“I love you!” Penelope said, putting her hand out of the cell and onto his face.
Hunter looked up as his heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but smile and say, “I love you, too. I always have.”
“How did you find me? How did you escape?” Penelope asked.
“It’s a long story,” Hunter said as he continued trying the keys.
“Didn’t Violet see you?” Penelope asked.
“No, she left to go find Rachel. One of her evil subjects got word that she’d been turned and was back home in Westchester,” Hunter said, trying to fill her in.
“What do you mean she went after Rachel? Why would she want her? Is it because she thinks you love her?”
“HA!” Hunter laughed. “No, that’s not why!”
“Then why?” Penelope asked again.
“She wants to find Rachel and my brother and kill them both!” Hunter exclaimed. “We don’t have much time. We have to go warn them.”
“But why? I don’t understand. Why would she want to kill an innocent girl?” Penelope asked.
“There’s an old prophecy that one day a vampire will turn a human girl without the consent of the council. That human girl and the one who turned her will lead to the downfall of the evil vampire coven. The only way to prevent the prophecy from coming true is to kill them both,” Hunter explained.
“No! I can’t believe it. Do you think she’s the one?” Penelope asked.
“Yes! She’s got incredible powers. We have to go quickly. Violet is smart, she knows that Benji will go looking for Rachel and she will have them both trapped and killed.”
“I got it!” Hunter said, opening the lock on the outside of her cell.
“Thank you!” Penelope said, flinging the door open and throwing herself onto Hunter.
“There’s no time for this, not now!” Hunter said. “We can catch up later. Quick, put this on.” He threw her a guard uniform and hat and had her quickly change into it. It was a little big, but it was better than nothing. This way, they wouldn’t draw so much attention to themselves.
“I can’t believe you thought of this! It’s genius!” Penelope said, as she finished buttoning her white collared shirt.
“Let’s go!” Hunter said as he pulled her out of her cell and closed the door.
“I know the way!” Penelope said. “I’ve been here quite a while and they’ve let me outside a few times. I can get us there!”
The two ran through the corridors of the castle, winding their way up and down staircases and over drawbridges. Then, without a hitch, they got to the front doors of the castle. They stood there; looking at each other, realizing this was their last obstacle before they were free.
In the distance, Hunter could see two guards sitting at the doors, signing people in and out. They walked up to the guards as if they were one of them and said, “We’re on break now, off to get some dinner!”
“Right-O!” one guard said back.
“See you in one hour,” the other guard said, as he stamped their hands.
The mechanical chain began to rotate loudly as the door cranked open. As it opened downwards, they walked out, over a moat, into the crisp evening air. Inhaling, Hunter knew he had succeeded. He knew they were free and they could be together again—but first they had to go warn Rachel of what was coming her way.
Chapter Eleven
As Violet approached Rachel’s small suburban house, she was seething with rage. She hated domestic family life and everything it stood for. This house was pathetic to her. Everything it represented was pathetic. She summoned the six evil subjects that accompanied her to march in line behind her as she stomped down the stone walkway. She marched up to the door, ready to tear it off its hinges.
She burned with rage as she thought of everything Rachel had done to her. Because of Rachel she had lost Hunter, the love of her life. Rachel had ruined all her plans and put the whole Greslin Coven in danger. This little brat had wasted enough of her time already, and now she was ready to tear her to pieces, and make her suffer. As she stood there, staring at the hideous red door with the brass lion knocker, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She knew this would be an epic encounter for Rachel’s sorry parents. She knew this visit would rile them up a bit, and that made her feel warm and happy inside. There was nothing more she loved than to frighten others and make them scared of her.
She reached out her boney finger and hit the doorbell with her black painted fingernail. If there was anything she hated more than this pathetic little girl, it was her pathetic human parents that made her think of her own parents—she was ready to tear them apart already.
They opened the door and glowered down at her condescendingly.
Violet stood there, glaring back at them as they stared the seven of them up and down. They wore all black outfits with the Greslin crest on the breast pockets of their silk button down shirts. Rachel’s parents stood there in their boring Dockers and plaid shirts. They couldn’t have looked more pathetic, Violet thought to herself. She knew this would be easy.
“Can we help you?” Rachel’s dad asked with a puzzled look on his face.
“You most certainly can!” Violet said, as she pushed past John and Betsy and forced her way into their house. “C’mon!” she demanded her subjects.
“Excuse me?” Rachel’s mom, Betsy said. “Who are you?”
“Does that really matter?” Violet said with a cackle.
Violet walked around the downstairs, taking everything in, the smells, the family pictures, and the furniture, all of it. She ran her finger over the dusty coffee table and then put her finger up to her mouth and blew the dust off in Betsy’s face as she stood there in awe watching.
“Now, young lady, what do you think you’re doing? This is our house!” John said, trying to figure out what was going on.
“I’m just getting the lay of the land Pops!” Violet answered.
“Lay of the land?” John questioned.
“Yup! That’s what I said, you going deaf?” Violet snarked.
She watched as John turned bright red in the face and she could tell he was starting to get angry. She loved every minute of it and wanted to keep it going for as long as she could. She knew she had these two, and could torment the crap out of them.
“Would you look at this, the fam!” Violet said as she looked at a painted portrait of Rachel’s family on the beach. “What a lovely painting this is! Although, Pops, with all due respect, you’re not smiling here,” Violet said pointing to his face. “Let me see what I can do!” Violet said as she reached into her black messenger bag and pulled out a black marker. She pulled open the cap and then began to draw a smile on the painting. When she finished she looked at her work, which she knew was downright ugly and said, “There, much better!”