Taken (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends) (15 page)

They flew higher and higher,
then their speed slowed down. Benji said, “Get ready to land.”

Rachel held on as tight as
she could, as the two landed on a large branch in one of the pine trees that
surrounded the long driveway of Lyndvia Castle.

Catching her breath, she
said, “Wow! I had no idea you could do that.”

“You haven’t seen anything
yet!” Benji said, smirking at her.

The two sat together on the
tree branch and watched the yellow and orange sun go behind the trees. It was
slowly getting dark and they decided they’d better get back inside before it
turned pitch black out.

Benji flew Rachel back to
the balcony and they went back inside. The house was silent and empty. Benji
led her up the steep spiral staircase that led into his bedroom suite. As they
got inside, he covered her shoulders with a big wool blanket and lit a fire in
his fireplace.

They sat there on the edge
of his bed and gazed into each other’s eyes. Rachel had never felt so close to
someone, or so in love as she did at that moment. She felt, for the first time,
that she completely understood him. She wanted to stay with him forever at the
castle, and never leave. She hadn’t even thought about home or her family and
friends since she’d arrived. All she could think about was being with Benji.

He put his cold hand on her
leg and started rubbing it up and down her warm thigh. Rachel turned to him and
he leaned in to kiss her. They slowly began kissing, passionately, as their
bodies moved up towards the head of the bed. Benji put his hand under her
sweater and began to undress her. She caressed his body for the first time. She’d
never gotten this far with any guy before, and was happy her first time was
with Benji, the love of her life.

As the two lay there, naked,
next to each other for the first time, Benji turned to her and whispered, “Rachel,
I love you.”

Rachel’s heart fluttered,
and she grew speechless. She felt it, too. She felt her heart longing for
Benji, and a deep feeling of love filled her body. She couldn’t keep it inside
anymore.

“I love you, too,” Rachel
whispered back.

Then, a question that was
burning inside of her suddenly came out, “Why did you risk it all for me?”

“Because, I love you,
Rachel.”

“But why me?”

“I’ve always loved you, and
I knew the time was right for us to finally be together.”

They began to kiss again,
even more passionately than before. Rachel wondered if they were going to go
all the way. She felt her body longing for his, to be closer, to be one.

All of a sudden Rachel could
hear a loud banging coming from the knocker of the large front door. 

“Who’s that?” Rachel asked,
startled, sitting up.

“I don’t know,” Benji sat
up, too. “I’m not expecting anyone and I’m the only person home.”

“Should you go down and find
out who it is?”

Rachel reached for her bra
and sweater.

“Wait,” Benji said. “I don’t
want to stop.”

Rachel continued putting her
clothes back on as she sat there, in fear of who was at the castle door. She
wondered if it were her sister, or her parents. She suddenly worried her family
was coming to find her. Although she realized the only person who remotely knew
where she was was Sarah, and she would never seek her out like this.

They sat there together, in
bed as the knocking grew louder and louder. She looked at Benji who sat there
with a frightened look on his face.

This look gave Rachel a
disconcerting feeling, and she wanted to run and hide.

The knocking grew even
louder and then, stopped.

The two sat there silently,
and waited for something else to happen.

Then, a moment later, she
heard the door creak open.

Chapter Nineteen

Hunter didn’t want to take
any chances.  He flew faster than ever to Lyndvia Castle to warn Benji about
Violet’s threat to terminate him and Rachel.

When he arrived there, the
blinds were drawn and the doors were all locked. He knocked on the large
knocker but nobody answered. He took out his cell phone to dial Benji, and then
remembered the castle was in a dead zone.

Hunter grabbed the large
brass knocker and this time knocked as loud as he could, hoping that Benji
would hear him.

Then, he remembered that
there was a key hidden in the trunk of the old oak tree that stood out front of
the castle. He ran quickly to get it and then back to the door, out of breath
and anxious to get inside.

Fidgeting, he managed to get
the key in the small keyhole and turned the knob. The door creaked open, and
Hunter ran inside yelling, for Benji and Rachel.

He waited in the foyer for
someone to answer, but it was silent. All he could hear were Chopin’s Nocturnes
playing on the player piano coming from the living room.

“Benji, Rachel, are you
here? You need to get out of here quick!” his voice rang out across the house.

“Hello! Who’s there?” Benji
yelled down from the top of the spiral staircase.

“It’s me, Hunter!”

“What are you doing here?”
Benji yelled back.

“Hurry! There’s no time, you
have to get out of here!”

Hunter ran up the stairs as
quick as he could to find Benji and Rachel quickly getting dressed. Benji was
standing at the foot of his bed and Rachel was sitting straight up in bed,
fidgeting with her sweater and looking petrified.

“You have to listen to me,”
Hunter said.  “You have to leave now!”

“What do you mean?” Benji
asked.

“There’s no time. Pack your
things. I know a place that’s safe where we can hide,” Hunter said.

“What are you talking about?”
Rachel asked.

“Violet knows everything and
she’s out to get both of you. She won’t stop until you are both dead,” Hunter
shrieked.

“But why?” Benji retorted.

“She’s roused her entire
coven the Greslins and they’re going to be here soon. You don’t have time. Move
now!” Hunter prodded.

“Wait a minute,” Benji
remarked. “Why did you tell her where we were?”

“I didn’t tell her. She
already knows. Don’t you get it? She can hear everything. She is evil. You don’t
understand this girl.”

“Well thanks for giving us
away,” Benji said, with a upset look on his face.

 “What do you mean? You’re
the one that started this! You’re the one who opened your big mouth and got
yourself in this mess in the first place,” Hunter said, angrily.

“Are you kidding? I didn’t
do anything,” Benji said, sticking up for himself.

“You’re selfish, Benji, just
like you’ve always been. You’ve not only jeopardized yourself, you’ve
jeopardized our whole coven. And all for a human,” Hunter said, looking
directly at Rachel.

Hunted and Benji start
walking towards each other as if to fight. Hunter threw down his jacket and
rolled up his sleeves.

Then, Rachel held out her
hand, and put it in between the two brothers and said, “Wait a second, guys.
This is clearly all my fault. This is not Benji’s fault. Please don’t fight. I
really don’t want to be the cause of any troubles. I’ll just go away and I’ll
never come back. Maybe that will fix things.”

“You don’t understand, it’s
too late for that. Nothing you can do can change it now. They’re already on
their way here. They will be here any second. And they won’t stop until they
kill you. Both of you!” Hunter exclaimed.

“So then why are you here
Hunter? If they’re all coming here, then why are you risking your life to be
here right now?” Benji asked.

“I came to warn you. You’re
my only brother.”

Hunter softened, and Benji
gave him a look of gratitude.

“So where do you propose we
go?” Rachel asked.

“We can’t just run from
these guys forever,” Benji said. “We have to stand and fight.”

“Now is not the time. We are
too outnumbered. We wouldn’t stand a chance. The Greslins have powers that you
wouldn’t even conceive. I know a place where we will be safe. I know a--”

Suddenly, there was a loud
crashing on the roof, and before Hunter could finish his speech, the three of
them looked over at the window. There, up against the glass, was the ugliest
face they had ever seen. It was the face of a creature, and a face of pure
evil.

Chapter Twenty

Rachel could not believe
what was happening. Her heart was pounding out of her mouth. As she looked to
the window and saw the hideous creature, its face up against the glass, she was
in awe to realize that such hideous and fantastical creatures really existed.
She felt terrified, and if Benji and Hunter hadn’t been at her side, she would
have shrieked and ran for her life.

Rachel felt Benji’s cold
hand on her wrist, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, suddenly,
there was a noise on the other side of the house, coming from the front door.
It took Rachel a moment to realize what it was: police sirens.

A moment later, there came
the sound of a megaphone: “This is the police! Come out with your hands up!”

Rachel turned back to the
window and saw that the creature had disappeared. For a second, she began to
wonder if she had ever even seen it at all.

Benji tugged hard on her,
and she found herself sprinting with he and Hunter through the house, to the
front door. They all stuck their heads up against the glass, and as they looked
out, Rachel was horrified to see that several police cars were pulled up on the
lawn, in front of the house, their sirens flashing.

“Oh my God!” Rachel said.
She could feel her body shaking. She didn’t know what was worse, those hideous
creatures, or the sight of all these police. She felt certain that she was
going to go to jail, that her life was over.

“What are we going to do?”
Rachel asked.

“We have to get out of here,
now!” Hunter said. “We have to take the secret exit,” he said, looking to
Benji.

But Benji stood there
holding firm, his jaw set, still looking out the window. “No,” he said. “We
have to warn the cops. The Greslins will eat those policemen alive. We have to
save them. We have to give them a chance to get out of here.”

Benji reached out and grabbed
the door handle, and as he did, Hunter’s hand landed on top of his, stopping
him.

Hunter stared at him with
such intensity. “You’re risking all of our lives by going out there,” Hunter
said.

Benji looked at him. “We
have no choice. We can’t let those police die. They are only humans.”

Finally, slowly, Hunter
removed his hand, and as he did, Benji opened the door, and they all walked
out, into the night.

The flashing lights were
blinding in the darkness as Rachel followed Benji and Hunter out onto the lawn.
Before them were about a dozen police officers, most of them standing with
their guns drawn, and pointed right at them.

“HANDS UP!” came the voice
through the megaphone.

“You don’t understand,”
Benji yelled back, “You’re not safe here. You have to leave! Now!”

“WE ARE NOT GOING TO SAY
THIS AGAIN. PUT YOUR HANDS UP, OR WE WILL SHOOT!”

Rachel could see Benji and
Hunter slowly raise their hands high in the air and she did the same. She felt
her arms shaking as she did, and felt like she wanted to cry, standing there in
the bright floodlights of the police cars.

“You don’t have much time!”
Benji yelled out to them. “Please! Leave now! Before anyone gets hurt!”

“GET TO YOUR KNEES. NOW.”

Benji and Hunter dropped to
their knees, hands high in the air, and Rachel did, too. As they did, suddenly,
several of the policeman started hurrying towards them. She saw them take out
their handcuffs, dangling them in front, and she felt terrified that soon she
would be in prison. She didn’t even know what she had done to deserve all this.
All she knew was that she loved Benji. Was that a crime?

The police got closer and
closer, now only feet away, and as one of them came right for Rachel, suddenly,
Benji spoke up, “You can arrest us,” he said to the officer, “but don’t touch
her. If you do, I assure you, you will regret it.”

“Open your mouth again, you
punk, and I will mace it shut,” the officer said, reaching into his belt and
holding out a canister of pepper spray.

At that moment, Rachel felt
the hard grip of a beefy, calloused hand on her wrist, yanking her arm back,
and placing a cold, metal handcuff on her wrist, snapping it into place. The
metal was so tight on her wrist; she couldn’t help herself from crying out in
pain.