**3rd Person POV**
Charlotte was not sure how to play this. It was possible then that Aunt Emily knew about this too. But what deal could they have possibly made with the destroyer of wolves as Ashton was often referred to?
“What do you want?” Charlotte figured that the vampiress before her wanted something in return for these secrets. The vampiress smiled.
“Protection, I want protection. When you return home, you must take me with you,” replied the woman in a firm voice.
“What am I protecting you from?” quizzed Charlotte.
“Prince Ashton,” came the response.
Charlotte threw her head back in laughter. Why would a servant of his… then it struck her that they must have had a falling out. It did not even matter what it was but if Rosaline was ready to spill her guts to them then it would be a good thing. Of course, Charlotte worried about the truth. How could she be certain that Rosaline was not lying to her?
“How do I know that you speak the truth? Huh? You have mentioned now that I look a lot like Lady Tristan. Perhaps you have never even met her because I look a lot like my father and do not take anything from my mother's side of the family,” said Charlotte. This was the first test, if Rosaline could answer her correctly then she could believe there was at least some truth in what she had to say.
“Your green eyes sparkle just the same way and your aura is just the same,” said Rosaline.
“What is your name?”
“Rosaline.”
****
Harlin was walking about aimlessly. He knew he had been here before but he struggled to remember why. He continued to walk through a long winding corridor until he came to the very end of it. At the end of the corridor was a cell. In the cell sat a woman who looked as though she had lost everything. The woman's eyes were blank and listless and her lips sagged on her face. Harlin could tell that her face had been pretty once and that once upon a time, her eyes had sparkled with passion and desire. However, that time seemed very far away now.
He watched her and felt a strange pity for her. She turned to look at him and in her listless eyes, he could see a soul begging desperately for help. He could see a soul crying to be released, to be free.
Harlin felt in his pocket for something. He was not sure what he was looking for but he found it and retrieved it from his pocket. In his hands, he held a key.
He was about to insert the key into the hole in the padlock when the cell burst into flames. The woman in the cell was screaming in anguish as the flames licked her body. He struggled desperately to open the lock of the padlock but he could not seem to be able to insert the key into the padlock. The woman began to scream, “Run! Run! You can only save yourself! Run now!” The flames increased and they licked his fingers that were still trying to open the cell.
The flames caught his clothes and he began to scream too because he was also on fire.
He screamed until he screamed himself awake.
“WATER, WATER, SOMEBODY POUR WATER ON ME,” his scream for help woke Reginald up, who had dozed off by his side. He was startled but in a good way. Just when he had lost hope, Harlin had woken up.
“You're awake!”
“Fire! Fire! I need water!” Harlin continued to scream.
Reginald looked at Harlin perplexed. What was his friend talking about? What fire? But as he watched Harlin, he could see that his fingers had started to turn black as though they had gotten burnt.
Reginald ran out of the room to wake the doctor up.
“He's awake and he's burning,” said Reginald as the doctor stirred.
The man sniffed the air but could not smell any smoke.
“What?”
But Reginald had grabbed the man's hand and was dragging the still very groggy doctor to Harlin's room.
The sleep cleared from the doctor's eyes when he saw that indeed Harlin seemed to be burning. The burns had now spread to his hands and seemed to be progressing very fast. Harlin's face was contorted in extreme pain.
“Hold him down,” said the doctor.
Reginald did as he was instructed.
The doctor took a bowl of ice and placed Harlin's arms in it. Harlin seemed to have gotten some relief from this because he stopped screaming in pain.
“Harlin?” quipped Reginald softly.
“What happened?” it was the first time Harlin looked around him. He could not remember anything. His last memory had been… his mind was blank.
“You don't remember anything?” asked Reginald.
Harlin looked at him but said nothing.
“Do you know who I am?” asked Reginald.
Harlin shit his eyes as pain took over his head. He began to have flashes of memories.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Charlotte with her mouth wide open in shock.
“Harlin!” she cried out in happiness. She ran towards him and hugged him tight, forgetting that he was injured.
“Charlie? What happened to me?” he asked her.
Reginald sighed in relief. At least he could remember Charlotte.
“Nydia? Have you found her?” quipped Harlin suddenly. He remembered everything now. He had seen Nydia standing there with a gun in her hand pointed directly at the vampiress in his front. He had turned around without thinking so that the bullet would hit him and not her. He had known instinctively that that same gun had killed Major Drieden and if it had silver bullets, the vampiress would not have a chance as the silver would disintegrate into her bloodstream and poison her within seconds.
“No, she's still on the run,” came Charlotte's response.
“And the vampiress? The woman I was holding? Is she okay?” asked Harlin with worry.