Chapter 30

The huge ornate double doors slowly swung open, the hinges screaming as if in pain as they moved, the jewels twinkling as they caught the light, looking for all the world as if they were winking at the band of friends as if sharing some sort of strange secret. Trish looked about edgily as Rose gave vent to a low growl and suddenly stormed ahead of them, pushing open the doors the rest of the way, glowing slightly with a purple halo of energy. Dante's eyes gleamed with the promise of battle as he stalked forwards, his now ripped and somewhat ragged red coat swirling about his ankles as he moved, his every motion bursting with raw, unchecked strength. Trish however, was more wary, uncertain as to why Rose was displaying such anger. After all, this was all bound to get sorted out as quickly as possible. Rose would show herself to be completely well and the Queen would let Reiko go, just as she had promised. Everything was going to be okay.

Now if only she could actually persuade herself that she was actually speaking the truth…

Romana looked up at them and took in their features, took in Rose's pale yet angry face. Instead of rebuking them for barging in without warning, she merely sighed and looked world-weary, as if she had been through an extremely tiring day instead of sitting around and doing nothing.

'What is it now?' She asked, her tone one of boredom. Rose had an answer for her immediately.

'You know damn well what's wrong! We killed the dragon. And I'm sure you know it!' She snapped, her voice vicious, like steel. Romana blinked slowly, before lounging back in her throne languidly.

'No one told me.'

'Why didn't they?'

'I wanted to hear it from the donkey's mouth,' she drawled, her eyes flicking appraisingly over Dante. He growled softly and bared his teeth at the insult.

'Well now you know. The dragon's dead. Keep to your side of the bargain. Let Reiko go.'

'Reiko? Oh…right…the vampire. That thing…' Rose said nothing to this, knowing when to keep silent and when to speak. Trish shifted her weight uneasily from foot to foot, looking at Dante anxiously, who merely stood there, the expression on his face inscrutable. There was a silence as Romana slowly got to her feet, her sceptre in her hand. 'Fine. I made a bargain and I know how to keep a promise, despite what others may think.' Here, she cast a cursory yet meaningful glance at Rose, who refused to react. 'I'll let the vampire go.'

Trish smiled in relief, silently congratulating herself for knowing that things would work out for the best. Dante however, said nothing, choosing to frown instead. He had a bad feeling about all of this. It seemed too easy, too simple. Still, he shouldn't be complaining after all the crap they'd been through. Maybe he'd just become far too accustomed to there being trouble. It made sense, but it worried him.

At that point, the heavy doors swung open again. The three friends turned as one to stare as a guard came through, holding an all too familiar person in his arms. Rose let out a groan. Lorelei.

She struggled wildly, her startling green eyes burning with a mad fury, the likes of which only Dante had seen before. The guard held on gamely before tightening his grip and pulling her arms back painfully, thus disabling her and ensuring she could make no more sudden moves. Romana stared at her before her eyes dawned with recognition. She snarled, rushing towards her, dealing her a stinging slap on the cheek, followed by another.

'You!' she hissed. 'You dared to raise your hand against me! You dared to attack your Queen!'

'You're no Queen of mine!' Lorelei shouted, her face red with anger. 'I have no Queen!' Romana blinked several times before laughing harshly.

'I still can't believe you don't know. Your parents never told you?'

'My mother doesn't tell me anything. She barely speaks to me. My father left when I was five years old,' Lorelei blurted, cursing herself almost immediately afterwards. There had been no reason to say that now, was there?

'Oh, and your mother never told you why your father left?' Well, that had certainly got her attention. Lorelei turned limp in the guard's arms, the fight gone out of her as she stared at the Queen, noticing for the first time the knowing look on her face. What was it that she knew that she didn't? She gritted her teeth together with anger but knew better than to try and struggle again. Romana laughed again harshly, as Dante, Trish and Rose stared on, all three of them feeling as though they were bearing witness to something they shouldn't. Romana stalked into the center of the room, so then she was all the closer to the younger woman. Lorelei's eyes narrowed, the green colour burning like fire.

'Ooooh, what a shame. I see your mother didn't tell you anything! She didn't tell you that it was her children's fault. She hasn't told you anything at all. And what about your sister, Catherine? Has she said anything to you?' Lorelei licked at suddenly dry lips and looked at her fearfully.

'H-How do you know my sister?' she asked, her voice small and afraid. A cruel smile drifted over Romana's face. She looked towards the guard and made a small motion. The guard instantly released Lorelei and pushed her to the ground before striding out of the door, his gait one that screamed of confidence. Lorelei slowly picked herself up and stared at the queen again. 'How do you know my sister!' she repeated again, her voice louder, angry. Even so, Dante could still hear the fear, could smell her fear. It was so palpable he could almost taste it.

'Wait and see,' Romana laughed, her voice like crystal daggers. The door opened again and Lorelei turned to see the newcomer.

'C-Cathy? W-what are you doing here!' She gasped. Her older sister's eyes switched to stare at her. For a few seconds, all she could do was gape as she took in her sister's face. Then she gasped again and looked towards the queen and then back towards her.

'L-Lorelei! What are you doing here!'

'What's this all about?' Dante cut in, staring at the Queen, who looked as though she was enjoying herself immensely.

'Why don't you ask Catherine? Why won't you let her speak?' Romana answered, her smile cruel, her eyes showing only a gleam of wicked delight.

'Cathy?' Lorelei whispered again, her voice suddenly sounding somewhat weak and drained.

'Mom didn't want you to know…Mom didn't want you to find out,' Cathy gabbled, nothing like her former cold self.

'Know what?' Lorelei whimpered.

'We're harpies. All of us. You and me, we're hybrids. Half human and half harpy. Mum's a full bred harpy. That's why dad left us. He left shortly five years after you were born.'

'I know that! But…'

'Why? Because…you were the one who first exhibited the powers. It freaked Dad out,' Cathy's voice was resonant with bitterness. 'He left when he found out.' Her eyes turned hard as she stared at her sister. 'He left because of you. He wouldn't have found out if it wasn't for you.' Lorelei was shocked into silence, her eyes slowly filling up with tears. 'After that, Mum refused to let you go anywhere by yourself. She was scared of what might happen. You were uncontrollable.'

'You…you should have told me…'

'And what good would it have done?'

'I think I have a right to know myself! Everything I know has been a lie! You lied to me! You had me thinking I was some sort of freak! That I was the only one! That no one else in the world understood what I was going through! And no one ever explained to me why I knew what I knew, how I could tell the future sometimes, how I knew secrets that I never wanted to know! You both lied to me!'

'For God's sake! We're your family! We didn't want you to know! We thought it would be easier for you this way!'

'I don't give a damn about that! Do you know how hard it was for me back at school? How I was hated by everyone? If you had told me, than maybe I would have been able to keep my mouth shut, and I would have known that this was some kind of secret that no one should ever know!'

'You weren't smart enough to think of that, Lore.'

'Like hell you'd know! You never fucking paid attention to me! You never fucking cared! Neither did Mum! All I was to both of you was just some kind of…I was just there and you always ignored me! Always! And now I know why.' Cathy frowned and looked at her questioningly, confused. Lorelei started to speak again, her voice high-pitched, shaking with pure adulterated anger. ' "Dad left because of you. He wouldn't have found out if it weren't for you!" ' She began to tremble all over, a shining aura beginning to surround her.

'Lore…'

'Get the hell away from me, bitch!'

'We're your family!'

'Not anymore,' Lorelei's voice broke and she began to sob hysterically. Trish shook her head slowly before silently moving towards her, holding her close, trying to comfort her. Gradually, her sobs began to quieten. Rose frowned before turning her attention back to the queen.

'I don't know what you were hoping to achieve by that little display, but it doesn't change a damned thing. Let the vampire go.'

'Oh it changes a thing or two, believe me. I'm not letting him go. I've changed my mind. I mean, why exactly should I let him go? I'd be getting rid of one of the strongest leaders of that unsightly race. And besides, I have gained what I wanted from him already. I have new added powers.' She smirked and held out the glittering red jewel, her eyes filled with malice. 'There is no reason to keep an enemy alive. There is no reason at all. He's just taking up valuable space.'

'Romana!' Rose snarled, her eyes glittering with a light that Dante had never seen before. The queen frowned and returned her attention to her, a loo of disgust and utter loathing on her face. She leapt to her feet, her anger forcing her off the throne and into the middle of the floor. She hissed, her cloak flowing behind her, her eyes narrowed.

'You dare show disrespect to your queen? You dare question my orders and my decisions? You really dare to?' She was more or less gibbering with rage and Dante was hard-pressed to stop a smile from slowly spreading across his face. Trish merely continued to watch intently, her eyes and ears missing nothing. She saw how the queen's eyes had widened again, and to anyone else, they would have appeared to be their normal size. But Trish could see that they were bulging slightly, and she could also see that her jaw was set in a rigid scowl. Her fingers were twitching slightly and from that single motion, Trish gathered that the queen was trying with everything she had not to let her emotions blind her. Interesting…why would the queen be so bothered as to whether she was consumed by the flames of her anger? Unless…unless she knew that it was some kind of weakness, maybe even her biggest one.

The exact opposite of Dante. He always seemed to gather strength when he was pissed off beyond belief, acting on pure instinct and always coming out on top.

If this was so, then it really didn't matter if she was a queen or not; she wouldn't pose much of a threat if she was prodded enough. She began to make plans to try and silently tip off the others without letting the queen know that she knew. How could she do it though? How could she make them see what she had already noticed?

Meanwhile, without them even realizing it, the two harpies had begun circling each other, both of them armed, Rose with her light sword and the queen with her sceptre. Their eyes were narrowed as they silently intimidated each other. Trish made as if to move forward and was automatically stopped when Dante put his arm out in front of her. Trish frowned before looking up at him and blinked when the slayer shook his head once, the movement so slight that only she would have been able to see it. Her attention immediately switched back to the two harpies as Rose began to speak, her tone filled with venom.

'Don't you even begin to ask me what the meaning of all this is! You know damn well what this is all about!'

'You're jealous! You've been jealous of me ever since I got the crown!'

'Jealous! You think this is all about your stupid little hat? You really are a dumb bitch and you were even before you stole the crown and proclaimed yourself queen!'

'What?'

'We all know that you've done something with the true monarch, with the King. And once he was gone, you killed the Queen! In secrecy, not in a full-battle.' There was a silence, broken only by the sound of Rose's voice echoing around the chamber.

'Preposterous!'

'But true.'

'How dare you accuse me!'

'And what's worse is the fact that ever since you've been seated on the throne, the reputation of our race has been savaged. We are seen as nothing more than brutal and vicious slayers who kill anything when we please! And who's fault is that?'

'I have had nothing to do with it.'

'Our King and Queen, the monarchs who rules over us before you came along, they were hoping to raise our reputation, to do away with the stereotype. They were working towards a time of peace and prosperity. Then you came, and you destroyed it all. You have made everyone worse than what they were in the first place!' Romana could only glare at her, her anger more than palpable. Dante could honestly believe that he could taste it and it excited the devil within him. Trish frowned before gently placing her hand on his arm, sensing the devil stirring inside him, knowing what it craved for. She turned her attention back to the scene before her, her eyes grim. Rose seemed to have finished collecting her thoughts, for she had begun to speak again.

'They never wanted to prolong the war between the vampires and the harpies. They never wanted to do anything of the sort. They were so close to achieving their dream…'

'Bull-shit! There were still killings, even when they held the throne!'

'Sure, but they were far and few between. The kill-count there was then is nothing compared to how it looks now.'

'Vampires are scum!'

'And perhaps it's our fault! Look at the way you're treating the one who came to you, who gave you a gift in exchange for peace! Let him go! You sentenced him to die! Please, let him go!'

'I refuse to. His people attacked the palace. I am not letting him go.'

'The dragon is dead. Dante kept to his side of the bargain. Now it is time to keep to your end of the deal!'

'I refuse, I have taken what power he offered us.'

'It was a gift and in return you gave him a death-penalty.'

'Vampires deserve nothing more or less. They will learn that to deal with our race will only seal their fate. They are parasites that cannot truly live, so they feed off of those that can.'

'So that's it? You've gone back on your word?' The queen gave no reply but merely raised her eyebrows, telling her without words that the situation was more or less self-explanatory. 'Then you leave me with no other choice.'

'Which is?'

'To fight you.' Romana didn't look the least bit perturbed by Rose's statement.

'How utterly juvenile.'

'For the throne.' Dante watched with glee as Romana's face contorted with a mixture of surprise, fury and maybe even a little bit of fear. Well, that had certainly made her stop and think, hadn't it? Romana took a few seconds to compose herself before she let a feral growl escape her lips.

'For the throne. You'll lose you know.'

'Really? Are you really so sure about that? Because I was under the impression that it was going to be the opposite. We need a queen who will never break a vow. You hear? We need a queen who knows the meaning of honesty, who knows how to keep her word. And I know, that I can beat you. I will fight you unless you agree to let Reiko go.'

'Then you'd better prepare yourself because I'm not letting him go.'

'No. No time for preparations. We fight right here and right now.'

'Agreed!' And with that, the two flung themselves at each other, their war cries reverberating around the room, ringing shrilly in the hybrids' ears. Trish stared up at Dante, a look of hopelessness in her eyes. Dante sighed before answering her unspoken question.

'As much as I hate to admit it, this is their fight. We can't step in the way.'

Steel clashed against steel, ringing in the air, sending painful vibrations down the harpies' arms. Rose hissed before nimbly dodging backwards, letting Romana's weight carry her forward. The queen quickly regained her footing before she had the chance to fall flat on her face, whirling around and catching Rose painfully in the ribs, causing her to give vent to a shallow gasp. Romana glared at her, her anger ill-disguised as she stared at her through narrowed eyes. Suddenly, she didn't seem so ludicrous to Trish. The woman was truly someone to be reckoned with. She flinched as Romana roughly kicked Rose in the side.

'Come on. Get up. You wanted the throne, didn't you? You wanted to fight, now fight! Or is that all you have? My God, you do know that when you fight a harpy for the throne, the two must fight to the death, don't you?' Rose was silent, merely screwing her eyes shut and gritting her teeth, her breath whistling noisily from in between them. Trish licked at dry lips, her eyes wide and frightened for her friend.

'Rose, get up…please get up!' She gasped. Rose groaned again before painfully reaching for her sword, which was just out of hand's reach. She inched forwards, her teeth gritted out of agony, sliding across slowly. Romana sneered before kicking the blade away from her and watched in delight as Rose stared in dismay at her weapon.

'So, you're more or less nothing without your sword. How sad. Yet also pathetically amusing!' Rose snarled at the jibe before suddenly reaching into her boot, sliding out a lethal edged dagger. She gave vent to a wild cry as she plunged it into Romana's foot while the queen was too stunned to move away in time. Rose roared as she whipped it out and stabbed it into the other foot, effectively laming her opponent. The queen glared up at her, her lips drawn back with pain, sweat beading on her forehead as she lay sprawled out on the ground, panting with agony.

Rose started laughing, her voice sounding unusually cruel compared to its former self.

'Come on, get up,' she hissed, her voice rising and falling menacingly, mimicking Romana's words. 'You wanted to fight. Now fight! Or is that all you have?' She laughed again but it was suddenly cut short when Romana's wings spread from her back slowly and started beating the air rhythmically. She gradually rose into the sky, blood dripping from her feet. Her eyes flared and she shook her head pityingly.

'I can't believe you actually thought that you'd be able to stop me from moving. Such a foolish child.' Rose stared up at her, her face expressionless. She suddenly smiled before spreading out her own wings and meeting her in mid-air.

'I wouldn't really expect nothing less to be honest. And hilariously enough, this was my plan. It's obvious that you've become out of touch with all that has happened within your court. Otherwise you would know that I'm the best in combat when air-bourne. You were always better on land, weren't you? Do you remember now? I'd always outstrip you in the air.' A look of horror filled the queens face. 'Goodbye, Romana.'

'I am the queen!'

'You were the queen.' Lorelei suddenly found that her eyes were being covered by her sister's hand. But no one could prevent her from hearing the air-splitting shriek that rent the air. And no one could stop her from gagging on the smell of blood and no one could stop the audible sound of something falling to the ground. All of these sounds happened in the space of a few moments. Catherine gave vent to a shocked gasp before jerking back out of revulsion, accidentally uncovering her sister's eyes.

Lorelei bit her lip as she noticed the crimson that stained the once white marble walls, the scene just like the one in her dream before her encounter with the dragon. She understood. The whole thing had been a premonition and she had failed to see it for what it was.

At that point, the double doors swung open, revealing Rose's pale-faced brother and the two guards. As one, they all bowed down at Rose's feet, waiting for her first command. The new queen stood there quietly, the look on her face grave before her gaze switched to the headless body on the floor.

'Clean that mess up. I want no trace of blood to be found. Tell the people that the queen is dead, and that I have resumed her place.'

'Yes, your Majesty,' the two guards murmured.

'Let them know of the exact events that transpired here. Let there be no doubt on how the throne became mine.' She reached out and laid a hand on each of their foreheads, her palms glowing gently, transferring her memories to their minds. 'Go now and do my bidding.' The two guards left without another word, leaving Jay on his own, who slowly stood upright and picked up the crown from where it had fallen. He smiled gently before placing it on top of her sister's head. Catherine was silent for a split second before she started calling at the top of her voice.

'Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!' As harpies from all over flocked to see the new queen for themselves, the cry grew louder and louder as they too took up the shout. Amidst all the celebrating, no one noticed as Dante and Trish slipped out of the room. And no one noticed that Lorelei was the only one who didn't join in.