The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  "What are you doing?" I screamed. I ran to Tanner and grabbed him, but he wouldn't budge. I used all of my strength to try to pull him from his spot, but I may as well have been trying to move a statue. "Let him go!"

  "Gladly!" Alrekur relaxed his arm and Tanner's fell to the ground again. He started gasping for air and Alrekur pulled from his pocket the stake that had been lodged in his chest, aiming it at Tanner.

  "No!" I screamed so loudly that I was sure everyone in the castle could hear it. I imagined it echoing throughout the entire building.

  I ran at Alrekur at top speed and with all of my strength. I would take him down. If that non-Fyrsturae, Heinrick, had been able to kill him, so could I.

  I slammed into him and he barely budged. He was as strong as Adam had been—and I'd managed to kill him.

  He looked at me and laughed. "You think you can stop me, love?"

  "I'm not your love!" My rage was fueled even further with his use of that word. I grabbed the arm that was holding the stake and tried to aim it his heart. I was using both arms and his one arm was as strong my two. Beads of sweat burst out on my forehead as I strained to stake the cruel vampire.

  "You're…strong," he grunted.

  "Of course I am! I'm the Sonnast, you arrogant fool!"

  His eyes flashed red and he threw me to the ground. I landed hard and knocked the air out of my lungs, which luckily was not needed. I stood up and ran at him again.

  He threw the stake at Tanner and I turned around, grabbing the stake in mid-air and glared at Alrekur. "Don't you throw that at him! He did nothing to deserve death! Let him go and fight me."

  His eyes narrowed. "Never again call me an arrogant fool. Do you understand me?"

  I got in his face in an instant. "Then stop being one."

  Not moving his gaze from my eyes, he moved to grab the stake from my hand.

  I pulled it away. "You're not going to get it from me that easily!"

  He got even closer to my face. "I will kill him one way or another. No enemy of mine ever lives to tell about it."

  "You're going to have to get through me first. I'm not going to let you kill him." I shoved him and this time he stumbled.

  He tried to grab the stake from me. I pulled it away from him.

  "You don't give up, do you?" I snarled. "You're not getting this stake."

  His eyes narrowed. "You don't know who you're dealing with, Sonnast."

  "Nor do you know who you're dealing with!"

  He reached for the stake and I lunged at him, aiming for his heart. He grabbed the stake and I held onto it even tighter. He pulled with all of his might and I did the same. We were playing tug of war with the stake that could kill anyone in the room.

  I pretended to be shocked at something behind him. He turned his head slightly and I pulled the stake away from him in that moment of distraction. I ran to the other end of the room and stood next to Tanner.

  "What are you still doing here?" I hissed. "Get out of here!"

  "Not while you're fighting him!" He ran at Alrekur, who went toward him with equal speed.

  "No!" I shouted and ran at Tanner. I threw him out of the way; he flew across the room and landed against a wall with a loud thud. It sounded like he hit his head.

  Alrekur laughed. "I may not have to worry about him if you kill him yourself."

  I stuffed the stake in my pants and ran at him, screaming like an uncivilized warrior. I hit him so hard that we both flew back and landed on the floor. We rolled into a wall so hard that a large, heavy framed picture fell over on top of us, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces all over us.

  He looked shocked and I took advantage and bit into his neck so hard that it should've snapped. The blood flowed into my mouth and its succulence surprised me. I thought I'd already tasted the best blood, but there was nothing like this. Apparently the blood of a Fyrsturae was tastier than any other.

  Or was it because of our connection?

  I decided that I didn't care as I continued to drink it up. Everything else in the room disappeared except for my intense desire for the blood. My entire body cried out for more as I drank it up and dug my nails into his arms. Suddenly, the thought came to me that Alrekur wasn't trying to fight me off. I removed my teeth from his neck and looked at him. He looked like he was in a state of ecstasy. Much like what I was feeling. My rage had fully disappeared.

  I noticed my father in the corner of the room. How could he stand there watching me fight with Alrekur to the death? And why did he have that grin on his face? Was he glad to be watching this moment, that had suddenly become intimate, between Alrekur and I?

  Alrekur looked up at me without a word, looking dazed. Sweet mother of Hades, what was that? I've never experienced anything like that before. Not in my two thousand years of living.

  I shook my head. I have no idea.

  I looked over at Tanner, still slumped against the wall. I turned toward Alrekur again full of rage and ran at him, biting into his neck again. I couldn't believe how easily I was able to go from one extreme to another. He went limp and my rage dissipated as soon as his blood flowed into my mouth. If I couldn't stay angry with him when I bit him, then I needed to find another way to attack him.

  The stake.

  I pulled back and looked at Alrekur lying limp in my arms. Slowly, I reached for the stake and saw a movement out of the corner of my eye.

  Tanner was awake and glaring at me. You sure look like you're enjoying yourself.

  For a moment I was tempted to throw the stake at him. Instead, I pulled it out and aimed it at Alrekur. I went for his chest. Just as it was about to make contact, his arm shot up. He grabbed it out of my hands and ran across the room in the blink of an eye. "You think I can be killed that easily?"

  "I'd hoped so." I let my rage build up again and I ran at him, slamming us into a shelf which promptly fell on top of us with a loud crash. I pushed it off and stood up.

  He jumped up and ran across the room to where Tanner was. I was only a split second behind him and I grabbed his arms and pinned them behind his back. I tried to get the stake out of his hand, but I couldn't do that and keep his arms pinned at the same time.

  "I can't wait until you're fighting on my side, love. For someone who's had almost no training, you're very strong and skilled."

  "So glad to have your approval," I grunted sarcastically, still trying to get the stake from his hand. Instead of working on the stake, I bit into the back of his neck, this time careful not to get a taste of his blood. He let out a gasp and I snatched the stake and ran to the other end of the room.

  He turned around and glared at me, eyes blazing red. He clenched his fists and appeared right in front of me. Just before he crashed into me, I jumped high and clung to the ceiling.

  Alrekur crashed into the wall, knocking an animal head onto the ground. The antler tore a huge gash in his arm but it healed immediately. He looked up at me and jumped to where I was. "You're really testing my patience."

  "As are you! Let him go and we can be done with this."

  "I will not let him go. He'll always be tied to you because you turned him with your blood. You may be done with him, but he won't ever be done with you."

  I looked over at Tanner, who was limping across the room. "Look at him! Does he look like a threat?"

  "Thanks, Alexis," Tanner mumbled.

  I sighed. "I'm trying to help you!"

  Alrekur grabbed the stake from my hands.

  I gasped and then glared at him.

  He laughed. "You took advantage of my distraction. I'll take advantage of yours, dear Sonnast."

  I reached for the stake but Alrekur threw it, and I watched in horror as it landed with dead accuracy in Tanner's chest. I jumped down and ran right next to him. I reached for the stake as he fell to the ground, but before I could get to him, Alrekur flew across the room and grabbed Tanner's body. He shoved the stake in further, ordered me to my room and disappeared through a wall with Tanner's lifeless body.

/>   I screamed curses at Alrekur and ran toward the wall after him.

  My father ran to my side and held me back. "Let him go, dear child. It's for the best."

  The door opened and the two servants rushed in to me, grabbed me from my father and held me down.

  "Alrekur will be back after he's hidden the boy," my father told me.

  I squirmed and kicked. "Let me go!" I ordered. "I'm your princess! Let go of me!"

  "Sorry, princess, Alrekur outranks you. We know exactly who he is. We served him for many centuries before he was killed."

  Alrekur reappeared through the wall. He nodded to the servants. "Thank you. You may let her go. Stand ready."

  They let me go and I glared at Alrekur. "You hid his body already?"

  He laughed. "No, I will hide him as well as I hid Halldor and Dagur. I hid them much better than Heinrich hid me, trust me. There's no way you'll ever find him—and your parents will never find those two scoundrels without my help."

  "You didn't have to kill him!" I shrieked, lunging at him, he put out his hand toward me and I couldn't move.

  "I did have to. You'll see that someday."

  "He's not your competition!" I insisted, blinking back tears.

  He got right in front of my face again, staring directly into my eyes. "You will go to your room and not tell anyone what I did or what I'm doing. You will tell them that I am resting."

  My mouth dropped open. "Are you trying to control my mind?"

  "Trying?" he sneered. "I have controlled your mind. You will be unable to tell anyone that I've killed that human or that I'm traveling somewhere to hide him where he'll never be found."

  "I'm a royal! My mind can't be controlled."

  "I'm Alrekur Vidarsson. I can control the mind of anyone that I want. Anyone! Now, to your room."

  "I hate you," I whispered and turned towards the door. I started walking and could hear the two servants following me. "Leave me alone!"

  "We will see you to your room, Princess."

  I turned around and saw that Alrekur had already left. "He's mind controlled me. Isn't that enough for you two?"

  "We'll leave you alone once you're back in your room."

  TWENTY EIGHT

  I stormed out of the room with the servants on my tail. I went through the halls doing my best to ignore them, wanting to inflict bodily harm on them. I was beyond furious at Alrekur, and these two goons were backing him up.

  What about my father? He hadn't tried to stop any of it, either. I hadn't wanted to admit that my parents were as bad as anyone else because I'd missed so much time with them. But, it was getting more difficult by the minute to ignore how selfish and deceitful they really were.

  I tried to get to my room as fast as I could to get rid of Alrekur's servants. I turned down halls and corridors, lost in my thoughts. If Alrekur could use mind control on me, what else could he do? Could he read my thoughts? That seemed unlikely, because otherwise, he would have killed Cliff instead of Tanner. I felt a small amount of relief knowing that Tanner had to be able to be brought back to life. Otherwise, Alrekur wouldn't go to all the trouble of hiding his body.

  I heard laughing behind me. I turned around and saw that the two irreverent servants were laughing at me. "Where are you going, Princess?" one of them snarled.

  I looked around and realized that I didn't know where I was. I hadn't seen the area that we were in before. "You two lead the way," I ordered. "I've only been here a short time and you obviously know it better than I do."

  Still laughing, one of them moved in front of me and the other stayed behind me like I was some prisoner who was going to escape. The further along we went, the more enraged I became. Sure, I'd been angry at Tanner for the way he'd treated me. But I didn't want him dead, and of course I still loved him. I just hadn't chosen him. Not that I could have told Alrekur that. I couldn't put Cliff in harm's way too.

  A light burst as I went past it.

  The servant in front of me stopped and I ran into him.

  "What are you doing?" I demanded.

  "What was that?" he asked.

  "It was a light bulb, stupid. Let's get going!"

  "Don't call him stupid!" the one behind me said.

  "You two may work for Alrekur, and he may outrank me—but you two do not!"

  Two more lights burst on the other side of the hall.

  "What's going on?" the first one demanded.

  "Who cares?" I shouted. "Just take me to my room, and then come back here to solve the mystery."

  Four more burst. I was becoming more enraged just standing there. Every light in the castle would be broken soon, if those two wouldn't take me to my room.

  "I've never seen anything like this," the one behind me said.

  "You two can stay here if you want, but I'm going to my room!"

  "No you're not! We're to see you to your room ourselves."

  "Then see me to my room and return to clean up this mess. I'm going to my room one way or another, even if I get lost again."

  "We can't let you get lost. Let's go."

  Clenching my fists, I sighed. "Finally!"

  Lights burst the entire way through the halls until we reached my room. They were going to have a huge mess to clean up and I didn't care. At least they would be out of my sight.

  When we arrived at the door to my room, I glared at the two servants. "Be gone!" I ordered and went into my room, slamming the door. I locked it and threw myself onto the bed, buried my face into a pillow and sobbed. Tanner was dead. Even though it wasn't permanent, it may as well have been. I would never be able to find him without Alrekur's help—and that wasn't going to happen.

  My sobs eventually turned back into rage. What had been indifference towards Alrekur earlier became the hatred I had felt after he killed Tanner. I wanted to tear the ancient vampire apart with my bare hands. The rage and hatred grew into a pulsating energy through my body and I couldn't remain still any longer. I could almost see the energy.

  Had Alrekur still been in the castle, I would have marched back to his wing and tore him apart and not stopped until I'd either killed him or he'd killed me. I had no idea where he was or when he'd be back. I could either sit on the fury or try to alleviate it, at least temporarily. Then when he returned, I would rip him to shreds.

  I went to the gardens to try to calm myself. I managed to relax somewhat, but my anger remained. I was determined to make Alrekur pay. I would hurt him as much as he'd hurt me. I knew that in reality I probably wouldn't be able to tear him limb from limb as I wanted to, even if I were Fyrsturae. I still had a lot to learn about what that meant.

  I saw Gracie walking cheerfully toward me. When I turned to look at her, she must have been able to feel my anger because she jumped and ran away in the other direction. I was in such a rage that not even my faithful pet would come near me. I was so angry that I wanted to destroy someone and she must have been able to feel that. Didn't she know that I wouldn't tear her apart? If I could have pet her, I would have surely calmed down at least a little.

  My stomach rumbled so I went inside and sat down in the dining hall. I hoped that eating would help to calm me down, though I wasn't sure if anything could. All I could think about was how much I hated Alrekur.

  My parents were finishing up a meal with Darek and Raine.

  "So good to see you, daughter," my father said, as if he hadn't just seen me in Alrekur's room when I had battled him, trying unsuccessfully to save Tanner. As if he hadn't just stood there and watched the whole thing, instead of helping me in any way.

  I nodded to him and sat down. I didn't trust my voice to speak; it would give away the torment that I was feeling.

  "Have you seen Rekur?" Darek asked me.

  I shook my head. I wanted to ask my father if he'd seen him, but my mouth wouldn't move. Then without being able to control myself because Alrekur had used mind control on me, I told Darek, "He's resting."

  "Resting?" my mother asked, half laughing. "He spent the la
st th—"

  My father cleared his throat loudly. "Let the man rest."

  My mother sighed. "It will be nice when the remainder of the leaders arrive and we can tell everyone what's going on."

  "Don't feel bad, Caitlyn," Raine said. "I have a hard time believing that he needs any rest, either."

  They all looked at me as if they didn't believe me, even my father. It was good to know where his alliances were.

  "Why are you looking at me like that? I told you, he's resting." It was all I could to do to keep my voice even and not start screaming at them. Someone I loved had just been murdered, and I had to act like all was normal in the world.

  A group of vampires that I'd never seen before walked into the room. My parents, along with Darek and Raine, arose and embraced the new arrivals. Darek proudly introduced two of them to me as his son and daughter-in-law, Rufus and Claudia, the Romanian leaders. We exchanged pleasant greetings and servants brought out another large spread of delicious food that I was quickly becoming accustomed to.

  I said as little as possible, gave some convincing fake smiles, and otherwise acted sweet and happy while suppressing my animosity. I hoped that lights wouldn't start exploding again; that would have been difficult to explain, but I knew that my father would help explain that away since he was so eager to keep Alrekur's secret.

  I knew that I had to talk to someone before I lost it. I decided to speak with Mattie because I doubted that she would tell anyone since it didn't appear that she received many visitors. She also seemed to genuinely care about me. My parents already had a lot on their plates and I didn't feel that I could trust my father. I didn't think that he was against me, but he definitely wanted to stay on Alrekur's good side to be able to bring back the rest of the ancient vampires, his first daughter in particular.

  As soon as I was done eating, I excused myself and walked through the maze of halls to find the dungeon. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I ran right into someone. I nearly knocked the poor vampire over.

  I looked up to apologize, but stopped short when I saw Cliff. "I thought you were on an errand!"

  He shook his head, looking concerned. "I told my mother to do it herself. What has you so upset? You look ready to kill someone."