Unknown P.O.V."Are the final preparations for the memorial service being made?""They're being completed now, sir."He nodded in satisfaction."Will she be there?"The young man nodded, the hands that were clasped behind his back shook as he did so."Yes, sir, she will be.""And he'll be with her, I presume?""Yes, sir."The young man let out a shaky breath."Is that all you need from me, sir?"He wove his hand, dismissing the young man."Yes, Zak. That's all."Ella's P.O.V."Ouch!""Sorry, watch your head.I sat down in the plush leather seat rubbing my head."That warning came a little too late," I told Daniel, who was swinging luggage into the overhead compartment above me."Technically, I gave you one before that," he retorted, closing the compartment."I don't think shouting 'Four!' counts," Jai said, shuffling in behind him with his two duffle bags.Daniel just shrugged."Knock it off, you two," Cain said, entering the cabin of the plane."Go help everyone else load the rest of
My grip on Cain's hand loosened as I fought for oxygen.The weight of shock in seeing my grandfather made me feel like I had an elephant on my chest.I felt like I was seeing a ghost.Do I run to him? Do I run away?My grandfather was supposed to be dead, but there he was. After nearly two months of searching, my answers were only about a hundred feet away. I began to take a step in his direction, but Cain tugged me back with the hand that still held mine."Don't," he said as I turned to look at him."But Cain..." I said softly, still somewhat dazed.He shook his head slowly, his sharp eyes still trained on my grandfather."Something isn't right," he said. "You're not staying here.Cain began to pull me away and I tried to resist, turning to look at my grandfather.He was gone."Where did he go?"My voice was drowned in the sea of conversations that were going on in multiple dialects around us. An overwhelming sense of dread began to wash over me as I frantically scanned the crowd for
Narrative P.O.V."Put the building in a lockdown. No one leaves and no one enters."Upon hearing the Alpha's command, the large wooden doors were closed immediately."I want this building searched from top to bottom," Cain said to Dinesh.Dinesh walked away swiftly, giving orders in Marathi through a radio hidden in the hem of his shirt sleeve."Where is the guest list?" Cain asked, pointing to Daniel."I have it," Jai said, producing a clipboard from the bag he had slung around his shoulders."What's going on?" Daniel asked, alarmed by Cain's command for outlandish security measures."We have an uninvited guest in the form of Otto Müller," Cain said, taking the list from Jai.Daniel went pale."Where's Ella?" he asked."Locked in the car." Cain said.Jai's facial expression morphed to one of confusion."You just locked her in the car?" He asked.Cain said nothing as his eyes scanned the guest list."You honestly think that he listed himself as Otto Müller?" Daniel asked in disbelief.
Ella's P.O.V.I watched in a cold sweat as Cain and my grandfather held each other's glare.Using the moment of distraction to my advantage, I whipped around and, in one fluid motion, yanked my arm from my grandfather's grip and swung the other one to slap him across the face.He stumbled away in shock and I took several steps backwards until I ran into something hard.I turned around to see Cain wink at me."I was wondering how long we were going to have to stand there until you did that," he said sarcastically.I shook my hand, which was now stinging from the slap.Two of Dinesh's men each ran up and grabbed my grandfather."We can handle this from here," Dinesh said.He began to thrash around in their arms. As he did so, my grandfather turned his head to look at one of the men."Would you unhand me?" he said angrily.I raised a hand to cover my mouth."Cain," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.He leaned in, a look of concern on his face."Look at his neck," I said.Cain turne
Unknown P.O.V.Rain poured down on the grassy plains that stretched on for miles outside the window. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed closely by a crack of thunder.The sound of the heavy rain pattering against the glass panels of the window competed with the cracking of logs that burned in the hearth of the large stone fireplace.The gloomy evening did nothing to lighten the moods of those in the castle as they observed the storm."Where are we in implementing Plan B?" the man asked in annoyance.As he spoke, his attention turned away from the window to the man who entered his study. The subordinate came to stand in front of him, shaking in fear."The teams have been dispatched, sir. They are required to check in with us once they have reached their destinations, before they complete the task."He drew in a deep breath."Have we found the plane yet?"The young man stumbled over his words as he tried to answer the question."Not exactly, sir. We have the coordinates for the
Narrative P.O.V."I appreciate all of the physical evidence you left for us to determine who this guy was," Jai said sarcastically.Cain looked up from where he sat, crouched next the couch where he had laid Ella down. He stood up wiping the blood on his hands onto the shorts he had just changed into."He was barely alive before I could even kill him," Cain said, throwing on a t-shirt.Daniel looked at Cain incredulously as he placed his hand over his nose and mouth to mask the smell of the scattered entrails."So he was an old one?" Jai asked, still inspecting the larger pieces of flesh."Ancient," Cain said."At least seven-hundred years old."Daniel's eyebrows furrowed."So clearly they were never extinct," he noted.Cain shook his head."He wasn't feeding regularly. Vampires are immortal if they remain well-nourished. He hadn't fed in at least a month," he said.Jai looked at him with a raised eyebrow."There's certainly ample evidence of blood in his veins," he said.Cain ran his
Ella's P.O.V.I woke to the smell of burning pine.I was engulfed by the large bed I laid in and the warmth surrounding me from the heavy fleece blanket that tucked me in made me want to go back to sleep.I was more comfortable in that moment than I had ever been in my life. But then I remembered that I had almost been killed by a version of Gollum that needed a dentist and an exorcism.I could still picture the carnage that was spread across the room from the attack and the putrid copper odor of that creature's blood would be something that I never forgot.I pulled myself up from the bed and sat up slightly to look around.The bedroom I was in wasn't very big, maybe twenty feet from one far corner to the other. Dark wooden paneling covered the walls and ceiling. There was a small stone fireplace embedded in the wall facing the bed. A stuffed elk's head hung over the mantle.Next to the bed on one side was a wall with a bay window.There were curtains pulled over the windows but I cou
Ella's P.O.V.When I woke, Cain's warm embrace was gone.The room was still dark, leading me to believe I hadn't slept past dawn. This didn't surprise me due to the fact that I'd slept enough in the past twenty-four hours to get me through the next three days.I sat up in the bed to see that the fire in the fireplace had burnt out, only glowing embers remaining in the hearth.The bedroom door was just barely open as I got out of the bed and wandered over to it, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I did.SO.I opened the door slowly to see the living room was barely illuminated by the hauntingly blue glow of the coming dawn.My guess was that it wasn't even five o'clock yet."Surprising to see you up so early."I turned to see Cain standing at the counter, one arm crossed over his bare chest and the other raising a stainless steel cup to his lips."Are you though?" I asked, walking over to him." I think I've gotten my fair share of sleep for a while."I made my way next to where he stoo