It had been two days since I got poisoned with those fumes. I was supposed to be dead but I wasn’t. I was very much alive; feeling every bit of exhaustion as we continued to walk along the stony path.
“Isn’t Dreki coming along?”
“No, he left.”
“Left? Where did he go?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”
“I thought you were his master. Dreki doesn’t seem like someone who abandons his master.”
“I did something that upset him,” she said, twirling the ring around her finger. Her action drew my attention to it again. I had always wanted to ask her about it, “That is a very unique ring. Is there a story behind it?”
Her steps faltered a bit and her movements froze, “It does have a story. I will tell you some other time.” She turned her attention to the front. “Let us first do what we are here for.”
We were standing a few meters away from a huge castle. It sprawled over an acre of land; made of grey stones; it gave an ancient vibe. Tall trees overgrew the region around it, shading it from excessive sunlight.
A strange altar in its courtyard caught my attention. It was made of pitch-black stone and the bust of a strange creature adorned its top. It looked like a cross between a bat and a human skeleton.
My jaws hung open and the words left my lips as a whisper, “Isn’t that the famous Certon Stone?”
“You guessed it right. We are at the Certon Castle.”
“Don’t tell me you are going to attack them alone?”
“A bit of correction. I am not going to attack. I am going to slaughter!” Her voice dripped with such vehemence that I shuddered.
Grabbing her hand, I gasped, “Don’t be crazy. You can’t possibly kill them alone.”
Her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought, “If the Lord was here, it might have been difficult to slaughter them. But, he has gone to visit the Vampire king with his entire panel of sentries,” She shrugged off my arm. “Killing the others is a piece of cake for me.”
“Attacking the castle when the lord isn’t present is despicable.” I couldn’t stop myself from commenting.
“And surrounding a lone, wounded werewolf isn’t?”
My jaws hung open but no words came out. Hera was right. Vampires did attack me when I was alone in the forest. But, that didn’t mean I wanted revenge. A sigh of resignation left my lips. It wasn’t like Hera would listen to me if I tried to stop her. She wouldn’t listen to herself once she had made up her mind; that is how obstinate she was.
“Stay close to me,” she instructed as she walked straight past the guards. They naturally lunged at her but they were sent flying against the wall by a wave of magic.
We walked past the gate and then moved along the corridor. Instead of entering through the door, she led me to the backyard. The sun had almost set, bathing everything in its soft twilight. We walked to the most secluded part of the castle where we came upon a large metallic gate.
I took a step forward intending to open it but before I could even touch the iron bars, it flung open clanking against the wall. Magic did make a lot of stuff easier.
I could make out a faint outline of the stone staircase beyond the gate. Hera trotted down the flight of stairs despite the darkness with me scrambling behind her slowly. A single flame torch was placed at the end of the stairs illuminating everything in dim light. The locked gates and narrow corridors indicated that this was some sort of a dungeon.
My steps faltered just after a few steps; my heart went numb with the gruesome sight that met my eyes. The cells were packed with people; some were so frail and weak that they were reduced to skeletons. There were children and women too.
They all seemed to be suffering in some way or another. The only thing common was their dull eyes that didn’t show the faintest glimmer of recognition.
“W… Why are they here?”
“Food, entertainment, experimentation; whatever the Lord wants.”
“I… I know that vampires consume human blood, but they don’t have to be cruel, you know. They look like they haven’t been out of here for like weeks, months?”
“Entire life.”
“What?”
“Most of them have been here for their entire lives.”
So, that is why there wasn’t even a glint of recognition in them. They had never stepped out of the gallows. They didn’t even know a better life existed. My heart ached for them and I stuttered, “Isn’t that against the law? Isn’t the Lord afraid of getting punished by the Vampire King?”
“You think they care about laws? All they are ever concerned about is power.” There was a certain sting in her voice.
She waved her hands, causing the doors of the cell to open up. However, none of them made a move to escape.” She made a ball of flames explode in the air and shouted, “Run! Run out of the castle and get as far away as possible. If you stop running, I will kill you.”
All of them rushed out of the cell and scrambled up the stairs as fast as possible following her command.
“If they are captured by the guards, they will get killed.”
“So, let them get killed.”
I was stunned by her nonchalant reply. Annoyance surged through my veins and I snapped, “Why did you let them escape if you didn’t want to save them?”
“I am going to burn this place down. Those humans are useless anyway, why should I expend more power to kill them?” Before I could reply, she grabbed my arm and dragged me outside.
Then, she set fire to the entire castle. Huge tongues of flames lapped against the backdrop of the dusky sky. The fire spread so rapidly that nobody could escape.
The fire brought out an old memory. The memory of the day my father took me to the ruins of the mansion where my mother died. She had been killed by a magical fire too.
The similarity of the situation hit me harder than I wanted. When my father told me about the incident, I still had doubts. Now that the evidence was glaring at me, I couldn’t deny it anymore.
“Why?” The word left my lips as I dropped to my knees. A scream left my lips and I tore my hair. Soft sobs and whimpers filled the air as the pain in my chest exploded within me.
“Are you okay?” a voice sounded as I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off out of revulsion only to realize that the voice was unfamiliar. My eyebrows furrowed and I raised my head to meet the most gorgeous face in the world. Soft curls hung over her concerned forehead. Her soft luscious lips were parted as if in invitation. Everything else faded in the background and the word ‘Mate’ popped into my head. Shortly after I was hit with the sweetest fragrance of lemon grass.
My heart filled with warmth and reassurance. I had heard that meeting your mate could topple your world upside down. The bond automatically makes her your priority; making all other relationships, and attachments seem futile.
Today, I got to experience it first hand. The moment I met her eyes; the feelings I had developed for Hera vanished like wisps of smoke. I could see everything with perfect clarity now; my role, my mission, the purpose of my life, everything.
Sensing the moisture on my cheeks, my face flushed. I wiped off my tears hastily, “I am sorry you had to see me like that.”
She knelt beside me and gave me a sweet smile before placing her hand on my shoulder again, “There is nothing to be sorry about. I am just upset that I couldn’t do anything to reduce your pain.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her cute expression. I cupped her face and placed a soft kiss on the corner of her lips, “Your existence is enough to wipe off all my sorrow.” My smile widened, “I would have never thought that I would meet my mate in such unusual circumstances.
She sighed, “All this must be so hard on you.”
A deep frown settled on my forehead, “You know about this?”
“Hmm, I figured out that you are my mate about a week ago. I came to meet you but your father stopped me. He wanted to go on this mission with a free mind.”
I held my head, “I can’t believe my father would do something like this.”
“Your father merely suggested it. I was the one who agreed to the plan.” She drew closer and threw her arms around me, “I know I shouldn’t be here but I couldn’t stop myself. I just wanted to take a peek at you but then I saw you crying and my resolve broke.” She snuggled closer and moaned softly, “I am Corel by the way.”
“Corel? Why does that name sound so familiar?”
She pulled away and punched my chest, “Don’t tell me that you have forgotten!”
A deep frown settled on my forehead as I tried to rack my brain. Where had I seen her? My eyes widened as it struck me, “You are that little girl I met at the party 15 years ago; the one in the red dress? Draco’s daughter.”
Her eyes twinkled, “The one and only.” She laced her arms through mine and rested her head on my shoulder, “Do you have any idea how worried we were when we didn’t get any messages from you or Melinda for more than two days.”
“Melinda didn’t send messages, that too for two days? That is weird. I haven’t seen anyone as particular and upright as her.” My mind veered to the last conversation we had as I continued talking, “Even if Melinda is dying, she would crawl out her grave, write her last message and then die.”
Corel’s face turned pale and she squeezed my arm gently, “I know this might come out as a shock to you but I need to tell you. Melinda is dead, Justin. She was killed by that boy who is always next to that wereheretic.”
My body slumped against Corel. This was all my fault. If I wasn’t wavered by my feelings towards Hera, I would have fed her the black raisins and Melinda. She would still be alive.
My bloodied eyes lit up with determination, “I swear I will make her pay for this, Corel. This day forth, every word I speak, every action I take will be to destroy that wereheretic!”
Now that Melinda was gone, Corel was to take her place. She told me the next part of the plan in detail. We hugged one last time before I set off to find the wereheretic. It was time to set the honey trap.