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Double updating simply because Martie said she's in suspense. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as the other one! <3




BRAN
Damn, but the man had a shit ton of guards, Bran thought as he wiped the blood from his sword on the dead man's shirt, before continuing down the hall. 
The house was huge with several wings. He'd gone through some, checking the rooms in search of Maria, but he hadn't found her in anyone. Instead, he'd found a group of guards more than ready to chop his head off. 
Too bad they were the ones that had gotten their heads chopped. 
He was lucky, though, that the men hadn't raised alarm. Well, to be fair, he hadn't given them the chance to. He'd descended upon them before they could even raise their swords and the frozen looks of shock on their faces could account for that. 
He reached another door in the hallway and pushed it open, frowning when he still didn't see Maria. Where the hell was she? 
There were still a few rooms that he hadn't searched but in all honesty, Bran was starting to doubt that she was in any of them. 
What if she wasn't in one of the rooms? 
She hated her father, right? And she'd gone with him unwillingly. He probably wouldn't keep her in a room where the chances of escape were higher, especially now that she'd been taken from him before. 
What if he'd kept her somewhere where she wouldn't be able to escape? 
He decided to place himself in Ariti's shoes. Where would he keep someone if he didn't want them to escape?
He froze as the answer came to him. 
A cell. 
Jumping into action, Bran made his way down the dark staircase, hoping not to run into any guard that would raise alarm.
His wish was short-lived, however, when he turned a corner down in what he hoped was the dungeon and bumped into a few guards. They shouted with both shock and anger and they were a lot less quieter than the few he'd killed upstairs, groaning and grunting as his sword cut through them. 
Seriously, where did Ariti find these weaklings he called men?
Bran killed them in no time and again, wiped his sword on them. It was something he'd learnt when he was much younger. 
He hurried down the corridor as his sharp ear picked up the sound of two voices. They were female and not only that, he was getting a strong sense of familiarity from them. 
Could one of them be Maria? 
A door sat at the end of the corridor and Bran sheathed his sword, moving to open the door just as a body slammed into his from behind, causing his grip on the door handle to slip. 
Angry that he was being delayed, Bran turned around and gripped the man by his collar then slammed him into the door. Once, then twice, making sure that his head hit the iron door on each slam, before dropping the man to the ground. 
Bran didn't have to check. The man was dead. 
He wrenched the door open and let it slam against the wall, his eyes making a sweep of the room. 
"Vampire?" A throaty, familiar voice called, filled with surprise, just as another small, familiar voice asked, "Brother?"
There were a few times in Bran's life when he'd been rendered speechless. In fact, he could count on one hand the number of times.