Love Comes In Many Dangerous Forms

(Zach’s P.OV.)

I stormed down the hallways hunting for my prey. I followed his sent to Cassiel’s room. I ripped the door open and saw him sitting on her bed with his head in his hands.

Shane looked up startled.

“I warned you! You hurt her, and you die! And I intend on keeping that promise,” I seethed and punched him.

“It was a mistake!” he shouted at me wincing, “What if someone told you that someone you just met planned on hurting the reason for living, what would you do?” he asked me getting up and standing in from of me.

“I would do this,” I said simply, and pulled my fist back and slammed it into his sorry excuse for a face, and that punch knocked him on the floor.

“You almost killed my reason for existing, and I’m going to make sure you will never hurt her, never go near her, again.”

I saw him get up and he lunged at me, fangs bared. I stepped out of the way and his landed in a crouch.

“So I’m guessing you found her,” he smirked, “To bad I couldn’t finish the job, maybe I should just kill her, it’s not like she’s important anyway, just another useless human,” he finished and ran to the door and out the hallway.

I followed him speeding my way through the corridors. We were a couple of feet away from the infirmary when he stopped and looked through the window that let you see inside the hospital, with a pained expression on his set upon his face.

I took my chance and tackled him to the ground.

***

(Shane’s P.O.V.)

I sat on Cassiel’s bed, guilt eating away at me. Why the hell did I feel guilty? I have killed my masters before, why was it so hard now?

Because she’s different from the others, she’s different from everybody. The annoying part of me stated, but he was right, she was different.

But why was she different? What caused her to treat us like she did? Why was she so confusing?

I heard the door slam open, hitting the wall with extreme force. I looked up startled by the sudden noise.

It was Zach and he had a murderous look on his face, and the words he said earlier passed through my mind ‘You hurt her, and you’re dead.’

“I warned you!” he roared, “You hurt her and you die! And I intend on keeping that promise.”

I suddenly felt his fist come into contact with my face. I probably deserved that.

“It was a mistake!” I told him, “What if someone told you that someone you just met planned on hurting the reason for living, what would you do?” I got up and stood in front of him.

“I would do this,” he stated and slammed his fist against my face, again.

“You almost killed my reason for existing, and I’m going to make sure you will never hurt her, never go near her, again,” for some reason that sentence angered me.

All of the anger that has built up since I was in slavery, all the sadness that I had felt from losing my parents, and all the betrayal that radiated through my body form the werewolves turning on us, but there was one emotion that I have never felt before… Jealously.

I lunged at him my teeth ready to rip him apart. I wasn’t there anymore, it was my instincts.

“So I’m guessing you found her,” I felt my mouth form into a smirk, “To bad I couldn’t finish the job, maybe I should just kill her, it’s not like she’s important anyway, just another useless human.”

Liar! The good part of me screamed.

My instincts ignored that, and traced Zach’s scent knowing it would lead to where Cassiel was.

I zoomed down the hallways and down the stairs, and I stopped in front of the window of the infirmary, to see if she was inside.

And there she was, and I suddenly couldn’t move anymore, and the idea of killing her repulsed me.

Cassiel lied in one of the hospital beds hooked up to the tubes and all of these machines, and she had a mask that covered half of her face. The heart rate monitor showed that her heart was weak. Her chest would slowly rise and fall and would occasionally stop in mid breath, and then start again. Her skin pale, and there was no life n her expression. Her neck was wrapped in gauzes. And her beautiful unique eyes, shut.

I felt sick, knowing I had done that to her, that I could have killed such an innocent thing. And she was still at risk of dying.

I felt someone knock me down on the floor, and felt something hard start hitting me repeatedly.

And I didn’t move the image of Cassiel in the hospital bed still fresh in my mind.

“What is going on here?!” I heard a voice boom.

And standing there was one of the many guards at the castle dressed in a black uniform, and he had a sword that was in its holster.

Zach was pulled off of me and I was yanked off of the marble flooring by another guard dressed in the same thing as his partner.

“He tried to kill Princess Cassiel,” Zach stated.

The guards said nothing, but they started dragging us off to an unknown direction.

I started feeling the soreness of the blows that Zach had given me, but it was bearable.

A few minutes later we were in a room that had gold and ivory surrounding the walls. And at the end of the room, there were four thrones, two of them were occupied by a man and a woman.

The man had brown eyes and light brown hair. He had lightly tanned skin and authority radiated off of him.

The woman had blonde hair that looked like Cassiel’s, but she had hazel eyes like Hillary’s. She had pale white skin like both of the princesses. They both wore crowns.

I guess these were Cassiel’s parents. Great.

“State your reason,” the king ordered.

“These slaves were fighting outside the infirmary, and this one claimed that the blonde one was going to kill Princess Cassiel and that is why they were fighting,” the guard told them.

“Is this true, Zachary?” the queen asked.

“Yes,” he answered bowing his head.

“You may leave, and thank you,” the queen smiled.

The guard let him go, and they left the room.

“How dare you,” the king seethed at me, “You were the one that bit her,” it wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“Yes.”

“Cassiel took you in, saved your sister, and you think you can just go and bite her, inject your venom into her, kill her,” his eyes narrowed in hatred.

“I didn’t mean to,” was my defense.

“Very well then, you shall be executed immediately.”

I felt a blade press against my neck.

“Wait,” the queen told the guard and he stopped applying pressure, “I think we should let Cassiel deicide your fate.”

“What?” the king asked in disbelief.

“She is old enough to make her own decisions. And she will have to make a lot of decisions when she takes the throne,” she told him.

“Fine, when Cassiel wakes up, she will decide what to do with you,” he king proclaimed and the guard let go of me.

“And if she doesn’t wake up?” I asked getting up.

“You will die a very painful death, but for now you will be held in the dungeons,” the king said.

I felt the guard grab my arm and he pulled me out of the room. He led me to a long narrow stair way that lead to the bottom floor. He pushed me, and I walked down the stairs.

There were empty cages, but they were occupied by debris and vermin. I scrunched my nose in disgust.

He shoved me into an open cell and locked the door, and left.

I sighed and sat on the dirt covered ground. I deserved this, all of this.

I sat there for hours trying to figure out why Cassiel was so different, why Hillary wanted to kill her only sister, why Vera was treated like a human instead of an immortal, how was Cassiel doing.

I heard footsteps, but they were to light to be one of the guards, but I still tensed.

I heard them come closer, and then the finally stopped in front of my cell, and heard something being set down on the rocky floor.

I looked up and saw Vera set the tray down and it had a few blood packets placed on top.

Maybe she could answer some of the questions that flooded my mind.

I saw her turn to leave, and I called out, “Vera, wait.”

She turned back and faced me with a blank face.

“Yes Shane?” she asked, emotionless.

“H-how is she doing?” I asked nervous.

“Not good, her body is weak and is not responding to the treatment, and she won’t wake up, but we’re not giving up on her.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“I forgive you, but I’m not so sure about Zach and Audrey.”

“I’m confused,” I admitted.

“About what?” she asked, sitting down next to the tray.

“Everything,” I confessed, “Why is Zach so protective of her?”

“I guess it would be confusing to you,” she gave me a weak smile, “When Cassiel found Zach, he had nothing. He was living in the forest, surviving on only the blood of animals, but he wasn’t getting enough for what his body needed. He went into town begging for blood of from the vampires that would pass.

“Cassiel had to go to town, and it was very dangerous for a human to go into the town full of vampires, which is exactly why they sent her. She had to get blood for the guests, and when she left the store she saw Zach on the streets begging. She walked over to him and gave all of blood to him, knowing she would be punished. He drank every drop of blood, and she noticed how dirty he was, and how scared he looked. There was a storm, a very bad storm, going on at the time.

“Cassiel took him to the cast- I mean her master’s home, and did the unthinkable. She asked if Zach could stay in one of the extra rooms. Her master agreed but only if Cassiel was punished fro what she had done. She told him she would take any punishment, even death. But her punishment was much worse than that. She was whipped with and the whip was coated in vampire venom. And she still has the scars, and they run deep.

“That’s why Zach is protective of Cassiel. She did whatever she could to make him healthy again,” she finished.

She did all that? Well that answers one of my questions.

“Why do they all treat you differently? The king and queen treat you like family? Why?” I asked.

“I have known Richard and Jennifer for a very long time. And I helped raise Cassiel, Hillary and… Tristan,” she looked pained saying the last name.

“Who’s Tristan?” I asked.

“Do you remember Zach saying ‘but she hates it when families are separated, because she knows what it is like not to have a brother?’”

I nodded my head.

“Tristan was – is Cassiel’s older brother. He would be twenty-four in October, six years older than Cassiel. He is a lot like Cassiel; he even has the same eyes. Well when Cassiel was born into slavery she would have been killed, since she couldn’t do anything. Tristan made a deal with their master, for him to become a vampire solider and if he did, Cassiel would be safe. Since the numbers of immortal soldiers were dwindling, their master agreed and he was taken away five years later, and was put into training. I think he was changed when he was nineteen, but we haven’t heard from him since. Cassiel is the only one, who still thinks of him like family, and she misses him, and I do too,” she looked upset.

“Why did Hillary want to kill Cassiel?” I asked.

“Power. It can make a dangerous weapon, if it is in the wrong hands ,” she told me and started standing up, when Audrey burst into the room.

“What is it Audrey?” Vera asked worriedly.

“It’s Cassiel,” she rushed, “She’s awake.”