The Marauder Faeries-Dark Fay Chronicles Book 1

Chapter 8- A Faulty Mission

Benji Milford

When we arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time, it felt like we were trapped in a box of fear on what is happening. Three vampires are surrounding the three of us. Unwilling to surrender, Melody took action and cast a new spell. She surprised me and Wren, no one was able to do ice magic and freeze living creatures for centuries. This was a moment where I realized that Melody was one of the strongest faeries I met.

I watched the three vampires as they froze from the bottom of their feet up until their heads. The vampires watched us leave them in their frozen state. “Mel, how did you do that?” Wren asked her. Melody walks as fast as she can. I and Wren ran to keep up with her.

“Melody.” I grabbed her hand to stop her from walking, she turned her head saying; “Let go of me Benji, we have to move fast. Our time is running up.” She then removed my hand from my grasps.

“What’s your problem? I don’t know where you got your powers. You seem to be acting weird.” I began to stop running. She didn’t look at me, she stood in front of me.

“The witch and that warlock you recommended gave me this power. If I lose the small pouch, all my power fades away until I get it back.” I then touched her shoulder. She slapped my hand and ran towards the castle. I followed her, Wren was so slow and he can’t keep up with us so I waited for Wren.

“Wren hurries up, you are just like a little turtle right now.” This time he uses his wings. He flies toward me, in a faster way. “Mind you, both of you have super-fairy feet. I was catching up with two Cheetahs.” He told me, he then patted my shoulder and flown towards the castle. They did not need to wait for me. I flew towards the castle in a few seconds. Wearing my mask and putting on a vampire’s cloak like the other Marauders.

“Do you mind? Is every Vampire here? I got some bloody heart of gold. Constantly living in eternity. I own thy victor’s cup since the beginning of time.

 Only the hell knows what heaven doesn’t.” A vampire announced with a scary and raspy voice. He was laughing evilly like a witch’s cackle. It was like a riddle that he announced. A female vampire approached him. To my surprise, she looked similar to Melody but she had Black hair and red eyes like me.

“We have some guests today on our ball, Mrs. and Mr. Silverstone.” She then took out an envelope from her cloak. She wore a crown, a golden mask that covered half of her face, and a golden ball gown that glittered like the stars.

“May everyone’s eyes see, the beauty of Andromeda Silverstone.” She then gave a small chuckle. Her words were said like music to anyone’s ears. It was like they are reading poetry in front of everyone.

Andromeda waved her hand as she went on stage. She was a brunette girl with blue eyes. Her hair was long enough to reach the bottom of her thighs. She was smiling like it was her night. Melody then pinched me.

“Please don’t talk much here. If they notice us, we will perish.” She whispered softly. She did the same thing to Wren and we began to walk through the crowd. Edging closer to the door nearby us. The castle was so gothic but grander than the inn. It was like seeing a spectacular sight indoors.

The ballroom was filled with vampires of various kinds. Some even looked like they just woke up, some were constantly talking and blabbing about their attire. I noticed Melody held my hand as she catches my attention.

“Benji, use your aura so that the vampires will avoid us. Wren, use this candle to lead us the way. We need to enter the basement using the map Benji has.” I stood in front of the door as they exit the ballroom. I followed them to see if anyone noticed we had entered the castle.

In the dark room where the only light was coming from the candle, I was looking at the map and guided everyone to the basement door. The candle’s light faded as a cold wind passed by us from the window. “See this, I think we should pull the lever. Right, Benji?” Melody asks me, she took a match to relight the candle. I nodded to her when the candle was lighted.

 She snapped her fingers and a portal of our equipment opened. Wren took out a sword and shield. He placed the sword behind the shield. He grinned like a brown toad. It was awkward when I took out a small changing key.

The changing key can imitate any key when placed inside the lock. It can open any locked door unless the door is enchanted with a protection spell. I noticed the lever Melody was talking about as she pulled it down. It leads to a staircase spiraling downwards the castle. “It says here that we need to open the door at the one-hundredth floor below us.”

I began to tell them that the vampires have a loyal bat guard to question anyone who enters the dungeons. If we answer it right, we can save Penelope from the death penalty. If not, we will suffer the consequences of trespassing and attempt to free the witch.

Wren looked a bit squeamish as we passed thru some coffins with bloodstains on them, he really hated the sight of blood. Melody had an assuring smile that helped Wren led the way. As we went down, the doors that we passed by had been labeled by some monster. The numbers were scratched deeply on the steel doors. Making us wonder what creature did all the labeling.

Chains rattled against the wall. Something was approaching us. The noise gets louder each second passing by. A loud growl came from below, the creature inching closer towards us. We figured out what creature it was. It was a huge three-headed Siamese cat. Melody’s screamed slightly, all of them panicked, and ran upstairs.

How the hell are we going to save Penelope now? They ran upstairs and the chain rattled again. The cat stopped and we noticed the chain was stopping it from following us. I began to use my shadow powers to scare the cat away. Wren managed to pick up the sword he dropped earlier while running away from the creature.

“Melody!” I cried out her name, Me and Wren realized she disappeared out of our sight. “Hello, faeries.” The vampire hissed at us. He held a dagger near Melody’s throat. They are both flying in the air. This vampire had bat wings and sharp black nails that were as long as my hands. “Why are you here? You all should have stayed in the ball!”

“I can slit her throat and drink her blood if you don’t answer me!” He then held her closer to him. I was afraid of what might happen to Melody. I knew I loved her, but I am afraid to lose her in this life of mine. “NO PLEASE DON’T KILL HER!” I shouted at him.

“Very well, tell me your reason now as I count to ten! Thy pleasure is mine.” He began to count. “One, two, three-” He stopped as I began to speak. “We are here because we had a deal with a witch. If we don’t save her sister; she won’t help us to heal my sick mom!” I partially lied about that. He grinned then cackled at what I said.

“So disappointing, you should have asked the vampires to heal her. We would have had asked for your blood instead. Tsk, tsk...” He then put down Melody back on the staircase. Melody fainted; her face had gone pale. I noticed the vampire didn’t bite her earlier. Luckily, she was still breathing.

“I will ask her majesty to free the sister of the witch. In exchange, you will never return to the Castle dungeons.” He then hissed again after saying it and left me and Wren dumbfounded. Wren carried Melody which made me a little jealous. Then we flew upstairs since all of us were tired. The lever was still lifted. The vampire from earlier stood there waiting for us to come up.

“The queen will come soon. She is the host of the ball, please wait for her or be punished.” He said with a concerned look on his face. “My name is Xander, you don’t need to introduce yourselves to me. I already know your names. It was listed in the guest list with a picture.” I then noticed Xander’s eyes are yellow, he looked young but at his age, he might be ancient. He had blonde hair that almost looked white, his posture was great. His face was fair and he was a frightening vampire.

“Xander, what is this problem you say about our guest?” The Queen approached us; she wasn’t happy about this unexpected situation. “These three, Wren, Benji, and Melody are sneaking into the dungeons. Looks like they want to free a witch. Perhaps her name is Penelope?”

I and Wren nodded, I then looked at Melody in Wren’s arms. She gained consciousness as soon as the vampire confirmed about Penelope. “Oh, is that so? Why didn’t you approached me so that you can convince me to free the witch? This is part of my new decree; Faeries have the right to free whoever they want as long as they pledge their loyalty to me.”

The Queen then softly laughed like a hyena. She really is weird like the rumors say. “We won’t pledge our loyalty to you, Queen Bree!” Melody yelled at the Queen. To Bree’s dismay, she then took out a note from her pocket. “Then, I would never free Penelope and will sentence the witch to immediate death.” She then grinned. Melody frowned; I noticed her tears flow down her cheeks.

What will happen to us now?