It's been 12 years since the Darkflame family came to Garside Grange. And four years since Ingrid wreaked chaos on Stokely. But Kalinda is going to have to watch her back when it comes to all of this.
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I'll be honest, here. I can't stop thinking about Malik. Where he is, how he is, whether or not he's planning on making a return. I hope he isn't. But I just wish I knew what he's doing now. He hasn't really got any family left. Where will he go? What will he do?
"What are you thinking?" My thoughts are interrupted by Vlad's voice. I look up from the table and give a small smile.
"Nothing, just... wondering if Ingrid's okay." It's not a complete lie. We've hardly seen her since the incident.
"I think Malik getting dust hit her hard." I go to say something in agreement when The Count rudely intrudes by pointing out something in his newspaper.
"Have you seen this?" He asks and shows us the front page. "There should be more protection over minorities like us." I'd have an opinion if he wasn't so far away and I could actually see the text.
"You're being paranoid, Dad," My husband tells him. "You shouldn't read that stuff, it just winds you up." All of a sudden, one of the windows from behind me smashes open and allows a circular object in. A circular object spraying garlic g- Garlic gas!
"Garlic gas!" I exclaim. "Run!" The trio of us waste no time, hastily running out of the room, covering our mouths and noses with our hands (or, in The Count's case, with his robe) until we reach the hallway outside the bedrooms, where the air is clear.
"Paranoid, am I?!" The Count sarcastically asks his son before yet another bomb comes flying through another window. So, once again, we all make a break for it, racing past the item and speedily hurrying down the stairs and into the hotel lobby, Vlad holding my hand the entire way.
"Someone really means business." He says just as we all clamber into the center of the room... where, alas, another ball of garlic gas flings right at us. This time, it's successful. I feel my eyelids drooping, my knees weakening, my entire body weight becoming heavier. And the last thing I remember is Vlad trying to pull me up.
**************************************************** And then the first thing I saw when I woke up was the gasping face of Renfield, who had dragged the bodies of myself, Vlad, and The Count all the way into the kitchen. I had been propped up against Vlad's chest, where I felt safer while the servant explained that he had seen several assassins outside the building, who had run once they saw him. Now, I'm in the Throne Room, watching The Count pace back and forth with Vlad sitting by my side, making sure I'm okay. When in reality, he should be more worried about himself.
"In a matter of weeks," The Count continues rambling. "I've been imprisoned in a UV cage, garlic gassed twice! And generally harassed in my own home. I haven't felt this under threat since that peasant attack. Fiery torches and angry pitchforks everywhere I looked." Just then, at the wrong time, Renfield decides to enter the room and scare his master so badly that he almost gets his face burnt off by a fireball.
