Chapter 20

Queen Amirah decided it was best to drug her daughter so that she stayed out of sight until it was time for her to leave with Ann, which should be by the weekend.

Because Ami loved milk, she finished her glass fast and therefore was knocked out fast asleep on the sofa within thirty minutes. Queen Amirah ordered some of her flock members to carry her to a different room than Ami’s actual room. ‘Cannot afford Eero to seek her in her room.’

Once inside a secured room, Queen Amirah had Ami put into a sedated coma. Queen Amirah promised her son Andre that she will find a way for him to be with Hannah if he will compel everyone not to speak a word of Ami and what she was doing.

Friday evening, Andre welcomed the Vampires accompanying the humans that will be changed into vampires. Only two humans from Dario’s nest qualified, and they were accompanied by Paris and Shysie. Andre made sure he welcomed them in last as he wanted to personally escort Hannah.

“Hello, Hannah. Long-time no see,” Andre greeted Hanna last and held out his arm.

“Hello, Andre. You are right, way too long. Has the matter been resolved?” Hannah asked, worried about Dario, who she didn’t hear from all week.

“What matter?” Andre pretended not to know what she was talking about.

“Our nest is being accused of forming our own council, and it is not true. Where is Dario?” Hannah asked with great annoyance in her voice.

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it. Your names have been cleared,” Andre lied.

“That is good to know,” Hanna felt relieved and was eager to see Dario.

“As you guys know, you are late, and we are supposed to have started already. Dario was not able to contact you the past week as everyone that knows who the Vampire was that will be sacrificed was not allowed to communicate with their nest members or anyone outside the castle until after the ceremony.” Andre said.

Hannah obediently followed Andre, ‘the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can see Dario,’ she thought eagerly.

One by one, the eleven humans are called into a room where they were compelled by Andre, “you will not stop drinking until your heart turns to ash.”

Before they left the room, they got blindfolded so that they cannot see the Vampire being sacrificed, so they will have no connection with the Vampire until it was too late. Because they are being compelled to drink till their heart turned to ash, they cannot stop drinking even if they wanted to.

Hannah felt nervous as even then, sitting on her knees in front of a Vampire, presumably deserving of death she felt unsure if this was what she really wanted, ‘I have saved my eggs but will never know how it feels to carry my own children.’

Hanna could feel someone bending over her and knew that it was another Vampire that will bite open the Sacrifice Vampire’s skin as the Vampire and Werewolf teeth could pierce vampire skin.

Still, in doubt, Hanna felt her head pushed in position until her open mouth tasted blood and her lips felt the cold skin of the Vampire. As soon as she drank, she saw Dario’s memories and knew that the sacrificed vampire was her beloved Dario. Hannah tried to stop, but could not.

She remembered she was wearing her special necklace and hummed the de-compelling rhyme while she still drank. It didn’t take long before she could release her mouth from Dario.

“Stop! Stop!” she cried out as she removed the blindfold from her eyes. Thinking on her feet, she quickly took her necklace from her neck and hummed the rhyme over the other drinkers. Hannah realized that there was only one higher council member in the room.

“Help me untie him!” She shouted at them as she untied Dario.

“What are you doing?” One of them asked, furious.

“It is my husband! He does not deserve to be sacrificed!” Hannah cried.

“I waited over five hundred years for this!” One said and tried to drink again.

Dario’s nest member shoved him off, “stop it! This is my nest leader! Something is not right here; this must be a mistake!”

Outside the door, Andre heard the commotion and hurried to bring the situation under control. Andre was just in time, as Dario was almost loose.

“Drink until your heart turns to ash,” he compelled them again, but it does not work on Hannah as she was hymning. Andre grabbed her necklace from her and shoved it to the side.

“Stand still and keep quiet!” Andre compelled Hannah, tears running down her face.

“You don’t love Dario and you never have. You are blind to his memories and his feelings,” Andre compelled her. It tempted him to compel her to love him, Andre, but he wondered if she would love him naturally if Dario was out of the way, so he risked it and did not compel her to love him.

“Drink until your heart turns to ash.”

***

Ann came out of her room typing away on her phone when she walked straight into Paris. “Ann? What are you doing here?”

“Paris, hi,” Ann put her phone away.

“So? What are you doing here?” Paris asked again.

“I am on holiday,” Ann said, feeling her heart skip a beat at the beautiful appearance of Paris. ‘I don’t think there is a sexier person alive,.. no wait, is he alive or dead?’ Ann thought to herself.

“On holiday here?” Paris asked, confused.

“Yes. I came with Jessica. Did you know she is like an Alpha princess?”

“I know now,” Paris said, swiping his hand through his hair.

“What are you doing here?” Ann asked, not sure what else to say.

“I escorted two of our nest humans for the changing ceremony,” Paris said, noticing that Ann was uncomfortable.

“Is that tonight?” Ann asked, wondering about her chances of becoming a vampire herself.

“Yeah, might already be over. They started an hour ago.”

“Dammit,” Ann said, disappointed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wanted in,” Ann said, frustrated.
“You don’t just snap your fingers and demand to be a vampire, you have to work for it. Either be married to a vampire or live with a nest for five hundred years before the council will turn you.”

“I know that already, but I figured that since I have a family part of this world, I can skip the waiting period,” Ann said, playing with her fingers.

“Oh, your father being a hunter and all? That should be interesting.”

“See you around, I guess,” Ann said, wishing she had something to talk about to stay in his company longer.

“See you,” Paris walked away. “Actually, I was going that way,” he said as he turned around.

“Paris,” Jessica acknowledged Paris as she walked past him on her way to Ann.

“I was just on my way to you. You look fancy. Why are you all dolled up?” Ann asked Jessica.

“It is my engagement party tonight,” Jessica said, while making inverted commas with her fingers.

“You are like only eighteen years old; they know that right?”

“Yes, but they waited so long they didn’t care. They want me to get married on Sunday. I have un-mated with Wynn, so he is all yours,” Jessica said.

“I was compelled to be in love with him. There are no genuine feelings from my side,” Ann said with a smug.

***

“Hello William, missed me much?” Shysie mocked, sitting on William’s bed.

William did not expect Shysie to be waiting for him in his room, “not at all.”

“Are you sure?” Shysie asked, padding the bed next to her, indicating for William to sit next to her.

“Why should I? I know you just want to drink from me,” William said, standing in his tracks.

“I can always just compel you,” Shysie said, and flashed her fangs at him.

“That is just creepy,” William said, walking over to her. He pushed Shysie down and kissed her. Shysie was surprised just at how good he was and does not reject him. Shysie wrapped her arms around William but in the next moment he pulled off her, “actually, you are not my type.”

William walked away and Shysie tried to compel him, but it does not work as one of the hunter girls already hooked him with the hymm and mix. William smiled as he walked away, leaving Shysie feeling rejected.

William knocked on Ann’s door, “are you there?” but he got no answer. As he turned around, he almost walked into Wynn. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” William asked, weary of Wynn, knowing what he was.

“Don’t be so scared, bro,” Wynn put his arm around William.

“Sure, so what are you doing here?”

“Looking for my sister,” Wynn said, releasing William from his playful grip.

“She is in that room,” William pointed to his room before walking off as fast as he could.

William found both girls in Jessica’s room. “What you guys up to?”

“Nothing much.”

“Really? Then why is Jessica wearing a wedding dress?” William asked, looking at Jessica turning in front of a full-length, stand-alone mirror.

“This is not a wedding gown, but more like an engagement dress. I have to get engaged tonight. I have not met all the bachelors yet, there is still one I am about to meet and since I have not felt the ‘mate bond’ with any of the royal brothers here I can only assume that the eldest, the one I have not met yet is my mate.”

“Hectic. They do know you are like only eighteen?” William asked, shocked.

“Yip, but the ‘mate bond’ makes one look past all of that, so I will most likely get married on Sunday before you two go home.

“What about your parents? The ones that brought you up?” William asked.

“Nothing. It's not like I will be making babies soon and they don’t have to know that I got married.”

“Shall we go?” One of the brothers popped their head into Jessica’s room.

“Wow, all of you came to escort me?” Jessica asked, smiling.

At dinner that evening, which was later than usual because of the Vampire-Turning Ceremony, the atmosphere was different from what it was during the week. With tables set far apart as different species, including Vampires will be present.

The newly turned vampires are not present, as they must undergo a process before they are allowed back into society.

Paris looked around. “I wonder where Dario is?”

“Perhaps he is with Hannah,” Shysie said, sitting next to her brother. Their table was next to the table where Ann and William were sitting.

After some formalities, Jessica’s father stood up. “I would like to formally introduce my daughter, Jessica, and her finance.”

Jessica stood up and with a mind link, informed her father that she was yet to choose a husband.

“Her fiancé that seemed to be running late should join us shortly, Prince Deacon Manchini,” her father stated, disappointed that Jessica did not just choose one of the younger, weaker brothers that won’t cause any trouble.

Before the words sank in, a tall, blond hair, with deep blue eyes, entered the dining room walking stiffly past the vampires.

Deacon, the oldest of the Royal brothers, could not stand vampires, not even hybrids. He hated being at the council, but showed his face every now and then. Even though Deacon did not like hybrids it was not always the case. There was a time that Wynn and he were so close that he was closer to Wynn than to his own brothers.

‘At least he is better looking than his brothers,’ Jessica assumed that he was Deacon.

Deacon gave Jessica the cold shoulder and sat next to her, taking her drink and took a big gulp from it and spat it right back into her glass, “what the fuck is this?”

“Cranberry juice,” Jessica said as she sat down.

“Guess it is too late to choose a husband myself,” Jessica said sarcastically at her father.

Her father was not really worried as he hoped they will find their way out of the dilemma before Sunday.