Ally got out of bed in a trance and silently walked out of the room she shared with James without making a sound. She felt like a fog had settled over her mind, or that she was trying to find her way of out a maze in pitch black.
Dressed in nothing more than her silk night gown, she walked outside into the frigid air. Down the steps and into the garden, she continued in her journey, all the while trying to fight the dense, black fog that had settled on her consciousness. Abruptly, her feet stopped walking. A mysterious beauty stood under a tree, watching her. In the darkness of her mind, she felt the woman was waiting for her with a purpose. “Who are you?” she whispered. “Am I dreaming?”
The woman looked at her with a depth of sadness Ally couldn’t fathom. “A friend,” the mysterious woman whispered in reply. “You’re not dreaming. But I promise I will help you, Alessandra.”
Ally nodded dreamily, but on the inside a frisson of fear snaked its way through her. Confusion and a deep terror settled in the pit of her stomach. She mentally screamed and fought desperately against the bonds that held her in their grip, but it did nothing.
“Sleep,” the woman whispered with a wave of her hand and Ally fell back into the deep, dark unconsciousness once more without so much as a whimper.
“I meant what I said,” Arabella said again with the zombie like Ally standing in front of her, even though she knew Ally couldn’t hear her now. “I vow that one way or another, I will ensure that you make it home again.”
She grabbed her hand and they set off on foot to the rendezvous point she had arranged with Vincent. With each step closer to their destination, her feet felt heavier and her soul felt darker.
“Am I really going to just hand her over like some sacrificial lamb?” She looked beside her and her heart twisted at the blank expression on the girls face. “What have I become?” She cried out softly as a tear rolled down her face.
Arabella stopped walking and sat down on the grass beneath her feet. They were only five minutes from the intended meeting place. “Sit,” she commanded Ally. “There has to be something I can do. I can’t just hand her over.”
She put her head in her hands, and prayed to the goddess that she would come up with an idea, a plan…anything. Handing Ally over was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had to make the exchange, or Vincent would make good on his promise and change the girl. She looked up into the night sky, and wrung her hands together.
“Goddess, please,” she begged. “Show me the way.”
A whispered voice floated on the breeze brushing past her ear. “You cannot change fate, no matter what spells you cast. This was destined to happen. You are all merely pawns in a game that is greater than you could ever hope to understand. Give up the girl. Then follow through on your promise.”
Arabella sighed quietly. The goddess was very angry with her, but she still showed her the way. There was hope for redemption yet. Her heart was still heavy with the knowledge of what she was to do, but she would do as she had been instructed. She rose up from the ground and brought Ally with her. “Let’s go,” she whispered kindly to the girl.
A few minutes later, Arabella saw three vampires waiting for her. The blonde one, Natalia smirked as the two got closer. Vincent was nowhere to be seen. She stopped two metres in front of them.
“Where is Vincent?”
“Oh, something came up,” Natalia replied with a smirk and stepped closer to them. “He sent me to collect his cargo instead. I take it she’s got a serious case of amnesia?”
Arabella nodded. “It is done.”
Natalia let out a small giggle and walked up to Ally. She peered into her vacant green eyes and waved a hand in front of her face. “Hmm, I wonder what else I could do that she wouldn’t notice.”
Arabella growing tired of Natalia’s childish antics, waved her hand and commanded Ally. “Wake up.”
Ally suddenly alert and sensing danger in front of her, reached out and grabbed the blonde by the neck. She twisted her around and pulled her flushed against her chest with one hand, a fireball ready to burn her to ashes in the other.
Natalia screeched and fought to free herself from the death grip she was caught in, but to no avail. Ally had the upper hand and was bringing the fireball closer and closer to Natalia. In a desperate plea, she whimpered to Arabella, “Help me!”
Arabella looked down her nose at the pitiful creature in front of her. “And why should I show you mercy when I know you would not do the same for me?”
Natalia’s eyes widened and she tried to deny the truth, but Arabella just waved it away as the lie that it was. “Please,” she begged once more.
The fireball was only inches from her now.
As she watched the scene unfolding, she knew that if she didn’t interfere, Natalia would be dead in moments. She let out a deep sigh, and reluctantly ordered Ally, “Release her and sleep.”
Ally’s arms instantly dropped and Natalia landed with a hard thud onto the grass beneath her. She clutched her throat and dragged in deep breaths. Not that she needed the air of course, but it was still a natural instinct apparently. She glared fiercely at Arabella and the rage seeped out of her. “You’ll pay for that one day,” Natalia raged.
Arabella shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe, but it was worth it.”
Natalia growled her displeasure.
“I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain. I want the girl back. Where is she?”
“Vincent will send her home within the hour now that we have Alessandra,” she said with a sneer in Ally’s direction.
Arabella nodded. “Who is this girl that he wants her so badly?”
“She’s the prophecy girl. Didn’t he tell you?”
“No,” she said a little shocked and now even more sickened by what she had done.
Natalia grinned wickedly. “You really should do some research on the person you’re bewitching next time. This girl is supposed to end Vincent and bring all the immortals back together again. Too bad that won’t happen now.”
“No, I suppose not,” Arabella replied with a sinking feeling. She had no idea that her victim was the prophecy girl until now. She cursed herself for not checking up on the girl before she agreed, but she would have had to do it anyway. “Would’ve been nice to see your species wiped off the earth.”
Natalia growled. “Take her,” she directed to vampires behind her. “I want to go home.”
Arabella begrudgingly let her go into the hands of the ruffian vampires. “I want her back within the hour or I’m coming after Vincent myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Natalia said then stalked off with the two vampires following behind with an unconscious Ally, leaving Arabella alone to contemplate the enormity of what she had just done. “I’ll find a way,” she muttered. “I’ll find a way.”