Chapter 23: The Most Powerful Being

            I ran full speed, finding my way out of the large mansion.  I busted through a door leading outside to the courtyard and saw him, standing peacefully, staring at a large fountain.

            I slowed my pace, lowering my head as if I were a hungry lion.  He turned his face, a small smirk growing in the corner of his mouth.

            This set me off.  He had some type of hope with an explanation, but now it was over.

            I lunged at him, tackling him to the ground.  I had become much stronger than I thought, using that strength to crush him into the earth.  I pinned his hands down, curious as to why he wasn’t fighting back.

            I stared at his face, evil filling mine.  He smiled.  I grabbed his neck with one hand at first, and then adding my other.  I pinned his neck with my body weight, feeling his small neck start to crush under my strength.

            “Victoria!  Victoria, stop it!”  I snapped out of it when I heard Dante’s voice.

            I kept my hands around his neck but let up a little with my force.

            I heard Vincent start to breath in short, disconnected breaths.  I was about to kill him and Dante had to step in!  Damn him!  I can still do it though, I can kill him….can’t I?

            I stood up, taking my hands off of his neck, leaving him lying on the ground.  He grabbed for his throat quickly, standing up as slowly as possible, never letting his gaze leave from me.

            Dante ran over and grabbed me from behind tightly around the waist.  I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a hug or if he was trying to keep me in place from attacking him again.

            “What the hell do you think you’re doing, young lady?”  Vincent asked sternly.

            “Whatever the hell I want!”  I shouted back.  “What right do you have kidnapping me and saying those things about Dante?  You have no right!”

            “Oh, I have very much of a right,” he started pacing, releasing his grip from his neck, showing the bright red marks made by my hands.

            “And how is that?”  Dante interfered.  I was sure he was just as angry as I was about the whole situation.

            “I can do and have whatever I please.  You should understand that, Dante.  Just give up, you cannot win.”

            “I think I’ve shown you who would win in that fight, Vincent,” I smirked.

            “You have no idea how strong I truly am, little girl.  Be aware of your elders.”

            “Oh whatever, you couldn’t win and you know that.  My mind is much stronger than yours,” I wouldn’t say that I was becoming “cocky” but I would say that I’ve become more confident in myself and my abilities.

            “You are so immature, Victoria, you know that?  You sound like a small child, saying such things.  You could never rule in this land.  And you,” he pointed to Dante, “You are a worthless piece of garbage.”

            I tried to lunge at him again but Dante held me back.  What was he doing?  Why didn’t he just let me kill him?

            “Let me kill him,” I whispered to Dante.

            “Not yet.”

            “He has lied to you many times, young one.  One cannot trust a word he says.  He killed his own family for Christ sake!  How can you look him in the eyes, knowing he killed his only loved ones, and be fine with that?  There must be something wrong with your brain, my dear.”

            “First of all, I’m not your dear, and second of all, you have no idea what he has been through!  Leave him out of this, I came here for my answers and that’s all I want to get!”

            “Well, you cannot have your answers.  You want your answers, ask them,” he pointed behind me.  I turned my head back and saw the elders staring us down.  April nodded her head at me and I turned back to Vincent.

            “What do they know about your personal feelings, huh?”

            “Oh, not much, but they do think that you possess a higher power, as do I,” he started walking closer to me now, Dante tightening his grip.  “We could be something great, my love,” he wiped the back of his hand across my face and I flinched away.  Why isn’t Dante doing anything?  Doesn’t he care that this creep is touching me?

            I heard a slight growl escape Dante’s lips and Vincent shot him an evil glance.

            “Don’t even think of interfering there, Dante.”

            “I could rip you apart, Vincent.  Keep your goddamned hands off of her.  She will never be yours.”

            “Very well, I suppose I will just have to kill you, then.  One way or another, I will have what I want.”

            “So, then,” I started, “You want a girl that doesn’t have one bit of interest for you?  What type of life would that be?  I mean really, I hate you.  I could never love you.”

            “That may be so.  But you would learn after awhile.  Believe me, I have my ways.”

            “Shut the hell up Vincent.”  Dante growled again.  There was the protective guy I know.

            “I will have you, Victoria.  We will be happy together, we will live in peace and we will rule for all eternity,”  he brushed his hand along my cheek again.

            Dante pushed me out of the way, crouching into a fighting stance, I’d believed.  He growled angrily, muttering something unintelligible.

            “You think you can win, Dante?”

            He lunged for Vincent’s throat, pinning him to the ground as I had.

            I realized I could end this easily.  I could imagine his heart exploding inside of his body.  He would die, we would live happily ever after.  But I decided to let it play out.  Once Dante was in trouble, then and only then, would I interfere.  I realized I had quite the advantage.

            I had never seen Dante in this state of mind before, mindlessly attacking someone.  To be quite honest, it was pretty damn attractive.

            Vincent struggled under Dante’s grasp, but had no luck escaping.  Dante punched him in the face with his brute strength over and over, I could hear the small cracking sounds of his skull under the fist.

            I smiled as I watched, as did April and the rest of the elders.  She made her way next to me, standing with her arms crossed, smiling with her eyes.

            It looked somewhat like a high school fight, one kid being brutally attacked while the other just watched.  For some reason, I felt sort of bad about the attacking that was taking place, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

            “Dante is quite the strong fighter, isn’t he?”  April asked me, eyes locked on the fight erupting in front of us.

            “Yes, I’ve never seen him fight before.  This is pretty nice, actually.”

            She laughed.

            “You will never have her!  Face it, Vincent, you’ve lost!”  Dante was screaming at the top of his lungs, straddling Vincent’s body.  There were no bruises or blood, but there was a thick white liquid dripping from Vincent’s nose and mouth.  I’d imagined it was his venom leaking from his veins.

            I didn’t know vampires could secrete their venom from their pores as we secrete sweat from ours, so this was quite the astonishing find for me.

            I kept my eyes locked on them, watching closely to see if Vincent would give up any time soon.

            “She will be mine!  You don’t understand!  You’re not right for her!”  They were screaming back and forth.  Dante looked back at the group of us quickly and nodded his head in April’s direction.

            “Thank you, Dante,” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

            Dante stood up now, letting go of Vincent’s limp body, taking his place next to me.  He locked his fingers in mine and I looked at him, wrinkling my forehead in confusion.

            “Is this what you really want, Vincent?”  April walked toward him now, raising her hands toward the air and closing her eyes.

            “I do not want to die, no, but if this is the way it has to be, then I suppose my time here is done.”

            “If you cannot abide by the rules of our species, you will die.  You understand this, correct?”

            “Yes, but I am sorry, I cannot sit here and witness the strongest being attached to one of the weakest.”

            “We have seen Dante’s strength, do not act as though he is nothing.”

            “Very well then, I choose to die.”

            I watched April as she closed her eyes again, tilting her head up toward the sky.  I heard a small crushing sound and Vincent’s body fell to the ground, lifeless.

            I searched my mind for what might have happened, and as I had wanted to finish him, is the very way April had chosen.  She crushed his heart, making it burst inside of him.  Quick, but ruthless.  I hadn’t wanted to think of how she would have knowledge of doing such a thing, I just figured it was a skill she had learned in her time here.

            “All is well, my children,” she walked back toward us now, extending her arm toward the door that led back into the house.  I looked at Dante and he smirked at me lightly, whispering he loved me and it was all over.

            I looked one last time at Vincent’s mangled corpse, almost feeling sorry he had to die like that.  I told myself it was for the best and to go on with the day.

            We made our way back to the large room with all of the chairs and table waiting for us.

            We took the seats we had originally chosen and moved closer to the table.

            “Now that his death is taken care of, we must get down to business,” of course April was the one talking, she took care of all of the matters at hand.

            “What would you like, April?”  Dante had a caring look cross his face and everyone acted as though Vincent’s death had never even happened.  I was sort of confused, but pushed it to the back of my mind.

            “We would like to hold your wedding here, if you don’t mind.  We would also like to swear Victoria into the coven that same day.”

            “Wait, what?  Swear me in?  What do you mean?”

            “I am sorry to place the burden on your shoulders, my dears, but we are in need of your services.  You two are our next high rulers.”

            “Very well, if Victoria sees it fine, we shall have the wedding here.  It is quite big enough, wouldn’t you say, love?”

            He looked at me for a response.  But all I could think was, high rulers?  As in, Dante and I, ruling vampires?  But, I’m not even one of them?  What do I know?

            “Uh, sure.  Sounds great.”

            A quick shot of worry graced his face and he worded, “We’ll talk later.”  I nodded once and understood.  Of course I’d need to be patient, I didn’t understand much nowadays about what was going on, so I’d just have to wait it out to get my answers.

            “Good, good.  Then, we will hold the wedding the date of your choosing.  We can provide the decorations and such if you prefer, or you may take care of it yourself.  I know you are one to do things on your own, Dante.”

            “Yes, I have most of it planned, but I will talk to you later about things that still need to be worked out, if that’s okay; these things including Victoria’s gown,” he looked over at me smiling, and I had no choice but to return that same gesture.

            “Of course, I would love to help her with her gown.  That is the only time I show that I am a woman.  Wedding’s are my forte,” she smiled at me, leaving me breathless.

            “Okay, well, I’m sorry, we would like to stay longer, but we must be leaving now, I have a lot to explain to Victoria, if you don’t mind.”

            “Of course not, take all the time you need.  I imagine you will be contacting me soon about the arrangements.”

            “Yes, I will talk to you soon.”

            The whole time the conversation was going on, all I could think about was what was happening.  Vincent just got killed, Dante and I’s wedding was approaching quickly, and now we were going to be ruling this new world of vampires?  Does it ever stop?

NOTE: THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF "VICTORIA DAWN" I WILL BE POSTING THE BEGINNING OF THE SEQUEL, "EVERLASTING BREATH" SOON, BUT FOR NOW, ENJOY!  HOPE YOU LIKED IT!!!!