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CHAPTER 4 – Enemy in our Midst

Castle Xanthe
City of Aphelion, Wolfen Territory
The Realm of Xathos

Dimitri blinked and the haze and disorientation surrounding his mind disappeared.

He looked around his surroundings and saw that he was definitely back in his castle. But he didn't reappear in the middle of his bedroom where he disappeared earlier. Right now, he was in the middle of the palace courtyard near the lake.

This was Ailara's most favorite spot in the castle.

At seeing this place, with her in his arms, a hundred different memories assailed him. He remembered them playing here when they were children. On this spot came from too many skinned knees, bruised arms and shallow cuts.

But this was no time to be nostalgic.

Dimitri tucked Ailara closer to his chest and darted back to the castle. It was dawn but the sun was about to rise and Ailara would burn under it. As he stepped inside the large castle foyer, the servants stopped what they were doing and stared.

"Get me the healer! Now!" he shouted.

They almost jumped at his roar and the head servant started barking orders. Dimitri heard a few whispers of 'vampyr' before the servants did what he ordered. One look at Ailara's pale complexion and her light-blonde hair as well as her blood-soaked skin and they figured out what she was. And they became wary for she's an enemy.

With quick strides, he darted towards his bedroom. As gently as he could, he laid her down in his soft bed of pelts. Her blood mixed with his quickly stained the furs.

Dimitri clenched his jaw and went back towards the door.

"Where's the damn healer?!" he shouted.

"We've already summoned him, your highness. He's on his way," a scared servant replied.

Dimitri shut the door close with a lound sound that echoed across the hallway. He went back to Ailara and found her shivering. He covered her with a thick blanket. Then, he realized what he was doing. Quickly, he backed away from her and headed towards the windows. He barred it shut and covered it with a blanket to make sure that no light would seep through.

After, he sat in the chair beside the bed. The girl laying in his bed was his enemy.

She killed his mother and betrayed his people. She should have died! Why did he save her? And why did he take her back to his home?

Dimitri sighed. He was a fool. Maybe this was all a trap between Heilen and her. If so, then he just gave her another opportunity to betray his people.

"My king," came a voice from the doorway.

"Enter," Dimitri replied. It was Argos, his beta and the general of his army. He was also the man Dimitri trusted the most.

"Get four men who will be her guard. Two inside this room and two outside," he commanded. "Also, post more guards outside this tower and more on the gate. Be on high alert. Nobody leaves the castle," Dimitri added.

"Yes, your highness," Argos replied. With a bow, he slipped out of the room, leaving silence in his wake.

Dimitri was about to go to the door and bark more orders when the healer came. She rushed into the room with her materials and set it down on the nearby table. She tugged on the blankets covering Ailara and gasped.

"My king, she is Vampyr!" she hissed.

"Yes," Dimiti answered through gritted teeth. "She is still your patient," he added. The healer looked taken aback by his reply but none dared to defy their king and alpha. The healer reached for Ailara but she suddenly lurched from the bed and spasms wracked her body once more.

"What did you do?" Dimitri asked the healer.

"Nothing! I barely touched her your highness!"

Ailara lurched again and she almost fell of the bed as she vomited blood.

Protect her!

In a flash, Dimitri knelt beside her. He wasn't sure if it was something just in his mind or if he was truly feeling that his throat was raw and like he was punched in the gut. Maybe it was because he was seeing those things happen to Ailara. Maybe it was because he was still experiencing what was happening to her just like a few minutes ago.

Ailara continued vomiting blood and Dimitri's anxiety kept on rising.

"How do we stop this?" he shouted.

The healer flinched and ran her shaking hands over Ailara. "My king, this is not something I know. She is different from us and I know nothing about the Vampyr and how to heal them."

Dimitri stilled. He inhaled sharply. His instinct was urging him to save her. But another part of him wanted to leave her be and let her die.

But if she died, he will never get the answers he sought.

"Call Argos. Tell him to get me one of those Vampyr prisoners," Dimitri ordered one of the servants standing by the door.

"Yes, my king," she replied.

While they waited, the healer had a basin of water delivered and she tried her best to wipe away the blood from Ailara's face and neck once she stopped vomiting. But she lay there still as death. If it weren't for the shallow rise and fall of her chest, she could pass for a corpse.

A few minutes later, Argos came with another Vampyr in tow.

"They said this is a Vampyr priest, my King. Maybe he can help," Argos said. With much disdain, Argos dragged the Vampyr closer to the bed.

"Try to hurt her and your head will roll on the ground," Dimitri hissed.

The vampyr nodded and knelt beside the bed. He closed his eyes and ran his hands over Ailara. He grabbed her left hand and turned it over. It revealed the mark of the moon that all descendants of the royal line had.

"I knew it," the Vampyr whispered, mostly to himself. But everyone in the room heard it because of a Wolfen's acute senses.

"What?" Argos prodded.

"I thought I recognized her. She is Princess Ailara..." he replied. His voice sounded hoarse from disuse. His eyes watered as he gazed at Ailara once more.

"We thought she has been lost to us... Heilen—"

"Yes. I know. Now save her," Dimitri cut off.

"She needs blood. She can only heal when she receives blood," the vampyr priest told Dimitri.

"No Wolfen will give even a drop of blood to a Vampyr," Argos spat.

"Argos!"

The general bowed his head in acquiescence and moved away.

Dimitri faced the priest. "I gave her my blood. As you can see, she vomited it all over my bed and the floor," he replied sarcastically.

The Vampyr looked surprised and it increased Dimitri's anxiety another notch. The priest closed his eyes and placed his hands over Ailara's forehead. Just before Dimitri's patience was about to run out, the priest opened his eyes. He reached for some of the blood and sniffed.

"She has been fed the blood of a Cerran for a long time. Her body will reject other blood," he declared.

Something inside Dimitri snapped. He growled low in his throat as his mind conjured images of Ailara and Heilen in a lover's tryst as she drank from his neck. He should just truly kill her in front of his kingdom and all will celebrate the defeat of the vampyr.

"Wolfen, it is not what you think—" the priest began.

"It does not matter!" Dimitri shouted.

"If you want to help her, you should get someone to give her animal's blood. It will be good for now. Her healing will be slower but she will be better," the priest instructed.

Dimitri nodded to Argos and his general left to do what the priest said.

"I don't need her in full condition to get the answers I seek. She will die by my own hands after I'm done with her," Dimitri vowed.

The priest opened his mouth to reply but thought the better of it and just bowed his head. One of the guards escorted him outside. Dimitri turned to the healer. "Make sure she is fed the animal blood when it comes. I will be back for her later," he ordered.

"Yes, my king," the healer answered.

He exited the room and went down to the main hall of the keep. He found Argos waiting for him.

"I've sent one of the men to retrieve blood. All kinds. Let's see what the Vampyr likes," Argos said in a flippant tone.

For some reason, the statement irked Dimitri but he chose not to comment on it. But Argos saw his king's reaction.

"She is not your mate," Argos said.

"I know."

"Then why are you acting this way, Dimitri?"

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. If this was any other from his pack, he would have showed his anger at being questioned. But Argos was a friend since he was a child, his beta and his most-trusted.

"Why didn't you just kill her?" Argos prodded. Dimitri didn't reply.

"What happened, anyway? How did you find her?"

How to answer that question when he, himself, didn't understand how he was woken up in the middle of the night and then traced to where Ailara was?

She was technically his queen and she had his blood while she had his mark. But that was several years ago. She didn't have his blood for a long time and there was no way that there was still a bond between them.

"I don't know as well. Perhaps I can get the answer to that when she wakes. This is why I cannot kill her yet," he answered.

"But you will end her, right?"

"In time, yes."

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Chapter 7 posted on Radish today as well!

Hope you guys could check it out and buy a few chapters if you want to read in advance!

Thanks to everyone supporting me.

By the way, for readers of the Myths Finding Love Series, How to Defy Fate may be coming this end of May! Hahaha. I hope I get to write more chapters. XD

Thanks again for all the support! <3