Dark Valentine (Monster High; Book 1 of the DV Duology)

Chapter 29: Castle Dracool

Kieran

Draculaura seemed as if she'd already known what Bram had just revealed to us since she, unlike the rest of us, wasn't surprised in the least to hear the news.

"Whoa, your sister's marrying the vampire queen? Dude, that's awesome!" exclaimed Heath as we made our way through the entrance hall and into the throne room. Being from an aristocratic family, I had been here a fair few times over the course of my life before leaving and had even met Draculaura here.

That reminded me...there were a lot of ghouls here in Transylvania who were more than likely very angry with me after what I'd done to them all those years ago. I hoped that if any of them were attending the wedding, they wouldn't recognize me. But knowing my luck, they probably would. That thought made me feel a bit uneasy.

Jackson seemed to realize what was going through my head because he took my hand in his reassuringly. I smiled down at him. Thank you, I mouthed. He smiled back and nodded in response.

During our quick exchange, a bat had flown into the throne room and transformed into Queen Elissabat herself. "Welcome, everyone," she greeted us. I'll admit that I was a little surprised to hear her speak with a British accent rather than the Transylvanian one I'd been expecting. "Thank you all so much for coming."

"Elissabat!" Draculaura exclaimed, running up to give her friend a hug, "How have you been? Congrats on your engagement!"

"I've been doing great," replied Elissabat with a laugh, "and thank you! How have all of you been? Actually, there are quite a few of you I haven't met yet."

"Let me introduce you," Draculaura said at once, pointing to each of us as she gave our names, "These are Heath, Manny, Jackson, Kieran, Spectra, Deuce and Gory. And you've already met Bram, Cleo, Ghoulia and Hoodude, of course."

"It's wonderful to meet all of you," said Elissabat, "And to see the rest of you again. And Headmistress Bloodgood as well, of course; I remember you from my brief stay at Monster High."

"It's great to see you again as well, dear," replied Bloodgood.

Soon we were all led to the rooms we'd respectively be staying in over the next little while so that we could get settled in. Given how many people were in our group, most of us would have roommates. Jackson and I were put together (which we were both pleased about) while my mother got a room to herself—as did Bram and Miss Bloodgood. Gory and Spectra were in a room, as were Heath and Manny, Deuce and Hoodude and Cleo and Ghoulia.

The wedding would take place about two or three days into our stay, so we definitely had some time to kill beforehand. It also didn't take Jackson or me very long to unpack, so once we were both finished we decided to have a look around. Jackson was more than enthusiastic, and I was personally curious to see how good my memory really was.

There were various corridors and secret passageways throughout the castle and the study which once belonged to Lord Stoker took up residence in its highest tower. I'd only ever been there once and it was only to accompany my mother. I couldn't even remember why we'd been there that day, truth be told, but I remembered finding the man somewhat intimidating—though I wasn't outright afraid of him.

"You seem to know your way around this place well," noted Jackson as we rounded a corner.

"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised myself at how much stayed with me," I admitted.

"I can see why it would be hard to forget, though," replied Jackson, "It's not exactly uninteresting from what I've seen. What's behind here?" he added as we found ourselves facing a large door made of wood with iron handles.

"That, I don't remember. Let's find out," I replied, pushing it open. Inside was an extensive library which I'm sure was filled with books on all sorts of topics. In the center of the room were several comfortable-looking armchairs and a couple of tables. Although I'd expected to find the room deserted, there was someone seated on one of the chairs reading a rather heavy-looking volume. I couldn't see what it was about since she was facing away from us, though.

From what I could tell she was a vampire, pale with sleek blonde hair that rested just above the middle of her back. She turned around immediately at the sound of us coming in and I noticed she bore a striking resemblance to Bram. She also seemed very familiar to me for some reason. "Hello," she said, "I wasn't expecting anyone to come in. What are your names?"

"I'm Jackson and this is Kieran," replied Jackson, "I'm sorry if we disturbed you or anything."

The girl smiled. "It's no problem at all," she said, "I'm Hazel Devein, Bram's sister. Now that I think of it, I think he's mentioned you guys before; your names sound very familiar to me."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Hazel," I offered my hand for her to shake, which she did. "Congratulations, by the way."

Hazel's eyes lit up. "Thanks so much! I'm guessing you guys are here for the wedding?"

"Yeah," replied Jackson, "Us and a bunch of others."

"That's great," said Hazel. She gestured for Jackson and I to sit down and we chose two seats directly across from her so we could keep talking. "So how are things at Monster High? Bram mentioned that's where he knew the two of you from."

"Actually, we just graduated," I replied, "but it's been a pretty good year. Of course, it's the only full year I actually did there..." I trailed off, not really wanting to go more into detail.

"The year went pretty well for me, too. For the most part, anyway," added Jackson. I silently thanked him for it since it saved me from having to answer any questions about my past that might've popped up.

"I'm glad to hear things are going well," replied Hazel. "I should probably get going; I want to say hello to my brother now he's here. It was great meeting the two of you!"

"Yeah, you too," replied Jackson, and I agreed with a nod.

Before exiting the room, Hazel turned back around to call, "By the way, there's going to be a party the night before the wedding, sort of like an engagement ball. I just thought you both should know in case you're interested in going."

She then left.

Jackson glanced at me. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think it'd be fun," I replied, "What about you?"

"I do, too," agreed Jackson, "She seemed nice."

"Yeah, she did," I agreed. My mind, however, had started to wander again and I realized just why she seemed so familiar. It hit me like a freight train and it came down to the number thirteen.

Thirteen ghouls whose hearts I'd stolen long ago.

And Hazel had been one of them.