Page 26 of Stolen By the Demon

When I came to, I found myself inside a satin-lined coffin. My mouth burned with thirst, and my entire body hurt.

“She's waking up,” the duchess stated.

“Just in time for her to go to sleep,” Jonathan sneered.

“When this is done, you will turn me too?” Sir Roger inquired.

“You have my word,” Elizabeth promised.

In horror, I watched their faces bent over me, but they swam as my vision turned blurry and the room turned darker.

“Go to sleep now, sleep.” Elizabeth Bathory’s voice lured me.

Before she finished her command, I obeyed. My eyes became heavier, and soon, only blackness enshrouded me.

Devon

I closed my eyes. All this time, she had been alive. Held captive. Even though she had slept through it, she had been here, waiting for me.

“Blanche.”

She shook her trance off and smiled sadly at me. “Do you still want me even if I’m a vampire?”

“Blanche.” I pulled her against my chest and kissed every part of her face. “I love you no matter what. Your physical form might be a vampire, but you will always be my Blanche. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

She wrapped her arms around me. “You were always there for me, even when I thought you were dead.”

“He will pay for this,” I swore, and she didn’t ask who I meant, but Jonathan’s fate was sealed. He would die. He had poisoned this Earth long enough.

We only needed to figure out how.

The next morning we met up in the great hall, where Devon had ordered all the curtains drawn, so I could partake in the meeting where we would decide our next step.

Vasili, Brock, Faro and Cantor were also present, sending vibes of dislike toward me. I had gathered that vampires didn’t stand very high on the hierarchy ranking of hell’s creatures, so I tried not to take it as a personal affront. It was hard though. These were Devon’s friends and I wanted them to like me just as much as I wanted to like them. Devon had enough worries without having to chose between his friends and me.

Honestly, I was beginning to like being a vampire, with not having to sleep, I had more time to spend with Devon and by having become immortal, we would have forever.

“I vote we take the fight to them,” Vasili asserted.

Devon had discovered my father’s lair, not far from the city where I had escaped his clutches. At this point, we had theorized that the estate had most likely been the place where I had been held in deep slumber until the year was right, when the Devil would be allowed to visit Earth for one night. Devon had further theorized that they had most likely taken me to the city because it was closer to the airport, from where we would have traveled to the Brocken in Germany.

It wasn’t clear why they had woken me here in America instead of having waited until we were in Germany, but that wasn’t important.

“I like that idea better than waiting here,” Brock agreed to Vasili’s suggestion.

A large black, flat object on the wall that Devon had explained to me was a screen, displayed an amazingly detailed map of my father’s estate. Incredulously I stared at it, taking in the large house, the wall surrounding it, mechanical carriages—which Devon had said were called cars—parked in front of the mansion.

“Alright, seems as if we’re in agreement. It’s a perfect spot. Isolated, no neighbors for miles, and from what we’ve gleaned, it’s just him, a handful of servants, and his guards,” Devon said, pointing at the screen. “They only have four days before the meeting with my father during the Walpurgisnacht, whatever they’re planning, they know they’ll have to act swiftly.”

“Why not just hide out for four days then?” Faro asked, leaning against a wall. “If Jonathan can’t produce her,” he pointed at me without looking, “won’t your father or Adramalech deal with the bloodsucker?” He shrugged. “Not that I’m not up for a good fight, but just saying.”

All eyes turned to Devon, “Not a bad idea either. The only problem is that my father will send Adramalech looking for Blanche and me. I’m almost certain he will be at Jonathan’s place now, aware that Blanche is with me. This is his kind of entertainment, all he has to do is lean back and observe.”

The room turned quiet for a moment, Devon looked from one o another, before he concluded, “Alright, so since everyone is in favor of taking the fight to them, we will do so tonight. Blanche and I will knock on the front door. Vasili and Cantor will break in the back while they’re letting us in, momentarily turning off the alarm. Brock and Faro will come through the roof, and the demons will be ready, waiting in the shadows. Clear?”

I didn’t understand much of his plan and was lost when he mentioned shutting down an alarm system, but aware that he and I would be a distraction to Jonathan’s group while the rest of Devon’s team would be readying themselves to attack from the back and above.

“Clear,” the demons answered in unison. We spent more time fine-tuning the plan while we waited for night to approach. I was painfully aware that I was the reason why, and the looks I received from Devon’s friends when he and I excused ourselves so he could feed me were cold at best.

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