Lady Dhampir
Chapter 124

"Take my brother to the first-aid camp!" She yelled.

"I'll take him," immediately said Rayan, ignoring the knights rushing to their side.

Milena nodded after the two of them exchanged a brief glance. She was devastated by her brother's state, but there was no time for tears. The fire wasn't extinguished yet, and not only they had to replace the Oracle and the young Rowena, but also, she hadn't heard about her grandmother's whereabouts yet. Milena turned to her father, rushing to his side. "Father, please, hang on!"

The Knights De Crescent rushed to the Duke's side, and it took three of them to carry him away. Despite the fact that he was probably holding it in, he ought to be in an excruciating amount of pain. Milena could barely bear to watch his injuries, and, next to her, Valentin looked devastated too. The Duke was quickly taken away, right behind Raphael.

Valentin was clenching his fists.

"That wretched woman... If only we hadn't allowed her inside the manor... You shouldn't have trusted her, Milena."

The youngest De Crescent turned to him.

Milena was furious. So furious, she was torn between crying, yelling, and falling apart right here and there. Her eyes were full of tears and rage. Being lectured by him really wasn't something she needed at that moment, and that expression in her eyes hit him. "Seriously?" She hissed. "You're going to lecture me about trust now, Valentin? If you were so against the Oracle being at the manor, you should have said it! When was the last time you cared about matters of the Manor? I've barely seen you, and now you show up and lecture me? You're the older brother, where were you when this happened? Where were you when the fire broke? When I needed you!"

It was as if his little sister had slapped him. Valentin stared at his younger sister, shocked. He stepped forward.

"Milena, I'm sorry, I..."

"I don't have time for your excuses!" She retorted, walking past him.

It was the truth.

The Manor was still burning, all the workers trying hard to do something about it. She had no time to argue with her older brother now, and no patience for this either. She was already devastated, she couldn't endure a fight with her sibling on top of everything else. She left Valentin behind, running back towards the Manor.

As she had asked, everyone was trying hard to isolate the fire from the rest of the manor, digging around it and being careful about the wind. Thankfully, it was blowing in the opposite way, making the fire's progress slow. Milena wished they had another snowstorm, for once. This little breeze wasn't enough to calm the fire fast enough. How the hell had it happened in the first place? The aisle of the Manor was already dark as ashes, the smell was filling the air horribly. She was worried about Raphael, about her father, and about the missing ones too. Why would the Oracle take Rowena? Were they safe? Milena couldn't believe Ora had stabbed her brother, and she didn't even have time to clear this out. For now, her fight was here. Rayan's words were engraved deep in her mind. One war at a time.

"My Lady! People are coming!"

Milena turned around. She was shocked. Already? She had just sent someone minutes ago to get help, and yet, a full bataillon was headed their way. She immediately recognized not only the emerald green outfits of the d'Artsein family but, to her surprise, a few men wearing the dark blue uniforms were following. Milena was so surprised that she even thought she had to be wrong. Yet, as they got closer, the white crest confirmed it. The De Winter Family?

"Lady Milena!"

On the back of a large horse, Philomenie was riding behind one of her knights and got down to run to her. She was still wearing her dress from earlier, but her hair had come undone, and her coat was buttoned wrong, too. She was out of breath when she reached the baffled Milena.

"I... I heard about the fire from the servants of the Castle!" She gasped. "Is your family alright? Do you need any help?"

Milena was so shocked to see Philomenie, of all people, come to their rescue that she stayed mute for a few seconds. Behind the blonde future princess, Briseis arrived too, not even getting down from her horse before she reached them. Suddenly, a large hand appeared on Milena's shoulder.

"Lady De Winter, our father and brother are injured. Is there anything you can do to help us?" Asked Valentin.

The young Duchess De Winter nodded frantically.

"I-I'll see what I can do!"

She glanced at Milena, but, as her peer said nothing, Philomenie simply nodded and ran towards the little spot where the injured had been brought, under the trees. Milena watched her go. Philomenie, helping her? Why would she do that? "Lady Milena, I sent word from more of our neighbors to come and help," said Briseis. "What shall we do?"

Her friend's voice brought Milena back to reality. She had not time to question Philomenie's actions. She turned to her friend and Valentin, nodding.

"We can stop the fire by splitting the Manor before it engulfs more of it."

"Like the fire of the Royal Library in the..."

"Yes, just like that," said Milena, immediately knowing her friend knew of the same event as she did. "I sent Digory to get something to provoke the explosions, and we can use the canons from the Knights' armory, but it needs to be a clear shot..." "I can do it," said Valentin. "I trained with those things when I was younger, with our grandfather. It's easier than it looks, and if we can measure the explosives we will use just right..."

"I can do the math," nodded Briseis. "It's all about the force of the wind, the powder, and the trajectory. Pretty easy calculus..."

Milena nodded, not doubting her friend's extraordinary talent for this. She turned around to check the situation. Lucian had already taken control of the reinforcements brought, yelling orders left and right for the efforts to be maintained on all sides. Milena's blood was boiling, but the adrenaline helped her.

"What about Grand-mother, though, Millie?" Said Valentin. "If she is still up there, the fire might reach her apartments..."

Milena glanced up. Valentin was right. The aisle that had been engulfed by the flames was reaching part of Maribella's rooms. Either their grandmother was trapped there, or she was on the other side, still safe, but indeed, she might be in danger because of the new explosion they were about to provoke.

"Ruby, go get my grandmother!" Milena yelled.

She couldn't check if her bodyguard had gone, but that was all she could do. Maybe her grandmother had been taken out already, but Milena couldn't afford to lose more time, the elements were against them. "Milena..."

She turned towards Valentin, resolute.

"Valentin, either Grandmother is fine and Ruby will get her out, or it's already too late. Either way, we both know our great-grandmother. She would kill us for standing there and doing nothing to wait for her. She would be the first one to tell us to not care about her and do it."

The young Duke was upset to hear this, but, it did sound like exactly what their great-grandmother would say. Maribella was a strong and stern woman, she cared more about her children than herself. Moreover, Milena was right about her odds... The sooner they could put this fire to an end, the sooner they could properly search for the Archduchess.

"Alright," he said. "I'll head to the armor with Lady D'Artsein."

"I'll send Blanche when you can fire."

The two of them nodded and ran towards the Armory. Milena let out a long sigh, followed by her coughing. The air was getting worse, filled with dust and ashes. They had to hurry up before the situation went worse. She went to join Lucian, checking the state of the dig around the area. Her garden had gone up in flames already. Milena felt her heart break a little, as it used to be also her mother's favorite. She didn't even want to begin thinking about everything that would have been lost in that fire... "Milena!"

She turned around, immediately feeling Rayan's arms around her.

"How's my father?" She asked him. "And Raphael?"

"Your father will make it, but Lady De Winter is concerned about your brother. He inhaled a lot of smoke, and his wound is bad. They have to transport him to the Royal Hospital as soon as possible, they're getting one of the carriages ready." "Oh, no..." She muttered.

Milena couldn't even imagine losing Raphael, not even a single second. Her heart was sinking to the news, but Rayan shook her shoulders.

"Milena, please. Let De Winter handle your brother, I swear as dumb as she is, she is at least good at what she's doing over there. How is the situation here?" Milena nodded, and resumed in a few words what they were about to do. Explaining her idea and having Rayan nod to it made her feel a whole lot better. "Good. We have to act fast. More people are coming from the Castle to help, too. Tell your brother to have everyone back off, we'll fire as soon as we can." Milena nodded and turned around. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled very loudly. Despite the noise around, Blanche immediately raised her head and understood. The white wolf turned around and began running towards the Armory, while Milena looked for Lucian until her eyes found him. He had heard her too and was already telling all their servants to run towards the forest around, away from the manor. Milena's heartbeat went up as Rayan pulled her shoulders for them to back off too.

She was about to blow up a portion of her house. If Briseis' calculations were wrong, or her brother missed his shot, the situation could turn worse in a few seconds. She was already living a nightmare, but now, she was risking all of her building. They had no other solution, though. The Manor was too big to simply put out the fire with water, and they wouldn't get enough help in time. This situation was unheard of. The odds for a building to take fire, when they were in such cold weather, were so little, no one was prepared for this. Which was exactly why Milena knew, as soon as she could, she'd replace the culprits and send them to hell herself.

The more the servants left the ground, the more she began crying, helpless. She was glad Rayan's arms were around her, because her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. Maybe she was sacrificing her grandmother in the process. Maybe Maribella was still up there, trapped by the flames. Maybe Ruby had only found a body, or maybe it was already ashes among ashes. Milena knew she had taken the decision she had too, but her heart was bleeding. Why couldn't her own bodyguards take Maribella out of there earlier? She should have been taken out much earlier, like the Duke...

When she heard the bang from the canon, Milena jumped and stopped crying, the shock resonating inside.

She wanted to watch this. To take that pain into her heart. She'd use that image, carve it into her soul and use it to fuel her anger at her enemies later. The sound of the explosives hitting the walls of the mansion was terrible. Rayan raised his arms between the explosion and her to protect their eyes, and despite her best will, Milena had to hide in his embrace for a couple of seconds.

It was over in a few seconds. Just as she had hoped, the inner wall crumbled on itself, causing a clear void between the aisle engulfed by the fire and the rest of the manor. She finally breathed, seeing her plan had worked. She was shaking and crying, but at least, there was nothing more to be done. She remained there, in her Fiancé's arms, watching as the fire finished what it had started. The servants of the House De Crescent and a few knights ran back to pile up the snow where they could and make sure the fire wouldn't restart somewhere, but it was unlikely. Everything had been blown away by the explosion.

Milena needed a minute to calm down. This was the hardest experience of her life, and it wasn't even over yet. Raphael was carried to the Royal Hospital in a life or death situation, his daughter was missing and had been taken away by a woman whose whereabouts were unknown.

"...I need to replace Rowe," she muttered against Rayan's shoulder. "Milena?"

"I need to replace my niece, and my grandmother," she gasped.

The vampire prince hesitated for a second and nodded. In her current state, Milena would go insane if she didn't have something to focus on. He let her take a minute to wipe out her tears the best she could, despite her face covered with the dark dust of the ashes anyway, and they both headed towards the first-aid camp established further away.

Since Ruby hadn't come back, she was probably still looking for Maribella, or helping those who were starting to clear out outside the Manor. They met Lucian on their way, and her brother was heading back inside the manor with some knights, to replace more survivors or check there weren't any other bombs planted inside.

While Lucian could take care of what was left of their House, Milena had questions, and the only people she could ask them too were the injured. Those who had been closest to the explosion ought to know something. Who had seen the Oracle and Rowena last, or what had happened to Raphael and Maribella.

Once they got there, Milena was shocked to see there were more injured people than she thought. Some only had light injuries like burns or difficulties breathing from too much smoke, but some of their servants who had been closer to the explosion or the fire were in a horrible state.

Valentin was already there, having run to their father's side right after shooting. Milena spotted her Father, already sitting up with their family doctor leaning over his injuries. Her heart finally found a little ounce of relief has the Duke seemed to endure well. Briseis ran to her.

"Lady Milena, the young Duchess De Winter left for the Royal Hospital with your brother. Your vampire maid accompanied them, as well as two of his servants."

"That's good," sighed Milena.

She wouldn't have felt well about Raphael being alone there, but at least he had some people she could trust with him before she went there herself. Briseis nodded.

"Two people died, and those in the worst state were taken in the carriages available to the closest hospitals. However, we found someone who knows about... I mean, I think we found the culprit."

"What? Where?"

Milena almost ran behind Briseis.

The man had been put aside from the rest of the injured, but if he wasn't involved in the explosion, he should have been taken first to the hospital. His hands had been blown out. Two maids were doing their best to wrap the b****y ends in bandages, but the man was sweating bullets, his eyes wide open with his suffering painted all over his face. His expression was that of a man who was seeing hell. He kept gasping and breathing loudly, his chest making sudden movements as if he couldn't replace air.

"Tell her what you said."

Milena didn't realize Briseis wasn't talking to the man, but to the maids. The oldest of them, a middle-aged woman who usually worked in their kitchens, immediately stood up and bowed as she recognized Milena.

"My Lady! That man came to the Manor earlier this afternoon, under the pretense of delivery for the second young master! Digory didn't want to let him in, so we thought he had stayed outside with his box, I don't know how he got in! He kept saying he had to go to the second young master, to give him his box..."

"When I saw him in the corridors, I knew something was wrong!" Added the other. "I ran to tell Digory, and right after, the explosion..."

"Wait, so he wasn't with my brother?"

"No, my Lady! He wasn't in the Second young Master's apartments yet, just at the other end when I saw him!"

Milena exchanged a glance with Rayan.

Something wasn't right about this. Why would Ora have stabbed Raphael before the explosion? Until then, Milena thought the explosion had occurred to distract everyone, but it didn't make sense her brother had been attacked before that!

The Duchess lost patience. She approached the man with fire in her eyes.

"What was your aim?" She asked. "Who was your target!"

The man gasped, his eyes suddenly turning to her.

"The... the... monsters must die... The... The impure will... eat... this world... Save... the innocents... from the... beasts... the blood... beasts..."

His eyes suddenly revulsed, and Rayan held Milena back as the man suddenly got agitated with violent convulsions. Unable to do anything, the watched the man gag in his own blood, coughing the red liquid, before he suddenly stopped moving. The two maids screeched, but Milena stood there.

With no answers.