Chapter 5

Ash's point of view

My heart breaks as I watch her fall asleep, exhausted from the brutal beating that she just received, still lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. The King looks at me with a sickening grin on his face; I hold his eye, vowing to get my revenge for this beautiful woman who lies broken on the floor. He leaves the room with a laugh, leaving her lying where she is. I watch her as she sleeps, unable to take my eyes off her as I try to figure out what is going on.

One thing that I do know.

She is not the cruel Queen that we are all led to believe she is, and all I can do for the time being is wait for her to wake up before I can get some answers from her. For the first time in my life, I find myself thankful for vampire healing powers as I watch the welts lesson on her delicate skin...A couple of hours later and I hear her let out a groan before she opens her eyes, I wish I could reach out to her, but she is too far away from me. She quickly covers herself up when she realizes that she is undressed, and I turn my head away to give her some privacy. When she is fully dressed, I turn back to look at her as I ask.

"Are you okay?"

She nods her head as she quietly whispers....."Yes."

 

I sigh, standing up before I walk to the edge of the cage, getting as close as I can to her as I say. "You have to let me help you get away from him." Tears form in her eyes as she replies. "I can't; he would kill us both."

 

I rub my chin; she is terrified of him; I can see it in her eyes; it's going to take some time to gain her trust and to get her to understand that I can help her, I can get her away from this monster. I nod my head in understanding as I ask. "So, you're a vampire that doesn't like to kill. Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

She lifts her face to look at me, her eyes wide as she checks to make sure the room is empty before she says. "I wasn't born as a vampire; I was a human. I have never wanted this life. The King turned me against my will before forcing me to marry him." I clench my fists as I look into her sad eyes before I say. "So, what about the young boy who turned up at my club three weeks ago? He told me that you drank his blood; if I hadn't found him when I did, he would have died; he's twelve years old."

 

Her face shows her regret as the tears run down her cheeks...."I did what I had to do to keep him alive."

 

She whispers; I sigh as I look into her sad eyes before I say. "Please explain because I just don't understand any of this."

 

She looks into my eyes before letting out a sigh. "The King brought him to me as a Pet; all the top vampires are taking young humans and claiming them as  pets; they walk around with them attached to leads and parade them like trophies; when I told the King I didn't want a Pet he forced me to drink his blood, I had no choice because If I didn't do it, then Areon would have and he wouldn't have let him live, I drank what I needed to, to make the King think he was dead, before getting one of my staff to leave him at the Firepit where I knew you would find him." My eyes widen as I listen to her.

 

Well, I never a vampire with a heart, a woman forced to marry a vampire, no doubt because of her beauty and then being forced to turn against her will. No wonder she looks so haunted. I can only imagine the things she has been forced to endure, the things she has seen and, worst of all, the horrors she has been forced to do herself.  My heart breaks for her; I will gain her trust enough for me to get her away from him before I return with my army and finish these vampires once and for all.

 

I spend the next hour talking to Queen Anna only to find out she was once just a normal person, just like me. King Areon and his army of bloodsuckers raided her town, looking for new blood slaves. When he saw Anna, he took her for himself, separating her from her parents. As her father tried to save her, he killed him in front of her before taking her away from her mother and her home; when he first turned her, she refused to drink human blood, and he had his slaves hunt for animals so she could drink the blood she desperately needed to keep her alive, but the longer she's with him, the crueller he becomes as he finds ways to blackmail her as he forces her to drink human blood. Dylan was meant to be her first killing. I listen to her story in horror, and I find myself reaching through the bars of the cage to take her hand. I somehow know she is not meant for this world. I saw it in her eyes when I first laid eyes on her, and I know in my heart it will only be a matter of time before the King disregards her when he finds a new innocent beauty to torment.

Only he will not let her go or leave her for someone else. He will end her life in the most brutal way possible; I will not let this happen, I might be a vampire slayer, but I know a pure heart when I see one and a broken soul that looks back at me through empty eyes. I have to get her away from him. I have to somehow gain her trust.