Cheryl stooped to her knees, and stared up at it, almost in awe.
Behind her, Jet had already returned to his human form.
“Strongarm Castle,” he said to her. “My first and last home.”
Cheryl stood up from the ground. Turned to him. “I thought you lived at the other ‘castle’. With Synrith.”
“I do live there,” Jet said. “This is where I was raised, and where I would raise my children if I were to have them.”
“Why did you…?” Cheryl began. “Why did you bring me here?”
Jet stepped beside her. He sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I believe we had something last night. Something special.”
She felt his fingers interlock her hand.
“I … I’m thankful to you that you rescued me.”
“Anything for a mate.”
He drew in closer to her.
Cheryl flinched. “I … I’m afraid for my sister…”
“She’s gone,” Jet said. “She couldn’t resist the wolf’s lure. She couldn’t resist the vampire’s spells. She was full of deceit and lies. She was the enemy.”
“An enemy of whom?”
“I saw her,” Jet said, “when I was being held captive. There was no innocent girl trying to fight her way out against their ways. She is drawn to the darkness because she is dark herself. You must know this, for she is your sister.”
Cheryl bowed her head. “I know what you’re saying. But I also believe that if the wolves and vampires weren’t there, she’d behave properly again. She had addictions … but there’s always ways you can help people like her.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What?”
“Why would you help her?”
“Because she’s my sister.”
“Hmm,” Jet said, considering. “There have been dark times for dragons too. I have seen many brothers fight against each other. Some in the name of good. Other in evil.”
“But is that what she is?” Cheryl asked. “Is that what the wolves are?”
Jet bowed his head. “That’s different. The wolves are self interested, much the same as dragons. They want to fight us for territory. We fight back. There’s no wrong or right there. Except for the fact that this particular pack of wolves have aligned themselves the most wretched and despicable creatures that have known to walk this earth.”
“You mean –?”
“The Vampires, Cheryl,” Jet said. “Vampires are pure evil.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The front of Strongarm Castle was wide open. As they stepped through the archway and into the courtyard, Cheryl couldn’t help but feel the sense of loneliness this place contained. The sense of abandonment. Watching the vines creep up around the walls towards the dark windows, she could easily see how different it would look if occupied. It was large enough for many people to live in – servants, guards, families, friends… Cheryl was intrigued by the building and its history with Jet. She wasn’t sure why she stopped liking him, as she knew was being drawn into his attractiveness now.
“What are you thinking about?” Jet asked as they walked.
“Why?” Cheryl replied.
“I’m just curious how much of an impression this is making on you.”
“I don’t know,” Cheryl said. “You know where my thoughts are.”
“With your sister.”
“Yes.”
They stopped at the main doors to the castle’s interior. Jet’s head was bowed in thought.
“Did you see her die?” Cheryl asked him.
“What?”
“From the fire? From the roof caving in?”
“The others protected her,” Jet muttered. He put his hand on the latch of the door.
“So she is alive then?”
“Yes.”
As the door swung open there was a large, eerie creak.
“After you,” Jet said.
Cheryl’s lips curled inward, and she nodded politely.
Once inside the door slammed shut behind them, and they were in darkness.
Jet took her hand and led her towards a flight of spiraling steps. As they began making their way up the moon shone through at them through a window above.
“We still have to save her,” Cheryl said quietly. “We have to try, Jet.”
“But what if it’s her choice? What if there is no spell cast on her? What if she really wants to embrace the darkness? How is one to save one from that?”
Cheryl didn’t have a reply immediately. She’d known about this assumption from Jet, so she shouldn’t have had such a hard time explaining why he was wrong.
After all, was the only reason Cheryl was trying to save Sophie, because she was her sister?
“I can’t give up on her,” Cheryl said finally. “I have to know for sure.”
“For sure?”
“Yes.”
“Well…” Jet murmured. “Did Sophie ever have any other friends? A boyfriend perhaps?”
Cheryl shrugged. “She was with a junkie once.”
“Did she love the junkie?”
“What? I don’t know. I guess so.”
“Is he still a junkie?”
“I really have no idea,” Cheryl confessed.
“Well, if you want your sister back, it isn’t going to be a simple case of just removing her from the lion’s den. She needs somewhere to go to. Somewhere she belongs. If she has no other life and no other friends, she will only keep going back to them.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
They reached the top of the steps. Jet’s hand was on her behind.
She knew he wanted to touch her more.
“So you will help me then?” Cheryl asked. “Get her back?”
Jet paused. “I really…”
“What is it?”
She turned around in front of him, and his hands moved to her waist.
“I really don’t know what they’re going to do with her now.”
“You think they might kill her? Why would they do that?”
Jet shook his head. “Maybe they’ll use her for something. A way to get back at you.”
“But why?”
“They want Synrith dead. If they can get to you, they can get to me –”
“But Synrith didn’t come for you. He didn’t make a deal.”
“I know he sent you there for me.”
“What?”
“He somehow knew your being there would give me the strength to free myself.”
“How would he know that?”
Jet leaned in close to her. Their lips brushed each other.
“Because Synrith knows you and I are supposed to be together.”
He kissed her lips and she kissed him back. His hand went to the side of her face, his skin so warm.
Her skin so cold.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jet picked Cheryl up off the ground and carried her in his arms down the hall towards the king’s master room. Once inside, he threw Cheryl onto the bed and began getting undressed. Cheryl looked up, a little startled by his suddenness, and took in the sights and smells of the room. The bed was old, like antique, but the quality of the wood and craftsmanship mean that its price-tag was probably off the charts.
Jet moved around the room and began lighting various candles that were already positioned there, using the tips of his fingers no less. While Cheryl didn’t feel cold within herself, she knew that she was cold for some reason, and felt some assurance from the candle lights that Jet was trying to look after her. At the same time, as he sat down on the bed with her, wanting to kiss again, she couldn’t help but feeling she had already betrayed him.
Or that, she was about to betray someone else…
“My dear Cheryl,” Jet said in a soothing tone. “What is troubling you?”
“You mean besides not knowing where Sophie is and what she’s doing?”
“We both know it’s not that.”
Cheryl couldn’t keep up with the dragon’s telepathy.
Were they able to read minds, body language or did they just ‘sense’ things? Maybe she was more obvious than she gave herself credit for.
“You can talk to me,” Jet said moving in closer to her.
“We don’t know each other that well,” Cheryl spilled out. She didn’t like how the words sounded.
“We knew each other less before,” came Jet’s reply.
“I haven’t been … one hundred percent honest with you.”
“Why?” Jet replied. “Because you’ve been with Synrith?”
“How did you –?”
Jet put his finger to her mouth. “No girl is strong enough to escape his charm. Whether he bedded you or not, I don’t need to know. He is crushing, and an enigma. But to love him, would be a fool’s love.”
“What does that mean?”
“Synrith doesn’t love his mates. He has no heart for them.”
“What happened to him?”
“Nothing. He is not extraordinary at all in this respect. I am the one who is loyal. I am the one who good to his mate. If I’m in love, and I am loved, then there’s nothing that can come between that. He can try it on with you, but the only reason he’d get his way, is if I had abandoned you. Which is what happened to us.”
Cheryl wasn’t comfortable with what Jet was saying. “There’s more to it than that. He didn’t trick me. I … I think I fell for him.”
Jet blinked. Stared at her carefully.
Cheryl felt her breathing get heavier.
“If you’re with me, Cheryl, I promise not to let you down again. I’ll give you a life like nothing you could ever imagine. And I don’t say that, to sound like I think the world of myself. It’s just the truth. But you would have to have feelings for me. I don’t know where that starts. But I can promise you, if you go to him, he will laugh in your face. And you’ll be alone.”
Cheryl squirmed on the bed. Moved a little away from him. “That’s such a damning prediction for me then.”
“I’ve upset you,” Jet said. “Why?”
Cheryl’s mouth dropped. “I just don’t feel it for you. I mean … I feel something. But … our connection isn’t that strong.”
“Who am I to you?”
He reached out and touched her stomach gently.
Then he pushed her slowly onto her back.
“Who are you – what?” Cheryl asked.
Jet climbed on top of her.
It felt really good, but she didn’t want him there.
“Look into my eyes,” Jet said, peering down on her. “Tell me who you see.”
“I see… I see…”
Their eyes interlocked.
Jet’s expression changed suddenly. To one of surprise.
“Oh no,” he whispered. “No, no, no…”
He leant forward into her, and put his hand to her neck.
She didn’t know what he was doing. She was starting to get afraid.
“It’s okay,” Cheryl said. “I’m sure … I could feel something for you. I mean, we have to give it a shot – right?”
“Silence,” Jet hissed at her.
He then picked up her left hand.
Then her right.
As he stared at the marks on her wrists, his face went the color of his dragon, and his eyes filled with rage.
“Please,” Cheryl said. “Don’t be angry. I don’t know what’s happening, but whatever you want from me, I’ll do it.”
Jet didn’t reply. He slowly slid away from her. Then backed himself up against the wall.
Cheryl sat up.
“Please,” she repeated. “I’ll love you. I’ll try…”
Tears ran down her cheeks as she watched Jet’s horror morph into a cold solemnness.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it,” he whispered.
“See what?” Cheryl asked, standing.
“You’re a vampire now.”
CHAPTER NINE
“A what?” Cheryl cried. She could hardly believe her ears.
“A GODDAMN VAMPIRE!” Jet roared.
“Why are you shouting at me? What did I do to you?”
Jet walked over and grabbed Cheryl’s jaw violently. “Did they send you to kill me?”
“Huh?”
“DID THEY SEND YOU –”
“No!” Cheryl writhed in his grip. “Just let go!”
He let go. Stared at her bitterly. “So when did it happen?”
“When did…?”
Jet grabbed Cheryl’s wrist and showed it to her. “This.”
Cheryl shook her head. “Just … just before you came to rescue me.”
Jet nodded. “So you haven’t fed yet? You haven’t fully experienced…?”
Cheryl put her hand to her mouth to keep from breaking down. “I thought I was drugged.”
“No.” Jet turned his back to her. He paced the opposite wall.
“Is there any kind of … cure? Any way that we can –?”
Jet laughed heartily. “Who would invent such a thing?”
“I don’t know.”
“The very fact you’re sitting here on the bed now – that is the cure. The cure for death.”
“But I’m not dead, I’m –”
“You are a walking corpse.”
Cheryl was flabbergasted. Her shaking hands curled into a ball. “We can talk to Synrith. He can maybe –”
“NO!” Jet shouted. “Synrith cannot help you! He would not! Ever! Not in a million years!”
Cheryl stood beside him. “Will you help me?”
Jet stopped pacing. He looked to her. Right in the eyes.
“Well?” Cheryl repeated.
“I would,” Jet said. “If you had loved me before.”
Cheryl’s mouth fell open. “What did I say that –?”
“You said our connection wasn’t strong. Remember?”
Cheryl nodded. “But we still had something…”
“Which is why I’m not going to kill you. Which is what I should do, because one day you could be the death of me. But I’m not going to do it. Because I have honor.”
“What happens to me then?”
“Your path is now one of darkness. You will walk from town to town, night to night, killing the innocent just to survive. This is the tale of every vampire. The curse of being inhuman.”
“So that is how you would cast me out? To survive with nothing?”
“Your path is yours alone, Cheryl. I will not be yours. There’ll be a place for you beside your sister and her keepers. But should we meet on the battlefield again, I will kill you.”
Cheryl was speechless. She wanted to show him that she wasn’t evil like they were, that they could still be friends through this, but his eyes held no mercy.
There was silence for a long time.
“Is this goodbye?” Cheryl eventually whispered.
“Goodbye,” Jet said and turned his back to her.
Cheryl bowed her head and began her journey out of the castle. She felt the emotions there, the desire to just explode with a gushing of tears, but at the same time, she knew that even in the best of it, she hadn’t loved him.
Perhaps if his heart had been so pure…
Perhaps if he loved her even in spite of this cruel manifestation…
But no. He hadn’t loved her either.
As they’d said to each other, there was no connection.
CHAPTER TEN
And now Cheryl had bigger things to worry about other than her relationship with Jet. Before her, the dark recesses of a long night stood, and she not help but wonder if Jet’s prediction had been true for her. In the back of her mind she caught the faint flickering images of mice covered in blood, and she knew it to be a symptom of her newfound sickness. The most jarring thing about the grotesque imagery wasn’t the ickyness of it per say. Cheryl had begun to relate to the images. Identify with them. When she saw the walls of red, and the rivers of blood in her mind, her senses were heightened. On alert. Painful, aching desires had begun to stem out of them. She
looked to the horizon and saw the lights of a town in the faraway distance. And with it came the presence of an unquenchable thirst…
She looked behind her and saw that the castle was almost invisible to her now, she had come so far. But it had only been a few minutes. Cheryl hadn’t been running either, just briskly walking. Was also another trait of her disease. Did she now possess some type of demonic speed? She already knew that she did. For the briefest of moments, the true Cheryl, the human inside of her, caught a glimpse of the dark parasite that had seized her host…
And then nothing. She was just in the moment. Another monster in the night.
Wind. Something was coming.
Cheryl looked up into the sky and spotted an enormous green dragon flying overhead. Her gaze followed him as he passed over her, in the direction of Jet’s castle. Could this be … Synrith?
All at once, Cheryl now embraced her true pain. She had failed the dragon master in her quest to retrieve Jet’s location. But now that Jet had freed himself, and the dagger was still safely in Synrith’s possession, the dragons had by far the upper-hand. Jet had said Synrith would reject her if she went to him – but did Cheryl know this to be absolutely true? She and Synrith had been together, and even though she couldn’t see into his mind, let alone his heart, she had felt a connection with him.
She looked back to the town’s lights, the lust for blood calling to her. She found herself growling, hissing and howling, like some kind of animal. Her mind still in control, her body as though it was someone’s puppet…
Fighting the urges, she sat down in the grass where she was and decided to wait for him.
If she saw the green dragon in the sky again, she would howl much louder.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Synrith’s dragon descended into the inner courtyard of Jet’s castle whilst the latter stepped outside to meet with him. Upon shifting back to human form, Synrith beckoned his subordinate forward rather than meet him across the yard halfway.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Jet said upon his approach.
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