Duke stared at me like I had just grown a third eye in the middle of my forehead. He couldn’t believe what I was suggesting, and in all honesty neither could I. Kidnapping Caspar was a crazy idea and with a high chance of failing, but it was the only option we had, because right now we were stuck between a hard place and a rock. There were only two other options available to me. Firstly I could go back to Caspar and try explaining to him about everything without any evidence to validate my claims. Or, I could stay here with Casper and see how long it will take for Caspar to loose his shit and kill everybody.
I raked my hands through my hair and said, “I know it’s crazy, but it’s our best chance.”
Duke laughed, “Are you shitting me? What the hell are we going to do – hit him over the head with a big stick and carry him off in a sack? Come on, Hazel, there is no way we could kidnap him. He’s the prince of darkness for a reason, he is way too powerful for us handle by ourselves and even if we could, there is no way we would be able get close enough to him without being swarmed by his entire army of guards ! It would be impossible.”
“It wouldn’t be impossible, it would be difficult,” I replied patiently. “Do you remember the fortress apartment and the room in the restaurant? Both of those areas had a special enchantment placed on them that only allowed members of the royal family to enter. If we could get Caspar to meet me in one of those special places then we wouldn’t need to worry about the guards because they couldn’t enter the enchanted space!”
“Newsflash! If they can’t enter, than I can’t enter. You will need my help, Hazel. I doubt you can incapacitate Caspar all by your little old self,” he said sarcastically
“I could do it by myself,” I murmured softly as the cogs of my mind began to turn. “The method wouldn’t be pleasant, but it would work.”
“Okay, I know I’m going to regret asking, but how are you planing on capturing Caspar?” he sighed.
“Well, I was thinking about the time that nurse tried to poison me. To incapacitate her, I tore open the jugular vein and carotid artery in her neck. The damage to these major blood vessels was enough to create a massive blood loss, the kind of blood loss that enfeebles a vampire. So I figured if I could do the same to Caspar, then we might have a chance of kidnapping him,” I explained.
There was stunned silence. Duke stared at me lost for words. He lifted his hands into the air and pushed himself. Shaking his head, he said, “No, this is lunacy – the type of sheer fucking lunacy where I end up dead and you’ll end up being carted back to the palace where that psycho bitch can finish you off.”
“Or it might work,” I argued then sighed, “Look, I’m not pretending it’s going to be a walk in the park, but it’s worth a shot – especially if we can reunite them both. Please, Duke! Both of them have been through so much pain, and I know deep down they both care about each other and we could just get them to talk-”
“Woah wait,” he said, cutting across me as his suddenly eyes lit up. “We don’t need to do any of that. In fact we don’t even need to leave this barn to prove Casper’s innocence. All you have to do is open your mind up to Caspar and show him what you’ve seen. Once he sees the memory of Henrietta ordering Thelma’s murder then he is sure to believe Casper!”
My heart sank in my chest. He had no idea I couldn’t connect to Caspar. I watched him from my crate excitedly start to babble about going back home to the palace and seeing Henrietta’s evil ass being dragged off to prison. Marching towards the barn doors he announced he was going to tell Casper the good news. Panicking I leapt off my crate and rushed past him, throwing my self in front of the door.
“You can’t tell him,” I said bluntly.
He blinked. “Why not?”
“I lied to you about my connection to Caspar. I told you that I could connect to him if I wanted too, but the truth is I can’t. There is something wrong with the connection between us and I can’t get through to him anymore. It’s like something or someone is blocking the channel between us,” I explained.
“Wait, I thought you shut him out of your head on purpose,” he asked.
“I did, but that was because I was mad at him for dragging me into this freak show by turning me into a vampire. After that I kept him out of my head because of the ghosts… It was all Henrietta’s fault! She made this big deal out of it and told me that terrible things would happen to me if Caspar ever found out. I was so scared I didn’t know what to do and so I kept him out of my head. But then one day I tried to reconnect and I found that I couldn’t. The door Henrietta had me visualise closing, no longer opened – it had been locked,” I explained.
The joy disappeared from Duke eyes and he backed away from the barn door. “So you can’t reach Caspar?”
“No, someone or something is stopping me from connecting with him,” I replied.
“Oh and I can bet who that someone might be,” he replied through gritted teeth.
Lowering my head sadly, I said, “I was an idiot for trusting her. I thought she genuinely wanted to help me, but all she did was fill my head with fear.”
Suddenly Duke’ warms arms wrapped around me and pulled me into comforting embrace. Holding me close, he whispered in a low voice, “This isn’t your fault, Hazel. You were in a vulnerable situation where you had been turned into a vampire and forced to marry a guy you didn’t know from Adam. Henrietta took advantage of your vulnerability and used it to manipulate you. Please don’t blame yourself.”
“But if I hadn’t been so naive then none of this would’ve happened,” I said feeling tearful.
“Hazel, there are better ways to win a girls heart than having a corpse drag her unwillingly up the aisle and forcing her into an unwanted marriage. Even though you and Caspar are mates, he could have chosen a different way to claim you. He was the idiot for thinking that you would hand your trust over to him on a platter. So yeah, I get why you were mad at him and wanted to shut him out of your mind for a little privacy,” he sighed.
Resting my head against his chest I snuffled, “I love how you’re pinning the blame on Caspar to make me feel better.”
“Well, I’m telling you exactly what I think,” he said.
I stood still in his arms for a few moments longer, savouring the warmth, comfort and friendship his embrace offered. It was good to hear someone say that it wasn’t my fault, even if I didn’t fully believe it myself. For the past few weeks my mind has been wracked with so much confusion and guilt over not connecting to Caspar. I knew that without our mental connection he would suffer, but I was terrified what would happen to me and my baby once he found out the truth about my ability…
Curiously I lifted my head off Duke’ chest and asked, “What do you up think will happen to me once Caspar finds out my ability?”
“Nothing will happen. Your talent is rare and a few centuries ago you might have been in trouble, but in this day and age you will be fine,” he replied.
Something about what he said piqued my interest. Arching an eyebrow I asked, “What do you mean ‘a few centuries ago’?”
He shrugged. “It’s ancient history really but before the city was built, there used to be a temple standing right where the palace stands today. is. There was an order of priestesses that possessed abilities like you, who lived and worship in the temple. They were supposedly a peaceful lot but they were not liked by every body. When the first empire fell after Tuta the Terrible destroyed the great city, there were groups of self appointed vampires that went looking for someone to blame. One group found the priestesses and accused them of evil witchcraft, saying that they had bewitched Tuta and caused him to lose control of his darkness. To punish the priestesses, these self appointed assholes dragged each priestess one by one from their temples and burnt them to death for their so called crimes.”
His story was weirdly familiar like I had seen or heard it somewhere else before… An image flashed into my head – it was the tapestry Henrietta had hung in my basement bedroom at the fort. I closed my eyes and recalled the embroider picture of a building on fire and inside its flames dozens of screaming faces…
“So,” Duke said, letting go of me. “I guess we are going to have to persuade Caspar the hard way.”
Switching my concentration back to the present I nodded at him. “Yeah, it looks like we’re going to whack him on the head with a big stick them shove him in a burlap sack.”
He smiled at me and said, “As much as I want to shove Caspar in a giant burlap sack and throw him over my shoulder, I have a better idea. You said that we needed to lure him into an enchanted space where his guards couldn’t go, well I’ve the perfect place – the Royal Crypt. It’s in a giant cemetery to the south west of the palace. All immediate members of the royal family are buried there and it’s completely off limits to all non royals, including guards. If we could get him there, then you might be able to nab him.”
“That’s great, but we would need to work out a way to get him to go inside the crypt,” I replied.
The barn door suddenly swung open and Casper walked in. I could tell by his expression that he had been eavesdropping on our conversation. He scowled at both me and Duke, and said, “Despite my better judgment, I am willing to give your hare brained scheme a shot. It’s risky, stupid and dangerous, but I fear that it might be our best hope.”
“Really?” I said, stunned at his sudden turn around.
He nodded and said, “Come with me and you’ll see why.”
He walked out of the barn and both Duke and I followed. Stepping out through the doors and into the field I noticed a strange orange glow off in the distance. Straining my eyes I asked, “What is that? It can’t be dawn.”
“It’s not dawn,” Casper replied. “Part of the palace is on fire.”
“What!” I gasped.
“It would appear my big brother is already going ‘Tuta’ on us,” he explained grimly.