**
My scream echoed across the lawn. The morning sky was cloudless, but it felt almost indecent. I thought it should be raining, storming, windy and threatening. The sun looked dazzling, and made me nauseated.
It was disgusting the day could be so beautiful when Declan was running to defend me, and to get killed.
I pointlessly fought against Annabelle’s strong arm. I knew there wasn’t anything I could do. I knew Declan was doing this so I could escape. I knew if Annabelle wasn’t holding me back, all of this would have been for nothing.
But I fought with all the strength left in me because it was all I could do.
She held me gently, putting no pressure on me. Even through my frantic struggle to stop Declan, to keep him safe, I knew this was what made her so special. Annabelle, despite her controlled demeanor, had a great deal of understanding and acceptance in her. I hadn’t even been human for an hour and she had already learned how fragile I was.
My blurry, human eyes watched as Declan slid into the giant’s legs, breaking his momentum and knocking him off his feet. He rolled to the ground back toward the manor, but was standing again so quickly my eyes didn’t see the motion.
Everything was blurry through the haze of the morning and the fight was taking place pretty far away. My sense of distance wasn’t right. It looked like they were a mile from where I stood, but I knew the front yard of the mansion wasn’t that huge.
“I am sorry, Ansell. I do not wish to fight you, but you have to understand. She means everything to me.”
Annabelle whispered the words in my ear, and I knew she was relaying the conversation was taking place between the giant and my Declan. I stopped fighting against her but she wisely didn’t remove her arm from around my torso.
“I’m sorry too, but I do not understand,” Annabelle continued interpreting. “You would go against our King, for what? A human?”
They were standing about a yard apart, I thought, and talking as if they weren’t intending to hurt the other. “The loyalty you have for Charles, all that which makes you such a good Servant? That is what I feel for Lena. That and more. I am hers and she is mine. I do not have any other way to explain.”
My attention was fixed so much on Declan’s every move I didn’t even notice the car pulling up until its tires squeaked to a stop on the grass behind me. Lennox was already out of the driver’s seat and by Annabelle’s side, taking in the scene with the rest of us by the time I turned to look.
When I saw Annabelle’s face, I knew she was holding something back.
“What?” I said, and it came out as a whimper.
She took in a breath and relayed the exchange. “The human girl is no longer yours. My King decreed it.”
“She will always be mine, no matter what he does.”
“We shall see,” Annabelle translated the giant’s words the same second his fist made contact with Declan’s chin, sending him into the air and then flat on his back.
I must have screamed again, but all I heard was the echo.
I started to run, but I was lifted from the ground as I noticed Declan back on his feet, barreling into the giant’s chest.
This time, it was Lennox’s arm around me. He was no stronger than Annabelle, and as careful, but his arm was definitely bigger. Not that I could convince myself not to struggle against him.
It felt good to fight. Even if it was the most futile thing I could do.
“Annabelle, take her,” Lennox said like a father handing a baby over to its mother, sliding me into Annabelle’s grasp.
“What are you doing?” she asked, and I didn’t understand. I knew they saw things I didn’t. I knew my human perception was extremely limited. But Lennox hadn’t done anything that I had seen.
He stood in the way of my view of Declan. I didn’t know what was happening now, and squirmed against Annabelle’s hands even more than before.
She ignored me.
“If there is anything I can do, I have to try,” I heard him say, and I stopped struggling again and met my brother’s eyes. There had been pride in his voice as he repeated my words. He was proud of me.
A tear rolled down my cheek for the first time in twenty years.
Lennox leaned past me and kissed Annabelle sweetly. He whispered something to her too quiet for me to hear, even though I was inches away, and then he was halfway across the lawn, running toward Ansell, who was throwing my Declan into the ground.
Annabelle let me go and I didn’t try to get away. She looked shocked, as shocked as a vampire could look.
“But—” I started, stunned speechless.
She shook her blonde hair, maybe to shut me up or maybe to snap herself out of whatever she was thinking. Always collected. Always in control.
“We should go now,” she said, uncertainly.
A loud sound made us both jump, and I tore my eyes away from Lennox’s first punch to see Will in the driver’s seat of the old Cadillac.
He honked the horn again, and motioned to me as he yelled in a scratchy, weak voice, “Come on. Time to go.”
“Yes,” Annabelle whispered and dragged me by my arm toward the car.
“Annabelle,” I said calmly. “Let me go.”
She did immediately and I stared into her face.
I will not be forced anymore. I get to make my own decisions now.
And it was as if she heard me.
I knew we did have to go though. We were all in danger now. For even attempting the escape. But I knew Will and I were the most at risk. If we were caught, Charles’s favor may still apply to me. He’d probably want to change me back. But Will, he’d study, then discard.
I got him into this, I reminded myself. He wouldn’t leave without me.
There was nothing I could do for Declan. Not now. Not yet.
It felt like forever walking to the back of the car, opening the door and climbing into the back seat. Annabelle was already settled in the front by the time I closed my door and took in the sight.
Other vampires were emerging from the mansion. The place swarmed with them.
Will hit the gas, not looking back, not slowing down for anything.
Annabelle and I watched trying desperately to see what was happening until the road dipped and the house was no longer visible on the horizon.
Harsh Light of Day Page 50