CHAPTER 81

It was time to go back to Empire D, Lothaire and Larisa went to his private airport, their suitcases had been packed into the plane by the staffs and they both stood at the entrance of the airport, waiting patiently for Anne, so they could leave together. Larisa was a bit surprised seeing that Lothaire hadn't left Anne behind with the excuse that he couldn't wait, knowing his impatient and arrogant attitude, but there he was, standing with hands dipped into his trouser pocket, patiently waiting for her.

After about thirty minutes of waiting, Anne came rushing into the airport as if she was been pursued, but Larisa knew better than anyone that she wasn't, she was only being her usual exaggerated self.

Anne had quietly snuck out of the house, pretending that she was going to school as usual and she wasn't suspected since she didn't carry along any luggage with her, so no one presumed she was about to escape from her forced marriage.

A smile crossed her face when she saw Larisa and Lothaire waiting for her, she didn't care anymore about Lothaire's intimidating gaze or dark presence or the fact that he was the devil's son either, she presumed him a wonderful match for her friend and she had already grown a liking to the bad ass demon, after all, he was helping her escape.

"Hi! I'm here! We can leave now for the Empire!" Anne said with an excited voice, Lothaire still intimidated her, she still felt his heavy, dark presence lurking around him but she knew as much that she was safe with him, after all she was his mate's best friend and also, she was too excited about escaping and disappointing her family with their plans of marrying her off to a wealthy man, as well as going to the mysterious Empire.

Lothaire shot the crazy girl a blank look, while Larisa was beaming happily that her friend had made it and they would be together. Lothaire watched as the girls pulled each other in a brief embrace.

"Where's your bags?" Larisa asked with squinted eyes as she searched for her friend's things.

"What bag? It'd be suspicious if I had a bag with me." Anne explained and Larisa nodded.

"We should leave now." Lothaire brought the two girl's attention to himself as he spoke, his deep voice resonating in their ears.

"Yeah, of course and thank you Lothaire for helping me escape." Anne thanked him with a genuine smile but he didn't reply and she rolled her eyes at his rudeness.

They were about to walk towards the plane when a deep male voice halted them in their steps.

"Anne! Stop right there!" Two males in neat black suits stopped her and she froze, she had been caught by her father's men. It seemed like her father had kept tabs on her movement and sent his men to watch her, she didn't know what to do, this wasn't part of the plan. The men moved forward towards her and immediately grabbed hold of both her arms, refraining her from running.

"Let go of me!" She yelled frantically as she tried to fight them off but they were very skilled and her efforts were as useless.

"You're coming with us, trying to escape huh? Wait until your father gets word of it." One of the men said with gritted teeth, he was her father's right hand man, so it wasn't surprising that he spoke to her so casually for a mere bodyguard.

"Who are you?" The other body guard directed his question to Lothaire, trying to sound as composed as possible even though he was intimidated by him. Lothaire kept silent and turned around, about to walk away, but Larisa grabbed his arm reflexively and he looked down at her, her hazel eyes were begging him.

"She got caught, it's not my fault now, is it?" Lothaire asked rhetorically with a hard voice and Larisa glanced at Anne every second as she was been dragged away by the bodyguard towards the exit as she tried to get them off her and a panicked expression became etched all over her face.

"Lothaire please...Do something please, compel them or something, please Lothaire..." She begged him with eagerness in her eyes and voice and he could see her brown eyes glimmer with unshed tears which he couldn't bear to stare at for another second, so he pinched between his thick brows as he sighed frustratingly.

Lothaire mechanically turned back and started walking towards Anne who was been dragged away by the bodyguards. Lothaire strode with slow, precise movement and Larisa was sure they'd drag her friend away before he would catch up with them, but before they could reach the exit door. The bodyguards as well as Anne turned to look at the devilish man glowering down at them. Lothaire's golden eyes glowed brightly and Anne could swear she saw flames burning in them. The bodyguards eyes locked with his and they shuddered slightly from the cold, darkness emanating from his body but they couldn't avert their gaze as Lothaire locked his with them.

"Let her go and hold your breaths till you're dead." Lothaire commanded with a cold voice and Anne saw the bodyguards eyes dilate and as Lothaire had commanded, they immediately let her go and they held their breaths till they slumped on the floor, unmoving and Anne's eyes widened at the shocking display in front of her, she didn't notice that Lothaire had walked away towards Larisa as she stared at the dead bodies in front of her.

"Anne!" She heard Larisa calling her name from behind as she ran towards her but Larisa didn't have the same expression she had, instead her face was calm.

"He controlled their minds and made them kill themselves!" Anne exclaimed in an amazed tone as she stared at the body in disbelief and then back at Larisa.

"Let's go now, Lothaire's waiting for us." Larisa said and Anne immediately moved, she didn't want to anger the already impatient Lothaire. They saw staffs taking care of the dead bodies as if it was the norm and Anne had creased brows in confusion but Larisa knew better, she knew they were vampires from Emperial D who served Lothaire as they took care of the body effortlessly without waiting for his order.

They all boarded the plane back to Empire D. Anne was excited to discover the mysteries of the strange Empire as she stared at the beautiful buildings from the window in awe, but Larisa couldn't help but feel uneasy but she pushed it aside to the back of her mind, she felt it was probably because they were up in the air.

They arrived at Empire D and the uneasiness she felt worsened, her chest felt tight and her palms turned into a tight fist as she couldn't control the unnerving feeling she got and she couldn't shake it off, she remembered she felt the same way when she first arrived at Empire D, so she wondered if something bad was going to happen again, but it didn't make any sense to her, they had gotten rid of their enemies so why did she still feel so disturbed? She pondered inwardly. Anne couldn't stop gawking at the beautiful Empire, she had never seen anything as beautiful and ethereal as the Empire, she became very excited about the Empire as the plane slowly landed at the airport, but Larisa felt the opposite as she twisted her body uncomfortably in her seat.

"Is something wrong, Larisa?" Lothaire asked as he noticed the uneasiness and discomfort in her face and body movement.

"I'm fine.." She said with a low voice but he knew she wasn't, he would find out what the problem was once they arrived. He wondered what could be troubling his little Angel, one moment she was happy that her best friend was coming with them, the next she was all gloomy, but he would find out soon enough and get rid of all her problems.

They arrived at the Castle and as soon as she walked into the Castle, she felt a cold, eerie breeze brush through her body that made her skin crawl. The eerie breeze felt familiar, but why was it coming from the Castle? She pondered with a fear stricken face as she shuddered slightly.