*Must. Not. Stop.*
Francine felt as if her breath was going to burst from her chest in short gasps as she raced down the long and winding stairway. When she had finally earned a slight trust from the servant who had been tending to her needs for the past two weeks, she wasted no second and attacked the poor human and sprinted out of the door. She didn’t care if the whole place was protected; she would dig her way out of the castle if she had to. She was going to do everything in her power to escape the place.
Draven had slowly become violent towards her. As his visits to her cell became frequent, he had soon resorted to hitting her every time she would insult him with how much he was nothing compared to Alex. This would result in her slumped over in the corner of her cell, wishing for the day for Alex to finally come and rescue her. As his mate, she knew Alex would never abandon her. She was already etched within him.
Nearing the end of the stairway, she turned right, dashing close to a corner to keep herself hidden beneath the shadows. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and every fiber of her being was throbbing in a painful gripe. Weeks spent locked up in a room had turned her into a weak mess.
She groaned. She hadn’t really drunk any blood in weeks now, and she felt lightheaded as she continued to sprint towards a long and narrow corridor. She sucked in a breath when she had to stop short at an intersecting path.
“Dammit!” She glanced down each one as far as she could. But there was really no telling about what was ahead when there was nothing at the end but total darkness. It could be an endless path. Or the end of her. Or Draven could already be standing there, just waiting to strike. There was really no way of knowing which was the way out.
Without much hint on which path to take, Francine went straight into the way that was to her right. Suddenly, a shot of pain in her right ankle that felt like an arrow had shot right through it, causing her to yelp and a slight limp in her stride. She quickly looked now and saw there was nothing. There wasn’t even any blood.
What could it be? Her mind raced, but she continued down the narrow corridor that didn’t seem to have an end. Could it be a doorless exit?
Normally, there had to be guards down here or servants at the very least. She had seen them when she still had her freedom to roam around the castle. She had seen them whisper into each other. But right now, she still had yet to see anyone.
Something had changed. The still air was now always cold, and it had become much quieter now. In fact, in the past few days leading to her escape from her room, the only person she had seen was the servant, who was now lifeless in her cell.
She shuddered at the sound of the servant’s neck, cracking when she twisted it until it broke.
Francine was no criminal. She had been around for quite a long time, yet she had never intentionally harmed any humans in here lifetime. No matter the bland taste, she had never gone back to feeding on human blood ever since an alternative was introduced to them to observe The Treaty set by the Elders to maintain the balance and continue to coexist.
But what she did to the human servant that night was a necessity for her escape. And when it came to her life and any human’s, she would not hesitate to choose hers.
“I’m so sorry,” she muttered as she ran as fast as her agonizing ankle would allow her.
When she finally reached the end of the long and dim-lit corridor, there was another intersection. Without really giving it much thought, she made another quick right turn, only to connect with a solid slab of wood—a door.
She shivered and quickly took a step back. She croaked a sob and covered her mouth to stop herself from making any noise of distraught.
Could Draven be on the side of that door?
Desperation bubbled up from the pit of Francine’s stomach. She knew in her gut that there was no hope for survival as soon as the door opened and her betrothed would see her. There was no doubt he would never let her leave his sight ever again.
Slowly, a sense of hopelessness crept through her. Tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes as she continued to stare at the closed door. Suddenly, a noise arose from a distance in the shadowy corridor where she came from made her whole body tensed. She panicked.
She looked around. There was nowhere to go. She was trapped between the door and the walls and the path where the voices were coming from.
“Dammit.”
Francine crept cautiously towards one of the round pillars in the corridor. And as she went to stand still behind the post, she put down the glowing flame on the only candle that had lit her surroundings. Darkness soon was all she saw.
Her head peaked, and then she smelled *them.*
*Humans.*
"Didn’t you just light a candle here?" A raspy voice asked.
“This fucking place gives me the creeps, man,” said another voice that was obviously belonged to another male
"As long as it pays good, I don’t care about the fucking witch woman upstairs." the first man said. He sighed, seemingly bored.
Witch? Had Draven told these humans that they were guarding a witch? Francine was clearly insulted but stayed utterly silent.
"Randy said the woman’s no witch. She was even very nice to him. Very polite every time he came to her room. That lucky son of a bitch." The second man snickered darkly. "Why isn’t he back yet, though? Do you thinking he’s thrusting his dick into that woman right now?”
The bored man scoffed, clearly disdained with the question. “Will you shut it? You don’t want Draven hearing you talk so fucking filthy about his woman. Need I remind you that she is his fiancée? He told us that. Fuck, man, show some respect.”
“And do you think calling her a witch isn’t no disrespect to Draven’s woman?”
*Being called Draven’s woman is already a form of disrespect*, Francine thought.
“Shut up, will you?”
“You shut up.”
Just as the two men had begun to move to turn back down the corridor, a heavy growl from the shadow instantly caught their attention.
Francine had heard it too. And her heart sank, silently cursing her bad luck that night. Maybe she should have picked a different time to escape, for she thought that one of the members of the council might have been sent to check and see to it that she was locked up. Now, maybe they had already seen Randy, the human she killed, lifeless in her room and they’re now looking for her.
“What the fuck is that?"
“Do we have a dog?” “
“Let’s go check it out, dumbass.”
Francine heard the two men’s heavy footsteps leaving. Then, out of nowhere, she heard a couple of cut short yelps that was soon followed by the sound of bones breaking. Then loud thuds.
She immediately saw this as her only window to keep moving. Limping around as her ankle had gotten worse, she moved towards the only way out she could make out of the darkness.
Her body was weak, but she continued to sprint through the dark corridor. Then, she skidded to a stop before ramming against the cold wall. Breathing hard in panic, her fangs grew out to their actual lengths and her fingernails grew longer and sharper. She turned around and let out a warning hiss as she waited for whatever would come thundering down the hallway.
This was it. She was ready to fight. She had decided that she would rather die than go back to her cell. But she, of course, would put up a fight.
She let out a guttural, hissing sound from her throat as if to warn whatever it was in the shadows―until a large, warm hand wrapped around her mouth from behind. Then a tall massive body tugged her back into the other corridor.
Francine struggled against the hard, lean figure holding her. She let out a groan as her back roughly slammed against a stone wall. Exhausted, her body failed to throw off her attacker as he pressed her harder into the wall. It wasn’t large, but tall too.
With his hand still covering her mouth, the man leaned in, his lips hovering above her ear. Her neck immediately warmed under his breath. “Stay still, or you will have us both killed.”
When Francine obeyed, the hand over her mouth loosened, and she gasped. “Lucas?”
Lucas removed his hand quickly and took a step back. Francine soon made out the familiar face with the light from a nearby candle sone. Her chest heaved, already fatigued from her struggle. She stared up at him.
“You look terrible,” Lucas said, his eyes filled with pity at the vampiress’s gauntly aristocratic features, protruding cheekbones, and ghostly pale skin. “What has *he* done to you?”
Francine moved to push him away and slid down the wall and into a heap on the ground. “What are you doing here? Where is *he*?”
“Get up. We don’t have the luxury to rest right now. Draven could be on his back to the castle with them,” Lucas urged.
“Them? Where is Alex?” Francine asked again.
“We will be on our way to meet up with him and Harper as soon as we get out of here.”
“He’s with her?” Francine took a deep breath and pulled herself up from the floor. “Why is he with her? Why are you here and not him?” Thoughts raced through her head at a dizzying pace. Alex was his mate, but why was Lucas rescuing her and not him?
She stared at Lucas, waiting for him to explain himself.
"Look, coming in here isn’t something I have decided on the spot. I am only doing this because Alex is my best friend, and you mean a fucking lot to him," Lucas responded rather rudely, unwilling to divulge any more detail. "He can’t be here. That’s why I am here instead. And we won’t be both seeing him if we don’t get the hell away from here. Let’s go.”
"Don’t talk to me like that." Francine’s voice rose above his, eyes illuminated with anger.
Lucas ignored her smugness. "Let’s go find Draven’s room. The only way out here for you is through his window. That was the only part of the castle that he had not allowed to have an invisible barricade.”
He was already moving through the shadows ahead, and Francine quickened her steps to catch up with him when all of a sudden, a blinding light washed every corner and shadowy part of the entire castle. Then, a powerful wave of invisible force soon swept and threw Lucas and Francine against the stone walls, taking them by surprise.
When their eyes had adjusted in the sudden surge of light illuminating from everywhere, they immediately gazed up at the man that was walking towards them.
“Draven!” Francine hissed.
Draven gave the two massive wolves next to him a nod. “Take them.”