"Not you two," she said. "You guys are missing, remember? You'll have to run there and stay out of human sight. Meet us there. You'll probably get there first in fact."
"Okay, we'll see you there."
She ran off at top speed and I turned to Tanner. He looked completely dejected, and that's when I realized how he must have felt when he saw me react to the news of Cliff being taken. I felt bad, but didn't have time to waste.
"Are you ready for a run?" I asked, him pretending not to notice his hurt expression. "Want to race?"
He just looked at me with another hurt expression and said flatly, "Let's go. You start."
My heart was pulling at me because I couldn't just ignore his hurt. I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. I grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him close to me. "Do you want to drink each other's blood?"
He tried to fight a smile, but lost. "Okay. Me first." He leaned in and bit into my neck. I let my head fall back as I enjoyed the experience. It was still amazing, even without the ring working its magic.
When he stopped, I said, "My turn." I leaned in and drank of his blood.
"I'm ready for a battle. Are you?" I asked.
"Most definitely. I'm glad to be at this level of my strength."
"Keep that in mind, as the Moretti's will be after me. It's such a horrible feeling to know that powerful vampires that I've never even met want me dead so badly," I said and frowned.
He got a look of sadness and defensiveness at the same time. "Don't worry, I will protect you."
"Sounds good. Let's get going so we can get this over with. I keep hearing about the Moretti's and the prophecy. I can't wait to get it all behind me."
"Ladies first," he said and put his arm out.
I started running and he was right behind me. I ran as fast as I could to Brooke's house. I didn't want Clara to beat us, and I knew that she might, since Tanner and I stopped to drink each other's blood.
When we arrived at Brooke's house, Clara's car was already there. "I hope she doesn't grill me about why we took so long. Should we knock?" I asked with a smile. I would have loved to just go in since it was their antics that ended up teaching me how to do that in the first place. I knew it was immature to want to rub it in, but a part of me still loved the idea.
"I'd feel more comfortable knocking," he said.
"Knock we will," I replied, and gave the door a good knock.
Brooke opened the door and waved us in. Clara, Brad and Eric were sitting on the couch, and Brooke stood next to her brother and parents. The atmosphere was very heavy.
"Has a plan been started?" I asked.
Charles spoke up. "We have vampires at the castle on it now. They are searching for the location and Cliff's parents are on their way here. Your parents have been notified and will likely join us too. They keep their location secret, so we don't know what they're in the middle of right now."
I stood tall. "I'll do whatever I need to do."
"Of course you will," Brooke said. She glared at Tanner. "What's he doing here? Didn't he cause all of the trouble you've been in? He threw your blood thirst into overdrive and caused you to kiss him, which is what sent Cliff away."
"Actually, Samantha caused most of that with her selfishness. She wanted to be on the throne and she used him, giving him a ring that—"
"Enough," said Charles, interrupting me. "What matters is that we have as many vampires on our side as possible. Tanner is a new vampire, so he's got a lot of strength for the battle."
Brooke's eyes widened. "You mean he's a vampire? How did that happen?"
"Never mind," her father said. "We don't have time for that now."
"How many vampires will be joining us?" Clara asked.
"As many as we can get," Rachel said. "There are vampires on their way here from all parts of the world."
"Are they all meeting here?" Clara asked.
"The ones who arrive first will come here," Charles said. "Once we know where we are going, we will send word and they will head straight to the battle location."
My heart sped up at the thought of so many vampires coming to join us for the battle. I hoped that I was ready for this. I was not even a full vampire yet and I had a lot of pressure on me.
"What are we going to do while we wait?" I asked.
"You are going to go to a quiet room upstairs and focus on Cliff to see if you can pick up any clues. You have the closest connection to him."
I didn't feel like I had the closest connection to him. I had missed all of those years while I was away from the castle. Then there was Tanner. I sighed. If they were depending on my closeness with him, we were in trouble.
"The rest of us will stay down here and discuss our options and plans."
"Why don't you go to the guest room," Rachel suggested. "That's where Cliff was staying while he was here. That might help."
My eyes lit up as I remembered using his watch to find him before. Maybe I could do that again if he had left anything in the room.
I walked silently up the stairs. I heard the doorbell ring and there were several voices that I didn't recognize. More vampires coming to help.
I opened the door to the guest room. I hoped it would help and that I could find him again. I closed the door behind me and looked around the room. I could tell by all of the flowery stuff that it was a guest room.
I focused on the few personal belongings that he had left behind. There were some clothes in the closet and a coat resting on a chair. Some books were on the nightstand, but I didn't know if those were his or not.
I picked up the jacket and brought it up to my face. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I could smell a faint scent that reminded me of Cliff. I pictured his face in my mind and focused on that.
The doorbell rang again, disrupting my concentration. I wondered how many vampires would be fighting with us. My pulse quickened in anticipation. This was going to be much bigger than I had imagined.
I had to continue to focus on Cliff. I slipped the coat on and walked to the dresser where there were a few notebooks. I picked one up and flipped through the pages. There were pencil sketches of me. I skimmed through all of them and all contained sketches of me from infancy, all the way to the time before Cliff had left. I stared at the baby sketches, because I had never seen a picture of myself as a baby.
As they progressed, they looked less like me. It was probably hard to guess what I looked like after last having seen me as a three year old. My heart ached as I thought of what I had done to him, how much I must have hurt him. He had fallen in love with me when I was a baby and he had stayed in love with me all of the years that I was gone.
We had barely spent any time together since we were old enough for our love to be a romantic one. When we were kids together, it was an adoring love but not mature. I had never had a boyfriend until the time that he came back for me. I had waited for him even though I hadn't known it.
Then, when he showed up, I fell in love with another guy. I shouldn't have allowed that to happen, even if it was all a ploy by an experienced, older vampire who wanted me dead.
Anger burned within me. I would go after Samantha personally. If we didn't have the right kind of stake to kill her, I would make sure that she spent many years paying for what she did.
I lay down on the bed to focus on Cliff and try to get a sense for where he might be. As I did, his scent came up and surrounded me like a cloud. I breathed it in and closed my eyes. I noticed something under my foot. I got up and lifted the blankets at the edge of the bed.
There was a little box underneath the covers and I opened it. It held a small necklace, and as I contemplated its importance, my mind flashed back to one of my dreams about Cliff in the castle when we were kids. He was carrying me after I'd fallen into the flowers, and I saw him wearing the same necklace then. It would be too small for him now.
The necklace must have been important. Why else would he keep it in a little box hidden in his bed? I put the necklace on.
/> The room started spinning and I found myself in a room made of stone. Samantha was standing right in front of me, laughing.
What was going on?
She started twisting a strand of her hair and asked with a wink, "Are you sure that you don't want me? Nobody will ever know."
What was she talking about? Why couldn't I get up to tear her apart? I looked down and saw that my hands were chained to the bed.
"Won't answer me?" she asked. "I should be offended but I'm not. I always get what I want in the end."
I looked back down at my arms and noticed that they were a lot bigger than they should be. It was really strange.
"You know, I had a really fun time setting your girlfriend up. It was way too easy and nobody even suspected that I was back in town. Tanner was so easy to play and your girlfriend fell right into the trap. It was perfect."
"Shut up, Samantha," I said, but it was Cliff's voice coming through my mouth. I had switched places with Cliff.
"Don't you get it, Cliffy?" She got really close to me. Close enough that I could have punched her if my arms hadn't been restrained. "I am the one that you are really destined to be with. When my grandfather removed my father from the throne, I should have been next in line. Not Alexis. Her father shouldn't be king of the vampires."
"Your father was removed from the line because of his choices and his actions," I said with Cliff's voice. "Alexis is the rightful heir. Don't forget that."
I stopped paying attention to Samantha and focused on the surroundings, letting my senses take over so that I could figure out where Cliff was.
I looked around the room for a window to give me an idea of where Cliff might be. There was no window within my line of sight, so I concentrated on my hearing. I thought I might be able to hear something that would offer a clue. I didn't know what, but I needed to find any clue that I could. I didn't know how long I had.
Focusing was very difficult with Samantha going on and on. Her voice grated on my nerves worse than nails on a chalkboard. She wouldn't stop talking, and it was obvious that she was trying to seduce Cliff.
Did she try to seduce every guy that she came in contact with, or just guys that I loved?
"Ignoring me won't last forever," she said loudly. "You and I both know that I am your rightful fiancé. We will be together soon enough, so you better get used to it."
I laughed with Cliff's laugh. "You will never be on the throne. You only wish that you were good enough for Cl…me. Get used to rejection."
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Clifford. You'll marry me."
"That'll be the day."
Samantha flipped her hair and stormed out of the room. I was so glad that she was finally gone. I needed to focus so that I could figure out where this place was. There was no time to waste.
I closed my eyes and felt like I was spinning in place. I opened my eyes and I found myself back in the guest bedroom in Brooke's house. I was not alone. Clara, Brooke, Steve, Rachel and Charles were all there looking at me.
"What's…going…on?" I asked.
"You and Cliff just switched places," Clara said. "He told us where the Moretti's are and confirmed that they have him. We need to get downstairs and share this with everyone."
"Did you see anything of significance while you were there?" Charles asked.
"He's chained up in a bedroom and Samantha is trying to seduce him. How did we switch places?"
"It's that necklace that you were wearing. When he took it off, you two switched back. It's a necklace that he used to wear as child that has a blessing of protection for his safety. Let's go downstairs and tell everyone where we're headed for battle."
TWENTY EIGHT
As we were leaving Brooke's house with about fifty other vampires, I wondered how long I had spent switching places with Cliff. I couldn't believe how many vampires had arrived in what seemed like such a short period of time. What was even stranger was that the vampires were mostly bowing to me and were all speaking to me with the utmost respect.
We were all heading out in groups of no more than five at a time to the site of the battle, which was about a hundred miles away. Most had chosen to travel by foot because it was so much faster. Some took their cars, to move them from the house. Everyone was concerned about being noticed by the humans.
I was traveling with Clara, Charles and Rachel. They said that Cliff's parents would be at the site and that my vampire parents had been notified and would be there if they could. What a family reunion that would make.
When we began to get close to the place where the Moretti's were holding Cliff, we slowed our pace and found the agreed upon meeting place. Several of the vampires had arrived before us and had checked out the building. They shared with us how they thought we could best invade the building.
I looked around at all of the vampires among us. I wanted to memorize all of their faces so that I would know not to attack any of them. I wished that we had a team color to make it easier.
We would all enter different places around the building, surrounding it. Then we would walk around in stealth mode until one of the tallest among us yelled out a signal for everyone to attack at once.
My heart began racing with anticipation, and the vampire who had been barking out the orders for the plan looked at me and said, "Maybe she should enter the building last. Her heartbeat will give us away."
I looked down, feeling horrible that I could ruin the whole operation.
"Don't feel bad, Princess," he said. "You're in your transition and we are here to protect and serve you. We'll keep a group out here to enter last, after the fighting has commenced."
He pointed to four vampires that I didn't know to stand with me outside while the others entered silently. I wished that I could go with them but I also didn't want to blow the whole thing. I had to keep my strength to be able to battle to the end.
He gave a signal for the remaining vampires to close in around the building silently. My heart raced even more as I watched them all enter the building. I couldn't wait to join them.
It seemed like it took forever while we were waiting to hear the battle begin. In fact, while we waited, nearly twenty other vampires joined us.
"We're just waiting for the battle to begin and then we will go inside," someone told the new arrivals.
"Is this the princess?" one of the newly arrived vampires asked, looking at me.
"Yes, our princess is back among us."
More bowing ensued and the vampires assured me of their allegiance.
Just as some more vampires were arriving, we heard a loud scream which I assumed to be the signal. Then there was a lot of fighting noise.
"Attack," ordered the vampire that had introduced me to the new ones.
At once, we all ran to the building and through the walls. I felt a hundred times stronger and more confident with the legion of vampires fighting along with us.
We all went in several directions in which we had heard fighting. I stayed back a little bit because I wanted to find Cliff, and I also wanted to keep my strength as much as possible.
I was saddened to see some familiar faces lying lifeless on the ground as I walked along. I went through walls to avoid being seen.
At one point, I found myself in a kitchen where several vampires were battling. I saw four vampires attacking one. I took a closer look and saw that the lone vampire was Tanner. I was at his side in a split second. I grabbed one of my stakes and threw it at one vampire's heart, hitting it directly. The familiar silver ooze came out and he fell to the floor.
One of the other vampires turned on me and I threw him across the room. I looked over at Tanner and saw that he had already killed one and was choking the other. I grabbed the stake from the dead vampire and rushed at the one I had thrown across the room. He let out a cry as I came at him and threw it at his heart with dead accuracy.
I grabbed a stake and threw it to Tanner, who caught it and impaled the two vampires lying at his feet. I ran out of the room and
up a narrow staircase. It was difficult to focus any of my senses because there was so much fighting going on all around me. I could hear the battle all over the building. It was almost dizzying to listen to, with my vampire hearing.
Focusing on my sense of smell instead of hearing, I tried to locate Cliff or Samantha. I figured that if I found one of them, I would probably find the other, since she was so insistent on luring him to her. It was hard to smell anything over the rancid stench of the silver ooze all over the place.
Suddenly, a vampire jumped out at me, hissing, fangs exposed. I quickly ran across the hallway and he landed with a thud against the floor. He jumped up again and started running after me. I jumped out of the way once more and he slammed into the wall.
I took advantage of the split second that he was in shock and grabbed his curly hair, smashing his face into the wall several times. He turned and looked at me with his eyes rolling around. I grabbed a fresh stake and thrust it into his heart, letting him fall to the ground. I grabbed the stake again and ran to find Cliff. We were supposed to kill off the Moretti's together, so I urgently needed to find him and not waste my time with common vampires.
I went up two more flights of stairs and found myself in another hallway with lots of closed doors. It reminded me of the hallway of a hotel. I felt a sense of familiarity, and hoped that it meant that Cliff was nearby.
The hallway was quiet, so I would have an easier time finding him, I hoped. I walked along the hallway listening for any sounds, and heard movement from behind a door on my right.
Without thinking, I opened the door, unprepared for what might be waiting for me.
"Alexis!"
I looked to the far corner of the room toward the voice. "Cliff. Cliff!" I ran to where he sat on the bed. I wrapped my arms around him although he couldn't return the embrace. "How do I get these chains off you?"
"Samantha says that she has the only key."
"Let me try something," I said, remembering my own experience with chains. I stared at the chains and said with as much authority as I could muster, "Remove yourselves from him. Get off of his wrists now."
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 32