Bitten (The Vampire Legends #3)(31)
Author: Emma Knight

As she arrived, the door was open just a crack and she could him sitting there, quietly in the dark room. He was sitting with his back towards her, and didn’t see her peeking in. She cleared her throat and hoped that he would turn and see her. She didn’t want to interrupt him from his studies, but knew she had no choice. She cleared her throat again, this time louder, and Uncle Drew turned quickly in his chair.

“Yes, who’s there?” Uncle Drew asked.

“It’s me, Rachel,” she said, as she creaked open the door.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner, come in Dear,” Uncle Drew remarked.

“Uncle Drew, you have to help me,” Rachel said, wiping off her tears. “I need to see Benji, please.”

“Why are you crying, darling?” he asked.

“I’m fine, I just want to see him. Please tell me he’s here,” Rachel begged.

He looked at Rachel and shook his head from left to right. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid he’s already gone.”

“Gone! What do you mean gone?” Rachel asked.

“Please don’t tell me, he’s…” Rachel paused.

Rachel heard a noise and turned around quickly. She was surprised to see Matilda standing there, with her arms folded in front of her. She wasn’t smiling and didn’t seem happy to see her. A pang of guilt flooded her as she stood there in between Uncle Drew and Matilda, not knowing what would happen next.

“So you’re back I see?” Matilda said.

“Yes, I’m back. I regret leaving so much. I know I shouldn’t have,” Rachel said in sorrow.

“Please tell me your brother is OK, please!” Rachel begged, looking at Matilda.

“I wish I knew,” Matilda said. “It’s brutal out there.”

“Oh no! I never should have left,” Rachel said.

“You broke his heart,” Matilda said. “He was devastated last I saw him. He wasn’t acting himself.”

“I have to save him!” Rachel said. “I love him!”

“It’s too late,” Matilda, warned. “It’s not safe for you out there. We warned you not to leave. Now, you don’t have the training to survive in battle. You will die if you go out there.”

“I’ll be fine. I need to go!” Rachel said naively.

“Benji needed you, Rachel and you left him. All you cared about was yourself. How can we ever trust you again?” Matilda asked.

Rachel looked back at Uncle Drew who was looking at her with upset eyes. She never meant to upset the family, especially since they were her family now. She truly felt that this is where she belonged and these were her real family. She hadn’t realized it until that moment, but now that she had, she couldn’t resist the feeling.

“Please, Matilda and Uncle Drew. I said I was sorry. I realize you guys are my family now. I have accepted that,” Rachel said. “I learned a lot over the past few days. I have no regrets now. Please accept me back.”

Matilda looked at Uncle Drew who was nodding his head in acceptance. “Fine, we accept you back, but it still doesn’t change the fact that Benji is gone and you may never see him again,” Matilda said.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“The war has now entered into full battle stages. The troops have all been mobilized and they are about to fight,” Matilda said.

“Fight?” Rachel asked with a worried look on her face.

“Yes, the battle is about to begin,” Matilda stated. “Benji is our only hope of winning this battle. He is the only one brave enough or strong enough to go out in search of the Magic Tablet.”

“Magic Tablet?” Rachel questioned.

“Yes, it’s the only way we will ever win the war,” Matilda said.

“But I don’t understand, can’t you explain it to me?” Rachel begged.

Uncle Drew cleared his throat and chimed in, “The Magic Tablet dates back to the very first vampire. It is a tablet that allows any coven to achieve greatness and overcome any weakness. It also has the ability to turn vampires back into humans if they so desire. It is mystical, and I myself have never seen it, but have heard many great tales about it. It’s hard to find and very dangerous to get to, which is why we have doubts that Benji will ever return.”

“But why? That’s not fair. Why did he go alone?” Rachel asked.

“Well, there is nobody else that was strong enough to go with him. He wanted to go alone. He wanted to save the coven and right before he left he told me that most importantly he wanted to save you. He didn’t want you to be in danger anymore, and he didn’t want you to be upset that you’d been turned. He wanted to give you the option of being turned back. He couldn’t live with the remorse he felt in turning a human against her will,” Uncle Drew said.

Rachel looked at Uncle Drew and then back at Matilda. She didn’t know what to say. She felt awful. She had no idea this was happening, and if she had, she would have stopped him from going, or at the very least she would have gone with him.

“He loves you so much,” Matilda said, “And this is how you repay him? By leaving him? He would have never done that to you. EVER!”

“I have to go find him. Where is the tablet?” Rachel asked quickly.

“It’s unknown. Some people say it’s located at the top of a mountain on the coast of Maine but others deny that. Nobody has come in contact with the tablet in hundreds of years, so we can’t say for sure,” Uncle Drew said in a soft raspy voice.

Uncle Drew turned around and walked over to his desk and picked up a scroll and handed it to Rachel. As she untied the light blue ribbon that held the scroll together, she thought at first Uncle Drew was handing her a map.

But as the page unfolded she could see Benji’s handwriting appear. It was a note, written to her in beautiful calligraphy. She began to read:

My Dearest Rachel,

A part of me feels you will come back to me so I write this in the hopes that you will. If you are holding this now, that means you have returned and that you love me as much as I love you. I know it was hard for you being turned into a vampire, and I can’t blame you for your human faults, but if you decide to join me, you will know that there is more to the vampire life than you think. Yes, centuries stretch forever, but so can our love.

I can’t wait for you here anymore, my love. My destiny calls elsewhere. I don’t know if I shall ever be able to return, but if I don’t you should know that you hold my heart in your hands for eternity.