Xander's POV:

This morning was one of the more relaxing ones I've had recently.

We spent this morning lazing, Doe laying close-eyed on my chest while my fingers gently trailed her back.

With all of the stress of what's going lately, it felt nice to just chill for a second.

Despite the fact that what was going on didn't exactly include me, the tension between Nico and my father was something that I could practically feel non-stop.

Not to mention the apparent inclusion of Khloe.

It's times like this when I'm extra glad that I'm not the heir.

Especially after I finally told Doe what was happening.

Understandably, she was worried, so we just stayed away from all of it as often as we could.

Or more specifically, I kept her away from it.

I trailed my hand up to massage the back of her neck, earning a content sigh as she leaned into it.

"You hungry yet," She asked through her tired voice, not even peaking an eye open.

"Only if you are," I responded, equally as quiet, "I can go grab something while you sleep in."

"And have you drop half of it again like last time?" she teased, using the hand on my chest to push herself up, "No thanks."

I let out a short chuckle, rolling my eyes while moving her hair in order to fully see hers.

"Fair enou-"

I cut myself off as a wave on uneasiness shot through me out of nowhere, causing my eyes to thin out for a short second and to shoot up into a sitting position.

The hair on my neck rose and my heart rate spiked, all of these things together being a common and familiar warning that most vampires get.

Something was horribly wrong.

My eyes searched the immediate area, despite the fact that I felt like I already knew what was going on.

"Alex?" Doe spoke, snapping my gaze down to the concern in her eyes.

She's seen this sort of reaction from me before, so she knew what was going on.

"What it is?" she finished.

"I don't know," I looked through our room one last time, almost hoping whatever causing this was in here instead of where I thought it might be.

It wasn't.

Shit.

I immediately moved to get off the bed.

"I'll be right back. Stay here," I explained to her, heading quickly into my closet to change into something decent.

"Is it... the Lord?" She spoke as I stepped out again, a hint of discomfort in her voice.

I hesitated for a second.

I hated hearing anything like that in her voice, and the last thing I wanted was for her to be scared.

Walking back over to the side of the bed that she was on, I answered, "I think so, but I want to go check and make sure."

Our bodies only gave us warnings in dangerous circumstances.

I've gotten a couple of them in my life but this one felt... different.

"If it's something that I can help with, then I want to be there for it, or at least make sure its nothing too serious," I leaned down, cupping one cheek while I kissed the other one, "But until then, stay here. I'll be back soon."

She nodded without a word, and I could just barely tell she was biting the inside of her lip.

A nervous habit of hers.

Still, I took her nod as a 'go-ahead' and did just that.

Almost the second my door closed, I sped to the other side of this floor to Nico's room, stopping a little farther away to make sure I didn't crash into anything.

The odd clash of scents that hit me as soon as I successfully stopped caught me off guard, but not as much as the sight did once I turned the corner.

Marcus' limp body laid right in front of Nico's door.

The door that was partially ajar.

That feeling in my gut grew tenfold.

"Holy shit," I muttered to myself.

I ran over to the boy, a slight relief running through me at the realization that he was breathing.

I knelt down beside him, immediately realizing that there was probably a right way to wake up an unconscious person, and that I definitely didn't know what it was.

Not really having too much time to think, I resorted to lightly shaking him.

I needed to know what happened here and he had to have had an answer.

"Marcus... Marcus!" I repeated, still trying to keep my voice hushed.

My senses were telling me that no one else was around, but my body was telling me that the danger wasn't gone yet.

After a couple minutes, his eyes shot open with an exasperated gasp.

Followed by an unexpected and admittedly impressive punch that I just narrowly avoided.

I stood and took a step back, giving him some room as he shakily pushed himself up onto his elbows and regained his bearings.

As he did, I turned and noticed something sticking out of the door.

A key.

A key that didn't look the same as the one typically used for this door.

I turned back towards Marcus.

His breaths raced as he looked around, finally landing on me.

"Xander?"

Before I could even reply, his eyes widened and he gasped like he had remembered something.

"No," He whispered to himself as he clumsily rose to his feet, "No no no no."

His panic grew with every word as limped towards the door and pushed it open.

Then he just froze, shoulders going rigid like he had seen a ghost.

As soon as I walked behind him, I nearly mirrored the stance.

The room was completely ransacked.

I took a slow step past Marcus and into the room.

Different items scattered the floor, books and papers lying in different stated of destruction, items on the wall hung lopsided.

I stopped as soon as an odd scent hit me.

Blood.

It didn't take long to spot it, splattered across the floor in a few spots.

It was relatively fresh. This couldn't have happened more than 20 minutes ago.

I gulped, inspecting it closer.

With a nearer scent of it, I could tell that it wasn't Khloe's

And for the first time, I was actually glad I knew enough about her blood to decipher that.

It wasn't anyone's that I recognize, which honestly didn't make me feel any better.

I turned back towards Marcus, seeing his hands clasped over his mouth and tears in his eyes as he looked over the mess I was standing in.

"What happened here?" I asked him.

"H-he got her," He managed to get out in his current state.

"Who got her," I pressed.

He shook his head, clearing something from his mind before he answered.

"Carlo. Nico got summoned by the Lord and called me here to protect Khloe," He paused, gathering his breath. "He showed up a-and caught me off guard and now... he got her... oh my god he got her!"

My stomach turned.

Nico filled me in on the situation enough for me to know what his explanation meant.

"I failed," He spoke up again, "No no shes in danger! Xander, she's-"

"Hey" I spoke calmly, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder, "It's going to be okay. I'll take care of it from here. Hurry over to my room and Doe will let you in. Stay there with her."

I had their scents. I could track them from here.

He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and just nodded.

I turned him around myself and practically pushed him out the door, nudging him the way he needed to go with one simple word, "Go."

He did, and as soon as I saw him move, I did as well.

I ran towards the elevator, following the smell of Khloe and Carlo.

Except when I got in the elevator, something caught me completely off guard.

Nico's scent and the scent of two others I didn't recognize.

Which didn't bother me as much as the fact that Nico's was much more recent than Khloe's, and it was clouded with an emotion I had never witnessed on Nico.

Fear.

I knew the smell of fear a lot more than I wish I did.

The other strange thing was that this specific elevator only went to three different floors, this one, my parents, and cells that were kept far below the castle.

And Nico's scent went down.

That feeling in my chest shot up to my head in some sort of twisted confirmation.

My fingers hesitated over which button I was choosing.

Khloe's went up, and Nico's went down.

The new aching in my head wasn't really helping in this decision either.

Nico's was more recent...

With a begrudge grunt, I forced myself to finally press one of them.

The doors slid close and with a quiet ding from the elevator itself, I felt myself going down.

I stepped back against the cool wall as it descended, trying to collect myself.

The pain in my head decreased by the second, as did the feeling in my chest.

I guess this was the way I was supposed to go then.

But what the hell happened?

Why was Nico going down here?

The descend to the cells from my floor was a long one, but this one felt exceptionally so.

My foot tapped impatiently as I tried to decipher who the two other unknown scents were.

The cells down there were built for vampires. The bars built with tungsten and reinforced with titanium.

Regardless of our strength, only a Lord could bend that.

The elevator dinged yet again snapping me out of it as the doors opened to the cobblestone dungeon.

And there before me stood the two vampires whose scent I was just trying to figure out.

Two of my father's guardsmen, whos faces paled even more than their completion allowed at the sight of me.

"Prince Alexander!" One of them sputtered, shock covering both of their faces.

They both took a step back as I stepped out, changing their stance to one of attention.

Their shock turned to nervousness as a glare crept onto my face.

"Why the hell did you bring my brother down here?" I questioned.

The one who spoke prior spoke again.

"Direct ordered from Lord Vanderwood, my Prince," he answered.

I fought to let my surprise show.

Dad wouldn't do that...

Sure they fought almost constantly but this...

This didn't feel right.

Something must have really gone wrong for this to have happened.

"Well take him out!" I ordered.

They both flinched back, tightening their holds on their spears.

My pupils nearly thinned once I caught his scent on those as well.

"I'm afraid you don't have the authority to make that request, Lord Vanderwood specified that only he can."

Of course.

That definitely put a damper on my plans, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.

I took one more step towards them.

If my instincts lead me here, then I needed to be here.

"Then put me in there with him."