Chapter Eight~

I did not know how many hours or days must have passed before I awoke, but when I did, it was dark. My skin itched and crawled with poison that still lead traces in my blood. I wanted desperately to scratch and scrap at my flesh until the unbearable sensation departed me, but my hands were bound behind my back, and no matter how much I struggled I could not free myself. I recognized that I was in a car long before I realized where I was, or where my captors were taking me. I felt the lull of the motion as I woke up, and I struggled to see in the pitch-blackness.

We were on a road; the drive was smooth like pavement rather then harsh terrain. We were in an isolated place though, for there were no streetlights or signs of any kind that I could make out. Trees lined the road that we traveled; they were old trees, as tall as sky scrappers. Where were they taking us? In the front seat of the car sat what appeared to be two men, though through the lack of light they could have been women. All I saw of them was the back of their heads and their arms. I sat in the backseat, with Danica.

Danica? I turned to my side, thinking that she would be in the same daze that I was or perhaps still sleeping, the effect of the drugs that were given to us still holding her in a lack luster coma. She was not sleeping though, nor just waking up as I was. She sat upright, her back and shoulders straight and to me looked wide awake. Through the dark I could see that her hands and feet were tide much the same way that mine were and her gaze permanently pressed out of the tinted glass window. Was she looking to the forest or the sky? Was she contemplating a get away? "Danica?" through my lips my voice was hoarse, and crackly. I myself could barely hear it, I couldn't imagine that she had. But she did, turning her face to me and a forced smile formed across her dry lips. By the light of the moon that could barely be seen through the trees I could see a large bruise against her cheek and the swollen lump was obscurely visible against her profile. "Are you all right?" I asked first, she didn't answer in words; she just nodded her head slightly. She looked distracted, as though she longed to look back out the window and have me still in whatever state I had been in before. "How long have you been awake?" I asked, hoping that this time she would answer.

"Since yesterday."

Silence.

I turned away from her, aware that she had no desire to talk, but if she had woken up yesterday then we had been on the road longer then two nights. We could only travel by night if vampires were our chauffeurs, so we must have stayed somewhere during the day. "I'm sorry Zane." Her plight filled voice sent my head turning back to face her immediately.

"Sorry for what?"

She hesitated, taking an exhausted breath between half swollen lips that I could tell must have been difficult for her. "I'm sorry that I ever got you involved." She was silent again, and thought that that was all that she had to say, but she soon quickly spoke again: "It's over Zane, you tried, but from this point on, no matter what either of us do. I'm dead." I opened my mouth to speak, feeling the pain in my own cheek intensify with the hasty movement, but she quickly stopped me again. "Listen Zane, Jeshickah has no quarrel with you, and if you amuse her, she will free you... eventually."

I wanted to take her in my arms again, but like always I was restrained, either emotionally or physically. I wanted to tell her that her death was my death, that in my heart she has always been and will always be my wife. That every second that I was away form her, my heart broke. But like always, I was silent. To her, my silence meant that I would do as she instructed. Humor Jeshickah and eventually get away, go back to the shell of existence that I had before she came back into my life.

I would not do that though, no matter what factors I had to deal with, I would go with her until the end.

I would die for her.

I would die with her.

There was a silence between the two of us that was slow as the hours passed. The night got darker, and then began to get lighter. I couldn't help but think that it was that light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, on the cusp of daybreak a large stone structure came into view and as we got closer to it, it loomed up before us like an ancient tower belonging to the dead kings of old. Its bordering walls were guarded by Avian shapshifters, crow and falcon alike, and as the car continued to drive further into the compound I saw many more shapshifting kinds, Mistari, Serpiente, and more Avian's. I wondered if they knew that they watched the last king to sit on the throne at Serpiente Keep, and the last queen to rule over the Avian's were before them now. Watching them, as they betrayed everything that their ancestors stood for and believed in. With our hands still bound, but our feet untied, Danica and I were lead into the compound that I had only heard stories about. Midnight. Its walls were dark and gloomy, lit by poor light to which I could not find the source. Dancia was lead ahead of me, which I preferred. I made myself believe that no harm could come to her as long as I was close by. We seemed to be going to the same place, so I was relatively calm for the few minutes that it took to walk our way to our destination.

What I took to be a throne room was lavishly set, and decorated with million dollar perfected. It went far beyond what I expected, and far beyond what I had ever seen in any Castle or Keep.

"Shardae, I am so pleased that you could join us!" said a woman that I presumed to be Jeshickah. I was struck by her presence, and her height, for she towered over both Danica and I easily. Danica said nothing as Jeshickah poured more lies about how wonderful it was to have her as a guest. The woman was insane. She pulled at Danica's face, feeling with the back of her hand the soft skin of Danica's cheeks and then running it down the line of silky golden hair. Her hand reached clear down to Danica's abdomen. After no reaction to her Lover-like behavior she said: "Take her away, she knows well what the cost of disobeying me is!"

They took her away from me. I struggled, to no avail, to follow freely but my captor's hands were strong and unrelenting. "And who is this?" Jeshickah questioned, and I knew that she wanted me to answer, but I didn't. I wanted to infuriate her enough so that I could go with Danica.

"He is Zane Cobriana," Theron Sero's voice said, coming into the room from behind where I was standing. I watched as he circled me, his eyes stalking mine and then shifting to hers. He approached her, and she welcomed him. Allowing him to place his extended arm around her waist and nuzzle with his head against her neck. "He's the missing king of the Serpiente." She seemed amused with this idea, playing a leverage game with everyone around her. We all knew that she was in control.

"Would you like to..." she began, but there was no real need to finish. She was addressing Theron and with a simple glance into his heightened face I could tell that he held some hidden prepuce for taking me all this way. She smiled at his awkward happiness, and I was left wondering what they both were thinking. She bent her head to him, which was slightly taller then his was, and he kissed her. Full on the mouth. I watched as their cheekbones curved and swayed with the force of their passionate embrace. They were both like drug addicted teenagers, the touch of the other enough to satisfy their lust for days. I wondered then if they were truly lovers, or if this was only an unceremonious event that neither had experienced in a while. She raised her hand, and cold slender fingers traced small designs on his cheek as he tried to press his mouth closer to hers. She moved her fingers down his neck, feeling the endeavor of his muscles and veins as he continued to be forceful with her. Her hand stopped just above his left breast and her fingers twirled at his chain mail shirt, no doubt feeling the icy flesh that remained slightly exposed their.

Finally they parted from each other, leaving me believing that they were lovers in the end. "Follow me!" he commanded, leaving Jeshickah's side and walking in front of me. The guard's hands were tighter as we moved deeper into Midnight.

Theron Sero, pleased and excited with his sudden tryst with the vampire leader Jeshickah, lead me though a long and narrow hallway. There were doors at either side, some open, other's closed. I kept my eye on them, thinking that perhaps Danica had been taken to one of them. The walls were painted a dark color, a black, or a purple, but in the dim light I couldn't really tell. "Don't worry your highness," he began looking back at me as I was dragged behind him, "only a bit further."

Who was this man? And why was he treating me in such a way? I couldn't tell if it was all a game to get my guard down, or he really was pleased that he had found me.

We continued to make our way down the unending corridor and my eyes were still fixed on all of the open doors. I wanted to know where Danica was. If she was being hurt, I had to help her.

Toward the end of the corridor we came upon one open door that had an unusual amount of light coming from inside. The light caught my eye; it was as bright as a surgical room in a hospital with an unnatural glow, and the same glow that I realized so many people must have died to. Inside I could see, though only for a second, as two men held Danica up and proceeded to lift her up to a surgical table. I dug my feet into the hard floor to stop myself. She was lifeless, and unmoving. Was she dead? Would I not be able to save her? Was it too late to begin again with her? I called out her name, but she did not answer...