Chapter Twenty Four

(Derek's POV)

Ancient Thera, the classical city of the island of Santorini was located on Mesa Vouno, 396 m. above sea level. If my memory serves me right, it was founded in the 9th century B.C by Dorian colonist whose leader was Theras, and continued to be inhabited until the early Byzantine period.

Luke called his friend and Alerian historian for further information. According to him, Santorini Island was the last documented sighting of Sephrina after she invoked the prophecy, gave or take a few decades or so. At some point, some Alerians had migrated to the city when the Sacred Law of Coexistence was created, thus gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. He said she resided there for some time, but it wasn't proven that the city was her final resting place. But, there was a temple built in honor of her mother, Chezahrina, so maybe there had to be something in there worth finding.

After all, that was what the inscription said.

Αρχαία Θήρα [Ancient Thera]

Knowing we were desperate to break this prophecy, I booked five plane tickets bound for Santorini Island. The flight was approximately 45 minutes. If we took a ferry from Piraeus' Port near Athens, it would take 9 to 10 hours, and by high-speed ferry was 4 to 5 hours, so we opted for the fastest - by plane.

I took the liberty in making the arrangements (i.e accommodation and transportation heading for the ancient city) if we planned on staying long in Santorini. Luke insisted on paying half, but I refused, since I wanted to do this.

This was all for her, the love of my life, Reagan. Even if it cost an arm and a leg, I didn't care. I would do anything for her.

"We're here," the driver announced in his heavy accent. "Ancient Thera."

I noticed our driver took us at the base of the mountain."This is the city?" I asked in confusion.

He rolled his eyes."You have to climb to get there," the driver said. "This is as far as I can go."

"Thank you," I said, handing him a huge tip, even though I already paid for the rental fee.

He grinned as he saw the wad of cash on my hand and took it. I almost snorted at his greedy look."You're welcome," oh yes, you are alright. Anything for the love of money. "You have my number, so call me when you decide to leave," he said.

I nodded in confirmation. "Will do."

We stepped out and he drove off, leaving us eating his dust.

When the car was out of sight, I turned around to face everyone with a sly smirk on my lips. At this moment, only one thing flitted through my head.

Who said anything about climbing?

"Dee, why are you smirking?" Reagan asked, clearly confused at my cockiness.

Cooper, on the other hand, knew me too well. Catching on to my idea, he grinned like a fool."Last one up is a rotten pureblood?"

Reagan rolled her eyes. "It's egg, Cooper. Egg," she corrected, though Cooper intentionally changed the well-known expression.

It was his turn to do the eye roll. "I know that. I thought changing it to pure blood sounded cool," he added. "Like me."

This was just classic. Cooper and Reagan were at it again but, their playful banter had brought back a sense of normalcy into our situation. It was a momentary comfort.

Reagan glared at Cooper and poked him in the chest. "Not all of us are purebloods, idiot, so it doesn't make sense."

"But Ryder is a Pureblood Galerian, so he counts as one," he countered.

Ryder snapped his head to face them."Hey! Don't include me in your immature conversation," he said in annoyance.

"Who said we're immature?!" Reagan and Cooper unanimously snapped back.

Oy vey.

I sighed. "Guys, stop it," I said. "We don't have time fooling around so we need to go up the mountain and find the temple."

Glancing around , I made sure there were no humans in sight. Openly displaying our abilities could warrant a tribunal in the supernatural realm, because, as stated in the law, 'no supernatural being is allowed to use ones ability to the public'. It was absolute to the vampire world and more importantly to an Elder like myself. Seeing there were only a few stragglers, I made a final discreet sweep around the area and turned back to them speaking in a hush voice. "Alright, it would be easier for us if we flit all the way to the city. It's faster and unnoticeable," I suggested.

Reagan frowned. "But I can't. I'm not a full Galerian yet," she said, pouting.

I smiled at her adorable look. "I'll be the one to carry you."

We all agreed, much to Luke's glowering gaze when I offered to carry her daughter. I scooped Reagan bridal style and we flitted to the city.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oh," Reagan gasped. "my," she gasped again, "biscuits," she gulped and spoke again. "Next time let's do the human way, shall we? This flitting thing almost choked me to death!" she said as she continued to intake more air into her lungs.

I chuckled. I told her before hand to hold in her breath because flitting was like traveling at the speed of light. "I warned you, didn't I? But the stubborn girl in you just won't listen."

She huffed and mumbled a 'whatever' under her breath.

"I am going to put you down now," I said as I began to lower her down to the ground. When her feet touched the ground, she scurried to my side and looked around.

As far as our eyes could see, the city was obviously in ruins. It was a good thing there were only a few people on the site, since this was open to the public but still, we need to be careful to avoid speculation.

Searching the remnants of the said temple was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack, but we'll take our chances. Luke's friend said in order for us to recognize the temple, we should look for an emblem of the Alerians; a profile view of a woman's face - Sephrina. He wasn't very specific, but he assured us that we wouldn't miss it.

Why?

She looked remotely close to Reagan.

"So what now?" Reagan asked.

"We should all spread out, so that it will be easier for us," Luke suggested.

"That's a good idea." I agreed. With one final look at my love, I turned my back to her and darted to a different direction, not wasting time.

The city was elevated, over-looking the sea. The previous inhabitants were so lucky to have a view quite as remarkable as this. I darted from one ruin to another, searching for that particular emblem meticulously. As I approached the southeastern part of the place, my eyes zoomed in at a certain spot near the ridge. It was obviously in ruins, but there was a crumbling limestone table that stood out. I used my vision enhancer as my image of the table magnified 10 times its normal size.

A slow smirk appeared on my lips.

There, in the middle of the table, was the Alerian emblem. Without missing a beat, I sent a telepathic message to Luke.

'I found it.'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wow. I never thought this would be too easy looking for the emblem," Luke commented as we all gathered around the withered limestone table. "Talk about child's play."

I couldn't help but agree. It was too easy and obvious. What was Sephrina thinking when she left that inscription, anyway?

"I know, but what does this table got to do with everything?" I asked while I roved my eyes for something off on it. When my eyes landed on the crevice below the table, I kneeled down and lowered myself on all fours to slid my hands inside. I didn't know what I was doing, but this groping motion made sense to me at the moment.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Reagan asked.

When my hand brushed on something hard, I stiffened. 'What was that?' I thought. I backtracked to where my hand touched and grabbed the object.

"Gotcha," I said feeling the rough cold texture. Must be a metal or something, so I grabbed it and ease it out of the crevice.

I was right. It was a metallic shaped cylinder. I couldn't pinpoint its exact size, but it could fit a parchment or similar to an A4 sized paper.

"What's that?" She asked, eyeing at the metallic container curiously.

It looked old, very old, and and there were stains as a sign of aging. There were elaborate designs around the cylinder, but some were unrecognizable. At the top most portion of it was some sort of a cap. I tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge.

"It won't open," I grunted as I tried to open the lid again. I was tempted to bang the thing on the limestone table, but thought otherwise.

"Strange," I mused as examine the object.

All of a sudden, I felt that familiar tingling nipping at my skin. My head snapped towards Luke and saw he felt it too. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath.

"Shit. This is not good," Cooper snarled.

There, right in front of us, were two hazy figures. I tried to make out the faces, but I couldn't. It was too blurry, and after a few seconds, the solidification was complete.

A growl escaped from my lips as the two pests appeared before us in all their bastard glory.

Aramis and Marcus.

"Aramis," I snarled looking at his amused face.

The ancient converted vampire smirked. "Derek."

My eyes diverted to the person next to him. "Marcus."

"Well, hello my fellow elder," he said joyfully.

What on earth were they doing here? How did they know? Before we left New York, I scrambled our energy signatures with the use of my disruption technique, but how? It was supposed to confuse them.

Marcus' eyebrows quirked, clearly catching on with my confusion. "I knew you were going to use your disruption technique, so we followed you," he said and shrugged.

Shit. He has been following us the whole time.

"What do you want?" I asked, cutting to the chase.

"Oh, we are here to kill you," he stated simply.

Kill me? Did he just said he wanted to kill me? I must be hearing things. This had to be some sick joke. "What?! Are you insane? Killing an Elder will get you executed," I said with an edge in my voice.

He shook his head, chuckling. "No, not unless I make it look like an accident," he said. "I'm tired of you, Derek. You make me sick with all your ideals with coexisting harmoniously with the inferior race."

I scoffed. Inferior? And he forgot he's with that stupid converted vampire. "And what would make Aramis, then? Chopped Liver?"

This was insane. He had gone overboard with his communistic ways. I knew Marcus had somehow despised me one way or another, but killing me just for the sake of his stupid selfish whims was just throwing all logic, and forgot that we now had rules to follow.

"You know what, Marcus? Go screw yourself," I snarled at him. There was nothing left to say to him, so without warning, I darted with a speed of light and grabbed his throat, squeezing the life out of him. My eyes flickered to an orange hue, and my burning rage boiled to the highest degree, equivalent to hot lava.

I was ready to burn him to ashes.

Elder or not. I was going to kill him.

I've had enough.

Even if it means sending me to trial in front of the tribunal, I didn't care. I had Ryder, Reagan, Luke and Cooper to attest my innocence.

As for Aramis, I had no problem burning him to ashes, since he was one pesky converted vampire. I could always pin him for violating the law. He had countless of violations, and I could use it to my advantage.

"You think," he gasped. "You can kill me?" he choked on each word, as I squeezed even more his windpipe and let out a searing heat to his neck.

"DAD!"

The familiar scream snapped me out of my rage and let go of Marcus, leaving him gasping for air on the spot. I turned around and saw Reagan cradling Luke's head on her lap.

He was bleeding right below his collarbone, but not near to puncture his heart nor lung. I ran full speed ahead to them and kneeled. "Who did this?"

Reagan sniffed, but was able to croak out the words in the least. "The guy you called Aramis."

I glanced over my shoulder to look for him, but he was now standing next to Marcus.

"I got him where I want him," Marcus said looking straight at me."Let's go."

I couldn't believe this. This was a set up all along. He was using my anger as his tool in framing me somehow. I bet my ass he was going to use this as his means of showing to the Elders and in front of the tribunal.

But it didn't made sense!

How was he going to explain why he was here in Greece, then? Whatever his plans were, I had a bad feeling it was going to end badly.

Feeling that familiar tingle, I averted my eyes back to them but, there were gone.

I'll deal with this later but for now, I had to tend to Luke who was profusely bleeding.

(Reagan's POV)

I laid still on the hotel bed that Derek booked for us here in Santorini Island.

Since we already know our way around the place, Derek suggested to flit all the way back to Santorini. Calling the driver to get us was obviously out of the question, so we opted for his idea.

Cooper, Derek and Ryder were tending to dad's wound, though he assured that he was starting to heal but still, it was so huge. How could he have survived that type of wound? For a normal human, they could have died.

But, my dad wasn't normal.

He was a Galerian, and it comes with the territory.

This quest for breaking the prophecy was endangering other people that I cared about. I thought this was just a piece of cake, with no hiccups, but I wasn't looking at the bigger picture, and Marcus' appearance alone created this daunting feeling in the pit of my gut.

I flipped my body to the other side to glare at the stupid cylinder on the nightstand. I willed for it to incinerate into ashes as my eyes narrowed, zeroing in to that metallic piece of crap.

I sighed.

This was stupid.

You know what? All this thinking was doing my head in, so I got up from the bed and walked out of the room to clear my head.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Staring at the vast body of water in front me, I had to admit it did the trick in clearing my head. The pool area of the hotel had an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea, so it had the ideal calming feel as I leaned on the steel railing that fenced the hotel from the ridge.

Sighing softly, the sound of crashing waves was soothing to my ears. Everything was so peaceful and serene.

If only the world was this calm.

If only my life wasn't this complicated.

If only...

If only I was happy with Derek.

But, it was impossible.

Derek was betrothed to a beautiful woman, while I stood at the shadows, loving him silently for as long as my heart could take.

My hair whipped in different directions as the wind breeze passed me. I inhaled the salty air and let out a shaky sigh.

How was I going to deal when Derek gets married? I knew I was going to move out when the time comes, but the thought of it alone was excruciating, and had my heart clenched tightly. Adding this stupid prophecy to the mix was blowing everything out of proportion.

Slowly, a stray tear fell from my eyes as I softly whispered his name. "Derek."

If only...

"Reagan?"

My heart started to beat rapidly as I heard that all too familiar voice. I surreptitiously wiped my tears and turned to face him with a fake smile. "Hey," I said. Seeing his face never failed to take to my breath away.

It'd always been.

"Are you okay?" he asked and walked over to stand beside me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking. How's dad?"

He chuckled. "Stubborn. Now I know where you got that trait."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Ha ha. Very funny."

We were both silent after that. It was awkward, and I didn't know what to say, so I opted to stay silent. However, Derek clearly didn't like it, so he cleared his throat and spoke.

"So," he started. "What were you thinking anyway?"

I gulped. Oh geez, anything but that question.

"Um, I was thinking about the prophecy. I was hoping we should just give up. I don't want to keep my hopes up, and besides, look what happened to dad. He got hurt because of this stupid trip."

Derek grabbed my arms and forced me to face him. "No, we are not. You hear me? We are not. Our efforts were not in vain when we got to the city."

I shook my head. "No."

I was slowly liking the idea of giving up, because I didn't want to fight. There was no point. What if inside that cylinder was just crap? I didn't want to raise my hopes up for something that was impossible.

"Reagan, this is not your fault," he said sternly. "Marcus was just...I don't know! Everything just doesn't make any sense! All I know is that I am not giving up, and neither will you. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Derek, you don't need to help me this much," I said softly.

His jaw clenched as he heard this. "I want to."

"Why?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Reagan," he said.

"Yeah?"

He slowly opened his eyes and I gasped at how emotional his dark blue orbs were. I couldn't register the swirling emotions as they jumbled around in chaotic mess.

And finally, one emotion stilled in his eyes.

Love.

"I did it because I love you," the way he said it was like a caress, like a delicate touch to the skin.

I rolled my eyes. "Duh, I love you too, but you didn't need to go to the extremes."

He tightened his hold on my arms and growled out his next words. "Damn it, Reagan! I love you not as a sister, but as a woman!"

I blinked.

This had to be some joke, right? Yeah, Derek must be joking, so I stared at him for any traces of humor, but surprisingly, he was dead serious.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Derek loved me. Was that even possible?

"W-what?" I stammered.

He sighed and dropped his other hand to the side while the other reached out to stroke my cheek with his thumb. "Reagan, I am a man in love with you," he said softly.

A tear fell from my eyes. But he was engaged. He couldn't love me. "Derek, what about Alexis?"

He smiled. "I broke off the engagement two days ago."

"But, she--"

I wasn't able to say the rest of my sentence as his lips crashed into mine.

Oh my god.

Derek just kissed me.

His lips were soft and tasted like cinnamon. The way his lips move was tender like he was taking his time as he slowly kissed my upper lip then went to my bottom lip.

I was too shocked to respond as of yet. The thought that Derek was kissing me right now was too overwhelming and as his tongue grazed the tip of my lower lip, I was pulled back to earth and parted my lips to let him in.

I didn't believe in fireworks nor explosion. No, I didn't.

In a kiss, all you need to experience was the feeling and intensity of how that person poured out their emotions in that one intimate moment.

And this was what I'm talking about.

Kissing Derek was different. He put in all his feelings into this kiss, because I felt it. I felt everything. The love, the passion, the longing, everything.

Finally, he pulled back, totally breathless as he leaned his forehead to mine. My emotions were running crazy as I tried to grasp the reality that this man really loved me.

He stared into my eyes as he spoke. "You are the one that I need. Not Alexis. It is you that I need in my life."

I started to smile. "You really love me?"

He nodded. "Very much."

I smiled even wider as I stared into his gorgeous face. "Me too."

He laughed and wrapped his arm around my waist while mine were wrapped around his neck.

"Derek?" I asked.

He leaned in to my neck and nuzzled his nose on my soft spot which, I couldn't help but moan. It felt good. "Yes?" he asked as he kissed my neck softly.

"You better stop calling me little one from now on."

He chuckled then pulled away to look at me in amusement. "Alright, little--"

"Derek," I warned.

He pulled me closer to him. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I said without hesitation as I got lost staring into his beautiful dark blue eyes.