“Now, be a dear, and come with me or I will rip his heart from his chest, and you will get to feel that too. I will kill your mate here and now.”
Fuck.
I was still aching from the last attack he went through, and now it was as if I were dying. I fell to my knees clenching my chest, and trying to breath as Darius’ heart became tighter.
“Hurry now, mouse.” She squeezed again.
“Ha – Hay – ley.” Darius said through breaths.
“Okay, alright! Stop!”
I shouted as she suddenly let go, and pulled her now bloody hand from his chest, leaving a deep wound. He fell to the floor, and I rushed to lift him up, his head resting on my lap as he looked up at me with grateful eyes.
“What is it you want, mother?”
“Just my daughter, to be back at my side, now and forever.”
“Is that all?”
“Well, no, but Angelique will explain that, I’m sure. Now get up, we have things to do.”
Clapping her hands together, the same werewolves from earlier appeared out of nowhere. One lifted me off the ground, and then the other hooked Darius’ arm over his shoulder and heaved him up.
With a tight hand on my shoulder pushing me, we followed my mother, and soon enough we were marched into a large room, a ballroom in fact. Decorated in blood red, black, and royal purples, vampires stood idly on either side, and the huntress in me begged to be let free to dust them all.
Angelique sat on a throne at the head of the room with two large Doberman Pinschers on either side of her. Both solid blacks, and clearly used as a way to instil fear in innocent humans when they were dragged here against their will.
My mother stood at the foot of Angelique’s chair as Darius was thrown down to the floor, and I was left standing with my arms crossed behind my back, held there by one of the werewolves as I waited to find out what the hell was going on.
“Lovely! Reunited with mommy! Jacqueline, isn’t it lovely your daughter has finally joined us?”
“Indeed, it is, my friend. Now, how to keep her from leaving.”
“That’s easy, we kill her beloved.”
A lightbulb moment went off as I looked down at Darius who was still weak, and just barely managing to keep himself on his knees. Crossing my arms, I pushed him over with my leg, watching his face hit the floor, and I hated myself for doing it but, I was testing out a theory. Both Angelique and my mother stopped talking and looked at me with dead straight eyes.
“Kill him for all I care, but I will be leaving.”
I watched as the wheels in Angelique’s head began to turn, and she looked at me with a blood lust deep in her eyes. For a moment, I thought I might get away with it, be able to escape and then gather my recruits and rescue Darius, but I was wrong.
“No harm will come to my son.”
Great, more surprises. A woman with long black hair stepped out from one of the crowds that had gathered to watch us, and almost all of them slightly bowed their heads to her. Serena. There was no denying it, Darius looked so similar to her, it was nerve wracking.
“Which one of you hurt him?”
She shot a look towards the werewolves that stood behind me and both of them lowered their heads shaking them.
“Not us, mistress. It was her.”
The short one pointed at my mother, and you could feel the sudden change in temperature as it filled with rage. Before anyone could blink, my mother had the werewolf in a choke hold, lifting him up from the ground, she bared her teeth at him as he tried to break her grip.
“You stupid little mutt!”
She shouted at him, but before she could do any more damage, a great white light shot out from Serena, and knocked my mother right off her feet and towards one of the walls in the room, slamming her body against the stone.
“I warned you, Jacqueline, no harm was to come to my son.”