Call Of The Dark

Lazarus narrowed his eyes on her. "Did you think I was a fool to let Emma drink this potion? You had laced with poisonous mushrooms to the level that Emma would have stayed drugged for the next few days." He stepped towards her slowly, taking one measured step at a time. "I don't know why you did that, Gladys, but this is treason. You wanted to harm Emma and those are reasons enough for you to be thrown into the dungeons!"

Emma couldn't believe what she was seeing. She thought Gladys was her friend in the palace, but she turned out to be a viper up her sleeve. A shudder ran down her body. Had Lazarus not seen through her plan, Gladys would have drugged her to the balls of the eyes.

Lazarus reached Gladys and pinched her jaw with his fingers. He forced her to look at him. "I will punish you personally, Gladys. You have committed the worst crime of your life by trying to harm my mate." He snapped his head to the door. "Guards!"

The door opened and the guards rushed in.

"Take her to the dungeons!" Lazarus ordered. Then his gaze snapped to the healer.

"My Lord!" The healer wailed. "Lady Gladys wanted me to mix something potent in the potion. She said she wanted Lady Emma to be drugged and basically in a vegetative state till the soul casting ritual."

His chest exploded with fury when the healer accepted his crime. "And you did it, knowing fully well that you would be sent to guillotines if your crime was discovered?"

"I had to—" the healer said when all at once the door of the room opened and Maeve walked in.

Lazarus turned his face to look at her with a cold expression. "Maeve."

"Lazarus!" she said in a shocked voice when she saw Gladys. "What happened over here?" She placed her hand on her chest. She had painted her lips redder and had plastered even more makeup, but even through all the makeup, it was easy to see that her skin was cracking up. Thick purple veins ran down her throat and forearms that she had done her best to cover.

"Maeve!" Gladys called her, feeling that she would be saved now. "Everything has gone down," she wailed, but she realized that her voice was coming out in whispers. "Lazarus—" she coughed. Her mind was not able to think much. She felt her eyes would roll into their sockets. Her body was going limp and she was losing consciousness soon. But she was sure that Maeve would help her. She raised her hand and said, "I feel like I am dying. Help me. I don't want to g— go to the dungeons. Tell him the truth that it was you—"

Enraged, Maeve snapped her fingers and Gladys's lips sealed. They kind of stitched together and Gladys was unable to open them however hard she tried. "Mmm... gmmm…" was all the sound she was able to make. Gladys watched Maeve with horror. She pointed at her and then looked at Lazarus as if trying to convey to him that she was the main culprit.

Maeve's eyes went to the healer who was shivering with fear and was crying. "What did you do?" she snarled at him. The little magic that she did on Gladys cost her a sharp pain in her belly, but she endured it and masked her pain with rage.

The healer cried. "I didn't do anything, m'lady. It was Lady Gladys who asked me to put a heavy drug in Lady Emma's potion."

Maeve jerked her head back. "That is horrendous!" she responded with her hand on her chest. "How could you do that Gladys? Don't you know how important Emma is?"

Gladys shook her head. She was beginning to feel heavy and sleep was taking over, but she had to fight it in order to prove her innocence. She couldn't believe that Maeve, whom she had helped all along, would sacrifice her so easily, so cunningly. With her half-mast eyes she tipped her head up to look at her brother as if pleading him that she was innocent.

"You are so pathetic, Gladys," Maeve said like a fox. It was better to push Gladys under the cart and sacrifice her rather than to have the needle of suspicion pointed at her. She was rather happy that she would get rid of Gladys so easily. "Emma is a human. The healers make drugs for vampires. How could even think of giving such a potion to her? I am so disgusted with you. What was your agenda? Did you want to harm Emma so that she was of no use to me in the soul casting ritual?"

Gladys's eyes widened with disbelief. Maeve had made her look like a criminal for both her and Lazarus. The way she put it, it was as if Gladys was against Lazarus and Maeve to be together. Her chin quivered as more tears streamed out of her eyes. She had been such a great ally to Maeve and now Maeve was done with her so fast?

Maeve turned to look at Emma with a sad expression. "I am so sorry for you, Emma," she said. "You need a lot of rest, but not like this. Don't worry. I will personally take care that no one is able to harm you."

Emma lifted her eyebrow. "No Maeve," she said with derision. "I am perfectly fine without your help. Maybe, you should help yourself and stop using that magic." She pointed to her stomach. "You are bleeding there."

Shocked at her snappy answer, Maeve looked down and saw that her gown was soaked in blood.

"Now use your magic to remove that seal from her mouth," Lazarus ordered. "I want to hear it from Gladys."

Maeve blinked at him in surprise. "I can't use my magic Lazarus," she said. "Can't you see that I am bleeding?"

"I can see that," he replied in an ice-cold voice. "But you have to remove that magic. Besides, you will be giving up this body soon. Why are you afraid of a little blood?"