107
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a pair of dark amethyst gems staring back at me. They’re filled with tears. A couple of them land on my face. I reach up for her because I know only one person with pretty purple eyes like that: my little sister Perry. And she looks like she’s in pain.
“Hey, are you okay? Why are you crying?” I ask her.
“You found them,” she says, sitting back and helping me up. “They’re on their way here.”
Relief floods my body. They’re on their way here. Where are we? When did she get here? I look around to see that we’re in some kind of cathedral. I scream, jumping up when I see I’m covered in blood. Perry presses her lips together as she stands. There’s blood everywhere. My dress, my hands, my arms, the floor.
“Oh, my god,” I get the chills at the sight and I slip on the blood. Someone catches me from behind trying to get away from the two beheaded bodies.
“You’re fine.” Mr. Knightly’s voice greets me. I turn around and hug him.
“Please, please, tell me that was you.” I hold on to his jacket desperately.
“One of them was,” he chuckles and pats my head. “It happens.”
“What the fuck?” I spin around to see Knight looking around the room. He panics until his eyes land on me. He comes over to me immediately. “What’s all this? Are you hurt?”
“Holy shit.” a high pitched voice catches my attention. Knight pulls me closer when a tiny girl dressed like a cartoon character skips through the blood to look us over. “Perry, she doesn’t remember?”
“No. This is the second time it’s happened and triggered by the same person.”
“Yeah, the King’s mom,” I say, and turn around to see him standing there with his mom and dad. “What the fuck? She’s trying to kill me and my kids. I’ve had to stop Mr. Knightly from hunting you people twice now.”
“She dies as soon as the pups get here,” Knight announces.
“Wait,” I look up at him. “She’s a mom. The little girl from before. Ayrie’s friend. You can‘ t just kill her.”
“Are you aware of what you are?” the cartoon girl asks waving her hand in my face.
“Excuse me?”
“You did all this,” she motions everything around us. “Well, the thing inside of you.”
“I did?” I point at the bodies.
“Yup,” she nods. “I’m Lilly.” She holds out her hand. “The Vampire Queen.”
“Phoebe.” I take her hand.
7/2
107
“Don’t.” Knight and his father growl at the same time.
I pull away when I see her fangs. I try to get a better look. When she sees that, she grins, showing me that she can extend and retract them.
“That’s kind of cool.” I laugh nervously but step closer to Knight.
“I would like a sample of your blood for research purposes and a brain scan. All the scans, actually. You’re fascinating. I don’t think we’ve ever had a silverback your age. We really don’t know much about them, and I’d like to be the one to put your breed into the history books. It would help us all understand you and your pups a bit more. You know, so we don’t keep killing your kind.”
“That’s actually a really cool suggestion.” I nod.
“Excellent,” she beams.
I reach in my pocket to find that I have cards in there. I wipe them on my dress when I find they’re also covered in blood. I hand her the cleanest one I can find.
“That’s my number.”
“Prepared to take on the world. I love you. Your whole-” she motions my body. “It’s beautiful. I can’t wait for us to be friends. I’m friends with your-” she points at Perry.” Lycaaaaan-”
“Sister.” I finish for her. Her eyes go wide.
“Like blood sisters?” she asks. We both nod. “I am going to be famous as shit!” she screams. “Babes,” she motions to us. “Looook!”
There are two guys sitting behind a podium. They are identical. The difference between them is that one is hella goth, and the other looks like he owns a huge herd of cows. They’re both just watching us quietly. They seem very well behaved.
“You have two?” I whisper.
“Mhm,” she nods proudly.
“Okay, yeah, we can be friends. They seem very well behaved, and I’d like to know how you do that.”
“I don’t know. I hear you’ve got this piece of shit to chill. You might teach me a thing or two,” she points at Mr. Knightly. We both look up at Perry.
“Don’t look at me. I’m the one usually getting into shit.” she shrugs. “Mine came trained. More like a trainer.”
“Get over here.” Jonas sighs.
“Times up.” Mr. Knightly call out. We all give him our attention.
“For what?” I ask.
The former King stands with his hands tied behind his back. “I offer up a death match. My life for hers,” he says.
2/3
107
“I second it.” Perry bumps me and nods.
“Wait.” I stand between the former King and Mr. Knightly. “This is crazy.”
“This is the law, Phoebe. As leaders, the law must be upheld even against us. Both Ayrie and Aizen were affected by what she did. We cannot overlook that. Everything that led to this moment was caused because of this woman’s family.
“She’s been the one from the start. Likely the one who put up the money that paid for the hit on your mother. The reason why she had no other choice but to hide you. She was going to kill the twins if Midnight had not done what she did. You and your grandfather will be the last Rizen alphas left. I deny the death match and envoke the death penalty.”
“Arnold.” I shake my head. He sighs and comes closer to me.
“Knight is no longer an alpha, Phoebe. You weren’t mated to him when all of this took place, and it falls on me and your grandfather to choose for you as alphas of your lineage. As the father of your mate and the grandfather of your children. You don’t get to choose this time. Let it go for all your sakes.”
“That stupid behind him is going to finally have an excuse to go after you. I’ve never had someone take care of me like you do. You’re like the coolest dad ever. If you get hurt or if that old fuck ends you. I’m not going to be okay with that.” I take his hand because all of this has gone too far already. What the hell are we even talking about right now?
“I have no fucking idea what either of us did to deserve you, kid.” he pats my head. He smiles, and everyone around us looks shaken by that. “The death match is denied.”
“You’re not touching her,” the former King breaks the link between the cuffs.
Mr. Knightly pulls me behind him when he charges. He takes the full force of his attack and I’m knocked back. I land in a puddle of blood. I quickly try to get out of their way and touch something in the blood. A dagger. I think it came off one of the dead bodies.
“Phoebe!” Knight shouts.
I look up to see him on the other side of the room, and I turn just in time to see the woman come at me with her claws extended. I move out of her way. Like before, my body moves on its own. I spin around with the dagger in my hand, and before I can process what is happening, the woman is in front of me. Her eyes are wide. Her mouth is open, but she’s frozen. I look down to see that the dagger is lodged in her throat.
“Dude, why?” I shake my head.
“Death.” she chokes out. “All of you.”
