I woke up the next morning to find I was all alone. Dimitri was gone. And so were all my aches and pains from last night. I stretched my arms up, it feeling really good. Then I got out of bed. I looked down and noticed I was wearing a black button up shirt with some soft cotton shorts. I blushed at the thought of Dimitri dressing me last night. It was quite embarrassing. It was more than embarrassing, actually. But I'd rather be dressed than be practically naked.

Remembering what Shauna did to Thomas, I raced out of the room. I hoped Thomas wasn't sleeping in the same room as Shauna. I didn't want her hurting him even more for telling me what happened. I couldn't believe she actually hit a child. I knew Shauna wasn't a nice person but for her to stoop that low? It was shocking. She was giving me more and more reasons to hate her.

I raced down the hallway and walked into my room to find Shauna and Dimitri in there. Dimitri looked very angry and Shauna just looked plain pissed. I ignored them as I looked around the room, trying to find Thomas. He wasn't in the room. I turned to look at both Dimitri and Shauna. "Where's Thomas?" I demanded Shauna.

"I don't know, bitch!" She retorted and Dimitri pushed past her and towards me. He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room.

"Thomas is with Devon, so you have nothing to worry about. You should worry about yourself first. How's your nose?" He asked as we stopped in the hallway. He let go of my arm, turning around to look at me.

I touched my nose feeling no pain whatsoever. "It's good. I don't feel any pain at all." I spoke softly. He nodded his head before suddenly walking away. "Where are you going?" I called after him.

He turned around with an evil glint in his eyes, and a small smile curving up his lips. "I have a batch of humans waiting for me to be destroyed." He spoke slowly before immediately turning around and walking away. After a few more steps, he stopped again. "Try not to be too scared when you hear their screams." He said in a wicked tone causing me to gape at him in horror, before he continued on walking.

I felt sick, horribly sick. I wanted to run up to him and try to stop him. But I knew it wouldn't work. Nothing would. I could see it well in his eyes.

****

Breakfast was hard. I didn't know how I even went through it. All throughout breakfast, we could hear horrifying screams. Horrifying screams of those poor unfortunate souls. Even Shauna, was uncharacteristically silent. But thankfully the screams soon ended, leaving the castle in deafening quiet. I think the quiet that followed the screams was so much worse.

I knew Dimitri had killed so many humans in his past but now that it actually happened, and I had witnessed the screams, it was so much harder to swallow. I felt disgusted by him. So disgusted. I didn't think I'd be able to see him as anything but a cold-hearted cruel murderer.

It was almost hard for me to believe that Dimitri actually murdered humans as a hobby. I just couldn't comprehend it. Dimitri didn't seem like someone who murdered people. I couldn't put Dimitri and murder together. No matter how hard I tried. No matter the fact that I heard it actually happening. I couldn't believe it. But it had happened. And he was a cold-hearted murderer.

I kept thinking back to the Dimitri in my dreams. But more realistically, I thought of the Dimitri who wanted to eat ice cream with me. The Dimitri who actually ordered to eat ice cream with me. And of the Dimitri who healed me last night. He could have left me in pain but he didn't. The Dimitri who was actually willing to bargain with us. The Dimitri who kept his side of the deal, no matter how many times I broke my side of the deal. The Dimitri who didn't punish me when he so had the right to do so.

How was that Dimitri, the same as the one who tortured and killed all those humans today? How were they the same? It only made sense to say that they weren't the same. But the crazy thing was that they were the same Dimitri.

I walked out of the dining room, feeling like a statue. I didn't want to see Dimitri ever again. I couldn't bear to see him. Everytime I closed my eyes, I remembered the unfamiliar evil in his eyes I saw earlier. The evil. It seemed like a whole other part of him. A part of him I was surprised that existed.

I decided to go find Thomas. I needed to see if he was okay after hearing those screams. I'm sure he heard those screams when his family was tortured and killed. And now he had to hear more screams, reminding him of his family. My heart went out to the poor kid. I couldn't even begin to imagine what he was feeling.

I walked by Kenneth's room when I heard whimpering. It was Thomas. I slowly opened the door and peeked inside. What I saw kind of surprised me? Kenneth had Thomas in his arms in a hug. Thomas was crying softly while Kenneth tried to soothe him. And I could see that Thomas's crying slowly subdued. I couldn't help but smile at the scene. I never would have expected Kenneth out of everyone to be helping Thomas feel better.

I opened the door wider and walked inside. Kenneth looked up at me as I walked towards them. Thomas looked up at me too and opened his arms out towards me, asking me to hold him. I quickly obliged, taking him into my arms and hugging him tightly towards me. Thomas relaxed against me and I sat down on the couch beside Kenneth. Kenneth said nothing as I slowly rocked Thomas in my arms. He eventually ended up falling asleep and Kenneth told me that I could rest Thomas down on his bed. And I did so, pressing a kiss on Thomas's forehead before pulling away.

I then turned to Kenneth. "Thank you so much for being with Thomas and comforting him." I said smiling gratefully at him and he nodded his head in response. I didn't know where this came from but I took two steps towards Kenneth and then going on my tiptoes, I reached up and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Just as I was pulling away, Kenneth wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me towards him in a hug. "What about you?" He gently asked. "How are you holding up after hearing that?" He said referring to all the screams. I closed my eyes as my cheek rested against his chest.

"I'm holding up okay I guess." I said and I felt him run his hands slowly up and down my back in a comforting gesture.

"It's okay to cry." He whispered. It was like he knew I felt like crying and that I was trying my hardest to hold my tears back. "You weren't expecting Dimitri to actually kill humans? Were you?" He asked and I nodded my head, a few tears escaping my eyes. "You didn't want to believe it. You wanted to believe that he was kind like he was from your dreams. Didn't you?" Just when Kenneth said that, I looked at him surprised. How did he know about the dreams?

"I was there Isabella. I was in those dreams. And I know both you and Dimitri have seen those same dreams as well. I heard Dimitri talking about them with Devon." He said surprising me. He was in those dreams as well? Who was he in the dreams? "I was the demon always chasing after you." He replied answering my unspoken question. He was the demon? I thought back to the dream, trying to remember the demon but in my dreams, I never saw how he looked. I never really paid any attention since I was always so scared.

"I was definitely not expecting that." I said and he smiled down at me.

"I know. But hey, I finally got you now." He said chuckling as he tightened his hold on me. I laughed as well. "All those dreams I chased after you. And you know why? It wasn't because I was taking you to the Demon King. In fact it was for the completely opposite reason."

"What do you mean?" I asked confused as I looked up at him.

"How about I tell you how the dream started and ended for me every time? It would always start with Dimitri and I walking down the human streets looking for some humans to kidnap. Every time we'd spot a beautiful girl with long black hair and pretty brown eyes. She was absolutely stunning. And I'd want her. I'd want her so damn bad. The girl was always you." He said, looking me straight in my eyes with his dark ones. I was surprised to say the least. More than surprised actually. "I'd tell Dimitri I wanted you and he would laugh at me, saying you'd never want to be with me. He said you'd run away from me if I ever came after you. His words would make me really angry and I always told him he was wrong, when I knew well enough that he was right. Then he'd turn this whole thing into a game. A cruel game which I always lost. He told me to go after you but bet that you would end up in his arms by the end of the night, instead of mine. I always went after you, to prove him wrong, but every time you saw me coming after you, you'd run away. I'd run after you, trying to catch up to you so I could tell you that I wasn't going to hurt you. But every single time, you ended up literally running straight into Dimitri's arms. And every time Dimitri would smirk at me, showing me I lost and he won. Then I'd walk away but not entirely. I'd hide in the darkness watching you two. Watching you two hug and kiss. Watching Dimitri send me smirks every time you weren't looking, because he knew I was always watching. And then the dream would always end."

I was so shocked and surprised. And hurt. I felt really hurt. Dimitri only kissed and comforted me, just because Kenneth was watching. Because it was just a game to him. He never really ever cared about me, not even in my dreams. They were all a lie.

I knew it was just a dream but those dreams felt so real. Besides, Dimitri had those dreams as well and he made those choices himself, even if they were in a dream.

"I still want you, Isabella." Kenneth whispered in my ears causing me to shiver in a good way. "I want you even more now since I've gotten to know you better. You're even more beautiful to me now." He spoke and I couldn't help but smile up at him. Kenneth would have been my true saviour in my dream, if only I had given him a chance. He would have truly saved me from the Demon King.

I wrapped my arms up around his neck, pulling myself up tight against him. "I want you too, Kenneth." I whispered into his ears, pressing a small kiss below his ears. I felt him bury his face into my neck and I could feel the smile on his face.

"I guess I won you after all. In real life too which is so much better than a dream." He said as he brought his lips down onto mine. The kiss was short but sweet. His lips were so soft and moved very gently against mine. We didn't want this to turn into a whole make out session as Thomas was sleeping in the room. And I had a lot of work to do, so sadly I had to leave.

* * * * * *