Enchantress

Chapter X

"No!" Ceres shouted as once again her sleep was interrupted by another vision. It has been months since Aurora had been taken by the king of vampires and since then she has been plagued each night by flashes of what could be the future. She looked around to check her surroundings. The map. She had to get rid of the map. If she did nothing. If she did nothing then this time, she won't lose a sister or a lover. This time... The Netherlands will be destroyed.

Aurora's POV

Something was amiss, the chilling feeling stirred me from my sleep as I felt cold win hit my skin. The movement was fast and in a second I felt the press of cold metal to my throat. The intruder didn't think I was awake clearly because they seemed to pause rather slit my throat immediately. The pause gave me just enough time to move. Bringing my arm up, I hit him. The blade dragged against my skin, I hissed at the sharp sting. Reaching up to wipe at the cut. Growling, I shove him hard. A piercing scream left me as I moved to attack again. The sound of running feet hitting the floor could be heard by both of us.

Xion appeared in the room in a second and the guards came bursting through the bedroom door. The intruder looked around. For a moment, it seemed he weighed his options. As Xion and I attacked he evaded us and dived over the bed. The guards went running across the room drawing their swords, but it was too late. He'd jumped out the window.

***
"This is koude hel. It is a fortress, one of the tallest castles in all of the Netherlands and one of the most heavily guarded. It does not get broken into."
"So you're saying I cut my own throat?" I demanded as my eyes narrowed on the vampires before me.
"It is a possibility; you have made an attempt to escape before. Perhaps now, your majesty wishes to die."

Titling my head, I closed my eyes for a moment in utter disbelief. "Oh! Someone is wishing to die but it is not me." I growled through clenched teeth.
"There was an intruder." Xion interrupted.
"And he came for blood. My blood." I snared.
"Our blood. This is a challenge. We are at war."
"With whom?" I demanded,
"My own. Clearly someone wants to be the new king. This was no random attack. There have been whispers of coup."
Gasps were heard right around the board room in which we stood. Everyone began to murmur and whisper. Xion saw it fit to leave after giving such news pulling me to move with him.
"I need to inspect your wound." He growled I could feel his anger in the air around me. It made the hair on my skin stand.

Xion's POV

She keeps getting hurt.
Thelus and a few of my most trusted soldiers invited me to drink with them. We'd been caught up in discussing the coup. They were sharing the new details with me.
I growled. She got hurt in our bed.
Mysting us, I sat her on the couch.

"I will have his head." I declared assessing the damage. A clean cut through her delicate skin. It was shallow and would not leave an obvious scar but the fact that he managed to cut her made me see red.

"Just hope you find him before I do, Vampire. No one tries to kill me in my sleep and gets off."
I dabbed at her wound. As I worked, she spoke. "There's a coup and you didn't tell me about it."

"I had hoped to solve it before it got to this point."

"What I said still stands. If I'm your so-called queen. A coup is something you would tell me about."

Pressing the bandage to her skin, I admitted "I didn't tell you because I did not know which side you would be on if I did."

She chuckled, "I don't need a coup to kill you, Vampire. I sleep in your bed. I'm awake when the sun calls you to sleep. Know this, I will never let another person kill you. Your life is mine. It's in my hands."

Kissing her shoulder, I smiled. "Yes, it is."

"That vampire who insinuated that I tried to kill myself. Who was that?" Her voice hardened.

"You do not need to know his name. He will be gone before the night ends." I replied remembering the insolence clearly.

"You vampires all seem to have sticks up your asses. But this coup ... It's because they don't want a witch as their queen, isn't it?"

"There are many vampires who would rather the extinction of all witches than peace. I will put an end to this."

"There are some in your own court. Are you to put an end to them too?" Her green eyes searched my own as she said the words. "I should know the people I'm living with. I should be able to recognize them."

The meaning behind her words were clear. The attacker could have been one of the very people living in this castle. The war between vampires and witches has been raging for centuries. The people haven't forgotten what witches have done to us and the fact that having a witch as a queen was what lead us to this type of pain in the first place.

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Aurora's POV
I heard the story of Thelus and his wife Ava from the man himself as he introduced his heavily pregnant wife and his child vampire, Eve. Ava was a human who crossed over into the Netherlands. This is a common occurrence and is the reason why I was introduced to technology and other human concepts.

Each kingdom in the Netherlands has portals to the human world. These portals are usually well hidden by the rulers of the kingdoms but there have been rumors of a map. A map that shows the holder the route to all the portals and more important the map could be used the join the human world with the Netherlands. It would mean destruction for both worlds.

Ava had come through a portal in the vampire kingdom. Thelus had found her half dead, as expected since humans can't handle the magic and power in the Netherlands as well as we can. Thelus recognized her as his fated and to ensure Thelus could have heirs to his family line, Xion turned Ava into a vampire. Saving her life and giving Thelus a chance to continue his bloodline.
Ava told me she became a vampire at age twenty-seven in human years, but she is two hundred and thirty – five years old, a mere infant in this world as myself but I had no right to judge since I was only two hundred years old.

I met the other two little vampires who are the children of soldiers in the army.
The look in Xion's eyes as he stared at me interacting with the children was filled with lust and even though I wasn't supposed to, I reacted. My body heated under his inspection. My pulse raced and I let my mind wonder for just a moment if his children would look like him. A son with that ruggish handsomeness and strong frame.

I met the vampire who had snared at me, months ago. Shelby, the royal advisor. She was a close of Xion's and had been in his court for many years now.
"He shouldn't be with you." She snared.
A part of me wanted to rip her to shreds, kill her just as I had promised.
"You know how fateds work right? Clearly, he belongs to me. He will never want you and its only greed that makes you want him. Don't fucking forget who I am Shelly. Lower your eyes when I'm in the room or have your throat ripped out. Got it?"
Something flashed in her eyes, and she stomped away.

I met other members of the court, Slate the royal chamberlain who had a notable glint in his eyes. Several maids and soldiers. By the end of the night, I was exhausted.

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