A King's Duty

Chapter 10: Attacked

I materialized us both in front of Lydia's room.

"Be careful," Vasilek said and sent me one last look before he went towards where there was the most shouting and chaos.

Since my first priority was to protect Lydia, I quickly went inside her room.

Lydia was burrowed in a corner far away from the windows with my team surrounding her protectively.

"Get the Princess out of here," I commanded, but my team members stared at me, not moving.

"What's going on?" I asked as I approached them, but half of them looked angry and the other half looked frustrated.

"We cannot, General," Gerald answered in everyone's stead.

"What do you mean?"

"Sera," Lydia started. "I cannot trace or be traced anymore because of this." She lifted her floor-length dress and on her ankle was a thin golden anklet. Her eyes became glassy with unshed tears and her voice trembled. "She put it on, now I can't take it off."

I crouched next to Lydia and examined the innocent-looking jewelry. There wasn't a latch to take it off, so I slipped my dagger out of its sheath. Holding the anklet carefully in my left hand, I flicked at it with the dagger in my right hand. Nothing happened. When I tried it a second time and nothing happened, I sighed and stood up. It seemed to be magically enforced to stay on, but there was no time for me to be analyzing this issue. Instead, I repressed my anger towards Eleanor to focus.

"Gerald, Elexis and Kostas, stay here with Princess Lydia. Protect her and call me if a Vampire shows up. Lex and Kori, come with me," I ordered.

"Sera," Lydia called out. "Don't tell me you're going to go fight them?"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "We can't take you to a safe place, so we'll make this place safe."

A worried look crossed over her features, but she nodded.

I left with Lex and Kori, running towards the chaos.

When we got there, three Vampires were fully surrounded by Lycans. As I observed the ongoing fight, I saw that most of the Lycans were in their battle forms and the remainder were in their wolf forms.

The Lycans' speed along with the Vampires' ability to trace made the fight look like a rapid blur. It had been so long since I've seen a fallen Vampire that I'd forgotten how fast they could trace. The reason why Fallens were so notoriously hard to kill was due to their speed, as no regular Vampire nor most of the RVA soldiers could match up to them. They traced to different locations erratically and randomly, in search of blood.

I examined the three Vampires and found their movements odd. They seemed to be working together, albeit it was a clumsy attempt at a formation, but regardless, that was something I've never seen before.

When Vampires fall into bloodlust, they lose their sanity. They become mindless marionettes controlled by the strings of their lust for blood. So, it just wouldn't be possible for them to form coherent thoughts, such as working together with other fallen Vampires to attack.

The next detail I noticed was the lack of an overpowering scent of both fresh and rotting blood, a noticeable characteristic of a Fallen. These three had their own distinct Vampire scent with a slight hint of some kind of medicinal herb aroma that clung to their clothing.

They smelled normal.

However, their glowing red eyes, beyond full-length fangs, and sharpened nails showed that these three have or had fallen into bloodlust and most likely, there was no hope for them to recover.