Be Careful When You Bite Me

Chapter 24

Like Damon had said, we didn't have any trouble crossing the border. It was almost as if the guards hadn't even cared that I left which would make a lot more sense now that it's announced that I am half-witch.

When we arrived at the gates of the castle, I felt my stomach began to ache with the feeling of déjà vu. Every time I had departed the castle, I had assumed it would have been my last time seeing it.

The time now was a little after 10 pm which meant that the party had been going on for around two hours now. There were double the amount of guards now stationed at the gates that lead to the entrance. They burst wide open as we neared and Xavier parked the car.

He turned back to look at Damon and I.

"Ready?" He asked.

Damon reached up to tie a mask around his eyes and nodded," let's go."

I caught his sad eyes before he quickly exited the car. I did the same and rushed to get to his side. I grabbed his arm and he paused and turned to look at me.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. He looked as if the idea of having to kill his brother was hurting him.

He remained silent for a couple of seconds, his eyes digging holes into mines.

"No," he admitted," I'm not."

"Then don't do it," I whispered," don't kill him, he's your brother."

"He almost killed me," Damon replied," besides, there's no other way."

He turned to walk away and I released my grip on him. I watched as he disappeared into the doors with Xavier. Asia stood by my side and interlocked her fingers with mine. She now had on her black mask.

"Ready?" She asked, reaching up to straighten mine

I breathed in and out before nodding," yes."

We followed the two into the hallway. They were flooded with people strolling peacefully from one end to the other. The women all wore equally beautiful gowns and the men dressed in suits and every single person had on a mask. Not that I would have recognized anybody.

When we reached the doors to the quarter, guards flung them open to reveal the beautifully decorated inside.

There were hundreds of people, either dancing or seated at a table chatting amongst themselves. Music played by a band that stood at the corner of the room, not too loudly, just loud enough to be able to hear the person next to you.

The King and Queen were seated at their thrones as per usual. Seth and Isabelle were nowhere in sight.

The Queen caught sight of us first, or more Damon to be specific. She began to stand up, and when the King noticed, he trailed her gaze to meet his sons who now stood at the middle of the room amongst the crowd.

His eyes stayed interlocked with her parents. It was obvious that they were shocked their son was still alive but I couldn't tell if they were relieved.

I scanned the room, looking for the Council but I couldn't tell who was who.

I caught sight of a tall and slender girl, pitch-black hair that was now pinned up and wondered if it was Isabelle. She wore a maroon gown that almost mirrored the one that the Queen was wearing.

"Do you think they'll tell the Council that you're here?" Xavier said to his younger brother who still has yet to look away from his parents.

"No," Damon responded," they wouldn't cause a scene, not here."

The King and Queen sat back and it looked like the King was saying something to his wife that might have reassured her.

Damon spared his parents another glance before turning away to face us.

"You two stay together," Damon said to both Asia and I," Xavier and I are going to look for Seth, if you see anyone from the Council, walk the other way."

"But-" I began, but the two were already walking away.

I sighed out loud and turned to face Asia," this doesn't feel right," I muttered," it almost feels like we saved his life only to bring him back here to get killed."

Asia smiled," Damon is smart, and he's strong, he wouldn't put himself in a situation he couldn't handle."

"Are you sure about that?" I said sarcastically.

I turned to face the crowd and almost gasped when I came face to face with none other than the Queen. She stood less than two feet away from me. I have never been this close to her and her beauty left me speechless. Her blond hair was tied to the side in a french braid. Her velvet gown hugged her perfectly slender body as if it were made for her. She looked young enough to be Damon's older sister.

"Holly," she said, her voice as smooth as silk," you're back."

"Hi," I wasn't able to form any other words.

"And you've brought my son," she continued," whom I thought was dead."

I remained silent hoping that Asia would pitch in but I could hear her heart thud from where I was.

She was just as nervous as me and it showed. I couldn't blame her, after all this was the mother of Xavier who would rather dethrone her eldest son than to see him mate a witch.

"How ironic is it that the two witches that stole my sons from me have befriended one another?" A sarcastic grin played at the corners of her lips," where's that third witch that you fetched the human boy for?"

My eyes grew wide in surprise as I hadn't realized she knew about that. She chuckled lightly," you didn't get away sweet witch, we let you."

My heart thudded louder at the realization and I wondered what else she was aware of. I wondered if they knew where Luna was and if they were going to find her and Dimitri.

"You are uninvited guests," the Queen trailed her gaze to where Asia stood," both of you."

"W-we'll go wait in the car," Asia stuttered, gripping my arm to walk away.

"Wait," the Queen said, halting the both of us," why are they here, my two eldest?"

Asia and I book looked at each other before turning back to look at the Queen," I-I'm not sure, they heard that Seth was getting crowned," I muttered," I think they wanted to be here for it."

The Queen took a second to register what I said before nodding," you can stay," she mumbled," tell Damon the Council is here, slithering around somewhere, The King and I won't say a word, but if they find him, there isn't much we can do."

We both nodded and she began to turn away before sparing us a last glance.

"And girls," she mentioned," the castle is flooded with more guards than you can count. Tell them that it's the wrong day to start trouble."

We watched in silence as she marched away with pure elegance.

Asia and I turned to look at each other," what do we do?" I asked.

"Nothing," she answered," she said won't tell the Council that Damon is here so as long as they don't see him, he should be alright."

Damon's POV

I ran up the stairs heading towards the second floor of the quarter in hopes that I could take a better look at everyone downstairs from the top. My eyes scanned for any sign of Seth but it was hard to tell. There were too many people and everyone wore masks. With Xavier clinging to my side, it was hard to think straight. I was fuelled by anger, disappointment, and betrayal and I didn't want to be. I didn't want those emotions to be the reason I killed my brother today but I knew there wasn't another choice. If I wanted to save the natives and the entire Cold One race from the next one hundred years of torture they were about to face, I knew I had to find a way to get Seth dethroned. I didn't have any time, which left me with the only choice left, killing him. I turned to walk away but I felt Xavier grip my arm, halting me.

"Damon," he barked out.

I paused to stare at my older brother. I knew what he was about to say before he even said it.

"I'm going to ask you again, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't want to do this," I barked back.

"Then don't-"

"Can you think of another way? You must have some sort of idea for what plans Seth might have, especially with Isabelle ruling by his side!"

"Why do you care so much?" He continued," you will never change the fact that we need to kill to survive, you're trying to make good of a race that's been deemed bad since day one of existence-"

"I know that!" I cut him off," Seth isn't just going to keep things the way that they are, you and Asia are going to be the first people they come after, and then it's Holly and I-"

"So leave the castle, feed off hospital blood like I do," he mentioned," move to New York with Holly, why do you want to fight a battle that you might lose?"

"If it means I fight for a century to save hundreds of thousands of lives, I'll still be alive to witness a good change," I said.

A couple I couldn't recognize eyed Xavier and I before making their way back towards the party.

"You care about people who don't care about you," Xavier said," if you kill Seth, father isn't going to crown you, you will never be King now that the Council placed a death sentence on you, it's time to accept that and move on, run away, take Holly-"

"And ruin her life forever? Make her a target for the rest of her life because the Gods were twisted enough to curse her with the Mark of Eros from a vampire with a death sentence?"

Xavier paused and the look on his face told me he had known. I sighed out loud and began to pace. I lifted my palms up to my face. My thoughts were racing and I didn't know if I was being logical. Killing Seth made sense but it shouldn't hurt this bad. He had no remorse or second thought to getting rid of me, I only wished I was the same.

"If I kill Seth-" I began but Xavier interrupted.

"If you kill Seth, father will rule until he has another son that could take his place-"

"If I kill Seth, it buys me time to figure it out."

"If you kill Seth," Xavier's gaze bore into mine. He was more serious than I have ever seen him," You're going to have to kill father too."

I looked away from him and his arm shot up to grab my shoulders.

"Maybe not today, but eventually," he continued.

I looked back up at my concerned brother. I was beginning to calm down and I could see his perspective. If I didn't kill Seth, if I walked away now, there's no telling how he's going to rule.

I looked down at the crowd of moving bodies. I caught sight of Holly. Her silhouette stood out to me as if the outline of her body glowed. In a room full of vampires, she looked the strongest to me. She was incredible in every way, from the way her hair moved every time she did to the flicker of innocence in her eyes that she would lose if she remained involved with my world any longer. In every way possible she was beautiful, so beautiful it was almost painful. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and keep her safe. Be her protector as well as her lover.

I could feel that she was nervous even from up here. I still couldn't believe that she had risked her life and climbed down that shed just to save me. Never in a million years would I have believed anyone would care about me enough to do something so brave. It hurt to picture her in the dungeon. There wasn't a second in the day that I didn't hate myself for it. She walked through Volati for me, and although she said it didn't hurt, I saw the burn marks on her palms, I knew that she was lying. I wanted to curse the Gods of The Underworld for burdening her with the fate of being with me. Our bond was forming and there was no way in hell I could convince myself to stay away from her now, and I knew if I killed Seth, I would be writing a death sentence for the both of us. Kia had looked into Holly the night that the Council took me away, she knew what Holly meant to me.

Holly would be the first person they would go after in hopes of getting to me. I could ask Holly to run away with me, promise to keep her safe but I knew that that was as selfish as getting her killed. She didn't choose to be mated with me, just like she didn't choose to be apart of this world. She has every right to go back to her human life and forget about me, and that isn't going to happen if I killed Seth, not today.

I knew that regardless of what was going to happen tonight, the only way I could keep Holly safe was if I had Luna perform the Ritual of Obliteration and left her alone. She had to go back to her regular life, that would be the only way to save her from the doom of being mated with me. The Council would have no choice but to leave her alone and maybe one day, Holly and I would be able to reunite. My chest ached with the feeling of dread of having to let her go.

I knew that if I killed Seth today, there would be no hope for Holly and I. I thought of Xavier and how brave he was to walk away from it all just to be with the one he loved.

The idea of giving up on my race for love felt weak, it felt wrong, but Xavier was right, this was going to be a battle that I was going to either lose or die fighting but whatever choice I make doesn't have to be decided tonight.

I looked away from Holly to where my parents sat. Father was busy talking with someone, but my mother's eyes were glued to mine. Her expression was serious and it was almost like she was trying to read my thoughts. I stared her down for a couple more seconds. I almost wanted to reassure her, after all, she was my mother, but she had watched the Council drag me away and was silent the entire time.

I turned around to face Xavier who had been staring off at Asia. His eyes caught mine and it was as if he read my mind.

"Let's get out of here," he said. I nodded and took one last glance at Holly.

"Let's go."

We made our way downstairs to where the girls were standing. Holly's eyes locked with mine immediately and she rushed over.

"Is everything alright?" Her voice was as soft as a feather. I didn't like that she was concerned and I almost wanted to grab her and kiss her. I wanted to reassure her that she was going to be okay, even if I had to die to make sure of it.

I merely smiled and said," let's go."

She paused for a couple of seconds and her eyes searched mine for a clue. It didn't take her much time to figure out that I changed my mind. She smiled a sad and understanding smile that almost said, I knew you couldn't do it, but it's alright.

Xavier and Asia were already heading for the exit, hand in hand. I looked down at Holly's hands that were placed at her side. I grabbed her small fragile fingers in mine. I could tell that she was surprised at the action, but she didn't pull away.

We followed Xavier and Asia out of the quarter and towards the main exit. When we reached the doors, guards flung them open to reveal the garden. Seth stood at the gate and by his side was Isabelle. All six members of the Council blocked the gates where our car was.

Shit.