Chapter 31

"Get away from me!" I yelled angrily, pulling myself up from the floor. William only watched me with an amused expression on his face, his lips twisted into a small smile. My eyes wide, my legs shaking, I backed away from the both of them. "How could you betray us, betray me?" I asked my cousin, casting my glance in his direction. In the distance, I could hear the hurried approach of Velkan. He was quickly making his way towards us.

"He hasn't betrayed you at all, you see." Aleera said suddenly. She took a sudden step forward, startling me. I noticed her full lips form a small smile. It was almost comforting, to say the least. "Do not be afraid." She said, reaching her hand out to me. I shook my head in defiance, refusing to do as she said.

"What did you do to him!" I yelled. Her fair face contorted into a look of angry amusement. "What did you do to him!" I yelled once again. I heard her quiet chuckle. In moments William was behind her, wrapping his arms about her waist.

"The question is not what I have done to him, but rather what Verona has done." She said simply in answer. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, casting a desperate glance in my cousin's direction. Any warmth in his eyes I could have found was now completely gone. He merely stared back at me with a look devoid of any feeling or recognition. It was if a dagger had been ripped through me. I slowly returned my gaze back towards the bride.

"What is wrong with him?" I yelled angrily. She merely laughed loudly in response, refusing to answer my question. I saw William spin her around, capturing her lips in a fervent kiss. My stomach felt as though it had been constricted more than it already was.

William's eyes slowly came to rest on me as they parted, a defiant twinkle in his eyes. There was a new light in them that he did not possess before. They had taken him against his will. The light was not his person, but something else….

"William…" I pleaded softly. "William, what have you done?" he merely shrugged his shoulders and pulled away from Aleera. In two long strides he had approached me, grasping me firmly by my neck. I screamed out, my eyes searching madly about for anything that might help me.

"William…" I barely choked out, my throat constricted greatly. I felt my face growing hot and red. I reached up with my hands, trying my hardest to break away from his vice like grip. "How could…you?" he sneered angrily at me.

"It was easy enough." He answered simply. He released me suddenly, allowing me to fall to the floor coughing and holding my throat. It throbbed in pain. I looked up after a moment to see my cousin pacing around me, his eyes locked on me. He looked behind him, finding Aleera smiling gaze returning his own. He turned suddenly back to me.

"My cousin!" he called loudly suddenly. "It surprises me that I haven't seen the prince of gypsies. Ah, what was his name…." He reached up with his hand, tapping his temple as if in thought. "Ah! Yes! Prince Velkan Valerious." My head snapped towards the floor.

"It seems that she is affected by the mention of his name." I heard Aleera say. She approached my cousin, passing him and bending down gracefully to touch my face. "She is quite affected, I must say." She said. Her hand gently underneath my chin, I noticed her lift my face to meet her gaze. "Nothing to say before I kill you, my dear?" I heard her ask me.

"That would be ill advised." I heard suddenly. Aleera's face shot in the opposite direction, as well as William's. We were all surprised to say the least. The last person we realized would be standing behind us. In his hands the reign to my mare, his clothing primed and proper, his gleaming white teeth bared in anger, the hero of the moment, none other than Count Vladislaus Dracula I found looking back at us.

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She was on the cold hard ground, her neck slowly forming a bruise from where her ignorant cousin had taken her. Her eyes shined with horror as she beheld me, surprised, apparently, that I was still awake from my slumber. It was day, after all, why shouldn't I be awake? Foolish girl.

"Aleera!" I said in a reprimanding tone. "Here. Now." William beheld me with a hint of amusement in his eyes. All I had to do was nod in his direction, and he understood, following behind Aleera. They had left Christine where she lay.

"How did you get here?" she asked me. She still rubbed her throat absentmindedly. I laughed. But, as I began to speak, a voice interrupted my comment. Velkan. Velkan Valerious. I felt my eye twitch in rage as I uttered his name in my mind. He was the new Augustus. How angry that made me. But, I suppose, you could consider it my fault…

"The fog, Christine." He said so easily. How confident he sounded. I turned my gaze away from the woman lying prostrate on the ground to the man now approaching. So confident, he seemed. I would lay him in his place soon enough.

"Excellent assumption, my prince." I said in answer, my voice dripping with venom. Velkan turned his gaze to me, a purely angry look on his face. Of course I could safely assume that Christine had told him the whole of what I had done to her. My gaze cast over her body, noticing the mark I had left on her. "Christine." I said suddenly. She shot her gaze up to meet mine. "I trust your shoulder is alright?"

Blushing, she reached up and grazed the spot with her fingertips. I could hear Aleera hiss angrily at me. I did nothing to either calm or silence her. Her rage was understandable since she considered the woman my new interest. Velkan looked as if he were ready to kill me, god I loved that face.

I kept my gaze on Christine. Velkan walked silently by me, and I could hear William mutter some angry words underneath his breath, looking towards his cousin, who slowly began to speak.

"How are you walking about?" she asked me, fighting to ignore the questioning glance of her lover. I smiled, despite the situation she was in. "It is the daylight hour, you both should be gone!" I laughed loudly.

"On the contrary, my dear." I responded. I gestured to the fog surrounding us. "The sun is covered by this." I said. Her eyes slowly widened in dread, realizing she would never truly be safe from my wrath. She glanced back down, towards the ground. Noticing her shoulder had been exposed for all to see, she quickly covered it, reddening slightly in embarrassment.

"What have you to be so embarrassed about?" I asked her. I looked towards Aleera, making a silent nod. Understanding immediately what I meant her to do, she quietly took the reigns. In a flash of moment, much to quick for the both of them to see, I was behind the Aveire girl. I looked over at Velkan, relishing the look of surprise he had on his face. "I've left my mark on you, not many people have had that honor…." Leaning down to her ear, I slower began to whisper. "Save for Charlotte…"

"What is he talking about, Christine?" Velkan asked her suddenly. My head shot up to meet his gaze, and I smiled, exposing my teeth. He did not flinch, or even show a hint of emotion. Such a life that boy led

In moments she had risen, backing away from me. Velkan had hurried to her side, his eyes casting over her shoulder, trying to ascertain which one I had wounded. Noticing a small bloodstain seeping through the delicate cloth, he immediately reached over, attempting to reveal the wound. I noticed her look of horror as she pulled away from him, standing between the both of us. Such a confused little doe she was, caught between two wolves.

"Such a predicament you have placed yourself in, isn't it?" I asked her. She shook her head in a pure rage, her eyes glowing with hatred for me. How I wanted to see something else glowing within them as well…

"I haven't placed myself in this predicament at all!" she screamed, pointing her fingers accusingly at me. "It is you that have done this to me. It was you that has harassed me to no end all these years, and it was you that Velkan…" her voice slowly began to trail off, realizing all to quickly the little ears that heard as well.

"He bit you?" Velkan said, with a hint of anger in his voice. "You allowed him? No one has ever survived a bite from a vampire…" I noted the delicious frown forming on his lips, the sweet sorrow I had bred between the two.

I noticed her nod quietly, allowing him to approach and pull the cloth away from her shoulder. There he found my mark, his hand touching it, almost as if he wished to believe it truly was not there. Of course he didn't know that a simple bite would not suffice for her to become on of us. She required my blood as well, but I would not allow him to have the satisfaction of knowing.

"You never finished your sentence." I heard William say. "What about Velkan?" she did not even raise her gaze to meet her cousin's. Not a reply came from her lips. In a hint of understanding, he did not push the conversation any further.

In an instant, she had turned away from Velkan's grasp, shame gracing her dark features. I noticed the hurt on his face, realizing the full gravity of what I had done. "You marked her!" he yelled angrily. He could say nothing more.

He was in front of me in seconds, pulling from his boots a silver stake. "What do you expect to do with that toy?" I asked him, as he hesitated for a second. Before I had even realized his intent, he plunged it through my chest. My rib cage cracked as it gave way, opening a path straight to my center. I did not even grimace as I felt the silver burn through the soft flesh of my heart. I widened my eyes in shock, noticing the bloodthirsty rage building within him. Despite the situation I was in, I kept my gaze locked tightly on Velkan Valerious. He would not derive any pleasure from my pain. I smiled.

Christine I could hear screaming, her cries mingled with the cries of my dear Aleera. I cast a quick look towards William, who kept an unwavering, yet smiling gaze at the prince and myself. Such an idiot that boy was. Aleera had relinquished her grip of the mare, allowing it to walk about freely, grazing on the grass around us. She had buried her face within the folds of William's coat, his hand caressing her head, stroking her red curls in comfort. I slowly sank to my knees, his hand slowly surrendering his hold on the stake.

He stood there for some moments, watching in shock as I lay there, feeling no pain in response to his attack. I rose slowly an amused smirk on my face, and as I did, I quickly pulled from my chest the stake. Velkan, noticing the futility of his defense, immediately called to Christine, who looked about her as if she had gone mad.

"Come on!" he screamed. He turned tail and fled, grasping Christine's hand as he flew by her. Aleera, noticing their escape, hissed angrily and tried to give chase, but I stopped her. I threw the silver angrily to the ground, noticing the blood red burn it had left on my skin.

"Aleera!" I yelled. She stopped immediately in her tracks, her eyes widening as she noticed I was standing. "Do not bother. They won't get far, anyhow." I said. I heard Aleera's cry of delight as she hurried to my side, her hands reaching up and caressing my cheek.

"Master!" she yelled happily, her lips brushing against my cheek. I brushed her hair back from her face. "You are alive!"

"Aleera….you honestly do not think a simple stake would finish me, did you?" When I noticed her small nod in assent, I finally laughed. "You should know better, my dear." I finished.

"Time to send out the wolves…" I said quietly to myself. Nodding to William, I noticed his smile as he quickly approached the horse, climbing onto it, nimbly. "Aleera, come, let the animals finish the job." I said. Laughing, she hurried into the woods. William followed behind her on horseback. I turned and looked into the woods.

The werewolves would finish the job we had started.