14. Witch Hunt

Lily´s peaceful sleep in her room was interrupted by loud footsteps that echoed through castle Dracula. Her door was pushed open and two men stormed in. She was glad that she had falled asleep in her usual clothes instead of her nightgown, but actually there was no reason to be glad.

The men grabbed her by her arms and pulled her outside. It was easy to see that they were from the inquisition.

"Stop! Where are we going? You can´t do that!", she struggled.

They didn´t reply and kept pulling her until they were in front of the castle. Lily´s eyes widened in shock as she saw that the other servants were already there.

Cassandra was sitting on a chair, eyes closed. The men of the inquisition eyed her face, arms and legs closely. As soon as they had found a mole they stang a needle in it. The wounds they made didnt even bleed. Then they took Cassandra away.

Lily was pulled on the chair immediately. She was trapped. And she was sure that it would be painful. She had many moles.

They started with her face and plunged the needle into her left cheek´s mole. Lily closed her eyes and let the men do their work.

It took more than ten minutes until they were done. Her whole body was hurting. As she looked down at herself she noticed that she hadn´t lost a single drop of blood.

The inquisition tied her arms and legs together and carried her away. Lily could see Dracula standing on a bridge that guided over a river.

Hopefully she looked up at him as they approached. After a few seconds she realized what they were up to.

"Help me!", she cried, looking Dracula in the eye. He didn´t react and let the man throw her into the river.

She didn´t scream as she fell. Lily just closed her eyes again. It was far too much for her. There was no chance in surviving that. She would sink like a stone to the ground. There she would lie until she was out of air.

It seemed like an eternity before she hit the water. I´m dead!´, she thought.

But this test was like the other water-test. She floated on the water. Lily let out a sigh. The tests couldn´t have gone better. At least she thought.

As fast as she was thrown into the cold liquid she was taken out again. They laid a sheet around her shoulders and told her to go back inside.

Cassandra leaned relaxed against a wall. "How did you do, little flower?"

Lily hated those nicknames. But the fact that she was named after a flower made it easy to find one. "I passed the test!", she told her, smiling. Cassandra shook her head. "If you had passed the test you would have been already dead. You floated?"

She nodded and tried to hide her nervousness that this conversation brought. "So you´re a witch!", her enemy spat.

Her heart sank into her shoes. "And what is going to happen now?", Lily asked carefully.

Cassandra simply shrugged. "There is much that they could do: cutting your head off, burning you dead, burning you living..." She smiled at the thought.

Slowly Lily understood. She was going to die anyway. "Ohhh, I´m sorry! I bet your prince of darkness isn´t going to save you again!", she added. Of course she meant Dracula. Lily stormed back outside and let the sheet fall.

There she kept watching the inquisition throw the other witches into the water. Everyone of them floated except of one.

"She´s lucky", she whispered to herself. She waited in the doorway for one minute until she realized that they won´t take the girl out again.

Lily started running towards the river. With all her braveness collected she shouted at the men: "Why do you stand here? Take her out!" But they just laughed at her. "You´re going to kill her!" One of them shrugged, the other one kept chuckling.

That was enough. Lily jumped into the river, diving down to the ground where the girl lay. Cassandra had been right.

She pulled at the strings that tied the girl´s arms and legs and was able to open them. Unfortunately just slowly. Then she grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the water.

Lily laid her hand on her neck, trying to found a pulse. Nothing. She came too late. The men lifted the girl up and threw her back into the river.

With tears streaming down her face Lily raced into the castle. She had never expected Dracula to stood there and watch the girl die.

After a looong time I finally found some time for an update. Thanks to my reviewers! R&R please.