‘Where am I?’ Eloise woke up abruptly to find herself by a small pond, in the middle of a very large garden. The cool evening breeze blew wisps of her dark red hair into her face.
She looked down to find herself in a beautiful white gown. She slowly stood to her feet confused.
‘My wedding day?’ But that was two days from now. She quickly touched her stomach to find no stab wounds. She found no blood in her palms either. She swore they were filled with blood minutes ago
The scene of Cole stabbing her was so vivid now. 
She died......
Yes, she died. She would never mistake the fear she felt while, Cole pushed her off the balustrade. It was real. She knew what she felt. The sharp piercing pain from the cold iron knife, he stabbed her with. The satisfaction in his eyes while he stabbed her multiple times. The hate.
 Pure hate, she thought.
But why?
Why would the love of her life kill her? 
Most importantly, why wasn’t she dead yet? Yes, she was the Phoenix. She could rise from the ashes every time she died but not this time. She was sealed.
Yes, by that woman. She’d seen that tattoo on her hand before, but where? 
Oh, she remembered it all perfectly now. There was a witch circle, the seal of the condemned, a bright red moon and her blood.... 
 She fell from a three-story building, right to the bottom of the pool. She spent her last breath drowning because she couldn’t swim. 
What a terrible way to die, she thought. Or maybe not.... She was alive, wasn’t she?
Some terrible dream that was......

INTO THE FLAMES.

“Who is there,” Leah swiftly whipped her head toward the hedges. The movement was so swift yet subtle that anyone could quickly mistake it for nothing but not her. 


She stood leisurely in the large Valerian Garden smoking her thin pipe, away from the loud characterless, annoyingly repetitive music in the ballroom. At least, that is how she felt about the unending Christmas classics the Royal Orchestra kept playing. To make it all worse, she couldn't make a single turn in the manor without seeing a pale face with glistening fangs, forcefully smiling at her when she walked by and whispering behind her back. She thought she was ready to finally meet vampires in their masses but this was too much, even for her. For peace of mind and her sanity, she ended up in the garden, by the hedges not far from the large gazebo at the centre of the garden. 


Chapter 50(The Beginning of the end; Part VII: The Princess and The Scourge)