Well here's chapter 12...for those of you that did not know before, chapters 9 and 10 WERE changed when I posted chapter 11 so I suggest reading that to understand a bit more if you have not done so already. Thanks for the support.

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After I had come back from New Mayhem, I knew that I could not quench that desire to see the city again and again. Even after its dark and somber mood and the stench and danger of the mortal city that lay near it, I could not leave it behind. I was addicted to it. It was so different from Ardid and that is what made it so special to me. I was scared of the mortal world but only when it came to living in it. I knew that I would never survive in it since I had always been confined to the ancient, unchanging ways of Ardid that had sheltered me all those years. I was afraid to be thrown into a new world. It was as if in Ardid, time was stopped and everything was unchanged, and I would be miserable without Ardid.

No one knew of my secret wanderings in the vampire city, no one cared except those in the household. Sahaid was the one that the people of Ardid looked to and not me. As I said before, I was only something like an ornament, to show the people that Sahaid held enough kindness to keep a wife with him after many years. Asryn would always tell me of the life in Ardid between the people that inhabited it, but I never cared. They did not need me. So it must have surprised her when I told her that I was taking up Silver's small request to protect them. It was an attempt at being a good queen, a good leader. Sahaid had done enough for me and I needed to repay him by protecting his kingdom.

Asper was kind enough to find yet another way to transport me to New Mayhem and for more easier than the last. It did not give me a restricted time to return and it did not include an hourglass. It was only a small necklace that Sahaid always kept with him and had handed down to Asper. A necklace made of silver and it had of one of the most beautiful things that Ardid had to offer embedded on it; a silver rose. Ardid's main entrance to those who wanted to come to it, included the rose. It was a passageway between realms but only few who had knowledge of Ardid could come across them. It was a small necklace and even though the rose was made of silver, the emerald leaves were the only color in it. The rose was of pure silver but the stem was hollow and inside lay the nectar of the rose.

As I wondered around the cities near New Mayhem where I knew that vampires made their homes in, I came across a club that to human eyes it appeared empty and desolate. Ambrosia. I made my way in, but the subtle darkness surprised me. A human would not have been able to see anything but with the special gifts that being a vampire solicited, I was able to make my way around easily. Whenever I visited the new strange world that I had known just months ago, I always tried to not dress so lavishly as if I was in my own court. To other prying eyes, I might have looked like a foreigner from the Middle East, without the long dress, of course and the covering veil. My hair would be done up in simple styles, adorned with a few jewels now and then. My gold would always be with me but I did not wear as much as I did in Ardid. Yet, gold attracted thieves and greedy men, who in the end were nothing but food to me. I had become obsessed with the taste of pure human blood. I took a pleasure in killing but I would only kill those who came to me. I was their death and they willingly approached me, thinking me to be their mine of gold.

I lingered in the corner, watching the others intently. Some were new born vampires and only a few old ones were there. All weak. I walked out, my gold making a soft clanking sound over the hum of voices in the room. The sounds of the city were so alien to me as I walked out, feeling the faint cool breeze hit my face and blow a few wisps of hair out of place. The smell no longer sickened me as much and lights were everywhere.

I walked, feeling a strange melancholy hit me. I could have lived and learned to love this new world if I had stayed with Aubrey. Yet would my love have weakened Aubrey, and would I ever be a vampire in this world? Someone followed me. The feeling crept inside me and chilled me for a moment. I felt eyes on me but I did not feel need to threaten my stalker.

Aubrey's hands were on my shoulders but I did not push them away, I did not dare. I stood still, waiting for him to say something and I could feel him so near me, placing his face near mine while I was turned away from him. I could feel him caress my hair as his mouth slowly went from the side of my face to my neck which was covered in the gold that I had. I let him go on, I did not want to stop him. His lips lingered there, threatening to take a bite of me yet not doing anything. We stood like that for quite a while and I tried to enjoy feeling him near me as much as time would allow before it cruelly tore us apart.

"Beautiful Aisha..."Aubrey whispered into my hair, his voice holding something wistful as if he was recalling the blissful memories of the past. His arms encircled my waist and held me against him. His embrace was tight as if he never wanted to let me go and for a moment I thought I felt him shiver, though I doubt it was because he was cold. Breathing, such a normal and ordinary act was hard now that Aubrey held me.

Yet, the moment was broken not by me but by Aubrey. His tight embrace was no longer comforting, he put almost all of his full strength into and one of his arms crept towards my neck and closed around it in a deadly grasp. I gasped at this strange behavior and I could not react for I was too stunned at this. For a moment, I thought that I had met my end and I would not fight him. I would welcome it indeed, to be killed by the one that long ago killed me inside when I needed him the most. His voice, no longer wistful, now spoke to me in a harsh whisper that had a deeper impact on me than his deathly embrace.

"I am not going to be your little pawn in order to be free...You used me once and I will not let you do it again." his words were so cold, so distant. I could not picture that the man who held me now, ready to kill me, was once the man I had fallen for long ago. He had changed into someone I did not know and I could not expect what he was going to do next.

He released, not gently, he just pushed me away from him as if touching me burned him. I stumbled a bit but I managed to steady myself and slowly, I met his gaze. His face held nothing, it was blank and without any trace of emotion yet his eyes deceived him. There was something dark there, something that I did not wish to know about. He had something planned, I recognized that calculating gaze from Sahaid and Zein.

"Aubrey..." I whispered soflty, trying to make him understand my point of view. It was true that during my mortal life in Suniria, I had seen Aubrey as a way to escape my marriage. Yet, when I saw him waiting for me near the ruins, I knew that there was something that lay between us that was far deeper. I was young back then, too young but I was well aware that girls at my age were already married and were already producing heirs. Yet, many of them, never knew love. I had been the lucky few. By the time that Aubrey had come to rescue me from Aurelius, I was all but willing to leave to be with Aubrey and not to free. I would rather be enslaved by the man I loved than by one whom I hated.

Aubrey did not listen to me and instead turned and gave me a mocking laugh. "Do you enjoy your new life with...Sahaid?" he turned around and looked at my surprised expression as he said his name. Sahaid. I had forgotten of Sahaid. Aubrey only shook his head and gave a little laugh that was not pleasant. "You are queen now. You have everything you want...even immortality."

I closed my eyes. Immortality. I shook my head and heard the faint jingling of gold against gold. I did not want to argue. I wanted to know how Aubrey knew of Sahaid because I had not done one single thing to indicate his name. I looked at Aubrey, not faltering in my gaze as my eyes met his black dark pools. "Just how do you know of Sahaid?"

Aubrey only smiled, obviously amused. "Why I talked to him, of course..."