Kidnapped By The Vampire Prince

Luca scowled. “Weak?”

“Move,” Ashton growled, shoving Luca to the side, and right into me.

“Stupid girl,” he snapped, stepping on Sebastian’s hand as he tried to steady himself.

Without thinking, I slammed the stake down into his foot. He howled in pain, jerking away from me violently. Somehow I managed to keep my hold on the stake so he wouldn’t take it with him. “Don’t step on Sebastian,” I warned in low voice.

“Bitch,” Luca swore, grabbing the front of my dress and hoisting me to my feet. “You’re going to die.”

“Don’t touch her!” Ashton and Vincent demanded at the same time.

Luca glared at the two. “Shut up.”

“You know you’re not allowed to touch her,” Ashton apprised him. “Do so and you will-”

“Don’t care,” Luca responded offhandedly, yanking his hand down.

My eyes flew open in surprise as I was forced against the ground in a rough manor. I cried out in pain as my head ricocheted off the hard ground painfully. Within the next few seconds I felt his foot making contact with my side.

“Luca!” Ashton shouted.

“That’s what you get for staking me,” Luca told me, now stepping on my hand that held the stake. “Let it go.”

“No,” I stated defiantly. If I let it go, he’d grab it, and then be able to kill Vincent. There was no way I was letting go.

Vincent appeared in my field of vision next to Luca, his hands going for the other’s neck. Luca elbowed him in the face efficiently stopping his attack. However, it didn’t stop him from trying again. This time a fist made face with Luca’s face, forcing him to step away from me. I instantly scrambled to my feet, holding the stake tightly.

“You’ll pay for that,” Vincent said menacingly.

“You’ll pay for- Argh!” Luca staggered forward, holding his back.

Glancing behind him, I realized Joel was standing there, the bottle of holy water in his hand. “I won’t let you kill Vincent.”

“You traitor…” Luca seethed, turning to send daggers his way.

Joel’s face was impassive. “I may have betrayed the Rutherfords, but I won’t you kill Vincent.”

“Joel-”

He suddenly moved forward, knocking Luca to the ground. “Vincent! The stake!”

Vincent’s head snapped to me. On instinct, I chucked the stake at him. In an instant he was on Luca, the stake against his chest. “Any last words?”

“See you in hell?”

“You don’t deserve to die by a stake,” Vincent told him, his jaw set. “If I could, I would have stripped off all your skin and then burned you for what you did to my brother.”

Luca faked a smile. “Aw, isn’t that so sweet? The little brother who put up a cold front but actually cared about his older brother. It’s a shame that he’s dead now, isn’t it? Though, personally, I could really care less. One less wasteful person on this-”

He never got to finish his sentence. Vincent rammed the stake into his chest, causing him to gasp. He didn’t only do it once though. I flinched, looking away from the scene. Even if he did deserve it, it was still hard to watch. A death was still a death, after all.

“Damn,” Ashton swore quietly. “Looks like it is you and me. I’ll have to come back or Joel later and dispose of him. Let’s go, Emily.” His hand wrapped around my wrist and he began dragging me toward the forest.

.

.

“Vincent!” I screamed.

Immediately Vincent was at my side, holding my other hand tightly. Ashton came to a stop, an annoyed expression crossing his face. “Don’t you want to take care of your brother’s body?” he asked in a bored tone.

“After I take care of yours first.”

“You have five seconds to let go of Emily’s hand before I break her neck.”

“You wouldn’t do that. You need her alive.”

“Three, two…”

Scowling, Vincent leg go. I gaped at him. When he noticed my stare, he clenched his jaw. “Do you not see his reaction to Luca’s death? He doesn’t care. He wouldn’t care about killing you.”

“Smart move,” Ashton told him. “Now, we’ll take our leave… Wait, actually, since it seems we have time, let’s dispose of Joel. Vincent, I’ll leave that to you.”

“I told you I won’t kill him.”

“That’s sweet, but it’s either him or Emily.”

Frustration welled up in me as I once again felt my arms being chicken-winged. Why couldn’t I do anything? Why did I have to be such a weak human? I struggled violently to liberate myself, grunting form the effort.

“If you keep struggling you might cut yourself.”

I paused. What did he mean…? My breath caught as I felt something cool pressed against my throat. A dagger.

“Now,” he continued, turning back to Vincent. “Will you kill Joel?”

With a hard gaze, Vincent slowly nodded his head. “You give me no choice then.”

Joel, who was standing a few feet behind him, froze. Ashton laughed in delight. “Great! That helps me out a lot!”

“But first…” Vincent disappeared from our view. Then I felt his presence directly behind Ashton and myself. “Wish me some luck.”

“Good luck then,” Ashton willed him.

My eyes widened when I felt something being pressed into my hand. It was the stake. Why was he giving it to me? Did Ashton not notice? Vincent then returned to my field of vision, advancing on Joel.

“I won’t put up a fight,” Joel told him. “You should kill me. I let them kill your brother.”

Vincent’s hands clenched into fists. “I won’t kill you.”

Ashton’s hold on me tightened. “Excuse me?”

“I won’t kill him,” Vincent repeated.

“Then you don’t care if I kill Emily?”

“Nope.”

I stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was thinking. Did he have some sort of plan? How was I supposed to do anything without knowing it?

“How could-”

All of a sudden Vincent reached out and grabbed Joel, twisting on his heel, and sending the blonde toward us. Ashton let go of me. I took this as my chance, ducking out of Joel’s way as he crashed into Ashton. Vincent shouted something at me, but I didn’t hear it, turning around so I could see the two vampires now on the ground. Joel was holding onto Ashton by the shirt, keeping him pinned against the ground. Unfortunately, Ashton still had the dagger. In a split-second decision, I kicked the hand that held it, causing him to let go.

“Get off!” he roared, shoving Joel to the side.

Now it was my turn to pounce of him. So I did. Straddling his waist, I held the stake up threateningly. “Don’t move.”

.

.

He gazed up at me, amusement flickering in his eyes. “You think you can kill me?”

I held the stake tighter. “I know I can.”

“Ahh, that’s right. Because you already killed poor Seb, huh?”

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Emily! What are you doing?” Vincent demanded in a stressed voice. “Get away from him!”

I shook my head. “I want my revenge too.”

Ashton grinned at me. “Go ahead. Do it. Stake me. Make yourself a murderer, just like me.”

My hand was shaking by now, but my grasp on the weapon didn’t loosen. It was now or never. I could end this all… All I had to do was bring my hand down. Closing my eyes, I raised my hand a little higher.

“Emily!” Vincent cried, sounding incredibly frustrated. “Get away-”

I brought my hand down, only to hear a sickening crack as my arm was forced away. My eyes shot open and I tried to scream in pain, but couldn’t find my voice. Ashton smiled evilly at me. “Did you forget you were a human? You never stood a chance. And now I have the stake.”

“No,” I groaned as he forced me back to the ground.

Vincent appeared at my side seconds later, gazing down at me worriedly. “Are you okay?”

“Vince-” My warning came to late. Ashton had already jumped at him, knocking him to the ground next to me.

“Watch as I kill Vincent myself,” he ordered, holding the stake to Vincent’s chest. “I knew he’d let down his guard if I injured you.”

“No! Please don’t!” I pleaded desperately, my wrist throbbing painfully as I tried to push myself onto my knees.

Vincent glared at the man above him. “Even if you kill me, you won’t get the throne.”

Ashton laughed. “What makes you think that? No one will know I was the one who killed all of you… Or at least, will be able to prove it. I’ll kill you, and then Joel, and then no one will know what I’ve done.”

“Except me,” a deep voice interjected.

My heart soared as I recognized the voice that spoke. Solomon! He was like God, standing a few yards away from us, at least a dozen of shadowy figures behind him. Two of them stepped forward and I recognized them as Fiona and Luella.

Ashton immediately dropped the stake. Vincent pushed him aside, springing to his feet and then helping me off the ground.

“You’re under arrest,” Solomon continued, “for attempted murder, for attempting to steal the throne, and for your traitorous actions. The counsel will fill you in about everything… Won’t you, counsel?”

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the shadow figures behind him. My heart stopped for a moment. Attempted murder …

“Father, Sebastian’s dead,” Vincent stated.

The silence that fell after that was almost suffocating. No one spoke for a few moments. Then a piercing scream filled the air. I knew at once it was Fiona. My heart sunk as I glanced over to Sebastian’s body, where the poor girl was now kneeling.

“Sebastian!” she cried, shaking his shoulders. “No! Sebastian! No! NO! Sebastian!”

“How sad,” Ashton snickered.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I turned toward the vampire, aiming a kick where I knew it would hurt just as much as it would for humans. “You’re scum.”

“Take him away,” Solomon ordered in a hoarse voice. “Everyone leave. Joel…”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I betrayed you guys,” he confessed. “I guess I’m going to prison too. Here, someone grab me.”

Two of the shadowy figures approached him, each one grabbing his arm before leading him back to the house, where all the others were already leading Ashton away. In the background I could still hear Fiona crying and calling Sebastian’s name. It was enough to make my heart feel like I was breaking.

Solomon started to move toward his son’s body, as did Luella. Vincent and I followed after them slowly. He grasped my hand, holding it tightly. I squeezed it, feeling tears start to form at my eyes again.

“My sweet boy,” Luella said, kneeling down next to Fiona and picking up Sebastian’s hand. “My son… My brave son…”

“Please wake up,” Fiona begged helplessly. “How could you let yourself die? You said you loved me! Sebastian! You can’t do this!”

“Fiona.” Solomon spoke gently, but firmly. “Calm down.”

She turned to him, tears streaking down her face, her mascara running. “I can’t…” Sobs erupted from her throat and she stopped trying to talk, turning back to Sebastian’s body. Her arms went around him and she lifted him up so that she could hug him. “I love you, Sebastian.”

“How did this happen?” Solomon questioned, his voice cool and collected. However I could sense a hint of anger in it.

“Luca,” Vincent spat, “but he’s been taken care of.” He nodded his head off to wear Luca’s corpse was.

Solomon nodded gravely. “I see.”

“It’s my fault,” I burst, gaining the attention from every vampire. “The stake- it was in my hand- Luca just pushed it, but I… I… I killed him. It’s all my fault,” I told them, wondering if they could make out my words through my heavy sobs.

“It’s not your fault,” Luella told me quietly, appearing at my side. “It’s not your fault for being a puppet.”

I shook my head. “No, it is. If it wasn’t for me all this wouldn’t have happened. Vincent should have killed me way back in the beginning-”

“Don’t say that,” Vincent snapped. “You’re being delusional. You need to calm down before you speak.”

“Fiona,” I started, turning to her. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry!”

She shook her head at me. “No, it’s not your fault.” Wiping her eyes, she slowly stood, staggering over to us. “Sebastian wouldn’t want you to blame yourself either. He… He…” She trailed off, unable to say more. Luella took her into her arms, cradling her close.

“He knew what was going to happen,” Solomon said, turning to me. “He was prepared for this. He knew there was a chance that he would be killed tonight.”

“Because of me-”

Luella shook her head. “No, not because of you. Because of himself. You should know, Emily, Sebastian is… was a kind soul. He would’ve done anything to protect the ones he loved. Even if it was in vain. My son was a brave man.”

Nodding, I let fresh tears roll down my face. Vincent pulled me to his chest, rubbing my back soothingly. “Shh, it’s okay.”

“We’ll have to move his body,” Solomon started, his voice sounding strained. “We’ll hold a funeral…”

“It’ll be difficult from here on out,” Luella stated, gazing at her husband. “Everything’s different now.”

He nodded. “We’ll just have to take it one step at a time.”

Vincent squeezed me tight. “It’ll be okay, Emily.”

But I knew it wouldn’t be. Sebastian was dead and I had six months to live. Nothing was going to be okay.