"When you love someone, you don't have a choice. Love takes your choices away." - Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

Ranger's POV

Helplessly, Ranger wanders back to his home, distraught. Blade is stood smoking outside-something most immortals do because it has no effect on them. When he sees Ranger alone, he chuckles.
"Luna's gone, she ran off." Ranger says, sadly. Blade continues to laugh. "What's so funny? She's alone in a forest full of enchanted creatures!" He screams, letting his inner anger flow.

"Trust me," Blade says, "she'll be fine. Luna is the best vampire warrior the world has ever seen, she can take a life with any weapon, and she can kill with a sword in a mini-second." Ranger knew to believe him, but he couldn't help worry. He'd only just got her back, could he really afford to lose her again? "Plus, Bane will find her." Ranger's heart stopped at the name.
"I'm not so sure, she really struggled the other day against this blood-lust vampire, wait-Bane is still alive?" He asks.
"Yep. It was him that brought Luna to Oak Wood High when she was seven. He's been visiting her ever since. He's not allowed on Oak Wood High territory, so he finds her while she's hunting. They talk for hours, sometimes she falls asleep, and Bane will turn up at my door carrying her." Blade explained, with a glimmer of love in his eyes. Ranger boiled with jealousy and rage.
"I've never been allowed to see her! Do you know how hard I tried? I came to see you every month for the first year, asking if I could speak to her. But you wouldn't let me, ever!" Ranger shouted. Blade shrugged,
"you didn't try your hardest. If you did, you would have figured out her training schedule and met her in the forest. Bane did. He never left her alone. I remember one day, she was hunting when a pack of wild vampires attacked. She was outnumbered, yet she remained strong. Bane was climbing through the trees, watching her from above. He jumped down, slayed a few of them and helped her. She calls him her angel, because he is always there for her. Where were you, Ranger?"
"Bane is in love with her, he always has been. He'll do anything to get with her."
"Maybe so, but let me make my warning clear, Ranger. When Bane brings Luna back, don't be against him. Luna may say she loves you, but with Bane it runs much deeper. Luna repays her debts, and there have been numerous times."
"Luna doesn't 'say' she loves me, she really does."
"She might." Blade shruggs, taking another cigarette from his jacket pocket.
"I should never have broken up with her. I should have been begging for her to stay with me, not forcing her to run."
"Why did she run, anyway?"
"I called Eric a monster. She thought I was talking about vampires as a whole."
"No, you've misunderstood her, that's not why she ran. Oak Wood have sent her on missions where she's had to kill hundreds of different people from different species. He killed one, and you called him a monster. That's nothing." Ranger is smacked by realization.
"I had no idea."
"I guessed you didn't. Bane has always understood, with himself being sent on the same sort of missions. His track record is probably almost identical to Luna's."
"I can tell, you'd rather Luna be with him than me."
"Luna is the daughter I never had. I will protect her until I die, and I will want for her what's best. Bane has protected her when I couldn't. He has taught her fighting tactics that have resulted in her life being kept intact. The way Luna talks about him... it can give a person hope." Ranger felt the need to top anything Blade said about Bane.
"Me and Luna have a magical bond that Bane can't compete with. When me and Luna kiss, we stop time."
"I'm sure it must feel great, but I don't want details about your love life."
"No. It literally stops time. You can ask Cara. Fairies don't seem to be effected by it, but humans defiantly are. I don't know about vampires."
"That's impossible. Your a fairie, she's a vampire, by all the laws your relationship is illegal. The gods would never do that."
"I don't know. It just happens."
"Luna-she's not under a spell, is she? I'm not saying I believe you, but that seems to be the most realistic explanation."
"Of course not. When we kiss, she's involved."
"Good. Right, I'll try and gather some information. If what you are telling me is true, then there is something going on here that is bigger than I ever imagined. This might also connect you to Luna's fate according to the Prophecy."
"Okay, don't tell Luna, she doesn't know."
"I guessed as much." Bane nods before fleeing the room, heading through the narrow hallway to the library.

Eric's POV

Eric sat up in bed, drinking his glass of blood carefully, not wanting to ruin the new Egyptian cotton bed spread. He lay back, closing his tired eyes.

The black around him merged into red, seizing hold of his ankles, and pulling him down into the depths of the unknown. His heart began to pound, his head ringing. He was dragged through nothing but bold colours, speculating it's end.

Finally he reaches the main, completely white, hall, where an angel is seeking refuge. She cries tears of blood that flow down her face, before traveling down her white, puffy dress. Her black wings are large, outstretched behind her skinny frame.

Every time Eric sees her, he can't breath. He has to comfort her. "I've missed you," she cries, wiping the tears from her face. "You don't visit me enough anymore." Her soft voice complains.
"I know, and I am sorry." Eric apologizes.
"It's Her. She prevents you visiting me." The angel whines, hiding her beautiful face in her hands.
"No, she doesn't mean to. She ran away from me, and I've been unable to sleep, waiting for her return." He explains, sweetly.
"You want to kill this girl, so you can save the vampires." She acknowledges.
"Yes," Eric admits.

The angel stands up, gliding over to Eric like she's on roller-skates. She gently touches his cheek. "You love Her. I see it." She whispers, her white eyes filled with sorrow.
"I do." Eric says.
"Then what if I told you there was another way. That you could save the vampires and get the girl." Eric smiles,
"I'd accuse you of being mad." The angle smiles, the first smile Eric's ever seen her wear, in amusement.
"No, my darling, not mad." She moves her hand over his cheek.
"She doesn't love me back," Eric says. The angel holds a sinful expression.
"What if I could make her?" He grins, happier than ever.
"Really? You could make her love me?" The angel nods,
"I can."
"Would it be real love?"
"Very real, the purest kind."
"Please do it. I need her to love me." The angel this such a good idea? His father had always taught him that he should never truly understands. But this angel is so perfect, sent from heaven to protect him.
"I will. I need you to wake up, go into Oak Wood forest, take her, then bring her to your room. I'll cast the spell. Once she loves you, she won't need to be sacrificed anymore."
"But the prophecy -" Eric's puzzled,
"will be rewritten. Don't worry, my darling, the vampires will be safe, and thrive." The angel smiles,
"thank you." Eric mutters. She kisses his head, murmuring smoothly,
"you are special, child."

Eric opens his green eyes. He jumps out of bed, collection his leather fighting gear from his wardrobe. After a long walk from his bedroom, he finally reached the castle gates. Oak Wood forest has never looked so beautiful, full of insane possibility.