I don’t recall much of what happened after Martha’s lifeless body crumpled to the floor. I just remember being in a state of shock. Casper grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me away from the house. Together, with Duke, we had fled Challow Street by slipping through a break in the fence. After that we had done what Martha told us and snuck out the city through the old docks. Duke and Casper stayed close to me the entire time, making sure I didn’t fall behind, although it wasn’t hard to keep up with them. Running away was easy when being tracked by Henrietta’s homicidal guards. I kept thinking to myself – if you stop, they’ll find you and kill you and the baby. So I kept going, putting one foot in front of the other until we had safely left the city boundaries, and the docklands were nothing more than a spec on the horizon.
We had fled the city by following a small coastal path that ran southwards away from the docklands towards the cliffs. Once we had reached the cliff tops we changed direction, turning away from the path and running eastwards across several fields. By the time we stopped to take shelter in a disused barn, I was close to collapsing. The emotional stress and the need for blood had over come me, and I was struggling to stay standing.
Casper recognised my need and looped his arm around my waist to support me. “You’ve done well, little sister,” he said guiding me to an upturned wooden crate. “Sit here and rest. The guards will search for us for a couple of hours then be forced to return to the palace. We’ll head back into the city at dawn.”
I took a seat, quietly thanking him and stared numbly at rusty corrugated iron wall opposite me. Casper walked away and began talking to Duke who was tentatively stood by the barn door on lookout. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. It wasn’t because I couldn’t physically hear them, but because my mind was somewhere else. It was hard to think, process, or even feel, when my head was filled with the sound of gunshots and screams.
“Hazel,” Duke voice called to me softly across the room. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“Am I?” I said absent mindedly.
He crossed the room and started to shrug off his jacket, I opened my mouth to protest but he stopped me dead with a hard stare. “Don’t argue with me, just put the jacket on. Caspar would kill me if I let you freeze to death out here.”
“I didn’t think vampires could die of cold,” I replied candidly.
He draped his jackets around my shoulders and said, “They can’t. But it would be incredibly ungallant not to take care of you after kidnapping you from your mate. Poor bastard must be going out his mind with worry.”
“I know, and that’s why I have to get back to him,” I replied urgently. “I need to tell him about everything so he can help us stop Henrietta.”
Duke looked like he was going to agree with me when Casper suddenly interrupted him.
“You’re not going anywhere. Caspar can look after himself, but you, you’re safer here – with us,” Casper said firmly.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You were there! You saw Henrietta murder those people and you know what’s she’s capable of. Caspar is in danger, I need to see him and speak to him-”
“And tell him what?” Casper snapped. “That you’ve formed an alliance with his evil younger brother, or that you consulted a lunatic this evening who told you that Henrietta is evil… Or maybe you can drop the biggest bombshell of all and tell him what you’ve really been seeing in the shadows. Hazel, let me reassure you that whatever you tell him, he won’t believe you unless you have hard evidence to back it up.”
“We have hard evidence! For God’s sake, Casper, two of her murder victims are lying in a house by the docks right now!” I yelled at him.
He raked a hand through his blonde hair and replied, “I know, but Henrietta is smart. I doubt that she would have left without cleaning up first. Knowing her she’d probably burnt the place to the ground by now. And as for the bodies, she’ll most likely have her guards dispose of them. We can’t go to Caspar without real hard evidence. He won’t believe us.”
“He’ll believe me!” I said.
Casper thought about it for a brief second and said, “I can’t risk it. He might believe, but he might not and if that becomes the case, then we are all screwed. He’ll have you locked up in that fort for eternity, providing Henrietta doesn’t kill you first, and I don’t even want to consider what he’ll do to me, Duke and Nico. The whole thing is so fucked up.”
He was right, the whole situation was fucked up, but I refused to kick back and let Henrietta continue what she was doing. Before Thelma died I promised her that I would expose Henrietta and her wicked deeds, including the death of Thelma’s daughter. I couldn’t let this go, even if Casper wanted to. I had to talk to Caspar and find a way to make him believe me.
“Casper, I get that you’re afraid, but I think Caspar will listen to me if I could just talk to him,” I said.
“Hazel,” he sighed. “Think about it for a second. All we have against Henrietta is the words of a dead lunatic. He’s not going to believe you on that alone. This might be hard to hear but when I was accused of killing Celia he was the first person I went to for help. I thought he would help me because I was his brother… How wrong I was. By the time I had found him, Louis had shown him all the ‘facts’ and he condemned me right there and then, without ever hearing a single word I had to say. You see, Hazel, I know Caspar and without the hard facts he will throw you back in that fort and lock the door, and throw away the key, just like he did to me.”
Shocked, I stared at him. “You mean, he never even listened to your version of events?”
Casper bowed his head sadly and said, “No, he handed me straight over to the guards. And that was the last time I saw my older brother.”
The sadness in his voice broke my heart. From the little I knew about the two brothers, Caspar had always seemed to love Casper enormously. Caspar had gone to great lengths to ensure Casper never had the same lonely childhood as he had. He seemed to have genuinely loved his younger brother, which only made his choice not to listen to his brother seem stranger. However it did explain Casper’s reluctance to seek help from his brother.
“That must have been awful,” I said quietly.
Casper gave an indifferent shrug and said, “It’s fine. I’ve had ten years alone in a cell to think about it and get over it.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. Pain like that stays with a person forever.
Turning away from me Casper began to walk slowly towards the barn door, he then suddenly stopped and said, “This conversation is over. You’re staying here with us, little sister. Now excuse me while I go and keep watch for Henrietta’s guards.”
He left the barn, leaving me alone with Duke.
Both of us exchanged weary glances and Duke took a seat next to me and murmured, “Families, eh?”
A ghost of a smile lit up my face and I replied, “Isn’t it just.”
Duke playfully knocked his shoulder against mine and said, “Don’t worry, you’ll be back with Caspar sooner than you think.”
“Will I?” I said doubtfully. “How are we going to take Henrietta down when Casper and Caspar are busy fighting each other? Nothing is ever going to get done unless those two hurry up and get on the same team.”
Duke arched an eyebrow. “You’re not concocting a plan in that devious little head of yours?”
“I might be… although it’s going to sound crazy,” I replied.
His face erupted into a massive grin. “I like crazy, especially if it’s the type of crazy that’s going to bring Henrietta down.”
“Well, it is crazy and I’m going to need your help for it to work,” I said. “We need to bring Casper and Caspar together in a controlled environment where they can talk things out. But in order to do that, we need to take Caspar out of the palace and away from his guards.”
Duke blinked in confusion. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“I’m saying that we need to kidnap Caspar,” I replied.