"So let me get this straight," Rashel spoke clearly, obviously frustrated with Delos's persistence. "You want us to drive you…where, exactly?" Delos looked down at the map of the United States that he held in his hands—one he'd snatched from the car before he started the conversation with these two. Texas….no, that wasn't it…Nevada? No, not it either….it started with a 'c', that much he did know…

"Does either of the Carolina's have hot weather at this time of year?" He questioned, remembering that Maggie had told him there was both an ocean and that it was hot where she was.

"No," Rashel answered as calmly as possible.

"Then its right here," He pointed to the state of California. Rashel blinked at it for a moment.

"You want us to drive you clear across the coast," She clarified, trying to keep her voice even, "California is still a pretty big state…do you have any idea where she might be?"

Delos nodded once again, "Just outside of San Francisco; it's a place like where I live, but…sunny and it's by a beach." When Rashel didn't look convinced, Delos let out an exasperated sigh, "Look, I'd know it if I saw it; she's there, ok?"

"And you know this," Quinn, who learned against the car, silent up till this point started, "Because you talked with her in a vision?"

"Yes," Delos answered truthfully, looking directly at Quinn to show him how dead serious he was about it, "I know how it sounds, but it's true." Delos glanced at Quinn's skeptical soulmate, "If Rashel was in her situation, wouldn't you take the chance and go after her?"

Rashel instantly snorted, "Like I ever would be," She mumbled, but both Delos and Quinn ignored her. Instead Quinn stood there, considering it seriously.

"I'd rip the entire state up," He finally replied, his face completely serious.

"So will you?" Delos, for once in his life, was pleading with another person, begging him with his eyes to help him.

Quinn stared at him for a long moment before he sighed, "Alright—hop in."

"What?" Rashel asked, whirling to give him a look of confusion. Quinn shrugged his broad shoulders, opening up the driver's seat door.

"Either we take him or he steals a car himself and it therefore a dangerous menace to everyone on the road."

Rashel didn't argue with that—instead she nodded her head and climbed into the front passenger seat. Delos sighed, his entire body relaxing from relief and quickly climbed into the back seat. "Thank you so much," Delos gushed, "When do you think we'll get there?"

"Oh no," Rashel groaned, "We're not going to play the 'are we there yet' game, are we? Because if we are, please drop me off at the nearest gas station so I can call someone from Circle Daybreak to come save me from this madness."

Quinn ignored her, "If we don't stop, we should be there by early morning…maybe dawn if we speed." Quinn started the car and pulled away from the curb quickly, making Delos fall back against the seat from the thrust.

They continued on in silence—Delos had noticed from his many trips with these two that they didn't really listen to music with one another—instead they normally touched each other's hands softly, communicating through their minds. Each time it gave Delos a pang as he wistfully thought of Maggie, and he quickly learned to stare faithfully out the window until they got to their destination. But I'll get her back by tomorrow, he thought, his eyebrows creasing over his eyes, no one will stop me. Quinn had been right—if they'd said no, he would have stolen a car and driven himself there himself. Rashel might think he was insane, but he didn't care.

Now there was only one other person he needed to tell—he hadn't told anyone where he was going; he'd merely dressed in his modern outfit, got on a horse, and rode out to where Rashel and Quinn agreed to meet with him, where he explained everything.

Miles.

"Do you think I could borrow a…" He paused, trying to remember the word, "Cellular phone?"

"A cell phone?" Rashel asked, not trying to mock him at all just clarifying it for herself, "Yeah, you can use mine." She handed him back her I-phone, and when Delos merely stared at it, she sighed and asked for the number. After giving her the number, she pressed the talk button and handed it back to him.

A split second after he put the phone to his ear, Miles picked up on the other line. "Hello?" He sounded tired—he'd started college again and was probably…'studying'.

"I know where Maggie is," Delos cut to the point, not bothering to greet him.

"What?" Miles instantly perked up and yet Delos could hear the skepticism in his voice, "Where?"

"Just outside of San Francisco."

"Why would she be there?"

"Because it was all a set up."

"What was a set up?"

"The accident." Delos was aware of both Quinn and Rashel listening in, but he ignored them. "Look, I don't know how it happened…but while I was asleep, we sort of…communicated to one another. I don't know how, so don't ask me how. But she told me things that, upon further reflection, led to a simple conclusion,

"A few days before the accident, Prince Alec visited, requesting an alliance between our kingdoms. But Alec hates humans, so he wasn't at all happy with the way I ran things and who I had for my wife. So I basically told him to get out, but if Alec was desperate enough, he'd go to lengths to kidnap my wife."

"But how do you know that it was a set up?"

"First of all, because Maggie told me it was a set up, secondly because if anyone had any sort of motivation to do it would be Alec and thirdly, was there any dead animal at the scene?"

"Well, not that I know of…"

"Exactly. You hit it fast enough that even if it hadn't been instantly killed, it wouldn't have made it far—probably to the side of the road—before it killed over and died."

Miles was silent for a very long time, "Okay, maybe you have a point," Miles agreed, "But I don't understand his motivation…."

"He wants to make an alliance—he needs an alliance in order for his kingdom to survive. He probably thought that by kidnapping Maggie he could bribe me into agreeing to it."

"But wouldn't you have heard from him sooner if he had?"

Delos was silent, thinking it over. "Maybe," He admitted, "I'm not clear on all the details. But it's my best lead."

Miles sighed on the other end. "Sometimes I wonder if my sister has really fallen for a crazy man," He mumbled, "Alright, when can I expect you to come by to pick me up? I assume that you're with Rashel and Quinn…"

"We're not going to get you."

"What?"

"I called you to let you know what's going on…and to tell you that if you don't hear from me in a few days, call Thierry and ask him to give you some reinforcements."

"But I want to help you!" Miles protested, "Besides, I can't ask a Night World elder that…"

"Yes you can—tell him Delos is asking for it; he still owes me for saving the world."

"I didn't know you had that deal with him,"

"I do now."

Miles was silent for a long time, and after a moment Delos wondered if maybe he'd hung up on him, but finally he heard Miles sigh in the background. "Alright—but you come back here with the both of you safe and sound, alright? I'd prefer it if we avoided a little mini-war."

"I'll see what I can do." With that, Delos hung up.

KKK

I pulled out the laundry bag, rapidly firing quiet instructions to Rogue as I did so, "Once I leave, take this down into the kitchen and stuff it with as much food and supplies as you can, enough so that no one will notice. Then stash it somewhere, somewhere where no one will find it. Then get the extra servant's clothes and wait for me. We're going to have to move fast once I do this…otherwise we might get caught." I stopped and stared at her straight in the eyes, looking completely serious. "I don't know what they do to runaways here—it might have been even worse than the Black Kingdom's. But whatever happens, don't stop moving unless captured. We'll deal with it if that happens."

Rogue was frightened, I could tell. She stood there, staring at me with her wide, dark eyes. "I'm scared," She whispered, her voice shaking weakly.

I nodded, "I am too."

"I'm not ready to face this…."

I sighed—neither was I. I'd done it before, but this wasn't like before at the same time. I didn't have a soulmate here who was guaranteed to protect me if I was caught. Here, I might actually get killed. "If there's one thing I've learned," I said, keeping my voice confident even though I myself wasn't sure if this plan would work the way I wanted it to, "It's that you don't get to chose when you face your fears—if you did, you'd never face them."

Rogue stared at me for a long moment before she nodded. "Alright," She shakily said, "Let's do this."

I walked away from the bed and used my strength to pick up a particularly heavy wooden chair, "Are you sure you can lift this?" I asked, feeling its weight—how was she supposed to lift this above her head?

Rogue nodded and took the chair easily from me. "I've picked up and moved these things around many times since I've come here—I might not have the killer strength a vampire has, but I've got enough to knock someone out with a heavy object."

I had to admit, at that moment I admired her. Sometimes I couldn't help but be reminded of myself whenever I looked at her—she was terrified to death, but she was willing to go along with my crazy plan. And I had to admit, it was a crazy plan. I'd broken into a castle full of Night World people, and now I was going to break out of one with a human in tow. I backed up and sat on my bed, pulling back my skirt to reveal my carefully shaved tan legs just above the knees. It might not have been something to impress a human boy who saw girls in mini-skirts almost every day, but in a kingdom where the men thought it was sexy if they saw a woman's ankles, it was enough to drive a vampire guard mad.

Delos, I thought, trying to suppress an amused smile, would be furious with me if he knew what I was doing. But how else was I supposed to distract the guard long enough for Rogue to sneak up and hit him over the head?

I nodded to Rogue, who had backed up into the dark corner behind the door before I broke out into a pained expression and cried out just loud enough to attract the guard's attention, my hand grasping my ankle tightly.

I kept it up until a moment later the door opened and the guard walked in, his expression irritated….

Until he got a good look, and then his expression went blank.

I smiled weakly, "Oh good, you're here," I kept my voice strained, and I winced as I shifted my ankle a bit, "I was trying to reach for something and I fell… Say, do you know anything about first aid?"

The guard said nothing, only gulped and nodded his head, his eyes glued to my exposed legs. "Oh, then I suppose I don't need to call for a doctor—close the door please; I don't want anyone else to know. I don't think it's necessary for them to know, don't you?" The guard mutely nodded and closed the door behind him and slowly made his way towards me. In my peripheral vision I could see Rogue moving a silent as a cat, but I refused to look at her. I didn't want to give the guard any reason to suspect anything other than I needed help.

"Thank you so much," I breathed as he knelt down, taking my foot gently in his hands and started to massage the ankle—it actually did feel good. "I'm so glad that you're here to help me," it was then that I knew that Rogue was in the position, and I sighed. "It's just too bad…you really are such a nice guy." The guard looked confused for a moment and just then I yanked my foot out of his grasp and threw myself onto the bed, jerking my knees up to my body to keep out of the large wooden chair that Rogue threw down onto the guard's head.

I heard a sharp yelp and then two loud THUMP's and I lay there for a moment, listening to Rogue's heavy breathing before I slowly sat back up. There at the foot of my bed lay the guard—amazingly, there wasn't any blood. But the chair had busted. I grinned up into Rogue's pale face. "Well, that was an adventure—ever consider being a wrestler? They hit people over the head with chairs all the time—you could make a living off of it."

Rogue gulped and closed her eyes, "Thanks but no thanks," She breathed, "Besides, I'd say that you're the one who needs to take up acting—you had him completely mesmerized."

I shrugged, "It's something every girl knows how to do," I got off the bed, "I really do feel bad for him though. How long do you think he'll be out?"

Rogue shrugged, "A pretty long while, I'm guessing. I hit him pretty hard."

I nodded my head silently—I really hoped he didn't get into trouble for letting us escape when it really wasn't his fault. But there was nothing I could do about that—I could only do so much. I leaned down and pulled the wooden sword from the hilt of at the guard's side and slid it carefully into my skirt, concealed from the outside world. "Let's drag him into the closet," I said, "And then you can get some clothes to put into the bag so that you can say you were just getting my dirty laundry or something."

We each grabbed one of his limp arms and started to drag him into the closet, where we grabbed a bunch of my tunics and covered him up with it. "That should do it," I breathed, "Just grab a few tunics from the hangers and stuff them in the bag—it doesn't matter if they're clean or not." Rogue nodded and grabbed some and headed out of the closet.

I stared at the pile of tunics, wondering if it was really all that noticeable if someone walked in—teenagers had messy closets anyways.

Just as I was leaving the closet, the door to my bedroom opened and a dark, familiar figure walked into the room, his head held high like any other noble. I froze, my eyes drifting to Rogue who had been in the process of stuffing my tunics into the bag but had also frozen in place, staring wide eyed at the man.

Blade.

I forced myself to look calm and collected—it was natural if Rogue looked terrified, because she was a servant and I'd noticed that servants always looked terrified whenever they saw a Night Person…sometimes those looks were directed at me while I walked past. But I was the one who needed to look like nothing unusual was going on—I was the one who needed to make the impression.

So I threw a bored look at Blade, who gave me his usual disgusted expression. "What do you want?" I asked, keeping it nonchalant. Blade glanced at Rogue and sneered.

"What are you looking at?" He snapped at her, "Hurry up with the clothes and get out." Rogue nodded sharply and quickly stuffed the rest of the tunic in the bag and hurried out of the room, trying to give Blade as much of a wide berth as possible. Blade hardly noticed her. Instead he kept his eyes on me until the door closed.

"What do you want?" I repeated, allowing myself to sound irritated, "You let my food run off,"

"Haven't you already fed today?" He asked instead of answering my question as he sat down on one of the chairs—it was at that moment that I noticed we'd left the broken chair on the floor. The moment I noticed it, Blade noticed it as well. He threw me a suspicious glance. I looked at the chair for a moment and shrugged.

"Human's are so clumsy, aren't they?" I asked, "I figured that since I don't get too many visitors, I didn't need to have so many chairs. She was supposed to be moving it, but it dropped and, well…there's the result. She'll be up here with help later to clean it up." Blade didn't look convinced, but at the same time he didn't seem all too concerned about it.

"Where's the guard?" he asked instead. I once again shrugged.

"I don't leave the room much—I haven't seen or heard from him all day." Blade looked a little alarmed and black suspicion was forming on his face. But I kept myself bored-looking, trying to keep the panic from showing on my face. If there was one thing that Delos taught me, it was to keep my emotions from showing when I needed to. And now I needed my emotions to stay buried. "I'm going to ask you again—what do you want? I would appreciate it if you'd leave so that I could get some sleep."

Blade hesitated, obviously sensing that something was off, but he didn't push it further. "Prince Alec would like a word with you," he said. Mentally I smacked myself in the head—he wasn't part of the plan. I was supposed to have followed Rogue into the kitchen in an hour. I didn't want to be tied down by a useless conversation with Alec. "I'm here to take you to him."

"Now?" I questioned, sounding bored and irritated.

Blade's expression hardened into ice. "Now."

KKK

Blade led me to a heavy-looking wooden door at the end of the long, dimly lit hallway. "Here you are," Blade snapped, opening the door for me and stepping aside so that I could walk in. I stared at the even more dimly lit bedroom for a moment, trying to steady myself before I looked up at Blade.

"Thank you," I said. Blade sneered and rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Squaring my shoulders, I walked past him and into the dark bedroom. The moment I was in, the door behind me closed, making the room even darker.

I stood there at the door for a long time, looking around the room. It was like a bigger version of my room, except that the curtains were drawn. "Prince Alec?" I called into the room, keeping my voice from sounding too nervous. The moment I had walked into the room, I had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen, something that might throw off the plan just a bit. My hand went to my hip, feeling the wooden knife pressed against my thigh.

"Why do you always sound like a confined prisoner whenever you talk to me?" Alec's voice asked, coming from the right. I whirled around to look at him, my eyes wide with surprise. Alec sat in a cushioned chair, a glass in his hands as his eyes lingered on me, glowing in the darkness.

"Maybe because I am your prisoner," I stated calmly. The way Alec was looking at me frightened me. There was a hunger there, almost desperate.

Something seriously wrong was going to throw off my plans completely.

Alec slowly grinned, placing the glass on the table. "Maybe so," He said, rising from his seat and walking over to me…no, stalking over to me.

I took a step back and watched as Alec's eyes flickered to the movement. "What did you want to see me about?" I asked, feeling cold from the frantic fear that was bubbling up inside of me. I gulped as Alec's eyes focused on mine and a wicked look came into them.

"Nowhere to run," he murmured, "Maybe there's a reason why Delos loves you so much…you're really quite a trophy…" And with that he closed the distance between us, his mouth crashing onto mine, his hands gripping my waist tightly in a deadly grasp.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

DUN DUN DUN, GASP! D: LOL! I can't wait for your reactions to this....I think I have the jist of SKY's reaction, and I'm looking forward to it. Sorry its a short chapter though--I was going to make it longer, but then I figured that this was a big cliffie, and....well, I couldn't resist. If there's one thing I'm known for, its major cliffies that make people get pissed off with me for. :D But I enjoy it....

....I seriosuly have a twisted sense of humor sometimes. For example, I read this play where the commander was raping all the woman...but in my mind they all had funny accents and the way it was worded made me start laughing like crazy. So I told my partner, who apparently hadn't read the play how funny it was, and when she did her play analysis instead of writting about how tragic it was (because it was a tragedy....I just thought it was hillarious) she put how much of a comedy it was. and when the teacher was like, "What? Are you insane?" she got ticked off and instantly yelled at me for it.....well, she should have read the play. She knows what a twisted sense of humor I've got......I tend to find funny things in almost every tragedy....except for Holochaust movies. Boy in the Stripped Pajama's was tragic....I can't watch that movie ever again.

But enough of my rant. I'll probably update the next chapter soon. Just because it'll be so fun to write....BWAHAHAHA I've got plans....

I love being the author sometimes. -wicked grin- I control EVERYTHING. It happened because I SAID SO! :D

REVIEW!

Love,

Alice