"You did what!" Nico yelled!
He was laid out on a old army cot in the corner of the room with his arm was in plaster and his body still covered in fresh scars. Jacques unapologetically shrugged and said, "You lied to us - you never told us she was pregnant."
Nico rolled his and tried to turn over in bed to face Jacques, but winced in pain once he began to move. Cursing loudly he snapped, "You two idiots would've never brought her here if I'd told you the truth."
I glanced over at Casper who was sitting on the opposite side of the room, staring blankly at the wall. When we had arrived back at the secret base, which was a deconsecrated chapel on the out skirts of Port Cressida, Jacques had wasted no time in filling him in on the tiny detail that Nico had failed to mention. Upon hearing the news Casper went into shock and stumbled into the nearest chair. With his head in his hands he muttered incoherently to himself, while Jacques and Nico continued to bicker.
"I can't believe you made a deal with her!" Nico yelled.
Jacques folded his arms across his chest and said, "I don't know why you're making a big deal out of it! She's agreed to co-operate with us - isn't that better than treating her like a hostage?"
"Idiot! She is our hostage. We took her to prove Casper's innocence! With her gift we can find out who the true killer is!" Nico argued.
Jacques opened his mouth to disagree, but from across the room Casper was snapping out of his catatonic state. Lifting his head out of his hands he looked to me and said, "You're pregnant?"
From the other side of the room Nico groaned loudly and yelled at Jacques, "See what you've done! You've broken him!"
Calmly I stepped in and said, "He's not broken - he's in shock. And I don't know why you would prefer me as a hostage than an ally. I can help you guys, but I refuse to be bullied or intimidated into doing things that I don't want to do, or I can't do."
Nico looked at me and replied, "That right there is the problem... Mia, you want to march to the beat of your own drum but know absolutely nothing. You have no idea where start or what to do - you're just a baby vampire with an incredible gift and no clue how to use it."
Biting my tongue I grabbed my bag and pulled out the old queen's journal and opened it to the last entry. Marching across the room I thrust it under his nose and said, "Read."
Nico's eyes widened as he read the entry and he gasped, "Where did you find this?"
Smugly I replied, "Well, Mr Ye of No Faith, it turns out that Queen Rhoda had a hidden study attached to my reading room. And guess who found it."
From across the room, Casper abruptly stood up and staggered across the room. "Wait, you found my mother's diary?"
He walked over to where Nico was laying, and it was only then when he drew closer did I notice the sadness and pain etched into his handsome face. Suddenly he seemed older and more melancholy, like the mere mention of his mother had aged him by ten years. His arctic blue eyes glassed over and he whispered, "What did she write?"
"She believed in your innocence, Casper," I said, putting my hand lightly on his shoulder.
"What?" he muttered in disbelief and then grabbed the diary from Nico's hands and read the journal entry for himself. "She believed in me... Oh, mother."
Turning away from us he retreated back into his dark corner clutching his mother's journal tightly to his chest. I couldn't imagine what he must have felt right now after spending so many years alone in dark dank windowless cell, believing that his parents gone to their graves believing that he was a murderer. Jacques walked forward to go after him, but I grabbed his arm and said, "Give him a few moments to let it sink in."
"We don't have a few moments," Nico growled. "Once Luc discovers that your gone, he will stop at nothing to find you. He will literally be having the guards tear this city down brick by brick to find you. We need to act fast, we don't have time to get - sentimental... This city doesn't need another Tuta the Terrible."
I shivered, recalling the of great Prince who destroyed the first vampire empire after descending into madness and using his dark power to destroy an entire city. Nico had always warned me that Luc could head down the same road as his terrible ancestor, Tuta. I shook my head and said, "Luc's not like that, he's good."
Nico arched a cynical eyebrow and said, "That's not what you told me a few days ago."
I cringed remembering our last conversation, as we were being chased by Luc and his guards and I'd revealed to him suspicions about Luc. But since than things had changed. Bowing my head I said, "I did think that, but I was wrong. Someone who I considered a friend and who I had trusted blindly turned out to be liar. She told me things about Luc which made me doubt him... I should have known better."
Nico did the maths and said, "Are we talking about Henrietta?"
I nodded my head in reply. "I thought she was my friend, but I was wrong. She'd been lying the whole time to me."
Nico fell silent, withholding his judgment from me and then opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by rumbling sound in the distance. All of us stopped and listened. Dust and debris suddenly began to fall from the ceiling as the ground beneath started tremble. Jacques grabbed me, pulling me into the shelter of his larger frame as suddenly the whole chapel jolted back and forth.
"What's happening?!" I screamed.
It felt like an earthquake. The building shook and outside I started to hear the sound of car alarms and sirens going off in the distance. A large chunk of plaster suddenly fell from the ceiling and came crashing down centimetres from where I was standing. Jacques pulled me backwards towards the wall and held me there until the shaking finally subsided.
"What the hell was that?" Jacques asked stepping away from me.
Straightening myself up I replied, "I think it was an earthquake."
"That was no earthquake," Casper said suddenly rejoining us. "That was my big brother. My guess is that he has discovered that his favourite thing in the world has gone missing and already he is starting to lose control over his powers."
"Then I must go back to him," I said. "Without me he'll turn into a ticking time bomb."
Casper reluctantly agreed. "Yes, you'll have to go back to him sooner that I thought, otherwise the earthquakes will only worsen, and other natural disasters will inevitably follow. But first I'll need your help in investigating the scholar who is mentioned in my mother's journal. It should only take a day or so, then I'll return you to the palace, unscathed and unharmed. That should please my brother."
"Thank you," I replied.
"However first, I want to hear everything you've learned about Celia. Then we will go and find this scholar - Okay?" he asked.
I nodded my head and replied, "Okay."
*****
Hi angels,
Happy Monday!
Thank you for all your comments! Most of you were very kind to Jacques, believing that he was a little broken ): And thank you to those who were good enough not to post spoilers from the other books (I try to delete any spoiler comments I find). I hope you guys liked this chapter, next chapter is going to be focused on the mysterious scholar the Queen mentions in her journal! I hope you guys are pumped for it, because there are going to be some crazy revelations!!
It is also time to for a new dream cast! We will be saying goodbye to the Mimansa's popular dream cast and hello to another completely original dream cast by Endcore! To see the Pintrest board check out the link on my profile comment board!!!!
Remember if you want to submit a dream cast then all you need to do is send me a PM on either wattpad or facebook with your cast suggestions for all these character: Luc, Mia, Jacques, Nico, Jacques, Henrietta, Louis and Casper!
If you want to add any other characters like Laura or Celia, then please do!
Note: I am behind on messaging people back because I've been ill but I'm catching up so if you've submitted a dream cast and not heard back from me, please don't worry!!! Xxx
Remember with your cast suggestions I will make a beautiful Pinterest board which I'll share on social media and the image sections of the chapters!
Plus each week, I'll be posting your cast suggestions onto the official story's cast!
So here is this week's official dream cast by Endcore!
Luc – Colin Farrell
Mia – Adelaine Kane
Nico – Hayden Chrisenten
Jacques – Wade Poezyn
Henrietta – Lacey Chabert
Laura – Maiara Walsh
Casper – Matt Lanter