PROLOGUE
17 YEARS IN THE PAST
"RUN," the man yelled to his lover.
"I'm not going to leave you here like this to face them," his lover replied.
Behind the doors of the room of the castle that they were in, they could hear men stomping around and yelling, causing mayhem to the castle.
"I'll be fine," the man said. "I can take of them."
"Yeah I know you can you can take care of them, but can you take care of yourself?"
CRACK!
The door to the room that the two lovers were in suddenly had a crack in it. The men in the other room were trying to get in.
"Listen, Sylvia, they're trying to get in. You cannot stay here you'll get hurt. Go with Iris, she'll take you some where safe."
BANG!
Whatever the men were doing behind the door it was working. They were making progress. They were going to get in and do only god knows what.
"But Averill, I can't leave you. I can't!" Sylvia yelled over the banging behind the door. "What if you don't make it? You're outnumbered, you're hurt, and I have to stay with you."
"And what, you get hurt too? No I can't have that on my mind if I'm going to face these killers."
BASH!
The door to room now had another crack in it. The men would be in there soon. Sylvia had to leave soon if she ever wanted to see her lover again. One man behind the door suddenly yelled out something that sounded more like a roar than anything else.
"You filthy blood sucker, why don't you come out here and face us like a man instead of having tea with your blood groupie," the man behind the door said.
By that time there was a tendon sticking out of Averill forehead. He was ready to kill the man that insulted his lover and him. He would snap the man's neck and rip out his still beating heart. He could hear every man's heart in the other room; some were fluttering with excitement and anxiety, some hearts were beating with fear of what was to come. But there was one heart that was beating at a steady pace. That was the men's leader. Averill would kill him first. He suddenly felt the warmth of Sylvia's hand on his face. He turned to look at her to see that she was crying.
"Sylvia please you have to go before they can get in!"
"Alright I'm going but you have to promise me something right now or I'm never going to leave you."
"What?"
"Promise me you'll come and find me after all this is over. Promise me that you'll make it out of here alive."
Averill gave his lover a smirk. A smirk that nearly stopped Sylvia's heart for it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw in any man.
"You know I'm technically not alive."
"This is no time for jokes Averill," but she couldn't fight that smile that was taking over her beautiful face.
"I promise."
CRASH!
The men behind the door had broken part of the door, but it wasn't wide enough for them to fit through. Sylvia headed over to Iris and together they ran across the thresh hold of the secret door that was behind the giant tapestry. Averill turned to the door to face his opponents; he could feel the pain in his heart that hadn't beaten in over a hundred years start to rise. He might just never see Sylvia again. Suddenly he felt a warm soft hand on his right shoulder and turned around suddenly to face Sylvia.
"What are you do-" he started to say but couldn't finish for she started to kiss him. He kissed back, his tongue danced around her tongue. The kissed deepened until Sylvia pulled back to face him.
"I love you."
Averill was about to reply, but couldn't. The men had finally broke into the room that the lovers had spent their afternoons in. He pushed Sylvia into the door and locked it behind her before the crazy men saw her.
Sylvia heard the mayhem and chaos behind the door. She heard the crashing of furniture and the shatter of glass. She put her hand on the rusted door handle about to go back and help her lover, until she felt the cold hand of Iris on her shoulder.
"We have to go, child. He knows what he is doing."
"No he doesn't," she replied.
They turned and ran down the dark hallway and out into the cold wet night. They met Dante in his Cadillac on the broken road. As they got in the car, hot tears started to roll down Sylvias face. She looked up to the burning castle and knew that she was never going to see Averill again.
