I kept gazing into her menacing eyes. “You want to fight, lady!?” I hear George shout behind me. “Are you crazy!? That’s the queen, blondie. And she isn’t one to be messed with.” Jasper tells George. “Jasper, we didn’t think you would come back.” The queen Vanessa shifts her eyes over to look at Jasper. “Yeah, well, we’re looking for somebody. You didn’t steal any human, did you?” Jasper asks her. “You mean the male human. I’m using him for something important. You want to see him? Follow me.” She smirks and begins walking away. I didn’t know whether to trust her, but I don’t think I had any choice either. I decided to follow her, I could hear the boys following behind me. I let my guard down slightly, placing the sword back to my side. But still holding onto it tightly. I glance around as we leave the dungeon and see the insides of her castle. You could tell the place was redone in a bad way with the cracked walls and ripped tapestries. It had this dark atmosphere that was unpleasant for a human. Spider webs hanging from above, the dark brick walls, the bloody red carpets, everything in this place screamed scary. I could feel the chills inside me, giving me a bad feeling about all this. Finally, she took us to a bedroom with two large doors, inside was a big bedroom. It looked like any castle bedroom I have seen but only darker and more spiderwebs, with little cracks in the walls. On the purple covered bed, there was a male sitting there, he looked up at us and I recognized him immediately. It was Liam, my older brother. Like me, he has pale skin, brown hair that is darker like father’s, and similar brown eyes. My face lit up with happiness seeing him again. “Liam?” “Elena?” The shock on his face, he immediately stood up and rushed to me. In front of me, he stares at me, and he puts his hand on my shoulder. I was still in shock. “I thought I lost you…” He spoke up, a smile forming on his face. “I’m okay… The sword saved me…” I told him. He seemed confused at first then he glanced down noticing the sword in my hand. “You took it…” He looks back at me. “Yes, and it works well with me. I was able to survive thanks to it… I’m so happy you're alive.” I smile at him. “You two know each other?” I heard Vanessa ask, she was looking at the both of us. “He’s, my brother.” I told her. “Really? So that’s why you came. A brother and sister, how cute. I always wanted a sister.” She tells me. I was confused, I looked at my brother who let go of my shoulder and had an uncomfortable look on his face. “Liam, what’s going on?” I asked him, seeing his look. Vanessa then walks up to him and holds onto his arm, she gives me a smile. Liam didn’t seem to enjoy her gesture. “Your brother is my future husband.” Vanessa says. I was in shock. What!? “You're marrying a human Vanessa?” Jasper asks. “What is this!?” George shouts. “What’s the problem? I need him. He’s important.” She tells us. “Huh!? Does he even love you!?” I spoke up. “Does it matter? I want him and that’s all that matters.” Vanessa glanced at my brother. Liam was still uncomfortable. “But this makes no sense. Don’t you hate humans Vanessa?” Jasper speaks up. “I do, but he is an exception.” She tells him. I was confused. Why was my brother an exception? What was the goal here? “Liam, do you want this?” I asked him. “...I don’t understand either… But it’s either I marry her, or she kills me.” Liam answers me. Kill him!? No. I can’t let her do this to my brother. He obviously doesn’t want this. I have to help him somehow. Maybe I can convince her. “Can’t you marry someone else? Why my brother? I’m sure there are others that will-” “There is no other. I want him. No other human could be perfect.” Vanessa interrupts me. “But you can’t just force him to love you.” “I can, and I will. Since you're his sister, I’ll give you the monster welcome. Our wedding is tomorrow. You can be the maid of honor. Now I’ll show you to your room. Where you can rest, for tonight.” She lets go of my brother’s arm. “What about us?” George asks. “Ah yes, the knight and the zombie. You two can stay I guess since she tolerates you. But cause any trouble and it will be bad. Understand.” She gives a threatening look. She then takes me, George, and Jasper to our own assigned rooms. I was still processing this information. There’s no way I can let my brother go through with this. This wasn’t right. She tells me a dress will arrive for me in the morning to wear at the wedding. Then she shuts the door leaving me inside. I felt unsure of what she plans to do. It was turning to nightfall so at least I had a place to sleep but my mind couldn’t rest. I was worried about my brother, this whole wedding. It didn’t feel right. But she doesn’t seem like she wants to give him up. So, what am I going to do? Just let this happen. Eventually the exhaustion of my body got to me, I placed my sword down carefully by a dresser and then I laid in the comforting red sheet bed. I didn’t know what to expect or do. I wanted to stop this, but how? Can I stop this wedding? What will she do if I try? As I’m lost in my own thoughts, I hear a knock on the door. I glance over to see George and Jasper coming in. “Hey princess, it’s us. Sorry for barging in but we can’t let this vampire do this to your brother.” George spoke up. Jasper closed the door and stood beside him. “What can we do guys?” I said sitting up on the bed. “Though I am not very fond of blondie here. We have the same goal. To help you.” Jasper says. “Yeah, even though he’s a zombie freak. He did lead us to your brother. So, we talked things out, and I think we have a plan.” George says. “Really? What is it?” My eyes lit up with hope. “Vanessa is a powerful vampire, yes. She can handle the sun, not need blood, and even was able to get other vampires resistant to the sun somehow. But she’s still a vampire. And as a monster, I know her weakness. What you hear from stories is true. Vampires do hate garlic. It doesn’t kill them but any vampire that’s near them will run for the hills. They can’t stand the smell. If we can get her distracted long enough, we might be able to grab your brother and get out of there.” Jasper explains. “Where are you going to find garlic?” I asked. “Jasper was thinking of sneaking out and grabbing some tonight.” George says. “Yup, it’s not my first time sneaking around. So, I’ll be able to grab the garlic and come back before morning.” Jasper confirms. “Then though I hate to put you in this position, it’s the best plan… Since you're the maid of honor, you're going to be the closest to Vanessa. So, he will hand you the garlic and when the timing is right, you will take it out, and I’ll rush over and grab your brother, all of us making a run for it.” George explains. “It should stun her long enough for us to get away, but we need to be ready. Guards will be at every corner. Probably try to stop us.” Jasper adds. “If they do, I’ll handle them.” Geroge gives a confident smile. “Well, if they're monsters, I’ll be ready. My sword will protect me. I’ll make sure my brother escapes safely. He shouldn’t go through with this. So, I’m down with the plan.” I say to them, determined to get my brother out of this situation. It seemed like a solid plan. “I don’t think Vanessa will allow you to carry that sword. I think you should give it to me during the wedding, that way when we start running, I can hand it to you.” Jasper suggests. I was surprised. I guess he was right though. She wouldn’t allow me to carry a weapon. Especially near her. I didn’t think of that. Jasper did lead me to my brother, but did I trust him enough? George has his sword already and he needs to grab my brother. He has a lot on his hands already. Jasper is the only one that can carry it for me. I guess I would call him my friend. He hasn’t done anything to make me distrust him. I then nod confirming my decision. “Okay… I’ll trust you with my sword Jasper…” Jasper gives me a smile, seeming happy that I trusted him. “I’ll give it back to you Elena, believe me. Thank you for trusting me. We can trade in the morning. I’ll give you the garlic and you give me the sword.” I nod, putting my full trust in him. After we discussed things a bit further, the boys went back to their own rooms, and I slept for the night. I was ready to save my brother tomorrow and stop the wedding. I was actually pretty happy the boys were getting along and not fighting. In the morning, I got my maid of honor dress, it was delivered along with breakfast. Why would a monster kingdom have human food? Hm. I decided not to question it much and just focus on the task at hand. I ate and put on the dress. It was a slimming bright red dress with white laces all around. It fitted my figure perfectly and with the last touch of a black rose in my hair, I looked like the perfect maid of honor. I then hear a knock, Jasper coming in for the trade. When he walked in, he spotted me in the dress. He stood there staring, blush creeping on his cheeks. “Jasper, you made it. Did you get it?” I asked him. He stared for another moment before speaking. “Y-Yeah... I got it... Here…” He stutters, turns away shyly, handing me a bag. I grab the bag and keep it beside me. “Thanks, my sword is over there if you want to grab it.” I give him a friendly smile. He nods still avoiding eye contact and grabs my sword. He holds it tightly beside him. “T-Thanks… I’ll make sure to give it back...” I notice how he keeps looking away. “Are you okay Jasper?” I asked, wondering why he’s suddenly acting like this. “Y-Yeah… I’m fine… Just you look nice.” More blush appears on his face. “Oh um, thank you. You really think I look nice in this?” I smile, appreciating his compliment. “Yes… You look beautiful… I um... Are you ready for the wedding?” He asks. I could feel my face warming up as he complimented me more. “Yes, I’m ready. Don’t worry, I’ll give you two a signal when it’s time.” I told him. “Good, um… see you…” He nods and then rushes out of the room. I never saw him act like that before. I couldn’t help but wonder why he acted that way. But I found his compliments very sweet. I liked that he seemed to like me in this dress. I guess I didn’t look so bad. But enough of that. It was time to crash a wedding. I kept the bag near me in my hand. Acting innocent and happy. I went outside to the altar where I stood. The wedding was decorated beautifully with its own darkness effect to match the monster like setting. George and Jasper sat in the front row. I could see Jasper still held onto my sword. My brother then arrived, standing there and I glanced at him, he was wearing a nice black and red suit. “Everything’s going to be okay Liam, we got a plan.” I whisper to him to reassure him. “Elena, what are you-” He seemed confused but was interrupted when the music started playing. Vanessa slowly came down, walking towards the altar in a stunning black wedding gown. The gown fit her perfectly, my brother looked surprised at how beautiful she looked. Her face looked less threatening. Like she figured nothing would go wrong. As she stood in front of him, I watched them. The ceremony began. I waited until it was the perfect moment. Then this was said. “Does anyone have any objections why these two should not be married?” I decided to speak up. “I do!” Vanessa turned around shocked. “What!?” I quickly glanced at the boys for a moment, they both nodded. “You can’t force my brother to marry you! I’m sorry but I’m getting him out of here!” I take out the bag and bring out the garlic, throwing it at her, it hits her forehead, and the terrible smell makes her land on the ground sitting there disgusted as she still smells it. “Ahh! The smell!” She screams. George then grabs my brother and begins running, dragging him along. The guards immediately start following. “Elena! Come on!” Jasper shouts at me to start running, I glance over, hearing his words and I start running off away from the altar. I follow Jasper as we both try to run to catch up to George. “I’ll make you pay for this Elena! How dare you do this to me!” I heard Vanessa scream. I kept running though, me and Jasper saw my brother and George surrounded, George tried to fight them off. “Jasper, give me my sword!” I shouted at him, worried. “Here!” He hands me my sword, and I start helping George in the fight, slicing off the monster guards one by one. Jasper then joins the party, finding an axe and starts swinging at them. Attacking his own kind. I couldn’t believe it. He was actually attacking his own kind for my brother’s sake. “Jasper! You're fighting your own kind!?” I shouted. “They're a bunch of evil bastards anyway. Besides, you need all the help you can get.” Jasper shouted back. I ended up doing most of the work since my sword was the most powerful and was able to harm monsters badly and kill them. We managed to get enough away and run. Finally, after that long battle, fighting our way out of that kingdom, we managed to come out safe. My brother was safe. Out of harm’s way we took a moment to rest and catch our breath. “Sis! Are you okay!? That was insane!” Liam speaks up still in shock by the whole thing. I looked at him, I was calming down from the fight. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry. Are you okay?” I asked him. “Yeah, I’m fine. You saved me though… You all did. I’m not sure why she wanted to marry me, but I couldn’t get out of it. So, thank you… But she’s got some evil plans sis. I overheard her talking about it. She wants to run more kingdoms. She wants to take over all the lands. Elena, she’s planning a full-on war, with monsters and humans. She wants to enslave humans.” My brother explains. What!? She’s planning a war!? But she wanted to marry a human and now she wants a war with humans to enslave them. I was confused about everything. There was no way I could find a safe home now. Not with a war that’s happening. I got to find out more about it. What is she planning? What is her goal? Even George and Jasper knew this was serious.20Please respect copyright.PENANA3drjTRRRF0