Pain. Something everyone experiences at sometime in their lives. Dimitri and I were lying in bed when all of a sudden there's immense pain at my stomach I scream. Dimitri's nowhere in sight. "What the hell is going on?" I manage to get out. But I don't get an answer. A hand comes down over my mouth shutting up any snappy retort I might have been able to come up with. I thrash against my captors finally getting a good look at them and realizing they're all strigoi. How they got into the wards of court are beyond me.

"You are going to settle down right now!" One of them –a man with sleek black hair- say to me. I move my mouth so I'm able to speak

"Oh yeah? And what if I don't?" I don't know what else I could say.

"Then that knife in your stomach is going to pierce your heart and you'll never see the light again." I freeze. Why would he use a knife? Why not just snap my neck? Or drain the life out of me by drinking my blood? He had to be bluffing.

"You wouldn't stab me with a knife." I snorted. "More the likely you'll snap my neck." He laughs at this.

"I wouldn't let you go that easy. If I were to kill you I'd make sure it was slow and excruciating." The sides of his mouth slide up into an evil grin. Then there's duck tape over my mouth and I'm unable to speak.

"Take her back to the cave. And make sure no one drinks from her or kills her. Tell them if they do then I'll rip their throats out." His voice was cold speaking to a blonde strigoi who looked like he was once a dhampir or human by his build. I was handed off and in the exchange I tried to break away but didn't manage 1 foot before I was in the blonde's arms and off to god knows where. I have no idea what's going on. But one look at strigoi scrambling around court feeding off victims is enough knowledge for me to know that the Royal Court is under a strigoi attack.

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xKayla