The vampire in his hands squirmed, trying to release himself from the King’s grasp. He dropped the vampire and grabbed its head with both hands. He twisted as he swung the vampire’s body towards the wall. The head came off and the body disintegrated into dust before it connected with the wall.
He tossed the head into the air as he jumped from the wall, shifting from human to werewolf in mid-air. He joined the melee, tearing heads off of vampires and knocking one off a pinned human with one mighty swipe of his paw. He was furious that Dallin had escaped, but there would be another opportunity to deal with that vile enemy.
This battle was won, but the war would never be over as long as Dallin of the Vampires still walked the earth.
***
50 years later
Lizette pushed back the thick auburn curls, revealing her dark green eyes. She sat, bound, in the tub of warm water. Beth, an old hag, scooped warm water out of the tub and poured it over the woman’s head. Lizette scowled back at Beth, her eyes flashing in anger.
“How could you do this?” Lizette said. Her voice was low, trying not to wake the men that slept in rooms beyond. “You have to let me go. I don’t belong here. You don’t belong here.”
“Hush your mouth, child. King Dallin has need for you, and you must be presentable when he lays eyes on you tonight.” She smiled eerily. Lizette couldn’t believe her eyes. This woman was enraptured with the King.
“You’ve lost your mind. The only need a vampire has for humans is their next meal.”
Beth smiled and hummed, washing Lizette’s hair, seemingly oblivious to the words coming out of Lizette’s mouth. Lizette was incredulous.
“Are you daft? We need to leave, we need to run. Now.”
A huge pitcher of water poured over Lizette’s face, causing her to sputter and choke.
“We’ll run a little later. First, you need to eat some breakfast. We can’t have our future Queen so skinny. There are plans for you, beautiful girl. Big plans.”
Her blood ran cold at that final declaration. The woman was obviously spellbound; there was no way a human could be so calm in the vampires’ lair, so eager to serve them. It didn’t matter how she would do it, but Lizette had to get away.
The woman finished washing Lizette’s hair. She picked up a large pitcher that had been sitting beside her and poured it on Lizette’s hair. The water was ice-cold. Lizette bit her lip, but she didn’t cry out.
“Now that red hair of yours will shine like the sun.” She draped a large towel over one arm and motioned to Lizette to get out of the tub.
Arms still bound, Lizette stood carefully and stepped out onto the hard stone floor. She stood silently while the woman dried her off, searching the room around her for a way out while the woman was distracted with her work.
Lizette and Beth were the only humans in the warren, and Lizette couldn’t fathom how they kept this human bound to the home while they slept. There was a way out of this, and Lizette was going to find it.
Beth finished drying Lizette off, and reached for a set of clothes sitting on the chair beside the tub. Beth dropped a thin tunic over Lizette’s head, separating her bound hands momentarily to help her work her arms in the shirt. The fabric clung to her naked breasts and barely reached the back of her thighs. She might as well be naked, as much as the tunic covered.
Lizette fought the urge to flee then and there. She didn’t know how to get out of the lair, and she wasn’t about to play her hand.
A warm smell floated on the air between them, and Lizette was surprised to see a second human coming to the long table and setting food upon it, a man. He smiled at Beth before leaving the room.
“Is that your husband?”
Beth looked startled. “Why yes, he is. The King allowed us to live if we pledged ourselves to him. We want for nothing, and we don’t have to live in fear anymore.”
She led Lizette to the table, pulling a chair out for her. Beth pulled Lizette’s left hand out of the clasp that held her hands bound together. She attached the metal bracelet around her left wrist to a clasp under the edge of the heavy table, leaving her bound, but with her right hand free for eating.
“Eat up, girl. We’ll be taking you out to exercise soon. A nice run. There’s a lot to be done before your destiny is fulfilled.” Without explanation, Beth turned and left the room, leaving Lizette to eat alone in silence.
She wanted to refuse the food in protest at her imprisonment, but she was starving. Besides, she needed her energy for later. She had a feeling that the daily run that Beth kept alluding to was going to be her chance at freedom. She needed to eat, because she was getting out of here, today.
***
Beth shook Lizette roughly, yanking her out of a deep sleep. Lizette’s eyes flew open, her expression wild as she looked around her. She looked at Beth, anger in her eyes.
“What happened? What did you do to me?”
“You were asleep. I can’t help you get in shape for your purpose if you can’t keep your eyes open.” Beth smiled, yellowed teeth rotting in her gums. Lizette looked around and was relieved to see the sunlight pouring through the window.
“Don’t worry your little head, you won’t be meeting the King until you’re ready. That will be a while still.”
Beth grabbed Lizette’s bound wrists and pulled her up roughly. Her bare feet struggled to find their footing on the rough floor. Room spinning, she forced herself to swallow the bile that came up in her throat. She shook her head and blinked several times, willing the effects of the medicine to loosen its hold on her.
The room finally settled, and she was able to take a few steps forward. Tentative, she felt the floor blindly with her bare foot before committing to the step. Afraid that looking down would cause her to toppled, she continued in this way, following Beth as she led her out of the great room.
“You’re a really special one, the first of your kind. The King has been talking about the Queen a long while now.”
Lizette was silent, listening to Beth talk half-heartedly while she kept her eyes and ears peeled for any clue as to where the exit was. Beth rambled on, shuffling ahead of Lizette while she talked.
“We’ll get you nice and strong, yes we will. And we’ll put a little more meat on your bones. When you are ready, the King will make you his Queen.”
“Who is the King?”
“Why, Dallin of course. The King of all the vampires in Ungerland.”
Lizette lost her footing and almost went down. Beth hauled her up by her shackles, catching her before he knees hit the hard floor. Her heartbeat quickened, and her breath came in tiny gasps.
Dallin. The worst of all the vampires. Lizette shuddered. She’d heard the name before, but she’d often wondered if it was just a fairytale to keep small children from wandering into the woods alone. Goose pimples rose on her skin, and for the first time, Lizette was terrified.
Beth pulled a large keyring from her pocket, picking through the many keys until she found the right one. The heavy door creaked and moaned, protesting as Beth shoved her shoulder into it. It finally opened with one last creak. Beth went through the door, pulling Lizette behind her.
The forest beyond the door was dense. Thick trees and solid underbrush hid most of the forest floor beneath. A thin footpath made a wide circle in front of the door. Beth shoved Lizette towards the beginning of the trail.
“Run, little Queen. You have to be ready for your destiny.”
Lizette planted her feet. “I don’t have any shoes.”
“Of course you don’t. We don’t want you running away.”
“I can’t run around this without shoes.”
“You can and you will. There are no rocks on the path; I’ve made sure of that. The ground is soft. You’ll be fine. Get going; we don’t have much daylight left, and you don’t want to be caught out here at night. Our protection doesn’t extend beyond the walls of the castle.”
Lizette looked back at the lair, which was dug into the side of a la
rge hill. It looked modest, from the outside, but Lizette had knew that Beth wasn’t exaggerating when she called it a castle. There was no doubt in her mind that a castle was hidden behind the humble façade and buried deep into the hillside.
Still dressed in a tunic, her feet bare and already dirty, Lizette began to jog the footpath while Beth walked the smaller inner circle, watching. The path was soft, as promised. Lizette looked around her, trying to find north, but the trees obscured the sun too much. The trees were covered with so much lush, green foliage it was hard to tell moss apart from the other foliage from this distance.
“Eyes front, focus on your breathing. We’re going to be doing this for an hour each day. Today, I’m going to count how many times you can complete the circle in an hour. Each day, you’re going to improve on the day before.”
Lizette kept her head turned forward, letting her eyes wander. She kept her pace intentionally slow, pretending from time to time that her side ached with the effort. Beth shouted at Lizette, at times angry at her slow progress.
The third time around the trail, Beth sat down on a tree stump and watched Lizette as she moved at a snail’s pace around the track. The sun was heading towards the horizon, but they still had at least three hours of daylight left.
The terrain around the hillside was even denser, the forest was dark and foreboding. The narrow path that ran past the door and around the back of the hill was narrow and rocky. There was no way Lizette could run down that path with bare feet, let alone up that steep hill.
She glanced at Beth, surprised to see her head hanging low, as though she was regarding something on the ground. Lizette stopped, bending double and letting her auburn curls fall into her face.
She peered through the tendrils and watched Beth. The woman didn’t move, didn’t even notice that Lizette had stopped. Lizette moved closer to the tree line, placing her hand against a tree and leaning heavily against it as if she was about to fall over.
A quick peek at Beth revealed that she hadn’t moved an inch. Maybe it’s a trick, thought Lizette, frantically. But the woman was much too relaxed for her to be feigning sleep. After working tirelessly for countless hours, Beth had finally dozed off on her feet.
Lizette looked into the forest beyond, squinting to see if there was anyone hiding in the woods, waiting for her to make a break for it. She turned back towards Beth and slowly backed into the forest. She moved her feet quietly, watching Beth for any sign of movement.
This is too good to be true, she thought frantically. But the woman remained still as she backed further into the dense woods.
When Lizette could no longer see the path she’d left behind, she turned and started running through the woods, careful to step lightly and avoid rustling the vegetation as she went. She jogged easily, agilely. With a step as light as a nimble doe, she bounded through the forest, ever-fearful of a hand on her back, dragging her back to her prison and the fate Dallin had planned for her.
***
The human, Owen Wrigley, sat on the back of the pack horse, tightly bound and tied to the saddle. He sat quietly, trying not to panic as the horses moved quickly through the forest. Convicted of murdering a young woman in Bradenton, Wrigley had been sentenced to be released in the Immortal Woods; the only place in Northern Ungerland that wasn’t protected by the Lycan clan of Bradenton.
Since the war between the Vampire and the Lycan, they’d held onto a tentative treaty. The last fifty years, Bradenton had been free from vampire attacks, and they exiled all their criminals to the Immortal Woods. They were given a pack of supplies and dropped off in daylight, left to fend for themselves.
They could try to make it to the human stronghold in Lower Ungerland, but until now, no one had made it far enough to escape the vampires. The humans of Bradenton were safe, protected by Lycan sentries that lived in the woods surrounding the walled-in township, and the Bradenton forest was free of vampires and safe for hunters.
The Lycan king, Omus III, hadn’t been completely satisfied with the outcome, as his original goal had been to destroy all the vampires in the area. But reducing their numbers to fewer than thirty had been a good start. With human flesh being so scarce, they didn’t dare turn their limited meals into more vampires.
It wouldn’t be long before the vampires were eradicated altogether, and the humans would be safe at last.
Sterling rode in front of the pack animal and the doomed human. Sterling’s hair was lighter than most Lycans, a sandy blond rather that the deep sable that was typical of werewolves. His eyes were bright hazel, as were the eyes of the rest of his family. He came from a long-line of light wolves, though no one was really sure where the mutation had come from.
In contrast to Sterling, Conrad was dark, with dark brown eyes that were almost black and a long mane of thick, jet-black hair. He brought up the rear, keeping their little caravan moving at a fast clip as they headed for the Immortal Woods.
Both Sterling and Conrad were silent, pensive and enjoying the scenery. The trial for Wrigley had been swift but fair. The evidence against him so compelling that no one was shocked when the guilty verdict came back.
Wrigley sat quietly on the horse’s back, eyes drooping as the steady movement rocked him. If he was going to survive the night, he had to save his energy. No amount of pleading or begging would change his fate, but with any luck, he could make good time and reach the stronghold before he was caught by vampires.
He had no intention of becoming anyone’s next meal.
Sterling stretched in the saddle, twisting first left then right, trying to ease the discomfort in his back. They’d been riding since dawn, ensuring that they would reach the release point in time to make it back to Bradenton before the sun set.
They were about thirty minutes away from their final destination, and Conrad was ready to go home. He hated prisoner duty more than anything. It wasn’t the humans they released; he had no problem leaving the worst of the worst in the Immortal Forest to pay for their sins. The long, monotonous ride bored him and made him wish for his large, plush bed in his fine bedroom, in the cabin he shared with Sterling. Every cabin was occupied by two sentries, and those that were paired up were partners for life. They rotated jobs, but otherwise, Conrad was stuck with the surly Sterling.
They’d been best friends since they were cubs, so Conrad really didn’t mind. But times like this, where a little fun would have broken up the monotony of the job, he wished he’d been partnered up with someone more like himself.
They came upon the sign that warned anyone who might have gotten this far into the woods that there was no Lycan protection beyond this point. It instructed any traveler in the area to head five miles west to ensure his safety.
Sterling picked up speed after passing the sign, eager to get to the drop-off point and unload Wrigley. He urged his horse into a trot, clicking his tongue to instruct the pack horse to follow suit. On his mare, Conrad cantered slowly behind the others. Her stride was shorter than the two in front, which is why she always got to bring up the rear. Her gentle canter was smooth and rhythmic. Her feet landed softly on the thin layer of dirt beneath her on the path. Conrad loosened the reins. His horse kept its slow, easy pace while he relaxed.
The prisoner struggled to stay in the center of the saddle, nearly bouncing off with each stride of the pack horse’s trot.
“Sterling!” Conrad called up to his friend, motioning with his head towards Wrigley. Sterling nodded and pushed his horse into an easy canter. The pack horse moved into a canter as well, giving the man a much smoother ride.
The prisoner mumbled under his breath his thanks, but Conrad ignored him. He wasn’t interested in the man’s comfort; he just didn’t feel like wrestling the heavy man back into the saddle while he was bound.
A short while later, they made it to the drop-off point. The sun was still quite high in the sky.
“You’re in luck, you have more than five hours of daylight before the vamps come out to feed. You might be the f
irst to make it out of here.” Sterling dismounted, handing his reins to Conrad as well as the rope to the pack horse.
He went around to the prisoner, talking as he approached, “If you kick me or try to attack me in any way, I’ll tie you to that tree over there and you won’t have a choice. Do you understand?”
Wrigley nodded and held his hands in front of him. Sterling ignored the man’s outstretched arms and cut the rope securing him to the saddle instead. He removed the pack from the saddle and threw it as hard as he could. It landed with a thud several yards from them. He pulled Wrigley from the saddle and set the man on his feet.
“I’m going to cut the rope most of the way, but you’ll have to work a bit to break your hands apart. I would suggest retrieving the pack and running towards the south before you worry about the rope. You don’t have much time, but the last convict I brought here tried to steal my horse as soon as I untied him. I don’t want to have to kill you right here, understand?”
“Of course I do. I’m not an imbecile.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
Sterling cut the rope binding Wrigley’s hands about three quarters of the way through, before shoving the man towards the pack.
“You have food and water to last a few days, as well as a blanket and some other supplies. You won’t need them, but the people of Bradenton show more compassion than you showed that young mother.”
Sterling took the reins from Conrad and mounted his horse. Sitting tall in the saddle, he took the pack horse’s lead and started heading back the way they came. Conrad remained behind, facing the prisoner and making sure the man didn’t try to ambush them from behind before they put some distance between them.
Wrigley looked at Conrad for a moment, and then he ran for the pack. A sharp boulder jutted out from the trail beside the pack, and Wrigley knelt beside it, running the thin piece of rope over one sharp edge quickly, freeing his hands in a matter of seconds. He didn’t even glance at Conrad before he ran headlong into the woods, heading south as fast as his legs could carry him.
Pregnant to an Alien King Box Set Page 34
