The Dark King's Bride (20 page)

             
“So the plan is to sit here…and wait?”

             
“Yes.”

             
“Sitting here like a duck with hungry wolves all around is not a good idea, Lily. There has to be another way out of here.”

             
“It may not be a good idea, mother…but it is all that we have right now in order to keep us safe. We go out there, and will either have a sword in our bodies, or a vampire biting us due to the blood lust that I am sure is going through them all at the moment.”

             
Moving her eyes away from her mother, she noticed her father to be approaching her direction with a dark, sinister look in his eyes.

             
Oh no…I forgot my father. Everyone…but my father is fighting…He is heading right for me, and I know what he is wanting of me.

             
The sight nearly caused her heart to stop right then and there out of an unadulterated terror. However, there was one thing that kept her from doing that: the knowledge of her being able to mind link with Daniel, and call out to him for help. Lily closed her eyes, and attempted to connect her thoughts with his mind in a desperate move to save not only her mother from what her father was capable of doing, but also herself.

Chapter Twenty-Three

              Cutting down a group of three, middle-aged mortals that had surrounded his body in bat formation, Daniel shot out towards the ceiling of the room, and moved towards the direction of a beam. His frame returned to its more normal, human appearance once it stabilized its position.

             
Ah…What a rush.

             
He could never stop enjoying the rush of transforming into whatever he wished to change into, and then changing back to his every day appearance. There was something about the process from beginning to end of it that made his blood and adrenaline race from the top of his head down to the soles of his feet.

             
With a faint smirk on his face, Daniel eased open his eyes, and turned his attention towards the direction of a section of the ballroom.

             
Let’s see how my kind are faring in our fight against Radcliff and his gang of thugs who dared to interfere in my affairs.

             
With his eyes no longer crimson but emerald green, he moved his body to squat his rear end down within just a few inches of the wooden support beam that was beneath his tall, strong physique.

             
Looking in the direction where the entrance to the room was nestled, a pair of fiercely strong vampire men had overpowered a group of five young, mortal men by tying their ankles and wrists to one another with the use of the ribbons off of the back side of the ballroom’s main doors and the side doors nearby. The pair shook each other’s hands before smirking down at their fallen attackers.

             
That is what I like to see.
His devious smirk returned to his face, and started to stretch a little wider than it was earlier.
I like seeing my kind being able to stick up for themselves, and showing the human population what they are truly capable of doing in the right situation.

             
A loud grunt caught his attention, and brought it over to where a female vampire who just happened to be a century younger than him and a ruler in her own right, stood in front of a member of Radcliff’s group that had fallen to the floor, holding the groin of his pants. She possessed a coy smirk down at the young man before she shot a similar look in the direction of where Daniel was squatted on one of the many high beams that overlooked the room.

             
Well done, my dear Aleena.
Daniel softly chuckled at the discovery of what the female vampire had done to the human male. His eyes lingered on the sight, enjoying what he was seeing.
Good to know that when a human starts doing things she doesn’t approve of, that she will be there to kick their sorry-

             
Daniel, help me!
             
The sound of Lily’s voice screaming inside his head broke the moment of sinister enjoyment, and caused one dripping with unbridled dread and fear to take hold in him.

             
Lily, what’s wrong?
Daniel spoke directly into her thoughts from where he remained on the support beam while his eyes sought out her location, desperately.
Where are you?

             
My father has found my mother and I, and is moving towards us with his sword drawn.
Lily’s voice trembled with the same kind of fear and dread that he had found ravaging through his own body.
I am behind where the altar is in front of the arched entrance, Daniel.

             
You are not in my chambers?

             
We couldn’t escape due to everyone fighting, and blocking all of our exits, Daniel, or otherwise we wouldn’t be in this situation at the moment.

             
I apologize for pressing this with you, my love. I do not wish to upset you.

             
You have not upset me, Daniel, but right now I really need you.

             
Averting his eyes to the location she had told him of, Daniel found Radcliff closing in on his terrified bride and soon to be mother-in-law, and corner them in a way that would leave very little room for them to escape. The visual caused his eyes to narrow and his body to rise to a standing position, mimicking the slow movements of a wolf about to pounce while his thoughts had a fierce sound to the tone he chose to speak to her with.

             
I am coming, Lily.

             
Please hurry, Daniel! I am afraid that he is going to kill me, and then doing something tragic to my mother for us being here tonight.

             
He won’t get the chance to do anything…because I am going to rip the arm of his that is wielding that blade right out of his fucking socket!

             
With his rage for Lily’s father returning and showing no mercy on his body, his emerald green eyes transformed back to their crimson shade while the fangs on the upper part of his teeth sprung out into full view once more. Daniel took in a breath of air, and dove off the beam, taking the form of a massive, black cloud of mist, and flying straight towards the direction of the altar.

*                            *                            *

             
Please hurry, Daniel…I don’t know what is fixing to happen.

             
Lily did her best to keep her mother behind where she stood so that the tip of her father’s blade was nowhere near her if he decided to take a swing at her. Her curvy frame shook like a leaf beneath the deep purple and black fabric of her wedding dress as she remained frozen in place out of anxiety and terror.

             
“So…it comes down…to this.”

             
She found no trace of the fatherly tone that gave her comfort, ease, and love many times when she was a child. Now…all that was nestled within his voice was that of unbridled hatred, and a murderous need that wasn’t there before.

             
“It is a shame that it had to come to this, Lily.” Radcliff said. He spoke to her in a coy tone that showed all of the darkness his body had deep inside of it. “I was hoping to see you outlive me, and have children in the world by a god fearing man.”

             
“It doesn’t have to come to this, father.” Lily spoke to him in a  calm fashion, attempting to soothe away any and all rage and murderous thoughts concerning her out of his mind. “You can put the sword down right now, call off the rest of your men that are still standing, go back home with mother, and leave the nobility, King Willows…and myself alone.”

             
Her body made a quick backward step, dodging a slashing motion by her father’s sword, and pinned both her mother and herself against a dark stone wall behind where the altar had been set up for the wedding. She made a quick assessment to make sure that both Marigold and herself had not been injured before her attention moved back to her father’s face. Lily shrank back in absolute terror at the sight of Radcliff’s face having a very dark, twisted expression on it.

             
“Do you think it is really that easy?” Her father asked, sinisterly. His hand that was wielding the sword twirled it around by the handle, slightly, while a dark chuckle escaped into his voice. “Do you really think that I can simply walk away and never look back…knowing that my daughter has been defiled by King Daniel Willows, and has been transformed…into his very own…concubine.”

             
“You know what…I am done with my father, and playing nice with him.”
While her eyes narrowed in on the face of her disrespecting father, Lily’s thoughts started to become more firm and dark.
He has insulted me for the very last time, and I plan to make him regret for what he has said about me.

             
You won’t have to since I am fixing to make him wish he never showed his face in my castle home.

             
Daniel’s voice suddenly speaking to her from the confines of her mind caused her body to tighten on the spot, temporarily, out of shock. She did her best to remain calm from where she stood while maintaining the conversation with him.

             
Daniel,
Lily whispered, softly, to him from within her mind,
where are you? I could really use your protection and strength right now with how my father is behaving at the moment.

             
Lift your eyes towards the ceiling, and you will see me.

             
Without tilting her head upward, she lifted her eyes towards the ceiling, and found a huge black mist to be hovering in one designated spot above where she was trapped with a pair of fiercely, intense crimson eyes looking down at her. The sight alone almost caused her to let his location be known but she managed to stop it before looking at her father in time to see him lifting the sword above his head while his voice escaped from his mouth in the same emotionless tone he had been using with her.

             
“Lily,” Radcliff said, deathly, “I will see you in hell.”

             
Upon realizing the seriousness of the situation she had found her mother and her in at the moment, Lily inhaled a breath of air, and released it, quickly, out of her mouth in the form of a scream while her eyes looked up to the black mist that hovered high above their heads.

             
“Now, Daniel!”

Chapter Twenty-Four

              No sooner had she uttered those two little words that Daniel flew down in his black smoke form, and swirled around Lily, Marigold and Radcliff, immersing all three of them into a cloud of thick darkness.

             
“What is the meaning of this?!” Radcliff asked, demanding to know what was going on at the moment. “Where did you run off to, Lily?!”

             
“She is perfectly safe…” Daniel’s deep voice escaped from the heavy fog that hindered all of their vision, greatly, with a darkness all its own. “However…I am afraid that the same cannot be said for the likes of you this night, Radcliff.”

             
“Who is there?!”

             
“You know very well who this is, and what I am full capable of doing to someone who would strike down their own child.”

             
“Daniel, is that you?!”

             
“What if I said this is me? Would you choose to believe me, or use your own twisted thoughts on the situation to try to make me seem worse than what I am?”

             
“Show yourself, you bastard! I am not in the mood for your games!”

             
“With pleasure…Radcliff.”

             
His last words escape from the confines of his mouth in the very animalistic growl he had used earlier with him prior to leaping into the air as a large swarm of bats. The large, black cloud that surrounded all three of them started to move in front of Radcliff’s body. At the same time, the large formation had him cut off from his real targets: Lily and Marigold.