“I… I d-don’t know my princess,” he stammered.
As her cold hand grazed his cheek, he jerked his head away. And yet he couldn’t help but watch her, with a morbid fascination of the razor sharp teeth that protruded from her purple-rimmed mouth.
“What are you, m-my prin… cess?”
Amelie sneered, “I should kill you now, but I won’t because she is reminding me that I once cared for you very much.”
“She is in my head. Speaking to me like never before,” Amelie muttered to herself, unable to understand why her human self was breaking through the hold her demon half had on the entire body.
“She says we were friends. You cared for me, and she for you.” Amelie looked at the man in her grasp. He looked confused by the conversation. “But then, you weren’t there to protect her when she was murdered.”
Conflicted, Amelie loosened her grip, and her lips turned downward. She sneered, her face inches from his. He shuddered and attempted to pull away. “Yes, I should kill you. I can’t have you telling everyone I’m back. It must be a surprise.” She smiled and tightened her grip on him.
“I won’t tell. Please, princess. Don’t kill me. I can help you. Whatever you need.”
“Like you protected me the night I died?”
His eyes widened. “We didn’t know. We tried. We tried to save you, but it was too late, my princess.”
“Don’t ever call me that again!” She pressed her forearm more tightly against his neck. He coughed and struggled against her strength. He kicked out against her muscular legs and flailed his arms reaching for her. Amelie didn’t react to his jerky movements. A deep laugh rose from her throat. “I should kill you. But, you see, the princess—she’s still alive inside of me, and she just won’t accept that I’m in control. I can’t get her to understand that. And I hear her begging me to save you. To use you like I’ve done before. But how can I trust you? How can I know that you will keep me a secret, do what I say? Make sure no one ever finds me here.”
She loosened her grip again to let him speak. He coughed and rubbed his burning throat. “I will do what you ask, Your Highness.” He sputtered and coughed. “I pledge myself to you.” His raspy voice gave out, so soft that a human wouldn’t have heard what he said.
“Then get me to the castle,” Amelie said.
Chapter 14
“Do you see her?” Annie asked. She created a barrier, her hands waving and directing a silvery mist as it flew from her palms and enveloped them in a hazy film, unseen by the nonmagical eye.
“Not yet.” Spencer peered through his binoculars. The open space around the castle filled with several small militia teams. After mobilizing quickly, the soldiers stood in precise straight lines, their eyes trained forward, their guns resting on their left shoulders. As soon as they were aligned and ready, the drum cadence sounded, alerting the teams to move. Together, they began to march before breaking off to their assigned locations.
“I can’t see her. The teams are blocking my view and it’s… the shadows are dark,” Spencer said.
Annie glanced at her watch. “The search teams are on the move. The Amborix Wizard Guard should have been here already.” Her eyes darted across the trees, looking and listening for the magic.
“It’s not that easy teleporting in here. Give them a break,” he said still watching the trees for the vampire.
“Sure, why not,” she spat.
Annie watched the trees in their general vicinity until the unmistakable rush of air crackled beside them, when bodies displaced the air. Though she could feel and hear the humming of the air rushing, she saw nothing.
They teleported under a cloaking spell.
“Is that them?” Spencer asked. The military units had broken off by their individual teams. One team headed toward their location.
“Yeah. Just teleported in.” Annie watched as the military team diverted their strides, walking just a little to the left of the wizards’ location. Thankfully, the protection spell repelled anyone from walking into them. Annie sighed with relief as the last of the team had been enveloped by the trees.
“How’s your side?” Annie asked. She intently watched the path the military team had marched.
“You’re good on this side,” said Spencer.
A small spark flew from behind the tree. Reacting quickly, Spencer sidled up to Annie, his hands up and ready. She waved her hands across the protection spell, releasing the magic. Cautiously, with her left hand raised, she held her Wizard Guard badge for the other team to see.
The hidden team returned the favor, dropping their protection spell to reveal Phillipe and Marcus standing there, wearing sheepish grins.
“What a mess,” Phillipe said.
“Yeah,” Annie said. “I’m surprised you were allowed to come. Frederick Marx forbade us to ever work with you again.”
Phillipe and Marcus glanced at each other, grinning.
“Don’t let him get to you. We have gone over the case file. Specifically, the autopsy photos from eight months ago. You didn’t doctor them; you did what we would have done. We have tried with him and with Guenther. They’re just angry it is happening at all,” Phillipe said. Annie still had difficulty believing it wasn’t her fault.
“So. Have you seen the princess?” Marcus asked.
“Not yet.” Spencer had returned to surveying the landscape. “The trees are thick and it’s dark out. And at this hour, I’m guessing she’s already inside the castle.”
“If she is, she’s hidden well. The siren you’ve been hearing is designated for trouble on the outside of the castle. We have yet to hear the siren for trouble on the inside.”
“That’s something,” Spencer grumbled. He continued to sweep across the landscape, from east to west and north to south, searching for any movement.
“So how are the castle and grounds guarded on a normal day?” Annie asked.
Marcus unfurled a map and lay it on the ground. “Here, at each corner, cameras will sweep the area. The main front and back doors have security desks; the security teams sweep through the castle. If Amelie is inside, she will know the schedules and the secret passageways. We do not have the information. What we do know is that this door here is surrounded by a bit of a garden and isn’t guarded. We must teleport here and enter at this door.”
“So why isn’t that—” Annie began, but she was quickly interrupted by Spencer.
“She’s not in the castle yet,” he noted. He followed two bodies that ran and leapt toward the location Phillipe had just described. “I see her. And she’s with someone. She’s about four hundred yards to the north, running through the open field. It looks like she’s heading exactly where you said we should go.”
He passed the binoculars to Marcus, who stared at the princess, her newly dyed black hair billowing out behind her.
“Wow! She is definitely a vampire. Look at her run.” He continued to look through the binoculars.
“Get any sense of the companion?” Spencer asked.
“The uniform belongs to the royal guard. That’s all I can tell at this distance in this light.” Marcus watched the pair as they lunged into the garden.
“She found another companion fast,” Annie commented.
“If he’s a royal guard he probably ran into her while looking for you. She’s got to be using him to get inside,” Marcus said. “We need to move.”
“We should teleport behind that red and green tree on the other side of the property. From there, once we’re clear, teleport in.” Phillipe pointed, and Annie followed his direction to the location.
“Can you make it, Spencer?” Annie asked.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Spencer prepared to teleport.
Annie wrapped her arms around Spencer and lifted them from one location in the forest to another. They landed beside the designated tree, where they could observe the garden from a new perspective.
“Why aren’t they guarding this side of the building? It’s easy enoug
h to get in. Since they already saw us here, I don’t get why there aren’t more security guards in the trees,” Spencer said as he glanced around the forest. They were alone.
“We have asked, but the royal family insists on leaving it private without guards. It is probably a good time to revisit this with them now,” Phillipe said.
“In the meantime, I think we should teleport to those trees blocking the courtyard,” Annie said.
“Listen, Annie. I know our leadership has been hard on you. But anyone could have missed track marks under the hair.” Marcus offered. “Just concentrate on killing her, not on what could have been.”
Annie glanced back at the courtyard. “I’ve been beating myself up over this for days. I just want to stake her. Then I promise we’ll be out of your hair.” She sighed.
“We’ll meet you in the courtyard,” Marcus said. “We have procedures for meeting the royal security force. If there’s someone blocking the door, we’ll signal to you with red sparks. If you see green, join us.” He wasted no time before teleporting with Phillipe.
“Do you trust them?” Spencer asked once they were alone. Annie focused her eyes on the garden as she formed her answer.
“Cautiously.”
The Amborix wizard guards were somewhere in the courtyard, hidden by thick foliage. Annie watched intently for their sign to move.
Where’s their signal?
Her heart raced as distrust grew in the back of her mind—or maybe it was worry.
What if it’s a trap?
Green sparks rose above the garden, dispersing in the cool air. “We’re good to go,” Annie said and reached around Spencer, who looked exhausted. She teleported them to the garden.
The small courtyard had been transformed into a small slice of paradise, with a cobbled stone patio and comfortable thick wicker chairs with soft cushions. Ivy snaked up gray brick walls and over the other side. Small sparkling lights intertwined in the branches of the trees that grew in the corner. Someone had turned on the lights, blanketing the space in a warm glow.
Just outside the courtyard, footsteps pounded across the clearing as a military team swept the area.
“Just in time,” Marcus said.
Annie sat at one of the chairs and rolled out the floor plan of the castle. It had been given to her by Bucky Hart, the Wizard Hall computer guru who could easily access the plans online.
Bucky had chuckled when he handed Annie the floor plan, saying, “I can’t figure how there are not issues with people getting into the castle.”
Annie could now see what he meant as she looked at the map.
“Where did you get this?” Marcus asked angrily. “We don’t even have this.”
Annie wrapped her scrying crystal around her hand and held the coffin lining in her palm, setting the necklace to swing. The initial circles were awkward and jerky as the magic acclimated to her touch. “Do you have a computer hacker at your Wizard Hall?” she asked. “Ours can obtain just about anything we ask for when we need it.” The crystal calmed and rotated slowly above the map.
“We don’t. We search what we need.” Marcus replied as he watched the crystal.
“They’ve broken rank. And they’re giving up the outside search. We need to move,” Phillipe advised.
“Okay. This is a good floor plan,” Marcus said. “Yes, it looks like Amelie is heading for the queen’s apartments.” He pointed to the large apartment at the end of the castle opposite from their current location.
“Are you familiar with the inside of the castle? Can you get us there safely?” Annie asked.
“Several of us have been inside on security detail before. I just wish we’d had this floor plan,” Phillipe replied with a smile. “Okay. We’ll lead you inside.”
The door handle had been busted out and hung against the door.
“Amelie broke the door,” Annie said.
“I don’t hear an alarm in the castle. I expect this door is not wired for one. We really must speak with the royal family,” Marcus said as he stepped inside. He held up his hand, holding them off as he listened for footsteps, voices, the security team.
“There’s no one coming here. Amelie must already be in the hidden passages. We need to move quickly,” Phillipe said. His hands were up and facing out at the ready.
Annie and Spencer followed Phillipe while Marcus held up the rear. All of them held their palms up and ready should they encounter the security team.
“Fredrick alerted the Amborix government that there might be a threat at the castle. It might be difficult in here,” Marcus advised.
The back hallway was dungeon-like in appearance, with thick stone walls lining both sides of the hallway. Tiny electric sconces hung in equal spacing down the entire length of the hallway. Though there must have been twenty on either wall, the light was low and useless.
This is so weird, thought Annie.
Phillipe turned right, leading them to a back stairwell.
The narrow spiral staircase was a remnant of the original castle. It was so old that Annie could feel the grooves beneath her feet, caused by hundreds of years of royal staff climbing the back staircase to reach the rest of the castle.
The stairs wound to the left, then took a quick right, a claustrophobic jumble of treads and risers leading them upwards to the top floor where the queen’s apartments stretched out in all their glamour.
A landing appeared out of nowhere, letting in the light from the brightly lit clearing. It was so bright it looked like high noon. Annie stopped and watched the formations around the castle. She ducked quickly when an officer glanced in her direction.
“We’re almost there. Is everyone okay?” Phillipe asked.
“Yeah. We’re good,” Annie said as she skirted from the window.
Another change in the staircase direction led them just a few feet upwards.
They stopped again at a stone wall.
Phillipe began pressing against the wall in a sequence Annie watched intensely.
“It should be here,” he said. His hands fumbled against the brick as he pushed against the wall and ran his hands up and down.
“Ah, here it is.” He found the latch and pushed. The door slid inside a hidden channel in the thick wall; the opening led to a hidden tunnel.
“Welcome to the hidden corridors of Maxillian castle,” Marcus said as they stumbled through the dark and empty corridors. He turned on his flashlight when the door slid shut.
Annie’s heart sped. She carefully observed Phillipe’s technique as he touched each stone as if counting them. He stopped at fourteen.
“I didn’t notice if your floor plan included the secret passages. But this is how we are able to come and go when our presence is requested. All up here.” Phillipe pointed to his head. “Still, I would very much like a floor plan like that,” he added as he pushed against the wall and grunted.
“When this is over, you’re more than welcome to it.”
“That is most kind. We often have protected the royal family from the magical threat.” The wall cracked. “There it is.”
The panel slid open leaving just enough for him to glance down the hallway toward the queen’s apartment. “Someone’s down. Let’s go!”
They flew from the secret passage, plush carpeting silencing their heavy footsteps as they ran to the body splayed on the floor.
Marcus knelt, turned the man’s head, and immediately saw the vampire tracks on his neck. “Go get the queen!”
Annie and Spencer ran into the apartment.
We’re too late!
Amelie stood above Queen Catriona, a satisfied sneer across her lips. She played with the perfectly round puncture wounds on the queen’s neck, the sure sign of vampire attack. But Amelie hadn’t drained her mother completely. The queen’s blood pumped slowly and rolled down her neck, leaving a wide blood stain on the French silk sofa. Amelie wiped a drop of blood from her mother’s neck, sniffed the irony, warm liquid, and licked her finger before glancing up at Annie a
nd Spencer.
Annie summoned her stake and flipped it, but the vampire no longer jumped at the sound of the stake smacking against the palm. Instead, Amelie bared her blood-coated teeth and smiled wildly
“You’re too late,” the princess sneered and glanced one more time at her mother. “See you in hell, Mama.”
Annie lunged for the vampire, leaving Spencer to care for the queen. She watched in horror as Amelie touched a red button that lay beside the lamp on the antique table and backed away into a darkened corner of the room.
“Shit, she sent an alarm!” Annie yelled. The light on the table blinked rapidly.
“Go!” Spencer shouted.
Annie chased Amelie down a darkened hallway. The princess’s boots clicked against the stone floors. As Annie summoned her flashlight, the vampire lifted a tapestry from the wall and slipped inside.
Annie ran after her. Behind her, footsteps followed in pursuit. She concentrated on the princess and the tapestry and reached it, pulling it away from the wall.
A cold, dead body fell from the cramped space, clad in the uniform of the royal guard. Annie was so surprised, she slipped and fell to the ground.
“Where the hell did she go?” Phillipe screamed.
“Through there,” Annie said as Marcus pulled the dead man from her.
“This is a royal guard. He must have helped her in,” Marcus commented. He turned the man’s face and saw the vampire track marks on the side of his head.
Frantic voices came from the hallway outside the queen’s suites as guards approached.
“I know this man,” Marcus said suddenly. “He’s Laurence. He was part of the security team protecting Amelie the night she died.” He picked the man up.
“That’s all fine and good, but Annie and Spencer need to get out of here. The royal guard is nearly here,” Phillipe said.
“Where’s Spen—” Annie began, but her partner appeared before she could finish, running from the chaos on its way.
“Out through the bedroom. Open a window and go!” Phillipe urged.
A stampede of footsteps entered the queen’s apartment.
Wizard Hall Chronicles Box Set Page 81