The heat covers my body in a burning pain. Chase comes running towards me, yelling my name. He picks me up in his hands and carries me away from the fire. My body hangs from his arms, my head falling back from my neck. He lays me down on the ground of the balcony. I look up straight into the dark sky, counting the stars that spread across it, lighting it up in a beautiful glow. Chase comes into my view, crawling on top of me and looking down into my eyes.

"Phoebe? Baby are you alright?" I hear his voice call out to me. There's a burning pain around my neck, blazing me in absolute agony. "She's not okay. Her entire neck is burning off." I hear Lupus's voice tell him, stepping closer towards me and crouching down, placing his palm on my forehead. "We need ice." He tells Chase. I then feel a cold matter making contact with my shoulder, icing that certain part of my body. It numbs it as if I were under anesthetic, making it feel numb.

It then travels up my body, leaving my shoulder coated in a thin layer of water as my skin slowly absorbs it. "This might hurt a bit." Lupus warns me before the ice makes contact with my burn, making me tighten my eyes shut in agony. I hold back a scream that lingers in my throat as the pain slowly turns to a neutral feeling.

"What the fuck just happened back there, huh?" Chase's anger rises. I can hear it in his voice. Strangled and out of control. My hand reaches out to him but it's too weak. Low on energy and too much of a stretch. I want to reach out for him, to tell him that I'm okay but he's already standing up, yelling at his guards. That black aura comes back, surrounding his dominant figure. His eyes slowly shift, banishing the blue ocean and replacing it with a reflection of raging fire.

"Answer my question!" Chase's voice bellows in the atmosphere, making the birds in the tree beside us fly away. The leaves rustle at their departure. "Your highness, Felix came in and started to attack Nick and I. We were outside in the garden when he came. He then cornered us into the hallway between the shared area and your enclosed hall." Lupus explains.

"I was thrown to the ground and couldn't carry enough strength to get up. It was only then when I went to save you from the impact of Felix's leap into the hall." He adds. "Felix is a lycan, the strongest werewolf kind. The impact could have killed anyone close to it. But why didn't you die, Nick?" He suddenly questions Nick.

Nick stands still, rigid in his position. "And why didn't you help me?" Lupus adds. Nick then starts to reason with everyone. "I was in a haze. Like a spell or something, I don't know. I wasn't thinking straight. Just something kept drawing me to the window, not letting me leave." He tries to explain. "Bullshit!" Chase yells, losing control. "You were the only person that controlled the enchantment around this convention, the only person who had access to the location! You are the only person who could have caused this attack!" Chase yells, taking a step closer to Nick.

"Chase," I whisper, not having the strength to carry myself. Lupus hears my call and places his hand on my arm, resting me down.

"Nick, I don't think I can trust you anymore." Chase then whispers, loud enough for me to hear. "All these attacks, insights and leakage throughout the castle, it's all starting to piece together. All piecing around you." Chase explains. "Chase, you can't be serious-" Nick starts but Chase raises his hand, silencing him.

"Guards, please take Nicholas Fang to the dungeon. The royal court will deal with him tomorrow." He instructs, his eyes not leaving Nick's. "Nick, your service towards the royal throne has been terminated. The royal court will decide what to do with you tomorrow morning."

It wasn't clear, but, Nick, one of the vampires closest to me was thrown back into prison. Again.

But one thing was clear, Felix's intentions were clear. The war has started.

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"The nurses here are amazing." Catherine tells me from across the room. She leans against the wall of my cupboard, watching as the woman dressed in white dabs a cotton bud onto my neck while another injects a blue liquid into my arm. My neck had healed after a week but it was still there. Just not infected and icky. The foreign feeling of the substance tingles in my body, making me feel drowsy yet energetic at the same time. "That's our version of painkiller. But people just use it as drugs. Careful though, too much might harm you and make you really crazy." Catherine explains to me, stuffing her toast in her left hand into her mouth. The crumbs of the crust sticking to her pink gloss.

"Neat." I manage to say, hinting the sarcasm in my tone. The nurses leave without a word, pushing the cart filled with medicine out of the room. "They don't talk much." I comment. Catherine nods. "Yeah, creepy." She shudders, shaking her body in fake disgust. I draw a long sigh and hang my head down, resting my neck at a pain threatening position that will sure give me a strain in the next hour. My head shot straight down, giving a somewhat birds eye view of my crossed legs. The black satin sheets are visible in the hole between my two thighs, crumpled and shiny, glistening underneath the light.

"Chase's sheets are hella nice." I hear Catherine comment while rubbing the sheets against each other with her available hand. My head sinks into my hands in frustration. Frustration? Confusion? Or that feeling of not being in control. The feeling that you get when you're not in control of your actions. Like you don't know what's going to happen next. Your guard is down and reality can come running in with a 'BOO!' and knock you with something unexpected. That feeling of being scared of what life is going to throw at you. That fear. Then the frustration of not being able to steer your ship. That control.

"Hey, are you alright?" Catherine asks, interrupting my thoughts. Her arm makes contact with my shoulder as she looks me directly in the eye with concern. "No, Catherine. I'm not." I give in. She pouts and scoots closer towards me. "Talk to me, babe. I'm here." She whispers. "I feel so useless, Catherine. I'm so useless. I always just lead danger towards us and Chase has to deal with it. Everyone has to pay for my actions. Nick- It's my fault. Nick shouldn't be in prison right now." I confess, letting out all my feelings. "And when things were finally getting back on track with Felix. I felt happy, I had my brother back. But then he changed and I just, I couldn't do anything. And then Lupus had to pay for my stupidity."

"Oh don't think like that! Chase has to do everything to protect you. It isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. You were just crowned queen at a bad time, you know? There's a war right now and we can't do anything much. But don't worry, this'll get better." Catherine tries to reassure me. "I know, I keep trying to think that way. But I just don't want this to get to Chase. He's scary, I'll admit. When he gets mad, it's like he's a different person." I tell her, keeping my voice down.

"He could never hurt you. I promise. He just has to, you know, learn to control it." She tries to reason but I hear the hesitation and plastic in her voice. "Cath, will he ever though? Will that darkness inside of him ever be able to be tamed?" Catherine gives me a weak yet comforting smile as she soothes my hair with her hand. Her other hand circles around the back of my wait, hugging me from my back while resting her chin on my right shoulder."It can never, Phoebe. And it never will."

Lupus comes a few hours later with a large can of coke in his hands. It's odd seeing Lupus in a normal shirt and jeans. Not so formal like he usually is. His hair is ruffled and kind of all over the place. He'd got it dyed back to a dark raven black a few days ago. He said that now that he wasn't an official omega with duties, he had the freedom to do things he wasn't used to. And either way, his roots were growing back. "My princess." He greets as he steps into the room.

Even though he looks like a normal teenager, he still talks like a 50 year old servant. "Lupus, hey." I greet back, moving the blanket in front of me to make space for him. Catherine detangles herself from our embrace and leans her head against the wall the bed is pressed up against.

The whole mood of the room is perfect. Un-made bed, night lamp still on, clothes on the floor and the window letting light guide its way into my room, lighting it up and getting rid of all the negative vibes that roam in my head. Lupus takes a seat in front of me, matching our crossed legs trend Catherine and I had made. He takes one gulp of his coke before stretching to his right and placing it on the service cart a maid left for us a few hours ago. There's still a plate with my meal on it. Untouched. While Catherine's is empty with a few bread crumbs from her morning toast. She leans forward too, taking the syringe in her hand and injecting some of that blue liquid into me. "You should probably take some more of this." She whispers while injecting it into my opposite arm from where the nurses did this morning.

"You actually look really nice in black hair, right Pheebs? It suits him." Catherine comments as Lupus runs his fingers through his hair. "Why thank you." He replies. "What's up, princess." He turns back to me, leaning forward and nudging my shoulder with the back of his palm. "Nothing much." I reply shortly. He looks between Catherine and I then sets his gaze back on me. "There's something off, what's wrong?" He catches me. I give a shallow laugh, keeping my gaze down on the silk sheets that my fingers play with. "She's high on emotions right now." Catherine explains to him. "What happened to my brother?" I ask, shaking my head and letting go of the silk sheets with such drama. Lupus shakes his head weakly. "I don't know." I hear him mumble. "What happened to Nick?" Lupus looks up and meets my gaze. "Nick is still in prison. The royal court has decided to keep him there for further notice. Nothing has been confirmed yet." He explains. My mind twists and turns. Nick. How could he possibly be capable of luring Felix? And even worse, how could he have possibly brought a war upon us?

"But princess, believe me when I say," Lupus starts, scooting closer towards me and placing his hand on my shoulder. "I will protect you no matter what. I will put my life on the line for yours. I will do anything in my power to keep you safe. And that's a promise."

════ *.·:·. ☽ ✧ ✦ ✧ ☾ .·:·.* ════

After Catherine and Lupus had left my room, I decided to step out and get some air. I haven't seen Chase since last night. He had some important meetings with the royal court.

Stupid Royal Court. So selfish. Always wanting to take my Chasey away from me. Catherine and Lupus had to go see them, too. Selfish court. Always trying to take people away from me and make me lonely. I'm the queen, why am I not involved?

I stop in my tracks and just start laughing hysterically. I'm in the middle of a staircase with people behind me yet I still stop and lean against the wall for a good laugh. Why am I complaining over something so stupid?Oh god, I sound like a 5 year old. The maids (women with white uniforms and weird hats) pass by me with freshly washed linen in their hands. They walk around me while giving me questioning looks. Oh god, they probably think I'm some crazy queen on drugs. Wait, drugs. The blue liquid that gave me the tingles. I should have probably cut down on that dose. "But people just use it as drugs. Careful though, too much might harm you and make you really crazy."

I continue to walk around the castle, my right hand out and feeling the texture of the grey bricks that make up the wall. I walk and it follows, grooving my fingertips over the fine design of the castle. I end up at the very end of the castle where a large hallway with a very high ceiling is. The floor is coated with a long red carpet and the walls are covered in large paintings that drop from the ceiling to the floor. Each painting has a table underneath it with a few wine cups and offerings like jewellery and gems. But most of it is glass.

I pass by a few banners and large paintings of vampires and kings from past generations.They all look fierce. Chase's one is at the very end. It's new and I haven't seen it yet. His blue hair is reflected perfectly in it, styled just right. We should really give the painter a pay rise. His fangs stick out of his mouth just like the rest and his eyes are a perfect shade of blue. My Chase.

I keep walking down the hall to the very front of the castle where I spot Chase. I smile at his presence and suddenly get all bubbly and excited. I always get that when I near him. This sudden feeling of comfort and safety washes over me, craving the feeling of snuggling into his chest where I know I'll be safe with his arms wrapped around my small waist. My place.

But as I near, I see that he's crouched down, leaning into the window in front of him. He stares out into it, looking so serious and fierce like the paintings on the wall. His gaze is fixated outside while his hand grips a glass cup. His fingers grip into the glass, threatening to break it right there. He looks so scary. And his mind is cloggy. Too much goes in it, he can't even sense my presence. I step forward to approach him but step back in fear as his eyes change from blue to red ever so quickly. His grip on the glass tightens just by a little more and it sends the glass shattering into billions of pieces. It pierces into his skin and tints it red with his own blood. The glass is still firm in his hand though, not daring to let go.

Then a loud clatter erupts the room as all the glass offerings and wine cups that laid on the small tables underneath the paintings suddenly burst. One. By. One. They all broke outwards, shooting broken glass sideways. Chase's power controlled it. And I was scared. It brought an abusing sound to my ears that I had to cover it with my bare hands. A few guards came running in, checking what the hell was going on. When they saw the broken glass, they called the maids to go fix it. They came to my side and told me I should go back to my room. I obeyed, of course but my gaze never left Chase when I backed up.

Because his was still fixated outside the window.

As if nothing ever happened.