Captured (Vampire King Book 2) (19 page)

“Yes,
it is,” Queen Regina hissed from behind before stabbing me in the back with a
knife.

Chapter Fifteen

My
whole chest burned with a ferocious pain. Queen Regina struggled to hold me up
with her other arm.

“No!”
Samuel screamed and advanced my way.

“Samuel,
stop! Brie will be okay as long as the knife stays in her heart.” Ty charged in
front of Samuel. “It’s dipped in elfkin blood. Once the knife is out, we have a
potion that will heal all wounds by elf-created weapons.”

Samuel
snarled. His claws, horns, and fangs emerged in seconds.

Ty
raised his hands. “Your mother will take the knife out if you listen to her.”

The
hard blade started at my back and ended outside of my chest. It went all the
way through me. My body shook as I gazed at the knife’s point peeking out of my
left breast. Blood mixed with saliva drizzled out of my mouth. My chest burned.
I felt my mind drifting away as I collapsed to the floor. The knife and Queen
Regina followed me down.

Where is Ian? Did they kill him?

She
wrenched my head back. “Relax, little one. As long as Samuel does what I say,
I’ll let you live.”

“Brie!”
Samuel’s muscles rose two inches from his body and bulged, larger than I’d ever
seen.

I
gazed at Samuel through tears.
I’m still
here.
Lazily blinking, I tried not to think of the sluggish way my heart
beat, or the searing ache consuming my whole body. Warm blood leaked from my
chest, streamed down my legs, and poured on the floor.

“Get
it all up!” Queen Regina ordered. “Every last drop.”

Victoria
and Leeta quickly knelt in front of me, scooping up blood and pouring it into
vials. They had boxes of them.

I’m going to kill Ty
. Samuel’s voice echoed in my
head, taking my mind off the pain for a few seconds.
Be ready for me to catch you or…

It won’t work.
I closed my eyes.

Queen
Regina jerked my head back, waking me up. “Don’t go to sleep. We still need
you.”

I
coughed up blood, more spilled from my lips.

“No,
Brie!” Samuel shouted.

Twenty
guards raced into the room, surrounding Samuel. In their leather-gloved hands
was a thick, wooden rope with wooden spikes sticking out of almost every inch.
They wrapped the rope around Samuel as he began fighting them. Samuel tore one
head off as the wooden spikes cut through him. But he couldn’t get them all,
once the first spike pierced his skin. I struggled to see what else was
happening as my head swayed to the side.

“You
see the first queen on her beautiful throne?” Queen Regina stuck the knife
deeper into my back. I screamed. The knife’s tip sliced deeper through my chest
and poked further out. My teeth chattered against themselves. The stench of my
blood drowned the area. I could barely feel anything in my chest as sweat
dripped from my face.

“Did
you know that once you become the Quiet King’s queen, you’re expected to dust
and clean his first wife, as if it wasn’t bad enough that no one could ever
replace her,” Queen Regina said. “As you can see, this is my week to clean her
corpse.”

“Y-you
didn’t do a good job,” I murmured with quivering lips, trying to stay awake,
but I could feel darkness calling me to it.

Queen
Regina laughed. “I have a new king to serve. Look at my son.”

The
guards moved away from Samuel. He knelt on the floor full of hundreds of wooden
spikes. Blood and green mucus was everywhere on his body, the spikes, and even
floor around him. He roared in pain. His golden eyes shifted to crimson.
Something I’d never seen him do before. Even with my death so close, I gaped at
him in disbelief.
No, Samuel. Don’t
change!
His horns grew larger. His howls increased as he pushed his power
to rise within him.

“Stop.”
The word burned my throat as I tried to yell it.
Samuel, please stop!
I screamed in my head. Samuel glanced my way.
His blood-soaked chest rose and fell.

“Why
are you stopping?” Queen Regina yelled. “I’ll let her go when you’ve increased
all your power.”

“No,
she won’t,” I murmured. “She won’t share a throne with another queen.”

The
knife twisted in my chest. I slumped back on Queen Regina, my mind slipping
away as agony tore through me. Tears streamed down my face and mingled with my
blood. Samuel roared and ripped away from the ropes. His flesh stuck to the
spikes. The guards pointed sharp, wooden swords to his face.

“Finish
increasing your power, King.” Ty lowered down to his knees. “We’re ready to
serve you.”

No!
I shouted in my head. Don’t try
and save me.
It would break my heart if
you became just another mute and angry king.

Samuel
ceased. He panted and collapsed down to the ground.
Then I will die today, my queen.

“What
is he doing?” Queen Regina shrieked to anybody who could hear her. “We don’t
have much time, Samuel. Your queen is slipping away.”

I’m already close to gone
.
I’m just holding on for you, to make sure you won’t follow their sick
plan
.
Don’t use all of your power.
Don’t burn away your senses. Leave.
My body spasmed and shook.
Escape.

“Help
me hold her!” Queen Regina shouted.

Victoria
and Leeta seized me, trying to hold me.

“Hold
on, Brie,” Leeta whispered in my ear. “Please, hold on. We need him.”

“But
he needs you.” I coughed up more blood and trembled.
My king!

“Yes!”
Samuel roared from across the room in response to my silent plea.

Stand up.
I tried to focus on him as his
image blurred in and out of view.
Show
them you won’t fall into their plan. Don’t let my death weaken and change you.

“And
what if I just want to lay down and die?” His voice boomed in the room. Queen
Regina gasped. Her body stiffened behind me.

Then I would’ve died for nothing,
I whispered in my own head. My
vision left. There was only darkness, the scent of my blood, the sharp stinging
of the knife in my chest, the pounding of Queen Regina’s heart behind me, and
Samuel’s cries in front of me.

“He
hasn’t finished maturing,” Ty said. “What do we do?”

“Don’t
do anything, just wait,” Queen Regina said. “Son, listen to me. Your queen is
delirious right now.”

No!
I said.
Kill them all if you must to get out of here. Save the blood mages if
you can.”

“Brie,”
Samuel cried my name out as if something were being ripped away from his chest.

Listen, my king
. I smiled with blood-covered
lips.
I was so stupid to push you away in
the beginning. I was wrong.

“No,
you weren’t.” His voice was right in front of me. Strong hands grabbed my arms.
I fought to open my eyes, but couldn’t. Victoria and Leeta released me as if
handing me over to Samuel was the right thing to do. Queen Regina’s hand
remained on the knife. I could feel the blade shaking in me.

I’d ask you to kiss me if I
wasn’t so bloody.

He
pressed his lips to mine.
I can’t do this
without you.

There are dominas chained in a
room just because they had blood like mine.

He
kissed my cheeks and chin.

I don’t care about them!
His voice slammed against my
head.

My daughters need you. The guards
may already have them…

And
then everything went dark as I drifted away, as if something inside me was
swallowing me into myself. I tried one last time to speak to Samuel.
Love again! My corpse doesn’t need a diamond
throne.

I
heard him scream in pain as cold shadows consumed me. In time his voice became
nothing as everything shifted to silence.

Epilogue

Samuel

My corpse doesn’t need a diamond
throne
, Brie
thought to me as she passed out. But her heart still beat. She had to still be
alive, for now.

“Hold
her and don’t let go,” I ordered Leeta. “Can I trust you to do this?”

Leeta
bobbed her head. Tears fell from her eyes. “Your mother has my niece locked in
the dungeon. She’s the only family I have left. All these years, it’s why I did
it. It’s—”

“Then
she’ll be free today. If you help me,” I said through clenched teeth. My hands
went to my mother and yanked at her hair. Her silver crown dropped to the
floor. My other hand wrapped around her neck. “Is there really a potion to heal
the knife wound or was that more lies?”

My
mother screamed for her guards as I squeezed my hand around her neck tighter.

“Y-yes,”
she struggled to say. I let her go. She gasped in huge breaths of air. Her eyes
popped open. “Leeta has it.”

I
searched for Brie’s heartbeats with my ears. Her heart worked overtime, beating
barely each second.
But it still beat.
I
held on to that thought.

“Queen
Regina believed we could kill your queen.” Leeta pulled out a large vial with
dirt around the glass tube. Her fingers shook as she handed it to me. “I came
up with the plan to make sure we had a way to bring Brie back.”

Queen
Regina coughed on the floor, gasping for more air.

“And
where is Ian?” I scanned the guards, searching for Ty and Victoria. Those two
were the ones I would kill first. Next would be Ian.

“He’s
trapped in a bedroom with several dominas. . .serving him. I’m not sure he
knows he’s even locked inside as he has sex with them.” Leeta’s hands trembled
as she held the vial.

“Will
this work? Will this bring Brie back to me?” I hung onto the edge of insanity;
unsure I could rise back over the ledge and return to any form of life without
Brie.
My queen.

“I
don’t know if this will work for sure,” Leeta quickly muttered. I yanked it
from her. Tore off the vial’s stopper, and poured the potion down Brie’s
throat. My thumb rubbed against Brie’s small neck, hoping to massage the blood
down her throat.

My queen, can you hear me?
I delivered those thoughts to
her head, listened for her heart, and waited. I didn’t know if I was imagining
things or not, but Brie’s heart seemed like it was beating faster and stronger.

“Brie!”
I yelled. “My queen?”

The
heart did indeed beat faster. I put my hand behind her back and slowly took the
knife away. Footsteps sounded from behind me.

“Hold
her.” I narrowed my eyes. My view shaded to dark red and I assumed my eyes must
have changed color again. “If she dies, I will kill you. Do you believe me?”

“Y-yes.”
Leeta’s lip quivered.

The
footsteps stomped closer. I was sure there were many guards behind me. In half
of a second, I rose five feet in the air, touching the hard castle’s ceiling. I
landed with extended claws, soaring onto the first two guards and tearing off
their heads with ease. I smashed both heads into the floor. Pale skin, green
mucous, and blood splattered all over the ground. The other guards jumped back
and pressed their bodies against the wall.

“You
all will either fight with me as my men or die tonight as the Quiet King’s
guards, but there are no other options.” I howled.

Shuffling
ensued as they dropped to their knees and bowed. A pounding entered my mind.
Brie’s heart!
It beat with power.
Right?
It had to be. I glanced over my
shoulder. Brie’s chest was rising up and down, but I still couldn’t hear her
thoughts. Leeta pulled another vial out and began pouring it down Brie’s mouth.

“Keep
my queen alive and you won’t die tonight, Leeta.” I turned back to the guards.
They all knelt before me with shivering heads facing the ground. All of them
waited for my next order. Even Victoria and Ty had bent their knees along with
the guards. But none of them could be trusted. They were supposed to follow my
father and immediately turned on him to follow my mother. The pounding of
Brie’s heart sped up to a booming that echoed in my mind. I let my head fall
back and bellowed. The foundation of the castle rocked. Everyone dropped to the
floor. My feet burned. The bones on my toes broke apart. My boots ripped away.
The flesh on my feet tore open. Solid black hooves as big as my feet pushed
out. I rose four inches into the air as the hooves grew. I bellowed again with
the pain.