Chapter 247 - 246

They followed her, flashing off the wall and looking for her with their eyes. She had run off, fast trying to become one with the crowd that began to form in front of her. Xan looked at her back as she bumped to people, the box held tightly in her arms.

"Who the fuck is she?" He asked his younger brother as they followed her. 

"I think her name is Astra? She is the wolf warrior of Blood fangs. How did she get out? She was supposed to be in the meeting room." He wondered. 

"I have no fucking idea" Xan said jumping over one of the tables a small cafe had set outside. He heard people gasping and the commotion soon had made everyone stare at them. He didn't pay attention, he just kept going, focused on getting that girl before Lun was killed.

"To the left!" Kai shouted, seeing the tanned woman take a sharp turn and he smiled. It was a dead end. 

Astra was found trying to climb over the wall. She could have done it if Xan hadn't rushed in the alley and grabbed her by the back of her head, throwing her down. She groaned, colliding with the dirty street while the box left her hand. Kai ran towards it, grabbing it as if it was some kind of treasure.

"What are you people planning?" Xan asked her, stepping on her stomach to make sure she would not try to escape. The werewolf took out her long claws, scratching his leg and the crown prince hissed, blood oozing from the cut and his ripped pants. 

"You will know soon." She said, looking at them with a sneaky grin. 

"Stop playing smart and tell me, or else I will kill you right now. Things are pretty shitty already so I don't care." Xan told her, making her chuckle.

"Why don't you open the box, see what is inside. I am sure you will easily understand what we are planning." Astra told them, looking at the younger prince with a suggestive look. Her dark eyes affected Kai, she seemed so sure to the point he was uncertain. He placed his palm at the lid of the box slowly opening it, his blue eyes peeking inside so he could find out what they were planning.

Once Kai became exposed to the interior of the box his blue eyes widened, an unreadable expression on his face.

"What?" Xan asked as he heard his younger brother sigh loudly. He gripped the box tightly ,raising his hand and then throwing it on the ground. 

"It's empty!" Kai shouted as he watched the box shatter into small pieces. Astra started laughing, the sound a very annoying cackle that had Xan wanting to kick her in the face.

"You simply wanted to keep us away from the palace, to make us waste time." The crown prince said.

"Well yeah, I overheard you talking to that lover of yours. We didn't even know you had the box in the first place. You sure need to be careful when you talk about things. Even the walls have ears" 

"How did you get out of the meeting room?" Kai asked her.

"Everyone has been set free. Alloy pressured your mommy into letting us go. Time has almost run out. What will you do?" She asked them, playfully. 

"We will find the box." Xan said as he kicked her in the head, knocking her out. "I couldn't hear her voice any longer. Let's go, we will find the box."

"Don't they have it?" Kai asked.

"If they did, they wouldn't have to lead us away. The box is probably still in the garden. Come on." 

They had been tricked, running around their own tails like dogs, Xan thought a displeased expression on his face. He had to hurry, get back to the palace find the box and take it to his mother. Then everything would be over, Lun would be saved and no one would be asking for his death. His heart was in pain, a pinch on his chest as he imagined him alone in the hospital bed. He wanted to be there, with him but he had to do this because Lun was the one that asked him. 

.....

It was definitely not a pleasant feeling, the one when you were bleeding out. His wound seemed to heal incredibly slowly and right now he was lightheaded, trying not to faint as he laid on the hospital bed. 

The bandages had been tightly wrapped around his body, bit by bit getting colored with his own blood. Why wasn't he healing? Maybe because he hadn't fed in a while? He was so busy with Xan that he forgot he had been hungry. It was hilarious, he thought and a faint smile appeared on his face. He liked that idiot so much that he would even forget that he was cursed because of him. Lun was paying the price now though but well at least he couldn't die.

He heard the door of the room opening, it made a creaking noise sometimes because it needed to be oiled but since no one actually got seriously injured, they were vampires after all the so called palace hospital was a bit forgotten and left on its own.

Lun was not strong enough to turn his head, his whole body had given up on him so he didn't know who had decided to visit him. He tried to mumble a few names, Kai, Xan, Soran, John but the words only remained in his thoughts, no sound coming out. 

The footsteps were approaching but the unknown guest did not say anything. Was he hallucinating? It could be possible. From the tremors to the ringing in his ears and the dead body all he missed right now was some good old paranoia. He took a short breath, his chest hurting as it moved and managed to speak. His voice was rough and tired.

"Who's there?" Lun asked, waiting for an answer. "Xan?" He called his lover's name, hoping it was him. "Did you take the box to the queen?" He asked him but again no answer. 

At this point he was actually starting to believe he was hallucinating so he simply closed his eyes, letting himself calm down. No one was next to him, no one was actually there and he was imagining things.

A few seconds passed. Nothing. Lun had been right, it was all in his head. 

"Stupid." He mumbled to himself still trying to stay away when he heard it again, movement and his eyes widened. "Who's there?" He asked and this time, a voice finally was heard.

"Someone that will make sure you pay for your crimes." He said.

The next second Lun felt the worst pain he ever had. His skin got ripped, his bones were crushed and suddenly he couldn't breathe any longer. He felt a palm wrap around the beating muscle, choking his heart with the intention to shutter it and he gasped, his eyes round.

Someone was trying to crush his heart, someone was trying to kill him.

He was going to die after all and in the most miserable way. Without having done any of the things he wanted, without being with the one he loved, without at least being able to say goodbye.

"I didn't kill him. The werewolf." Lun groaned, feeling the life slip slowly out of his body and the movement of the hand stopped, still inside his chest. "It wasn't me" 

"You're lying!" The voice said. It was Loyd, the Alpha that lost Mark. He had come to get his revenge. It was a shame he was trying to kill the wrong person. Lun bit his lip, feeling like his whole body was on fire.

He was going to die after all. He didn't want to think of anything when he died. It was something he wished for ever since he was young. Even though he was a vampire Lun believed that some day someone would try to kill him. Maybe it was because of who he was but he had never thought of eternity of something sure. So he at least wanted to die in peace, his mind blank in his final moments. 

Unfortunately he didn't magae to do that. As he was dying be could only see Xan, crying and broken from the news of his death. Lun himself never really cared if he would die or not, but now, as that image haunted his last moments his eyes widened. Xan would lose someone he loved again, he would be all alone, destroyed. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't just leave him behind.

"Sorry..." Xan groaned. "But I can't die here." He told Loyd before he simply disappeared leaving the man in the room.

Lun found himself in the floor of Kai's bedroom, drenched in his own blood, feeling the soft carpet on his body. 

It was astonishing how one person could simply give him the will to live.