Those on the other side of the beach with Michael were starting to go home.
“It’s been a sad day for you,” Raymond said. “I can see it.”
“It hasn’t … really…” Christine murmured.
“Your friend has changed,” he said. “She’s not like how she was before. She’s lost a part of herself.”
“It’s strange how you can sum up the indescribable so well,” Christine said. “The thing is, it’s Pru who is sad. And she never used to be. Not like she is now. I hope she’s okay, wherever she is.”
“All we can do is be there for her,” Raymond said. “As much as we can be. Perhaps … you should remain here. Beyond our stay here.”
Christine turned her head back to him. “My home is in France now. With you.”
“This is your home,” Raymond said. “I can see being away from your friend has hurt her.”
“What? No. Come on.”
“I can move here too. When … circumstances change.”
“But – we can’t rearrange our lives around Prudence. She’s – she’s –”
“She needs you, Christine,” Raymond said. “At least for now.”
“What makes you such an expert?” Christine challenged.
“I’ve never seen you as sad as you are now,” Raymond replied. “I can only imagine it is far worse to be her. I know that being apart from you … would hurt me as well.”
She squeezed his hand. “I appreciate you looking out for her. But you don’t have to. At least. I’ll let you know if that’s something we have to do. For all we know, Pru’s having her happily ever after with Bastian the Vampire.”
“Nothing lasts forever,” Raymond said.
Christine’s gaze turned back to the shoreline, not wanting to explore that empty remark. It was quite late now, and the winds were turning. She knew they couldn’t wait much longer.
Raymond nudged her. “Look. Over there. Something’s happening.”
Christine’s vision shifted. She saw that a group of individuals had descended on the beach. They were in some sort of confrontation with the rest of wedding party.
Raymond stood up. “Who the fuck are they?”
Christine stood with him. “What’s going on?”
“They’re – they’re not letting them leave. They’re forcing them to stay where they are.”
“What?”
Raymond nudged her again.
Two figures in hooded black robes were approaching them.
“Please return to the others,” one of the figures instructed.
“What’s this is about?” Raymond demanded.
“You are guests of honor in the joining of Bastian Cane and Prudence Blythe. Your attendance is compulsory.”
The figure motioned to the rest of them on the beach.
“Where is Prudence?” Raymond demanded. “I don’t see her anywhere.”
“She will be with you soon. Please. We will not ask you again.”
Christine grabbed Raymond’s hand. “Let’s just go.”
He glanced down at her. “Alright.”
They moved quickly ahead, while the figures moved silently behind them.
Someone had lit a torch on the beach. Two torches.
Three…
“Look how many there are,” Raymond muttered. “There’s like bleeding thirty of them. I don’t want to –”
“Do you want to make a break for it?”
“I – what about the others –”
“Okay,” Christine said. “We’ll keep going. Just to see. When I say ‘go’ though, we both bolt for it.”
“Alright.”
They kept moving forward. Christine could see a circle was now taking shape.
Eight torches.
Eight torches of wicked green light.
Everyone was on the ground. No one was standing apart from the robed individuals. Several of them were crying out. A few tried to stand up.
But the robed figures swatted them down.
“I don’t know about this,” Raymond hissed.
Someone screamed. It sounded like Pru’s mother.
“Fuck this,” Christine said. “Let’s go.”
They turned to run towards the other side of the beach, but a cluster of six or seven robed individuals was making their way down in that very direction.
They were being closed in on.
They were trapped.
“What the fuck is this?” Raymond said hoarsely.
“I have no fucking clue.”
He looked to the side of them again.
“I’ll distract them,” he said. “You keep running.”
“No, I can’t –”
“Get help. Go to the cops. I’m serious.”
“No, please, Ray –”
“I’m doing it. I’m fucking bloody hell, I’m doing it!”
“No –”
“HEY!” Raymond said turning around to face them. “Get the fuck out of my way!”
He ran at the group.
“Raymond!” Christine screamed.
The group grabbed hold of him and forced him to the ground.
“Go!” Raymond shouted. “Go! Go! Go!”
Tears streaming down her face, Christine started running blindly. Away and away, as fast and far as she could.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The hands of the creatures in robes were not human hands. They were far too pale. Too scaly. Too clawed.
As Millie squirmed within their grasp, she noticed Michael moving in to defend her.
He took a quick backhand to the face which sent him flying into the middle of the circle. She managed to get away from her aggressor and rush towards him. He held his hand over his eye to cover the blood.
No one knew what was happening. Only that Prudence was somehow to blame.
Millie wasn’t surprised. That girl had always been trouble. It looked as if they were about to find out exactly how much. And if she wasn’t so angry, she’d probably be scared as well. Because no one really knew what was going to happen.
“There she is!” one of Prudence’s friends called out. “She’s over there! Look!”
Everyone looked. She was over by the lighthouse.
Prudence was wearing an startling red dress, her gold hair flowing in the moonlight. She was by herself, walking slowly towards them. Millie could hear people making odd remarks about her. No one felt safe. No one felt sorry for her anymore.
A dark shadow loomed to the right of them. The torches sparked and intensified as it drew near. Millie grabbed Michael’s arm and dragged him away from the circle’s centre.
It was him of course. The freak of nature that had been plaguing them for so long.
He stood there in his fantastic robes, looking as weird and menacing as any villain she might imagine. To Millie, he didn’t look like a vampire – but rather a demon. This whole gathering had the feeling of some satanic ritual.
“Don’t say anything,” she whispered to Michael. “Just keep still.”
He glanced at her, letting her know he had heard.
“You’ll have to forgive my friends,” the vampire stated. “It was important to Pru that you were all gathered here for this.”
“And what’s this?” someone asked.
“It’s our wedding. I, Bastian Cane, am going to wed Prudence Blythe. We shall be together for an eternity afterward. And you shall all bear witness.”
A few people tried to speak up, namely older male relatives of both Michael and Prudence.
They were immediately attacked by those behind them.
“Silence, please,” Bastian said. “I don’t wish to see any of you hurt.”
Prudence had arrived. She was moving inside the circle.
The moment Millie locked eyes with her – the rage, the hatred, the carnivorous bloodlust she had felt towards her, all but frittered away.
Prudence wasn’t doing this willingly.
She was pitch black terrified.
“We’re ready now,�
�� Bastian said, taking Pru’s arm. “Please read the sermon.”
One of the robed figures stepped into the centre with them. She pulled back her hood to reveal flowing branch of auburn hair.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Prudence couldn’t hear the words. She couldn’t see the people through the flames. Her skin was turning to ice.
He took her hand and slipped on the ring, clenching them together – binding them, holding them, locking them away. He was close to her, closer than he’d ever been, and now her face was looking up to his, as he was about to kiss her.
It was as if the whole story before seemed to disappear.
The man she’d met in the maze all those years ago, and then met again…
The man she’d dreamt of…
He never existed.
There was only this creature.
“I do,” Prudence whispered through her tears.
He took the back of her head and pushed his lips to hers.
Him, a stranger.
Him, not someone she knew.
How had she not woken up to this before? Why did she only understand now?
Bastian took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her tears away. He pressed her close into him, and whispered, “This is only our beginning. Soon you will see.”
But Prudence was frightened. She knew his value of life was low and he held everyone she’d ever cared about to ransom. He could hurt them. She knew he could. At his word, the other vampires would feast upon them and her nightmare would truly begin.
“Please Prudence,” he said, trying to reach her. “I would never do that. How could you think that?”
But she hadn’t told him her thoughts. He was in here. Living in her space. Twisting and manipulating whatever he pleased.
How could she feel safe with him? When he could destroy her with a single breath?
“Thank you all for coming,” Bastian said. “I mean, all of you. Prudence is still your friend. Still your daughter or your cousin or your niece. She is still a part of all your lives. But she is also a part of mine now. Do not try to persuade her otherwise.”
He took her hand. It was time to go.
As they walked to the edge of the circle, the fear was piling up and up and Prudence could hardly breathe. She didn’t believe what he’d said. She was afraid he would turn her into a slave just like Phillipa. Forced to remain there with him. Forever.
She glanced back, searching for her friends. Searching for someone to help her.
But no one could.
Bastian put his arm around her, pulling her gaze away.
“Hey,” a voice said quietly behind them.
They continued walking.
“I said, HEY.”
It was Michael.
Bastian turned slowly.
“Michael, NOOO!” Millie screamed.
He’d grabbed one of the flaming green torches and shoved it in Bastian’s direction.
His robe caught fire for the briefest of moments, before quickly dying out.
Bastian then raised his hand and removed his red glove.
Flames flew out from his empty palm, engulfing Michael’s torch first. Then it exploded all over him.
Michael fell to the ground screaming in agony as people rushed to his aid.
But there was nothing they could do.
The fire spread out in a circle around him, and Prudence was forced to watch as the man she loved died in the worst possible way.
“I’ll kill you!” Millie screamed at the top of her lungs. “I’ll fucking kill both of you!”
Prudence had no response.
Her mind. Her body. Her heart.
Was in complete darkness.
“Let’s go,” Bastian said taking her hand.
And she could not resist.
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VAMPIRE’S LABYRINTH
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The wedding is over and Michael is dead.
Forced into the chambers of Bastian's palace, Prudence wants nothing more to be free of her new husband, as he has done the unforgivable. Together she and her friends must hatch a plan for her escape - one that will resurrect some old foes of Bastian - but who might actually do more harm than good.
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Vampire's Wedding (Vampire's Valentine Book Two) Page 5
