Chapter Sixteen: Second Meeting

It is still nightfall and the cold breeze brushing against Gabriel's fur feels satisfying. It would still take a few days to get to the Vampire Kingdom but if he kept at this speed he should be more than fine. He had no plans to stop or rest either. He had a mission and he was going to complete it one way or the other. Whilst he had never personally been to the Vampiric Kingdom. He had heard descriptions from his parents that were something akin to " Where Happiness goes to die". Vampires did not seem to love or feel remorse for anything they did. And there did not seem to be a single time in the history of their existence where they had proven otherwise.

As a young child, he had questioned as to why that was but Noone could ever provide the answer. And now he would be in their domain and be able to experience their home for himself. He wondered how many of them would recognize him for who he was and how many would just see an easy meal. It seemed like that was how they viewed most things. Especially with humans. For what little remorse they did show, none was shown to the dwellers of earth. And this baffled him.

Humans had alot more to offer than just being food. Though, he had never actually eaten a human before. He still knew that humans meant alot more than that. Which is why he believed in Queen Aurora as much as he did at the time. But then she betrayed him. And humans are known for doing that sort of thing as well. Perhaps the defender of humans is doing so because they remind her so much of herself.

Shawn and Victoria continue battling. Which mainly consisted of Victoria trying to get past him and not being successful in the slightest. Which was frustrating her more and more and made her attacks sloppy.And Shawn could tell, and was taking full advantage of this. She had trained her whole life in combat. She was an extremely experienced fighter and yet she was making mistakes. Running off of emotions seemed to be her weakness and she knew it. She knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer. She was wasting so much time with Shawn when Gabriel could be hurt or in danger. But being a nightslasher. Shawn was vastly stronger stronger faster than her naturally. His weakness would have to reside within his technique and skill although that seemed flawless as well.

It had been many years since they had last seen one another and she didn't remember him being this strong.She highly doubted that he trained at any point. And yet he had grown so much in power. And whilst there was no way she could win , her pride would never allow her to give up.

She took pauses in between each attack. Trying to calculate her next move but he was always several steps ahead of her. She took mental notes of his moves as well though it seemed to do no good. He was changing them way to fast for her to be able to keep up. He was unpredictable and that was another thing Victoria knew she couldn't compete with.. This was just an immense waste of her time. And he knew exactly what he was doing. He was stalling her for as long as he could.

It wasn't too long into their fight though that they heard a loud explosion coming from the west of them. A giant sand cloud formed in the distance and both were confused as to what could cause it. Victoria would be able to tell if it was Gabriel normally but the sand manages to hide the scent enough that she knew she would have to investigate. And without further delay, she ran off toward the cloud. Leaving Shawn behind.

Shawn was relieved the fight was over, he was growing more and more bored by the second but his curiosity was peaked with the sand cloud and decided to make his way there as well. Plus it allows him to keep an eye on Victoria which is still his job for right now.

Kara opens her eyes, she is covered in sand and her body is hurting. She had been travelling so fast and she knew she was lucky to be alive at this point. And whilst she was happy that her spell worked, she wasn't sure if she would be able to continue if her body is beaten up this badly. She was determined but she also didn't wanna push herself past her limits and cause irreparable damage.

She had to find a way to fix this. She wasn't exactly good at healing spells yet especially considering Queen Aurora had not quite taught her how to master those yet. Though, she hadn't taught her a lot of healing spells.

But she knew she had to do something. She thought back on the time in which she was trying to Heal Gabriel and it had not worked.

At that time she felt so discouraged from being able to ever do any type of magic whatsoever. And yet here she is again. In a similar boat.. She knows It's not only about knowing how to do some spells but actually being able to cast them properly.

Queen Aurora had called her a prodigy of sorts.And Kara wasn't feeling like much of one at the moment. She was still struggling with some spells and being inexperienced obviously led to her current situation. But Queen Aurora believed in her. And it was that belief in her that gave her the confidence to try

.

And so Kara began concentrating yet again, placing her hands on her legs and fusing her energy into them. She wasn't exactly sure if this was how it was done or not but she had to give it a shot. And though it could have been in her head, or it could have been a concussion, she really did feel like the spell was working. And so she moved her hands up-and-down her body very slowly so that she could take her time to focus the energy properly to distribute it accordingly.

After several moments of this, it turned out that the spell had indeed worked to some degree because Kara felt as though she could move again. Which was an absolute sense of accomplishment for Kara. This was her 2nd time trying a healing spell and it actually worked.

" I can't believe that worked" Kara squealed happily. And just as she managed to get backup to her feet, she heard the sounds of footsteps in the distance. She looked towards the sounds and saw the face she had never truly wanted to see again in a million years. And yet, there it was.

It was Victoria, she must have been in Wolf form because she was panting pretty hard and she recognised that Gabriel did the same thing when coming out of Wolf form.

" What the hell do you want..? " Kara barked at Victoria who simply smirked at the sight of Kara looking so helpless.

" Well look at what I found..The wannabe Queen" Victoria snickered as she approached Kara, who remained as guarded as she possibly could. She knew she couldn't trust Victoria and was expecting to get into a confrontation with her. Which, Kara, if she was being honest, she was almost looking forward to it. She had thought about this day since she started training. Being able to show Victoria that she is not someone to fuck around with.

Though Victoria, seemed to have other plans. " Tell me. Does it still eat at you that he chose me over you? " Victoria snickered again as she circled around Kara. She circled her like prey, and on some level Kara probably was her prey. But Kara didn't care. She was going to fight back with everything she had.

" He chose you because he was doing what was best for your people. What was best for the kingdom. So don't flatter yourself too much. Because at the end of the day, we both know he isn't with you because he loves you. He probably doesn't even like you. But I bet that eats at you..doesn't. How he disciplined you in town because you sucker punched me? How he put you in your place on my behalf. How he chose me over you in that moment despite not having seen you in 18 years. Oooooof..I bet that fucking stung" Kara mocks back just as much As Victoria.

They both had a lot of issues that they needed to resolve. They both wanted Gabriel. Maybe for different reasons but Kara wasn't going to let her win this battle. Because at the end of the day, this battle isn't so much about who Gabriel chooses.

It's about the fact that this Wolf is entitled and feels she can do whatever she wants and that nothing bad will happen to her. She can't just claim people as her own and expect them to do as she says. Her even insinuating that she was chosen to be his wife pissed Kara off immensely.

" You don't know a single thing about me and him. You don't know the history that we have. You don't know what we both had to give up because you came along. You don't know what we lost" Victoria snarled at Kara.

" Hell you don't even completely understand our customs and you damn sure don't understand Gabriel. And that is so sad that you had him for 18 years and you'll still never be able to understand him in the ways that I do. You're not Lycan. You don't fit into the picture with him. There is no way you could be anything to him other than an ally from a distant Kingdom. And even then you're not much of an ally. You're nothing but a weak minded fool. You are nothing but an insignificant little girl who couldn't take care of herself and needed someone big and strong to do it for you. And I can't tell you the joy that I felt when he chose me over you. They look on your face was priceless. You look so hurt and heartbroken by that.." Victoria was on a roll and had no plans on stopping. " You developed feelings for him. And he probably knew that and yet still didn't choose you. Because you were nothing to him at the end of the day. Even though he calls you his friend, you're still nothing to him and you never will be. You will never be like him. And you can never have him. And on top of that, you don't even deserve him. After all the things that you've put him through.And after all the things that he has lost because of you and you alone. You will never have him. No matter how much you cry. No matter how much you whine. No matter how much you cry to your little mommy about it. And no matter how much magic you use. No amount of magic in the world could ever make him love you"

Kara had heard more than enough of this ramble from Victoria. And she was no longer gonna stand for this. Kara began concentrating yet again, Summoning a giant fireball, something her mother had not quite taught her Though somehow Kara was able to improvise.

She launched the fireball at Victoria who simply dodged it. Victoria was far quicker than Kara. But this didn't stop Kara who launched fireball and fireball, hoping that she could hit Victoria even just once but after thowing and missing so many times, she knew she had to change her strategy.

Kara watched closely at the movements the Victoria was making. She tried her best to analyse every single step and predict the patterns which luckily for her, Victoria was following quite a few. Kara prepared another fire ball and launched it directly at Victoria. This Fireball would have actually hit her if it hadn't been for Shawn appearing and between them and flicking the fire ball away from Victoria.

" As much as I enjoy a good cat fight this is getting completely ridiculous. You both need to get over yourselves. Neither one of you are supposed to know about Gabriel and I'm going to admit that I did fuck this up. You both are so concerned about Gabriel and not even taking a second to grasp the fact that you both have the same goal in mind. You both want him to be safe and right now he is heading to The vampire Kingdom, alone.

Both Kara and Victoria knew that Shawn brought up good points. They were wasting time. " Good. I'm glad somehow that worked...now if we could just" -

Kara launches another fireball at Victoria who dodges yet again to which Shawn sighs and face palms, though his Palm goes completely through the hood and disappears into the dark void.

Gabriel is running as fast as he can, and he is making excellent time period he can see the cancel on the distance though it's atop of mountain. A very sharp rock mountain that is going to be next to impossible to climb. Most vampires Tend to fly which is why the castle was Built-in the way that it was. But unfortunately Gabriel could not fly. So he would have to find a way up when he gets there. Luckily he has the time to do so.

Though as he approaches he sees a dark cloud above the castle. Hes still pretty far away from it but from what he can tell it looks like the swarm of bats? Or are there's actually vampires? He can't exactly tell. But if those are vampires, he interprets this as meaning that they are about to go on a hunt. Which while that's not normally a good thing, it may give him the access he needs to get in and get out as quickly as possible. This could be his chance and he is has to take it. He wasn't entirely sure what he would be looking for when he gets in there. Hes not sure if it's some type of curse or if it's actually some type of poison or how he would even be able to break the curse or spell or whatever it is. He figured that he would just figure it out once he gets in there although he does sort of regret not having a plan. Normally he does have plans, he likes to Make sure he is well prepared to face the task at hand but considering hes never been there before, hes not entirely sure what to expect.

The air around him grows colder and colder. And though it's still night, it seems darker than normal here. It's almost as though any form of daylight has been absorbed into the abyss that is this land. It is both unsettling and chilling at the same time period. It is completely the opposite of his homeland.

And the less time he has to spend here the better.

He knows his parents had mentioned something about the king and Queen here but he could not exactly remember their names. He remembers that they had 2 sons and he believes they also had a daughter, though he could be remembering this wrong.

He had never actually met them before, because to his knowledge the Royal family did not leave the castle all that often. When the vampires would go out to feast, They would bring back supplies of blood for the Royal family. Which also seemed a little bit odd to Gabriel considering that the fresh kill is usually the better kill. But vampires are different so maybe they don't really have a preference. Something else that he remembered about vampires is that Apparently blood is super addicting to them. It's not so much about the taste, as it is about the nutrients within it.

Vampires cannot resist it and go into a blood lust every time they are exposed to it. It's. It's some form of a strong addiction that they will never be able to break away from. And supposedly the ones who can't control themselves and continue feasting, and of losing their minds and are banished. The Gabriel had only ever heard of one vampire being vanished in the entirety of his parent's existence.

He remembered the name and also remembered his parents warning about if he was to ever speak it, his tongue would be permanently stained black with the sense of that vial creature. He wasn't entirely sure that he believed that but he also dared not speak the name.