20 - ||

Jon got back to his room just as he was finishing up healing his shoulder and hand, something the was rendered partly moot when he had to through himself against the door to get it opened. Under different circumstances, Jon would probably find a different way to deal with the problem but he was having a really fucking bad day so he was entitled to a little desperation. 

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thu-eeeht!

Finally, the door slid open just enough for Jon to slip inside, sparing an odd glance to the couch that been turned on its side and proper up against the door as a barricade. 

"Jon!"

Two voices -both filled with relief- called his name and Jon let out a sigh of relief when laid eyes on Serana, who dropped out of fighting stance at the sight of him and let the lightning dancing at her fingertips fade away and Sansa, who stood up from where she'd been hiding crouched beside Jon's bed. 

"Thank the gods, you're both alright!" he said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

"What the hell is going on?" Serana demand, eyeing his bloody clothes. "I was just doing as you asked when we were attacked by guards who tried to arrest us! I killed them, of course, and then we barricaded ourselves in here. I was debating just leaving but wanted to see if you'd show up."

"Cersei Lannister is hellbent on seeing her son on the throne, I guess she wanted to make sure the coronation went without interruption," Jon grunted, stripping off his doublet, leaving him in just a -significantly less filthy- undershirt, scrubbing his face in the washbasin. 

Less bloody now, he turned to a wide-eyed Sansa and asked, "Where is Arya?"

Sansa shook her head, "They… they killed Septa Mordane… r-right in front of me."

"Shame," Jon said, trying to muster some sense of sadness for the woman who constantly went out of her way to remind Jon that his existence was 'sinful;' and that he should always remember to be grateful for what he was given. "Where is your sister?"

Sansa swallowed hard, her face pale against her auburn hair, and tried to compose herself. "Arya- she snuck out, said she wanted to meet with her dancing instructor, and ask him to come back to Winterfell with us -Father was making plans for us to return immediately and she was upset about it- but I… I don't know if she made it."

Jon forced the panic the surged down.  'Arya isn't helpless,'  he reminded himself, 'and, if she made it to Syrio's house, she isn't alone either.'

"At least she isn't in the castle," he offered, partly to himself and partly to a worried-looking Serana. "I just wish I knew why the Queen decided to make her move today."

A small squeak sounded from behind Jon and he froze before turning slowly to face his distraught cousin. 

"Sansa," he said slowly, keeping his voice cold and low, "is there something you want to tell us?"

The eldest Stark daughter looked between him and Serana rapidly, like a rabbit cornered by two predators; her face fell, eyes clenched tight against forming tears.

"I didn't want to go!" she shouted. "Father was making us leave; he wasn't going to let me marry Joffrey! I didn't want to go so I snuck off to see the queen! I begged her to help me stay and she  promised she would! I didn't mean for this to happen but I just-"

SLAP!

Sansa felt to the ground, hand cupping her reddening cheek as she stared up at Jon with horrified Tully blue eyes. "Y-y-you can't do that to  me! " she whimpered, "I-"

"You  STUPID little girl!" Jon roared, overcome with rage and he bore down on the quaking Sansa. "I want you to know that you are just as responsible for the people who die today as the Queen, understand?"

The girl shook her head desperately. "It's not  my fault, I just-"

"Take her down to the ship," Jon told Serana, turning his back on his cousin and refusing to even look at her. "Your mother and Enzo will meet you there. I'm going to go get Arya and a few others, it shouldn't take too long."

"This place is crawling with Lannister men, it won't be a quiet escape," Serana noted. 

"Do what you have to," Jon instruction. "I don't care about quiet anymore, just survival."

Serana didn't look so sure but gave a reluctant nodded before, after a moment of hesitation, grabbing Jon by the back of the neck and pulling him in for a hard kiss.

"Be safe," she commanded after releasing him. 

Jon felt himself blush and let out a huff of laughter before going out of his window. Taking a leap of faith, he could only think,  'Lady Luck, don't abandon me now.'

Valerica of Clan Volkihar I

"Lord Arryn? Hello?" Valerica called out, knocking on the door to Hand of the King's bed-chamber; no one answered by finding it unlocked, she let herself in. "I'm here to give you another dose of your medicine. Please don't struggle again; this doesn't have to be unpleasant."

But there was no one there, the chamber was empty. That being said, the stench of poison still lingered, hanging heavily in the bedding, furniture, and the dirty clothes in the hamper; it was a pungent, somewhat fishy odor. Of course, it was only Valerica's support senses that allowed her to smell it and any moral man would only notice the slightest bit of a bad smell in the room.

Harkon -sometimes out of fondness and sometimes as an insult to her work- had called her his 'Lady Nightshade.' He'd said that she was the woman who knew poisons like no other. 

The title was well earned. 

Valerica closed her eyes, took a deep (usually unnecessary) breathe, and let her nose lead her around the room. The bed, the hamper, the lounging area... all obvious hot spot but then... there was two more -a pitcher of water and a bottle of red wine. 

The water only to a small sniff to confirm her suspicion -poisoned, of course, but only a relatively minor dose; enough to kill a door mouse maybe, but not a man. The wine, however, positively  stank with it! 

There was another smell though, barely discernable through the stench of wine and poison, and it was coming from the bottle's label. Curiously, she peeled it off and gave it a delicate sniff -water mixed with plant pulp. How odd...

Deciding to test a theory, Valerica held it up to the light of the window and looked it over. When she spotted it, Valerica smirked -a watermark. 

'Is that a bird?'

Before she could think too much on it, the door was flung open and slammed against the wall with extreme force. Valerica folded and tucked the label into the waistband of her skirt and gave a bored look to the dozen or so guards the flooded into the room.

One looked at her and demanded sharply, "Where is the Lord Hand?" 

Valerica, thoroughly unamused by his tone, just glanced around the room and then back at him. "I give up. Where is he?"

The man snarled at her lip, "Now see here, by the order of the Queen we are to take him into custody!"

"That is of no consequence to me and he isn't here," she said shortly, "so go away; I am busy."

The elder vampiress watched passively as a second guard leaned over and whispered something into the ear of the leader. Under the clanking of their armor, Valerica heard her and Serana's name, which made her perk up significantly when they turned back to her.

"You must come with us, Ma'am."

"No, I don't think I will be doing that."

The man was started, seemingly unused to being disobeyed. His mouth fell open and he blinked rapidly, "but... you  must! "

"No, I will not," she repeated. 

Then came the anger. "Don't make us use force!"

"Make you?" Valerica smirked, cocking an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh no, I invite you."

The guards charged forward. The power of a pure-blooded vampire flowed through her veins. Then the screams started. 

"This is terrible!" 

"Yes, as you've said  several times already," the woman said, tossing the limp body of another guard to the side as she steered her new charge -Samwise, was it?- through the castle halls. "But, while I agree that it is inconvenient, I must admit that it is nice to stretch my legs again; it has been a while."

Samwise's only response was a horrified whimper which was promptly cut off by the shriek of a young girl. 

"What was that?" the hirsute young man asked, a new kind of alarm in his voice. 

"I don't know but it is unimportant," Valerica shrugged, peeking down a stairwell to check that it was clear. 

"Unimportant? Someone could be in trouble!"

"That is likely," she agreed, "but it is my job to get you to safety, not play the hero."

Samwise gave her a disapproving look and then, though still reeking of fright, drew himself up and rushed off in the direction of the scream. Valerica watched him go, contemplating just leaving him behind; it was of no importance to her what happened to the boy, she didn't know him. 

And yet...

'It would make Serana happy,'  she told herself. 

Then, with a roll of her eyes, Valerica followed, catching up quickly -speed was not the Samwise's strong suit. Pausing, she took a minute to survey the strange scene that was playing out before her. 

"Get! Off!" Samwise demanded, his arms wrapped around the neck of a guard from and using his considerable weight to pull him away from a girl she faintly recognized -the one with half of her face made from stone. 

'Clearly some sort of medical ailment,' Valerica pondered ideally.  'If the girl died she would be a fascinating specimen to study.'

Another guard was being fought off by a slight man with graying brown who was wielding a coat rack like a weapon, swinging it wildly to keep his attacker at bay. The final of this strange trio was the hairy-lipped woman was slouched against a wall, her hands pressed into a massive slash mark on her abdomen that, even at a glance, Valerica could tell was fatal. 

She watched them all struggle with vague amusement for a moment before growing bored of all this tomfoolery. 

"Enough!"

With a flick of her wrist, Valerica fell both guards in quick succession with powerful bolts of lightning, ending the fighting. All eyes, even the dying woman's, turned to her with such shook that one would think they'd never seen a bit of combat magic before.

"Are you  quite done playing the brave warrior?" she asked Samwise, who gave a dumbstruck nod. "Good, then it is time to go."

"Go?" Samwise gasped, affronted by the very suggestion. "We can't just leave! They-" he gestured to the small group "-need our help."

Before Valerica could say anything, the other woman piped up, her voice low and pained. "Leave me behind."

"Mother, I won't-!" "Lady Selyse, I can't-"

She held up a bloody hand and shook her head, "I'm on death's door as it; I'll just slow you down. Lord Davos, get Shireen out of here; that is all that matters now."

"But-"

"Her wound is fatal," Valerica confirmed grimly. "Even if we tried to move her, she would just bleed out faster."

" No! " 

The dark-haired little girl collapsed by her mother's side, taking her hand as the tears started to fill her eyes. "I don't  want you to die, Mother!"

"Oh, Shireen, I don't want to leave you either but I doubt either of us will get our wish," Selyse said sadly, brushing the girl's hair from her face before cupping her chin. "Shireen, I know... life has been so unkind to. I know... your father and I were far from the best parents to you... but, if you can, I want you to gain strength from our deaths, not sadness. You are a Baratheon, Shireen, and no one will ever take that from you. Do you understand?"

Tearfully, the girl nodded. "I do. Goodbye, Mama."

"Goodbye, Shireen." The woman stroked her daughter's hair once more and turned her attention to the man. "Davos, I did not approve of Stannis making you Shireen's guardian but now I must entrust you will her completely safety. Protect her and give her all the love I never thought to show her; this is my final order to you."

"I couldn't love her more if she was my own," the man promised, "and that will never change. I will proudly serve her until my dying day."

"Good," Selyse whispered before letting out a hard, wet cough. Then she turned to Valerica and look of understanding passed between them. 

"Take her away, she shouldn't see this," Valerica commanded, nodding towards Shireen. "I will be along shortly."

With no great ease, Samwise and the other man pulled the girl -now with silent tears running down her face- away, vanishing from sight as they rounded a corner. When they were gone, Valerica crouch beside the dying woman and said, "I could save you, if you asked me to. You'd be different afterward, but you'd be able to stay with your daughter."

"My daughter... She's my only living child and I  never did right by her," Selyse sighed, sadness filling every word.

"I have a daughter as well; I used her for my own ends, telling myself it was the right thing to do, and now she doesn't trust me. I'm not even sure she still cares for me," Valerica offered sympathetically. "But I will never stop trying to right my wrongs with her and, even if she never forgives me, I will never stop loving her."

"If only I had time to do the same."

"You could," the elder vampiress offered once more, "you only need to ask."

"No," Selyse shook her head firmly. "I don't know what you are but I don't want to be it. No, I am ready to die and ascended to the Hall of Light so that I may sit beside my Lord for the rest of eternity."

Valerica gave a hum of understanding, though she was honestly a little disappointed. "Bleeding out can take a long time, you know?"

The woman gave a grim nod, "And if the Lannisters find me still alive they'll do their damnedest to keep me that way -either for leverage on my daughter or to torture me for information. Do what you must, just make it quick."

Valerica put a hand on Selyse's shoulder, gripping the woman's chin with her other. "Your daughter will be safe, I swear to it."

With one final determined nod, the woman closed her eyes and... 

SNAP!

Lady Selyse Baratheon's lifeless body fell limply to the side, sprawled on the floor like a discarded puppet. A broken neck was a quick end... painless and immediate. 

Valerica rose to her feet went to join the rest of her odd little group. Shireen's eyes -no longer crying but still red and swollen- snapped to her immediately. "My mother-"

"Met her end with dignity and no pain," she comforted. "But now we must go."

"I don't know how you intend to escape," the man, Davos, said. "The castle is absolutely crawling with guards."

"Hmmm, it will be harder to fight them off with a child present," Valerica considered, rubbing her chin. Then something caught her eye; she turned and saw out a window where four stone statues of griffins sat perched. 

"I have an idea."

Serana II

The older of the two Stark girls smelt like lemon-scented perfumed power; sharp and overt and applied a little too heavily. But, in this case, the overpowering smell allowed Serana's nose to lead her right to the girl.

"There you are," she said, strolling right into the small sunroom where Sanda sat, startling the girl who jumped in her seat in and spilling tea over her hands. The gray-dressed woman who sat with her glared at Serana, giving her tightly-fitted trousers and low neckline a look of open disdain. Serana met the woman's gaze, deliberately rolled her eyes, and glared until the only woman turned away.

"Lady Serana," Sanda said, jumping to her feet then falling into a hurried curtsy. "How can I help you?"

"Where is Arya?" she asked, brushing off the question. "Jon asked me to find you both; he's leaving soon and wants to give you both something."

"What is he giving us?"

The vampiress gave an honest shrugged, "A going-away present? Do you know where your sister is?"

Sanda shifted uncomfortably, glancing ever so slightly at the gray-clad woman. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted reluctantly. "I think she went into the city for something... but she'll be back soon, I'm sure."

'So either to check up on her sword or to Syrio's house,'  Serana reasoned, Arya had no reason to go anywhere else. 'She should have waited for one of us to take her.'

Even so, she shot another hard glare when the woman huffed and grumbled under her breath, "Disobientant girl, someone needs to teach her a lesson."

"Alright, I'll get her later," Serana decided to herself before turning back to Sanda. "Come with me, I suppose that Jon will still want to see you."

The girl didn't seem to know how to respond to this, looking down at the floor and to the woman, but eventually turned back to Serana and nodding. 

"Lady Sansa-" oh right, her name was Sansa "-this is hardly appropriate," the gray-clad woman fretted. "To be alone with-"

"My brother," the auburn-haired girl argued softly. "I'll be alone with my brother , Septa Mordane; there is no shame or harm in that."

'So she does have some sense of familial loyalty,' Serana noted, a smirk playing on her lips. 

With that, they turned to go... only for the older woman, the septa, started to follow them. Serana turned and fixed her a hard look, "What do you think you're doing?"

Mordane froze at her look but huffed once more and drew herself up importantly, "It is my job to ensure Lady Sansa's dignity is maintained so I will accompany her to see her bastard relative."

Serana considered arguing -it wouldn't take much to send the woman away- but decided against it; it was a fight not worth having right now. "Fine," she snapped, "but you have to wait outside; you have no business spying on a moment between family." 

The Septa started to argue but Sansa chimed in with, "That sounds like a fair arrangement. Shall we go along then?"

Through the castle, they went with Mordane whispering in Sansa's ear all the way, trying to talk the girl out of going. Serana overheard everything, her ears as sharp a death hound's, and the things she said made her clench her fists, the beginnings of lightning dancing against her palms. Instead, she focused on the castle and how it reminded her of where she grew up -grand and cold with secrets and histories a plenty- and she hated it just as much. 

The hatred was only intensified when the rounded a corner, just a short distance from Jon's quarters, to see three guards in shiny golden armor coming towards them. 

"Sansa Stark! Serana Volkihar!" the lead guard called. "By order of the Queen, you both are to come with us immediately!"

Confused but obedient, Sansa began to walk towards the men with Mordane right behind her only for Serana to step in front of the girl and block her path. "What is going on?" she demanded. 

The men looked surprised that she didn't immediately obey their orders. The lead guard glowered and repeated, "Come with us, now!"

He tried to grab Serana's arm, only for her to smack his hand away. "Don't. Touch. Me," she growled. "Now, either tell me what is going on or leave. Those are your only options."

"That is enough dramatics, girl" Mordane declared, stepping around Serana to stand with guards. "You-" she pointed towards Serana "-have obviously been raised improperly; you must learn proper obedience to authority figures. You need to  gwaaahhh! "

Sansa shrieked from behind the vampiress' back as one of the guards plunged his sword into the back of the septa's throat, killing her instantly and spilling blood everywhere. The smell of the delicious liquid flooded Serana's senses and she had to hold her breath, less it get to her. 

"Now," the guard hissed, "you both are going to come along without a word or fight, you hear?"

"No," the vampiress said simply, her face cool and blank. "Turn around and leave. This is your last chance to get out of this alive." 

"Oh, for  the love of ... come here, little girl!" One of the men lunged forward and seized Serana by the forearm. She looked down at his hand, looked him dead in the eye, smiled sweetly, then slammed his head into the wall, crushing it and his helmet into a bloody pulp. 

There was dead silence as the corpse fell to the ground, armor clattering against the stone floor loudly. Serana glanced at the other two guards, "So, do you still like your chance against this  'little girl' ?"

The previously frozen men snapped out of their stupor at her words and charged, drawing their swords -a poor weapon to use in close quarters. Serana kicked one of them square in the chest, sending him flying back, and grabbed the other by his breastplate, tossing him out a window in one smooth motion. The one she kicked got back to his feet but his second wind was cut brutally short when Serana crushed his throat. 

That annoyance dealt with, she turned to Sansa and said a quick, "Let's go."

But the girl stumbled back, eyes wide and horrified as she stared that the carnage around them and the blood on Serana's hands. "Wh... what  are you?"

"For now? The person protecting you. Now, come on."

With that, Serana grabbed Sansa by the wrist and dragged her the rest of the way to Jon's room, throwing the girl inside before locking it with the key he'd given her and, just for some added protection, propped the couch up against the door. 

"We'll wait a bit to see if Jon comes back," she decided out loud, ignoring Sansa's pacing and quiet breakdown. "If he isn't here soon then I'm getting you out of here alone."

"This wasn't supposed to happen," the girl muttered to herself, rubbing her arms. "This wasn't supposed to happen. This isn't supposed to happen to me ."

"That is what everyone says," the vampiress shrugged and eyed the door.  'You better get back here soon, Jon.'

"On your feet," Serana demand, sparing the crumpled Stark girl the smallest glance as she riffled through the few remain pairs of Jon's clothes in the dresser. 

"He  hit me!" Sansa gasped, still clutching at her cheek. "He hit me!  Jon hit me!"

"Obviously," she snapped. "And you should be grateful; I've seen him execute soldiers under his command for lesser betrayals."

"I didn't  betray anyone!"

"Fine, lesser  idiocies then !" Serana rolled her eyes, throwing a pair of trousers and a tunic shirt at the girl. "Now, quit your crying and put these on!"

Sansa fumbled with the clothes, "These are  men's clothes!"

"I know, they are easier to move in."

"Why is that important?"

Serana groaned at the girl's refusal to cooperate, "We're going out the window, you're dress will catch in the wind. Now, put them on!"

Sansa shook her head, "No, it would be inappropriate!" 

"How does that matter right now?" Serana asked thoroughly exasperated. "But, you know what? Fine! "

In one swift motion, she grabbed ahold of the skirt of Sansa's pretty lavender dress and tore a large rip up to the girl's mid-thigh as she let out a shocked gasp. "There that will help you move better."

Sansa shot her an indignant look, "You can't-"

Serana cut the girl off, "You find that I don't give a damn about anything that comes out of your mouth. I'm responsible for getting you to the ship safety, not for protecting your feelings or dignity. So shut up and listen to me or be killed."

"But-"

Serana's sensitive ears picked up the fastly approaching clattering of metal armor against stone floors and, with a hissed spell, spot a gust of magical ice at the door, freezing it shut. "No more complaining, its time to go"

She grabbed Sansa by the upper-arm, dragging her up and over to the open window. Serana when first, demonstrating that there was a solid ledge only a few feel down and how to shimmy along the wall. "Just don't look down; it's not nearly as hard as it appears."

"But what if I fall?" the girl asked worriedly, looking down at the ground far below. 

"Then you will die."

Sansa shrunk back, shaking her head. "No, no. I just can't do this!"

THUD! THUD! THUD! THWACK!

At the sound of an ax hitting the wooden door, Serana seized Sansa by the wrist and pulled her out the window, "You don't have a choice."

It was slow going, Serana was nimble as a cat and had plenty of practice scaling the walls of the castles and keeps but Sansa had, obviously, not. To make matters worse, the not-insignificant wind shear was pulling at the girl's torn skirt which she was struggling the keep down. 

This meant that Sansa had only one hand on the castle wall. 

" AHHHHHH! "

The girl lost her balance and fell... but only a few feet before Serana caught and pulled her back up. 

"I did that for Jon," Serana said bluntly. "I did that for Arya. They'd probably be sad if you ended up a splatter. Pay attention to your footing."

If nothing else, the near-death experience made the girl focus on the task ahead of them and they managed to make their way down a few floors of the castle then to the top of a nearby open-air walkway. Serana instructed Sansa to stay put as she swung herself into the walkway and caught the auburn-haired girl as she dropped down, pulling her inside. 

"Where are we?" she asked. "I don't recognize this part of the castle."

"I don't know," Serana admitted. "Shall we go find out?"

Together, the two crept through the halls at one point passing the open door of a washing room. "Wait," the vampiress said, holding her hand up to stop Sansa. She darted inside the empty rooms and retrieved two brown rough-spun hooded cloaks. "Put this one."

Sansa wrinkled her nose but did as she was told without complaint and they set out again, ducking into closets and behind curtains to avoid guards. It was excruciatingly slow going but, eventually, they were close to the exit. So close and yet...

"Get off of me! Let go!"

"That was Princess Myrcella!" Sansa realized. "She needs help!"

Then she rushed off down a stairwell and toward the direction of the screams, leaving Serana to swear and chase after her. 'She chooses now to care about others!'

She followed the girl to a small courtyard where she skidded to a stop, eyes wide at what she was seeing. There were a half-a-dozen guards in the courtyard, two of whom had ahold of the younger royal children with the princess being held tight by her braided hair. 

Perhaps the biggest though was that Prince -or was it King now?- Joffrey was there as well, snuggly swinging around a sword he clearly had no idea how to use around.

"Joff!" Sansa called out, trying to run to the blond young man and only stopped by Serana grabbing the back of her cloak. "Joff, what is going on?"

"Oh, hello, Sansa," the prat said, voice friendly and relaxed. "I wondering where you went; we've been looking for you. Why don't you come over and join us?"

The girl hesitated but started to step forward but froze when the princess shouted out, "Don't listen to him! Run away, both of you! Right now!"

The guard holding on to her gave Myrcella a shake, using her braid to whip the girl's head around, "Shut up, you little brat!"

Instead, the princess swiftly threw herself back against the much larger man which threw him off balance just enough that, when she jolted forward, Myrcella's braid slipped from his hand and freeing her. Myrcella rushed towards the two women, nibbling avoiding the grasping hands of the rest of the guards and coming to duck behind Serana, who shifted into a fighting stance -ready for this to turn bloody.

"That was very naughty, little sister," the Prat Prince mocked, though his eyes showed legitimate annoyance. "You'll have to be punished for that. I have an idea! I'm going to lock you and Sansa here up in the Maiden Vault, then-"

" SHUT UP! " Tommen howled, struggling against his own captor. " SHUT UP, YOU ARSE!"

The blond prince whirled around on his younger brother, "And I think that I'll cut out your tongue, you stupid little-"

A roaring little Tommen managed to pull away from the guard and threw himself at his older brother, grabbing his arm and holding on with all his might.

"Tommen!" Myrcella cried.

But it was too late, the Prat Prince shoved his brother away and the young boy fell back, head hitting the stone path of the courtyard with a sickenly loud ' CRACK! ,' that was followed by blood beginning to leak out onto the ground. 

Serana, who heard the sound louder than anyone, also was 'blessed' with hearing the boy's final heartbeats as he died. Then she heard the twin shrieks of Myrcella and Sansa as gasps filled the air as all eyes turned to Joffrey. 

The young man was bright red and snarled as he commanded the guards, "What are you doing?! Kill them right now! They attacked me and killed Prince Tommen! KILL THEM! "

The guards hesitated at first but then started to advance on the trio. 

'I don't think so,' Serana though coldly. She summoned the lightning to her fingertips and, ruthlessly, she blasted it into the crowd, the blasts of electricity chaining from one guard to another -that was the downside as wearing metal. 

They didn't stand a chance. 

"Wha.." the monstrous young man gasped, falling back on his ass as he tried to crawl back from the smoldering corpses of his guards. "How..."

"I HATE YOU!"

Little hands tore the danger off of Serana's belt and Myrcella ran forward, jumping on and pinning her older brother down. She raised the up, gripping it with both hands, and-

"No, wait!" Serana shouted, rushing towards the girl.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" 

With every declaration, Mycrella stabbed Joffrey square in the heart -if he even had one- and spraying blood every. 

"That's enough! That's enough!" the vampiress said, grabbing the dagger away and pulling the girl off her dying brother. "You've killed him; it's done!"

"No!" Mycrella shouted, "Not until I get him back for killing... Tommen? Tommen!"

She tried to run toward her younger brother but Serana tightened her grip, forcing the young girl to look her in the eye. "Tommen is gone. There is nothing you can do for him. We need to leave right now. Do you understand?"

The princess let out a horribly broken dry sob but rose to her feet.

'Strong girl' she thought, feeling a twinge of pride. Then she looked to Sansa who was crouched beside a nearly dead Joffrey, pressing her hands against the stab wounds in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. 

Serana grabbed her under the arm and pulled the girl to her feet, "Come on."

Sansa didn't protest, just giving one last desperate look to the dying young man. Serana scoffed, "Do you still think he was your Golden Prince?"

Next Chapter: As blood continues to be spilled in King's Landing, many more scramble to escape. Who will live and who will die?

Notes:

1) Soooo, a few chapters ago some posted a comment about how they predicted Serana would get beat by a group of Lannister guards and, yeah, that showdown was for you.

2) Out of curiosity, have I ever told you guys were Enzo's name came from? If not, please guess. It'll be +10 Vix points to anyone who gets it right.