Blood red love by Dripping Creativity
91

Charlie was walking through the castle in between Vidar and Caine. Vidar had his arm around her, holding her close to him. Now that Charlie could relax, she took in the amazing building and the decor. It reminded her of Vidar's bookshelf, with all the things he had on display, just on a much larger scale. They came to a room where Jun stood waiting. To Charlie's surprise, the usually stoic man had a faint smile.

'What's going on with Jun?' she asked Vidar in their minds. Vidar smiled at her.

'I think your punishment has worked like you hoped,' he sent back. They had decided to keep her new ability to themselves for now. Charlie found it very useful when surrounded by vampires with super hearing. They had just greeted Jun when they were joined by Mauritius and Britta.

"You look much better today, Charlie," Britta told her.

"Thank

you,

I feel it. And thank you for letting us stay,” Charlie said.

"It's our honour to house a maiden, and our duty after the way our son treated you," Mauritius told her.

"I never gave much creed to a child inheriting their parents' sins, and I think a child's sins shouldn't be blamed on their parents either," Charlie said.

"That is most gracious of you," Britta told her. They continued with small talk for a while. Charlie could tell the others knew each other well.

"I'm guessing you will be heading to see my son," Mauritius finally said.

"Yes, it's time," Vidar agreed.

"Would you like to keep me company?" Britta asked Charlie. Charlie could tell their hostess was devastated at the thought of what was going to happen with her son. But it also looked like she had made her peace with it.

"I'll be joining Vidar and Caine," Charlie told her. There was a little surprise in both Britta's and her husband's expressions. "I would also like to ask if it would be alright to talk to Loyd. Just talk," Charlie asked. Both their hosts looked surprised. "You are free to talk to him," Mauritius agreed.

"Thank you. What will happen to him?” Charlie asked.

"We haven't decided. He was complicit in what happened to you, but only followed my son's orders. He is a giant and we all know how those are." Charlie nodded and decided to wait and see if she got any brilliant ideas after talking to him. "We will head down now. I don't know how long we will be. It might be a good idea for you to step out for a couple of hours," Vidar told Mauritius. Charlie could hear the companion it was said with. No one wanted to upset their hosts more than necessary.

"Thank you, but we will stay," Britta told them. Vidar gave her a sharp nod. He then put his arm around Charlie and with Jun leading the way and Caine on her other side, Charlie was escorted out of the room.

"We can start with talking to the giant," Vidar said to her. Charlie was starting to recognise the corridor they were in.

"Yes, I think that is a good idea,” she agreed. Jun opened a door and Charlie recognised the stairs leading down to the dungeon. She hesitated.

"You don't need to go down if you don't want to," Vidar told her.

"I can do it," she said, just as much to herself as to the men that had paused. Going down the stairs was both a throwback to her memory of being led out, but also a completely new experience. The stairs and the room below had been dusky, but now it was like it was daylight. The smell of damp building had amplified and she could hear the scattering of small clawed feet over the stone. She was happy she hadn't been able to hear or smell the rats when she had been down here. They didn't take a lamp with them as all of them could all see perfectly fine without one of the lanterns hung on the wall. They stopped before the first cell. It had been empty when Charlie had walked past it before. Now Loyd sat on the stone floor. There was no furniture, no blankets, nothing in the cell with him. Charlie felt her heart ache. "Hello, Loyd," she said. The giant had been sitting, resting his hands on his knees and with his head down. At the sound of her voice, he looked up and found her amongst the men that surrounded her.

"Miss Charlie," he said, and he sounded pleased to see her. Charlie tried to take a step closer to the bars that separated them, but Vidar held her back and Caine put his arm out in front of her to block her. She batted their hands away and stepped up to the iron bars.

"I needed to come and see you and tell you I'm sorry for getting you in trouble. You were very kind to me and I had to betray you. I'm sorry, Loyd,” she told him. The giant looked at her in stunned silence. "Miss Charlie, you don't need to apologise. Master Millard's father explained to me that what we did to you wasn't the right thing to do. I think I should apologise to you, miss," he said.

"How about we forgive each other and put it behind us?" Charlie asked.

"I would like that," Loyd said and nodded excitedly. It made Charlie smile.

'Do you think we could take him with us?' she sent a thought to Vidar. Vidar looked at her in disbelief.

'Charlie, we need to get your hero tendencies under check. Bringing home stray cats is one thing, bringing home stray giants. That's another thing entirely,' he responded. Charlie giggled. She had made up her mind and she would talk to Britta when they were done here. That made her hesitate for a moment.

"Jun, do you think you could run up and ask if we could put Loyd somewhere else in the castle? I'm guessing the next part is going to get loud," Charlie asked.

"I will go at once,” Jun said and headed off. Charlie continued to talk to Loyd. He was a real sweetheart when you got to know him. Charlie learnt his parents and most of his siblings lived on the border between Norway and Sweden. He had four brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers had moved to the US and one of his sisters was living in Estonia. They were a close family and when he described the shenanigans he and his siblings had got into, Charlie suspected they all were like him. Jun came back with two of the DeVoen men.

"Loyd, these men are going to take you somewhere else for a while. I'll come by and talk to you before we leave. Is that okay?" she asked.

"I would like that, miss," he said. As the men led him away, Vidar turned to Charlie.

"Ready for the next part?" he asked her. She nodded, even if she wasn't sure it was the truth. "Caine and Jun will be with us the entire time. If you feel like you need to step away, Caine will take you. Okay?" "Yes, that sounds okay. I'm ready," she told him.

"We have all discussed it," Jun told them as they walked further down the tunnel. "The clan all agrees that it's your right to handle Millard. We won't claim our right to retribution for his betrayal. And now that Charlie is truly one of us, she has the first claim," he continued.

"Thank you," Vidar said.

'Does it mean that they give you the okay to kill him?' Charlie asked Vidar in her mind.

'Yes. Millard betrayed us all. According to the laws, they have a right to at least be present as he dies,' he replied.

'Where are the rest of the clan?' she asked. She hadn't thought about their three missing members.

'Central America, Millard had two trails for us to follow. I'm just happy I followed the right one,' he told her and kissed her hair. They were coming up on the next-to-last cell, not far from that was the cell that had held Charlie. She looked towards the dark indentation in the wall that was the only thing visible of it. She refused to back down and let fear win. They stopped in front of the iron bar to the second to last cell. Her new eyesight let her see into it even in the faint light. Millard sat on the cold stone floor in much the same way as Loyd had done. He didn't look up when they came, or when they stopped.

"Vidar, Jun, why did you bring the maiden and a sullied with you? Can't do the job yourselves?" Millard asked without looking up. The men growled angrily, and to her surprise, Charlie joined in. The growls ended as soon as they had begun and four sets of eyes looked at her in surprise.

"Whops," she said. Vidar and Caine looked amused and laughed quietly. Jun almost smiled and shook his head. But Millard looked at her like he couldn't believe it. "You are not a human," he pointed out.