It's been three days since I dealt with Scarlet.
But now was not the time to dwell on her. Now I had to take care of serious business.
I jogged down the steps of the castle. All the way to the dungeon.
"Ash!" I yelled, angry. I needed to talk to him. Right now.
I would call him but we don't have cellphones. Now a days, I was really hoping to get one. They seemed handy. Humans knew what they were doing.
"Ash!" I yelled again, now running through the blackened halls of the dungeons.
"Right here, dude," he said, as I turned the corner. I stopped running.
There was a lantern on the wall besde us. It lit up the hall. Down the dungeon walls were multiple barred cells. There were probably hundreds of them, but only a couple were occupied.
I looked at Ash. He had bags under his eyes. Although us vampires don't get bags under our eyes when we don't sleep enough, we do have bags when we are stressed out and mentally exhausted. His back was hunched and he leaned against the dungeon hall's wall.
I tried to contain my anger for the moment. "We need to talk," I said.
"Is here the best place?" he asked. I shook my head and turned abruptly. I went back up the stairs and I heard him follow me. I waited until we were off the stairs and we left the castle. We stood outside the front gates. I could tell he was impatient and downright tired.
"How's Veronica doing?" I asked him. He sighed, looking away. The reason why I had to find him in the dungeon was because he was watching over her cell. After he'd caught her on the roof after she shot Scarlet, we'd decided the dungeon was the best place to put her. What she did was against everything my family approved of. My mother could hardly look at her at the moment.
"She's okay," he said, crossing his arms. "She just wants to get out of there. I don't know how much longer I can watch her struggle. It's hard man."
"I know, Ash,"I said, looking away. Ash's heart was broken. But right now I was angry and I had to talk this out with him. "Why did you keep this all a secret from me?" I asked. My hands were in fists.
"She said she didn't want to hurt you since she knew that you weren't in a relationship, thtat you'd get upset if you saw us together," Ash explained. He was as tall as me and as broad, so I had ittle leverage over him.
"I don't care what she said man!" I yelled, in his face. I took a step back, realizing how angry I got. "You, are my best friend! And she's my sister. I honestly expected more from you! From both of you!" I yelled, jabbing him in the chest. "
"What did you expect me to do? We love each other, was I going to ruin it just for you?" Ash asked, equally angry while trying to defend himself. "Look, I didn't know she was a murderer. And you don't need to worry about our relationship because it's clearly over."
Ash turned to leave nut I caught his arm before he could. "Did you know she had this plan?" I asked, slowly.
he turned to me and glared. The angriest I'd ever seen him. "I get," he started, fangs out, "That you lost someone very important to you. I get it, Scarlet was amazing. But I wouldn't sabotage our friendship for any reason. Just because she got hurt, doesn't mean you should start pointing fingers." He grabbed his arm back from me, shrugging me off while I stared, shocked at his reaction. "Especially at me." he turned once again to leave.
"You're right, I'm sorry dude," I said, just as he began to enter the castle once more. "I can arrange someone else to guard Veronica in her cell. You're off duty." Ash nodded, then quickly left. I sighed.
"Dmitri!" I hard my name being called. I looked up. Miles was riding a horse, at a fast pace, to where I was standing. If I didn't move, he would probably crush me. He stopped his horse an inch on front of my chest and jumped down.
"Hey man!" I said to him, smiling slightly. He didn't smile back.
I knew what was coming. He marched up to me and before I knew it...
He punched me at my jaw and I stumbled a bit. "I probably deserved that," I muttered, rubbing my now bruised and cracked jaw.
"Yeah you did!" He shouted in my face, then took a step back.
"Where's Veronica?" He asked, fist and while body shaking.
"In the dungeon. What's it to you?" I asked, suspicious. I squinted my eyes at him. He shrank back.
I quickly took the opportunity to read his mind.
He loves her.
"Did you know Ash and veronica were dating?" I asked him slowly, shame and sadness washing through me.
Although Ash is my best friend, and Miles was a good six years younger than me, Miles was still considered my close friend as well. He helped Scarlet get comfortable in my castle and I was really thankful for that, and much more that he's done in the past. I guess Ash and I weren't the only ones who would suffer from the Paris accident.
He nodded. "I was the only one who knew. I didn't tell anyone," he explained, looking away.
I was shocked. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. "Look Miles, I don't know what went down but I'm pretty sure you won't want to associate yourself with her anymore."
"Why's that?" He asked. "I just found out you guys were back! I want to see her!" he yelled. "I'm angry and I punched you because I heard you were restraining her... why is she in the dungeon?"
"Then I guess you haven't heard the news, man!" I said, refraining from shaking some knowledge into him.
"What are you talking about?" Miles asked, eyebrows furrowing.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Veronica shot Scarlet," I said, and I scared myself when my voice trembled.
He reached out to me, shock plastered across his face, but I stepped back. "Look man, I don't know what's going to happen. And we haven't decided on what to do with Veronica yet. She is, my sister, after all."
"I'm .. so sorry man. I wish I'd known sooner,"Miles said, struggling for words.
"I assumed Austin would tell you" I said to him, raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, I haven't seen Austin around the past few days," Miles commented. "Wait..." He said, squinting his eyes at me. "You told Austin?"
I nodded. "I didn't know what to do with Scarlet, so I called him and he came to Paris right away. He talked it out with me. You haven't seen him?" I asked, suspicious.
Miles frowned and shook his head.
I sighed. Although Austin and I were close anymore, we were close since childhood. I knew what his disappearance meant.
"Are you still interested in seeing Veronica?" I asked Miles. He nodded. "Okay. First, let me get my horse."
**
Miles and I rode our horses back to Austin's castle.
"Before we see Veronica, I need to find Austin. I think I know where he is."
Miles followed without complaint.
We got to the castle, left ours horses outside and stepped in.
Immediately, we bumped into Charlotte Covington Woods since she was attempting to leave the castle at the same time as we were entering.
"Oh, Dmitri, long time no see," Charlotte said, smiling. I bowed a bit and smiled.
"Where is Austin?" I asked bluntly. She frowned, then quickly pointed up the stairs behind her.
"He's on the terrace of our bedroom. I don't think he's welcoming visitors."
"Thanks," I said, and Miles and I stepped out of her way. She left and we quickly mounted the stairs to Austin's room.
I knocked. When there was no reply, I simply walked in. Miles waited outside the room, giving us some privacy.
I walked onto the terrace. Austin was in the floor, resting his head on his arms as he stared aimlessly at the floor.
I sat down next to him.
"You'll have to leave your room at some point," I said to him. I don't know how to confront other men well, so I kept my distance and waited for a response.
"She's gone," He whispered.
I sighed. "Its my fault. Take your anger out on me."
He looked up. He too, like Ash, had bags under his eyes. His golden eyes searched my own. "I don't know what to do, man."
I nodded. "Start by getting some sleep. Then, I want you to take Charlotte out and actually try to get to know her for once. Charlotte is an extraordinary woman."
He smiled. "you're right."
I smirked. "Aren't I always?"
Austin rolled his eyes. I stood up, needing to leave since I had other business to take care of.
"Promise me you'll take care of yourself," I said. He nodded.
Miles and I left the castle.
We got to my castle, and I had to run after Miles as he basically ran to Veronica's cell in the dungeon.
"Veronica?" He called. A shuffling sound came from inside her cell.
A second later, her pale, long fingers grasped the bars and she pulled herself into view.
I looked away.
Her face had makeup stains on it from crying. Her bags under her eyes were more prominent than anyone else. Her hair was a mess. Her eyes were filled with grief.
"Miles," she said. He wrapped his fingers around hers.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
She turned her head, as of only just now realizing I was there, and glared at me. "Ask him."
I sighed and walked away. She was blaming me for her own mistake. I stayed in the dungeon but gave them some space - my vampire hearing allowed me listen in on their conversation.
"Why'd you do it?" Miles asked her, voice ringing with sadness and betrayal.
"Miles, you of all people need to understand. She was poison for us. Chelsea was too. I had to get rid of them!" She explained.
"No," Miles said, voice stern. "You could have found any other way to get rid of them from our lives," Miles said, frustrated. "You didn't need to kill them."
I shut my eyes, not wanting to face this reality.
"Forgive me, please. We're friends," Veronica pleaded.
"What you did not only affected Dmitri, Austin, Ash, and the human families, it also affected me." He paused and I thought he was going to walk away.
"I loved you," he said.
I heard Veronica gasp. "You... you love me?" She asked, vulnerable.
"Loved," Miles said, dropping her hands, tone stern and unforgiving.
"Miles!" She yelled as he walked away. He pushed past me, shocked that I was still there, then hurried out, not turning around for her.
Veronica was my sister and although she ruined my happiness more than once, there was one way I could get her out of the dungeon.
I walked over to her. Her pale fingers were limply holding onto the bars of the call as she silently cried.
"I won't forgive you," I said.
She nodded. "I know. I don't need a traitors forgiveness," she said bitterly.
"This so called traitor wants to free you from this dungeon," I shot back, glaring at her.
She looked up suddenly, shocked, eyes wide. "What do you mean?"
I sighed. "You have to sacrifice all your memories of Scarlet and Chelsea. And also everything in between that involves them." She opened her mouth to protest but I continued anyways, wanting to tell her everything. "You'll have a few gaps in your memory, but I think that's better than living here for the rest of your life."
She stayed silent. "Why can't I just promise to never hurt anyone again and you let me go?" She finally asked.
"If you've done it twice, I know you'll do it again. I don't want to go through that pain..."
She quickly smiled. "I'll be a changed person then. Take my memories. I can basically start a new life."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. You don't deserve memories of them anyways."
I didn't need to explain the process of this with her. Our parents taught us when we were little. Little did they know that we'd ever need to use the knowledge.
She closed her eyes, as did I. I didn't need to hold her hands, but I did, anyways, because in the next few moments I would lose a little bit of my sister. She left her mind open for me to navigate. I didn't ponder for longer than necessary. All the memories surrounding Chelsea were pushed to the back of her mind. I didn't have time to see them - they rushed into my own head and I struggled to keep my feet on the floor. It was overwhelming. I searched the rest of her mind. No remnants of Chelrea remained.
Now for Scarlet.
All memories of Scarlet were pushed into a dark corner of her mind. Her mind was filled with outrage, contempt, betrayal from me and mostly Scarlet. It was a painful process.
I allowed Scarlet memories to wash over me slowly, and I drank all of them in, taking the time to see all of them.
One stood out to me. It was very recent. It passed by quickly, but slowed down just enough for me to see Veronica and Scarlet standing in a dress shop. They were both in startling, beautiful dress gowns.
Scaret was dressed in the most amazing purple gown of all. It was huge, and Scarlet overpowered it with her beauty. She looked like a princess. I recognized the dress shop in Paris.
Eyes closed, I smiled at this memory, but wondered why she never bought the dress. I would do anything to make sure she owned it.
That was the last memory. I tucked it all away into the depths of my mind.
I opened my eyes, and Veronica followed. Her eyes fluttered a few times before her body turned limp and her hand began to slip out of my own. I tried to catch her but the cell's bar between us stopped me from doing so.
Her limp body fell to the floor. She would be unconscious for a few hours, maybe days. I'll retrieve her when she wakes up. I would release her now, but I need to ensure that the memory extrapolation and exchange worked.
I walked away, out of the dungeon, out of the castle, into my car, and I drove far away from my problems.
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