Carmen stiffened at that, and so did Ray and Quinten.
He grabbed my hand tightly, and I moved closer to him. “Ilene–”
“They’re going to arrive shortly to take you into custody. You’ll be put on trial, found guilty, and executed. I hope you’ve enjoyed what little time you’ve had together, because it’s all about to come crashing down around you.”
“You disgust me,” Ray said coldly. “How can you just sit by and allow your sister to be executed?”
She shrugged. “It’s really not that hard to do. I just think about all the times over the years that you’ve proven that you love her more than me. That always makes it easier.”
“Ilene, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ray said, in total disbelief. “I never–”
“Don’t even deny it!” Ilene screamed. “You love Alanna more than you loved me! Both of you,” she said, looking at Carmen. “Why is she so much more special than me?” she said, on the verge of tears. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s not,” Carmen said immediately. “You’re both wonderful, smart, amazing women. And I’m sorry that I wasn’t around to watch you grow up.”
“You can’t apologize now,” she said, glaring.
It was strange to hear Ilene say the same thing I’d said when meeting Carmen for the first time.
Ilene glanced over her shoulder. “I should go. I don’t wanna be here when they arrive to arrest you all.”
She turned and walked out the door, leaving us to stand there, suddenly afraid. We were about to be arrested, and put on trial, all because I was in love with someone they wouldn’t approve of.
I looked over at Ray. “What are we going to do, Dad? They’re going to arrest me and put me on trial. What if they execute me?”
“I’ll never let that happen,” he promised. “We’ll think of something to do.”
“What about those werewolves that helped you storm the Arena?” Quinten asked.
Ray shook his head. “No. They agreed to help me because of our mutual hatred of that monster, Elias. But this is Roger Mason. He’s a war hero in their eyes, and they won’t lift a hand to help us fight against him.”
I looked at Carmen. “How about the dhampirs? I’m sure they’d love a shot at Roger.”
“No.”
“Carmen, this is your daughter’s life we’re talking about here. The dhampirs could help.”
“I said no,” she said forcefully. “We’ll just have to think of something else.”
I looked over at Darren. “You need to get out of here. I don’t want them to hurt you, just because of what you are.”
He nodded. “Where should I go?”
“There’s an old tree house in the woods about a half of a mile from here. Stay there until Jax or I come for you,” Ray said.
There was a knock at the front door, and Darren and Carmen took off out the back. I motioned for Quinten to leave, and he shook his head. “I won’t let you go through this alone,” he whispered fiercely.
“She’s not going to be alone,” Ray said. “I’m going to be with her every step of the way.”
“Promise?” I asked, terrified as there was yet another knock on the door.
“Yes.”
Quinten and Ray each took one of my hands, and Jax opened the door. Five burly werewolves marched into the living room, followed by a smaller, stuffier one. They spread out evenly throughout the room, and they all glared at us.
The smaller werewolf cleared his throat. “I am here under the orders of the Council, overseen in this decade by Russell Hewitt. Alanna Moore, you are hereby under arrest for the crime of loving a vampire. You will be taken into custody and held for the duration of your trial.
“If you are found innocent of said crime, which is unlikely seeing as the vampire is in the room with you, you will be released. If not, your punishment will be carried out as the Council sees fit.”
He looked at the werewolves around him. “Take her and the vampire into custody.”
The burly werewolves moved forward. One produced a pair of handcuffs, and he forced my hands behind my back. I looked at Ray, “Dad?”
“Don’t be scared, kiddo. We’re going to figure this all out, I promise.”
The smaller werewolf snorted. “I wouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Ray. Very few people have been able to persuade the Council to change their mind once a decision has been made.”
“I thought in America she had the right to a fair trial. It sounds like the Council’s already decided what they’re going to do with her.”
“Of course not, but you know the punishment for interbreeding,” he said, his disgust obvious.
“She and Quinten are not true mates yet.”
“Nor will they ever be,” the smaller werewolf said. “Even if the Council allows her to live, they certainly won’t allow this abomination to continue.”
Without another word, the werewolves led us all from the house. Ray followed closely behind. He was whispering soothing words to me, but they had little effect. I couldn’t help but notice the terrified look in his eyes, and the way he kept nervously messing with his hair. He was worried that I wouldn’t receive the fair trial I was promised.
If things went badly, there was a very good chance that I would be executed.
How could they do this?
We were loaded into the back of a car, and Ray was forced to drive by himself. Quinten kissed my temple. “Whatever happens, just know that I love you,” he mumbled.
“I know. I love you, too.”
*****
An hour later, we stopped in front of a large building. Tall stone pillars lined the stairs and the outer building, and the top was dome-shaped. The windows were all high and filled with beautiful stained glass. Tall lamps lined the outside of the stairs, lighting the way into the building.
We followed the smaller werewolf, who still hadn’t told us his name, and entered into a large, brightly lit foyer area. Benches and tables lined the walls, and several people were seated around them. They looked at us with contempt in their eyes; everyone obviously knew why we were there.
Instead of looking into their judgmental eyes, I looked anywhere else. Studying the place of my possible imprisonment seemed like a good idea. The floor beneath me was tiled into an intricate design that made my stomach knot painfully: a werewolf staking a vampire.
I was instantly reminded of the dhampir, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying. Quinten looked sideways at me, and I knew that he wanted to reach over and hold my hand, but our handcuffs prevented that.
We were forced down a flight of stairs, into a large, circular room. A high wall of seats sat in a half-circle at the far end of the room. In those seats were five werewolves. They were young in appearance, but ancient in age.
There were rows of benches on either side of a small aisle, and several people sat in those seats. They spit and hollered at us as we were marched down the aisle. When we stopped in front of the Council members, the one in the middle raised a hand, and everyone fell silent.
This was it. Our trial was about to begin, and there was nothing that I could say or do that would make this ok. These old, fussy werewolves were about to judge me because my soul mate was a vampire. Didn’t they understand that I couldn’t help who my soul mate was?
“Alanna Moore, you are here today because an esteemed member of our community has given testimony that you are engaged in a relationship with a vampire,” Russell Hewitt said.
The hollers started again, but were silenced by an icy glare from Russell, the Council leader.
“What have you to say on this matter?”
I looked around, and spotted Ray, seated in one of the back benches. He nodded encouragingly at me, and I turned back to face the Council members, and took a deep breath.
“Yes, I am in a relationship with a vampire. Quinten was my best friend growing up, and he saved my life more than once. When we were forced to participate in the Arena
Wars, he willingly offered up his life in exchange for mine. I kissed him as he lay dying, and we bonded.
“I found out in that moment that my best friend was my soul mate, the only person on this planet that would ever fully love and understand me, aside from my family. And I was forced to leave him. But, a vampire passing by saved him, I felt him return to life the moment it happened.
“I tracked him down. I didn’t know where I was going, or what I would find when I got there, but I followed my heart. And I found him. I was attacked by another vampire, and even though he couldn’t remember me yet, he fought that vampire to the death.
“He was stabbed in the process, and I fed him my blood, willingly, to save his life like he’d done for me. When he tasted my blood, he realized that I was his soul mate. We kissed later, and our bond exploded into existence again. Being a vampire doesn’t change the fact that he is a good man, and my soul mate. My lifelong partner. The only man that I can ever love.”
I fell silent under the scrutinizing gazes of the Council members.
One on the end, who looked much nicer than the others, frowned. “You two are true soul mates?” He asked, obviously surprised.
“Yes,” I answered honestly. “We are.”
He looked troubled. “We were not informed of this.”
“It doesn’t change anything!” someone shouted.
The Council member on the end glared into the audience behind us. “It certainly does. No decent werewolf would willingly take a mate from someone. It simply isn’t done.”
Russell frowned, and looked at the other members of the Council. “We cannot overlook the fact that she is breaking our laws by being with that abomination.”
“Who are we to judge?”
“It’s wrong!”
“Apparently not or else they would have been unable to bond again. Maybe some of our laws need to be rewritten.”
“What makes you so sure that they did bond again? How do we know that it isn’t some lie?”
The werewolf member on the end sighed, and looked down at me. “We must deliberate. Until our decision is reached, the two of you will be taken into custody. When we reach our decision, you will be brought back out. If the Council decides that this relationship is undesirable, you will be sentenced.”
One of the burly guards moved forward and gripped my arm tightly. “This way.”
We were led out of the courtroom, and down a series of hallways. The guards were silent as they forced us along, and I was tempted to ask them something. Did they see this often? Did they know what the Council’s answer would be?
A door opened, and Quinten and I were thrown inside. One of the guards chuckled. “Get used to this place. You two ain’t ever gettin’ out.”
Well, I guess that answered my question pretty well.
The door slammed shut, and Quinten and I looked around our new prison. The walls were painted white, and were bare of anything, even windows. The floor was made of cheap hardwood, and the room was empty of everything but two small beds that were little more than thin, stained mattresses.
They were like the cots at the Arena.
“We’re in prison, again.”
Quinten nodded slowly. “Yeah, we are.”
“Why can’t we just have a semi-normal life together?”
He chuckled weakly. “What would be the fun in that?”
I frowned, and took a seat on one of the beds. “What do you think will happen to us?”
He sat down next to me. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “But, for what it’s worth, I don’t think the Council will sacrifice two kids like us.”
“We’re not kids.”
“Compared to them, yeah, we are.”
Neither of us said anything for a moment. We were both probably thinking about the same thing. What would happen after the Council made its decision? Would we be free to leave this place without fear of being killed? Would Roger come after us with everything he had left?
Or, more likely, would we be sentenced to death?
Chapter Seven
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since we’d been thrown into our holding cell. There was no clock or window to help us tell time, and we weren’t allowed visitors. Ray was probably beside himself with worry, being forced to stay out there, alone.
Meals were brought in sometime after the door closed behind us, meaning it must have been about noon. They were brought in again a few hours later. If it was really time for dinner, we’d been in our cell for almost six hours.
How was that possible? It felt like much longer, forced to do nothing but sleep or talk.
“Alanna? Are you going to be alright?”
I lifted my face to look up at him. We were curled up together on one of the beds, and his arms were wrapped tightly around my waist. He leaned down and kissed my neck softly.
“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. No matter what happens, I’m going to be right by your side.”
I turned over so I could look at him better. “I’ve been thinking. If I hadn’t been stupid enough to believe that Roger had actually kidnapped Ilene, none of this would be happening. We wouldn’t have been forced to compete and you wouldn’t be a vampire. We could have been somewhat normal, happy, and actually mated.”
He frowned. “Alanna, you may not believe this, but I’m happy with my life the way it is. I get to spend all of eternity with you now.”
“Not if we don’t survive this. We’ll have wasted all of our time–”
“You think we’ve wasted our time together?” He asked.
“No, of course not. It’s just that, we could have been mated. We could have spent our time planning our future.”
He grinned. “You regret that we’re not officially mated yet?”
I felt myself begin to blush. “Well, kinda.”
He leaned his head down, his lips hovering an inch over mine. “We could change that. We’ve got the time.”
The blush spread as I thought about his offer. We could be officially mated when the Council sent for us. Was I ready to share my soul with another person?
A strange thought hit me then, and it almost made me giggle. What would it be like?
I’d had the talk with Ray and, as awkward as it had been, it had been informative. I knew what would happen, but I’d never actually thought about it before. Not having a boyfriend kept me from experiencing the things that girls my age usually did.
What would it be like, to have Quinten’s hands on my body? Would we find that we were perfectly made for one another? The thought of being with Quinten sounded like a wonderful one.
He smiled, cupped my cheek in his hand, and kissed me gently. He was so caring and sweet with me that I was surprised anyone could think he was dangerous. It was easy to forget that he wasn’t the same boy I’d fallen in love with.
Or was he?
He kissed me again, and everything else disappeared from my mind. It was just me, and him, together at last. We were alone, with nobody to spy on us, and we had all the time in the world.
His hand moved under my shirt and began warming the area of my stomach, and I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer. He shifted his body around until he was above me, and he stared down into my eyes.
Was this it?
The door opened, and he rolled off of me and onto the floor in a heartbeat, taking a defensive crouch. The guards walked in, smiling at some private joke that was probably at our expense.
“Come on. They’re ready for you,” one said gruffly. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”
“Yeah, I’d hate to miss their ruling,” the other said with a chuckle.
They both laughed again and led us from the holding cell. I tried not to fidget nervously on our way back to the courtroom. Quinten reached over and grabbed my hand; he gave it a comforting squeeze, silently letting me know that no matter what, everything would be alright.
I wished I could believe that.
The courtroom wa
s packed; every available space was occupied. People filled the aisles, and they were lined up outside the door. Apparently, a werewolf-vampire relationship was big news in our little sheltered community.
Everyone was talking animatedly with one another, and I realized what was really going on. They weren’t interested in the sentencing, because they already knew what the decision would be. These people were more interested in watching the execution they all knew was coming.
Roger and Ilene were seated on the other side of the room, as far from Ray and Jax as physically possible. He was whispering something in her ear, something that made her giggle and blush.
I tried not to be sick at what I was seeing, and what everyone else was ignoring. How could nobody else have a problem with Roger taking a fourteen year old mate?
My heart plummeted as the Council leaders entered the room one by one. They took their assigned seats, with Russell Hewitt in the middle, and they all stared down at me and Quinten.
The room was instantly silent; I could hear Quinten’s racing heart, matching mine beat for beat. Ray, Jax, and Jenna were seated together in the front row, praying for understanding.
“Alanna Moore, you were brought here today, accused of loving a vampire, which goes against some of our earliest laws. After much deliberation, we’ve managed to finally reach a decision, by not agreeing on one single course of action.”
I was confused, and it showed.
Russell Hewitt frowned. “The majority of this council believes that execution is the best way to go, but some of the members have disagreed,” he said, with a pointed look at the werewolf on the end. “As a result, though I completely disagree with this, we are forced to release the two of you, with this warning,” he said, looking at Quinten. “If you ever harm anyone in this community, you will be staked, do you understand?”
The uproar was instantaneous; everyone was on their feet, screaming for execution. Ray and Jax were hugging, and Jenna was cheering. I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my own heartbeat. We were going to be alright.
Roger had nothing left to use against us!
Arena Wars Trilogy Page 25
