Free Web NovelChapter 145: Old castle (2)
"Fair enough. There might be a lot of people out there who only like their children. Oh, this is," Aurora said when they stumbled upon a part of the forest with red petals. This was the place she first encountered Vincent when he scared her for no reason. If he was meant to be saving her, why did he act so dangerous that day by stalking her and not speaking until after he chased her? "Is this what you wanted me to see?"
"No, but we can stay here for a while if you want to."
"We can just pass by. How are red petals falling?" She bent down to take up one now that she wasn’t scared out of her mind and saw that it wasn’t actually a petal but a simple red leaf that looked like a petal. "Oh. This is such a strange place. That night, the moon changed from a quarter moon to a full moon. Is there something about this place?"
"Yes, there’s something quite magical about it. A place to help you find what you are looking for. You found me that day. There are a lot of places throughout the kingdom that is special but remain out of sight to only be used by people like me and you. The last thing we need is for the king to destroy them."
"I see. I would hate to see a place like this go up in flames. When was your last encounter with the king’s guards? Have they almost found you after the community was moved?" From what she heard, the king was paranoid and searched the kingdom up and down looking for places like this and people like Vincent. How was he not able to find things out in the open like this?
"There have been a few close calls but nothing has happened for us to fight. If the king ever stumbles upon us, we will just fight. We have the means to attack the king when he is not expecting but I rather not engage in a battle at all. Many of our good men and women will die if we go into a battle we could avoid. I prefer to stay hidden and protect things like this. There are others who don’t share the same opinion but I don’t care," Vincent shrugged.
Some people wanted him to go against king Darius and make the Harlow palace belong to werewolves but when he asked if they were going to join in the battle, they were mute. They only wanted to reap the benefits but not join in the bloodshed. So stupid things like wanting to take part in a hunt irritated him.
"My people have become out of touch with what we used to be. Our way of life has changed as we improved the community from living in small homes in the forest to what resembles what humans have. All of them used to be wild and free but now this lifestyle has made some of them not stretch their legs and go on a run. Wolves from prominent families hardly shift because they find it to be beneath them. I plan to make that change in the future."
"Going on a run? There weren’t too many people leaving the gates so to go on a run, how does that work?" She wondered. Surely, any humans close by wouldn’t be able to miss a group of people just running around. To be honest, that would be kind of scary to see.
"It would take planning days before and I wouldn’t run in the direction of where humans are. We used to run through this forest straight down to the place where I am taking you. Humans rarely come to this site. Maybe I should have placed the community here but the constantly fallen leaves would be annoying. When I expand the community in the coming months, I will need a favor from you," Vincent looked to his side at Aurora. She looked back at him with her doe eyes waiting to know how she could be of some use.
"With that special ability you have, it would be helpful if you could grow some trees to make the forest harder to enter and the gates less visible."
"I’m not sure how successful I can be with what you want but I would love to give it a try. Something so important will just make me so nervous now," she immediately started to think negatively. What if she made a big mess?
Vincent sighed feeling like he just caused her to think negatively. She had enough time between now and then to practice. From what she recently displayed, she could get the job done but she needed to stop thinking so negatively. "If you doubt yourself you won’t be able to do it in the future. Just practice. Do I need to visit your bedroom early in the morning to give you some motivation and do the same at night?"
"No, you don’t. I’m just worried about messing up because it won’t help with everyone’s opinion of me. I know you said to not care about what others think but I don’t need them thinking I’m a threat after what happened with Marge. Accidentally destroying the new gates or not being able to make the trees grow as promised, I can hear them saying I’m too dangerous to be here. Can you lend me some of your personality?" She rubbed her hands against his arm to steal some of his confidence.
"It doesn’t work that way but I am enjoying this. Do you want me to roll up my sleeve so you have better access to my skin," he placed his fingers there waiting on her word.
"I get the feeling that if I asked you to, you would strip for me right here, right now." If only she could gain that much confidence from touching him.
"Just say the word and I can show you my birthday suit," he laughed along with Aurora after a moment. She found it to be funny while he was dead serious. As long as it made her laugh then it was fine with him. "We’re almost to our destination."
"Really?" She started looking around for where they could have been going but found nothing special.
Vincent went behind Aurora, placing his hands on her head to make her look in the direction of where the old castle was located. It belonged to the werewolves but was abandoned after many years. He came here once in a while when he needed to clear his thoughts and be alone.
"A castle? How many things can this kingdom have hidden?" Still, she was excited to be able to enter a castle at least once in her life. She had always wanted to visit the palace but common folk couldn’t enter it and even a family with a reputation like the Hamiltons could not just enter. An invitation was hard to receive.
This might be better than the palace as she didn’t need to worry about palace guards, the king, and all of the rules. The castle had moss and vines growing upon the walls indicating that no one was here to maintain it but she loved how it was now. It added character to the castle.
"Why do you no longer use it? Wouldn’t it have been better to build the community here and still use the castle?" Aurora asked. She would love to live in a place like this.
"You’re in love with it already but you haven’t seen the view it has," Vincent took a step onto the stairs leading up to the entrance of the castle and turned around to extend his hand out for Aurora to take. The stairs weren’t as clear as they used to be and she could take a fall because of the nature which had claimed the castle as its own home.
He led the amazed woman to the doorway on the main floor which opened out to a large balcony with chairs and tables covered in cloth as they were no longer in use. "It’s not every day you can come across a view like this." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Aurora marveled at the view presented to her. The castle was actually at the edge of a cliff so she could look out far enough to see the walls the kings built to keep unwanted people out of the kingdom. There were also small villages in the distance and clear paths connecting everyone to each other. In the midst of this beauty, something stood out to Aurora. There were dark-colored trees far away from the villages which you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking down from the castle.
"What is that place?" She pointed to the area. It would be hard for the king to not notice there was a kind of darkness in that area. She had an eerie feeling from just looking at it. "There’s something special about it right? The king must be blind."
"Oh no. The king most definitely knows about that area but even he is not foolish enough to send his army there. That area is called the dark forest where people like Seth reside. That area is filled with vampires," Vincent said looking down at his number one enemy.
