44

"Fucking shit!" Yasha hissed, quickly drawing her knives while I was still staring up into the red eyes of a vampire who was tilting his face at me curiously.

Juniper let go of me as well and quickly got dressed again while I shifted my gaze ahead of myself and recognized several vampires in the forest behind Juniper, who was still putting on her pants.

"There are too many!", Yasha got upset and was about to grab my arm, but the vampire jumped right in front of me and shielded me from all the others with his body.

"I'm not leaving her here!" I heard Juniper curse, but then everything around me fell silent.

I closed my tired eyes, noticed the light wind around me and after a while of silence I heard several footsteps moving further and further away from me at high speed.

The quieter the noises became, the further away they seemed, the more I found my sanity again and even my she-wolf became a part of me again.

"You!", the vampire tore me out of the feeling of finding my way back and shortly afterwards I felt his ice-cold hand on my neck and how he squeezed it lightly. "What did those witches want from you?!"

"Witches?" I asked, wide-eyed, alternately staring at his sparkling red eyes and snow-white fangs.

"She doesn't know anything," interjected a second vampire, removing the other's hand from my neck and then handing me a crimson wrap. "She's just a victim too."

I took a closer look at him. He looked at his so elegant black clothes and hesitantly and with trembling hands he took the cloak, which I immediately put protectively around my body.

"The Alpha and his companions are approaching," I heard a vampire call from further away and immediately caught my breath.

Keno was looking for me, along with Jamal, and my wolf seemed ready to transform and run, but unfortunately I still felt too weak for it.

"What's your name?!" the elegant-looking vampire wanted to know, running his long fingers over his pale face. It seemed like he was annoyed by something. I wasn't aware of whether it was me or the witches' games.

"Aria," I breathed, immediately noticing how he was looking at the other vampire in front of me in complete confusion.

What was so extraordinary about my name?

"You come with us," he then ordered, and immediately the one in front of me grabbed my hand and pulled me roughly behind him. He was taller than the elegant one, but seemed to have less say. So an errand boy. Keno would probably pinky him, I was sure.

"Where do we go?" I bravely wanted to know and was very happy to have finally found my voice again.

"Get out of the woods. Away from those sex-hungry witches!"

Thank God!

I was also afraid of these vampires, but I'd rather die a quick death than have to look at Yasha's bare breasts again. It was pure torture by far and I pushed those disgusting images out of my head to continue concentrating on running.

It took quite a while before we finally reached the end of the forest, but what then revealed itself to me behind the rows of trees was beyond my imagination.

I had no idea where we were, but there, in front of me in the huge cemetery, was a really dark looking castle that seemed more like something out of a picture book.

"You're joking," I blurted out in disbelief as I surveyed the castle and the high stairs, while individual bats were buzzing around and I couldn't deal with them at all.

"What? Did you think we lived in normal houses in some suburbs?" the elegant vampire wanted to know and grinned wickedly at me.

"Well, I never really thought about that," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders before looking up at the moon.

"By the way, I'm Sandrino," he suddenly explained and pointed to the taller one next to me, who just stared darkly into space in front of us. "This is Hagen."

"Aha," I said disinterestedly and got a shock when Hagen pulled me further behind him to follow Sandrino across the cemetery at quick paces.

My gaze fell over my shoulder to the forest behind us, which was getting further and further away from me and even if unpredictable witches were up to mischief there, I knew that Keno and Jamal were there too. They would find me, I was sure of it... At least I hoped so, and turned my gaze back to the dark steps leading up to the entrance of this castle.

"Why don't you just kill me?" I asked, turning to Sandrino, while carefully taking step by step up.

"Because then we would also die," he replied, and I began to believe that I was still under the sisters' influence, because nothing made any sense anymore.

"What do you mean by that?" I wanted to know and tore myself away from Hagen's ice-cold hand to grab Sandrino's shoulder.

He turned to me with a smile, eyed the red robe that lay loosely around my body and seemed almost thrilled that I was brave enough to question him.

"Your scent is delicious," he said with amusement, and didn't answer my questions. He turned back to the steps, ran ahead of me further up and when I looked at Hagen next to me, he made a gesture with his hand, which immediately made it clear to me that I should continue to follow Sandrino.

I did so reluctantly... and as soon as I climbed the last few steps and reached the wide gate, I was aware of an unmistakable smell that made my eyes widen while my wolf howled loudly.