Chapter 52: Chapter 52

DUSK

"Wait! Let's talk!!" I shouted but she didn't listen to me.

Lucius leaped and landed on the me on the bed, pinning me down with one of his hands and with the other, he prepared for a massive strike.

~

I screamed as my eyes flew open.

I sat up in bed sweating, those dreams were the worst and I hated having them.

I got up from my bed and went to wash my face.

I knew it was all the latest events that had caused me those nightmares.

Having washed my face, I couldn't find sleep anymore. I couldn't help thinking of the look in Athena's eyes.

It haunted me.

"Ah Dusk, there's not nothing you can do about it. Forget it." I said to myself and tried to go back to sleep but in the later hours of the night, I found myself leaving the room.

"Just a talk." I said and found myself going to the dungeon.

The guards were sleeping and I snuck in.

I saw her sitting, she was so lost in thoughts, she hadn't even noticed me come in.

It was only after some seconds, she looked up and saw me.

"Here to mock me?" She said and I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"Were you always like this? I knew your true self to be sassy." I said and she looked at her fingers.

"I was always the sassy type but there's just something about the fact that your last hour is near, that humbles you. I've been thinking a lot, on my past, on my dreams. I was a vampire but I dared to have dreams too." She said.

"You feel humble?" I asked and she looked at me.

"I know I'm going to die. I suddenly realized I could have done things better. It's really an awful feeling. I wonder if it'll hurt." She said and I leaned against the wall.

"You regret your actions?" I asked and she smiled.

"I guess It's safe to say that, since I won't be here for long. If only I had a chance, if only I had someone to guide me, I've always been alone all my life, and now I see myself making all the wrong decisions I might not have made, if I was with my kind. I'm sad. It was quite nice ." She said and looked up at me. "Cherish what you have. There are some of us who had it all wrong." She said and in her eyes, I saw longing, regret, sadness and pain.

I left and heard her sigh.

However, when I came back, she looked at me like I was insane.

"What are you doing?" She asked and messed with the lock.

"Giving you a chance. Everyone deserves a chance." I said trying to open it with the bunch of keys I had stolen from the sleeping guard.

"I killed people!" She said in disbelief.

"Mistakes are mistakes, we need a chance to correct them. Killing you won't bring them back, killing you won't make their loved ones hurt less, killing you changes nothing. But letting you go changes a lot of things, it changes how you interact with the next people you meet. You've experienced life when death is knocking. This is making you a better person." I said and opened the door and knelt in front of her.

"Will you take the chance? Run away and never come back. Be better. If you need blood, the animals are always there. Find people to love you, not people to hate you." I said and tears filled her eyes as she nodded.

I unlocked the chains carefully and locked the cell door back and we both ran out carefully, avoiding the night guards, we went all the way to the back of the castle, where I watched her climb the wall, effortlessly.

Before she was about to jump, she looked back at me.

"Thank you. No one has ever done this for me. I mean giving me a second chance. I'll never forget you." She said and I nodded with a smile.

"Use your second chance well." I said and we shared a brief moment and a smile in the dim moonlight, before she jumped over the wall, never to be seen again.

I immediately went back to my room without anyone seeing me. I closed my door and took a deep breath.

My hands were shaking, I knew I had done something wrong but, oddly, it didn't feel wrong.

Because Athena was going to make things right wherever she went, I saw it in her eyes.

I took deep breaths and went to my bed.

Till the sun was up, I stayed awake, wondering where Athena was and how far she had gotten.

~

My door burst open and I quickly closed my eyes to pretend I had been sleeping.

"Dusk... Dusk ..." Seline said coming to my side. I looked at her and pretended to have just woken up.

"What?" I asked slowly and groggily.

"I'm so sorry to wake you, but, Athena had escaped!" She said and I widened my eyes.

"What?!" I asked.

~

Lucius was walking up and down.

He was in a state of distress.

“I want everyone out now! We have to find her! She's not escaping!" Lucius said in anger and his men bowed.

"We move now! We must bring her back here before sun down!" Marcus said and they all went out.

Lucius sighed and put his hand over his face.

I felt guilty knowing I had done it but I decided not to feel guilty.

I had done something I felt was right.

I might have made a mistake but everyone made mistakes and if I were in her shoes, I would want a chance.

Then Lucius came to me.

I looked up at him.

"Thanks once again." He said although I could see the distress on his face.

"Are you okay?" I asked and he nodded.

"Marcus will find her but, I have something to ask you." He said and looked at me.

"Ask me?" I asked with my heart pounding. Had they found something of mine there.

"I have something to show you."