A Vampire's Pride

Girl Talk

Viola's POV

"I can't find anything." The Wiccan witch says simply after slicing Kilian's hand for the fifth time. He clenches his teeth in anger as she smiles slyly at him.

"You couldn't have told me that after the first time?" He growls out as King Atticus shuts his eyes in frustration.

"I could've." She nods in agreement as Kilian snatches his hand back. I bite my lip, glancing at the blood filled map. The map displayed the four continents of Holdrex— Atticus was king off all of them. Honake, Marlowe, Sardoni, and Sufri. Right now, we were standing in Sufri, where the king and his camps reside in. This was where the army was kept, in case of any other dimensions opening up or demanding war.

I glance at Kilians black blood, and how it hadn't responded to Varla's spell at all. She commanded it to go to wherever my father was— it dropped and seeped into the paper. She had done this with five maps of the five dimensions— not just Holdrex.

"He's not in any of the dimensions." I mumble, crossing my hands over my chest. Where else could he be?

"Are there anymore dimensions? Places you can search?" I ask, searching Varla's empty eyes for answers. She gives me a sorrowful smile and nods slowly.

"Settrinos," She glances at Kilian nervously, as if saying the word would conjure up more demons. She jabs a crooked finger in his direction. "His realm. The underworld." She finishes, eyeing me with pity as Claire touches my shoulder. I shake my head, trying to make sense of it all.

"But— that would mean that he has to be—" I'm interrupted as Claire squeezes my shoulder and gives me a sad glance.

"Dead." Claire whispers to me as I shake my head and push her hand off of me.

"It's not adding up." I say, eyes raking over everyone in the tent.

"Vi-" Claire starts as I gulp.

"Don't." I say in a deathly cold tone. "Don't try to tell me he's dead. He was alive a couple days ago and there's no way he could've just vanished off of the face of the realms. Body and all." I finish. Realization strikes me at the same time as Varla's face lights up.

"Body and all!" We both repeat in excitement, me immediately perking up. Kilian stares at me intensely through his dark eyelashes, trying to read what we had just realized.

Claire stares at Atticus in bewilderment, trying to catch on to the point we were making.

"Think about it," I say moving towards the maps. "His blood just sank through the maps into nothing. A bloody mess." I clarify.

"If he was dead," Kilian catches on swiftly. "His body would've at least shown up somewhere." He finishes, looking at me in admiration for a split second. I clear my throat and look towards Claire and Atticus.

"Questions?" I ask, glancing between them briefly. Claire looks a bit ashamed, biting on her fingernails as I stare.

"I've got one." Atticus says, not breaking eye contact with Kilian. "How do we infiltrate your realm?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at the beautiful demon. Kilian smirks, enjoying the thought of having the answer to what Atticus doesn't.

"Now you know that I'd be a traitor to my crown if I told you that." He says smugly as I take a step toward him. I give him a pleading look as his smirk falters.