Chapter Sixteen

Sam

He could feel her eyes upon him, but he tried to block her out as he focused his eyes on Giselle. He had pushed his pheromones out to intoxicate the vampires and accidentally ensnared a witch.

He tried to focus on the fight. The tall man had sliced Giselle's face open savagely. She stood in shock. Her beautiful lips coughed as bright red blood dripped from them. She had recently eaten obviously. Her dark eyes looked around at the crowd cheering, as his hand came down again at her. Sam felt his blood boil watching beautiful and sweet Giselle dying. She moved faster than he did. Trying to escape him but the circle held tight. The others snarled at her.

He turned to the girl staring at him like he was her next snack. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

“I need your help.”

She blinked, “Whatever you want.”

He pushed his attraction for Hanna as hard as he could. He could see the girls pupils dilate as she leaned into him. He bent in to her face, “See the girl dying?” He turned her to face Giselle who was on her knees.

She nodded.

“I want you to help her. Every strike against her is a strike against me. They are trying to hurt me.”

Her eyes became slits, “They want to hurt you?”

She turned and looked at the man with the dark hair. His hand came up in the air to strike Giselle again.

Sam watched as the girl blew as hard as she could. A great wind blew across the yard toward the fight.

Sam whispered into the wind, “Giselle fight back. Close your eyes and feel the heat. It’s there waiting.” He pushed his scent into the wind. The vampires looked distractedly around the circle for the source.

Aimee looked back at him, tears rolled down her cheeks but Sam knew she was unable to move her feet.

Sam nodded at her, “She’ll be okay. She just needs to unleash it. We all have it.”

Aimee turned and screamed, “Giselle I’m with you. I’m holding your hand. Close your eyes and trust me to help you.”

Giselle’s skin healed faster than anything Sam had ever seen before. She darted around the circle in between jabs and lunges. The hands of the Euro Trash moved swiftly tearing at her.

Lightning crashed down in the middle of the circle of vampires sending everyone back.

Sam realized Ophelia's eyes had gone completely black and her head was tilted back looking up at the sky. Bolts of lightening began to strike the street around the Vampires.

The Euro Trash looked over at Lorri. Lorri turned back at Ophelia and scowled, “No.” She looked at Sam, “NO.”

Sam bowed under her will.

His feet were stuck as Aimee’s were. Lorri would let Giselle die before she would let them interfere. “The vampires must do things their way. Giselle must earn the right to be queen.”

Sam could see Ophelia from the corner of his eyes. She lifted her fingers to a point. Her will was not attached to Lorri. She could disobey Lorri. Sam put his hand over hers and shook his head.

He noticed Giselle rounding on the vampire suddenly. She wasn’t jumping and fleeing anymore. She appeared to be listening to Aimee’s shrieks and cries. She closed her eyes. She put her nose in to the air and began to sniff.

She listened to the wind.

She moved as if dancing with her partner. He slashed out with his hand but she leaned back and rolled to the side. His hands swiped at her, but she dodged it and backhanded him across cement. He was back and clawing at her, but she fought him using precision. Her eyes were still closed as her leg shot out and took him to the ground. She leapt across the concrete like a feral cat and pinned him with her strength.

The vampires in the circle began to scream and howl as Giselle’s hand came down on the man. She stopped a hairs width from his throat. She looked up at Lorri.

Lorri’s expression never changed, “Finish it my queen.”

Giselle blinked, “What?”

“He is a usurper. Finish him. No one may defy your crown queen Giselle. Your word is final.”

Giselle looked as if she gulped. She looked into the man’s eyes as she lifted her hand and brought it down. Sam watched as one of her own tears dripped onto his face, as her hand tore his throat out. She brought the hand back a second time and tore the head right off of him. His frightful face rolled across the street to the edge of the silent circle.

Giselle sat back down on the cement and licked the blood from her fingers. She was panting. Sam closed his eyes and took his first real breath. Aimee was on her knees sobbing. The intense death dealer was nowhere to be seen, she was the fragile girl she fought to hide.

“Queen Giselle has my support. She is law. She is life and death.” Lorri shouted across the yard.

Sam watched as Giselle stood. Each vampire dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. Giselle looked stunned. She backed away from them all, but they whispered and muttered ‘My Queen’ in every direction.

She walked toward the house but was slammed on her back. Sam felt his jaw drop, as she stood up only to wince as she put her hands out.

“Lorri I can’t get passed it. Lorri?” She looked like a mime making the fake wall, like the ones on the seaside boardwalks.

Lorri sighed, “Giselle, the Queen of the Vampires may not enter Lydia’s home. It’s a sanctuary.”

Aimee was off the ground and running before Lorri could speak another word.

She crossed the guards in time to catch Giselle, who had dropped to her knees.

“Never?” She asked.

The vampires began to growl at Aimee, as she wrapped her arms around Giselle.

Giselle put a hand out, “She is my friend. No one hurts her. Like ever, okay.” She looked to be in shock.

Sam looked at Lorri, “Did you know this would happen?”

Lorri clenched her jaw and then she was gone. Sam looked at Dorian, “What the fuck Dorian?”

He shook his head, “Giselle never would have done it if she knew. She would have died. They would have waited for her to feed and then they would have killed her. This was the only way.”

Sam felt the truth in the words but his heart ached for Giselle.

“Where will she go?”

Dorian cracked a grin, “The castle of course. Dracula’s castle has always been where the royalty lived.”

Sam shuddered imagining visiting the disgusting place where his Hanna had been kept.

“What always? Marcus was the only Dracula.”

Dorian shrugged, “It’s hers if she wants it. It’s spelled to keep the royal one safe.”

Sam snorted, “Yeah it worked for Marcus.”

Dorian gave him a hardened look, “He was in the yard if you recall.”

Sam looked back at Ophelia, who was still staring at him. Sam frowned, “Go inside and learn about your family. If Annabelle is right, you meet your father in a couple weeks. July seventh is almost here.”

She nodded, “Whatever you want.”

He sighed and looked at Lucas who was lying in the grass looking bleak, “That’s going to get annoying fast.”

Lucas made a wolf snicker sound.

Sam rolled his eyes, “Come one we’ve got to help Giselle. This is nuts. You should change first though. No one wants you eating any of her loyal subjects.”

Sam strolled out into the crowd to Giselle and tried not to notice the blood on his pants.

Giselle shook her head in what appeared to be disbelief.

Sam knelt beside her and whispered, “We need to take you to Marcus’s castle. You’ll be safest there.”

Giselle nodded weakly, “I always wanted to live in a castle.”

Aimee pressed her lips together. Sam could see the anger welling inside of his friend. She was already fragile and a blow like Giselle being forced into anything, could force Aimee’s anger.

He put a hand on them both and flashed quickly.

He looked up at the front of the massive castle, “Home sweet home.”

Giselle gulped.

Sam knew it was too much to take. Giselle and Aimee had come from a tiny town with small houses and regular people. The past years had been filled with too many changes for them to not be overwhelmed.

Giselle’s dark and beautiful eyes filled with tears, making her face devastating, “Will you stay with me?”

Sam nodded, as did Aimee.

An English accent broke the silence, “Mistress my name is Hamish. Welcome to your new home.”

Sam spun to see an odd looking older man standing in the doorway of the huge entrance.

"Hamish? You weren’t here when Marcus lived here?"

Hamish shook his head, "I stay back in the English castle until Master Henry was permitted to leave."

Aimee put a hand out to him, “I’m Aimee.”

He cringed as he took her hand. Aimee pulled him into her and whispered something. The man’s eyes grew as he pulled back, “Madam I would never. I serve the Mistress of the house. My bloodline has always served the house of Dracule loyally. She is the mistress, her blood is his blood.”

Sam scowled at Aimee, who shrugged, “He must be like the house elves in Harry Potter. No one give him any gifts or clothing or socks.”

The older man looked horrified but stepped to the side to make way for them to enter.

Sam felt nauseous seeing the place again. It was never appealing to him, but remembering Hanna there made his skin crawl. Giselle gripped his bicep tightly as they passed the threshold.

“It’s creepy. It’s too big. Hamish is there a smaller house we could maybe hang at?”

Hamish looked at Giselle as if she had three heads, “Mistress does the manor displease you? We have five others. The one in Romania is quite nice in the summer. Not too hot and there is a nice lake out back.”

"Five? All like this?"

He laughed, "No, no, much larger."

She looked at Sam with her huge eyes full of fear. Her lips trembled slightly. Sam leaned in and kissed her soft face, “You have this Giselle. You defeated that other vampire. We won’t leave you here alone. Me and Aimes will move in with you okay?”

She pressed her skin against his lips and nodded, “I like the house Hamish.”