Chapter Thirteen - The Auction
Leora cracked open her eyes. Morning light filtered through the blinds. An episode of the Great British Bake Off was still playing on Netflix on the tv, but that wasn’t what had woken her.
A weird, wet feeling, almost slimy, had hit her cheek. She realized she was on the suite’s couch, her head resting on a shoulder. There was a throw blanket over her and...instantly she pushed herself away from Josephine, pulling the blanket with her.
“Oh what, you drool!” yelped Leora as she stood up. She rigorously wiped her cheek with the blanket.
Josephine groggily woke up. “What? Is Zea here?” she said sleepily.
“No, you drooled on me!” snapped Leora.
Josephine cracked a smile and used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth. “Hey, you fell asleep on my shoulder so it’s not my fault,” she said.
Leora threw the blanket at Josephine. “I am taking the bathroom!” She stomped off, passing the suite’s small kitchenette where she saw Elijah there drinking coffee at a small breakfast bar and, of course, was on his phone.
Once she was in the bathroom, she washed her face and started brushing her teeth. In the background she could hear Elijah’s and Josephine’s voices.
“Hey, is there any more coffee?” asked Josephine.
“It’s over there. The cups are in the cupboards up there. Did you try to kiss her again or something? I just heard Leora stomping into the bathroom,” said Elijah.
There were some sounds of dishes being rustled. “No, I did not. She fell asleep on me when we were watching Netflix last night. I may have drooled on her, heh.”
“That is nasty. You keep pissing her off like this she's never going to date you again,” said Elijah.
“You keep staring at that text and that Marcus guy not gonna suck your dick,” countered Josephine.
There was a choking. “Fuck you! Did you have Telera hack into my phone?” shouted Elijah.
“You knew Telera was doing a security sweep with all our phones yesterday and she said it twice if there was something you didn’t want her to see was to delete it. Anyway, she saw your latest tweets. She says text him back. He cute. Her words, not mine. He just looks ok to me,” said Josephine.
“My life—” started Elijah.
“Love life,” corrected Josephine.
“My life is none of hers and yours concern,” said Elijah. “Do you take anything serious?”
“Life is too short,” said Josephine. “Live a little. Text him back. The worst thing is he doesn’t text back.”
“What if he says he hates me?” asked Elijah.
“Hmm, okay, that may be the worst thing,” chuckled Josephine. “No wait, I think if he said he was your long-lost brother. Yeah, that one gotta be the worst.”
Leora finished brushing her teeth and busted out of the bathroom. She went to the kitchenette where Elijah and Josephine turned to her, coffee mugs in their hands.
“Good morning, Leora,” said Josephine with a bright smile.
Elijah took a drink from his coffee.
“Good morning,” said Leora as deadpan as she could. She went to the refrigerator, opened it and pulled out three blood bags.
“Is drooling a deal breaker?” asked Josephine. She watched Leora go and sit next to Elijah.
“No, but it’s not kudos either,” said Leora before biting into one of the bags and taking a long sip of blood.
Elijah put down his coffee mug. He looked at Leora. “That’s three bags. You had three last night.”
“I am emotionally drinking,” said Leora between sips.
Josephine let out a long sigh. Before she convinced the short vampire to watch Netflix with her last night, they had reiterated their plan with Elizabeth who had called in to do a check on them. The plan was this: Leora will be the bidder while Elijah protected her. Once Leora won she was to quickly escape with the scroll. It had to be done this way so that they will know for sure the scroll was real. As for her, Elizabeth wanted her to take care of Zea should the hottie vampire show up—preferably kill on sight for added bonus. Leora was not happy about that and was still convinced that Zea didn’t mean it.
“It’s about Zea, again? We talked about this last night.” Josephine wavered her arms around them all before settling on Elijah, eyeing him to do something, but still addressing Leora. ”You have to get over it. Two against one. The vote was clear.” Leora had complained about how her and Elijah made the decision without her, so they did a vote.
Elijah, catching on to what Josephine wanted him to do, turned to Leora. “She’s right,” he said.
Leora sucked in loudly, her eyes staring daggers at Josephine.
Josephine pursed her lips but continued, ”She tried to kill me and Elijah.”
Leora sucked in the last blood, crackling the blood bag loudly.
“For fuck sake, Leora,” snapped Josephine. She slapped the counter with her hand. “We can do this without you!”
Leora, still maintaining her glare at Josephine, bit into another blood bag.
“No, we can’t,” interrupted Elijah. He looked up at Josephine. “We need Leora. Elizabeth made it clear that if we won the scroll—which we will—the other groups will attack right then and there to take it. There’s going to be for sure covens and packs and let’s not forget the actual Order.”
“That won’t be an issue,” said Josephine, gnashing her teeth together.
They all stared at each other with such intensity that the whole kitchenette felt like it was going to burst into flames.
“Fine,” said Josephine finally. She shrugged. “Let’s stick with the plan.” She looked back to Leora, who was still staring daggers at her. “I make no promises, but I will try to knock her out instead of killing her. Happy?”
Leora thought about it for a moment before turning away. “Okay,” she said. She finished her second bag and bit into her third bag.
Elijah rubbed his temples. “Now that we finally, for the second time, settled this-- do you have our rides, Josephine, since you so much graciously turned down Elizabeth’s offer and out of the kindness of your heart volunteered to arrange us going and escaping from there?”
Josephine looked at her watch. “Of course,” she said. She looked up and winked. “I got an old friend to help out. How’s everyone up for round two shopping? And unlike Zea, I don’t have a limit and we have a few hours to have fun?”
***
Leora with her hair tied back in a tight pony-tailed, strolled down the red blood colored carpet into the main room of the Gregori Estate. Flanked by four heavily armed guards, two at either side of Leora. The sun was high and directly above her. She had to squint as she readjusted her new slick black suit with a red blouse and looked around the open grand room.
Despite lacking a roof, the walls and structure were still elegant. Even the second unfinished floor and its floating banisters still looked grand. The decors were fancy and expensive. There was even one of those tall French mirrors she saw leaning on a wall. She always wanted one of those.
She turned her attention to the center of the grand room. White chairs lined up on either side of the carpeted aisle. Maybe ten people actually sat in those seats and mostly in the front row chairs. Like her, these were the actual bidders. Clumping along the walls were the different groups: witch covens, werewolf packs and the real Order. Mixed with them were the Sisters of Dawn in their red robes and guards in black tactical armor carrying heavy machine guns.
Leora wondered if it rained or snowed, did they cover the estate then? It was odd to have a roofless building, and yet it made sense. Vampires wouldn’t be present. Perfect for an auction for a scroll with the supposed power to eradicate them.
In the right side of her vision she could see Josephine flirting with an elegant lady. The elegant lady’s ultra violet eyes and particular black patches of hair on the side of her face and wolfish grin, Leora guessed, was probably a werewolf. She stifled a groan when Josephine took the elegant lady’s hand and kissed it.
Somewhere was Elijah, but she wasn’t sure where he was. That didn’t worry her. She trusted he had her back.
She took one more look around. No Zea. Of course. The only vampire that had been nice to her since all of this, minus the betrayal, wouldn’t be there under the sun. She never doubted Zea’s resolve. Call it an instinct, but Leora felt Zea was near.
The carpet ended at a podium that held a glass encasing. In that encasing was the scroll, simply rolled and tied with a leather strap. An old woman dressed in a red robe and wearing a headpiece that had a golden sun emblem on the forehead, stood in front of the glass casing. The old woman's radiant green eyes fell on Leora and with a bright warmness, smiled at her.
“Welcome, Lucy Artavia of the Order. I am Elder Esther of the Sisters of Dawn,” said the woman.
Leora nodded. “Thank you, Elder,” she said and bowed her head slightly. She took another quick glance at Josephine and not too far, watching with interest, was Josephine supposed friend, Jociam.
Josephine had informed her that Jociam didn’t know she was a vampire and it was best that it was kept that way. Leora didn’t feel all that comfortable about that, but Josephine had made a deal with him. When she wins the scroll, the Order would come in and block the other groups as she escaped.
Jociam smiled at her and she was surprised it was genuine.
“Please, take a seat,” said Elder Esther. She nodded at one of the guards who then led Leora down to a seat at the front.
Leora was handed a golden fan with the number 12 on it. “Thanks,” she said as she sat down on a seat. The other bidders paid no attention to her.
A few others came and were seated appropriately. Leora was glad that no one was sitting next to her. She didn’t want to strike a conversation despite all the chatting around her.
When one more bidder arrived and seated, Elder Esther then moved to get behind the podium. Another Sisters of Dawn handed the elder witch a gavel. She brought her gavel down with one strike, silencing the room.
“I know everyone is expecting the bidding to start now but the European Vampire Council is going to arrive in a few moments,” said Elder Ester.
Chatting started up and confused eyes looked around. The sun was still high in the sky, perfectly over the Gregori roofless estate. Sunlight was touching everything.
Leora looked alarmingly over at Josephine. Josephine met her gaze and could only shrug. She frowned, scanning the room one more time before taking out her phone and texted Elijah:
Where are you? The EC is going to be here! I am fucked cuz they will know I am a vampire!
***
Elijah was walking down the perimeter. He wasn’t suspicious since there were other groups around and the guards didn’t take notice of him. In any case, he was told that the refreshments were in the Gregori’s courtyard located behind the estate.
He headed there to complete his scouting. So far he didn’t see anything where Zea or the EC could hide. Not like that would help. The bathing sunlight of the day was in full effect. Even if they hid somehow, they would need to travel without toasting up.
This had bothered Elijah. He voiced it to Josephine, who had become their de-facto leader since Zea’s betrayal.
At a ritzy clothing department store a few hours ago.
“Where’s Leora?” asked Josephine.
“In the dressing room and, no, I will not tell you which one,” said Elijah.
Josephine sighed. “Ok, I understand,” she said disappointed.
“It’s good that you and I are alone. There are several things about this auction that doesn’t make sense to me,” said Elijah.
“Yeah? What?” said Josephine.
“The vampires. Why invite the one group that scroll is specifically going to destroy? Did Zea lie to us about the true nature of the scroll? And why would the EC specifically say it had to be under the sun knowing full well none of them can live?” speculated Elijah.
Josephine rubbed her chin. “Well your first question. The Sisters of Dawn are known to be eccentric, so this is actually not abnormal as you think. I wouldn’t be surprised if they needed the money for something stupid like new robes but with gold threads,” she chuckled. “Your second question is a fifty fifty. My friend really believes it is real and I trust his intuition for the most part. Third question I would think that they didn’t want other vampires to get their hands on it.”
The answer to his third question didn’t satisfy him. “Does it matter which vampire gets it?” he asked.
“I see you don’t go out much. There are different groups. Most of them stay to themselves but this one here, the European Council, is the biggest and strongest. Maybe it’s a show of their power if they get to be savior of vampire kind. I can see why Elizabeth would not want that as it would weaken her group. Vampire politics,” said Josephine.
Elijah blinked several times. “That is actually quite thoughtful,” he said.
“Also, it doesn’t matter. Jociam and I will take care of them should they show up,” said Josephine while flexing her biceps. “You think Leora likes muscles?”
Elijah rolled his eyes. The former hunter of the Order was insufferable and dumb as a sack of potatoes. However, he does admit that sometimes the hunter made sense.
He turned a corner to a terrace but stopped. He saw the banquet tables. They had delectable appetizers and drinks, but standing past the terrace, across a flat, expansive, well trimmed grassy field—were two massive columns. Something he had seen a little over six months ago. Those massive pairs of pillars flanked a set of stairs that lead to, instead of a door, a stone archway.
Without a doubt, this was Twilight’s Gate.
***
The pain of the gas poison seeping deeper into her muscle had Zea’s eyes fluttering open. Where was she? What’s her tongue touching?
Zea realized a strap of teflon was tied around her mouth. She bit into it, feeling her fangs hitting massive resistance from the fibers. No point trying to chew it off, she thought. She grimaced as another jolt of pain ran through her from her midsection where Kenra punched her, but she pushed away the pain and promised her body that she would deal with it later.
She tried to move but realized that she was wrapped in chains. Not a problem, but she realized the chains were blessed, rendering her vampiric powers null and making her weak. Double whammy.
So she looked around to try to get her bearings. There was a vertical sliver of light coming from the slits of where the wooden panels in front of her met. A door? Was she in a small compartment like a closet?
Suddenly, she heard a door open. The sliver of light dimmed a little as she could see through the slits someone’s back in a black suit was standing in front of the closet. She heard another set of footsteps.
“Close the door,” someone said.
Zea’s eyes narrowed. The voice was of a young man, but she had heard of it before. But who?
The door closed.
“You wanted to speak to me, Vincent?” said another person.
Zea instantly recognized the second speaker. Her blood boiled as she recalled him knocking her out with his telekinesis in the tunnels. However, in the back of her head, she wondered why she was still alive? She would think Prince Drake would have killed her.
“The Sisters of Dawn tell me that the prisoners escaped before completion,” said Vincent.
Hmm, it must be her imagination. Perhaps the combination of the gas she had inhaled earlier and the blessed chains was messing with her head. She doesn’t know a Vincent that sounded like that.
“That...is a problem,” said Prince Drake. “But the look on your face tells me there’s more,” he sneered.
“I do believe the fodder known as Zea unwittingly broke them out,” said Vincent through gnashed teeth. “The fodder you have been telling us was just a fly. Not to be bothered with each and every damn time someone brought her up at the meetings. No kill order. We thought you had a little crush on her. Now, she has become a big problem.”
Zea’s eyebrows went up.
“I killed her already. She will no longer be a nuisance. I have gone ahead and sent some of our troops after them,” said Prince Drake.
Zea’s forehead wrinkled. Drake was obviously lying. She tensed her jaw. He must have some nefarious reason for keeping her alive like enslavement or be his pet vampire. It wasn’t unheard of for the vampire royalties in Europe to do that. No matter what, when she gets out of here she must kill him.
“Will not be enough! Just assumed they’re dead. I’ve already sent word to the council to brace for a counter,” snapped Vincent. “I pray that the Weeping Mother may take your heart and soul for this stupidity!”
“It is an oversight that will not be repeated, Lord Vincent,” Prince Drake said vehemently. “But let me remind you, new to the council as you are, I am still your prince!” he snapped.
Zea could see Vincent stumbled back a bit.
“Of course,” stammered Vincent as he regained his composure.
“I will make sure the rest of the troops are ready. You should go to the auction. It is almost time,” said Prince Drake.
“Yes, of course,” said Vincent. “I shall take my leave.”
There was a shuffle of footsteps and then the door opening and closing. Moments later, another repeat. Zea listened and watched through the slits. After a few minutes, she was sure no one was in the room.
That little exchange between Prince Drake and Vincent didn’t make sense. How was Vincent going to the auction in daylight? Did the EC have a trick? And was Kimlee and Mondo the EC’s prisoners and not the Sisters of Dawn? So many questions but she had to file them away in her mind. Right now she had to focus on escaping.
She looked down at the chains wrapped around her. There were three sets. One set was wrapped around her hands behind her back. Another set around her arms. The final set had tied her legs together at mid calf with a lock and also threaded into the first two chains. If she could slip out the first two chains, then the last set around her calves would be much easier to deal with.
Zea flexed her shoulders back and forth, grinding the bones of the joints at odd angles until she felt a pop. With her shoulders dislocated, she shimmied up the chains around her arms, up her body until it hung around her neck. She then leaned forward and shook off the chains that fell down to her calves.
Then she popped back in her shoulders. She was almost free. She hunched forward and let her head rest on the closet door. She closed her eyes. Her burnt hand from last night was not going to like what she was about to do, but it had to be done. With a few quick moments using her more freed arms, tugs and temporarily dislocating a few fingers, she managed through gritted teeth to slide the chains around her hands off. They went down and stopped at her calves like the first chain.
Now hands freed, she popped her finger joints back into place and she yanked the teflon away from her mouth. She then checked her body. Prince Drake had taken her sword, phone and the hidden knives she had on. However, he failed to search for a hidden pocket below the collar of her jacket.
She reached behind and retrieved her set of lock picks. She had them in case the scroll was hidden in a locked box. A few seconds later, she unlocked the final chains from her calves and released them, however she kept the chains in her hands. They will be much use to her soon.
Zea pushed out of the closet and into a room. The floor was a gold patterned carpet and there were two sofas on either side of a coffee table. However, her eyes traced the pipes that lined the wall and went into the ceiling.
Where was she? Scuffling sounds and yelling in the distance drew her attention.
“Quick, Prince Drake went this way!” someone shouted.
Zea’s eyes narrowed. She tightened her grip of the blessed chains. She had a score to settle and exited the room.
***
Leora could feel the beads of sweat forming on her hairline. She looked around as much as she could without raising suspicion and could not find either Elijah nor Josephine. She did however spot Josephine’s friend, Jociam, who was whispering to, she guessed, was his subordinate.
People around her were looking around wildly for the vampires of the European Council.
“I don’t want to be rude, Elder Esther,” said the werewolf that Josephine had been flirting earlier, “but wouldn’t the sun be a problem?”
Elder Esther only smiled. “Lady Reinhart--,” the Elder started.
“Vanessa of the ThunderStar Pack,” said the werewolf. “And I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Elder Ester nodded. “Well it seems that the vampire council has a member that can be under the sun and here they are,” she said.
Leora’s eyes enlarged and followed everyone else who turned around to see a man in a white suit with a tumeric robe down the carpeted aisle that ran up to the auction podium. Like her, the newcomer was flanked with guards. People murmured among themselves with outrage and gasps.
“He’s human,” snarled Vanessa. “The rules were that there couldn’t be a third party representation.”
Elder Ester cocked her head at the werewolf. “He’s not. He is an actual member,” she said.
“That’s bullshit,” said Vanessa. “Vampires have never let a human into their houses without turning one.”
Elder Esther shrugged. She turned to the newcomer. “Lord Kenra of the Vampire House Raviv, welcome,” she greeted.
“Apologies, Elder Esther, for the lateness,” bowed Kenra.
“It is alright. Please take your number and a seat. Once you do so we can finally begin the bidding,” said Elder Esther.
Kenra nodded and was handed a fan with the number, 21, before taking a seat in the set of chairs on the other side of the aisle away from Leora. His dark eyes momentarily met with Leora. Leora felt a chill go down her spine. This human she did not like.
Vanessa shook her head. She was about to stand up when another bidder—a man of a heavy set frame and a few chairs from Leora stood up abruptly. The man raised his fan and shook it at Elder Esther.
“You cannot allow this!” he shouted.
Elder Esther puckered her lips and her eyes lowered at the man. “Mr. Davidson, please take your seat,” she said.
“No, I will not! That man shouldn’t be allowed. The Vampire Council should not be--,” Mr. Davidson screamed as flames leapt out of the air and enveloped him into a column of fire that shot into the sky to disappear. In a matter of seconds, all that was left of Mr. Davidson was a pile of ashes on his chair.
A red robed member of the Sisters of Dawn came and swept the ashes into a waste basket.
Leora turned to Elder Ester to see the old witch’s eyes flicked with satisfaction. She gulped. Elder Ester was certainly someone she should avoid too.
Elder Esther clasped her hands together before speaking in a sweet, but very authoritative voice. “Does anyone else have a problem?” she asked.
No one said a word.
“Good,” smiled Elder Esther. “Without further delay,” she picked up her gavel, “the bidding starts at half a million.”
Leora looked around as the bidders raised their fans before raising hers.
The gavel hit the top part of the podium.
“One million?” said Elder Esther with a broad smile.
***
“This better be more important than Leora,” said Josephine angrily. She pushed aside a server who gave her a dirty look as she made her way to Elijah.
The boy had been staring out across the pillars. He didn’t even look back at her. Was he still alive? She clasped Elijah’s shoulder. In her other hand was her phone and Elijah’s text saying his was more important than Leora’s frantic text about the vampire council.
“Dude, you okay?” asked Josephine as she turned him around. His eyes were dilated.
“This is all his plan,” said Elijah quietly.
“Who’s plan and why do you look all freaky like that? Make a goddamn sense,” she said. Josephine wanted to shake Elijah. Maybe slap him?
“Before I met Leora, I was attacked by wassins. They used these pillars. Twilight’s Gate. I thought they were Hammer’s, but he said he wasn’t going to be here,” babbled Elijah.
“Whoa, back up! Did you say Hammer that dick witch?” Josephine had heard of the self proclaimed “warlock” wreaking havoc in the states some years ago, but before the Order could dispatch anyone to deal with him, he suddenly was gone—assumed taken care of by his own people or so she thought he was.
“Yeah. I met him during the charity,” said Elijah quietly.
Josephine squinted her eyes. “Was he the one to give you that stupid little note about not trusting Zea? Oh my fucking god!” She slapped him.
“What the fuck!” said Elijah, rubbing the cheek that Josephine slapped. Before he could respond, Twilight’s Gate began to glow with crackling black energy.
***
It was down to Leora and a werewolf man with luscious golden hair by the name of Stan of the Havoc Wreath pack. Stan growled at Leora from across the aisle. They both sat in the same row but opposite sides of the aisle.
Stan arched his golden bushy eyebrows. “There’s no way the Order has this much money. What did you say you do in the Order?” he asked.
Leora, who had been sweating at her hairline, could now feel sweat dampening between her shoulder blades and thank that she let Josephine convince her to wear a black suit. “Why does it matter?” she said as cooly as she could, trying to channel her inner Zea.
Elder Esther pointed her gavel at Stan. “Do you want to be my next victim, Mr. Stan?” she asked, addressing him by his first name that he insisted earlier. “We have cleared all bidders and confirmed everyone’s,” she smiled, “wealth.” Her eyes sparkled greedily.
Stan cleared his throat. “I did not mean to be rude but what is the point of this if you know who is the richest? Might as well just sell it to her,” he said. He jabbed a hairy thumb at Leora.
There was a grumble among the people. A lot of the bidders and their cohorts, furiously looking at Leora except three people: Kenra, Vanessa and Jociam. The three seemed to be preoccupied with something either with their phones or whispering with their lackeys. Suspiciously, neither Kenra nor Vanessa had bid despite being bidders themselves.
“True but that doesn’t mean they, whoever the winner of this auction, would want to spend all their fortunes,” smirked Elder Esther. “The Sisters of Dawn would gladly accept though, so you do bring up a good point.” She turned a wicked glance at Leora. “What say you Ms. Artavia of the Order? All the Order’s fortunes?”
Leora had to think quickly because it sounded like a taunt than an actual question. If she says yes, would they believe considering Josephine’s friend faked the money? If she said no, will Stan continue until he hit his max? She did a quick scan of the room. Still no Josephine or Elijah. Jociam nodded to her as if to say it was alright.
“All, Ms. Artavia?” asked Elder Esther.
Leora, panicking, raised her fan accidently.
“Oh? Truly I didn’t think the Order’s hate of vampires ran that deeply,” said Elder Esther.
The Elder lightly tapped her gavel on the podium. “We have a winner, everyone! Stand, Lucy Artavia of the Order in the ridiculous sum of one trillion dollars!” she said. She clapped and then the other Sisters of Dawn were doing the same.
They were the only ones clapping.
Stan stood up. “Now that Lucy won. It’s all fair game, yes? The Sisters of Dawn has passed this artifact onto her?” he asked.
Elder Esther turned to Leora but still addressed Stan. “It is now Lucy’s. The Sisters of Dawn shall retreat.” She made a half bow before two Sisters of Dawn came and put a red cape around her shoulders. “I would hurry up and take it, Lucy, before they kill you,” she winked. She walked down the aisle followed by the Sister of Dawns and the body guards.
When they were out of sight, Jociam rose and his people started making their way to Leora.
Stan grinned so wide it showed off his serrated teeth. “Good,” he chuckled. “Good god, dog on it!” he howled.
Other people started rising from their seats or making their way to Leora. Some of them having some energy flaring at their fingertips or flexing their mid transformed claws. Kenra, the human member of the vampire House Raviv, stood from his seat and was looking up at the sky.
“Get the scroll now, Leora! We’ll handle the rest of them!” shouted Jociam.
It was like a firework setting off, but it was not people rushing at her. No, the ground started to shake. Cracks opened in the ground and black smoke jetted out.
“What the fuck?” shouted Stan as he and others tried to maintain their footing.
It was like a chain reaction when the black jet smoke hit the sky. In a matter of a few minutes, it was dark. The sun blotched out. From far away it would look like there was a patch of night forced its way over a fifteen miles radius around the Gregori estate minus the moon and the stars. Then the ground stopped shaking. All the black smoke ceased.
“Stop all of you!”
The voice rang out with such command and elegance. A lone figure emerged from the banister of the incomplete second floor. His slicked back hair, stylish suit and eerily eyes—even if Leora didn’t sense a fellow vampire, he was a prime example of one.
“This is what they want!” shouted the vampire. “And we don’t have much time!”
Stan looked up at the vampire. “What the fuck is going on and who the fuck are you?”
“I am Prince Drake. And if you do not listen to me, we will all die!” warned the vampire.
Chapter 14 - A Prince of the Vampires