The Chronicles of the Teenage Vampires, The Beginning

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Ryder

Bella

Remember me telling you about Bella? Well, right as Maddy said, "Too bad," and started to walk away, Bella fell into the room through the back door, the key to Maddy's house sliding across the linoleum, gasping for breath, making Maddy turn around and run back into the room.

"Bella!" I exclaimed, lifting her head from the linoleum, her hair spilling over her eyes, "What happened!?"

"Slayers...run...die." She said as she fainted in my arms. Right as she fainted, the door broke down as slayers burst inside! Prominent among them were Mr. Benderyacht, Mr. Glarmensing, and Bristol Bain, all wielding silver tipped wooden stakes. As I was leaving, I realized I had dropped Bella in my rush! As I ran back to get her, I noticed Maddy defending Bella from the slayers, her fists and steel tread running shoes flying in every direction, tearing at slayer flesh, the screams of the dead ringing through the house. Without even thinking about, my fingers started spinning and weaving in complex patterns, red shields latching themselves to my arms.

"We can't let her just die, can we?" Maddy asked as she picked Bella up, my shields deflecting slayer strikes.

"Thanks for that." I told her as we raced out the door, into the night.

                                                                                               *******

As I walked into the council chamber the next day, devoid of Maddy's company, I was greeted by a gruesome sight. Bella was hanging in chains, her hair a tangled mess, blood running down from the side of her head.

"Bella!" I yelled as I ran to her, my eyes turning solid red once more. As I touched her, a strange bubble appeared around her, blasting me back and putting Bella in agony that I too could feel from through the bond, the magical connection between vampire and dradge.

"Silence, foolish boy," called Scarlet Willow, the supreme judge of the court, sitting on her heightened podium, and evil smile spreading across the pallid, sharp chinned face, showing small pointed teeth.

"Why have you done this?" I screamed, running to the desk where Willow sat, My fingers itching to weave a spell of mass destruction, but a warning look from Maddy, who was behind Willow, stopped my fingers in their tracks, losing their faint red glow, "I have done nothing to anger this court," I spoke to Willow in a strained voice, resisting my powerful urge to summon my blade into my hand and dice Willow into pieces so small, they would go down to atomic size, and disappear from existence.

"There are five charges against you," said Willow, which surprised me, since I had only been notified of three of them, "They are: aiding humans escape a burning building, revealing your true nature to a human, drinking blood from a vampire, disfiguring a council member and killing five vampires." I stood in a shocked silence. Helping people escape from a burning building was NOT a felony or a misdemeanor. I was sure of it. The last three were certainly felonies, but I had not committed them, and the second was barely a misdemeanor in their own right.

Maddy groaned, rolling her eyes "In his defense, it isn't he who should be convicted of the first and last three charges. For the second charge, you have the woman in the room and she is his dradge, and sweet Jesus Christ, can we get that name changed?!?! It is probably the most difficult word in the English language to speak, and I also hate it just out of the spelling. I made him do those other things. One of the humans in the building was my mother, and I didn't want her to die, along with the dradge, Isabella. Clearly, Ryder would want to save his own dradge, and he was able to save my mother along with Bella," 

I looked at Maddy, knowing that with a tiny little investigation, they would find all these stories complete lies. Maddy had a sharp intake of breath, and continued, "I wanted to find out what would happen if a vampire drank from another of their kind, so I convinced him to do the dirty work for me, and results were quite invigorating. Do you see the power in his eyes? Purely enhanced vampire energy! For the fourth, I wondered whether or not the limb would grow back, so, once again, I had him to do the work for me, and the results of that were quite pitiful.  For the victim. Just a little wiggling, stump left after Ryder was done with him," Maddy let lose an uncharacteristic, manic giggle, as though she found the mutilation absolutely hilarious, "The last charge, was that I hated the five of them so I had him kill them all, and he easily dispatched them to hell. There is my defense. I am your witness as is he. Inquire me if you wish for utterly complete detail of the events," Maddy said easily, as if she had been practicing, which I suspected she had. Willow and I had identical looks on our faces. Complete shock. However, I regained my poise before she did, and she looked at me while I had a smug look at on my face, almost proving Maddy's point. 

"Thank you, Ms. Vice President. I will speak with you after this trial is over." Willow said standing up, "My personal wish is to drain the blood out of the girl, but it is not permitted, as she is a dradge, and Vice President Madeline, I will need your help thinking of a new name for a dradge, as you are quite right and I have been putting it off for nearly three decades. Cleared of all charges. Release her." The bubble around Bella disappeared with an audible CRACK! and I appeared beneath her in a nearly imperceptable movement, and caught her in my arms, "Leave me." Willow said, exiting the podium through the door behind her into her private suite. Then I realized, that the slayers had not attacked, or even entered the building. I was wrong.