2o; it's like, the wedding from hell – literally!

"I'm not taking you with me," Erik said, his eyebrows furrowed like stormclouds.

"You don't even know what's happened," I protested, "I can't hear Alexei's voice anymore, he might be... He might -"

I swallowed hard at the thought of what might have happened.

"Even more reason for you not to go down there," Erik repeated gruffly, his eyes intense. "Christoph is a powerful vampire, Lilly, he has some very powerful enemies. Practically half the werewolves in the forest want him dead after Giselle's stunt... Not to mention other vampires – you could be a target. Who knows what could be going on down there..."

Erik was in urgent thought, and it was only went I felt a cold stinging gust of wind that I realised we had started moving again.

"Where are we going?" I mumbled, unconsciously tightening my grip around Erik's neck. I had only just found him again, I refused to be separated from him now, "Erik, please..."

"I can't let you get hurt," He growled, "You know I can't. I love you, but Christoph is still my master... I can't let him be killed. And I can't take you with me."

I saw his logic, of course – why take the frail, fragile human into a supernatural deathzone? Of course, it didn't make me feel any better being locked up somewhere where I had no idea what was going on. In seconds we had arrived back at the burnt stone balcony, outside my impenetrable prison. I could already feel my heart starting to pound at the thought of Erik in danger, worrying. My hands shook as forced them to unlatch themselves from around him. Even Erik's normally perfect composure appeared to be crumbling.

"I promise I'll be back as soon as it's safe," he said seriously. I was struck by how unusually hard his face had become, but his eyes softened when they reached my face. He reached out and his arms wrapped around me, pulling me towards him, and before I even realised it, he was kissing me. His lips, warm with the blood he'd just taken from me, were pressed hard against mine, and I never wanted them to stop...

But he was standing up on the ledge before I knew it. The wind was lifting his shiny dark hair up and he smiled down at me tightly.

"I love you, Lilly," He said, his voice husky and raw, "Don't forget it."

Before I could reply, he was gone.

It felt like I'd just been punched hard in the gut. My eyes watered, and I felt all the strength leave me. I remembered the sound that had come from the hall below us, and my mind was plagued with theories, each one scarier than the last. Not only was Erik there – so was Zoe, so was Kay, Felix, Celeste, Alexei and Giselle. All of them were in danger, and I had no idea how much, and once again, I was useless, helpless, and incapable of doing anything that could save them.

What had gone wrong? Everything had looked so perfect when I'd entered the party... Had rival vampires really attacked Christoph? Or had Elias and his clan of wolves decided to break their agreement with Giselle? Was this because of me, and my "antidote" powers?

All I could do was wait, and hope he'd be okay.

I went inside, knowing that sitting outside on the balcony would attract attention to prying eyes. Erik had told me to keep myself safe, and for once, I was going to take his advice. I didn't sit down – I couldn't trust myself to move too much when I was this frightened. Again, I tried fruitlessly to search for a connection to Alexei's mind, and heard nothing. I was alone.

So much for my plans to escape, I thought to myself, almost wanting to laugh with misery.

That's when I heard it. Not a subtle creak or snap, a blood-curdling scraping noise from outside the balcony, getting closer.

My heart beating like a drum in my head, I stepped towards it, knowing that whoever was out there must have known I was here. The scraping continued, like nails on a chalkboard. I stepped outside, and I gasped at the sight Alexei, running his fingernail across the stone wall, leaving a deep groove in the impenetrable rock.

"A-alexei, what-" I began to say, in shock.

He looked up at me and his face split into a sleek smile, his fangs delicately elongated over his bottom lip warningly.

"Lilly, sweetheart," he said, his voice soft and dangerous, "You're all alone... How careless of Erik to leave you all by yourself, especially in times like these." As he spoke his dark, calculating eyes were tracking my every movement, like a predator looks at his prey.

"You know you c-can't bite me," I said, unbelievably frightened by the look in his eyes, "Wh-what do you want?"

"Ah," Alexei straightened up, stepped forward, and looked at me coldly, "Isn't that quite the question... In fact, I'm surprised you haven't worked it out yet... Well, no, I'm not, you aren't very bright, are you?"

I didn't say anything, trying to piece it together. What Alexei had said before was a lie. It must have been. It was all a trap to lure away Erik. Alexei had always hated Erik, he was so jealous of him. He wanted Erik destroyed, so he could reap all of Christoph's rewards. But Alexei couldn't have disrupted the largest gathering of powerful being all by himself, could he?

"Christoph-" I began, thinking it the most obvious answer.

I was interrupted by Alexei's hooting laughter at what I'd said.

"Don't be a fool, human," he spat, "Do you honestly think that old man would sabotage his own pathetic wedding? Christoph is weakening – that much is obvious. He's become too easy to us to deceive. Did you see the soppy, lovesick look in his eyes? Much like your precious Erik," he sneered the word, "Christoph was defeated because of his weakness... I know who can give me the power I want, and it's not Christoph. Christoph is going to be executed – with your help, of course, my dear."

I was speechless.

Alexei had betrayed his master – an act, that according to Erik, was supposed to be impossible. And he wasn't the only one, according to what I'd just heard.

"What have you done?" I asked lowly, hearing a steeliness in my voice that I didn't know that I even possessed. My hands had clenched into white knuckled fists – even though I knew my puny strength would be of no use here.

"It was quite a simple plan, really," Alexei said smugly, "We fooled the old man, and we fooled Erik into leaving you alone. The party downstairs has been taken over, thanks to some of my connections, and if everything goes smoothly – which it will – we'll use every drop of blood you have in your scrawny, worthless body to execute anyone who stands against us."

I could feel rage building up at what he was saying – it wasn't fair. It was underhanded and wrong and I wished that I could reach out and hurt him...

"You're disgusting," I said, unable to express how cheated I felt, "You pathetic little creep, you'll do anything, anything, just because you're weak."

Alexei's lip pressed into a thin line, and for a moment he looked tensed to spring, but just as he looked about to attack me, he held back.

"I won't kill you yet, human," he said slowly, staying calm, "I'm going to make you watch as I kill everyone – Christoph, Felix, Kay, Celeste, Erik... Then, I'll kill you."

Suddenly I felt his grip on my wrist, like a crushing iron band. I heard myself gasp in pain when his other hand wrapped around my hair and lifted me up by it.

"Now," he whispered roughly into my ear, "Let's go join the party, shall we?"

I was in too much pain to give a coherent answer – but the world was already moving past us at a dizzying rate and I choked on my breath.

When we stopped, I barely recognised the place, that not even an hour before had been the most beautiful scene in the world.

Alexei let me go abruptly, leaving me to fall to the floor, which was strewn with glittering shards of shattered glass, which had previously been the magnificent floating bauble containing glowing lights. I immediately felt the glass break the skin on my forearms and my bare knees, and no sooner had I been cut then a snarling chorus of ravenous vampires had greeted me. My scalp where Alexei had grabbed me by the hair was prickling and pounding, and my arm was white hot like it had been fractured.

I looked up and I saw it – the debris. The hall had been destroyed. Furniture had been overturned and obliterated, there were dents in the polished marble floor and holes in the walls caused by vampires being thrown through them during the fight. The lights were out – the hall was lit only by the remaining dim chandeliers, casting a spooky glow over the faces that were looking down at me. The sparkling and exotic guests had either disappeared, or else they had been imprisoned or destroying by their captors – mangy and mean looking vampires that reminded me of the one Christoph had "tested" me on.

"Don't touch her," Alexei snarled at them, forcing them to back away from me, "Make a move and I'll kill you."

They were all watching me, staring at the scarlet blood that was steadily coursing down my arms.

Shuddering with the pain ripping through, I made an effort not to make a noise as I dragged myself to my feet. Where were my friends? Where was Erik? Was Alexei really going to use his vampire army to assassinate everyone?

When the dizziness cleared, I was able to see what was going on. I turned around. Behind me, all of them frozen in place like statues – unmoving, unblinking – stood an assortment of people I knew and plenty that I didn't, the guests to Christoph's wedding. I searched the people in confusion, immediately picking out Felix, who was caught in a ferocious mid-snarl. Celeste too, was in an elegant battle stance, and Kay's face frozen in horror. Zoe was there too, amongst a cluster of other terrified looking staff, her orange hair unmissable. And Erik...

Erik was at the front, looking the most formidable of the lot, his brilliant eyes staring out towards me in desperation. He was unable to move, but he could still see me. My heart twisted in my chest at the thought of how he must feel, seeing me here. I looked back at him determinedly, wishing I could tell him that everything would be okay.

I didn't know how Alexei had done it, but somehow he had paralysed everyone in the ballroom at the point of the takeover.

There were only two living statues that I couldn't see...

"What did you do to them, you bastard?" I choked out, my voice thick and my eyes tearing up with the hopelessness of the situation.

Alexei smiled at me like a cat, and gave an airy light wave to his hungry looking soldiers. They erupted in snickers and moved to the sides of the room, making room for...

Giselle stepped forward, her beautiful face twisted into a devious mask of amusement at the horrified expression I wore. She looked just as exotic and wild as ever, but something about her was now distinctly different. Her face was harder, less natural and more cold. Her teeth were sharper and her cruel mouth was red with blood.

Now I understood.

"Lilly," She shot me a ruthless, bloody smile, "It's nice to see you... We can finally finish this little game."