TRIGGER WARNING: there is an instance near the end of the chapter that may appear to linger in the gray area between seduction and borderline-rape. Please proceed at your own risk.

Posting a day early because I won't be able to do so tomorrow. ENJOY!


XVIII

Freya felt the change in the atmosphere instantly when Myra's spell had taken affect. The shock wave was so powerful it shook the very foundation of the building, sending a tremor of panic through her as she could feel the shield that defended them weakening considerably.

"Ana!" Freya shouted as she looked over at the barricaded front door.

"What was that?" David asked, entering the main room of the bar as Ana appeared from within the kitchen.

Another tremor tore through the ground, and they all quickly grabbed onto neighboring pieces of furniture in an effort to keep upright.

"That does not feel good," Ana announced a bit shakily.

"It's the protection spell. Someone is attacking our shields," Freya explained, trying to sound calm though she was having a hell of a time doing it.

"They'll hold, won't they?" David asked.

Another tremor ripped through the place and Freya felt the magical energy that had been shielding them flicker and then go out, sending her heart into her stomach as fear gripped her.

"Umm, no," was her response.

Although the tremors had finally stopped, the momentary stillness of the air was soon replaced by the sound of sirens going off in the distance and the three of them turned and stared at the barricaded entrance in undeniable horror.

"This isn't happening," Ana whispered mostly to herself. "I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming."

"No, babe, I don't think you are," David said.

"You're not helping."

"Well, I hate to make a bad situation worse," Helena announced, having dashed into the room through the backdoor, "but there are easily hundreds of soldiers outside."

"What?" everyone seemed to say at once.

"I was going out to pick up some black thorn and yarrow, like you asked," Helena explained, looking of at Freya, "when I noticed that they were blocking off the streets in the surrounding blocks. There are soldiers everywhere."

"You're kidding!" David exclaimed, but Helena shook her head.

"I'm not. We need to get out of here now."

"But we have no where to go!" Ana insisted, when it dawned on her. "Where's Eva?"

"I'm right here, Mom!" Eva called from the secret doorway. "Did you feel the earth move? Was that some kind of earthquake?"

"I wish, sweetie," David said as Ana ran over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her, relieved that she was okay.

"If we can't leave, then we'll have to make a stand," Freya explained.

"Are you insane?" Helena nearly shouted. "Did you miss the part where I said there are hundreds of soldiers outside, headed right for us?"

"Freya's right. We don't have time to run," David insisted. "Eva, I need you to go wake Lailah up. We need her."

There was a sudden crash at the front entrance and several of the boards that were keeping the windows shut came loose, falling to the ground, sending a wave of panic through everyone.

"Eva, go get Lailah, now!" David shouted, quickly picking up one of the large tables with both hands and shoving it against the barricade at the front door in an effort to strengthen it. But another crash came and more boards flew loose. "Freya, we need you to get that shield back up. Don't worry about protecting the area below. There's no way down there except through here. If we can keep them out of the bar, we may have a chance."

There was another crash and Helena quickly grabbed a chair and took it over to the back door, locking it up tightly before shoving the back of the chair under the doorknob, sealing them in, as Freya and David started to flip over some of the tables, creating a barrier around the entryway to the back hall. Ana quickly kissed Eva on the cheek before pushing her towards the door that led down below.

"Hurry, Eva!" she shouted before shutting the door behind the girl. "David, what do we do? We can't hold off a hundred soldiers!"

"We'll have to try," he said, moving over to the small janitorial closet in the hall where he emptied out all of the cleaning supplies before kicking in the back wall, revealing a mini arsenal of weaponry.

"What the hell is this?" Freya exclaimed as he began to pull out several large guns, the ammunition appearing to glow.

"We've got an AKM, an AK47, one Winchester, couple of REC7s, the T91 is for me, and there's a few automatic Beretta handguns – all with a special ammunition designed specifically to kill hybrids. Oh, and there's a few ultraviolet rounds in there as well," David explained, as he shoved the guns into the women's hands.

"Ultraviolet ammunition? Are you insane?" Ana practically shrieked.

"Will those even work on a hybrid?" Helena inquired, masterfully loading one of the handguns, ignoring the look of stunned amazement on Freya's face.

"It'll slow them down," David explained, handing the AK47 to Ana, who still looked rather appalled that her husband had had a secret cache in the utilities closet for heaven knew how long. "I figure we can take out the first couple of waves with what we have here, and then use the ultraviolet stuff to slow the rest down. We have enough in here to buy us a little bit of time until Lailah gets up here."

"David, we are so talking about this later if we get out of here alive," Ana insisted.

Another crash up at the front door caught everyone's attention and they turned to see the entrance had finally shattered into an eruption of splinters and before the dust could even settle, armed soldiers started to pour in through the entryway. The small band open-fired on the intruders, who, miraculously, had not anticipated retaliation.

The stench of smoke, blood, and ash filled the room as the first wave of hybrid soldiers lay dead on the floor, much of them pilled up in the front door, having barely gotten the opportunity to make it inside, thanks to Helena's astonishingly excellent marksmanship. Despite the terrifying situation, the human was remarkably calmer than everyone else, and she quickly and efficiently started to reload her guns before looking over at Freya.

"Freya, go back into the kitchen and try to get that shield back up," Helena said rather straightforwardly. "We're going to run out of ammo sooner rather than later."

"She's right," David agreed. "We'll hold out here."

The small group was met with heavy fire from the next wave of soldiers that started to make their way into the bar. While the deafening sound of guns and death filled the air, Freya opened the pantry door and quickly laid out a circle of candles, sitting herself in the middle of them with a small offering bowl of herbs and various other ingredients, and she started to mutter a protection spell under her breath as she attempted to repair what Myra had mercilessly crushed.

Although it was extremely difficult to concentrate, given the stressful circumstances, Freya managed to reinstate a simple shield that she then focused her energy on pushing outward to at least block out the front door. Before she could reach her destination, however, she was met with a violent force of retaliation that took her aback.

She could feel her sister's power pushing against the shield she was so desperately trying to put up, and the intensity and pressure of Myra's resistance was much more than Freya could withstand on her own.

Meanwhile, David, Ana, and Helena were rapidly running out of ammunition, as the soldiers seemed to just keep coming, Freya's magical defense unable to keep them out.

"We're not going to last much longer out here," Ana pointed out. "I'm out of ammunition."

"Me too," Helena replied. David stopped shooting.

"Then we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way," he announced. "Helena, take my gun and go protect Freya. Ana and I won't be able to hold everyone off, but we'll try. If anyone comes through that kitchen door, shoot them."

"I'm on it," and Helena took what was left of the guns and ammunition and disappeared into the kitchen, moving what little she could in front of the door.

"How's it going out there?" Freya asked, sounding like she was being crushed by an immense weight.

"Could be better, Helena admitted as she finished barricading the door before taking a seat in the doorway of the pantry, gun at the ready. "How are you holding up?"

"She's so much stronger than me," Freya managed with labored breath.

"Hey, you've got this," Helena said sweetly, reaching out and squeezing one of Freya's hands encouragingly.

"I had no idea you could shoot a gun like that," the witch said with a slight laugh as she squeezed Helena's hand back.

"There's a lot about me that you don't know," the redhead replied cheekily.

"I hope I get to find out later," Freya confessed. Helena smiled.

"So do I."


David and Ana moved the barricade that they had been hiding behind and shoved everything they could against the secret door that led downstairs, taking full advantage of the little breather break they had been given.

"Where the hell is Lailah?" Ana asked as she violently pushed a chair against the pile of smashed and broken furniture.

"I have no idea, but she better not pull that eleventh hour crap on us again, or there will be words."

Ana laughed, despite the fear that was racing through her veins.

"Words, huh?"

"Lots and lots of words," David replied jokingly, but when he looked over at Ana, he grew more serious and he reached out for her hand, stopping her from clutching another chair to prop up against the barricade. "Hey," he said, the word and his hand in hers grabbing her attention and she looked up at him. "I love you."

Ana smiled sweetly.

"I know you do."

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"David–" she tried to interrupt, but he hushed her, placing his fingers over her lips gently as he looked into her eyes.

"Shut up, woman. I'm trying to have a moment here before we go diving into hell." Ana rolled her eyes, but remained silent. "Even though this is not exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, I wouldn't trade a single moment of the last ten, almost eleven years for anything. I could live anywhere and do anything with you at my side, Anneke Val, and if we survive this…"

Ana quickly covered his mouth with her hand before he could finish.

"We are going to survive this," she said, her eyes full of sincerity. "When this is over and we find that stupid stone and Lailah kicks Dracula's ass, you and me and Eva are going to go live in the mountains somewhere and I am going to make love to you every morning and every evening until the trumpets sound and judgment day is upon us."

"I like the sound of that," David replied.

"So in the meantime, let's raise some hell, hmm?"

"Yes, ma'am!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her toward him so he could kiss her. Ana kissed him with all her might, her arms around his neck as she pushed on the back of his head, fingers in his hair.

The kiss ended when they heard the approaching soldiers outside and the two, hand-in-hand, turned to face the door and whatever it was that was going to come through it – together.

Ana and David fought ferociously, despite the fact that they were terribly outnumbered, and for a while, they were doing exceptionally well.

And then everything started to fall apart.

The fact was that despite how fiercely they fought, they were still a minority against the opposition, and no matter how many soldiers they slaughtered and how much carnage and blood littered the floor, Ana and David were shortly overwhelmed, giving a couple of soldiers the right opportunity to break through the couple's defense.

While two men began to tear down the barricade that blocked the secret door leading downstairs, several others broke into the kitchen. They were met with a rain of fire from Helena, who managed to take out a couple of the soldiers, but she was soon out of ammo.

Desperate to protect Freya, Helena rose to her feet and used whatever she could find to beat the final standing soldier in the kitchen. She assaulted him with the butt of her gun and the backside of a large cast-iron skillet, but she was no match for the professionally trained hybrid, who eventually grabbed her by her fiery red braid and swung her around, her body colliding with the oven on the far side of the room.

It all happened so quickly.

Freya hardly even had a moment to register.

One moment, Helena was desperately clawing and scratching at the hand holding a fistful of her beautiful hair, and the next, the edge of a knife was being run across her throat, a fountain of blood erupting from the redhead's neck and onto the floor, not four feet from where Freya sat.

The witch screamed in protest, her anger so great, she outstretched her hands and an unnatural force violently shoved Helena's murderer across the way and against the island, the impact so intense, it effectively sliced him in half, his torso and head landing in the fryer on the other side of the room while his legs slumped to the ground, blood everywhere.

Freya, distracted by the dying Helena who was choking on her own blood on the floor, climbed out of her circle of candles and reached for the girl's neck in a vain effort to stop the bleeding.

"Helena, Helena no… please… no, no, no," Freya sobbed as she cradled the blood-soaked girl in her arms, not caring that she was getting blood all over her. But no matter how much she protested, her pleas were futile. A single tear fell down Helena's cheek as she looked up at Freya – and then the light left her eyes.

The sob that broke free from Freya's throat would haunt those walls for years to come.

But that overwhelming sense of loss was just what the witch needed to push back against the unforgiving force of Myra as she clutched Helena's lifeless body to hers, rocking it back and forth as she closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on Myra, not caring that the intense pressure was causing her to nose and ears to bleed. Freya's eyeballs went black as she fought the power of her sister with all she had in her, and for the briefest of moments, she could sense Myra's own pain and struggle as she resisted Freya's defense.

Freya, stop this, Myra was saying in her head. You are not strong enough. Just let it go.

Never!

Freya, please – I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.

I will not lose anymore of my family, Myra, Freya insisted, though she felt herself straining under the weight of Myra's superior strength.

Don't make me do this, Freya.

"Fuck you," Freya hissed bitterly to the empty room.

Myra, clearly put off by her sister's blatant lack of self-preservation, made one final mental push, under which Freya collapsed. The compression on her skull was so severe, she blacked out, her head like a lead weight as it fell backwards, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. With Freya now unconscious, the bar and all of its inhabitants were completely defenseless.


Zane entered through the bar a short time later as one of his soldiers showed him the secret door they had found. "The witch and that blood girl you mentioned are in the kitchen," the soldier explained to his captain. "There's blood everywhere. Both appear to be dead."

"And the werewolf?"

"Unconscious – as good as dead as well."

"Leave the bodies. The master will want Ana, so send a few of your men in here to retrieve her. I will go fetch the stone."

"What about the child?"

"She must be down here. I want four men guarding this entrance. If she tries to escape, grab her. I'll go looking for her after we have the stone."

"Yes, sir."

Zane only took a couple men down with him into the secret house that was buried beneath the ground. From what he could tell, there were only two floors – one with some bedrooms, and the other with a small sitting room and a library. He found the secret entrance to the library of the Order of the Dragon – just where Helena had said it was – and they descended down below.

"Search every shelf. I need the section on the underworld and the section on the heavens," Zane ordered and the two men split up, quickly making their way through each row of books while Zane carefully removed the glass vial Verena had given him from Myra. Its contents glowed a heavenly blue, the angel essence within making the matter appear almost alive. Before he could get too distracted by this mysterious vial, he heard one of his soldiers call out.

"Captain! We found it!"

Zane marched over to the two sections in question with purpose and found that the closer he came to the location, the more brilliantly the liquid started to glow. Recalling his master's instructions, he hovered the vial over the floor, searching for the right tile to overturn. It took him a few moments, but at last he found it, in the dead center of the aisle.

The two soldiers dug up the slab of stone, removing it with great eagerness, revealing – as predicted – a small hole beneath it. One of the soldiers reached down to grab the small pouch hidden within, but before Zane could warn him away, an intense power shot up from the earth, encasing the soldier's entire body with what appeared to be a strange, electric kind of energy that reduced the poor man into a pile of ash.

The remaining solider was clearly shaken up by this, and he watched as his captain crouched down, vial in hand. Zane dumped the contents into the hole in the floor. The energy that had proven to be a kind of force field that protected the stone erupted and then fizzled out as the defensive shield was deactivated, giving Zane the opportunity to reach down and retrieve the precious artifact.

He quickly checked to make sure it was actually in the pouch, and when he found that it was, he sealed the small bag and handed it to the remaining soldier.

"Take this to the master at once. Stop for nothing. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain."

"I'm going to search for the child. When you reach the surface, send a few more men down here to help me find her. I have orders to bring her back alive… and unspoiled. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Captain," and the soldier was out of the room in a flash.

Unbeknownst to Zane, Eva was already down in the library with him, having stalked him and the other two soldiers to see what they were up to. She had spent a good five minutes trying to open Lailah's door so she could wake her up, but it had been locked – which was strange, because none of the bedrooms had any bolts or latches to speak of – so she had gone to find a place to hide. She had been tucked away in the main library when Zane and the others had arrived and now she was starting to regret leaving her otherwise perfect hiding place.

Realizing that if she didn't wake Lailah up now, she'd be in real trouble in a matter of minutes, Eva attempted to sneak out of the library as quickly and quietly as possible, but getting out of her hiding spot in a quiet manner proved to be harder than getting into it, as she accidentally knocked over some of the books, drawing attention to herself.

She watched, frozen in horror, as Zane turned slowly to look at her. They made eye contact for three terribly agonizing seconds before Eva's fight-or-flight response kicked in and she bolted for the door.

"HEY!" Zane shouted, quickly taking off after her. "Stop!"

Eva didn't stop.

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and then some, quickly sealing the secret entrance to the hidden library behind her so he'd have to break down the door – which would give her enough time to get to the second floor. Eva rarely got the chance to use her wings, given the small spaces she had grown up in, but she used them now, having just enough room to quickly fly for the stairs that led to the hall where all the bedrooms where. She found Lailah's door in a matter of seconds and she threw herself against it, relieved when it actually opened up on the first try – as if the power that had been keeping it shut earlier was now gone.

The angel's room was dark and freezing cold.

The woman was still in her skin-tight black dress and she was lying on top of her covers. Eva heard the eruption downstairs of Zane breaking through the secret door to the library and she felt a paralyzing fear rip through her small body.

"Lailah? Lailah, wake up!" Eva said in a loud whisper, shaking Lailah on the bed, but the angel was still fast asleep.

The girl cursed as she heard Zane make his way through the lower level, tearing through every room as he shouted for her. She quickly moved over to Lailah's dresser and started to push it, using her supernatural strength to drag it across the floor and in front of the door.

"Lailah, please!" Eva begged, grabbing whatever she could find to barricade the entrance.

Zane must have heard her, because she could hear him making his way up the stairs, shouting for her.

"Where are you, little girl?" he bellowed menacingly. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to take you to your father, that's all."

Eva crawled across the floor to the other side of the bed, farthest away from the door, and she started to shake Lailah's shoulder again.

"Lailah? Lailah, please… wake up!"

Her eyes had finally started to adjust to the dimly lit room and she noticed what appeared to be scratches and faint bruising that looked suspiciously like fingers on Lailah's arms and wrists. There was also a strange looking red mark on the side of her neck with little imprints that appeared to have been made by human teeth and the sight of them set a chill through the girl's small body.

Who had hurt Lailah like that? And why wouldn't she wake up?

Eva could hear Zane getting closer and the fear that sat uncomfortably in her chest became worse.

"I know you're in there, little girl!" Zane called from the other side of the door and she could hear him working the knob, clearly frustrated when he realized she had barricaded the door. "You can't hide in there forever!" he shouted.

Eva was so scared, she began to cry and she crawled up onto the bed and started to shake Lailah more violently.

"Lailah! Lailah, please!" she shouted. "Wake up! Please wake up!"

Zane started to throw himself against the door and Eva watched in horror as her little barricade started to fall apart. The tears fell more freely as her body shook with terror.

"LAILAH! WAKE UP!" she screamed. "Please… I need you! Lailah! LAILAH!"


Lailah was lying in the Count's arms, basking in the glorious afterglow of the most earth-shattering series of orgasms she had ever had – ever. Period. The end.

She could still feel the little aftershock tremors in her groin and it sent her skin to crawl wildly. Of course, Dracula's spidery fingers caressing her naked spine made her shiver as well and she curled up closer to him, her head resting on his shoulder.

Their flesh was littered with scratches, bruises, and love-bites, skin laced in a thin sheen of sweat, the juncture between her thighs aching in all the right ways.

"We should really do that again sometime," Dracula finally said with a sigh and Lailah chuckled, lifting her head so she could look up at him.

"Can you move at all?" she asked.

"I think so, though I don't really want to," he confessed. "You?"

"I may be walking funny for a while."

He laughed.

"Mmm, you're welcome," he said, lifting his head so he could kiss her.

Oh, how he loved the feeling of her kissing him back. He still found it so strange, how familiar her kisses were, but the immense pleasure she had given him pushed all curiosity to the back of his mind as he allowed himself to enjoy her, free of thought and free of conscience.

"Your tongue tastes like me," she purred suggestively, kissing him more deeply and he could sense his well-worked and spent cock coming to life again, resting at attention on his belly.

"I like how you taste," he husked, his hand, which had been wrapped around her waist, finding its way over her sumptuous ass before he slipped his fingers between her thighs from behind. Dracula felt her body tense when he found that pocket of slick wetness between her legs and, as she had before, she eased into his ministrations, purring and sighing dreamily as he worked her. "I'd like to taste you again," he said.

"I'm not stopping you," was her heady response.

The Count rolled her over onto her back, moving his hand so he could pin her beneath him and he kissed her soundly while using his knee to separate her thighs.

"You are stunning," the vampire said between kisses, resting his brow against hers tenderly. Dracula could feel her playfully struggling against his hold and he chuckled deep in the back of his throat when she lifted her head so she could bite his lower lip, bringing his mouth back down to hers where her tongue boldly ravished him. "And voracious," he growled suggestively, his lips finally making their way down her front and he took his time, admiring how flushed and passionately abused her skin looked.

She had done a number on him, but he gave it right back and she had taken it extremely well. His skin stung in the places where her nails had clawed him and though the pain was something he was unaccustomed to, he relished in it.

"I told you," she said, her breath hitched when his lips kissed that sweet spot between her legs. He took his finger and began to spread that honey all over her groin, teasing her.

"Remind me never to doubt you again," he said, watching as her face contorted with pleasure while his finger played betwixt her thighs. "I do believe we're tied at an even six for six. Would you like another?" he asked, lightly biting the supple flesh of her inner thigh. Her toes curled.

"Yes, please," she said with a delirious sigh, so he lowered his head and went to work. She was all aquiver beneath him, his head between her legs and his hands propping up her hips.

Oh the things that man could do with his tongue!

As she allowed herself to get lost in the sweet tension his ministrations created, after a while, she thought she heard something off in the distance. Although half-distracted, she soon heard the sound again, realizing that someone was calling her name.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, but the Count never replied as he was much too occupied licking her clean. But when Lailah noticed the voice again, she sat up, placing her hand on the Count's head as if to gently push him away and she tuned her ears to the sound.

Her name was called again, closer this time, a ways away from the other side of the door and she soon recognized the owner of the voice.

It was Eva.

"Lailah! Lailah, please!" Eva was calling, clearly upset – though still very far away.

The Count was watching Lailah closely. He too had perceived the voice – actually, he had been aware of it for a while, but had managed to ignore it and distract Lailah from it until now. Myra's spell must have been wearing off. But if the child was calling for Lailah, then that meant that Zane hadn't retrieved her yet. He needed to give them more time.

"Hey," he said tenderly, "Lie back – I'm not done with you yet," and he gently pushed her down onto the bed, slipping his hardened length inside of her. Lailah instinctively wrapped her arms around him in response, moaning softly beneath him as he rocked his hips against her, setting a steady rhythm. Lailah began to slip back into that pleasurable oblivion until she was once again only aware of the Count and what he was making her feel – up to the point when the sound of Eva calling her name broke through the air again, this time much closer than before.

"Lailah, wake up," Eva was saying, her voice trembling as if she were in tears and Lailah began to push her hands against the wall of the Count's chest.

"Vlad, stop," she said, and she tried to move her head so she could see around him, trying to look at the door, but he persisted, thrusting inside of her with more persistence, making sure he hit just the right spot so the pleasure would distract her.

"Lailah, please," Eva sobbed and suddenly there was a loud crash of something hitting against the door.

"Vlad, I said stop," she said, and she pushed him off of her, quickly rolling off the bed before he could grab her.

"Lailah, wait," he called out, seizing her by the wrist before she could get too far from him. "Just ignore her. Stay with me." His grasp was hard – desperate even, and she looked over at him to see that much of the affection that had been in his eyes before was now gone.

"What have you done?" she asked him, pulling against his iron grip. "Let me go. Let me go!"

"Lailah, don't do this."

"I said let go!" she said with more urgency as the comfortable heat in the room vanished, leaving her cold and exposed as the lights started to go out.

"Lailah, stop this!" he said, yanking her sharply towards him so she could collide against the wall of his chest and he tried to pull her back onto the bed.

"No!" she shouted, fighting him. "No! Eva! I'm coming, Eva!" and she managed to break out of his hold, but only for a moment, as he soon came falling out of the bed, landing on top of her so he could pin her to the floor.

"Forget the child! Stay with me!" he begged her. "Don't do this, Lailah."

"Get off of me!" she exclaimed, trying to wriggle out of his hold, but he was so much stronger than her. He pinned her wrists above her head with one hand and tried to move his fingers between her legs again.

"Hey, hey, shhh, let me make you feel good," he said, his touch sending her treacherous body reeling. She could still hear Eva, just outside the door, but the more he touched her, the more far away Eva sounded and Lailah began to ease beneath the Count's ministrations and he soon sighed, as if in relief, when he felt her relax. "There… there we are," the Count said gently, watching as her expression became more pacified, her brow furrowing in response to the pleasure he created and she bit her lip as she felt another delicious orgasm starting to build within her.

"This is wrong…" she said helplessly. "This is…"

Dracula could feel the tension growing in her and determined to keep her with him as long as possible, he worked her even harder, desperate to banish all thought of refusal from her. He needed to keep her here… he wanted to. But the sound of Eva's screams would not permit Lailah the opportunity to fully give in to him, as much as she wanted to. The guilt was too much, and before she could find her release, she grabbed his shoulders with both hands.

"I said STOP!" she snapped suddenly, swinging her head forward and hitting him full on in the face, sending him backwards as he clutched his nose. She quickly scrambled to her feet, legs weak and wobbly as she reached for the door. "Eva! Eva, wake me up!" she shouted and she felt the Count snatch hold of her ankle.

"Lailah, stop!" he yelled, desperately trying to hold her back, but his attempts at restraining her only encouraged her to fight him more viciously than she had before.

"EVA! Wake me up! WAKE ME UP!" she screamed.


Eva shook Lailah violently as she sobbed, watching in horror as Zane finally broke through the door, three soldiers behind him. She watched as the captain unsheathed his sword and pointed it in her direction.

"You have been a very, very naughty child," he said angrily.

Eva continued to cry, terrified as the four large men surrounded the bed.

"Lailah, please," she wept weakly. "Please…"


Lailah was fighting for her life now, fists flying as the Count tried to pull her away from the door.

"I can't believe I trusted you," she shrieked angrily. "I can't believe I trusted you!"

"It'll all be over soon," he promised her. "It has to be this way, Lailah."

"No!" she cried, still struggling against him, reaching desperately for the door. "Eva! EVA!"

"There's nothing you can do. Stop fighting."

"I will never forgive you for this!" she shouted at him. "Never! Eva! Eva, wake me up!"

"I am all you have, Lailah," he insisted. "You may hate me now, but you cannot hate me forever!"

Lailah felt hot tears burning in her eyes.

She hated him for it, but she knew he was right. She could never hate him forever, though God help her, she wished she could.

How could she have been so stupid? So blind? So willfully naïve?

They had been right - all of them. Her father, Gabriel, Ana... Raphael.

Raphael.

Lailah's heart broke at the thought of him, but instead of allowing her pain to immobilize her, she used it to fuel her rage. Dracula had used her and in her weakness, she had let him.

She would never be able to live with herself if something happened to Eva, her love and lust for the man attempting to restrain her be damned. So with a swift maneuver, she ducked out of his hold and swung him around so he collided with one of the bedposts. The angel then grabbed one of legs of a chair they had broken in their tumble and before he could react, she rammed it into his chest, missing his heart, but effectively wounding him.

Dracula let out a cry of pain – not just in the dream, but in reality as well, and before he could even register what was happening, he watched Lailah reach for the knob and swing open the door, a blinding light flooding their eyes.

...

Lailah suddenly sat upright in the bed, her hand outstretched and eyes burning with a brilliant white fire as an immense power and heavenly light erupted from her person, filling the room and reducing Zane and his men to nothing but piles of ash.

Zane's sword fell to the ground with a loud crash, the sound deafening as consciousness continued to wash over Lailah in waves. Though she had been dreaming, her body ached and she winced when Eva wrapped her arms around her neck and sobbed hysterically in the angel's arms. Though it hurt to do so, Lailah held the child tightly to her, burying her head into the girl's shoulder as silent tears of shame and devastation poured from her eyes.

What had she done?

Oh, what had she done?


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi all.

I hope the majority of you have been enjoying the most recent series of chapters (as bleak and dark as they may have been, though I should warn you, it gets worse before it gets better).

To those of you who have been reviewing - your feedback remains VERY appreciated. More than you know. You've been instrumental in getting me through the last few weeks and I really can't thank you enough for that.

Unfortunately, this story is going to have to be put on hold. Things in my life are a bit much (for lack of a better word) at present and I'm in dire need of a break. I'll be taking at the very least next week off, maybe more depending on how things go. But don't worry too much - I have every intention of returning and we will finish this story together.

In the mean time, however, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. Thank you for stopping by!