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Looking up, Scarlett’s eyes widened on seeing part of the ceiling hanging down, like the panels of a trap door. She could barely make out the edge of something protruding out as years of dust floated down.
Working on instinct, she shoved Turney with all her might, propelling him back and out of the way, right before a large dome slammed down over her and the rest of their group.
Turney hit the wall with a groan of pain, a cloud of dust bursting up into the air as he hit. Groaning still, his eyes opened and met hers. There was confusion there at first, and then fear. Fear she felt in her very soul through their bond as Turney realized what was happening.
“Scarlett!” Turney cried out.
The floor under her feet began to tremble, followed by a loud groaning noise, before they and the whole dome started to lower.
Turney stumbled forward, before stabilizing himself and running toward her. “Scarlett!” he cried, as he slammed his fist into the side of the dome, again and again. She wasn’t sure what it was made out of, or what spell was over it, but it remained solid and uncracked.
Scarlett forced herself to remain calm as her neophyte’s growing panic filled her too. “Go, Turney! Find Octavius!”
“Scarlett! Scarlett!” The desperation in Turney’s wails caused something inside her to ache in pain.
“GO! Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine!”
Octavius took a deep breath. He peered back at the metal wall one last time, before straightening his shoulders and marching forward. The room he was in looked to be an old fashion nightclub from the 50s. Dusty tables and chairs all around. A grand piano was on the stage against one wall.
He eyed the place… It was much more run down than the hallway he’d just been in.
Swiftly walking through to an opening on the far side, his eyebrow rose at the sight of dead roses along a path right outside the door. He peeked into the hallway and found one side blocked with a metal wall, much like the one that had blocked him from the others.
Interestingly enough, the rose path appeared to go up to the wall, even as it led off in the other direction. It probably meant that there had been a spike trap on both sides, so no matter what path they took on the first floor, he would have ended up here.
“Both a path and a sick, twisted taunt,” Octavius said to himself with a sigh.
Dayan was likely watching him… In ‘super vamp’ mode, he could hear the high pitch buzz of the cameras pretty clearly. At least, he heard them now. Before, he hadn’t… Too many fucking spells everywhere. Still, how had Dayan known they’d search the first floor first? Then again, it was the most logical course of action. Octavius made a mental note to try to avoid going with the most logical course of action the next time he was being led into a trap by a homicidal maniac.
Stepping out into the hallway, he followed the dead roses to the right, and all the way to a stairway where the roses continued upward. The blackened petals led him all the way up to the seventh floor, through a door to a secondary set of stairs. At that point the stairway turned into a spiral.
“That bastard,” he cursed. The Knight was waiting in the wedding suite at the very top of the building, wasn’t he? With a hiss, he started up the spiral stairway. There was a door at the top as well, and pushing it open, he found himself in an odd doorless curved hallway surrounded by the scent of licorice and pine.
As Dayan’s smell invaded his senses, his anger welled up. The Knight had wronged him too many times to count. How dare he do this to him?! How dare he try to touch those who Octavius loved?!
Fueled by his rage, he found himself storming forward, stomping over the blackened petals as he went. Around the corner, he found a single door. On it, in fancy metal letters, readOnly True Lovers May Enter.He hissed and lashed out at the words with his claws, the metal lettering flying off onto the carpet.
Taking a deep breath, Octavius grabbed the brass handle and pulled the door open, walking inside. He almost gagged at the cheesy sight of dead roses in the form of hearts, and words likeloveandmine. Just nasty nonsense coming from the very one who had caused him so much trauma.
The petals he had followed there continued on inside, trailing all the way to a large four poster wooden bed that was against the wall, where they formed a heart on the dusty old covers. Besides the bed, there was no other furniture in the room. Though he could see spots on the carpet where other things must have been, their shadows had been formed in dust.
Octavius glared at the Knight who stood before him, smiling and leaning against the bed. Dressed in a simple black dress shirt, slacks, and shoes, Dayan looked as he always had; bronze skin, sharp hawk-like features, piercing dark brown eyes. Though his curly black hair was cut shorter now.
The Knight chuckled as he met his gaze. “Ah, Octavius, you are finally here.”
“Yes, finally, I can wipe your disgusting existence from this earth.”
Dayan hummed. “Maybe, maybe… But doubtful. How long has it been? How long have I been waiting, I wonder? By God, look at you. As beautiful as the day I spotted you. Not a thing has changed.” He held his arms open. “Come here.”
Octavius snorted and crossed his arms, just glaring harder. “Immortality will do that to you. Or have you forgotten that you forcefully changed me into a vampire?”
Dayan tsked, his arms falling back to his sides. “I have not. You were always so bitter about that, weren’t you? But if you had just listened, just paid attention to who you should have, this wouldn’t have happened. None of it, really. You blamed so much on me, but the one really at fault is yourself, Octavius.”
He rolled his eyes, face twisting in disgust. “Did you practice that nonsensical speech? Or are you so used to spewing manipulative garbage that it just comes out without effort or thought?”
“Insolent as always, I see,” Dayan hissed. “No worries, I’ll fix that once and for all this time. You know…it’s the one thing I despised about you. Your drive to defy me.”
Octavius threw his head back and laughed. “Most would defy their kidnappers and torturers. Or didn’t you get that memo?”
