Amelinda stared at Dain, wide eyed, wondering how he had found her. Suddenly realizing that he was still kissing her, she lifted her arm and slapped him, giving her enough time to fly away, out of reach. She had been such a buffoon! How could she think she could hide from that old life? She knew, one day, that it would come back to haunt her. But why here? Why now? He had found her and he was going to drag her back to Cein. She couldn’t risk that. She couldn’t leave Michael.

She kept flying, hearing him in the background. “Amelinda! Please wait!” But she couldn’t. She felt so belittled and bizarre. When she had flown far enough to where she could not hear his voice anymore, she flew to a cache and hid herself till night time. When it was safe, she came out looking around and saw a figure next to the entrance of the cave.

“Why have you come into my territory, Amelinda?”

“Nolana,” Amelinda said.

“Why have you come here? You do realize you are at the outskirts of Ravenos, my territory.”

“Yes and I was just leaving,” she said in a bombastic voice.

Amelinda started to walk towards the edge of the cliff and then stopped. “My dear sister, do you love your human?”

Nolana stared at Amelinda with aversion in her eyes. “No Amelinda, I do not. My human is a ruthless killer who would like nothing better than to kill your precious Michael. Why do you ask? You know if you fall in love with a human and tell them, that it will be your undoing.”

Amelinda turned and stared at her. “I asked you this because, my sister, I believe I may love Michael,” she said, then flew back toward Doveinia.















As Amelinda flew back to Doveinia, she thought about what she had just confessed to her sister. She knew how she felt about Michael, but was she really falling in love with him? What if, somehow, she told him her true feelings? She couldn’t do that; it would be her down fall. She shook her head to try to shake off her thoughts. The thing she had to worry about was how Dain had found her and why he had kissed her. She could still feel the warmth and the softness of his lips. It was a celestial feeling, like she was made for him. She could feel herself fill with heat at the thought.

She could tell it was close to midnight. She was about to change into her bigger form. She was hoping that she could make it back to Doevinia before she changed, but she knew she couldn’t. She stopped just at the outskirts of Doveinia and landed on a big tree branch. Amelinda began to glow and she looked at her hands as they got bigger, along with the rest of her body and clothes. She was happy that her change was painless. When she changed, she was a little shorter than Michael and she sat on the branch and stared at her hands like she was expecting something to appear in them.

She had been sitting like that for about fifteen minutes, when she heard something close. She had a caustic feeling it was something bad, but she held her ground. She stood and looked around and saw a figure flying towards her. When the figure came closer, she could make out who it was from the light of the moon.

Dain.

He had changed, just like her and was about a foot taller than her. He landed on the same branch she was on and walked towards her. She backed herself into the trunk of the tree like she had before. As he came closer, she started to regret her decision of standing her ground. She wanted to fly away. To get to Doveinia, but she knew she couldn’t fly when she was changed. She felt like she wanted to capitulate, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.

Just when she thought everything was over, he stopped. Just stopped. He stared at her with catharsis in his eyes. He looked mad, like he was about to censure her for something. He was a few feet away from her when he spoke.

“Amelinda, my dear, I am very sorry for what I did. I never meant to scare you off. I simply wanted to bring a catalyst into your life by doing the ceremony me. You and I could be together for the rest of eternity. I know you may not know me, but please, my dear, let me show you the real me.”

Dain started to close the space between the two of them, when Amelinda held up her hand towards him. Her hand was glowing with magic and her eyes were filled with what looked like hate. She stepped toward him, keeping a little space between them and spoke, her eyes looking serious.
“You will not come any closer to me, Dain. I have no desire to be with you or go back to the life I once had in Cein. I now love someone else and you are not that person. You will leave this place and return to Cein. Tell our queen you never found me. Never come back to Doveinia, or I swear on my human’s life, I will put a hole in your chest. Now leave.” The last thing she said had an edge to it, but she stared him down, staying serious and angry.
Having been looking down the whole time while she was talking, Dain finally lifted his head to look at her.
“You wouldn’t kill me. It is not in you nature,” he said gripping Amelinda’s arm and pinning it against the tree. He was a few inches away from her face and she could feel his warmth surrounding her. Amelinda was out of ideas. There was nothing left for her to do. Dain, then, bent down and kissed her. Just a quick brush of his lips, then looked up at her. When he saw that she had closed her eyes and kept them shut, he kissed her again. This time the kiss was more urgent, desperate, like he needed more time to be with her.
This was enough. She couldn’t resist anymore. She couldn’t fight anymore. She slowly lifted her arms and put them around his neck pulling him closer, kissing him deeper. It had felt like an eternity, when suddenly he was gone and she no longer felt the warmth of his body. She opened her eyes to find nothing but empty space in front of her. He had gone, but somewhere deep down, even though it hurt, she hoped it wouldn’t be the last time she would see him.