I turned around.

"Michael informed me you were developing a dangerous liking for a certain mortal. I didn't believe him until tonight."

"What do you want, Vivian?"

"Zarfe is looking everywhere for you. Whatever is going on, you better snap out of it. You're putting us all in danger. So what are you going to do?" She commanded.

"Ask her to marry me." I smiled.

"No! You're not. You're going to forget her."

I laughed, derisively. "My dear sister, there is nothing I can do to get her out of my mind. This is something that must unfold."

Vivian flew forward. "Your and her choices will determine whether you'll be destroyed or not and right now your choices suck."

"I can only control my choices."

"She's not worth it, Marcus. Do you want to perish? d.a.m.n you. I became an Evermore for you. I'd knew you'd be back one day, but now you desire to leave me in darkness for her."

I gripped Viv's shoulders. "If we became separated, it would hurt, but we're brother and sister, not lovers. We must go our separate ways."

She inhaled, exhaled, furiously. "So you still desire to pursue this madness?"

"Yes. I must do this. Whatever happens, I'll find my fate in the end." I turned to leave. "And you are not to interfere. If you care about me at all, stay away from her."

A Dream Sequence I materialized at the foot of Ellie's bed while she was sleeping. She woke up and stared at me. I smiled and winked at her. I held my hands out and she rose effortlessly. I caught her in my arms. We danced across the room and I watched her face as she realized she was no longer in her room, but she was in the gra.s.s under the stars and moon on a clear night. "I'm afraid that I'm quite bewitched." she said to me. I pulled her into me and kissed her. When I pulled away, she said, "I think I could possibly-maybe love you."

"I know that I absolutely do," I told her.

I awoke in my chamber with my head on my desk, my journal underneath my head, open on the table. I arched one eyebrow when I saw my sister.

"You left early last night. Where were you, Marcus?"

I transported myself to the sky port above Nevermore. She followed me.

"I asked you where you were."

"a.s.suming that's any of your d.a.m.n business, which it isn't, why do you care?"

"You're endangering us all chasing after a human being, Marcus. You have no right."

"All right, I went to rest. Which you've just disturbed."

"Liar. Michael told me you were with Ellie last night. He stays in your head, Marcus. Nothing gets past him and you should know that."

I laughed. "Yeah. She thought she was dreaming."

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your little fantasy last night, but this better be the end of it. Put her out of your mind, Marcus. It can't be too late."

"It was too late at the beginning of creation."

"She can never be yours. It's too risky. You're crossing the line, Marcus. Do not mess with humans unless you're feasting off them. You want a lover, find one in the immortal world."

I laughed, derisively. "You don't know how risky it is or how far I'm actually crossing the line, Vivian. Apparently Michael, your source of information, doesn't tell you everything. Thank the dark masters for that."

"What are you talking about?" she spat.

"I don't know what this is, what's happening to me, but it feels good and you all must leave me alone until it ends."

"End it now, Marcus. You must. Your life is at stake."

I laughed harder. "You don't know how hilarious that is. Another 'dire' warning."

"Have you gone mad? End this nonsense."

I suddenly turned serious. "I won't!"

Vivian relaxed, ready to surrender. "I'm distancing myself from you now, Marcus." She turned to leave, "But you must know, if she destroys you, she will die."

"Stay away from her, Vivian."

Vivian left. I was so infuriated. I transported back into my chamber and began scribbling thoughts into my journal. Michael barged into my room.

"She will destroy you. She will make your life miserable, right before she drives a sword through your heart."

"Some life."

"You will end up killing her in order to survive, or you'll become so selfish that you'll ask her to risk her own life for you so that you can have her and she will despise you forever. And here, forever is what it promises."

I closed my journal. Michael handed me a gla.s.s full of human energy. "Here. Drink this. You haven't eaten in days. You're becoming weak. You can't live off mental fantasies."

"Why do you keep telling my sister about Ellie and me?"

"Because she keeps asking. And I haven't told her everything. Nothing was mentioned about the fact that Ellie is a hunter."

"Well, I don't need her in my business. You're the one who made her into a Corvidae. Control her."

"Much like I control you?" He paused. "Everything you two do is out of my hands. Fate must run its course."

"Tell her that...."

"I have."

"And quit telling me to stay away from Ellie. I think you and my sister should marry each other, start a Corvidae Dynasty of your own and leave me alone."

"I'm not interfering with your affairs."

"No! You want to. You and everyone else keep telling me s.h.i.t I already know. I cannot control this. It's in my veins. It's pulsating. I don't know what to do. My life was once so simple. Hunt for fiends, kill, try not to be killed. But now she is in me and I cannot control it. Nothing you say or do will make it stop so quit trying to make me feel like s.h.i.t."

"You can't run from who you are."

"See. There you go with your philosophical bulls.h.i.t. I'm not running from anything."

He circled me. "You haven't eaten in days. You lack nourishment."

"Just because I haven't ripped apart a human or drained their energy in a while doesn't make me a lesser Evermore."

"It makes you a fool. She's torturing you."

"She loves me."

"Oh, I forgot. Your little dream together. In dreams, Marcus, people say anything."

I stared up at him. Then he said, "I actually came by to discuss a different matter."

"And what might that be?"

"We need someone to guard the Prince Palace of Nevermore. Zarfe will be gone for a long while." He held up the skeleton keys and dangled them in my face. "It can be all yours, alone, if you learn how to obey simple rules."

I went to s.n.a.t.c.h the keys but he pulled them out of my sight. "I'm serious, Marcus. Horace will tell us everything."

I really wanted to stay in the Prince Palace. I wanted to get away from everyone here. Especially Michael and Vivian who kept interrupting me. The Palace was on the other side of the ocean.

I s.n.a.t.c.hed the key from his hand. "It won't be a problem. I can handle it."

He gave me a forlorn look. "Marcus, I'm forfeiting as leader of the throne."

"Why?" I asked him, "You've waited a hundred Nevermorean years for this t.i.tle."

"Because it would mean telling Zarfe what you have done, with your mortal. And that she's not only a mortal, but a Corvidae hunter. He'd then kill you and cast your soul in to eternal d.a.m.nation. You'd never have a chance at another life, Marcus."

"Why would you care?"

"Because. I love you too much to allow it. I'd rather suffer under your rule, than see you killed." He swallowed. "I refused to tell them anything. You should really get used to the Palace, because it will be yours soon."

Just then, Zarfe burst in the room. "Meeting, outside, now!"

I stuck the key in my pocket and followed Michael outside. Zarfe was apparently upset. All the Corvidae turned to look at us. I exchanged looks with Michael. His gaze told me that he hadn't betrayed me.

"Stand before me! Michael, Marcus, Nathaniel!"

We took five steps forward.

"All three of you have failed me miserably! I have to leave in two days. What am I supposed to do? Everything that has happened in the last few days has been brought to my attention and I'm so ashamed that I will not speak of it in front of the entire Dynasty, but I will say that none of you have done your job. Marcus, you have been disloyal, and Michael, you haven't been any better. You've been trying to discipline Marcus and the throne isn't yours yet. And Nathaniel, you've been concealing certain information. You all have. I would destroy you all right now, but the rules prevent me from it. That's a job for the Red Coat Society. I am turning this case over to Jillian and I'm putting her in charge while I am gone. She will see to it that everyone behaves." He glared at me and Michael. "If you two have not changed by the time I get back, you will be punished! You're dismissed!"

First Day in the Prince Palace I loved being on the other side of Nevermore because the other side had luxuries that the main Palace did not. My favorite luxury was the Black Apple Tree. It was a purple tree with green branches that sprouted black apples that tasted like warm apple pie. The Palace was large and silent. Empty. No one there but me and Horace, my skeleton butler. I knew that if I ever became leader, this palace would be mine and I would not have to share a s.p.a.ce with the other Evermores, and that was something worth looking forward to.

I fell asleep in the new lair, but was immediately awoken by Nathaniel.

"Marcus, you must wake up. I only have a few moments to tell you this."

"What is it now? I'm tired."

"A war is going to begin if you do not end this. You must never speak to Ellie again."

"Sorry. I can't do that."

"You'll wish you had. So what are you going to do?"

"Well, if everything happens that doesn't, she'll be mine."

"Are you serious?"

"I've never been more serious about anything."

"Rethink it Marcus. This doesn't sound like you."

"Yeah, and what do you know?"

"That you should not go through with this."

I stood up in Nathaniel's face and I knew he could see my frustration. "You don't care about me or anything else!"

"If I didn't care I sure the h.e.l.l wouldn't be here."

"None of this should even matter to you."

"Well it should matter to you."

"Go to sleep, Nathaniel."

I stood up and grabbed my trench coat and put it on, ready to leave.

"Let me guess, you're going to see Ellie?"

"That's exactly where I am going and you can't stop me." I was determined to reveal to Ellie who I was and what I was in hopes she would not reject me. If my feelings for her be unrequited, then that would be a far more tragic fate than d.a.m.nation.

On my way to see Ellie and show her the truth, I saw Michael sitting on the terrace. He spoke to me. "Is there anything I can do to dissuade you from the path you're on?"

"No."

"I thought not. You wake up year after year looking for love. Here it is and you're running toward something else."

"Michael, I cannot and do not love you."

"You're infatuated with her. Are you mad?"