Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 127: Retaliation Of The Vines

Chapter 127: Retaliation Of The Vines

When Ivan stepped forward with the doors shutting behind him, his piercing eyes drifted to Eamon who presently gazed back with unwavering eyes, but there was an exchange of unspoken authority between them. If Eamon wanted to be honest with himself, he’ll have to admit that it was difficult getting used to Ivan’s unusual chill presence, as he had never possessed one before, but after his impromptu return to the Palace, there was a lot of things that changed about him, both physically too, and that made him grow wary of his step-brother who was now standing two feet away from him.

The Ivan who always trembled under his scrutiny was presently the one scrutinizing him.

"Ivan–"

"Lord Ivan." He quipped, correcting his older brother with no trace of humor in his manner of approach. "I don’t think we have that building relationship that would lead us to act informal. For better understanding, I don’t intellectualize myself with half-witted vampires, that makes you a stranger, and an unworthy adversary on my path."

"A stranger? I can agree." Eamon didn’t deny, "but an unworthy adversary?" He lifted a questioning eyebrow as if to mock him, "do you understand the gravity of the situation you’re currently in? That servant came here with a false identity, Ivan, she was meant to die along with her Father during the first trial– the same man who assassinated our Father, the King. But what did you do out there? You’re saving a criminal, and a prince saving a criminal makes you nonetheless, or are you starting to forget the rules due to some silly infatuation?"

"Criminal or not, infatuation or not, you don’t seem to realize that I have very little to lose here." Ivan turned away from his brother as he shoved his hands into his pocket, his footsteps seemingly soundless on the marble floor. "If I end up losing the throne, I’m already labeled as a maniac, a lunatic, the dark vampire Lord, so you see, the people won’t hold that against me since it is the truth. But... the same can’t be said for you since you’ve chosen to be the perfect one, the people love you, they listen to you like hypnotized fools, but what will happen if your true personality is exposed to everyone? You have too many things to lose compared to me, so I consider having you monitor your tongue when you speak, who knows which walls are listening?"

He turned to look at his brother, a sadistic smile curving his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes that portrayed an even darker meaning to what his smile meant.

"Stop it Ivan." Carina intervened as she came to stand beside Eamon, breaking the glares that Ivan and her son presently shared, and she declared at the top of her voice. "My son has done absolutely nothing to you! What you are doing is merely out of your own jealousy for my son’s greatness. He is going to be the future King and the court of public opinion will announce him as the truly crowned King of EmptyHollow, everyone will bow to him, whereas you, being the unfilial son of your Father, you shall suffer for your own evil deeds."

"Wow! And I thought dogs barked the loudest." Mocked Ivan who stuck a finger into his left ear to safeguard his eardrums, other than that he was unaffected by the rubbish Carina kept spewing from her mouth.

"Did you just refer to my Mother as a dog in front of me?" Eamon, whose pupils flared at Ivan’s witty remark, could feel his nails elongate as if ready to pull someone’s liver out of their body.

"This woman really has no shame." Lady Agathe whispered to herself, sounding utterly disappointed upon hearing Carina speak about evil deeds, meanwhile she and her children bore the crown.

Tobias, who was back to quietly observing the situation from the corner where he stood, inadvertently shifted his gaze to the wall when he caught a glimpse of something creeping in from the main door that led to the exit of the Drawing room. With his eyes narrowed, he focused it on the green vines that began to creep up the wall, unnoticed, as though their movements were deliberate to avoid getting spotted.

They looked unfamiliar, wickedly thorny as they pulsated with an eerie glow.

"What tha–" Tobias’s eyes instinctively widened as he understood the sinister nature of these crawling vines, and his eyes moved directly to where those vines were heading to, or rather who it was silently targeting.

"Claire! Behind you!" Tobias instantly alerted Claire who had turned her head to face him instead, puzzled by his unexpected outburst.

"What are you saying to me— ah!! Mother help!!" Claire barely had the time to react when the incoming vines suddenly coiled and snaked their way towards her direction, moving at a speed that defied nature, and before anybody else could react, the vines wrapped around Claire’s body, trapping her like a prey and rendering her immobile, whilst she screamed in panic while everyone else gasped in shock, subconsciously backing away.

"Mother, Eamon! W-what’s happening? I can’t move! Get me out of this thing!" Struggling to free herself from the vines’ entrapment, Claire found it difficult to break through as the vines were shockingly strong enough to suppress her own vampiric powers and keeping her in place.

"Claire!" Eamon, who sensed his sister’s dilemma, moved with speed so he could tear off the vines from her body, but to his biggest shock, the vines evaded his attack as though they had sensed it coming. With a swift motion, the vines hoisted the panicked Claire aloft, leaving a bewildered and helpless royal family behind.

"What is that... what is that gigantic thing!" Carina, whose expression had blanched along with the faces of everyone else, found it incredibly difficult to move from her spot as she watched the thing take her daughter away. It was only after she heard her daughter’s scream that she regained her senses.

"Claire!"

"The hell is that?"

Everyone except Ivan exited the drawing room as they went after Claire who had been taken away. A lot of assumptions had snuck upon the minds of Ivan, but he refused to come to a conclusion and silently followed them.

Reaching the Palace ground, panic swept within the servants as they watched guards, including the royal family sprint after the strange vine that had taken Claire away. The vines slithered through the passageway and into the courtyard, leading the desperate group further, but upon getting to a more narrowed passageway, everyone stopped when the vines that firmly wrapped Claire swiftly took her into the Orb room, the doors closing shut.

"Claire!" Carina was the first to bang hard on the door, but it refused to open. "What is it going to do my daughter? Open this door!"

When Carina moved aside, Alistair and Eamon broke down the door together, and when everyone stepped inside the orb room, the whole place was brimming with the energy of alive plants and climbers, but that wasn’t what left the royal family rooted to their spots. Carina covered her mouth when a shocking gasp tore from bee lips, and everyone’s eyes widened in pure disbelief when they caught sight of Samantha who was hovering mid-air, engulfed by the very same vines that brought Claire here.

"Isn’t that..." Carina’s pupils dilated at the sight of Samantha, whilst she took a step back.

"Mother!" Claire called for her Mother’s attention, and they noticed the vine that trapped Claire now moved to float behind Samantha who was also hovering in mid-air, and Claire’s face paled at the sight of the human.

The evergreen vines danced, embracing Samantha’s limp form, but there was a distinct difference from how they clung to the vampiress. The vines, which embraced Samantha swayed with a peculiar grace, as if they were under her control, responding to her every whim, despite her unconscious state. It was as though she had become one with the vines, their powers flowing through her even while she lay motionless.

"Guards! Get me my daughter!" Carina ordered immediately, and when the guards, who couldn’t say no to her orders, moved with their spears and swords, all it took was one of the vines to wrap around their legs, and to everyone’s horror, it flung them across the room, making them land brutally against the walls and on the floor.

When another guard tried to step forward, a larger plant uprooted from the ground just beside where Claire was meant to hang afloat, and to their horrors, the mouth of the gigantic plant opened up, as if getting ready for Samantha to order her vines to let go off the princess so it could have it’s meal.

"Ahhh!!! No! Stop! Samantha!" Claire instantly panicked at the thought of being turned into food for a cannibal plant. She looked at Samantha who was still embraced within the vines, but she was unconscious, so how is she controlling these things???

Claire had to admit that what she did at the town square was mainly for her own pleasure, but she never anticipated fate to deliver this kind of twisted justice that left everyone speechless. No one dared move at the visible threat of the vines, obediently staying silent as they feared the consequences their actions might unleash upon Claire and themselves if they dared to prove stubborn.

As if timed, Ivan stepped into the orb room.