Chapter 11

I stared at her with awe. This women before me truly was the first shadow wing. Everyone seemed entranced by her presence, including myself. Lance was the first to recover.

"My lady. It is an honor to have you return to us."

Grace looked at him, her face kind, though her eyes seemed distant and somewhat cold when they looked upon him. "Thank you, but why were you insulting one of Kori's clan members?"

Lances hawk like eyes stared back at her, not challenging her authority, but not backing down either. "He's an ink stain, you understand what that means to our council."

"Indeed but he is also a shadow wing like myself. I won't allow you to mistreat one of my kind while I'm here, so leave him be." There was an edge to her calm voice and Lance nodded, immediately obeying her wish.

Grace turned to address everyone in the room; "Let us rest tonight and ask questions tomorrow. You should rejoice that another coven has honored you with their company."

A voice came from the shadows; "No offence Angel Girl but aren't you from the council of Spirit? What right do you have to tell the council of Fire what to do?" I recognized the arrogant voice, and turned to see Kyle leaning on his brothers empty chair.

Grace observed him for a moment silently, but before she could respond Lance cut in. "Brother! Watch your tongue. You should show respect to lady Grace."

Isaiah held up his hand, his tone broke no argument. "This council's meeting is over, lets return tomorrow at mid day and discuss what to do next."

The other council members nodded their heads in agreement, rising from their seats and leaving. Lance merely shrugged and walked out the door, gesturing to his brother to follow. Kyle strode past me, winking as he walked by. Frowning and rolling my eyes, I turned to my coven.

"Now what do we do?"

"If you would like, you could join me in the dining room to celebrate your arrival." Grace smiled, her tone slightly timid, like she was unused talking to people.

Isaiah walked over, grinning with an almost boyish like charm that was completely out of place when compared to the rest of his solemn disposition. "Yeah, then we could catch up. It's been so long since I last saw you guys."

Victor positively beamed. "When was the last time we saw each other? Must have been...whoa man about 50 years ago? Ha! Damn, hey you remember when the council..."

He continued on while walking away with Isaiah, talking eagerly with him. Karen shook her head as they wandered around the corner and disappeared from sight.

"Men. You can't trust them. Pretty soon they'll be out drinking like old times, I just know it." She muttered to herself.

The rest of us followed after them, Mari glanced back at Grace who walked a few paces behind us. I was highly aware of her presence as Mari tugged on my sleeve. She whispered up to me, her eyes shining with wonder.

"I think shes a real angel."

Will snorted, easily hearing this."You think everyone's an angel, I'm surprised you don't think these walls are made of clouds. Or maybe that the torches are lit by fairy magic." He gave her a disapproving glance that was very big brother like.

Mari stuck out her tongue. "Just cause you have no imagination. You're jealous of my book, that's your problem."

A quiet voice spoke from behind us, the sound was like a brush of a feather along your skin. "May I see that book, young one?"

Mari jumped and whirled around, staring with big green eyes at Grace, who's patient liquid gold eyes stared back.

"S-sure!" Mari handed the large silver book to Grace, whom I noticed had sharp and elegant fingernails.

I looked over at Richard who hadn't spoken a word since he'd been punched by Lance. His head was bowed, unwilling to look at me. His eyes were shadowed so I couldn't see his expression, but I could feel his inner hostility and pain.

Grace's voice drifted back to me. "This is a very ancient book. I have many like this in my library."

"You have a library! Could I see it one day?" Said Mari excitedly, Will rolled his eyes.

Grace smiled as she delicately turned the pages. "Perhaps. If it is permitted by your guardian."

My eyes widened and I shifted my gaze away. I hadn't really thought of myself as Mari and Wills guardian. In some ways I didn't know why I had dragged them into this, but I felt very protective of them. It was almost as if I thought of them as my younger siblings, not my children.

I could tell what the other vampires thought of me as I held Maris hand, keeping close to Will. They thought I was trying to fill the void of not having my own children by adopting Mari and Will. But it wasn't like that for me.

It just felt right to have them by my side. And how could I turn them away now when I'd gotten them so involved? Had gotten so involved with them? Perhaps it was wrong. It wasn't what Will wanted, but he did want his sister to be happy. Mari had a glow about her as she strode down the halls, talking to the Ancient Grace. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice we had reached the dining room.

The chandelier was the first thing I noticed. It was large and to say it was beautiful was a definite understatement. Crystals and diamonds glittered in the light. There was a band of vampires in the room, playing musical instruments like violins and cellos, one was on a piano. Couples swayed elegantly to the music, seeming to flow to the rhythm naturally.

The vampires already present were each holding a wine glass. They were filled with a red substance brimming to the top of the glass.

Blood.

I could smell it from where I was standing, and I was desperate for it.

A glass was suddenly placed into my hands, with that same red liquid inside it. I looked up at Richard, who then walked away, his face emotionless. I quickly downed the drink and was about to go after him, my heart tugging with concern. I felt a light hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"May I speak to you alone?" Said Grace, handing the large book back to Mari, who gazed up at her with admiration.

I nodded slowly, glancing back at where Richard had been. I then quickly grabbed another glass full of blood from the table next to me. I then looked down awkwardly at Mari and Will, who were gawking at the massive fire place. Jinx leaned in next to me and smiled. "Go. I'll keep an eye on the runts."

Smiling back in appreciation, I followed the women with golden cobweb wings out of the dining room. She opened one of the glass doors that lead out into the garden.

The whole atmosphere was buzzing with night life. The garden had bushes and a small pathway weaving around the hedgerows and trees. Grace walked down the pathway without a word, the moonlight reflecting on her wings, giving them a golden glow.

We lapsed into silence until the path ended and we came to a clearing. At the center stood a large statue, which Grace stopped and gazed at. Her eyes were full of such hurt and sadness that it took me by surprise. She sat down heavily on the stone seat placed in front of it.

I was concerned for her, but I was also confused as to why she had brought me here.

"So um...you wanted to talk to me?"

Grace didn't look at me, still staring at the statue mournfully. "What do you see when you look at this statue?"

I looked at it, furrowing my eyebrows. To describe it, I would say that it was a man, or most likely a male vampire judging by his beauty. But his handsome face was twisted, looking straight at Grace, and with such pain it made your own heart ache. His hand was even outstretched, right in Grace's direction, his eyes fixated on her as if he were alive.

I swallowed thickly. "I see pain," I murmured.

"Yes. Tell me Kori, do you know of your heritage? Your ancestors for example?"

I tilted my head in confusion at the sudden change in topic. "Yes, in a way. I'm descended from Tamaraneans and Gordainiuns."

Grace flinched at the name. "Correct, and can you tell me more about them?"

Not wanting to be rude, I didn't ask why she was bringing this up. "The Tamaraneans were a race of people, women mostly, who practiced magic similar to witch craft." I was glad I had read up on my ancestors before hand, but I hadn't been able to find any information on the Gordainiuns.

"Yes...and the other race?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know about them, except for the fact that they were horrible creatures. They were violent, and they..." I remembered Richard and his cut arm. I avoided looking Grace in the eye. "They hurt their own soul mates. Inflicting pain on them, making them suffer for no reason."

When I looked up, Grace had placed her hand in the statue's outstretched one.

"...Some say vampires are demons in disguise." Grace whispered, more to herself than me.

"I don't believe in that. There are some vampires who I believe have souls, they've kept it along with their humanity and their emotions. They have guilt about killing humans, and that is what separates them from demons." I said to her, conviction in my tone.

Grace's hand left the statues, her fingers brushing lightly against its own. She faced me, and though her eyes couldn't change colour with emotion, the gold orbs danced with cold fire. There was deep sense of sadness and hurt in her eyes.

"This man was my soul mate."

I felt my dead heart clench. When I looked once more at the stone man, I put the pieces together and realized why Grace had been asking such questions. She was testing me, not on my knowledge but my beliefs, what I thought about vampires and my ancestors. I also came to a sad conclusion.

Grace's soul mate had been killed by a Gordianiun.

OOO

It was hard to break the silence, but when I finally did all I could say was; "I'm sorry."

Grace sighed, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "It happened many centuries ago. Kori, may I ask if you know anything about the Gordianiun's ancient powers that they use?"

I frowned, partly because I didn't know, and also because she'd spoken about the Gordainiuns in present term. "I had their power when I let the Devils Lure take over me. My other side was so powerful that she forced me out of my own body. When she was in command, she had control over the weather, and the plants." I said, remembering when I had thought that Richard was dead, letting Blackfire take over.

Grace stared at me with old eyes, seeming to drift out of focus for a moment. "Strange. Wondrous but strange. The Gordainiuns were never seen to have such power...you truly must be the woman from the prophecy."

My hands automatically clenched into loose fists. I didn't want to talk about that stupid 'prophecy' everyone jabbered on about. "Well if that's not their ancient powers, what did the Gordainiuns use?"

Grace turned back to the stone man, tracing her palm over his horror filled face lightly. Her eyes were so sad that they reminded me of the sadness on Xaviour's face as he'd held Rose's broken body in his arms.

A wave of guilt overwhelmed me, but I pushed it away. Sudden understanding swept over me. The statue wasn't a memorial after all, this was Grace's soul mate.

My voice was thin and shaky. "So they...they could turn people to stone?"

"Yes." Grace said quietly, taking her hand away and turning from the man. She walked past me quietly, following the path towards the palace.

"Vampires are ancient creatures themselves. They are not however, as old as humans."

I blinked in surprise as I followed her, I had assumed they were. "What do you mean?"

"I take it you do not know very much about our culture or history?" Grace looked back at me, her misty eyes had cleared, her voice sounding stronger.

"No I don't. I was turned only a month and few weeks ago." I was distracted by the sound of an owl hooting, perched on a tree near us. Its amber eyes watched me carefully.

"I can see that." She smiled almost playfully and I frowned. She turned back to the path ahead, tone light and airy. "Well Kori Anders, would you like to learn from me? I know much about this world, the past, present..." she trailed off.

"And the future?" I asked, excited at the prospect of learning more about this world.

She lifted a shoulder. "Sometimes. Here let me show you something else." Grace seemed to not want to talk about the future. I felt a twitch in my insides, that twisting sensation that I had felt a month ago. It was a sign of danger, that something was wrong.

I tried to ignore it as I followed Grace along the path once more, but instead of going inside, she walked around the building. I followed, thinking about the war my coven and I were supposed to partake in. What would happen to Mari and Will if something happened to me?

My eyes drifted up to Grace. What would happen to Richard if I died?

I had heard that if a soul mate died, the remaining vampire would go insane and destroy itself. Apparently, the loss of the other half of your soul was a grief too horrible to bare.

So what is Grace doing alive? Or rather being the living dead. Shouldn't she have died after her soul mate was turned to stone? Is she...insane?

Grace opened a black wooden door, casually entering like she owned the place.

I followed her inside, the door closing on its own. I was astonished to see a large room in front of us, with books crammed into the walls on every side.

There were glass cabinets here and there, displaying various items, but the thing that drew my gaze was a large painting.

Walking over, my eyes slowly widened as I realized what I was seeing, my mind taking in every detail. I gasped, for once, hesitating in my sure footed movements.

In the picture, was a women shown in the sky. A bright light was spilling out around her, lighting up the figures below. I was startled, because the women looked exactly like me, except she had black wings instead of white. I looked at the figures below the women in the picture, frowning at the strange and monstrous creatures.

They looked like gargoyles. The kind you'd see on churches, gazing down at you with fierce and frightening eyes. They had large bat like wings that looked like they were made of stone, each one looking at me in the sky. Behind me in the sky looked what seemed like buildings, perhaps L.A or New York, the figures of the buildings seeming far away.

"Is this me?" I asked quietly.

"The prophecy about you was written by the same woman who painted this picture. She was a Tamaranean like yourself, who predicted the possible fall of the vampire world. This is what the picture shows." Grace stood next to me, her eyes on the gruesome figures below me.

"So...those things below me are vampires?" I asked with astonishment.

Grace seemed unwilling to talk about it. "In a way. I'm afraid I cant reveal the full truth about everything in the future to you. I know allot of things that I must keep to myself. But I can teach you things about the past, to help you shape the future."

I looked at the painting once more and raised my hand, tracing the figure of the girl in the sky with ebony wings. "This is all so surreal."

Grace smiled gently. "Indeed. I'm glad you are here."

I wish I could have said the same. I didn't like what I was seeing, in fact the one person I wanted to talk to most right then was Terra, she seemed to know allot about my prophecy, and I trusted her. I looked at Grace out of the corner of my eye.

I wasn't so sure about Grace yet. She could be unstable from losing her soul mate. But I did want to learn from her so I decided to be optimistically cautious. "I want to learn more about this Grace. If its not too much trouble can I come back tomorrow after the council meeting to learn more?"

Grace nodded, "of course. If you wish to retire to your room now, I understand. Your soul mate is waiting for you in the dining room."

With that said, she brushed passed me and walked to the door. I looked at her in surprise. How does she know about me and Richard?

The golden winged vampire looked back at me, seeming to pick up on my thoughts. "I have lived for many centuries, and have learned allot from my experiences. I wont share your secret with anyone, you have my word. I know allot about the pain you can go through just to stay with the one you love." She glanced away, a wistful look in her eyes as her voice became heavy and tired.

"I didn't lose my mind after my soul mate was turned to stone because he is not dead. He is frozen. The other vampires think I am insane, but I will not stop looking for a cure for my husband. I will not destroy myself either in case he wakes from his frozen state to find me gone. Until the very last bit of hope for him is gone, I will not stop existing for him." She closed her eyes against the pain.

I furrowed my brows, but since she was having a personal moment, I didn't want to say anything.

She blinked and smiled softly, seeming to come back to herself as she looked at me. "I shall see you tomorrow daughter of the stars. Take the route we took to get here to make your way back to the dining room."

I nodded, tone sincere. "Thank you Grace."

The angelic lady smiled, before opening the big oak door and disappearing from sight.

I turned and did as she had said. My thoughts were swimming with Gordainiuns, Tamaraneans, statues and paintings. What did this all mean?

OOO

The next day, I was stood before the council once again.

I summoned my courage, looking Lance in the eye as I answered his question of; "What exactly happened to Slade Wilson and his daughter?"

My head was raised as I spoke clearly. "I killed them sir."

There were gasps, but not many of the vampires seemed to angered. I remembered something about Slade being on the council of Air, so that was probably why the council of Fire members didn't seem too distressed.

Lance frowned, his tone casual. "Why exactly?"

I looked at some of my coven members that had turned up to offer support. Naturally Jade and Roy hadn't turned up, still arguing like an old married couple, but the one person I expected to see there hadn't come.

Richard had not been seen by anyone since yesterday. I hadn't even seen him in the dining room where Grace said he was waiting for me. Jinx had shown me to my chambers, which were opposite Will's and Mari's room. This eased at least some of my fears.

"As you said, I have powers that were descended from the Gordainiuns. But their old power came with the Devils Lure, their...alter ego method. I switched sides, becoming evil, giving into the power by accident. By doing so I killed Slade Wilson and his daughter without realizing."

It had gone quiet now. Everyone was looking at me, some with looks of wonder, others fear. Lance was smiling, which mirrored Kyles smirk who had sat on the window ledge to observe me.

"You inherited the Devils Lure from your blood line?" Lances eyes were excited now.

I slowly nodded, wary. "Yes but I cant control that side of myself."

Lance seemed to wave away my concern. "Nonsense, the Gordainiuns could. Its nothing that a bit of training couldn't fix." He stood, addressing the rest of the council and the spectators.

"We have here an opportunity. Should Kori refine her powers and learn to control them, she could be an essential part in our plan to defeat the council of Air."

Raven stood from her place in the stands. "Calm down Lance. We have no idea whether that's even possible. I believe we should wait and see what happens, trust in fate. The prophecy says that she will settle this conflict once and for all. Kori will know what to do when the time comes."

Lance frowned at her, but his brother cut in before he could say anything. "Maybe you're right, but what about that other problem? The whole, extra powerful bad ass power Kori is meant to get from marriage? Isn't that from her Tamaranean heritage?" Kyle smiled at me almost mockingly, which I frowned at in return.

A soft voice floated into the air. "Marriage is a symbol of complete love Mr. Warlock. If you're planning on marrying her off to the highest bidder it won't make a difference to her power. If you truly want to awaken her power, you should find her soul mate." Grace appeared out of no where, her calm golden eyes challenging Kyle's.

Kyle smirked, showing a flash of fangs. "And you'd know all about soul mates wouldn't you Grace?"

There was a cry of outrage now from the council and the observers. They shouted insults at Kyle, defending Grace who didn't seem the least bit fazed. I felt my own hands curl into fists as I shuddered, white hot anger curdling in my stomach.

Lance actually seemed embarrassed about Kyle as he yelled; "Enough!"

Silence fell. Each vampire feeling the burst of power from Lance, his energy slipping out around the room.

"This is a tense time. The council of Air will strike first I'm sure of it, and I want us to be ready for when that happens. As such, I need all of our members and soldiers to refine their powers up to the highest level possible. Not just for the survival of this council, but for your own. This war affects us all, and if one council falls, it effects the balance of power in this world."

He then looked at me, his hawk like eyes sharp and intent on my face. "We need your help for survival Kori. Its your destiny to do this."

I looked away, slightly miffed at hearing the word 'destiny' again. "I don't know about that. I don't appreciate being forced into this, but if my friends go into battle then so do I."

"Then... you'll help us?" Asked Isaiah, his tone almost hopeful.

My lips curled automatically at this. They were pretending I had a say in this? "My coven, my friends, are under contract to fight. So I don't have a choice do I? I will help you." I sighed heavily, glancing at Will and Mari. I wished I hadn't dragged them into all of this.

"Excellent! Well then back to this Devils Lure problem. I say we test it, right here and right now, to see whether its controllable or not. "

I rubbed my arm awkwardly, looking at Lance. He didn't get it. It was dangerous for me to unleash Blackfire, but no matter what I said he wouldn't listen. I sighed and asked; "How do I do that?"

"Fight someone who unleashes your anger of course." Lance looked at his brother who lazily moved off the window, approaching me.

"Up for a little fight?" Kyle smirked.

I smiled back, some dark and ugly part of me longing to spill his blood. The feeling never failed to take me by surprise, but I tried to ignore it. "With you? I'd be happy to beat you to a pulp any time, any place."

Kyle faced me and rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it. Unleash that stupid Devils Hook thing."

"It's Devils Lure and gladly." I closed my eyes, concentrating. I hissed in pain as I felt the bones in my back move under my skin. They clicked into place, sliding two long bones out of my shoulder blades. Opening up and growing feathers, they eventually became wings.

The other vampires watched me with rapt attention. Kyle merely laughed, "how pretty. Angel wings. Lets just get this over with."

He ran forward at light speed and I lunged upwards, my skin of fire as I felt the power inside me come to life. It had begun.

ooo

Edit as of 2015: Wow, allot of you guys want me to finish this thing even after 5 years huh? I'm so sorry this went on an unscheduled hiatus. This is my only story that was left incomplete and I feel terrible about that.

(Though to be fair some people don't complete any of their stories, I saw this one profile who had 9 incomplete stories that had been left abandoned. I dunno how they could do that I mean I feel terrible just leaving this one.) Anyway, I promise I will eventually finish this story.

I did just sort of leave it and wasn't interested in continuing, but then so many people wanted me to continue and I feel bad, plus it just irks me that in my list of fanfics this is the only incomplete one. Even after 5 years I still have many of the plot elements, and the ending in my head for this fic, so I will defo try to get re-motivated to finish this thing once and for all soon.

Once again, very sorry but I'm very grateful for all the support you've shown even after all this time. Thanks guys! xxxx