☼ Chapter XXV ☼

picture; Ankiel Ylisove

song; "Killer" by Valerie Broussard

author's note; I decided to update this a little late because even though the chapter was done already, I wanted to add some more because it was short with not much happening. I may stop splitting chapters because of that. I want readers to get the full experience of a chapter, even if it is a bit on the long side.

Once the story is done, I'm going to go back and edit as well. I've come to the realization that this story would be better in 3rd person, so I'm going to write it that way, but the story will still follow Sonya as the main protagonist.

Anyway, the next chapter is going to be a huge turning point in our story, both for the story in general and for Sonya's character. Get ready.

Comment + Vote, enjoy!

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The scent of bacon kissed my senses, and my eyes opened so I could stare blankly at the ceiling. I'd had a dreamless sleep all day, most likely because I was beside my Mate, but I still woke up tired. I was supposed to have a Gifts & Powers lesson in a couple hours, but I didn't have the energy to go.

Slowly, I sat up and looked around Derik's dimly lit bedroom. My back ached slightly under the weight of my stress, and I squeezed my eyes against the pain, pulling my legs up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. My chin settled onto the top of my knees and I focused on the sound of my breaths.

I wanted to cry again, but I hated crying so much because it always gave me a headache and made my anxiety worse. So I cling to the scent of the bacon, to the sound of my slow breaths, and to the feeling of rightness I felt being in my Mate's home.

Fingers slid over my cheeks and wiped at a few runaway tears before gently grasping onto one of my curls, extending it, then letting it spring back into its original coily shape. My gaze bounded up to his cerulean one, and I could see he was holding a ceramic plate, piled with waffles, bacon, and eggs.

"You should eat." He told me, offering the food. I took it, but didn't make any attempt to eat any. Setting the plate aside on the nightstand, I watched Derik sit down on the bed, his presence filling me with warmth and comfort.

"I know." I sighed, and slowly I started to pick at the eggs on the plate. "I'm sorry you got stuck with a Mate like me." Derik was taken aback by my words, and even though his face didn't show it, I could feel his shock through the bond.

"Sonya," He grasped at my face and made me look into his eyes. The fear was daring to eat me alive. "You are perfectly made for me. I love you, and I wouldn't trade you for anything."

"Really?" I wondered pathetically, snivelling. My voice was thick with tears. I knew there was absolutely nothing attractive about how I looked, but I didn't have the mental energy left to actually care.

"Really." Derik confirmed anyway, a small smile littering his lips. "By the way, Lorelai called. She wants to come see you, so I gave her the address."

"Okay." I bit my lip, knowing that she most likely had questions for me. Lorelai was coming to check on me after last night, but I knew she was going to ask more about what happened at the farsa a few weeks ago. "I don't think I can make it to my lesson tonight. I just feel so drained."

"Genevieve came by while you were still sleeping. She's giving you the rest of the week off from classes and she's cleared my patrols for the next two days so I can be here with you. But this weekend, I'll have to get back to my Protector duties, so I'm going to take you back to your dorm. You're safer there because of the Rituals." Derik told me, squeezing my thigh and actually tickling me, but I didn't comment on it.

"Okay." I said again, and then I inhaled the food he cooked for me. It actually made me feel more solid, like it weighed me down and I was less likely to drift off into oblivion.

A knock sounded on Derik's door and I threw the covers off my legs and reached up to the roof, feeling my back and shoulders pop and ache from my stress.

"Are you going to tell Lorelai everything?" Derik wondered, his blue eyes scrutinizing me carefully, and I sighed deeply.

"I trust Lorelai." I said simply with a shrug. "I'm gonna brush my teeth. Could you let her in, please, Rik?" He looked unsure, but I knew that he trusted me. Derik nodded and left the bedroom to go open the door for Lorelai.

I'd just finished rinsing my toothbrush and was placing it back into the holder beside Derik's when Lorelai leaned up against the bathroom's door frame.

"Hey," Her voice was gentle, and I scoffed. It was the tone she always used after my nightmares, meant to handle me like porcelain. "How are you, Sonny?"

"I'm okay, Lori." I replied dismissively, crossing my arms and levelling my gaze onto her.

She was dressed in a burgundy sweater and black jeans today, a charcoal scarf wound around her throat and beige ankle boots on her feet. Her chocolate hair was in a high ponytail that still managed to reach the middle of her back.

A few strands framed her face, and the pony looked as if she'd thrown it up in a hurry. Lorelai looked sad and washed out however, even the mascara and lipgloss didn't bring the life back to her face. Mouth pulled into a frown and hands jammed into her back pockets, Lorelai's body was curled in on itself, making her seem smaller than usual.

"I'm so sorry about... everything last night." My friend said, her voice breaking a little at the end. "I shouldn't have started a fight with Derik because Trent deserves everything that's coming to him. He violated you and your bond with Derik and he deserves his arse kicked. And I'm sorry about that girl last night, and trying to make you leave your Mate behind."

"Lori, you don't have to apologize. I get it, and I know. You love Trent. He's family to you, and Derik didn't say he was gonna fight him. He said he wanted to kill him. To be fair, I want to kill him too.

"But if someone threatened you that way, I would defend you too, no matter what you did. And... everything about trying to make me leave... you just wanted me to be safe, physically and mentally. You weren't wrong last night." My hand reached out to hers and she readily accepted my touch, squeezing my hand back.

I kept our fingers interlaced and led her back into Derik's living room. Noticing that he was gone, I reached out through the bond and realized he'd gone out to Centre, probably to give me and Lorelai some time alone together. Smiling at the realization, I sat beside Lorelai on the loveseat and turned towards her.

"I have a lot to tell you, Lori. I should've told you all this a while ago, but we both were kinda distracted the last few weeks." She pushed forth a small smile and nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything, just waiting for me to continue.

A sigh escaped my lips and then I opened my mouth and told her everything.

I told her about noticing Ever in my combats class when she was talking shit, seeing her again at the farsa over her sister's dead body, being interrogated about what happened at the farsa that night, about being Marked by Darkness and Ever finding me trying to heal myself, about her explaining how she dealt with her Mark after I completed the Rituals with Derik, about meeting Eloize and Nora and the weird animosity that Sawyer and Eloize have towards Genevieve--and Derik.

"I don't know what their issue is with her personally, but Sawyer hinted that it actually has something to do with your dad, because Eloize is close to him, I guess. I think she has been close with all the Ylisoves, because she fought side-by-side with Priscilla Ylisove's sons during the Red War. She's been friendly with your ancestors basically since your line has existed." Lorelai looked like she was thinking hard about what I said.

"So the Codaihmes, Ylisoves, and the Reinoves don't like Seilyars. Trent disrespected Derik and your bond with him last night too. I wonder if he also has a grudge against the Seilyars and that's why he did it." She mused, and I shrugged, my eyes evading hers. Lorelai's steel gaze jolted through me. "You're leaving something out."

"Trent thought me and him were Mates. But, in actuality, we share an Anima Vinculum Thread because we're both crapat. It was intensified when I was Marked, and then again when he forced his blood on me last night. I don't know if he has some ulterior motive against Derik because of whatever feud is going on between Sawyer and Genevieve and Eloize or what.

"I don't really know any of the details. Genevieve has never been anything but kind and helpful and supportive towards me though. Eloize said something about Derik being different from the other Seilyars she's come across, but I don't know what she meant. Whatever drama she has with Genevieve isn't my business anyway.

"Genevieve cares about me and I care about her. She's been the one who's taken care of me since I came to the Academy; her and you both. You and Genevieve have been the only family I've had since I was forced back into the Unknown World." Lorelai was nodding, and she didn't seem perturbed by my rant at all.

"Maybe the Seilyars are elitists. You did say Derik was ranting about humans being weak before. Royal lines used to be a lot more concerned with pure blood before, but too many supernaturals have found their True Mates in humans, so that elitist bullshit got tossed in the trash centuries ago. But some still cling to it." Lorelai explained and I stared over her shoulder as I digested her words.

The Elders had allowed Cetilayn and I to stay in the human world with our mother when she was alive, but as soon as she and Cetilayn were gone, they immediately forced me here rather than leave me with my human father.

Was it because they truly wanted to protect me, or was it actually because the Unknown World looked down on humans? Is the only reason I even grew up in the human world was because my mother was of Royal blood and had a privilege that others probably don't?

If we weren't Royal, if our line was diluted enough to be normal Vampyres, would we have been allowed to freely live in the human world?

"Huh," Shaking myself back into reality, I refocused on Lorelai. "There is one other thing I needed to tell you." I paused, unsure if the words would come out. I hadn't said them aloud yet. Would they get stuck in my throat because they were too hard to say, because I was too scared to say? "Ankiel was right. I did see who murdered Ever's sister at the farsa that night."

"What! Why the hell haven't you told the Protectors, Sonny, are you crazy? It's treasonous to keep Sanguis Rogue information to yourself." Lorelai was trembling with contained fury now at my admission. Or was it fear? Something skittered in her eyes, and I wondered if it was both.

"Because," Swallowing, my eyes dove into hers, clinging to the melted steel there for dear life. "It was my sister, Cetilayn."

Understanding passed over her pretty face, sympathy glimmering in her stormy eyes. Tears brimmed there too, glittering like crystals over a gloomy gray backdrop.

Lorelai gathered me in her arms delicately, and finally, with the comfort of my newfound sister, I broke down.

☼

Magnetic sparks slithered over my skin. The heels of my palms smooshed my eyes at the sensation and I groaned as I rounded the corner and looked down the corridor to my dormitory door.

Trent was leaned up against it in a charcoal trench coat, black t-shirt, black jeans, black combat boots, black hair disheveled and falling over his head however it pleased.

Derik had just dropped me off here because tonight was his first night back on patrols. Lorelai had been coming to stay with me after her classes the past two days, and her and Derik actually got on like a house on fire.

They both were jokesters and easy-going people, so it really made sense. It also made sense to me that I surrounded myself with fun people to keep me from drifting into the somber moods that assaulted me sometimes.

Seeing Trent standing outside my dormitory door shoved me hard and fast into one, and the throbbing electric jolts contaminating my skin made me feel nauseous.

Shutting out the bond I had with Derik so he couldn't feel my irritation or the enthralling jolts, I forced my feet to keep moving toward my dorm, and I tried to ignore Trent entirely.

Being ignored wasn't on his agenda however. His body was angled against the door frame perfectly in the way of the door knob.

My eyes remained on the area of his stomach that was blocking the handle, and I briefly wondered if I should just shove my hand violently through him to open the door.

"Sonya." Trent's voice sent chills down my spine and I grit my teeth against the sensation. Every little spark, every little physiological reaction to his presence made another wave of nausea roll through me.

All it reminded me was that my bond was disrespected, and it made me angrier and angrier every time my body betrayed my heart and mind. Nothing more.

"Move." The word was clipped, cold, and careless.

"Sonya, I wanted to explain what happened a few nights ago." Trent tried, but there wasn't a hint of remorse in his tone.

"What happened is that you took advantage of me. That's it. I don't want to hear some bullshit about how you were trying to help me. Move." This time, I didn't wait, I elbowed him out of the way, and he relented. Jamming my key into the door, I roughly twisted and then shoved the door out of my way.

Before I could kick it closed, Trent stopped it and walked inside. "Dude, get the fuck outta here! I don't want to look at your face!"

"No, not until I say what I came to say." I moved to shove him back into the hallway, but he caught my wrists and I jerked away, wanting to spit on the electricity coursing over my skin. "I was trying to help you, Sonya. I knew that you were in a primal state, and hallucinating, and blood is the only thing that can help supernaturals get some clarity back in a state like that.

"Vampyres go through it during the Change, and I went through it after I was Marked too. I wasn't trying to make the Thread stronger. I just wanted to calm you down before you hurt someone you cared about or yourself." I scoffed and crossed my arms. I wanted to stick my palms to my ears and childishly sing out la-la-la-la until he shut up.

"Are you done?"

"Your body accepted my blood, Sonya. And it did help you. So, even if you feel like I violated you or disrespected that weak Vampyre you call your Mate, I brought you back to reality. Not him." Trent seemed to be getting annoyed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Derik is not weak. And he could bring me back if he needed to without his blood because he is my Mate. You're not, Trent. And I know that hurts, but I belong to Derik."

"You think so? Then why didn't your body reject my blood?" My brows scrunched together at his words. "Yeah. Exactly. You accepted my blood. And Seilyar is weak because if anyone touched you the way I had when he came for you the first night me and Kel were back, and you were mine, that fucker wouldn't be breathing still." Another shiver jumped through me and I pinched myself as if punishing my body for the reaction.

"That doesn't make him weak. It means that Derik isn't fucking crazy. You obviously have been seriously affected by Darkness, and I'm happy we're not Mates because you're unstable if you would kill someone just for touching your Mate." Turning my back on Trent, I started to walk away, giving a hint that I was done with the conversation.

"I'm not unstable, Princess." Trent grabbed my arm and jerked me back, his other arm wrapping around my waist and my back pressing flush against his chest. "I'm possessive. There's a difference." His fingertips grazed against the skin of my stomach and the voltaic sweetness that coiled over me zipped down to my core and I bit my tongue so hard a coppery taste coated my mouth to keep the sound I wanted to make at the bottom of my throat.

I wanted to open my mouth to tell him to get his hands off me, but I felt my body betraying me more and more. My mind was beginning to be zapped again and again by Trent's presence and closeness, fogging up my judgment and willpower.

"What's the matter, Sonya?" Trent's voice and lips were right beside my ear, his nose in my dark coils of hair, ingraining my scent to memory. "Cat got your tongue?" His breath fanned over the skin of my neck, near Derik's Mark. "I gotta say, I like the fire inside you. But you like putty in my hands is even better."

My clarity was slipping the longer Trent held me, the longer the voracious sparks lapped at my skin the more I felt my desire towards him rise. His mouth pressed onto my shoulder, dangerously close to my Mark.

Angry tendrils of fire exploded over my body, excruciating fire trying to turn me to ash from the inside out. Trent's hands hurriedly pulled away from me, and when I spun to look at him, he was licking the fingers that had touched the skin of my stomach before shaking them, indicating that he'd been burned too.

Instead of annoyance or disappointment, his violet-amber gaze glinted with a maniacal thrill, and a wicked grin claimed his lips as he watched me.

"Ooh," Trent said flippantly, excitedly. "Guess I got too close for comfort." His eyes looked at the Mark on my neck like it was challenging him. "Seilyar does have a little bite to his bark then, huh?" What is with all the animal analogies?

The rapture of volts had dissipated to a manageable thrum, and I clenched my fists to my sides as my annoyance burned with the warning flowing over my skin. "Get. Out."

"Alright, alright. You don't have to be so hostile, Princess." Trent's smirk never wavered and he took a step backwards toward the door. "Sweet dreams, Sonya."

When he was gone, I went into the bathroom and turned the shower on to the hottest setting. Once I was inside, I scrubbed until my skin was raw, scrubbed so hard that my arms ached.

I scrubbed as if I could cleanse the Thread tying me to Trent out of my pores even though I knew I couldn't.

I was sat on the floor in my room, legs crossed underneath me as I finger-combed my dark and semi-wet curls. Argan oil and shea products coated my hands and my digits twirled certain coils again and again with familiar expertise.

Aaliyah's voice sang softly in the background, swimming over the room about "rocking the boat". It was one of my favorite songs by her, one of my sister's favorites too.

"Hey," Turning up to gaze at the door, I saw Ankiel taking up all the space there. His presence heated the air with consolation even though he seemed tense, the steel gray of his eyes stormy. "How are you feeling?"

"About Testificans or your bitch ass friend?" I wondered bluntly as I scooped more shea butter moisturizer into my hand and continued to finger-comb and curl my kinky coils.

"Both," Amusement lined his tone, and I scoffed, shaking my head. "He came by earlier, didn't he?" Ankiel could probably smell his scent in the entryway of our dorm. It had been only about an hour since he'd come to harass me some more.

"Yeah," I told him in a clipped tone. "Gave me some bullshit about trying to help me that night, of course. That's what stupid little boys always say. I have half a mind to talk Derik into jumping his ass with me."

Ankiel actually laughed at this, and it was full and genuine and seemed to brighten my dimly lit room. I side-eyed my best friend's brother, surveying his reaction discreetly while trying to keep the contagious laughter at bay.

"I don't disagree." He sobered after a few moments when his amusement melted away, taking a few steps deeper into my room to stand closer to me. "What he did was disgusting and abominable. You should report him to Head Vierseut so he is punished." Ankiel suggested almost thoughtfully.

"You really like the guy don't you?" I quipped sarcastically, screwing the lid back on to my hair products and standing to place it on my vanity.

"He's like a brother to me. It doesn't change the fact that he disrespected you and a Mate bond. It's not okay, at all. And he should pay for it. Even if his intentions were good, you can't do things like that without consent." Ankiel said it simply, like it was the most logical thing in the world. I kept my back to him for a moment, thinking over his words.

"You think he had good intentions?" Pretending to busy myself with the cosmetics on my vanity was easy. I waited in the shrieking quiet of the space between me and Ankiel for his response, hoping he'd correct himself.

Ankiel sighed deeply, almost as if a heavy weight latched onto his shoulders. "When Trent and I were away from the Academy, he had a lot of hallucinations. Blood always gave him clarity. There were a few times he got dangerously close to killing me because of the effects of the Mark." His bare feet scuffled softly over the fabric of the floor as he started towards me again then plopped himself on the foot of my bed.

When I twisted on my heel, Ankiel looked deep in thought, elbows pressing into his thighs as he leaned forward, steely gaze focused on the carpet.

I leaned against the edge of my vanity and crossed my arms as I watched him, waiting for him to continue.

"I know that you've only known me for a few months, but I wouldn't lie to you, Sonny. You've spent more time with me than Trent, definitely, so you know him even less. Trent has been my friend and in my life for over ten years. Sawyer and him are like family to me and Lorelai and our Pack back in Wales.

"Trent isn't a shitty person, but he is impulsive. Always has been. That hasn't changed about him. But he is a lot more emotional now than he's ever been, and that Thread that he feels between the two of you has really affected his judgment. He's hurt, and when he's hurt, he always does dumb shit. It never fails. This isn't an excuse, Sonny.

"He shouldn't have done it at all, but it's even worse that he did it without your consent. Trent said you nearly took his head off when you kicked at him." Ankiel paused, and looked to me for confirmation.

My fingers gripped the forearms covered by my long-sleeve baseball tee, feeling a low throb of my scabs coating the skin there from scraping down the rough bark of the tree three nights ago.

Gavin's last name was stamped on the back--Ivyncia in big white letters--the number thirteen in much larger text beneath it.

This shirt was one of the last things he ever gifted to me, and I still slept in it sometimes, years later. He picked thirteen for his number because both of us were born on the thirteenth--me the thirteenth of February and him the thirteenth of July.

"I don't remember." Shrugging, my gaze skirted Ankiel's. He snorted humorlessly at my response and reaction.

"You're a good liar." He told me, sarcasm thick in his words.

I scoffed again, rolling my eyes so hard a dull ache breathed across my skull. "Yeah, okay. I get it. Trent was being the good guy. He sure has a funny way of showing it. Earlier he harassed me even more."

"It's a game to him now." Ankiel said basically immediately, his expression turning exasperated. "The more you react to him, the more he's gonna bother you."

"What a nice guy." I sneered and Ankiel nodded, looking slightly put-off as well.

"I'll do my best to keep him outta your hair." He said with a wry smile. "And outta the dorm." He added, almost as an afterthought.

"Thanks." I offered a warm smile, genuinely appreciative of Ankiel for a second.

"Also," He rose slowly, glancing towards my door before refocusing his eyes on me. "I could take you hunting tomorrow. Seilyar can help you work through a lot of the mental side effects of the Mark, but... you should learn how to channel the physical part of it into something else too."

"I think Derik can help me with that, too." I joked with a smirk, and Ankiel displayed a look of mock disgust.

"Ew, TMI." Snickering at his response, he shuddered dramatically. "I do not need the mental image, Sonny."

"What? Am I not pretty to you?" I gasped sarcastically. "Is Derik not pretty to you?"

"Ugh, Seilyar is definitely not my type." Ankiel started, looking genuinely annoyed at my teasing. "But you are like a little sister to me. I wanna hear about your sex life about as much as I wanna hear about Lori's."

A gracious feeling of rightness settled in my core when Ankiel said I was like a little sister. I felt comfortable, and I smiled at the sensation.

"Wanna play a board game?" He quizzed suddenly, and I scrunched my brows together, a stupid "huh?" tumbling passed my lips. "You wanna play a board game? I got a deck of cards, Cheaters' Monopoly, and Blokus. Also chess, if you think you could take me on."

"I suck at chess, Kel. But Monopoly? You're on." He smiled at my excitement and led the way out into the living area.