Be Careful When You Bite Me novel Chapter 44

He turned to walk away and I released my grip on him. I watched as he disappeared into the doors with Xavier. Asia stood by my side and interlocked her fingers with mine. She now had on her black mask.

"Ready?" She asked, reaching up to straighten mine

I breathed in and out before nodding," yes."

We followed the two into the hallway. They were flooded with people strolling peacefully from one end to the other.  The women all wore equally beautiful gowns and the men dressed in suits and every single person had on a mask. Not that I would have recognized anybody.

When we reached the doors to the quarter, guards flung them open to reveal the beautifully decorated inside.

There were hundreds of people, either dancing or seated at a table chatting amongst themselves. Music played by a band that stood at the corner of the room, not too loudly, just loud enough to be able to hear the person next to you.

The King and Queen were seated at their thrones as per usual. Seth and Isabelle were nowhere in sight.

The Queen caught sight of us first, or more Damon to be specific. She began to stand up, and when the King noticed, he trailed her gaze to meet his sons who now stood at the middle of the room amongst the crowd.

His eyes stayed interlocked with her parents. It was obvious that they were shocked their son was still alive but I couldn't tell if they were relieved.

I scanned the room, looking for the Council but I couldn't tell who was who.

I caught sight of a tall and slender girl, pitch-black hair that was now pinned up and wondered if it was Isabelle. She wore a maroon gown that almost mirrored the one that the Queen was wearing.

"Do you think they'll tell the Council that you're here?" Xavier said to his younger brother who still has yet to look away from his parents.

"No," Damon responded," they wouldn't cause a scene, not here."

The King and Queen sat back and it looked like the King was saying something to his wife that might have reassured her.

Damon spared his parents another glance before turning away to face us.

"You two stay together," Damon said to both Asia and I," Xavier and I are going to look for Seth, if you see anyone from the Council, walk the other way."

"But-" I began, but the two were already walking away.

I sighed out loud and turned to face Asia," this doesn't feel right," I muttered," it almost feels like we saved his life only to bring him back here to get killed."

Asia smiled," Damon is smart, and he's strong, he wouldn't put himself in a situation he couldn't handle."

"Are you sure about that?" I said sarcastically.

I turned to face the crowd and almost gasped when I came face to face with none other than the Queen. She stood less than two feet away from me. I have never been this close to her and her beauty left me speechless. Her blond hair was tied to the side in a french braid. Her velvet gown hugged her perfectly slender body as if it were made for her. She looked young enough to be Damon's older sister.

"Holly," she said, her voice as smooth as silk," you're back."

"Hi," I wasn't able to form any other words.

"And you've brought my son," she continued," whom I thought was dead."

I remained silent hoping that Asia would pitch in but I could hear her heart thud from where I was.

She was just as nervous as me and it showed. I couldn't blame her, after all this was the mother of Xavier who would rather dethrone her eldest son than to see him mate a witch.

"How ironic is it that the two witches that stole my sons from me have befriended one another?" A sarcastic grin played at the corners of her lips," where's that third witch that you fetched the human boy for?"

My eyes grew wide in surprise as I hadn't realized she knew about that. She chuckled lightly," you didn't get away sweet witch, we let you."

My heart thudded louder at the realization and I wondered what else she was aware of. I wondered if they knew where Luna was and if they were going to find her and Dimitri.

"You are uninvited guests," the Queen trailed her gaze to where Asia stood," both of you."

"W-we'll go wait in the car," Asia stuttered, gripping my arm to walk away.

"Wait," the Queen said, halting the both of us," why are they here, my two eldest?"

Asia and I book looked at each other before turning back to look at the Queen," I-I'm not sure, they heard that Seth was getting crowned," I muttered," I think they wanted to be here for it."

The Queen took a second to register what I said before nodding," you can stay," she mumbled," tell Damon the Council is here, slithering around somewhere, The King and I won't say a word, but if they find him, there isn't much we can do."

We both nodded and she began to turn away before sparing us a last glance.

"And girls," she mentioned," the castle is flooded with more guards than you can count. Tell them that it's the wrong day to start trouble." We watched in silence as she marched away with pure elegance.

Asia and I turned to look at each other," what do we do?" I asked.

"Nothing," she answered," she said won't tell the Council that Damon is here so as long as they don't see him, he should be alright."

Damon's POV

I ran up the stairs heading towards the second floor of the quarter in hopes that I could take a better look at everyone downstairs from the top. My eyes scanned for any sign of Seth but it was hard to tell. There were too many people and everyone wore masks. With Xavier clinging to my side, it was hard to think straight. I was fuelled by anger, disappointment, and betrayal and I didn't want to be. I didn't want those emotions to be the reason I killed my brother today but I knew there wasn't another choice. If I wanted to save the natives and the entire Cold One race from the next one hundred years of torture they were about to face, I knew I had to find a way to get Seth dethroned. I didn't have any time, which left me with the only choice left, killing him. I turned to walk away but I felt Xavier grip my arm, halting me.

"Damon," he barked out.

I paused to stare at my older brother. I knew what he was about to say before he even said it.

"I'm going to ask you again, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't want to do this," I barked back.

"Then don't-"

"Can you think of another way? You must have some sort of idea for what plans Seth might have, especially with Isabelle ruling by his side!"

"Why do you care so much?" He continued," you will never change the fact that we need to kill to survive, you're trying to make good of a race that's been deemed bad since day one of existence-"

"I know that!" I cut him off," Seth isn't just going to keep things the way that they are, you and Asia are going to be the first people they come after, and then it's Holly and I-"

"So leave the castle, feed off hospital blood like I do," he mentioned," move to New York with Holly, why do you want to fight a battle that you might lose?"

"If it means I fight for a century to save hundreds of thousands of lives, I'll still be alive to witness a good change," I said.

A couple I couldn't recognize eyed Xavier and I before making their way back towards the party.

"You care about people who don't care about you," Xavier said," if you kill Seth, father isn't going to crown you, you will never be King now that the Council placed a death sentence on you, it's time to accept that and move on, run away, take Holly-"

"And ruin her life forever? Make her a target for the rest of her life because the Gods were twisted enough to curse her with the Mark of Eros from a vampire with a death sentence?"

Xavier paused and the look on his face told me he had known. I sighed out loud and began to pace. I lifted my palms up to my face. My thoughts were racing and I didn't know if I was being logical. Killing Seth made sense but it shouldn't hurt this bad. He had no remorse or second thought to getting rid of me, I only wished I was the same.

"If I kill Seth-" I began but Xavier interrupted.

"If you kill Seth, father will rule until he has another son that could take his place-"

"If I kill Seth, it buys me time to figure it out."

"If you kill Seth," Xavier's gaze bore into mine. He was more serious than I have ever seen him," You're going to have to kill father too."

I looked away from him and his arm shot up to grab my shoulders.

"Maybe not today, but eventually," he continued.