Fairly Tainted

Chapter 2

“Princess?” Whispered a voice that sounded familiar but not at the same time. “Princess? You’re safe here. I’m going to put you down now.”

 I realized I was still hanging upside down over Duncan’s shoulder. I must’ve passed out at some point. He moved me gently until I was standing in front of him. His chest was at my eye level and I stared at him blankly for a second as as the last few moments of my life flashed before me. I looked up to see a handsome face smiling at me. 

 “Nice to see you Princess,” he said. 

 “Duncan?” I whispered his name. His silver eyes captivated me and left me speechless. 

 “Princess?” He asked a bit breathless as he stared at me. 

 “Where are we?” I asked breaking the intense stare down and looked around us. We were inside a small cottage. Several survivors from the council were sitting amongst us in the living room. They were crying quietly to themselves while huddled in a group. 

 “An escape house,” Duncan replied. “It’s a place well hidden and protected by magic to hide from enemies. We will be safe here for now.”

 “Where’s Darren and my sister?” I asked peering at the faces of survivors. 

 “I’m not sure,” Duncan said and went to the window. He peeked through the blind then closed it again. “He should’ve been right behind us but perhaps he took a different route.” 

 “How would he know where to find it?” I asked wondering if he had gotten lost. We weren’t on our land after all. 

 “He’ll know,” Duncan assured me. 

 I looked closer at the faces of the survivors. I was hoping to recognize someone I knew. My aunts and uncles were supposed to attend the ceremony. I wasn’t sure of who was there because we were late and then we were attacked. Nobody looked familiar in the room with me. I took a seat on the couch beside a weeping woman. She had dried blood sprayed across her neck and face. I scanned her body trying to find a source for the blood and it dawned on me that it probably wasn’t hers. 

 “What happened?” I asked Duncan. “Who was that vampire?” 

 “Victor,” he said. “A ruthless killing machine. He’s been harassing other kingdoms trying to take over our lands and enslave our people. I guess he finally made it to us.” 

 “What do we do now?” I asked. “What if he attacks my kingdom? Wait I wasn’t even officiated! Who is in control of the kingdom?”

 “Technically Darren,” Duncan replied after a minute to think.

 “What if something happened to him?” I asked. 

 “Then it would be you and then Chloe if something happened to you,” he replied. 

 A knock came pounding on the door and Duncan pushed me further into the room with the survivors. He threw a big blanket over me and covered my head and robes. The knocking continued frantically. Duncan peeked through the peephole and sighed. He opened the door and Pluto’s tall form fell into the cottage. His hands had returned human and he crawled into the open space while Duncan closed the door. He looked exhausted and battered. He was covered in blood and dirt as though he had crawled here.

 “The vampires,” he huffed. “They’re gone. There is no one else alive.”

 The wails from the survivors was deafening. The weight of his words dropped heavily on us all. My whole family was there with the exception of my uncle Terry. I sat dumbfounded as tears streamed down my face. 

 “What about Chloe?” I shouted out from beneath my blanket. Pluto turned his head to me. 

 “Cleovanna?” He asked.

 “It’s me,” I said and pulled the blanket off my head. “What happened to Chloe and Darren?” 

 “Vampires swarmed them as soon as they made it out of the building,” he panted. “They killed Darren but Chloevanna…” 

 “But Chloe what?” I shouted when he stopped. 

 “Chloevanna surrendered,” he whispered.

 “No!” I screamed. “No! She couldn’t have!” 

 “She did,” he sighed. “They took her away immediately and they left with remainder of those who surrendered which wasn’t many.”

 “How did you escape?” A survivor asked. 

 “I cloaked myself and crawled slowly through the c*****e,” he explained. “They were all too busy draining everyone else to notice the shimmer coast across the ground.” 

 “What do we do now?” Someone else asked. 

 “Princess Cleovanna,” Pluto called to me.

 I had been staring at the wall. I looked at him. 

“I know this is a shock but we need to get you back to your kingdom. You need to let them know what happened here.” 

 “Feran?” I asked; my mind still trying to make sense that everyone I knew was dead. 

 “He was finished off by Victor,” he replied. “After he had drained your father.”

 I bent my head into my hands and cried. Grief, guilt, fear, and anger rolled around inside me. My whole family! Gone! How was I going to rule my kingdom after this? My father barely made it after losing one person. I lost them all. Strong arms wrapped around me and I was held tightly to a warm strong chest. I recognized the scent of honeysuckle as Duncan. The smell soothed me as we sat close.

 “Princess,” he said softly in my ear. “I will escort you back home. I will help you in any way I can. I vow my life to protect you.”

 “Princess?” called one of the survivors. I looked up to see a young pixie girl staring at me with tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes. “Princess, my whole family was in there too. May I come to your kingdom?” 

 “Yes,” I said flatly. “Yes, anyone who needs sanctuary from this attack is welcome in my kingdom.” 

 “I suppose that Princess is no longer appropriate,” she continued. “Thank you Queen Cleovanna.” 

 Fresh tears rolled down my face as she called me Queen. The other fae began to whisper Queen Cleovanna and bowed their heads to me. They were swearing their allegiance to me and my kingdom; Holy Light of Fae. I felt a sense of calm settle into me as I realized that I was now solely responsible for them as well as the three hundred or so fairies in my kingdom. 

 I don’t remember how long we all sat in the cottage before we braved to leave it. None of us wanted to see the aftermath. But it was the only way to get to the vehicles. Duncan led the group with me directly behind him. There were ten survivors in total and we all walked together. Some of the women clung to each other for support. All of the men walked on the outside of the group to protect them; they all were vigilantly looking around us.

 We halted at the forest edge and peered in. The grounds were bathed in red. It glinted in the sun and the smell of death and blood was overpowering. I held my robes over my nose and did my best not to look around at the bits and pieces of flesh around me. Duncan ushered us immediately to the garage where the cars were. I was thankful the vampires didn’t think to sabotage them. 

 “We will need three cars,” Duncan said after counting heads. “Who can drive?”

 Three of the males raised their hands. Duncan went over to the key rack and pulled off three sets of keys. He handed one to each of them and told them to stand by the corresponding car. He then divided up the group and had everyone get in. 

 “I’ll be in the lead car with Queen Cleovanna,” Duncan stated to the drivers. “You will follow us and stay vigilant. I want one person driving and at least two watchers. Stay within a mile of us and we can use the radios to communicate. Understood?”

 “Yes,” the men answered and got into their vehicle. 

 Duncan opened the car door for me and I climbed into the big SUV. This was my fathers as it was the last in the drive way. I tried to keep the tears at bay but as soon as we pulled away and I was no longer in front of the survivors, I melted into my seat and cried.

 “I’m so sorry,” Duncan whispered. “I couldn’t imagine what you must be feeling right now.” 

 “I just want to go back to this morning,” I sobbed. “I want to wake up in my bed and see my father and my sister waiting for me. I wish had postponed when we were running late.” 

 “We can get your sister back,” Duncan said. “I won’t rest until the only piece of your family is back in your arms.”

 “She must’ve been so scared,” I said. “For Chloe to surrender to a vampire? I couldn’t imagine.”

 “She’s strong,” he said. “If she’s anything like you; she’ll survive.” 

 “Me?” I said bewildered. “I’m clueless! I didn’t want to be Queen. I’m so scared and shy about everything. I begged my dad to let Chloe be queen. She’d be much better at it!” 

 “Why would she be better?” He asked. 

 “Because she’s stronger than me,” I answered sadly. “She’s braver. She can make the tough scary choices under pressure. I just want to go hide under my blankets. I’m too cowardly to be Queen.”

 “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit,” he replied. 

 “Chloe was always the outgoing one,” I continued. “Shes tenacious and driven and a leader while I’m just happy to be a part of the group. Ya know?” 

 “You don’t think you’re capable of leading your kingdom?” He asked.

 “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’m certainly going to try my best though. I don’t really have the choice anyway.” 

 “Do you have no other family alive?” He asked. 

 “My Uncle Terry,” I replied. “He was supposed to come today but he was held up overseas for business.”

 “Would he be able to take over if you felt you couldn’t handle it?” He suggested and I thought about it for a while. Uncle Terry was a nervous man. He hated confrontations and basically tries to pretend he’s a human and not a fairy. 

 “No,” I sighed. “That’s an even worse option than me.”

 “Don’t worry,” Duncan sighed. “We will help you figure it out. In the meantime you have myself and Pluto to help in anyway we can.”

 I looked over at Duncan and studied his handsome face as he drove. I hadn’t met him before officially but I had seen him at the few visits I had at the council in the past few years. He was a warrior who helped with security checks and ran patrols. 

 “What happened today Duncan?” I asked him. “What did you see?”

 “I was outside on patrol,” he said as we drove on. “As soon as Feran called us to our posts, I saw a swarm of men breach the perimeter. I couldn’t tell what they were but they were supernatural because they were fast. I couldn’t believe it when I saw they were vampires. I’ve never seen one in the daylight. They weren’t even burning! I saw one attack a patrolman and rip his throat out. Then I knew they were vampire and I hurried inside. It was chaos. Vamps were everywhere and biting at me. I ripped a couple of their heads off but they just kept swarming. I hurried into the room and found Victor attacking your dad so I grabbed you out of there. Darren already had a hold of Chloe so I thought she’d be safe with him.” 

 I began to cry again as I thought about Darren and hearing him yell for me to run. I thought about the look of pain and terror on my fathers face as Victor bit his neck. I decided I needed to let this out now because by the time I stepped foot into Holy Light territory, I was going to be Queen.

 ~Chloe~

 I couldn’t believe my eyes. Victor killed my father! I was so shocked I just stood there and I screamed. I felt a tug on my hand and heard Cleo call my name but I couldn’t move. Darren yelled at her to run then picked me up and started to take me away. I screamed out loud. I couldn’t believe it my father was dead! 

Darren dragged me out of the room into the bright glare of day. I saw vampires attacking fleeing fairies across the whole land. I couldn’t stop screaming and I barely heard Darren’s voice telling me to quiet down and it will be okay. Suddenly three vampires circled around us. Their mouths were bright red and dripping with blood. It looked as though someone threw buckets of it all over their clothes. One vampire seemed to have bathed in it. I could only see the whites of his eyes as the irises were as red as the blood all over his face.

 “Drop the girl,” one of the vampires ordered. 

 Darren set me on my feet but stepped in front of me; protecting me from the three huge men. I felt him vibrate as he worked up his magic. But before he could use it, a vampire slashed at him so fast I barely saw him move and then Darrens neck began to spurt blood before his head dropped from his body. I screamed again.

 “Stop,” ordered a voice and the three vampires who were about to step closer didn’t move a muscle.

 Victor approached me slowly. His blood red eyes burning into me. He smiled and I could see his mouth was still fresh from my father. He lifted a bloody hand to my face and sighed at the caress. 

 “Do you surrender fae?” He asked and looked me in the eyes.

 “Yes,” I whispered and nodded. “I surrender.” 

 Victor rocked his head back and laughed a deep guttural laugh. It was evil and it sent shivers down my spine. I felt myself shake where I stood and he rubbed his hands down my arm as if to calm them.

 “Let’s go boys!” He roared out and the hundred plus vampires stood at attention. They immediately turned and walked back into the woods. Leaving the grounds of the council covered in blood and death. Some of them held souvenirs or a body part to munch on for the trek back to wherever they came from.

 “Bring the prisoners,” Victor ordered and a handful of fairies were ushered forward. They were bound with silver shackles and crying at the pain. “Put them in the van.”

 “What about her?” Asked one of the vampires shuffling the fairies forward. 

 “She’s riding with me,” he grinned evilly.