"You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Elisabetta's Pov

"Your majesty?"

"What do you mean? Our king is dead?"

"Will she be alright?"

I walked past all the chatter. My head was buzzing… my ears ringing. I didn't know what to do, or think. AllI knew was that Vladimir Dracula was dead. "Ha..haha…". A joke, a cruel sick joke. I ended up at Lyall's chamber where I killed the whore and her child. The smell of iron was still fresh enough that you could taste it on your tongue.

"Haha… all those years of work… for nothing." I felt the cold metal in my sleeve as I lifted my hand to the handle. "Let's finish this."

Lyall's Pov

I tried to move. My body felt like lead. Having to fight the sickness and my mental attacker was exhausting. 'I've been here for too long.' I knew better. The last time I stayed in the in between too long I was in a coma for a year. 'Maybe that's what my body is going through right now? Maybe it's trying to fight an infection or something?'

I slowly moved my arms and legs, my muscles and bones screaming in protest but I continued on. The smell of blood and decay made my stomach turn and made me want to upturn the contents of my dinner. I was able to move the covers and kind of fell onto the cold floor.

"Oomph!"

I felt something wet on my face and hands. The strong smell of copper entered my nose. I shakenly lifted myself up and crawled blindedly. Pun intended. I stumbled a couple of times from the blood into my hands and came across an object that felt soft and squishy.

My face paled… My stomach dropped… My body shook uncontrollably. My hands travelled upward. The object was a tiny body. I felt legs, then the tummy, then tiny hands. "Ah…Ah…" it felt smooth to the touch. I felt it's face and tears started to come down my face. I leaned back and carefully picked up the poor little thing. The cored is still connected to poor Iona. I grabbed it and ripped it off. "Ah… Ah… Ahh…" I cradled the babe in my arms and rocked back and forth, tears still coming down my face. Knowing that Iona's corpse was not far from me from the faint smell of her perfume didn't bother me. I was… conflicted. I knew that Iona was a victim in all this along with her baby. But on the other hand I didn't want to give myself up entirely just so she could have revenge.

I pulled the babe closer to my chest, it's blood staining my already ruined dress.

"Aw… weeping for the dead?" My blood ran cold. I didn't even hear her walk in. "You pathetic whore…" Elisabetta hissed. She walked up behind me, each step made my heart thump painful against my chest.

Step…

Step…

Step…

I wanted to move but I couldn't. "Ah…Ah…"

"Oh my dear. Shh…shh." She soothed in my ear. She petted my hair in a sick comfort. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do something, but it was like my body was frozen. I thought of Vlad. I wanted him here, to save me, to comfort me in his arms, and to kiss me with all his heart. "V… V…"

Elisabetta played with my throat with her bony fingers and placed her lips close to my ear. "What was that whore? I don't quite understand what you are saying." She mocked. "V… Vl… Vlad…" I whimpered. In a flash her bony hands gripped my hair. "Ah!" I yelped and dropped the baby from my arms and grasped her hands that were holding onto every strand of my hair. She began to drag me away from the room.

I kicked and I fought but my body was so weak from illness that my attempts were in vain. "Let me go!" I screamed. But Elisabetta did not listen and slammed the door open and continued to drag me away. "Get rid of them." She told one of the servants. Still stomping away I continued to struggle, screaming in pain and frustration. "Someone please help me!" I beg. But because of the lack of voices, no one was even there to help me. Dread and hopelessness began to fill my body.

My throat was raw from all the screaming that it sounded like a cat scratching against metal. Elisabetta stopped all of a sudden and let go of my hair only to grab under my arms and drag me up what felt like a set of stairs.

"Elisabetta…"

"Shut up!"

She continued to drag me and I got a sinking feeling and I didn't like it. "Where are you taking me?" I whispered but she heard me all the same. She scoffed. "You want my husband so bad…" she huffed. Pulling open a door, gusts of cold wind pour onto them like a clear blanket. I shivered. She pulled me into the room and we stopped at what felt like a balcony. My heart dropped in my stomach. "I'll give him to you. You both can meet together in hell!" She lifted me off the ground and rammed my back into the stone railing. I whimpered in pain.

'I don't want to die.'

Vlad's Pov

I pushed the doors of my kingdom open with gusto. My armour tainted in the blood of my enemies. I smiled at the shocked and horrified faces of my subjects. "My lord! You are alive?!" One of them squeaked. I laughed. "Of course I'm alive!" I walked down to my throne searching for my beloved Lyall, but she was nowhere to be found. "Where is she?" I mumbled. "Father!" I turned my head and saw my son running frantically towards me.

"Minhea, what is the meaning of this?" Minhea panted and regained his composure. His eyes filled with fear. "Father it's Lyall… she has grown ill."

"What?!" I grasped the hand to my child's shoulder and shook him violently. "Where is she? How has this come to pass?! Tell me boy!"

"My lord please! You're hurting the boy!" A male servant pleaded. He touched my arm but that was a big mistake. I was seeing red and fear gripped me. I shoved his hand aside harshly and shook Minhea even harder.

"T-The day you left… many strange things happened… like an evil spirit swept over the castle! Lyall has been ill and Elisabetta…" he hesitated. He looked down from my intense gaze in fear. 'I will not have it!'. I grabbed his jaw and forced him to look at me. "Ai face bine să nu mă testezi ... băiete."(You do well not to test me…boy.)

I can feel Minhea quiver in my hand but I didn't care. He took a shivering breath and continued about Elisabetta snapping, Iona's death and her unborn child and the disappearance of Lyall and Elisabetta. My eyes darkened. "And how did you come by this?" I asked calmly. Minhea's face paled. His heart thumped uncomfortably. He saw everything and regrettably did nothing. He was afraid. He let fear grip his judgment. He let the one person who cared about him truly was going to die… because of him.

"I-I saw her kill them…" he whimpered. I was silent. I slowly let go of my son's shoulders. He let out a breath that he was holding. In a flash my hands grabbed his tiny throat and I began to squeeze. "My lord!"

"Ah! *gasp*"

My emotions were all over the place, anger, fear, and sadness. I couldn't handle it. "Ahaha…" I began to chuckle. The servant grabbed my bicep and tried to pull me off my son. "My lord please! Forgive him! He is only a child!" I squeezed even harder. Another servant rushed in and grabbed my other bicep and pulled. 'They will regret interfering. They will all be placed on spikes.'

"F-*gasp*! Father… I can… tell you… where…" his skin was turning a light shade of blue and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "My lord!" The servants begged but I wouldn't listen. "I can tell you where the girl is!" I stopped squeezing and looked up and saw one of my guards kneeling on the ground not daring to look at me. I finally let go of Minhea's throat and walked over to the guard. "Young master! Are you alright?"

"Kan… where?" I hissed, my eyes blazing with rage. "Lady Elisabetta took the young girl to the high tower. I can lead…" he cut off when I went running towards the stairs. "My lord!"

'Lyall… I'm coming my love!'

No One's Pov

Lyall grasped Elisabetta's wrists with all her strength, fearing that if she didn't hold onto something she would fall to her death. "Oh? Holding onto me are you? Hoping to take me down with you." Elisabetta quickly wrapped her hands around Lyall's neck with pure rage in her eyes. "You…You…! This is all your fault! If you hadn't shown up here, everything would have been fine!" The weight of her fingers began to grow more in strength as Elisabetta continued to squeeze on Lyall's throat.

Lyrall tried to pry away Elisabetta's hands but her arms were weak and her body was still burning with fever that her attempts were futile. The door to the tower opened with a loud bang! "ELISABETTA!" Vlad hollared. Her head snapped over to her supposed dead husband, eyes widened in complete shock. "M-My lord!" Lyall looked over with widened eyes as well. "Vlad…". Vlad's eyes were blazing, his chest heaving from running from all those steps but none of that mattered to him. "My love…" he sighed. Elisabetta slowly looked at the couple and felt her body shake at the looks of love between those two. "Hahaha… Well my lord…" Vlad slowly raised his hands in a surrender motion. Hearing the venom in his wife's voice told him that this was the time to be smart and not act rash.

"Wife… let her go." He took tentative steps towards them but Elisabetta snapped out of it and pushed Lyall far enough that her feet were hovering on the floor. Lyall gasped, feeling air from her back. She glanced down and saw the drop that lands straight into the river. Elisabetta looked back at her worried husband. "This little girl is no good to you my love. She must be taken care of. You are a king that needs to lead our people to glory and away from Ottoman reign. You can't afford any…" she gave Lyall a sly sneer. "Distractions."

"I'll send her away! She is nothing to me, just a little fun on the side." Lyall felt her heartbreak at each word that came out of Vlad's mouth. She knew that he was trying to buy time and calm Elisabetta down but that still didn't mean his words hurt. Lyall felt Elisabetta's fingers slacken but she was still dangerously almost over the railing. Vlad took another couple of steps towards them, his hands still raised. "Elisabetta…". She could feel her resolve breaking but the look of worry and love wasn't for her… it was for Lyall.

"Liar!" She shoved Lyall straight off the balcony and into open air.

"NOOOOO!"