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I observed her closely, searching for an opening. The spell I had cast earlier had a delayed effect, and I needed the right moment to capitalize on it.
“Ana, please. This isn't you. We can find a way to break free from this darkness.” I continued softly, but she wasn’t listening.
Anastasia replied mockingly, “Save your pleas. You'll soon be gone, and then nothing will stand in our way.”
As she approached, I focused my energy, preparing for the spell's rebound. The moment she was close enough, I unleashed it. The magical energy hit her, causing a momentary confusion, but the control quickly reasserteditself.
Using magic was both of our dark secrets. We were pureblood vampires with a witch for a mother. The rest of the clan would react violently if they ever knew of our magic though. My father sold the tale of us being full vampires to the rest of the clan when we were born, and they bought it.
Anastasia suddenly demanded angrily, “What did you do?”
I replied with a smirk, “A little something to remind you who you are.”
The rebounded spell weakened the control, but I knew it wouldn't last long. Anastasia's eyes narrowed, and she raised her hand. A whip materialized out of thin air, and she lashed it across my chest. The pain that shot through me was something I couldn’t fathom and every restraint I’d put up during my captivity cracked.
“You think a feeble spell can save you? You're pathetic. That’s why we need you gone. You are tainting our blood. Real vampires do not depend on spells.” She cackled before raising the whip and lashing it at me once again.
Agony seared through me, but I endured it, knowing that my gambit had created a crack in the mental prison they'd built around her.
“Harmony Grove will resist you, Ana. They won't accept this darkness.” I grimaced, which only seemed to amuse her. She raised the whip and lashed me even harder than the last time and I winced in pain, trying to grit my teeth and not show her the full extent of the pain she was causing me.
“Harmony Grove will bow to the true power – the power we'll unleash.” She said as she continued to whip me.
As she continued her taunts, I focused on reinforcing the spell's effect. The room echoed with the sounds of her whipping and my strained grunts. It was a battle of wills, a silent struggle for control.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and the head of the vampire council entered, waving a letter triumphantly. Ana’s whip disappeared and a look in her eyes suggested we would continue our little party later.
“Look what we have here, Alexei. A little piece of news that will break your heart,” he announced, waving the letter before me. I strained to look at the letter, my body still stinging from the lashes.
“Your precious Evelyn is taking the next flight to New York. Seems like she is done with Harmony Grove. Your reign is over. Your disappearance didn’t bother her. She isn’t looking for you. All she said was to send her thanks for your help with the case.”
My heart shattered into pieces. For the first time since I had been tied up here, I couldn’t breathe.
Pain stabbed my chest, this time from the torture of having been so easily and callously left by someone so important to me rather than the bite of my sister’s whip. I found it incredulous that Evelyn left me behind. She hadn’t tried to find me, nor had she gone back to the coven. I had so many questions and no way to find answers from my prison.
“Evelyn... left?” I asked in disbelief, unable to process the fact that she just left me.
“Oh, didn't you know? She abandoned you. Left you to suffer.” Ana cackled and I knew she was taunting me. Maybe Evelyn didn’t truly leave me.
The council leader held out a document for me, waving it in front of me “Sign this, Alexei. Renounce your right to the throne, and we'll let you go. You can disappear far away from Harmony Grove.”
I stared at the document, a mix of disbelief and desperation clouding my thoughts. Could Evelyn have left without saying a word? I couldn't fathom it.
“I won't sign anything. Harmony Grove won't submit to your demand. I will not leave the fate of my people in your hands,” I responded in defiance. I would rather let them kill me than let them succeed in their obsessive quest for power.
“Stubborn till the end. We'll see how long that lasts.” He replied, and I tuned their voices out, focusing my energy inwards instead.
The council leader left the room, leaving me alone with my sister. The pain from the whipping was intense, but my mind raced with thoughts of Evelyn and the sudden revelation of her departure.
“You're all alone now, Alexei. No one left to save you,” Ana whispered with a dark smile, and I sighed. I was really in hell.
“Evelyn, why?” I whispered back, I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that Evelyn walked away from me.
“Love is such a fleeting thing, isn't it? She chose her path, and now you'll face the consequences.” Ana replied in a mocking tone.
I closed my eyes, the weight of despair settling in. Alone, battered, and betrayed, I clung to the hope that Evelyn still believed in me, and that she knew that I hadn’t just left her.
It’d been hours since the council leader departed, leaving me at the mercy of my only sister. She had tried every trick in her book to make me give up. Pain shot through every fiber of my being as Ana injected more Noctusbane into my arm. The room spun, my vision blurring as the toxin worked its way through my system. Ana stood over me, a malicious glint in her eyes, enjoying my suffering.
