Lady Dhampir
Chapter 21

No matter in how much in pain she was, Milena kept herself from swearing out loud, though she cursed the Prince silently. She didn't want to be saved by him, but she hated his attitude. Clenching her teeth, she laid down, hoping things would turn out for the

better for Ellias. If only his vampire twin could get to him in time....

"Milena!"

She turned her head, and saw Lucian, riding his horse to her. Her brother jumped off his horse to run to her, panicked. The blood on Milena's face and clothes was impressive, and he'd never seen his sister's face so pale before. "Lord, what happened to you!"

"Verheim... Shot me. Help me up."

"What? That pig will pay! No, stay laying down, you need help! Blanche, go get Valentin!"

He stayed with her for a while, covering her shoulders with his coat until Valentin and Blanche returned. Her older brother was just as worried as Lucian, but Milena still insisted they got back to the camp.

"Grab the body... We have to bring it back with us."

"What? Why? We don't even know who it is, they'll say you attacked it!"

"Don't worry, I can prove I'm innocent... Just take it with you. Whoever it is, we need to return him to his family. The wolves will eat him otherwise."

Lucian clicked his tongue.

"Seriously, who cares! The guy's dead but you are in such a state... We have to go!"

"I'll take Millie, Lucian, grab the body."

Her older brother was careful to carry Milena gently, in a way that would be the best possible for her wounds. Even with that, the pain was overwhelmed, and she had to hold her tears back, clenching her teeth. Valentin refused to take his horse to bring her back and carried her all the way so she wouldn't be in more pain from the throttling.

It took a while, and Milena explained to them and her maids what had happened the best she could.

"That a*****e... Attacking a Duchess, he's going to pay! Shooting at you, too!" Growled Lucian, infuriated.

"Don't worry, we'll make him pay for trying to kill our sister. I swear on our Household's name, this man is dead," muttered Valentin.

Milena couldn't agree more, and she already knew how they would make him pay. But she was still keeping in mind the Baron's words. There was more to it. And Prince Ellias had definitely been attacked too, though neither of her brothers had heard of it.

It took a while for them to get back to the Camps, but to their surprise, a large crowd was there waiting for them. Upon their arrival, a lot of the nobles were immediately shocked by Milena's disastrous appearance. The usually dignified Lady de Crescent was now covered in blood, her hair disheveled and her face marked by the tremendous pain. If it wasn't for her incredible willpower and vampire strength, she would have passed out long ago.

Her friends ran to her, crying, telling her how they were worried sick about her, but before anyone else could say anything, someone pointed their fingers.

"It's her, your Highness! She's the one who attacked his Highness! Arrest her immediately!"

The Baron Varheim stood out from the crowd, yelling at the De Crescent siblings and glaring at Milena. She frowned, thinking about how much she wanted to kill that pig. Now at least she knew what his real scheme was. "What are you saying! You shot at our sister!" Yelled back Lucian, furious. "How dare you even get close to her! We will have your head for that!"

But soon, Royal soldiers surrounded them, pointing spears at all three of them, and even Milena's friends were prevented from coming close to them. Valentin glared at the soldiers but held his sister tighter in his arms. He looked for the Queen in the crowd, only replaceing her after a few seconds, separated by more soldiers from them.

"Your Highness, please tell your guards to step away from us. This man should be the one arrested, he shot at Milena!"

"Baron Verheim claims he saw your sister attacking my son. Prince Ellias is severely injured from a vampire's attack."

"Our sister had nothing to do with it, she was injured herself!"

"This blood isn't hers! Look at her face, she obviously drank from someone! This blood on her face is human, we can smell it!" Insisted Baron Verheim.

Many vampires nodded. Indeed, though they couldn't say who it was, for a vampire, a human's blood smelled very different from a vampire's.

"Wait, she also smells a bit like a vampire's blood... It could be Dhampir blood," insisted a woman. "Duchess, you said you were shot...?"

"We found our sister shot down, she only drank blood to survive. But she did not attack the Prince, she was alone with a corpse!"

At that moment, Lucian showed the body they had wrapped in a cloak, pushing it in front of the horrified crowd.

"The Marquis de Bell's third son!"

"This is so cruel!"

"Look, that boy was actually shot!"

"He does smell the same as the blood on Lady de Crescent..."

"See! She killed that innocent..."

"Baron Varheim, I would strongly suggest you shut up before somebody picks your tongue as a shooting target."

Everyone turned heads to see Prince Rayan, blood all over his jacket, stand out from the crow, glaring at the Baron. He kept the man quiet before turning to his mother.

"Mother, Baron Varheim claims Lady de Crescent attacked my brother, and the Lady says he actually shot her. What do you think?"

"Unfortunately, Prince Ellias is unable to speak at the moment, and hasn't been able to give any clue on who attacked him... On the other hand, I don't believe we've heard Lady de Crescent's version yet," said the Queen. She said so while looking at Milena, and the young Duchess slowly nodded.

"Brother, let me down."

"But..."

"Just help me. Please."

With reluctance, Valentin helped his younger sister stand, despite her trembling legs and weak state. He was glaring at the Baron the whole time.

Finally facing the crowd, Milena actually turned to face the Baron instead of the Queen.

"You claim I attacked the Prince? How would you know?"

"Isn't it obvious? I saw you attacking the Prince, and pursued you through the forest. You were already covered in blood, so I shot you to stop you. I suppose you attacked this poor young man to recover from your injuries..." Milena snorted. The Baron even had an explanation as to why he would have shot her... It was indeed a good fabrication.

"Don't you think there are too many loopholes in your story, Baron? Did you go through the trouble of organizing all this just to get rid of me? Not only you didn't have the guts to finish the job, you thought you could use his Highness to have me convicted? One shot, two targets?"

"You sound very confident for someone who's accused of attacking a member of the Royal Family, Duchess," suddenly said Rachael.

"I'm not accused of anything, and I'm innocent."

"You liar! You..."

But a g*n's familiar clicking sound shut the Baron up. Prince Rayan was aiming right at its forehead.

"I would like to hear the Lady, Baron....Would you please shut the f**k up."

Despite the Prince's poor choice of language, the Queen didn't say anything and turned to Milena again.

"You said you could prove your innocence, Lady de Crescent. I'm all ears."

Milena nodded. She had no idea why the Prince was helping her, but she was sure he knew the truth already. Was it because of his brother? Did he want to convict the real culprit and let her prove her innocence to do so? Rayan was holding his weapon right in front of the Baron's face, ignoring her totally.

If it wasn't for Valentin helping her, she probably wouldn't have been able to stand on her own. Laying on him, she turned to the Baron, glaring at him.

"You said your pursued me after I attacked the Prince?"

"That's right!"

"When did you shoot?"

"W... What?"

"You heard me. You claim you shot me and so do I, the question is when did you shoot me?"

The Baron frowned. Why was that important? He couldn't remember the exact timing, and anyway if she was trying to unmatch the time he had shot with when the Prince had been attacked... He knew the Prince was attacked after he had shot Milena de Crescent, but there was no way she could prove that anyway.

"I don't know exactly! When I was pursuing you!"

"While I was on the run?"

"Yes, yes!"

"So you shot me while I was running, right Baron?"

"I already said that! What are you aiming at!"

"Then why was I shot in front?"

The Baron shut up, realizing he had made a mistake. The noble started whispering, as Milena revealed the still apparent scars on her stomach, where the bullets had transpierced her corset. The bloodstain were even darker in that area. "That's right! Lady de Crescent was obviously shot in front!" Said her cousin Helena.

The many nobles started whispering between themselves, many starting to seriously doubt the Baron's version. The man, understanding things were getting out of hand, shook his head.

"She's lying! I shot her in the back! And she's half-vampire too, who can tell if her wounds in the back haven't healed already and she shot herself in front? With all the blood she drank, any vampire would be healed long ago!"

"Our sister is a Dhampir and everyone here knows that. Her regenerating capacity is not as good as a vampire's!"

"Even so, nothing can prove she isn't healed!"

Milena was furious. His theory was crazy, yet so many people were still doubting her!

"You damn... You say I shot myself, right?"

Without warning, Milena grabbed her brother's knife from the scabbard on his thigh and brutally stabbed her own stomach in front of the nobles' horrified eyes.

"Milena!" Screamed both her brothers in unison.

But she kept going, glaring at the Baron with endless wrath the whole time. When she had gone deep enough, she stirred her fingers inside the injury, making a couple of women faint. Herself was clearly in utter pain, yet she stood still and brave the whole time, not blinking once.

After a few seconds where no one could react to that scene, she finally took the knife and her fingers out of there.

"You say... I shot... myself?" She stuttered, trembling from the pain. "... Then how would I have one of your bullets?"

She opened her hand, showing the bullet she had just taken out, still soaked with her own blood. Chartiana De Pristin immediately reacted, pushing a soldier out of her way to go to her friend and observe the bullet.

"It is not one of the De Crescent Family's carved bullets. My Family had been delivering all the Bullet for each of the De Crescent House members, and this does not come from one of our factories!"

"She... She could have another weapon..." Said the Baron, who was clearly losing his ground.

Briseis stood up too, only glaring at the soldiers for them to step aside.

"Since the 15th amendment, it is requisite that any Noble House would register any of their weapons as well as their manufacturers to the Royal Guard Arms, by Royal decree. I'm sure they can attest that Lady de Crescent doesn't have any other manufacturer than the House De Pristin at the moment!"

The Baron felt very insecure all of a sudden, many stares on him. Worse, before he could even react, Lucian walked to him and took out the g*n from his side. With Prince Rayan still holding him at gunpoint, the Baron de Verheim couldn't say a word and Lucian immediately shot at the nearest tree, making a few people jump in surprise.

The youngest De Crescent son walked to the tree and took out the bullet, showing the Baron's weapon and its bullet to the crowd.

"It is the same as the one that shot at my sister! So you did shoot her from the front, at gunpoint! How would that be possible if you were chasing her as you claim!"

"You..." Said the Baron, furious.

"Wouldn't it be even more interesting, Baron, if we found the same bullets in that man's body...?" Said Milena, still glaring at him.

However, just after saying that, her legs gave up, and she fell into her brother's arms, out of strength. Valentin got on his knees, supporting his sister, worried. Lucian ran to them too, and Helena turned to the Queen, tears in her eyes. "Your Highness, Lady de Crescent is innocent! She was attacked by this man and severely injured! We have no idea who attacked the Prince, but my cousin had nothing to do with it!"

"My sister only drank the corpse's body in order to save her own life, Your Highness. She had no choice, that trap was set out for her. The man was already long dead," added Valentin.

The Queen sighed, looking at Milena. The young Duchess was obviously doing her best not to faint despite the pain... That young Lady was truly something else.

"Guards, put the Baron de Varheim under arrest. I want him detained until we can pursue further examination and verify the body. Lady de Crescent should stay in her tent, but I want the Royal Doctor here for her as soon as possible."

Everything was set in motion very fast. The soldiers let Milena and her brother alone to run towards the Baron, which, in a desperate attempt, tried to run away. He only made one step though, and a gunshot was heard. Prince Rayan had shot his leg, pinning him down in a scream of pain. The Prince smirked cruelly.

"Are you in pain, Baron? Lady de Crescent got three bullets and still endured it. How dare you cry for this?"

"Rayan! Enough." Said the Queen, annoyed.

She turned around to go back to the Castle, most likely to check on her other son's state. The Nobles around were still discussing the events, many of them shocked or impressed by Milena.

However, as they turned to look, the young Duchess had fainted in her brother's arms.