...Eighteen

"Long time no see." The smirking man says to me. That smirk, that ever present smirk on the bastards face. It disgusts me.

"Where is she?" I ask, slowly backing away from him.

"My match you mean?" He asks, his grin growing even wider as he speaks.

I stay silent, not wanting to let him know how furious I actually am. I look at him, with his grey or well blondish hair, his big body and his stupid face, oh and that stupid crown on his head. God, do I hate this guy.

"So you thought you could just barge in here with your friends and somehow safe my girl?" He says with his annoying, weird sounding accent.

"Your girl?" I snap at him. "You actually think she likes you? You actually think she gives a damn about you?"

"Oh after the first night of the new year she will." He says, smirking.

I bawl my fists, knowing exactly what he is planning to do on that first night of Januari. "You're disgusting." I spit at him, my hands already wanting to hurt this man so badly. I start shaking and sweating already, almost wildening because of my anger.

He lets out a laugh, that ever present smirk still there. "Well sweetheart.." He starts then. "Let finish this whole thing now yeah?" He says, walking closer towards me. I look around me, knowing this is that same hall where I have left Taylor behind all those years ago. There is no going away this time. No escape. This is the day I safe the love of my life. My match. My world.

A loud growl fills the empty hall and there he stands as his mighty, grey, wolf self. I know that wolfs cant really smile or smirk, but I swear that asshole still has that stupid grin on his hairy face. I growl too then. A flash of white light fills the air and there I stand in front of him as a wolf myself.

"Any last words now?" He asks, his sharp teeth shining dangerously at me as he walks closer and closer to me. I growl loudly then and jump forward, surprising the grey monster. I cut deep into his skin with my sharp nails and run towards the other end of the hall.

"Bitch!" I hear him shout as he runs after me. I feel a sharp pain run through my left leg then. I turn around again and bite him in his side as he passes me, not expecting me to turn around so abruptly. His face is bleeding and so is a small wound on his side now. I know its not enough though. I know he needs to die.

"Now I have you." He says as I reach yet another corner of the big hall. There is now way for me to go now as he is before me, and a stone wall is behind me. 'fuck..'

"WERE COMING IN! HANG ON!" A voice yells then. The two big stone doors open slowly and a brown wolf and a flying vampire come rushing into the hall. "Grab him, Sel! Cara shouts at the brown wolf while circling above us. The ceiling of the big hall isn't even visible from the ground and so Cara can fly around. Selena jumps on Adam's back and bites him hard in his neck. He grunts in pain and that whole action gives me the time to escape from that narrow corner and dig my nails into Adam's side in the meantime.

"On the end of the hall is another door!" Selena yells then. "The entrance of the rest of the palace is there."

"We can handle him for now, go get your girl." Cara says, diving down right after, putting her teeth in Adam's neck.

I just stand there then, looking at the scene unfolding in front of me. Adam is laying on the ground, still in his wolf form but looking weak, very weak. He still tries to fight back though, aggressively trying to throw punches in the girl's directions.

"Seriously, go!" Selena shouts then, punching the grey wolf in his stomach. He lets out a low grunt and tries getting up one more time without succes.

"We got this." Cara says in confirmation. "Go!" The two stand there with all their power while the grey wolf's power seems to fade away rather quickly. 'He is not that strong after all, the dick.'

I take off then towards the smaller, wooden door in another dark corner of the big hall. I barge through it with no effort and notice im now in another dark hallway which seems to be lighter at the end. I quickly shift into my human form so I can call for the girl. "Taylor!?" I shout loudly through the hallway, running through the darkness, towards the light.

"Karlie?" I hear a surprised voice say then. "Karlie, is that you?" Its her voice, I recognise it immediately. "Gosh, I must be daydreaming again.." That same voice mumbles then, making me giggle.

"Taylor, where are you?" Im closer to the light now and look around me. There seem to be multiple doors and alleys that I can choose to go in.


"Karlie?!" I hear Taylor's voice ask. "Karlie, is it really you?"

I giggle again, now hearing where the girl is. Or well, at least in which direction I should go. "Baby, where are you?" I ask.

"Baby?!" A high pitched voice shouts then. She steps out of one of the many doors then and stands in the middle of the hallway. There she is, her blue eyes locking with my green ones immediately. "Karlie.. how are you.. why are.. how.." She stammers, tears in the eyes that I had missed so much.


"Its okay. You're safe now." I say, enveloping in a warm hug. She sobs into the embrace. Its a thing I had never really experienced her doing, she is usually always the 'strong' one. "Its okay." I whisper. "Im here."

"You're here." She repeats. She sounds so broken. She then steps away from me to take in my appearance. "Karlie, you're here!" She shouts then, smiling widely as if now finally realising it isn't a dream this time. "You're really here!" I step towards her then and press my lips onto hers. The kiss is short and filled with a lot of sadness however.

"How did you get in here?" She asks then, holding both my hands as her forehead leans against mine. "Wait.. where is Ada-"

"Oh gosh, we should head back to them." I say then, suddenly remembering the big fight that is probably still going on.

"No need for that." A loud voice with a thick British accent says then. "Its all taken care off." She wears a proud grin on her face while a few drips of blood roll down her lips.

"Cara.. how did you get h-" Taylor stammers, then Selena appears behind the vampire. "Sel?!" The blonde shouts then. "Guys, how did you get in here? How did you even find the secret entrance?"


Taylor runs over to the two girls and hugs them both tightly. "We had some help." Selena says then, looking over at me. I feel my cheeks turn red.

"Yeah, she had almost already killed that loser alone." Cara laughs, looking at me with a smile on her face.

"Wait where is the-" Taylor starts, stepping back from the girls and looking at them with a serious face. 

"The crown?" Cara says, holing it up the air with a triumphant smile on her face. "Figured you would want this since you're.. well the queen now." Cara says, handing it over to Taylor who grabs the object and looks at it with disgust.

"We should destroy it." She says, her voice low and serious.

"Tay.." Selena says. "Its the most powerful magical object within this region. We should at least think about what to do with it."

"Don't you think I've thought about it enough? Ive been spending five years, alone in a room." Taylor snaps at Selena, who looks taken aback and starts staring at the ground. "Sorry.." Taylor says then, staring at the ground too.

I take in her appearance then. She looks beautiful, she does. Her curly, blonde hair slightly shorter than when I had last seen her, but still reaching until over her shoulders. She is wearing a simple, green sweater with some black jeans. She looks up at me then, her blue eyes staring into mine. She looks tired, exhausted even now that I really observe her. She has some darker lines under her eyes, her eyes aren't shining as bright as usual, her eyebrows are furrowed together into a frown. She doesn't only look tired but also worried. She looks like she has spend the last view years worrying. Which she probably has.

"Well then.." Cara says, breaking the silence. "Lets destroy that thing."

"Lets just try to get out of this place first." Taylor says, even her voice sounds tired. I walk over to her, take her hand in mine and give it a little squeeze. She lays her head on my shoulder and squeezes back.
 Its like our old code, squeezing each other's hands. 

"It will be okay, we are here now. We will do it together." I say softly into her ear, so that only she can hear it. 'I love you.' I think, hoping she can still read my mind. I get no response however. 'Well, thats something to talk about later.' I think as she lifts her head up again and starts walking towards one of the many doors in the dimly lid hallway. I cant even imagine how horrible it must have been for her to live here for so long.

"Little question." Cara says as she follows the blonde and I. "How exactly do we destroy that thing?" Selena and I let out a laugh. "What?" Cara asks, her hands up in the air. "Im not a magic, wolf-crown expert." She says while smiling. Even Taylor smiles a bit then. We all follow behind the quiet girl, me still holding on to her hand and Cara and Selena walking closely behind us.


"Ill explain that later." Taylor says then, her voice neutral. "There are about twenty guards walking around the palace, we need to get past them first."

"Twenty?!" I say. "Oh my god."

"Well if you count the two we already killed.. eighteen." Cara says, proud of her own actions it seems.

"Jesus, Cara." Selena says then, but I can hear that she is smiling.

"Well.. thats still a lot, guys." Taylor says. She sounds so unsure and sad that everyone immediately shuts their mouth.

We reach another door at the end of the long hallway and are greeted by the cold, night air. "Stay quiet now." Taylor says. It is as if she has already planned all of this out a long while ago. Which again, she probably did. "They're probably near."

'Where the hell are we?' I think to myself as we make our way through a cold, muddy surrounding. There are some bushes and trees around us, as well as pure darkness. "Shift." Taylor says then. At first im confused by what she means but when I hear two different growls around me, I understand it. I quickly shift too and follow the beautiful white wolf in front of me. It has been five whole years since I have seen Taylor in her gorgeous wolf form and I have to say, she only grew more gorgeous.

Cara is walking right behind us when we hear her muffled screams for help. "Cara!" Selena shouts then, jumping at one of the palace guards that is trying to choke the vampire to death. I quickly follow the brown wolf and we both jump at the big grey wolf who is just a little bit smaller than Adam is.. or, was.

"They're here!" The grey guard growls while Selena's and my nails dig into his skin. Cara turns around then when she is no longer held by the guard, and bites in his neck. He starts to bleed a lot and eventually the vampire drops him onto the ground.

"The fucking ass didn't even taste good." She mumbles, wiping her mouth aggressively. Selena smiles at the vampire girl and so does she, locking eyes with each other.


"Whats up with them?" Taylor asks me drily. I cant help but giggle at her dryness and say: "I have no idea." Taylor smiles at me shortly but soon starts frowning when focussing on our 'mission' again.

"Karls, behind you!" She shouts then, pointing behind me with a now panicked look on her face. "I got him!" Selena says, biting another grey wolf in his neck and throwing him onto the ground.


"Lets get out of here." I say then, nudging the white wolf I know so well with my head and following her lead as she starts running towards no one knows where. We eventually reach the end of the muddy forest and are finally able to see the stars that are shining brightly now.


"Gosh, how long have we been in there?" Selena breathes as we plop down onto the grassy ground. All in our human forms and massively out of breath. We had still beaten some bad company on our way out of the palace grounds.


"I have no idea." Cara replies. Something is different in her voice. She sounds pained. 

"Cara, are you okay?" Taylor asks, her voice still not as warm as I remember it.

"I.. I think im bleeding, guys.." She says then, her voice sounding very surprised. I look at her stomach when she opens her coat and see that a big red spot is covering her grey shirt.

"You're.. you're bleeding?" Selena stammers. 

"Cara.. vampires cant really bleed, can they?" Taylor asks. I see in her face that she is trying to keep her calm but that she is already freaking out.

"Normally not.. no." Cara answers, still in shock too it seems.

"We need to get you to your den. Now." Taylor says, taking decisions for the rest now as everyone is now just staring at Cara's growing blood stain. 

"Fuck.." Cara mumbles.

"Guys, now." Taylor repeats, shifting into her wolf form. Selena and I do the same and we all pick Cara up from the ground. She is getting weaker and weaker it seems and were running as hard as we can while holding the vampire up. It was about a two hour run on the way to the palace and now with Cara on our backs, its probably going to take even longer.

"Hold on Car.." Selena growls, probably not realising that the girl can't hear a word she says.


————————————————————————————————————-

"What now?" Selena asks Taylor, who is pacing through the den.


I remember the time when Taylor was bitten by a werewolf, when Selena took the lead in healing her. It seems like the tables have turned this time as the dark haired girl seems to be clueless.

"Fuck.. fuck.. fuck.." Taylor mumbles. "I have no idea how she can bleed. Vamps cant bleed."

"Ever?" I ask.

"Only when they die." Taylor hisses into my ear then.

'Fuck.'

It stays quiet for a long while then. Selena sitting next to Cara, who we had laid in bed. She is barely responding to anything we ask or say to her. Taylor sits down on one of the old, wooden chairs and sighs deeply.

"The wizard." She says then. "The wizard!"

"What?" Selena asks, storming into the living room area. 

"The wizard can help us. He can probably make some kind of potion." Taylor says quickly, already getting up from the chair and putting her coat on. "Karlie, we have to go now. Do you remember where the truck is?"

I nod. "I think so."

"Sel, stay here with her. We will be back tomorrow." Taylor says, only seriousness in her voice as she steps towards the door and looks at me expectingly since I am still sitting on the chair with a confused look on my face.

"Oh.. yeah." I mumble, getting up from the chair now and hurrying to put my coat on and walk over to the door.

"See you tomorrow, Sel. Keep on talking to her. Feed her enough blood. Just.. keep her awake." Taylor says, grabbing Cara's small backpack and heading out of the door and into the dark, cold air. I shoot Selena one look and see the fear and sadness on her face. 


"It will be okay. Were going to find something." I say.

"Just hurry." Selena says as I shut the door and follow Taylor who has already shifted.


——————————————————————————————————

A few hours later, we were seated in the car and trying to start the old thing. After a few tries, it finally does and we speed away into the night. Im behind the wheel and check the time to see its 1am.

"Where do we go?" I ask. "How long is the drive."

"Snowy mountains. Its a five hour drive." Taylor says coldly.


"Okay." I say and the car is filled with an uncomfortable silence that I hadn't expected. Actually, I handt expect any of this to happen. I guess I had just hoped that Taylor and I would be reunited and that everything would be just fine. But now that Cara is suddenly in need of a wizard to cure her, everything is different. The whole situation is different.

"Are you okay?" I ask after what feels like hours.

She remains quiet.

"Tay?" I ask then.

"What do you think?" She snaps then. "Does everything seem okay? Do I seem okay?"

"I.. I just thought.." I stutter, shocked by her sudden anger. 

"No." Taylor just says, staring outside of the window.

"Sorry.." I mumble, focussing on the road.

When I check then clock again, its 4am. The whole car ride had been silent.


"Take a right here." The girl next to me says then, her voice soft.


I turn on my blinking signal, even though there isn't a single soul on the road at this time of the night, and take a right turn.


"Drive up there." She says then, pointing straight forward at an upping road. A thick layer of snow is covering everything in our surrounding.

After a long, thin, scary mountain path, we reach a small cabin on top of the mountain.


"Be polite. We need him very much." Taylor says as we both get out of the car and walk towards the small, wooden cabin.

I nod and follow the blonde girl that I only recognise from the outside today. Her inside had changed. Everything had changed her.

She knocks on the door three times and a few lights turn on inside the cabin.

"Who's there?" Its the sound of an old man's voice.

"Its Taylor. Taylor Swift." Taylor answers politely.

"Oh dear.." The voice says. The sound of a thousand locks clicking fills the cold, windy mountain and the door creeks open, showing us a very tired old looking man with a long white beard.

The man looks exactly like how I imagined a wizard to look like. His beard is so long that it almost reaches all the way down to the ground. He is wearing a long, dark-blue cloak with strange, yellow patterns on it. He is wearing small, round glasses on his nose and his blue eyes peek right over it.

"What makes the princess of the wolf-region, knock on my door at half past four at night?" The wizard asks in a Brittish accent, bending down to the ground a bit.

"We need your help, sir." Taylor says. "And please, just call me Taylor."

"Come in, it must be urgent." The man says, opening the door widely and letting Taylor and I step inside the small building. Its filled with books, stoves, pans, glass bottles, pens, papers, weird looking liquids and literally anything you would expect to find in a wizard's home.

"What is the matter, princess." The wizard asks, guiding us to two chairs and sitting down himself too.

"Well first of all.." Taylor starts with a sigh. "My good friend Cara, a vampire, is bleeding because of a big fight with some enemies."

"Oh lord." The wizard says. "Vampires are not supposed to bleed." He gets up from the chair he was sitting on and walks over to a closet full of books. He starts rumbling around and grabs one big book out of it.

"Which creature attacked her, dear?" The wizard asks, looking at Taylor expectingly.

"A werewolf." Taylor says, looking him in the eyes.

"How old is the girl?" He asks, looking at some pages in the book.

"154 years, sir." Taylor says, looking at the book too, curious for a solution.

"Oh difficult age.." The wizard mumbles. He starts mumbling a few inaudible words after that and walks over to a drawer with thousands of glass bottles.

"This will take only a few minutes. Ill be back in a bit." The old man says, walking over to a huge cauldron and putting several, different ingredients in the old thing.

Taylor sits still on her chair, staring at an empty spot on the wall in front of her. I move my hand on top of hers and squeeze it. "See, it will be okay. He will give us something that will cure her."

Taylor looks at me then, her eyes tired and.. sad. "I hope so." She says, pulling her hand back as the wizard walks back into the room.

"Give this to her together with something.. rare and I can tell you. This 'something' is hard to find, but it is the only thing that can safe her."

"What is it?" Taylor and I both ask at the same time.


"True love." The old man says. We both look at him in disbelieve. "I know, I know. But even in the 21st century its still a valuable thing and something we need for strong potions like this one." He says, pointing at the small glass bottle with a green liquid in it.

"Okay.." Taylor says, sounding defeated.

"Maybe.. Selena?" I say to her, doubt in my voice.


"We can always try." She says, not too hopeful. "So how does it work, sir?" She asks the grey wizard then.

"First you give her the potion and then, a true loves kiss will do." He says. "Did you have any other issues you would like to discuss with me now, princess?"

I see Taylor cringe at the last word the old man says as she answers: "Yes sir, how do I destroy.. this." She asks, taking the silver crown out of her backpack.


"Oh... gosh.. my child. This is so powerful." He says, taking the old piece of silver in his hands. He examines it closely and mumbles: "The most powerful magical object of this region."

"Yep.." Taylor says, almost sounding impatient.

"Are you sure you want to destroy this?" He asks, looking at her with wide eyes above his round glasses.


"Yes. I think objects like these are too powerful to be present in a region like this. Only bad things come out of it." Taylor says, looking the wizard in the eyes.


"You will need to.." He gets up from the chair and opens yet another book out of the overspilling closet. "Pour.. this.." He gets a red potion in a small, round glass bottle out of the drawer with potions and points at it. "Pour this over the crown and throw it into the Cloudy river right after. It will sink to the bottom and will disappear right there and turn into dust.

"Wow.." I mumble. I knew there was a lot more magical stuff going on on this planet, but never expected to hear anything like this with my own ears.


"Thank you, almighty wizard." Taylor says, bending for the old man while receiving the two potions in small, round bottles. "I will send you a great amount of anything you want."

"Unicorn blood will do." He says, smiling. "It has been an honour, princess. Its good to see that you're free again." The old man takes Taylor's hand and kisses it. "Thank you."

Taylor smiles politely. I can see that she hates this whole interaction though as her smile doesn't reach all the way up to her eyes.

"Go now." The wizard says. "Hurry, good luck."

"Thank you." We both say again as we get up, pull our hoods over our head and go back into the cold night. We run to the car, the potions safely in the backpack, together with the crown.


"Ill drive." I say as I see that Taylor wants to crawl behind the wheel. She looks at me with questioning eyes. "You need some sleep, Tay." I say, trying not to sound harsh or angry.

"Okay." She says, not sounding harsh or angry either. She sounds numb. The blue eyed wolf-girl sits down in the passengers seat and I start the car. We drive down the steep mountain and reach the main road eventually.


"What time is it?" Taylor asks after a while. I look at the clock. "6am." I say, focussing on the road.

"Okay." She mumbles, staring out of the window.

"Do you think Sel will be Cara's true love?" I ask the blonde, actually curious and also wanting to end the painful silence.

"I really hope so.. I mean.. she could be." She says, looking in my direction for the first time.


"Me too." I say. The conversation ends there however and the drive continues quietly.

The sun is already shining brightly onto the snowy ground when we reach Cara's den in the morning. We storm into the den and run over to the bedroom. "Thank god you guys are back. She's getting more pale with every second." Selena says, getting up from the side of Cara's bed.

"Is she still responding to you?" Taylor asks.


"She moves sometimes." Is Selena's reply. "But barely."

"Can we talk for a bit?" Taylor asks then, looking at Selena and then at me.

"Ill stay with her for a bit." I say, sitting down next to Cara. I start saying silly things to the vampire who is laying there, unconscious. In the meantime, I watch Taylor talk with Selena, who is staring at the blonde with a shocked expression. Taylor then holds up the green potion and hands it over to the dark haired girl.

"Just give it a try. Its all we can do." I hear Taylor say.

Selena nods and walks back into the bedroom. I get up from the chair and let the girl sit down next to the vampire.

"So.. Cara.." She begins talking to her. "Im gonna pour this disgusting looking liquid in your mouth now and then.. uhhmm.. then im going to kiss you."

Taylor grabs my hand then and pulls me out of the room, to probably give them some privacy. We both stare into the bedroom then and watch Selena pour the green drink into Cara's mouth. The vampire actually moves her arm to prevent her from pouring it in completely but Selena pours the whole substance in.

"So uhhmm.." We hear Selena mumble. "Im just gonna.. uhhmm.." She says as she leans forward to kiss the vampire's lips gently.

"Please work.." I hear Taylor whisper behind me. She is looking over my shoulder at the whole thing.

Selena leans back again, her eyes watering as she watches if anything happens. A loud gasp sounds through the den then. Two blue eyes shoot open and the vampire sits up abruptly.

"You kissed me!" She shouts at Selena. And then falls down onto her back again. Both girls cheeks turn red as they stare at each other in surprise.


"Cara!" Taylor yells, running into the room. 

"Hey, Swiftie." Cara says lazily, wanting to sit up again, but immediately falling back onto the bed as she tries to do so.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down." Taylor says, a small smile on her face. Selena is just staring at Cara in disbelieve.

"Hey, Klossy. I still wont bite you. Hi." Cara says sassily. I laugh and step into the room. "Hi Cara." I say, smiling at the girl who is smiling back at me, her sharp teeth showing.

"We will leave you two alone for a bit." Taylor says, walking out of the room and giving Selena a wink. I follow the blonde out of the bedroom and into the living room. "uhmm.. well.. I.. I.." Selena stammers.

"Oh come here now will you?" Cara says, grabbing Selena's hand and pulling her next to her in the bed. Selena smiles widely, her cheeks red as she cuddles next to the vampire and seems to relax.

"They're so cute." I say as I shut the door behind me. Taylor sits down on the couch. "I had no idea they were even.. a thing or.. whatever. Im glad it worked. I couldn't deal with Cara not surviving all this shit." The blonde says. I sit down next to her on the couch and take her hand in mine.

"Taylor, we should talk I think." I say, looking at her from the side. She lays her head on my shoulder.

"Can we talk tomorrow?" She asks.

"But it is tomorrow." I say stubbornly. 



"Karls.." She sighs. "Please." She lays down on the couch and pulls me with her to be her big spoon. I have to admit it feels amazing laying so close to her, cuddling her closely to me after all this time. But it doesn't feel right that she's not talking with me. Just.. something doesn't feel right. 



"Ive missed cuddles." She says, making me smile.

 Her voice sounds dreadful and sad however. 

"Me too." I say, kissing the back of her head. "Ive missed you."


"I have missed you too." She says, taking my hand and kissing it. "So much." She whispers, and I swear, I can hear that she's crying. 



"Promise we will talk tomorrow?" I ask. "Please?" I feel like she is keeping something from me, something major.

"I promise." She says, squeezing my hand. I squeeze back and close my eyes. This has been one of the strangest days in my life and probably in hers too. But at least we are together now. 

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A/N:

Yay! Kaylor is reunited! But whats wrong with Tay? 

I hope you liked this chapter guys? Let me know your opinion? Pleaaaseeee?

I have no idea yet when ill post the next chapter, hopefully soon. Okay?

X