Dracul gives us a nod and then he disappears. I burst into tears and let Remiel comfort me for a moment before I push him away. “Go,” I say to him. “Go and make sure she stays a child for as long as possible.”
“But…”
“I will be okay if that’s what you are worried about,” I interrupt him. “Dracul has plans for our daughter and I need you there to oversee it.”
“If I go, I will be gone for an indeterminate amount of time,” he says with a frown.
“I know, but she needs you to look out for her as her father more than I need you here as my sire. Go, and don’t come back for anything. Don’t leave her alone there to be swayed by Dracul. She needs your influence.”
“Okay,” he says eventually.
“Thank you,” I say with relief. “I can rest easy knowing that you will be with her. I’ll miss you.” I give him a shy smile.
“And I will miss you.”
And after a lingering kiss, he is gone as well.
I stand there, staring at where he left. He did what asked, but it still stings that he didn’t put up much of a fight. With a heavy sigh, I turn and drop to my knees to nuzzle Lincoln. He never left my side, so I know he knows everything that went on.
“Sucks, big time,” I whisper to him.
He nods his big head.
“Want to go for a walk?” I ask him, suddenly needing to get out of this castle and into the fresh air.
Again, he nods, and I stand up. I hate this. He is the voice of reason. The one man that I can rely on to have my back without an ulterior motive, and now he is lost to me. I have no idea what he is thinking, what he wants to advise me to do.
“Yeah, sucks, big time,” I mutter under my breath and follow him outside after I open the big double doors. The sun has long since lowered, submerging the grounds in darkness. Neither of us need the lights that no longer light the way, but it would have been comforting, nonetheless. But CK decided the cover of darkness was to our advantage, what with us being able to see and the Hunters not so much.
We amble on in silence, me not having anything to say because he can’t answer me anyway. It’s nice to have his company in a weird way, but still very disconcerting.
He whines at me as we get too near the smoldering pile of dead Hunter bodies. I scrunch up my nose and agree that we should change direction. I don’t find it strange in the least that it is only the stench that turns my stomach, not actually the fact that it’s a pile of burning corpses.
We turn back and stroll over to the left when I hear a scream. I hideous cry for help that sends a chill running straight through me.
“What is that?” I mutter to Lincoln and without waiting to think it through, I bound over to the gates of the castle, some two hundred and fifty meters away.
I can hear Lincoln howling at me in frustration for running headlong into who knows what, but I hear his paws pounding next to me as I reach the gate.
“No!” I shout out as the Hunters in front of me set the pyre of Vampires on fire right outside the gates of the castle. I reach out to douse the flames with some kind of magick, but of course, it bounces back off the wards. “NO!” I roar, my cries mingling with the agonizing screams of the three Vampires that have been set on fire. In my absolute fury, I fire my Faerie magick at the wards and somehow manage to bust straight through them on my third try. They shimmer and then bounce momentarily before they drop, and I am passing through with a puff of smoke.
“You bastards!” I scream as I try to douse the pyre, but it is too late. The Vampires are gone, but ash at my feet, as the Hunter grins demonically at me.
“They said it would be easy,” he says, throwing a golden ball at my feet, which explodes spectacularly, causing me to cough and wave my hand around. “I just didn’t think it would be that easy.”
“Come here and say that,” I snarl, stepping forward, but to my surprise, I hit a golden shield so fierce it nearly flattens me.
“Oh, you aren’t going anywhere,” the Hunter laughs at me.
I spin in a circle as I realize I am well and truly trapped. I flash my magick, trying to bust out of the force field, but to no avail.
I look around frantically for Lincoln. He has been subdued by a large Silver chain wrapped around his thick, furry neck. “Linc!” I yell out and try once again to get out of the golden circle. He is snarling and growling, but he is contained. How is this happening?
“Aefre!” I hear CK before I see him hurtling towards me with all of the speed the Vampire can give him.
“No!” I shout back, putting my hand up. “Stay back!” The last thing Arathia needs is both her parents captured and helpless.
“Aefre!” He skids to a stop and takes in the scene in a split second before he sparks his blood-red magick to life. He fires off enough clouds of power to kill half the Hunters, but it isn’t enough. They just keep coming.