Chapter 22

Thank you for reading and Enjoy.

While Victor was at the battle, Elizabeth was waiting anxiously at her father's house. She stood next to the front window, staring out it with her thumb nail in-between her teeth. She was uncomfortable waiting for him, and several times debated whether she should have gone with him.

"Sunrise is coming soon, you should get to rest." Her father said behind her.

"I can wait until Victor comes back. He said he was going to try to be back before sunrise." She began to pace the floor, continuously looking out the window, hoping to see him soon.

Kenric watched her actions, "Elizabeth, how long?"

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth stopped pacing and looked to her father.

"How long?" He gestured to outside the house, indicating he was talking about Victor.

Elizabeth realized what he was talking about, "Long enough to regret every harsh action and word I have done or said to him."

She fell silent as she waited for her father to give his opinion on the matter. The awkward silence stretched on for several minutes until she heard Kenric laugh slightly.

"It's about time."

Her head shot up. "What?!"

"Listen Elizabeth," he placed his hands on her shoulders, "you believe that everything I've done was for your benefit?"

She nodded.

"I need to be honest with you and let you know why I agreed to have you marry Victor. I wasn't the one who came up with the plan. In fact, there was no review on who he would marry. Victor came to me and asked for your hand in marriage."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock. She glanced over her father's face, checking to see if he was joking in some way, he wasn't.

"I listened to his proposition to end the war and thought it was good for you. I'm getting old, and I want to see a world without conflict between Vampires and Hunters. And I will tell you honestly, I liked Edward, but I could never see him as a son-in-law. Victor is a good man who I believed was worthy of my daughter. Did I have my doubts? Yes. But I knew that Victor would treat you with the respect you deserved."

"Then why did you act skeptical when you first told me about the union?"

"I didn't want you to think I was all for it. During that time, even though I accepted, I still had doubts, wondering if I was doing the right thing. I also knew that you could protect yourself if anything happened. I had more hope during the planning time, and I spent more time with Victor."

"And why is that?" Elizabeth crossed her arms.

Her father smiled. "Whenever he talked about you, he spoke with such respect and admiration. He never rolled his eyes when talking about Hunters, he always was polite about the Van Helsing's. And he never spoke badly about you."

Elizabeth's eyes wandered away from her father and to the ground. Thinking about what was just told, the comfortable emotion warmed her body. She ran her fingers through her damp hair and turned away from Kenric and looked out the window. The darkness of night made her feel chilled without Victor there. Her hands rested on her arms as she continued to stare outside, hoping for anything to show Victor's return. She slowly fell into a chair and relaxed her head into her arms, waiting for her husband. She squeezed her hand, sorrow filling her as she glanced to her bare ring finger. Tears burned her eyes as the memory of dropping and losing her wedding band played through her head. Opening her eyes, she looked back out to the stormy night.

"Lizzy, you should get some rest." Her father reached for her.

She jumped up suddenly and ran to the front door. Exiting the home, her suspicions where confirmed when she saw Victor slowly making his way to her.

"Victor!" She called.

He looked up with tired eyes, and she knew something was wrong. She ran, not caring for the rain and wind. She held open her arms to him and he reached out for her. He stumbled and collapsed into her arms. The weight pulled Elizabeth down to her knees as she held him to her chest. Her eyes landed on the arrow in his shoulder.

"Father!" She called back to the house.

"What it is?!"

"Victor's been shot!"

He ran over to her, "It's alright, he'll heal when we remove it."

"No, it's one of ours!"

His eyes widened and he went around to look at the arrow, sure enough there was a small silver cross next to the feather of the arrow. Kenric didn't hesitate when he lifted Victor into a fireman's hold and took him into the home. They placed him in Elizabeth's old room on the bed.

Elizabeth looked over to the window and saw the sky begin to change a dark shade of blue to an orange-pink sunrise. She quickly closed the thick curtains and turned to Victor. The arrow was removed, but the area where it had entered was still slowly healing.

He's been without blood for a while. I need to go get him some tonight. She thought as she wiped his face dry.

Gently moving some hair away from his eyes, she scanned him over and rubbed his cheek with her thumb. Her eye lids grew heavy and she settled next to the bed, her arms resting on his chest. Her eyes drifted shut and she fell asleep. The new light of day passed them by, leaving them in peace.