Jean-Paul quickly came around looking at Amy.

He didn’t even expect the punch that landed him right on the face.

Caroline looked angry and ready to throw another. Philip quickly came up behind her and held her back.

“Bastard!” She shouted. “Look at what you’ve done!”

Jean-Paul blinked. Then looked down at Amy on the floor, a skeleton barely covered by her pale skin. Her lips were pale and cracked.

Jean-Paul lowered himself beside her and gathered her into his arms. “I didn’t know.”

Philip pushed a cursing Caroline outside of the room and locked the door.

Philip ran to the phone. “I’m calling the Doctor.”

Jean-Paul nodded his head. “I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”

*********

Amy opened her eyes.

“Morning Amy.”

“Caroline?”

“Yes. Can you see me?”

Amy focused on the fuzzy image of the woman. “Sort of.” “You’ve been out for the past two days. The doctors said you’ve been terribly malnourished.”

“Jean-Paul?”

Caroline cursed in a foreign language Amy didn’t understand. “That man is not getting near you until you regain your health.”

Amy closed her eyes. She felt very tired.

Caroline whipped back a lock of Amy’s hair. In a much softer voice Caroline said, “You reminded me so much of myself when I first met Philip. I should have know you would have done something drastic like this.”

Amy shook her head. “Help me get out.”

Caroline sighed. “Amy. I can’t. You don’t understand. There is no way that you can escape this, it's already been set in motion. The ceremony is in two more nights.”

“Did you just give in?” Amy asked.

Caroline shifted in her seat beside Amy’s bed. “Well no. But thankfully I came around, trust me, I nearly caused a war for Philip before I understood that he and I were meant to be together.”

“I won’t give in.”

“Neither did I. He had to accept me on my own terms.”

Amy shook her head. “I can’t. I won’t.”

Caroline stood up from the chair. “I’ll got get you some tea. Don’t move.”

Amy closed her eyes when suddenly she heard a thud. Had Gorgon fallen off the bed again?

She opened her eyes. “Gorgon?”

The wolf wasn’t on the bed. Amy focused on the fuzzy image of the room.

“Caroline?”

Someone grabbed her arms and pushed a cloth around her mouth. Amy tried to scream but no sound emerged. Voices talked above her.

“What about the other one?”

“That’s Philip’s Soul Mate. We’ll get a price for her too. Bring her along. Quickly!”

Amy’s nostrils flared, something was on the gag. Her eyes rolled and she fell asleep.

*************

Jean-Paul reached for his pistol as his bedroom door crashed open.

“They’re gone!” Philip yelled.

Jean-Paul lowered his pistol and brushed the sleep from his eyes. “What?”

“Caroline! Amy! They’ve disappeared.”

Jean-Paul jumped from his bed.

Philip marched forward eyes blazing. “That damn Council is behind this I know it!”

Jean-Paul frowned. “Or Caroline is helping Amy escape me.”

Philip shook his head. “Never. I know Caroline. She would never leave me. Never betray me.”

Jean-Paul pulled on his clothes.

“Dominique!” He shouted.

The servant appeared. “Master?”

“Have the guards woken up. Trail over ever part of the Palace. Find out where they are!”

“Who Master?”

Jean-Paul brushed past the other vampire heading towards his study. “Amy and Caroline. They’re gone!”

A servant came running up the hall. “Master! Gorgon has been found in the basement he was chained to the wall! Madame Clare is also missing.”

Jean-Paul shouted more orders. The palace would soon be in chaos if he didn’t set things right.

Philip turned to him. “I’ll call the Council.”

A servant running towards them held a leather bound letter in one hand. Both vampires immediately recognized the seal of the Council.

The servant handed the letter to Jean-Paul. “It was found on her bed.”

Entering his study he ripped open the letter and read over it.

“Well?” Philip snapped.

“They’ve kidnapped them both. Caroline will be ransomed, but Amy...” A muscle clenched in Jean-Paul’s cheek. “Amy they will kill.”

*************

Amy moaned and turned onto her side. The hard rock floor offered little comfort.

Her head felt sore and when she tried to move, she found her arms chained to a wall.

A door opposite to her opened and someone walked in.

Amy lifted herself up on her hands. “Who’s there?” A bright cheerful voice answered. “I am Sernium, leader of the Council. Have you heard of me?”

Amy shook her head. She couldn’t see the man hanging in the shadow of the doorway.

“Well, there has always been bad blood between Jean-Paul and I. I suppose he wouldn’t have mentioned me.” The man laughed as if that had been funny.

Amy looked at the shadow. “Are you a vampire?”

The man stiffened and then stepped forward into her small prison cell. The soft glow of the candle was harsh and raw against Sernium’s face and Amy couldn’t stop herself from gasping.

One entire side of his face was covered in a hard bubbled liquid.

“Gruesome isn't it?” He pulled a hand over the hard skin. “Your Soul Mate Jean-Paul did it to me Amy.”

Amy shook her head. “He’s not my Soul Mate.”

Sernium crooked his head to one side. “You speak the truth. Interesting. He has had you in the Palace for an entire month and yet not preformed the ceremony. Most interesting.”

Amy looked away. “What do you want?”

Sernium laughed. “Simple. Your death.”

Amy whipped her head back around. “What?”

Sernium rubbed his chin thinking. He came closer and knelt by Amy. “You don’t want to Join with Jean-Paul do you?” “Of course not!”

Sernium stood up. “There is a way you can stop him from ever coming near you again Amy.”

Amy looked up into the face of the disfigured vampire. “How?”

“Kill him.”

Amy blinked. “I’m sorry, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m still sick and he’s a vampire!”

Sernium nodded his head. “Yes. But I of course could help you. Then you would be free.”

“You’d let me go?”

“If you agreed to help me trap and kill Jean-Paul.”

Amy paused to think. She hated Jean-Paul. She certainly didn’t want to spend the rest of eternity with him. But to kill him, she hated killing flies, she doubted she could actually be involved in someone’s death.

Sernium waved a hand in the air. “His death, or yours Amy. Does that make the decision easier to bare?”

Amy took a deep breath. “Yes.”

**********

Jean-Paul sat before his fireplace, hands holding his head. The empty Brandy container beside him a testament to his condition. Two damn weeks! And not a word, nothing. He knew not if she lived, or was dead. Caroline had returned a few days ago and unfortunately she had no news about Amy. She told them both that she and Amy had been separated immediately after they were taken.

“Jean-Paul?” Philip asked.

Jean-Paul gave a small nod of his head. “Yes Philip?”

“Sernium has sent a telegram.”

“Put it on the table.” He took his glass and downed the rest of the brandy.

Philip laid it down.

Jean-Paul looked at it. “It’s probably to tell me when they plan to kill her.”

“The spies have almost narrowed down where she might be held.”

Jean-Paul shook his head. “She’s lost to me.”

Philip opened his mouth to speak.

Jean-Paul silenced him with a wave of his hand. “Allow me one wish Philip. Leave my presence here. Take Caroline with you and go somewhere else. You remind me of her too much.”

Phillip gave a small bow. “I am sorry Jean-Paul.”

Jean-Paul stared into the fire’s flames. “I know.”

It wasn’t until the fire began to die down that Jean-Paul actually looked at the letter from Sernium.

At first he thought it was the Brandy affecting him when he read the message. It couldn’t be.

“Amy?” He asked aloud.

Amy supposedly wrote sent the telegram, she told him she was fine. She said she was being held by Sernium at the underground Palace of Genoa. Sernium wished to confront him in a battle for her. If he won, she would be released, if he lost, they would let her go. Either way, she would live.

The message read a date at the bottom, two weeks from tomorrow. The date of the battle Jean-Paul assumed.

Jean-Paul shook his head trying to clear the hazy effect of the alcohol he’d consumed. There had to be a trick. Sernium knew he outmatched him in battle. Why would he wish to fight?

Perhaps Amy wasn’t really in Genoa. It could be one huge elaborate trick.

“Philip!” Jean-Paul shouted. He hoped his friend hadn’t left the Palace just yet.

Soon enough Philip appeared outside his door. “What? What has happened?”

Jean-Paul shoved out of his chair. “Which? Which of the Palaces had the spies narrowed down?”

Philip blinked. “Rome, Orleans, Copenhagen, Genoa…” “Genoa!”

Philip lifted his hands up. “What?”

Jean-Paul shoved the telegram into Philips hands. “Read. Dominique!”

His servant appeared. “Prepare my carriage and ship for a journey to Genoa for tomorrow night.”

“Yes Master.” Dominique quickly ran off to put through the orders.

Philip shook his head. “But this could…it most likely is a trap! Jean-Paul, you won’t walk into that Palace alone!”

Jean-Paul nodded his head. “Of course not, you’re coming.” “But the date at the bottom?”

“So what? Do you think Sernium just expects me to wait around and gnash my teeth while Amy is being held by him.” Philip shook his head.

“Where are you two going?” Caroline asked from the doorway. “And what is with all this shouting?”

Jean-Paul motioned her out of the doorway and ran down the hallway to his study.

“You explain it to her Philip.” Jean-Paul said over his shoulder. He had to prepare.

**********

Amy sat at the table across from Sernium. In the two weeks she had been a prisoner she still wasn’t used to his twisted mask of a face.

“I sent the telegram three nights Amy. I know he’s coming here as fast as he can, which means he’ll arrive tomorrow night. I do hope you haven’t decided to double cross me.” Amy shook her head. “Of course not.”

She lowered her head and limply poked at her food. She’d begun to slowly regain her strength. Sernium, since their agreement, had let her stay in a room off from his. It was similar to being at the Palace with Jean-Paul, but at least she knew that in the end she would be free of both Sernium and Jean-Paul.

“Did you see the costume I choose for you tomorrow Amy?” Amy looked up. “Yes. Thank you.”

“I thought it was appropriate.”

Amy’s costume was that of a medieval Bride. She actually was not thankful for it, although it was spectacularly beautiful. It was another way of turning the knife in Jean-Paul’s back. And she had begun to have doubts about betraying him so coldly.

“The events will start at seven sharp.” Sernium continued. “I of course will present you to the court of the Council as a so called bride that Jean-Paul and I will be fighting over for the rights to. To bleed you that is.”

Amy shuddered and avoided Sernium’s gaze. “I remember my instructions.”

“Yes. I’m sure you do.”

Sernium’s voice was clear. Don’t mess up my plans to kill Jean-Paul.

“Just don’t disappear behind the crowd. I need you clearly visible to Jean-Paul when the moment occurs. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Sernium drank another cup of wine.

Amy clasped her hands together. It would take all of her strength to get through the evening tomorrow. She hoped nothing went wrong, no upsets. For if there were any upsets, most assuredly both her and Jean-Paul would be killed.

*********

The following evening came much too quickly for Amy. Before she knew it, she was decked out in the golden gown with the beautiful silk braids woven through her hair. Sernium’s servants moved around her, clasping jewelry on her. If one thing, she learned that vampires always made a show of everything. As she moved before the mirror, she couldn’t even recognize herself. Would Jean-Paul?

The veil and crown were the last to go on her head. A small tiara that held tiny diamonds and pearls along, holding a white veil that trailed behind her back and to the floor. The last thing handed to her was the knife strapped to her waist. The tiny jewel encrusted dagger was an expensive and deadly little weapon.

“Wonderful!”

Amy turned to find Sernium walking into her room. He wore a costume that looked like something one of the three musketeers would have worn, in white and gold. Floppy hat and feather included.

He toured around her, touching a lock of hair, lifting a piece of silk. “Just like her. Wonderful.”

Amy frowned. “Like who?”

Sernium started as if he had said something he hadn’t meant to. “Nothing. Nothing at all. Well Cherie. The party is about to get started. It’s going to be one hell of a night.”

Amy sadly agreed.

Sernium held out his arm and Amy reluctantly took it. He swept her out of her room and quickly down the hallway towards the enormous ballroom she’d seen only once. As they got closer she could hear cheering and music.

“Has it already started?”

“Of course.” Sernium said. His face looked far to eager for Amy to stand. She was beginning to feel nauseous. Sernium’s arm on hers tightened. “Don’t get cold feet Cherie. That would be very...bad.”

Amy sucked down a small cry of fright. Sernium’s eyes were a pale yellow glow.

She focused on the music ahead of her. She focused on the future of her freedom.