GISELLE

Vlad handed Giselle the sword, a real life, sharp, forged in steel sword. She sighed and took it, feeling the weight in her hands. She thought she would love knowing how to swing a sword, but truthfully, she didn't. It was heavy and it bruised her hands. But Vlad insisted on teaching her how to fight.

They were in a round room in the lower parts of one of the Bran Castle's towers. Sun shone through the large windows, illuminating the empty room. There was nothing in it, except for the wooden floor and a table in the corner, all sorts of swords and daggers hanging from the wall above it.

"Your best defence is offense." Vlad lifted his sword and faced Giselle. "Your enemies know who you are, let that sink in. They know who your mother was and they will be afraid of you. You will use that."

Giselle put the sword in front of her and stared at the handle. Vlad's swords had a secret hidden in them, there was a wooden core beneath the steel. When he hurt a vampire with it, it immobilised him to the point he could barely move. If he hit the heart, the vampire was dead.

"There is no chance in hell I will ever master this craft. Maybe I should get back to brewing reviving potions with Luciana." Giselle frowned as the hilt of Vlad's sword collided with hers.

"Let's talk politics while we practice." Vlad swiftly changed the subject and hit Giselle with a sword just a swiftly. She winced in pain as sharp steel cut the back of her arm.

"Let's not talk politics. Let's talk whatever it is you're doing with Lerra." Giselle smiled as Vlad lost his focus for a moment and she lunged forward with a sword, almost touching him.

"How do you even know that?" Vlad regained his balanced and moved away from the attack, dodging Giselle's sword. She hadn't gotten used to the vampire speed so she almost tripped as she tried to stop.

"Ala plays cards with Petre, she infiltrated your Council. And trust me, that guy knows everything." Giselle said and moved away quickly, because Vlad was already on to her, swinging his sword so fast Giselle barely managed to escape. Her heart raced and she panted.

"I always knew he was scum." Vlad murmured.

"Careful, he can probably hear you, the guy's always lurking around." Giselle said and lunged forward, their swords colliding in the air, but Vlad didn't move. He pushed and pushed and Giselle's hands started to hurt. She was strong, but Vlad was immensely strong. She grunted and let go, the force of it making her lose her balance.

"Don't meddle in my affairs." Vlad warned.

"Don't meddle with Lerra!" Giselle answered.

"What I do is none of your business." It was perhaps the first time Giselle had seen Vlad really angry, and she wanted to let it go, but she couldn't.

"God, you men are all the same. At least you were suspicious of her! Octavia was right, everyone that gets involved with her ends up dead. She's manipulating you." Giselle sighed in frustration. To her surprise, Vlad smiled, but it was an evil kind of smile, one Giselle wasn't used to seeing on his face.

"If you're such an expert on manipulation, what are you doing with Devan Roua?" He asked and Giselle shut her mouth immediately. "That's what I thought." Vlad added.

"I thought he was your friend." Giselle murmured.

"Past tense. He's trouble, he's not good for you." Vlad said and Giselle laughed out loud bitterly.

"Oh, no, no, you're not going to tell me what is and isn't good for me. Especially if you're sleeping with Lerra!" Giselle raised her voice.

"I didn't sleep with her." Vlad countered.

"I'm not interested in gory details!" Giselle raised her hands, throwing the sword on the floor and proceeded towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vlad shouted after her.

"To take down your stupid Border! By the way, you could have included me in that meeting, you know?" Giselle said.

"We didn't need the drama." Vlad simply said and Giselle gaped at him. The level of frustration and anger she felt at the moment was unimaginable. So she decided to hurt him.

"I guess it's a good thing Leona planned for me to die, then." It was completely unnecessary and Giselle knew it, she blamed her impulsiveness on vampirism. Vlad stared at her and she couldn't place his expression. It might have been anger and it might have been fear. Quickly, this expression was gone and Vlad's face gave nothing away except coldness.

"That is exactly the kind of drama I was talking about." He said and Giselle had to pinch herself to not scream at him. She turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

It wasn't the fact that Vlad told her she was acting overly dramatic, or even the fact he was now sleeping with Lerra, what bothered Giselle was that he didn't even address what her mother had planned for her. He knew it, Codrin and Anton must have told him what they learnt. This made Giselle feel sort of alone. Maybe she was too quick to accept him as a fatherly figure when she didn't even know what kind of a man he really was.

Luciana told her to meet her outside the castle after the practice, they would take the Border down today. Luciana said it was better to take it down during the day, when it's sunny outside, because the creatures wouldn't come out during the day.

Giselle thought it was an idiotic plan coming from people that hadn't faced what lurked on the other side of the Border. And those idiots were relying on her to save them with her magic, the same magic she didn't have entirely under control.

Truthfully, she was afraid of her own magic. When she used it, she felt the darkness crawling under her skin, almost like it tried to seduce her with its power. If she wasn't careful, she might succumb to the lull of this power.

Giselle waited in the castle garden as she watched the disciples go about their day. Vlad made them train hard, but Giselle wasn't sure whether they were ready. She wasn't ready, not for war. She turned around and looked at the highest tower in the castle, the tower her mother jumped from fifteen years ago.

Giselle imagined her mother's body splashed on the rocks on the steep side of the castle and felt a spinning sensation at once, a strange light-headedness. Quickly, she averted her gaze and looked around for a bench to sit on. Giselle took a deep breath, wondering how is it possible for a vampire to have vertigo. Then again, she still had to pee, so there's that.

"Hey, are you alright?" An unfamiliar female voice reached her ears. Giselle tried to lift her head, but staring at the rocky floor seemed easier.

"I must look like shit." She let out a laugh.

"No, it's just strange seeing a vampire so defeated." The voice said and Giselle managed to look up. A girl, younger than herself, stood in front of her. The girl's hair was tied tightly on her head, but Giselle noticed it was light brown.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Giselle heard a familiar voice this time and lifted her head completely, realising her vertigo went away as quickly as it came. She was surprised to see Devan talking to the young girl.

"This girls seems sick." Ruby, apparently, gestured towards Giselle. But she finally managed herself and got up, looking at Devan slightly confused.

"I'm fine, something came over me at once, but it's alright now." Giselle said, but she couldn't shake the strange... wrongness.

"Strange," Devan murmured but his face lightened up fast, "Giselle, this is my sister, Ruby. Ruby, this is my... friend, Giselle."

Giselle smiled widely and offered her hand, surprised by her own delight. The girl took her hand and Giselle noticed the similarities. Their hair was the same colour, as well as their deep green eyes. Ruby's face was softer, of course, but they both had high cheekbones and quite a symmetrical facial lines.

"Why, why is your sister here?" Giselle asked, hoping she didn't sound rude, for the first time in her life. Ruby smiled.

"To help with the upcoming war, of course! Well, Devan won't let me near the battlefield, but I'll offer moral support." She said and Giselle found herself smiling like a moron, probably because the girl's smile was contagious.

"She tricked me and came with our cousins." Devan said and Giselle's smile faltered as she wondered why no one told her anything. God, Vlad was right, she was being overly dramatic.

"I'm sorry you had to come during a warzone." Giselle said.

"It's alright. Hey, we were going for a run, maybe you'd like to join us?" Ruby asked and smiled. Giselle would've eagerly agreed if Devan didn't interrupt.

"I'm sure Giselle has better things to do." He said and Giselle's heart sank.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" She asked Devan and watched him hesitate. She didn't think he would be cold, she also didn't think it would bother her.

"No problem, I have to go find our family, anyway." Ruby said and half ran to the castle.

"She's sweet." Giselle said once Ruby was out of sight.

"She's the most important thing in my life. I have to convince her to leave Bran, she cannot be here when the fighting starts, but she's stubborn." Devan said.

"I'll talk to her if you want." Giselle offered and Devan frowned, making Giselle's head fill with insecurities. She didn't really know what she wanted to talk to him about, but her conversation with Vlad reminded her of the fact Devan and her never really talked.

"What did you want to tell me?" He asked and Giselle pursed her lips.

"We never talked." She said quietly. "About Cardona, about what happened, you know. About your wife. God, we didn't talk about anything." Giselle felt her heart pick up the pace and something fluttered in her stomach, making her feel as if she was about to throw up.

"There's nothing to talk about, Giselle. I kissed you, you kissed me back, a raging werewolf rebellion stopped us from making any further mistakes." He said, looking into her eyes and she saw nothing in them but coldness.

"Is that what it was? A mistake?" She asked.

"What else would it be?" He asked back.

"What about the Bran Castle ball? You gave me your blood, you told me you... you wanted me to be happy." Her heart was beating so fast she was barely able to utter a sentence.

"I meant what I said, but trust me, you wouldn't be happy with me." Devan actually turned around to walk away and Giselle did not expect to feel fear.

Maybe because this was the first time since Antonio that she actually let herself feel something for somebody, even if he did sneak up on her. She never planned for it to happen, but she decided to try to be happy. And once he turned away, Giselle was afraid. Afraid that she would become full of darkness and sadness again.

"Why won't you let me be the judge of that?" She asked, hoping he could not hear the trembling in her voice. Devan sighed and looked at her, but as he met her eyes she swore she saw hesitation.

"I cannot... let myself do this. Not now, not with so much at stake. I'm married, in case you forgot."

"Yes, and where is your wife? Why aren't you with her? Why are you here when she's going through her transformation?" Giselle asked before he could say anything else.

"There are things more important, like this war." He simply said.

"Oh, that's bullshit." Giselle rolled her eyes.

"Listen, Elle." Devan said, his voice suddenly stern. "I want you. I am not going to lie and say I don't. But I don't want to be with you."

Giselle might have said something snappy, but her head began spinning again and she lost her balance, falling forward towards Devan. She let out a soft cry as a rush of pain went straight through her head. Devan caught her and held her in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Devan sounded worried, in contrast to what he said earlier. Giselle would've smiled if her head didn't throb. She closed her eyes, hoping that the spinning would stop.

"I don't..." She uttered. "Something's wrong." She gasped as she felt the power within her reaching the surface, purring to her, begging to be let out.

"What's wrong? Tell me! Should I get Vlad? I'll go get Vlad." Devan was speaking but Giselle couldn't focus, not when she had to stop her magic from leaving her body uncontrolled.

"It's my...magic. It's, it's trying to leave my body. Almost like, like something is reaching out to it!" Giselle shouted because her head hurt like it might explode.

"What the hell is happening?!" Another voice reached them and Giselle recognised Luciana through the pain. She completely forgot they were supposed to meet. Holding Devan's shirt tightly, Giselle managed to open her eyes and she realised the sun was gone.

"What...?" She asked but no one was listening to her, because that was when the ground began shaking.

And just like that, complete panic broke out.

Giselle still clutched to Devan's shirt when she heard multiple voices running around her, asking what was happening. The ground shook and everything darkened. A beautiful day was ruined just like that. Giselle tried to stop the panic building up inside her, but she couldn't.

"Elle, we have to go. Can you walk?" Devan asked and Giselle looked up at him, momentarily warmed up by his concerned gaze. She nodded, her magic settled and her head wasn't spinning. But she knew what happened, she felt it in her blood. Her magic reacted to magic.

The Border fell.

She moved away from Devan and exchanged glances with him and Luciana. She nodded again, swallowing the fear that she could now basically taste in her mouth. This was no time for fear. Giselle willed her heart to stop deafening her with its beating and focused on what was right in front of her.

Once the disciples realised what was happening, they all entered this controlled, almost practiced movements and Giselle immediately knew Vlad taught them how to react in situations like this.

"God, we were supposed to take it down today, right now!" Luciana shouted, pacing back and forth. "I was supposed to channel its magic! Now, we have no idea whether Giselle's power is going to be enough to rebuild it!"

Giselle took a deep breath and an unnatural calm washed over her. She suddenly knew exactly what they needed to do, almost like a forgotten instinct led her.

"We need to get Vlad!" Devan shouted to her and Giselle nodded.

"Luciana, go put on a damn armour over that dress. There's a possibility that the Unknowns will attack right now and we need you alive to rebuild the Border." Giselle commanded and looked at Devan again.

"Where will you go?" He asked her.

"I need to get ready." She simply said and marched to the castle, moving past all the scared vampires that walked in every possible direction.

She entered the changing room, grateful her hair was already tied and she wore pants. She only had to find an armour. Vlad must be pretty pissed now, she thought and laughed a bit to herself.

"Why are you laughing?!" Somebody asked and Giselle saw Barbara, that one girl Alina once mentioned. "We are all going to die!"

"And to imagine that Alina wanted you to hang out with that." Alacaris peeked through the curtain behind which she changed and looked Barbara up and down.

"You are insane!" Barbara shouted and Giselle thought for a moment Alacaris might hit her on her head, but Octavia marched in through the door and sighed with relief.

"Where the hell were you? I've been looking all over for you!" She told Giselle.

"I had practice with Vlad, what's wrong?" Giselle asked.

"Other than the fact the Border just fell and we are about to face a war in which most of us will likely die?" Octavia asked, her face expressionless, bordering on bored. Barbara actually screamed in horror.

"Don't be evil." Giselle said.

"A letter came for you this morning, I read it, because I'm rude like that. But you should, too." Octavia handed Giselle the opened letter.

"Who would be writing me?" Giselle asked, thinking of anyone that might send a letter straight to her. She was surprised nonetheless.

Giselle,

The Border around Windsor Castle fell, I encountered a strange boy-warlock who told me to send a message to you. I have no clue what any of it means. But he wanted you to know that he is one of the Five, he's the Second, and he said two of them need you, others have turned to darkness. You should follow the roses.

I hope we meet again,

Jack O'Neal

Giselle read the letter out loud and stared at it for the longest of moments.

"Sounds like he's on drugs, worry about that later." Alacaris waved away with her hand and Giselle nodded. They had no time now, the Five would have to wait, whoever they are.

They had a war to go to.