Chapter 36

Danny Miller was running for his life; after that monster tried to carry him away, he wiggled out and ran for his life; he never thought he would be running from an actual monster; there was no such thing as monsters, right? He would ask his mom if that was true because what was chasing him was not imaginary.

He could still hear it chanting hungry over and over, but it was in the distance. He ran down several alleys over a fence and then into a wooded area. He was hiding in an enormous tree. He climbed it as high as he could safely go without breaking any branches.

Listening while trying not to breathe loudly, his heart was pounding in his chest. He even felt like he would pass out, but he willed himself to stay awake and aware. He needed to get out of this tree fast if that thing found him.

The monster was still roaming the streets looking for him, and he could tell that it was getting farther away; then he heard an ear pricing scream as the monster realized that it had lost its meal.

He should have been happy, but he was too scared to do anything but cling to the tree. But for some reason, he felt he had to hold tight up here in this tree till morning. After all, that is when the monsters all go back to where they came from till night time again when they come out to take kids away.

Danny was worried about his mom, too; he hoped that the monster was only interested in him, and she managed to get away. It was just him and his mom right now, dad had left, and no one knew where he went.

Perhaps that monster ate his Dad that could explain why no one knows where he is. He let out a big yawn and decided to find a more secure place to get in the tree branches if he fell asleep; looking down, he was confident he didn’t want to drop that far.

Finally, he found the perfect place after climbing what felt like forever. Three tree limbs branched out close to each other. He climbed onto the middle branch and settled in. If he were to tip in his sleep, the branches on either side would catch him.

Wrapping his coat around him, he was happy that it was a mild night, with no wet rain or snow and no high winds.

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Micheal and Noah’s priority was to find the missing boy and hope that they found him in time and not, god forbid, half-eaten. Micheal had also dispatched half of his guards to hunt down the demon as well.

Daisy stayed in the west wing, and it was in lockdown from the rest of the castle; that way, no one could have access to her or the servants while they were all gone out.

They were all watching movies together; Daisy wasn’t having the whole wait on her hand and foot thing. She was quickly becoming friends with all the servants to the point that she was calling them all by their first names and talking about their families and personal life. Micheal had also turned one of the larger unused rooms to make Daisy a state-of-the-art studio where she could paint and design to her heart’s content.

The servants at first were very uncomfortable, especially when Daisy got down on her hands and knees to help clean up spilled juice. Then she went down to the kitchen to help cook and clean up after dinner.

It didn’t take long, and Daisy soon had her little clan going on; they were loyal, and they all loved her; they did things for her that ordinary servants wouldn’t bother with. In turn, she did something that average higher; ranking snobs would never consider doing. They would even look at it as a shameful secret.

Noah had a feeling that there might be trouble amongst the vampire ranks, and he was determined to keep an eye out for all that nonsense, but seeing her with all the servants made him feel a little better; they are loyal to her, and betrayal will not be gained quickly by an outside source.

The other thing he found was that they were teaching her anything and everything about the royalty ranks and who and what they are. How they act, or if she could expect friendship or keep away. That made him very happy; he was well aware of what the Vampire Royalty could do and how far some of them would go to ensure their place.

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Danny Miller sat high up in the tree when he heard sniffing sounds coming from underneath him; he moved just a little to look down and see what was doing the sniffing.

He froze in place. It was the monster somehow; it had found him, or maybe it sniffed out his scent on the ground; either way, it wasn’t good if it figured out he was up in the tree.

He watched it as it was still sniffing. It was like it couldn’t figure out where his scent went to, then it stood up and did something odd; it held out its hands in front of it like the gesture when you want someone to stop; it was holding them out as its body turned around when it was at the right angle, Danny froze in horror.

In the palms of its hands were eyeballs; that was how it could see without eyes.

Danny held his breath and stayed deadly still, all the while chanting in his mind over and over, Don’t look up. Please, don’t lookup.

It circled the tree, trying to figure out where the scent was going. Danny was glad that he got up this tree by using another one, but that tree wasn’t that far away, and if it were smart enough, it wouldn’t be long before it found where he was hiding.

It was at the other tree now, and it was sniffing up, and up that was when it put out its hands and started to look up. Danny was so scared he tried so hard, but he peed his pants. The instant that he did, it stopped and looked up his tree.

The monster let out a terrible happy sound and then circled his tree, all the while making that wet joyful sound like the smacking of lips.

“Come down, little one. I will not hurt you.”

Danny stared at it in disbelief. Are you kidding me? What the hell? Did it think he was going to climb out of his spot and join it on the ground so it could eat him?

“Sorry, but I am not moving. Go Away!!”

It let out an angry, shrilling noise at Danny’s defiance; it tried to climb the tree, but with eyeballs in your hands, it was more challenging than it realized, and it was sliding back down the tree.

Danny let out a sigh of relief when he realized that it couldn’t come up and get him. That was when the tree started to shake; it wasn’t possible the tree was too big to be doing that. When he looked down, it was ramming the tree over and over, hoping to knock him out.

Thank God he found this spot; otherwise, he might have fallen out at that monster’s feet.

He prayed that the tree’s roots ran deep and would hold against this assault. His body shook as it hit the tree again, this time harder, it was making screeching noise in frustration, but Danny so far was held in his spot.

WHAM!!! The tree made a cracking noise this time. He was running out of time.

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The Wraith was lurking about inside the guest quarters of the castle; he was in his mist form for now till he could find an abandoned room or somewhere to hide. He tried right away to get into the west wing, but there were far too many safeguards for him to slip in his usual way.

One particular safeguard gave him quite a jolt; that was enough for him not to bother trying to get in that way. He would have to find a more convenient way of gaining entry.

His only other option was to wait till the ball started. That was risky. There would be far too many safeguards and actual guards. He would not only have to be quick, but he would have to make sure she stayed silent; abducted women tend to scream when you take them away.

It didn’t help that the ball was canceled until the monster problem was solved. He laughed at that; Raymond had been a busy guy. Stupid fuck would meet a bad end if he had any say in it.

All of Raymond’s nasty Elixir has ruined his plans for creating his masterpieces, and that is not something that was not going to go unpunished.

Alissa Martin, a vampire countess, was pissed when she discovered that Micheal Devore had claimed a long-lost daughter. How dare he do this now? Alissa was supposed to marry Micheal if he didn’t take a wife or claim an heir by the third millennium.

She was supposed to be Queen, not some mutt. This will not be tolerated. She was glad that the ball was canceled; she should find out why perhaps that little bitch decided she didn’t want the throne.

Anyway, she had time now to come up with a plan. She had to destroy the little bitch’s credibility and then get rid of her and her mate.

She had other vampires on her side that were willing to do anything to either get rid of King Micheal or put one of their own on the Queen’s throne. There was no way they were going to be happy hearing this news.

The first thing she had to do was make friends with the mutt interloper, gain her trust and get her to rely on her opinions. That way, it will become easier to betray her in the end. It was an approach she had used before, and it always worked.

First, she would have to follow protocol when making the first introduction. She would have to go out and find the perfect gift for the bitch, and then if there was a thank you note was sent back, Alissa could approach her and gain friendship.

She smiled as she went out the side door to her waiting car. She pulled out into the main road and laughed. Perhaps seducing that tasty-looking shifter, she has for a mate would also be a good start. He was rather delicious-looking.

“Yes, she would find her the perfect gift.”