Chapter 16: Escape From The Vampire Capital

North watched as Anton sped away. He wasn't very sure about him. That Vampire could be a spy for a Pitch but something was telling him that Anton was going to be there. Elsa, before she had passed out, seemed to trust that Vampire and the fellow Vampire he was with. North didn't like trusting people he didn't know but maybe he should just go for it. Elsa was in trouble. She needed help. He supposed that that Vampire was probably thinking the same thing as North was. Maybe they just had to tough it up and just trust each other. That would be what Jack would want.

North with help from Bunnymund positioned Elsa on Jack's back. He was still transformed but Jack seemed to understand what was going on. He went down on all fours and allowed North and Bunnymund to do this.

"I hope she be alright," the Vampire asked. "Oh, Ragnar's the name. The other Vampire who was here is Anton. We're friends of Elsa."

"I hope so too," North said. "I assume you know who we are. We're friends of Jack who I assume you know who that is."

"I do," Ragnar said. "For Jack, I do now."

"Um guys," Tooth said. "Elsa's not going to get any better by us exchanging pleasantries."

"True," Ragnar said. "I think maybe we should end up getting the hell out of here. I don't want to be around when Pitch brings in his full force in here."

"Let's go," North said. "The car isn't far from here. That's where I said we will meet."

The Guardians and the fellow Vampire headed out of the smashed wall that Jack must have made when he burst into the room. Granted, that Vampire Ragnar did so hesitantly but he joined them in leaving the room. They sprinted across the streets of the Vampire city. Other Vampires tried to stop them from leaving but as soon as they saw the fully transformed Werewolf nipping and growling at them, they fled as quickly as they could. North just hoped that other Vampire, Anton he thought he was called – well that is what Ragnar said after all – will make it out of the city. Elsa was depending on him to get her stuff like those photos she mentioned. North was curious to what those were. He will just have to ask her when she wakes up.

North took the wall surrounding the city in one massive jump followed by the rest of them. Ragnar was able to keep up with them which impressed North. Ragnar didn't even to be seen breaking a sweat as they raced across the field. Jack, who in his transformed state, was a lot faster than a non-transformed Werewolf and a Vampire. Jack kept snapping at them to run faster and faster. He really wanted to make sure that Elsa got the help that she needed. He wasn't the only one though. All of The Guardians wanted that too and Ragnar kept giving Elsa concerned looks all through the journey.

They soon found the car where North had parked it. The hill hadn't been too difficult to climb. There had been a long sloping pathway which they had taken to get to the top of the hill. Jack rested his feet by the car. He still had Elsa resting on his back. Elsa hadn't stirred or made any noise in the meantime.

"Where is Anton?" Ragnar muttered.

"Do you think he is lost?" North asked.

"No," Ragnar shook his head. "He is probably just taking his sweet time."

"He's not going to rat us out?" North felt a little weird asking another Vampire this when that Vampire could be a rat himself.

"Anton is loyal to Elsa," Ragnar said. "I'm sure it all will be fine."

"I hope so," North gave a sideways glance to Ragnar.

Ragnar just laughed. "I know what you're thinking. The war has mess with our brains so much that we are unsure who we should trust. We know that we can only trust members of our species but when we are faced with strangers of the enemy, do we trust them? I put my faith in Elsa. She seemed to trust you guys. So therefore I do."

"Does Anton feel the same?"

"Well Anton had never been too concerned with the war," Ragnar explained. "No offence but to tell the truth, I was pro-war. I thought that the Werewolves were the bad guys."

"What made you change your mind?"

Ragnar sighed. "Elsa did. She was willing to die for her love that she had for a Werewolf. She wouldn't have done that lightly. She could have begged for forgiveness. Claimed it was a weak moment or that the Werewolf had seduced her. She could have repented but she didn't. She stood proud of her love for that man and that made me realise that there has to be more to this. I had been loyal to my leader, Pitch Black, but he was willing to kill Elsa simply because she had fallen in love. You can't choose who you love but Pitch seemed to believe that you can. He condemned Elsa and for what? Simply loving someone. That doesn't seem right to me."

North was stunned. "That…that…well, thanks." North did a sort of half shrug.

"No problem," Ragnar smiled. "Now where did that Anton get to?"

As soon as they had separated, Anton had raced to his room. He gathered up all his things – he didn't have a lot of stuff, just a bag containing what he had bought – before he headed over to Ragnar's room. Inside that room, he did the exactly same thing. Although it wasn't easy. Ragnar wasn't the neat freak that Anton and Elsa were. His entire room was a mess. Anton wondered how it could have gotten like that in just a few short days. Anton spent a few minutes tidying up the room and making sure it went into Ragnar's bag in a neat way. Anton stood back to admire his handy work for a few seconds before zipping up the bag and throwing it over his shoulder to join his own bag.

Anton quickly darted into Elsa's room and found that she had everything practically all ready for him. She hadn't even unpacked yet which made things easier for Anton except of course, the clothes she had been wearing before she had gotten change were neatly folded on her bed. Anton first checked that Elsa's photos were in her jacket pocket where he had left them when he had pried into Elsa's history. They weren't in there.

Anton felt a moment's panic sweep over him until he saw that they were on her bedside table. Anton breathed a sigh of relief. Elsa must have been going through them before the council meeting. The very thought of Elsa made Anton realise that she was probably nearly at death's door right now and he was dawdling. Anton quickly gathered up the photos and placed them on top of Elsa's clothes before he placed those in her bag which he found in her wardrobe. Anton picked up Elsa's door and headed to her door. Anton's hand was on the door handle when he heard voices coming from outside.

"Come on, let's check her room," one said.

Breathing hard, Anton quickly ducked into the wardrobe of Elsa's room. He knew it wasn't ideal but it was the best that he could think of in this situation. The door of the wardrobe was cracked open so he could see what was going on. Barely a second later, the door flew open and two Vampires walked in. One was a short brunette woman Vampire who had changed out of her black robes into a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and dark blue jeans on. She also had matching leather shoes on and what looked like driver's gloves on. The other was a taller man who was still in his black robes.

Anton recognised one of them. The girl in the room was one of Pitch's inner circle Vampires. She had been with Pitch probably about the start. She had nearly died in childbirth and one of Pitch's first Vampires had saved her. Her baby had died as it had been a still birth and her death was reported the same day. Her name was… Anton froze there. What was her name? Then he remembered. It was Jean something, Barton perhaps? She had changed her name quite a few times since she had Turned. Barton wasn't exactly 13th century French – Anton knew that she had been born around 1250's to 1290's. The exact year, he wasn't sure. Anton had seen her a few times around during his life. As to the identity of the man that was with her, Anton wasn't sure. He didn't think he had seemed him before. He could be new, that was always a possibility.

"What do you think Henri?" she asked him in her French accent. She pronounced his name as 'enri.

Well that solves the mystery of who he was, Anton thought. He seemed to be French like how Jean is.

"I don't know," he replied in a French accent. "I doubt she would have come back 'ere. She was in pretty bad shape."

"I do agree on that," Jean said as she went through Elsa's bedside table's drawers. "One of her Werewolf lackeys might have though." she shuddered. "A Werewolf in our very own capital. The nerve of those blasted Werewolves. I would like to get my hands on one of them and when I do," she made a miming gesture and to Anton it looked like she was miming ripping someone's head off.

Henri laughed. "I feel the same way but Pitch's orders are to find the traitor."

"I doubt she really is a traitor," Jean said. "A Werewolf probably just seduced her, tricked her into thinking it was love."

"She seemed pretty sure at the council," Henri responded.

Jean stopped checking the drawers. "You know you're right. She was sure. Hmm, that could just confirm my theory or it could prove to Pitch that she is a traitor that needs to be burned by sunlight until there is nothing left."

"Agreed," Henri said. "Anything in the drawers?"

"No," Jean slammed them shut. "You sure this is her room? It feels like there is nothing in here."

"Positive," Henri said. "Pitch told me himself that he placed her in this room."

"Check under the bed," Jean suggested.

Henri did as she suggested. Anton could see him push up the sheets of the bed and poke his head underneath.

"Nothing there," he said when he stood back up.

"Maybe the wardrobe," Jean said.

Jean drew closer and closer to the wardrobe. Anton could feel his breath starting to get faster and faster in his panic. He did not want to be found by these two Vampires. He was outnumbered and may even be outmatched. Jean's hand found the wardrobe door handle. Anton started to prepare himself for a fight.

"Stop Jean," Henri said. "The place has obviously been cleaned out."

"Yeah it had," Jean took her hand off the door handle. "Probably a Werewolf or two came in here and cleaned it all out."

"Or maybe a Vampire?" suggested Henri.

They both stopped to consider this.

"Nah," they both said at the same time. They both then started to laugh.

"Why would a Vampire help a Werewolf?" Jean asked.

"Why indeed?" Henri said.

"Come on," Jean said. "Pitch will want to hear about this. He needs to know that Werewolves are most definitely helping her."

"Well one did manage to save her from death," Henri said.

"Well that had been a fully transformed one," Jean said. "They don't know friend from foe in that state."

"This is true," Henri said.

Together they left the room and Anton could hear them moving down the hallway. He could breathe again. He had been very lucky that they hadn't checked the wardrobe. Things could have gone a very different way if they had. Anton took a few moments to make sure that they weren't coming back before he headed out the door. It took him a while to get out of the actual building. Pitch had everyone on high alert looking for Elsa. He really wanted to get her back so that he could complete the execution. Well hopefully she was with those Werewolves and outside the city lines. Besides, Anton wasn't too worried about her being found by Pitch. She was with a fully transformed Werewolf. There was no way that Anton wanted to tangle with one of those. No Vampire did.

Anton had gotten two steps down the hall when he heard his name being called. Anton froze. He couldn't even manage to escape without being seen correctly. Anton turned around and saw Jean and Henri chasing down the hallway. Anton put on a fake smile. Hopefully they wouldn't suspect anything.

"Hey Anton," Jean said. "You got a minute?"

"Sure," Anton said, not really, he added in his head, I am kind of against the clock, my best friend is dying from sunlight wounds and I would like to be under cover if the full moon comes back out.

"Listen," Jean said, "I know Elsa is your mate. Where do you think the Werewolves would have taken her?"

"I don't know," Anton answered. "I don't know these Werewolves."

"Oh sorry," Jean suddenly adopted a look of panic. "If I meant to imply that you've been having contact with Werewolves, I am so sorry. That was not my intention."

"It's okay," Anton said.

"I really meant, did Elsa mention any places that she was going?" Jean asked.

"Nope, sorry," Anton said. "But she wouldn't mention something like that, would she? If she was planning to escape with Werewolves, she wouldn't mention it to me, would she?"

"No," Jean said. "I suppose you are right. But why do you have all those bags?"

"Er," Anton froze again. "Because," Anton managed to get his courage back, "since I was near Elsa, Pitch had me change rooms as fellow Vampires would be running up and down here and he didn't want me to be disturbed."

"Ah I see," Jean nodded along. "How considerate."

"It is, isn't," Anton placed a fake smile on his face.

"But why do you have multiple bags?" Jean asked as she observed the number of bags he was holding. "Did you really bring a lot of stuff for just a few days?"

Anton panicked again but his brain hadn't failed him yet. "Um, these aren't all mine. Some of them are Ragnar's. Pitch asked him to move as well and I said that I would collect everything for him."

"Ah that makes sense," Jean said. "I got to go but remember its Level One alert at the moment."

Level One security meant total lockdown and everyone on a massive manhunt.

"I kind of guessed," Anton laughed. "Everyone is on the edge."

"Yeah," Jean said. "Pitch wants her alive. Once you have found your room and all set up, go see Pitch. He will probably want to assign you somewhere. He was talking about needing someone on guard duty. Oh tell Ragnar too. Pitch may assign you both to the gate."

"Got it," Anton said knowing that he would never go do that.

"Excellent," Jean said. "Glad to see that you choose our side rather than siding with Elsa."

"Well she is a traitor," Anton said. "I don't associate with traitors."

"Good," Jean folded her arms. "Who do you think the Vampire who Elsa told that she was dating that Werewolf? Did she tell you anything?"
"No, sorry," Anton said. He was suddenly aware of how much time had passed. He didn't want Ragnar or North to think that he had turned traitor. "Listen, we're on high alert. I gotta get going."

"Oh right!" Jean suddenly looked embarrassed. Anton knew that she did like to gossip from time to time. "Sorry! I'll leave you to it."

She left with Henri who hadn't said a word to Anton during this entire exchange. Anton breathed a little sigh of relief. He dodged that bullet. Anton quickly left the building. He dodged Vampires whenever he saw them by ducking into spare rooms or quickly went down another corridor. It took him twice as slow to get to out of the building because of all these detours but finally he started to run through the streets of the city. No one was bothering to deal with him. They were too busy running about looking for Elsa.

He soon leapt over the wall – he didn't want to go through the gate as they were stopping people leaving the city as they were in lockdown – and headed across the field that's separated the city and the cliff where North said he was.

North folded his arms. "Where is he?" he muttered out loud.

It had been a long – well it felt like a long time – waiting for Elsa's friend Anton. He wondered what Anton was up to. Had he decided to side with Pitch? No, Ragnar seemed pretty sure that he wasn't going to rat them out.

"What's the dark thing darting across the fields?" Tooth had come up to North and was pointing at something on the field.

North saw what Tooth was looking at. He could see a dark thing darting across the field at high speed. North knew it had to be a Vampire or perhaps a Werewolf coming at them. North braced himself. Was it friend or foe?

"Hey guys," came a voice from behind them.

North got a bit of a fright but was glad to see that it was a friend standing behind him and not a foe.

"Hey Anton," Ragnar said. "You got everything?"

"Yep," Anton tapped the bags he was holding. "Sorry for the wait, got into a little trouble with some Vampires but it's all sorted.

"Excellent," North walked up to Anton. "Should we head out now?"

"Oh yes," Anton said.

"So where's this cousin's house of yours?" North asked.

"Not far," Anton said. "Let's go!"

Together they headed in the direction of Anton's cousin house. North just hoped it wasn't a trap waiting for them. North liked Ragnar, he seemed to be someone that he could trust but could he really? What about Anton? Could he be someone that he could trust too? North didn't know anything about them. For all he knew they could be in league with Pitch and that was the reason why it took Anton so long to get the stuff rather them him running into trouble. Well, Elsa seemed to trust them and that was good enough for him. He just hoped that it wouldn't take them too long to reach their destination. He didn't know how much time Elsa had left.

Pitch slammed his fists onto his desk. His inner circle (a special group of handpicked Vampires based on their abilities, skills and loyalty) had come back with some very bad news and had all flinched when Pitch had slammed his fists into his desk. None of them had been able to find Elsa. Pitch wanted her more than ever now. He wanted her to be strung up again and burned until there wasn't anything left. Pitch slammed his fists on the table again and this time it knocked off some of his things on the table.

"How could you have let her go?" Pitch yelled at them.

There was a guilty look on all of their faces.

"Sir," came the voice of one of the Vampires, it was a woman, Jean, "she had help."

"Of course she has help," he snarled. "Those Werewolves are all in league with her. She wants to overthrow me and place a Werewolf in my place. No doubt she has an accomplice in our midst."

"Who is it?" another Vampire asked, Charles Cromwell – a Vampire from 1505 England.

"Is it the Vampire you mentioned at court?" asked another Vampire, Alexi – a Vampire from 1766 Russia.

"Yes it is," Pitch said.

"Who is it?" asked Charles.

"Anton," Pitch said through gritted teeth.

"Anton?" Jean said, clearly surprise.

"Yes," Pitch said taking a seat and entwining his hands. "It must be him. He was the one who Elsa was discussing about her relationship with Jack Frost. I thought that he didn't turn them in because they were friends but maybe there is more to it." Pitch then noticed a look on Jean's face. It almost looked like she was guilty about something. "Jean, if you have something to say, speak up now."

"I saw Anton," Jean said. "He said that you had relocated him and Ragnar because Elsa's room became a crime scene but I think now he was grabbing stuff to get out of the city."

Pitch growled. "Find him. Find them now. I want them all captured and brought here alive. I want to see their faces when they get burnt to smithereens."

"But where is he?" asked Alexi. "If we're dealing with North, I don't really know where he could have taken them."

"Could there be a Werewolf place somewhere?" Charles asked. "Like could there be another pack of Werewolves nearby that are helping them?"

"Hmm, not that I know of," Pitch said. "I am proud to say that no Werewolves have been in this area for close to a thousand years."

"What about Anton?" asked Alexi. "He's with them."

"Anton's cousin has a place not too far from here," Jean said while shrugging. "He could have taken them there."

"Let's go there," Pitch smiled. I got you now Elsa, he thought while grinning evilly, it's time for you to pay for your crimes.

A/N: Well it looks like Pitch knows where they're going. Hopefully it will all sort it self out - or will it? Wait and see readers. What is going to happen next? I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Please review =)

Reviews:

fireninjafox: Thanks!

ElsaTheSnowQueen2: Thanks so much. Well it looks like they got out but if the can escape Pitch is another story.

WeirdWerewolfFan: It's okay on the birthday thing. Just wondering what made you think it had passed already. Really? You don't know about Polynesia and New Zealand? Hmm, strange. Ah grade 7, that's Year 8 I believe to me. Actually you live in a completely different time zone to me. My time zone is way ahead of yours. You just live in the same hemisphere to me which means that you should have similar seasons (like summer in Dec-Feb, winter is June-August etc.). It's okay the uni thing. I just wish I was back in Year 8, it was a lot easier back then. I didn't like have a degree to try and get.

Mickhe11: Yeah I did feel like it was a little obvious that they knew each other, I just hoped it wasn't that obvious. I kind of hoped that people would think that maybe Elsa and Jack had dark pasts and they came together or something like that. Thanks so much! Elsa will team up with the Werewolves. The Vampires have pretty much condemned her.

Guest: Well you might have summed that up very nicely.

heartfulyumi: I always think what my reviewers write are important.

Guest (MixyBell): Not a bad idea for Pitch's demise. I have other plans but that's if I decide that Pitch is going to die. Not sure how I want to play this out. I do have an idea though, may be taking it from the movie Underworld (which this is semi based off) on how they dealt with the bad guy in that.

Kat-IlluminatedPurity: Ah that's good that I'm not giving too much away. I don't want to spoil things. No, it's not her, she was mentioned a couple of chapters (I think) before that. Keep guessing if you wish. Oh I don't want to cause panic attacks, super sorry, well hopefully no more! Need all the luck I can get, passed the night friendly first week back (basically it's a nice easy going week where we don't have to do any work) and now getting properly into the semester. That means study, assignments, study, essays, readings, study, study and more study. Looking forward to your next review!

KMIKo12: Yes he did! Yay! Well just imagine a normal Werewolf and change the colour to blond.

Frostbite Productions: Hmm, not sure what you are on about in that first bit of your review. Okay on your announcements.

Jelsalover3: Yay Jack indeed!

SureSnowflake: Yep, he will always be there for her.