"Maybe one day we'll find that place where you and I could be together. And we'll catch our dreams within the waves of change. So smile for me one last time and believe that we'll meet again."

-r.m drake

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The Locked Room,

Crystalline Castle.

**

The moment Damien pushed open the enormous set of doors, I was blinded by a white light. It wasn't just some light coming from a candle or a bulb. It was much more bright that I was prevented from seeing anything else around me. I placed my hand in front of me as if that will block it.

It took less than five seconds for the brightness to fade away until there was absolutely no hint of light left in the dark night. One second it was bright to the point of blindness, and the next, complete darkness.

Even the candles placed in the hallways went out as a cool breeze passed by.

Right when I felt Damien grab my left hand, the flute started playing again.

"Please don't say something stupid like who's there. " He warned me, his voice ringing through the music.

He took a step forward, never letting go of my hand. I soon followed his steps, pushing back the fear which was slowly rising in me.

I felt a sudden change in the atmosphere as my feet reached past the threshold of the door. It felt like I had left behind the world I grew up in, entering a completely different one. The room was all dark so I couldn't make out a single object placed in there. But right when we were both completely in the room, the candles starting to light up, one at a time. The one close to me magically lit up, then the second, then the third, the pattern continued until the room was bright enough to make out the wall designs and furnitures placed neatly in the room.

The place was huge, it was bigger than I imagined it. I wasn't quite sure what I imagined to be in this room, but what I saw before me was beyond beautiful.

The floor was hiding under the carpet with red designs on it that reached every corner of the room. Across from me, there were windows that covered the entire wall. Moonlight stretched out from them, visibly kissing the floor. A small doorknob notified me that's where the exit to the balcony was. The room was adorned with draped clinging to the frames of the windows.

Even though this room has probably been locked up for years, there was surprisingly no dust in sight. The place looked untouched, yet so lively, as if someone had just spent hours cleaning it.

The ceiling had molding that was emaculate and rarely seen in other parts of the castle. It was beautiful, grand, and ancient, all at the same time.

A love seat occupied the space beside me, with a golden coffee table that reflected the moonlight.

As we slowly walked further into the room, I noticed the two single sofa chairs pushed against the wall. They both had a crown shaped back, indicating they was meant for none other than the king and queen themselves.

My eyes hungrily took in every inch of the breathtaking place. The strange thing about the square bed was that it had a support at both ends. There was a tall mirror located in the far left corner, the room was too dimly let for me to see my reflection.

The sound of flute surrounded us, picking up its pace. But we couldn't find the source of the music. There wasn't anyone in the room, then who was playing the flute?

Suddenly I heard laughter.

It wasn't a scary sound which I expected, the soft laughter belonged to a girl.

As I noticed Damien's confused reaction, I knew he heard it too. I looked around, doing a full 360 but nothing was unusual. Nobody was in sight.

"Zeke, let me make the bed,"

Who said that? All we could do was standing there in pure shock and listen to whatever was going on.

"Why don't you have one of the maids do it? I have to show you something." A male's voice replied.

"What the..." Damien started. He stopped taking when I shushed him.

"Because this is our room and I don't want an outsider touching every memory we created in here." The same girl who was laughing earlier said.

"You're weird," the man murmured,"Hey, you'll never stop loving me, right?"

I heard the ringing noise of her bangles as she shifted, "the day these furnitures lose their shine, will be the day I stop loving you. So that's impossible since you know how much I love cleaning."

"That doesn't make me feel any better but okay." The man replied, laughing.

I heard the bangles again, as if she was hitting him as he continued to laugh.

Then slowly, the laughter and the chit chat dissolved into thin, silent air.

My mind was jumping from one thought to another, thinking about what those voices could indicate or mean. My eyes shifted around the room once again to find a portrait to my left.

I let go of Damien's hand as I walked closer to the painting, it becoming less and less blurry with each step I took.

When I was mere inches away from the portrait, I could make out the faces of the King and the Queen.

I stopped breathing.

The shock consumed me as I took a step away from the picture.

The older king was standing up proudly, while his elbow was placed casually on the throne like chair next to him. Sitting elegantly on the chair was the Queen with her hands in her lap.

They were dressed in clothes that didn't belong in this century, or the one before this. The pieces of clothing looked uncomfortable with many jewels decorating them, but I guessed these royals were used to the fancy attire.

But the way they dressed wasn't what took my breath away. It was their faces.

The faces which were identical to Damien and mines.

My eyes stayed glued at the portrait as millions of questions ran around in my mind.

Who were these people? The ones from Emma's story?

Why did they look like me and Damien?

"Damien," my voice was lower than a whisper as I called out to him.

"What? Discovered some ghosts ye-?"

His sarcastic remark was cut short as he took in the picture as well.

"This shit's even scarier than a ghost," his voice dropped.

I squinted my eyes to read the tiny writing just below the portrait.

King Ezekiel and Queen Aaliyah of The Vampire realm.

"When did we take this picture? Do you remember, Alexis?"

I decided to ignore his sarcastic tone as I narrowed my eyes at him. I was trying so hard not to freak out and run around the castle like a mad woman while he was standing there making jokes.

"Who are they?" I asked him.

"It says King Ezekiel... That's the oldest Vampire King. I've never come across any pictures of him until now," he frowned, his eyes concentrating on the King's face.

"Why do they look like us?"

His eyes snapped to me, "you think I would know? I'm just as confused as you are."

"You're right. Who am I asking? You don't know anything. You don't even know that Katrina has been controlling you with her super witch powers,"

Woah, where did that come from?

I turned away from him, embarrassed.

He took a hold of my arm, pulling me back," You think I don't know that? You think I'm too stupid to figure that out already? I was planning to kick her out as soon as we get out of here. She didn't seem suspicious before, but after you told me how I've been acting recently, she's definitely up to something. Hell I don't even remember you being in pain last night."

I prevented looking at him, focusing my gaze on the most shocking image I've ever seen in my life.

"And as for this portrait, only Melinda can tell us what this means now."

The quietness of the room made me notice the music had stopped playing. It was just a painful silence surrounding us now.

"When will she be here?" I asked him.

"I don't know,"

"You don't know? My whole life depends on what she has to say about the damn prophecy. And you don't even know when she will be here? What kind of King are you?" I accused him.

"Well I'm sorry if I can't find the time out off my busy--"

Suddenly he winced, as if it hurt to even talk. But I didn't give it much of a thought because I was too busy thinking about only myself at the moment.

"You know what? It doesn't even matter anymore. You said so yourself that you don't think I'm a threat to you. You think I'm too naive and weak to cause any sort of destruction. So why don't you just let me go? I want to be free!"

There, I finally said it. But what pissed me off was that he wasn't even taking me seriously, he seemed distracted, looking down at the floor in confusion. His hand was placed on his chest, rubbing a thumb over where his heart was. What's wrong with him now?

His eyes finally met mine as he registered what I just said.

"What are you talking about? You are free. You're no longer in the dungeons!" his voice suddenly raised.

"Please, if this is your definition of being free, then I feel sorry for you!" My tone matched his. I don't even know what provoked the anger between us, but there was no going back now. I will get what I've always wanted, I will not back down without a fight this time. Even if my chances are nonexistent.

All of sudden, I heard him let out a cry of pain as he bit his lips afterwards. While his hand still rubbed the spot on his chest, I decided to not neglect it any more.

"What's wrong?" I asked him as my voice dropped once again.

"It fucking hurts! Wait, why am I even telling you? It's not like you care!" He said, filled with more anger than before.

"Yeah, that's a great excuse. Just pretend you're in no state to talk so you won't have to. But I won't let you avoid this topic any more!" I gave him a push that didn't have much of an impact on him in the first place.

As I retrieved my hand, he grabbed it.

"Wait. The pain eased a bit!" he took a hold of my hand and placed it on his chest while I just stared at him more confused than ever.

"What the fuck..." he began cussing.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"The pain gets better by your touch, Dammit! Great, this is just great."

"Admit it. Now you're just looking for excuses to be near me. That and also to avoid granting me my freedom."

He completely ignored me.

"You know what? It's probably this damn room. It's filled with so much lovey dovey shit that any negative emotions don't last very long in here. Yes, that must be it. I just have to get the fuck out of here."

He dropped my hand and started walking towards the door. The loud noise alerted us that the big doors shut close, making Damien freeze in his track.

He let out an angry growl, kicking it with his feet. Closing his eyes, I guessed he tried to mind link his guards or someone. But as he opened them and turned towards me, from the anger in them I could tell it didn't work. What happened this time? Did he forget to drink blood or what?

I recalled the same thing happening when his car broke down and we were forced to walk through the forest.

Deja vu much?

Luck was just never on my side.

Walking closer to the door as well, I grabbed the handles and started to move them back and forth. But the doors didn't budge. They didn't open. Had someone locked them from outside? No, that couldn't be it. I didn't see anyone outside when they closed.

"Why do I always get stuck with you?!" Damien stared to pace angrily around the room, trying to find a way out. But there was only two exits, the balcony and the now locked doors.

He tried opening the balcony door but failed. I watched as he got ready to punch the glass to shatter it, but I stopped him.

"Damien!" I ran to him, "Don't. You have no right to kill the beauty of this room."

Even though he could easily replace the glass, it felt wrong to change a thing about this place. I didn't know where this possessiveness came from.

Strange.

I took a hold of his arm which was raised, ready to crash with the glass. He stopped, so I lowered my hands.

Suddenly, I was hit with a strange tingle like feeling in my heart. I ignored it at first, but a few seconds later, it became impossible to not wince.

"You're hurting too, now? I told you this was a bad idea! Who knows what else this room--"

The pain got worse with each passing second, it felt like someone was squeezing my heart. The only thing my mind could think about at that moment was that if my touched took away his pain, then it might work both ways. Maybe this pain was being caused by the negative emotion, hatred, between us. As another wave of pain hit me, harder this time, I couldn't help but lean forward, wrapping my arms around his neck like my life depended on it.

And it probably did.

"Woah, easy there." he laughed at my sudden movement, but wrapped his arms around me, too, "What were you saying earlier? I would rather let one of the ghosts tear me to pieces than be anywhere close to you."

He mocked me.

"It's not like I have a choice," I mumbled against his shirt, "I think it's over now."

The pain had deceased and it was barely there anymore, so I took a step back.

"As I was saying, let me go back to the human world.

I didn't know where I would even go, but for now, all I needed to do was get far away from this place as possible.

"I can't do that." he simply said.

"Why the hell not? Actually, why didn't you just kill me the day you kidnapped me?! That would have been so much better than rotting in there for years!"

He grabbed my shoulders with his hands, "you think I didn't try that?! Well guess what, I tried so hard to think of a way to just get rid of you but even the idea of it sounded ridiculous! It was impossible for me to hurt you after I saw you!"

"And you thought the idea of keeping me locked up in there didn't sound ridiculous at all?! You're such a selfish little asshole! You say you didn't want to hurt me, but open your eyes, Damien! Keeping me here against my will has hurt me mor--"

I couldn't even finish my sentence before the pain returned. I reached forward, but not to hug him again, to give him a hard push.

"Any sort of contact between us can make the pain go away, so it doesn't matter if I'm hugging you or hitting you."

I continued to punch him, and during the third hit, he actually let out a wince. But I wasn't sure if it was because of the abuse or the pain in his chest which has returned.

I glared at him, "you know what I think? It wasn't any prophecy that brought me here. You were selfish enough to not hurt me because you needed me. If something happens to me, you go down, too! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier when Emma told me about mat--"

I was rudely cut off when he used his speed to change our position until I ended up being trapped between him and the wall, with his hand on my mouth.

"You don't know what you're saying. To be honest you're the one who sounds like a selfish bitch when you think so highly of yourself. You're not anything to me, especially not my weakness. So don't put too much pressure on that tiny brain of yours."

He looked at me, as if to see if he made himself clear. I just glared at him, since I couldn't even talk. He removed his hand from my mouth and turned away, running the same hand through his hair in frustration.

"The first thing I'll do when we get out of here, is break down this room. This pain in my chest is hurting worse than getting kicked in the balls."

He started to walk away, the pain getting worse with each step he took away from me, "Damien."

"But I would rather go through this than be glued to you." he simply said.

I pushed myself further into the wall, wanting to just dissappear. Be anywhere but here. Where our closeness feels like paradise, but we were both too stubborn to accept it.

I saw him lean on the wall opposite from me. His eyes were blinking furiously, looking at the ceiling. It looked like he was having trouble breathing.

And my body didn't feel any better as I coughed. It felt like I might even throw up.

After avoiding each other for a couple minutes, the pain continued to get worse and worse. I looked at him and our eyes finally connected. A rush of emotions hit me all at once. Pain, anger, hurt, frustration, but this time there was something else I couldn't even point out.

"I hate you so much," he breathed out.

"I hate you, too," I hissed, barely being able to talk.

Then the invisible wall of any negative emotions between us suddenly shattered. We both moved at the same time, him towards me and me towards him.

Our bodies met in the middle of the room, almost colliding with eachother. He pulled me close to the point where I couldn't even breathe, but that was the least of my worries. The pain evaporated, leaving behind an empty space in my heart which was being filled with something else, something that scared me more than the pain I experienced.

"I'll let you go, "

"What?" I was having a hard time believing his words.

"I'll let you go back to the human world. Just like you want. But I just need some time. Two days is all I'm asking from you. I'll be out in a meeting all day tomorrow, If we get out of here by morning. But when I get back on the day after tomorrow, I want a chance to say goodbye before you leave. Just give me two days and then you'll be free."

Compared to the ten years I've already spent at this place, two days seemed very little. Just two more days and I'll be free.

"Okay," was all I said.

"Damien, I don't think the pain is going to come back, now that we're not yelling at each other." I explained, as I made an attempt to move away from him.

But he stopped me, "Stay. I never said you could leave me just yet."

I couldn't even count the amount of times I've thought that this guy might be bipolar. But then something else hit me.

This was just his Vampire side showing, the part of him that needs his mate. But the real Damien would never want me anywhere close to him.

If it wasn't for the mate bond, he would want nothing to do with me.

I had to keep that in mind.

Something else I needed to remember was to find out the secrets hiding behind that portrait. I just couldn't leave without knowing why I look like Aaliyah and Damien like Ezekiel.

I just couldn't.

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