Gusion was blinded by the sudden streaming of light inside his chamber.
He wasn't certain how long he had been locked up. It must've been days, or weeks for that matter.
All he had been doing was stare blankly at the dark corners of the underground chamber he was in and doze off when his eyes couldn't handle the darkness.
He couldn't understand why the verdict was taking so long.
And when it finally came, it came in the face of Vermilion Paxley, his expression dark and unreadable.
"Came to collect your payback?" Gusion managed to ask through hoarse throat.
Vermilion instead threw him his glass blades, which clattered and echoed through the chamber loudly.
Then the man walked away, leaving Gusion puzzled as he picked up his blades and followed his brother.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Vermilion cast him an angry look. "Are you mocking me right now?"
"What are you talking about?!"
Instead of an explanation, Vermilion grabbed him by the collar and slammed hi against the wall.
Gusion could only glare back at his brother whose eyes looked like they were full of loathing.
"Lord Vermilion!" A castle guard came to them urgently.
Vermilion did not take his glare nor his hand off Gusion as he said, "What?"
"Castle Gorge...it's under attack."
Only then did Vermilion let go of him and both of them hurried out of the castle.
"Where's the Cube?" Gusion asked, glancing over his shoulder at Vermilion, who looked reluctant. "Where is it?!"
"In the Observatory."
Gusion turned to its direction but was stopped by Vermilion.
"You're not laying hands on it again." Vermilion said firmly.
"We need it against Alice."
"Not. in your. hands."
Gusion grabbed his brother by the lapel and slammed him against the wall leading up to the observatory. "Then who do you supposed should use it?"
Vermilion, instead of answering, merely glared at him.
Gusion tightened his grip on his brother's collar. "Need I remind you who brought such powerful artifact in this House?"
"Which is why such powerful artifact shouldn't be trusted to someone unstable!"
"Unstable?!" Gusion snapped. "If anyone here is stable enough to handle such power, it is me! Now back off before I use it to kill anyone who comes in my way from getting to Guinevere!"
He let go of Vermilion harshly and hastened to the top of the observatory.
He opened the door just in time to see the form of a blond boy stepping into an actove portal in the middle of the room.
"Dyrroth!" Gusion rushed to catch him, but the boy merely chuckled and disappeared a split second before Gusion could grab a hold of him.
Vermilion arrived at the threshold and failed to see the scene. "Where is it?!"
"We could've gotten here earlier!" Gusion exclaimed and landed a fist on his brother's face.
Then he dashed out of the observatory.
By the time Gusion reached Castle Gorge, there was already bloodshed.
Guards were fighting hard to fend off the army of trolls and ogres that kept coming.
Occupants of Castle Gorge, both noble and servants alike were fleeing the place as a fire had started on one of the towers.
His eyes scanned the wrecked place.
Guinevere wasn't in sight.
He heard sinister laughter instead.
He followed the sound.
It was coming from one of the higher balconies, its base burning but hadn't reached its part yet.
He recognized that evil laughter anywhere.
"Alice." He snarled and leaped towards its direction.
Gusion froze the moment he saw the scene.
Not because Alice was using her blood circle to drain her victim out of strength.
But because of who was her victim.
"Lancelot." He muttered in disbelief.
Lancelot looked nothing familiar.
The sky was getting crimson dark, as if it was mirroring the bloodshed it was seeing.
But Lancelot's skin stood out against its shade. He was awfully pale. Deathly pale. As if all the blood had been drained from his veins.
His blonde hair were let loose, some of it stuck the sides of his face with some dried up blood.
But what surprised Gusion the most wasn't even the monstrous expression he had on his handsome face, but the glowing crimson eyes and the set of fangs that had bared through his lips.
"Came to see what I've been breeding for the past months?" Alice asked in a pleased tone.
"What did you do?" Gusion snarled.
"Uh-uh. I should correct that. What did that Damphir do?"
Gusion frowned, confused, until the puzzle pieces came together.
"Alucard?"
"You just didn't know what kind of monsters you've been keeping close. Such a waste of potential."
"He's not a monster!"
"He is a descendant of a pureblood vampire! The most ruthless vampire to have around."
Gusion gritted his teeth. How could such a situation come at a bad time!
He glanced at Lancelot.
Guinevere was already unstable as it was.
If she would see her brother like this, she would be...
"GUSION!"
He looked up to see Hanabi and his entire venom squad leaping down towards them.
"What are you doing here?!" He asked, though he felt relieved having such reliable people around him.
"We came as soon as we heard this woman leaving Zen City." Hanabi answered and looked around.
"Is that...Lancelot?" Harley asked.
"He's a vampire?" Angela added.
"Fascinating." Alice chimed. "The more people there is, the stronger I get."
She gracefully threw an orb towards them and then vanished.
The next second, she was already dancing with her blood circle around the venom squad, who got stunned for a bit and soon grunted as they got their life force sucked out of them.
But it also meant Alice left Lancelot unrestrained.
The newly born vampire got to his feet and leaped higher up in the tower.
Gusion tried his hardest to resist Alice's magic.
He had to stop Guinevere from meeting her brother.
"Go!" Hanabi said through a grunt.
"I'm trying!"
"Then I'm sorry!"
"What?" Before he could brace himself, Hanabi snapped him with the extra arms of her armor, sending him slammed against the wall but out of Alice's blood circle.
He couldn't decide whether to thank Hanabi or ask for payback later, but he got up and followed Lancelot.
The moment he got over the next balcony, this one long and connected to the next tower, he knew he was too late.
Because right in the middle of it was Guinevere.
She had her back on him but he could see the dread in the way her shoulders sagged.
A couple of yards from her, looking cautious and vicious, was Lancelot, baring his fangs at his beloved little sister.
She was approaching him slowly, showing him she wasn't there to harm.
Then Gusion spotted someone else.
Standing a few yards from him, watching Guinevere approach her vampire brother with such a regretful expression on his face, was Dyrroth.
That expression didn't suit him.
That expression angered Gusion that he lunged towards the boy, who did not as much fought back.
"How could you let her see him?!" He exclaimed as he choked Dyrroth by the neck.
"I was trying...to take her...away!" Dyrroth managed to push him off and got to his feet.
"You turned them into this!" Gusion summoned his blades and led them towards Dyrroth. "Everything's going according to your Grand Plan!"
Dyrroth evaded a couple of his blades with his obsidian armbands, and jumped to a different direction to dodge the rest.
"Don't act like you're so noble, Gusion Paxley, when all you ever did was to ease that selfish and reckless soul you possess!" Dyrroth sent a shockwave to his direction, barely missing Gusion by an inch before he blinked out of the way.
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Believe me... I know." Dyrroth growled.
Gusion saw how his brown eyes glowed crimson as he took out something from his pocket.
The Cube.
It was glowing madly in his hand, as if it was reflecting Dyrroth's anger.
"You failed at protecting her. It's time for me to do my part."
He gripped the Cube whose glow had gone blinding that Gusion had to shield his eyes.
"GUINEVERE!" A male voice yelled. Vermilion. He was rushing towards Guinevere.
Both of them turned and saw Lancelot trying to get his fangs into his sister's neck while she tried to keep him at bay. As a result she was being pushed against the railings of the balcony, her back arched at a dangerous angle that might soon cause her to lose her footing.
At such a bad timing, an ogre larger than its kind's average size came lunging to the balcony, getting in the way of Vermilion who almost got to Guinevere.
Dyrroth and Gusion dashed at the same time towards the lady.
Something sunk inside Gusion upon seeing her.
She did not look alright.
Besides the fact that she was trying not to make a monster out of her brother, she was also staring at his face with a pained expression.
Before any of them could get to her, a ball of magic energy formed in her hand and she was able to blast Lancelot away from her.
The four of them froze as Lancelot hit the other side of the railing.
Guinevere looked surprised as she looked at her hands. "No!" She suddenly cried and glanced at the other end of the balcony.
Alice was there. And Gusion realized what happened.
She took the block she put in Guinevere's magic.
He instantly felt an great wave of magic source pass through him and he grew afraid the moment he realized whom it came from.
"Guin..." He went towards her, but Guinevere backed away, her eyes shifting from their emerald ones to a crimson shade.
Then she dropped on her knees and cried painfully as she held her head.
Gusion went to her, held her shoulders.
"Get away!" Guinevere merely waved her hand and he was thrown to one side of the long balcony.
The ogre came attacking Lancelot who had passed out where Guinevere had thrown him off and she lunged at the monster's direction, simply firing an energy ball at him that made the creature explode into tiny bits of flesh and blood and the floor crumble unstably.
"Guinevere!" He called, knowing fully well she was spiraling into the darkness.
Dyrroth on one side of the balcony was merely standing still and watching Guinevere sink into madness.
Alice was laughing triumphantly.
Gusion felt like a rib had broke in his chest and one of his ankles had twisted from the throw, but he grit his teeth and forced himself to get to Guinevere.
He had to snap her out of it.
He had to get to her before it would be too late.
But then he saw Lancelot getting up, his bloodthirsty eyes set on one person; the girl who threw him across the balcony.
"GUINEVERE, LOOK OUT!" Gusion yelled.
Dyrroth run past him to get to Guinevere.
But Lancelot reached her first.
The out of mind, bloodthirsty Lancelot got his sister square in the shoulders, throwing both of them off balance to the side of balcony where he was able to sink his fangs against her shoulder.
The weight sent her back, completely off the railings.
The last thing Gusion saw was her eyes, turning completely the shade of crimson as she fell.
Down.
Down into the bloodshed below.
He knew he was screaming her name.
But he couldn't hear a thing.
He watched at the edge of the railings as Giinevere fell further down, her crimson eyes staring back at him, emotionless, until she disappeared.
Devoured by the fire below.
He saw how the flames ablazed as she sank into its burning mess.
And with it was his heart.
And soul.
Crushed and burned into nothingness.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Stay tuned for BOOK III.