The Queen of Blood

Ch 23: Touching Heaven

Star.

It's loud and clear, like a voice right next to me. If I weren't hovering in and out of consciousness I would've paid more attention to it.

Star, you must wake.

Something nibbles softly on my fingers and I weakly try to flick it away, my eyebrows threading together. Coughing, I pull myself up into a sitting position.

Familiar yellow eyes stare back at me.

"Excalibur?" I blink rapidly, reaching for him, half expecting my fingers to swipe through empty air. Something in me leaps and soars at the feel of his glossy scales. It's almost like finding a little piece of Celestia. Or having a little piece of Celestia find me.

With a beat of his wings the red shifter nestles into my lap, shimmering reds and oranges washing over his scales with every breath he takes. He looks at me, his head knocked to the side.

Hurt? You slept beneath the water.

"I— what? Eloise was—" His gaze follows me intently as I look to my surroundings. I'm laying on the shoreline of a lake, trees encircling us on either side. Waterlogged armor and weapons litter the sand, a few lifeless werewolf bodies laying face down in the earth. To my right members of my group are shakily standing up, brushing sand from their arms and legs. Stress slips from my shoulders like a weight.

They're okay. We're okay.

A dull roar from a waterfall thunders across from me, and gentle waves lap up and over my calves. Excalibur must have pulled me out and onto dry land. But wasn't Eloise—?

I turn back to the dragon-like shifter in front of me.

"Excalibur, Celestia, is she alright?"

Safe. She worries for you.

I nod. That makes sense.

"Thank you my friend," I reach down, scratching a spot beneath his chin and he leans into my hand, sighing and purring contently.

For a second I chide myself, wishing I had insisted on Celestia coming with us, before a battle-like warcry interrupts my thoughts.

Luke is up and in a fighting stance, a serrated dagger trembling slightly in his grip, swinging the weapon warily back and forth at the vampires surrounding him. "Ella watch out!" His green eyes flash over to mine, "behind you!"

I glance over my shoulder and find a cautious Nicole watching me with her hands raised, waiting on my command. David and the other guards follow suit, taking slow steps backwards, trying to look as unintimidating as possible. For bloodthirsty monsters with superhuman strength, they do a half decent job.

Eloise is the only one who steps forward.

"What are we, submissive dogs now? To a little human with a knife?" She scoffs and continues sauntering toward him, circling him like an animal would their prey. "So this is the brother in law?" Her silver eyes gleam back at me, clearly amused. "Lovely to meet you."

"Eloise." David warns in a low voice.

Luke now has his full attention on the Princess, his black blade shivering in Eloise's direction.

"Eloise cut it out," my voice somehow sounds commanding while my mind is reeling, flashing back to when she had me pinned up against the palace wall by my throat. My neck twinges, suddenly feeling exposed.

Luke looks to me desperately, clearly not understanding the situation.

"A lot has happened," I begin slowly, carefully, "humans are protected now. Regardless of her idiocy," I flash a glare at Eloise, "she cannot touch you, or take your blood, without your permission."