Chapter 33
Chapter 33
"What," I let my first words out at the comment," what are you talking about-"
"She bears the Mark of Ero's," she continued," you won't find a witch in her right mind that would
perform the Ritual of Obliteration, myself included," she looked towards her co-Council," sorry Vesto.
"You're lying," Damon exclaimed," that can't be true!"
"How else would be bear a mark of the Underworld Damon, use your head."
"Then you can't touch her," he continued," you can't take her with you, you have to leave her here!"
"That may be true," spoke Fabian," we cannot touch her, it's up to the King and Queen to dispose of
her how they see fit." Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
The King merely nodded and I couldn't help but wonder what he meant by the word dispose.
Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind. Meredith's words from earlier today were starting to
make sense when she had told me that a human could not bear the Mark of Eros but what does this
mean, that my mother was a witch? Does that make me half-witch?
"We won't take the girl," continued Vesto. He pointed a sharp fingernail towards a riled-up Damon," he,
however, needs a lesson on authority."
The Queen sat up," what do you mean?"
"He's coming with us," the faerie girl's voice was soft as if it was laced with silk," he needs a few
spankings."
"Isla's right," said Vesto," we won't kill him."
He gestured towards the guards who immediately marched towards Damon and held captured him in
their grip. Damon stayed silent but his eyes were on me. I felt my eyes sting with tears. I felt guilty and
sorry and panicked all at the same time but most of all I felt hopeless.
"Well, will you bring him back-" the Queen began but the King's placed a reassuring hand above hers
and she suddenly silenced.
The guards began to drag Damon towards the exit of the quarters. His golden eyes had gone dark and
they held my gaze almost as tightly as Kia had. I felt a tear slide down my cheek and wanted so badly
to run up and grab him.
Where are they taking him? Are they going to kill him?
I couldn't utter a word and instead, watched in silence, trying to hold back from breaking down and
sobbing, as they dragged him out until he was out of view.
Fabian, who had been watching me, almost in fascination, began to approach me. He trailed a curious
finger across the bites on my neck and said," I knew your mother once."
"What?" I couldn't help the tears that had escaped the corners of my eyes how. They slid down my face
in pairs.
"She was a great witch and an even better friend."
I flickered my eyes to blink away the tears and said," what happened?"
"She fell in love, with your father, who was a mere human, she wanted out."
I remained silent and he continued to trail my bites," how ironic are the gods to have bore her daughter
the Mark of Ero's."
"Dismiss her," said Vesto, looking up at the King," we need to discuss further."
I caught sight of a grinning Isabelle who had been staring my way. When my eyes met hers, she sent
me a wink. Beside her, stood Matheos who looked like he was ready to make me his next prey. I
wouldn't last a day in this castle without Damon and I knew it.
"Holly," the King was speaking to me now,"go back to your room, we'll talk later."
I nodded and shuffled to get the hell out of there. Back in the hallways, I leaned over and clutched my
stomach. I felt myself about to vomit and tried to swallow it back. Beads of sweat escaped my forehead
and I knew I had a choice to make. I fumbled with my shirt and took the phone out of my bra. The time
read exactly eight pm.
I didn't want to think, I just wanted to do. I ran as fast as I could towards the garden gates, both my
brain and my chest racing a thousand miles per minute. The image of Damon being dragged out
engulfed my thoughts almost completely but I knew if I stayed here I would either be killed or
imprisoned again.
When I reached the garden gate, Meredith was right where she had promised she'd be.
"You're late!" She snapped.
"I know, the-"
"The Council is here, I know," she grabbed my hands and began to speed walk with me," I wasn't true if
you were going to make it."
"They took him," I burst out," they took Damon-"
"Don't focus on that," she snapped again," that's not your business, you have to focus on getting out of
here."
We reached the back of the garden. A small hole in the wall triggered a slight flashback of when Seth
and Damon had handed me through it when they had brought me in on my first night here.
"Inside of here is the tunnel, take it all the way until you reach stairs, take them down to the forest."
"Okay," I nodded, my feet unable to move," okay."
I felt the phone inside my bra began to ring but I couldn't move my fingers.
I felt Meredith pull me into a hug. She kissed the side of my face," be safe Holly, now go!"
I nodded and snapped back into reality," okay."
I took a step into the hole and then another. Before making my way, I looked back at Meredith,"
Meredith!"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
She nodded and smiled lovingly," go!"
I forced my feet to move from underneath me. I ran through the dark and echoey tunnel that went on
for almost a mile. I only stopped once halfway to catch up on my breathing for a second and kept
going.
I ran down the old and murky stairs. When I finally reached the end, it poured out into the middle of the
woods. I looked around in sudden panic, in search of Dimitri but he or the car was nowhere in sight. I
was surrounded by nothing but trees. I searched for a pathway that Dimitri would have used to get here
and found one, but there were no tire marks just solid soil.
Did they get to him? Did the Council take him too?
I felt both the disappointment and fear from a ball that dropped to the pit of my stomach. I tried to catch
up on my breathing and contemplate my next move. I felt the phone ringing in my bra and reached out
and answered it in a hurry.
"Holly-"
"Luna, I'm here, I made it out the tunnel but he's not here, he's nowhere-"
"Holly-"
"The Council, they were at the castle, they took Damon, they almost took me too-"
"Holly!-"
"I think they found him, they took Dimitri too-"
"Holly! Shut up!"
I was immediately silenced but Luna's tone and waited for her to speak.
"It's only 8:10! If Dimitri got to the car at 8, it would take him at least twenty minutes to get to the back
of the tunnel."
"That doesn't make sense, the tunnel is right behind the castle, it's less than a mile-"
"The roads to the tunnel are blocked off, he's going to have to take a longer route, just wait."
"But what if he never made it to the car, or what if he got caught-"
"We don't know that," I could hear the panic in Luna's voice but I could tell she was also trying to keep
calm for the both of us," we just have to wait."
I nodded although she couldn't see and swallowed back my dry throat," okay, I'll wait."
"Call me if he shows," Luna said before hanging up.
If. She said if.
The sudden feeling dawned on me that we might have been in way over our heads. The facts portrait in
front of me as if being drawn out by the thunder snap of reality that we were two humans trying to
outsmart an army of vampires.
How the hell did we ever think this was going to work?
I let my knees give out from underneath me. I felt my tears stream down my face in an uncontrollable
manner and began to sob. I sobbed and sobbed until I had no more tears. I cried for the idea that I had
gotten Damon taken away. I sobbed for the confusion that strung over me that held my body hostage
that my mother was a witch. I felt hopeless and clueless and I sobbed mainly for the reason that I felt
like I was betraying Damon. I was terrified that they were going to hurt him or even worse, kill him.
I heard the sudden sound of something approaching and looked up. I blinked my tears eyes to clear
blurred my vision and in the distance I saw a black car.
A sense of relief draped over me and I quickly stood up and wipes away my stinging face.
The car approached me slowly before halting at my feet.