Chapter Twenty Eight

(Bryson's POV)

Attending a tribunal wasn't something a supernatural being would look forward to. In the human world, criminals or offenders were put in the mercy of the jury as they wait for their impending doom.

But, the tribunal was no ordinary justice system. No, not at all.

The Pillars and the Elders were the tribunal itself.

This came to be when the Sacred Law of Coexistence was created. They thought that having this kind of justice system would keep us all in check, but they were out of their senses. The Pillars had clearly forgotten what those bloodsucking vermins did to our kind in the past, but who knows? Maybe this was all a facade for getting along with them. Like I said, hatred comes a long way. The same thing could be said to the purebloods.

To be honest, I was worried for Rebecca. Though we had a rough history, she didn't deserve the wrath of these powerful entities. They could be ruthless and unjust at times, but whatever they decide was absolute. So far, no one dared defy their decision.

I'd only hoped that they would give her a lighter sentence or in the least, a third chance. On the other hand, I doubted they would now.

The hallway leading to the judgement room was empty. I was expecting it to be busy and crowded but today, it was desolate like a desert. I guess they wanted this hearing on a low key. With a sigh, I continued on hastening my pace but, I still had five minutes to spare and hoped that dad had save me a seat.

"Hello, Bryson."

Ah, hell. Not again!

I stopped walking but didn't bother to turn around knowing it was the she devil herself. Seeing her face would only anger me to the umpteenth level and I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. "What do you want, Ciara?" I asked, clearly irritated.

She giggled then tutted, mocking my tone of choice."My, my. Is that the way to greet your girlfriend?"

"Ex," I corrected. "Ex girlfriend."

In a flash, she was in front of me, sporting a glare that could send me straight six feet below the ground. Yeah, that's how lethal her look was. "It's not over yet, Bryson. When I say it's over then it's over. You don't call all the shots."

I scoffed at her words. Ciara had gone mental on this one. "You're crazy," then took in her business casual look - a pencil skirt and a ruffle collar blouse. "What are you doing here anyway?"

She looked smug as she replied. "I received a notice yesterday asking for my presence in the hearing."

I frowned. Ciara was of no importance in the Alerian society, but who would ask for her to attend the hearing? Was it someone from the tribunal or I don't know. Someone influential perhaps?

"Why would you get one? You're not important," I said blankly.

A hurt look encompassed her features, but I held no sympathy for her. Truth be damned, I wouldn't care if she'd cry me a river. "You don't mean that," she said, her voice cracking. "I'm just as important as you."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, you may be the daughter of the head Alerian historian, but that doesn't make you important. Your father, on the other hand, is. Look, I have no time for this. Whatever you do, don't sit beside me during the hearing."

Not waiting for her to retort, I swung about and headed to the judgement room.



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


I was shocked to know that the only people attending the hearing were Rebecca's family, my dad, a few bunch of purebloods I suspected as the immediate family of Rebecca's lover and of course, to my utter distaste, Ciara. I told her not to sit beside me or anywhere remotely close, but the girl hadn't heed on my warning.

That set off an incoming foul mood on my part, but who the hell cares.

The air in the room was heavily tense as we waited for the tribunal. If you looked around, the judgement room was like a human court room, but the difference was that the audience area was situated on both sides of the room, elevated and leveled with the tribunal bench, making the middle empty, an area where the person involved of the hearing was to stand before trial. There was no witness stand, nor a table for the lawyers. There was no need for one. The tribunal held all the decision making and verdict.

"Where are they anyway?" my dad muttered darting his head left and right. "It was supposed to start around 5," he glanced on his watch and frowned. "It's 5:30 p.m. Strange, they're never late for this sort of thing."

Right on cue, the double doors swung open and all heads swiveled to that direction.

They were here at last.

The first people who entered were the Elders; Rockilian, Marcus, Talon and Connor, looking tall and proud as any pureblood. The fifth one was nowhere to be seen, so that had me frowning. 'That was weird,' I thought. Usually, the five of them were together on important occasions such as this.

Right behind them were The Pillars; Ladden, Barrett and Heath, strode in equally proud as the Elders.

To be one of The Pillars, you had to be born as an Alerian. Yes, the same thing applies just like the purebloods for being an Elder, but such position was acquired through nomination, not inheritance. For the Elders, it was passed down by their family members, while the Alerians had to prove their worth to achieve it. Gruesome, yes. Fulfilling, definitely a big yes. The stakes of proving your worth was not all fun and games.

Ladden was the leader of The Pillars. He was in his late twenties and was acutely arrogant, but in control when he was pissed off. He had cropped dark blonde hair, chiseled and sharp features to match his stuck-up demeanor. His sea green eyes were always blank and unfeeling, never one to give a damn for other people. He was feared among the Alerians and was a force to be reckon with.

Barrett and Heath were twins, but complete opposites. Barrett was relaxed and quiet while Heath was loud and rambunctious. They were both in their mid-twenties and had short dark brown hair, soft, boyish features and had dark green eyes. The only thing that could tell them apart was the style of their hair; Barrett had tousled hair while Heath had his hair on a faux hawk. Though they may be different but there was one thing that they had in common.

Hatred towards the purebloods.

All seven of them strode towards the bench and situated themselves on each chair and finally, in unison, they took their seats.

We waited, and waited. The room was silent as the only thing heard were our breathing. It seemed that the whole people in the room were frozen in their seats and then, a deed voice filled with authority and command spoke out loud.

"I would like to call Rebecca and Lynus to the judgement room please," Marcus' booming voice resounded throughout the tense silence.

The double doors once again opened and in came Rebecca and Lynus but they were far apart, with faces etched with extreme nervousness. Lynus still looked the same with his disheveled raven black hair, piercing dark brown eyes and sharp chiseled features. The first time I met the pureblood was when I caught him and Rebecca a year ago at some restaurant, all lovey dovey and what not. I was taking Ciara out to dinner at that time and it still shocked me to this day when I remember it. In my years of knowing Rebecca, I never thought I would see the day that she would look at someone with love and adoration. It shocked the hell out of me since she was known for sleeping around and this was a side that took so hard for me to sink in.

As I confronted them, the blows were doubled as they didn't deny the allegation. Apparently, they first met at the club and you could say it wasn't love at first sight. Their words not mine. They first started out as enemies since of course, Rebecca was an Alerian while Lynus was a pureblood. Their love story wasn't exactly the ones you'd read in books where two main characters fall in love instantaneously. No, it wasn't like that for them. They were like cat and mouse but that sparked an intimacy to their unusual relationship. After awhile, it got out of hand. It took for them to realize that though they were different, loving someone wasn't categorize by race nor species.

Then came the rules.

The Sacred Laws of Coexistence was a general law for the supernatural beings to follow such as things that what we should do or not do. But, we also had our own set of rules to follow.

Consorting to their kind was one of them.

When their relationship was known to The Pillars, all hell broke lose.

That earned Rebecca and Lynus a tribunal thus gave them a second chance and more importantly, forced them to end their relationship.

But alas! History had indeed repeated itself.

Staring at Rebeccca, I tried to wish her good luck telepathically and hoped for the best, but for some reason, I couldn't. Her mind was blocked and it was hard to pierce through. She darted her eyes to her family, sending them a nervous smile then switched her vision to me. With the best of my abilities, I conveyed my sympathy through my eyes and to my surprise, she returned it with a defeated smile.

This was a sign that whatever the outcome of the tribunal, she was going to accept it.

Even if it she was sentenced to execution.

With a sigh, my eyes landed on their wrist and I frowned.

The cleave bracelet.

It was design to keep two people apart, without a slightest chance of touch nor hold at all. When you are within two feet, the bracelet would activate and would literally separate you from the person with an invisible force.

Sucks, I know. I could feel their pain.

The pair stopped in the middle of the room and faced the tribunal.

Marcus smiled evilly and spoke. "Let's start the trial."


(Reagan's POV)


For the whole day, I kept to myself as I stared at the Mediterranean Sea, sitting on a chair provided by pool area of the hotel. The sun had finally set replacing the orange, pink and purple hues to black, the stars twinkle ever so brightly on the night sky. Derek had been sending me telepathic messages, asking if I was alright, but I couldn't respond. I was too upset and didn't want to lash out at him. But eventually, he got the gist and had left me alone right after the 20th attempt.

My dad tried too, though he was rather on the annoying side. He kept asking if I wanted to talk about it, but like I said, I didn't want to.

Don't get me started with Cooper. Let's keep it at that.

Taking a deep breath, I stared blankly at the sea and thought about the prophecy. Somehow, I'm starting to loathe Sephrina and her stupid bitterness. Just because a guy dumped you doesn't mean you had to invoke a damn prophecy which involved killing supernatural beings. Not just any though. Purebloods, my good friend. Purebloods.

Most importantly, Derek.

"You okay?" a deep voice asked, taking me out of my reverie.

I jumped startled and glanced to see Ryder approaching, who in fact didn't look sheepish for scaring me. "Geez, don't do that," I said as I tried to regulate my erratic heart beat to a normal one.

He shrugged. "Sorry," he said offhandedly. Yeah, very convincing.

Rolling my eyes, I swiveled my head back to the sea and sighed as I felt him standing beside me. What did he want know?

"What do you want, Ryder?" I asked glancing up at him. "If dad sent you, well, tell him to back off. I am not in the mood, as you can clearly see."

He just shrugged as a response.

Really now.

With a sigh, I snapped my head back and replied. "Seriously, Ryder. What do you want?"

He sighed and spoke back in a gentle and kind voice. "I know you're mad about the whole prophecy thing."

"Yeah, thanks for noticing," I retorted sarcastically. "Now tell me something I don't know."

With a swift movement, he was in front of me, kneeling as he gripped the sides of my arm and took on a serious look. "Reagan, don't berate yourself over this. I know that Sephrina left a vague answer, but you are not the only one who's mad about all of this."

I glared. "What are you talking about? Why would others be mad about it, huh?" By the now, my anger which had momentarily diffused a while ago came back in a vengeance as I snapped at Ryder without remorse. "I am the one carrying the big burden here, not you, not Dad nor Derek. Me, Ryder. Me. Get that?"

He sighed as he loosened his grip on my arm. "No, Reagan. You got it all wrong."

I quirked my eyebrows, clearly baffled by this piece of information

He smiled gently. "My dear, you are not the only one who's carrying the burden. We all are. That's why we are here to help you. I can't talk, since I may be or may be not a direct descendant when it came to the prophecy, but as a Galerian like you, I had this sense of mutual understanding of how you feel. I don't know, but I guess it comes with the territory or the bond we had with the bloodline.

Somehow, his words cut like a knife and had me feeling like a brat. I hadn't realized that it was not only me who was affected with the whole ordeal. Instead of looking at the bigger picture, I had become a surly sue. 'Good job, Reagan,' I thought dryly.

Ryder stood up and stepped back then held out his hand for me and I took it. "Now, I suggest you stop fretting and come back inside. Someone has been worried sick about you for the last couple hours. If he doesn't stop whining, I will literally rip his head off clean from his neck," he had a stern face when he said the last part, but his eyes said otherwise. He was only joking.

Ignoring his joke, I eyed him curiously. "Someone?"

He smirked knowingly and for some reason, it looked freaky on him. "Oh, you know what I'm talking about."

A blush crept to my cheeks and stuttered a reply. I knew who he was referring to, but I had to play the oblivious card. "I don't know who're you talking about."

"I see the way he looks at you," he said rolling his eyes. "Don't deny it because it's obvious."

"Shut up!"

He laughed a real genuine laugh. It was good to see Ryder loosening up because honestly; I hated his serious side with a passion so I smiled at his momentary mirth.

"You're cute when you laugh."

That had him sputter incoherent words and sobered up to glare at me. "I don't like being referred as cute."

I giggled. "Ooohhh..." I teased. "Let me try that again. You're adorable when you laugh."

"Reagan," he warned. "Don't push it."

I rolled my eyes and grinned. "Fine."

"Let's head back inside. It's almost dinner time," he suggested as he tugged on my hand.

I nodded and smiled. "Sure."

We started walking, hand in hand. Though Ryder was a bit eccentric in his own way, I had to say unexpected things came in a strange package.

He made me understand that I didn't need to keep the pain to myself. I wasn't alone.

With a smile, I sent a telepathic message to Derek to apologize.

'Dee, I'm sorry.'

'It's okay, ma cherie. No need to apologize.'

I bit my lip. 'No, I want to. I'm such a jerk. Tell dad and Cooper that I'm sorry too.'

'Don't worry about it. Now, come back to me so that I can hold you in my arms. I missed you so much. Your silent treatment is killing me, you know that?"

I smiled. 'I love you, Dee.'

My heart sped up erratically as he replied back. 'As I love you.'