Page 38 of Taken By My Guardian's Fangs

The child had ice-blond hair and cherubic cheeks, and Juliette wondered if fear had made her lose her sanity without even knowing it. Why did that boy look so much like he was a miniature version of a Bellecourt?

A firefly had the child running happily after it, and just as she was about to scream for the boy to run for his life, the child tripped and fell, and blood started to drip from the gash on his knee.

Oh God, no.

It was like the past all over again. The boy might not be old and frail like Glynis, but he was just as helpless. Just as innocent. And Juliette knew she would never be able to live with herself if she allowed another person to die in her place.

Oh God, why?

The creature's gaze darted menacingly back and forth between Juliette and the child, who was now crying for his mother, and she knew the exact moment the vampire's hunger for the freshest blood won over its obsession towards her.

God, oh God.

She had always asked herself why God had allowed her to live, and maybe this was the reason. Maybe she had never been meant to save Glynis. Maybe, just maybe...Glynis had died to give Juliette the chance to give her everything in saving this boy.

GAËL'S INSTINCT WARNED him of danger the moment his meeting with Emilia came to an end, and he realized he couldn't find Juliette anywhere. Since he knew his ward had this rare but foolish tendency to take a walk when she was troubled, could have something upset her tonight...and forced his ward to leave?

A sobbing woman crashed into his arms the moment he stepped out of the ballroom in order to look for Juliette, and the familiar scent that flayed him made Gaël's skin crawl. He cursed under his breath as he leapt back, and fury roared through his veins as he forced himself to look up.

"Gaël..."

It was his ex-wife, and he had never seen her look so terrified.

"I heard my son cry," she sobbed. "I lost him, and now I can't find him."

What the fuck did she just say?

And then she was running, and all he could do was watch her go.

Did she just say her son?

He went after her unthinkingly, and as he followed Laura through the dark and eerily silent woods, he eventually realized that his ex-wife was using the trail of what was likely her son's scent to track him down.

How could God bless a woman like Laura with a son while taking his Rosey to heaven all too soon?

A howl of rage pierced their ears in the next second, and Gaël's blood turned cold while Laura's face turned chalk-white in terror.

"No, please, God, no!"

That was the unmistakable sound of a vampire losing its temper, but just as they tracked their way through thorn-ridden vines, it was then they saw a vampire flailing in the ground, a stake in its heart while a little boy watched in silence, his tear-stained face somber and his arms wrapped tightly around a young woman's hips.

Laura fell to her knees. "Callum, oh God, sweetheart, come here."

The boy ran to his mother while Gaël ran towards the girl.

Even without her turning around, and her scent masked, he already knew, oh God, he already knew it was her—-

Juliette.

Gaël roared for help as she fell into his arms, and her head lolled back.

"E-Etienne...what Etienne said was true."

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"I thought I was b-being p-paranoid—-"

No, God, no.

---