In her dream, a woman wearing a black dress with a black veil covering her face was sitting in a room, wearing an intricate golden crown filled with all sorts of precious stones. Her body was covered with gold jewels, from her ears, neck, wrists down to her ankles. The high slit of her back dress revealed her long and slender leg.
She didn’t look as surreal as Alicia had that first time that Abi had seen her. This woman looked like an ancient, human queen who was fond of gold and precious stones. Her face was hidden behind the veil but judging from her physique and the way she dressed, she looked like a seductive villain.
Abigail also noted that her hair was jet black, not an unusual color like Alicia’s silver hair.
“Who are you?” Abi asked. Abi knew that the woman she was looking at wasn’t the witch queen that Alicia was looking for because the witch queen also had silver hair, like Alicia. She knew that from when Alicia had replayed the events leading up to Alex losing his memories.
The woman rose from her golden throne and slowly walked towards her. And then, in a split second, she appeared right before Abigail, cupping her face, causing Abi’s body to become paralyzed.
“I am the one you’re looking for,” she answered, her beautiful voice sending shivers down Abi’s spine. “Come to me and I will give you the answers you have been looking for.”
Abi tried to escape her grip but she couldn’t even lift her hand to push the woman away.
“Tell me who you are first!” Abi retorted but the woman didn’t answer. Instead, she let go of Abi’s face and turned her back from her.
“If you really want Alexander’s memories to return…” she glanced at Abi over her shoulder. “Come to the old well in the forest. Alone. I will be waiting, Abigail. Or else, your Alexander will die.”
“Wait!”
The woman disappeared, leaving Abi confused. She really wished that she had heard that other voice too – the one who told her to stay away – but no more words came. The next moment, she blinked and when she opened her eyes, she found herself bathing in a pool of blood.
She trembled as she looked down at her hands. “Alex… Alex… where are you?” her lips trembled causing her voice to waver as she called out for her husband. The darkness started to be swallowed by the light and then, she saw herself crying. Alone. She looked around and saw no one.
She was slightly relieved that she did not see Alex. She didn’t want to see him covered in blood again.
But where was she? Whose blood was this?
Another flash blinded her and what she saw next was a throne room. The throne room was enormous and it seemed to have been carved underground. There was a large, round window high above where the throne sat, letting the light inside the room. The room glowed a bright golden yellow as the light hit the golden throne, so bright that Abi had to cover her eyes with her arms to stop the light from blinding her.
She peeked from under her arm to look up at the throne, a colossal, magnificent looking thing sitting atop two flights of stairs. The throne’s arms actually started from the bottom of the second flight of stairs which made the base of the throne. From afar, the throne actually looked akin to a giant, golden angel wearing a long, golden robe. However, the wings didn’t look like feathers, they looked more like sharp, golden needles spread out into a winglike formation. They converged together to make up the backrest of the throne. There was even a small, circular halo design which started from the top of the backrest, ascending up towards the ceiling.
Abi’s eyes swept downwards and all she could see were the many steps which led up to the throne. There were at least a hundred of them, maybe more.
She looked back up and she saw that woman sitting on it, being worshipped by countless hybrid vampires. She looked at all the hybrid creatures and to her surprise, they all suddenly turned towards her, staring right at her with those blood-red eyes.
“No!!!” she heard her own scream.
Abi gasped sharply as she suddenly sat up on the bed, finally freed from the nightmare.
…
Alex swiftly landed on the snow. The golden hue of his eyes were blazing as he stood there. He looked like he was silently trying to hear or feel something as he looked around.
He was almost at the base of Frost town’s mountain ranges where the wind and snow were brutal. But he wasn’t bothered by the extreme conditions and he continued to stand there, unmoving like a statue.
Alex didn’t go there to scope the place out – this was one of the places that Alicia had mentioned might be the enemy’s lair. It seemed he had gone there knowing that this was the right place.
Closing his eyes, Alex calmly took a deep breath and when he opened his eyes again, countless of black shadows appeared in the snow. A sea of red eyes had surrounded him.
Alex’s grin widened as his golden eyes intensified. He was excited about this fight. His fists were itching for blood.
He felt incredibly powerful. The royal blood he had drunk seemed to have returned some of the vigor and power he lost due to purposely weakening and starving himself. And he felt so good. Fighting without going berserk was still the best because he could savor the fight as much as he could.
And these hybrid creatures were also strong. Not to mention their numbers. Alex could tell that the enemy had raised an army of hybrid vampires. This number was something he didn’t expect. He would even take a calculated guess and say that these hybrids might even surpass the number of rogue vampires.
Where did this enemy find so many vampire hearts to create an army this big?
