by L. S. Darsic
“Why wasn't he killed once you pulled him off her?” Cian asks through gritted teeth as he glares at Finn
“Surely you couldn't expect Finn to kill his friend?!?!” I move to stand in front of Finn and glare back at my father. This is ridiculous if they expect him to kill a friend. How could Finn ever forgive me if he had to do that.
“That is exactly what I should have done Alex. I told you what happens. I knew better than to just ship him off in a crate” Finn says firmly before he turns to my father “I will deal with him now. I accept all responsibility and any punishment you see fit for the injury and threat it has caused the Princess” Finn finishes as he walks past my father and towards the door
“Finn! No. You can't do this!” I try to go after him but my father grasps my arm to keep me by him
“It is not safe. He will come after you with all the power and determination he has now. He will be solely focused on you and having you. You must be protected at all times until he is eliminated” Cian says sternly
“No. I can't ask Finn to kill his friend for me. There must be some other way” I plead as I try to struggle out of my fathers' grip. Brennus walks to the door and looks out into the hall and calls to Presley who must be near. I see Presley walk in looking alert and ready for battle.
“I need you to stay with Cait- ah, Alexandra while I go deal with the vampire” Cian says to Presley with a look as if he ate something bad.
“No, I will go with you. I can't let Finn kill his friend” I protest as Cian walks towards the door but he says nothing as he walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.
“Pres, I need to go help them. I can't make Finn do this!” I beg as she moves to stand in front of the door.
“No Alex, you can't help them. You've had no training, the vampire would get you the minute you leave this room. He isn't who he used to be anymore, Finn knows this. He would be doing him a favor by killing him. You don't understand what he is like now, he is not the same. Think of the zombies you see in movies, where they are single minded in their search for someone to eat, Cam is like that now. He wouldn't even recognize Finn or anyone else. He is singularly motivated to find blood of one person and that is you. If he bites you again then he will be able to feel and smell you, no matter where you go, he would find you” Presley finishes with a hard look.
“But I should be the one to kill him-”
“No. You do not understand what would happen to you if he found you. He would bite you again. If he does this 3 times then you turn into a blood slave. He would have control over you and you would be alright with that because you would become addicted to him like he is to you. We cannot risk it, not only because we love you but also because you will be very powerful one day, imagine that power controlled by evil”
“I can't just sit here and do nothing, Pres!” I whine as I throw myself on the coach next to Egypt. I understand their concern, I really do, but I can't let Finn kill his friend. I would never be able to do that to someone I loved, no matter the risk they would be to others. I feel so powerless right now, all I can do is sit and wait while I slowly go crazy.
I feel like years have passed while I sit on the couch and wait for news. Presley hasn't moved an inch from the door and Egypt hasn't moved an inch away from me. I hear a pound on the door which causes Presley to pull out her long sword and Egypt to move protectively in front of me. The pound comes again and then silence. Did Cam get into the castle? Is Finn alright? Oh god, I didn't even think about Anja and the twins. I hope they are safe somewhere. I sit completely still and wait to hear anything else outside the door that would tell me if it is friend or foe. Soon I hear Brennus yell from the other side of the door for Presley to open it. When she does I am horrified to see Brennus. He looks like he has been sprayed with red paint all over.
“Oh god!” I yell as I run over to Brennus “Are you hurt?” I ask quickly as I look him over
“No, tis not me blood. We need to move you, it is no longer safe here, they have breached the main floor of the castle” Brennus explains calmly
“Is Finn alright? What about Cian, Anja and the twins?” I ask frantic for news
“They are all fine, but we have to move you now. I have backup coming to guard you, I need to get back out to the others to help keep them back” Brennus says quickly as he slips back out the door
“Who is out there? I thought it was just Cam?” I wonder out loud
“Most likely he made blood slaves, they will do anything he tells them to, including die as a distraction in order to get to you” Presley explains warily “that is what you would become if he got to you, now you see why we can't allow that to happen?”
“Yes, I understand but I just worry about Finn and how much he will resent me when this is all done”
A loud series of pounding knocks startle me as Egypt growls at the door.
“It's me” someone says from the other side of the door
“Who is me?” Presley says sweetly
“The one who will be taking you to bed later tonight” the voice calls back which follows a booming laugh. Presley smirks and opens the door for Tank to strut in like he is at the bar looking for chicks.
“You can't handle me” Presley retorts as she cocks an eyebrow
“You guys can flirt later” I say as I stand up to walk over to them
“We can do a lot later” Tanks says with a smirk “Being around you Alex, is so much more fun than I anticipated! Grab that sword and daggers, we might need them” he says pointing to my new birthday gifts with a big smile. Like this is a good time for him?
“Alright, can someone show me how to put these on?” I ask lamely, I am terrible at this. I have to depend on someone killing Cam for me, now I have to get someone to help me with my holsters, I suck. Presley walks over and starts fastening the leather dagger holster to my back so each dagger sits next to each shoulder. I just have to cross my arms, reach back and WAMMO! I can pull them out on someone.... that is if I can manage to do so without slicing my own arms in the process. Next she slides the sword belt around my waist which I guess I could have done if she gave me time.
“What do I do with this little guy?” I ask Presley holding up the smaller dagger and leather holster. Presley just smirks and hikes up the leg of my dress and hooks the buckle around my thigh to secure the dagger to it. Whoa, this is pretty bad ass. Presley finishes securing the last dagger and puts the side of my dress back down with a deep frown.
“What?” I ask, wondering what she is unhappy with but she doesn't answer, she just pulls a sharp knife out of her holster and grabs the bottom of the dress, sticks her knife in it and cuts it clear to my thigh where the dagger is secured to. Causing a long slit up my the side of my dress so I can reach my dagger without having to hike my dress up.
Stepping back to view her handy work with a smirk “alright, now you're ready. Tank, lets move. You take point” she says as she ushers me out the door with Tank in the front of me, Egypt at my side and Presley behind me
“Where are we going anyway?” I ask whoever is listening, probably no one
“You have to keep quiet Alex. We need to hear if anyone is coming” Tank says over his shoulder
Sighing, I follow Tank through the castle halls. As we walk farther and farther away from the main halls I notice it is getting colder and more damp, the age of the castle is starting to show. This must not be the part they use the very often. We walk down several flights of stairs and it gets darker and colder as we go. We must be in some sort of tunnel under the castle because there are no windows. We continue on until we come to a metal cage door. Tank pushes the door open and walks into a large room while looking around for any sign of danger. Once Presley passes through the door she pulls it shut and dead bolts it. Around the room I see there are three other doors all with the same metal cage door but they are all open.
“Which door did he say to go through?” Presley whispers to Tank
“He didn't say. The first on
e goes to the stables, the second goes to the garage and the third goes to the forest to the south. Which would you prefer?” Tank asks Presley
“Where is Finn and the others supposed to meet us?” I ask worriedly, I don't want to leave them behind but I have resigned myself to following their wishes for me to stay out of it.
“They will find us when this is all over, don't worry Alex” Presley tries to reassure me but that isn't working. How on earth are they supposed to find us?
Suddenly Egypt is growling at the door we just came out of which makes me spin around quickly to see what she is freaking out about. I look into the dark tunnel that is only lighted every so often and see a shadow coming towards us slowly. Is that Finn or one of the others? I look over to Presley and Tank with a quirk of my eyebrow in question but they both shake their heads no. If it isn't them then it is Cam. My heart starts to beat wildly as Presley and Tank inch forward to put themselves in between me and the door. The shadow finally makes it under the light by the door and I see what I think is Cam but he looks so different I can't be sure. The Cam I remember was healthy and fit, this guy is gaunt and wiry looking. His eyes look dead and his mouth is twisted in a cruel smile as he reaches the metal gate, he gives it a tug but snarls when it doesn't budge.
“Alex, go to door two, now” Presley orders quietly while not taking her eyes off from Cam.
“I can't just leave you guys!” I protest as I see Cam begin pulling harder and harder on the grate.
“We will finish him, you go through that door, take Egypt and go. Keep going until we find you. Take a SUV in case you can't go on the roads. There is emergency cash in the glove box along with a satellite phone” Tank says as he goes over to the other doors and shuts the grates except door two.
“GO NOW!” Presley growls as we watch Cam continue to work on pulling the door apart “this won't hold him for much longer. GO ALEX and don't look back!” She yells as she shoves me towards the door.
Shaking with fright I run through door two and quickly climb the stairs to find myself in a large garage filled with vehicles. Sports cars, motorcycles, trucks, SUVs, ATVs, you name it and it probably is here. I run down an aisle and find a black Range Rover. Shit, where are the keys? I look in the ignition and find them just hanging there waiting for me. I call to Egypt as I start the car but I hear her low menacing growl from the next car over and look up to see two men and a woman standing in front of her in defensive crouches. Who the hell are they?
“W-we have to go, please leave us alone” I call to them as I slowly begin to reach for my dagger strapped to my leg. The woman inches around Egypt and towards me, Egypt can't keep all three at bay so the woman manages to slip by her quickly and runs full speed at me. I barely have enough time to pull out my dagger by time she is on me and throwing me to the ground. I put my arm up with the dagger in my hand to block her from going after my neck but she bites my forearm in the process. As soon as she latches on to my arm I can feel my energy drain rapidly and know that if I don't do something fast I will pass out again from the blood loss. I manage to reach across my chest and grip my long dagger that is strapped to my shoulder there, pulling it quickly, I pull it out and slash it smoothly across the woman's chest. For a second she doesn't register it but suddenly her bite loosens on my arm as she pulls back to look down at her wound, I don't even hesitate to plunge my short dagger into the side of her neck as I jump up quickly.
Looking around, dizzy, I see Egypt is mauling one of the men and the other is trying to get around her and over to me. I have to put my hand on the car next to me in order to hold myself up right, the blood loss is starting to affect me now but I need to find a way to help Egypt. I hear Egypt growl lower as she lunges for the man and catches him by the leg before he can speed away from her. She begins to shake her head as she mercilessly tears the man's leg off from his body, what she does to the man next makes me have to turn away otherwise I surely will throw up. Egypt finishes tearing the man to pieces, runs over to the car and hops into the passenger seat like we are heading to the park or something.
I finally drag myself into the SUV, luck must be on my side cause I manage to find one that isn't a stick shift. I begin to pull out of the garage as I see several people standing at the entrance. Shit. I do not know these people, they also look a lot like those people who just tried to kill me in the garage. I didn't take much notice of the ones in the garage but the only way I can describe these people is that they look just wrong. They are bent at odd angles, hallow eyes, cheeks and blank expressions. I'm going to have to run them over if they don't move. I throw the car in neutral and rev the engine as a warning for them to move, they do nothing but stand there staring at me. Fuck it. I throw it into drive and speed towards the door, without any of them even flinching I hit them going about 60mph. Some roll under the car, a few flew up on the hood and cracked the windshield. I got lucky that it didn't break. I gun it as I look in the mirror to see them all stand back up and start running after me quicker than a normal human ever could. Can a blood slave that was human get vampire speed and strength? Shit like this is making me wish someone in my family had bothered explaining any of this to me.
I'm speeding down a dirt road in the dark and haven't the slightest clue where I am, great. I make it just out of sight of the castle and feel something land on top of the car, then another and another. I look in the mirrors and see two people running full speed after me. Egypt is looking at the roof and growling so it is safe to assume that a few of those things are up there. I try to swerve so they lose their grip but only see one fall off, which just gets back up and starts running again. I try to swerve again but this time blood starts running down the window. What the hell? I look back to see if I can see anything back there but find nothing is chasing me any longer. I slam on the gas to get the hell out of there but see something out of the corner of my eye, I look over and see black wings and then my father's face as he tells me to stop the car.
I slam on the brakes and come to a skidding halt. I hear my door open and I hear a voice but all I can do is stare forward in a daze. I feel my seat belt come off and then my body lifted from the car and hugged tightly.
“Caitorina, are you hurt?” Cian asks softly but frantically as he looks me over “have you been injured?” he tries again. I can't seem to find words so I shake my head no. I feel my father suddenly stiffen and hear Egypt issue a low growl from the front seat. I look over my shoulder to see a group of twenty or so of those 'wrong people' standing in the road that leads back to the castle.
Carefully, Cian places me back into the SUV and says firmly “take this road for as far as you are able, if you make it to the airport, fly anywhere you can, get as far away as possible. Do not come back for any reason, we will find you” Cian says urgently as he pulls out his wallet and hands me a black credit card “use this, take private transportation so you are harder to track. I love you my daughter, I will come for you” At that he shuts my door and turns to stride towards the group of 'wrong people' as he pulls out a wicked long claymore and begins cutting into the group while they try to get around him to me.
With a heavy heart full of concern for those who love me, I speed off into the dark night.
Acknowledgments
To anyone who is reading my first book, THANK YOU! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. If all goes well I plan to continue writing Alex/Caitorina's story.
Thank you to my pretend editor, slowest reader on earth and cousin, Mika. Your encouragement helped me take this leap, your check is in the mail ;)
Thank you to my wonderful husband, who put up with me typing away on my lap top all the time. Even though you have no clue what this book is about, you continued to encourage me and put up with my odd questions or just nod in agreement when you aren't sure what I am even talking about.
ooks on Archive.