Alexandra silently hushed the older woman, thinking about how she had been the one in need of comforting, but now gave it to another.
She also thought about Nik and what he had done, and while killing Amy's father despite knowing she was there was indeed cruel and extreme, she could somewhat understand the logic behind it.
In Nik's eyes, he was a lord exacting justice for the death of his liegeman.
In Amy's, he was a monster who killed her father in cold blood.
And surprisingly, she found herself subtly supporting Nik.
"The influence of the Asgeirssons is strong on you," Valeria had said to her once, and it was becoming more evident.
Amy finally pulled herself together.
"You know," she began, wiping away the last of her tears, "after that night, I never had a nightmare. Every time I fell asleep, I felt at peace, and I never wanted to wake up. Especially so during the week that the Kings stayed in Shelby."
She sat upright, and Alexandra asked quizzically, "Kings?"
"Yeah," Amy replied. "The brothers rotated the Crown of Argent among them every forty-five years, but from the onset, the firstborn was King of the Vampires."
Alexandra let that sink in.
She thought of Lord Blackwater and wondered how Nik had managed to secure the submission of that ancient one.
Of course, he hadn't, but she had no way of knowing that..
"Anyway, I've been having wonderful dreams ever since. Till four days ago. Suddenly I've been struck by nightmares you can't imagine."
Alexandra had an idea: Nik's death had broken the compulsion, and the repressed cycle of bad dreams had come back in full force. Depending on Amy's psychological state over the past twenty years, she could suffer from nightmares for the rest of her life without reprieve.
But of course, she said nothing.
"Amy," she asked after a stray but pertinent question crossed her mind, "you said that because all four brothers know me I'm trapped in their web, right?"
"Yeah, I did," Amy replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I just realized something," she said. "You met Nik 20 years ago. Less than a decade ago you were saved by Mikael and Lucas, and since three days ago, you've been living under the same roof as Ariel. Doesn't that mean you're just as trapped as I am?"
Amy laughed bitterly. "I'm not. Unlike me, you have their affection, thus you're in the web of silk.
Me, however....I'm in the web of steel."
....
Three days passed.
The quartet was in the living room, having tea and in random discussion for once.
Gordon came in and said, "Lords, my lady, there's a visitor. A messenger from Huntington. He says he has a message from the Earl Blackwater for the princes."
"Let him in," Valeria instructed. Gordon bowed and left.
He returned shortly after with a middle aged man who naturally exuded the confidence of one accustomed to the nobility.
The man gave a semblance of a bow to the lady of the house. "Lady Winchester."
Valeria frowned and replied, "I see the Lord Blackwater's men are in such dire lack of women that proper decorum has been abandoned."
The man raised his bushy eyebrows but said nothing.
But in the presence of the Asgeirsson siblings, his pride melted, and he gave the princes a deep, exaggerated bow.
"Your Highnesses, I bring you a message from the Lord Blackwater.""
"Speak," Ariel said.
"The Lord requests your presence at Huntington, as previously arranged. I am to take you there," the messenger said.
"We leave at sundown," Mikael said.
Valeria said to the messenger with a sweet smile, "In the interim, feel free to find accommodation outside of Winchester Manor and my family establishments - your car, perhaps?"
The messenger's face reddened. "My lady, I understand I have offended you..."
"Your problem," she cut him off, "is that you put on airs in my house, not to mention stupidly assuming you deserve the respect given to your lord simply because you speak for him. You do not."
Ariel rose and approached him, then patted his shoulder.
"If this was the era of the Kingdom, I would have your head on a platter for your insubordination, but thankfully for you, this is the democratic Republic of Argent now," he said, then looked deep into the man's eyes.
He whispered so Valeria from her position couldn't hear, but the other two vampires could.
"The very night after we reach Huntington, you will hang yourself."
Mikael smiled.
Alexandra frowned. "The influence of the Asgeirssons...."
Amy came in and cleared the table, sharing a glance with Alexandra that did not go unnoticed.
The woman mouthed, "Run." And without another look, she left.
Valeria said, getting up, "If you will excuse me, I have to attend a meeting with the City Council. The past seven years have been a battle of authority between the House of Winchester and the Mayor, the Members of Parliament, and the Councillors. They have made it their mission to reduce my power as Lady of New Ashton, but unfortunately the people love me."
She shared a covert glance with Ariel as she left.
"It would be sweet if you capitalized on the opportunity," Mikael said, brushing past his brother.
Ariel shoved him playfully, then turned to Alexandra. "Are you coming with us to Huntington, or will you stay?"
She didn't immediately respond, embroiled in an internal war.
One side reminded her of Amy and Lord Blackwater's warnings, while the other showed her how the brothers had been nice to her, not to forget her own promise to get Nikolas back.
Mikael came up and placed a hand around his brother's shoulder. "Come with me. Let's let her deliberate for a while." The brothers went into the Hall, then climbed the twin staircase, coming to a stop on the balcony above the main entrance, opposite the stairs.
"What do you think she'll do?" Ariel asked his older sibling.
"I'm not certain," came the reply. "It all depends on which argument wins in the end."
Ariel rested his forearms on the wooden railing. "Either way, she's going to have a lot of work ahead of her. Should she come with us, she'll be walking into a battleground full of vampires even we would slightly hesitate to fight. Being a mere week turned, she'll be as good as dead."
"Should she choose to stay, she'll want to explore the city and undoubtedly find the trouble that follows us because of the six vampire lords at Blackwater's party. She won't be able to leave the city because they'll be out for blood, so she'll be forced by sentiment to keep watch on Val, most likely leading to an eventual bloodbath," Mikael finished.
"Exactly," Ariel said.
The two stood in silence for a few minutes.
"The witch was right, wasn't she?" Ariel asked. "About everyone who meets us getting ensnared by what we do?"
Mikael sighed and looked at his little brother.
"She was. But she forgot to mention why we do what we do."
He started to walk away.
Ariel called after him, "Do you ever think of Frederick?" Mikael stopped in his tracks.
He turned around. "It's been a hundred and fifty nine years, and I have not stopped thinking of him for a single day."
"What do you think he would say about what we have become?" Ariel asked. "You, myself, Lucas....Nik?"
Mikael looked at the floor, his hand going to his face. "I don't know," he replied and walked away before Ariel could see the tears in his eyes.
From the balcony, Ariel watched his brother go downstairs and into the lounge, streams flowing down his own cheeks.
Turning to get into Valeria's private study, he cleared his face. After entering, he opened the curtain and looked outside.
"What do you think of the monsters we have become, Nik?"
Unfortunately, the eldest of the brothers had a silver-coated stake in his heart while the coffin he lay in turned over and over by the power of the current, the stake driving deeper into his chest till it couldn't anymore.
If he were awake, though, he could have looked in the direction the waves were taking him, and he would have seen land a day off.
...
Danny's Pizza, City of Caldera
A lovely young girl walked up to the counter, where a slightly older guy sat, toothpick in mouth.
"One pepperoni and pineapple juice, please," Riley requested.
The man looked her up and down, and it was evident he liked what he saw.
"Would you like anything else to go with that, miss?" he asked. "Company, maybe?"
"I hardly think it necessary, mate," a voice said from behind Riley, and she turned to see Lucas there with a calm smile.
It was rather unfortunate that this particular kid had a thing for newspapers, and so no matter how Lucas disguised himself in civilian casual clothing, it would do nothing to hide that the Prince of Argent had entered the pizzeria.
The guy's eyes widened. "You... you..." He drew a deep breath, and Lucas hurriedly looked him in the eye and compelled him, "You will not reveal my presence to anyone, understand?"
"I will not reveal your presence to anyone," the man repeated dazedly.
Lucas gave Riley a smile. "Shall we?"
They sat down, and the prince said with a weary sigh, "This is why I don't move in the daytime."
Riley raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You sure it's got nothing at all to do with you losing your daylight ring for seven years?"
Lucas replied with a chuckle, "Absolutely certain."
"I read in one of the history books back in school about you guys, and you had this string of titles... what's that about?"
Lucas answered, "It's a matter of flaunting power and territory than it is practical. I am a prince, and that title trumps everything else. But the nobles like long titles and so I was addressed as.... whatever it is you read."
He leaned back and looked out the window, then commented, "You didn't seem surprised when I showed up behind you."
Riley replied, "Well at first I thought it was some other guy trying to score points, but when I saw it was you, surprised doesn't even begin to explain it. I guess I got so scared I didn't react at all."
She thought of something and grinned. "Did you expect me to scream and make a fool of myself?"
"No, because if you did, people would focus on me and recognize me, forcing me to kill everyone and then torture you to death."
The smile disappeared from Riley's face, and now it was Lucas' turn to grin.
"What a romantic you are," the girl complained.
"Jokes aside, I would have just taken you somewhere else. My apologies for ruining your plans for lunch in solitude, by the way."
The drinks came, pineapple juice and warm chocolate. The waitress winked at Lucas as she walked away.
"When did you place your order?" Riley asked, surprised.
"I didn't," he replied. "I suppose she mistakenly gave me instead of the gentleman over there," he continued, pointing at a couple a few tables away, the male of whom was complaining to the waitress.
Lucas listened in on the conversation. "I ordered that warm chocolate, get it back!" the man said, and he looked at Lucas, who waved at him cheerfully and took a long sip of it.
Riley looked behind her and watched the man's face turn multiple shades of red, and she asked, "Do you like, have this sugar rush every time you make someone miserable or something?"
"Why, yes! How did you know?" Lucas replied.
Riley rolled her eyes and muttered, "Vampires. What do you want, Lord Prince?"
"I'm only here to know if we have a deal. I gave you three days to deliberate on it."
The girl drank a bit of her juice and asked, "Wait, so you aren't even going to wait for the pizza?"
Lucas only raised an eyebrow, and not a sound came out from his mouth.
"Okay, okay!" she gave in when the silence became unbearable. "I'm in! I'm in, alright?"
The prince smiled, and the pizza was delivered just then.
Riley opened the box and looked at Lucas. "Pizza?"
The prince smiled and reached over to get a slice.
...
Amy was arranging the furniture in the lounge when she felt she wasn't alone anymore.
She turned around sharply and saw Ariel sitting on a sofa. "You frightened me, Lord Prince."
Ariel said slowly, "I was there last night." Amy shivered, and she didn't bother feigning confusion, for the look on the vampire's face signalled his intention to kill her if she did just that."
"I am sorry for what happened to your father, but since you know the full context of the story by now, you also know that he deserved it. There are laws, and if you break those laws, you pay. Now, I don't deny that my brothers and I are not the best people to be around, but I also want you to know that it is your kind that turned us into this. If I thought the way you do I should hate every one of you for your witch friends back in France who drove my family out of Europe baying for our blood, but I don't. We let your covens survive, we helped you whenever you were threatened, we even gave you a seat in the Supernatural Council."
The prince got up, and as he did so Amy took a step back.
His blue eyes burst into emerald as he said, "Alexandra might not be of Asgeirsson blood, but she is family now. Should she decide to stay, and you use that to feed more poison into her ears, I will find you, and I will flay your skin and hang you with it."
He left the room, and Amy slumped to the floor, breathing heavily.
Soon after, sobbing filled the room.
Ariel went upstairs, where Mikael waited for him. "You made the poor woman cry."
"I've seen children who remain calm in far worse situations," Ariel retorted.
"Those children weren't forcefully compelled to suppress their pain and have it erupt two decades after, Ariel!" Mikael yelled.
Ariel's figure blurred upstairs and stopped right in front of his brother. "This child just so happens to harbor resentment against our family for a death her father deserves! If you want to be the second target of Nik's fury after Alexandra leaves us, then be my guest. I will do what I can to make sure this family comes back together."
"By threatening grieving women?" Mikael asked.
"Killing them, even, if I have to," Ariel replied. "I happen to have an ancient grudge against the witches as well, and mine has been simmering for a hundred and fifty nine years."
He walked away.
"He's dead! He died nearly two centuries ago! And who is it that...?" Mikael called after him.
Suddenly a force slammed into him and he crashed into a wall before being thrown downstairs.
His body hit the cold floor and he was certain a few ribs were broken.
Ariel replied from upstairs, "Perhaps you forget your enemy, brother. It's the witches. It has always been the witches."
Mikael got up slowly, his bones rapidly mending. He looked up at his brother, and his eyes turned green.
His figure blurred upstairs, and he threw a fist, landing it in Ariel's gut. The younger vampire bent over, and Mikael kneed him again in the same place, proceeding to lift and slam Ariel back on the floor.
Ariel coughed as he tried to get up, and Mikael pulled him up by the collar of his shirt, then struck him in the face. Ariel caught the fourth punch and gave Mikael one of his own, his eyes responding to his rage.
The whole corridor became the brothers' battleground as Ariel rammed Mikael into a pillar and twisted his arm, with Mikael responding by kneeing Ariel's nose and punching him clean in the chest. A spinning kick sent the older brother to the floor, and Ariel capitalized on it, punching him on the side of his head. The two began to grapple each other, tossing and turning on the floor.
Mikael got on top and throttled his brother, while Ariel's fingers dug under the lower ribs on either side and pulled.
Suddenly, Mikael was pushed off, and the brothers immediately got up and we're about to have a go at each other again when Alexandra came and stood between them.
"We are supposed to be preparing to leave so we can fix the issue in Huntington and find Nik, and this is what you do? Engage in a bloody sibling squabble!?"
Neither of them looked her in the eye, but the green in their irises faded to blue instantly.
"How are we supposed to complete what we're supposed to do if the strongest members of the team are fighting among themselves?" Alexandra asked. "I'm not an Asgeirsson and I'm not as terrifying as you are, but from the look of it I'm the smartest one here. We have an hour till departure, get yourselves cleaned up and let's go."
Mikael walked past her and Ariel without a word spoken.
Ariel said to her, "You're wrong. You are family," and he left.