A devilish smirk spread across Darion’s lips as the blade slide straight through Persephone’s skin. Seraphina’s eyes got wide with shock. An undeniable surge of anger penetrated her body as she watched her sister’s throat being cut wide open.
Immediately, before Darion had time to react, Zacarius with the speed of lightening grabbed Persephone’s draining body and flew into the stables so Darion could not harm the dying girl any longer.
Beyond furious, Seraphina glared at Darion whose evil smirk tore into her soul. Even though he was not of the undead, his entire being exuded so much hatred and negativity he might as well have been a demon.
Seraphina reached deep within herself to pull out her inner darkness and bring it to the surface. The core of her body turned black as the monster within was awakened from it’s restful slumber. It slid up through her stomach and deep into her veins teasing the blood thirst to claim a victim for it’s tasting. Seraphina intended to do just that.
“Ah, there you are you blasphemous whore,” Darion spat pointing his knife in her direction. “Did you think you’d get away with it? Did you think that I’d let you live after what you and those insolent brothers did to my reputation?!”
With every word he spoke, Seraphina imagined tearing an appendage off of his body. She relished in the idea of how good his flesh would taste in between her sharp teeth. The very thought of how he had murdered her sister and stood before her mockingly made Seraphina realize what she had to do.
Through clenched teeth, Seraphina growled, “Punish me if you dare, Mr. Mansell.”
In the darkness of the night, her eyes began to glow a bright red like that of the feathery fire off of a mystical pheonix’s wing. The glimmer caught Darion off-guard and he put a hand up to block out the light.
“Seraphina, no!” shouted Tavorian from behind her as he ran across the yard to diminish her powers.
It was too late. Seraphina had completely transformed, with her face in a distorted snarl and fangs that slid from their pink sheaths ready to devour anything put before them.
Unfortunately, as soon as she was about to pounce a few flickers of orange light popped up behind Darion. One by one the lights became brighter, like little angry balls of fire they lit the way for their holders. The muck and scum of the city came out of the shadows, each criminal grasping a weapon of some sort. It was obvious that Darion had paid a few lowly townsfolk to aid him in this massacre. They looked at Seraphina, and now the steady Tavorian beside her, menacingly awaiting the next command from Mr. Mansell.
“Did you think I was ignorant, Seraphina? Not this time,” Darion added with a deep- throated howl. “You and your monster friends will not leave this property alive!”
“The only monster I see here is YOU!” Seraphina screamed as she jumped into the air and landed on top of Darion.
This time Tavorian did not stop her as he was too busy with the gang of lowlife’s that surrounded him. Each gnarly criminal began to attack Tavorian with all of their strength, but no matter how hard they fought the whole lot of them were no match for a child of the night. Tavorian began to rip them to shreds and soon his eldest brother Isekheul had joined in when he noticed what was going on.
Darion, armed with only the long, silver blade slashed at Seraphina above him. Her soft pink flesh become bloody with shallow gashes lining her arms, but she didn’t falter. Seraphina continued slamming her fists into her mortal enemy beneath her until she finally was able to grab the hand that held the weapon.
With fangs as long as needles, Seraphina bit into the veins of Darion’s wrist causing him to drop his knife. The blade fell to the darkened earth as blood poured down his elbow. Darion didn’t scream or even make much of a sound in reply which surprised Seraphina. Instead he used what energy he had left and pulled his hand away from her blood-soaked mouth. Darion slid out from under the demonic mistress and kicked her hard in the stomach.
Seraphina howled into the night, the monster inside of her completely taking over. This time as Darion stared up at his opponent an overwhelming sense of paralysis struck his body. He was motionless, his eyes hollow with fear. He was so afraid to move that he contemplated pretending to be dead knowing that his life was soon to be over.
With one hungry grasp, Seraphina grabbed Darion into her arms and sunk her teeth deep into his neck. This time he let out a blood-curdling scream before falling silent to Seraphina draining his body dry.
Darion Mansell’s blood was bitter in her mouth, but Seraphina savored the taste of the kill. There was nothing more pleasurable than her arch nemesis being slain by her very own fingers. She was more than happy to see him dead in her arms as she pulled away. His face had a permanent expression of terror but his eyes were now a pale milky white having slid back into his skull. She could no longer hear his heart beating and felt victorious as she let him fall hard to the ground.
Seraphina stood staring at her blood-soaked gown and the destruction surrounding her. Everywhere bodies lay massacred in her grandfather’s beautiful garden. The thought that Seraphina and the brothers had just destroyed everything around them suddenly dawned upon her. What have I done?
Gasping, Seraphina looked down at her hands, tinted red with blood and bruised from the battle they fought. Tavorian and Isekheul came up beside her knowing that her first day of being a vampire was not lacking in death. They could feel the overwhelming emotions running through her mind and they knew that she was not going to take this well.
The two brothers were right. Seraphina didn’t know whether to shout in joy that she had finally gotten rid of Darion Mansell for good or scream in horror that she had contributed to the town’s biggest murder scene. The blood tasted so good in her mouth that she craved more at the same time. So many thoughts, so many feelings. How was she expected to keep them all under control? With that, Seraphina burst into tears.
“It’s all right, my little pretty,” Tavorian whispered into her ear.
That was not what she wanted to hear. Seraphina jumped out of his grasp and turned to face the brothers.
“No, it is NOT all right!” she screamed. “What are we to do now? For staying in my own home would surely be the end of us? How are we to clean up what we have done, to hide the remnants of all of this blood and death? They will surely sniff us out and we will be executed for allowing this to happen. What have I done?”
Tavorian didn’t know what to say to his lover, but he knew that she was correct in her assumptions. Time was running out. They had to think fast if they were to get through this alive. He just hoped that Seraphina could calmly collect herself so they could formulate their next plan.
“I know, I know what you must say . . . I can read your thoughts, Tavorian,” Seraphina glared at him causing a slight shiver to trail up his spine for the first time in centuries.
“You want me to leave this place. You and your brother are telling me that it is not safe anymore, but how can I abandon all that we have worked so hard to keep?”
“Seraphina, listen to me,” Tavorian told her sternly. “I will send Isekheul to begin the process of gathering our belongings to leave. We already have a ship ready to set sail back to London tonight.”
“You were planning on leaving to begin with then?” Seraphina wondered.
“It was time,” Tavorian nodded. “We had decided that you and your sister . . .”
Before Tavorian could continue Seraphina’s eyes got wide and she covered her mouth in shock. How could she have forgotten her baby sister? Her only key to the mortal world? The flashback of Darion slicing Persephone’s throat came rushing back to her all at once and she turned to the stables.
“Stop, Seraphina,” Tavorian said blocking her path. “She is not there. Zacarius took her away for now.”
“Took her? Where? I demand to see my sister!” Seraphina cried feeling herself lose control again.
Tavorian grabbed her by the shoulders and stared deep into her eyes.
“Listen, my little pretty, I need you to concentrate. If you don’t come with us now, we will all suffer the consequences of what has happened here tonight. There will be no hope for you, for us, even for your sister. I will take you to her after we finish up here, all right?”
Seraphina was calmed by Tavorian’s words despite the fact that she wanted so badly to know if her dear sister was okay. She feared the worst, but knew that surviving was the only option now. Nodding, she walked back into the inn as Tavorian began to hide the corpses in the stable.
Isekheul had already begun to load the brother’s suitcases into the back of a carriage and soon helped Seraphina load her own. The eldest brother took off into the night, the rickety carriage riding as fast as it could down the dirt path towards the town.
Seraphina and Tavorian met up once again in the garden. There was little evidence of the massacre besides the blood spatters covering the flowers and grass. Little could be done about that now, but it would take longer for any town officers to figure out what had happened this way. She stared at the inn looming before her and the plantation all around. It would be missed, and the feeling of guilt in her stomach at having to leave her servants behind was immense. The servants and maids that had worked for her grandfather for decades were more like family than workers. She knew them all by name and even met some of their own families during the holidays. So many memories were going to be lost, so much time would suddenly disappear into thin air as if her grandfather had never taken her in. Despite all of this, Seraphina had an incredible desire to survive, to continue on. She dared to think that if she were not the nocturnal monster that she had recently become, she would feel differently. Tavorian and his brothers were her family now. They were all she had left. Her mortal life and ancestors would only exist in memory.
Seraphina looked at Tavorian through unshed tears that sat atop her eyelids.
“Come,” he said taking her hand in his. “We must go, Seraphina. Everything is in order now and dawn approaches.”
“But what of my sister?” she asked hurriedly as flashes of a tombstone with Persephone’s name engraved on it entered her mind.
Thankfully, the flashing image was not a premonition or one from Tavorian’s mind, but her own personal thought of dread. The more and more Seraphina lingered on her sister’s death, the more that will to survive began to diminish.
Tavorian shook his head. “I will explain everything once we are safely out to sea. Right now we must race against the sun. Come along.”
Seraphina was utterly confused about the situation but knew from the tone in Tavorian’s voice that they needed to flea. Together, the pair flew into the air and drifted in and out of the early morning fog.
Seraphina could feel Tavorian carrying her, his muscular arms cradling her sleepy body to his chest. At some point during their flight, Seraphina was overcome with a dizziness that she could not ignore. Having almost fallen to the earth with nothing but the wind below, she was saved by Tavorian.
A dim light could barely be seen over the horizon and it’s warmth although not felt by the mortal crew of the ship, seemed to be burning her skin. Seraphina paid no attention to it for the sudden fatigue had caused her to hang within Tavorian’s grasp. The last thing she remembered was the two of them entering the lower cabins of the ship and the burning sensation that had tingled her body disappear with the outside environment.
Seraphina tried to open her eyes, but the dreamy state of sleep had overcome all of her senses. A blurry vision of Tavorian was the last image she saw before she faded into a cocoon- like place.
“Ta-” she tried to call his name, but it was no use.
“Shhh. Close your eyes,” he told her before placing a kiss upon her lips.
The hypnotizing waves of the ocean gently rocked Seraphina the rest of the way to sleep.