Hunter could feel them winding around and going up and down steps. At one point Hunter tripped, but the guards caught him before he hit the ground. As they passed other guards, they kept saying, “Prisoner 11201 reporting to the head leader.”

Hunter got a chill down his spine. He didn’t know who he was going to see, but he knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. He continued walking through what he thought must have been more iron gates as he heard them creak open and slam shut as he walked through. Then a loud buzzing sound rang through his ears and the sound of a vault door opened.

The guard ripped off his blind fold, and there, before his eyes, sat Violet, looking meaner than ever as she hoisted herself up into a throne like chair in the front of a large room, filled with stained glass and pews. It looked to him like they were in an old ancient church, but he knew they were in the jury room of this castle.

Hunter stood in front of her throne silently, waiting to be addressed, as Violet looked him up and down and began to take notes on a piece of paper. He couldn’t imagine what she was writing, but stood there quietly.

“You did it to me for the last time!” Violet screeched, opening up the conversation.

“Did what?” Hunter asked, confused.

“You know what you did. Don’t play dumb with me.”

Hunter paused, and thought for a moment, “I’m sorry Violet, please tell me.”

“At school—you led me on for the last time,” she said.

Hunter realized she was probably right, but didn’t want to admit this to her, not here, not now.

“That’s not entirely true, Violet. We had fun, we had some good laughs.”

“Good fun? Good laughs?” she repeated. “Is that what you thought I was after?”

Hunter knew he was doomed to be imprisoned forever. There was no way out of this.

“Listen, Violet. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Hunter said.

“And all this time you loved her?” Violet retorted, louder than before.

“Her who?” Hunter asked. Now he was really confused.

“Oh, don’t go playing dumb with me, kid. You know exactly who I am talking about.”

Standing there thinking, racking his brain he couldn’t think of one person.

“I really don’t know who you’re talking about. Could you just tell me? I swear. I don’t know.”

“The girl from Westchester. What’s her name again?”

Hunter immediately thought about Rachel. He couldn’t believe that she thought he loved Rachel. This must have been a major miscommunication.

“Violet, it’s not me that loves her. It’s my brother. My twin brother, Benji.”

“Don’t try to pin it on someone else, Hunter. I know your ways. I know your tricks,” Violet sneered.

“I’m not, you have to trust me on this one. I have no feelings for her. NONE. She’s with my brother, not me. And besides, I think you might have misheard one of our conversations, since that is where you got this information to begin with. Maybe you got it confused?”

“DON’T QUESTION ME!” Violet screamed.

Hunter shuddered as her voice echoed loudly in the room. He stood there, feeling introverted and shy all of a sudden. He didn’t want to speak. He felt scared.

He waited for a few minutes until Violet could catch her breath and compose herself up on the throne. Looking around, he saw the guards standing there watching, looking as stern and serious as ever he’d seen them.

After she took a sip of water, she said, “Hunter, I really don’t think this is going to work out between us.”

Hunter couldn’t believe his ears. Had she gone mad? Was she delusional?

“You might be right,” he replied, pretending to look sad about it.

“I can’t trust you, I really can’t. One moment I feel like I know you and that we are close and the next, you are a total stranger from another coven. And speaking of coven…” she paused and looked at Hunter. “Where is the rest of your Vladdicus kind?”

This was the question that Hunter feared. He didn’t want to tell her where they were all hiding. If he told them, they would surely die. Especially with no warning of the Greslin’s coming, they had no shot of protecting themselves against these evil vampires.

“Um, you know, I really don’t know what happened at the end of the night,” Hunter said quietly.

“SPEAK UP!” Violet shouted.

“I’m not sure,” Hunter said again.

“What do you mean you’re not sure? Of course you know where your coven base is?”

Hunter paused and thought to himself about this situation he’d gotten himself into. She was right—what vampire doesn’t know where the rest of his coven lies.

“Listen Violet, I don’t know and even if I did, I couldn’t tell you,” he said boldly.

A loud noise crept up behind him. He turned to see who it was, and he saw the guards marching towards him with their swords out, ready to execute.

“Do the right thing, Hunter. Tell me where they are,” Violet said back in a creepy tone.

“I am doing the right thing. I just don’t know,” he said, now changing his tune to playing dumb.

“GUARDS, TAKE HIM AWAY!” Violet beckoned to the guards.

At that moment, the gates opened and the voice of a girl came pouring in. “No, please don’t hurt me. Please!” she shouted.

Into view came a girl with blonde hair, dressed in an orange prison robe, being dragged into the jury room by four other large security guards. Hunter couldn’t get a close look at her face, but somehow knew he recognized her voice.

“Wait!” Hunter said, trying to buy time, waiting to see who this mysterious, beautiful girl was.

The guards stopped dragging him out as Violet said, “HALT!”

“Did you suddenly remember where your coven is?” Violet asked.

Hunter waited, as the girl was brought into the room and placed right next to him. They took off her blindfold and had her stand there, alone, waiting to be sentenced.

“Penelope?” he asked. “Is that you?”

The girl turned her head and looked at Hunter, then smiled and began to walk towards him.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Violet said. “How do you two know each other?”

Hunter tried to hide the passion he felt for her. He didn’t want to reveal the two had been lovers many centuries ago when they studied abroad in London. He couldn’t let her find out—if she did, she’d surely kill both of them, he thought to himself. But, he hadn’t seen her in hundreds of years. He’d though she died in one of the great wars that had passed.

“I thought you died?” Hunter said, looking longingly at Penelope.

“It was a close call, but I survived!” Penelope said, smiling. “And I tried to find you, but…”

“I searched everywhere for you, Pen, I really did,” Hunter said.

Violet cleared her throat.

“I’ve heard just about enough of this love story,” Violet said. “Hunter, it seems like you just can’t keep your hands off of anyone these days.”

Hunter stood there. Not responding.

“And YOU,” she said, pointing to Penelope. “Seems like you may know a thing or two about Hunter here?”

“Well,” Penelope said, cowardly. “I haven’t seen him, as you know, in many many years.”

Hunter tried to figure out what she meant by that. Then she spoke again.

“You’ve kept me here since the last great war. I haven’t seen or heard from Hunter. You know that,” Penelope said, now getting angry.

“GUARDS, execute her! She’s worthless to us now,” Violet screeched.

“NO! WAIT!” Hunter retorted. “Don’t kill her, take me!”

“Tell me where Benji is?” Violet said, bargaining with him. “If you tell me where he is, we will set her free.”

Hunter looked at Penelope and her beautiful blue eyes, staring back, hoping, and praying for survival.

“Let her go!” Hunter yelled again, getting heated.

Violet gave a nod and the guards came and poked her with a sword.

“OUCH!” she screamed as a tiny bit of her arm was pierced by the sword. Hunter saw the blood oozing out in small drips.

“NO! NO! I can’t bear to watch this anymore,” he said.

“Then, you know what you have to do. Tell us and she will be saved.”

“Well,” Hunter said, taking a deep breath. “I know Benji and the first thing he would do would be to rally the troupes and to get the Blue Tablet.”

Moments after he said it, he regretted it. He knew he shouldn’t betray his coven like this, but the sight of Penelope’s execution was too much for him to stand.

“The Blue Tablet?” Violet asked smugly. “And where might that be kept?”

Violet nodded her head again and the guards came marching back up to Penelope with their swords drawn.

“It’s um…” Hunter said, before they could hurt her again. “It’s at Grandvia Castle.”

“Grandvia Castle, Grandvia Castle,” Violet hummed. “I haven’t heard that name in centuries.”

“TAKE HER AWAY! EXECUTE HER AT DAWN!” Violet yelled to the guards.

“NO, VIOLET! You promised.”

“Look at you, Hunter. You’ve betrayed your brother and your coven to save this poor girl. Now look how far that’s gotten you.”

“AHH!!!” Penelope shrieked as she was dragged out of the jury room with her blindfold back on. “Please don’t hurt me!”

“Violet, you said that if I told you where Benji was, that you’d free her,” Hunter said, trying to coax her to do the right thing.

“Did you really think I’d do that Hunter?” she said. “Would you have done that for me? Would you have risked your life, the life of your own brother and your entire coven for me? I DON’T THINK SO!”