Page 20 of Mad Hatter Vampire Prince

“Very,” I said satisfied. He gritted his teeth. He still wouldn’t dare look at me. I could feel his hatred for me waving off him. Boohoo I started a war for my brother.

“Perhaps once this is over and done with brother, we should consider going our separate ways for a while,” he said and then finally looked at me. I could see the hatred in his eyes. The look was no different to the usual every time we had decided to part ways for a few years. Which meant I was to make myself disappear.

“Should I leave before the fight begins?” I asked pointing to the back gate.

“You wouldn’t want to leave even if I ordered it,” he scoffed. Order this, order that, his words were as boring as ever. All hail boring King Amell. I agreed, I had been within the wall for far too long. Finally, what I had been waiting for had come. I stayed here for the battle and now it was on our doorstep.

“Where is Galador?” I asked. Suspicious that his usual ass kisser wasn’t about. I kept a keen sense on Sasha’s whereabouts at all times. She was positioned at the wall already. I looked down the stream of blank faces as they watched on as the army approached us. It was rather dramatic considering only two of us took out so many of them and they responded with an entire army. Weapons were strapped to her body and a small bag dangled on her hip. I imagined that was what contained all her life’s work. So, my little mouse was serious on scurrying away.

Down the many rows of humans, Sasha was yelling at the other human guards, instructing them into position. I charmed a wicked smile as she delegated orders and planned on fleeing herself. I puffed my chest higher. Yep, that was the woman I was fucking.

“I positioned him on the other side of the wall to guard the rear in case they circle around,” Amell said. An interesting place to put a vampire who acted as an advisor instead of a warrior. I side glanced my brother, suspicious.

“Perhaps you would like to lead your men?” I offered him, gesturing for him to take the first step onto the battlefield. Recklessness wasn’t his forte, it had always been self-preservation and winning calculations.

“Or perhaps you should do what you do best, Brother, it’s never stopped you before,” he countered with a harsh grimace. I charmed a smile. Hickory, Dickory, Dock. I jumped over the ledge of the tower not waiting for further invitation. As soon as my feet hit the ground my brother raised his arm in signal. The barrage of vampire warriors followed my lead and flooded through the front gates.

Now this would be fun. I kept an acute awareness on Sasha’s position as I left Grand Klaus’s walls. I would not let her run away nor would I let anyone dare strike my toy down. The ground was damp and sloshed as we trampled over plants that still attempted to survive in the cold terrain. Animals darted into different directions and away from the land that would soon be a gravesite. We ran towards the masses of soldiers and collided with a crackle of breaking bones. Fangs, weapons, and nails collided. There was a barrage and wall of vampires that smashed into one another. I sliced through the masses with purposeful strikes. Every single strike was deadly.

I avoided their silver bullets and cruel intentions. Some of those who followed me from behind weren’t as fortunate. I looked amongst the masses in search of Oppollo. His men continued to obstruct my path and remain as a distraction. I ripped the ribcage of one from his body and busted it over the head of another, glorifying in the act. I howled in the moonlight of the blood that was splattering over my bare chest. Not blood of mine but that of my enemies.

An arrow shot for me. I side stepped it, catching it as it flew past. I twisted and spun, throwing it back into the archer’s chest and marking home. He immediately sagged into a rotting corpse. His remains were torn apart by those who trampled over him and continued to fight.

I continued shredding through them, aware of Sasha’s fast movement and change of positioning. She was heading for the rear of the wall. I’d never been so in tune or aware of another’s presence, especially over a such a long distance. My instinct irked me back towards the city. Something was off. This wasn’t just a blood sport and battle. I couldn’t see Oppollo anywhere and Sasha was changing course drastically like she always did in a hunt.

I growled in frustration having to pull away from my amusement. There was confusion amongst some of the soldiers as I changed course. They continued their own battle and slashing through the masses. I left them behind without a second thought. I ran around the edges of the wall tracing Sasha’s steps.

Arrows and flames propelled from the wall and through the skies above me, lighting the natural night. I rounded the back of the wall and continued past that. I could sense that Sasha had fled the walls. On the rear station, a gaping hole and numerous panels had been opened in the back of the wall. The Dome had come down but none of Oppollo’s men were near to take advantage. There was no evident damage on the exterior which meant the panels would’ve been taken down from the inside. Human guards tried to close the panels one by one to recover its defenses. Only an exceptional fast team would be able to open all those panels at once; which meant it was either vampires from the inside or Sasha’s little Hunter family.

I could sense that Sasha was still on the hunt, further past the forestry and mountains behind Grand Klaus. I traced her scent and footsteps. She was amongst others. It was a mixture of humans, vampires, and the similar scent of Sasha’s metallic one–other hunters. Her movements halted. The rest surrounding her and then the smell of blood began to flood the air. I rounded a clump of hibernating trees in the cold weather and looked back and forth in disarray. I could smell that she was close, but I couldn’t see them. I circled the rock formation in front of me but still couldn’t see them. There was no entrance to the cave that I was certain she was within.

Clashing noises came from within the cave and the smell of blood continued to stain the air. Then it hit me–Sasha’s blood. I readied my shoulder and ran at the stone. I barged through it but instead of it splintering apart or self-splattering against it; I went straight through with no resistance. I ran into a vampire that splattered against the wall. That wasn’t purposeful but fabulous either way.

A mixture of Galador’s and my brother’s men fought against one another. A few human hunters were fighting off Oppollo’s men but evidently outnumbered. Against the back wall was a large waterfall. It gushed as men ran into it. They returned after only a few seconds indicating that it was clear on the other side. I paused for a moment, realizing that Oppollo was in this very room and before my eyes, his silhouette vanished into the waterfall after receiving the all clear. His presence, his smell, his might, his everything, entirely disappeared from this world.

It dawned on me. This was it. The place that took our kind into the next, the parallel world we knew of but could never reach. Oppollo had used this battle as a decoy to step into the new world. He didn’t care about the outcome of his entire army, he hinged it all on this one opportunity. How had my brother been so oblivious that the entrance to the new world was so close to us this whole time.

Sasha’s gasp broke my focus. She was pinned against the wall as Galador dove his fangs into her neck. I grabbed his face from behind and ripped open his jaw, flinging him back in rage.

I couldn’t make sense of any of it. All four parties fought one another. There were no alliances amongst the warriors from Grand Klaus. My brother’s men continued to fight one another. The remains of Sasha’s mutated people were fighting to stay alive amongst the room of vampires that they could never outmatch. Galador’s jaw hung by its hinges. He growled in response, slashing at one of the hunters who ran past him. His nails dragged down the hunter’s face and down his chest.

“You’ve always had the tendency to get in my way. And now your bitch of a girlfriend is causing more issue,” he said limply as his jaw reattached itself.

Sasha collected herself, trying to lean against the wall behind me. Blood oozed out of her neck and trailed down her shoulder. I kept her in the corner of my eye. If she was going to attack me, she would’ve done it already. Her legs buckled beneath her and I knew that the bite from Galador had taken its toll. He wasn’t like the young vampires we had fought before. And she had fought an army of vampires only the day before. It had taken its toll on her human body.

“Are you working for Oppollo?” I asked to clarify the situation. Either way I was going to kill him. His jaw stitched back into place and he pointed behind me.

“And betray your brother?! That thing,” he said pointing to Sasha. “Was the one that led Oppollo to this cave!”

“Okay,” I said and smiled. I’d always hated Galador anyway. I ran for him. He snarled in response and prepared himself. One of the hunters shot a bullet at him, and like the same mistake that I had made, Galador moved only slightly to avoid it. The bullet exploded into silver splinters and threw him against the wall. As soon as he staggered to move, two of my brother’s men jumped on him and began to tear him a part. So Galador was loyal to my throne. Some of my brother’s men were working for Oppollo and as for the Hunters…

One of the hunters raised a gun at me. “Stop!” Sasha exclaimed. But it was too late. I wouldn’t allow anyone who raised a weapon against me to survive. Even if they were her beloved and own kind. In fact, I wouldn’t let any of them survive. There were consequences to Sasha’s daring abandonment. I dodged the bullet and ran sideways along the inside of the cave. I slashed through them bearing my fangs and ripping into each of their necks. I tore apart the final human as I dove into his neck. They weren’t nearly as strong as my Darling Sasha. They were her mother’s failures. His scream was a beautiful wave of music to my ears.

Sasha threw a dagger at me. “Stop!” She screamed. But I wouldn’t listen. She had betrayed me. There was consequence to that. And I wouldn’t stop at that. I wouldn’t allow any of those who betrayed my brother to follow Oppollo into the new world to survive either. No one was to whisper of the secrets to this cave. Few had already slipped through into the waterfall behind Oppollo. Some had even run back out, frightful of what they’d seen. As they tried to run back through the entrance of the cave, I slaughtered them.

I grabbed the heart of the remaining vampire and threw it away and into the waterfall. Let this new world have the decaying heart of the vampires which lived on the other side.

“Stop!” Sasha said as I approached the final human who was dragging herself towards the waterfall. The insides of her stomach were daring to fall out from where a vampire had slashed her open. I stepped towards her and looked Sasha dead in the eye as I pressed my foot against the woman’s head and stomped it into the ground.

---