May Death Do Us Part

146 Chapter 146 : All for Estel

After helping Theodora saddle up her horse, the red haired rogue prince mounted his own steed in preparation to leave. He drew in a breath, clutched the pendent around his neck that bore a picture of Estel, and kicked his horse in it’s sides, galloping away with Theodora closely behind him.

As they rode through the town the people would bow respectfully as Aiden passed them, though it was mostly out of fear than respect. But he was used to this now, after all, striking fear in the hearts of the people was how he rose to power, and he intended to keep it that way, he needed Cenia’s military strength.

Many years back, a few years had passed after Aiden had rescued Theodora from the thugs who tired to rape her. The woman had insisted that Aiden live with her and he obliged, it’s not like he had anywhere else to go anyway. If he went to Lenora the spiteful queen Tauriel would probably have him hanged, and if he followed his people to the snowlands they would capture him and lock him up again.

On several occasions Aiden would leave early in the morning in search of clues and ways to find Estel, only returning late in the night to rest so he could do it all over again the next morning. Some times he would go for days or weeks, but Theodora was thankful that he would always come back safe and sound, and never empty handed. He always brought with him food, supplies and even new items for their little rundown home. Still the woman worried about Aiden, I mean how could she not, she had fallen hopelessly in love with him. Aiden was willing to look for his woman in literally every single shire and sometimes it took a tow on him, but he refused to relent.

One day Aiden received a tip that someone had spotted a woman who fit Estel’s description far in the outer shires of Cenia near the Rocky Mountain range. Theodora was against him going so far away on his own but when it came to his lovely Estel, Aiden heeded no warning. He left for the shire in a heartbeat only leaving Theodora with an assurance that if he died, it would not be at the hands of any human.

To his surprise the tip was actually credible. An old man told Aiden that while sourcing for herbs in a nearby forest he had seen a woman with knee length golden hair who was accompanied by some strange people covered in hooded cloaks. What made Aiden even more certain that it was Estel the man had seen, was that he mentioned that the woman was carrying a child who bore reddish hair.

The blue eyed man couldn’t believe his luck, after so long finally he would be reunited with the woman who held his heart. In as much as he kept searching for Estel, his hope of finding her had began to waver, he had almost believed that maybe she had been killed by the humans, but now he was glad that he had held on a little longer.

Aiden wasted no time. After thanking the man, he rode off into the forest to search, he wandered the wooded area for days without ever giving up but found nothing, until one day he came across something that assured him that he was on the right track. There on a branch hang a long strand of golden hair, and Aiden knew immediately who it belonged to, but where was she?! He had searched this entire place thoroughly but had not seen any hut, cave, castle or any form of residence however took Estel could have inhabited. These were moments he wished he had a lycan ally with him, they could have tracked Estel in no time at all.

Aiden growled in frustration, “Estel!”

.....

Suddenly a noise caught his attention. He turned around and saw three cloaked men nearing him with daggers in their hands.

“You should have stayed away vampire,” one of the men hissed as he pointed his dagger at Aiden, “the woman and child belong to our master now.”

So that old man really had seen Estel. “Where are you hiding her?!” Aiden roared as her neared the men fearlessly, “tell me and I’ll consider making your deaths quick and painless..”

“They are long gone now,” another man responded, “master sensed your presence earlier, you had no chance.”

“What do you want with them?! Take me instead!” Aiden felt a hint of desperation embedded in his seething anger. “Where are you taking her?”

“Like we would tell you,” a man rasped as he lunged at Aiden, “now shut up and die vampire!”

Stupid move, Aiden thought to himself. What could a mere human- “argh!” A sharp pain on his arm interrupted the Aiden’s train of thought. How was that possible? The man had lunged at him from the front but had slashed him from behind.

Aiden turned around to attack the cloaked man who had wounded him, but he vanished into thin air, appeared behind the nosferatu prince, and slashed his leg.

“Mages..” Aiden groaned as he gripped his arm.

“This is the man who killed our comrades in Ervelon? Pathetic,” the man spat in detest, “as a matter of fact, we should have a little fun with his little elven slut in memory of our fallen comrades.”

Aiden looked up at the man menacingly, “you shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered as little horns sprouted from his forehead, “you really shouldn’t have said that,” his eyes turned blood red, and his fangs and nails lengthened and sharpened.

Everything that happened after that was a blur to the man who had survived Aiden’s massacre. The man sat on the ground shivering and whimpering in fear as the blood covered red haired vampire straddled over to him.

“Where are you taking Estel?” Aiden spoke in a voice that made the man soil himself on the spot, “and what do you want with her and my child?”

“I don’t know where they’re taking her,” the man whimpered all the while shielding his face from the monster standing over him, “such information is only known by his eminence. But I do know that they need them for some sort of ritual, I don’t know the details but they’re waiting for the child to be of age until it happens.”

“A ritual?” Aiden muttered to himself. What were these filthy humans up to? “What are you planing?”

“I don’t know, but you cannot stop his eminence on your own,” the man responded, “even in his weakened state you would need a whole army of vampires to stand up to him, he isn’t like us, he turned himself into something that isn’t human.”

Aiden was about to ask another question when an arrow appeared from nowhere and plunged into the man’s throat. The red head turned to see where the arrow had come from but only caught a glimpse of another cloaked man walking into a portal.

Those bastards, Aiden thought. They silenced his only hope of getting more information about Estel and what this ‘master’ was planning. But now he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to fight alone, he needed allies, powerful allies. His thoughts drifted to the snowlands..

“No..” Aiden shook his head. Even if he tried to ask they wouldn’t even hear him out, they would just shuckle him and use a suppression spell on him before he even got the chance to ask for help. He needed someone who could help him convince his father, someone who the Kaiser would listen to.

Wait! Hadn’t his father mentioned that they were expecting a child? Of course! This was his chance! This sibling of his had probably already been born and sent out into the world to live among the humans, all he needed was to find them.

*

Aiden and Theodora slowed down and eventually came to a halt at the edge of a cliff.

“How far till the eleven prince reaches Lenora?” He asked the woman.

Theodora hopped off her horse and walked to Aiden’s side. She placed her middle and index finger in her forhead and images of Gareth and his men flashed in her mind’s eye. This telepathic power was one of the many abilities she had attained after following Aiden’s path and tasting the forbidden blood of humans.

“They are on the move, they will be there in less than two days,” the woman responded as she turned to look at Aiden, “we might not make it in time.”

“No worries,” the man responded, “let them speak with Dvalin first. As long as we can intercept them before they reach Meria, then we have no problems.”

“What if the elven prince doesn’t trust you,” Theodora questioned, “what do we do then?”

Aiden pulled down his cloak and gazed at the woman with his sapphire blue eyes. Gods he was beautiful.

“Look at me,” he spoke with a mischievous smile that melted Theodora’s heart, “I look just like his beautiful lover, I highly doubt he will turn away a helping hand from her only brother.”

Theodora nodded and watched Aiden dismount his horse, “let’s camp here for a bit,” Aiden suggested. “We have a long journey ahead so we need all the rest we can get.”