Blood of the Thorn

3

After Drea had exited the Mausoleum the twins both stood still with slumped shoulders for a few minutes before moving towards the door. They were quiet as the night in the vast cemetery, cloaked in an eerie silence. Tracking her scent as they moved together, much faster than any human could ever travel by foot. They caught up to Drea as she was starting to slip through the fence, and they stayed hidden in the shadows.

Once she was through the bush, they both vanished into black smoke that turned into two bats. They flew through the chilled autumn breeze, in sync with one another with every flap of their wings. They flew above her for a moment, careful to not make a sound, then glided through the air to a large elm tree where they hung upside down on the branches and watched Drea as she went into hysterics on the side of the road. Dante felt an ache in his chest, a need to go to Drea and comfort her. But the last thing he wanted was to scare her any more than he had. It was best to keep a distance, for now.

Once she was picked up by the car she had called, the twin bats took flight again and followed the car about eight miles south to a building of condos. They landed, hanging on a tree branch, as she stepped out of the car and entered the code to the main door of the building. They hung out of sight and watched the building that was blanketed in the night, then a light turned on in a unit on the top floor.

The bats flew towards the light and separated, each landing over a different window that looked into Drea's home. The condo seemed to be a one bedroom with an open loft above the main living space. Drea was stumbling around the unit, no doubt looking for her bed. She had to climb the set of stairs to the loft to get to her bed, holding tightly to the railing as to not tumble down the stairs. Once she found her destination, she flopped into the mattress and pushed a button on a remote on top of the nightstand. The lights went out, flooding the room with darkness.

Knowing that Drea had made it home safe, the bats let go of the window ledge and flew back towards the direction of the cemetery. Once they arrived, they landed just inside the gate of the cemetery and transformed back to their vampire forms. They turned to the left and walked towards the back of the main office. There, tucked behind a wall of bushes, was the entrance to their home. They descended a staircase that led to a steel enforced door.

Once the doors buzzed and opened, they stepped into the warm light of the foyer of a vast underground mansion. Though it wasn't a mansion at all, it was a palace, the palace of the Dubois Monarchy. The Dubois were the ruling vampire monarchy of North America for the last two centuries. The twins walked in sync towards the grand staircase that went down into the throne room, the only way to pass to the living quarters within the palace.

The twins scanned the throne room and were relieved to find it was empty. They wouldn't need to report to anyone and could retreat to their quarters for the rest of the night. But as soon as they turned towards their rooms, they heard a high-pitched voice call after them, "Oh boys."

They stopped in their steps and turned towards Ramona, their older sister, looking as uninterested as they could.

"So, you're back then, are you? How was your Halloween? Did you find some young things in a slutty cat outfit? Or no, I read on the Google that naughty Alice in Wonderland was a popular costume this year.", she said as she glided across the vast room towards them. Her long cherry red hair was styled in an extravagant updo that towered above her head. She was wearing a light blue Victorian hoop dress with heavy white makeup, dressed as Marie Antoinette, the same as she dressed for every Halloween. A big joke really, as Ramona used to be part of the French Queen's ladies in waiting for a short time.

The twins shrugged, trying to seem indifferent so they could escape to their rooms. Ramona glared at them, "What? No fun for the Twin Princes on Halloween?"

She studied them; eyes squinted slightly. Being two hundred years older than them, she practically raised the twins, and she knew when they were keeping something from her. "What are you hiding? What happened?"

The twins each let out a sigh, they knew better than to keep anything from their older sister. Dracen spoke, "It's nothing, really it should be nothing...I, just..."

The blonde twin finished, "There was a woman..."

The twins shared a look, adorned with pained faces. Ramona looked between the princes with a worried gaze, "What woman? What happened with the woman?"

Dracen answered, "Ramona I-I"

Deo finished, "fell to Bloodlust."

Ramona gasped and her eyes went as big as a full moon. "You didn't. Oh Dante, how can this be? What are you going to do?"

The twins responded in unison with a deflated face, "I don't know."