My Brother’s Mate
Chapter 50

Emily's

POV

We learned through an informant of an upcoming battle between the Pures and the Seekers. We decided to send scouts out to the next known area of the battle. Edaline says we need to watch the battle to learn how our enemies fight and what 'tricks they might have up their sleeves'. We even started practicing drills in the mountains incase of attack on Millerborg.

Hiroen is going to show me the tunnels today. Apparently there are miles and miles of tunnels under the mountain that we can use to escape during an attack or if we get trapped. It's a little unsettling to think that this mountain could collapse on us..I guess it is really old. I make my way over to Hiroen after lunch.

"Hey Hiroen."

"Hello Emily. Are you ready to go through some secret tunnels?"

He rubs his hands together in anticipation. "Uh, yeah I guess so."

"Now It can be a bit confusing down there they made it that way on purpose so people wouldn't be able to just ya know sneak into Millerborg. Here is a map and a flashlight. The tunnels are mostly lit up, but just in case." He hands me a folded piece of paper and a flashlight. "Let's go." I say, a bit excited. He leads me down a set of stairs and stops at the bottom.

"Alright. So from your bedroom you go down to the dining hall, down again to where we met, and then down again. We have one more set of stairs to go down before we are at the mouth of the tunnels." Hiroen explains. We go down the stairs and we are at the mouth of four tunnel openings.

"How do you know which one to go into?" I ask.

"If only you have something to tell you where to go." Hiroen says sarcastically.

"Oh, whoops." Duh! I have a map. I pull out the map and look at it. Not as helpful as I thought it would be. I look up at Hiroen. He sighs and turns my map around.

"Oh! The second tunnel." I say. He nods in agreement.

"So if I didn't have this map, how would I know where to go? Do you know where to go?" I ask. He walks over to the second tunnel. "Come here." He says. He takes my hand and rubs it on the wall of the tunnel.

"Do you feel that?" He asks. I don't feel anything.

"Close your eyes." Hiroen says.

I close my eyes and try to focus. I feel the slightest vibration almost like a silent hum. I open my eyes and look at Hiroen.

"I feel it!" I say excitedly.

"Now come here." He takes my hand and goes to the first tunnel, and places it on the wall. Nothing. It just feels like a rock. "The tunnels have a slight vibration of magic. Just follow the movement Emily. It will lead you out." He tells me. We spend the next few hours following the vibrations through out the tunnel. There are a couple of different paths towards the exit but Hiroen says if I keep my hand on the right side of the tunnels and follow the hum then I'll find the quickest way out, which is still about a 2 hour journey. After I feel pretty confident in navigating the tunnels on my own I go find Marcus for more training.

Marcus is at one of the front terraces, looking out over the outer city.

"Hey Marcus." I say, his back is to me. I walk up next to him.

"What are you doing?" I ask looking in the direction he is. He points.

"Look at all of them." He says almost in awe. I look at the far off tree line and the flow of people making their way into the outer city. The mass of people look like rivers all flowing to the city. People carrying children, bags, and anything they could get their hands on before leaving their homes. I watch as they make it to the gate.

"Should we help them?" I ask.

"There are so many. I don't know if they're able to let them all in."

"She we help the ones they do?" I ask, but for some reason Marcus seems shocked by the amount of people seeking refuge. They had to have known people would come. Why else would they have an outer city. I see people starting to enter the city and people directing them to different parts of city.

"They are separating them by species. So they will be around their own kind. To feel safer." Marcus finally chimes in. I look around in the city and notice my mom helping with some of the wounded. That's it, I'm going down there. I turn to leave. "Emily, you can't go down there." Marcus says.

"Why not?" I turn around to face him.

"It's not safe. You are the Tribrid. Yes these people are refugees, but some might not be. I know you don't like to be treated differently or held separately from everyone else. And I know you hate the bowing. But you are the key to this whole movements' cause. Keeping you alive and safe is what we are here for. Sure we will take them in, we're not monsters. But Emily you are the prophecy. I know you don't want to hear this, but people have already died for you Don't let their deaths be in vein."

I pause for a moment to think. Marcus is right. I need to be smart. I can't let the lives lost in my existence be for nothing. I walk back to the railing next to Marcus and look down.

"I know you are right. But I just want to help. I want to do more than just exist." I look around for my mom. She is helping some injured vampires. I can tell it's them by how they hide from the light. It's an cloudy day, so that probably helps. It's still strange to see them so active during the day. But then again they probably didn't have much of a choice. I see Cyran come out to help too. He goes over to the vampires to help my mom. I watch for a moment as she helps him with the wounded vampires.

"So, he's your dad and she's your mom, right?" Marcus asks. Obviously noticing the same thing I am. "Yeah..."

"So were they ever a thing?" He asks.

"What? No!" I say, shocked at the question.

"Hey, it's a normal question. I mean that's typically how babies are made E." Marcus has started calling me E, I think mostly to annoy Liam.

"Yeah, I know. That's just not how it happened. And besides my mom is a werewolf, with a mate. That's not how it works."

Right? I haven't even talked to my mom about dad. Or Max, ew that was weird to say. We don't even know where he stands. Yes, he was tracking me. But what side was he tracking me for? I need to talk to my mom soon. I watch my mom and Cyran care for the vampires. I try not to watch too closely.

Cyran's POV

I am sitting in my room reading a book when Samson comes to the door.

"Come in." I say.

"Sir. Refugees have come to the city gate." He says.

"They have been coming for a week now." I tell him.

"No sir, not like this. They're coming in masses. And there are vampires among them." He tells me. I check the time, it should still be daylight.

"Before Sunset?" As far as I know, we are the only vampires here in the mountain.

"Grab some bloom bags and let's go see." I tell Samson. Im not sure what knowledge they have of helping vampires, but let's say I've seen the prejudice in their eyes. Vampires don't get a long well with others. People don't trust things that don't die. And losing bits of our humanity with every passing year, doesn't help. I go out to the outer city with Samson behind me. I find someone directing people.

"Where are the Vampires?" I ask. He points to the corner of the city that is in shadow casted by the wall and the mountain. I rush to the side to find Angela there tending to the wounded. She is the only one over here.

"Samson, give the bags to the wounded." I say. I walk over to Angela. She has never shown prejudice towards me, which is surprising for a wolf. "They need blood." I say to her.

"I figured, but all I have is the blood in my veins." She says shortly. Yup, just like Emily. I point to Samson who is giving a blood bag to a wounded vampire.

"Where do you get them from?" She asks.

"We brought them. Samson will go out and get more when we run low." She looks at me a bit questioning. She looks like she wants to ask something but is holding back. I've seen Emily make this exact face. "What?" I pry.

"Nothing, just.. are you two.. together?"

"What!"

"Are you two an item?"

"Samson is a beautiful man. But no, my desires are not for men." I think I see Samson smile at my words.

"Oh I'm sorry." She says.

"Don't be. Samson and I spend a lot of time with each other. There are worse things I could be called than Samons lover." He definitely smiled at that. Angela giggles too. Together we help the wounded find housing and blood to regain their strength until nightfall.