Chapter-7

-Previously in DiR-

"Five days and you're standing here, Nathan." Mother exclaimed. "It is the power in her blood I am talking about."

"How is this—"

"Majesty,"

I was interrupted by a guard coming in the room.

"How dare you to interrupt us?" I asked.

He shivered in response and mother allowed him to talk. I knew mother could hear his thoughts but he spoke nevertheless.

"Two humans have escaped."

"What?"

"Karen has escaped with her friend." Mother said.

I had trusted her. All the trust crushed.

I would never forget her for this.

"I'm going for the search." I said.

***

"Better to fight for something than live for nothing."-George S. Patton

Chapter-7

-Karen-

"Ouch!" I screamed when another bush scraped me over my right leg.

"I don't know where we are going, Karen." Jon coughed and started to walk slowly.

The situation we were in reminded me of the first time we had come to the Escoffier mansion. The only difference was we were now trying to escape it.

"We can't stop. We have to keep moving on," I said looking around. "They'll find us."

"Can't we stop for a minute or so?" He asked. "I'm tired."

I looked up at the night sky. There were too many stars hanging on it making it beautiful. We had been running and panting for an hour or so and were not able to find any way to escape this place. The kingdom seemed to expand as we ran. Now, Jon and I were walking like snails exhausted and drained from energy.

I stopped walking and sat down on a rock. Jon followed me. He was breathing hard. There was worry on his handsome face. Suddenly, an image of smiling Nate came in my mind. He was a cute vampire, sometimes he was brooding and sullen but he was so sweet to me. He never even bit me. I saw his fangs many times which he showed me for my entertainment.

This was a very weird statement to make but I kind of missed him. Maybe running away was not a good option. Maybe Nate was worried for my whereabouts. We had come close during these days. Every morning when I woke up he was there at my bedside waiting to talk to me.

Whatever! He was a vampire!

"How far?" Jon asked.

"I don't know," I said wiping off the sweat on my forehead.

I really didn't know where we were going. We hadn't come across any house or anything yet. The forest was never-ending. Thank goodness, there were no animals. I mean we didn't hear any animal making noise. Safe, right?

"You don't know?" Jon screamed. "Karen I thought you had a plan."

I smiled sheepishly. I had a plan. Plan A was to escape the mansion somehow but plan B was never in its beginning stages. I feared Jon's anger if I told him this. I only knew we had to keep moving.

"What's that noise?"

We listened in the pin drop silence (of course there were sounds of birds and all). Some footsteps sounded close. I could estimate more than two people approaching us.

"Who can be it?" Jon asked getting up.

I also got up and concentrated on the noise. It was coming towards us.

"RUN!!!" I yelled.

We ran and ran. I knew it was Nate's soldiers. They would be coming behind us to catch us. We had to get away.

I moved all the bushes which came in our way. We ran like maniacs. If we were caught they would never let us go. There was no way I was going to spend my whole life in that mansion.

I knew the soldiers would catch up soon with us but we should always try before giving up. I wanted to return to my world where we belonged. I couldn't think of living with these blood sucking monsters.

Even though Nate was always nice to me, his brother had some other plans for me and him. I was sure he hated Nate and wanted him dead. He would be planning this for years. I had to stay away from court politics. There must be a way to escape this nightmare.

Jon was behind me. I could hear him breathing heavily. He had a body of an athlete and could run faster than me. But he was protecting me. He thought he could protect me from Nate's soldiers. A boy could dream. I didn't mention to him how strong they were. Jon barely read books about vampires. He only knew they slept in coffins and drank blood. Sleeping in coffin was clearly out of question. Nate slept on his bed. Drinking blood was the only thing books got right.

I collided to a very hard surface and Jon stopped dead on his tracks.

I cried out in pain and looked up to the wall.

It wasn't a wall, it was a person. A very pale person. He didn't seem older than us. And he was smiling down at us. He had fangs. There was a sardonic look on his face. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. He took my arm in hand and raised it to smell it. My arm had bruises with blood on it.

"You smell good, darling." He said. "Doesn't she, Marcus?"

I heard footsteps beside me.

When I looked in that direction, another vampire appeared. He was taller than the first one but the look was same. He was the second hungry vampire.

"Oh, she is. I trust you, Raymond." He smiled.

The guy, whose name was Raymond clenched my arm forcefully and spun me around to him again. He brushed away my hair from my neck and stated at neck like an animal looked at his prey. Jon was in the grip of the other man called Marcus.

"Let's taste heaven," Raymond said before titling his head down to my neck.

I shouted and tried to push him back. He was like a real wall. He wasn't moving and I knew it was my end. I closed my eyes giving up.

I waited for the pain and when it didn't come I opened my eyes. The grip was gone and the vampire was being held on the stem of a large tree. The person was holding him by his neck. Nate's eyes were burning with fury.

He was choking him. I stared, my eyes opened wide. The soldiers were holding Marcus. Jon was white as sheet with fear.

"You touch her and I kill you," Nate growled.

I had never known he could be this much angry. He was always calm and composed. But now the Nate standing in front of me was someone else. His fangs were shinning in the moonlight. His posture screamed of blood and murder. I had to stop him.

"Nate," I said and when he didn't listen I raised my voice. "Nate, don't kill him."

Nate turned around and his eyes landed on me. They were filled with fury but I could see there was hurt in his eyes behind the mask of anger. He was hurt I had betrayed him.

He took away his eyes away from me and increased the pressure of his death grip on Raymond. Raymond withered in pain. His mouth was open and he was begging for mercy.

"Forgive—me—prince," He was saying. "S—he—is—yo—urs—we didn't—know."

Nate didn't listen to what he said next. A bone cracking noise was heard and I looked at Nate in horror. He had snapped Raymond's neck and he tore it off his neck with his fangs and tossed it into the deep forest. The lifeless body of the vampire lay on the ground. There was blood on ground.

My breathing became heavy. I lost it completely. A strong feeling of nausea washed over me. I had just seen a person—a vampire getting killed in front of me. I heard Jon vomiting.

Nate walked towards me slowly. I took my steps back. I was with a killer. I thought he was different but no all vampires were same. He was made to kill. He wasn't a cute, handsome vampire. He was a demon. He was a killer.

"Karen," He whispered my name.

My name from his tongue did captivating things to me. I could resist him only if I closed my ears or ignored him.

"Stay away from me," I raised my hands in front of me to keep him away. "You're a monster."

"I know," His whisper was closer now.

His cold hands touched my warm ones sending a wave of shiver through my body. I hated the feeling. I wanted to hate him. I looked at his lips which were tainted with blood. There was blood smeared on his face.

He had just killed a vampire. One of his own kind.

"You broke the trust, Karen."

I looked at him. He seemed all calm and composed but there was something in his eyes that told me he despised me greatly for what I had done.

He was still looking at me. His barred fangs indicated one situation.

He was going to kill me.

-Nathaniel-

She was afraid of me. She must be. I had killed a vampire in front of her and I was expecting her to be afraid of me. I wanted her to fear me.

I had tried to be her friend. I trusted her even when I knew humans were not to be trusted in any case. I had given her all the respect she needed while she was in the mansion. If she was expecting more from me she could have just asked for it.

"I want to go home, Nate!" She screamed.

I looked at her with surprise. I thought she would be sacred of me. But she was screaming at me. Her eyes were burning with anger. Tears rolled down her cheek.

"I had to escape," She shouted. "I can live here."

I could not let her go even if I wanted her to. Mother had told me only Karen's blood worked for me. She was like a power source for me. I couldn't let her go to her world back again.

"I told you," I said calmly. "You can't go anywhere."

I was acting calm even when the entire veins in my body were exploding with anger. The foolish vampire had to die because he had touched my Karen. How dare that creature to think about her in a blood gaining way? He had to be executed.

"I have to." She said softly.

She touched my arm and looked into my eyes. I felt her emotions clouding my head, making me dizzy. I was suddenly weak. My legs trembled.

"I have to go, Nate."

I pulled myself away from her and went towards the only thing she cared about here. Her friend.

I took him by his hair and dragged him in front of her. She screamed and pleaded for me to stop. I couldn't stop, the fury was blinding me. Her friend cried out in pain and that sound made me enjoy the scene somehow.

The boy tried to free him but all in vain. I was thousand times stronger than him. He could do nothing when my hands were on him. He tried pushing and pulling. He howled in pain, his teeth were gritted and he was fighting me. I smiled. He was like a small boy to me. I was the one who had the power to finish him. He was brave. I would give him that. But his bravery was leading him nowhere.

I was behaving like my brother, Victor. He always smiled and rejoiced the moment whenever he killed someone.

"Leave him, Nate." She screamed. "Please."

I hated to hurt her this way. I knew she had a very soft corner for this boy. I felt jealousy rising in my chest. The old heart wasn't working properly but there was the feeling of jealousy in the deepest pits of my stomach. A stomach where for years I had felt only one thing. Hunger.

"Nate, you can't hurt him." Karen said like she knew me. "Please leave Jon."

The boy succeeded in standing up on his wobbly legs and the soldiers took steps towards us. I stopped them with my hand. I could handle him on my own.

Jon was moving his hands in the air rapidly. Maybe he was trying to get hold of me. I tightened my grip on his hair and pulled his head back. There were tears in his eyes because of the pain I was giving him. He didn't seem to let them go.

"I'll do anything just let him go." Karen cried out.

"Say you'll never leave this place yourself." I said.

"I can't promise," She said softly.

I pulled hard on the boy's hair. He groaned.

"Okay, okay." She said. "I'll never leave this place."

"Swear on it." I growled. "If you don't follow it, you'll die."

She could break my trust again. I could not forgive her ever but I could make sure she made the promise with a sealing. Swears which are taken in my world could only be broken by death. She had to know this.

"I'll swear only at one condition." She said.

I could let her give me any conditions she was talking about. All I wanted was her to never leave.

"Tell me the condition,"

"You swear you'll complete the condition." She said.

She was playing my game on me.

"Tell the condition first," I said. "I can decide after hearing the condition."

"No," She insisted. "I swear if you fulfil my condition then I'll never leave this place myself."

I groaned. She was impossible. She had sworn so intelligently. I had never given a thought to create conditions like this. In a way, if I wanted her never to leave I had to fulfil her demand. Her demand could be anything.

I thought for a while. She could ask for anything but because she had already sworn she could not change it and she wouldn't leave this place ever again. So I was in the winning position.

"I swear, I'll fulfil your condition." I let the words come through my mouth.

A lightning struck in the sky and thundering followed it. It happened whenever anyone swore on anything in our family. The deal between Karen and me was sealed as a real pact which could be broken with ones death.

"My condition is," She started and looked at Jon who was struggling to get out of my hold. "Let Jon go back to our world."

A/N Sorry, sorry no updates for a long time. I know you'd be very angry and ready to kill me like Nate killed Raymond but guys, I've many exams coming up and I'm under lot of pressure. Btw, love you all for the support and guidance.

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-M_m