10A/N: Hello! Havent done this in a while, but I decided to re-upload this story. For those of you who used to follow this story, I know I said I was going to publish but I changed my mind. I love doing this for free and I miss how fun this is. I have almost completed this story so its nothing to post a chapter whenever I feel like it...BUT this is just a test...if I still like doing this, i.e. updating etc etc, then I will continue posting chapters. I pray that what happened before does not happen again.
With that said, this story has been revamped just as the description says. So, for those of you familiar with the old version, you are going to see some things that are very different.
Here we go... I hope you still enjoy!
~Prologue~
Durante shook his head and stared at the heap of books lying on the large wooden table before him. He had made somewhat of a mess.
Ever since his brothers informed him about the situation in North America with Nicholas, and how the very old legendary myth may have some clues to what happened there, Durante had been up day and night studying old books and scrolls in search of something that could help them.
The story was supposed to be just a myth, but along with the many demons that belonged to the council who were either dying or disappearing, their mates were also being brutally murdered, and Durante's pregnant wife was probably more of a target than most of the ones already murdered. It was worth the time to see if any of the old books carried any hint of Roi existing and if he did in fact exist, they needed to determine why was there so little information about him.
He sighed and took a sip of his coffee.
"Daddy?"
Durante turned his head towards the little voice and found his five year old daughter peering at him through the doorway.
"Shouldn't you be in bed Alani?"
Alani rubbed her eyes and yawned softly. "I can't sleep."
Durante sighed. He wanted to turn her away and make her go back to bed, but those big brown eyes softened him. He smiled. "Do you want to hear a story?" Alani smiled and lightly nodded her head yes. "Ok, come here." he said patting his lap for her to sit.
She ran up to him and jumped on his lap, gazing up at his face with cheerful expectancy.
"Ok, the story I'm about to tell you is a story that has been told for many years, passed down with pride for many generations. It is known as just a myth but it could be very true. It's a very long tale so I'm going to give you the quick and easy...children's version. This story is part of your family's history so pay attention Alani."
Alani nodded and laid he head on her father's chest.
"One thing you don't know about daddy and your uncles, we are not like humans, who descended from Adam and Eve…or a monkey, or whatever they choose to believe. Unlike you, demons are descendants of the twelve sons of Ilan. Our family, in particular, are descendants of Omri.
"Anyway, according to this myth, there were actually thirteen sons of Ilan, the thirteenth being Roi. All thirteen live in a world far away from here, a place swimming with Dragons and faeries and a lot of other weird creatures. In this world, there were many kingdoms, but of course none specifically for demons. They were of course, the only ones there.
"Fortunately their father had jobs secured for them all with the help of a few friends. They were to be guardians for the Faerie King's large family...or assassins in exchange for a place to stay, food, and anything else they needed until Ilan called for them to come to earth.
"Of course, all of them wanted to be assassins, it was more exciting, but everyone could not be one and so nine of them, including Roi, ended up being guardians. Roi's job was to protect the King's youngest daughter Afina."
"They hated each other at first..."
Durante paused and glanced down as his daughter who seemed to be fighting sleep as best as she could, but was losing badly. He decided to continue anyway.
"They hated each other at first. He was annoyed by her immaturity and she believed that he was set on ruining her life. Eventually though, they became very close friends."
"Around the same time, conflicts were brewing between the faeries and a neighboring kingdom mainly because of the faerie's advanta…"
Durante stopped when the snoring began, and chuckled lightly. Gathering Alani up in his arms he stood up as he kissed her forehead, and walked her into her room.
He would have to tell her part two of the story later.
He kicked the door open, and walked over to the bed with the disheveled covers and gently laid Alani down. "Goodnight, baby." he whispered softly before kissing his daughter softly on the cheek and leaving the room.
Durante made his way back to the old library, plopped down into the large chair farthest from the books set out for him to research, and immediately buryed his face into his hands.
He glanced at the stack again. He really didn't feel like going through all of it.
He sighed, walked over to the stereo system, found a good CD, and put it in. Soft music flowed into the large library and Durante returned to his work, but not before he saw a small body appear in the door.
Without looking at her, he said "Go back to bed, Alani."
"I can't sleep Daddy." she replied in a soft voice as she rubbed her eyes.
"You were just asleep when I put you in your bed five minutes ago."
"I woke up when the monster in my closet started making noise."
"How many times have we gone over this Alani? There is nothing in your room." Durante said annoyed that his daughter was the only child in the entire building who didn't like to sleep. It was funny how she was afraid of the make believe monster in her closet, yet her father along with the rest of men in her family were all the closest thing to a monster that she was going to get and she wasn't the least bit afraid of them.
"But I heard it!"
"Go to bed."
"But…" she whined.
"Alani…"
"Can I hear the rest of the story?"
Durante stared at his daughter. She was determined not going to bed tonight.
"OK. Come here." He said just before Alani lit up with excitement. "After this, you are going to bed. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Alani nodded and climbed onto her father's lap.
"Ok, where was I?" Durante asked, his brow furrowed.
Alani shrugged.
"That's right. You fell asleep on me last time." he said tickling her. He paused and thought back a bit before remembering the last place he left off.
"Ah, ok I left off with the conflict beginning between the kingdoms, blah, blah, blah. Ok, well, a few creatures were murdered and the other kingdom's people were convinced that the Demon assassins were behind all of it."
"In order to get back at them, they sent out assassins of their own, but these were no ordinary assassins. Of course no one can just walk into a castle full of people and kill someone. They knew of the royal family's guardians and so they sought out the rare, almost extinct shape shifters."
"Shape shifters?" Alani repeated softly.
"Yes. They are creatures that can change into anything or anyone that they choose and this particular shape shifter chose to change into one of Roi's brothers. He found them both in Afina's room and because Roi believed it to be his brother, he let his guard down and the assassin was able to kill her easily.
"The shape shifter escaped before Roi could get to him. Hurt by the thought of his friend's death, Roi attacked his brother and almost killed him until someone convinced him that he did not commit the crime.
"Everyone in the kingdom was in a state of confusion, until another attempt on one of the King's daughters was made. This time, they were able to kill the intruder before he could finish his job and upon his death he change back into his true form.
"There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind who was behind all of it, so Roi, still extremely upset, decided to get back at the neighboring kingdom. Just like the Faerie kingdom, it would not be easy for him to get in, especially since they were so familiar with the Demons. He would need to acquire the same shape shifting ability."
"There was no way to do it himself. He tried many times but nothing ever happened. He was prepared to settle on the idea of just throwing himself into the masses and taking out whoever he could until he reach the king, until someone told him about the sirens.
"They were magical creatures that would grant a person any wish, but there was always either a catch to them granting a wish or the wish would be in exchange for something the siren wanted at the time. It could be anything, but since the sirens were evil tricksters, anyone who went to them knew that they would have to pay more than what they probably bargained for. Roi, figuring he had nothing to lose, set out to find the sirens anyway.
"He sailed the open sea until he found one. He explained that he wanted the ability to shape shift. She agreed to grant his wish, all he would have to do was think of the person he wanted to be and he would change into that person and without another word she left. It was odd that she left so abruptly, especially after knowing what sirens were all about, but he just shrugged it off."
"He immediately went back to the Faerie King and told him what he had done. Together they created a plan. There was a wedding being planned at that very moment and the whole kingdom would be occupied with it. Roi would cross over into the enemy's land, kill someone that would naturally be able to get close to the king there, change into them, and then target the king next. Meanwhile an army would be sent to begin the war of all wars.
"Roi was excited. It was the ultimate revenge. Kill them the way they killed Afina and during a royal wedding, their happy time. It was only a matter of figuring out who he could switch with. It would have to be someone outside of the castle that had easy access into it. Soldiers were usually not that close to the king so that was out of the question. The maids and servants lived inside the castle, along with the council members, family, concubines…"
"Daddy what's a concubine?" Alani asked cutting her father off for the first time.
Durante looked at his daughter with slightly wide eyes. Out of all the questions she could have asked she chose that one.
"A concubine is someone who just takes up space. He has a bunch so that he won't have so much space left in the castle. Now, back to the st…"
"Can we get a concubine?"
Durante paused once again. "Uh…no. Now there was only one person who…"
"But we have a lot of space daddy. Like in the hallway. There's nothing but space there. And Grandpa has a lot of space in his room too. Maybe we should get a concubine for him."
Durante stared at Alani. "So, Roi thought about who would…"
"Daddy, you didn't answer."
"That's because I don't know what to say. Can I please continue the story?"
Alani nodded.
Durante sighed out of relief. "OK, so Roi thought long and hard about who he could switch with and if he would be able to get into the castle without a problem, and that's when it hit him.
"There was really no way to get rid of the priest except to kill him, which was something that Roi had no problem with. There was two weeks left until the wedding, so Roi would have to wait until the night before to sneak into his living space, kill the priest, dispose of the body, shape shift into the priest and pretend to be him for a few hours before the wedding where he would kill the king.
"That's exactly what he did. The night before the wedding he snuck into the priest's room and killed him, then buried him somewhere deep in the forest. He then went back to the castle, transformed into the priest and spent the night there.
"The next day, he was led to the ballroom where a large crowd of people sat waiting for the ceremony to begin. The king stood in the front grinning fiercely. It angered Roi so much that he had to stop himself from scowling.
"Roi took his place and waited for the bride to come out. When she took her place, Rio began reciting the proper lines for the wedding, and when it was time for the groom to say 'I Do', Roi began concentrating, but his powers did not work. Feeling the need to still complete what he had sought out to do, he turned to the king sitting behind him and killed him."
"The entire room was in a frenzy. Roi escaped the room as the Faerie soldiers broke into the room, taking the attention off of him. He tried to turn back into himself, but it wasn't working. Engulfed in panic, he failed to notice a Faerie soldier, who did not know who he really was, approach him and before he could do anything was killed him. No one knew what happened to him or that he had been killed…and that is the end of the story…um…the end! Now, why that story is so famous, I will never know but, yea that's the end. Time for bed." Durante said standing up with Alani cradled in his arms.
"But I'm not tired." Alani said right after she had just finished yawning.
"Yea, uhuh." He said walking down the hallway towards her room.
"Daddy please let me stay up." Alani whined just as Durante walked into her room, ignoring the light breeze flowing throughout the room that gave them both chills.
"No Alani. Your bedtime is 8:30. It's twelve o'clock. That's way past your bedtime." he said laying her on her bed and tucking her under the covers. "Good night baby." He whispered, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Before he could walk away, she grabbed his sleeve.
"But what about the monster?"
Durante sighed and rolled his eyes. "There is no monster. We established that before."
"Can you at stay with me until I go asleep?" Alani asked teary eyed.
"Not tonight sweetheart." He whispered as he closed the open window. "I have a lot of work to do. You saw all the books daddy has to go through. Don't worry. I would never let anything happen to my little girl. I'm right down the hall. You are safe." he said after shutting the window across from Alani's bed.
"OK." she replied in a tiny voice.
"OK, goodnight." he said after walking back to her and giving her another kiss. Then he left the room shutting the light off after him.
He made his way down the long, dark hallway humming softly to himself as he thought about Alani. She was so cute. He just wished that she wasn't so afraid of things.
Right before he walked into the library again he heard a faint scream.
He paused for a second, his brows furrowed in confusion, trying to figure out if he had just heard the scream or not.
That's when he heard a noise like something falling to the floor. He quickly ran back to Alani's bedroom as fast as he could and cut on the light. Alani was nowhere to be found. He quickly looked around the room at the messy covers, overturned chair and dresser, and open closet door. He quickly began to worry.
The sounds must have alerted everyone in the nearest rooms because everyone popped up at the door.
"What's all the noise about son. I am trying to get some rest." Kira said to his son.
"Alani is gone." Durante said staring at the floor in thought, hoping he was just being very paranoid.
Everyone immediately looked terrified.
"Where could she be?" Aaliyah, Durante's mate asked, worry clearly written all over her expression.
"I don't know. Don't worry though. Go back to bed. We'll find her." he said giving her a kiss and sending her off. She slowly walked back down the hall, her hand resting on her overly large belly, repeatedly looking back over her shoulder, trying to get a clue as to whether the situation was as bad as she was starting to think.
"Dad, help me search the castle for her." Durante said rubbing his forehead, praying that his little girl had just went to the bathroom and was in the midst of returning safely to her room for a full night's rest.
Kira nodded and order all the maids and butlers surrounding him to help look around.
Meanwhile, Durante searched Alani's large room up and down, calling her name. That's when he noticed the window was open with a small piece of paper stuck in the crease of the frame. He had distinctly remembered shutting the window before he left.
He walked up to the window and grabbed the piece of paper. There was a small message scribbled on the front.
'Do you believe in monsters now?' was all that was written.
At that moment, realization hit him and his heart felt like it fell to floor.
He had just lied to his daughter.