B8/Ch6: THE FALL OF TROY

Sebastian & Evie on the balcony 

On the night Evie believed she and Gabriel had been held captive for three-weeks at Cyfrinach Castle, she stood on the forbidden balcony of her room that faced the village. She was too far up for anyone who walked the streets in the village to see her or even hear her screams. 

The sea raged before here on the horizon, and she looked downward into the dark empty cervices of the castle below and saw no way of climbing down.

As she did this, the room of her door unlocked. She turned back to see Sebastian entering. 

He looked paler. Thinner even. He was dressed in a dark red suit with a tie tightly wound around his long beck with a pearl pin attached at the center. Despite her anger towards him, he looked handsome, albeit, colder and more distant.

She entered back into her room and stepped down the two tiny steps form the balcony and took the tray of dinner he brought her. She saw her own reflection in the tin dome that covered her food but did not see his. It was a reminder of who-- and what he was. 

"How's Gabriel?" She asked, with hope in her voice.

"He asks about you." Sebastian admitted softly.

"Then why don't you let me see him? He clearly needs me, Sebastian." 

"Evie, I can't let that happen, and you know why." He replied. "We don't have faith in you; you might do something to take him away from here." 

"We?" She asked in a tone of outrage. "Since when are you, a we?"

"The court." He clarified referring to the vampire clan he’d become a part of.

"I don’t accept that Sebastian. I demand you send me OUR son, you said yourself—he’s asking for me.” She demanded. 

Sebastian refused. 

“How can you be so cold to me?” She asked. “After everything we've been through, this is how you are treating me? Keeping Gabriel from me is probably the cruelest thing you've done to me in a very, very long time Sebastian. I don't know if I will ever find a way to forgive this." 

"In time, you'll understand that this is the best place for us. I keep telling you this, and Dominique thinks that it'll be soon. Gabriel is -- he's needed here. They treat us like royalty. Gabriel is like their crowned prince. You should see!" Sebastian said, sounding completely indoctrinated. 

Evie backed away from him. The man she once loved and made a child with had once again changed into something different than she knew. She had met this handsome boyish man that she fell in love, he turned into a tragic almost horrifying figure but through a long terrible process he'd sort of came back to her once again with his attempts to prove to her his humanity remained. 

But this betrayal, of kidnapping them to Scotland and separating mother and child was something even she never expected from Sebastian. This was a new Sebastian that felt alien. 

"I want you to step back from all of this Sebastian and really listen to yourself and hear what you are asking of me. You are asking the mother of your child to sit idle around this empty dark room while you keep her from her child. While there’s some strange plan for him and some Count that neither of us have heard of. When will you open your eyes to this? When will you see the dangers here?? When it's too late? When I'm dead? When Gabriel is dead?" Evie shouted.

"How can you think that? Why would you think that?" Sebastian asked stupidly.

Evie only shook her head. "It doesn't take someone like Mary or Charlotte or even Jacqueline to see the future here Sebastian: There isn't one. Not for me. Not for Gabriel. You've brought us to the end of our lives and it's only a matter of time until it happens. And then what will you do?" 

Sebastian's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe Evie's fears. He didn't care what she thought, he knew in his heard his decision to come to Cyfrinach was a good one, that the Doshalls would protect them and make them happy there. He would follow the rules and do as Dominique instructed because it was better for them. This was where they belonged.

"You'll never see me as more than some monster that walks the night. That's where this is." Sebastian said softy and with a tinge of sadness.

Evie walked over to him; their eyes met. Coldness there and nothing more. She searched his face for the love he once had, frozen like ice. He searched hers too, even colder. They were two icebergs floating atop of a slush-like sea but only one would survive the coming warmth of whatever hell the Dominque Doshall had planned. 

Evie did not directly answer Sebastian's question. "Promise me you'll keep Gabriel away from Dominique, Sebastian. Make me this promise and I think I can find the human in you again." 

"She won't hurt him."

"DAMN IT SEBASTIAN! Listen to me, she is dangerous! She wants to do something to him!" Evie shouted.

"Why do you keep saying that? Why do you keep thinking she's going to hurt you or our child? She has never ever once said anything to me that would suggest this." 

"You're in denial and I can't help you. I cannot. I cannot show you what she is going to do because I don't know!" Evie said.

"Then? If you don't know then you're making things up!" Sebastian shouted. 

"No, no, I can't tell you how I know, but I do. I know something is happening. They know Gabriel is part you and part me." Evie said unable to say the word vampire in the moment.

"Of course he is!" Sebastian replied.

"No...he was born of you after you became this... they know that. They seek it. The need it and that hold something important and special to them and I don't see it ending well. I don't how you can't see it!" She shouted back. 

"You're jealous. You're lying and you're jealous!" Sebastian shouted. "You're making things about  Dominique so that I turn on her and take us out of here. You're LYING!" 

Evie slapped him across the face. 

"How dare you." She said, seething with anger. 

A single tear feel down his cheek. Evie reached to wipe it. He grabbed her hand and held it there for a second. They stared into each other's eyes seeing two completely different people now, no longer the lovelorn paramours from 4 years earlier. They were now a tattered reminder of what happens when darkness falls on the heart. Sebastian slowly lowered her hand and turned from her going towards her room's door. She followed. Her dark dress swishing passed the furniture like a flower petal folding into itself. 

He said nothing. No reply. No angry eyes or fangs. 

He locked the door. 

Evie banged on it begging to be released but he stood there, on the other side, another tear falling knowing that this would be the last time he saw her. He'd someone else to bring her dinner. 

It was over. Evie sobbed. Sebastian said nothing. And like the fall of the legendary Troy their relationship fell into ruins before their very eyes 

****

Sinead & Evan in the Courtyard 

Downstairs outside under a cloud-covered moon, an interior courtyard was lit with long tall iron lamp posts around the perimeter. A set of two gravel paths that intersected with a giant fountain in the center of it sprayed water from a siren's chest as if her heart were weeping. Triangular patches of grass crowned with large bushes and small pomegranate trees added extra shadow to an already cloaked garden. 

Sitting on one of the benches the Sheernan twins watched as others from the Court walked about the night watching the fluttering bats go from courtyard tree to courtyard tree. 

"Don't you wonder what he's really about? He seems so mysterious. He intrigues me." Sinead said of Sebastian Lord, as if he were a new fashion item to be bought and worn. 

"He's quite odd, if you ask me." her brother Evan replied.

"Why?"

"He's too quiet. Never trust a person who doesn't say what they want when they want and how they want. Something about him, I just don't trust. Besides all of that Dominique warned you to stay away from him." He said.

Sinead scoffed and swatted as his shoulder playfully. "Oh, she's a bit full of herself. She can't hog all the new blood around here can she?" 

"Sinea...." Evan said, seeing his sister stepping too far off the ledge. 

"We don't know him that well yet, and I think I can change that."

Evan turned to face his sister. The lamp light from the closest lamp glowed on his caramel skin making him look even more handsome as the shadows of the flickering flame danced on his face. 

"I want you to listen to me, do not get too involved here. The American is directly linked to something much greater than us and I want no trouble from the Doshalls. Maybe wait until the Sickle moon has passed and the mixing has done healing Alexandre for you to then go after --- him." Evan pleaded.

"And where would that put us?" She said. "Still on the outside." 

"What are you talking about?" Evan wondered.

"Evan, this is our chance, don't you see?" She said slightly frustrated with her brother's lack of ambition.  "Sebastian is Dominque's new favorite. Its almost as if we've all vanished and the only one here with her is Sebastian. He's the father of the mixing too. If I can just get into his good graces, then I know for a fact I can get into a better standing with the Doshalls. This is good news for the two of us! We'll be closer to the Alexandre than anyone one else once he finally gets back on his feet once the prophecy of the mixling is done." 

"Keep your voice down. We don't even know when they'll take the mixling's life to save the count. Nothing has happened yet, nothing. We all know it needs to be on a particular night when the moon is in crescent form. We wait." He replied in a whisper. "Besides, what if Sebastian rejects you?" Evan added. "Are you prepared for that?" 

She rolled her eyes, those big brown eyes that reflected almost everything in it's gaze. She pouted ats him with the irritation of a child and once again pushed him teasingly. 

"He wont." she replied confidently in her own whispery tone.

"But what if he does?" Evan pushed.

"O ye of little faith. Men aren't fickle when it comes to flirtation and desire. Not even a vampire as cold as you." Sinead said. 

Evan knew what it was like to be one of Dominique's favorites. He was once one too, before he became part of the court. She adored him, so it seemed and made him the creature he was so that she would n ever lose him. Over time she bored of him and now narrowly acknowledged his existence. This was something that weighed on Evan. She never even looked at him, spoke to him. Touched him. 

Often times, Evan would drift into slumber dreaming of the nights they'd make love, passionately somewhere outdoors under the stars. They'd fulfill each other's most desired fantasies and then, like the extinguishing of a candle -- Dominique lost interest. No rhyme or reason. 

She just moved on. It broke Evan's cold heart and he never let this go.

As the twins discussed Sinead's eager and somewhat dangerous reach into the power struggle at Cyfrinach, Sebatian walked into the courtyard fresh from his argument with Evie far up into the tower. 

Sinead got up quickly and walked over to him, Evan followed.

Sebastian stared into the stone face of the siren in the fountain. He noted in his mind how her face looked as if she were in pain as water flowed out of a hole in her chest above her breast, but the pain oddly seemed more like heartbreak, given that the water came from the area of the siren's heart. He could almost hear the siren's call, a melancholy song of loss and desperation. It echoed in his mind swirling with her image that harmonized with the pitter patter of the falling water into the fountain. 

The stone creature sat on a rock, her hands extended with more water pouring out from one, the other hand crossed over her naked breasts. Sebastian drifted off into a fantasy that the siren was Evie, lovelorn and lost. She cried for her lover, he imagined, Sebastian teared up for the sad siren. 

All this imaginary backstory clouded the American's vampire's mind as the twins fought for his attention right at his side finally breaking through to him when Sinead tugged at his sleeve.

"OH!" Sebastian said finally noticing them. "I'm sorry. I was lost in thought." 

"I was asking you how you and the mixing were getting along here." Sinead said.

"Fine." Sebatian replied curtly. "Why do you call Gabriel the mixing and not by his name?" he wondered. 

Evan turned to Sinead worried that his twin sister offended a man that was practically the closest thing to a god they'd seen. The father of the mixing, the one living being whose life force would be responsible for everyone else's survival in the court was not to be offend. 

"Its not meant to upset you Sebastian, not in the slightest. It's --- well, he's very special to us here. We're just very happy to finally see his face." She explained.

"Evie isn't happy here." Sebastian confessed.

"The child's mother?" Evan asked, Sebastian nodded.

"She feels I've chosen the court over our family and she feels that perhaps we are in danger here." 

"She should not speak of us in that matter, in fact I believe you made a mistake bringing her here in the first place. You should end her." Evan replied to Sebastian's shock.

"End her!?" Sebastian shouted.

"My brother can be a bit medieval in his thoughts; Sebastian please forgive him.” Sinead said slapping her fan on Evan’s arm and rolling her eyes. “Evie must be lonely. Imagine her position. Imagine coming to such a strange place and living amongst us. It can’t be easy, you've been one of us for longer and understand the life of the shadows. She hasn't had that kind of experience." Sinead added.

"I just want her to see what I see, I want her to see how this place can give our family an opportunity to thrive. In Welshport we’d have to live as hermits, hiding ourselves away — practically shamed into the dark. But here there would be none of that." Sebastian explained.

Sinead pouted patronizingly “Yes. Yes. Poor Sebastian.” 

She could see that although Sebastian did an abhorrent thing like kidnap his whole family to Scotland, he did it out of blind love. He still loved Evie and Dominique had not gotten to him —yet, as they all knew was in the long plan.

"Make her one of us." Evan said suddenly breaking the beat of silence. 

"NO!" Sinead replied, realizing quickly that if Evie was a vampire she'd lose all chance of having the powerful Sebastian for herself. And she could do without any more competition. "He can't do that."

"Why not? Dominique did it to me?" Evan revealed.

"Sinead is right, I could never do anything like that to Evie." Sebastian replied as the fountain continued to trickle out water from the siren's hand and heart.

"No, you couldn't. Listen, why don't I go up and talk to her, I can help her see what a wonderful opportunity this for her child. Sometimes speaking with a woman may be a better way for her to see clearly." Sinead said.

"Sinead, you know you're not supposed to interfere this way." Evan said, his eyes now more serious in shape and body language stiff. She was about to insert herself in the place of Dominique without permission. This was a massive faux pas. 

Sinead did not listen.

"Trust me, a little girl talk would do her some good." Sinead said, her hand extending out to Sebastian for the key to Evie's room.

"I don't know, I just brought her dinner. She may be getting ready to sleep." Sebastian replied.

Sinead's eyes lifted towards a long stretch of wall that made up the east-wing of the castle and towards a set of towers that made up the apartments where Evie was being held. There was a small window that looked towards the sea, it was one that belonged to Evie's room, on the opposite side of the balcony. 

A light flickered.

"She's awake, see?" Sinead said, again reaching her hand for the key.

Sebastian followed her eyes, he took a breath and reached into his coat and pulled out the key Dominique had given him to Evie's room.

"Don't upset her any further." Sebastian said.

Sinead smirked "I wouldn't dare."

As his twin sister rushed off to meet with Evie for the first time, Evan knew she had nothing good planned. She was the ambitious side of his brawn, but she didn't always think through her schemes. He watched his sister quickly reenter the castle and disappear into the dark hall. He turned back to Sebastian who continued to look up at Evie's window.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Evan said.

"Why, do you think she'll upset Evie even further?" Sebastian asked innocently.

Evan's eyes narrowed, "No, fool. I mean I hope you know what you’re doing here. At this place. With Dominique. Do you know what they want from you?" 

"Dominique is giving us a safe place to be with people like me. We'll be protected here." Sebastian said.

"Dominuque said that you, did she?" Evan asked as Sebastian's nodding head cofirmed. "She's the one who made me. We were lovers. Years ago. I worked for her and her father and had no idea what they were. I was --- a fool, just like you. I fell in love. We would make love nightly and it was the most powerful thing I had ever felt in my whole life. I became intoxicated with her. Everything about her was like a the finest things in life. The best wine was like kissing her. The best food was like tasting her skin. The best clothes was like feeling her on my body. Until she bit me and took my blood."

"Why would she do that?" Sebastian said.

"She needed it."

"Needed?" 

"We all need it Sebastian." Evan reminded. "The difference is She wanted me to be around more, and here I am. She did not kill me because she wanted me. But -- from a far."

"You two are no longer together?" Sebastian asked.

Evan shook his head and looked Sebastian dead in his eyes and said: "She's found better toys now." 

****

The path to Cyfrinach Castle 

At the mouth of a small river that led into the sea just below the back cliffside mounted with Cyfrinach Castle, a women dressed in thick black wool from head to toe, and a shawl that covered her hair pushed open an iron gate that conveniently had no lock. 

She turned back to face Matthew and Hope, revealing her face to be Sister Anna. She held the gate open with a worried look on her face. 

"Follow this path up the back side of the cliff. It'll take you to door that leads into a lower chamber inside the castle. There you'll find a staircase that'll take you up inside to the main hall." Anna said, her experience with this entrance left a mystery. 

A gush of wind blew across their faces. Hope looked down a slope of green grass that had become so dark in the night that each blade looked like black waves floating above sea level. She turned to her brother Matthew who was determined to find Evie with the protection of his natural powers. 

"You should stay behind with Anna." He told her.

"You aren't well with the gift yet. I can't allow you into that vampire's nest alone." Hope replied.

"You're trembling." He told her. "They'll smell your fear."

"Aren't you afraid?" She asked. 

But before he could answer Anna spoke. 

"If you do not feel the ache of terror, you should both stay. Not feeling this will only lead you to their darkness. They fear nothing and hold it against those who do. The good in us knows fear. We know love and hatred. We have to always keep these things alive in us, otherwise, we are no better than the creatures they've become. Hard like stone. Empty like a desert. Hungry like the wolf." Anna said.

Matthew agreed. 

Hope blinked hard. The nun's words were heavy like the sky above their heads filled with clouds about to drop rain.

 "Of course," Matthew added "I am fearful, but mainly for Evie and Gabriel. I can't imagine what they're going through in there."

"I won't let you go alone." Hope continued.

He grabbed her hand and smiled, "It's very dangerous." He said. "I need you to stay safe."

"No. No. I came this far. I won't let you go alone. I can help." She said, reinforcing her promise.

"Then, there's no time to lose." Anna said. "Please, be careful. And God be with you."

The nun did the sign of the cross over both Winterborn siblings as the slowly walked passed her and through the gate up the winding dirt path along the cliff that looked like a crooked spine crawling up a green monster's back. The wind was forceful; Hope's long black hair blew across her face blinding her.

She yelped as her foot twisted on a rock causing her to begin to fall, Matthew grabbed gold of her and lifted her up before she hit the ground.

"Are you alright? There's still time for you to go back." He said, looking back towards the gate seeing Anna was still there, just a black blur of a woman but still there.

Hope nodded, signaling she was fine and wrapped her long hair around her hand and held it close keeping it out of her face. 

The continued up the long path that seemed to turn slowly making a wide you shape. The air almost thinning as they climbed, but it was an illusion brought on by their anxiety. The heaviness in their souls made the walk worse, as they silently wondered what they'd find in the dark evil castle.

After a half an hour of walking they came to the door Anna spoke of. It was large, wood craved of creatures flying in a sky. Hope touched the door and closed her eyes. She could see through the walls and it was just as Anna had told them. The staircase that led up to the main chamber. The darkened walls and hallways. It was all there; no lie was told.

Matthew then lit a match he had in his satchel that he brought just in case they needed to see in dark places. He put it up against the door to see the caved creatures were bats with human faces. Grotesque. Strange. Otherworldly. 

A chill went down his spine and Hope blew out his match.

"Never mind it. We know what we're gong to find." She said, her voice suddenly stoic and ready.

Matthew nodded and grabbed on to the doorknob. "Ill go first, just hold my other hand." 

Matthew pulled on the door, and the siblings entered the guts of Cyfrinach Castle. 

****

Evie & the shocking death of a vampire  

Upstairs, in the locked room Evie was bound to, a single candle burned in the window that faced east over the courtyard. It shined it's light in the frosted glass of the large window as Evie slept in the bed under the domineering painting of Dominque Doshall. 

The entire time Evie had been at Cyfrinach, she had never slept in the bed -- only on it. She refused to make herself comfortable. She refused to make this prison her home and feel the warmth of the bed while she slept. She wanted to hate this place every second she was there awake or asleep. No amount of softness and luxury would feel as good as freedom would.

As she lie there on her side, back away from the door, they soft clicking sound of the rooms key began to twist the interwoven pins and chambers unlatching the lock.

The door pushed open slowly, and Sinead entered with the light of the exterior corridor casting her in silhouette.

Sinead slipped the key into her dress pocket and clasped her hands almost like an inverted prayer stance. She carefully walked around the bed, her eyes gazing up and the darkened painting of Dominique and finally came to face Evie sleeping.

The young vampire woman bend over so that her face could see Evie better in the shadowy room. She narrowed her eyes realizing how beautiful she was, how kind she looked. Sinead had foolishly hoped to find some grotesque version woman in the bed, someone she could easily find a reason to dislike and even hate. But there was nothing.

Evie's seeming innocence clouded Sinead's motive for being in the room but she knew that allowing Evie's power to remain in Sebastian's conscious for a moment longer would do more harm than good to the plight of the entire Court of Saints at Cyfrinach.  

Evie had to be delt with to free Sebastian to finally be who he was meant to be. The father of the mixing that would save them all and with good convincing and practiced conversion Sinead's lover. This would rise Sinead to the much higher position within the court, closer to Alexandre, closer to Dominique. Should she be the lover, the wife even, of the father of the prayed for Mixing -- her world would change.

Evie being there, alive, hampered all of that. 

Sinead's eyes blackened. Her heart stopped and her face sunk in. Her fangs extended passed her perfect lips and a soft hiss came from her mouth like a black cat protecting it's prey. 

She closed in on Evie, ready to bite take her blood and leave her to die in the bed she'd never slept in.

When she was only inches away, Evie woke up and screamed. She jumped up and pushed Sinead aside and ran over to the other wide of the room where it was darker. She grabbed a candle stick and held it out.

"Who the hell are you?" Evie growled, using words and voice she'd almost never did.

Sinead's vampire form made her look older, but still there was a twinge of youth in her that Evie noticed. Then the vampire's face softened and she returned to her more natural youthful self, but her eyes remained black as the night sky. 

"You don't have to fight me, Evangeline." Sinead said as she walked closer. "My bite is worse than my bark." She giggled knowing she'd reversed the saying.

"Get out." Evie replied, standing strong across the room as Sinead approached. 

"Do you know what you've gotten yourself into?" Sinead asked cryptically.

"What do you mean?"

"Being in love with one of us. Having a child with one of us. You've gotten yourself into a very dramatic situation, and I truly don't know how you've survived this long." Sinead replied.

"Sebastian." Evie whispered to herself. "How do you know him? Where is he?" 

"He's with friends, new friends. We're going to make him so, so famous. The fruit of his body will take us to new heights of power and things here and in so many other places like this will never be the same -- thanks to Sebastian." Sinead explained. "And Gabriel." She added to Evie's clear horror.

"If you've laid a finger on my child, I swear to God I will rearrange that face with every blow of this candle stick. Where is Gabriel, you tell me right now where he is." Evie demanded.

"Tsk, tsk! Such troubling, violent tendencies for a woman of this age. You should practice breathing techniques. I've learned some from a man in India before I came here. I loved him. I also killed him but I loved him." Sinead said, now circling Evie like a shark in water casing it's prey.

"Who are you?" Evie asked again. "I want to know who you are, right now and how you got in here." 

Evie continued to follow Sinead as she paced the room with the candle stick still firmly pointed outward at Sinead, not knowing how she'd even use it but resolute that Sinead would not leave unscathed should she attack her. 

"With this." Sinead said holding out the key. "He let me come see you." 

"Sebastian gave you the key? Why? What you want of me." Evie asked.

Then, Sinead finally stopped. Center in the room facing Evie head on.

She said nothing her eyes black, her fangs returned and her face sunk again into the withered face of a vampire. In seconds She lunged at Evie with her mouth open reaching for Evie's head to turn it and bite down on the white flesh somewhere near where Sebastian had bitten but had taken none of her blood. This bite, one from Sinead was meant to be lethal. 

Evie screamed and dropped the candlestick and reached for Sinead's shoulders and held the creature back. The swatted at each other. A fist from Sinead swung and hit Evie in the neck, Evie swung back and missed Sinead who was much more agile while Evie had only been awake for seconds.

They pulled at each other's hair, the tore at each other's clothes rounding the bed, falling to the floor, scratching and screaming, with attempt after attempt to bite down on the trapped Evie always failing. 

Evie finally slapped the vampire landing square Sinead's right cheek infuriating her. She swung back and hit Evie. Evie swung again, this time with her left handing hitting Sinead's right cheek. Evie's ring, a single cluster of diamonds that Sebastian had given her years ago as a surprise gift scratched the vampire drawing blood -- black blood. Sinead screamed and got up from the ground, Evie too.

The imagine of this black liquid, oil like and shining that seeped out of Sinead's beautiful face frightened Evie and she backed away towards the window with the single burning candle. Evie reached for the handle and pulled it out in front of her illuminating Sinead's scratched face.

She could see her clearly now. She was a wonderfully beautiful woman in her normal form, but frightening with fangs that peeked out from under her top lips, so pink and pouty. If not for her murderous nature Evie felt like Sinead could have been an old schoolmate of hers back in London, a girl with similar milk-chocolate like skin and eyes wide like a doe. 

"This will never do." Sinead said. She put her hand over her cut and suddenly the cut began to heal from the inside out. The black blood vanished, and she looked as if nothing had happened.

"GET OUT!" Evie shouted, the candle burning bright in her hand.

"Not until I get what I came for." Sinead said.

"WHAT? What do you want?" A frantic disheveled Evie asked.

Sinead's eyes, black and empty looked like space without stars, her mouth wet with the thirst of a hungry wolf sparkled with the glimmer of the light of the candle.

"I want...." Sinead began before she paused and stepped closer. "Your life." 

In a split second after she spoke Sinead lunged at Evie, Evie screamed and instinctively jumped to the side falling to the floor. The rush of Evie's fall extinguished the candle leaving them both in darkness.

Sinead tripped on the hem of her dress, fell into the small table that held the candle, lost her footing and crashed through the glass of the widow falling out of it 200 feet down towards the courtyard.

Evie got up from the floor and rushed over to the window and looked down seeing Sinead's tiny lifeless body twisted and tangled in a blur. She gasped and pulled away horrified of what had just happened. Then she realized the noise would have gotten attention from her captors. She quickly hid.

Out in the courtyard, the horrified residents along with Sebastian and Evan rushed to where the person had fallen, believing it had been Evie falling to her to her death from her window.

They group waded through brush and trees and came upon an iron fence with large iron rods topped with sharp spear-like guards. The person had been impaled on an iron rod straight through the heart, almost exactly where the siren in the fountain had water flowing from. A woman in the group screamed when she saw the iron rod of the gate had gone through, not Evie as they suspected, but one of their own: Sinead Sheernan. 

"She... she killed her." Evan said, holding back angry tears as his sister's dead body bleed before him. "Evie killed my sister!!!!" 

"My god." Sebastian said almost at the exact same time in a whisper.

"SINEAD! SINEAD!!!" A woman said at Sinead's side. "SINEAD WAKE UP!"

There was black blood everywhere.

Evan, in a huff and paced back and forth unable to reconcile in his battered mind how it could have happened. How Sinead could have allowed it to and how Evie even had the strength. He turned from Sinead's twisted and impaled corpse, recoiling at his dead twin. "I'll rip her throat out." 

Evan then departed the courtyard and headed for Evie's room, Sebastian's quickly caught on.

"NO!" He shouted at Evan, following him quickly.

The two vampires, Sebastian and Evan with one more man rushed to Evie's room and when they finally got there the door was wide open and Evie was gone.

Sebastian looked down and saw the fallen candle. It had spilled white wax on the rug. It was still warm. The bed was made. The food was not eaten. It was as if a ghost had pushed Sinead out.

"I will find her, and I will kill her with my own bare hands." Evan said.

"Stop, you must stop this!" Sebastian shouted holding Evan back. "Sinead must have done something. Evie would never do this; she would never kill anyone. Look around, there are things thrown about, there was a struggle. This must of been a fight. Yes, that has to be it, Evie and Sinead fought for some reason and she fell. I say this to you with all sincerity, Evan, Evie is not capable of murder." 

"Accident? ACCIDENT? Sinead fell to her death, my twin sister is at the bottom of this tower with an iron rod through her body! ACCIDENT YOU SAY!?" Evan shouted, grabbing Sebastian by the lapel of his back jacket.

"We have to find Roman before this gets to the Doshalls." The other male vampire said. "He'll know what to do."

Sebastian and Evan knew protocol; nothing got to the Doshalls unless it went through Roman. But Evan was incessant that they find Evie and kill her. He wanted nothing more than her body as destroyed as his twin sister's was.

"No, No. I want her dead. Look what she's done!" Evan growled, his eyes black as night staring into Sebastian's face even though he had not said a word.

But the court at Cyfrinach had rules, those who betrayed them found themselves in a pile of ash. Evan knew this.

"Listen to me," The other male vampire said grabbing Evab's arms and attempting to pull them off of Sebastian, "Evangeline is missing, we cannot stand here and let the late hours go until the sun comes. We must tell Roman; he must find her and then the Doshalls will decide what to do. You know this is how thing are done. COME!" the male vampire ordered.

Finally, and reluctantly, Evan removed his hands from Sebastian's coat and the three went off to warm Roman of what had just happened while Evie, cleverly hid under the bed.

She got up, slowly made her way to the open door and looked back at her prison. 

Sebastian and Evan had to find Roman to stop her, but not if she found Roman first.

To survive the rest of the night, she could not fail in finding her cousin before anyone else. 

B8/Ch5: THEY EYE YOU SIDEWAYS

Matthew & Hope arrive in Scotland 

The Ceres docked into the harbor after a long stretch of sea storms and waves as large as mountains. It had been a treacherous journey but finally the crew and their two paid passengers, Matthew and Hope, made it to the strange rock-lined coast of Goodwick -- an unexpected stop for the fisherman who were surprised by the change in direction from the captain. 

As the two siblings grabbed their seabags and suitcases happily, a fisherman grabbed Matthew by the arm just before they disembarked on to the old, wooded dock.

"What's 'ere mate? What's 'ere that ye need? Dis old sea village has nothin for the likes of ye." The old fisherman with an eye patch wondered.

Matthew did not want to draw anyone else into the dangerous world he was living in and patted the man on the shoulder "It's a very long story, friend, one that I wish to end soon." 

"Cryptic, ey." The fisherman smiled, his teeth, the ones he still had, grimy and stained. "Listen ‘ere, I donna know this Goodwick, but I know these parts, see? Dublin is my home, just over the straight there. Just a warning from me to ye…double be sure you keep away from the folk who eye ye sideways. Those be the ones who wish ye harm. They'll cast something on ya, something dark if they don't like the sight of ya." 

Hope sighed heavily "We should go." She said.

"Thanks for the warning." Matthew told the fisherman as the ship's horn blew signaling, they were ready to set sail again to a different part of the British Isles, their intended spot. 

"It not be a warning, boy, it's a fact. Beware them sideways looking folk, now, beware!" 

The fisherman's voice trailed off into the early morning gloom of the Scottish sky. Hope looped her arm through her brother's almost locking herself into him. She was worried, she could feel the energy of the village like it was an electrical current going directly into her veins. A shock-like sensation that made the tiny hairs on her arm stand on end. 

As the two walked through the small cobble stone streets of Goodwick, it felt like they were walking along the streets of Welshport, only 80 years back in time. Same foggy mornings, same little cottages and shops, same narrow streets. 

But the people seemed different. Those that were awake so early in the morning had eyes that felt distant, cold. They stared at Matthew and Hope with an intensity that made the newcomers stomachs knot. It was almost as if they were telling them to go back, go back to your ship, you do not want to be in this place. This is not or you. It is not safe.

Even the screeching seagulls floating above in the gray sky seemed to send a warning as they circled above.

One man even lifted his chin to them pointing to the large hill with the Castle Cyfrinach atop it. An overwhelming symbol of the Doshall's power and control over Goodwick. 

"Beware the folk that eye you sideways." Hope whispered, the words of the fisherman ringing in her ears telling Matthew these were the people the fisherman warned about. 

"We just need to get to the Inn so that we get settled and then plan a way up to the castle." Matthew said surprising his sister. 

“You’re sure that’s the place they’re being help?” She asked, thinking her memory of the visions they saw at the caves could have been wrong after all. 

Matthew smiled at her and squeezed her trembling hand.

“You don’t have to do this, you can stay and wait for me at the Inn.” He replied attempting to calm his sister just before someone stepped in front of them blocking their way down the rest of the cobble stone street. 

Hood gasped. 

It was an older man, pale in every sense of the word. He had no shoes, his eyes sunken into his face looked like to black dots surrounded by a white moat of beard and hair. His hands, incredibly boney and thin with fingers nails long and cracked. He put his hand up in the air blocking Matthew and Hope's passage forward and mouthed the word "STOP".

Hope hid behind Matthew, "Sir?" Matthew asked "May we pass please?" 

"You may not." The man whispered back. "What are you?" 

The Winterborns were confused "Travelers." Hope said from behind her brother.

"We're only here to stay the night. We're traveling through --- to Edinburgh." A lie, Matthew answered. 

The old man's eyes narrowed in an untrusting glare, they were far from the capital, too far, he thought. "This place is not for you. Take yourselves and be gone." 

"We only need one night here, sir. If we can be shown to the Inn, we'll stay one night and then be off." Matthew replied, a lie again. 

"Back away old Fitz, back away!" Another voice said, this one a younger man, just as pale, but healthier looking. "Don't pay any attention to him. He's the town drunkard, see? He'll tell anyone who eyes him sideways to leave this place. Go on, now Fitz, back to the pub withya, that'll make ya happy." The man said, Fitz, the older man grabbed the waist of his falling pants and quickly made his way off looking back every few seconds to watch Matthew and Hope.

"Will he be alright?" Hope asked. 

"Americans?" the man asked ignoring Hope. 

Matthew nodded trying to keep the encounter short, the less info the better. "We're only traveling through; we won't be here long. Can you point us to the Inn?" 

The man, strapping, red hair and beard, sharp green eyes that were a bit sunk in, stepped aside and pointed down the street they were already on. The fog almost lifted like a curtain for his pointed finger revealing a small building on the corner of one of the tiny cobble stone streets. 

"Goodwick Inn." The man replied. His eyes almost sparking like two emeralds. "Enjoy your stay, stay safe." 

Matthew thanked the man and the two quickly made their way down the street. 

The redbearded man, pulled out a knife from his side satchel and removed it from a sleeve. Its blade caught a bit of sunlight that peeked through the Scottish sky. This was no ordinary man, this man was Doshall spy that roamed the village streets keeping order. They called him Kildare. 

And Kildare, was prepared to kill anything and anyone who threatened the order the Doshall's had set up in their tiny little enclave. Newcomers -- were not welcome.

Kildare watched as Hope and Matthew made their way into the Inn. He followed, his knife ready at his side.

****

Evie finds the Count

Evie awoke in her room. She had finally found away to sleep. Her body exhausted from days and days of little to eat and no rest had finally taken it's toll. She turned over in the large bed with the ruby red comforter. She lifted herself up on her forearms realizing she had not gotten into the bed, just slept on it. Odd, she thought, as she had distinctly remembered pulling back the thick comforter and slipping in to the white sheeted bed.

Yet, she awoke on top and the bed was fully made. 

She lie back down and stared up at the red-tasseled canopy and wondered who'd been in this bed before her. She wondered of the castle, it's thick walls of stone seemed ancient, centuries old. And most of all she wondered about the family that seemed to preside in the castle like royalty. 

The Doshalls.

As Evie lie there trying to piece together any fragment of information she could from Sebastian and Roman had given her, she glanced over at her bedroom door and, to her shock, it was left ajar by someone. 

Evie left caution and the mystery of her benefactor to the wind and leaped off the bed. Her skirt swooshed around then tangled on one of the dark-wooded bed posts yanking her back. Evie yanked on the skirt back, freeing herself, and slowly walked over to the open door tip-toing every single step of the way. 

She pressed her face up against the opened door, the line of the wood marked between her eye and nose like an invisible marker splitting her perfect face in half. She looked out onto the dawning hallway and saw nothing. Heard nothing. Felt nothing.

"They're all asleep." She thought as she stared out in of the hallway. 

Evie easily made a dangerous decision with her good fortune: She had to find Gabriel. 

With her mind now square on searching for where Sebastian had put Gabriel, she set out down the thick carpeted hall and put her ear up to random doors linked together by the long "L" Shaped corridor. Ever room was silent. Every room felt as if there was something in it, but her heart instincts told her "Don't open that one." 

Evie continued down the corridor and found herself at a staircase that went three levels. A level below her, and one above her. She began to up the stairs, slowly and methodically hoping she'd find no one that lived in the castle, only Gabriel. 

As she came to the top of the staircase, the corridor there only led to one room with a large stone molding around it's double doors. Evie slowly made her way there passing large potted plants, vases similar to the one she almost smashed over Roman's head. Portraits of more strangers hung on the walls. The men in them looked angrier and colder as she got closer to the door.

And just like that, there she was, hopefully at the door of where Gabriel was being held. 

She grabbed the rose shaped doorknob. The room was dark. Evie could make out a bed. Large. Enormous. She could make out the windows that were covered completely in black sheets. This was no where for a child, not for Gabriel. But her curiosities were stronger than her fears. Someone was in the bed. Sleeping. Breathing loudly in the dark, but the breathing seemed labored and strange.

She stepped closer, the light from the hall guiding her path in a triangle formation. She followed the light to the edge of the bed. 

Evie's eyes narrowed trying to make sense of what she was seeing there in the shadows. A man, something like a man, his face obscured by darkness. His hair was white, his face a blur. There was almost a gloom to his whole aura. A smell of burning incense filled the room as Evie began to notice this man was very, very old. She could not tell his age but he seemed older than anyone she had ever seen.

She began to reach for him, to feel if he was alive. Silly, she thought, as she could hear him breathing but oddly she did not see his chest moving up and down. As she reached, her arm lifted and the light from the hallway that was blocked by her lowered arm suddenly touched the skin of the man's hand. 

It began to sizzle and in a split second the old man, sat up in bed. He's dead eyes met Evie's. His mouth agape with vangs. The light, from the sun, hand burned his hand. 

He reached over and swatted at Evie fell back onto this bedroom floor. She could not breath. She could not scream. She only stared at the ancient Vampire struggling to move in his bed. Suddenly, two small arms looped around Evie's as she tried to get up and yanked her back out into the hallway slamming the door shut and leaving the old vampire alone again in his dark room.

Evie got up quickly and turned to find her savior was a young boy with skin pale, his hair a dark brown that had red strands when the candle light hit it. His cheeks were oddly blush as if he'd come from winter. His eyes gray, his lips pink and plump. 

"Come!" He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down the hallway and into the part of the Castle Evie had come from. All the way back to her room. She tried to pull away she did not want to go back, but the boy's grip was tight, so tight she felt as if it were a grown man holding on to her. 

Back in their room, the boy closed her door. And stood in front of her as Evie caught her breath by the bed that was made. 

"Who are you?" She asked, "What is this place? Who was that?" 

Her panic clear, her mind a scramble. 

The boy put his hand on his chest "Jean-Marc." He said.

"How did you know where I was?"

He shied "I accidently left your door open. I came back to lock it and realized you'd left. You must never, ever go to that room again." He said.

"Why? Who is that?" 

The boy gulped "Count Alexandre. He's very ill. He's dying. But, you know that." 

"No, I don't know anything about him. Why were you in my room?" 

He shied again "I'm sorry, I've just never seen anyone like you before. I was curious. I swear, I did nothing wrong. I would do nothing wrong, I just watched over you." He answered.

Evie felt exposed and odd. Was it Jean-Marc who'd taken her out of the bed, made it, and placed her back on it? How? He was but a small child, how could he be capable of lifting a grown women and doing all of that without her knowing?

"What do you mean a person like me?" She asked backing away.

"A mother." He said, his voice softening. 

"Yes, I'm a mother, Gabriel's mother. Do you know where he is? Will you help us leave?" 

"NO! No, you can't leave! Gabriel is the one who will help Count Alexandre. He's the only one who can." The child said.

"What? How??” She asked. 

“You don’t know?” Jean-Marc questioned. 

“Please you have to listen to me: Gabriel and I were brought here against our will, we don’t belong here. Whatever you’re talking about, the Count and how Gabriel can help him—he can’t Jean-Marc. He’s just a baby and in his mother. I need to protect him. But being locked here I can’t. That’s why I need you to help me.” Evie explained. 

Jean-Marc shook his head. He knew this was impossible. “Gabriel will save us.” He refuted. “That’s just how it goes.” 

Evie sighed, she wasn’t getting through to him but thought about what the young vampire had said when they first spoke, the way his eyes lit up when he said the word mother. 

“Where is your mother, Jean-Marc?" She asked.

"I have none. Well I did have one, but no more. I never knew her. Or my grandmère." He said in his charming French accident. "None of them. Not any of my family. Father too. I was left alone and Dominique took me ...in." He explained, his eye lifting towards the portrait of Dominique Doshall.

“That’s very sad. I’m so sorry for that. And you’ve been here all this time?” She asked. 

He nodded. 

"And the Count? He's dying you said, of what?" Evie wondered. "And how can Gabriel help?" She needed to know. 

"I— I've said too much. You must not leave this room or this place." Jean-Marc said as he began to turn and leave her room. "I won't bother you anymore."

"No, wait! Don't leave yet. Please. I just need to understand what is happening here and how I can get to my little boy. He's probably scared, and wondering where I am. I'm all he has." Evie said. "You can understand that, can't you? Being so young as you were when your own mother left." 

"SHE DIDN'T LEAVE!" She shouted back.

"Oh."

"She died." He softened. 

"Yes. Of course. Im sorry. But still, she left. Not of her choice, but she left, and you were just a baby. Just like Gabriel. And I need to see him, Jean-Marc, please." Evie replied.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Yes it is, but wouldn’t you want to see your mother if someone could help?” She said, pleading to his young motherless heartache.

"I can check on him for you, not you. You cannot go." He replied.

As he turned the doorknob to leave, she rushed over to him and grabbed his arm and pulled him around so that they were facing each other. His gray eyes furrowed at her forcefulness. He pulled his arm out of her grasp and asked what she wanted.

"Are you like them?" She asked.

He nodded that he was.

"And yet you walk in the light?" She asked.

"Dominique saved me. She helped me not be like all of them. I need the things they need; I live the way they live, but she made me lucky. She made me able to see both the day and the night. I'm lucky. She always says that. She always says that I am lucky." The boy repeated. 

Evie wasn't sure to make of young Jean-Marc. Something told her there was more to this boy that even he knew. Something strange that might be a way to get her out. She could sense in him still the living presence of his own young humanity but yet he was one of them, at least that's what this Dominique Doshall told him. Perhaps there was truth to what Dominique told him, that he was lucky and was able to see both day and night but that still seemed reckless to allow. 

And yet, he walked the halls in the sun without the slightest scold to his skin.

"Please come back." She said to him. "With news of Gabriel, please." 

He agreed.

"Be careful." he said to her. "Never leave this room." He said as he closed and locked the door behind him.

Evie went back to the bed, the daylight now brighter than it was when she woke. She thought for a second and realized perhaps this little vampire boy could be an important key to her freedom. He had access to the castle in both day and night, he knew it inside out and she could not ask her cousin Roman to put himself in danger in an escape plan, not now, not knowing how entrenched he was with the Doshalls. 

No, Roman was in too deep. 

Jean-Marc would be the perfect one to help her and Gabriel finally escape. 

****

Matthew & Hope explore Goodwick 

Later that afternoon, Matthew and Hope ventured out from their shared room at the Inn for some food, and a bit of investigative work. The woman at the front desk of the hotel was helpful in pointing their way to a pub but they noticed she never turned her face towards them, she never looked them in the eye, and it seemed as if she wanted nothing more than to pretend, she never saw the strangers in the first place.

Matthew tried to pull her into his gaze to see if she'd crack, her strange behavior was more than just something a shy young woman would do. "You said just out this way and to the left down the road?" He asked hoping she'd finally look him in the yes.

"That's right sir." She said shuffling papers and envelopes for no reason other than to keep busy and distant from the strange newcomers.

"Thank you." Hope replied, pulling Matthew away. "Leave her." She whispered. 

The two exited the Inn, there were a few citizens of Goodwick standing across the small road staring. A woman with a basket of bread, another woman holding a child that played with it's mother's necklace and a man whose face was sunken and expressionless. His beard long and hangered. They stared at the Winterborns without saying a word just as a harsh rain began to fall.

"Come on." Matthew said grabbing hold of his sister's arm as they rushed off on the muddying roads of town.

"I don't think we should stay here," Hope said as they walked. "We have to find a different place." 

"Where? We're so close and we have to get to Evie and Gabriel. I don't know where we'd go!" 

"Its too -- odd here." She added. "I think we may not be safe, the man on the ship was right." 

Just as Hope finished her sentence, Kildare stepped out from behind a small opening where two building's walls almost touched stopping them cold in their tracks. The rain fell, the water puddled at their feet and Kildare stared at the two siblings with an intense coldness that they could feel almost to the bone.

"Is everything alright?" Matthew said, slowly moving Hope behind him.

Kildare said nothing but removed a knife from his side and swung it in Matthew's face almost slashing him across the left cheek but missed.

Hope screamed and Matthew grabbed her by the hand as they ran. Kildare began to chase them through the village streets. People in their homes opened their windows and begin throwing things down at the couple hoping to stop them to help Kildare. A woman tossed scolding hot water out of her narrowly missing Hope. A man around the corner tossed a Molotov cocktail out if his window, stupidly, and missed. The fiery blast shook the entire building it hit but caused no fire. The rain took care of that.

The siblings continued to rush down the street, Kildare's murderous feet stomping behind in the sloshy mud this small storm had brewed. He was gaining on them and was now only inches from Hope. He reached his arm back and swung slashing her in the arm but luckily only getting snagged on her sleeve. 

She screamed and Matthew turned her around, her arm yanked to far she flew off onto the street and Matthew, his fury building in his body stood up to Kildare with a fire in his own eyes. He would not see another sister killed.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY DO YOU CHASE US?" Matthew shouted, his chest full and strong filled with air, the veins in his body throbbing with the intensity of the beat of his strong heart.

Kildare said nothing but began to walk around Matthew in a circle, like a shark casing his new prey. He smirked a but, revealing his yellow teeth, stained from cigarettes and coffee. His eyes, dark and vacant, his mind under complete control by the treacherous Doshalls that lived above them all in Castle Cyfrinach. The vampire clan, a cult, had done it's duty and found a way to control the entire village to protect their hive. Though others would enter the village, none left alive.

Kildare swung his knife missing Matthew, Matthew swatted the would-be murderer's arm away and with his left-hook bashed the bearded Kildare in the face. A tooth shot out from the man's mouth in a long string of blood and saliva.

Kildare, shellshocked at first, smiled a bloody smile and spit the red liquid out and swung again. The knife lodging into a wall right behind Matthew. Matthew kicked the man in the stomach knocking the air out of him. He fell to the floor allowing Matthew to leap over to Hope who'd gotten up out of the mud. He grabbed her hand and ran off into the rain while Kildare caught his breath.

The siblings ran around the village. Without Kildare's encouragement, the other town's people shut their windows again and hid in their homes. Matthew and Hope saw a church. The bells began to toll the 7:00 evening hour and they rushed over realizing someone was in there.

The burst through the door to find a lone nun standing at the bottom of a long rope that led up to a single bell tower. She turned to her left where a statue of the Madonna and child stood in darkness. The nun quietly lit a candle below it and turned back to drenched Matthew and Hope. 

 The silent nun did not seem surprised at her visitors. She only smiled and replaced her hands inside the large front pouch of her habit and slowly approached them.

"You've caused quite the disturbance in town." The nun said.

"What's going on in this place? Why does it have such heaviness??” Hope asked, the vibrations of evil and darkness quickly vanishing while in the church's sanctuary. Only her echoing voice remained in the air. 

"Can you feel it?" the nun asked. "You can see without using your eyes, am I right?" 

Hope nodded, she was gifted. She had the special gift all her people did, even Matthew - if only he could get back to it. 

"Well, I know not from where you come, but I can tell you both, that this is not the place for you. It’s Nov safe for outsiders who do not know their way.” The nun said vaguely. 

"We're here to help my friends. They're trapped here. In the castle." Matthew explained.

The nun's face froze and she shook her head. "I'm afraid you must leave without them, go back where you came from and never, ever return." 

"I can't do that." Matthew said. 

"We've come so far and we think they're in danger, sister....?" Hope added, hoping to get the sister's name. 

"Anna Bernadette , most people just call me Anna." She answered. 

"Anna, what is this place?" Matthew asked again.

Anna motioned for them to sit in the pews with her. She in front of them. She turned back, her face very round, her cheeks pink as a spring rose. Her eyes were green, greener than anything the two Winterborn siblings had ever seen. She did not know where to start, or how it even began. Goodwick had been this way since the day she was born. It had always been this way. She found herself drawn to the church to keep her from the strange allure of the Doshall family. She knew nothing of them, or what they even looked like, but knew that most of the village, if not the entire village by now, was locked under their spell. Something they'd given to the town that no one could ever give back. It was as if they'd paid off a debt that would last for eternity. 

The Doshalls did indeed hold power of Goodwick, but it was a power that was corrupt and sinister and only the Church could save Anna. There was no priest. There was no other nuns, Anna wasn't even truly ordained, she just came here, alone, and found her peace. 

The Doshalls found it impossible to take her -- the Church walls protected her.

"They never saw me as a threat -- I've been allowed to carry on here with no intrusion from them. But that may change if they know you are here. I cannot harbor you for long." Anna said.

"All we want is to get to our friends and free them. We cannot leave without them." Matthew said again.

"They could kill you where you stand, do you understand that? They would now qualms about it." Anna added. 

"Gabriel," Hope began "is only a child of three years. A baby. He is being held captive there. This is not something his mother, the other person we seek to save, would want. We believe they've been kidnapped and are being held here against their will. A child, Anna, imagine that a little child." 

Sister Anna got up from the pew. The Winterborns got a better look at her home-made habit and realized she really wasn't an actual nun, just a woman who sought safety in the church walls away from the pressures and corrupt evils of the Doshall vampire cult. They could see the express on her face shift, the idea of a child among the creatures worried her. Bothered her. Made her sick, in fact. 

"There's a service entrance but it's dangerous." She said.

"Its all dangerous at this point." Hope said. "But we have to do this." 

"I can take you to the mouth of road that leads up to that place, but not now. The sun is going down soon and the rain has darkened what's left of the day. We will have to go when it's good and bright under the protection of day." She warned.

"Of course." Matthew replied.

"What do they do up there?" Hope asked.

The nun turned back around to face them. The sustained glass windows sparkling dim fractals of light on her freckled face like a rainbow puzzle. A single tear fell down her round moon shaped face. She licked her lips and whispered the word "Kill." 

"Why?" Hope asked.

The nun lifted a brow "Because they can." 

"We can't go back to the Inn." Matthew said. "Not with that maniac out there." 

"You can stay here. There's room. I have food too. They don't bother me, but again, we can't do this for more than a few days. If they break the sanctuary of this place and enter here to kill you, then all is lost for the world." Anna said.

"They can still break the sanctuary? Wouldn't that kill them?" Matthew wondered as the glass windows showed thunderclaps of light in the face of various old saints from a thousand years ago.

"To keep the secret of Goodwick a secret, they will. This is all I have, and I need to be safe here, I need to be here. I NEED to be safe!!!" The nun said, the sound of her voice raising with the thunder outside.

"We want that too, of course! But our friends need our help. Their safety is paramount." Matthew reminded.

"Yes, the child." Anna replied. "Come," she added "you both must be hungry." 

Matthew nodded as Anna began her to the back of the abandoned church to a small door that led into the sacristy. Hope pulled her brother back and whispered, "Should we trust her?"

Matthew grabbed Hope's hand and squeezed, "I think at this point, we have to." 

Hope took a breath and agreed then the followed the nun into the sacristy where she'd prepare a meal for hew to guests--- temporary guests. 

****

Roman meets with Kildare 

Over in the ballroom was being prepared by working villagers for the awakening of  the nocturnal inhabitants. Chandeliers were being cleared and shined, floors waxed, tables set. Goblets wiped and spot-checked for the crimson liquid and life force that would come. 

Roman paced the outer corridor that was still lit with the late afternoon sun. He looked up towards the grandfather clock. He knew soon Dominique would awaken, and she would want to know more of the mixling. It was getting closer and closer to finally using the child’s life force to revert Alexandre back to his ever-living self, and thus safe the Doshall dynasty. The mixling prophecy was inching closer and closer to reality— and Gabriel’s life was just as close to ending if Roman did not intervene.

All these years Roman paid his debts back to Doshall family by keeping the order in Cyfrinach. All this time he worked and toiled and did all he could to keep himself in good graces with the family that took him in and saved him from what would have been certain death had he never found them. He vowed to forever keep their secret, protect them, and do as they wish. 

The prophecy of the mixling seemed unfeasible. He always expected to be free of his debts once Alexandre was dead and gone and the entire Doshall world collapsed in his death. What he did not expect was for the child to be real and what's-more actually be part of Roman's own family. 

He could not allow Gabriel to be used in such a grotesque bloody sacrifice, he could not stand by and see it happen no matter what he vowed when he was in debt to the Doshalls. He had to stop it.

Roman slowly made his way back towards his own room and as he went he passed a large drawing room that had a fire lit in it's heart. Almost instinctively, he went in knowing exactly what was hanging on the walls. Several old medieval weapons from days gone by. One in particular sparked his interest a long dagger like ranseur: a large knife attached to a wooden pole. 

He took the ranseur and removed the dagger that was made a pure silver and broke the wooden pole into a sharp wooden stake and took it to Alexandre's room.

The new day was coming; he would stake the prime vampire in the heart ending the power and control of the Doshalls once and for all.

Roman entered the room. It was as Evie left it. Alexandre lie in bed, his hand still scolded by the light from earlier. He closed the door quietly and walked towards the sleeping monster. Closer and closer he got, the stake in his hand, he slowly lifted above his head to drive down deep into the chest. He was sweating. His heart pounding and then with one full strike the stake came down but suddenly stopped inches from piercing the heart by someone's hand.

"I thought you'd turn back." The voice said from the dark room.

Roman turned toward the person speaking, he knew the voice, it was Kildare. 

"I...I don't know..." Roman began before Kildare interrupted. 

"You don't have to say anything, I know what you wanted to do. We've all thought about it time and time again, but doing this would not end it. I promise you this." Kildare said.

Kildare took Roman by the arm and led him out of the room into an antechamber where there was more light from several candelabras. 

"Will you tell Dominique?" Roman asked the older more stronger Kildare. 

"What would that solve? She'd have you killed and another sad soul would take your place. Why on god's green earth would I do that? Let us all be the end of what the Doshalls have brought to Goodwick." 

"But we won't be the end. Don't you see? If Alexadre actually retains his life force from the mixling, he'll go on forever. We'll die off, they'll enslave others. It has to end somewhere. Why not now?" Roman explained.

Kildare understood where Roman was coming from but the danger was too much, they'd been indoctranated far too long, their lives destroyed for too many years to just suddenly decide it should be over. 

"We cannot." Kildare pushed back. "It would only worsen, I know it. I've seen something you should know." The brawny man said to Roman.

"What is it?" 

"There are strangers in the village. They've come from afar and we must keep them out of here for their own good." 

"How do you know they're not just passing through?" Roman wondered.

"They've asked questions about the Castle. They've wondered about the people here. We tried to frighten them away, I even chased them but them but they've taken refuge at the church. Anna will most likely do the rest for us."

"I wonder who they are." Roman said.

"I enquired at the Inn after I chased them off. A man named Matthew Winterborn and his sister Hope." Kildare said.

"Perhaps they're here for Evie." Roman replied.

"Roman, I'm telling you do not do what you are thinking of, do you understand. If you try and save the woman and her child from what they are meant to do here we will all suffer. This has to happen, and we cannot allow them to leave with these American strangers." Kildare warned. 

"We're talking about a child's life here. How can we stand by and allow this ridiculous fantasy of a prophecy to go on. Alexandre is old and dying, we should let it happen." Roman expressed.

"Fantasy? Do you think this is a fantasy? You have seen the awful deathly things I have seen. You have heard the monstrous screams in the night when they kill, when they hunt. None of what we have witnessed has been part of a fantasy, or a dream -- only a living real nightmare that we all have to suffer through. They've warned if we interfere, Roman, that not only will we pay but our children and our children's children and their children after that. I believe they will, I believe in the awful things they can be capable of -- the Doshall must life for us to live. I need your word you will not interfere with what is about to happen in the coming days." 

Roman stared at Kildare's strong face. He did not fear him, they were friends after all, but he did fear the other mortals who would not understand his plight of removing the venomous vampires once and for all. The other's had families. Children. Homes. They had futures that they would rather live with the Doshalls above them, giving them a bounty of good fortune of seas filled with fish, fat cattle, plenty of grain and greens to keep them fed and happy for centuries to come. 

Removing the Saints from power would seem like a death sentence to them all. They lived in a world that felt almost perfect -- nowhere else in Scotland was like it. No where else in the British Isles was so perfect and serene despite the deadly truth of it all.

The power of allowing these monsters to live in the castle above the village was the reason for this, a blood-thirsty quid-pro-quo. You scratch our back; we won't bite yours.

"Promise me!" Kildare shouted taking Roman by the shoulders.

"I promise. I won't do this again." He said, a half lie. 

Kildare took his leave from the antechamber and went back to sit in the dark of Alexandre's room. Roman followed and took off into the outer corridor back down into the main rooms and the ballroom that was still being set up. He wondered if he would be found out, if his half lie would be exposed. Although he would not try to kill Alexandre again, he surely would do all he could to free his cousins and free himself.

The end was indeed near, but not in the way he hoped. Perhaps the strangers from America would find them and they could all escape together. 

Roman took to his spinning mind and continued to repeat the names of the strangers back in his head:

"Matthew/Hope/Matthew/Hope/Matthew/Hope." He needed to remember them to ask Evie.

Finally -- A plan was forming. 

B8/Ch4: THE THRONE ROOM

Roman & Evie finally meet

The day was late. Evie could see by the glow of the frosted over west-facing window that the sun was dipping back down below the horizon. The only way she could tell the time was by the change in the colors of the glass throughout the day. 

No one had come to see her. She was hungry. Tired. She hadn't slept. She hadn't seen Gabriel in what felt like forever but it had only been little more than 4 days - yet to a young, desperate and frightened mother that was enough to send her to the brink.

Evie paced the room. 

Back and forth, back and forth passed the mound of broken glass from the vase she had thrown at Sebastian. He'd never sent for anyone to clean it up. She worried he'd forgotten about her. But deep down she knew he’d never forget. She worried she'd be left there to die. 

She thought about all the other times she'd been locked away. The asylum. The coffin. The jail cell. Her anger was building into painful memories that she could not shake loose. 

Then Evie stopped dead in her tracks in the room. Her arms fell to her side. She lifted her head and faced the portrait of the mysterious woman staring down at her. She made herself a promise. 

"If I get out of here alive with Gabriel, this will be the last time, I swear to it, the very last time anyone ever locks me away. I will never be taken again." She thought as her hands balled up in fists. 

As Evie continued to think of her past and her future trapped in her current predicament. A key began to jiggle in the lock of her room. She gasped and stood back. The sun was still up, even if it were beginning to fade, it couldn't be Sebastian. Not at this hour.

She backed away from her stance in the center of the room towards a shadowy corner. She wanted to fight, she wanted to be free but she realized, not know who this was it could kill her not knowing her opponent. She thought of lying in wait before pouncing. 

The door slowly creaked open. It was a tall, slender man. His skin tan and caramel in tone. His hair dark and slick. He was beautiful to Evie, and so, so familiar. 

It was Roman Ashby. But Evie could not yet place how she knew this person.

"Evie?" He whispered. "Evie, where are you?" 

The door closed behind him and Evie, still in the shadows unseen reached for a candle stick. Roman walked over to the bed that was covered in shadows thinking Evie was asleep. She crept up behind him, candle stick, upside down with the heavier base high above her head. Just before she was to bring it down on his head, the candle slipped out and fell to the floor. 

The noise startling Roman. He quickly turned and grabbed Evie by the wrists. They struggled. She kicked him in the shin; he yanked at her arm. The force throwing them both on to the bed. She got free of his grasp and jumped back off the bed in search of the candle stick. He too went to her, grabbed her by the arms and yanked her back up so that they were now facing each other.

"EVIE! EVIE STOP! It's me!!! IT'S ME ROMAN!!!" He shouted as they were face to face.

The name froze her solid. 

"Roman?" She asked. She knew of only one Roman. He material younger cousin, the son of her aunt Miranda. But they hadn't seen each other since they were much younger. Over 10 years. Way before Evie left England. 

"I swear to you, it's me. It's really me." He said.

Then she realized it was her cousin. She saw him now, yes, his face was grown, his voice deeper his body taller. It was him.

Evie's body relaxed and she jumped to him embracing him and kissing him over and over on the cheeks. She was saved!

"ROMAN!" She said finally allowing it all to click. "What are you doing here? How did you get in? It was Nikky wasn't it! Nikky and my mother, they realized I would never have left home without saying goodbye and the sent for you in England. ENGLAND! Is that where I am??? Has Sebastian brought us to England????" Evie said, her mind spinning in the face of hopeful freedom.

"Evie, slow down. Slow down, take a breath." He said with a grin as he sat her on the bed. "We have to stay calm now." 

"I need to know where Gabriel, is Roman, I need to find him so we can get out of here." 

"I know, I know you do. But we have to talk about what this place is." He repeated.

She nodded, her mind finally calming. "Ok." 

"Sebastian has brought you and your child to Scotland, we're in a village called Goodwick. Now, Evie, this place, this castle, is owned by a very, very, VERY old and wealthy family from far away. They've moved here centuries ago and have remained here ever since. They're the Doshalls. The village is quiet, not very large, but the Doshalls sort of rule over it like Dukes. Its a power dynamic, they give the town money and safety in return for privacy and protection from the outsiders." 

"Sounds familiar." Evie said with a chuckle thinking if the Lords in Welshport. "By why has he brought us here?" 

"Ironically, Johnathon DeViana told him about me and this place. He told Sebastian to come here." 

Evie was confused. What did Johnathon have to do with any of it? Roman continued. 

"Johnny and I have known each other for a very long time. He lived in London years ago, where he and I met and we remained friends. We bonded on our ties to America and became fast friends. Eventually I became entangled in something bad. I made mistakes and I owed a lot of money to people. The Doshalls helped me and I vowed to be in their service, but I didn't realize exactly what that would mean. When I came to work for them is when they showed me what they really were. I told Johnathon to free my mind of the guilt for helping them do what they do and, as a good friend would, Johnathon never told a soul. Until Sebastian." 

Evie began to realize what Roman was saying. The connection of a secretive group of people who hid in the shadows, how lived only in the night and that Johnathon believed would appeal to Sebastian. The people of this castle were the same as Sebastian. Vampires, dwellers of places only nightmares could invent. Evie stood up. Her mind slowly seeping into a dark place worrying for her child that she had not seen now somewhere in the gullet of this castle with creatures all around that could hurt him.

"I need you to get me to my child, Roman. For the love of god, please. I, I need to see him and take him from here." She said with tears in her eyes.

Roman stood up to console her and grabbed his cousin's hands. "Evie no harm will come to Gabriel, not in a million years. I can guarantee that." 

"How can you? He's already in danger being without me. I need to be with him." She said.

"Gabriel is much too important for anything bad to happen to him. I promise you, I am watching over the mixling with very careful eyes." He said.

Evie shook her head confused "The what? The mixling?" 

Roman felt his heart drop. He'd said too much. "The mixling, it's what the Doshalls call the child they've been told about forever, they've been waiting for a child like Gabriel who's born of a mortal and a vampire. He's very, very important. They need him safe to sustain themselves." Roman explained, leaving out a very important secret detail as to not frighten Evie any further. 

"And Sebastian knows this?" She wondered.

"I don't know what he knows exactly, but it will become clear to him soon." 

"No." Evie said. "We cannot let anything become clear to him. I don't care what this mixling thing mean, but he is my child and I will not allow anyone to put him into danger, Roman. You have to help me. Please!" 

"I am, I promise you I am. But as you know we only have time in the day to escape and even then there are spies all around that protect the castle. The villagers know who comes and goes from here and the understand what the Doshalls need from them. They would not let anything leave here without first hand knowledge that the Doshalls have approved it. It's the deal this village has made. Protect the castle, and much abundance and fortune will come to the village." 

"But they have no right to keep me here." She said. "Or Gabriel." 

"Sebastian has given them the right." He said. "He has brought you all here and now they've taken you in and in essence given you sanctuary. For this, they have taken possession. You are like their property, not guests." 

"That's insane!" She shouted. "That's absolutely insane! We are no one's property Roman, not even you. We have to leave here, do you understand me, we have to get out and go back home. You can come with me. You can be with me and Gabriel and Nikky and my mother. Take me to Gabriel and we'll go." She said.

"Evie, its not that simple. Not yet. We have to be sure it's safe and that none of the spies around the castle and the village will find you out. But trust me, I will free you." he confirmed.

"And Gabriel?" She asked, realizing then that he continued to only speak in terms of freeing her. 

Roman paused. He knew the Doshalls would not let the mixling go without a fight. But this was his family. His true family. His true blood. If there was going to be a moment in his life where he finally let the past go and began formatting his way back to his true self and face the mistakes he made head out without the manipulations and his captors and employers, the Count Doshall and his daughter Dominque, he had to start somewhere. 

And Evie and Gabriel may have finally been the linchpin in his own freedom. 

"I promise you, I will not leave this place without ----" he paused realizing he was now going to say the part out loud he feared the most, he was going to betray the Doshalls. 

"Roman?" Evie asked, reaching for his hands secretly praying he'd agree to help both of them. 

"I will help you both, Evie. I promise you." 

She released his hands and pulled him in to her by the shoulders into a tight hug. He had missed his family. The feeling of closeness and love that had been vanquished by the darkness of the Doshalls. They had given Roman his freedom from monetary debt but had placed him in their own debt for years and years and only now could the young man finally see his exit. It would be a dangerous escape but Roman would soon plan it. 

"We'll have to be careful and it won't be soon, just be patient. I have a plan in the coming days when the rest of those that live here are together. On that night is when we make our escape." He said.

Evie nodded her head. "I love you. I am so glad to see you." She said to her cousin.

He smiled, tears welling in his eyes. And they hugged again not realizing the sun had gone down almost 20 minutes after their conversation had begun.

While this happened, the two cousins had no idea that they were no longer alone in the room. A small shadow of a person had entered the room through a secret passage that only it knew of. It had been watching. It had been listening, and it had been careful not to reveal itself. 

Not yet anyway. 

When Roman left Evie again, locked in her room realizing the night had come, the small shadow person, not much bigger than a 10-year-old child, also left with the information of what it had overheard. 

Evie, now truly alone in her room, waited for Sebastian to return. She needed to play the part of someone now coming to terms with her imprisonment. She had to remain calm. She had to do this to keep herself and her child safe and alive. 

But time was of the essence. 

****

Sebastian meets Dominque 

Night soon fell across the rocky Scottish shoreline that locked in the village of Goodwick. Homes in the village below the castle lit their front window with one single candle that would last the whole night through -- a sign of allegiance to the so called saints that watched over them who slept all day and roamed all night.

Inside Cyfrinach, coffin lids creaked opened and pale gaunt figures dressed in fine robes and coats of silks and velvet emerged. Their faces soon plumped to normal human like form as they levitated from their sleep. It was as if the oxygen in their quarters re-inflated their whole body to what it was before they were creatures of the night. A clever guise to trick the eye of mortals all around them. 

They were hungry, of course, and this being their time to feed continued together from their many rooms down to a giant ball room with 5 glittering chandeliers, tables set as if it were a great king's banquet, a group of villagers in tuxedos playing music, a dance floor shimmering and reflecting every bit of candlelight the room was sparkling in. 

This was routine. This happened every night. Their dusk meant time for a ball, and they awaited their regent Dominique who acted on behalf of her ill father the Count Alexandre. 

For her part, Domnique was always fashionably late to this nightly ball. She sat in her own room dabbing her lips with a crimson tone, her eyelids she shaded with a light brown tone that brought out the amber of her irises. She slipped on several golden rings that had stones of various dark shades and then placed her customary lace vail over her face. 

Almost no one knew what she really looked like under the veil, a very small select number of courtiers were privy to Dominique's face -- she would only reveal herself to those she trusted, those she deemed worthy and those she knew would never attempt to take her life. 

As Dominque stood up to leave her room, there was a knock on her door. She turned not expecting anyone to come to her. Roman, her trusted mortal guide, always met her at the bottom of her private staircase. 

"Enter." She said, trustingly. 

It was in face, a nervous Roman. 

"Roman, what is it?" She asked. 

Roman stepped aside and Sebastian Lord entered. "Ma'am, Mr. Sebastian Lord." 

Dominique let out a low gasp of air; she had no idea he was so handsome. He almost looked -- normal. Not like her. Not like the rest of them. There was something about his face, his skin. It was different, more lifelike. She stared at him as he bowed his head and reached for her hand to kiss the back of it. Her skin to his lips felt colder than he'd realized it would be.

Sebastian was somewhat new to the world he now belonged in. Not 4 years had it happened to him. He still contained a bit of his humanity, it would seem, to Dominique surprise. She had been in her present state for over a century. Most of the followers there are Cyfrinach too were long in their vampirism. Sebastian's freshness gave her a jolt she had not felt in what seemed like several lifetimes. 

"It's a pleasure Mr. Lord." She said softly.

"All mine, your grace." He replied. 

"Please, would you accompany me to the ball?" She asked.

"The ball?" He replied, still unfamiliar with the nightly custom. It was his first since arriving days ago.

"Every night, when we wake, we join together in a meal. Sort of like family gathering before we all set off on whatever it is we need for the night. It's where we celebrate my father and all he's done and hope for his healing which, I hope comes soon." She replied.

"Yes, Roman here has mentioned to me how ill the Count is. I hope that my family's addition to your group has not caused any unneeded stress to your family situation." Sebastian said.

"Not at all!" She countered quickly looping her arm into his and walking him to the corridor and the red-carpeted staircases that led down to the ballroom. "I understand how that may seem, but I assure you, you and your son are very welcome here."

"I have also brought my son's mother." Sebastian said, noting Dominque did not mention her. 

The descended the stairs slowly, Roman behind listening carefully, plotting the escape behind her back, literally. 

"How could I forget, yes, Mrs. Angeline." Dominique said, purposefully mispronouncing Evie's name.

"Evangeline." Roman corrected.

Dominique stopped cold on the stairs and turned to Roman, she still wondered what he was holding back. "Of course." She said coldly. "Evangeline."

**

The others: Evan, Sinead & Jean-Marc

They resumed their descent into the main hall, a room filled with glass figures on the walls, portraits of Doshall family members from centuries behind them. Candelabras of iron crowned with thick white candles that the villagers replaced every single night so that they each night new ones were lit every night. 

The three entered the ballroom to the sound of an audience pushing back their seats and standing for Dominique to enter on Sebastian's arm. Whispers filled the room. This was the first time they had all seen Sebastian; some had seen him from a far, some had only heard of him. But now he was one of them. 

Dominique and Sebastian walked down a center isle that split the room into two parts. The floor was smooth limestone that looked like brown ice and it led to a bordered wooden dance floor and a small stage that had two golden seats on it. It was as if a queen was entering her thrown-room ready to take on the grievances of her public. A large red banner draped behind the two soft chairs held the emblem of the Doshall family: two black dragons tangled in thorns that had three large black dahlias at the bottom. In the center the dragons held a shield that was broken into four parts. The lop left three littler shields in black, the top right a crown, the bottom left a heart with a nail through it and the bottom right another dragon. 

Dominique sat at in ones of the chairs, the other - her father's - remained empty. 

"Please! Enjoy! Carry on!" She said with her arm in the air. 

Then several villagers came out with the night's feast. 

Endless gobbets of blood. 

Seated among the many inhabitants of Cyfrinach Castle were the fraternal twins Sinead and Evan Sheernan. Sinead was the elder twin, by only 3 minutes, and had large chestnut eyes with golden specs. her full lips always perfectly pouted. Her hair tied back in a tight bun was per her custom, and her ears always crowned with elegant drop earrings of pears and gold to match the strands around her neck. She was the picture of a baroque princess that suffered something viscous over 90 years earlier that made her who she was.

She, in turn, did this to her twin brother Evan.

Evan Sheernan, a large man, handsome and fierce, thick in the chest with large hands and big legs never had enough of the goblets. He could drown himself in the blood served and it would never be enough. His eyes were large like his sister's but darker, softed around the edges, and his smile wider and warmer. He was once a man Dominiuque bedded, a man she saw as her suiter but like many things in Dominique's life, she tired of him. He never forgot that. He never forgave that.

Sinead seemed entranced by Sebastian who was searching for a seat. He was the newest edition, a world away from his old life. In his heart he hurt for keeping Evie locked away, but he continued to tell himself this was the best for them all. A safe place among those like him. 

"Here!" A voice said to Sebastian. When he turned it was a boy of only 12 or 13. This was Jean-Marc Clopan. "You can sit here."

Sebastian smiled and walked over to the boy's table, the chair facing the twins, to Sinead's delight. 

Jean-Marc was Dominique's favorite. She found him, years ago, a small baby of Paris, just learning to walk and roaming the streets like a hungry wolf. No one at the table knew how Jean-Marc became the child vampire he was. Everyone that is his adopted mother, Dominique, but she never revealed the truth. Everyone at Cyfrinach knew the code: never ask, she’ll never tell. Especially because there was a code, children were off limits, no one dared create a child into what they were. Jean-Marc was one of a kind.

"How are you finding Cyfrinach, Mr. Lord?" Sinead asked sipping her goblet. 

"Dark." Sebastian joked. "But welcoming." 

"It'll only get darker." Sinead giggled. "It's Scotland after all." 

"It's our home." Evan replied sharply feeling a sense of sudden rivalry with Sebastian as he walked in on Dominique's arm. "And your wife? Has she decided not to join us?" 

Sebastian gulped "Evie is not like us." he said. "She's has her life intact." 

Sinead's eyes widened more than they naturally were. She had no idea there was a mortal among them. Evan too, his heart raced. The feeling of fresh human blood seemed suddenly to excite him. The blood they drank every night at the balls were from the many cattle and livestock the villagers provided. They only had human blood every full moon to mark the hopeful coming of the mixling. 

"Does she know?" Sinead said, referencing the often-secretive life of vampires.

"She does." Sebastian replied as a goblet was placing in front of him. He sipped. 

"What about your son?" Jean-Marc suddenly said to the surprise of the table. No one was to speak of the mixling unless Dominque did first. The child, of course, knew no rules he did not want to break.

"Jean-Marc!" Sinead said. "You know not to be so nosey." 

The boy frowned and played with his white linen napkin twisting it around his finger in several knots. 

"It's alright." Sebastian replied. "Gabriel is doing fine. I've done my best to keep him happy and Roman has also been a great help." 

"Yes Roman is a wonder to us all." Sinead replied to Sebatian, as she looked over at Roman who was standing with his arms behind him at Dominique's side. 

"Roman," Dominuque said softly from under her vail. "Come here." 

Roman nodded and stepped up where Dominique was seated as a woman from the village handed her a goblet. She carefully lifted the front of her veil to drink as Roman came closer. 

"Yes?" He asked. 

"What is it?" She wondered. 

"Ma'am?" 

"Something is different with you. I've noticed how distant you are since the mixling arrived and I'm beginning to worry for you." She said.

"Distant? No, I've been at your service as usual." Roman protested. 

"Not physically." She said. "You've blocked me." She replied.

He knew what that meant. He knew that anyone around her was obligated to allow her always to be in their minds. It was the way of Cyfrinach, no one, not a single person there, mortal of vampire, was allowed to mentally block the preverbal crowned princess Cyfrinach. She had total control while Count Alexadre was considered ill. Roman felt trapped, caught in a web he did not know he was in. 

In truth, Roman did not know he had blocked her mentally, it was a natural event his psyche created itself to help him process what to do next for Evie and Gabriel. The idea he did it on purpose was dangerous and if it were to seem her was doing it to thwart anything done for the sake of Alexandre's life -- it could mean death for him and Evie. 

"Not at all, it must be the excitement of the mixling's arrival, or perhaps tiredness. It has been a very long week. I assure, I have not done it to you on purpose." He replied, truthfully. 

Dominique lifted her chin so that their eyes met. She still could not enter his mind telepathically, and touching him would cause a great rumble in the room, vampires only touched mortals to enter their minds, it would have been a sign of distrust from her part. 

"Sleep." She said to him. "I need you to sleep, we'll find someone to watch of the mixling in the day." She said, believing Roman's mind block was due to his exhausted brain." 

"Yes ma'am. I'll have one of the village women stay." 

With that, Domnique stood up and the room fell silent. 

She handed Roman over her goblet which he took and then he went back down the three steps from the stage and Dominique moved from the two thrones over to the edge of the stage to address her followers.

"My dear friends. Thank you for joining us once again on this night. The ballroom is filled with an energy I have not felt in my veins in over a century." She said, glancing over at Sebastian through her veil. "I suspect you feel it to." 

The crowed murmured agreement. 

"We have come to a great place in our history. The hope of my father's revitalization could be days away and it is with my hope and heartfelt love that all of you will join me in that celebration. I raise this glass to his name, may the future come swiftly for his return to this room with us in sorely missed." 

The crowned lifted their own glasses of blood and cheered "Here! Here!"

Sebastian felt something in his body. Something he too had not felt in a long time. It was what Dominique was talking about. The energy of the room. It was in him. It was apart of him. And in reality, it actually was him. He was making this energy. He was the fresh new life (so to speak) that was bringing on the hope of the future. 

And yet -- he was not. Sebastian foolishly had yet to realize his own child was what they were talking about and hoping for and expecting. The mixling, the blood of this child he loved was to be the formula to bring back the dying vampire to save him from death.

"Let us now join together in thanksgiving for the new day is coming." Dominque said.

The room stood. Sebastian, unsure what to do, stood as well. 

Every table locked hands. Jean-Marc smirked and grabbed Sebastian's hand and mouthed "Close your eyes." 

Seeing the room begin this ritual, all of the village servants quickly scattered back into the rooms outside of the ballroom, all except Roman. 

A flash of lightening lit the six long slender windows of the room.

Dominique began to levitate above the stage. 

All of the others soon did too. They hissed, shaking their fangs, they laughed gleefully, wickedly. There was a heat in the air of the room of mysterious origin.

A wind came from nowhere blowing through the room. Chanting begin. The fireplace at the back of the room burned hotter. The windows blew open allowing the cold air to swirl around. 

The chanting called for the sun to never rise again. For the world to be theirs. For their lives to last forever without resistance from the outside world, for the continued leadership of Count Alexandre Doshall, for the continued guidance of his daughter the veiled Dominque and for the power of the mixling's blood to life their world higher in power and prestige with Alexandre's recovery.

The mysterious wind blew stronger. 

Roman's eyes watered knowing his own family now was at the mercy of this feverish, bloodthirsty cult.

Dominique would stop at nothing, now, for the power of the mixling. 

The room calmed. Sebastian felt an immense power within him. Something he had never felt before in all his life. He felt invincible and strong.

"Come! COME!" Dominique said to Sebastian. 

He went to her on the stage and she slowly came back down to the ground.  

"HE IS THE REASON!" She shouted to the calming room. "Sebastian Lord is the reason for our celebration, the fruit of his being shall forever bring us life!" 

The thunder clapped again and the room cheered their new favorite. 

Evan's eyebrow raised, he was not impressed with the American vampire, but he stayed quiet while his elder twin sister Sinead squealed with delight at the handsome Sebastian's newfound fame. 

“You see, this is the place you belong.” Dominique said to Sebastian. “This can be your home now too.”

“I’d like that, I think.” Sebastian replied. 

“We could be — close Sebastian. We can make things work in magically ways. Together.” Dominique said as her hands rested on his shoulders.

He looked into the veil that covered Dominique’s face to find some sort of softness to her. She lifted her veil sensing his search of her face to show him a woman that seemed to be in her early 50s, but in reality much older. She smiled almost shyly but all of this was a clever plot to bring Sebastian into her hold— her bewitching gaze deepened.

She stood on her tip toes and closed her eyes. 

He felt a strange pull towards her that he did not do. There was a warmth in his stomach, nerves, erotic lust for a woman he just met. But the kiss, so destined by Dominique did not come.  

“I…I should go back.” Sebastian said nervously. 

Dominique opened her eyes, disappointed, but not defeated. “Of course.” She said moving aside for him to go back into the audience. 

As Dominique sat back down over on one of the thrones and Sebastian mingled with the other members of the Saints of Goodwick, Sinead walked over in a flurry of happiness to throne and approached. 

"May I?" She asked standing just below the steps leading to the stage. 

Seeming annoyed, Dominique allowed her to come up.

"I just have to say, this is some of the most excited I have been a in very long time, Dominique, you must be ecstatic." Sinead gushed. "What will we do with him?" She added turning to look out at Sebastian in the distance of the room.

"We?" Dominique asked with a arched brow. "What is this we?"  

Sensing Dominque's sudden mood change after the ritual of the blood where everyone seemed to explode with joy, Sinead dipped into a small curtsey. 

"I only mean us, as a whole. The court." 

Dominique stood up and walked over to Sinead who was still down in her curtsey. She put her hands under Sinead's chin and lifted her face up so that their eyes met. She could sense the eagerness of the younger more beautiful vampiress, almost like a bee searching for more flowers to pollinate. But this touch was not just to look a rival in the eye, Dominique's skin touching another could see into their mind. See into their soul, if they had one, and see into their every desire and want.

Sinead, hunger for the affections of the Doshall dynasty, wanted this attention and wanted to somehow be more to the Court than just another thirsty face. She wanted Sebastian and all the glory that came with it. 

"You keep your head on your own pillow." Dominique said with a stern voice. "I'll handle the future of this court the way It's supposed to be handled until my father's health returns. Are we clear?" 

"Yes, of course." Sinead replied. "I did not mean to offend.

Evan watched this interaction. His own history with Dominique a sorted affair gone wrong. She was the one that made him, and he made Sinead. A chain reaction of violence mixed with lust and love that no one ever dreamed of. He wanted to intervene, he wanted Dominique's hands off his sisters face. But he he knew his place. He sat back and watched the vampire queen rule from her throne with her sickly touch.

Dominique narrowed her eyes and released her hand from the beautiful face of Sinead, "You never do, love. You never do." 

"When will the mixing be ready?" Sinead asked.

"In four days time. Arameed must perform a ritual after the first sickle moon comes."

"Then I await with great patience." Sinead said as she left the small stage and headed back into the audience.

"What was that?" Evan asked her, grabbing his twin by the arm as she passes him. "I've warned you not to get too close." 

Sinead yanked her arm out of his grasp. "You wait too long for our time to rise, I work at it every day. Just you wait, by the end of four day's time you and I may be the one's sitting on that throne." 

**

In another room far away from the ballroom a mystical man sat at Count Doshall's bedside.

They called him Arameed and he too was one of the saints of Goodwick. But with extra powers that would lead to the mixling lifeforce entering Alexandre.

Arameed's powers were strong. Supernatural. Bewitching.

His beard, white as snow tickled the top of the bedsheets Alexandre slept in as he checked on the dying vampire. 

"He breathes." Arameed said softly to himself. "In time. In time." He again said patting the boney shoulder of the skeletal man needing the blood of the infant to live. 

As Arameed sat back down and rested his tired eyes, he saw something in his mind. 

A ship.

The sea.

And a coming threat to everyone in the castle. 

****

Hope & Matthew on the ship to Scotland 

While the so-called Saints of Goodwick reveled in their newfound hope, and Arameed sensed an impending doom, the ship that carried his prediction charged along the raging ocean towards the British Isles. 

The ship carried the sleeping Winterborn siblings Matthew and Hope. 

The waves bashed up against the hull cutting through the water like a cofmet into space. Arameed, knew this. He saw this. He felt it. The man with so many powers so steeped into the dark world sat in the room next to dying Alexandre and although this vampire sorcerer did not know who or what was aboard the ship headed to Scotland, he knew in his bones that he needed stop it's reach.

Sleeping in the small cots, Matthew and Hope suddenly felt a large jolt, so strong, Hope fell out of her cot and woke. She gasped as the ship violently lifted in the sea and crash back down to the surface. Matthew awoke and went over to his sister who was sliding backwards toward the wall of their tiny room.

"What's happening?" She said. 

Matthew reached to her, lifted her just in time as their porthole burst open as sea water gushed in crashing and pushing everything to the wall. 

They were drowning in their own room, thanks to the powers of Arameed.

Matthew was able to unlock their door and open it, he yanked on Hope's hand and pulled her down the small corridor though the belly of the ship. The water followed.

It was at their ankles. Then their knees. Then their waists. 

The two got to a staircase that had a locked gate that led up to another staircase and then up to the deck of the ship. 

"Where is everyone?" Hope said, the panic in her voice clear as a bell.

Matthew did not answer, he grabbed hold of the bars and tried to slide them apart so that they could get through and up to the deck before the ship filled with water.

"Are we sinking? We're sinking!!" She said. 

Matthew again, did not answer. He pulled and pulled and yanked on the bars that were thin and linked together like an accordion. He pulled and pulled and finally they parted enough for Matthew and Hope to step though sideways. 

"Hurry!!" Matthew said, quickly jumping through and handing his hand to his sister. 

She was frozen with fear and only looked back to where their open bedroom was and water was gushing like a waterfall. 

"HOPE!!" Matthew shouted. "HURRY!" 

His voice snapped her out of her fear and she took his hand and squeezed through the small opening he made with his strength. The two quickly ran up the wooden staircase, the water weighing their clothes down.

As the two turned the corner to go up the last staircase, water suddenly gushed down on them pushing them back to the bottom of the staircase. 

They got up, completely overwhelmed by the water from the top. Matthew grabbed hold of his sister and yanked her up again. They ran, as fast as they could, back up the staircase to the surface. They went as fast as they could through what seemed like a torrential downpour of rain and water from the sea. 

There was water everywhere. Arameed had controlled the sea and air with powers unprecedented to anyone ever before him and was attempting to sink the ship Matthew and Hope was on. Suddenly a giant wave raised itself high, high up into the sky and fell down on the ship sinking it deep into the ocean. 

Down.

Down.

Down the ship went. Spinning in a circle as if swirling through drain.

Matthew and Hope went along with it, into the dark blue sea of the North Atlantic. 

And then, a miracle. Matthew woke up. Sweating. Gasping for air. Searching for light. Choking on what he thought was the sea. Believing he and his sister were dead.

But he was safe. In his cot. His sister next to him grabbing at him to wake up. 

"Matthew, my god, you were having a nightmare." She said.

Matthew swallowed hard. "Something doesn't want us in Scotland." He said. 

"What?"

"I think they know we're coming, I think they sense us. They were warning me." He said.

"Who?" 

Matthew didn't see a face that would tell him exactly who was trying to dissuade him from coming but he knew it in his gut that this nightmare, the nightmare of drowning was a clear use of Matthew's own memories against him. Matthew almost drowned close to two years ago when his fishing ship sank 50 miles west from where he was now.

"I'm afraid, Matthew." Hope said. "I want to help you, but this is frightening. The powers that you sensed just now in your dreams are something I don't think our people have ever encountered."

Matthew agreed "But it's too late. We're almost there and I can't turn back. Evie and Gabriel's lives are in danger. How can I abandon them knowing what I know?" 

"Then, we'll have to move as carefully as possible now that they've sensed us." Hope resolved. "We have to use our own knowledge of these dark evils and be sure that they cannot enter our minds like this any ever again." 

"But how? When we sleep, we're vulnerable. Just like tonight." 

Hope raised an eyebrow and stood up from her perch next to her brother's cot. 

"Leave that to me." She said as she went over to the porthole and carefully unlatched the gold lock allowing the glass two swing open. The air from the sea entered the circular window. Spray from the ocean sprinkled on Hope's perfectly peach shaped face. She closed her eyes as far off lightening flashed and for a split second, she shone in Matthew's eyes a simple curvy silhouette of herself. 

She said nothing but raised her arms so that they were reached out almost touching the tiny room's walls.  She hummed a song, something Matthew had never heard and watched through the porthole as the dark night sky filled with purple clouds began to shape into the shape of a fox. He swirled together and suddenly split the sky in two and vanished up into the air high above them no longer visible to their eyes.

Then the clouds swirled around Castle Cyfrinach and a bright light of lightening shook the castle walls awakening Alexandre from his death like sleep. He gasped for air screaming into the night frightening even the darkest heart like Arameed himself. 

The dark Count began to throw up blood flooding the bed, staining the sheets. Arameed quickly got up to help his master and clean him while maids came to help as well. Arameed soon realized these were no regular foes he was about to meet. 

They would be formidable adversaries with powers that could possibly match his own.