"She's not responding anymore!!"

"Heart rate dropping!! She's lost too much blood!!"

"Well, then try again!!"

"This is beyond us. Her body is not accepting his blood. There has to be another way!!"

"We'll try again! Just to be certain. If it still doesn't work. He'll have to call in witches for help."

Two of the best doctors along with four nurses were doing whatever it took to save the servant girl. They were slowly losing her. One of the doctors ran out to get Prince Phoenix again.

"Her body is rejecting the blood. We managed to get her heart beating at a better rate but we have to try one more time, just to make sure. If her body rejects your blood again, then you'll have to call witches to help Your Highness."

"You!" he pointed at one of the nurses. "Tell Alpha Silvian to get the best light witches he knows. Experts on natural spells and healing!! Now!"

Most of the witches in Red Kingdom do not practice the dark arts. They are against the law and those who do it will face severe consequences.

Only a handful of light witches however, dedicate their gifts for the greater good of humans. Some of them work with doctors but most of these witches are by any chance better than ordinary doctors.

The nurse took enough blood to fill a small blood bag. They then proceeded to carry out the blood transfusion. After the bag was empty. They all waited in anticipation. Prince Phoenix noticed that the cut on the side of her face was slow healing. Just when hope blossomed in his chest. It stopped it's healing process and went back to the way it was.

His face contorted in confusion and immense anger. Blood started to come out of her nose. It happened again, resulting in the same way. Just like the previous couple of times.

"Why isn't it working?!!! Is it because I have fae blood in me?!!"

"No, Your Highness. If that were the case, your distant cousin's blood should have healed her."

"So what's the explanation?!" both the doctors looked at one another.

"We don't know Your Highness. She's an ordinary human but we don't know why her body is refusing vampire blood."

"How long before...." he had to control his emotions before he blew something up. The Dark Prince couldn't think straight. He was losing her. She was slipping right through his fingers. Never in all his life, had he ever felt so helpless and weak.

"A few hours Your Highness. We need light witches who are also really good doctors. Immediately."

He sped out of that room as he couldn't look at his Little Flower all covered in scars and deep wounds which were not healing. She was broken inside out. Unrecognizable. They had cleaned her the best they could but she was still in a horrible, death like state.

He still didn't have the details of what they actually did to her but he was going to find out real soon. Looking at the burnt marks and all the deep cuts were enough for him to understand that she was horribly tortured.

Her heart beat was faint and he didn't know how much time she had. He needed a miracle.

Just as he was about to yell in frustration, he saw Silvian walking towards him.

"I found three. I hope the rumors are right about these guys," the alpha pointed at the three people walking behind him. Two women and a man. One of the women was young. Probably in her late twenties. The other two definitely more than fifty.

He observed each one of them as they all bowed before him. All their eyes were cast down.

"Save her, please. She's badly damaged and she doesn't have time." The prince didn't even realize that he was actually begging them.

The older woman stepped closer to him.

"We will, my prince. We have never lost a patient under our care. Trust us," with that the three of them walked through the double doors.

"They'll save her Phoenix. I know it."

"Thank you Silvian. I owe you a lot."

"You owe me nothing. How are the rest of them?"

"Stabilized for now. Physically speaking."

"That's something. At least none of them died. And nobody's going to."

"We were gone for less than a week," the Prince chucked bitterly. "Did you ever think, imagine, something like this would happen?"

"No." Silvian took a seat near his friend.

"How could I lose so fucking much in just a few bloody days?" he whispered out.

"You haven't lost anything Phoenix." The prince rubbed his face and stared ahead. He sat without any emotion.

To Silvian, the Prince seemed like he almost lost his own life. Just how much does the girl actually mean to him? He wondered. This explained why he became so angry when the alpha called Lady Esther his betrothed.

"It's going to be hard but you'll get though it. Both of you, together."

"I'll make them pay for this. I will not give any of them easy deaths. I'm going to make them scream." The Prince spoke with fire in his eyes. The alpha just stared at his friend. He knew the prince meant every word. He felt the temperature instantly rise, then drop only to rise again and cause beads of sweat to form on the alpha's forehead. He could feel the promise made. The promise of vengeance. Whoever did all these, whoever hurt that girl, they're going to have hell to pay.

The Prince's eyes turned pitch black. It covered the whites of his eyes and his dark blue veins spread all over his body. At that moment the alpha understood why the people called him the Dark Prince.

~~~~~~~

They waited for more than five hours outside the double doors. It was only an hour before dawn. During that time his family returned home.

Apart from his parents. The Alpha King wasn't ready to leave his friend so he made the choice to stay that night and keep Phoenix company. In case he did anything irrational.

After, his siblings told him what had happened in Silver Heights, the Dark Prince was on the verge of destroying the entire west wing. Thankfully Silvian and the princess helped him calm down. Prince Zenas assured him that everything was taken care of and that Lord Marcus was arrested and thrown into the dungeons of their castle.

"He's here?!" Silvian asked surprised.

"Yes," Prince Zenas turned to his older brother. "Mother wanted us to keep him alive. She said she wants to deal with him separately.......with you."

"Sounds like mother," the older prince said. He was more than happy to help his mother tear him apart. Piece by piece.

"How is Angel?"

"Getting better. More like his voice is getting louder." Princess Esmeralda rolled her eyes. "The witch, India, she broke down after seeing her friends. Not one of them are talking Phoenix," she said confused.

"They need time. I don't know the details. I'm waiting to have a talk with Percival and Percival wants to be with Odelle tonight as she's still weak."

The princess gave her brother a warm hug. He looked pale and tired. What happened was so not fair.

Timothy had just told them about Eve and both Princess Esmeralda and Prince Zenas were happy their older brother actually fell for a girl. "She'll survive, brother. I promise," Prince Phoenix hugged his sister for a long time before letting go. He needed that.

"I have a job for you. Both of you." Prince Phoenix said lowly, looking at his siblings.

"I can't be the one to do it. If I do, I'd kill them immediately and I can't have that. So I'm ordering the two of you to arrest Esther and all the guards in the castle. Have them thrown into the dungeons."

"The abandoned one?" the younger prince asked.

"Not so abandoned now. Apparently, many of them have taken a liking to the place," Silvian muttered.

"All the guards?" the princess had no idea what he meant by all.

"Yes, Esmie. Put everyone of them in the other dungeons. The official one, beneath the castle.

Only Esther is to go into the long abandoned one. I want her in the same place where she kept my girl," he commanded. "I'll only know the guards involved after I show them to Percival. I'll filter them out then."

"Hey, you're forgetting about Henri," the younger prince reminded him.

"Henrietta? The other sister? Where is she? I almost forgot. Is she alright?"

Prince Zenas and his sister exchanged a surprised look.

"You don't know, do you dear brother?"

"Don't know what?! Spit it out Zenas!"

"Well, here goes. Henrietta actually helped Esther to capture Eve and the rest of her very own family. Don't know why but that girl has issues. Since the other three are not in a chatty mood right now, we don't know why she did it. From what the witch said, she hates your personal servant girl for some reason."

"Tell me you're joking Zenas," Prince Phoenix's eyes were pitch black again. The younger prince raised both his hands.

"It's the truth. A lot to take in but calm down Phoenix."

"Isn't there one more member? Did he have anything to do with this?"

"Kyle? No. The news of what happened crushed him brother, and he's not talking either. Timothy said he loved Henri with all his heart so he's not taking this very well. Not after he saw the state his family's in," the princess explained. "Esther really messed us up. I understand if she planned to get rid of the servants but how dare she lay her hands on Mr and Mrs Salvadore?!" Prince Zenas held her shoulder and stopped her from ranting. He didn't want to fuel up his older brother's wrath.

"That girl goes into the dungeons with Esther. She will pay severely. Go now. Both of you".

~~~~~~~~

I don't remember how long I waited before one of the witches came out.

It was the older woman. "Well, good news is we saved her. She'll live."

"That's all I want hear. Thank you so much....." I trailed off as I saw the look on her face. She was happy but there was something else.

"What is it?"

"Perhaps you should come in Your Highness," I followed her in at once hoping she didn't have more terrible news for me.

"Hey! I'm coming with you!" Silvian shouted catching up to us.

"Why don't you wait outside?"

"And let you destroy something in there. No thanks."

"I am not..."

"I'm taking a precautionary step Phoenix. I'm coming in." I was too tired to argue so the three of us walked through the double doors.

The moment I stepped through, my eyes instantly landed on my Little Flower. She was almost completely wrapped up in bandages. Her arms and legs were fully covered, even her face was covered with the white cloth. Only the corner side of her face, her right eye, her nose and part of her lips were visible. I only knew she was alive due to the slow rising and falling of her chest. She looked even smaller now.

"As you can see, she's stabilized for now."

"Get to the problem. I know there's a lot more you're not saying."

"We've treated all her external wounds but when she wakes up it will hurt. A lot. It will hurt even more when her wounds need dressing. She will most probably not show any emotions and neither will she react much. We don't know for how long that will go on. Adding on, both her left hip and left ankle are fractured. She will not be able to walk for some time, but that will heal in time. When she wakes up, we can even speed up the healing process," the wizard explained.

"So she will remember everything?" I took a seat beside her bed.

"Unfortunately, yes Your Highness. There was no head injury except for the trauma and mental scaring that she'll have to endure. The other problem, however, is internal. She has lost a lot of blood and there was internal bleeding as well."

"What are you talking about? All her scars are external." All the doctors looked at one another. As if discussing who was going to break the news to me.

I was getting angrier by the second and Silvian saw this.

"Can any one of you just say it?!!" He yelled. The older witch came forward again.

"She was raped my Prince. By two vampires."

Time froze.

Everything stopped.

After I heard those words, it kept repeating in my head over and over again. My breathing stopped. I couldn't think, couldn't move. The alpha took over again. I was frozen to the bone.

The word kept ringing in my ears. It can't be true. How could she know? No

No

No

"Are you certain of this? You are sure?"

"Yes, Alpha King. Any ordinary doctor would know this. We're witches. We also know that she went through hell. Looking at the damage, we know those creatures did not hold back."

"N..no. This couldn't have h...happened..."

"I'm so sorry Your Highness. We'll give the necessary medicines to make sure she heals properly," the castle doctor said.

"I want her moved." I ordered the doctor.

"I beg your pardon, Your Highness?"

"I said I want her moved to my chambers!!! Do it now!!" I left the room immediately.

I needed air!

Raped

Tortured

Raped

My Little Flower was raped

And I wasn't there to stop it

I wasn't there to stop any of it

I didn't protect her

I thought I was

Instead, I made it worse

She almost died because of me

Raped

No! Why?!

"Phoenix, you can't do this now!"

"Stay away from me!!!"

"No! I'm not going to let you break down now! You did not do this. All of this is not your fault."

"Really?! Then who's fault is it Silvian?!! I left her!! Look at the cause of that!!!"

"You left her in your chambers with direct orders not to let her out! How could you possibly imagine shit like this would happen??!!"

"Look at her!!!!" I yelled at the top of my voice. The ground shook but I couldn't care less. The alpha had no idea what I was feeling.

"I did Phoenix, and she's not dead," he said softly.

"She.....was...she was touched a..and r..raped. I wasn't here Silvian!"

I yelled out expressing the piercing pain in my chest, gripping my hair.

"I know that and I can't imagine what you're going through so I won't say anything but you're here now. You can still fix her. You can still strengthen her and give her everything she deserves. It's not the end, you can make this better. Just don't blame yourself. Don't assume you're alone again."

"How could I possibly fix that?!! How will I be able to help?!! How would I show my face to her?!! How will I be able to solve anything?!!"

"When she wakes up, be there. Let her know that you're not going anywhere. Let her know how much you care and how much she's worth to you. That's how you can start. It's the only way."

"Look at her. Look at what they did," I repeated.

"We can't go back in time to change anything Phoenix." I paced back and forth, unable to function properly. He was right but that doesn't mean it was easy to accept all that's happened.

I wanted those creatures dead. The desire to kill was growing every second. I needed a distraction. Desperately.

"Is she moved yet?"

"They're still setting up some things. They'll be done in a while. You need to rest Phoenix."

"That's the last thing I want to do right now!!! I want their blood!! I crave for it. I want to hear them scream!!! I need that."

"Not now! You can't do that now! Take care of her first, and yourself. Your prisoners are not going anywhere. Be with her tonight. We'll sort everything else tomorrow. I bet your siblings have already arrested everyone."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Where do you think they'd be now?"

"Henri is probably in Lady Esther's room, cleaning. Lady Esther, I'm not so sure."

"How about we take Henri first?"

"Fine by me, Val. As long as they're all arrested and thrown away to rot."

We walked up the stairs towards Lady Esther's chambers. I'm not so sure if I should call her Lady anymore.

Ten soldiers walked behind us. Four of them were werewolves. Frankly speaking, I was very excited to arrest them. Especially Esther. I did not think this day would come. Her presence was only endured because my parents and hers, agreed to marry her to my brother. 'He needs a strong partner. It would help him become a better ruler,' they said. 'It would strengten him as the King,' they said. How could they not see the other side of her. She was a murderer. She's a sadist and enjoys inflicting pain on others. Nobody like that should be given a kingdom to rule. She only reminded me of my grandfather. A vampire I don't ever wish to talk about.