Chapter 12

Arranged Marriage?

Angel sat on the northern wall of her home; the snow fell into her hair, wetting it. She smiles slightly, looking at her new ring Jonathan gave her not too long ago.

In the distance she hears the hooves of horses; she looks to see two black Arabian horses pulling a carriage along to the gates. She stands and runs along the wall, putting her mask on, Jumping she lands in front of the gate, watching the carriage draw closer.

"Ready you're weapons…" she ordered, they did as they were told as the carriage came to a stop right in front of her, she looked at the carriage as a man stepped out and onto the fresh snow. He was a tall man, slightly taller than her father; he looked like he was in his forties, the grey hairs showed slightly in his bronze hair. He wore a long trench coat it nearly touched the snow, well the snow was four feet deep so of course it would.

The man stood in front of her, she looked up at him "Please state your business sir"

"Ah yes, allow me to introduce myself. I am Edward J. Herdones, and I have been summoned by your host" Angel looked at him carefully

"May I see this summons paper, mister Herdones"

"Of course" he says as he takes an envelope out of his coat pocket, and handed it to her. She looks at him then takes the envelope "Identification please" she says pretending to read the summons. He pulls out his ID and hands it over; she checks both and nods slightly. "Alright, I shall take you to our head master." She said turning to the guards "At ease" she said in a calming voice, they do so and stand in their normal positions.

Within minutes they were in the tower where her head master stayed in. She knocks softly, hearing a soft "Come in" from the other side, she opens the door and stands in the door way "Sir, mister Herdones is here"

"Ah thank you Dark, please, let him in" he says softly, getting out of his chair, coming out of the shadows and into the light. He looked young, even for a vampire who in almost a thousand years old, he had a small beard growing, which surprised Angel, because he was bald and he said he's haven't had any hair on his face or head for hundreds of years.

He was taller than me by a few inches. He wore a suit that looked like it hadn't been touched since long ago. Angel bowed slightly and moved to the side and allowed Edward through and closed the door behind them all.

The two men shook hands and sat at his desk and bean talking, Angel stayed for a while and thought it would be best to leave; the head master allows her to take her leave. She turned to leave as she hears "I think Jonathan will do great with his arranged marriage" then the man sighed "He should be ready by this Saturday"

"Of course, I could have the councils arrange that" she had heard enough and exited the room. She stood there, shaking slightly. She looked up to see Isabelle standing there, smirking, hands of her hips "Now you should stay away from Jonathan. He's mine" she said, hissing the last part.

Angel glared at her "he's mine, and always be mine" she said holding up the ring she had earlier "This is the ring he gave me; he's my boyfriend, not yours. So you stay away from him" she walked past her, bumping her shoulder into Isabelle's causing her to fall back, watching Angel's figure disappear within the shadows of the hall. She laughs, getting up "We'll see about that…Angelina" she whispered, fixing her appearance and heading to the head masters quarters.

Angelina walked outside into the snow, past the guards "Allow no one to come after me please…" she asked, quickly stopping nearby, looking towards them. They nod and allow her to pass through. Angel took one last look back then continued towards the black forest taking her gloves off, feeling the cold air between her fingers. She took a deep breath before lifting her head to see a circle of dead trees, the one's she has taken her anger out at.

She laid a hand against the remains of one of the trees then pulled back and punched through the trunk of the tree, glaring through the hole, she pulls her arm out from the trunk.

She sighs knowing it's no use to continue this, soon Isabelle will have to die, and that day was very soon. She chuckled slightly, was she going mad? Hope not, lifting her head to the grey sky, she smiled slightly only for a minute then the frown came back.

Thinking about the arranged marriage, "With Isabelle? She's a bitch….why force him to marry someone he doesn't have any feelings towards….." she said out loud, then suddenly regretting it after being shoved into one of the trees. She placed the gloves on, glaring at her opponent. To her surprise it was mister Herdones, standing there, glaring down at her.

"Who said you could love Isabelle's fiancé?" he asked, almost a hiss,

"Jonathan has every right to love someone he has feelings for" she growled, standing back up, dusting off the snow that was stuck to her half cloak,

"He has no choice at all really….He is going to marry Isabelle and will do so"

"As if….I am Jonathan's lover" she said lifting her ring from her necklace, showing it to him, "and always will be" she lowered the ring as her eyes turned red. The man just laughed, pulling out a sword, and brought the blade close to her neck, she moves back quickly and the tip barely missed her throat but cut the chain, the necklace fell into the snow.

She eyes locked on the blade as it came back down towards her hip, with a quick movement she took her knife and deflected the attack. The man just laughed "you are quick, just as my daughter said" he said kicking her through the trees, causing Angel to drop her weapon.

Once Angel hit the last tree, she laid against it, touching her head "Merda!" she shouted, standing weakly, she opened her eyes to find him walked towards her, "for an old man you fight pretty well…."

"Thank you, I learned from the best and then taught my Daughter the ways of fighting and magic…" he thrust the sword towards her and cut her hair to shoulder length. Angel slowly turned towards him,

"What did you just do" she asked, glaring. He laughed and swung again, this time the blade being stopped by Angel's bare hand, causing her hand to bleed, "I see, you want to murder me….just because Isabelle can't do it…"

"How did yo-"

"You're scents are identical…"

"Seem you figured it out" he said, looking down at her "Too bad you won't be alive, don't worry, I'll bury you in the snow. No one will notice… " he said finally pulling the sword from her grasp he kicked her down. She gasps once she hit the ground, and felt a weight on her chest, she looks to see that his foot was pinning her down; she coughed deeply, finding blood on the other shoe.

"Dear me, you're bleeding on the inside, I should finish you off. Isabelle is waiting for me, say goodbye, Vendero…" he raised the blade above his head. "Any last words, Rozalia's daughter?" her eyes widened at the sound of that name. It was her mother's name, Rozalia. She felt pure anger go through her body, "Lascia la discesa buio" she hissed, as their surrounding turned pitch black. Mister Herdones looked around "What the?" he looked back down to see that Angel was gone, he looks around.

"Come out you coward! I knew you were just like your mother! A coward….nothing but a coward"

"I dare you to say that again you bastard!" Angel screamed, as she stood behind him, pulling out her hidden sword. He thrust the sword into her shoulder, causing the other to kneel down, grasping her shoulder, "you are weak like your mother. You even look exactly like her, disgusts me…" he raised his weapon, "I see no point in letting you live child, I should have finished her off in battle…Guess I'll have to settle for you in her stand" he smiled evilly, swinging down at her.

Angel laughed as she lifts her head, a hand grabs the others sword and ripped it from his grasp, "W-W-What? Give that back!"

"As if…"

"I said give it back, now!"

"I could" she said standing, and looked at him, her eyes purely black, "But I won't" she stabbed him through his heart, spilling blood on them both, "As if I'll let your daughter marry my boyfriend…" she whispered in his ear, pulling the sword out of his chest slowly.

Blood continued to pour out of his chest, he hit her continuously until he felt light headed and fell to his knees, he was breathing hard knowing it was only seconds till he was going to die, he saw that his blade was within reach. He grabbed it and stabbed Angel through the stomach.

She felt the force, falling back, feeling the sword be pulled out then hearing a thud. She coughed feeling something trickle down the side of her mouth.

Their surrounding returned, she looked at the gray sky, "So…this is what it's like….." she whispered, she turned her head slightly to that she has a sword in her right hand, stained in blood, coughing again she turns her head towards the sky, laying her left hand over her heart, feeling her heart slow down even more,

"Close…to death…." She tries to laugh but coughs up blood, she felt her eyes closing, but heard voices a distance away, she couldn't pick up the voices because she was fading away. She felt like she way on air, she began to drift as the voices drew closer and closer, she heard a faint scream and that was it, she drifted to deep sleep.

Liz laid on the snow covered ground, once she saw Angel's body on the ground and all the blood she screamed, and fainted. Kristina kneeled beside her, then picked her up carefully, as the others took care of Angel.

Jonathan hugged Angel gently, holding her close "Angel…" Amy and Alisa were crying, holding Angel's hands. Her hands were already Ice, but there was a slight pulse, Amy looked at Jonathan touching his shoulder with her free hand. "We can still save her if we hurry"

"Her pulse is very light, she hasn't been out cold that long, and we still have time" Alisa agreed. Jonathan, nodded slightly, standing with Angel in her arms, "We must hurry"

"What is this…?" Alisa asked picking up the sword that was in Angel's hand,

"I Dunno, but we better take it with us…"

"Agreed…" she said holding on to it, "Now let's hurry, we don't have much time!" they nodded then took off running, leaving the man's body there.

~Hours Later~

Jonathan paced outside infirmary, it has been at least fifteen minutes, but felt like hours "How could I not notice that she was gone…" he muttered to herself. Liz whom recovered from her faint state, she stands and stops him from his pacing "Jonathan, it's not your fault, we didn't know she was gone either, it took us the same amount of time to figure that she was gone…if your saying it's your fault then it our fault as well…"

"I'm sorry…I'm just really worried…"

"We are too Jonathan, we are like her sisters. I know you're the…Ummm…..How do I put this….." Liz said thinking, Jonathan just sighed,

"Boyfriend"

"No, No!" she muttered "Her lover, let's just say that"

"It's the same as boyfriend I hope you know that" he muttered. Liz just patted his back "anyways, just calm down prince charming, she'll be fine. You don't need to act like she's in labo-"

"DON'T EVEN GO THERE!" everyone yelled, as Liz smiled, seeing she caused Jonathan to blush a deep red.

"That was uncalled for Liz…"

"I think it was called for" she said laughing, as Jonathan face palms, muttering something under his breath.

Kristina watched them, as Amy and Alisa talk about multiple things; she looked around, seeing that she was the only one who noticed something off about everything around them. She stood and walked into the Infirmary while everyone was busy.

She started to look around for Angelina's room when she suddenly bumps into one of the nurses there, "Oh my, I'm sorry" the woman said, then looked at the girl carefully, "Ah, you're here to see Angelina Vendero, am I right?" Kristina nods at this, "very well, please follow me" she said leading her to the room,

"Thank you ma'am" Kristina said softly, "may I ask you something"

"Yes, please don't be afraid to ask me anything"

"Alright. How is her condition?"

"Well…" the nurse said, walking into the room with Kristina following, "she seemed to have taken many injuries during her battle. There was some strange liquid in the wounds, taking a closer look it seems that when she was stabbed there was poison on the blade."

At this Kristina stood there frozen, looking at Angel's resting form, "But we got all of it out, so she should be able to recover quickly without any problems." The nurse said, smiling at the other, and left the room.

Kristina sits beside the bed, watching Angel sleep peacefully, she sighed looking at her hands, noticing a mark on her hand. She lifts the others hand examining the mark, she lays her hand down seeing that it was only a scar that looked like it was a few years old.

"Even if I don't talk much….I will always be here for you Angelina…." She said her voice nice and quiet. She turns towards the door as she sees Jonathan, Liz, Alisa, and Amy walk in and surround Angel's bed.

"I wonder when she'll wake up"

"I hope it's soon, so that way we can ask her if this sword belongs to her or not…"

"Alright, everyone just calm down…" Jonathan said, sitting down at the foot of the bed, "Once she wakes up, we will let her memory come back. When someone comes back from near death, they don't remember quite well when they first wake up…"

"Oh she won't be up for a while, she'll heal quickly, but she won't wake until she has fully recovered. In other words, she won't wake until her wounds have healed; her heart bat is at normal speed, and finally regains the ability to do as she wishes. You are allowed to visit, but don't try to wake her, or she won't be the same ever again" the nurse said as she entered the room.

Jonathan looked at everyone, "Alright, we understand. Thank you ma'am"

"You're welcome" she said walking out, Liz looked at everyone "I guess we'll have to handle our assignments ourselves…"

"If it means having Dark recover fully, I'll manage"

"Same here, I want our Angelina back to normal, well….Vampire normal…you know…"

"I'll manage too…" Jonathan said, as Kristina nods in agreement.

Liz held out her hand "For Angelina" she said smiling, Alisa and Amy smile as well, placing both their hands on Liz

"For Dark"

"For Angel" Jonathan said, not putting his hand down, Liz, Amy, and Alisa glared at him then forced him, Kristina laid her hand on their 'For our Angel' she thought.

And so began the long wait for Angelina's awakening.

~Romano Carriedo~