Chapter 89
Juniper departs from the cottage and strolls for an hour through the forest, eventually arriving in a
valley with another settlement. I covertly follow behind her. She knocks on the door of a wood lodge.
Juniper, A respectable gentleman greets her and wees her inside the house. Another resident of
the house is hacking and gasping for oxygen.
I was terrified I wouldn’t receive the potion on time. Florence is on the verge of death, he ims.
I pop my head up and observe Juniper and the gentlemen enter a room with an elderlydy in bed via
a window. She is quite pale, coughing, and gasping for breath. Juniper arranges the basket on the bed
and takes a healing potion. She extracts the cork from the bottle and proceeds to elevate thedy’s
head.
Drink, Florence. ‘It will cure you of your illness, Juniper asserts.
N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.
Florence initially struggles but eventually consumes the potion. Within minutes, her cheeks have taken
on colour, and her eyes have be bluer. She rises to her feet and crosses her arms across her
chest.
‘Florence, it worked, the gentleman adds, sping Juniper’s hands in his. I’d want to express my
gratitude to you, Juniper, and your grandmother, he continues.
Your very wee, Mr Hillsbury, Juniper smiles.
Florence rises from the bed and joins her husband in walking Juniper out.
‘It’s already bing dark, Juniper observes as the sky darkens.
Mr Hillsbury, his neighbour says as he limps up the path.
‘It’s lovely to see you, George, Mr Hillsbury says with a smile and a nod of his hat.
‘Florence, your wife. She is out of bed walking? The doctor said she was so sickly she would die by tis
very night. I don’t understand,’George says. ‘I came to offer my condolences to you, but here she
stands filter than a fiddle,”
“It’s a miracle, isn’t it?’ Florence says. Juniper gave me medicine that cured me straight away,’ she
says without thinking of the consequences of her words. Her husband attempts to elbow her to stop her
from talking.
‘No medicine would do such a thing,’ George says, ring at Juniper,
Juniper trembles and takes a step back.
‘Dear, I believe it is a bit imusible to im you were suddenly cured. Mr Hillsbury responds
ufortably, Juniper was here all day attempting to mend you. Florence casts a puzzled nce at
her husband
‘I must be going now. Grandma wants me home before dark, and as you can see, the moon is rising,’ I
say, turning and stepping onto the path. George snatches her arm, causing her to fall over and drop the
basket. The bread and a bottle of healing potion roll out. George picks up the bottle and inspects it
reading thebel and pulling the cork off. He sniffs, then drinks it.
Juniper’s and Mr Hillsbury’s faces are flushed with fear. Juniper rises to her feet as George approaches
her, his limp gone. Georgees to a halt and stares down at his leg before returning his gaze to
Juniper.
‘Impossible, my limp has gone.’ He looks at the bottle in his hand, then at Juniper. ‘This isn’t medicine.
This is a magic potion. You’ re a witch!’ he points his finger at Juniper.
Juniper runs frightened from the vige as George creates amotion causing neighbours from their
houses. Men follow George, chasing after Juniper. She runs as fast as she can and knows they will go
straight to her house to search for her. She knows they will burn her at the stake.
I’m sorry, grandma, I can’t go home she whispers into the wind. A shimmering breeze swirls around the
fog of her breath like a spell, collecting her words and delivering her message to her grandmother.
Juniper abandons the trail and slees into the woods, eluding the horde of men.
She falls to her knees, bing fatigued to walk any forther. There are odd and unsettling noises all
around her. She notices two cumson eyes looking at her from the darkness when she nced up. The
eyes sh like a me, and I immediately recognise them as Alec’s
Alec swoops (orwards and covers Juniper’s mouth with her palm as she screams,
My blood name, I’ve been looking for you for many years,’ he says.
Juniper trembled in his arms. He carefully takes his hand away from her mouth. She gives him an odd
expression as she touches her mouth, which tingles from his contact,
‘Why do I have this sensation?’ she muffles,
With a Nash, he crashes his lips against hers, sparks and warm tingles erupting between them. Juniper
draws closer 10 Alec as they continue to kiss
She finally takes a step back, I’m very sorry, sir. I’m not sure what got into me.’ I’d never openly kissed
or desired to kiss a man like that before. ‘You’ll have to forgive me, she admits, blushing.
‘What is your name?’ he inquires.
Juniper and yours, sir?’
‘Alec,’ he smiles. ‘No need to apologise, Juniper. We are blood mes, which means we are destined
to be together.’ He says.
‘Blood mes?’ she asks curiously
Alec caresses her cheek, ‘Yes, blood mes, when we touch it feels magical, like nothing else you’ve
ever felt. Once we find each other, we have urges to stay close to each other. Staying away from each
other causes pain and even death if not careful. The gods chose us to be together.’
‘We were destined for each other?’ she asks, taking a step closer to him.
‘Yes,’ he says, showing his fangs with a smile.
Juniper exhales and takes a step back. You’ve got fangs? And your eyes were red as fire when I first
saw you?’
That’s because I’m not human, he says quietly.
Are you not human?’ She pauses for a minute, then gasps once again. ‘The night animals, the ones
who devour people and leave wounds on their necks?’
‘Creatures of the night is one way to describe us, but we like the word vampire, my love, he says,
smiling.
‘Why are you murdering people?’ she asks.
‘We survive by consuming blood’ Human blood tastes the best, yet we drink from animals mostly to
limit the number of human fatalities, and the people we kill are far from lovely people. They have either
raped, murdered or ckmailed people.
I’m not human, either, Juniper admits. I’m a witch, and the people in the valley are looking for me.’ So
that’s how I ended up in the woods. If they discover me, they’ll burn me at the stake, Alec, she sobs as
Alec draws her into his chest and consoles her. They can’t hurt you if you stay with me, Juniper, my
darling, he says.
I live with my grandmother in a cottage in the vige over there,’ I need to see her. I need to take her
with us, she begs.
‘Would it be too unsafe to return to the cottage?’ he wonders,
“I’ll go at first light. Then, if there are no guards or men near the cottage, I will sneak in and get her.’
She exins her n.
‘Can’t I grab her for you now while it’s still dark?’
The crowd will already be there, with lit torches and more men.’ ‘I can’t let them hurt you, Alec, she
deres.
l’in Alec, the vampire king, and I’ll destroy them all before they blink, he deres, emanating a
tremendous aura.
‘Are you a King?’ Juniper is taken aback.
Yes, and you will be Queen, he replies with admiration.
“You can’t kill people, Alec They are just terrified of witches, once they realise we are harmless and
only want to help them prosper and heal their sicknesses, they will cease hunting and burning us at the
stake. Let’s wait till the men have searched my
grandmother’s house. Then, when they realise I’m not there, they’ll go, and we’ll be able to take my
grandmother and escape this ce.’
‘Wouldn’t it be easier just to kill them?’
‘I’m sure it would be Alec, but we’re not monsters, she replies, making Alec smile at the sweet, loving
witch in front of him, knowing how fortunate he is that the gods picked her only for him.