The Vampire's Bride

Chapter 36

"I didn't think that it would be quite like this," Iris admitted. She brushed her fingers along the door to the throne room.

"What did you think that it would be like?" Axel questioned. He stood beside her, staring at the door before them. Iris closed her eyes and listened to the fighting in the distance.

"I thought our mother was the most wonderful person. Alex was so devestated by losing her that she had to be," she explained. "I didn't know about Hell, about what our parents were. And now..."

"Let's finish this," Axel said. Iris looked at him and nodded. She took his hand, squeezing it tightly as she pushed open the doors.

This was the place where she had been born.

This was the place where Adelaide took a knife to her chest.

Iris let her eyes slowly travel up to the throne, meeting her mother's silver eye. Adelaide smiled and rested a cheek on her fist.

"Hello, children."

Axel and Iris didn't wait for more of her chiding. In an instant, a swarm of butterflies and a pack of wolves had sprung to the siblings' aid. Adelaide held out a lazy hand, smiling at them. The animals were incinerated in a fire that Iris had never seen before. It continued to smolder in walls as high as the ceiling, blocking them from the queen.

Her eyes widened as shards of black glass shot through the wall, hurtling towards her brother. Her sword deflected the glass before Axel dove with her behind a pillar.

"Coward!" Iris yelled. "Come out and fight!"

The fire dropped.

A long snake of glass shot towards Iris, too fast for her or Axel to block. Her eyes widened as she anticipated the sudden pain of the shards burying into her heart.

Jason shoved her back, deflecting the shards with the blade of his broadsword. Evelyn and Luca dove into the room, the assassin armed with a crossbow.

"The next time you decide to get yourself killed, please remind me to yell at you," her husband snapped, glaring at her. Iris shook her head and smirked slightly. She ran behind a pillar, watching as her sister began taking shots through the flames.

Iris squinted.

There had to be some way to get through that searing wall of fire. She fluttered her fingers, drawing on her power. Adelaide's power had to run out eventually, but they wouldn't have time.

She squeezed her eyes shut. This was going to hurt like hell.

"Close your eyes!" Iris cried before she threw out her hands.

The blood rushed from her nose almost immediately as the dragon made of ice formed. It roared, violently shaking the room and elicting a yell from Luca. Iris started breathing heavily, struggling to keep her dragon alive- the dragon that was the manifest of her father's powers. She felt like her head was being crushed slowly.

She jumped slightly, looking over to see her brother as he took her hand.

The dragon took a breath.

Shadows formed in it's mouth before it released a breath of ice, ice that quickly smothered the flames. Iris darted from Axel's side, lunging for her mother.

"Iris!" Evelyn screamed. Iris turned just in time to catch the crossbow before the flames sprung up again.

The girl turned to her mother, watching as the queen stood. Adelaide tossed her hair over her shoulders before holding out her hand. A sword formed from smoke, the sharp black glass gleaming.