Chapter 25 – Prophecy

Raine

Adrenaline raced through me as I stumbled away from Hayden. And I could see about ten more Hunters spread out behind him. The last people I expected to find in the woods were the vampire hunters! Fuck.

"Stay away from me!"

He held his hands in the air, the universal sign that he meant me no harm. But I knew better. Shit. I had only been worried about being dragged back into a loveless union, or becoming a tasty meal for some wild creature. I didn't anticipate the Hunters to find me first. This didn't make any sense really, when I thought about it. I snapped, "How did you find me?"

His response was a bit smug, "We are Hunters. We can track anything or anyone."

"How did you even know I was in the woods," I shot back.

His expression was tight. "With any treaty, the peace is maintained by having intelligence of what your foe is doing."

Oh, so they had spies in the vampire's estate! That meant the vampires knew I was gone. I was a little shocked that they hadn't found me before the Hunters. And then another thought consumed me. Maybe Cage was thankful I had left, so that he wouldn't be forced to follow through on this particular duty. I pushed that thought out of my head, because if I dwelled on it for one more second, I was going to be right back on the ground. But this time, curled into a little ball of emotional torment.

Hayden put his hands down and took a tentative step forward as he murmured softly, "I meant it when I said you were safe now. I am asking you to come with me, willingly."

I stared at him in shock and hissed, "Are you fucking kidding me? I think you already brilliantly displayed your intentions toward me when you tried to kill me! I'm sorry that you came all of this way to finish the job you failed to complete last time, but I will never go willingly with you anywhere!"

A muscle twitched in his jaw. "I am sorry about what happened at the chalet. Those Hunters were not acting on my orders. They responded out of fear."

"Fear of what? Who the fuck am I?" I practically shouted.

"You are the key to defeating them. Please, I swear to you I will keep you safe. I have no desire to harm you."

I stared at him.

The sincerity in his eyes was a little disconcerting.

He saw that I was wavering and rushed on, "You ran away from them. Obviously, you want your freedom. I promise to give you that. I would never hold you against your will."

He was right about one thing. I had run away from the vampires. And if I agreed to go with him, I knew that at least I wouldn't die out in the woods by a wild animal or from starvation. Of course, that didn't mean he would keep his promise about not holding me against my will or not killing me whenever the time suited him.

He continued urgently, "You do have the power to defeat them. Come with me! It is your destiny."

There was that word destiny again. I think I was about done with letting Destiny slap me around as she pleased. I snarled, "I don't give a fuck about any prophecy or what you feel my destiny is!"

"You should. It is all about your family," he said gently.

What?

I couldn't breathe.

He knew my family? How was that possible?

I had assumed the prophecy just stated some horrible thing they thought I was going to do. But it wasn't enough. He was going to have to do much better if he wanted me to believe him. I pushed, "You know the prophecy. If you want me to believe you, then tell me what it is!"

He hesitated a moment as if deciding. "A child born of an impossible union..."

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So sorry about the super short chapter, but we are switching POV's right here. Hopefully, I will have the next chapter today. I have never had a book flow out of me so quickly as this one is doing. Its so strange, but as long as it is, I will keep posting chapters. :) :)