Rejected And Forsaken
Chapter 22

Narrator

The masked attacker removed his mask as soon as he was certain that his victim was unconscious. But he knew he better hurry up, because she would recover soon. He bent down to remove the expensive necklace she was wearing, which was adorned with precious gems and jewels.

He smirked as he admired it. The necklace shimmered as it reflected the lights. This was what he wanted. He could sell it and get a fortune from it. He was about to remove the necklace from her neck when she started to g***n. His eyes widened. She was waking up! He snatched the necklace, breaking it’s chain in the process and dashed towards the door. He will have to escape before he got caught.

“Carol? Why are you…….?” Kat said as soon as she entered the restroom but trailed off as the attacker bumped in to her as he ran outside. Kat’s eyes widened when she spotted Carol on the floor and looked outside, just in time to see the man run down the deserted corridor. He had chosen the route that would lead outside without entering the ball room. She ran into the ballroom, gasping and panting frantically. She had to get help.

“Help! Help! Carol is being attacked!”

Everyone stopped doing what they were doing.

“What?” king Richard boomed. He dropped the glass of b***d in his hand and the whole ball room went silent as the sound of the shattering glass echoed. Evan, and David hurried towards Kat who was panicking by now.

“I saw him running down the corridor over there. He….he had hit her. Carol is unconscious in the restroom!” she tried to explain the best she could through her gasps of breath. Evan and David ran towards the rest room with Kat while king Richard started to shout out orders.

“Surround the palace! Arrest anyone trespassing! Now!” king Richard was angry beyond imagination. His eyes were red and the nerves on his neck were bulging while beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. The guards scurried away to carry out the orders. King Richard looked around with angry eyes, making all the vampires around him cower in fear.

“He will pay.” His brother and advisor who stood beside him hissed. He too was equally furious. Whoever that was had the audacity to attack the princess? He has sealed his fate on his own.

“Oh hell yes he will. I will rip him limb by limb.” King Richard agreed. It gave him some consolation that his brother was with him in whatever they went through.

“Let’s go and check on her.”

The duo marched towards the restroom, with their elegant robes swaying as they moved. When they arrived, Carol was sitting on the floor holding her head. She was surrounded by her friends, Evan, David and Kat. Her trainer, Nolan, too was with them.

“Baby girl.” King Richard took long strides to take his daughter in his hands. She g*****d painfully as she held her head. She clearly was in pain.

“Daddy’s got you princess.” He cooed and scooped her up. “I’m taking her to her room so that she could get some rest. You may continue with the party Evan. I don’t want to cut it short. I know tonight is a special night for you.” He said and walked away. Kat chose to follow them while Evan, David and Nolan stayed back.

“I don’t feel like enjoying anymore.” Evan sighed. Nolan and David nodded in agreement.

“The clock just struck midnight Evan. So why don’t you just shake their hands and then you can end the party. Perhaps one of them is your beloved.” Noaln suggested. Evan sighed once again. “I guess.”

The trio walked slowly towards the ball room. The atmosphere of the whole room had changed. Everyone was tensed and worried about their princess. Evan knew that he will have to make an announcement so that they would know that Carol is fine. He cleared his throat. Everyone was staring at him expectantly. All of them was waiting for any news of their princess.

“Princess Carol is fine. She has gone to her room for the night. We will end the party in a while. I know this is not what we planned but I no longer want to have a blast while our princess has been put in danger. We still need to replace the attacker so I expect everyone to be co-operative. “ he said and walked towards the exit. He shook their hands one by one, smiling at each of them politely. If he couldn’t replace her tonight, it could mean that she most probably has not yet reached the age yet.

That is what happened to Nolan. He was a year older than Evan but he still haven’t met his beloved. Evan’s heart dropped a little when the last of the visitors left. He didn’t replace his beloved. He gave Nolan a friendly shove, hiding his disappointment. “Looks like we are in the same club dude.” He said. Nolan shrugged.

“That is ok. I’m not in a rush. We are still teenagers.” He reasoned. Ethan had to agree. They were still teens. Why rush anyway? “Let’s go and check on Carol.” Ethan said.

David watched them attentively. It was clear that Ethan was disappointed. All three of them walked briskly towards Carol’s room.

King Richard and Ethan’s dad were speaking at the door. Kat was right beside them. When they saw the three boys approach, they turned towards them.

“Back so soon?” Ethan’s father asked in surprise.

“Yes. I ended the party and no. I didn’t replace her yet.” Ethan answered. He was going to ask him about it anyway.

“That is disappointing.” His father murmured.

“ Yes. But it’s ok. That can wait. Now the main concern is Carol being attacked. We need to replace that person. Where is she now?” Ethan asked.

“She is resting right now. I think I should stay with her.” Kat told them.

Ethan nodded. “And we will join the search for the attacker. He has to pay.” Ethan said.

“How about David?” Kat asked. But David had something else in mind. He was not going to sit back and let everyone else do all the work. He is going to go out and look for the traitor. He wanted to sink his claws deep in to his flesh for hurting Carol like that. No. He actually wanted to rip his heart out of his chest. How dare he lay his hands on her? He deserved to die.

“No. I think I want to join you.” He said, making every one else gape at him. King Richard smirked.

“I admire your courage human. But I think you should stay. You most probably will get hurt.” He replied.

“Please your highness. I want to help. I know how to fight. I can help Ethan and Nolan. It would be my pleasure to replace the person who hurt her.” David insisted.

“But…..” the king looked at his nephew. Evan shrugged. “I don’t mind him tagging along. He will be left alone in the palace anyway.” Evan replied.

The king sighed. “Alright. But don’t get hurt human. Carol will not be happy if you do.” He said and looked at his brother.

“let’s go. We have a lot of work to do.” He said and the brothers walked away. Kat entered Carol’s room while the boys walked outside.

“Where do we look? Kat said he ran down the corridor. So he must have escaped from that side of the palace.”. Nolan said.

“And that is where we should look. Let’s go.”

The three of them went in their mission. Though Nolan and Evan are young, they are skilled warriors and talented fighters. David on the other hand, secretly used his wolf sense of smelling and sniffed the air.

“Finn. You’ve got to help me.”

“Hell yes I will.”

Finn was equally pissed off. Whoever dared hurt Carol had done a big mistake.

David had caught a whiff of a weird scent in the restroom earlier. He tried to ignore it but his sixth sense kept telling him that it was not good.

Then, when he caught the same scent in his nostrils once again, he knew that this could only mean that it must have something to do with the attacker.

David let his nose guide him, not paying much attention to where Evan and Nolan were up to. “Hey. Where do you think you are going?” Nolan called. But David just kept on moving.

“Hey. Those parts of the woods are filled with bandits.” Evan yelled. David froze.

Bandits?

He looked at the two meaningfully and smirked. “Bandits you say?”

They shrugged. “Yeah. Even in the vampire community we have wrongdoers and those who wouldn’t abide by the law.”

David’s smirk grew wider. “Oh then that is where we are going to replace the attacker. I have a feeling only such a person would dare attack their princess.”

Evan and Nolan looked at each other. “You are right. Why didn’t we think of that?”

David chuckled and continued to follow the scent. Finn kept growling in his mind, furious that a bandit attacked her. The scent led them deep in to the woods. But soon Evan and Nolan started to hesitate to go any further.

“Let’s go. We shouldn’t be here.” Evan muttered. David gulped. He didn’t want to leave. He knew he was close. He shouldn’t be giving up now. But he didn’t have any authority over Evan at the moment. He will have to leave with him.

They were about to leave when a girl’s painful cry filled the atmosphere.

“What was that?” Nolan gasped.

David’s eyes zeroed at the direction of the voice and didn’t loose a moment before dashing towards it with Nolan and Ethan following closely. David slowed down when he sensed that he was near and hid behind the bushes when his sharp sense of hearing caught the hushed whispers.

“Shut up. These parts maybe deserted but still, I don’t want to take any chances.” A male voice said.

All three of them looked through the leaves, the moonlight was bright enough for them to see clearly. There, in the middle of the woods was a girl tied to a tree. Two men were standing near her. It was obvious that they had been torturing her. She looked weak and beaten up.

“But why are you doing this? Why are you hurting me? You are my family!” the girl cried in agony.

One of them hissed. “You maybe family but you refused to help us. You refused to go to the palace tonight and help us steal. So now you will pay.”

This piece of information made David’s heart race. His eyebrows knitted in a frown and the b***d pumped in his veins furiously. His breathing was irregular as his heart pounded in his chest.

How could a brother torture his own sister like that, just because she chose to do the right thing. They won’t get away with this if David could help.