exit, the opening, everywhere. Everyone's dead no matter where I look. Even all the children. It can't be. I can't be the only survivor. I then realized that I forgot one place that I didn't check: the den.

Upon this realization, I quickly ran to the den and saw more bodies than I ever saw. More bodies and more blood. I walked step by step as I entered the den and nobody even moved.

"Mother? Father?" I wanted to cry, but ever since I turned 6, I promised myself that I wouldn't cry after a frequent accident with a whip.

I looked at the walls and the candles and counters were either broken or crooked. I really wished that my parents hid on the ceiling and survived the attack to see my alive and well. While thinking of possibilities that my parents could be still alive, I heard a noise and I turned around to see a candle fall from the ceiling and roll on the ground. After it went under me, it suddenly stopped when it crashed into two dead bodies.

I wanted to turn away but I couldn't, since I knew the dead bodies' haircuts and clothes anywhere. After I walked closer to the bodies, I slowly kneeled down by the bodies and turned the two over to let them face me. I tried not to puke nor bawl when I saw the torn faces of my now dead parents.

My father's face was once beautiful and now it's ruined. His skin was torn apart from his face and you could now see his skull with loose meat. My mother's face was less worse though. It was torn apart too, but you could still see her flesh and one of her beautiful ocean blue eyes was missing. They're dead. And there's so much proof displayed if there's a chance to make possibilities and it didn't want you to. Sadly, I was so desperate that I tried to think that they were wounded.

"Mother? Father?"

Nothing.

"My family, please."

Their faces are staring at me, probably saying something like, "I bet she can't bring us to life."

"Guys, you need to get up."

I pushed their bodies again, hoping they would scare me by rising up with their faces healing quickly. I wonder if they would still be mad at me for sneaking out and helping them fight lycans.

"Mother, Father, we need to get out of here."

Motionless bodies are in front of me; I even knew that. I just wish I could choose that I didn't. I tugged, punched, slapped, and kicked my parents. It's no use. They're long gone now, either in heaven or the underworld. I just wish it would be heaven.

I knew I didn't want to be alone, so I was hopelessly calling, either for Tabitha, Wyatt, or anybody.

"HELP!"

I stood up and walked around the den hoping that my call could echo to the entire coven.

"Tabitha! Wyatt! Anybody?"

I felt immense pain when I cried, "anybody", and before I could stop myself, I felt tears rolling down my cheeks and I knew that I was crying. I kept a lot of tears from the past six years and I'm creating a lot of them right now.

"Help."

This was my last word before I bawled crazy. My tears were created with two different pains: my parents' death and the pain of my wound. The tears and blood mixed together on my cheek and I saw the pink-colored teardrops fall to the ground. I'm all alone. I lost my family and my friends. My family may be my old adopted family, but it still hurts to see them dead.

I turned back to see the bodies and I had no choice, but to face the happening that the lycans have done. I walked back to the bodies and kneeled back down in front of them. I imagined the faces to have my parents' normal faces back, but it was too hard with the blood everywhere. I cried even more and I covered my face with my hands to hope that I can escape this moment.

I imagine seeing my parents on a hill up in the afterlife, waiting for me to join them soon. Wanting to see me again someday, ignoring the fact that I escaped the safe room. And I could see Tabitha smiling as she lay on the soft grass with her friends and looking at me from above.

"There's no reason for you to be upset, Hale," she would've said if she were here. "As long as you're with me or Wyatt, we'll all be okay."

But she's not here, neither is Wyatt. They're all on the imaginary hill of the afterlife, along with my parents. I want to go there now. The real world may not seem fun, but maybe the afterlife is the place for me. But I realize that I can't do that to myself. Not wanting to do this, I erased the hill and my loved ones from my mind and I could once see darkness in my hands as I continued crying. I have many wishes right now and I can't stop making more.

"I was halfway going to be 20 when my family died."

I gasped when I heard that voice and I slowly raised my head from my hands and turned to my left to see someone familiar looking at the bodies of my parents.

The woman known as Selene.

She didn't face me, even if I could see in her nature that she knew that I was looking at her.

"I woke up to my sister and my mother screaming and I was horrified by what I had witnessed… They were torn apart into pieces. I ran to my nieces' room, wanting them to escape before seeing their mother and grandmother dead, but I was too late. They scared me as they were hanging from the ceiling with their flesh on the walls. I then heard noises in the stables and I ran to there, finding my father dead also. I mourned over him when a nobleman came up behind me and told me that I was safe. His name was Viktor."

I recognize the name now. He was one of the Vampire Elders and was known as the first Elder. I was taught a lot about him. I knew he had a daughter named Sonja, but he exiled her for mating with Lucian, the deceased leader of the werewolf clan.

"Viktor told me that lycans killed my family and comforted me while I was still crying. That night was the night that changed me forever, mentally and physically. Viktor turned me into a vampire and he raised me like a daughter."

I didn't even know that Viktor had a second daughter. I knew he died 12 years ago, but not this. How come I was never taught that?

It was silent when she was done talking. I then knew it was my turn to talk. "I'm very sorry for what happened." I felt pain and jitters in my throat as I spoke. "Do you… do you still have any family left?"

Selene stood there for a moment, but it wasn't long before she faced me for the first time. Her face is in a very pale color and her human eyes are much darker in person.

She then nodded. "Yes, I have two left. A love and a daughter."

Not wanting her to see my tears, I wiped them off as fast as I could. "You must feel like that since those two are the only family you got, you'd do anything to protect them."

She nodded again. I didn't even realize how solemn her face is until now. "They're important to me. They're not like you and your deceased loved ones, neither am I. They're special and I never want them to get hurt."

Even though I tried not to cry when Selene appeared, I still felt tears quietly running down my face and I'm not even bothering to wipe them off.

"Sounds like me and my loved ones. I thought that we would be together forever, trying to find a way to live through this life. Wanting to survive and end this war with us and the humans now. Man, was I naïve to think that way. Now I know that every story needs a sorrowful dilemma. Always."

I closed my eyes, wanting to be alone. Hoping that what I'm picturing right now is my imagination again. But it isn't. I felt a hand on my chin and my head tilted up to face Selene's face. Before I could say something, even though I didn't want to say anything at first, Selene held up her other hand and wiped my tears off. I would picture her smiling at me, but she didn't.

"There's no need to cry. It won't fix anything in life. Just because your family is dead, doesn't mean that your life is dead also."

I sniffled and I was forced to face Selene. "It could be that way. I don't even know what's next for me. Where do I go? What else will come for me? When will my pride come back?"

Selene then moved her hands from my face. "You don't need pride to be happy, young one. Only your life brings you to many surprises. When my family died that day, I wanted to die myself. But when Viktor offered me the gift of immortality, I then realized that as one life moves on when someone important to them dies, it gets better. I never believed that myself but after barely seven centuries of immortality, I finally found someone that made me feel happy and not like before I was turned."

I then knew who she was talking about. "Y-your love."

"Yes, and I promise you that not everyone has a happy life, but they still move on. Walk to where the wind takes them to. Find a place that's safe enough to call a home. Make people to talk to them that's kind enough to call a family."

I may have met this woman for the first time, yet I feel like she has the perfect words of wisdom. Like she's part of history, along with Viktor. Her words make me feel better now. Maybe I could find a new life now that my entire coven is now shredded into pieces. I just hope that I can find a new home and a family one day.

I then smiled at Selene, now realizing her advice. "Thank you."

She nodded back, but she didn't smile. She's so solemn, it's like she doesn't have any emotions.

After a moment of silence, Selene spoke again. "What's your name?"

It suddenly sounds like her voice is blurry, but I could still hear what she asked. "Hale, and your name is Selene."

She looked shocked when I told her her name. "How do you know my name?"

I wanted to say that I heard it before I passed out from the roof, but I decided to go with the first answer from where I heard it. Hopefully she might know what I'm about to say.

"I heard your name in a picture in my head. It ran up to me with my heart pumping, now being a memory."

"What happened in your memory?"

I was going to answer her question, but we both heard a noise coming towards us and we both turned to hear the noises come closer and closer. I thought it was going to be more lycans, but when the noises stopped, I could see that the noises were from Selene's allies.

"Selene, there you are," the dirty blonde-haired man said. "We've been looking for you after we searched for survivors."

Me and Selene then started to stand up, but she walked up to the man and her allies as I stood there. "Well, I'm here now. There's no worries. Have you found any survivors from the attack?"

The man with the unusual shade of brown hair then spoke. "We've searched the entire coven and we think that all lycans killed everyone in this coven, along with their own lives."

Selene sighed, probably from disappointment. "God, these lycans won't ever stop."

As Selene kept on talking to her allies, I could see that the dirty-blonde haired man was staring at me oddly. I felt uncomfortable as he stared at me and I tried not to make eye contact by staring at my shoes, which are now ruined from the sliding and the blood. But it's hard for me, and I couldn't help but look back at him. Like Selene, I feel a very powerful connection with him. It's hard to explain, but it's like how I saw Selene for the first time too. Before I looked back down, the man then looked back at Selene.

"Selene, who's that girl over there?" When he asked this, Selene then turned back at me, along with more eyes on me.

"Our only survivor," she replied, her face still solemn. "This is Hale."

I think she wanted me to come to her side, but I was too shy to come close to her allies. I thought that Selene was going to leave me there, but instead she came up to me, took my hand, and walked me closer to her allies.

"She's probably still shocked from what happened," Selene excused. "Her parents were killed in the attack and her friends also."

She then faced me again like a mother facing her child before the child goes to their first day of school. "Hale, there's no need to worry. They're my family and ally." She then faced the two men and the girl. "This is Michael, my love, David, and my daughter, Eve."

I swallowed a big lump in my throat and it felt dry. The eyes were making me feel even more uncomfortable and I felt scared.

Thank God that Michael was the first to notice what he and his friends are doing. "Oh, are we making you uncomfortable, Hale? I'm sorry, we're just shocked to see someone so young survived an attack like this."

I wanted to stay quiet, but I then spoke. "I was pushed really far into my training by my parents before they died. Though I never was sent out to fight to prove myself."

I then faced away from Michael's face and then eyed Eve. I then was mesmerized by her face, all of a sudden. Her eyes may be blue like her father's, but I swear I think she looks a little bit like me. Same hair, same skin tone. It's like she's my twin. And like Selene and Michael, I feel an odd connection between her. It feels strong and magnetic.

I want to say something to her when suddenly, we all heard a big roar and we all knew that that was too close to be far away.

"Shit," Selene said. "More lycans are coming. We need to go."

"But, Mum," Ever said as she turned away from me. "What do we do with the girl?"

"We bring her with us, Eve," Selene replied. "I saw her fighting in that battle and I think we could use her strength also."

Without saying anything else, the three then began to run to where the sound came from and as they left, Selene looked back at me and she held out her hand. "Come on, Hale. We need your help for this task. It'll be okay."

I don't know if I could trust this woman, but since my connections feel strong towards her, maybe I could. Upon realizing this, I grabbed a hold onto her hand. I could feel her pumping of her blood in her veins and the connection feels strong with me and her. As soon as I grabbed hold, we both started to go to the direction of the sound.

"Selene?" I asked as we walked to the direction. "Did you really see me fighting in the battle?"

Selene looked back at me shook her head. "No, but I could tell by your character that you're very strong and compassionate. After all, you did save my life."

I suddenly forgot about that. I also forgot that that was how our conversation ended when we were greeted by her allies. And that David was soon pushed down by a lycan from the shadows.

I know, I left another cliffhanger. I'm so evil. :D Just kidding. I just wanted to say that I love each and everyone of you who says the nicest things and you inspire me so much! Thanks again and please comment! ;D