ohn stared in awe at the elegantly dressed throng gathered in the large golden chamber for the formal ceremony. Along the walls were symbols written in hieroglyphs of every name of each royal and jars decorated with gazelles. Staring up at the ceiling, he noticed a large painting of a woman. She had dark hair and dark eyes with a gold headdress on her head. Her smile was captivating. He wondered if she was Queen Amerie that Rafael had once mentioned to him. The crowd hushed as Sage made her appearance and walked solemnly toward the center of the room. Behind her were two golden thrones. One was bejeweled with emeralds and the other decorated with diamonds. She walked up the ivory steps and faced the crowd. She was dressed in black and gold with a long train bundled at her feet. In her hand, she held a golden scepter, and on her head, she wore a gold and sapphire crown with her long hair pulled back into a twist with loose curls. Her eyes were luminous and her lips glistening. The coven stood to her right.
Lisa and Anna wore black strapless evening gowns, while the men wore tuxedos. Cody still wore his cowboy hat with his suit, while Billy wore his ruffled shirt under his jacket. Pedro wore a mariachi outfit with a white shirt, a black string tie, black pants, jacket, and a red cummerbund with a sombrero on his head. Pedro’s love, Maria, also wore a mariachi outfit with a white blouse, a full-length black skirt, jacket, bow tie, red sash, and a wide-brimmed hat.
John noticed to the left that there was a long hallway called the Halls of Nayah that held paintings along its grand walls of all the royals of the Nayah family. He told himself he would go and take a better look at it once the ceremony was over. Standing beside Sage was a vampire with jewels in his hair and painted eyes who Anna said held her as a baby. He presented a gold and emerald crown to her that she would soon place on her chosen mate.
The thick grand doors made of black onyx and gold opened as the king made his way down the passageway leading to the steps where he would kneel to be crowned. Sage smiled warmly as he approached. John could hear the sounds of a harp playing in the distance. He recalled how just a few months ago, he didn’t think this day would happen and the likelihood seemed impossible with the events that took place. As he watched the king kneel before the queen, John recollected those events in his mind, starting with the night of Sage’s disappearance.
Everyone stared at an unresponsive Anna while Daniel knelt at her side. “It was obviously a silver hunting knife,” Billy said, “that’s the only thing that can do damage to a vampire.”
“She wasn’t staked in heart; she just needs blood, doesn’t she?” John asked. “Yes,” Lisa replied solemnly. “She needs human blood,” he said. “Yes,” she answered. “Well then, it’s a no-brainer,” he said, extending his wrist. “What are you doing, John?” Lisa asked. “He’s going to let Anna drink from him,” Cody said.
“No,” Lisa said anxiously.
“I have to do something instead of feeling helpless,” John said. Billy nudged his shoulder. “There’s something you need to know about a vampire’s kiss.” “It awakens,” he paused, “you feel sensations akin to lovemaking. It’s very intimate.” “It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” John said. “I’ll need your help,” he said holding out his arm. “I can’t do this myself.”
Billy sighed and with his sharp claws slit John’s wrist as he leaned over Anna and held his hand over her partially opened mouth. “C’mon,” John said as the blood dripped from his wrist like a slowleaking faucet. Anna started to respond, extending her tongue and licking his wrist, tasting his blood. Her bloodlust awakened, she grabbed hold of his wrist tightly and began to drink. John could feel the sensation of the blood draining from his body as Anna continued to drink. “Anna,” Lisa said fretfully. “You’re taking too much.”
Anna continued to drink harder as the others looked on intently.
Cristian remembered an injured Sage drinking from his wrist when she needed human blood as he watched.
“Anna!” Lisa yelled. John’s skin turned pasty white as she released her grip and he collapsed to the floor. “John!” Lisa screamed. Anna twitched and turned as the wound in her neck healed. She sat up, adjusting her eyes. Lisa grabbed John who lay unconscious, a look of rapture on his face. “We need to get him to a hospital,” she said.
“Sage,” Anna said hoarsely looking around. “She’s gone,” Cristian said staring at her forlorn. “We have to find her,” Anna said anxiously, getting up. “Pearson has her,” Cody said.
While Anna got up, Cristian picked up the crucifix, grimacing as it burned his hand, leaving an imprint while he placed it quickly inside his pocket.
Anna wrung her fingers through her hair in irritation, remembering Rafael’s ambush. “No,” she said. “No.”
Pedro ran back up the stairs. “There’s no sign of Queen V or Pearson,” he said. Anna’s eyes welled up. “I’ve failed her,” she said. “No,” Cristian said. “Don’t blame yourself. It is I who let her down.”
“She knew,” Anna said. “That’s why she sounded as though she was saying good-bye to us. She knew.” They heard the sounds of footsteps racing down the stairs. “We need to get going now,” Anna said.
“What about the blood?” Daniel said pointing to the puddle on the stairs. “We’ll have to leave it,” Anna said. “We have no choice.” “It may work in our favor since the police were looking for Pearson.” “He has Sage,” Cristian said, “he doesn’t care.”
They flew up to the roof where they saw Samuel still looking out toward the city. He turned to face them, his eyes tear-streaked. “We have to find her,” he said stricken. “I know,” Anna said softly.
“I’m taking John to the hospital,” Lisa said carrying him over her shoulder. “Not without me,” Cody said. “I’m going with you,” Billy said. In seconds, they were gone.
Anna closed her eyes in concentration, trying to speak to Sage telepathically. “Nothing,” she said. “I’ve tried too,” Samuel said. “He could’ve taken her anywhere,” Daniel said. “We have to do something,” Cristian said. “Time is against us.” “He’s going to torture her,” Samuel said. “He wants her to feel pain until she begs him to kill her.” Cristian stared at Samuel in distress.
“How do you know?” he asked. “Because I can feel it,” Samuel said clenching his teeth. “Damn him,” Anna said, her eyes brimming like a cup about to overflow. She stared at Pedro who was looking out toward the skyline downcast. “Don’t think that just because of this diversion that you don’t have to answer for your treachery,” she said, approaching him with veiled lips.
“When we find Queen V, you will answer to her.” “That’s right Anna,” Pedro said firmly. “I only answer to her.” Anna snorted and walked away.
Lisa, cradling John, accompanied with Billy and Cody arrived at the emergency entrance to the hospital. “We need some help here,” she yelled as the nurses ran over and placed John on a gurney. One of the nurses turned out to be Randi who was on duty. “What happened?” she asked. “He was cut,” Lisa said. “It was an accident.” Randi looked at their costumes. “You came from the masquerade ball?” she asked. “Yes,” Cody said. “We’ve been getting a lot of patients from the hotel,” Randi said. “There was a blackout and some of the patients were trampled?” she asked questioningly.
Lisa, Cody, and Billy nodded their heads. “He lost a lot of blood,” Lisa said staring at John. “We’ll take care of him,” Randi said. “What’s his name?” “John,” Lisa replied. “John Fisher.” Randi furrowed her eyebrow remembering when Rafael told her about his assistant named John who went off with the vampires.
“John, you said?” she asked, staring at their colorless complexions. “Yes,” Lisa said staring at her. “Please help him.” “We will,” Randi said, looking at them guardedly before leaving as John was wheeled away.
“This night is a nightmare,” Lisa said. “We have to find Queen V, and John has to be okay.” “He will be,” Cody said, rubbing her shoulders. Billy continued to stare at Randi with curiosity. A few seconds later, Randi came out of the emergency room approaching them. “Your friend is going to need a blood transfusion,” she said. “After that, we’ll monitor his condition for any changes.”
“So he’ll be okay?” Lisa asked. “He should pull through,” Randi replied. “The wound was superficial.” “How did he get hurt?” she asked, fishing for information. “Don’t know,” Cody said. “When the blackout occurred there was mass chaos, so we don’t know how the injury happened,” he lied.
“I see,” Randi said. “We’ll wait,” Lisa said. Randi nodded her head and walked away to talk to the other nurses.
They walked up to his room, peeking through the curtains to watch the transfusion. The blood going from the IV into John’s arm transfixed the threesome. Billy, staring hungrily at the blood, began to sing a chorus from a song that popped into his mind to squelch his bloodlust. Cody noticed Randi watching them from the corner of his eye.
Anna, Cristian, Daniel, Samuel, and Pedro arrived at the loft in silence. All lost in their thoughts of the events that took place at the hotel and of the agony that Sage may be experiencing at Rafael’s hands. Daniel reached over to take Anna’s hand, but she brushed his hand away.
“I need to know if Pearson kidnapped my parents,” Cristian said, expressing his thoughts aloud. “We find my parents, we find Sage.”
“How do you know?” Samuel said.
“Didn’t John say that Pearson always has a backup plan?” “What if this is just another ploy to trick us.” “All I do know is that both Sage and my parents are missing,” Cristian snapped. “Well, arguing isn’t going to bring either back,” Anna said sternly. “We need extra hands.”
“We can’t go to the police and say ‘Can you help us find a kidnapped vampire?’” “We need help from Sage’s subjects,” she said. “We need to call a meeting and summon every vampire in New York, and beyond if need be.” “With Sage missing, each second lost is against us.” “We know he hasn’t killed her yet because we would feel it.” “But Pearson won’t wait long before he completes his task, which is all the more reason we need to find Sage, and soon.”