Chapter 5. Lady Lacey

On hearing Oswald speak of taking his head, James swallowed a lump in his throat and spoke in a quivering voice. “I have done nothing for you to have my head.”

Enraged by James’ response, one of the riders unsheathed his sword and held it against James’ neck. “You dare speak when the Chamberlain speaks!”

It is a dishonor to draw out a sword before a Noble Lady. The rider knows this but acted in ignorance as a result of the vampires’ hatred towards the werewolves. Lacey, however, knocked the sword off the rider. She kicked him so hard that her kick slammed him to the shrub.

None of the riders are humans. They are vampires serving Lacey’s father who is an Earl. When Xius got away from Lacey last night, he didn’t return to his fortress to raise an army of warlocks. Instead, he rode to the Warlock Lord’s castle to report the incident.

‘It will be unwise to have conflict. It’s barely a month since we signed the treaty with the vampires,’ Gulux said to Xius. As the Warlock Lord, Gulux wishes to maintain his treaty with Lacey’s father even though his daughter walked into their territory and rescue their prisoner.

Notwithstanding, Gulux sent words to Lacey’s father that same night on a parchment. After Lord Ambrose, read the words of Gulux written on parchment, he was enraged. ‘Go find my daughter,’ he said to Oswald. ‘And if the werewolf is there with her, bring me his head. It will serve as a peace offering to Gulux.’

For years, the vampires have been in rivalry with the warlocks on who to control certain territories of Northumbria. When the werewolves who were the sworn enemies of the vampires started killing the warlocks and the vampires on sight, Lord Ambrose saw the need to sign a treaty with Gulux and now his daughter has spat on his face by rescuing a werewolf from the burning fury of the warlocks and killing a good a number of them.

Lacey’s actions can’t be questioned by her father’s men. The only person to contend with her was her father. As Lacey made her way to finish off the vampire who has raised his sword against James, his father’s voice escaped from behind. “Lacey!”

The voice was so terrifying that Lacey was gripped in fear. The only person she fears in Northumbria is her father. She flicked around. With her gaze drawn to her father, “You sent your men after me,” she said in a quivering voice.

Lord Ambrose was dressed in a red flowing robe with his sword strap around his waist. Making his way to James, he knocked him off his feet. “Throw him into the cart,” he ordered Oswald.

Before Oswald could carry his master’s order, Lacey pulled out Oswald’s sword. She kicked him down on his knees and held the sword against his throat. “You are not taking James from me,” she said with her gaze on her father.

She knew what her father was capable of. He’s a ruthless vampire and a ruthless Earl. James’ life could easily end even before he gets to know the truth. She deeply regretted not telling James about her father but she could make it up to him now by making sure her father didn’t take him with him. One of her reasons for not telling James about her father was to avoid scaring him off.

Lord Ambrose detests the werewolves and sees them as supernatural abominations. He kills them on sight because that’s what his father taught him to do before he died at the hands of a werewolf. The bite of a werewolf can be so agonizing even to the oldest vampire like Lord Ambrose who has lived for a thousand years.

“Lacey, don’t do this…” Lord Ambrose slowly drew to her daughter. “Werewolves are not supposed to live amongst us. You know what their bite can do. You know what their bite did to your grandfather. Please… let Oswald go and we talk this through as a family.”

Lord Ambrose’s ruthlessness can’t change the fact that he still cares for her daughter even though she keeps going against his will. Lacey has once told him that: ‘werewolves and vampires can live together just as you’re trying to get the warlocks to live in peace with the vampires.’

“I don’t trust you on this one,” Lacey spoke up. She was still holding Oswald’s sword on his neck. “You will let us go or I kill him.”

“You know I can’t do that. Your werewolf friend needs to die.”

“Then you left me with no choice but to do this.”

As Lacey lifted the sword to strike Oswald, a massive explosion rocked the woods. With the continuous explosion, she relented on striking Oswald. She sees it as an opportunity to escape with James without killing one of her kind.

***

“We can’t keep running forever from your father.”

James angrily moved to a rock. He isn’t happy that Lacey didn’t tell him she was from a noble home and her father is obsessed with werewolves.

“I know you are not happy with me, but I did what I did to protect you.”

Lacey draws closer to James. They just got away from her father and his men. All thanks to the explosion that rocked the woods serving as a distraction. She didn’t mean to keep such a secret from James. She’s just been careful.

“This isn’t right!” James cried out narrowing his gaze on Lacey. “Why does everyone here wants me dead? I have done nothing to deserve this.”

In Northumbria, no one wants to associate with werewolves. The vampires have been keeping the peace to get the humans to live alongside the creatures of the night and other creatures. However, werewolves have proven to be ruthless in their ways of life. They are not abiding by the truce. All they want is to rule both the supernatural territories and the human territories. They claim superiority over everyone or creatures in Northumbria. This was the beginning of their rivalry with the vampires. Killing the warlocks has become their way of life but in all this, James has nothing to do with it. He just got here. Only if he can figure out how he got here, he can as well figure out how to go back home.

“It will pain you to hear this… but your kind has been going against the rules here.”

“I know nothing of any rules. I don’t even know how I got here.”