Chapter 10 Anything lost can be found

Seraphina pondered over her words, wondering if she really would have the answers to her questions.

"Are you a part of my lost memories too?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me a little about my lost memories? I don't think I can remember them ever. If I really can't, at least, someone has to retell them to me." Seraphina's voice sounded desperate and she was on edge.

"I'm sorry I can't. You have to remember everything."

"What if I can't, ever?"

"Anything lost can be found, Phina."

Why did that sound familiar and deeply personal?

A voice was in her head. Very low. It was like a whisper. Like it wasn't there. It was saying something, but all she could hear was Phina. She tried to reach for it, that piece of memory that teased her, grazing the back of her mind very lightly. Her mind tried to catch it, but it wasn't coming forth. As she pushed, trying to break through that invincible barrier she seemed to be seeing, she felt a stinging pain in her head, and she quickly clutched it, scrunching her eyes shut tightly.

She let out a whimper as the ringing on her head intensified. She felt a warm liquid run down her nose, and she knew that whatever she was doing she had to stop, but she was close, she couldn't stop now. She could feel a memory at her finger tips. Just a little more...she collapsed, losing consciousness, the last thing she heard:

Phina.

***

The room was dark, and if not for the candle light that lit up one part of it, it would have been impossible to see anything.

She tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Lay down, you should get more rest." It was Cinthia's voice.

Seraphina concentrated her gaze on the dark figure beside her.

"Cinthia?"

"It's I. Go back to sleep."

Seraphina relaxed into the bed, but her eyes remained open, shinning as bright as new.

"Your eyes are still open." Cinthia murmured.

"What were you to me before I lost my memory?" Seraphina couldn't help but ask the question that had been pulling the strings in her heart even in her unconscious state.

"Sleep."

"Why are your eyes blue and not red like most vampires?"

"Sleep." Cinthia's voice was firm this time, and a bit harsh, like the question had set her off.

"But I'm not sleepy."

"So help me deities, if you don't sleep, Seraphina, I'll get Ian to help you sleep."

Her voice was firm and it sounded like she meant it.

Out of dread, Seraphina snapped her eyes shut, and sealed her lips, forcing her breath to even.

"That's more like it." She heard Cinthia hum before sleep took her.

****

"Can I ask a question?" Seraphina asked Tara who was sitting on a chair at the far end of the room with her eyes trained on a book in her hand.

They were in some sorts of library with big old books that Seraphina's hands were itching to touch and see what they held in them, but she stayed put. Tara had asked to take a walk with her, and they had ended up here.

"You are free to ask whatever you want." She confirmed, without looking up from the book she was reading.

"Did you and the king send Ian after me?" Her voice was shaky and her heart thumped in her chest in anticipation of Tara's reply.

"Yes, we did." Her reply was immediate, and she seemed not in the least bothered.

"You also asked him to kill the families that took me in and the villagers?" Her voice mirrored that of hurt.

Tara sighed and looked up from the book she had been reading.

"We didn't have to ask him. It needed to be done."

"Killing innocent people needed to be done? Are you kidding me right now!?" Seraphina's voice was at the top of her lungs and her eyes were teary, while Tara looked not in the least moved.

"It had to be done."

She shrugged with a look of indifference in her eyes.

"You are monsters, all of you." Seraphina whispered, as a tear slipped down her face.

"You know nothing, so refrain from concluding."

"Refrain from concluding!?" She scoffed.

"You killed all those innocent people. The only people that took me in, that ever cared about me!" She yelled, gripping the arm of the chair she was sitting on tightly until her knuckles turned white.

"I know how this must make you feel. I know that it doesn't sound right but we did it for your good and the good of the people. We showed mercy by killing them."

Tara's voice remained strong like that of a queen, and her face free of any emotions.

"You dare speak about mercy? Killing them was showing mercy? I can't seem understand how that was you showing mercy."

"Maybe if you let me explain everything to you and stop throwing a tantrum like a child, you'll get to know why killing them was an act of mercy." Tara's voice remained quiet but strong.

"Are you sick or what? How could killing people be mercy you dimwit!?"

Seraphina yelled out angrily.

"Watch your tone, human! Know your place!" Tara thundered as her eyes flashed red for a split second before returning to their green colour and for a moment there, Seraphina felt fear envelope her insides, but that didn't stop her.

"I would have known my place if you didn't have your errand boy kill the people I love, and hunt me for years. I'm sorry, but I'm way past that level of knowing my place." Seraphina gritted out.

"As much as I like the sound of Ian being my errand boy, he isn't. Don't let him hear you say that, or you'll not live to see the next second. He's a being higher than I am." Tara warned genuinely.

That sent a chill past Seraphina's spine. She knew what he was capable of, she had witnessed it first hand. Just how powerful was he for him to be a higher being than a vampire queen? Subconsciously, she reached for her injured arm and shoulder that was wrapped in neat bandages. She hadn't crossed paths with him for one week since the time she met the king and other vampires in the dinning room, and she wished for it to remain that way.