The Arrest

Mara's POV 

 The mansion was eerily quiet except for the light sounds of my fingers tapping absentmindedly against the darkened smoothness of my dressing table from time to time. I pushed a twisted curl out of my face after a moment before picking up my pen and proceeding to scribble down more of what had taken place on my eighteen birthday, which happened to be yesterday.

It was also the first time I finally got allowed to leave the mansion for the outside world, in my entire life.

I bit on my bottom lip and flicked the tip of my tongue over my bottom lip, pausing mid-sentence as a particular thought that I had been trying to lock out managed to finally make its way into my head. 

I couldn't help it, despite how much I tried not to feel the ache, I knew deep down that it was still there. That deep, gut-wrenching, throbbing pain wedged inside a part of my mind that I was very much aware of– now that the thought had successfully made its way into my mind, making me remember against my will.

I was sure that if I had a heart as a human does, it was going to be bleeding from the amount of pain my soul was currently feeling, and somehow, it was like the pain which had seemed bearable last night, had managed to intensify in a thousand folds in only a few seconds, now that I was thinking about it.

Well, finding your soulmate and being rejected by him in minutes was going to do that to one's soul.

The pain just couldn't be helped.

I usually have better control of my emotions and could make whatever pain in my soul fade away with one of the multiple gifts I was born within minutes– but because this was intense pain, that got inflicted on one's soul by its soulmate, it was almost impossible for me to control the pain into fading away.

Yesterday being my eighteenth birthday had felt like the most perfect day ever, because I had been promised by my overprotective father that I'd finally get to leave the mansion and see the outside world in person, and I had never been as excited as I had been yesterday.

Too bad the day had to end with me feeling like my soul was being wrenched apart.

My father had refused to let me out of the house on my own once the sun had gone down and the sky had started to darken and had insisted on my elder sister and only friend, Layla, to accompany me. I was filled with excitement and my sister, being the sweetest soul ever, was bubbling with enthusiasm on my behalf as well as we both exited the mansion.

We had left without any guards because my father didn't want the guards to draw any kind of attention to me, and my father had insisted on Layla and me wearing a long cape, to shield our identities. I had argued that it wouldn't make any difference since no one apart from family members and a few close guards knew what I look like, but he had insisted because he was just really protective of me.

Layla was to ensure I didn't lose control of any of my powers on my first day of making direct contact with the outside world. It had been a deal between my father and me, that if I lost control of any of my lists a little while away from the mansion, I was going to have to spend more time being locked away in the mansion, to master and perfect my control my powers.

Everything went well in the outside world, people were barely paying me any attention, and I didn't lose any control of my gifts when the unfamiliar, mingled scents of other ordinary vampires hit my nose, a feat which I felt proud of. 

Having walked around a whole lot of places with Layla leading the way, and after a while, I felt a little bit disappointed by what the outside world looked like. I had expected it to be so much more in my head all these years when I could only imagine it up, which made me set my expectations high.

Along the line, when Layla and I had started to make our way back to the mansion, I got hit with a really strong, intoxicating scent that made my soul zing with satisfaction and contentment, and I knew that I had come face to face with my soulmate the next moment.

But then to my shock, he didn't just reject me when I informed him that he was my soulmate. He informed me that he has a soulmate already, and that said soulmate happened to be no other person than my elder sister, Layla. I could do nothing but gape in shock when Layla and he exchanged a hug and a kiss in my presence.

When we were left alone once again, Layla attempted to apologize but I didn't give her a chance, because it wasn't really her fault that the spirits decided to give the both of us the same soulmate – and since she wasn't as sheltered as me, she happened to meet him first, which was why I couldn't even bring myself to be mad at her – because it wasn't her fault, it was nobody's fault.

But, it still hurts so much.

She spent quite some time with me a few hours ago today, and her presence had been the perfect distraction I needed to not think about my soulmate who had rejected me.

I couldn't wait to spend some time with her tonight. Maybe, I'd be able to convince father into letting the both of us leave the mansion together for some time.

I flicked my wrist a little and abandoned the pen on the desk, beside my diary, as I made my way down the stairs. I could easily teleport myself to the kitchen where I was currently headed, but I preferred to walk through the house then make use of my powers– because I almost have nothing to do most times, and therefore saw no point in hurrying up my movements.

I froze in my steps when a noise started to go up outside the tall gates of the mansion. I was able to hear the noises from such a far distance, because of the heightened senses I got as a two soul vampire.

I ignored the noise and made my way into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge to fetch a long cup of blood to quench the little hunger I had started to feel some minutes ago. I always have a huge appetite and longing for blood than a normal vampire and my father had always urged me to get some blood into me as soon as I start to feel hungry because he said I was going to become dangerous to ordinary vampires around me if I get into a bloodthirst mode, a mode which could make a vampire with two souls lost control of their powers.

The sound of the house door being shoved open loudly made me wince a little due to how loud the sound echoed in my head, and I made my way back into the sitting room, shock going through my veins when I came face to face with a lot of guards that were most definitely not father's guards, because they smelled foreign, and were dressed in an unfamiliar attire.

I tried to mask the shock instantly because my father had always reminded me of how strong I was, and how I needed to always be prepared for anything that might get thrown my way at any moment.

I didn't think I was quite prepared for the next words that left the leader of the guards' mouth.

"You're under arrest, Miss Mara, for the death of your sister, Miss Layla."