NIGHTS OF HALLOW

On hearing the question from Mr. Hans, everyone turned surprised as they stared at the duo. Lady Eleanor momentarily lost for words, and Mr. Hans who had decided to step out and reveal what Eleanor had discussed with him.

”And what rumor might that be, Mr. Hans?” Daemon quizzed, bent on clearing the name of Princess Sarah. Within him, he knew it wasn’t her arrow that had hit Perdita, even if the arrow couldn’t be found now.

Mr. Hans, being called upon, inclined his head in a small bow and answered, ”Lady Eleanor here came to me with the rumour concerning Princess Sarah and Chief Advisor Daemon. She wished for me to join her to gain more power and favour from you, Your Majesty, by...” He paused, hesitant to voice the remaining words in his mouth.

Daemon, hearing his name, was taken aback. How was his name suddenly entangled with what happened? He glanced at the king, gauging his expression, but his face gave off nothing, only the anger in his red eyes could be noted.

Mr. Hans continued speaking after the brief pause, ”...by alienating Chief Advisor Daemon with her if I promised to help her in return to get what she wanted. I-I refused, of course, and then she left, saying she was going for her bigger hunt while I stayed back to watch another man take the person I was to get married to. I didn’t make sense of what she had said until you came carrying the lady who was shot. I hope you look into this, Your Majesty.”

”He’s lying! I told him nothing of the sort! He’s trying to pin this on me. It was he who had come to me saying I should help him gain the trust of the princess. He said he didn’t like that Daemon seemed to be always in her sight and that he had a lower chance with her as Chief Advisor Daemon was closer to you.”

”When I refused, he said he’d do something to implicate me instead. I didn’t know he would do this! Please, believe me, Your Majesty. I plead with you!” Lady Eleanor was in tears in seconds, bawling her eyes out.

”I am only revealing all you came to discuss with me, Lady Eleanor. I never said you were the one who shot the arrow. I was merely asking if the bigger hunt you were talking about was attacking the innocent human girl. We all know you’ve always had a liking towards the king; it must have been your chance.” Mr. Hans countered Lady Eleanor’s words.

In the head of Mr. Hans, he hoped that by bringing to light what had happened today, he would gain a place beside the king. This was, after all, what Lady Eleanor had come to tell him when he was peacefully hunting. She wanted to bring him down with her, why not rub her in the mud she prepared herself?

”You speak nothing of truth, Mr. Hans. Even if I have a liking towards the king, it is because we are close and he has been a good king to all. Unless you imply I hate him?!” From the corner of her eyes, Eleanor glared at Mr. Hans as she spoke. She couldn’t believe he would do this to her. Such a coward that couldn’t keep his big mouth shut and allow the princess to take the blame!

Turning to the king, she made to walk towards him but stopped. ”Please, you have to believe me. I didn’t shoot the lady. It clearly is the princess who has confessed to it. Even her arrow is missing. This could be a way for them to push the blame away from her by saying this was where her arrow had landed, and now I am being framed. I plead your mercy, Your Majesty!”

All along, Sthena watched as everything unfolded, things that happened while everyone had come out to hunt for fun. He pinched his creased brows in built up anger at hearing the constant exchange of blame from one person to the other.

”Why do you want me to believe what you had said, Mr. Hans?” Sthena questioned, his gaze turning to the man. ”And why speak out now? Didn’t you say you had been together with Ms. Elliot? And suddenly, you were not with her?”

”My deepest apologies for not speaking on this earlier. I hate to see the innocent princess being accused of something she didn’t do. It was only now I put everything Lady Eleanor had done and said together. I dare not lie before the king, who will find out the truth either way.”

”And you, Ms. Elliot, not only do you know where Perdita was shot, which is quite suspicious of you, but you also have accusations laid against you by Mr. Hans. What do you have to say to that?”

”Your Majesty,” Eleanor bowed, snickering a sniffled cry, her voice breaking as she replied, ”I stand not guilty of Mr. Hans’ accusations. It is true I had met with him, but the bigger hunt I referred to was in hope of getting the prize that you had promised. He is merely trying to pin this on me even after the princess confessed. I understand quite well he doesn’t want his bride-to-be to be punished, but that doesn’t give him the right to accuse me!”

Just as Lady Eleanor finished speaking, a loud neigh came from behind one of the trees where they had gathered. Daemon, receiving a nod from Sthena, went over, and on coming back, he dragged a stage that had fallen because of an arrow that was embedded in his hind limb.

”Milord,” Daemon inclined towards the arrow, ”this proves that the arrow from Princess Sarah’s shooting had undoubtedly hit this animal and not Lady Perdita.”

Lady Rosamonda exhaled with her hand placed on her chest at the discovery. She turned to Sarah whose gaze remained fixated on Daemon. ”Your name has been cleared. Do not act so recklessly again when you didn’t do anything!” She reprimanded and at the same time turned to Lady Eleanor.

”You despicable leech! How dare you pin this against the princess?! You do have a death wish!”

”I do not lie, Mr. Hans is only trying to implicate me in this! Besides, you cannot say for sure if she planned this hunt just to do this.” Lady Eleanor turned around, fear in her eyes, as no one seemed to believe what she said. She made to speak, but in the next second, Sthena was before her with his hands wrapped around her neck.

”How audacious of you to lie before me. To go to the length of harming the woman beside me, you duly had this coming for you.” Sthena’s voice, a menacing octave lower, seeped fear into the bones of Eleanor. More than everything, she was more hurt she was being treated this way because of a lowly human. She thought she had a place in his heart.

When Sthena released the grip on her neck, she violently coughed and staggered away from the furious king, her eyes bewildered. ”I cannot believe I am being treated this way all because of a mere lowly human girl!” She spat, hatred brewing in her eyes. ”I didn’t do anything, you have to believe me. I can’t believe you’d do this to me. You can’t tell me you fell for a lowlife who is beneath our kind. What is she? Your hidden lover?! I’d rather die!”

”Take her back to the castle, Daemon; she’ll experience what is more painful than death itself when she tastes the hot coal dipped in the elixir of silver.” Sthena ordered dusting his hands as he walked back to his horse with everyone following suit, momentarily shocked at the punishment the king had just mentioned.

Back at the castle, some of the maids and servants hid as they witnessed the commotion inside the castle caused by Lady Eleanor.

Inside the castle, she stood feet away from the king with hands clenched by her sides, her arrogant self not willing to believe the king would do anything to her. However, when she saw one of the servants carry a tray with them, her red eyes grew wide as what was about to happen dawned on her.

”Too late to turn back now, isn’t it?” Sthena questioned, detecting the fear that crept into Eleanor’s eyes. He beckoned on the guard to bring her to him.

”You cannot do this to me! Get your filthy hands off me. I am the granddaughter of Prime Minister Elliot!”

”Even your title cannot save you,” Sthena remarked dryly. His movement lazy and deliberately slow. ”I want to see what becomes of you when every title you are known for is stripped off.”

”You’ve always detested humans, what will happen when you become like one of them?” Sthena continued as though it was of the weather he spoke about.

Lady Eleanor, realizing what he implied, shrieked and tried to get away from the grasp of the guards holding her, but their grip was too strong for her as they held her in place. ”Please, no. No, don’t do this to me. I’m sorry. I will never come near you or Lady Perdita anymore, or even the castle. Please, I beg you, don’t do this to me, please! I acknowledge my sins now, just don’t do this to me!” Her cries echoed as the inevitable closed in on her.

”Too late to beg now. Thought you wanted death a while ago? Scared now? This will teach you that every action of yours will be paid duly by you alone.” Saying this, Sthena caught Eleanor by her jaw, forcefully opening her mouth and elongating her fangs even as she struggled to break free.

One after the other, Sthena pulled both fangs out from the vampiress’s mouth. ”Even with the humans, you are still nothing.” Sthena remarked, casually cleaning his hand with his handkerchief. ”Feed her the silver coal, let’s see how she reacts to it. It is one of my recent creations. What other time to test it out if not now?”

Sthena moved to the side and stood with a satisfied look on his face when the sizzling silver was forced down Eleanor’s throat. If there was one thing that the vampires dreaded, it was silver. It’s potent enough to kill a normal vampire, but for a pureblooded vampire like Eleanor, she would only be weakened by it. With no fang and a weakened body, she would understand what it meant for the humans to be vulnerable to vampires.

”Clean this mess immediately. I do not want some low-quality blood of a mini vampire to stain my floors,” Sthena ordered and tched in disappointment. ”This shall serve as a warning to every other person who thinks they can harm Perdita and get away with it.” And he turned on his heels and left from there.

Just as the king left, Eleanor’s handmaid rushed to her mistress’s side, picking up the fangs from the floor. The pride and arrogance that was always etched on the lady’s face was now a ghost of its former self. The horror and realization of what had happened began to settle in, making her legs give in, and she slumped to the ground. Blood from her bleeding upper jaw trickled down her mouth and on her dress.

The pride of having fangs was a vampire’s glory. Without them, they who are among the higher society were nothing. And just like that, she was stripped of her title while watching everyone disperse after witnessing the humiliating scene. Even the pain of the sizzling silver that was forced down her throat was nothing compared to how she felt at the moment.