A Destined Death (35 page)

From the back of the limousine, Candy and I watched the sun set on the ancient castle, the Burgundy Estate, where Damion Kern supposedly lived. We wore black to blend in with the night but my confidence waivered and my heart pounded. Draven felt close yet he didn’t speak to me. Fear of what I would find mounted and kneaded in my gut.

At the startling guitar solo, I glanced at the name on my phone and sighed with relief. “Thank God you’re all right!”

“Elizabeth?”

“Yes, where are you? I was so worried!”

“I was being chased,” he said, a little out of breath.

“Where are you now, Charles?”

“I’m hiding like a scared school girl at the moment but I’ve found Damion’s address. I wanted to make sure you had it.”

“Yes, I have it. He was actually in the phone book, and I was a little relieved at that. I don’t think an evil vampire would put his name in there so it’s probably just as Draven guessed. The man doesn’t know I’m alive, and he thinks he has to kill Draven. I’m going in now to prove that I’m alive, and when he sees me, he’ll release Draven and Armando. We’ll all be able to go home.”

“Yes, yes, that sounds like a good plan but what address do you have?”

“The Burgundy Estate outside of the city.”

“Yes, yes, that’s it. Are you alone, Elizabeth?”

“No, Candy’s here.”

“Okay.” His breaths increased to pants. “I’m going to try to make it there myself but if I’m delayed, be careful.”

“We will.”

A strange feeling lingered when I closed my phone, and I had to ponder for a moment before the oddity came to me. Charles had called me Elizabeth.

Suddenly, I realized the poor man was so out of sorts with worry for Draven that he could see nothing else. At the thought, I focused on my own worry. I’d been praying nonstop for a miracle. Nothing yet.

“Charles is fine,” I told Candy.

She gave a militant nod, her face intense and alert. “Are you ready?”

Armed with The Forgiving Heart and two guns at my waist that would slow a vampire down, I felt safe enough to nod and exit the car.

The estate consisted of a majestic, real castle that stood as tall as the trees surrounding it. It could have fallen right out of a King Arthur story; the gray brick building included the drawbridge and moat, which wasn’t nearly as cool as I thought it would be. The idea of being stuck inside of it with no way out sent chills scurrying down my back, and I found it hard to move.

One step at a time though, I followed Candy to the trench and peered over the edge. I shouldn’t have. What I could see tunneled six feet wide and ten feet down. The sharp drop off made an escape impossible. Hundreds of eyes peeked out of the muddy water, most likely menacing creatures who awaited their unsuspecting prey.

I jumped backward and screamed when a small engine started to hum and the drawbridge descended. Candy stepped away too, though she only flinched at the sound.

“We’re almost there. Damion just needs to see that I’m alive and then he’ll let them go, right?”

“I’m sure you’re right, Milady,” Candy soothed as her eyes darted around in the darkness.

When the bridge landed with a thump, Candy screamed, jerking my attention. Her body rose into the air, her feet and arms kicking wildly. I immediately reached for her but her body moved higher and higher into the air and drifted to hover over the moat. Horrified screams left my mouth.

Then all at once, a beautiful blonde woman appeared in front of me, I saw Candy fall, and a sharp pain hit my forehead before everything went black.

****

My head ached when I awoke alone, bleeding on a plush, white carpet. Gold, elegant light fixtures protruded from the red walls, dropping shadows around the empty room. I touched the three-inch gash on my forehead, finding the blood already drying and matting in loose strands of hair. My weapons were gone. Even though I felt dizzy, I tried to stand to make it to the room’s one door.

Moisture filled my eyes for Candy and Draven who were suffering and possibly dead while I sat in some strange room, oblivious to their present circumstance. I consoled myself with the fact that I hadn’t seen Candy actually land in the moat, and if anyone could make it out of there alive, it would be her.

Suddenly, the woman appeared again in a flowing, white gown. She wore a diamond tiara, and her blonde locks fell down her shoulders in one silky wave. Her beautiful, porcelain face smiled as her blood red fingernails stretched toward me.

“Sit,” she commanded with bright turquoise eyes that reminded me of Johnny’s.

At the demand, gravity yanked on the air around me until I dropped down onto my ass.

She held her head high, a self-satisfied grin on her face. “Hello, Elizabeth. My name is Anna.”

“I…I know you,” I said as her image sunk into my brain.

“Do you?” she asked sweetly.

I felt too stunned to answer right away. I knew her face from Alicia’s dream but I knew her smooth sounding voice from Krista’s. “You were one of Alicia’s bridesmaid’s. You disappeared right before she died.”

Her confirming smile seemed treacherous when she raised one perfectly styled eyebrow.

“Your voice,” I continued. “You were the one talking to Krista. That’s why you never used her accent, you didn’t have one. She thought it was in her head but it wasn’t because I heard you in the dream. You told her Draven wasn’t coming back. You wanted her to run out into that alley.”

“Very good,” she raved, clapping her hands together daintily.

“But how did you know there would be an earthquake, and how did you know there would be a man with a knife in the alley?”

“Oh, those are just a few of my many talents,” she gloated.

“You…you killed them both?”

“I’m so glad I don’t have to explain this all to you before I kill you.”

Fear griped my lungs until every hard breath burned inside my chest. My heart raced. Suddenly, I didn’t want to have this confrontation. Coming face to face with my own personal murderess was intimidating to say the least, and being in the same room with her made my skin crawl. “What about Melissa and Lissa?” I choked around the lump in my throat. “Did you kill them too?”

“Oh no. Melissa was untouchable. Draven was with her every moment that her parents were not, and furthermore, she was much too young for me to enjoy it.” She flashed a nasty smile. “Lissa was fun, though. She did swerve at the last moment, you know, but cars are so easily manipulated when you have my gift.”

I shook my head, not wanting to believe that one vampire was responsible for all of my soul’s deaths and all of Draven’s pain. And she seemed to be doing purely for her own amusement. “Why?” fell from my lips.

“All’s fair in love and war,” she sang out before the smile drifted off her face. Her eye’s pulsed red when she pointed at the wall and my body flew against it. “He was mine before he was yours!”

The impact of the wall knocked the breath out of me and made my head and back throb. “You’re in love with Draven?” I breathed.

Her laughter sounded more like an evil screech when she walked up to me. “That’s right, and I’ve learned a secret since Lissa. Watching her, I learned about the power of artifacts, and when a human is killed with my new toy...” She licked her lips and produced a dagger with a dragon handle. It was charred and tinted black. “Their soul lies in limbo. You won’t ever come back to him again.”

Too soon, I realized The Forgiving Heart wasn’t going to do a damn thing against the death she had planned for me. I held my breath when she pointed the dagger at me and pressed it against my neck. I tried to squirm away but some unseen force held my body in place.

“I didn’t want to do it, of course,” Anna continued. She pulled the dagger away to pace a small spot in front of me, and then smirked as though she were enjoying her confession. “I find it much more satisfying to have others do my bidding.” She raised a thin shoulder. “My little way of spreading the love around.

“It was a brilliant plan too. I had a woman give you The Cross of Anguish and armed one of the vampires with the dagger. It was unfortunate that you allied with that wretched vampire hunter,” she spat, her words oozing with venom. “It’s all right though,” she added calmly. “This time when I kill you, you will finally stay dead, and Draven will be mine for the rest of eternity.”

“Wait!” I begged when she turned the dagger on me again. “Please…If you love Draven, you have to let me go. You can kill me later but someone is going to kill him if I don’t show up at that castle. You have to help me save him before you kill me! Please, just make sure he’s safe first!”

“That’s not possible,” she said abruptly, but the hatred in her eyes told me I had her attention. A moment later, a grin spread across her face. “Ah…this is a trick. You’re trying to stall your death.”

“I swear it. I don’t care about me but Draven will die if I don’t go, and then neither one of us will have him.”

****

The threat of losing the man she’d been killing for since 1944 was enough for Anna to let me live for a few hours longer. She returned me to the drawbridge in front of the castle, and I continued forward as though she hadn’t just attacked and kidnapped me. Even though I knew I would most likely die before morning, I found the strength to focus only on saving Draven. If it was the last thing I did before I died, it would be worth it.

Cringing, I peeked into the moat, which looked the same, no Candy. “I need to have more faith in their capabilities,” I reminded myself.

With a decisive nod, I hurried across the heavy wood but the moment I set foot in the inner corridor, the drawbridge started to rise. I located the castle door and then watched in awe as the passage closed, trapping me and blocking out the moon.

I knocked quickly, anxious to get out of the dark. My knees shook when the door squeaked open and revealed a dimly lit brick corridor. No one was there. I took a step forward and another.

“Good evening, Elizabeth.”

With a start, I turned to find a pale man, or more likely vampire, standing behind me. He dressed in brown with long brown hair, styled off his face. His eyes were brown too adding to his dark beauty. 

“Damion?” I asked warily.

“No,” he said gravely as he continued to stare at me with large interested eyes. “The man you seek is indisposed at the moment. I am one of the Elders. My name is Alexander, and I’ve been expecting you.”

At the mention of the Elders, I stiffened. If I had been mistaken about who held Draven, then I was in their lair and at their mercy. I had no plan for that. “Are you the ones holding Draven?”

“No. I am here only because I admire him, and I believe the injustice bestowed upon him has been…unfair.” He seemed sad when he looked into my eyes. “Even so, I cannot interfere, but I can lead you to him.”

I nodded anxiously. “Thank you.”

He stared at me for a moment longer, then slid his cool finger across the wound on my forehead, making it tingle. My headache went away immediately.

“Thank you,” I said again before I took his offered hand.

He tipped his head to me.

Our footsteps echoed on the gray flagstone floors inside as he led me past several Renaissance rooms. Magnificent tapestries, real swords, and ornate shields decorated the walls, and it smelled earthy. A solid layer of bricks covered each window but electricity lit the large chandeliers throughout with a warm glow.

Alexander remained silent. We turned through one empty corridor after another before we descended a long spiral staircase. At the bottom, he released my hand. “Good Luck, Elizabeth.”

After I thanked him again, he unlocked the metal door and let me inside.

Two shirtless vampires paced the cell, their faces furious and intense. I ran toward Draven, and when he saw me, the anger melted off his face. As we embraced, his hands roamed my shoulders and my hair as if he wanted to make sure I was real. I did the same. He felt like Heaven after spending a week in Hell, and I never wanted to let him go. Our embrace could have lasted an eternity, and it wouldn’t have been long enough.

“Damn, I want to be angry with you for coming.”

I had to come.

“I know and thank you.”

I love you with all my soul, Draven.

“Same.”

He cradled my face in his hands before he lowered his mouth to mine and then kissed me so passionately I felt it in my toes. His tongue caressed away every worry and every fear, and his thumbs gently stroked my cheeks, making my whole body tingle with the love and the meaning behind the kiss. The building could have collapsed at that moment and I wouldn’t have noticed.

When Armando coughed, Draven released me, and I basked in the feeling until my senses returned.

It’s Anna,
I thought quickly before a tug on my arm pulled my attention away.

“Don’t I get a hug?” Armando asked.

“Of course you do.” I hugged him wholeheartedly. “Tina and Coty are both safe and protected.”

“Thank you,” he returned with glossy eyes.