Chapter Eighty

***Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for your support thus far on my writing journey! I did want to let you know, in case you didn't already know, this book crosses over with my other book: The Matriarch. I highly suggest you read The Matriarch, as their storylines will be crossing very soon, and although I will try to explain everything, you may still be missing a chunk of the storyline if you don't read the other book.

I did get some comments that some people were having issues with finding my new book: The Vampire's Kitten, but you should be able to view it now.

As is the same for The Devil's Bride, The Matriarch and The Vampire's Kitten are updated daily!

I did get a few messages from readers who asked me to share my support link, so I will post it here for anyone interested in supporting me. https://ko-fi.com/keykirita. (All you have to do, is go to kofi.com and enter my username: KeyKirita. Your support would mean the absolute world to me.)

Thank you! - KeyKirita.***

"Morris, pack up, you're going home." A guard said from the other side of the bars, waking me out of my uneasy sleep.

I felt like my heart was going to explode at what he'd just said. I didn't waste a second as I jumped up and gathered my things, more than ready to go home.

*'How did Damien get me out of this?'* Probably shouldn't have been the only thing going through my head as the guards led me to the gate, but I couldn't help it. They didn't tell me what they had realized that would get me out of this, but whatever it was, it would have had to be something undeniable, as the judge had refused to grant bail, due to me being on the run for months.

There were no words to explain the happiness I felt when I saw Damien, waiting on the other side of the station for me to be released. I swear he never looked more gorgeous, even though he was in his regular attire, that being: a three-piece suit, unnaturally straight and free of wrinkles, with a dark red tie and his jet black oxfords.

Damien smiled softly at me as he walked to the desk where the policeman was pointing out where I needed to sign and read over the papers before nodding his approval, telling me it was alright for me to sign. I knew I couldn't jump into his arms while we were still in the station, as he was here as my lawyer and not my boyfriend. But that is all I wanted to do when I saw his beautiful face.

*'I know you're happy to see daddy, but you have to calm down, babies. You're going to make mommy go crazy.'* I thought, realizing that I was overly happy due to the babies being so cheerful and affecting me. It was weird to feel them so excited after they'd talked me into turning myself in, to get away from him. *'Sometimes I forget you're just babies, and you don't understand a lot of things.'* I thought, reminding myself that they were indeed unborn babies who hadn't even been in the world yet. Things that make sense to them won't always make sense to everyone else.

"Are you ready to go?" Damien asked, looking down at me with a knowing smile as he led me out and down the steps.

"All three of us cannot wait to go," I whispered in response. Low enough so the policemen couldn't hear me, but knowing that Damien could.

"It's impossible they did not realize you are pregnant, my love. There is no point in trying to hide it from them." Damien said as he opened the passenger side door for me, waiting for me to sit before closing the door softly.

"I know that, but still. What did you do to get me out?" I asked as I clicked my seatbelt on, waiting for him to cross around to the other side of the car.

"It was your idea. Whether you knew it or not." He said as he started the car and began driving back home. "I own the hospital I took you to when you were recovering from being poisoned. I changed the times you were in the hospital, and I showed it to the judge. Irrefutable proof that you couldn't have had anything to do with those murders. Now the blame falls back on your parents for lying and saying it was you. They'll have a hell of a time trying to get out of that."

"Oh, that was smart," I commented, smiling at him as I watched him drive. Even while doing the most common tasks, this man exhibited the utmost grace and beauty. Even after months, I found it awe-inspiring to watch him. "The judge didn't ask why it took so long for you to bring that forward?"

"She did. I told her the hospital didn't want to give out such things without an affidavit, and it took me a while to gather everything needed to retain those hospital records."

"You are amazing, Damien. I don't think I tell you that often enough." I said as I leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

"You've no need, my love. I was sworn not to tell you, but Samantha is waiting at home for you with a cake. I imagine you aren't much up for surprises right now?"

"You imagine correctly," I said with a sigh, leaning back in my seat as I watched out my window at the sites whizzing by. "I'm guessing that was Val's doing?"

"About Valerie... I'm not sure what's happened, but she's become very virulent, hostile, and contemptuous. Moreso than she was before. In the spirit of full honesty, I nearly killed her yesterday as she continued to speak out of turn to me. The only reason I didn't was Sam refused to let me, in fear of what it would do to you." Damien said with a sigh as he gripped the steering wheel roughly, surprising me that it didn't snap in half from the force.

"What happened?" I hesitantly asked. I already knew it happened after they found out I turned myself in. That's the only thing that would have put them all on edge enough for Damien to try to kill her.

"In summary? She told me I was audacious to claim I loved you, said she'd rather be in prison than be with me, and told me that it was my fault you turned yourself in."

"I'm sorry, Damien. You know I love you, right? And I'm sorry for leaving as I did. But after what happened, I was convinced that the best thing to do was to turn myself in. I couldn't imagine that our luck would get much better. I shouldn't have been so impulsive to do it, but I don't know." I could tell I was beginning to ramble, but I didn't know what else to do. How do you apologize for something like that?

"Please, Bast. Stop." Damien said as we arrived back home and pulled into the garage. He turned in his seat to face me, his blue eyes bright and cheery as he smiled. "It's alright. We are together, and that is all that matters." He said before bringing his hand down to my abdomen, where the babies were kicking and moving. "All of us."

I smiled and nodded, trying to hold back my tears as he walked around the car and held his hand out to me before leading me back to the house. Just as he began to open the door, he whipped around with a snarl, pulling me behind his back.

"Get inside the house, take Samantha, and go upstairs." He growled to me, reaching around to turn the handle, refusing to let me see what was happening as he used his body to block my sight.

"Stop it, Damien. I'm not going anywhere!" I exclaimed, opening the other side of the french door so he couldn't block me anymore. I immediately wished I'd listened to what he'd told me to do as I saw what had him so on edge. There were tens, no, dozens of vampires walking up the driveway. Rather than using their vampire speed, they continued forward slowly until they saw Damien, and stopped about halfway up the driveway, a few hundred feet away.

"Go. Inside." Damien spat from between gritted teeth, refusing to look away from the group, waiting for what they would do.

"Little Bastet, think about your children," Sinclair said from behind me as I felt his arm snaking around my waist, ready to pull me back by force if he needed to. I knew the only reason they hadn't pushed me inside is that they were afraid of what the babies would do if they did.

I reluctantly nodded and took a few steps back, allowing Sam and Bartholomew to step forward and go outside, waiting for the vampires to make their move. Stepping back was the most I would do, however, so I watched in anticipation from behind the four men, watching the group, waiting for them to do something or anything. But for what seemed like an eternity, the group remained where they were.

"We are not here to fight, vampire king. We are here to thank your bride, and offer our use, for any purpose she sees fit." The woman at the front of the group finally said, making me release a breath I wasn't aware I was holding.

"What have you to thank my bride for?" Damien asked her, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

At the same time, the group removed their glasses, showing they were all recreants. I could see the surprise on the faces of Damien, Sam, and Bartholomew, but Sinclair remained stone-faced and emotionless when he saw this.

I wasn't sure what to think or feel when I saw the hundreds of golden eyes before me, which seemed like the same reaction Sinclair had. For years he thought he was the only recreant, believing that every other like himself had been hunted and killed like animals. Then, to find out that there were hundreds like him, and now they stood right in front of him, and he didn't know what to feel about it.

"From what we've heard, your bride is the reason we don't need to hide in the shadows any longer. She is the reason that the recreant law was changed, giving us our freedom back. We came to pledge our undying allegiance to you, Bride of the Vampire King." The woman said, falling to her knees, bowing her head. When she did this, every recreant behind her followed suit, showing that their numbers were much larger than I initially saw. The group started a few hundred feet away and continued further than my eye could see, down the mile-long driveway. There was, at the very least, over a hundred recreants here.

"Please, stop bowing," I said as I stepped back out on the porch, looking up at Damien, unsure of what else to say. He gave me a small shrug, his eyes clouded over in a variety of emotions, the confusion being the strongest amongst them.

"We heard about the attack on your wedding, and we wish to protect you, should you still wish to wed the vampire king." The woman said as the group slowly walked closer, before stopping a few feet away, eyeing Damien suspiciously.

"Well, this is awkward," I said as I took a few steps forward, closing the difference between us. Damien didn't like this, but walked with me, his body tensing the closer we got to the group. "I'm Bast, this is Damien, Sam, Bartholomew, and Sinclair," I said, motioning to the men as I introduced them.

"Yes, we've heard of you, Sinclair. We were hoping you'd be here so we could meet you." The woman smiled as she turned towards the group. "This is the recreant that caused the law to be changed." She exclaimed excitedly, before stepping forward to shake my hand.

The moment she stepped forward, Damien crouched down, baring his teeth as he snarled in a warning. "Try anything..."

"If we wanted you dead, you would be." The woman said, rolling her bright gold eyes as she glared at Damien. "I'm Hanna, Bastet. It's nice to meet you." She said, holding her hand out to me.

I smiled softly, trying to contain the power that was trying to take over me, knowing that it might come across the wrong way and cause a fight we had no chance to win. "It's my pleasure, Hanna," I responded warmly before looking past her and at the rest of the recreants. One by one, they stepped forward and introduced themselves to me, bowing in thanks before moving to the side for the next. Once I'd shaken the hand of the last recreant, I sighed heavily and turned my attention back to Damien, who was standing there watching me with an approving smile.

He turned to Sam, who stood to his right and laughed softly. "I told you she'd be an amazing queen."

"You did." Sam agreed, watching me.

"So, you have hundreds of recreants at your house. What the hell are you going to do?" Bartholomew asked, looking out at the group who stood there waiting.

"Damien!" I exclaimed, looking at Hanna, then back at Damien excitedly.

"What is it?" He asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"Why not split them over the continents, so that they can find and help the new recreants as they turn?" I asked, then looked back at Hanna as she began smiling when she heard my idea. "Sinclair can't do it by himself, right?" I asked, then turned to face Sinclair, who still hadn't moved or spoken since the group revealed themselves as recreants. "Sinclair?" I asked again softly, taking his hand in mine, squeezing softly.

"Yes, great idea, little Bastet." He responded absentmindedly, trying to force a smile.

"What is it?" I asked, cocking my head to the side as I watched him.

"I can't believe this is all." He said with a shrug as he blinked a few times, then looked out at the crowd. "Where have you all been? How did no one know of the existence of you?"

"We lived underground until we caught wind of the news." Alan, one of the recreants, responded.

"Where? How did you survive?"

"We sent runners to the surface every few days to gather sustenance for us. My group was only ten strong, but we knew of the other groups spread throughout the world. When we heard of the news, we gathered to come here together." Hanna answered, seemingly not bothered by Sinclair's questions in the slightest.

"This is amazing." Sinclair breathed out, his eyes wide in shock and disbelief.

"I will contact everyone, tell them that we will be sending people to them, to help with any vampires that turn," Bartholomew said, then paused before looking at Damien. "Don't forget about your guest, my king."

"Oh, Samantha!" I gasped out as I turned around to find that Samantha was standing just in front of the water fountain, watching what was happening from a safe enough distance.

"I'm okay, Bast. I know what's happening is important, don't worry about me." She said softly, smiling at me in encouragement.

"We've another guest, my love. Downstairs." Damien said softly, raising an eyebrow. "She's the one responsible for what happened at our wedding. Bartholomew brought her back last night. I was waiting for you to return home before I did anything."

I felt that same power boiling inside of me again as I listened to what he said, then turned in the direction of the basement, feeling my eyes turning red as I thought about what had happened. *'So it was a woman? Does that mean it was an old lover of Damien's, trying to kill me for having his heart? If that's the case, I'll have your heart for the lives you took.'*

***Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for your support thus far on my writing journey! I did want to let you know, in case you didn't already know, this book crosses over with my other book: The Matriarch. I highly suggest you read The Matriarch, as their storylines will be crossing very soon, and although I will try to explain everything, you may still be missing a chunk of the storyline if you don't read the other book.

I did get some comments that some people were having issues with finding my new book: The Vampire's Kitten, but you should be able to view it now.

As is the same for The Devil's Bride, The Matriarch and The Vampire's Kitten are updated daily!

I did get a few messages from readers who asked me to share my support link, so I will post it here for anyone interested in supporting me. https://ko-fi.com/keykirita. (All you have to do, is go to kofi.com and enter my username: KeyKirita. Your support would mean the absolute world to me.)

Thank you! - KeyKirita.***