Crown of Blood

prologue

Thirteen years ago

"Your father said no candy before bed, remember?"

The young girl stood atop a stack of cookbooks on the kitchen counter as she attempted to reach the jar of candy on the top shelf.

"But Uncle Eddie, I promised myself some skittles today!" she exclaimed, causing Edison to let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Fine," he grumbled, prodding her back with a wooden spoon. "But I will neither partake in nor bear witness to such a heinous crime."

The girl managed to grasp the candy jar and gleefully began to stuff her face with sweets.

"If your father came in right now he would have my head, a very handsome head mind you, on a stick and - how dare you?" Edison looked genuinely mortified when he noticed her chowing down on the candy. "You're eating it all!" He slapped her hand with the spoon and took the jar before proceeding to grab some for himself.

"I wash gonna shave shum for you," she mumbled through a full mouth of skittles.

"Oh sure. If I recall correctly, the last time you -" he was cut off by the blaring sound of alarms ringing throughout the castle.

The girl looked up at him with wide eyes. "Did they find out about the candy?"

Edison put a finger to his lips and brought the nine year old to his side. Gone was his childish attitude, having been replaced with a serious focus. There was no drill scheduled for today. He started to count the number of alarms.

Four.

An attack.

Edison grabbed the girl's hand and ushered her into the hall. He needed to get them back into the Royal Wing as it was the only area that had access to the securest safe rooms under the castle, intended for the royal family.

"Uncle Eddie? What's going on?" She was starting to recognize the severity of the situation.

"There's some bad wolves outside the palace, Skittle." He rounded the corner and pushed past the large wooden doors of the Royal Wing. "Not to worry, your dad will have this under control. My job is to get his princess to the secret rooms, so I need you to work with me, okay?"

"Roger that, Detective Twix. I will be your backup." She furrowed her brows and glanced around the hall with a newfound determination.

A shattering crash resounded somewhere behind them. Suddenly, the pace of the alarms changed.

Four. One. Four.

The attackers were in the palace.

Edison halted. He picked the girl up and urgently sped towards the nearest entrance to the tunnels.

Agonizing screams began echoing through the halls.

As they passed her bedroom, the girl caught sight of a large hooded man wielding a machete standing at the foot of her bed.

"Uncle Eddie, who's that man in my -" The words got stuck in her throat by the sight of him slashing the machete through the neck of her favourite maid, Nina.

The head rolled out of the room, leaving a trail of blood in its path. The man lifted his head and met her eyes. The girl stared at him in horror; his pupils were redder than the bloodshed in front of her. Rogue. He pointed his weapon at her and gave her a wicked grin before leaping into the air and shifting into a large wolf.

With a wolf now on their tail, Edison knew he couldn't make it to the secret rooms without letting the rogue in as well. He switched directions and ran down the corridor opposite to the one with the hidden door. If he could just reach his room . . .