Quinn
I still had the memory of that day in my head. I couldn’t forget it. I didn’t think I could. I thought of it during the day and in the night. I had nightmares about it. I couldn’t forgive myself. If only I had moved a little faster, I could have ended this disaster called the dark wizard for good. I would have poured the sap on him and freed the vampire from the bondage of the dark wizard if those guards hadn’t run into me. What did they think that they were doing? What did they think that I wanted to do? Did they think that I wanted to kill their king?
I shook my head at them. They must really think that we were stupid if they believed that I was going to kill their king in the midst of them all and expect to leave there alive. Why would I want to risk my life, that of my siblings and our mate that way?
They were stupid if they thought that I was that stupid.
I sighed, berating myself for failing our first task here. I couldn’t believe that I had done that.
It had happened like an fast movie then, two days ago. I had been tackled down by the guards and strapped back into binds. The king’s right hand man had jumped into action and shouted that the king be escorted back to his chambers. The king had laughed all through the way as he was led back to his chambers. He was no longer afraid as he had been when I was running towards him. He glanced at me where I was lying down flat on my stomach held down by two of his guards and smirked at me before walking away. I hissed at him, angry with myself as well as we were led back to the dungeon.
I realized that the right hand man of the king was also his friend and that convinced me the more that he would be a good ally. He would definitely want the king to be better, I just needed to find a way to get to him. He might look like he wanted to kill the king by himself but I knew that he was going to protect him with his life if anyone wanted to kill him. He might want to kill the king but he wasn’t going to let anyone get near him.
I smiled. I understood friendship like that. The king’s right hand man was surely going to be an ally. The only problem to that was how I was going to meet him while still locked up here.
Mia glanced at me and smiled. “Are you still sulking?”
“No, I’m not.”
She chuckled. “I think you are.”
I was about to reply her when the door to the dungeon opened and a guard walked in with a man. The man was crying and walking slowly. Surprisingly, the guard didn’t push him and was gentle with him, walking slowly beside him unlike how they had been with us. The guard even looked as if he pitied him and I was amazed that they could be that gentle.
They must really hate werewolves if they could be that gentle with a prisoner of their kind and were rough with us. I could finally understand why they had been annoyed that we were in their land. If not for the dark wizard who had influenced their king, we wouldn’t be here as well. I sighed with frustration. How were we going to convince those who hated us to work with us?
This place was getting noisy unlike how it had been when we had first been thrown here but I didn’t mind it as I knew how to tune the people out. We got new prisoners everyday and with the rate at which the guards threw people in everyday, I was worried that this place would get filled up beyond its capacity very soon. I was curious to know what was going on outside that everyone was becoming prisoners as if it was the latest trend in the land.
I wondered what this new man had done but none of the men that had been thrown in earlier talked of what they had done.
The guard opened the door to an empty cell, locked it when the man had walked in and walked away with the keys. I sighed as I looked around. There were only two empty cells in the dungeon as wide as it was. Very soon, the inmates locked in were going to start having room mates in each cell if this continued. I only hoped that they weren’t going to push anyone in here with us. We were four already.
Mia’s stomach grumbled and I turned to her, feeling guilty. We hadn’t been given food or water for the past three days that we had been locked in here and I felt uncomfortable that she was in discomfort. I should have packed more food before coming here. I felt silly for not listening to Jack to prepare for combat. I wasn’t going to tell Jack that though. I wasn’t about to listen to him rub it in in me that he told me so.
“I’m sorry, Mia.” I said to her.
At this moment, I wished that I was a vampire, I would have gladly offered her my blood to drink from.
She smiled at me and shook her head. “Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault.”
“I feel bad that you are hungry and there is nothing I can do for you.” I sighed. There was nothing as bad as a man not being able to protect and provide for the woman he loved.
She chuckled. “As if there is something you can do about your own hunger. Stop feeling bad, Quinn.”
I smiled at her jibe. I was reminded of how much I loved her intelligence. “I love you.” I said to her in a whisper but I knew she could hear me, meaning what I said.
She blushed. “I love you too, Quinn.”
I glanced at my brothers and they smiled, chuckling at how Mia was blushing. They glanced away and continued looking out of the cell. There was no pressure in our relationship and I loved it. They knew they didn’t need to tell Mia that they loved her because I did. They knew that she knew they loved her.
I heard one of the men that were brought in yesterday gasp as he saw the man that was just brought in.
“Alex! Is that you?”
The man who had been walked into the cell few minutes ago crying replied. “Yes, I’m the one. Oh! Ferdinand. It’s good to see you again.”
“I don’t think you mean that.” Ferdinand chuckled. “We are in prison.”
“Sadly true.” Alex agreed.
“What did you do?”
“The furnace in the king’s bedroom went out before dawn. He ordered that I be brought before him today and here I am.” Alex sighed.
Ferdinand hissed. “The king has gone insane.”
“Don’t say that.” Alex cautioned.
Ferdinand hissed. “Am I wrong? The king has changed from what we know him to be. Most of us are here in prison for offenses that could have been pardoned. Some didn’t know what they did but found themselves here because he was in a bad mood. He is not the son of his father at all. The late king and queen must be rolling in their graves by now. If they hadn’t been killed in the last battle, we wouldn’t be dealing with this mess of a king.”
“Don’t say that, Ferdinand.” Alex cautioned again, looking around in fear. “The king might have changed from what he used to be but you shouldn’t say those words. I’m afraid you can end up getting killed for that.”
“And that’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Ferdinand said, unrepentant. “No one would have ever had thought before of getting killed by the king for flimsy excuses. He became a totally different person after he had that fall.”
I sighed. I realized how the dark wizard had possessed the vampire king. The fall must have been so fatal that the king had been weakened, leaving him susceptible to the powers of the dark wizard. If it hadn’t been for the fall, the dark wizard wouldn’t have been able to possess the body of a vampire, much more their king, as weak as he was after the fight we had with him.
I saw a chance to get the men on my side. This was my opening into the conversation and I would be damned if I didn’t grab it.
“The king isn’t crazy.” I said.
They stopped and looked at me just as I expected but they didn’t believe me. Ferdinand snorted. “What is a werewolf going to know about our king?”
“We know because we are here because of the king. There is an enemy that we have been fighting in our pack and tracing him led him to us and to your king.” I lied. “That was why we said we wanted to see the king when we got here.”
Alex looked at me, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. I focused on him, seeing that he had almost believed me. “What then is wrong with the king if he is not crazy?”
I swallowed. This was it, the moment I had been waiting for. “He is possessed by the dark wizard, a very powerful and evil one.”
Alex looked scared but Ferdinand burst out laughing. “You are funny. Possessed? The king can’t be. Is that your theory? I love your creativity, man. Is that what you want to use to get out of here? Now, you will tell us that you have what it takes to cast out the evil in the king. Nice, man. That was a nice concept and I almost fell for the lie.”
I swallowed and sighed. That was it. We had the cure for the king but we weren’t doing this to get out of prison and con them. He made me feel dirty by saying it that way. That wasn’t what happened.
I ran my tongue over my lips as I tried again, hoping that he was going to believe me. “That is the truth.”
“If you believe so, man.” Ferdinand said, continued laughing and turned away.
I looked at Alex, hoping that I had at least convinced him. No, I hadn’t. He had moved away from me and retreated inward into his cell. I sighed. Ferdinand must really have a great influence on him for him to have changed his mind so suddenly about what he had almost believed.
I sighed. It was going to be hard to convince these people that their king was possessed and I couldn’t blame them. It had never occurred to them before that they could ever be possessed.
I sighed again as I leaned my head against the wall in exasperation. It would be far easier to convince a rock than the vampires and that would be nice for the dark wizard. That would be exactly what he needed.
I hoped that he wasn’t getting stronger while hiding in the vampire king. It would be a disaster if he completely took over the king.