Playing With Fire (9 page)

“We
can’t waste our time trying to open it,” Gabriel said after our fifth attempt.
“We should cut through the kitchen, no one uses it.”

I
nodded in agreement and followed after Gabriel into another cutoff from the
hallway. Soon enough, we were inside another golden lit room with an added
smell of stale bread and wine. Dust covered brick stoves lined the walls on one
end, while the other was dominated by wine barrels.

“Were
you a drunk or something when you were alive?” I asked, unable to count the
seemingly billions of wine barrels.

“Not
exactly,” he answered. “We sold a lot of it, and a lot of people in my time
called this castle heaven for the drunks.”

“I
can see why,” I said as my eyes watered from the overbearingly sweet smells of
many different varieties of wine.

Gabriel
led me deeper into the kitchen, and the brick stoves were beginning to be
replaced by even more stacks of wine barrels. He didn’t stop to admire what his
kingdom used to be about, but when I looked at the labels, they all looked old.
I couldn’t know for sure because I couldn’t read. We passed a few cellar doors
where the faint smell of stale bread and rotten meat wafted out, but soon
enough the kitchen turned into a wine cellar. The farther we went the darker it
got.

Gabriel
was just a black blob in front of me. It was hard to know if I was actually
following him or about to walk into a stack of wine barrels. His footsteps
echoed off the walls, which made it even more difficult to find him. So quickly
enough, I ended up walking into a wine barrel I thought was the leech.

I
scowled at myself for being an idiot and searched around frantically for my
guide. The sound of a body hitting the floor and concealed screaming caught my
ears. I didn’t hesitate to run after it. Through the maze of wine barrels I
could faintly make out two figures wrestling. A faint glow of white skin told
me one was Gabriel, and he was losing. Without thinking, I rushed to his aid.
Before his attacker had realized I was there, I tackled him to the ground.

My
eyes adjusted to the light revealing the attacker to me. Hair that was so black
it rivaled the darkness fell over his brilliant blue eyes and cuts grazed his
pale skin, but it didn’t take me more than a second to realize who it was.

“Vaze!”
I cried as I grabbed him into a bear hug. I was relieved that I would finally
have someone who was actually alive with me, and I hardly noticed my actions
until he hugged back. I pulled away after three seconds of my brain processing what
was happening.

“How
did you escape?” I asked frantically.

“The
guards thought the little girl would eat me—and thank God that she didn’t,” he
said happily. “How did you get here?”

“Gabriel
brought me,” I said while pointing to the confused vampire. Vaze stared at him
in disbelief.

“Can
I talk to you?” Vaze said to me without taking his eyes off Gabriel. “Alone?”

“Why?”
I asked, but Vaze ignored it as he pulled me through the stacks of wine barrels
until Gabriel was out of site.

“You
let a vampire bring you all the way here alone?” he said in a concerned tone.

“Yeah,
what’s the problem?” I asked.

“Did
it ever occur to you that he could be leading you into a trap?” Vaze hissed
hardly above a whisper.

“At
first, yes, but I didn’t have any other choice!” I hissed back. “I had to save
you guys.”

“I
could have pulled that off just fine myself,” he said. “Plus he’s a vampire!
You can’t trust him!”

“How
do I know we can trust you?” Gabriel said while appearing silently behind me,
making both Vaze and I jump. “You were under the queen’s spell, for all we know
you’re still under it.”

“If
I were under her spell, then how would I have recognized Scarlet?” Vaze snapped
back.

“The
queen has immense power, she could have already known about Scarlet,” Gabriel
said.

“Stop
it!” I interjected. “The more time you two fight like children the less time my
brothers have! I don’t care if it is a trap. If they are in that throne room,
get me there now!” Gabriel and Vaze exchanged hate-filled glares, but neither
argued.

 “Fine,”
they both said.

Gabriel
led us further into the wine cellar until we came upon a trap door in the wall.
Gabriel held a finger to his lips and opened the ancient door. It opened
quietly and faint orange light flooded the cellar, revealing the back of an
enormous golden throne. We each scrambled through the door and hid behind it. I
peeked behind the arm of the chair and saw something both relieving and gut
wrenching.

My
brothers were in the center of the giant regal room with the same blank stares
from the spell in the forest. They were bound with thick ropes and were guarded
by two vampires. A beautiful woman in a flamboyant red gown stalked them, but
her concentration was on a proud looking couple. They stood straight with their
chins lifted in a prideful rebellion and fearlessness. The woman held tightly
on to her husband’s hand—both of their knuckles were white. Their pure white
hair fell in shambles over their flawless skin. Despite this, they were truly a
sight to behold, even more striking than most vampires. They looked young, but
their eyes were old and glassy. The woman in red slinked to and fro in front of
them gracefully, and almost playfully as well.

“This
is your last chance, my children,” the woman said with a voice like a harp. “If
you do not do as I say, you will die, and so will your son and daughter. You do
not know these people, their lives are irrelevant to yours. All you have to do
is kill them, and you may live however you please.”

“You
have made my family into murderers,” the man said in a deep powerful voice. “We
had no choice to take the lives that we took, but we will not kill the
innocent. The eldest is hardly even a man. You ask us to kill children who have
done no harm to us. Death would be a beautiful escape to this madness you try
to subject us to!”

The
woman walked over to the brave man. Her black waist-length hair flowed behind
her.

“Oh
dear, Darius,” she said while putting a hand on his face with a mocking
expression of concern. “You are a fool.”

With
one swift movement the woman swiped her hand across his neck like a dagger. The
pride in the man’s eyes disappeared and was replaced with distant shock. Ruby
red blood flowed out of the man’s neck as he fell to the ground. He was dead
before he even made it to the floor. The woman who had stood beside him let out
a heart breaking cry. Tears streamed from her black eyes as she threw herself
on her dead husband. A guard tried to pry her away from the dead man. That was
the last thing that guard would ever do.

Without
warning the woman kicked his chin upwards, making a sickening wet snap. The guard
fell to the ground, and she launched herself at the woman who killed her
husband. The other woman stood smiling deviously and didn’t lift a hand to get
out of the enraged vampire’s way. It was over in one move. I didn’t even see
it.

One
second the woman who lost her husband was about to have her hands around the
murderer’s neck, and the next she was on the ground with a pool of blood. A
small needle like dagger stuck out of her back, and she ceased to move.

“Poor
Valencia,” the devil woman said. “It was foolish to think that a weakling like
you could end my life.”

My
eyes trailed to Gabriel. Tears were flowing down his face and his breathing
started to speed up as he clenched his teeth in an animal like snarl. His eyes
were blazing with hate and his muscles were tensing. Before Vaze or I could
stop him, he bolted from behind the throne towards the demon queen. The only
thing we could do was chase after him. Gabriel lunged at the queen from behind,
but the remaining guard tackled him. The queen looked at him with boredom.

“You
are so naïve,” she said emotionlessly. “Now you’re going to die as well.” She
drew her hand back and a needle like dagger appeared in her palm. At the
moment, the queen still hadn’t noticed we were there. Vaze went straight for my
brothers, but I decided to go hero. A fraction of a second before the queen brought
her dagger down on Gabriel I set the floor on fire, separating them by walls of
flames. The first thing that made me regret what I had done was the pain. It
shot through me like before, but it was a million times worse. Again, it
radiated from my stomach which I clutched tightly until the queen turned and glared
at me.

“Well
isn’t that courteous of you dear,” she laughed. “You came willingly. You have
no idea how much time you’ve saved me looking for you. I’ll have to call off
the search parties I sent out into the forest, but that can wait.”

I
straightened up, and tried to ignore the pain, attempting to look just as
fearless as the man that she killed, but it was difficult. Staring directly
into her eyes, I immediately wished I hadn’t. Her eyes were stone cold, as if
she was incapable of compassion. Her steely gaze bore into my mind, making my
fear take heights I had never known. She snapped her eyes to Vaze. He had cut
the bonds of the rope, and was desperately trying to make my brothers snap out
of the trance.

“It
looks like that little demon child has more strength than I thought,” she
muttered angrily. “No matter, she will break eventually.”

She
walked over to my brothers. Vaze got in front of them with his dagger drawn.
She hardly took notice, except for swatting him aside like a fly, knocking Vaze
unconscious. Vaze flew across the room and crashed into a suit of armor. The
queen strode over to Al, and twisted his hair in her fingers.

“Why
do you care about these pests?” she asked while twirling my brother’s hair.
“They are not special like you or me. They are completely useless.”

“A
monster like you wouldn’t understand,” I hissed. “You have no heart. You kill
people without so much as a second thought.”

The
queen pricked Darren’s neck with her nail. A thin dot of blood stained her
white finger, but she quickly licked it off. I cringed. I really wanted to hit
her, but surprisingly, I was smarter than that. I had to wait for the perfect
opportunity, or it would be over very quickly.

“They
are nothing more than food to me,” she admitted. “But you, on the other hand,
are a bounty. If I kill you, I will be granted power beyond your imagination.”
She made her way to Jake who, like the rest of my brothers, had a blank stare.
She ran her hand across the red scar on his face.

“You
do more harm than good, you know,” she purred with a venomous smile. “Just look
at the damage you did to this beautiful boy. He would have been such a handsome
treat if you hadn’t given him this scar. And even after you had done so, he
still took care of you.” She struck a nerve.

“Shut
your mouth,” I hissed under my breath.

“I’m
sorry, what was that?” she asked playfully. The witch was treating it like a
joke.

“I
said shut your mouth, or I’ll shut it for you!” I yelled with rage. The queen
laughed, and walked towards me.

“Show
me what you can do,” she dared, dashing towards me as she drew two needle-like
daggers.

I
whipped out my own dagger, and braced for impact. She slashed at me and I
blocked it, kicking her legs out from under her, and bringing my dagger down
near her throat. She rolled away before it made contact, and jumped back to her
feet, jabbing me in the gut with her elbow and knocking the wind out of me. But
then she hesitated and I slashed at her stomach, creating a thin cut in her
gown and making a bloodless wound. She retreated, but not in defeat. A sly
smile hung on her face.

“You’re
pretty good,” she said in congratulations. “But will you show the same skill
with those close to you?”

As
if on cue, my brothers rose to their feet. They each drew their daggers and ran
to me. For a second I thought they were coming to help. It was a very short
second. Jake got to me first and slashed at me with his dagger. I was so
shocked I almost didn’t dodge it. Hardly a millisecond later Al tried to kick
my face. I blocked his leg with my arm and was immediately attacked by Darren.
He lashed out with his dagger. The blade came within a hair’s width of my nose.
I dropped my dagger and punched him in the gut with my free hand. He didn’t
show any pain. Seth came up behind me and tried to slit my throat. I got my arm
between his arm and my neck, and knocked it away, freeing myself.

“What
is the matter with you guys?” I pleaded, trying to get them to stop. They
ignored me and continued to attack. They attacked again and again, and each
time I blocked, dodged, and countered them. I was starting to lose my temper,
and my energy. Al tried to tackle me to the ground. Before he made contact I
jumped onto his back and kicked Jake across the face, who had been waiting to
attack once Al got me down. Jake fell to the ground with a loud thud. I didn’t
have to look twice to know he was out cold. I didn’t have the time to either.
Darren came in charging from the side, giving me hardly any time to react. I
punched as hard as I could, and caught his chin by the right side. He stopped
and dropped to the ground just like Jake. Two down, two to go.