Sorry it took so long. I was on vacation in Nassau and when I got back things where crazy at work. I will get another chapter up soon, but until then I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sophie was disappointed.

Justin was the same as every other man she had met, and here she was thinking that he would be different because he was viewed the same by female gold diggers.

A Beautiful Trophy!

"Well, no use in crying. What happened has happened. Can't change that. We just have to accept it and keep going forward, right Luna?"

"MEOW!"

Sophie looked to her companion in alarm. That meow sounded like she was panicking about something, but what? They were almost home.

It wasn't Luna though who said anything though. For she was just as confused as Sophie.

"MEOW! MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MOW!"

The now frightened sounding cries continued, then Sophie felt something clawing at her legs.

She and Luna looked down to see a young orange tom cat jumping and meowing about something that Sophie couldn't understand.

But Luna could, soon see hopped down and began tugging on her dress trying to pull her towards the direction of the shop.

Before Sophie could ask what was wrong, she was distracted by shouting.

She turned to see a large group of palace guards, all armed and coming her way!

'Uh Oh!'

She didn't stay to chat, scooping up the two cats near her feet, she took off running like the devil was after her.

Her destination. The castle door.

More and more soldiers appeared to try and stop her.

Knowing what she had to do, and knowing that she could never show herself anywhere in this kingdom again, Sophie super jumped to the top of the nearest roof.

The guards wasted no time in firing their arms at her, just as she wasted no time in running at her top speed to the castle door.

Even though she was still three blocks away, at top speed it only took about 6 seconds to get to the door, get inside and slam the door shut.

"CALCIFER!"

"Sophie? What's the matter?"

"Dozens of armed guards! All coming this WAY!"

"What's coming?" asked a confused Michael, as he came down the stairs.

"A lot of heavy armed, very angry, palace guards!"

Almost as if on cue, the sound of rapid pounding came from the Kingsbury door.

The two cats in her arms jumped away in fright and took of to hide, the tom cat hiding as far away from the door and a growling Luna as possible.

Sophie didn't know what to do!

She had just practically screamed that she wasn't human in front of them.

In their eyes not only that she was a witch but she had also lied to the King.

This was not good. This was not good at all!

"Calcifer, what are we going to do?" she scream-whispered, now facing the door and trying to hold it closed.

"Why don't you come stand over here away from the door and let me handle it?"

Sophie's whole body stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice, which didn't belong to Calcifer.

She turned to see Howl standing next to the fireplace, with a smug smile upon his lips and his hand held out for her to take.

Not having any better ideas, coupled with the fact that the door was beginning to sound like it was going to break any second, she speed walked to Howl's side pointedly ignoring his hand .

Once she got there, Howl made a swift gesture with his hands and then, there were two Howls?

The second Howl looked just like the first Howl did when Sophie first met him.

His hair dyed to shimmer like spun gold and his colorful coat draped over his shoulders.

"Don't move, and try not to make a sound." The real Howl whispered in Sophie's ear, as his doppelganger went to the door to take care of the guards.

Sophie was silent and still as the grave as the fake Howl opened the door and addressed the still angry soldiers.

"Good day to you gentlemen. To what do I owe the honor of having the King's men trying to break into my home?" The fake Howl said with his tone polite but also laced with sarcasm.

"The Crown Prince is missing, and there is strong evidence that your sister, Sophie Pendragon is responsible for his disappearance. We will taking the both of you to face judgement of the King and Madame Sullivan!"

"I don't think so. My Sophie is incapable of doing anything of the sort and I have no desire to see Madame Sullivan so good day."

With that Howl's double slammed the door shut, changed the dial, and vanished into thin air.

"Don't worry Sophie. I cut off the castle from the doors. Even if they did break into the doors at Kingsbury or Porthaven all they would find are two old empty buildings." Said the real Howl keeping his eyes on the door. Something seemed off about it to him.

"That's good." She replied, feeling both relieved and exhausted?

The room started spinning, her limbs went numb, her vision blurred, then everything went black!

Thump!

"SOPHIE!"

Howl was brought out of his musings of how those red stains got on his door by Calcifer's panicked cry.

He looked down behind him to see an unconscious, pale Sophie lying upon the floor. With a pool of blood collecting beside her still form.

Howl became almost as pale as he realized that the stains on the door were that of blood. Sophie's blood!

He fell instantly to the floor to see what was wrong.

He turned her over to see a sight that made his stomach want to retch.

Sophie's body was riddled with bullets. At least 6 wounds were inflicted by the heartless metal balls, blood seeping from them and dripping onto the floor.

"HOWL YOU IDIOT! DON'T JUST SIT THERE! DO SOMETHING!" Calcifer shouted, panicking even more at the sight of all the blood collecting around Sophie on the floor.

His shouts seemed to snap Howl out his horrified state. He quickly gathered her up in his arms and ran up to his room.

He didn't even notice Michael's frightened cries as he called out for Sophie.

Working quickly he laid her face down on the bed, moved the covers up to her waist, then magicked away her clothes so he could treat her wounds.

He didn't care that Sophie was going to kill him for taking away all her clothes. If he didn't do something she wasn't going to live long enough to even chastise him for such a thing.

He quickly conjured bandages and medicine on the bedside table before getting to work.

Using his magic, he carefully drew the bullets from sophie's flesh. Once they were removed, he cast a spell that would hold her wound together better than if he did stitches.

Then he wrapped her up in bandages and gauze. When he finished he flipped her onto her back so she could breath easier.

As he gazed upon her pale face, he thought about all that had happened today.

The guards, Prince Justin's supposed disappearance, and the blame for it falling on Sophie.

'There's no doubt that Madame Sullivan is behind all this. Still the power hunger demon she always had been. But if she thinks that she can get away with hurting my Sophie and… Wait? My Sophie? Since when do I think like that? I shouldn't! She is pushy, a workaholic, she enjoys making me miserable, and.. and..'

The more thought about it, the more he had come to realize how much she meant to him.

She turned his life upside down and controlled everything about him since she came into his castle. Made everyday for him a living nightmare, and he still cared about her.

He remembered all the times he heard laughter echoed through the castle, the day she doused him with meddlesome myrtle, the stinky potion that helped him feel better but tasted terrible, and all the witty banter that was always exchanged between the two of them.

But even after all that torture, he still discovered that he could not bare the thought of going on without her.

And all it took for him to admit it, was a life threatening danger courtesy of Madame Sullivan.

'Who am I trying to kid? As if I could ever care about Miss Priss!' Howl thought clenching his fists tight.

He looked at her white, sickly face once more.

'I should actually thank Madame Sullivan for giving me a nice quiet day. No doubt she'll be back to making my life miserable tomorrow!'